Hunter and Stephanie both blushed as the atmosphere became awkward after Spartacus spoke.
"Well then. I guess it's time to go..." Hunter put a hand behind his head as he awkwardly looked at Spartacus. Stephanie merely nodded as she looked at the ground, blushing a crimson violet. As Hunter was about to scoop her up, he stopped, his eyes widening as he looked back at the cliff's edge.
Stephanie and Spartacus turned to see what Hunter was looking at. At the cliff edge, they seemed to see what appeared to be light ripples slowly taking the shape of a person. Finally the ripples took a humanoid form and then color spread out turning it from indescribable to looking like an old man.
Stephanie let out a sob as she looked at the old man before her. Hunter took her hand and squeezed it, trying to comfort her as Abelard smiled at the three of them.
"Thank you, Great Ones. I can rest well knowing my granddaughter is in your care. Child, know that no matter what happens, these boys will always help you, so don't push them away when you feel afraid and alone. And my final lesson for you, one I wished to teach you after we had arrived at Daurarth is that love doesn't mean that you will have continuous happiness. It means that you are willing to overcome obstacles and challenges together. For love to be fruitful you must be willing to both speak your mind, compromise, and to be willing to forgive. I'm glad I got to give you this last lesson and just know, I will always be proud of you." With a final, contended smile, Abelard faded away as his spirit moved on to the after life.
Hunter squeezed Stephanie comfortingly, helping her to ease the pain of losing the old man. He leaned in, whispering softly into her ear. "Once I'm strong enough I'll make it so you can see him whenever you want."
She softly smiled as she wiped her tears away, nodding her head as she looked up at Hunter. "Lets go back to the others."
Hunter scooped her up and the three of them flew off, heading back towards the village Tutan. By time the returned, night had fallen, though the festivities had not. The three landed down in the center of the village where the adventurers had set up a bonfire and were joyously laughing as they got drunk in their celebrations.
Orion, Ian, and Alexi walked over once Hunter and Spartacus landed, handing over some mugs of ale as they smiled.
"We got a pretty good hall, big brother." Ian slapped Spartacus's back as he downed another mug. "We were attacked by one hundred and forty seven Feniri, plus the alpha. Add in the ones Hunter killed back in the nest and that gives us one hundred and fifty five level six feral cores, and one level eight feral core."
Alexi stepped forward and stuck his hand out to shake with Spartacus. "Everyone agreed that you angels should get the alpha core since you killed it on your own. We also agreed that you boys should get fifty five of the feral cores while we all take two. The remaining twenty some feral cores we would give to the inhabitants of this village so they can repair the damages that our battle cost them."
Spartacus nodded as he listened, surprised that many of the adventurers had agreed to this arrangement so easily. Alexi smiled before he turned to join in on the celebration. The group watched him leave before they turned back to themselves.
"Six of the adventurers were killed. Four of them were killed by the alpha while two died from the Feniri poison. The priests helped me to understand some holy magic so I'm now able to use DIVINE LESSER HEALING and HEAVEN'S BLESSINGS, which increases a person's luck, speed, and strength for a few hours. My Divinity has also grown more pure, I noticed that it's coloring had gone from that golden beam of light to have a little bit of white mixed into it."
Ian smiled glumly as he spoke. "Lucky bastard. My Divinity hasn't seemed to change recently and compared to Hunter I feel like I'm not making any improvements."
Hunter smiled as he rested his hand on Ian's shoulder. "It's okay big brother. You'll definitely get stronger as long as you keep trying. As for me, my Divinity has increased again as well. I don't exactly know what the new ability is, but so far I have some black, red, and white coloring in my Divine Line." He then stopped as he closed his eyes and looked at his Divinity. Confusedly he said, "I also seem to have three Divine Lines now... One of them is the same size as what it originally was, but I now have one that's slightly wider, and another that is significantly thinner than my original line. Both of them, however are golden colored like how our lines were when we first entered this world."
"Maybe it's cause you got spotted by some god and now they want you as their pet." Orion lightly punched Hunter as he jealously smiled.
Spartacus shook his head as he watched the brothers tease each other. "Enough you three, I understand that you all are excited for completing our first real battle, but remember. We still don't know much about this world, and if we go drawing the attention of beings more powerful than us, there's a high chance that we wont be able to survive."
The three brothers nodded as they thought about what kinds of demons and gods they might have to face in the future should they become too powerful and careless. Hunter looked over and saw Stephanie standing quietly off to the side, switching between watching the brothers and watching the adventurers as everyone partied. Hunter softly smiled as he walked up to her and took her hand, gently leading her away from the crowd and out of the village.
"Where are we going?" Stephanie asked as they continued to walk, going out far enough that she began to blush as she thought of the different reasons Hunter could be leading her away from the others.
"There's something I want to show you." He said softly as they walked to the top of a grassy hill that had very few trees growing on it. As the two caused the grass to sway, hundreds of fireflies became agitated and flew up, lighting up the darkness as their lights blinked in and out. Having lived in a rural village most her life, Stephanie had witnessed this scene many times with her friends, but as she held Hunter's hand she felt that tonight it was far more beautiful than she had ever seen.
Hunter lead her to a patch of very soft grass and sat down, patting the spot next to him as he smiled up at her. Stephanie blushed as she sat down, and looked at Hunter expectantly, wondering what it was he was planning on doing. Hunter took in a deep breath of air and leaned back onto the grass, looking up at to the heavens as a cloud drifted out of the way and allowed for the stars and the two moons to be seen.
He reached out an arm and pulled Stephanie against his chest as she leaned back to lay beside him, looking to the heavens. Growing antsy, and unable to contain her curiosity, Stephanie finally asked Hunter, "Sooo, are you going to tell me what we're doing, or are you going to leave me in the dark?"
Hunter smiled as he looked at her, before he leaned and planted a gentle and loving kiss on her lips. Stephanie blushed, however she also glared at him, not willing to back down until he told her what he was up to.
"Just wait, it won't be much longer." He gently squeezed her shoulder as she laid her head on his chest, watching the stars.
Finally, Stephanie saw movement. As she looked closely, she watched as shooting stars passed by, leaving beautiful light trails that seemed to radiate warmth and passion. Hunter tilted his head so he could look at her before whispering, "In my land, people would make a wish on a shooting star. Go ahead and make any wish you want, I promise that I will do whatever it takes to fulfill it." He kissed the top of her head as Stephanie smiled to herself and nuzzled his chest.
"Okay, then my wish is that when we're both old enough you'll make me your wife. By the way, how did you know that there would be shooting stars tonight?" She moved her head to look up at Hunter, and giggled when she saw that he himself was now blushing. Upon hearing her giggle, Hunter teasingly scowled as he quickly wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, but gently.
"Well than my darling, why wait till then?" With a smile he let go and gently pushed Stephanie off so he could roll over and get up. Stephanie looked at him confusedly as Hunter looked around with a look of contemplation. He nodded to himself as he walked up to a little bush of wild roses, and plucked two of them, leaving a bit of stem on each. The thorns pierced his skin, however he did not flinch and instead he turned around and returned to Stephanie.
Returning to Stephanie, Hunter stopped and closed his eyes, holding a single rose in each hand. As he focused on his Divinity, Hunter called forth the emotions he felt for Stephanie, focusing on the love and joy of being around her caused him. With a crack, his Divinity Lines shuddered and as he watched the thinner and wider lines glowed as warm red light appeared spotted in the golden light. As he opened his eyes, he saw a warm red light wrap around his arms, hands, and then the roses. Slowly the roses bent and turned into a ring shape each. Then the roses seemed to metalify, as they turned into a dark red shade, equivalent to currant. Then the actual rose bud, now metal, glowed a bright and warm red, and after a short while the glow dimmed down; however the petal coloring was still a different and brighter shade of red before hand, much like a red crystal or red shining glass. Next the thorns on the stems seemed to slither and shift as they moved up so that they were on the top of the rings and would be unable to damage the wearers' hands. Finally the metal flower rings began to shrink until they were the proportionate sizes for the two's fingers.
Hunter looked up at Stephanie with a smile, and saw her in shock an awe as she looked at the rings. She looked up at Hunter and smiled as he knelt down on one knee, holding the smaller ring up for her. "These rings will tie us together. No matter how far apart we may be, we will always be able to find each other. So Stephanie, will you be my wife?"
She nodded happily as she stuck out her left hand, watching Hunter gently take it and slide the cool ring onto her ring finger. She lifted her hand, gazing at the ring as the reflections of the stars sparkled off the metal rose bud. When she looked up, Hunter was already leaning in and pulling her into a kiss as he wrapped his arms around her torso. "I didn't know if there would be any shooting stars tonight. I just took a guess and hoped." With a smile he nuzzled her neck as the two became quite and listened to each other's heart beats.
For most of the night, the two cuddled out on the field, watching the stars together before Stephanie drifted off to sleep before Hunter gently picked her up and carried her back to the village.
By then many of the adventures had passed out drunk and so the only real sounds that could be heard were their snores, and the soft wind blowing through the streets. Hunter returned to the building that they had been staying at and found the same room that Stephanie had slept in previously, setting her down on the bed and laying down next to her as he wrapped his arm around her again, resting his forehead against hers.
The following morning, Stephanie woke up, and feeling Hunter's breath on her lips and his arm pulling her into his chest, she let out a contended sigh as she closed her eyes as she enjoyed the serenity. Hunter smirked as he detected all of her actions, and he nuzzled her neck as he said, "As much as I want to continue holding you, we have to get up so we can get back to Adenville. My brothers really don't want to be the only ones left out right now, so they'll be antsy if we keep delaying them."
Stephanie sighed before she opened her eyes and looked deeply into Hunter's. She smiled and leant in, giving him a quick peck on his lips as she lifted his arm and swung off the bed. "You can't stay in here while I change." She hotly glared at Hunter who in turned smirked and winked at her before he slowly crawled out of the bed; not taking his eyes of her and causing her to blush crimson before he turned around and walked out the door, closing it as he left.
Coming down the stairs, Hunter found that many of the adventurers were awake and merrily eating a nice warm breakfast. Seeing him, Alexi catcalled Hunter as he laughed, causing Hunter to glare at him before he joined his brothers for breakfast. Several minutes later, Stephanie came down, having changed from her leather pants and loose shirt, to a green skirted dress with a light brown corset. Hunter watched her, wide eyed as she spun in a circle, smiling happily as she noticed his gaze.
She sat down next to him and leaned in, whispering teasingly, "Am I that beautiful, or have you never seen a woman properly before?"
Hunter turned his head quickly and kissed her before he responded. "I thought you were beautiful in your battle gear, but seeing you in a dress makes me feel like you are entirely a different flavor right now."
Hearing this, the nearby adventurers burst into laughter as Stephanie blushed and looked away, digging into her food and not willing to look up at anyone. After everyone was done eating, they took the next half hour to finish packing their gear and load up their trophies before they got on the river boat and set sail back towards Adenville. By this time, Hunter had donned his hooded attire again, and thanks to Ian dissecting the alpha, he was able to retrieve his missing labrys and wrap of yarn. After letting Stephanie stare at his eyes for one last time, he finally put his blindfold on before he pulled up his hood. At this time he was missing one of his gloves, and the arm sleeve that had been bitten off was still not repaired, however he planned to either repair it or buy a new set once they were back at the town.
Unlike the journey to Tutan, the return journey was faster thanks to the fact that they weren't sailing against the current but instead with it. The captain of the ship stated that since they had left Tutan in the morning, they should be arriving back at Adenville around the same time the following morning. Everyone spent the time relaxing as they looked at the scenery or played cards games, making bets and getting drunk again.
Hunter and Stephanie spent most of their time leaning against each other as they watched the scenery and Hunter told her about his life on Earth, making sure not to let any of the adventurers hear him as he spoke. About noon, Ian noticed the rings that were on both Stephanie's and Hunter's fingers. He nudged the other two, and nodded towards the couple then turned back to his own business as the other two brothers smiled and looked away as well. None of them said a word, realizing that since the couple hadn't said anything, than clearly they weren't looking for it to become common knowledge among all the adventurers.
Around six o'clock, the breeze changed direction blowing up the river and away from Adenville. Hunter was in the middle of telling Stephanie about his college life when he stopped suddenly and looked towards Adenville. He quickly leaped up from the deck, and a guttural growl could be heard from him as his hands formed fists, destroying the railing that he was now leaning on. Everyone stopped what they where doing as they themselves tensed up, expecting some sort of danger to attack them since Hunter was on the alert.
Stephanie walked up to Hunter's back and wrapped her arms around his waist. "What did you smell?"
By this time the other three along with Alexi had came over and were looking at the river in front of them with worry.
Turning away from the front of the boat, Hunter looked at all the adventurers. "Do everything you can to get back to Adenville. If any mages can, try and speed the boat up so you can arrive earlier than tomorrow morning."
The adventurers began looking at one another with extreme amounts of worry as they heard this, wondering what was going on at Adenville. Hunter turned to his brothers and Alexi before he spoke. "The wind carries the stench of goblins, tens of thousands of them. It also carries the smell of blood, grief, and suffering. Adenville has already fallen to the goblin horde, however I did catch the scent of many females still being alive... Meaning that they have prisoners and we need to rescue them as quickly as possible."
As Hunter spoke, his blacks wings sprouted out from his back with a quick flap, spreading to the widest they could be. As Alexi watched in awe, he began sensing an extreme amount of danger coming off of Hunter. Looking closely, it almost appeared as if Hunter's eyes, through the blindfold, were glowing black. Looking into the general direction of were his eyes should be, Alexi could feel a sense of hopelessness and despair. He quickly looked away, not wanting to think how Hunter formed these emotions on him.
Looking around him he saw the other three brothers also having spread their wings, and he realized that their eyes were also glowing as scowls of anger and worry spread across their faces. Orion's eyes glowed a hot white, while Ian's eyes glowed a cold semi-dark red. When Alexi looked into Spartacus' eyes, it was like he was staring into the cosmos, his eyes were entirely black, but unlike Hunter's they had specks like that of stars and galaxies floating amongst his eyeballs.
Stephanie quickly grabbed a hold of Hunter as he got ready to fly off. "I'm coming with you!"
Hunter shook his head and gently pushed her back. "It's not safe, and besides the adventurers will need your storm magic to help propel them down the river faster. I'll be waiting for you in Adenville okay?" He quickly leaned in and gave Stephanie a passionate kiss on the lips before he fell backwards over the railing and into the water. Stephanie looked over the railing and watched him come flying up from the water, causing the water to form a trail that rose up higher than the boat before it crashed back down.
Ian patted Stephanie's shoulder before he leaped off the boat and began flying after Hunter at super sonic speeds. Spartacus and Orion both nodded with each other before they too took off for Adenville. Stephanie watched as the four brothers flew out of her sight quickly. She sighed sadly and then quickly turned around and began casting GUST, along with a couple other wind mages, into the sails, helping the river boat pick up speed as the rest of the adventurers quickly went below deck and began using oars and such to row.
As for the brothers, they rushed to Adenville, quickly getting there after about fifteen minutes. As they neared Adenville, massive billows of smoke rolled up from the ruins, and they could see the decimated city. It's northern and western gates had both collapsed, and many of the buildings were either on fire or collapsed rubble. The church was semi destroyed, though it was still standing, to an extent. As they flew towards the church, the brothers could see hundreds of dead bodies, the elderly, the men, and many of the young boys were dead. There were very few young or healthy women corpses lying around. Hunter looked at the other three, everyone of them scowling with hate and anger as they looked at the mess.
Arriving at the church, the brothers found the church door was smashed open, and the statue of the male scholar had been destroyed; while the female warrior was missing, clearly dragged from it's post. The brothers walked through the door and found corpses of priests and some elderly nuns lying near the entrance. There were also the bodies of civilians who tried seeking shelter, and some goblin corpses that had been killed by those defending themselves. The brothers quickly split up, looking for their family members and finally found the five guards that had been assigned to watch over them.
Even though they were unable to find their family, Hunter did end up finding the bishop, though his death seemed a little strange. The bishop was in the Transept of the church, next to a heavy podium that appeared empty and was tipped over, apparently by him. Hunter looked at his brothers and saw their worry for not only the family, but their loved ones. Even though there was thousands of scents, Hunter began sifting through them, trying to find the scents of their loved ones as the anxiety in their hearts increased.