Chapter 21: The News

*ATHERIA*

Four days had passed since the Emwind family left the capital. "Mistress, there's a problem," Nora shouted to me. "What is it? Calm down, woman," I said. "There's been a sighting of a wave of monsters coming from the west towards a village in the mountains a few hours from Shira," Nora exclaimed. I was alarmed because monster waves were rare, especially in the direction Nora mentioned. "Tell me more," I ordered. She explained that a few days ago, there was speculation about many monsters gathering somewhere in the forests on the western and southern border.

I quickly sprang into action, calling some guild members. "I've been informed of increased monster activity in the forests on the eastern and southern border, so we need people who can move quickly to get to the mountains where the Monster Wave is heading as fast as we can," I explained hastily.

Some became nervous, but none refused. Many volunteered to go, including some novices, but we decided to leave them in the capital as they lacked experience.

"Prepare everything as quickly as possible, NOW!" It took us a few hours to load the carriages with supplies and harness the strongest, fastest horses we had. After four hours, we set off swiftly towards the mountains, with a one-hour rest for the horses. By nightfall on the second day of our journey, we had to pass through the mountains to reach Shira village and give the warning. We spotted our scout heading towards us.

"Mistress, this is bad. I heard that a landslide occurred on the mountain pass we were supposed to take," I froze upon hearing the word "landslide," realizing it might have happened when the Emwind family should have been passing through those mountains. "Stop!" I shouted, and a few minutes later, we halted.

We gathered everyone and I began to explain, "I've been informed that there was a landslide in the mountains, so we'll have to find another route to reach the village." I explained the situation, and it seemed we needed to find an alternate route because most of the mountain had collapsed. Other scouts arrived, bringing some people with them. I smelled trouble when I realized it was Dorian and Altea, but I didn't see the children.

"Altea, Dorian!" I called out. Our group turned as I mentioned their names. "What's wrong? What happened?" Altea looked at me with red eyes. "The children," she said, tears streaming down her face as she collapsed. We attended to her quickly, and an hour later, Dorian spoke up. "We were passing through the mountains when we encountered a group of bears, and suddenly there was an earthquake," he said, his hand covering his face.

"We first saw dust, then small rocks, and then larger rocks began to fall," he recounted fearfully. "Therius and Elowen were still in the carriage. When I was running to get to them, a large rock fell in front of me, forcing me to retreat. The ground began to slide. Therius grabbed Elowen and carried her. As he was jumping, the ground caught his foot and he was dragged. I tried to reach them, but the earth formed a barrier. When we could see, a large rock had hit Therius to protect Elowen; he took all the damage. He shouted that we'd meet in Shira just before another rock hit him on the head. I tried to jump, but Altea stopped me. Then they vanished into the smoke and fell off the cliff," he finally broke down in tears, covering his face. Otto listened attentively along with Valentina, Fredic, and Sara, who had joined us to stop the Monster Wave.

Otto spoke first, "What happened next? It's been a few days since the landslide. Did you search for them?" he asked, fear evident in his voice. "Of course, we did. We spent three days constantly searching. Then I remembered he said we'd meet in Shira, and that's what we did. It took us a while to get there on foot, but there was no one," he replied to Otto.

"I'll go search for them, and you rest," Otto said. Three others also volunteered, along with three more comrades. "But we'll have to do it tomorrow as soon as the sun rises," I told everyone, though I wanted to search for them immediately. "For now, let's rest here and find a route to the village," I told everyone.

"Why were they going to the village?" Dorian asked. "A few days ago, we were informed of a sighting of a Monster Wave coming from the western border," I replied. Altea woke up and exclaimed, "A wave? Then we must quickly warn the village!"

"I'll go give the warning," said one of the scouts. "I found a path in the forest that could lead us, but only horses could pass through." "I need you to go to our house and find Sonia and Dominic; they know where they are," Altea instructed. He simply nodded in response and left. The next morning, the scout who went to give the warning arrived along with Altea's belongings.

"Dorian, what are you two doing?" I asked them. "If there's a wave and we still can't find the children, we should be prepared in case the wave heads into the forest while we're still searching, past the big mountains," Altea responded. "Alright, the other six of you will go with her. Now that we've warned the village, we'll head to other places beyond the big mountains and try to surround them," I said, and they simply nodded in response.

After a few hours of final preparations, Altea, Dorian, and the others geared up and headed into the forest once again. We started moving, and it took us two days to go around the mountains. I found a path where we could access the village where, according to the scouts, the Monster Wave was heading.

By now, Altea and the others should have been reaching the big mountains where they would cross a bridge taking them about two hours or less to reach the same village we were heading to. Another scout arrived and informed us that the wave had already reached the village and they had been fighting them for quite some time.

So, I left the horse where it was, along with the carriages and the other mages. "I'm going ahead; I'll see you there," "Understood, Mistress!" they all shouted, and only three more people went with me.

An hour later, I arrived and saw hundreds of monsters and many more corpses. In the distance, I felt a familiar mana buildup and heard a monster's roar. "You go and help the others; I'll head towards that place," I ordered them. I ran as fast as I could and saw a superior Fenrir. I could see two people away from the Fenrir.

A man with a fiery mace stood next to another person who, when I looked closer, seemed to be a child with a scythe. I prayed to god it was Therius. As I approached, still far away, I noticed the boy with white hair. His left leg and right arm were covered in some kind of shadow or black flame, surrounded by lightning, while the man beside him was engulfed in red flames, his hair starting to blaze.

I saw metal spikes emerging from the ground and from above. The two individuals moved with speed, breaking and dodging. The boy struck the Fenrir with a black lightning bolt, and the man hit the Fenrir with his large mace.

I saw the Fenrir fall, so I slowed down. The boy collapsed, and I could see his hair returning to normal, confirming that he was indeed Aetherius. Tears welled up in my eyes at the realization that he was alive. The man picked him up, and at that moment, the Fenrir rose again, its body changing. The man and Aetherius looked at the Fenrir, and the man quickly protected him.

I swiftly enveloped my body and weapon with my blue lightning magic, and instinctively shouted, "Darling!" I pushed my strength to its limit and struck the Fenrir with the blade of my weapon. Though it was challenging to harm it due to its metallic fur, I managed to make four more cuts, finally killing the already injured Fenrir.

"AETHERIUS! Are you alright?" I approached and asked. He looked at me and extended his hand, "Atheria, it's good to see you." He smiled and then fainted.