He hadn't noticed the footsteps initially because of the noise from the stream and by the time he turned around, they were already right behind him.

Ethan knew his injury had slowed him down and probably helped the city guards track him, but what could he do.

There were two guards chasing Ethan, one man and one woman. Spotting Ethan, the man smiled and said...

"Where you going to run off to now kid? If you want to see your family again, don't resist, otherwise, I'll shove this blade right up your ass"

Ethan was scared and thought to himself,

'What do I do? If I just give in, then mom would have just died for nothing…

I can't!

I have to make it out of here. I have to live…'

Ethan decided to fight with everything he had to get away. With the guards approaching, he glanced around for anything he could use as a weapon. Since the passage was clean, there wasn't anything on the ground, but he noticed the flaming torch right beside him and decided to grab it out of the socket.

Seeing him grab the torch, the female guard who had been quiet burst out laughing

"So what exactly do you plan on doing with that, huh? Put that away before you hurt yourself."

Ethan waved the torch in front of him and seeing the playful expression on the guards' faces, he yelled back…

"Stay away from me! No matter what, I won't let you take me."

The guards looked at each other, and the female guard asked,

"Did the captain say we need this one alive?"

Hearing this, Ethan's expression turned solemn, but he didn't buckle. The other guard simply smiled and immediately raised his sword and swung it at Ethan, who tried blocking it with the torch, but the steel sword went right through it.

The wood snapped, and the sword went on to slash Ethan, and before he could even process that he was injured, the guard slashed again, this time with a lot more force. The impact pushed Ethan back, and the last one sent him flying into the river.

Grabbing his wounds and trying his best to stay conscious, the heavy current dragged Ethan.

Seeing this, the female guard slapped the back of the male guard's head and snapped...

"Fuck Darren. We should have at least taken the body back. What if someone asks for proof?"

Looking at the water, the male guard replied

"Don't worry, that kid is dead. If he doesn't die from his wounds, then he will drown..."

Not wanting to waste any more time, the female guard turned around and started heading back the way they came, muttering…

"For your sake, I hope so…"

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The male guard stayed for a while, staring in the direction Ethan had gone and eventually left as well.

…

Down the stream, all Ethan could do was try to keep himself afloat. The underground river wasn't that wide and he would occasionally hit the bricks on both sides of the river. Occasionally he tried mustering the strength to reach up and grab onto the platform on one side, but he was so drained he just couldn't.

The more time that passed, the harder it was for him to stay conscious. Ethan started blacking out for short periods of time and yet somehow he didn't drown.

During his bouts of unconsciousness, his surroundings had changed. Ethan was no longer in the same passageway, and he was now in some sort of cavern.

The small river had turned into what looked like a lake. The torches were gone, and mysterious-looking green rocks were embedded in the ceiling and they were lodged these right in the stalagmites.

Unlike the earlier passageway, it could be seen that this environment was untainted by humans and still pure.

Ethan washed up onto a bank and just lay there defenseless, with blood still flowing out of him.

…

He eventually awoke, and thoughts of what happened earlier assaulted him nonstop. As Ethan lay there, he gradually let everything wash over him, and in the end, he thought.

'What do I do now?

Should I just keep running?

No! I can't,

I can't allow it!

I can't accept what they did!'

The grin on Barnabas' face when he killed his mother.

The way the guards treated them like they weren't even air.

The look on his mother's face…

'I will never accept it!

I don't even know if father and Sophia are okay.

And Matthew… Does he even know?

No matter what, I will survive. It doesn't matter what it takes, I will find a way.'

Ethan clenched his fist and finally spoke, his low voice dripping with malice.

"They will pay,

Even if I have to go against the lord.

Even if I have to go against the King.

Even if I have to against the world itself! I won't die until I have my revenge,"

Unbeknownst to Ethan himself, his right eye had already turned red again. His hair was starting to turn white, and deeper changes that couldn't be seen were occurring to his sense of being, but he noticed none of this.

The old Ethan was gone, and he couldn't come back. He couldn't go back to his carefree days of chasing girls. He couldn't waste the days away gambling with his friends.

Ethan wasn't free anymore. He had a debt which he had to pay back. As his emotions stabilized, his eyes went back to normal without him noticing, but his hair remained that bleached white.

With that, Ethan moved to get up, and that's when he noticed.

'Where am I? Wait, isn't this Falen grotto?'

Looking closer at the ceiling and his surroundings, this place was actually familiar to him. His father used to bring him and Matthew to this place when they were younger.

Silas would tell them stories of their family history and how their ancestor had run away from traitors in their family and hidden in the cavern for days, till he ended up by the nearby outpost. He started a new life as a military man, which eventually led to their family being based in the area.

Back then, Ethan barely paid attention and would have rather been causing trouble in town, but he started to admire the beauty of their surroundings. His brother, however, was enraptured by the stories of the past and this led to him dreaming of being a knight in the future, which is something he made a reality.

'How did I even get here?'

Looking around his familiar surroundings, Ethan became even more shocked when he noticed the absence of pain. He quickly grabbed his chest expecting to feel the wounds left by the guards earlier, but there was nothing.

There were no longer any wounds… Ethan's clothes still had the marks of the sword going through them, but when he opened the remaining buttons, there wasn't even a scar to be seen.

'What the fuck!?

Did someone save me?

Even so, why aren't there any scars?'

It baffled Ethan

Even though some expensive potions could quickly heal wounds, this was something Ethan couldn't understand.

'Okay, okay, okay. There is no way I can figure this out on my own. I need to get out of this place in case anyone is searching for me but….

Where can I even go?'

Even though Ethan was quite adventurous in the past, he had yet to venture to another domain. He had always just enjoyed the power he had within Hamlan city.

'I obviously can't go back to the city, otherwise the chances of getting caught will be way too high. I still don't even know why they attacked us.

What I need now is some place I won't be recognized and…'

"Grrrrrrrrrrr."

At that moment, Ethan's stomach let out a long and violent growl.

'Arg, I also need to eat.'

Looking at the water, there were fish that could be seen going back and forth

'Okay! First is food, and then I need to get a safe distance away from here. Then I can start figuring out what to do, and how to get information about the situation at home.'

The way Ethan saw it, he had three options.

'I can cross my fingers, and hide out here, but that's out of the question or... I can head to another city, but if it's too close, what if someone recognizes me, or what if I bump into someone on the way?'

'Arg'

As Ethan's family was quite wealthy, in Hamlan his face was well known. He could assume that, with Hamlan being a busy trade centre, there would definitely be people in the nearby cities who could identify him.

Ethan grabbed his forehead and sat down on a rock to contemplate further.

'The third option seems to be the best one. If I can leave Moriah temporarily, my risk of exposure should be a lot less.'

Directly bordering Hamlan was the Huru Kingdom, but there was also another kingdom that shared a border with Moriah and Huru.

This was the Tori nation.

The Tori nation was one of the independent nations that had not joined the convention, and as a result, it didn't have normal trade relations with Moriah. Even though the border was close to Hamlan, people would rarely journey across it.

The reason for this was that the people who most wanted to cross from Tori were refugees, and people from peaceful Moriah would rarely look to cross into places with an ongoing conflict.

Even though the Tori nation was not currently at war, there would occasionally be skirmishes and plots from the surrounding nations designed to weaken it.

'Tori really is the only option. Since those guards mainly wanted to capture us, sis and dad should be fine for now till I can get information. Hopefully, Matthew is okay.'

With that, Ethan got up and decided to handle his food situation before anything else.