"Where is he? Where did he go?"
At the order of the druid king, every guard in the castle was looking for Fishy. They all swarmed every inch of the castle looking for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
He had already left.
"Just leave him, dad," Ivy said as she rested on her mother's lap in the throne room, having her hair tied up into all sorts of different styles for the first time. "We don't need to chase after him, he's probably very tired."
"We must find him! First, he finds my son in Tanba, then defeats one of their higher-ups, and then escapes from Tanba and cures a curse that was placed on my daughter! We simply cannot thank him enough. We should all die for him!"
The king's speech was far from an exaggeration, as to him, Fishy had performed a miracle. Even Elcan's secret fondness of Fishy was something he couldn't explain. The path Fishy took and followed inspired the druids and brought along a new friendship that would normally never have existed. The vigorous druids were one that wouldn't express such emotion, having never wanted anything to do without their forest. Having such a strong belief in the celestials. They would rather be seen dead with someone from outside. And yet, the king went to Fishy for help that day. Perhaps there was some sort of power that convinced him to go, or maybe it was secretly his own wishes that made him go.
# # #
"Why did we leave so early?" Lilith, the blonde-haired vampire, said whilst she hung on Fishy's shoulders as the two of them slowly walked their way through the druid's thick forest.
"No reason to stay any longer and be thrown compliments that will only make me awkwardly smile and wish I was elsewhere."
"I guess that makes sense…"
The two walked peacefully with the rays of light peeking through the blowing leaves.
"So what's the deal with you?" asked Fishy.
"I'm just a normal vampire trying not to be killed. I could ask you the same thing. I know everything about your condition and your power. I may have a giant target on my back but at least I'm not some random stranger with a planet of mana inside them they can't fully use."
Fishy couldn't reply back to whatever it was he had just heard.
He stayed silent as Lilith eventually fell asleep on his back.
As he carried her through the forest, and all the way back to Fintan village, he thought about everything that led up to his current moment. His arrival, starting the village and his recent journey to Tanba. His mind showed no ability to stop thinking about his past and constantly dwelled on his life beforehand. Ultimately, creating loneliness in his heart. A loneliness that would follow him for the 20-hour walk home he was about to journey on.
# # #
When he arrived back home he wasn't met with the usual greetings he expected. He strolled through the empty streets of Fintan village looking around in hopes to find someone.
He didn't think much of it at first and decided to head to his house. The village had grown in size but the streets were easily navigated as he turned each corner looking at the new houses and shops that popped up.
Having immediately left again when he returned from Tanba, Fishy was finally home.
"Fishy, we have a problem." Clara opened the door to his room to see Fishy's face buried in a pillow. He barely was able to lift his face up to look at her with his exhausted eyes.
"What is it?"
"Well, first… how did it go? Did you save her? What does she look like? Is she cute?"
"Fine, yes, green hair and eyes, and yes. Now, what did you want?"
"Oh… em, it's just that some things seem to have happened whilst we were away."
A warning bell rang in Fishy's mind.
He placed his trust in the village when the three main leaders all left for several weeks, but after having his afternoon nap interrupted by such feared words, that no leader would want to hear:
"You see, it seems as though people have been suddenly vanishing."
"If you're talking about that girl she does that… just let her be."
"No, I'm being serious. People in this town are vanishing, and their bodies are turning up days later."