Chapter 23: We Got Them Back

*DORIAN*

After meeting the villagers and hearing about what Elowen and Aetherius had gone through, I felt my heart sink. They told us his body was battered from protecting Elowen, his limbs were in bad shape, and his head was in worse condition, yet he still decided to go back and fight.

I was furious at Aetherius for deciding to return and fight, where he could very well die at the hands of the wave. So, as quickly as we could, we left Elowen and headed towards the village.

Half an hour later, we arrived at the village. There were hundreds of monster corpses and many wounded mages everywhere. We felt a terrifying aura on a hill to the right; we heard blows and the sound of lightning striking repeatedly, black thunder echoing from there. We saw Atheria falling from above, towards the direction of the ominous thundering and howling.

"It's a superior Fenrir. A boy and the village chief are fighting it," said an injured villager being healed by Altea. When they mentioned a boy, Altea turned fearfully in that direction, and I rushed there with Otto while Fredic, Valentina, Nora, and the others stayed behind to fight the wave.

It took us a while to climb the hill, but when we finally reached the top, we saw Atheria had defeated the Fenrir and was holding what looked like Aetherius in her arms. Beside her stood a man, presumably the village chief who had been fighting the Fenrir with Aetherius.

I ran towards them, seeing his arm and leg bleeding. "Aetherius!" I shouted. Atheria jumped at the sight of me approaching and saw Aetherius unconscious and bleeding with slight scratches. I looked around and saw countless metal spikes protruding from the ground, some broken. "What the hell happened here?" Otto asked, confused and worried about Aetherius's condition.

"The boy is strong. He managed to hold his own for almost an hour, fighting savagely against the wave and the Fenrir," said the man beside Atheria, laughing. "This isn't funny. He could have died," I retorted.

Otto stopped me and raised his hand. "No, no, no, the one who could have died here was me. He saved my skin several times. I tried to tell him to go back, but he was stubborn about staying and repaying the favor for saving him and his sister from the river," the man defended himself.

"Regardless, I'm taking him to his mother for treatment", I told Atheria and the man. I grabbed Aetherius, and Otto accompanied me. As we jumped halfway down the hill, we saw the guild reinforcements arriving, massacring the wave, but I was more concerned about Aetherius.

Altea saw me from a distance, and when she saw me with Aetherius in my arms, she ran towards us, even stumbling. Aetherius woke up, "Dad, put me down." I looked at him and saw his eyes were red, which scared me a little, but I couldn't say no to him. When I put him down, he started limping towards his mother, who was still running towards us.

Aetherius walked several steps, and just as he was about to fall again, Altea caught him. "Aetherius, baby, how could you end up like this?" she scolded him. He seemed to ignore the color of his eyes, but for now, I wasn't worried. "Hi, Mom. I told you I'd keep Elowen safe," he said before collapsing again.

As soon as he stopped making any noise, Altea began treating him. An hour passed, and the seemingly endless wave of monsters finally stopped. Altea was still treating Aetherius. "My baby, how could you stay like this?" Altea kept saying over and over. After a while, they sent a few people to fetch the group that had evacuated from the village. Meanwhile, Altea still couldn't get Aetherius's leg to heal. Almost another hour passed before the villagers arrived.

"Brother Aetherius," shouted Elowen. Instead of coming to me or her mother, she went straight to Aetherius. "Aetherius, Mom and Dad are here now. Please open your eyes. You promised me you'd be okay. Open your eyes," Elowen cried, wanting to cry. I pulled her away from her brother as she kicked, not wanting to leave his side.

"Calm down, Elowen. Your brother will be fine," said the man who had treated Aetherius when they arrived. "Let me help you, ma'am. My assistant and I will assist you," said the healer named Jeff. Another man and the people who were with Elowen when we found them gathered around him, and the three of them simultaneously began pouring their healing magic. His leg and arm started to heal, but he didn't wake up. I prayed silently that he wouldn't fall into a coma again.

Once his wounds were closed, they moved on to the other injured. It took them a few hours to finish healing everyone, and we started gathering the monster corpses. It took us almost a day until nightfall.

Elowen did not leave Aetherius's side the entire night. She cried while hugging him, begging him not to leave her. Miss Lora spoke to us while we were in the room with Elowen and Aetherius. "They found them floating in the river. Damián told me they found them on top of a plank, the girl in her brother's arms, both unconscious".

"When they first arrived, they treated Elowen first because she needed less energy for treatment. Then they moved on to her brother, who was in worse condition. The girl woke up first, startled by the shock of what had happened to them," she continued, recounting with more calmness. "When the girl woke up, she almost immediately fell back asleep. Her brother was still undergoing treatment. The next day, she woke up more calmly, with a fearful voice asking for her brother. When we showed her he was still being treated and that his head injury was no longer a concern, she fell to her knees, crying and thanking Jeff," Altea covered her face, crying as she listened to the story.

"Please continue," I said. She just nodded. "Shortly after the girl woke up, Aetherius woke up thanks to the adrenaline still coursing through him. He asked where his sister was, and we showed him she was asleep in the bed next to him, and he fell back asleep. Elowen was the first to wake up a day and a half later. I took her to my house, fed her, and offered her a bath. She still seemed to be in shock as she didn't speak. When she came out of the house, my daughter Tiara kept her company".

"When it was bedtime, she visited her brother before sleeping. When she arrived, Jeff told her they were treating his leg and arm".

"After that, she went to sleep. That same night, Aetherius woke up again. We explained to him where they were and who was treating him," she addressed Jeff and Damián.

I just nodded. "After waking up again, Elowen visited him the next day. When Elowen entered, Aetherius was moving. Elowen said she had seen him move like that before and got scared, starting to shake him, and he finally woke up. After hugging him tightly and thanking him for waking up, we went to my house to feed and bathe him. After his bath, he asked where he could meditate and heal with his mana, so I guided him and Elowen to a spot. At night, Elowen didn't want to leave her brother's side, so they stayed together. Yesterday morning, they woke up, and we gave them breakfast again, and then the wave hit," she said, wringing her hands.

"When Damián arrived to get us because of the wave, Aetherius quickly told Elowen to come with us to the chief's house, where we took refuge. After Elowen tried to persuade him, he finally agreed and left with us. A little over an hour after running towards the bridge, he decided to return, despite our intervention, leaving Elowen with Damián, who was with us and the healer, until shortly after we met you," Lora finished.

"Thank you so much for taking care of them. We are very grateful. We searched for them for almost five days but found no trace of them until we met the guild members and came here."