We Meet Again

Ian's dad was still searching for Ellie on the north side of the village when he heard the lightning. The sound it made was so sudden that it made him stop searching. He looked towards the battlefield and took a moment to think. After a few seconds, he decided to give up on searching for Ellie and ran towards the battlefield.

But before he started to run over, he heard multiple explosions coming from the other battlefield which was closer. He didn't know that the village was being attacked from two different directions. He had been too focused on finding Ellie that he didn't notice. Believing that Ian and Emmett would be able to find her he decided to go to the closer one.

When he arrived at the other battlefield he was met with a shocking view. Hundreds of wolves were trying to push their way into the village, but most of his men were trying their hardest to fend them off. Most of the guards look tired and injured. It didn't look like they would be able to last for much longer.

The wolves were relentless. Each guard was fighting between five to ten wolves, but as soon as they killed one another would take its place. Most of the armor they wore had been destroyed and their clothes were soaked in blood and sweat. The sight was heart-wrenching to see.

Most of the guards looked like they were going to give up at any moment. But as soon as some of them were about to collapse from exhaustion, a flash of light passed by them, cutting off the heads of the wolves they were fighting.

All the wolves stopped advancing once they saw this. The guards fell to their knees as they too looked at what stood before them. Ian's dad, Erik Crest, stood tall shining a light of hope upon them as he held a bloodied sword in his hand. All of the guards' faces were filled with joy.

"Captain Crest, you made it." One guard was almost in tears as he said this.

Erik turned to look at his men before saying, "Sorry I took so long, but know you guys can rest. Make your way towards the testing hall and rest. If I don't make it back, make sure to defend till the end."

All of the guards did as they were told. They quickly stood up and dragged themselves to the testing hall. Once they were far enough, Erik turned to face the giant horde of wolves.

None of them made a move as they watched the guards walk away. They had just seen dozens of them get cut down by one man. Fear was slowly sweeping over them.

"So you guys are afraid now, huh? That's fine cause I'm not going to show any mercy." As soon as Erik finished his sentence, he bolted into the horde, cleaving through dozens of wolves.

The army of wolves panicked as they saw many of their comrades get sliced apart. They all ran towards the forest trying to escape. But within a few seconds, more than half of them had been killed.

A few hundred wolves managed to get into the forest but most of them were killed after a minute. Close to two thousand wolves died at the hands of Erik. Only between two to three hundred wolves escaped.

Erik wanted to go after the rest but he was stopped by the sound of more lightning striking. He didn't stop to think. Instead, he went straight in the direction of the lightning.

On the other side of the village, Ellie and Kevin were slowly trying to make their way to the testing hall. They didn't know if anything had snuck into the village so they were being extremely careful. They moved from alley to alley, avoiding any open area.

Partway through the village, Ellie and Kevin saw Ian and Emmett roaming the village. They looked like they were looking for something, but Ellie and Kevin didn't know what. They made sure that the coast was clear before making their way over to them.

"Ian, Emmett, what are you two doing here?" Ellie asked once they were a few meters away from them. "I thought you two went to go see the battlefield."

"We did but when we saw what was attacking we decided to leave," Ian replied.

"Okay, but why are you here?" Ellie asked in desperation as more lightning struck in the distance.

"We ran into dad on the way to the testing hall and he told us to look for you down here in the south side of the village," Emmett replied. He wanted to leave as soon as possible.

The sounds of fighting in the distance were still going strong. The four of them all agreed that it would be better to make their way towards the testing hall.

It wouldn't take them long to arrive at the safe area, but when they got there they were met with many of the guards also trying to get inside. They all looked badly injured and tired. Some of the people inside came outside to help them in. One person that came outside was Ian's mom.

When she saw them outside, she quickly ran over to hug them. "Oh thank the heavens you're all okay." She hugged them tightly not wanting to let them go.

After a few seconds, everyone made their way back into the testing. The guards' wounds were treated once they were brought inside, and they were allowed to rest for the time being.

At the outer edge of the village, Erik was making his way to the other battlefield. On the way there he killed any wolf that split from the horde and tried to get into the village. It didn't take long for him to get to the other side of the village. But when he got there he saw an extremely devastating scene.

Klev was fighting the wolf leader by himself while Roy was on the ground unconscious. Klev looked like he was barely hanging in there. His armor was completely destroyed and his shirt was ripped to shreds. He was covered in many different cuts and bruises. His blood slowly seeped out, mixing with his sweat. The wolf he was fighting looked perfectly fine. There were no signs of major damage to it.

The wolf would send a bunch of roots at Klev but he'd easily break through them with his hammer. Afterwards, the wolf would send a burst of sharp air at him. Klev would put out his hammer to cleave through the attack. He wasn't able to block the entire attack so small bits of air got through and cut him. After he finished blocking the attack, he launched an attack of his own. However, the wolf would easily be able to dodge the attack. As soon as it dodged, it would summon another bolt of lightning to strike Klev.

Erik watched in horror as Klev was bombarded with attacks. He was also surprised at how well Klev was handling himself in the fight. He may not have been able to land a hit on the wolf but he was able to defend himself from any fatal attack.

Erik had only seen a few seconds of the fight but that was enough for him to jump into the middle of everything. When he landed, the wolf had already launched another attack at Klev. Erik quickly sliced through the roots coming his way with his sword. The sword passed through the roots as if it were cutting through the air.

The wolf was surprised by this. It took Klev a good amount of force to break the roots, but now there was someone who sliced through them like they weren't even there.

Klev looked at who his savior was as tears filled his eyes. He was exhausted but he was still able to say, "Captain, You finally arrived."

Erik turned to Klev before saying, "Your fight here is done. Grab Roy and head towards the testing hall. I'll handle this creature.

Klev did as he was told, but before he left he said, "Be careful sir. This beast is stronger and smarter than you think."

"Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself for now. I'll handle this on my own." Erik said as he stared down his new foe.

Klev didn't say anything more. He picked up Roy and quickly ran towards the testing hall. Once he was gone, Erik placed all of his focus on the wolf. The wolf did not attack. It stood there staring at Erik as if it were studying him.

Erik did the same. He observed the wolf as it didn't move. Something about this wolf seemed familiar to him. He had no idea why that was but something kept knocking on the back of his head saying that he should know who this wolf is.

The wolf also observed Erik but not to try and figure out who he was. It observed him to see what he would do.

After some time though, Erik finally realized where he knew this wolf from.

It had been over six years ago when the village was under attack by another group of wolves. The leader of the wolves was a giant silver wolf. It attacked with a much smaller army but this was before Klev and Roy became crystal. The guards at the time had a tough time dealing with the army. It didn't help that Erik was fighting the leader while everyone else had to deal with hundreds of other wolves.

With the guards at the time not being as well trained as they are now, many wolves managed to get into the village. A lot of people were able to get to the safe area in time, but not everyone was so lucky.

One of the wolves that managed to get inside the village was the one that stood before Erik. This wolf, however, didn't only make its way into the village to cause damage, it also managed to kill a few people. Two of them were Kevin's parents.

Reports from those who witnessed the attack said that Kevin's parents were trying to make their way to the testing hall but were stopped by this wolf. Kevin's dad tried to fend it off while Kevin's mom took him to the safe zone. Once Kevin was inside, his mom turned back to help her husband fight off the wolf, but they weren't strong enough. Kevin watched as his parents were ripped apart by this wolf. He was only 11 at the time.

The wolves did not stop their attack until Erik defeated the leader. Once the leader fell, all the wolves retreated into the woods. However, one wolf did not retreat so quickly. This wolf went to the battlefield where Erik and their leader were to see what happened.

When the wolf made it to the battlefield, all it saw was the leader laying on the ground barely breathing. Erik was walking away from it as it would soon die.

The wolf that went over to the battlefield tried to go over and help, but before it could get close, the leader howled at it. The leader's howl seemed to tell the other wolf to run away and not get closer.

Erik heard the leader howl and thought that it was trying to call for help. He ran back over to the leader to try and finish it off.

As Erik went to finish the job, the leader stared at the other wolf, its face was filled with sadness. The other wolf's face also looked sad. It wanted to help, but it knew that it wasn't strong enough to save the leader.

Erik stood over the leader of the wolves with his sword raised high. The leader did not look away from the other wolf though. It kept staring at it as a tear fell down its face. Its face wasn't only filled with sadness but it also looked like it was trying to apologize to the other wolf. But as soon as the leader's tear hit the ground, Erik brought down his sword to cut off its head.

The other wolf watched the entire event with tears filling its eyes. Once the leader was killed, the other wolf let out a sad howl before running into the forest.

Erik turned to where the howl came from and saw the other wolf running into the forest. However, the wolf that cried out for the fallen leader was now standing before him. That same wolf had also killed Kevin's parents. Thinking back to that day, Erik also came to the conclusion that this wolf must have been the child of the leader he killed all those years ago.

Erik now understood who this wolf was and why it was there. It came back for revenge. But regardless of the reason, Erik was not going to let it get away this time.