Kerii walked back towards the guild hall, polishing off the last of Rynah's cookies. She had eaten quite a few of them lately, doing requests for old women. She didn't know if it was just them, but it seemed to be a trend among the elderly women to give out cookies in addition to Jewels as part of the reward. At first, it was nice to have something to satisfy her sweet tooth without feeling too guilty, but she was acquiring more treats than expected. She would just have to keep that in mind whenever she did another request.

Upon arrival at the guild hall, Kerii supposed that she would take a look at the available requests. After all, there was still plenty of time left in the day. Although she could spend it doing research or resting, she would rather get some more money. And of course help other people out, but more Jewels was always helpful. Walking over to the request board, she could still see that there were quite a few to choose from. It hadn't taken too long to resolve the conflict between Rynah and Mitya, so Kerii was not surprised. What she was rather shocked about though, was a request put out by Dacol Lubex. She remembered hearing that name before a few years ago... on a request that she had done for Dex Miller. It was the one and only time Dex had been correct about something. A weird entity, to be precise. She could vividly remember it now. After the whole ordeal, Kerii wanted to find out more, but nothing ever cropped up. She had to wonder why it would suddenly appear now, after years of being dormant. The elf immediately took the request. She had to find out what was going on with this mysterious entity.

The request asked for her to meet Dacol Lubex at Orchidia River. From his facial expression and nervous fidgeting, she could tell that he was rather anxious. Concerned, the elf walked over. "You're Dacol Lubex, right?" she asked. Although he had not changed much over the years, she still wanted to make sure. He flinched and turned to Kerii. "I am. And you are... Wait, do I know you from somewhere?" His eyebrows furrowed, as if he was trying to recall where he had seen her, but nothing seemed to be registering. "I was actually the mage that brought Dex Miller to the hospital after a run-in with the spirit you were talking about on the request. Only then, I had short pink hair." Now that Kerii had explained herself, a look of recognition spread across Dacol's face. "Oh yes! I remember you. Good, then you should already be familiar with the situation. I don't know why it reappeared after all this time, but I haven't forgotten about it." Kerii nodded her head. "Yeah, I want to know what's going on too." The spirit had drained Kerii of her energy and had completely knocked out Dex. There wasn't anything of her recollection that could do such a thing.

WC: 512/1000

"I want to know too. Follow me," Dacol Lubex said, gesturing for the elf to follow. "The entity is supposed to be this way," he continued on as he walked down the riverside. As the two went in pursuit of whatever they were after, Dacol began to inform Kerii about what he had discovered. "So far, all we know is that it initially takes the form of a floating orb of light. Dex Miller was able to describe to me only a fragment of what I believe he truly saw, and truthfully I don't know what to make of it. He told me about seeing some sort of humanoid form before blacking out." While that may have seemed strange indeed, it matched up with what Kerii had seen. "I was there too, and that's what I saw. It was definitely human, or at least human-like, but I can't remember any of the details either." Dacol sighed. "I suppose we will just have to see then... although I could've sworn Dex mumbled something about a child while he was unconscious." This piqued Kerii's attention. "A child?" "Yes. If my suspicions are correct, then this could potentially be a spirit of sorts, wouldn't you say?" Funny, asking about spirits when one was currently sealed within her. "Well, spirits can take on many forms. Some need a host, while others can thrive on their own."

That was pretty much all the information Kerii was going to get, and that was all Dacol was going to get out of her. As expected, when they came to where the entity was last reported, something was there. It wasn't a colored orb like last time, but it was indeed the image of a child, letting off a cyan glow. Though it didn't open its mouth, Kerii could hear a gentle voice speaking directly into her mind, telling her to come closer, and so she did. She beckoned for Dacol to follow, as he likely didn't want to miss any of this.

"As you can probably tell, I am a spirit... a spirit of someone who passed away long ago," it telepathically communicated. "Are you hearing this?" Kerii asked, completely stunned. "Getting what? Is it speaking to you? Quick -- write everything down." He scrambled for his notepad and trust it into Kerii's hands. So, as the spirit talked to her, she wrote down a summary of what it said.

The spirit possessed some sort of magic (though it didn't specify which kind), which enabled it to embody the mana of the forest and river. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked curiously. "I need someone to know about me so they can stop something bad that will soon come, as well as find someone close to me who I lost long, long ago. I will tell you more another time." Before Kerii could even ask another question, the spirit disappeared. She suddenly felt very weak and had a pounding headache. She stumbled and Dacol reached out to help stabilize her. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Yeah, I'm fine, thank you." The elf regained her balance and gave the man his notebook. He read over it and nodded his head as he went. Despite how vague the spirit was, he seemed to think that it was adequate information. "Thank you. This will be sufficient. Oh, and here is the reward, as promised." He handed her a stack of Jewels and wandered off. Kerii stuffed them in her pocket and decided to head home.

WC: 512+586=1098/1000