With her mission, Elysia heads over to the kingdom’s head of biology and plant

  life, Dr. Lyra Greenwood. She then heads down to the castle basement, only briefly stopping to admire the dark stone slabs and eco-friendly wood veneer held together with screws from her aunt, who is a construction worker who makes up the castle’s structure. Once she reaches the basement, she passes by two doors, specifically for the prison and dungeon. After passing the previous doors, Elysia goes to a large metal door. Elysia puts her slender hand on the door, and it’s cool to the touch.

  [Elysia: Open up Lyra! We have a mission to go on!] Elysia states as she slams her fist on the door.

  The door begins to open, and unlike all the other push-and-pull doors within the castle, it slides into the walls automatically. Standing in the darkness is a tall and slender woman in her 40s. Lyra is a surprising sight with her long, wavy brown hair that is often tied up. Her hair is messy, a sign that she wasn’t expecting any visitors. Lyra is huddled over a small plant encased in glass. Her bright green eyes, filled with surprise and intrigue, turn to where Elysia stands. Dr. Lyra Greenwood, hailing from a long line of esteemed botanists and agricultural experts, is a woman of mystery and knowledge. Raised in the fertile farmlands of Aranthia, she developed a deep passion for plants and sustainable farming practices from a young age. She pursued her studies at the prestigious Academy of Sciences in Midtown, where she excelled in agricultural science and environmental studies.

  [Elysia: What are you doing?]

  Lyra quickly huddles over to clean her mess and stands affirmingly.

  [Lyra: N-nothing! Anyway, what are you doing here?!? I’m on vacation!] Lyra is visibly sweating while her nervous speech comes out.

  [Elysia: The king has an emergency mission for the both of us. Sorry, but we will have to briefly take you out of your vacation.]

  Elysia says these words in a cold, blunt tone. She hopes she can strong-arm Lyra to come on this mission. Lyra just rolls her eyes at the statement.

  [Lyra: An emergency? Do I have to…]

  This is why working alongside Lyra was hard; she is extremely lazy. This was the 2nd time this month she was on vacation. Elysia was sure she only had a job because of her expertise. Then again, her knowledge was on another level. Elysia had to concede that, realistically, no one in the kingdom could deal more with an apparent “protector of nature” than Lyra Greenwood. Elysia had to pull out her secret weapon.

  [Elysia: Such a shame… I guess you don’t want to see a half-dryad in the flesh. I think I’ll have to find another biologist.]

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Elysia turns around to leave. She starts to walk away when she hears [WAIT!!!] Elysia turns around instantly.

  [Lyra: Did you say half-dryad?!?! I’ll pack my things immediately!!!]

  Lyra then rushes back into her laboratory. This was her one weakness: knowledge. Lyra needed to know everything about nature and wildlife. Not only are dryads themselves extremely rare, but they usually never crossbreed. Seeing a half-dryad is equivalent to finding Excalibur in terms of rarity. Elysia knew Lyra couldn’t pass this opportunity up. In a flash, Lyra was back. The journey into the whispering woods starts. After a few hours, they reach a metal door in the woods.

  [Lyra: This is the whispering woods’ only known entrance/exit. Typically, only people pure of heart can even find this door, but for me, seeing it is no problem!!!]

  Elysia couldn’t deny it. They only found the door so fast because of Lyra’s knowledge. Lyra could spot an invasive bug in all this lush fauna with no issues. They both open the door and walk through it.

  —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  [???: Ah, Nature. Such a bliss!] A man walks through the forest, trying to enter the Whispering Woods. He has black hair with pitch black. The man appears naturally built with a dragon tattoo on his arm. His face is more ghoulish and creepy, with a nasty scars over his right side, and has vampiric-like fangs inside his mouth. He has wild, long, and unkempt hair. He only wears pants and wears a blood like a jacket.

  {Suddeness of the Apocalypse, Catastrophe- Raze}

  [Raze: I can’t find a way to get into these damn woods! I’m already in the woods; where is the whispering portion?!?]

  Raze angrily looks around for the entrance to the Whispering Woods. However, no matter how much he looks, the entrance keeps moving. [Fuck this!] Raze slams his fist into the ground, creating a magnitude-six earthquake and destroying the landscape around him. With all the fauna destroyed, Raze glimpses the galvanized steel frame that makes up the only known entrance to the whispering woods. [Finally! Now let me have some fun.] Raze prepares to enter the door.

  [Stop.]

  The sudden, commanding nature of the stop made Raze stop in his tracks. He turned around to see who could possibly try commanding a being such as him. It had to have been another Aspect. Raze wouldn’t let anyone else even think about commanding him like that; if it were an Aspect, Raze would back down. Raze’s eyes widen in shock as he sees a man utterly unrelated to the Aspects.

  The man has orange hair and a mustache of the same shade. He has golden eyes and glowing red armor. The man is enormous at 10 feet 8 inches. His sizeable golden axe looks tiny in this giant’s hand. The man slowly walks up to Raze and stares him down.

  [???: Hello, backing down at my order was the right one. Now leave.]

  The atmosphere changes to complete hostility as the man smiles at Raze. The pride in the man’s voice makes Raze extremely angry.

  [Raze: You must love nature, don’t you? You probably have no idea who I am. I’m amused by your courage. Back down now, and I’ll spare your life.]

  Raze said this mockingly.

  Thump

  Raze looks to the side, shocked. Why is his arm on the floor? Raze looks back at the man. He slashes faster than Raze can see and cuts Raze’s other arm off. Raze immediately jumps back from the man in a panic.

  『Unruin』

  Razes arms grow back instantly. He looks up at the man.

  [Raze: Who the hell are you?]

  The man confidently steps up.

  [I am…]

  {The sin of Pride, Solgryn!}