The Seen Unseen. V

Shania walked ahead of the man who kidnapped her. He didn't have any cloak on or anything to cover his face, and Jaden was right, it really was his brother.

He was able to threaten Shania to show her village to him. She tried outsmarting him by taking him through the wrong route. It was working for a few minutes until she tried running away, unfortunately, he caught up with her, bruised her hand with a thorn deep enough to make her bleed, and threatened to kill her if she played any more games with him.

They walked deep into the forest, and Jaden was beginning to get frightened and impatient.

"Where is your village?!" He yelled, pulling her hair aggressively. She groaned in pain as tears stung her eyes.

Shania realized the pain of humanity in just a day out of home. This man had acted nicely and calmly to her earlier, but had changed into a complete monster. Turns out he was only fooling his friend at the lab. She hated this man so much.

Finally, they could hear sounds coming from not-so-far ahead.

"Is that your village?" Jaden questioned.

"Yes" the girl replied slowly.

He dragged her further with building up excitement. Shania on the other hand was both happy and sad. She felt relieved that she would be with her family again, and not be treated so harshly by this man. And at the same time sad that he had come to know not just about their existence, but also their hideout.

Ahead, they could now see the huts which were built closely by each other.

They crossed the border which separated the forest from the main village, which meant they were now in the village of Herpertine. The village was quiet and appeared like a single soul hadn't been there in centuries.

"What is this? Where is everyone?!" Jaden yelled getting pissed. Shania glanced around from one end to the other.

"They... are here..." she mumbled.

"...are you playing games with me?!" he interrupted, pulling her hair again.

"Get your hands off her" a masculine voice came from behind them. They turned to the direction of the voice.

"Archer!" Shania exclaimed joyously as she escaped Jaden's grip and ran to her brother. She hugged him tightly as she wept.

"Hm... Archer? Doesn't that name sound so familiar" Jaden mocked, rubbing his chin and narrowing his gaze like he was trying to recall something.