A visceral premonition of certain doom swallowed every last piece of hope I held. The denial in me was still trying to grasp some minute tether of faith, to

no avail. Running towards the gleamtree, I saw the accursed crowd gathering around the horror. My height was fitting for a six-year old, so I couldn't see

anything that was taking place beyond the onlookers. I could hear the troubling words of the people, however.

"Are they examining it? Do they know it's there?", "They can't just throw us out, right mom?", "We're all dead.", "We can't do anything to them, that would

just give us away for certain.", "Ned yhanóninn?", "Solnağıcağna'go yrooskón níğilsen!"

"We're already dead."

Passing by all the people, I made my to a spot where I could see what was going on. There were two knight watchers underneath the tree, pointing some sort

of optical device towards the sacred being. Comprised of blue crystals and many, many circular lenses, this was the device that Nacian described to us when he

warning us of the authorities' arrival. Covered from head to toe with shining dimnesstiele armor, the harbingers of destruction also carried two enchanted

swords with them. Their pommels, each with a black gem at the tip, were showing themselves proudly in their hilts. Death had come knocking right in the

morning. Fidevie quickly caught up to me as I was examining the scene. Splitting the group of people, she took her place next to me.

"Firdevie," a desperate voice was calling out to her from our left, "can't you do anything? If anyone finds out, we'll have to migrate to the haven. Can't

you capture them?"they pleaded.

"Someone would notice, and send a bigger platoon our way. We could take care of that as well, but at that point there would be no doubt that they would

declare war." My eyes widened at this knowledge. I knew that danger was floating above us, but I didn't know that it was this close to landing. War. The

vulture rips apart a piece of flesh from the carcass. "It's best to begin preparing for the journey as soon as possible" even in this darkest of nights, she

was still our unfaltering moonlight.

"It's there! There was a tree here all along!" A loud collection of protests arose from the people around us as gran held my hand tightly. Pointing the

horrid lens at all of us, the one who was holding the object alerted his friend. "They're all around us! Back to base! Cast the ward!" with devilish speed

they both unsheathed their swords and pointed them towards the sky. Devilishly, the aquamarine device began floating right next to them. It was a crafty

tool, designed for the treachery of human kind.

"Abyssal Repelling Sphere!" they both shouted in near unison. Abyssal lightning flew out their weapons, and reached half a meter above the swords before

dissipating to form two grayish barriers around them. "Look at all of them!" shouted on knight as the two spells merged into one, thicker wall around them.

That spell clearly allowed them to see things hidden by the gleamtree, at least to some extent. "Hold the spell, we don't know how bloodthirsty-" Firdevie

had walked out from the crowd. When she got close enough to the two soldiers, a single dismissive swing of her arm was enough to completely break their

defence. Without the need for words, their carefully erected barrier had been broken. So had the blessed tree's. Her gaze was completely devoid of any

hesitation. Behind her eyes stood a raging wave of spite, which she kept purposefully caged. Caught with no means of escape, the two knights slowly lowered

their blades.

"If you're searching for savage beasts, maybe it would be best if you pointed that glass toward yourselves" she began speaking. "Who interrupts a peaceful

folk in the morning to exterminate them?"

"Kill us, and the king will send his army here!" yelled the knight to her left. Both of the seemingly civilized barbarians readied their armaments.

"Do you think we don't know that?" she retorted. "Perhaps the king's troops are far less bright than I knew them being."

"Our leader is not a king, he is the current righteous ruler of this nation! It was a democratic election that put him in a posi-"

"He has been the sovereign of your empire for twenty years!" she roared. Not giving the two fools an opportunity two protest, Firdevie employed her spell.

"Géörclerinde Şintmeach!"

A shrieking pillar of lightning split the sky in front of the knights. Its roar was sudden enough to make them scream. "Leave now," she warned, "or you

face me."

"So be it, you fucker!" shouted the knight to her right. "When our army arrives, you will taste the might of our army. We will raze this entire fucking camp

to the ground and watch you squeal like pigs as you run for the wastes!" Ending his vitriolic rant, he violently stabbed his sword into the ground. The

other knight mirrored this act, and a circle of runes appeared on the ground beneath each of their feet. Within a few seconds, they were gone. Gran lifted

her right up, and whispered a spell that I couldn't quite make out. With her command, the tree emitted an especially bright flash of light for a brief

second before returning to its original state. While the crowd was swamped with panic, she returned to my side and grabbed me by the shoulders.

"I'm sorry Farriz, but we will have to leave again. The city's soldiers now know about us." For the first time in my life, I was seeing her worried. "We need

to go home and prepare."

"Gran, why are we leaving? Why do they want us gone?"

"They hate us, Farriz" she responded. "They think that our mere existence is harmful to them. They will force us out of this land if we don't try to escape."

"Can't we fight back? You're a powerful magician, you can save us."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Even Günnuaç, Hearrain and I tried to stop their incursion together, our combined power wouldn't be enough to stop their incursion" she replied. "They

would paint the remains of this village with rivers running with our blood." My gnawing, existential fear stuck its claws deep within me.

"Hey!" a woman shouted from the back. "What's going on?" it was the stern voice of Günnuaç. "The Aldeofolda have found us out."

"What?" The young woman's normal voice, free of inflection, was now replaced with a bewildered one. "That can't be true... How?"

"They were using some sort of revelation lens. We've completely lost cover." Günnuaç stared blankly, either out of heartache or denial. Maybe both.

"Uhm- W-when did they get this thing? Sh-shouldn't we have known about this?" she asked timidly. Her mouth was like a riverbed through which pain was

flowing.

"Hearrain and Nacian knew, and they were trying to tell everyone, but the government acted quickly. We were caught off guard" replied Firdevie.

"Alright," Günnuaç was finally able to say. "Alright, alright... I'm going to tell Hearrain about what happened. I'll tell her to help you two after she is

done with alerting everyone in the camp. You two go home and pack all the food and things you can." "Understood" responded Firdevie. "I'll see you soon."

Grandma and I made haste among the scattering townsfolk, who were also trying to reach our tent and prepare for the coming journey. Unexpectedly, the people

had abandoned their frenzied fear. Now, they were readying supplies and items with great coordination. "Can't we hide with the gleamtree?" I asked gran.

"The soldiers can't hurt us, they will all just go right through us."

"If we do that kindheart, they will just surround us and wait for our supplies to run out. Then we cannot do anything but surrender." I nodded.

Just before we reached our house, a tingling sensation crept up onto my temples. A thin, white string covered the edges of my vision. Without warning,

foreign thoughts began invading my mind. They were not words but rather the meanings of words stripped of their auditory medium. If I were to try

translating these unalloyed concepts it would result with something similar to this: "Nacian's command. Get ready. Village center. We leave in about an hour."

"Do you feel that too?" asked gran. "That's Hearrain. She is telling everyone in the encampment what to do." As we were entering our house, I noticed

Eirrír's parents embracing their son. He had bags under his eyes and tears were drifting down his face but at least it gave me some comfort to know that he

was safe. While inside our abode, Firdevie and I began storing all the important items inside large bags. Lamps, our trusty processor, food, canteens filled

with water. My precious books that I kept inside chests were left alone for now, as Hearrain could store them in a static sichochtli space. We carried the

remaining bags outside, and began waiting for the Uche Sichüra to arrive.

A current of wind was blowing through the streets, the throes of a dying people. Yet again, the promise of a place of belonging was torn away from me by

those who insisted on maintaining their seething, scheming hatred. How could an entire city's worth of people despise us so vehemently? We had not

inflicted any true harm on these people. All we did was existing alongside them. Could a lie, an overwhelmingly compelling story, be capable of completely

swaying the public opinion against us? Could the president of Aldeofol really be spreading such rumors about us? For what purpose? I did not yet have the

answers to these questions, but I had a feeling that they would find me eventually.

As I thought more and more about the prospect of deserting our current residence, the prospect became worse and worse in my mind. Hedley was an

insufferable tutor for sure, but at least I was learning something thanks to him. I didn't know if the place we were heading towards had a school I could

enroll in. Would I be bereft of academic education for the rest of my life? Would I be able to continue my training with Nacian?

Was coming with Firdevie to the conclave a mistake?

I sighed. "Grandma," I asked anxiously. "Will I ever go to school again?"

"Yes, dear" she told me, and turned her head towards the path that Hearrain was most likely to come from. Suddenly realizing why I had asked the question,

she looked back at me. "My poor boy, I assure you that everything will be fine. We will be safe, we will sort this out. Our friends will be fine as well.

Even if something goes wrong you can be certain that I will do absolutely anything that is necessary to ensure your health and happiness. You're always safe

with me."

"I love you" I said. "You're the light of my life" she countered.

"There you are!" Hearrain shouted with relief as she approached. "Oh, it's so nice to see you" gran said.

"Is there anything you guys need to store in the sichocht?"

"The tomes. They are too valuable to discard" said Firdevie.

"Understood. Let me hendle it" said the wizard, and went into our house to transfer the chests into the magical plane. "What about the trees?" I asked.

"Hmm? Do you mean Cega?" Firdevie asked. "My tree too."

"I'm sorry kindheart, I don't know if we will have time to save your first tree. Hearrain's work is urgent, and many people need her." Even though the

situation gave me sorrow, I chose to not complain. Hearrain and Firdevie were going through enough already. "I understand" I said. "Thank you for caring."

"Of course I'm going to care dear, I'm your grandmother. That is why I'm here."

A potent light momentarily erupted out of our tent. Hearrain almost tripped while getting out, though was able to regain her balance quickly. "It's done.

Günnuaç is currently pushing Cega towards an under layer of magic, I must go help her."

With conviction, Firdevie said "Go! Make haste!" Hearrain began running, but stopped before she was able traverse even a few meters. A tide of misfortune

made her dress sway in the air. "Why have you stopped? What's-" Firdevie wasn't able to finish before the unmatched sorceress interrupted her with a hush.

We listened. At first, it seemed like there was no sound out of the ordinary that was visiting our ears. Then we took notice. Noises resembling thin,

slithering whistles were camouflaged behind the current chaos of the settlement. They were slyly building up in the background. We cautiously walked to the

back side of our tent, to get a better look at the source of these oddities.

From a distance, it resembled a nightmare. Striding on top six symmetrically placed, dark legs ending in hooves its lumbering movements were unlike those

of any other being I had seen until that point. The central piece to which all of these appendages connected resembled a revolting, flesh covered mountain.

At its peak tendrils resembling crimson blades of grass were swaying slowly from left to right as if they were trying to locate something. A vertical slit

was on its body, and it was facing towards us. It opened. The eye gazed. Without warning, my grandmother grabbed me. Hearrain's panicked footsteps

approached, and with a hurried spell she teleported us about fifteen meters away from our doomed home. At first, I was disoriented. Then the null beast of

annihilation suddenly appeared out of a black smoke on top of our hut. I had fallen down. There were no thoughts. Someone screamed. It too, fell. The dust

that rose from its horrid fall flew towards us. Firdevie spoke.

"Bestia Ex Nihilo."