Timothy's Perpective

***** Timothy's POV *****

I was standing beside Patris, guarding our client's carriage when out of nowhere I heard a loud blast, quickly followed by screams of terror.

I ran to the side of the carriage to see that our second carriage, the one that carried the princess, had been cleaved in two! Moments later, several more blasts could be heard as the clearing and surrounding trees began to get decimated. Ariel's knights fell one by one in gruesome fashion as chaos erupted in all directions.

All I could do in that moment was follow my instincts. We need to protect ourselves! I knelt down behind our client's carriage and I recited the incantation for [Earth Fortress] as quickly as I could, conjuring a dome of earth around us.

Patris opened the carriage's door to check on our client.

"What's happening? What in the world is going on outside, it sounds like we're in the middle of a hurricane!", Phillip yelled out in a panic.

"I don't know! I don't know! All of a sudden everything around me began getting sliced through as though with an invisible blade! I pray to Milis that this Earth Fortress holds up!"

The four of us sat nervously together in the carriage. Patris began to mutter a prayer under his breath while the rest of us remained silent.

Wait a moment. The... 'Four' of us?

"Where the hell did Suzanne and Sara go!?"

Mimir was on the other side of the carriage when all this started. I pray that he was close enough to be within range of the Earth Fortress spell. Suzanne and Sara, however, were right behind us. As soon as I started reciting the incantation for [Earth Fortress], I saw them running our way.

'Oh no. Did they get separated!? Don't tell me they were cut down like Ariel's knights!

*BOOM!*

A deafening blast erupted from above us and the world went black.

Next thing I knew, I was waking up in an unfamiliar dark room.

"Wha- Where am I?"

I looked around to find Suzanne and Patris laying beside me. They were unconscious, but they were breathing and had no visible signs of damage.

'Oh thank Milis! They are ok! What about Mimir and Sara?'

I continued looking around the room. In the center there was a huge magic circle that glowed a faint blue.

'I have no idea what that is, but it can't be good...'

In the corner of the room was a bunch of women's clothing and fine goods. The clothing appeared dirty and torn in some places but you could tell that it was extremely expensive; the kind of stuff fit for royalty.

Beside it was something laid out on the floor wrapped up in cloth. It looked like... a body. But whose?

I slowly approached the wrapped up body and cautiously reached out my hand to unravel the cloth when a sudden movement from the other side of the room almost made me jump out of my skin.

"You there! Who are you!? Untie me at once! Untie me so I can kill that damned arrogant brat!"

A young man was hogtied in the opposite corner of this side of the room. He was completely missing his right arm and his clothes were completely soaked in blood and dirt, yet he vigorously squirmed against his bindings as though he didn't mind the bloodloss in the slightest.

'We need to get out of here!', is all I could think.

I ran back across the room to Suzanne and Patris and tried to shake them awake.

Suzanne was still out cold, but I managed to wake up Patris.

As soon as I saw him coming to, I held my hand over his mouth in case he shouted in surprise and motioned for him to keep quiet once his eyes regained their focus.

"I don't know where we're at. There's some strange and incredibly complex magic circle on the ground, a dead body in the corner, and a half dead man tied up on the other side of the room. The owner of this place must be some madman. Let's get out of here while we have the chance!"

This room's only source of light, save the faint glow of the magic circle, was a lone beam coming from up the staircase. I threw Suzanne over my shoulder and ran up the stairs as quietly as I could while Patris followed along behind me.

At the top of the staircase, what surrounded us was a beautiful manor, nothing like the dark, creepy basement. We could hear laughter coming from the adjacent room and the clanging of dishes coming from what I would assume to be the kitchen. From this new point of view, it almost felt like we were in a normal, happy household.

'Who... Who are these people? Could they be allies? Did they perhaps save us? But then what's with the creepy basement and the half dead lunatic down there.'

On the other side of the large room we were in I could see a large door that definitely looked like the main entrance / exit.

"What's the plan, boss?", Patris whispered. "You want to try and sneak out?"

I nodded in response.

'Until we know these people are friendly, I think it would be safest to find a way out for now. If they aren't our enemies, they will understand.'

We walked up to the large, ornate, wooden door and I slowly reached for the handle.

I clenched my teeth as I turned and pulled, half expecting such a large door to make a loud creaking sound as it opened, but thankfully, to my surprise, it opened completely smoothly and quietly.

We snuck through the cracked open door and I quietly shut it back closed.

Outside the doors was a beautiful courtyard and a cobblestone path leading to the main entrance gate. Still carrying Suzanne, I walked as quickly as I could towards the gate intending to leave, but right as I reached to open it, someone else also reached to open it from the other side!

It was a young elf girl with green hair.