The search

ZaEl wandered in the woods, not sure where he was going. He thought about going to meet with Aiden but he realized that he knew nothing about him asides from his name.

Tired, he sighed and sat on a big rock situation at the woods. His eyes subconsciously looked up at the many stars in the sky and thought about how his life would have been if he was born a star.

He gaze at the stars for hours and didn't realize that time had passed. With nowhere else to go, he slept on the rock for the night with the hope of seeing Aiden tomorrow, that's if he gets to see him tomorrow.

"Search over there and there. I'll make sure to find him myself no matter how long it'll take." Eldezar Banach decided to come outside himself to look for ZaEl. He didn't want to waste any more time.

***

A few hours ago, Eldezar questioned Darius about where he had gone and Darius told him the truth about going to the woods.

"What? Why did you go to the wood all by yourself at this time of the night?" his mother asked confused, hoping that he had no hand in ZaEl's escape.

Darius raised the root in his hand and explained, "I forgot that I had to bring this to training tomorrow. Master had asked everyone to bring one."

Knowing that her son was diligent when it came to his training, she did not doubt that he was saying the truth.

Eldezar was somewhat convinced as well. He loosened his grip on Darius but asked, "Why couldn't you wait till tomorrow before looking for it?" his expression revealed that he was still in doubt.

"It's very rare, it took me a long time to find this one," he explained calmly.

Elene cut in, "You know how seriously he takes his training. He hates being behind schedule as well." she spoke to her husband trying to pacify him and he nodded in understanding.

In the next second, he looked at Darius with a serious expression, "Go to your room."

Calmly, Darius left the scene but he was sure that his father's gaze was still on him so he tried his best to maintain his composure.

As soon as he got to his room, he bolted the door and rushed to his private washroom, where he washed his hands over and over again because of his anxiety.

He wondered if his father believed him or not because he would be severely punished if his father found out he went against him.

He sighed heavily then returned to his room and lay on his bed trying not to think about any other thing.

Back to the present,

Eldezar decided to search the woods himself with other helping hands. The mermaids searched the waters and the beast of the air traveled miles away searching earnestly for ZaEl even though they had no idea what he looked like.

"I don't see why we have to search earnestly for a boy whose face we don't even know." Preston, one of the flying beasts with huge wings and a long tail complained. He had human features but also had wings and a tail which differentiated him from a human.

"Hush!" The beast he spoke to, cautioned. "Eldezar Banach said he stole something from him and that's enough to find that slave. I heard it was something of so much value." Aslan looked similar to Preston but was a female.

"He sure knows how to get what he wants but I don't understand why my sleep had to be interrupted simply because he lost his toy," Preston complained.

"Shut up and keep searching... hey, what's that?" she pointed to a big rock in the middle of the woods after noticing something off.

"Nah... that's just a rock. You didn't say he stole something that big now, did you?" he sarcastically asked and continued flapping his wings but Aslan decided to take a look.

She flew down and moved closer to the rock. There were dust particles there and fascinated by it, she wanted to touch it but just as her hand reached for it, a force pushed her meters away.

Her brow furrowed and she wondered what to do with this discovery.

##

Time passed and a screeching noise from Aslan could be heard from miles away. Many members of the search party gathered in no time including Eldezar.

Preston was the first to find Aslan and asked worriedly, "What happened? Who did this?"

In front of everyone present, Aslan explained, "I didn't see his face, he had a hood on and he seemed to have been running away. He jumped into the river." she pointed outside the dugout where she was found in the direction that the assailant had run.

"Seems I underestimated him. Hurry, alert the mermaids. He must be the one." Eldezar didn't think twice before sending everyone to search the riverside.

Everyone rushed out of the dugout where Aslan was except Preston who thought something was off.

"We've searched this dugout before. Why did you return here?" he asked confused but Aslan just wailed in pain, reminding him of how much pain she was in.

Everyone searched earnestly but ZaEl was not there. Even though the mermaids searched tirelessly till the morning, Eldezar didn't stop and asked them to continue searching the riverside.

It was morning and most of the beasts were already tired from searching all night. Aslan went home because she needed to get her wounds treated.

Preston volunteered to take her home as a way of escaping but she told him she could go alone and insisted that he stayed back.

As she left, a quick smile appeared on her lips.

***Hours earlier,

Aslan flew down and moved closer to the rock. There were dust particles there and fascinated by it, she wanted to touch it but just as her hand reached for it, a force pushed her meters away.

Her brows furrowed. She looked at her hand and noticed that some of her energy was drained.

She walked towards it again and looked through the barrier. It was transparent and she could see someone sleeping soundly there.

Her instincts told her to call the other and she ran, about to fly but then stopped halfway and turned back.

She didn't know why but she suddenly changed her mind and decided not to tell the others instead, she came up with another plan.

She had seen a dugout a few miles away, close to the river. Hurriedly, she rushed there. Inside, she looked around carefully. After confirming that no one was there, she broke a bottle on the floor and cut several parts of her body then screamed.