Ethanial successfully stopped the uncontrolled carriage but it turned over in the process. He ran to it to save the passenger inside. He pulled the person out and was surprised to find out it was a girl.

"You alright, missy?"

"I am fine. Just a bit surprised and unprepared. That's all."

She let him know that she was not injured. Her voice was soft yet confident. It was like a beautiful melody. He wanted to admire her more but with the current situation, he could not afford to.

A wyvern suddenly swiped down from the sky, snatching up the driver and dropping him to death. The poor man tried to run with a sprained ankle. But he was limping on his feet so his effort turned out to be in vain. He became an easy target for the wyvern.

Ethanial looked at his team. They seemed to be holding up for now. He decided to go back there. Then he suddenly saw something dreadful. The Templer was fighting a wyvern by himself. Drake's group was fighting another one. Ethanial remembered the wyvern he cut the tail was a red one. The wyvern who killed the driver was black. "There are more than three," he counted. "We are fighting with a nest!"

It was the first time Ethanial encountered a nest. When a senior in his army said wyverns lived in a colony, he did not believe it. Most of the soldiers rarely encountered two at once.

"Hell."

Ethanial swore without intention in front of a young lady. The first two wyverns were hard enough to fight but a whole nest? Just the thought made him shiver in fear. He found his hands trembling. He let go of the girl's hand so that she would not notice his nervousness. But he was too late.

Once a confident girl was terrified at the sight of wyverns. She had turned pale. Who wouldn't after seeing a couple of deadly flyers or seeing a man dropped to his death right before their eyes? Her whole body was shaking and her lips trembling. She stared at the lifeless of a man she once known.

In desperate times and despair, emotional support was the only weapon to fight back. Ethanial reached her hands back and held her icy fingers in between his warm palms.

"Hey. Look. Look at me. Breathe. You won't die here. I will take you back home alive. I promise."

With the unfaltering confidence, he gave her the courage. She needed it. After his encouragement, the warmth returned to her hands, the sense of life to her body. She nodded.

Ethan looked back to his team. The situation turned to worse. It was dire. Everyone had given up their positions. Each fought for himself. Templer Mulberry came running toward Ethanial for his horse. Nate and Boba were no longer to be seen. Drake was still fighting hard, paving the way for his friends but Smule who was with Drake, pushed Jimmy away and left him as a sacrifice for his escape_ Jimmy had never been good to him anyway.

In the face of true danger, only two options remained. Fight or flight. With coordination, his team with a Templer could fight a wyvern or two. But not a nest. A fight with no guarantee of survival. No chance at all. Going back to help them was a sure deathbed. It would put the girl in danger too. He contemplated much and chose the latter.

As an escort, it was in the best interest to keep the girl safe even if it meant leaving his teammates. He concluded.

Ethanial picked the girl up from her waist and put her on the horse.

"Hold me tightly. You don't want to ... ...fall."

Before he finished his sentence, the girl put her arms around his waist and stuck her chest to his back. He kicked the horse hard and it started to sprint away. After they turned the curve, they left the sight of battle behind.

However, getting out of sight still did not bring them to safety. Soon, he heard the sound of flapping wings in the darkness over his head.

"Fucking birds. All right Missy, search the bird..."

"Leila."

"What?"

"My name. It's Leila."

"Leila! Don't even blink. Search the bird, especially at my blind spots and tell me where. We don't want it to surprise us. ...Divination!"

He reinforced the spear and prepared ready. A glimpse of the bird and the spear would pierce its heart.

"Bird!" The girl shouted, "straight ahead!".

To his surprise the wyvern did not come from his blind spot but from the front. It was the same red one he cut the tail. Its talons readied to rip apart. Its mouth drooling with acid enough to bone a man in an instant.

"You again? This time won't end with a tail."

Ethan threw the spear immediately. It missed the heart and hit the left wing instead. It made the wyvern swayed to the hillside. Although hurt with anguishing pain, the wyvern tried to take down its mortal enemy with its venom.

But its revenge turned out to be vain as the steed dodged the venom thrown at them by itself and took the chance to pass it under from the cliff side. It surprised Ethanial.

"It didn't die." The girl said in worry.

"With a spear in his wing, I doubt it will bother us for now. Let's get to safety first."

Under the dark moon, they could not see ten feet away but the great steed steered itself on the dangerous road through the darkness and carried them safely on its back. They rode for a while through the mountain and the moon was now right above their heads.

"I see a cave ahead. Let's rest there. This good boy needs a break too."

"But is it safe? I heard scary creatures usually dwell in caves." She anxiously said her knowledge about the caves in the mountains.

Ethanial knew it was rude but her anxious voice made him smile. He found it cute.

"Don't worry. No creatures dare live in the area a mountain away from a wyvern nest."

"Then why do we stop here?"

"Don't have a choice, do we? The night is theirs. It is safer to have a roof than an open ground. Let's call it a day. We will ride after the sunrise."

"Sigh*. But can you check the cave? To be sure."

"Absolutely."

After he tied the horse to a big rock, he chanted a spell and a light came out from the sword as if it was a torch.

"Luminus!"

"You are a Templer."

"Erm...well. hahaha."

He laughed it off. He did not want to lie to her but he did not want to deny either. Now that he saw her clearer, he found her prettier than he first imagined.

"You have some blood on your cloak. Are you hurt!?" Ethanial asked worriedly after he found some blood on the girl. His head felt heavy as he didn't know what to do if she were hurt. Thankfully the girl wasn't hurt.

"No, those aren't mine. Maybe some blood got on me when we passed under that wyvern. There are some on you too. Hehehe." the girl replied giggling as she found his reaction silly.

Ethanial was surprised to see her smile and laugh. Candles ago she was pale as chalk and stunned as a pole. However, her smile did bring ease and comfort.

"Right. Erm... Let's clear the place. Shall we?"

"Okay."

She wanted to hold hands so that she would not be separated in a scary cave alone but she did not want to be in his way when they needed to fight, so she held his shirt at the end instead and walked along behind him.

It was a lime cave. Some places were wet and slippery as water oozed out from the roof. Spikes were formed above and ground where water dropped. They carefully explored the cave for a moment and soon found the cave's end.

"It seems the end. This one is quite shallow."

Before going back out, he checked everywhere to make sure it was the end and there were no places for dangerous creatures to hide while Leila was preoccupied with a small pond formed by the drip-water. She touched the water to test the temperature.

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"Look! There is a pond. We can wash ourselves off." She said happily.

"Wait. Some ponds in caves are underground streams. It could be deep."

"The water is so clear, I could see the bottom. It is just a pond with water collected from above."

"...Right, then let me refill the water bags first. The horse might want some too. I will go give him. You wash yourself."

After he filled the water for them, he left her to give some private space to wash herself. But the girl stopped him. She was hesitant to say but she said it anyway.

"Can you ... Can you not go?"

"What!?"

"Erm... I am afraid of the dark. If you go, there will be no light."

"Okay. Erm... I will leave this here."

"But that's your sword."

"I have this bad boy here." He patted on his dagger tied near his waist.

He left his sword behind and came out to tend the steed. That's what he told himself, to tend to the horse. But his heart knew that was not true. He could not lie to his heart which was beating so fast. He knew he would turn crazy if he stayed near her any longer. He could not rest his mind but kept playing with_ the melody.

"You must be famished but don't gobble up. Here drink some water. ... You saved us back there. That was a great dodge. I wonder if your stupid owner knows your true potential. ... That stupid bastard of the Templers might still be alive. I saw him coming to me. Should I go back? Leila will be safe here."

He pondered whether he should go back and help his friends while leaving Leila alone.

Suddenly he heard a scream from inside of the cave. It was Leila's. His mind turned blank as he rushed into the cave with a dagger ready in his hand. He was himself only when he reached the end of the cave and saw a person.

That person was no other than Leila, a young miss, naked on top of the pond with her feet dipping in the water. He could admire her otherworldly beauty even from the side.

Her black silky hair lay on her shoulders running down to her slender waist. Some strands were dangling to the front, hiding the tips of her shy bosoms. Her skin was smooth like a baby's bottom and her little tan made her gorgeous body more seductive. He felt like charmed by an enchantress.

She was terrified at first by the surprise greeting by a frog. It jumped onto her lap. Then she found herself silly and started to laugh.

"Oh my god, hahaha. I thought you were something vicious, you silly little frog. You scare me!!"

She held the little frog in her hand and talked to it until the frog jumped off in the direction of Ethan.

It surprised her to see Ethanial. She did not notice Ethan was there. She bashfully jumped down into the small pond in an attempt to cover herself. But the pond was too shallow, her entire upper body was still outside which she failed to cover with her tiny hands.

"Oh my! You were here. ... I am sorry. I must have made you worried. It is just... a frog, it suddenly jumped on me while I was bathing so ..."

"Right. I understand. Erm... I am sorry. For barging inside while you were... I apologize."

"No. It is okay. I am fine, haha." She smiled awkwardly.

"Then I will be outside. If you need me..."

"Absolutely. I will call you immediately. ...You are all sweaty. You must have run hard, to protect me after hearing my scream. Thank you, erm sir..."

"Ethanial. I am Ethanial."

"Thank you, Ethan. I feel safe because of you. ... And of course because of this bad boy too. Shsh..shsh. see? I just cut an invisible monster. hehehe."

Leila played with the sword, making the sound from her mouth like a child. She looked cuter than being silly. Ethanial was completely drowned in her charms. Cute smile, a pretty face, gorgeous hair, a seductive body and a melodic voice. "A goddess," He mumbled.

He barely kept his sanity by clenching his fist hard enough to bleed. He averted his eyes to the other side while he still had a chance, and walked back to the steed. On his way, he kept thinking sad and terrible things so that he did not revisit the clear image of her overt beauty in his mind. But somehow, the light made the shadow of Leila dance on the wall of the cave. The clear line of her curves was nerve-breaking.

"I will be damned. She must have put the sword to the other side."

He rushed outside and petted the horse to keep his mind away from her. He noticed it had white rings around his hoofs.

"I don't know your name but I shall call you 'Rings'. You did great back them. We are alive thanks to you." He talked to the horse the same things he said moments ago. He tried to keep his creepy ideas away from his mind by talking to it.

He tried so hard yet he couldn't help but peeked at the shadow on the wall. In the end, he interrupted himself with thoughts about his teammates. What would have happened to them now? Did they escape like him? Is it really the right decision to leave them behind? He started to feel horrible as guilt built up in him. Suddenly something cold touched his shoulder and threw him out of his thoughts.

It was Leila. After the bath, her hands felt like ice. She sat down beside him while drying the end part of her long hair that was soaked with a cloth. As she flipped her silky hair, a whisk of fragrance reached him.

"I am finished. It is so refreshing. I was so sticky and smelled horrible with wyvern blood before."

"Right."

He knew she was trying to befriend him but because of things he imagined doing to her, Ethan felt like a criminal around her. He distanced himself from her.

"Are you not going to wash? You should, you know. There is blood on your hair and it is turning hard. It will be a mess soon."

"I had had it worse."

He shut down the conversation. It upset her and he noticed that. He wanted to be friends with her too. Actually, he wanted more than that when inside the cave. However, not anymore. He felt guilty running away with her. "I should have helped my team and escaped together." Ethanial beat himself with guilt.

"... Right." She replied in short.

"Erm... Missy. Wait here for a while. I will be back soon."

"Where are you going? Don't tell me. Are you going back there?" She said worriedly.

"It's a nest. They need all the hands they can get."

"Ethan. It has been more than two or three candles. Everything might very well be over. They might be on their way here already."

"But what if..."

"God forbid, then you will be there alone and shredded to pieces. I will also be left alone and die. ... Ethan, you did what you have to do."

"They are my brothers in arms. And I abandoned them. I should have helped them and ..."

"And die together?" Leila asked him.

The question reached the depth of his soul. She touched his hand and held it softly between her fingers. The warmth, the touch, it clicked to his soul.

She continued, "Be thankful for being alive. Because I am thankful to you for saving me. And I am thankful to them, your friends. I am alive because they protected me with their lives. They are great men, proud warriors. Like you are. They did what they had to and you did what you had to."

"I know. That's why I should be out there searching for them. Not hiding here like a coward."

"You are keeping me safe. That's what you are doing now, warrior. So don't you feel guilt, alright?"

It was her eyes that convinced Ethan. They were so intense and full of confidence. A while ago she was frightened by a frog and giggled like a girl. He had no idea how a person could be both a frightened pretty girl and a confident glamorous lady.

He was pulled into her by her eyes. Now that he saw her up close, her lips were also irresistible. They both fall to the grass, Ethan on top.

He knew he was about to commit a serious crime. He begged himself to stop. Yet his body was not listening to him. At that time Leila put a hand against his chest.

"Right. Push me off. I must be out of my mind. Kick some sense into this idiot. Please."

She looked into his eyes. They stayed still as if time had stopped. Then she opened her lips slowly and said in the sweetest yet rebellious voice.

"No." She whispered.

In the dark cold world where lives were lost in an unsuspecting moment, the bond of survival was the only warmth which brought the heart closer. The beat of their hearts and their breath followed the rhythm of each other, creating a symphony. Their fingers intertwined, the subtle movements of their bodies considerate to each other were like a choreographic art.

Driven by a spurt of various emotions, a man and a woman embraced each other, fondling, warming themselves together against the cold in the open sky. Rings, the steed, shyly turned away its eyes from the union of hearts.

Without moonlight, the stars were shining brighter than other nights. It carried her somewhere away from that frightening place for a moment.

"Stars are so beautiful tonight," said Leila as she watched the sky.

Ethanial gazed at her from the side, his mind full of conflicting thoughts. However, he put a thought, a determination, above all else, that he would protect this woman and send her home safely.

Ethanial needed comfort, an understanding, a lamp in the dark. And Leila happened to be that light.