"Snap out of it!" Ariel said. He smacked Peter's back, the impact jolted him forward.

  Peter gasped for air. "S-sorry," he said and his eyes refocused.

  "Don't be sorry, just lead the civilians back to the ruined city."

  Peter scrambled up to a small hill.

  Ariel turned back to the horde, his weapon already at hand.

  Then his eyes shifted to Amy, she was frozen in place as well.

  Right, they never saw a battlefield. Ariel thought.

  "Amy!" He shouted.

  "Something is bothering me." She answered.

  Her gaze swept across the horde.

  "There is low ambient mana, yet they researched it in these caverns. And now these monsters..."

  She concentrated mana at her eyes.

  "They seem to have traces of high density mana..."

  Her eyes widened.

  "They are mutated by mana overexposure." She turned to Ariel.

  "What? How did you come up with that?"

  Before she can answer Ariel turned back into action.

  "They are way too far gone. We have to fight" Ariel gripped his halberd harder.

  "There is a cure, Ariel."

  Ariel turned to Amy.

  "Peter found a tablet in the Mushroom Forest, a record that mentions the cure."

  "Where?" Ariel managed to utter.

  Before they could continue a mutated lunged at Ariel.

  "Just go back to the ruins." He deflected the mutant. "We'll talk there."

  He watched as Amy ran back to the safety, then he turned to the horde.

  ***

  Amy continued to run towards the entrance of the ruined city. The soft lights of the fire-stones from Aethelburg kept dimming away.

  "Waahhh!"

  Her gaze turned to the source of the weak voice. A small, half-cow kid with torn clothes was crying over her knee. Amy looked around.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  There's no-one else in sight.

  In a heartbeat she wasn't at the Aethelburg. She was in the Imperial Gardens, where rare plants gathered from conquered provinces. Her little, next-to-be emperor brother crying just like the kid. She moved closer and reached for him, then she snapped back to reality.

  Her hand was already held out.

  "We need to go," she said, her voice softer than usual.

  "My knee hurts! I can't get up,"

  Amy sighed. She moved closer and lifted the little kid with her arms. Then she moved to the tunnel.

  "Where's your parents?" she whispered.

  "... I-I don't know,"

  Looking away, Amy continued to walk through the tunnel in silence.

  "It'll be okay," she muttered.

  Fifteen minutes later, the ruined city appeared at the end of the tunnel. She went through the entrance without hesitation. Looking around, she saw a group of half-humans making a circle around Peter.

  Is he telling stories again?

  As she moved closer, Peter's dramatic voice became more apparent. She put the little kid off her arms to the ground. Pulling the healing ointment from her backpack, she turned to the kid. Her eyes were dry and breath had steadied, at least a little.

  "Ointment will feel cold, I want you to brace yourself, okay?"

  "O-okay." Her voice trailed off.

  Amy drenched her fingers with the ointment, and rubbed it against the kid's knee gently.

  "Ah!" The kid brace herself, the cold sensation spreading from her knee.

  When Amy finished applying the ointment, she reached for the kid's head and gave her a small head-pat.

  "You did good." She gave a little smile.

  After a brief silence.

  "Amy!" Peter called out, moving closer to them.

  "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, I am okay," Amy answered.

  Peter's gaze turned to the little kid, then back at Amy.

  "Who is she?" He said, kneeling down beside her.

  "I found her alone near the entrance" She whispered to Peter.

  "Keep her company."

  "What? I never took care of a child."

  Amy turned to the tunnel they came from.

  Peter closed his eyes "Fine!"

  He turned his gaze to the kid.

  "Hey kiddo, do you like stories?" Peter said with a small smile.

  I hope Ariel is fine.

  She sighed and turned to her backpack. Reaching in, she pulled a disk made out of gold and adorned with rare gemstones. Inscribed with the words "Dynasty of Atwia" in a weird script.

  For a few seconds she stared at her family crest, then put it back.

  It is all in the past.

  Turning to Peter, she listened to his stories.

  After a few minutes Ariel walked in from the entrance, the kid was already asleep.

  "I've raised an earth barrier, but it won't stand for long," he said with a deep exhale.

  "Ariel! You are okay, right?"

  He sat down beside the group.

  "I am. That aside, what are we going to do?"

  "Can't we seal them to the Mushroom Forest?" Peter said.

  "They were probably sealed before. If not why would they suddenly attack the city?" Amy countered

  "And the seal randomly broke, we can't trust it."

  "That leaves two options. We either kill them or cure them." Ariel sighed.

  "Where is the cure anyways?" His gaze turned to Amy.

  "The records mention the Eranic Empire." Amy pet the kid's head.

  "The long gone empire? How are we suppose to find the cure?" Peter said.

  "City of Iei was a former part of the Eran, they should still keep it." Amy added.

  "The keyword is 'should', Amy. We can't throw the lives of this people to chance." Ariel's eyes swept through the scared civilians.

  Amy sighed. "What do you suggest, Ariel? You know that we can't deal with all of them."

  "A surprise attack should do." He rubbed his forehead.

  "Then what? They encircled us before, they aren't mindless."

  Ariel answered after few seconds. "I... I don't know but we can't just leave them here."

  In a moment Ariel went back in time, pleas and screams re-echoed in his mind. The gruesome image re-appeared. His hands were covered with their lifeblood as the bald, weirdly grown men with small horns lay on the ground. Still staring at him with their crimson eyes.

  "You're sure that the cure will work?" Ariel turned to Amy.

  "No, but we have to try." She answered.

  Ariel sighed. "Where is this city?"

  "It is a flying city Ariel. But they have a set timetable, we know where they will land."

  The little kid slowly opened her eyelids, "Are you going far away?" she asked. Her small hands grabbed Amy's arm.

  No one was able to answer her question.