Beti's legs were trembling ever so slightly as she stood in front of the door of one of a village hut. Her palms were sweaty and a reddish tinge laced her eyes that had teardrops within them due to panic. With an anxious expression, her breathing appeared rough and heavy making it look as if she was in an extremely precarious situation. The girl had already called for the person a few times but no response was heard in return from inside.
She fearfully glanced at the stranger standing behind through the corner of her eye. A pitch-black robe covered the man in view, making him look ominous under the dark and tragic night. His presence felt extremely strange and different in contrast to the savage bandits that ferociously battled at the entrance.
But it was not his peculiar aura or his erratic appearance that was the cause of Beti's fear. One of the village kids was currently held tight within one hand by the cloaked man while a dreadful fire flickered on top of the other palm. The astounding scene looked like an illusion from afar, but the girl could sense the infernal heat contained within the bright piece of flame and the situation looked as if the man would burn the kid alive if she didn't listen to his words.
"So, no one's in the house eh. Are you sure you are not lying to me?" the cloaked mage spoke with an ice-cold voice.
"N-No, they really do live here. These kids even visited this place a few days ago, right?" Beti frantically explained. A bunch of village kids grouped around the scene nodded their heads in fright, with tears and snot covering their tender faces.
After having left the battle scene at the village entrance, Beti had been moving through all of the huts within the settlement, informing the rest of the residents about Shreya's decision. The plan was to immediately evacuate the place to hide within the forests until the battle had concluded. But to the girl's amazement, not a single villager agreed to move out of the settlement, vehemently refusing the order. Instead, each of them had begged the girl to rather bring along the young ones among their families and escape into the woods.
Beti had encountered a major dilemma at that point, but the constraints of time didn't let her waste valuable seconds in attempts to persuade them. Although she was reluctant to give in to their stubbornness, the girl understood their feelings at heart. With their sons and husbands fighting for life in the distance, they were not keen to escape and live with regrets, carrying on the weight of the former's selfishness. Let alone the older folks who had already lived their lives, the women had probably prepared themselves ever since the warning horn resounded within the village. After all, for them, it was a fate worse than death to be captured by bandits.
The girl made a decision, and taking up responsibility in consequence Beti had a growing trail of kids that followed her through the small village pathways. When she was about halfway done, a massive tremor shook the entire area like a dreadful earthquake. An ominous glint had drowned the girl's heart in that instance and her ill-foreboding came true just a few moments later
The group stumbled upon the cloaked mage within the narrow roads, who seemed in the middle of his search. It didn't take long for the man to instantly snatch a hostage from within them, scaring Beti and the kids alike.
"Bring me to the girl that had newly arrived in the village within this decade! She must not be more than a dozen years old! Take me to that person, now!!", the mage had ordered, and despite her bewildered complexion, the girl had no choice but to comply.
Throughout the journey, Beti had been extremely anxious for her friend. She didn't understand why the cloaked man wanted to find her when he couldn't even describe her appearance, but she knew he held no goodwill towards the person he was searching for. All along the way, Beti had hoped for her to miraculously disappear from the house to avoid falling into the fearful man's hands but now that her wish was suddenly granted, mixed feelings of doubt and suspicion invaded the girl's mind.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Lena! Please open the door if you are in there! Lena!!" Beti had a slight feeling of deja vu as she banged the door with restlessness. The child's life was at stake here as she couldn't guarantee the man's actions if he was not pleased. But even after a long time that added on to the girl's anxiousness, no one answered from behind the closed doors.
"Hmph! Do not put me on the same level as that lowly barbarian bunch. Move aside!" the cloaked mage spoke with a sweet youthful voice as he let go of the kid. The poor soul instantly dashed towards Beti, hugging her with a trembling body barely able to hold back his urge to cry due to immense dread.
schiing!
A fiery red magic circle with strange patterns suddenly glowed on the man's palm as he pointed his hand towards the door handle. A few incoherent words from a strange language escaped his throat, brightening the unique patterns within the ethereal circle.
boom!
In an instant, two small beads of fire shot out of the circle with tremendous speed. impacting the door and with an explosive display. The door lock was broken apart with splinters and smoke covering the bystander's vision. The mage hurriedly advanced, simply shoving away the half-broken door before he stepped into the house.
The young spectators all displayed a dumbstruck expression witnessing a mage's power through their own eyes, something they had only heard in stories and ballads. The dread felt in their hearts deepened by another level and Beti, who also had a similar frightful expression, barely managed to regain her calm before following the mage inside.
The interior of the house was quiet, orderly, and unnaturally bright because of a strange wisp of candlelight that floated on top of the mages head, illuminating the entire place. The entire house was clean and tidy, indicating that people had lived here until very recently.
'It is really empty. Did they escape out of this place or, are they just hiding somewhere within?'
boom!
While Beti glanced around at the familiar house with eyes of suspicion, another similar jolting explosion suddenly echoed within the confined walls, jump-scaring the thoughtful girl. Rushing towards the scene with uneasiness, she found the remains of another blasted door that lead to an unfamiliar room, one she had never visited.
"Th-This is!?"
Papers. The entire room was filled with papers. Some stacked neatly on the floor while some scattered around the room. Various types of ink bottles, quill, and other similar items were spilled all over the place. It displayed a complete contrast compared to the orderliness of the rest of the house.
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"humph! Bard poems! They were really living their ruse here," the mage scowled, glancing at one of the pages he casually picked up.
'Ruse?'
The man appeared lost in thoughts while he searched around the room, completely ignoring the girl's presence. And while she similarly scurried around the place with a perplexed face, Beti stumbled upon an ink jar after a few moments that emitted an unusual sweet fragrance. The sticky liquid inside was too viscous to be used on paper and the colour itself was an extremely familiar brownish hue.
'This is...Hair Dye?'
It was at this moment, her eyes happened to fall upon a few, fine thread-like objects bundled together in the corner of the messy room. Picking up the mesh, Beti carefully observed the brilliant luster emitted by the object, and her eyes instantly widened in shock and surprise.
"Silver Hair!"
The veil of doubt shattered within the girl's mind. At this point, she didn't need any other evidence as the girl was fully convinced that Lena was not just some daughter of a bards' family. The silver strands of hair were a massive giveaway to her identity and the revelation was so abrupt and breathtaking that Beti was having trouble putting her disbelief into words. With a trembling hand clutching the hair mesh and the other arm that covered her gaping mouth, she stood rooted to the spot with a foolish expression. A sister she had known for all these years, just how....?
"What! Show it to me!"
The mage hurriedly rushed over, snatching the hair strands from the flustered girl. After examining it for a while, the man held the hair strand in his palm that glowed brightly with a powerful gleam. Astonishingly, as if there was resonance, the hair strands similarly shone with a bright silvery luster, inducing an expression of shock that stemmed from different reasons among the two spectators
"Hahahaha. She was here! She was actually hiding here!" the mage shouted with ecstasy as his hands that clutched the hair strands trembled.
"I have finally done my part! They can't blame me anymore. Hahaha!" one could feel the relaxation in his voice as if he had just avoided a perilous situation.
"Did they find out about the raid beforehand? But how?" but, his excitement calmed down soon after as he pondered hard, mumbling to himself.
"Just who could have relayed this information? Is there...a rat among us?"
The man appeared perplexed, pacing to and fro in the room with a deep masked frown. He had already completed his job and there was no more reason to stay in this dirt hole of a place. The work of capturing the girl now lay on the people encircling the perimeter, so he was naturally relaxed. But something about this entire situation irked his intuition. Glancing towards the still frozen Beti, he decided to leave no stones unturned before departing.
"Oye, girl!"
"Y-Yes!"
"Tell me everything you know about this girl here," he spoke abruptly.
"Like, When did she arrive at this village? How many people were with her? How did she live here? Everything! Got, it?
"If you spill out all of the information with truth, I may think of saving your people's lives."
"E-Eh!"
Beti found herself within another major dilemma. From her perspective, the village's situation was akin to a drowning man that frantically struggled in hopes of latching unto any straw. But could she rat out her precious sister for a stranger's promise? The man clearly didn't know much about Lena. Who knows, her words may, at some point bring a terrible disaster upon the gentle girl.
Her breathing got erratic and she clutched the hem of her frock hard enough to turn her knuckles white. With a downcast face and heaving shoulders, she stood blankly on the spot under the piercing gaze of the man.
"Is that so? Fine, she can't hide forever anyways," the mage turned around, speaking with a tone of disappointment before he walked away.
"W-Wait!"
"What? If you don't have anything to speak then don't bother me, lest I get angry."
"...ell"
"Hmm?"
"I-I'll tell! I'll speak everything, so promise me!! That you will drive the bandits away!"
"Sure thing," the mage replied with a smile hidden under the hood, trotting back into the room.
Beti disclosed everything. Taking occasional sobs in between the narration, her eyes had turned fiery red that was stained with teardrops. Her heart felt bitter and guilty. But she could not resist the urge to speak once the image of her fainting father and crying mother pounded her mind. The entire time she had eyed the floor, not taking a single glance at the man in front.
"Granos, Granos, huh," the mage muttered after hearing the girl's explanation. "So he is the one that gave me endless trouble all these years. They will probably recognize him.
"Did any other abnormalities occur in the village recently?" he questioned further after organizing his thoughts.
"Abnormalities?"
"Like did a stranger drop by the village for some time, or something similar."
"Y-Yes, a party of adventurers had arrived a day before yesterday."
"Hmm?... What?" the mage had not expected such a revelation.
"A-A party of advent....."
"What do you mean adventurers!? Explain everything?", the man's voice turned ice cold in an instant and the restlessness in his atmosphere could be openly felt.
Beti didn't take a second long as she hurriedly described the details of the visitors and the events that had occurred in the inn the previous day. Although the mage's visage was hooded in darkness, one could imagine his face gradually losing colour as Beti recited her part. By the time she finished, the mage was already fumbling on his steps and the candlelight above his head flickered vigorously, displaying his anxiousness.
"Cradel Rosworth!!" he shouted with all his might.
"What was HE doing here! Why would he get involved in this matter!?
"No! if one thinks about it, he had a personal reason to rescue the girl. After all...!"
Beti silently watched the panicked man furiously shouting out his thoughts. Even she could now deduce the fact that those adventurers had a link with the disappearance of Lena.
"waaaaaah!"
She felt bitter at heart after arriving at such a conclusion, but before she could speak to the mage any further, pitiful cries and sobs that originated from outside the house startled her mind
''The children!"
The girl sprinted out of the room with a face of panic and the instant she rushed onto the streets, Beti was stumped for words looking at the worst possible situation she could have ever imagined.
Sobbing and trembling with fear, the pitiful kids in the group had crouched down onto the ground under the vicious gazes of three barbaric savages, who eyed them with expressions of greed.
"Don't harm them!" Beti rushed forwards gritting her teeth, as she stood in front of the children with her arms spread wide like a mother hen protecting its chicks.
"Oh, we got a fiery one here, hahaha!"
"She will sell for more, hehe. Some men like this type."
The bandits mocked around among themselves, their sinister smiles bringing down chills upon the frightened girl.
"Did you subdue all the villagers?" the mage asked with an icy tone, arriving at the scene a moment after.
"All those annoying flies are dead! It's time to loot the village and gain some well-earned rewards. Right, men!? hehehe!"
plop!
"Did Master Mage find the person you were looking for. I wonder if we can have a look at her. I heard she was a real beauty," one of the bandits spoke with a lascivious smile as the group conversed, ignoring the girl's lifeless fall beside them.
"No, the situation has turned for the worst. I have to report this to the higher-ups as soon as possible," the mage spoke with a tinge of contempt, disgusted at the bandit's ugly visage before abruptly turning away, ready to leave behind the rabble forever.
"You! You promised to save the village if I told you everything!" a shrill scream interrupted the mage's hurried footsteps.
Beti glared at the hooded figure with terrible killing intent. Blood flew out of her cherry lips from biting hard into them as she desperately trying to hold back the tears staining her fuming cheeks. Her tightly clutched fists had fingernails digging deep into the palm and her entire physique was trembling from head to toe. Her bloodshot eyes were laced with an emotion of hate and disdain.
On seeing such a miserable state of the young girl, the mage averted his eyes. The entire group of children around her displayed a similar appearance that could invoke pity from any passer-by. He hesitated only for an instant before his tensed physique suddenly calmed down as he sucked in a deep breath of cold air.
"You shouldn't trust someone who has sided with bandits so easily," his robed figure disappeared from the vision in the next moment, only leaving behind a piece of cruel advice.
Beti stared into the distance with lifeless eyes that resembled a dead fish. She felt her mind getting submerged into the darkness. ignoring the mournful cries of women and the mocking laughter of the bandits that resounded through the area.
The fate of the villagers had already been sealed at this moment.