Luna fluttered her eyes open as a white beam of light hit her face. She was back in her dream, under the familiar willow tree and also her head lying on the strangers lap. She slowly turned her head to look at the man. Just like the other dreams, he was reading a book. But today, she could see the subtle details of his clothing. Black adorned armor with a golden hue.

"You awake love?" Once again the familiar question she waited every night to hear.

"I am." She replied and waited to wake up again. But no. Nothing happened. She was still in her dream. What was happening, why is she still not awake. She suddenly started to panic and was about to stand up when the man put the book down.

"Are you okay Luna?" The face she was dreading to see all of these years was now staring right back at her. Her eyes teared up with the sudden revelation that she covered her mouth with her hand. The blue eyes with raven black hair. Damien was sitting In Front of her, concern lacing throughout his face.

" What's wrong love? You are pale as if you have seen a ghost?" His hand found its way to Luna's cheek and she automatically leaned into the warm touch. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. More like she was not ready to accept it. Damien was the one she met every night for the past couple of years. He was now caressing both of Luna's cheeks and his forehead was leaned against her own. Their breaths mingled together as they fell into each other's comfort. That's when Luna felt the weird sensation. She was waking up again. And then the next second she was back to where she was before. Her eyes were still tearing up and she could feel her dampened cheeks. She looked behind her only to see Damien fighting with what seemed like a...spider.

Before Luna's Dream...

" Oh Draven~" Adam sighed. A petite, slender girl with long black hair was sitting on a branch dangling her feet looking directly at the gang rather amused. Her eyes were a bright violet, her skin was pale as the moon and her lips were a red as a rose in spring. She very closely resembled a young girl in her early 20s. She looked so delicate and precious but the way she smiled showed that something far more sinister and cruel lied beneath her facade. She just watched them without uttering a single word, just slowly turning her head back and forth. "Pathetic" she whispered under her breath.

"Should we say something...? Why is she smiling? Maybe if we smile back she'll give us our mages and go away." Adam said, still fixing his gaze on the girl who was sitting and admiring their presence. "Where's Helene anyway?" Adam said, noticing that his favorite blonde had wandered off.

" I think our priority should be that small child on the tree." Logan said, readying to throw his ax towards the girl. " The fact that you are so comfortable with that, makes me question our friendship Logan" said Adam refilling his revolver with bullets.

A laugh erupted from the girl. She was shaking her head, " oh don't be so mean! " she kept whispering under her breath "They can't be too bad" her whispers grew louder but the gang still could not make much of it.

"God she looks fun, let's end it shall we? Oi, you! Up crazy in the tree! We had such a fun time, but we have to go now and we are gonna take our friends with us. So~ this is a bullet with a magical spell and-" before anyone could even say anything, Adam shot her in the head.

"boom~ what can I say, no matter the distance, a perfect shot!" Adam blew the smoke from his revolver and put it into his pocket.

They watched as the lifeless body fell into the ground, shrieking noises came from the trees and the whisperings got worse and worse." ahhhh " Kiara dropped down to her knees covering her ears. "make it stop! make it stop!" Logan went towards her and held her tightly, " it's gonna be okay. Have this."

He gave her his protection amulet which seemed to have some sort of repellent to the whispers not to completely drown them out, just to keep the voices at bay.

" I haven't met a human since.... How many decades has it been ?" A small shrill voice said. They all looked back at the girl lying on her back. She slowly got up and twisted her head which made a sound.

"ouch that hurt" she said and grinned.

" Ughh Damien... why is the creepy lady getting back up again!?" Adam said, pulling out his revolver again.

"Come on Christine let's finish her up" he fired once more perfect shot it pierced her heart but she wouldn't even budge. "Now... Now boy, we don't need to do that.... Why don't you just surrender?" she said. Her words were carried by the wind; they were so faint... so promiscuous. Her eyes started to glow, she started to hum a faint song. Adam could no longer feel where he was. For all he knows, there was some lady trying to pull him close and do all the wildest things he has ever imagined.

" Snap out of it Adam! don't let her get to you!" Kiara slapped Adam's head causing him to come back to reality.

" Did you just try to seduce me? Listen lady, I may swing both ways, but still I'm afraid ancient demons aren't just my type."

Damien was panicking as Luna still hadn't gotten her conscious. Helene was missing, and not even Adams bullets could make even a small impact on the girl.

God Luna wake up

Protecting their mage and Kiara whilst fighting a monster was a hard job, heck they barely survived last time. " Hey Logan, I think we found another one of the malevolent seven haven't we? Mate aren't we the lucky ones.." Damien shouted, while chuckling at the absurdity of their quest so far.

"What is she doing anyway? Who is she talking with?" Kiara shouted, getting agitated by the murmurs of the woods with every passing minute.

"oh how rude of me! do forgive. No one has ever passed this for quite some time, I forgot how to treat guests. " she said her voice was now sharp, her innocent like features seemed to vanish.

"We were just discussing." she said she slowly started walking towards them.

"me and my friends, who are we gonna eat first?'' as she said the murmurs echoed a laugh.

" The funny man who got me was their pick. But you tall handsome young man has so much desire that oooh I'm losing myself thinking about your flesh. "

she said, looking straight at Damien.

" Whoever you're thinking about, I can give you more. You know; power, knowledge... pleasure." Her words went through him like knives, each piercing and intoxicating him.

" Sorry love, she's got something you'll never have. Damien said as he started manifesting a shadow spear with his hands.

"What's that?" she asked, confused.

" A heart of good virtue." He used all of his strength and threw the spear, it went through her body right away causing her to scream in agony .

" How dare you defy me child! Do you know how many soldiers begged for me?"

She was still talking whilst the spear tore her body.

" God Damien are you alright?" said Kiara as she ran to the floor, just in time to catch her brother. The spear was effective yet it takes most of his energy.

Although Kiara came to his rescue he did not want her near. His inner voice would always keep reminding him what he really was, You monster! look at what you did?

Words from his past echoed through his head, as he felt the heat and the flames of that fateful night. " Hey are you okay? we are here for you" Kiara said grabbing his hand, she was desperate for him to come back. "I'm fine dumb ass " he said slowly getting up by himself Shit that hurts. Kiara backed away slowly, She knew deep down that her brother would do anything to protect them for they were all he had left.

" Oi mage Luna wake up!" Adam was shaking the mage and slapped her across the face. Luna's eyes were purple and so were her veins. She just stared and smiled.

" Why hasn't the curse broken yet?" Logan said whilst assisting Damien to stand still.

" God, where's our healer? " Adam said, looking around. "Ummm guys what is she doing? "

It was hard to describe. She was splitting, withering ,shrieking. Her body tore apart but somehow she was still murmuring and shaking her head vigorously. Till after a moment all voices stopped, some of the mushrooms around her lost all of its color and died down. Before Adam jumped to celebrate, Damien shushed him. Her lower body started to shed and revealed a gruesome scene. Legs that had the looks of a spider crawled out of the top part of her body, covered in dark slime. They were sharp, they dug deep through into the dirt. Her skin was no more of the clothes she wore; this was really her. Her veins were purple, it shined on her skin. Her eyes were oozing darkness and she was angry. Many have lusted over her but these puny humans have shown nothing but utter disrespect for her.

I'll show them what true power looks like.

"Damien, I don't think we can do this alone! God dang where are the mages when you need them?!" Adam said, preparing to run.

"I do not sense her core, it seemed the monster hid its heart somewhere else," said Logan.

" Ok Kiara! go find Helene we need all the magic we can get- "

Damien said, forming shadow orbs. " I'm not leaving you, I can help just give me a chance!" She took some magically infused bombs.

" Oh for the love of Draven Kiara... I am not having this conversation. Adam," Damien directly looked at Adam.

" Find the mage. Got it? "Adam ran into the woods.

where in the Draven's did that mage run off to.

...........

Emris sake milo, please let it be you.

Helene kept running frantically through the woods; the purple spores seemed to be infected more and more as she got closer to the voice. Then she heard a gunshot and faint screams of her own name, several in fact.

What kind of lunatic shoots like that.... Shit Adam! Helene finally snapped back to reality.

Where am I? Shit Luna! panic struck her. She started looking around.

god the shots didn't sound too far away. Maybe if I send a spear of lightning Helene manifested her magic around her she raised her hand sending light to the sky. As she stood there the air around got thicker. The purple spores were moving like it had a mind of its own. Helene could hear whispers about Milo. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. Adam, where are you?

"Oi mage do you have any idea what happened?" Adam came running with a gun in his hands. Helene let down her hand, she was exhausted but still standing "where's Luna?" she asked.

"Well, I can tell you where she is, but we have bigger problems now you see, I'm afraid."

Helene was now caught up. god how did that rhyme go again ... "sorry mate but we do not have time to just stand my friends are fighting to their possible dea-" Helene put her hand on Adam's mouth shushing him as she remembered the poem.

Lustress, her heart veiled in deceit,

Dwells amidst the forest's retreat.

"That can't be the lustress, she's the weakest of them all, according to the lore she lays deep in the forest, waiting for her prey " she said looking at the trail of spores. "Well bloody hell then Damien is fighting that spider lady all for nothing huh?" Adam said, shaking his head trying to grasp what the blonde was telling him. "Maybe it's a decoy... to you know distract us from the real core. I mean think about it, the woods get thicker and colder in this direction." She said and closed her eyes and finally once again listened to the whispers. It wasn't Mylo who was calling for her... no it was the lustress. All those years of pining for milo, the lustress must have felt that desperation and boy did she sound hungry.

"I know where the core is.'' she used her clairvoyance and saw a cave not too far from here inside her beating heart glowing in purple covered in webs it almost looked like an egg.

"Well, don't just stand there! let's go shoot the son of a bitch!" Adam said reloading his revolver.

"For Draven's sake are we there yet Helene?" Adam whined as they ran through the woods. Both of them wore a mask to protect themselves from the spores, as they seem to give them hallucinations. "If someone didn't flirt with the tree we would have been there already!"

Helene shouted back.

"It's the crazy fungus mate, don't blame me for that."

Then finally they reached the cave. It had a glow coming from the inside.

"Oh there she is~ " they marveled at the sight of the cave. "Well lets meet her, can't keep a lady waiting on us, it's rude." said Adam holding up his two revolvers grinning.

They went into the cave which was filled with spores as the cave was in purple hue. Helene casted a protective bubble around her and Adam. "The spores don't seem too friendly to be honest." she said finishing the spell. They walked deeper into the cave and there it lay in the form of a gigantic mushroom, her core... you could hear it beating in a rhythm. So sweet, so familiar. As they both grew closer they started to hear voices.

"Helene remember our promise... don't you want to see me again?" The core mimicked Milo's voice.

It sounds too real

She closed her eyes, the scar he left when he disappeared hadn't healed yet. Then the voice woman talked to Adam. "Adam, I never meant to leave... keep the core alive and I'll tell you where to find me" Adam shook his head. "Don't mimic her voice you monster" without any warning he started to shoot the core. It shrieked and oozed out a violet substance and then all the spores around them started to take form of people. Most of them walked towards Adam begging him to stop shooting. Since the core prioritized Adam, Helene snuck closer to the core.

She looked back to check on Adam who now had women and men draping over him asking him to stop. He tried his best to not mind them but even in the dim light Helene could see the tears that dripped down from his eyes. Just then a girl maybe a bit older than him in hunter's uniform came and held his hand almost trying to shift his aim from the core to Helene "Adam don't you see she's trying to keep you away from me shoot her" she whispered into his ears. "HELENE YOU BETTER HURRY" Adam said, still averting his gaze from the young woman.

Helene took out her sword and focused all of her strength to it, as it started to glow she lifted it high aiming for the core's center. Before the core showed her Mylo she let out a scream and cut the core into half. And all of the color began to fade away leaving nothing but a void of darkness. She fell to her knees as the illusion of Mylo looked at her. " I'm sorry.." she whimpered. The illusion gave her a heartwarming smile as if telling her the what happened in the past was not her fault and vanished into air.

They heard a large noise from the cave. It seemed to be crumbling from within. "Ok enough moping around" Adam quickly grabbed Helene's hood and dragged her to her feet. They ran fast as their legs could carry them. As soon as they got out the cave closed behind them leaving nothing but a pile of rocks. They just stood there panting, looking at what used to be the cave whilst desperately trying to make sense of what they just went through.

"So do we agree to never talk about what happened back there? '' Adam asked, still gasping for air. "Agreed " Helene said with a sly smile. "She was cute tho" she said playfully punching his arm "piss off mage" Adam rebutted.

Meanwhile...

The rest were fighting the monster relentlessly. Luna gained her consciousness but she was still bewildered by what was happening before her.

"Hey I know I was rude to you before, but you have to save my brother. I don't think he has any mana left" Kiara was shaking and trying to control herself. Luna looked over at Damien trying stay strong, she had to, for Kiara's sake. She could only make up of a blurry vision of Damien throwing shadow orbs to the monster they were fighting. It did not seem to take any damage; it kept regenerating.

I have to go help them. She tried moving but only found that her body would betray her and fall down.

Damien hang in there I'm coming

It was no use the lustress had inflicted her mind turning her numb. She watched the fight helplessly. Then the monster turned to her, it seemed like it changed its victim. After all, it must have been hungry. As the creature began to move toward her direction Damien took Logan's ax and infused it with all of his remaining mana till the axe had a dark glow around it he let out battle cry and dealt the final death blow. The creature moved no longer "what kind of knightsmen hits the opponent back " the monster said faintly hissing each word. "I'm no knightsmen. I'm just another monster.. like you. '' Damien replied, dropping the axe. "You remind me of the first king, hope you suffer the same cruel... tragic.. fate" the monster let out a taunting laugh while the remaining of its body turned into dust.

"OI Damien we destroyed the coree.. Damien stay strong we are here save you...." Adam came running whilst shooting the air like a maniac. "So I'm guessing I came in a bit late, innit?" he said, staring at his crew who was now laying on the floor "Oi Damien, you're bleeding." Adam said. Damien was covered in bruises and now had little to no energy "mate you should have seen the other guy" Damien said and patted him on the shoulder as he limped his way to Luna.

"Lulu stay with me are you ok..." Helene held Luna as she was still recovering, she moaned out a few words. Kiara went up to Damien and started scolding him for being reckless but from her tone it was clear that it came out a place of worry. "Don't ever act soo foolish or I swear on Emris's name I'd burn your library" Kiara went rambling on. Damien calmed her down "Go check on Logan he was badly hurt... I'm fine Kiara.. I promise" he reassured her. She huffed and ran to help Adam who was trying to help Logan stand up.

"Is she going to be ok?" Damien asked Helene as he got down on his knees and checked on Luna. "Yeah i hope so.....the lustress seemed to have temporarily paralyzed her... but not to worry i casted a healing spell on her she'll recover quickly "

She said looking at her cousin as she tried her best to speak. "What is it love?" Damien said and got close to her. "I'm sorry...I couldn't help you." Luna said her eyes welling up with tears. She was frustrated that she couldn't speak because of the spell. "No worries love. Even if I ended up on my deathbed, I would always choose you to survive." Damien said while giving a small reassuring smile stroking Luna's hair gently. "You always have your ways with your words Damien!." Luna lightly chuckled through the mindlink enjoying this rather intimate moment with Damien. "Only for you love. Only for you."

"Sorry to interrupt you two lover birds, but Viltarin isn't going to find itself." Adam said butting in. Damien stared at him, " What did I ruin the moment, hey lulu!" he smiled and waved at Luna innocently. "I can smell, Viltarin is nearby.. we rest for a few minutes and head straight north, we can get there by dawn" said Logan said, clearly still not recovered by his wounds. "We better not meet any more of the malevolent seven I swear..." Adam said as he laid on the floor. "Guys look around, it's turning green again!" said Kiara as she marveled at the sight. All the purple hue that covered the forest was no longer the trees looked vibrant; they haven't seen that type of greenery since forever.

" This must have been what it was like.. before the monsters.. wow~" Helene said, feeling the grass beneath her feet.