Inside a forest, Aris lay on the top of a rock, bathing under the heat of the sun. Her body was bare there as she allowed the sunlight to caress her. Her red hair spread across the rock in a beautiful manner.

She whistled a tune, and the birds seemed to sing along. Ever since Silva had left, the world had changed a lot. Kingdoms were rebuilt and restructured, but humans never changed.

Somehow, the narrative that Silva was the cause of everything spread far and wide. They had all tried to stop the narrative from spreading, but it had gotten so bad that it would have involved them killing the humans.

When it got to that, Lia and Elsa decided that the best course of action would be to leave it be and watch from a distance. Sure, Silva was their savior, but he did not need the praise of all of them to make him who he was.

And so everything that they had fought tooth and nail to build ended. Humanity chose the route of disbelief, and they went their own ways. As for her, she chose to stay in the forest not too far from where Silva’s original home had been. She had not heard from him in a long while. She didn’t really care about that, but she wished he would reach out to her.

Thinking of Silva caused her heart to race a bit, so she tossed on the rock and turned to her side.

"Lady Aris, you should not stay under the sun for too long," Gallan’s voice came from below.

"Hmm?" Aris peeked over the edge of the rock and saw Gallan standing there. She frowned and made a shooing gesture. "Go away, I want to rest."

"My Lady Aris, that’s all you have been doing for days," he said.

"And so what? It’s not like there is anything for me to do here. The only thing for me to do is lay around while you and Fang clear up the forest from the monsters that want to attack humans.

And because of you two, none of them want to attack anymore. Everything is in hiding. There is nothing fun to do. I miss Silva, he always found a way to make things fun."

"I’m sorry Master isn’t here. I wish to be with him as well, but we can’t just stay put," he said.

She was about to respond when suddenly a loud crack ripped through the sky. It sounded like thunder and the breaking of ceramic all at the same time. She looked up, and there it was, a massive tear in the sky, a rift.

"Something is coming," she said and leaped onto her feet. Her clothes formed from thin air.

"Lady Aris, what is that?" Gallan asked.

"I have no idea, but I have a bad feeling about it."

As they looked up, an abyss monster fell from the abyss and landed a small distance away. It was some sort of dragonoid-looking monster with a hunched back, short neck, and a long tail. Its skin was as dark as the abyss.

It looked right at her from where it stood and then lunged in their direction like a wild beast. Gallan charged ahead. He summoned his two daggers instantly, spun them around, and immediately went for the attack. The abyss monster spun around and used its tail to attack. Gallan blocked the attack and proceeded to plunge a dagger right through the heart of the abyss monster, or so Gallan thought. The monster spun and proceeded to attack with a low bite, ripping the blade out of its chest with momentum, but before its teeth could reach him, a blast of chaos energy slammed into its head and blew it into bits.

"Be more careful, Gallan, you nearly kissed your leg," Aris said and dropped down from the rock. She stretched her body a bit. "Whatever that monster was, it obviously wasn’t from our world," she said and then looked at the sky, only to see hundreds of the monsters coming from the rift.

She clicked her tongue. "Why do I have the feeling that Silva knows something about this?" she muttered.

"You think Master caused this?" Gallan asked.

"No, but I feel he knows about it. This might not be a small issue. We might need to inform everyone. Where is Fang?" she asked.

"He was headed to take down a group of bandits," Gallan replied.

Boom, Boom, Boom.

More of the monsters hit the ground, their number easily entering the hundreds.

"Fang is always going on useless missions. Tch, find him. He is faster than you. Have him head to Lia or Elena and have them informed on what is coming. Prepare the guardians as well."

"But Lady Aris, you’ll be alone," Gallan replied.

"Come on now, Gallan, have you forgotten who you are speaking to?" she asked and then let out a smile. "The only person to make Silva break a sweat. There is no way such insects can touch me."

Gallan was reluctant, but he knew her strength, so he turned and left. Aris then faced the monsters.

"Alright, it’s been a while since I had some fun. All of you, come at me like you mean it." As she said those words, the abyss monsters rushed her way.

She wasted no time, placing one hand above her head. The chaos magic in her began forming a massive ball of chaos above her hand. It swirled like a vortex. The winds picked up and pulled everything that was around. Even the abyss monsters were stunned when they saw the massive attack that she had formed. It was like looking into a red sun above their heads.

"Hahaha, this is fun, isn’t it?" she asked, a bright smile on her face, and then she hurled the attack at them.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The blast ripped through the entire forest. Trees were uprooted and thrown in every direction, abyss monsters were blasted into nothing but shreds in an instant, and a massive crater was left in its place.