After eating lunch, everyone returns home to discuss the future with their families. In Anna’s home, she is happily rubbing her stomach. She then happily tells her family, “it’s great that our strength has suddenly increased so much. I thought it’d take generations to have this much military strength.”

  Arron, on the other hand, is frustrated by his wife. He rubs his head, “They haven’t joined our village. They’re here to die against the Red River empire!”

  Anna shrugs and states, “all we have to do is win. Red River empire shouldn’t have any overly strong cultivators. Our guardian spirit should be able to wipe out even a hundred thousand soldiers by himself.”

  Franklin jumps up, “that’s right! I will fight too. We are strong.” He shows off his muscles that are starting to get big.

  Arron shakes his head, “are you sure about this?”

  Anna nods with fierce eyes, “we must not lose this place!”

  In Mellisa’s home, the mother and daughter are also arguing. “Mom, I think we should fight. If we run, how will I get training for my eyes?”

  “What are you saying! You will die. You can’t let all these cultivators trick you,” She says, flailing her arms in emphasis.

  “I’m not. This is destiny. I can tell,” Laurel retorts, pointing at her eyes.

  Mellisa falls to her knees and grabs Laurel’s hand, “please, honey! Let's leave.”

  Laurel looks at her mom, trying to hold back tears, “We’ll see what everyone else decides.” Laurel then looks away, unable to look her mom in the eye.

  In Wilbur's house, Donna looks at her daddy in tears. “Do we have to leave? Bush and Ball are fun! I don’t wanna!”

  “I’m sorry, princess, but it’s too dangerous. Your life is the most important to me,” Wilbur explains as he gently hugs his daughter.

  “Why do they bully us?” Donna wails.

  Wilbur also cries as he squeezes his daughter, “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

  Joe is a bit on edge due to the emotions of the village. He paces about and then eats the grass as soon as it grows. John yells at the fat bull, “If you eat it as fast as it sprouts, we’ll never get the lush grass back!”

  “moo,” Joe responds while continuing to eat.

  “I can’t fix this! There is nothing that we can do,” John retorts.

  “Moouo moo shlup.”

  “Yes, I’m brilliant, but when others are dumb, there is nothing you can do! Look at you, for example. Would I be constantly tortured by you if I could just win with intelligence?” John says while raising his branches to make himself look taller.

  “hmph,” Joe complains while looking away.

  “Alright yeah, I’d be dead if you didn’t pour water on me. But that’s beside the point!”

  “Moo.”

  “Alright. I will give them advice! But I don’t think it will change anyone's mind,” John gives in while thrashing his branches.

  When the villagers gather once again, John sends his voice to all the villagers, “Due to a nosey bull, I will give you all some advice. Be humble and listen! The best choice is for you all to flee to the moon iron cave. They won’t last more than a season at worst. They will stay until the end of fall. I’ll lay low, and Joe can harass them as he eats.”

  Gregory nods happily, “this is a good plan. What do the rest of you think?”

  “I agree!” Mellisa quickly jumps in.

  “Mom!” Laurel yells back.

  “This is for the best. Even John agrees.”

  Anna gives Mellisa a side-eye and puts out her word, “We should stay. With us all being at the foundation stage and time to prepare. Even 100,000 won’t dislodge us.”

  Harriet steps back while Marsha points her finger at Anna, “you only care about your OWN problems. You won’t even be fighting due to your pregnancy. You want to send our kids to die for your OWN selfish machinations!”

  Anna cuts the air in front of her with her hand and counters, “my son and husband will fight. I’m risking just as much.”

  ‘Curse this woman,’ Mellisa thinks. “Everyone knows you dream more about having a child cultivate at the correct age! You don’t care about Franklin at all.”

  Anna’s tranquil face falters, making her lips turn into a dot. She then smiles with gritted teeth, “No one can best you in that category. So scared that you’d sacrifice your daughter for one day of safety!”

  “You witch!” Mellisa screeches as she loses her mind and lunges at Anna. Anna steps back in shock.

  “Mom!” Laurel yells as she grabs Mellisa. She’s surprised by the strength her mom is putting out since she never trains.

  The men are shocked by this display of aggression, but as Laurel struggles, they return to their senses. Gregory steps between the two women with his hand held out towards both of them. At the same time, Wilbur helps Laurel pull Mellisa back.

  John steps in and says, “Let’s calm down. There is time before you have to make a decision.”

  Laurel lets Wilbur take care of her mom as she steps out. “No, we must decide now. If we are to put up a good fight, we’ll need to start working now.”

  Gregory looks at the young lass and asks, “Does that mean you wish to fight?”

  Laurel nods, “It’s our destiny to battle here. Even if we run in the end, we’ll have to fight.”

  Vickie pats her son’s shoulder and states, “We’ve also talked it out. And while I’m not much for fighting myself. This is our home. We don’t want to run away again.”

  Wilbur frowns and looks a bit smaller. He blows away his beard and speaks, “I’m sorry I will take Donna and run.”

  Vickie shakes her head vigorously. Her stomach, which has returned to its previous girth, lurches as she jollify replies, “there is no reason to apologize. We must all make our own decision. I hope you will help us until they near. It won’t be like last time with us in the rear. No one will chase you, I’m sure.”

  Harriet pokes her head out from her curly locks and questions, “are you sure, Vickie. You both will die.”

  Louis nods his head and stands up straight. Even though he’s younger than Franklin, he’s almost a foot taller than him now. His golden hair makes him look majestic as he affirms, “We’ve already talked about it. We’ve decided.”

  Roy looks at his mom, undecided, “mom.” Marsha shakes her head, and Roy looks away from Louis.

  Douglas steps forward and worriedly says, “are you sure? There’s no reason to act tough.”

  Louis smiles at his friends, “I’m sure.”

  Gregory sighs, “Alright. Wilbur, I’d like to come along but. I can’t leave these youth knowing what will come. I’ll leave the women and kids to you.”

  Wilbur nods, “Leave it to me. But as Vickie said, we aren’t back in our old town. There is time to plan and prepare. Let’s work together, so we all have the best chance!” He takes Gregory into a hug which shocks the old man. But after some hesitation, he returns the hug.

Untolddead

I'm sure there will be people saying they could do this or that after reading this. That my characters are dumb and I'm dumb. I've honestly thought of many arguments for going and counter arguments. I think from a logical perspective they should clearly leave and had John a more outside perspective say that.

However my epic final battle would be ruined if that happened :p. But they all have different reasons for their choices. I hope that I've done a good enough job of displaying that with out going on too long.

Thanks for reading!