When I opened my eyes, a breathtaking night sky stretched out above me. I lay on a thick bed of soft grass, the blades brushing gently against my skin.

I had somehow ended up right beneath the ancient tree, exactly where the hidden spiral staircase had been.

Was it a dream? No... it had felt far too real. I could still sense the misfortune clinging to me, whether it was just in my head or something more.

"I should've never followed that damn rabbit," I muttered under my breath as I pushed myself upright.

I hurried back to where the others were, crossing a bramble-covered ridge and heading toward the clearing where the Ironwood team had previously set up camp.

I arrived just as my watch was about to end. Thankfully, I made it back in time.

After standing guard for a while longer, I gently nudged Darwyn awake.

"Hey, Darwyn. Your turn," I whispered, shaking his shoulder.

I lay down and tried to get some sleep, but it was no use. My mind kept replaying everything that had happened, over and over, refusing to let me rest.

Lunarin. The Nest of Lumora. The hero trait.

All of it still made little sense.

What bothered me most was her implication that others had been called, others like me. Were they from different races? Other druids?

What was Centrius Eldertide's role in all this? And what did happen to him?

What exactly was Willpower? And what had the black orb done to my body?

Questions spun endlessly in my head, keeping me wide awake.

I think I finally managed to drift off just before dawn.

I still felt very sleepy when I heard their voices.

"I slept like a baby," Muradin said with a loud yawn and a dramatic stretch. "Hey, Erynd, get up, you lazy druid!"

"Eryndor, wake up," Orin added with a teasing grin. "I made breakfast for everyone."

With a groan, I forced myself upright. Not like I was going to fall back asleep anyway.

We spent the morning gathered around for a simple breakfast. Eventually, I decided to share what had happened with Lunarin, hoping one of them might have some insight or knowledge that could help.

"A glowing rabbit and a secret tunnel? Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" Muradin teased, one eyebrow raised.

"But the Archdruid said something similar when he gave Eryndor his blessing. He's not making this up," Orin defended.

"Yeah, I believe you too," Darwyn chimed in. "Ever since we met, I've seen way too many extraordinary things to doubt you now."

Muradin clapped me on the back with a laugh. "Of course I believe you! I'm just messing with you, buddy."

"So… have any of you heard of this hero trait before?" I asked, scanning their faces. "Among elves? Or dwarves?"

"Unfortunately, no," Darwyn replied, shaking his head. "There are a few elves we call heroes, but none of them were connected to Willpower like you."

Muradin shrugged. "First I've ever heard of it."

"Well," Orin said brightly, "no point stressing about it too much. What matters is that we keep getting stronger, and we stay alive."

We quickly finished our breakfast and packed up, ready to head toward our next destination.

***

"Am I dreaming?" Orin whispered in awe as we stepped into the Gleaming Gardens.

A lush, vibrant paradise stretched endlessly before us, brimming with flowers in every imaginable color, and trees bearing fruits that looked too perfect to be real and smelled like heaven itself.

"Careful. Don't touch anything," Darwyn warned, eyes scanning the surroundings. "Almost everything here is poisonous."

"He's right," Muradin added, nodding sagely. "I've heard plenty of stories about adventurers getting violently ill after nibbling on a fruit or two in this place."

Despite his words, I noticed a small string of drool escaping the corner of his mouth.

"Let's just stick to collecting the little red berries," I said. "Let me find them first."

I moved cautiously toward a cluster of bushes where berries of all shapes and colors were scattered like nature's candy shop. Kneeling down, I examined them closely before picking a bunch of small red ones, careful not to touch anything else.

"According to the book, these are the ones we want," I explained, holding them up. "Make sure they have these tiny white specks on them."

The others nodded and spread out to start searching.

I focused hard, scanning the undergrowth for more of the red berries. The effects of my sleepless night were starting to catch up with me. My limbs felt heavy, and my head, foggy.

"Eryndor, there's a monster on your leg!" Orin shouted suddenly.

I looked down at my left leg and froze.

A fuzzy, caterpillar-like creature with shimmering opalescent eyes was clinging to my left leg. It was about the size of an overfed sausage.

Damn it… judging by the size, it must've been stuck for quite a while.

Grubbers were annoying, parasitic monsters. Harmless on their own but incredibly irritating, they typically hid among foliage, crawling stealthily onto their prey and injecting a numbing venom that dulled the senses, making them almost impossible to notice until it was too late.

I yanked the thing off and hurled it to the ground, then stomped it flat under my boot. Its bloated body burst with a disgusting squish.

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"Watch out for Grubbers," I shouted to the others. "These things leech your life force silently, and the more they feed, the bigger they get."

A quick check confirmed it, everyone had at least three latched somewhere on their body.

"Ahh! Get it off me!" Muradin cried, struggling to reach one stuck to the back of his neck.

We rushed to help each other pull them off, stomping them one by one.

But it was too late for some.

A few Grubbers had already started to transform.

Their thin, sagging skin stretched tight over their grotesquely swollen bodies like clothes three sizes too small. Suddenly, two massive translucent wings burst out from their backs, tearing through the skin with a sickening rip.

The bloated worms shed their forms, revealing large, butterfly-like creatures that shimmered under the sun, stunning, yet deadly.

"It transforms into Prismwings!" Darwyn shouted, loosing an arrow.

The creatures flitted through the air with dizzying speed, dodging his shot effortlessly. Then, with a sharp flutter of their wings, they released a burst of golden spores into the air.

The spores sparkled briefly, then descended like glittering dust.

I coughed.

The moment the spores touched me, my focus wavered, and my vision blurred slightly. These damn things didn't just look magical. They were.

"They're messing with our aim!" Orin called out, swiping at the air in frustration. "I can barely see straight!"

"Stay low and don't breathe too deep," I warned. "We need to take them down before things get really messy!"

As I said that, I summoned Gorgroth.

Not to be outdone, Orin raised her staff and called out her newest spell.

[Hororo's Call cast]

From thin air, a majestic creature materialized. An owl-like beast with snow-white feathers and subtle hints of light blue on the edges of its wings and crown. It was about the size of a small backpack, but its wingspan was long and graceful, cutting through the air like blades.

The summoned owl circled above Orin's head with an eerie silence.

"Go get them," she commanded.

Hororo let out a ghostly hoot and launched into the air like a silent missile. Its talons tore into one Prismwing mid-flight, while its curved beak ripped into another. Glittering wings flailed wildly before the creatures dropped to the ground.

"Great job, Orin!" Darwyn shouted, already in motion.

Boosted by Galestride, he unleashed a volley of arrows at a cluster of Prismwings. Every few shots, he slapped a Sticky Bomb onto the arrowhead for good measure. The resulting mid-air explosions rained down sparkling wing fragments and toxic dust.

I moved quickly between my allies, healing them one by one as needed, the warm glow of Rejuvenation weaving through the chaos.

Meanwhile, Muradin went full berserker as expected.

He smashed any fallen monsters with his warhammer, turning them into unrecognizable goo before vanishing into light, and stomped on the remaining Grubbers that were still crawling toward us with unsettling persistence. Gorgroth was right by his side, spewing Viscous Goo to slow the Prismwings mid-flight, and occasionally chomping down on any half-dead creature that got too close.

"Hey, is this normal?" Muradin shouted. "There are so many Grubbers!"

They swarmed all of us, including Gorgroth, who couldn't do anything.

"This is definitely not normal," I said, prying Grubbers off Muradin and Gorgroth.

"Keep pressing!" I called out. "Don't give them a chance!"

The air was thick with golden spores and flashing lights, but together, we were finally pushing back.

***

We had been fighting for what felt like forever. I'd lost count of how many Prismwings and Grubbers we had taken down. But with the air thick with golden spores, our attacks had become wildly inaccurate.

Whoosh!

Another of Darwyn's arrows veered off just inches from its target, the Prismwing elegantly dodging before rejoining its flock.

Orin hurled a Mana Bomb, but it exploded harmlessly in midair, missing its mark entirely. With a frustrated sigh, she turned to rely on Hororo once again.

I glanced upward, and my stomach dropped. What we'd feared was happening.

The Prismwings began to swarm together, wings flapping in eerie unison, cloaking themselves in an even denser cloud of golden spores.

Darwyn fired off his last Sticky Bomb Arrow, but it was already too late.

From within the swirling cloud emerged a much larger figure.

It resembled a giant moth, but no ordinary one.

This one was massive, with translucent wings painted in jewel tones. Each wing bore eerie patterns that resembled enormous eyes.

The Prismwings had fused into something far more dangerous.

The Mothmother.

Her body shimmered with a radiant kaleidoscope of color, reflecting sunlight in divine hues. Beautiful... and terrifying.

Unlike the non-aggressive Prismwings, the Mothmother didn't flee.

She attacked.

With a violent flap of her wings, she unleashed one of her signature spells, Wings of Silence.

Instantly, all sound around us vanished.

No footsteps. No breaths. Just silence and dread.

We couldn't use our spells. Even Gorgroth and Hororo vanished, forcefully unsummoned by the oppressive magic.

Then, the Mothmother's body dispersed into thousands of tiny clones. They surged forward like a shimmering tidal wave, another of her signature moves, Quiver Dance.

Muradin didn't hesitate. He rushed to the front, bracing himself for the impact.

Thanks to his passive, Forge's Resilience, every single projectile homed in on him, like blades guided by instinct.

Good thing he was ready. His shield glowed faintly.

[Bastion Strike cast]

A brilliant burst of light exploded outward from his shield. A wave of pure energy slammed into the incoming swarm.

Many of the tiny Mothmothers disintegrated on impact. The rest reassembled, reforming the massive creature, but we could already see it had shrunk.

Muradin raised his shield high and shouted something triumphant, but under Wings of Silence, we heard nothing.

Then it got worse.

The Mothmother flapped again. But instead of golden glitter, a soft pink dust floated down like deadly snow.

Dreamdust.

Her last-ditch spell when cornered.

The drowsiness hit fast.

I could feel my consciousness slipping, my limbs going heavy.

If we fell asleep now, we'd be trapped in an endless hallucination, a waking dream we might never return from.

Just as my vision blurred, I pulled out something from my magical inventory.

We all did.

[Mournbite Tonic used]

GULP.

"Blaargh! That's disgusting!" Orin gagged, finally breaking the silence, just as the effect of Wings of Silence wore off.

Darwyn made a face like he'd swallowed a dead frog. I wasn't faring much better.

Muradin actually threw up on the spot. "By the gods, it tasted horrible!"

One of the ingredients for this potion was Pappus Gallbladder. Nasty, but incredibly effective.

The moment the bitter potion hit our systems, the drowsiness vanished like fog under sunlight.

We were wide awake, and just in time.

The Mothmother had descended to the ground, cocooning herself in a glistening chrysalis.

Muradin and Darwyn wasted no time and launched their attacks.

Cocoon of Rebirth.

If we didn't destroy it in time, she would heal completely and emerge reborn. No longer as the Mothmother, but as The Luminara Queen.

A radiant, boss-level monster. Faster. Deadlier. Capable of casting searing radiant blasts that could incinerate even tanky adventurers like Muradin.

Sure, the rewards would have been highly valuable if we had managed to beat her...

But we weren't ready for that. Not yet.

We had to finish this now, or she would.

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