Max slowly opened his eyes, the surrounding still dark. He stretched his body as he fell asleep on the cold hard floor all night. No one seemed to notice the disturbance that happened. Max was wondering if everything that happened was an illusion.

"Did it happen in the real world?"

"It felt so real."

He flexed his hands, opened and closed, stretched his shoulders. His bones cracked as he rotated his joints. His body felt heavy, he continued to stretch his whole body. Once he was done and his body warmed up, he went to the window and observed outside the fortress.

He was surprised as the dense demon army that surrounded the fortress was gone. It was only yesterday that these demons' army had started to form camps, and set formations in preparation for their attacks.

He went outside in a hurry to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks on him. The atmosphere in the camp has changed dramatically. The soldiers who were preparing for the attacks looked haggard and tired as they stared at the horizon. However, there was nothing that can be seen.

Max asked the soldier nearest him.

"What happened?"

The soldier looked at Max for a bit but continued to look afar before saying, "The demons suddenly pulled out their troops late in the evening."

Looking around, Max could see the baffled faces of the soldiers. The soldiers might not have been briefed about the situation. He went straight for his grandmother's quarters to get a detailed confirmation of the situation. He wanted to know the time the demon's pulled out their soldiers. It might be due to his curiosity, but something within him is thinking otherwise. It is impossible for this to be a coincidence.

After he was attacked.

That was his last thoughts realizing that this might have been connected to him.

It did not take long for him to arrive at his grandmother's place.

Sfx *knock knock*

No one answered the door.

"Grandmother I'm coming in," he announced his presence and opened the door.

However, no one was inside. He checked the whole house and the gardens but his grandmother was nowhere to be found. His heartbeat started to palpitate faster as he became nervous. He thought of the meeting room and ran as fast as he could. It did not take long before he arrived. He did not greet the soldiers guarding the door, they did not stop him. He went to the same room he first met his grandfather.

He opened the door without knocking and was surprised to see the people inside.

They all looked at him. Some with reproachful eyes, some with confused eyes while his grandmother looked at him with worried eyes.

Max, however, did not care as he sighed in relief finding his grandmother and grandfather safe from harm.

This time he looked at the people inside the room. His grandfather, grandmother, master and the beautiful elf were the only people he could identify. There were 4 more men inside the room which he did not recognize. Judging from their looks and demeanor, they must be soldiers who have high rankings. They were the ones with reproachful eyes when he suddenly barged into the room.

Max looked apologetically towards these high ranking soldiers and gave a deep bow as he apologized for barging in. The elf, on the other hand, looked at Max amused as he saw Max's flustered look.

The atmosphere in the room started to turn sour. But one sentence from his grandmother calmed the whole situation.

"What's wrong Max?" She said kindly while looking at Max with worried eyes.

"I'm sorry grandmother. I came looking for you at your house but you were nowhere to be found so I got worried." Max looked shy and embarrassed at the same time.

He could not give a better reason at the moment. He could not say in front of everybody that he was attacked and it might be connected to the demon's sudden movements. He knew well that it was something he could not easily share in front of strangers. The content alone is questionable, and with him not having enough information to explain himself might cause bigger troubles in the future. He decided to tell a lie, it was partly a lie as he was truly worried for his grandparent's, at the same time he was omitting some information.

His grandmother's face softened once she heard this. The atmosphere of the people inside the room became better. His grandmother looked at the people inside the room and said, "Stop giving my grandson those scary looks. He was just worried. I almost forgot that he is still a boy as he acts so mature most of the time." She approached Max and gave him a hug.

"Everything is fine Max. We are just discussing the sudden retreat of the demons--"

*cough cough*

One of the old men in the room started to cough to get the attention of his grandmother, but his grandmother only said, "-- It's fine sharing this information to my grandson." She gave the old man a sharp look, the man with a grey mustache could only retreat in defeat as he did not want to offend this woman.

"You can take a seat and just listen with." Max nodded and took a seat at one of the empty chairs which were farthest from the people inside the room.