Hey all! This is crazy! I made two uploads in less than a week! Well, the only reason this happened is because I had this mostly written already. And I noticed very quickly that it would be too long for a single chapter to cover, so I broke it up. The second chapter will come by next weekend or sooner.

Anyways, welcome to Nightfall! This is a story I originally had planned for Halloween, but it ended up getting backlogged by real life. I highly suggest reading Alstroemeria and A Bright Bond before diving into this story, as the aforementioned stories set up some of the background for this tale. I also recommend looking at Rena's side story in-game. As a disclaimer, this is NOT canon, but as close to canon as it probably can be without it simply being a retelling. Enjoy!

Rena stared into the evening sky from the brush just outside the village, watching the last rays of Solace fade away before the coming night. The spirits around her shivered as a chilling breeze swept through the forest and it carried the sound of their whimpering to her ears.

She reached out to the nearest one and cradled it gently in her hands. "It's alright, eolin-i. We'll get to the bottom of this soon." She smiled reassuringly at the tiny sprite, which looked up to her with frightened eyes and looked like it wanted to say something

"You know…" But its chance passed due to the arrival of another elf. "Branwen's gonna be pretty upset that we're sneaking out at this time of year." Rena turned to the newcomer with a smile.

"Right on time, Lua. And Branwen's not going to be upset, because she'll never know," Rena countered, still holding the spirit in her hands. Lua smiled at the tiny spirit before turning her gaze back to her friend.

"Rena, I know you're worried, but there's a reason Branwen doesn't want anyone to leave the village at night. Every now and then-"

"Some of our people go missing. I know, but…" Rena interrupted, finally releasing the spirit which floated away to join its companions around the elf. "It's also around this time these children feel so… afraid." She looked to the spirits around her worriedly, not noticing the slight look of contempt from Lua.

But it came and went in the blink of an eye as Lua settled her expression into one of concern. "You've said that before. Did you ask them why they're so scared?"

Rena nodded and her expression fell slightly. "I have, year after year, night after night, but they won't show me what's wrong. And that scares me. What could be out there that terrifies them enough to not even speak of it?"

Lua narrowed her eyes at her friend. While she admired her friend's empathy towards everything she came across, there was a part of her that resented that trait. But this resentment quickly gave way to self-reprimanding. They were elves; negativity flows through them only to be washed away in the current of time. They could not hold onto such things like hatred, fury and jealousy.

She had to get her mind off these dark thoughts. "Maybe it's the suchwiin," she said, adding a spooky effect to her voice when she said the name.

Rena shivered. "Lua, you know I hate it when you say it like that!"

The other elf laughed. "Come on, Rena. The suchwiin are just a myth to scare the eolin geosdeul. We're not kids anymore. They aren't real."

Rena pouted at her friend. "It's not the word so much as how you say it! It's so creepy," she protested.

Lua laughed again. "You mean like this? Suchw-"

"Lua!"

"Okay okay! Let's get going before it gets any later and someone notices we're missing." Lua held up her hands and changed the topic before their argument would attract attention. They were only just outside the village border after all.

Rena's mood instantly turned serious. "Right. Let's see if we can't find whatever is frightening these children. Let's go." She picked up her bow and started to walk deeper into the forest. Lua followed quietly behind her.

Night had just fallen and Ebalon illuminated the way. But there was an eerie feeling of dread accompanying the wind as it blew through the branches. The spirits following the two elves shivered at its chilling caress. Rena reached out to them and held them close to her chest and spoke some quiet words of comfort as Lua looked on.

She knew that she couldn't hope for Rena's gift, but she always felt a pang of envy whenever she saw her friend laughing with the little children. They'd never do that with anyone else but her and Branwen. Lua didn't feel jealous of their elder; Branwen had centuries, perhaps even a millennia, of experience to complement her ability to commune with the spirits, granting her more respect than envy.

Rena, on the other hand, had no such history. In place of experience and wisdom she possessed insatiable curiosity, childish naivete and reckless drive. And yet praise was heaped upon her simply because she had a gift that was revered by their people.

The elven ranger set her jaw and turned her gaze away from her friend. She had to focus. They were looking for some kind of inexplicable horror that terrified the spirits into silence. Who knows what it could be.

It could be a corrupted spirit from the demon realm. It could be a territorial ent. It could be-

The wet sound of flesh being torn apart interrupted her thoughts. "Rena," she called ahead of her.

Rena's ears tilted up and she released the spirit in her arms. "I hear it. It's just past those trees…"

The two elves crouched low to the ground and quietly advanced. Each of them nocked an arrow onto their bows and leaned up against the trees in question.

With a silent nod from Lua the duo spun around the trees in perfect unison and drew the arrows to their cheeks.

What they beheld drained the color from their faces; Blood and tufts of feathers were scattered on the surrounding leaves, and just a short distance away were two creatures. One was an adult ruchi, but its chest was split open by the claws of the other animal.

The aggressor was a phoru covered in its victim's blood, and it was carving more bloody gashes in the corpse. It's ears twitched at the sound of the elves coming around the tree. It slowly turned to face them, and Rena sucked in a breath. Apart from the blood splattered across itself, there were what appeared to be talon and beak marks all over it. And they did not look like injuries sustained from an act of self-defense, but from an act of aggression.

But the most terrifying feature the two elves saw was how it looked at them; its face contorted in terror and it bared its teeth menacingly, a sign for them to come no closer. It took a small step back and fidgeted with is bloodied claws.

"Is it… scared?" Lua whispered.

"I'm not sure. Let me just-" Rena lowered her weapon, took a step forward and began to reach out to the terrified creature.

"GRAAAAAAAGH!" This turned out to be a poor choice, as the crazed phoru leapt through the air, claws ready to swipe at the elf.

"Rena!" Lua released her arrow and it screamed past the stunned Rena, who hopped away from the attacker, and embedded itself in the animal's chest; a clean, lethal shot.

The phoru was already dead by the time it hit the ground where Rena had stood a moment earlier. An uneasy silence fell, but Rena released a breath she didn't know she was holding to break it.

"Th-Thank… you… Lua" she gasped, placing a hand over her thudding heart.

"Y-Yeah…" Lua answered, still in shock at what just occurred. "I've never seen the animals act like this. Even the mothers don't get this aggressive when we're near their newborns."

"That couldn't even be considered aggression. That was more… ssaugeona bihaenghada…" Rena still had her eyes locked on the dead animal.

"Fight or flight? You think so?" Lua carefully walked towards the corpse to check if it was truly dead.

"Did you see its eyes? I had never seen fear so powerful before…" Rena looked away as Lua yanked her arrow from the creature's chest.

"Yeah… I guess it was scared. But what could be out here that the animals would just attack anything that moves out of fear?" Lua stepped over the phoru and began examining the ruchi. She then noticed that the bird's blank eyes had the same look to them as the phoru: wide and terrified. It died scared.

And then they heard it - even felt it. A low, rumbling growl that carried a terrifying chill. The two elves snapped to attention and drew their arrows, backing into each other so they were back-to-back.

"Chugbogbad-eun josang, what is that?" Lua whispered. That was nothing she had heard before.

"I don't know, but look at the children…" Rena answered and flicked her eyes to the spirits around them.

Lua had noticed that they were on edge this whole time, but now they were darting about erratically. And she knew this was not excitement.

It was a warning.

And then she saw something among the shadows of the trees: A trio of pale blue orbs staring at her. Her heart leapt into her throat.

"Rena…" She nudged her friend with her elbow. Rena spun around, weapon at the ready and nearly released out of shock.

"... Lua…" Her voice was shaking. The gaze from whatever it was projected a feeling of terror she had never experienced before, like fear itself manifested into a physical form.

The duo stared back at these eyes and slowly began to back away. And when they took their third step, the eyes suddenly surged forward and the sound of stomping feet reached their ears.

It was coming for them.

"Geolughan ttong, run!" Lua shouted, releasing her arrow, spinning around and grabbing her friend's wrist.

"Ah!" Rena fired her projectile just as Lua's hand clamped around her wrist and used the tug to start sprinting. The two elves didn't even bother checking whether their attacks had any effect, they just ran.

And ran and ran and ran. Leaves slapped their faces, branches nicked their skin, but they didn't slow. They couldn't slow. If they did, this… thing would catch them.

The stomping sound resounded just behind them, their assailant keeping pace. The spirits flew ahead, weaving around trunks and risen roots, guiding the elves in their flight.

Then suddenly, the stomping stopped. But they kept running. It wasn't until they didn't hear it for another minute or so that they finally slowed to a brisk walk.

"Did… Did we lose it…" Rena panted, shooting wary glances at the surrounding brush. The spirits stopped zipping around, but they were clearly still anxious.

"I… I think so…" Lua was also looking and listening for any sign of their pursuer, but it seemed they gave it the slip for now. Taking in their surroundings, she noticed the spirits had led them to a cliff face. They were probably about a mile or two from the village. Once they had rested from their flight, they could follow the cliff face until they got back home.

"What was that thing?" She inquired, using their moment of rest to ponder their mysterious pursuer. "I didn't get a good look at it, but it felt… dangerous."

"I think…" Rena held a spirit to her chest. "I think that is what these children are so scared of. Did you see how they reacted to its mere presence?"

Lua remembered. They went from jittery to hysterically buzzing around. If she and Rena hadn't been there, they looked like they would have fled. "That'd make sense, but… what was that creature?" She thought about its gaze. How it looked at them, like prey.

How it looked at her.

Why did it seem like its gaze was fixed on herself? Lua knew she wasn't carrying any food on her apart from a couple pieces of El fruit. Could it be that Rena's bond with the spirits shielded her from its sight? No, the spirits couldn't physically hide someone, and there was little physical difference between Lua and her friend; well, except Rena was also gifted with Gaia's bosom, but that was beside the point.

What did it want? What did it want from her?

A flash of motion caught her and Rena's attention. Looking above, Lua saw the spirits were zipping around erratically again. She nudged Rena, who was catching her breath. "Rena…"

Rena's head snapped up to see the terrified sprites. "Wait… We didn't lose it?"

As if to answer her question, the growl from earlier rumbled through the clearing. The elves spun towards the sound, bows drawn, and like last time they saw the three ghostly blue eyes.

Unlike last time they had nowhere to run. Behind them was a sheer cliff that ran nearly fifty meters up. They had to stand their ground this time.

Then the eyes drew closer, and the elves heard the sound of heavy steps. From the shadows, a large, menacing claw covered in dim, alien symbols reached out and found purchase on nearby log. The rest of the creature slowly crept out into the light of Ebalon, and the two elves froze.

The monster stood at nearly two meters in height and its canine head sat atop a body of thin, ash-grey fur that seemed to shift like smoke. A forked tail whipped around behind it, and a pair of horns protruded from the top of its head. Around its neck was a collar of thickened fur and a pair of short, white, antennae-like protrusions poked out from behind its head. But most terrifying was the fang-lined mouth and the third eye in the middle of its head.

This creature was not one from the forest, maybe even Elrios itself.

Neither Lua or Rena dared speak and the spirits darted behind them. The monster came closer, sniffing the air loudly and let out a rumbling breath. The air seemed to become heavy and goosebumps sprouted on the elves' arms.

Lua was the first to break the silence. "Rena… run. Get to the village and gather the rangers. I'll stay and hold it off."

Rena looked to her friend in shock. Lua wanted to remain behind and fight this thing? By herself?

They didn't even know what this creature was; let alone where it came from. To take on such an unknown force alone was considered suicide. They had to at least figure out what this creature was and what it was doing here.

And then she heard a sound, but not from the trees or the monster. It was coming from behind her. She stole a glance to her left and saw a spirit trying to say something.

"Ijanoett... alam… nahiwhc…"

It was rare for the spirits to speak, even to her. Most of the time, they played along with her requests without a word or a small jingle that was their laughter. The mere fact that this one spoke to her gave weight to those three words.

Don't… leave… taken…

The last word made Rena gasp. To be taken was a myth. To be taken was a fate reserved for those who were lost to the carnal emotions the elves shunned.

And the supposed perpetrator of these takings was…

"Lua… No…" She couldn't leave Lua here on her own. "That is… a suchwiin…"

So if you just read this without reading Alstroemeria and/or A Bright Bond, you're gonna have questions, particularly on what a suchwiin is. This will be answered in a future update, but understand that a suchwiin is something to be feared if you're an elf in my version of Elrios. Below are the translations for the elven - which is actually Korean according to Google Translate - words used throughout this chapter.

eolin-i - child (This is an affectionate term the elves use for the spirits, alternating between this and the common tongue children)

suchwiin - Taker/Takers (This will be explained later, but know they are an object of fear for the elves)

eolin geosdeul - young ones (Refers to elven children)

ssaugeona bihaenghada - fight or flight (Exactly what it sounds like)

Chugbogbad-eun josang - (Blessed Ancestors. A common prayer for the elves)

Geolughan ttong - Holy shit (Yes, it's a curse)

You may have also noticed that the spirits spoke, but not in any language you've heard of before. It's actually pretty simple: they speak Korean backwards. I never really planned on the spirits speaking much, but their native tongue is basically backwards Korean. The translation for those words are written in a following line already, so I'm not going to translate that for you.

Stay tuned for the next update! I'm shooting to finish this story in two updates, but it may take three. We'll see. Please Read and Review!

Until next time!