13 A Goddess Never Abandons Her Believers (1/2)

”Wow, what a pretty light!”, Ashley's eyes lit in delight as she saw a tiny wisp of sparks only a few feet away from her. She had noticed it from the corner of her eye when she was watching her mom fight the scary monster with sister Floira but when she turned to take a closer look, she was spellbound by how beautiful it was.

She had never seen something like it before, the wisp of light kept flashing and shifting into a rainbow of colours. She glanced at the twins who were distracted by the fight ahead and hesitantly began to move towards the light.

A small part of her kept screaming that this was dangerous and strange but for some reason her feet kept moving forward almost like she was possessed.

Meanwhile, Elise was carefully studying the viperion who was baring its fangs menacingly at her, Floira had hit it over the head with her great sword causing the beast to become momentarily disoriented. It was now very wary of the two tiny insects in front of it and was not attacking recklessly.

Elise slowly cycled mana through her circuit and her body began to scream in pain, her physical enhancements came at a cost and it placed a great deal of stress on her body. Black wings sprouted from her back and she flew up towards the mouth of the beast with blade in hand.

”She really is beautiful,” Elena sighed wistfully to herself.

Elise's appearance was akin to a fallen angel, a fair, slender lady with otherworldly grace and charm, her violet eyes shone with casual seduction with black raven- like wings making her look like a celestial visiting the mortal plane.

Elena sang a quiet song as she scouted for any living creatures in the immediate area, having not found any she casually turned to check on Ashley. To her shock and horror Ashley had wandered a bit further off from the group and towards a small light.

”Ashley get away from that thing!” Elena shouted.

Servia and Luxia were instantly alerted and quickly glanced around and found Ashley was no longer near them. They quickly sprinted towards her with Elena cursing and running frantically as well. Her siren song could not detect living creatures without a physical body and Ashley was walking straight towards a spatial wisp.

These were an extremely rare magic beast with a fragile body consisting of light, luckily they did not harm travellers but all who touched them were randomly transported within a ten-kilometer radius.

Elise was distracted by the shout and could not help but look over to see what had happened.

'Swish!'

The giant tail immediately slammed into her and she was sent flying into the murky water below the creature. The viperion hissed smugly and raised its crocodile head to lunge at Floira on the shore. It was a fearsome creature and Floira could not help but shudder when stared at by those ancient predatory eyes.

”Where is Ashley!”, a ferocious roar sounded from the water below the monster.

A dark black line slashed upwards from the depths of the water and cut straight through the beast. It froze almost in an expression of shock and fear as both the left and right side of the monster's body was split in two.

Elise crawled out of the mud like a demon from hell, her dress and armour were now stained and muddy. Her wings were tattered, and feathers began to drop from the tip of the wings, perhaps the most terrifying was her left eye which was now completely black.

Ashley was only one meter away from the light when she heard Elena's shout which snapped her out of her trance immediately and she began to back away. Servia was the quicker of the two twins and quickly reached out her arms to grab Ashley when the wisp darted forward and touched Ashley on the forehead.

There was a bright flash of light and they both disappeared.

Servia's arms closed around empty air and she gasped in shock and horror, she turned to Elise who was staring at the spot her daughter had vanished from.

There was no expression on her face which made it all the more terrifying, her eyes seemed empty and soulless and the black tendrils on her feet began to lose control and spread around the area she was standing on.

”My lady this is no time to panic, the wisp can't have teleported her far away. We need to split up and look for her quickly before something happens,” Mary kept a level head and tried to calm down her lady.

”Good we need to find her, or I will burn and slaughter every damn monster in this whole forest,” Elise replied.

There was no emotion in her voice as if she was simply stating a matter of fact and the Valkyries knew if she lost control there really might be endless bloodshed in the forest.

She unfurled her wings and shoot up above the canopy into the skies above the forest to scan the entire area. The rest of the team looked at Floira who split them up into groups and they all set off on a rescues mission to save their little duchess.

(Ashley's POV)

”Where am I?” Ashley groggily spoke.

She woke up with a pounding headache and shaky hands, her vision was blurry, and she could not see her surroundings.