There was a famous tale in the human country of Oman; the legend of the Silver Eyes.
It started with the disappearance of various citizens from its capital, Oris; all the investigations looking for their whereabouts resulted in nothing, so the situation was promptly ignored.
However, one day, all interactions between Oris and the neighbour cities just ceased.
After weeks without communication, parties were sent to figure out the problem.
What they found didn’t make sense; the whole population, nobles and common people, had vanished.
From one day to another, Oris became a ghost city. And the more they looked for the cause, the faster the tasked soldiers and adventurers disappeared too.
Only one managed to escape. He arrived at a nearby city on his exhausted horse and explained with fright what he saw; a being with eyes the colour of silver, too human-looking to be a monster but so fiendish, its existence was abject.
A thousand lives had been consumed by what could only be described as a demon.
In fear the creature would strike them next, the cities kept their armies vigilant. Issuing small groups to attempt to retake the city.
All of them failed, except for one. A team of four people; three men and one woman.
From the north, a proud elf magus. As powerful as she was beautiful. She would be known as the Eternal-Light.
From the west, a warrior as there was no one else. Unstoppable and fierce. The Blood-Hawk.
From the south, a ruthless strategist, fighting fire with fire. Clever and fast on his feet. The Shadow-Robber.
And finally, from the east, an expert of the esoteric. A user of the forgotten magics. The Spell-Bringer.
The four fought the Silver Eyes bravely, and against all the odds, they brought the demon to its knees and destroyed it. Freeing Oris from its curse…
“…But the rumours say that, at night, you can still hear the laughing of the Silver Eyes echoing through Oris’ ruins. HAHAHAHAHA!” cackled Bertrand, making Cailin tremble in fear under her blankets.
Meanwhile, Morgan observed them from the entrance and couldn’t but sigh. Bertrand would never learn.
“You shouldn’t tell Cailin scary stories like that. Later, you will complain when she can’t sleep,” Morgan said.
“Certainly.” Bertrand stood up and gave him a friendly slap on his back. “But then, like the good cousin you are, Morg, you’ll help her to calm down and sleep soundly, right?”
“Right?” asked Cailin, her big eyes on the verge of tears.
Morgan’s expression softened. “Of course, I will. But just so you know, Bertrand, that story of yours has a lot of inconsistencies.”
Bertrand made a disgruntled expression. “What?”
“Most people can conform to believe in rumours. But we are related to the Cardinal Heroes, and as such, we should refrain from spreading those lies. Cailin should know better.”
As much as it annoyed Bertrand, as the oldest it was Morgan’s duty to be the responsible one. Besides, if dispelling the scary parts helped Cailin to sleep soundly, he’d do it gladly.
“Then, there was no demon?” asked the girl, her expression hopeful.
“No. There wasn’t.”
“Not that the real deal was any better,” intervened Bertrand.
Morgan cleared his throat. “The so-called Silver Eyes was just an elven magus. A powerful one, though, but not a demon.”
“He was like the Eternal-Light?” Cailin asked and Morgan answered with a nod. “I thought elves were not evil.”
“They are not.”
According to the books Morgan had read, Elven-kind were long-lived and prideful beings. Ruthless and spiteful if you disrespected them or their territories but otherwise nonaggressive. Unlike humans, they didn’t start wars. However, they had no claims on striking back.
“But some of them can be. Just like humans, there are good ones and bad ones. Do you understand, Cailin?” She nodded despite her slight confusion. She was a smart girl, Morgan was sure she would get it, eventually.
Bertrand was also intelligent but incredibly stubborn. “And how do you explain the whole population of Oris vanishing? I doubt your typical magus, even strong ones, could do something like that. So how he do it?”
“One person at a time,” he answered, half-joking.
No one but the Cardinal Heroes knew the extent of the Silver Eyes’ power.
And they didn’t speak much about it.
