"Ou-our p-parents?" Takira hardly believed her ears. "They're alive?"

"Hmm, most likely," Wan ripped the envelope off the plank. "The envelope bears the seal of my father. I know it because I've seen it all the time since I was born. No one else can copy his seal."

His heart also embraced the idea and hung onto the flight of hope that both his parents along with Takira's were still healthy and breathing.

Due to the absence of chairs or any furniture inside the cavern, they both knelt down to sit.

Tearing off the flap, Wan broke the seal.

Inside, he found a letter.

"What's this?"

𝓣𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓯𝓪𝓲𝓻𝔂 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼,

𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓪𝓬𝓵𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼,

𝓕𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓸𝓯 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓸𝓼 𝓘'𝓵𝓵 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼,

𝓝𝓸 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓬𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓲𝓷𝓷𝓸𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓰𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓮.

𝓐 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓭, 𝓪 𝓱𝓮𝓮𝓵, 𝓪 𝓱𝓪𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓻, 𝓪 𝓯𝓲𝓮𝓵𝓭,

𝓕𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓼𝓷𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓵𝓮, 𝓘'𝓵𝓵 𝓫𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓮𝓵𝓭.

𝓢𝓲𝓰𝓷𝓮𝓭 - 𝓕𝓻𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓗𝓸𝓷é

"Frland Honé… Is this one of your relatives, Takira?"

She threw a serious gaze at him that he'll never forget.

"That's my father's name, Wan."

"Oh…" he stared desolately at the piece of paper. A poem? Not what he was expecting. But why would Takira's father send a letter bearing the seal of Wan's father? Something was implicitly hidden in the text, he presumed. "Okay. So that means he's alive, perhaps. The ink seems fresh. I can still smell the scent of crushed rosemary. Hang on…"

Wan flipped the letter over and found another text, written by another hand.

𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘚𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴.

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘳𝘢. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦.

𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰.

"This doesn't make any sense! Who could've written this?" Takira's mind seemed uneasy after reading the latter side of the letter. "Was it Miyumi?"

"Could be," Wan was the one facing circles of confusion atop his head. "Right now, we need to get out of here."

"Why?"

"Because the Alkynes could be on their way."

The Alkynes were one of the three demon-slaying factions in the Kingdom. Their gang color was an iridescent purple, canonically the color of corruption. Indeed, they had turned to the dark side when they began recruiting demons in disguise to hunt down bigger game.

Five years had passed under the protective shadow of the Akaminé, the demon-slaying faction Wan and Takira belonged to. If not for the Akaminé's helping hand, they would have perished under the weight of the rising forces of malice.

Since birth, Wan and Takira had heard tales about monsters and demons. Little did they know that they actually existed, until five years ago.

Only a year ago, the whole Akaminé army had clashed with the Alkynes in rivalry and accusation. The Akaminé sanctuary had been ambushed, their castle sieged and conquered. Hundreds of warriors, mages, druids and whatnot – demonslayers by moral rights – had been engulfed and overwhelmed by the might of the Alkynes. Most had fought till death. Several others ended up participating in heresy – betraying their own kin and team to join the winning side. A few lucky survived – including Wan, Takira and Miyumi.

"What? Why would the Alkynes be here?" Takira hesitated to believe Wan. "They shouldn't have any business nor hatred towards us. We let them seize our prized castle for the sake of upholding our righteousness!"

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"Silly girl. Remember, they're after us!" Wan informed. "The tragedy last year may keep them satisfied, but they live in fear that we survivors may stain their public image if the news reaches royal ears."

"Oh…"

"Those gâguns weren't spawned, by the way," Wan looked into Takira's eyes, his own beaming with determination. "They had been summoned. Be on guard, Taki."

Wan tucked the letter back into the envelope. He proceeded to store the envelope inside an inner pocket of his robe.

He eased the tree bark door ajar.

His glaive was ready at his disposal.

"Seems clear," Wan scanned the visible panorama of the outside world before stepping out. "Gotta hurry, Taki. The night will reach its peak soon, making all shadow demons immune till sunrise."

An owl fluttered somewhere in the distance. Wan ignored it.

He stepped out of the tree and helped Takira out behind him. They began walking north, away from the village and deeper into the bowels of the Yaflorian forest. Except for the village, all the other trees were unharmed.

"Phew… Everything's so quiet now, right Takira? Can't help but feel—" Wan glanced behind him to see if Takira was following or not. Startled by what he saw, he jerked the glaive in her direction.

"—Relieved?" a hooded figure finished Wan's sentence. His voice was a haunting mixture of a hardcore-pitched human and a threatening howl of a dragon.

Wan's eyes struggled to identify the tint on the figure's robe. Purple.

In the moonlight, a blade shone under the tiger-skinned pattern of light and shadow. Clean and bright. But it was positioned over Takira's fragile neck.

"No foolish steps, young warrior," the Alkyne agent warned. "Or your cute little friend will become a voodoo doll after losing her neck."

"YOU!" Wan stepped forward involuntarily, his spear glaive held at a menacing stance. "How did you…"

He heard Takira's muffled cry. Her arms were held behind her back at a painful angle. An angle further, and her bones and tendons were guaranteed to break. And a gloved hand curtained her mouth from screaming.

"Ah," the hooded agent's sweet words feathered his grim tone. "Now now now… what did I just say? About no foolish steps?"

"You're the fool to dare challenge a Third Order Akaminé!"

"Oh really?" the Alkyne jeered, unwavering from the sudden jerky motion of Takira trying to flee from his grasp. "I heard all of your brothers and sisters had bravely fallen to their deaths. The Akaminé no longer exists. It's a shame to call yourself one of them now."

The hooded Alkyne broke into a fit of laughter. It reminded Wan of a hyena amplified to a demonic tease.

"St-stop! Or I will…"

"You'll what? Kill me with that toy of yours? A glaive? Ha!" he revealed his third arm, the mutated monstrous claws of his hand clutched his main weapon – an axe carved and designed out of an unknown metal. Carved, not forged. Yet the deadly shape of the impressive weapon itself was enough to make any elite demonslayer cry for mercy.

And Wan Dé was no elite.

"Fine…" Wan dropped his glaive on the ground.

'Yes, that's right. Focus on the glaive, you knucklehead,' Wan chuckled in his mind. With his foot, he kicked the bar of the weapon to send it flying vertically to the air. 'Yes, this is my chance. Focus on the flying object.'

Meanwhile, Wan sped forward at an astonishing velocity, creating a crackle of thunder as he threw himself head-on to collide at the Alkyne's head. Takira fell away, thanks to the momentum.

'That did the trick. Takira is saved. But now…'

Wan tried to anchor his opponent to the ground for as long as he could.

'…how do I save myself?'

"Yeeaaaargh!" the Alkyne roared. Almost inhumane.

"Takira! Run deeper into the forest! I'll meet you there soon."

"But Wan, you can't fight him on your own!"

"Just do as I say! PLEASE!"

The Alkyne got back to his feet and swung the axe aimed for Wan's left shoulder.

In a second, he hopped aside.

"Ha! You are a fool indeed!" the Alkyne taunted. "You left your weapon back there," he brandished his new weapon. "This glaive is now mine!"

He was well-armed with two lethal weapons.

Wan sighed and remained calm.

"Don't worry, monster," Wan's poker face accompanied his change in tone. "All I needed was to get her away from you."

The Alkyne swung the axe again, much faster – this time, he managed to slice out a corner of Wan's robe fabric.

"Ha! Who said she's away from me?" the Alkyne parked the axe down on the ground. "Look around you, brat. Don't get so cocky with me!"

Wan turned around and felt goosebumps pricking his entire body.

Not one, not two… five more Alkynes joined the party, surrounding them in a circle.

Takira frantically searched around for an opening between the incoming Alkynes. Sadly, none were in sight now.

"Damn!" Wan cursed, to which the Alkyne axeman grinned.

"Tonight, we finally end our wars…" the hooded Alkyne coldly announced. "…by sacrificing the last of the Akaminé to our god!"