Unwanted Visitors

"Everyone stay calm. There is certainly another way out, a Night Bear being in here proves it." Zlodey said, hoping to keep everyone in a calm mind.

"That's right." Paul spoke up. "And that man is nowhere to be found. Let's go to the right path this time. We'll hopefully find another exit."

The group began walking down the pathway to the right of the stairs, cautious for more danger.

~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, at the village, Katyl had finished cleaning everything that she decided to pay a visit to the church, using the opportunity to bring Nolan's friend some food for the rest of the day.

I hope they're alright, it has already been around an hour since they left for the forest...

Sigh

Lost in her thoughts, she arrived at the village's church and knocked on a door at the side of the building.

*Knock knock*

"Coming!" A soft voice could be heard from the inside, followed with quick footsteps. The door opened, revealing a short girl. Her blonde hair was as intense as the sun, and her cheerful expression would make anyone that sees it smile. More importantly, the girl's eyes were red. A vibrant light red, which meant she had the potential to become a great user of any type of demonic magic, feared by all. Even so, the girl dedicated her time praying to the Goddess of Light, Vianna, instead of the Goddess of Dark, Vienna.

"Katyl! Nice to see you!" She said it in a surprised tone, not expecting any visit.

"Hello Luzia! How are you doing today? I brought you some food."

"Oh! There was no need! Come in!" She signaled Katyl to follow her inside.

Upon entering the small compartment of the church, a few statues of the Goddess Vianna could be seen in almost every corner, showcasing the dedication of the girl towards the Goddess of Light.

"Is everyone treating you well?" Katyl asked as she sat at a small table while Luzia prepared her some tea.

"Mhm. I'm actually surprised that they accepted me so easily, I was sure I would be kicked out as soon as they saw my eyes. But they're such good people!"

"That's nice to hear. We've had another red eyed person in this village before, so we know that you're just like the rest of us. Even though they were just passing by."

"Really?!" Luzia was in shocked, no one ever told her of another red eyed. "What were they like?"

"Around the time my son was born, the king of the Argo Kingdom, Argo IV visited us. Since our village is on the way from his kingdom to our capital, he came through here and spent a night at our inn. However, he was not the one. There was a little girl with him, around three or four years old I'd say, she was the one with red eyes. That's all I know."

"Oh wow. I thought I was the last one..." Luzia said, surprised at Katyl's words. Her mood seemed to worsen a bit, but it quickly returned to normal once she examined what Katyl had said.

"Oh! Talking about your son, why did he not come today!?"

"He and my husband went into the forest an hour ago. It seems the boys found an unexplored ruin there this morning, and a Night Bear was in there. They made a hunting party and are now after it."

"Wow, a Night Bear! I've never seen one up close... I hope they are okay."

"Hmph, I'm sure they'll be back soon. Changing the subject, would you like to accompany me at the market today? I must buy a few ingredients since all my family brings me is squirrels..."

Luzia noticed Katyl was worried about her son and husband and understood the need to talk about something else so she could keep her mind at rest.

"Sure! I need to get some stuff as well so this is the perfect opportunity. Let me just do one last prayer to the goddess while you finish your tea. Be right back!"

She opened another door and entered the main room of the church. The place was enormous, gold and silver ornaments could be noticed in all around the room, having an enormous statue of Vianna behind an oddly shaped table where the priest stood behind during his sermons. Facing it was around fifty sets of benches for people to attend the church, so the place could get very crowded during an important event.

Luzia knelt in front of the statue and calmed her mind, focusing only on her and the goddess.

O' You that supports me, O' You that lightens my way. I beg of You mercy upon my loved ones and prosperity to all my people. I offer you my body and soul.

"Hello child."

Luzia was shocked. It had been many years since she last spoke to the goddess directly. The words she heard came from inside her mind, meaning only she could hear the divine being.

"Goddess Vianna! It has been so long!"

"Indeed, it has. We may have not talked for a while now, but I have seen your devotion towards me, and so I shall reward you once again."

Last time they interacted, Luzia was blessed with prowess to Light magic from the Goddess herself, even with her red eyes and demonic magic capabilities, Vianna was very surprised and happy that someone like Luzia would follow the Light ways.

"I appreciate your kindness. I shall accept your gift once again." Luzia spoke to herself.

Her body warmed up and her mind went blank for a second. When she regained consciousness, she could feel how her Light magic had become firmer, stronger.

Luzia smiled, happy to have spoken with her goddess again, but it wasn't over.

"I will take this opportunity to warn you my child. My sister Vienna, she is planning something, I can feel it. Soon chaos will rise in your world, and I trust you to protect everyone against it with the powers I am bestowing you. This is all I can do for now."

"Chaos?! What do you mean by that?"

Luzia asked, but there was no reply.

"She's gone now... What did she mean?" She murmured to herself.

While thinking about what just happened, she realized someone was waiting for her to return.

Oh no, I left Katyl waiting! I must hurry!

She got up as fast as she could and ran to the small room where Katyl was waiting.

~~~~~~~~~~

At the ruins in the forest, the group had walked for a while until they stumbled upon an empty small dark room, with a weird magic circle with what seemed to be words carved on the ground.

"And what would this be?..." Theo wondered, being the first time he had seen that language.

"Was that man doing some sort of ritual here?" Nolan asked, remembering some rumors about rituals being performed using magic circles.

"No, not a ritual." Paul affirmed, confident. "Those words, they are from the old language, used on the other continent, where our kind came from."

"Wasn't that place completely overrun by monsters though? There shouldn't be anyone left who can speak it." Nolan continued.

"Well, it seems that is not the case... But we cannot find out what this is for without asking the person who made it. The man we saw should have something to do with this."

... Everyone kept silent, not knowing what to do. But then, as Paul was about to speak out again, the carvings on the ground began to glow a bright blue color, and the group took a step back in case it was another explosive.

*Vroom*

The light grew brighter for a second and five men materialized on top of the circle.

"Shields!"

Paul immediately screamed out, realizing what was happening.

One of the men that showed up was the same one that blinded the group a while ago. While the others had similar armor but much more simplistic, with a few details.

Theo and Tarou jumped in front of the others and put their shields up, protecting everyone in case any attack was done against them.

"You! are you the leader? What is your name?" The detailed reddish armored knight asked while pointing his sword at Paul.

"My name is Paul... Who are you?"

"I do not know how you found this place so easily but it doesn't really matter now... You'll pay with your lives."

"We came in here to hunt a bear we found. We're not looking for trouble!"

Paul shouted, attempting to settle things down and avoid any conflict.

"I do not care. You have seen too much. Now die. Kill them!" The knight ordered the others, and they all launched at the group.

"Damn it! Nolan, Petter, Faye, stand back and boost us!"

"Alright!"

Doing as Paul ordered, the three took their distance from the battle and focused on casting the same spells they did back when the first armored knight showed up.

Two of the red knights clashed their swords against Theo and Tarou's shields with full force, while the other two used wind magic to jump over them and then jumped on Paul and Zlodey.

"What the hell is happening right now!? This was supposed to be a bear hunt, why are we fighting people?!" Petter cried out while boosting his father Zlodey with a physical power spell.

"Stay calm, here, have this. You too Nolan." Faye said and reached for a small bag she had at her waist.

She pulled two scrolls from inside it and gave each of the boys one of them.

"Paul's orders. These are teleportation scrolls, one of the rarest kind there is. In case everything goes wrong and it seems that we'll all get killed or captured, use the scrolls and they'll get you to the forest above us, right at where the trapdoor was. Do you understand?"

Petter was still a bit shook, but Nolan understood it clearly.

"Didn't you always want to fight for real Petter? No backing off now, it will all be fine." Nolan said to his friend, trying to calm him down.

"Alright... Alright..." he sighs "Let's do this."

As everyone was busy fighting or casting spells, the leader of the red knights stood back observing everything, letting the others fight for him. He took quick glances at every member of the group and judged them.

They don't seem to be exceptionally powerful... That one man with the sword, Paul was it? He seems to have some skill so I'll be careful with him. Now for those three in the back... Wait a minute... I must get rid of her first!

The man thought to himself after examining the group. Faye was the one that caught his attention the most. He could sense her inner potential regarding magic, and killing her right away was the safest choice.

The knight looked her in the eyes, and when she noticed and looked back at him, something happened to her.

Uhhh... My body, it feels so heavy... I feel like passing out...

As she tried to regain her senses, the man dashed towards the back line, ignoring all the other fights. He grabbed the sword with both hands and stretched his arms up as much as he could, ready to swing down on her.

"DIE!" He shouted out, aiming at her neck.

But then, just as he was about to slice her, a wind enhanced arrow came flying at full speed against the man's right side, pushing him away and making him fall on the ground.

"Ahhh!" He grunted in pain as he took the arrow out of his body. "Hahaha, I see, enhanced bows, huh? It seems I must kill you first."

He looked at Petter, who was still in a shooting position with his bow up, sweating more than he ever did in his life.

"Are you afraid? Don't be, it will all be over soon..." The man said while getting up.

"Petter! Get back!" His father Zlodey shouted out, wanting to help him. He could not move however, since the knight he was fighting refused to lose.

Nolan stood still, watching in fear. He thought he had his emotions under control. He did not.

"L-Light Spear!" Faye could barely cast the spell, but managed to hold herself conscious and use one of her most powerful attacks.

However, due to her condition, the spell was not as strong as she hoped and the red knight easily avoided it.

"At least you tried." He chuckled, mocking her for failing.

Holding his sword tight, he dashed once again but this time, in Petter's direction.

"NOLAN!" Paul shouted. "Get yourself together!"

Nolan snapped out of his fear and prepared a spell to stop the knight.

"Fir-"

"Oh no you don't!! Null!"

The knight said and cast a never seen before spell. Nolan's magic completely disappeared and so the knight did not stop.

"Take this!" The man screamed out as he swung his sword aiming at Petter's head.

Petter used all the strength he had left and jumped to the side. The knight was much faster tho, and still managed to hit him on the shoulder, cutting Petter's left arm right off.

"AHHHH!" He screamed in pain as his body twitched on the ground, with a puddle of blood forming below him.

"Hahaha! You idiot, now you need to suffer! You could have simply died!"

"NOLAN!!! USE THEM!" Faye ordered Nolan.

Quickly realizing what she meant, he ran to Petter and activated his teleportation scroll, and his own right after.

The boys disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"What the!?" The knight was confused about what had happened.

"Ah, I see now. This is your doing isn't it? I changed my mind, I'm taking you with me. You'll prove yourself useful."

He continued while looking at Faye, who was on the ground with no strength to even stay up any longer.

I'll have to put everyone here asleep, including my own. I'm sure they understand... Hehehe...

The knight thought to himself and prepared another spell.

"True Night!"

As he cast it, a huge smoke screen enveloped the room, making everyone in it pass out, except for the caster.

"Now then. Let's bring you people to a delightful place..."

~~~~~~~~~~

"AHHHH!" Petter screamed as loud as possible, not able to handle the pain.

"Petter! Hang on!" Nolan was out of ideas. His healing magic was at the most basic level, so getting his friend to the village would be the best option.

"Simple Healing!" He cast the only spell he could to help, but it didn't help much.

"RHHH! Leave me! G-go warn the village!" Petter shouted.

"You idiot, I'll carry you there! I must!"

Nolan cast a few simple physical boost spells on himself and picked Petter up.

I won't be able to hold him for long... I need to run.

And so, using all the strength he had left, Nolan ran as fast as he could with his friend in his arms, hoping to get back in time...

END OF CHAPTER 3