Burning Soul

The next morning everyone was ready at the given time making it easier for them to leave without gaining attention!

They left the cart and the horse behind as any further and it'd be a beacon for Duvrion’s forces.

Theo along with Ember and Luna took to the sky after leaving the Village, as for Vivian, Nuae, and Catherine, they had taken their route which was from another side of the village.

Ember and Theo were keeping an eye on Aeneas and Naomi as Aeneas had asked so, the region they were to travel to was filled with guards and it was a relatively highly secure area, though they had no other opening to enter and thus had to enter from there.

Of course, Vivian’s team was informed to contact if anything went south.

It was so early that the sun was not high up and it was almost dark everywhere, they had to step carefully as they couldn’t light a torch in there!

That’d be a dumb decision but both Nuae and Aeneas had a great low light vision ability, it was not as perfect as Night Vision Naomi had but it helped them enough to look further without bumping into any danger.

The hill they talked about was a little over some ten miles further or so, it was a long walk and with the cautious pace they were walking with, it was bound to take time,

Theo couldn’t fly off as well, after all, he had a very important task to do!

In the darkness, Theo could only see Aeneas and Naomi as others had taken a route that was far away from them!

He could see Aeneas and his partner walk slowly!

Down here on the ground they could hear the howling of wild wolves and numerous growls of many different animals. Even though they were not afraid of bumping into onq¹1qe, that'd be really troublesome as that'd cause commotion which the guards will surely pick up in no time!

Fortunately, they had a natural hunter by their side, Ember, who could locate any wild animal and relay the warning to Aeneas if they got any close!

Keeping this up with a good pace,

the only thing that worried Theodore was that he couldn’t see Vivian and others from where he was!

His face had worry written all over!

Only Ember and Luna were able to pick that up,

“Master!

You all right?

What is worrying you?

I can feel it! You have not been feeling well since yesterday! Did something happen because of me?”

Ember asked using her skill to him with a worrisome tone.

“How can you tell?”

He asked her back resting his thoughts aside!

“Ah! I was right after all!

We share a pact master!

Did you forget already? I can feel how you feel.

You feel very sad for some reason that I can understand! Did I upset you for what happened yesterday?”

She asked him with a lowered tone as she felt a bit guilty about him taking the blame for her mistake when he was being scolded by Vivian!

She was no fool to not understand that if he was sad about the situation, it was bound to be that one but still she wanted to be sure and thus asked him out of concern!

Luna jumped in his arms and curled her body in a ball shape getting in a resting pose,

holding onto her seemed to ease his sadness as he continued to pet her!

“Maybe or maybe not! I can’t seem to get rid of that voice!

It feels familiar! I heard it quite often, but it suddenly stopped and this dream I had! It’s a bit too much! Once we return,

I have to ask my father about my mom, that way maybe I could solve what these voices are about!”

Ember didn’t understand the whole as she was clueless about those facts,

but Luna knew as to when she was still in the mortal body as Eleanor, she had been keeping an eye on him and she had noticed him hearing some voices at certain times as well!

She looked at him,

meowed to gain his attention which she got.

He pulled one of his arms and scratched under her chin which seemed to have relaxed her and him as well!

Seeing them getting comfortable Ember also lowered her movement and used a bit of mana to levitate in the air,

after all, she could use an abundant amount of magic!

…

The terrain was quite difficult and due to low visibility, it was hard to keep moving in the forest for Aeneas and Naomi, but they were keeping a good pace!

“I don’t know why but I don’t like this feeling of uneasiness!”

Naomi said to Aeneas as they passed a few big trees,

“Why do you say so?” was his obvious question!

“I don’t know! For some reason, my heart feels heavy!” She pointed out!

“Could be because of the air being too dense here, we are in deep forest regions so maybe air here is thicker for you to breath in! Just ignore it, it’d be gone in no time!”

Hearing this she felt it logical and ignored the fact,

but the weary feeling was still there!

After walking a bit, they were able to rest for a moment as it was a relatively safe looking area and there were no guards in near proximity as per Ember’s scouting.

Ember and Theo didn’t land but stayed in the air as they hovered over the area where Aeneas and Naomi were!

They were resting a bit as walking for so long through such tough terrain had tired them, and the sun wasn’t showing for now!

“It’d be nice if we could rest a bit before we move as it seems dangerous right now to walk through these terrains and it’s awfully calm, we need to be careful or we’ll end up alarming them!”

Aeneas said pointing towards a sentinel guard in the distance,

Naomi nodded as she had no complaints about taking a break before moving again!

After all, they didn’t want to go in too early as they’ll need to keep waiting rather than get into some trouble.

…

The reason this region was too dangerous was not only those freaking sentinels but Duvrion himself too.

Being a Plane Guardian and overseer of the sanctuary, he had the ability to see and get to anywhere he wanted in his territory.

Also, the sentinels did pose a certain threat!

Being around level 18 in number they were quite weak, but one might be a fool to believe in those numbers alone as what made them scarier was not those levels, but their class and skills!

Being a beast-men, these sentinels were already twice more powerful than any average human, but they were all berserk class holders, meaning they could fight enemies have 25% more stats!

This was an unfathomable thing for anyone! It meant that these sentinels, being just around lvl18, could take on anyone at LVL 20 just like that!

The way levels work for everyone is a bit different as once stepping in the legend realm as any point above LVL 18, the strength would double every two levels!

This freaking ability was the main reason everyone wanted to step in it, though it’d ask a lot of trials to step in that realm.

Theo and his allies only knew a few legends, Naomi was one of them and everyone held respect for her due to that!

Being a legend and a Paladin, she carried a relatively good weapon as well, a long heavy sword!

Just like her these sentinels were also heavily armed but they didn’t carry swords, instead, they carried scythes, making them look even scarier.

Everyone in the world knew that using such weapons was a very challenging task as it was not easy to learn and it was slow, but if used in a perfect manner, it was the deadliest weapon, due to which the reapers from hell carry these weapons!

Finally, sunlight was slipping through the leaves a bit by bit and their surroundings started to illuminate! They now had to move before the sun could get any higher or they’ll be spotted right away!

As they sensed no one around, Aeneas asked Ember to scout the area once more before moving and inform him in which directions do, they have to move in as well!

…

“I can’t sense any danger so you can keep going straight towards the big tree which you’ll be able to see! Go there and I’ll tell you where to move further!”

As he heard this, they started to move towards the big tree step by step with a little better pace than before!

As the sun was getting higher, the forest was coming to life as well, now the forest carried more sounds of various creatures, they didn’t need a lookout for the sound they were making earlier and now could move faster!

This meant that they could crunch in the distance even better with time.

Now they could see a lot clearer and were no longer wasting valuable mana that they could have saved for times needed!

Up in the sky, Ember was on alert as well, as they were now getting close to their meeting point, she needed to watch both parties in a while, but for now, they were still far away, and she had to only guide Aeneas and Naomi!

“Ember, can I really fight off the enemy?

I mean we are doing this all just to get some weapons, right?

Is there any use even if I get any?

I’m so weak, can’t defend or fight like others as well, they are all crazy powerful!

Now that I know I feel like I’m getting in their way!” Theo spoke in a low tone,

his voice was full of sadness and regret,

“Don’t be ridiculous!

You are who you are master!

There are things that only you can, and you must do!

Maybe not now but after some time you’ll face situations where you’ll surpass yourself to become a better version of yourself!”

Hearing this he felt proud about Ember as even after being with him for a mere few days, she had so much faith in him,

how could he let it just go in vain?

Thinking about this he gave off a smile and replied back,

“Who knows what’ll happen!”

…

“Watch out”

Luna screamed to Ember but was late!

‘Swoosh!’

A long spear came out of nowhere and hit Ember in her stomach!

The impact caused her to lose her invisibility spell and made her fall down as well,

it was as if something was pulling her down,

she struggled with all her might to save Theo and Luna as she fell right in front of Aeneas and Naomi with a huge ‘Bang!’

Due to the impact, many nearby trees were destroyed and a shockwave was sent through the forest!

For a while, no one was sure what was going on!

But after looking at that spear Aeneas understood someone had taken her out of the sky!

"Ember!

Hang in there!

Can you hear me?”

Theo was frantically asking her.

“It's fine master, it'll heal in no time!

But, who the heck did that?”

She was scared as she had faced an unimaginable foe and was thinking if she had bumped into him again!

She couldn’t stay in her draconic form any longer and was turned back into her human appearance.

Her wounds would heal up faster when she was in her draconic form but now was slowed and she had a sudden feeling of tiredness!

Aeneas, Naomi, Theo, and Luna everyone was on their toes as they knew someone was there waiting for them!

Just as they were looking around a person walked in from the denser region of the forest with a bow giving off a golden halo in his hands!

Looking at whom Naomi had a paled reaction!

She opened her mouth and spoke out a word with shuddering expressions,

“Ar…

Arlo!”