As the walls began to open and the moon's light shone through the opening, there stood 4 dark creatures standing on the other side.
"wha- Enchantian survivors!? capture them!!" One of them said
Ebieria and Avria run outside and were about to escape when one of the dark creatures used a binding spell on them, which made both unable to move.
"The dark king will be delighted to find out that we finally caught Elementia's heiress!" one of the dark creatures said.
Avria was about to say something when Ebieria beat her to it
"Let. us. go." she calmly said but the coldness of her sound was visible to the creatures and Avria's ears
"oh, who do we have here?" The dark creature with a black mask and longer horns said then grabbed Ebie's chin and examined her face
"You don't look like an Elementian, nor a Valorian...You also look different from the other kingdoms. Hybovia looks nearer to you but having green eyes doesn't exist in their race," they said looking at her suspiciously.
"My identity is none of your business. So let us go or..." she answered with a dent.
"or what, use your power to kill us? oh wait, I almost forgot, both of you are powerless. Your fists won't even affect us!" The four of them laughed so hard as if they've won the battle, but then one thing they forgot is that the war is still on.
Both Ebieria and Avria wanted to punch the dark creatures so badly but can't since the binding spell hasn't been removed. The four then stopped laughing and faced the two again. The one with the longer horns then placed both of his hands on Avria and Ebieria and started chanting an unusual spell.
"What on Enchantia are you doing!?" Avria asked loudly, but instead of getting answers, the creature kept on chanting.
"Let us go!!" Avria then shouted and tried to move but to no avail, she ended up failing.
Meanwhile, Ebieria closed her eyes and chanted in her mind a blocking spell to block the spell that has been chanted by the dark creature. When the creature was done chanting he noticed that nothing was happening, so he looks at both girls angrily.
"Why isn't my spell working on both of you?!!"
Avria who looks clueless didn't utter a single word, while Ebieria looked at the floor avoiding being figured out.
"I felt my spell being blocked!" The creature then looked at Ebieria and was about to grab her hair harshly when suddenly someone throws a smoke bomb in their direction.
"gah! I can't see anything!!" one of the dark creatures said, and at the same time, the binding spell also wore off which gave them the opportunity to run off.
The two then stopped running and hid behind a large tree surrounding tons of tall bushes, but little do they know, someone was following them and Ebieria started to sense it when she and Avria went behind the large tree.
"Whoever you are, show yourself!" Ebieria said while Avria looked at her confused
"Ebie, what are you doing?" Avria asked
"someone's following us" Ebieria answered, then continued to stay on guard, at the same moment, someone wearing a black cape entered the bushes.
"I don't see any horns on you so I presume that you aren't one of them, but why are you following us!?" Ebieria said in a serious tone
But instead of the stranger answering her, he took off the hood that is covering his face, and with the help of the moonlight, the creature's identity was revealed clearly, both were too stunned because of the shocking revelation, but both of their reasons were different.
After Avria recovered, she directly runs to the guy
"Augustin, is that really you, my prince?" Avria asked with a glimpse of hope in her eyes
"Yes my love, it is really me and not a mere clone" Augustin answered while caressing Avria's cheeks, meanwhile Ebieria stood at the back trying to process everything
'Why does he look exactly like that rude-cold heir in Valoria, that I met on the Kingdoms grand ball!?'
'and worse, why does this scene felt like looking at a movie of me and that cold heir smooching!?' Ebieria's thoughts continued flowing through her mind making her feel even worse
--
"You meant to say is that Augustin, who is the Valorian lover of greatest grandma Avria, looks exactly like Austin?" Rovina asked, still can't believe the information she's receiving
"I- why do I have to remember that again?" I complained while getting flustered
"well, I did tell you to tell me 'everything," she said while emphasizing the word "Everything".
Then we both went silent for some unknown reason
"oh my, is that also the reason when you first saw Austin again on the first day of school 2-3 years ago, you suddenly slapped him on the face while he was just trying to talk to you!?" Rovina asked loudly while looking at me with a wide eye
"I- you see, um it wasn't,...gah! just forget about it okay!? I'm going to continue now" I said unable or rather avoided to give an answer
--
Ebieria stood there thinking if she should turn around, walk away or pretend to cough, but then before executing one of those, Avria called her over
"Do you need anything?" Ebieria asked politely
"oh nothing really, I just wanted you to introduce with each other since August here thinks you look suspicious," Avria said while Augustin eyed Ebieria suspiciously
"I understand" Ebieria responded then tried to look at Augustin without showing any weird expression
"My name is Ebie, and I am a traveler, I don't belong to any kingdom since I was abandoned at the far East behind Luna kingdom, and if you aren't still satisfied with my introduction prince Augustin and still thinks that I might be an alliance with the dark side, then that long-horned creature wouldn't try grabbing my hair, place us on a binding spell and I would have already captured your beloved" Ebieria explained calmly while cringing inside at her last words
Augustin then nods
"I'm sorry If I judged you before asking" Augustin apologized, which made Ebieria flinch a bit
'damn, he and the Valorian heir in my time definitely has the same face, but both attitudes are the opposite, this one at the front of me doesn't have a hint of coldness on his face and shows a lot of emotions unlike the one in my time.
"It's alright, after all, it will definitely look suspicious if an unknown person is tagging along with Elementia's heiress" Ebieria responded, then directly walk to the bushes and peeked out to check if there is still someone following
"August, I thought you got captured?" Avria asked Augustin
"I was my love, but your cousins, Yanli and Zhang help me escape, but sadly when we were running through the woods, 7 dark creatures found us and surrounded us.." Augustin explained then looks away
"T-they got captured while making sure I escape, I am a fool for not helping them, I could have done something.." he continued with a tone of guilt on his voice
"August, it's okay, and it's not your fault, they intended to make sure that you escape so don't feel guilty, okay? and we will also make sure to save them and the entire Enchantia " Avria said softly
Ebieria then went back to the couple to tell them that they can rest in that place since it's pretty much covered and that by tomorrow, they will start thinking of a plan and strategy to find survivors then save the kingdom.