Iain’ nerves were stretch taught. He vowed to deliver his strongest attack as soon as those monsters got near him.

Judging from the state their first victim was in, those creatures didn’t care to hold back.

While those monsters were still talking to Lilly, seemingly allowing them to buy time, Iain noticed the slightest twitch in the left monster’s leg.

He had just understood that their already overwhelmingly powerful enemies were trying to lower their guard.

Without giving Iain any time to react the left monster suddenly disappeared from his eyes.

The young man only felt a stinging sensation assaulting his face.

Realizing that his sister has been targeted Iain swung his head around as fast as he could.

Even before he managed to observe what happened behind him, a sound like a watermelon bursting echoed in his ears.

Warm liquid sprayed out, hitting Iain’s cheek. Panic engulfed his whole body as his world turned red.

Everything happened too fast for the young smith to understand.

Suddenly a voice echoed through the village. It sounded so quiet, but clearly reached everyone’s ears. This voice sounded full of longing, resignation, but still contained the firmness of someone ready to do everything it takes.

One simple word swept through the village.

“Wither!”

Hearing this voice instantly drove tears into Iain’s eyes.

His emotions were in unprecedented turmoil.

The young man hadn’t even turned his head yet, when this familiar voice unexpectedly appeared.

Naturally he would recognize his mother’s voice amongst millions. Not even his sister knew how much Iain wished to see his parents once again.

But how could he hear his parents at this point in time? Were they already calling him from beyond the land of the living?

Maybe god had already decided his fate today, so his parents were welcoming him?

Completely overwhelmed by this nightmarish situation, Iain finally managed to catch a glimpse of Lilly’s struggle.

He was already expecting to see his sister’s head burst open by the green monster. However, reality turned out to be vastly different from his expectation.

Iain’s gaze instantly focused on Lilly’s vibrant red hair, which loosely hang down her face. Luckily her head and body seemed intact.

Next, Iain noticed Lilly’s eyes which portrayed as much confusion as his own.

Judging from the small satchel stuck in the monster’s chest, one could think Lilly managed to react to her adversary’s attack. This, however, was naturally a misconception.

Lilly had experienced the looming death brought by the terrifying monster’s ferocious advance at first hand.

She realized in that split second that she would never be able to resist. As she looked death in the eye, a dreamy voice suddenly sounded out, dragging her from the deep darkness of death back into the light.

Not able to process the sudden appearance of her mother’s voice, Lilly watched in disbelief as the monster in front of her suddenly lost all vitality.

Its strong muscles shrank, its massive body suddenly couldn’t even hold its head up, while its attack didn’t contain any strength anymore.

Lilly then instinctively rammed her satchel in the monster’s chest. Unfortunately, despite the bravery needed to strike, her attack didn’t hold any significance anymore.

The monster was already dead.

Despite the creature already falling over its own feet, Lilly now had to somehow offset the momentum brought by the monster’s weight.

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Naturally the untrained woman couldn’t do so, as she quickly dropped her tool.

Still in disbelief of everything that happened today, only the conspicuous sound of Lilly’s satchel hitting the ground jolted Iain out of his reverie.

As he noticed Maria’s head, which had been destroyed under the monster’s foot, the young man was suddenly reminded of their second enemy.

With panic in his eyes Iain turned his head back around, only to receive another shock. The shovel he managed to keep in his hands the whole time finally dropped to the ground as his body turned stiff.

In front of his eyes was the second monster. Contrary to its partner it was actually still standing.

However, it didn’t to so out of its own strength. Rather it was held up by the rough, big hand gripping the top of its head.

As Iain’s eyes shook, he disregarded the lava magically flowing from the hand, burning the monster alive. He even disregarded the ensuring sulfuric smell.

Nothing seemed important as the young man observed the two hooded figures silently standing behind the monster.

Even with their faces only partially visible, Iain immediately recognized those two people.

With his voice hoarse and feeble like never before, Iain stuttered:

“M…mom? Dad? You…?”

Hearing these words from Iain, Lilly also turned her head in disbelief.

Suddenly a redheaded blur rushed past Iain.

Lilly didn’t even ask for any confirmation. She didn’t care if what they were seeing was real or fake.

The young woman was longing for her parents, so she didn’t hesitate to throw herself into her mother’s arms.

A choked voice escaped from under the hood, as a teary female voice whispered ‘Lilly’.

Those words also seemed to break the spell on Iain, as he rushed towards his parents.

The young man ignored the monster his father tossed towards the side like a pile of garbage. Iain simply closed his eyes as he felt the massive arms of his father embrace him.

Enjoying this familiar feeling, Iain and Lilly didn’t have any doubt left. Somehow their parents suddenly appeared here.

Nothing that happened today made any sense.

David died.

Some Monsters appeared.

And mysteriously their parents came back from the dead.

However, Iain and Lilly didn’t ask for any explanations.

Everything was unimportant besides the fact, that they could once again feel their mother’s and father’s embrace.

Their parents’ presence even suppressed all those emotions they should have felt from seeing the carnage in their surroundings.

The pair of siblings were brought back to their childhood when their parents always had their backs. They would never doubt them. Not back then, not now, not ever in the future.

A strange picture could thus be observed in this small backyard.

Amongst dead monsters, unconscious and dead villagers and destroyed surroundings, a family of four were hugging each other with tears in their eyes.

Even Sophia strangely fell unconscious the moment the old Rottals appeared.

Thus no one could disturb their joyous reunion.

Or so they thought. They didn’t know yet, but a certain elder in a certain base abruptly stood up from his chair as soon as the life signs of Tekark disappeared.

After a few minutes of silence, Iain’s father finally took down the hood covering his face.

Iain took half a step back mustering the familiar man in front of him. Those deep, brown eyes. The vibrant beard which had a few braids weaved into it. This dependable, broad build.

This image was forever burned into Iain’s mind.

Thomas and Silvia Rottal waited a few minutes for their children to calm down.

As she still patted Lilly’s back, their mother surveyed the destroyed backyard. She let out a restrained sigh.

Iain could even tell that his mother had to hold back a tear. Understanding that their parents must feel guilty about leaving them alone, Iain reassure them with a trembling voice:

“Mom, Dad. It’s great to have you back! Don’t worry. We know you must have had your reasons!”

Listening to their grown-up child, both Rottals’ bodies trembled slightly. Naturally they felt guilty for leaving their children alone.

How could they as parents not be there when their own offspring grew up?

Of course they had their reasons, but their hearts still hurt.

Ever since they decided to have children all those years ago, this resolution became their number one motivation.

Years of planning, years of hiding, all to keep their children as save as possible.

They hoped this day would never come when their children were discovered. But fate played them for a fool.

Although they had created some emergency measures, they would have rather not used them.

The old Rottals looked at each other as mother Rottal encouraged her husband to talk.

Therefore, Iain’s father began in an uncharacteristic raspy voice:

“Iain. Lilly. We are sorry.”

Hearing their father’s apologetic tone, the pair of siblings wanted to protest but were quickly deterred by the old man’s stern gaze.

“How should I begin this?

We always tried to guarantee you a normal life. Away from the struggle we had to go through.

But now this is not possible anymore.

We aren’t from earth.

We are involved in a universal war. The monster you just encountered belonged to one of our enemies, the Malohcras race.

We didn’t want you to participate in this war, but after what happened here the Zrathras clan will continue to hunt you down.”

Iain and Lilly observed their father in disbelieve. This small village had been almost all they knew until now. But their father just told them about a universal war? What even was a universe?

Their father chose to wait a few seconds to let them digest this information.

Suddenly the old Rottals’ eyes widened as their heads abruptly turned towards the sky.

Invisible pressure emanated from the bodies as they seemed to stare into the universe. Lilly’s mother had a disbelieving tone as she asked a question:

“How can this be?!”

A grim voice answered her.

“I don’t know. What would drive the Zrathras clan to send such a strong figure here.”

“That’s at least an elder, maybe even a pillar!”

“We don’t have time for explanations left. Prepare the soulstone.”