05 - The hero's awakening

Secilia walks a bit ahead of the group, her gaze fixed on the statue. Alina grabs Secilia's arm and looks at her worried, she wasn't a girl who was hypnotized by jewels or riches.

"What's wrong, Secilia?"

"Can't you hear it? The whisper..."

Secilia says, staring fixedly at the statue. Rosaria, upon hearing the girl's words, takes a step forward toward the water, crouching down to get a better look at the lake's surface. Oly joins her but remains standing, looking at the statue.

"I can't hear anything. Are you sure it wasn't just the wind through the crack?"

The hunter asks, turning his torso and face to the trio in the back.

"Yes."

Secilia looks at Alina, who releases her nodding. The girl walks toward the lake, standing next to Rosaria, staring at the statue.

"There's something strange in this water. I'll inform the Duke when we return and ask someone to retrieve the statue."

Rosaria says, observing the bottom of the lake where the green light was coming from. As she notices, something is beneath the vegetation at the lake bottom, but because of the distance and the ground at the bottom it is not possible to discern what it is.

"It's better to go back now. We've seen what was in the cave."

"But we haven't even reached the statue yet."

Alina questions, approaching the group with Clark.

"The statue is in the middle of the lake. We won't be able to get there without a bridge or a boat."

Clark retorts, noting the distance between them and the center, between 6 and 9 meters.

"It's not necessary..."

Secilia says, and before Alina can question, the girl puts her foot on the lake.

"This sound..."

Secilia thinks as she walks on the lake, the color of the water beneath the soles of her feet changing to an almost white-blue as she moves toward the center.

"Since when you can..."

Alina tries to ask Secilia, but Rosaria interrupts, shouting for Secilia to come back, but the girl doesn't respond and keeps walking until she reaches the center near the statue.

The statue appears to be of a kneeling man on his right knee. The statue's body is covered in various branches, but his ears, sharper than those of humans but less than those of elves, are still visible. Additionally, his attire resembles that of a traveler — a black cloak covering much of the body and common villager clothes. He holds a completely black staff that he uses for support; the staff has various deformities, but the most noticeable ones are the three larger spikes, one above the greenish sphere and two below, one in the shape of a crescent moon and the other simply extending from the shaft. (Same as the cover)

"Strange... I can hear a voice, but it's not coming from him."

Secilia says, stopping in front of the statue's face and looking at it in silence for a moment.

"We better go back; the statue may be a sealed object. It would be too dangerous to mess with…"

Before Rosaria finishes her sentence, the water quickly changes color to a dark green. Because she is still crouched near the water, she can see something moving at the bottom and jumps back, pulling Clark and Olyver, who were next to her, and pushing Alina, who was just behind her, between her and Clark, making both of them step back as she shouts to Secilia.

"Get down! Now!"

From the water, a hand made of vines and stones with three claws emerges, staying on the ground where Rosaria and the group were previously. From the hand, the vines form, joining stones from the ground and the lake bottom, taking the form of a humanoid creature with a face of brown vine in the form a wolf skull and a strong green glow covering the gaps between stone, wood, and vine.

The creature lets out a shrill roar, formed by the passage of air between the stones and wood.

"Back!"

Olyver shouts, trying to take the lead, but Rosaria pushes him to the side, just before one of the creature's arms stretches toward the guy, missing by a few centimeters. 

The hand returns to the creature at the same speed.

The woman with blue hair draws her short sword and looks behind the monster, where Secilia was crouched near the statue.

"I'll hold the creature, help Secilia."

Before the group can respond, the woman runs full speed at the creature, carefully observing the movement of its arms.

The creature attacks with the left claw from above, letting out a furious growl full of noise.

"GRRRAAAA!"

Rosaria uses the short blade to deflect the blow using the sword's body and a high force, making the creature hit the ground.

In a quick second movement, the woman moves the sword and cuts off the creature's left arm.

Before Rosaria can retreat, she is hit in the stomach by a strange blow in hammer format, sending her flying backward, rolling twice before she can recover and plunge the sword into the ground.

"Damn! If only I had a spear!"

The woman thinks, spitting blood on the ground.

"Rosaria, be careful!"

Alina shouts behind the woman. Rosaria, on impulse, drops the sword and rolls to the side just before the creature's right hand — in the form of a stone hammer — hits right where she was, crushing the sword.

Rosaria quickly rises after the spin, not observing the hammer hand for long. The woman tries to look at Secilia, but the creature continues frantically toward the maid.

"What do I do? If I keep going like this, I'll end up cornered!"

The woman thinks, looking for an opening. From the corner of her eye, she can see Clark and Oliver running toward the lake.

"Run here! Quickly!"

Secilia hears Clark's voice and walks toward him, but this time her leg sinks into the water, causing her to lose balance and step back, holding onto the statue's shoulder, inadvertently turning her gaze away from Rosaria.

Amidst the creature's charge, Rosaria had been cornered in the corner, unarmed, with no way to escape or fight.

"Rosaria!!!"

Secilia shouts as the creature raises its right hand and lowers it like a blade.

A low hum forms in the air and grows a second later, along with a strong gust appearing out of nowhere, throwing the creature into the air.

 At the same moment, Secilia feels her hand slip. Looking back, she sees jade chips falling in the air as a figure with golden hair, covered in thin green layers, moves holding the staff and opens a smile, disappearing in an instant, leaving behind a gust of wind, causing Secilia's clothes and hair to sway strongly.

"What..?"

The girl thinks upon hearing something whisper in her head; she feels an impulse to look at the creature.

She sees the figure in a black cape appear above the monster; the tip of his staff distorts in an instant, taking the form of a blade.

The man swings the staff so fast that the wind around begins to hum. In an instant, the creature is reduced to hundreds of pieces scattered across the cavern.

He slowly lands in front of Rosaria. He turns towards Secilia, opening a smile.

His staff returns to its normal form, and he falls unconscious.

"Did you see what I saw, Alina?"

Clark asks with an incredulous expression, observing the shattered creature all around.

Alina nods, turning to Secilia, approaching as close to the lake as possible.

"Are you okay?"

Secilia remains paralyzed by the sudden events, but upon hearing Alina's voice, she regains awareness and looks at her friend.

"Yes, I'm coming over there."

Before walking to the lake, she looks at the ground where the statue was, seeing a rainbow-colored branch just below where the staff was planted.

"What's wrong?" 

her friend asks again, Secilia just looks back ahead, entering the cold water.

Secilia swims across the lake, always looking down with a fearful expression.

"It's okay, I don't think anything else will come out of there," 

Olyver says, noticing Secilia's expression, but he continues walking towards Rosaria.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt badly?" 

Rosaria extends her hand, Olyver takes it and uses it to help her up, supporting her a bit.

"No much, I twisted my ankle," 

Rosaria says, and Olyver chuckles, wrapping his arm around her.

"Now, what are we going to do with him? We don't even know his name." 

Olyver asks Rosaria as they both watch the young man.

"Zefiro... His name is Zefiro." 

Secilia says, coming out of the lake, soaked through, with her clothes clinging to her body. 

Clark takes off his shirt and hands it to her, turning his face the other way. She covers herself with the shirt, and Alina smiles, shaking her head.

"What's wrong? I can't leave her like this!" 

Clark says, blushing a bit, and Alina smiles even more.

"And who said I'm laughing about that." 

she says, turning to Secilia.

"But why Zefiro? Where did you get that name?" 

Secilia walks towards the young man on the ground.

"I'll explain better in town; let's take him from here. Help me, Clark?"

"You help Rosaria, Clark and I will carry him" 

Olyver says as Clark approaches. Secilia helps Rosaria lean on her, while Olyver and Clark carry the young man. Alina looks at the water, seeing shards of jade floating in the lake; she picks up some and puts them in a bag.

"Guess we'll have to explain to the Duke what happened here. Maybe he won't get so mad if there's some proof." 

says the girl joining the group.

"Sure you're not just looking for some cash?" 

Clark says, flashing a mocking smile. Alina responds with an elbow jab to his ribs.

...

The group returns to the town, following the path Olyver had taken to climb. As they approach the town entrance, one of the four guards at the gate spots the group from afar.

"Hey, isn't the one with Oly the Duke's daughter?"

the guard asks another, who looks for a moment and notices Rosaria and the unknown guy being carried.

"Darn it, why did it have to be on our shift?" 

he says with a sad expression and takes a deep breath.

"Call the officer... Looks like they've gotten into some trouble."

The other guard nods and heads towards the town, while the one who gave the order approaches the group.

"What happened, Olyver?" 

the guard says, examining the two being carried; he notices neither of them has serious injuries.

"I'll escort them to the inn, let me carry her for you, miss." 

the guard says, walking towards Secilia, who declines with a shake of her head.

"Thanks, but just escort us there."

The guard nods and begins the escort.

After reaching the inn, Secilia bids farewell to the guard and joins the group. 

Clark is behind the counter serving some drinks, while Alina decorates Rosaria's leg, and Olyver comes down the stairs in a new, clean outfit.

"So, how is he?"

Secilia asks Olyver with a worried look.

"He's fine, still out, but he seems to be just sleeping." 

Olyver says, sitting on a stool in front of the counter and grabbing a glass that Clark left for him.

"So, Secilia, how about telling us, how did you know his name?" 

Everyone looks at Secilia, the girl looks at each one and sighs.

"Next to him, there was something, looked like the ghost stories we used to hear, a see-through and pale man."

 Alina shrinks back a bit in the chair next to Rosaria.

"He was moving his mouth, repeating the same thing over and over."

"His name?"

 Clark asks, pouring a somewhat yellowish liquid into a glass and drinking.

"Yeah, he kept saying: 'Zefiro, the hero of Valos, has awakened.'"

Rosaria furrows her brow at the phrase, and before anyone could question, the door behind Secilia opened.

"I can't let you leave the house without stumbling into trouble."

Secilia turns to the door, and her dad and mom were standing there with a serious expression, but they seemed more concerned than irritated.