Chapter 49 – A Night To Remember #1

“Thanks for the help, Anna.” Elly, thanked Anna as she helped her organise all the children. 

Luna replied, “It’s fine.”

Elly had set up the basement in such a way that there were beds for all the children, however, expecting everyone to behave properly was a pipe dream.

The basement was large enough to fit everyone, but to that, Elly had to move everything out of it. She had kept some of her excess materials and long-term in-progress works down there. Elly moved those items upstairs, outside, and a few in the corner of the room. 

The basement was connected to the ground floor by a trapdoor and ladder. Simple cloth beds were laid out across the floor–one for each child. The basement did have one more door that led down a long, cramped hallway. Apparently, a work-in-progress construction that was left uncompleted by the previous house owner–that’s what Elly told the kids anyway.

The previous owner had the Earth attribute and apparently was extremely skilled with it. 

Each of the children got the turn to pick their bed. With Jerry being the first one to pick a bed, he chose one in the corner of the room. Then after that, it became a mess, of kids moving their beds, and then the children decided to sleep together. Anna had seen the pile of them and wanted to laugh, but didn't due to not wanting to wake them up.

It was 11 p.m. 10 p.m. was when the kids went to the basement to sleep, and over the last hour, all their remaining energy completely drained away, and they passed out.

“Are you sure you’re not tired, Anna?”

“No, I’m fine.”

"Well, consider yourself tough; some of the adults are completely gone, and the rest are slowly dropping off.”

The average time to sleep for most people was 8-9 p.m. They were from a farming village, so they went to bed early and got up early. Staying up late and partying all day was going to exhaust these people, and their internal clocks would be yelling at them to sleep.

Anna asked, “Can I stay up here to sleep?”

“Eh, I would prefer it if you stayed downstairs, but why, though?”

Luna answered, “Honestly, that was always my plan.”

Elly thought about it for a few moments before easily relenting to the demands. “Okay… but as long as you don’t leave the house.”

“Understood.”

Elly brought up a cloth bed for Anna, and once she did that, she went to her own bed to lay down.

[...This was fun…] (Eva)

[For sure, I haven't been part of many small village festivals, but they sure knew how to hold one.] (Syrus)

[Talented people can do wonders even with little resources.] (Luna)

[For sure.] (Syrus)

[Did either of you experience any similar festivals before?] (Eva)

[Kind of Lilly, I had visited many small villages in my travels, and some liked to celebrate a successful job with us. But in this case, the festival is a country-wide transition, and I have been part of many of those, but it feels different in a small town compared to a city.] (Syrus)

[Exclusively from private venues in cities, sadly, but I doubt I missed much even if I was able to freely move around. The funnest part about tonight's event was celebrating it with people I enjoyed being around.] (Luna)

[Truer words.] (Syrus)

[Hm-hmph!] Eva hummed in agreement.

They relaxed for a few more minutes.

[Time to sleep?] Syrus asked, in case there was anything else they wanted to do.

[Let’s go say goodnight to our parents first.] (Eva)

[Let’s.] (Luna)

They left the building and went looking for their parents. Thankfully, they weren’t hard to find.

Jen and George were still just outside, helping clean up a few things before bed.

George noticed her first. “Anna, what are you doing back?”

“Just came to say goodnight.”

George smiled and crouched down for a hug. "Well, goodnight, sweetie.” Truthfully, they had already said goodnight when all the children left for Elly’s house, but once more didn’t hurt.

Jen added, "Goodnight, Anlesa. See you tomorrow.”

“I love you guys.” The hug was short and sweet, and they said goodbye one last time and split ways. Anna went back to Elly’s house to rest.

Hours passed, and compared to the atmosphere from earlier, the night was quiet, the animals silent, and the peaceful sound of snores was all that was heard.

Click.

Then a small fire was made in the tree line.

1 a.m

Everyone was sound asleep. 

Then suddenly, Anna got up.

[Syrus, is everything good?] (Luna)

[Probably, I just thought I heard something. Sounded like a footstep, so someone probably fell asleep in the wrong spot and just got up.] Syrus was the one who woke up. This wasn’t the first time that a quiet noise woke her up in the middle of the night, she was a very sensitive sleeper.

Syrus walked to the window to see if she could see anything.

After she didn’t notice anything for a few seconds.

Teeeeoom!

An explosion of wind burst into the village, waking everyone up.

Elly flew out of her bed. “What?!” 

Syrus yelled back, “Mern’s house just exploded!” 

[Mern’s gift is wind. Probably his doing.] (Syrus)

[That doesn’t explain why he did it, and he was only okay at using it.] (Luna)

[!...] (Eva)

Villagers began to suddenly awaken in a panic, and Eva entered a state of shock.

A figure emerged from Mern’s house limping; however, it wasn’t Mern. It was a man in layers of grey and dark green clothes with his face covered. A longsword was gripped in his right hand, which he used as a crutch, and a dagger was held in his other hand.

“Elly, hostiles are outside.” Syrus immediately ran to the door, taking a quick look around the house and picking up a plank of wood.

Elly let out a loud whisper as she tried to grab Anna and missed, “Anna~! Get back here.” 

“I’m going to my parents,” Syrus replied back.

“That’s great! But get back here; I’m going to block the hatch.”

“Great, please–” Luna turned back and stared directly at Elly–“Don’t wait for me.”

With that, Syrus ran into the village, aiming to get cover behind a building.

“You crazy girl…” Elly clenched her fist and it bled. She wanted to go after her, but she made a promise, and she had to keep it. So she went back inside to block the hatch.

Once outside, Syrus pinpointed the location of multiple armed figures within the village. They were coming in every direction, and she could see at least nine of them.

The group wore non-identifying clothes and cloaks.  

[What’s happening?!] Eva exited her shock state and entered full-blown panic, but she was able to keep barely enough control to ensure she wouldn’t accidentally take control of the body away from Syrus.

[Lunatics attacking the village! We need to get to the battle position quickly!] Syrus said, and she quickly ran out from behind a building and slammed the plank into a thug's face.

The man caught off guard fell back, and Syrus followed up by sucker punching his face right into the dirt. She grabbed the sword in her left hand, using her Blood attribute to strengthen her body more than she already was in preparation to wield it properly.  

[We need to find Mum and Dad.] (Luna)

[I know.] (Syrus)

They were trying to make a path to their home that wouldn’t leave them out in the open. Another masked individual set fire to one of the houses, but Syrus couldn’t focus on them for now.

They finally neared their house when another individual stood out in front of them, prepared to intercept.

The individual was a little shocked. “A kid with our sword?” He only noticed a short figure with a sword running in this direction. Upon closer inspection, he noticed it was not only a child; they had one of his companions' swords.

Confused, he still entered the proper combat stance, ready. He two-handed his sword, and the blade was held forward in a defensive stance.

[That sword style?] Luna recognised it; it was one of the common ones taught in the Nevald Kingdom, but one still needed to be in a position where they could be taught it.

Syrus watched the man’s eyes closely. He watched her motion carefully, with a bit of confusion and hesitation.

Without a moment's notice, Syrus flung the plank like a spear into the man’s face.

In a panic at the unexpected attack, he quickly raised his sword to block, but he was too late. The wood smacked him in the face. 

No longer looking at her anymore, Syrus stepped forward and swung her sword into the individual’s stomach. 

But instead of cleanly passing through, the man’s skin hardened like metal, and he panicked and swung his sword down towards Anna, who was in range.

Syrus quickly pumped her blood, increasing her strength, summoned small flames on the sword, and penetrated horizontally into the man’s stomach before she let go of the blade and ducked back. She picked up the plank that had landed back on the ground. 

[Why didn’t you take the sword!] (Luna)

[We would’ve been cut down. It was a lodge, but at least he should be hurting.] (Syrus)

The man grabbed the sword’s handle and, with a bit of effort, removed the blade from his stomach. In the process, a large amount of blood fell out.

[...Huu..haa…huaa….] Eva was finding it harder to control herself. She wanted to jump back to Soul Space, but the extreme desire to know her parents' condition kept her locked in the body. 

The man fell over as he tried to hold his wound together.

[I’m going to finish him.] Syrus explained, her eyes locked on the sword he carelessly threw through the ground. 

As she was about to, another individual accelerated between them. Covered in the same clothes, Mana surrounded his figure as he crossed the village in a matter of seconds.

With a tone of authority, he said, “What are you doing? Losing to a kid. Prepare to be reprimanded when we are back–” The man looked down at the sword on the ground, his subordinate clearly taken out–“Wait for a healer before taking items out of your stomach; otherwise, you will bleed out.” 

“ErYes. Sorry sir.”

The man said back hypocritically, speaking in the same formal language, “None of the language when we are out of the job.”

[That voice…~!] Luna mentally froze as she recognised that voice.

[Luna! Do you fucking know these bastards!] Syrus yelled.

To make the situation worse, two villagers ran back while trying to avoid a flurry of attacks from one of the attackers.

They finally found their parents. 

[Dad!] (Eva)

George’s hands were alight in flames, and Jen was holding rocks in her hand, but neither was looking good. Both were exhausted, and going up against individuals with weapons and nothing but one’s limbs as non-combatants wasn’t going to end well. 

Bam!

The man sped towards Anna with a dagger aimed at the gut.

[Bullshit speed gifts!] (Syrus)

But Syrus was able to block it with the plank–causing the plank to snap in the process.

“Anna!” George screamed, noticing what was happening. Shock and confusion that his daughter was outside, and she nearly lost her life.

The man, taking advantage of the opportunity, called out, “If you want your daughter to live, surrender quietly.” The man gave a hand sign to the individual fighting them.

Luna, in a cold, emotionless yell, said, “Don’t believe them!”

She ran up towards the man with the intent to grab the sword behind him.

The man, noticing the location, just stepped to the side and tried to kick Anna away. 

However, Luna blocked the blow with a small layer of Moonlight under her shirt, and Sryus used her left to swing herself across the ground, rolling towards the sword. 

However, George couldn’t keep defending and was kicked to the ground, and the combatant raised his sword to slice him down.

Jen instinctively grabbed George and tried to pull him out of the way.

Anna looked up and watched the blade fall down.

For a moment that felt like an eternity.

Everything was falling apart again.

Losing what one never had. Losing what one regained. Losing what one accepted.

“““!!MUMDAD!!”””

Three screamed in union as a burst of flames shot out and a large dome of cracked purple light flooded the area.