The elves perked up at his comment. The one that told the story scoffed at him like he was a rambling lunatic and Lenora just raised her eyebrow, Ethan was concerned it might leave her face if it got any higher. "You all can stop looking at me like I'm an idiot and listen to what I had in mind." He watched as glances were exchanged and he stopped feeling like he's being judged for his very existence.

"I understand that this mountain is a holy place for you, but I was wondering what the necromancer was actually planning. So far he did one massive ritual which didn't work out. Only to do the exact same thing again but just smaller. He must know that we're following him and he has been playing with us since the start.

Leaving that black ooze and then his hand, or at least a hand containing the same liquid, only to lead us to more ritual sites. The runes he used are nothing like those I encountered before and even if I can't use them I get a general feeling of death and weakness from them, they feel wrong and disgusting.

Then there is the fact that almost all animals we found at these ritual sites weren't really normal anymore but instead mutated or stitched together. I finally realized now that all animals, including Pale and his pack, are very intelligent and wouldn't allow themselves to easily be captured or trapped."

The large wolf opened his eyes, they shone in bright red in the light of the flames. He must have heard his name and scoffed, insulted that Ethan even would question his superior intelligence. Ethan was quickly ignored again as Pale moved closer to the rest of the wolves for warmth.

"So the question is what is he actually planning, managing to capture intelligent creatures, using them to fuel seemingly useless rituals that are easily found. Well I tell you…he wants the guardian's egg."

"Impossible! Nobody could defeat the guardian! It's the strongest creature in this entire jungle, nobody could defeat it, especially not some necromancer with questionable levels of power!" Lenora exclaimed, her hands balled into fist, only thinking about such a sacrilege made her tremble with anger. To them the guardian was always this undefeated creature of myth.

Ethan smiled and nodded, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. "Lenora calm down, okay? I know how powerful the guardian is, I felt the power radiate from it in waves when it destroyed the ritual circle around the guardian tree. No, there is no question about its strength, I would die the moment I got attacked by it but we need to remember that the egg isn't strong. Even when it's born it will still be weak enough to harm it and we don't even know when it will hatch! According to your story it hasn't hatched in a long time and might not hatch in the next few years. That's why we need to protect it. Because…"

Ethan looked at his hand, a small cloud of frost appeared over it, the white and pale blue marked by the black of frostbite. "...I know what rot can do to a living organism and necromancers are masters of inflicting living things with it. Imagine the guardian losing the egg it cared for, for hundreds of years only to lose it because some amateur necromancer came along. There would be nothing stopping its wrath."

He closed his hand and the cloud dissipated. His reptile-like eyes looked at all the elves, they looked angry, shocked and one of them was crying silently. While Ethan felt that the guardian was worth protecting, these people had a totally different relationship with it. These elves saw the guardian in a divine light and he just told them that somebody wanted to turn their god against them and as expected they couldn't really process it.

Lenora jumped to her feet, she was a bit calmer than the rest but the flames burning behind her eyes would be enough to burn half the jungle down. She looked up to Ethan, her lips pressed into a thin line. He could see how the gears in her head were turning as she thought about his words, finally she took a deep breath and said. "I don't want to believe you but it's the only lead we have so there is only one way to solve this. We need to climb the mountain before the monster can but we will return to our village and let the elders decide."

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Ethan nodded. "I could go alone but you're right, this is your home and your people should make the decision. But if you're willing to let me help I would be grateful, I need to reach the top of the mountain and this way I won't desecrate your holy place without permission."

She nodded and turned around to the others, the flames in her soul seemed to be satisfied for now. Her voice seemingly lost its edge as she addressed the others. "We will move out, pack up and be ready as fast as possible, we're far away from home now but if Pale and his pack are willing we can make the trip back."

The wolf barked and stood up, quickly followed by the rest of them. Pale walked over to Ethan and nudged him with his nose. He smiled and scratched the wolf behind his ears, his thoughts wandering to Nora for a moment. She was still safe. He knew that but it seems their reunion would have to wait. The elves were already mounting the other wolves and Ethan boosted himself up again with a block of ice, he really needed some more points in dexterity.

He grabbed the long fur of Pale and made himself as small as possible so he wouldn't hit low hanging branches on the wild ride to the elven village. He took a deep breath as he felt the muscles of Pale tense under him, a moment later the wolf shot forward happy to be on the move again. "I hope you're doing alright Nora."

Her body moved slowly as she approached the target of her hunt. Coiled up like a spring she launched herself forward, mouth wide open as her fangs pierced the monkey's neck, her tail wrapping around its body. She was faster and stronger than him so she easily overpowered the helpless creature. Its screams would be deafening to a human but she could just dampen her hearing. While snakes usually had pretty bad hearing she was no normal snake but even then having the ability to stop hearing was sometimes a blissful experience.

Over the last few days Nora was travelling through the jungle at a leisurely pace, there was the countdown she had to worry about but that was a problem for another time. Over her bond with Ethan she felt that he was still safe but sometimes emotions bled through even at that distance. Sometimes fear or excitement and of course, boredom. It seems he had a mixed time while hers was really great.

She learned to hunt for herself after the hunger returned, she used different racial abilities like her venom or the frost breath, she even managed to project aura. It only covered her skin and hadn't a reach like Ethan's but he was the wizard and she was the snake.

Being alone was something she wasn't used to, in the weird space where she floated as a bodiless soul there were always others she could exchange feelings with. Then she had Ethan who was usually by her side all the time. Now she was alone and while the first day was hard she enjoyed the freedom.

Hunting these monkeys was her new favorite activity. They were good at camouflage and had exceptional hearing and sense of smell, Nora tried dozens of times before she got her first kill and it felt good. She used most of her skills, even using her aura to mask her scent. She did it out of pure instinct but slowly she managed to activate her racial abilities freely.

While eating she felt her connection to Ethan flare up, there was pain, followed by anger and followed by…embarrassment? It seems he did something stupid again. Nora gave it a mental shrug and continued to devour parts of the monkey. Surely he will figure it out.

Uncensored, she finished eating until a new feeling flooded her mind. It was anger, pure anger about something but she couldn't decipher from the emotion what made him so angry. Slowly her head turned towards Ethan's position. Maybe she should return and help him out? Otherwise he would have sent her some form of distress if he really was in trouble.

In the end she decided to trust Ethan and not go back, maybe there was an explanation for it, for now she would wait if something else bled through. In the meantime she would digest her meal.

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