In the ruins, Jason spotted something. Contrasting the debris around, the object looked different. Dust hadn’t well grown on it, and unlike with the other stuff he had found, he didn't have to carefully sweep any dirt away. He tried to free the thing from the rubble. Too heavy. And too similar to the picture he saw earlier that day.
“Whoa! We found it!” he said.
Clare had a hard time getting to him through the mess.
“You did,” she said, “Try to credit yourself sometimes.”
“Tell Marvin the statue is here so he can call for help. This will probably be an hour of work, even with a dozen of people.”
“I am surprised it’s in one piece,” Clare said.
“Yeah. Thanks heavens it’s made of metal.”
Jason heard some strange noise nearby, which sounded like fierce growling and chewing. After making a few steps, he spotted a wolf devouring an animal caracas. It was another wolf. Jason aimed at the predator, which was snarling back at him. Its bones were tightly wrapped in the skin, barely having any fur. The poor creature’s legs were shaking, unable to stand still. Jason tried to scare it with a few shouts and throwing rocks, until it ran away into the fog.
“So, that’s what happened…” said Charlotte, watching the cloudy sky. “Whoever is responsible for this, I will, I will... painfully slap them!”
Ken looked at her and smiled.
“Burn them to ashes, you mean.”
“No... I would never do that.”
Charlotte pointed at a white spot on the horse’s fur.
“It’s just like your hair!”
Ken touched the right side of his hair. He had the white patch for as long as he can remember, but he always tried to dye it back to brown or cover it with a hoodie.
“Oh, is it still visible? I didn’t have enough dye this time...”
“Why hide it anyway? Looks good on you.”
Some tracks in the mud caught Ken’s attention. He jumped down to examine them.
“A vehicle drove through this place,” said Ken, “A few of them.”
He was wondering who would waste fuel randomly like this. When he turned around to get back to his seat, he stopped mid-walk, as the sight of the carriage made him realize. Ken remembered seeing some people, probably watching the expedition teams, when he left Nataran. They were given caravans, because the fuel delivery unreasonably failed and Emilia had mentioned the Laar’s unusual behavior.
“Come with me,” he said as he went straight towards the museum. “I have to tell Marvin we might be in danger.”
They found Marvin talking to David on the transmitter.
“Yeah mate, we will be right there, good news you found it. Though, could you please try to contact Adam? I couldn’t reach him for some reason.”
“Thank you. Sure, see you in a few minutes then,” said Marvin, and switched the channel.
“Adam? Do you hear me?”
No answer.
“Make any sound if you understand what I am saying.”
Still nothing, just a consistent buzz. Marvin switched the channel once more.
“He isn’t replying to me either, David. It’s like there’s no signal. Could you go with your team and check whether they’re all right?”
The white noise was there again.
“Before you come here, investigate Adam’s situation. Do you copy?”
Marvin twitched with the antenna a little bit.
“David?!”
“This doesn’t look good at all,” Ken said, holding Charlotte’s hand. “We lost touch with the other groups and we’re on our own in this thick fog. I highly suggest we withdraw for today.”
“What is that?” Charlotte asked.
“Huh?”
A sound of engines came from a distance, rapidly getting near.
“I hear it from the south-east,” Marvin said and started moving towards the noise.
“Wait for a second, do you remember what Emilia told us this morning?”
A series of gunshots joined the engine growling.
“Shit, Jason and Clare are that way, let’s go!” Marvin said, already running with his rifle unsheathed.
“Charlotte, hide in this corner until we get back,” said Ken and ran after Marvin.
They hadn’t gone far when Jason appeared from the fog and bumped right into Ken. He was covered in blood, his eyes filled with tears.
“What happened? Where is Clare?” Ken asked.
“She’s dead!... Rejoin the rest of the group, we are under attack!” said Jason and went on, limping with his injured right leg. “I… couldn’t save her.”
Marvin and Ken stood in shock for a moment, but then turned around and followed him. After a while, they approached Charlotte and Marvin seemed like he came up with a decision.
“Let’s gather everyone and get into the caravan.”
“It’s no use, their vehicles are faster,” said Ken. “If we detach the horses, we still have only two.”
“Then take one with your sister, and you Jason, you’re wounded, escape with them.”
“I am not leaving anyone!” Jason said, “I will get you out of here.”
As soon as he finished the sentence, a distinctive hiss went by and in a moment, the nearby caravan blew up. Pieces of it flew from the point of impact, landing all over the ground and Ken stepped in front of his sister to protect her from the debris. The area around the carriage was left covered in flames.
“Are we going to die?” Charlotte asked, with a sobbing voice.
Ken put his hands on her shoulders. This was not how he wanted her to see the world the first time.
“We will be home before you know it. Just stick to us, okay?”
Bullets flew by, digging into the bricks around them. Everyone ran behind a nearby little wall to hide themselves, while Jason struggled to do so. His wounded leg snapped just before he could reach them. He let out a loud scream as he fell on his knees and tried to pull himself behind the wall, but any attempts to move stroke him with intense pain.
“Hold on, I will help you!” Marvin said, but shots began to land all over Jason’s body, spatterring blood as he fell on the ground.
Ken turned Charlotte away from the horrific sight, while Marvin gazed in anguish at his lifeless friend.
The rest of the group showed up.
“Guys, what’s happening? Is that Jason?” asked Sam.
“Get down!” Marvin shouted at them.
Sam didn’t manage to make any movement before bullets passed through, killing him on spot.
“Oh my… we are stuck...“ said Chris, lying down. “But, how the hell can they see us?”
“Michael got caught off when we tried to get here,” said Lucas.
Marvin sighed.
“People are dying under my command...”
“There is only one way they can see us through this fog,” Ken said, “Thermal goggles.”
“And, what do we do about it?” asked Marvin.
Ken looked at Charlotte.
“I will need you to make a fire as big as you can.”
“What? Why? Where?”
“They won’t see us behind the heat it creates, so we will sneak behind it and go around the long wall.”
“This could actually work,” said Marvin, “Once we get closer to them, the fog will not help them anymore.”
“That’s nice, Ken, but what if you’re wrong and we will just walk into our death?” Chris asked.
“I’ll go first to test it.” Marvin said.
“Are you sure? It was my idea after all, I should be riski-”
“Stop, I have had enough of my men dying on me.”
“Uh… alright then… Charlotte, light up this open area between the walls.”
Charlotte raised her hands and burned the designated wide gap until a fire arose. Marvin prepared himself to go through it.
“It should be enough,” said Ken.
Without hesitation, Marvin ran behind the fire and what was just a brief moment, felt like an eternity. His heart rate doubled as he left the concrete barricade, focusing only at surviving the seconds that have followed. He made it to the other side and no shots were even fired at him.
“Who’s next?” Ken asked.
Chris went afterwards, safely reaching Marvin. When Lucas was about to do the same, spray of shots came from the other side of the fire.
“I guess they suspect something is going on…” he said, “What now?”
“I will go with Chris and ambush them from the side,” said Marvin, and Chris advanced with him, both disappearing behind the corner.
As their footsteps faded, some others occurred to be getting closer and noisier, from where the shots came. Lucas realized the enemy wasn’t hidden in the mist anymore and decided to surprise them.
“Bastards...” he said while standing up.
“You idiot!” Ken shouted.
Lucas found himself aiming at two men from a point-blank range, killing them before they reacted. However, the fog answered and Lucas got shot in the chest several times. He dropped back down and leaned on the wall, groaning in pain.
“What have you done? We could have waited for them. Charlotte, can you help him hold his wounds?”
Footsteps were heard again, but they approached faster and echoed from multiple directions.
“Behind you!” said Lucas.
Ken turned around but there was a man already aiming at him. Something clinged onto the man’s leg and the distraction gave Ken enough time to shoot him down. The skinny and weak wolf held onto the leg for a bit longer before charging at Ken, giving him no other choice but to kill it as well. Charlotte silently watched, filled with fear.
“Seems… seems like you got... better,” said Lucas.
“Not really, I just got lucky... I believe help is on the way, Nataran surely knows something is wrong,“ Ken said and went to take the dead man’s goggles. When he returned, he put them on and carefully peeked the wall a few times.
“They are coming, a lot of them.”
Lucas handed Ken his ammunition.
“Send them my regards.”
“I need you to help me fend them away,” said Ken and put the gun back into Lucas’s hands, “Can you still use it?”
“I will try, but I don’t think I will hold on much longer.”
The enemies were getting closer and Ken started shooting at them, missing a chunk of his shots. The ones that hit, were not enough to slow the enemy down. Ken kept looking around to see threats coming from other directions.
"Right in front of you!" said Ken while reloading.
Lucas began firing and the body appearing as a heat mark to Ken, fell on the ground.
Ken was merely trying to defend himself along with Lucas, but the enemy was already close enough that Lucas could see them, too. Nevertheless, they got outnumbered and trapped on all sides. Ken had no time to even reload, when one of the men came nearer to him and put a gun to his head, forcing a surrender. He slowly turned around and saw a very familiar face. A face he hoped not to see since the last time he did.
"So, it's you behind this again, Connor..."
It was the Laar’s military commander. He had lead and was responsible for causing turmoil during the Nataran’s expeditions up to date. Ken had met him in many conflicts and it wasn’t the first time Connor was aiming at him.
"Long time no see, my friend. I hope you're having a great day!"
"Do you think you will get away with this?"
"Why? Because, Nataran will come and put things in order, as always? Don't make me laugh. We are the order now."
"Sir, what should we do with them?" asked one of the Laar soldiers.
"Take this cursed child. And the boy, too. It's her blood, we might find him useful in the lab as well."
"The lab!? What on earth are you doing to those children!?" Ken asked.
The Laar soldier took Charlotte and split her from Lucas, leaving him to bleed out. He was too weak to even press on his wounds.
“Let her go!” Ken shouted.
"Sir, and the other guy?"
Marvin was being held by two soldiers, from his face it was obvious that Chris did not survive. Connor approached him and looked deep into his eyes.
"For all the trouble he has caused in the past, he will get what he deserves... and a little bit more, " said Connor. "Put them into the truck and take them to Laar. I will send a report that the bait worked.
The dusk darkened the sky, when Ken, Charlotte and Marvin were tied up and gagged in the truck's back as it drove through the forest. They were guarded by a Laar soldier. The road was rough, and as it went over a bump, a coin-shaped object fell out of Charlotte's pocket, catching the soldier's attention.
"What’s this?" he said and picked it up.
Charlotte tried to say something through the muzzle, but it was just loud mumbling.
"I think I’ll keep it," the soldier said while inspecting the glowing object.
The other two soldiers chatted on the front seats.
"The general will be satisfied with the mission's outcome."
"Yeah, we eliminated a big part of the Nataran's army, a nice cleanup before the big attack."
"Ben! They can hear us," the driver said.
Ben looked back at the captives, seeing them terrified of what they have just heard.
"Don't worry, corpses don't talk."
He laughed. As they turned back to the road, there was a mysterious woman in the middle of it. The truck sharply braked, stopping right in front of her. Ben and the other soldiers left the truck.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?!” asked Ben, “Who are you?”
The woman ignored them and walked past their left side. She had lilac blue hair in a long ponytail and wore an unusual dark blue gown, almost like a fantasy costume.
“Hey, you! I asked something!”
She looked at him and noticed the glowing object in the other soldier's hand.
"Where did you get that from?"
"That's none of your business," he said.
Charlotte loudly mumbled.
"Oh, she may know..." the woman said, "Let her talk."
"Who are you to give us orders?"
The woman began walking towards Charlotte, with eyes focused on her.
"Stop it right there!" said Ben and everyone aimed their rifles at the woman.
She stopped.
"I just want to ask her a few questions."
"You will be the one answering questions, you are coming with us," Ben said. He approached her and grabbed her arm. "Huh? What's up with those long ears?"
With her other hand, she pushed Ben away with such a force that he landed back to his comrades. He struggled to take a breath and coughed blood.
"Who... what are you?" he asked.
"I don't want to hurt you, please stay away from this,” she said and continued towards Charlotte.
“Damn, you!” Ben stood up and attempted to hit her with his gun, but she seized it and twisted Ben’s hand, breaking it in the process. He immediately fell on the ground.
“Aaargh! This bitch… you’ll pay for this… shoot her! Kill her!”
The soldiers began firing at the woman, but she created an ice barrier, successfully protecting herself.
“She’s cursed,” Ben said and after a considerable effort, he managed to aim his gun at her too.
With the third barrage of bullets unleashing, she fell on her knees and struggled to keep the shield up. Ken, Charlotte and Marvin watched helplessly, when the woman suddenly spread her hands wide and made the ice shield burst into spikes, piercing the soldiers, halting the shooting at once as they fell down. The woman took the coin-shaped glowing object and approached Charlotte. She pulled the muzzle out of her mouth, but Charlotte gazed in awe, as if she couldn't decide whether to be afraid, or happy that they just got saved.
“Hello, little girl,” the woman said, “Do you mind telling me where you found this thingy?“
“I… I got it from a friend…” said Charlotte.
“Where is that friend of yours?”
“At home…”
The woman looked at Ken, who was observing her dark blue eyes and long pointy ears.
“Is there something you want to say, boy?” she asked, and released both him and Marvin from the ties.
“Thank you very much!” said Ken and nodded at the dead bodies around. Their flesh had gone completely black, especially around the spots where they got hit by the ice spikes.
The woman smiled, "They chose it to be this way.”
“Who are you? And how did you do all this… magic?” asked Marvin.
“My name is Shira. If you lead me to your home, I can tell you more.”
Ben, lying on the ground behind Shira, raised his hand, holding something in it. A grenade.
“Die!” he shouted.
Everyone got away from the spot while Ken grabbed Shira’s hand and pulled her away just before the grenade exploded. Though it was not enough, as the blast propelled them both a few meters and almost rolled the truck on its back. Ken was unharmed, but Shira was left unconscious. The truck burned to crisp in flames.
Marvin quickly returned to them. “Are you okay?”
“I am… but she passed out,” Ken said, “Take the rifles and let’s head back.”
“What about… her?”
“She saved us… and I... have a lot of questions.”
“Well, so do I!” said Marvin excitedly.
“Carry her then.”
They walked through the shadow-coated, dense and leafless forest with the bright moon enlightening their path. Marvin carried Shira in his hands as he followed Ken.
“She’s beautiful.” said Marvin.
“Is that the first thing you noticed?”
“Besides that she’s an elf, yeah.”
“And it doesn’t bother you what an elf is doing here?”
“Of course it does! It’s just… I can’t wait to hear what she will say.”
Charlotte was looking at the ground for the whole time, as if life had been drained from her. “This is just a dream… just a bad dream…” she muttered.
Ken pulled her closer to himself.
“I am sorry to have you go through all of this.”
“What do you think that guy meant by the big attack?” Marvin asked, “And Connor talking about a bait... Was the sculpture purposefully put into the museum?”
“Very likely. Someone had been there before we came. Though we were given orders to go there and find it, so it has been all staged up. Who gave you the photo of the sculpture you showed us in the morning?”
“Marco gave it to me along with the updated instructions, which he gave to every group. So it wasn’t just us.”
“When we return, we have to talk to him first.”
A place under a small cliff seemed good enough for settling down. Marvin carefully put Shira down and rested against a tree.
“Big attack, huh?” he said, “Just what are they thinking, they can’t possibly… invade Nataran? That would start a war!”
The expedition teams were a considerable part of the Nataran military force. If each of them were ambushed, then Nataran’s defense has been greatly compromised. It was then, when Ken fully grasped the situation.
“The war would be over before we could do anything. Take a short rest and we will continue.” Ken looked at Charlotte, “Don’t fall asleep, I won’t be carrying you if you do.”
Nataran Markets were pretty busy even during the night and the streets were lit up by a multitude of lanterns, bulbs and other sources of light. Many people walked past Emilia as she sat on a bench alone. Her eyeliner was completely melted away by the tears she had been shedding. “I hope you are all right, guys…”
Emilia strolled towards home, when she spotted someone in the crowd. Based on the grey hat, she could tell it was Aleric and he seemed to be in a hurry.
“Hey! Aleric!” Emilia shouted, but it didn’t get through the noisy crowd. “Aleric!”
She struggled to run after him, bumping into people while slowly losing him. When she finally got out of the crowd, she spotted Aleric walk into an alley. She followed him wondering where he is going, since she knew it was a dead end. Upon entering the alley, confusion filled her. There was a passage and the wall usually blocking it was nowhere to be found. Emilia walked through and the noise from the crowd suddenly faded. She turned back only to find herself looking into a wall right in front of her nose.
“The fuck?”
“Who are you talking to?” an old man behind her asked. He was wearing strange clothes and appeared to have long, pointy ears.
“Oh, no one, I’m just-”
“You can lift the spell, they can’t see you here.”
Emilia had no idea what he was talking about, but she decided to go along.
“The spell! Yes…” she laughed and quickly moved away. Aleric had to be somewhere close.
“Wait!”
She knew all of Nataran very well, but couldn’t recognize this place nor recall it from the maps. People around seemed to be dressed up in costumes, but Halloween had ended a long time ago. A dozen of clams flew by. They just glided in the air with ease and had some papers in their mouth. She probably walked into their way as one of them crashed into her and dropped all of it. They were letters.
“You! Watch your step! I have a lot of deliveries today!” the clam said and began to pick them up.
Emilia, wordless, passed by and continued searching for Aleric. “Where am I? Did I fall asleep on the bench? Was that clam talking to me just now? Nonsense.”
