Who Harmed Haru?

After rescuing the girl and the twins, Liam ran down the river. He was listening to all sounds, tasting the air, and smelling the breeze. His skin felt the atmosphere, and his eyes were tracking the surroundings.

He was looking for clues.

Even to him, it was weird that the humans had managed to bind Haru.

Haru should have woken long before he did. What happened? Why didn't she return to him? Do the humans of this place really have weapons that could harm her?

She was a lot stronger than the humans. So, to Liam, this didn't make sense.

He didn't stop and continued with his run. He wasn't focusing on stealth at the moment but instead on the speed part.

Unfortunately, he couldn't catch up with that group that night, and the sun rose before he managed to track them down. He slept on a tree that night and rushed off as soon as he woke.

An hour later, he found them.

They were still sleeping when he found them. Liam noticed that the kids were bound, and their faces were covered with tearstains. They had bruises all over their bodies. The old man was bound, gagged, and beaten senseless. He was also pale as a person could get before he died. It seemed like he had been bled enough to make him barely able to cling to life.

In the center of the sleeping bodies was Haru. They had done the same to her as well. She wasn't beaten, but she seemed to have been bleed enough to just stay alive.

They must have found the kids when Haru was still inside his consciousness.

Everything he saw raised his anger to heights he had never reached before. Well, it has only happened once before. And that was just because someone had insulted his mother.

A sudden storm built up in the northern icefields. Sandunes of the south were sliding restlessly. A sudden hale storm assaulted a city. A few volcanos erupted around the world. A small candle flame ignited the curtains, starting a house fire. In a faraway mountain, an avalanche started. The calm seas turned restless, and a hurricane sprouted between heaven and earth. Small tremors could be felt everywhere.

The Avatars felt something strange was happening, but it was so slight that none paid much attention except one, who was standing close to the being who was affecting them. At this moment, Pollen knew that this one was the real deal. This Seed Bearer, who was also a World Reader, was the one who would carry them forward and reshape them in the particular image Liam had in mind.

He could also see that Liam was holding his feelings at bay as much as he could. That was why the Avatars didn't come out or care what was happening, as it felt very small matter to them. For a moment, Pollen wanted to see what would happen if Liam let go of his restraints and released his anger. But he shook his head, thinking that it would be disastrous. After that, he started to worry. If Liam can't release his emotions, it would just be a matter of time before he explodes.

Right now, though, all the pent-up anger inside him calmed to ice-cold stillness.

He walked into the area and checked on the children. Freed them from the binds, took them away, and put them down next to each other. Next, he brought the old man over and put him down next to the kids.

It was time to take care of Haru and bring her to the kids. He went back and untied her. He focused on his energy and carefully probed inside her. Knocking on her consciousness. He never intended to enter it. Only to wake her up. He called her many times, but it didn't matter. She wasn't waking up. Liam pulled back from there and pushed some of his energy toward her core. It started to lick up the extra energy offered to it.

It didn't matter. She wasn't waking up any time soon. And the energy he would be able to send was abysmal. Liam mustered up all the energy inside him and strengthened his body with it, picking up Haru's huge body and carrying it to the kids. He placed them all together. He looked at them together, barely holding on to his anger.

He went back to the area where they were all sleeping soundly. They were still under the effect of that toxin. Most of the area was under that effect.

Liam was remarkably calm as he entered the area again. He had picked up some sticks from the ground. Well, they were more like small trees. He made one end pointy, and the other had a groove in it. The trees were about three meters long. He had enough for each person. At first, he tied them all together to save himself some hassle. He was just finishing beating the trees to the ground when they started to wake up.

They were very confused when they found themselves bound and gagged.

Liam looked over at them when he started to hear their muffled words to each other. He finished with the last one and walked over to them.

"Hello…" he said coldly.

For a moment, all of them shut up when they heard the voice. But then, they looked at once, seeing a man in front of them.

Liam wasn't covering himself, and all of them could see his hair. Many of them were slaves and had nothing to with this mess. They were just following orders. About ten of these guys were free, meaning they had achieved a commoner status. A noble was above them still. They could do anything to the slaves, but they couldn't do anything to the Nobles.

Their group had one of those too.

When the group saw Liam and his hair, they basically all turned to the Noble in their group. He was leading this group and had absolute authority here.

There was one exception to this. All nobles also had a status system, and they were thinking about which of the two nobles had the higher status.

Their thought ran in circles as they had no knowledge about that system.

Liam, on the other hand, didn't care about a thing called status. He wasn't from this place. He was so off-kilter right now that he could probably kill anyone who might pass by.

One of the people started to muffle nonstop, and Liam approached that guy. He had long, straight brown hair.

"Please, sir, I don't know what I did to offend you, but please have mercy!" He pleaded and tried his best to grovel on the ground.

Seeing and hearing that, all the others basically gave up hope. They had no chance to live any longer.

"You don't know?" a cold voice of his playing on the edge of madness.

"I-I d-do n-not," he stammered, tears and snot covering his face.

"Look around, and tell me what is missing?"

The man hastily looked and found that all the people he had captured were gone along with the treasure he had managed to collect. He would have been famous once he handed that over, but now he only gulped in fear.

"T-the B-bl-ack Me-menace?"

"And…?"

"Th-the kids?"

"And…?"

"Th-he O-ld man?"

"Yes, that is exactly what you took. Now tell me, who harmed Haru?"

"Wh-ho?"

"The Black Menace!"

The man started crying even more.

"So, my nose was right. You drained Haru of her blood… you shall be the last. Now watch what happens to those who dare to harm my companions."