The group sit on the floor a few meters away from the guards waiting for the Lillys father, as the kids run around and play, they hear the rushing of paws on the grounds. As they look up, they see a tanned, buff man full of muscles, with short black hair, cat ears and a tail riding on the back of a giant grey and white wolf. He was dressed in white baggy trousers made of an unknown material, held up by a green belt, around his shoulders he was wearing what looked like a tiny cloak draped around his neck and his shoulders, connected by a golden chain, barely hiding his bulging muscles. It was almost as if he was dressed like that to show off his muscles. Also, they only noticed from when the man pulled up towards the guards that there was a little girl sat behind him, she was the spitting image of Lilly just younger, they could have passed for twins if there wasn’t such an obvious age gap.

As the man hopped off the wolf he looked around and spotted the group, his eyes fixated on Lilly, his eyes began to tear up. As Ray looked at Lilly, he could also see that her eyes were beginning to leak.

“SISSY!”, the little girl screamed, eyes full of tears, snot dripping down her nose, as if carried by the wind she ran over to Lilly and jumped into her arms.

“I... MISSED... YOU... SO... MUCH!!!!”, the little girl said between sobs.

Lilly pattered her head softly

“I missed you too Kay.”, Lilly said, tears running down her face.

Ray smiled to himself; it was a heartwarming sight which made him proud that he had returned Lilly to her family safely. Suddenly a small green lizard, descended from the sky and perched itself on Lilly’s head. A dragon. Its body was about 40cm long with a tail about 20cm long that got thinner as it went, ruby red eyes, white, smooth scales and beautiful, majestic birds' wings that sprouted out of its back. It was a strange creature, a lizard with the wings of a bird, yet it truly was beautiful and majestic and although small and not your typical depiction of a dragon, it was incredibly powerful, Ray couldn’t believe he was seeing one with his own eyes, he would kill to have his very own dragon.

“Hey Sylphie, I’m glad your safe.”, Lilly said smiling brightly, the dragon let out a little cooing sound in agreement, curled up and slept on her head.

“I protected her.”, Kay said staring up at her sister, tears still streaming down her face.

“Thank you, Kay.”.

Lilly looked up at her father who had been staring at her frozen.

“I made it.”, Lilly said smiling slightly.

Lillys fathers' eyes began to leak, and he fell to his knees. It was quite heart breaking, he must have thought his daughter was out there somewhere, hurt or worse, without any way of knowing but all of a sudden, she has shown up, unharmed. He must have so many questions and emotions going through his head right now that he can’t comprehend what's going on.

Lilly walks over to her father, kneels before him and gives him a big hug.

“I’m so, so, so, so, so, sorry.”, Her fathered sobbed. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I failed as a father... I couldn’t protect you. I let you get taken. Before I knew it... you were gone. I-I was trying to get your mother and sister to safety and by the time I had... you had disappeared. We tried searching for you for months... but we couldn’t find you, our home was gone, and we were being actively pursued... We had to flee. So, we came her. We knew that if you had made it out that you would come here... I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”, he said, still sobbing.

“It’s ok dad... it was tough... I’m not going to lie. But I’m safe now, I was saved and its all thanks to Ray. He saved us from captivity, protected us and brought us here out of the kindness of his own heart. If it weren't for him. I wouldn’t be here now.”, Lilly said smiling.

Lillys father wiped his face and stood up, he looked around at the group his gaze lingering on Claire, he clearly had some questions, bur resisted and addressed Ray.

“Are you Ray?”.

“Yes sir.”.

He walked over to Ray and embraced him in a tight hug. Ray was caught by surprise.

“Thank you, you saved my daughter, you're a true hero and I am in your debt, please if there's anything I can do for you ANYTHING, please inform me and I’ll do my best to make that happen.”.

“Thanks sir-”.

“Please, call me Luke.”, Lilly’s father interjected.

“A-alright... Luke there is one request I would like to make, though, I think there's more pressing matter to discuss beforehand.”, Ray says, glancing at Claire.

Luke looked towards Claire, though he didn’t seem to have any hatred in his eyes like the guards did.

“You're a human... aren’t you?”

“Y-yes your majesty.”, Claire says kneeling, “Please sir, I am not here to cause any problems. I have come here along with your daughter and the others to inform you on some very important news that you may not be aware of, it is to do with a dark presence that has infiltrated and corrupted the human nation...”.

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“A darkness within the human nation?”, Luke says confused.

Luke looks at both Ray and Lilly who both nods.

“Father I can vouch for her, she is the sword hero, she has shown to us that she is not our enemy throughout our journey together and I for one believe in what she has to say and more importantly, she has become a very important friend of mine, she is proof of what she has to say.”.

“She’s Right si-, I mean Luke, she has shown that she is our alley and I believe her too, her actions support exactly what she has to say, she even agreed to help me get stronger and she asked for our help... She's a great person and is not our enemy.”

All the little kids nod in agreement.

Claire looks at both Ray and Lilly and smiles.

“Thank you, you two.”, Claire says beaming.

“Well, if they all vouch for you, I guess I have no reason to doubt you. You don’t seem like the humans we have encountered recently, and the heroes are supposed to be the saviours of all, humans and Demi-humans alike. Not to mention you can speak Demi-lang.”, Luke says smiling.

Ray liked Lilly’s father, despite all that's happened, he seemed to remain open minded, almost as if he had hope that not all humans were bad and that things could go back to how it was before. And so, without wasting any time, Claire relayed the story that she had told to Ray and Lilly, Luke didn’t interrupt Claire, however at the mention of demons, his face became serious, and he became more tense. As Claire finished her story, Luke remained silent in thought and then after a few minutes, he spoke.

“It's not the first time we’ve heard this theory. My father, the former king of the northern beast tribe was on great terms with the former king, they were so close they were even in an adventuring party together in their youth.”, Luke said. Ray and Claire looked surprised, even Lilly was shocked, it was clear that she hadn’t been told this either. Luke continued.

“My father and him were so close that he even participated in the joint meetings we used to hold just so they could meet up and relive old memories. When the former king died, and it was stated that his brother had taken over, my father was shocked and insisted that something fishy was going on, after all, the king had no family, his parents had died years ago, he was an only child, and he had no children. There was no one left part of the official royal family. Yet the Kings brother had taken the thrown? My father stated that the only beings that could perform such trickery were those of dark descent... demons. The thought of demons returning to the world seemed to farfetched and frankly horrifying. But if what you are saying is true. Then this situation is a lot more dire. The humans have fallen under control of the demons, and they are using them to create discord amongst the other races.”, Luke holds his chin in thought.

Ray could tell that Luke was in a deep mental battle, he didn’t want to believe that the demons had made it back into this world and he had probably chalked it up to his father's paranoia, but an alleged trustworthy source had come and told him a story that supported his father's theory.

“I can confirm that there is at least one demon in this world.”, Ray states.

The group turn to him shocked.

“Wait, I mean I believe Claire... But how do you know”, Lilly states.

Using the lie that he had been using to state that the goddess had resurrected him, he comes up with an answer.

“The goddess of all life had informed me, that's why I was resurrected and brought back to this world, to rid this world of demons. Just like Claire, I have no proof that they exist, but this is how I knew that Claire was telling the truth and why it was so easy to believe her.”.

“Wait, wait... The goddess of all life? Resurrected... what's going on?”, Luke said obviously confused and so, Ray explained everything to him, Using the lie that he had told everyone, from when he woke up in the dungeon, to saving Lilly and the Kids.

Luke sat their scratching his head. “UGH, this is all confusing, gods, resurrections, demons hypnotizing and mythical creatures. What's going on with this world.”.

“I’d like to know the answer to that question too.”, Ray, Lilly and Claire said all at once.

“Alright. I’m choosing to believe you guys here, you saved my daughter, and she vouches for the both of you. I’ll believe in you guys. But this information is very important. It doesn’t just affect us it affects everyone, Beast men, Elves, Dwarves and Humans. We need to have a joined meeting with all the races leaders no matter what. If we’re going to be going up against a demon with the power to hypnotize people, we all must come together and deal with this threat as a collective.”, Luke stands up and stretches, he looks over to the Kay, who was playing with the other kids.

“Alright, lets head to the castle. My brother and father need to hear this, so that we can come up with a plan of action and set things into motion.”.

And so, with Lukes approval the group were able to enter the city, the group looking smugly and the guards as they passed them. Their destination, the royal castle.