“What did you say these creatures were called again?” Ajax asked, pulling his own bow, though not as deftly as she did.

“Pull harder,” Selene commanded, and he glared at her. Her brother was the runt of the litter. The one who rushed to ‘do’ but ended up ‘destroying’.

“They’re called the Children of the Mother,” Selene said.

“Fifteen yards, Ajax,” Trudhorn stated, looking in the direction Ajax aimed his bow. The creature that was attacking from that angle had stopped the moment Selene shot and killed one of its kind.

Ajax let loose his arrow and it whizzed through the air but the creature smacked it out of its path and shot forward.

“You see, Children I understand. But Mother … What Mother?” Ajax asked as he drew his short sword, ready to do battle with the creature that was coming at him. An arrow whizzed past his side and struck the creature between its beady eyes, freezing its frame and forcing it to fall backward.

“The one who taught ya to shoot like a lil’ damsel in distress, eh?” a female Sprout taunted him with a voice colored in her native accent, and his teammates burst out laughing.

“Shut your fucking mouth, Nia,” Ajax retorted, sheathing his short sword. Another arrow whizzed past him. Arrows continued to whizz out of their group as they took down one Child after another, but the cussing never stopped. Selene knew they would need to face the Children head-on in combat soon.

“It's not safe here anymore,” Selene said looking around, sharp eyes piercing through the darkness of the night. “Let’s pack up and leave.”

The rest of the Sprouts stopped taunting her brother and split into two groups. Some moved to pack up their tents and the others continued firing at the Children. No sooner did they finish packing up did the Children multiply and storm them in numbers.

“Nia!” Selene shouted as her swords materialized in her hands. She held off two of the Children on her own while Nia supported her from behind.

Trudhorn also joined other members of their team to prevent the Children from overwhelming them.

“If we don’t leave now, we’ll all die!” one of their teammates cried out. He slashed at the nearest Child and moved out of the way, while another teammate shot an arrow through its neck.

Another Child took the place of the fallen one, and two arrows plunged into its skull. Their teamwork was impeccable. But the Children were simply too numerous.

“Aah!” someone screamed and distracted Ajax for a split moment. A clawed hand almost grabbed his head but he quickly stepped back avoiding it, but not before it ripped into his face. He bore the pain, slashing at the Child so he could back up. Yellow blood splashed on his armor and the stench choked him.

“By the light, you stink!” he exclaimed.

Someone pulled him back and deflected a bone-like sword arm.

“What we need to do is find daylight!” Selene screamed, “Get ready to take flight!”

The air suddenly turned cold as the temperature dropped.

“Are you sure about this, Selene?” Trudhorn shouted from the other side of their defense. He had been roughed up by a few of the Children himself.

“Go!”

They all shot into the air as ice spread out from the center of their group, turning the whole area into a frozen Winterland. The Children closest to them all froze over and shattered into millions of fragments. The rest of the Children backed up away from the ice as the spread slowed to a halt.

“Selene, are you ok?” Trudhorn asked as they flew through the air as fast as they could. She looked tired already, and her aura felt weaker. “That was a very risky move, you know. The full power of the Winter’s Breath is not something your body is ready for.”

Selene smiled weakly at him. She could hear the concern in his voice and it moved her.

“Would ya both stop playin’ romance n’ focus,” Nia said, “We gotta find somewhere to recuperate.”

She had a bloody wound on her right shoulder that she was trying to put pressure on. Her fingers and arm were already soaked in her own blood but the injury was healing already.

The two Sprouts came back to the present and focused on the land below them. They had to get to land fast. They were already transmitting their presence to every creature around them right now.

“I’m ok too, thank you for asking,” Ajax said, sarcasm evident in his voice.

Selene looked at her brother, only now noticing his bleeding face. It looked like someone gouged out a chunk of the skin on his lower face with a huge claw. “That must have hurt real bad,” she said, her voice laced with a little mockery.

“Tis me battle scar, gotten from a life and death battle with daimons from a nether plane!” Ajax did a heroic pose midair trying to sound like a man of war. He did lighten the mood of the team though.

“You’ve been dying to say that since we left those Children, haven’t ya?” Trudhorn said with a smile as he pointed in a direction. He had the sharpest eyes among them all.

“That pinprick?” someone said. “If that be a battle scar I’d pack me bags and run off home right now, mate.” The rest of the team burst out laughing.

“Noir’s Blackflame take you, Bram,” Ajax cursed as they landed. “My battle scars are my trophies.”

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“Oh, I thought they were me trophies,” Bram remarked with a mocking smile, and the laughter resumed.

“Same difference,” Ajax gestured playfully as if shooing away an insect. The torn flesh on his face wiggled in a weird manner as he spoke. It was healing already.

“Shhh!” Everyone kept silent at that. Selene looked straight ahead as she signaled with her fingers. Two Sprouts went in the direction she pointed and two more in the opposite direction. There was a very large boulder a few feet away from them and she had sensed someone there.

She smiled and drew her sword, moving forward. Her teammates act undisciplined most times but that was just a front. They were actually skilled at killing magical beasts in the frozen earth of the north of Vorthe. And it took discipline to do what they did.

“You sure make a lot of noise for a bunch of Sprouts in a strange land,” someone said from behind the boulder in front of them.

The team of Sprouts drew their weapons ready for a fight if it came to it. Selene raised her to stop them. Anyone who could survive on their own in Terra Praeta’s night was no ordinary person. And this person, whoever he is, was alone.

“I don’t want any trouble,” the stranger said. “I just wanna be by my lonesome self is all.”

He knew he was trapped.

“Who are you?” Selene asked.

“I’m nobody. But that’s not the question you wanna ask, is it?” the stranger said.

“I don’t believe you’d give an answer to the question I wish to ask,” Selene said, signaling all her teammates to spread out and surround the boulder. It would be outright stupid to assume this stranger was from their plane. And even if he was, it didn’t make him a friend.

Selene vaulted over the boulder with inhuman strength and long shiny black hair greeted her eyes on the other side of the boulder. Her target was facing away from her, sitting cross-legged on the soil as if in meditation. She stabbed forward, bringing the tip of her sword a few inches near the stranger’s head even before she landed.

A spear materialized in his hand and he smacked her sword away with the blade. He turned the spear the other way to counter her again. He was fast.

Selene withdrew her blade and stabbed multiple times at him but he rolled away, easily avoiding the tip of her blade. They parried each other’s blows for a while with the stranger on one knee. Even on one knee, he was almost as tall as she was. Her teammates surrounded them a moment later and she eased back from him, lowering her sword.

“You should surrender,” she stated, but he just smiled, and smacked the arrow that came at him from behind out of the air like he had eyes at the back of his head.

Neat trick, but they all could do it. Maybe not as fast as him though. She admitted to herself.

“I don’t want any trouble. You met me here. Just let me be on my way, and all’s well,” he said as he stood up to his full height. He was tall. As tall as Trudhorn, and Trudhorn was the tallest in their group. One of the reasons Selene considered him a partner for courtship. She liked tall guys.

With a signal from her, her team members shot a large net at the stranger from the side, wrapping him up and restricting his movement. He staggered a little before kissing the earth with his right side. Selene took the moment to examine his armor and crest.

~~~

Jerome lay on his side restricted by the net, unable to move freely. He had never expected the team of Sprouts to have a net gun with them. Or an equivalent of one, he thought, studying the rectangle shaped contraption used to shoot the net. It had a muzzle like a gun. He had underestimated those in his Realm once again. Or perhaps he underestimated the level of advancement of Vorthe. His agitation rose but he clenched his jaw and swallowed his anger.

Just because he’d never seen something like a gun in Vorthe didn’t mean they didn’t have one. Secrecy had many advantages and Vorthe was pretty good at keeping secrets.

He looked at the crest on the breastplate of her black leather armor and noticed her doing the same. Her family crest was quite beautiful. It was a snowflake — the crest of House Itakar, House of the Frozen Earth. The Sovereign spoke highly of House Itakar, it would be ungrateful of him to get into a heated battle and end up hurting one of them. And he could. He wanted to. But held back the beast as it reared its head.

“What do you want?” he asked. Jerome wasn’t wearing a family crest, just plain black leather armor. It would have been nice seeing the look on her face if she saw the Vorthe crest on him. But he had insisted on wearing this since he wasn’t going in with the Royal Sprouts. Besides, he didn’t want to annoy Forester more.

“Simple. To have you where we can keep an eye on you,” the girl who fought with him said. The beast reared its head again. They saw him as an animal. A mere beast to be tamed. Jerome forced his anger down.

Her name’s Selene, he remembered. He was tempted to acknowledge that he knew her but that would raise questions he didn’t want to answer. And since he was not in the best of situations right now, it was best to avoid such a discussion.

The rest of her team started setting up tents and a small fire. Someone even jumped on top of the boulder and lay on his stomach — the lookout. They were going to make this place their camp.

Jerome sat up with his restrictions and everyone stopped what they were doing, hands on their weapon. They were pretty disciplined, he gave them that. Even though they acted like a bunch of unruly teenagers. And their hair … Most of them were surprisingly blonde. With blue eyes, the color of a frozen sea.

“Look, I just wanna be alone.”

“You can be alone right where you are,” someone snapped at him.

Jerome scanned the Sprout behind him, noticing it was the twin, Ajax Itakar. He clenched his jaw and spoke through gritted teeth, “I’m not a beast you can just tie up and keep at arm’s reach!”

The crowd of Sprouts burst into laughter.

“Oh, look. Fish poop thinks he can do what the fuck he wants,” someone said and the laughter resumed in intensity. The accent was quite different from what Jerome was used to — heavier too.

“Is he even as valuable as fish poop? No, I’ll give ‘em bug poop,” another said. Laughter bloomed once again.

“Well, that fits right with ‘em, init?” Another said and the Sprouts knocked fists with each other, proud of themselves for coming up with a good name for him.

Jerome tried to shut them out and keep calm but his anger refused to ebb. It was still under his control for now but it was only a matter of time.

“Fuck it,” he said and went up in flames, burning the net to ash as he stood up.

The Sprouts stopped what they were doing and attacked. The first person who got close with a sword was hit in the throat with the butt of his spear, toppling over as he held his neck in both hands. Jerome jumped forward and spun through the air as two arrows tore into the space he once occupied.

He landed on steady feet and zoomed across the clearing, toward the nearest Sprout. The Sprout only saw someone appear in front of him and the next moment he blacked out. Jerome turned to confront the next Sprout closest to him and saw Selene. She was walking backward while smiling at him. A volley of arrows split the air towards him the next moment but he just stood there.

He turned to Selene and smiled back at her.