It's been three days since the Army of Darkness attempted to destroy the Town of Colors. The allegedly announced traitor hasn't been discovered yet, and there's been no word from Gleam yet. Commander Zeigal asked Leonna to help out with the investigation since she was a member of the Army of Light, so we had to separate for the time being.
"Go back to the forest where our temporary house is," Leonna had told us. "You two should keep training and grow stronger for the future battles."
Of course I didn't get to leave until after Leonna tongue-tied me to near death. She didn't even seem bothered with the fact that Xylvia was standing right behind me. Although, Xylvia didn't say anything about it, so I figured she must've had her back turned.
Three days later, Xylvia and I were back in the forest where Leonna helped me train. We were out in the forest practicing new techniques and strengthening our magic with a little bit of monster blood until Xylvia suddenly asked what should've been asked three days earlier.
"Hey Hiro, do you like Leonna."
"..."
"Umm...earth to Hiro."
"WHY DID YOU WAIT THREE DAYS TO ASK ME THAT!?!?!?!?!?"
"I was afraid of making this feel awkward, that's all!"
"Well, you kind of failed miserably on that!"
"Can you answer my question?"
The fact that she waited three days to ask me this was a little weird, but I guess it is a pretty good question to ask.
"Ok, I admit that I do like her, but I love you and only you Xylvia. You're the only one that I can truly love. We've spent so much time together that I don't think that anyone else can even dream to challenge you."
Xylvia remained silent for a little bit, but then her face all of a sudden turned a bright red. She then walked to me and wrapped her arms around my back.
"I don't mind you getting close to Leonna you know," she said. "She helped you through tough times and she did save my life as well. It makes me so happy that you value me so much, but I want you to value Leonna a little more too."
I was pretty shocked by her response. I didn't know that she had put so much of her trust in Leonna.
"Are you sure that you want me to do that," I asked her. "I don't want you two to end up hating each other over something like this."
"I'm perfectly fine with this. I love you and Leonna a lot. While my feelings of love are different for the both of you, their both still strong. Maybe even stronger than my own will. So please, value her a little more ok."
"A-Alright...I will."
SNAP!
The disturbing sound of a twig snapping interrupted our talk and caused us to go back into battle mode. When we were training with Leonna, she taught us three stances that each had different kinds of ways to attack. They were a low-stance, a mid-stance, and a high-stance. A low stance attack is more effective in defense than offense. You can dodge more and try to tire out your opponent before you switch to an offensive stance. You can attack using this stance and your attacks are quicker, but they don't hit very hard. These stances work best for fighters who are more nimble.
A mid-stance is for someone who has an equal balance in strength and speed. Your movements and attacks are a little slower, but your attacks pack a better punch.
A high-stance is for someone who is a little more bulkier than others. Your movements are limited greatly, but ypur attacks are very powerful and can send someone to a temporary oblivion. However, you're left with more openings.
Each stance can be used as long as you knew your opponents strengths and weaknesses. This "thing" seemed to be sneaky and speedy so I went with a mid-stance while Xylvia went with a low-stance. I didn't want to risk pulling my sword out, so I went with pulling out a sword made of condensed water. Xylvia went with duel fire blades.
But right when we were ready to attack a feminine voice suddenly became audible.
"Please...help...them...p..lea...se..."
It was very faint, but I could still make out a female's voice from within the trees. What emerged from them, however, was something that I did not expect.
"...please...help...them. ...help...me..."
It was a girl. Her skin was dark tan and her hair was bright purple. She had small blood red horns and her eyes were a golden yellow. Her ears were pointy like an elf, but they were much smaller.
However, she wasn't the only one.
Behind her were more people that had her similarities. Some of them had red hair, some had jet-black, and one had a darker purple. There were two older men, two older women, and one little boy. They were all unconscious and were being dragged by this girl.
"Those are...dragonmen." Xylvia suddenly said.
Draggonmen? What are they doing out here? I thought the entire race was captured by the Army of Darkness.
"My...family...help them-"
CRASH!
After she uttered those words, she collapsed on the floor unconscious. It was at that moment that my instincts suddenly kicked in.
"Help me get them back to the village," I said to Xylvia. "They need a doctor now!"
"Ok!"
Something about this didn't seem right. How did they get here, and why are they all so badly injured?