Zeph’s POV

It was a massive flying creature, with greyish-black wings which had no feathers, an enormous cobalt-blue beak and yellow eyes. It was searching the ground looking for prey and seemed like it hadn’t spotted us yet.

"We need to hide," I whispered to Ralph and both of us ducked into the nearby thorny bushes. Which cut our skin in numerous places but it was better than becoming bird food. We watched it circling above us for a while, searching for something it could devour. Failing to do so, it finally headed back in the direction of the dark realm.

We waited for a few more minutes before coming out. "Ugggh," Ralph made a disgusted face as he frantically removed cobwebs that had gotten stuck to him from the bush. I helped him, his face and head were bruised and so were his hands. Thorns had pricked us and some spots began to bleed. We pressed them to stop the bleeding, it was dangerous to bleed in an open area.

"We have to keep moving," I told Ralph and began to walk. Luckily we saw another carriage advancing. It stopped right before us, an elderly man with a beard and hearty smile was driving it. He scanned us from head to toe and spoke jovially:

"Hello! Seems like you guys need a ride. Come hop in I will drop you off. It’s not safe to travel like this anymore." We looked at each other and nodded.

"We are heading to Dhanias, are you heading in that direction as well?" I inquired. We didn’t want to impose ourselves.

"I am heading to a nearby town, so I will take you, boys. Get in." He informed us, we opened the carriage door and settled inside with our luggage.

He started the carriage with a click-click sound and we finally heaved a sigh of relief.

"So how did you two end up in such a battered condition?" He questioned us almost amiably. Ralph gave him a small version of what we had gone through.

"Ahh, I see. So you guys are returning from The Institute. Times are changing and nowhere is safe anymore. Everyone needs a bit of training now with monsters on the loose." His voice had gotten serious now. He offered us water and some food as well, which we gladly took and gobbled down.

It took us another hour to finally reach our village. He dropped us off near the edge, we thanked him for his hospitality and help. He smiled genuinely at us and waved us goodbye before heading in the opposite direction.

"Let’s get home, Zeph." Ralph smiled at me. The night had already fallen and it was tranquil, with no sign of any creatures lurking anywhere but who knew when we could be attacked and this peace would turn into mayhem?

We ran all the way and spotted our houses in the distance, they stood safe and secure. Barbed wires had been bounded all around them, hoisted on tall poles. They had been busy, the chimney of my house was emitting smoke, meaning they were still awake.

Reaching my house, we carefully crossed the barbed wires and stepped inside to knock on the door. "Who is there?" Mr. Pricard called from inside.

"It’s us, please open." The door instantly flew open and Mr. Prichard stepped outside with an astonished look as if he couldn’t believe we were there. He wrapped both of us in a tight hug which was almost bone-crunching.

"Dad, let go." Ralph squeaked trying to breathe. He finally let go of us just to be hugged by Rumail and Rian. "Hey! Buddies." Ralph shouted hugging them close. Both boys were overjoyed to see us.

Zavrian ran towards me and hugged me with a solemn expression. He hardly ever expressed any emotions toward me and he certainly never hugged me. I was taken aback by his action.

"I am glad you are home, brother." I hugged him back and inquired:

"You alright?" He nodded but his expression didn’t change.

"We were so worried about you. The news coming in was not promising." He replied finally letting me go and stepping away so we could get inside the house.

"I am fine, Zavrian. Don’t worry." I placed my hand on his shoulder and patted him, his expression remained grim as he scanned my injuries.

Mother came out of the kitchen and everyone stepped aside to give her space. I felt warm and my heart fluttered at the sight of my mother. She hurried to our side with her arms open.

"My boys," she exclaimed and hugged us both. We returned her warmth. "I am so glad to see my boys. Get fresh and I will serve you some food and then we can talk about everything." She didn’t rush us with any questions although she could see our tattered conditions.

"Mom, are you guys alright? Was there an attack?" I asked cupping her benevolent face with both my hands. She placed both her hands on mine before speaking:

"No, we are fine. We took some precautions. Go get changed first. Zavrian can you bring out the medicine box so we can dress their wounds." He nodded and left and we made our way toward my room upstairs.

Dumping our luggage on the floor I opened the cupboard and took out some fresh clothes. Ralph had fallen on my mattress with a dazed expression on his face. It was unlike him to be not joking around. The incident had affected him more than he was letting on.

"Ralph, go take a bath and get changed." I flung the clothes towards him which he effortlessly caught but made no effort to get up, his hands went behind his head again.

"Will our girls be alright? I am worried about them. Alvene can take care of herself but this is a crisis and we have never faced such high-level threats. And I can’t even imagine what Serene might be going through." His words threw me off and my heart sank at the thought of her. I had been trying hard to not let my brain and heart wander over to her. It physically pained me to think about her and the condition I had left her in. But we all needed to be stronger to pull through this time.

"They will be, our girls are valiant and they will fight till their last breaths. We need to do the same and believe in them." I replied, he gave me a small smile before getting up to head to the bathroom with clothes in his hands.

Once we had bathed and changed, we made our way downstairs to the living area. Everyone was sitting there waiting for us. Mother ushered us toward her. After we had sat down she cleaned our wounds and bandaged them while we told everyone what had happened in detail.

Younger boys held on to every word we said with horror-struck faces. Their biggest worry was Serene and learning she had gotten hurt took a toll on them as well.

"Is Princess Serene going to be alright?" Rumail

asked in a small voice.

"She will be, she has cool powers plus she is courageous, just like you are." I ruffled his hair and felt him relax, a small smile appeared on his face.

"Prince Zohun Li is sending the royal army to the border of the Dark Realm and I have heard from other men in the village that Fae forces are also arriving to assist us." Mr. Pricard filled us in on what he had heard.

"It’s possible since they are our allies and Serene already offered us to go live with her in case we faced any difficulty here," I replied.

"We can’t burden her Zeph. They will have their hands filled with all the politics and accusations that will be hurled at them as people will slowly discover the truth. We can’t just go and expect them to take care of us as well amidst all the chaos. We have made some reinforcements and we will barricade the area around some more. Together we can face whatever may come our way."

My mother declared as she handed us hot chicken soup to drink. It had gotten cold outside.

She was right we had to barricade our houses more, some of our windows already had iron bars fitted in them so the rest needed to be taken care of. We had to secure stables as well so animals would remain safe. The plan was discussed in length including all the precautionary measures we could take.

It had gotten late when Ralph and his family bade us farewell and headed to their home. I wanted to get comfortable so I laid down in my mother’s lap as she stroked my hair, while Zavrian put more logs in the fireplace.

Worries must have been evident on my face, so my mother said: "Talk to me, Zeph. What’s burdening you?" And I began to unburden myself.