The sound of dirt being trodden underfoot was clear in the forest that appeared so empty, so devoid of life. It seemed strange, because of the otherwise lush, green, and prosperous environment, but it was evident that there were but a few living souls left in the forest that had been the witness to many a tragedy.

A twig snapped, but no birds rushed to the skies. A branch was pushed aside, but not a single insect took off.

"Fuck, I always hated this forest." The lone, hooded wanderer said to himself, as he pushed his way through a shrubbery.

Alone as he was, there was no-one to correct him on his foul language, which suited the man just fine. Not that he would care should his cursing be heard; he wasn't the friendliest kind of person.

He was wearing white robes with the hood drawn over his face. Ornamental gems decorated the already beautiful robes, which seemed completely unaffected by the mass amounts of dirt being sprayed unto them, as the lone man traversed the dead forest. He carried no weapons on him, but as there were no monsters in the forest that would hardly become an issue for him.

What would, however, prove difficult for him, should he meet an opponent, was the way he was limping, as if he was wounded. The robes covered his entire body, so one couldn't tell, but the man was scarred across almost every centimeter of his being; some were superficial and others weren't. Some of the scars that covered him made simple everyday tasks completely impossible. Walking, for example, was made difficult due to the fact that even slight movement caused every fiber of his being to ache.

"Argh, I fucking hate this body..." He groaned, when a specifically nasty wave of pain hit him.

Others might've stopped, seeing as moving was hard, but this man kept walking. His destination was close. The place he had set his eyes on would almost be within sight, but because of the dense forest, there was still quite a bit of time to pass before he would eventually have made his way to the desired place of arrival.

A painful hour passed, but the iron-willed young man didn't stop pressing forward. He could now see the clearing in which there sat a lone being, much like himself.

It wore white robes, completely identical to the young man's, whose robes were of the same color. The hooded being was sitting down, leaning on a large tree trunk. It seemed as if it was resting, but the scarred man didn't have the capacity to let it rest. Instead, he walked up to it and tapped it lightly on the shoulder. It was freezing cold, and while it wasn't visible due to the size of its clothes, it was extremely thin, however, that didn't come as a surprise to the young man who knew the being quite well.

"Master... You have awakened..." It said, raising its head to look at the man it called its master.

"Save the goddamn formalities for a time where I'm not dying. Patch me up!" The scarred man managed to say through rasping breath and gritted teeth.

"Right away, master..." The hooded being said and coated its hand in a blob of glowing water, which was conjured with a quiet whisper.

The young man was laid on the ground from where he was healed with what he could only assume was Water Magic, which, if one knew how to use it, doubled as healing magic. Water Magic was yet another type of magic the wounded man would eventually have to learn.

"I believe... I will have to remove... Your hood, master..." The hooded creature quietly said.

Wounded as he was, the scarred young man silently nodded. He didn't see any point in hiding his face from someone who appeared to want to help him, however, he didn't quite know what to make of the fact that his savior was only referring to him as 'master'. A word, which the young man had used to describe the people who had kept him as a slave in the past.

The hood was removed, and underneath it was the scarred face of a man who was believed to be dead. The fugitive-gone-adventurer, Ash Tsuga. Anyone would agree that he, without the scars, was an extraordinarily beautiful man. The way his hair resembled a night sky that neatly folded itself around his head and fell to his shoulders like a waterfall of blackness. His skin was pale, like the snow on a cold December evening. But there were things besides the scars that obscured his beauty. His eyes were dead, empty mirrors that showed the cracked piece of antiquity, which was his soul; his conscience.

Ash was patched up over the course of a couple of hours. It was a painful process, which ended up involving a lot of agony and screaming. In the process of killing the young elf, Ash Tsuga, many of his internal organs had sustained damage, but others were completely shattered. However, after a lot of time, the suffering elf ended up being stitched together with the power of Water Magic and a bit of medical science.

After being patched up, the young elf slept on the ground for a while; not for long, but long enough for the pain to go away. When he awoke, the lich was still at his side. It was watching for potential threats, but given the emptiness of the forest, it wasn't very likely to find any.

"Thank you for watching over me." The young elf said as he stood up.

He twisted and turned his body, and was thrilled to experience that none of his scars and wounds were causing him any trouble. The only problem that remained, and perhaps the most troublesome one, was his lack of strength. Ever since he had found himself in the cold, hard cave, the young elf had found his physical strength to have dropped considerably.

"I was able to... Heal you but... You're still not... Whole yet..." The hooded being said.

Ash looked at his servant for a few seconds. An annoyed expression laid ready to overtake his face, but he managed to mask that fact behind the cold, lifeless expression that he had come to use a lot.

"That's... Fine. I suppose I'll simply have to find a Light Magic user, who's willing to help out an undead elf." The young elf said, unable to hide all of his annoyance.

When it came to his scars, his heritage, and his appearance, it was as if the world was always working against him. Fortunately, Ash had learned how to cope with that fact, but there were still times when cracks in that facade showed. Because that perception of him was wrong. The reality was that the young elf spent every living, as well as every dead and dying, moment cursing his unfortunate self. But now things were different... Ash finally had the power to change his situation.

"What the hell do I call you?" The former slave asked his servant.

The dark being, who had been addressed, put its fist on his heart and spoke with a voice, which was much clearer than the one it usually used.

"I am Zennereth, at your service."

"Right, Zennereth. I'm gonna need to gauge my strength. Getting myself killed in another fight hardly benefits me in any way, so have a sparring match with me. Come at me as if you wanted to kill me; I'm gonna do the exact same." Ash said, reaching for his trusty dagger, only to find out that he didn't have it on him.

The lich looked at its master for a few seconds, before reaching for something on its back. Something it hadn't used during the battle for Elcrada. It was coated in black rags, which, when hung on Zennereth's back, could go almost unnoticed. A sword, and a huge one too. The blade was made of some premium type of metal, the name of which Ash did not know. Nevertheless, it didn't matter, for the young elf had asked to be faced with the full force of his servant.

The young elf walked twenty steps away with his back to his servant, giving both him and his opponent ground to use spells before engaging in melee combat. That was a habit that had stuck with him from his time with the adventurers. Being honorable.

'Never again...' The young elf thought to himself, as his face contorted.

"Well then, let us begin!" Ash shouted.

Immediately after the young elf had said so, Zennereth started walking in Ash's direction. The lich wasn't very fast, the young elf knew that, so of course he had included that in his brief planning-phase to defeat the lich before him.

"Negative Surge!" Ash shouted, and was not surprised to see it dispelled a second later.

Right now, for the young elf, the battle was about gauging his own strength. He knew that his opponent was capable of wiping out an entire army, a city too, should it be asked to do so. The current experiment was to find out whether or not the young elf was capable of doing the same.

"Frostbolt..." Zennereth calmly said.

Ash sidestepped the spell, which had been sent flying in his direction, although the cold from the shard of ice could be felt as it flew by his face. That much was easy, but unfortunately, the young elf was left unable to perform as well as he usually did, due to his current lack of strength and agility.

"Negative Bolt!" The young elf then shouted, palm out held.

The dark bolt of distorted blackness flew through the air with an ominous crackling sound, as it emitted dark electricity from its core, which seemed like a rift in reality itself. It proved itself too powerful to be countered by the otherwise effective Dispel . Instead, the dark being deflected it with its sword, which had been infused with some sort of spell the nature of which the former slave didn't know.

Zennereth was getting dangerously close, so Ash decided to use the tier-three spell, Negative Blade , to coat his arms in the sharp, black mass that made up the void, which the young elf had become quite well-acquainted with.

Following that, the two of them swung their respective magical blades at each other, however, the lich was physically stronger than Ash, so the young elf was knocked back quite a few meters. He had planned to lock their blades together, giving him a chance to hit his servant with a spell up close. If a powerful magical spell was fired up close, there would be no time to block or otherwise deflect it.

'Goddamn it, I need to start training. My current strength just isn't going to cut it, in the future.' Ash thought to himself, as he got back in a somewhat stable stance.

"When are you going to... Show me the full... Extent of your power?" Zennereth asked.

It wasn't said in a mocking way, because the lich could feel something that the average person couldn't; its master's aura.

The young elf chuckled slightly at the remark from his servant. He eased up his battle stance, straightened his back, and held out his palm. Ash had tried to get a feel for his physical strength, which had turned out to be quite unimpressive, so instead, he was going to get a feel for his real power; his magical power.

"You're just keep amazing me, huh?" The now relaxed elf asked the lich, who had suddenly become extremely tense.

Zennereth did not respond, but started applying layers upon layers of protective, magical spells to himself instead. The lich had realized that the battle was over for it, but that didn't mean that it would simply roll over and get defeated. No, it would give its master what he had asked for; a real battle, fought with the intent to kill.

"Negative Hellfire." Ash calmly said.

A few seconds went by without anything happening, and if anyone was watching they would probably think that the spell had somehow failed. However, both of the two people present knew that the battle had been finished.

Cracking sounds suddenly started to come from Zennereth, who had been standing still ever since the young elf had cast his spell. And then, without a moment's notice, dark flames emerged from somewhere inside the lich, engulfing it, tearing at its soul and at its very being.

It was a veritable black inferno that had been birthed from Ash's palm. But no screams came from within the flames, for the young elf's servant knew that if its pride was to remain intact, it couldn't show any weakness whatsoever, especially not before its master whom it so adored. No, it simply stood within the flames and let them tear and claw at it until they eventually died down.

Zennereth fell to the ground, almost immediately after the spell had worn off, but luckily for him he had only been knocked out from the force of the spell.

Ash walked up to his servant, who had shown him a surprising amount of courage and willingness to do as it was told in their battle. For that, Zennereth had his respect.

It was almost dawn when the lich finally woke up. Its robes had been burnt away by the Negative Hellfire , but fortunately, there was nothing to cover up. Zennereth was a lich, after all.

If one took away the robes that covered him, he could almost be mistaken for a regular skeleton. But if one were to look a little more closely, they would realize that there was light within his eye sockets. Red light. This gave the lich a bit more of a... Live feel to it, compared to many other types of the undead.

"Oh, you're awake?" Ash asked.

"Yes master, I am wide awake and ready to serve." The lich replied, and stood up.

Made completely from bones, as he was, there were almost no repercussions on Zennereth's body whatsoever. This bothered Ash who was suffering tremendously after being killed.

"Alright. Put on some fucking clothes, we're headed for the capital." The former slave said, and threw his servant the black robes it had worn during the battle for Elcrada.

"As you command, master." The lich said, and followed its master who had already started walking in a direction.

The two of them walked for a while. The air around the two was heavy, and Zennereth knew exactly why that was. He decided to speak up about it to his master, who seemed bothered by the same.

"Master, do you have any idea where the capital is located?"

Silence followed that question, as Ash stopped dead in his tracks to look at his servant who had dared to question his ability to navigate the forest.

"Please lead the way." He said, embarrassed, gesturing for the lich to take the lead.

And so, the two of them walked through the forest. Their sights were set on the capital, and nothing was going to get in their way. After all, there was probably no-one strong enough to challenge them around. Although the heavy atmosphere was gone, the two didn't talk much. Neither of them were social beings, so the silence that surrounded them suited them just fine.