Back in the village, Ian was eating dinner with his family. It was later than usual since they waited for Ian to return. Once he did get home, Everyone sat down to eat.
By now, they were all almost done eating. Ian was one of the first to finish. He stepped outside and enjoyed the cool breeze. Emmett joined him soon after.
Both of them sat on the stairs outside, talking about their next journey together with everyone else. Soon they'll all be going to the academy, and a new chapter in their lives will begin.
As the two talked, Ian felt like something had spotted him. He didn't know what it was but he could tell from what direction the glare was coming from. It was coming from the forest.
Emmett noticed Ian's change in demeanor. He looked at Ian and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ian quickly replied, "I don't know. Something is looking at me but I don't know what. It's not a threatening stare but I can still feel it."
"How do you know that whatever is out there is looking at you and not us both or something else?" Emmett asked.
Ian looked towards the direction he felt the stare coming from. As he stared in the direction of the forest, Ian said, "It's hard to explain, but I just have a feeling."
Ian kept staring towards the forest, waiting to spot something.
At one point, Ian thought he saw movement. He said to Emmett, "Wait here. I'm going to check it out." After speaking, Ian bolted towards the forest.
Soon after, Erik walked out of the house and said, "Where's Ian?"
Emmett turned to Erik and said, "Ian ran towards the forest. He says that there's something out there looking at us."
Erik thought for a moment and said, "Ian's hunting instincts are very good. He wouldn't run headfirst into danger if he wasn't confident in his ability."
"Should we help him?" Emmett asked.
"No. He should be able to handle himself. But I rarely see him hunt, so I'm going to take a look. I want to see how far he's improved." After he spoke, Erik ran towards the direction Emmett was looking in. But he made sure to keep his distance so Ian wouldn't notice him.
Emmett decided to follow Erik. He stayed close, trying to keep quiet as well.
When Ian made it to the edge of the forest, he had trouble finding whatever was out there. He looked around, trying to spot any movement. He heard rustling coming from multiple bushes but he thought it was the wind.
Eventually, he saw a small shadow-like thing move. He pounced on it and pinned it on the ground. The creature squirmed in Ian's hands. He was going to kill the creature until he got a closer look.
Upon taking a closer look, Ian was surprised. He had pinned down Lucky.
Lucky was happy to have located Ian, but he immediately became terrified Ian when pinned him down. Since he was still a pup, he didn't know why Ian was treating him like that.
Ian looked murderous when he grabbed Lucky. He thought he had caught a random creature or a scout for a group similar to the wolf leader's.
But seeing Lucky there made Ian confused. He was wondering why Lucky was there and how he got out of the hideout. But then he saw the look on Lucky's face. He saw the fear in his eyes.
He immediately stopped pinning him to the ground and picked him up to hug him. He wanted to comfort Lucky so he wouldn't be scared anymore.
Once Ian let go of Lucky and picked him up, Lucky became overjoyed. He was still a bit shaken up but he was more happy than anything else.
Lucky happily licked Ian's face. He was glad to have found him.
Ian also became happy when Lucky cheered up. He was glad that Lucky wasn't scared anymore. But after a moment, Ian became confused again. He tried to figure out how Lucky got out and found him.
About a dozen meters away, hidden behind some bushes, Erik and Emmett were watching Ian. Erik was happy to see Ian easily capture his target. He could hear the creature struggling in Ian's grip. He waited for Ian to kill the creature before going up to him.
Emmett had seen Ian fight and hunt more than Erik. He knew that Ian wouldn't struggle with creatures of the same level or a bit higher. He also knew that Ian wouldn't hesitate to kill most creatures. But when he saw Ian capture the creature but not kill it immediately, he knew something was up.
Erik also noticed something weird. He thought Ian would have killed the creature he caught, but when Ian relaxed and let go of the creature, he knew something wasn't right.
As Ian comforted Lucky and tried to understand how he got there, He felt something looking at him from behind. He turned around and saw Emmett looking at him. Ian was shocked to see him. But when he saw Erik stand up from behind a bush, he became terrified. He almost instantly activated his power and ran into the forest.
Upon seeing this, both Erik and Emmett chased after him. They thought something was wrong so they wanted to make sure everything was okay. It was rare for Ian to look terrified.
Ian ran at full speed and used the terrain to his advantage. He wanted to get as far as possible from Erik. If Erik saw Lucky, Ian knew it would go south for him. Ian knew he could Escape from Emmett, but Erik was a completely different thing.
When he turned around to see if he was being chased, he was horrified by what he saw. Behind him was Erik casually keeping up with him. He didn't look like he was getting tired. It didn't even look like he was trying to keep up with Ian. Emmett, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.
Ian couldn't use any of his tricks on Erik since he was too strong. He couldn't even use the terrain to his advantage since Erik knew it better than he did.
Ian had to use one of his tricks to escape. He needed to time it perfectly or else it would fail.
He kept looking forward, trying to find a nice patch of loose dusty dirt. As soon as he saw one, he gathered a large amount of energy and punched the floor. The impact of his punch created a large dust cloud.
When Erik saw the dust cloud, he stopped near the edge of it. He lost sight of Ian and looked within the dust cloud. When he wasn't able to, he gathered a bit of his strength and swung his hand like a fan, blowing the dust cloud away. Even after the dust cloud cleared, Erik couldn't spot Ian.
Ian had quickly found a spot to hide. He hid behind a large tree. He tried to keep his breathing under control but he struggled.
Erik wasn't good at detecting things that weren't in view. He looked around, hoping to spot a sign of Ian. When he wasn't able to, he ran a bit further into the forest.
Once Ian saw Erik run deeper into the forest, he quietly walked back out of the forest to try and loop around towards his hideout.
However, as soon as he stepped out of the forest, into the open, four stone walls popped out of the ground. The walls surrounded him, trapping him within. There was only an opening in the roof.
Ian looked towards the opening and tried to jump for it. But as soon as his head popped out, the opening closed around his shoulders. Ian tried to use his strength to escape, but he was unable to.
Emmett jumped on top of the stone prison and stood over Ian. He had his hand pointed at Ian, using his earth powers to keep Ian from escaping. Since Emmett had a hold on Ian, he called out to Erik so he could return.
Erik swiftly returned to where Emmett was. Seeing Emmett use a stone prison to capture Ian surprised him. He jumped on top of the stone prison and said, "Good job capturing Ian. He managed to slip away from me when I chased him down."
"Bullsh*t. You let him get away. You could've easily caught him but you didn't. Why?" Emmett was confused by what Erik had done. He knew Erik could easily have caught up to Ian and captured him. And yet he didn't.
"Simple. I didn't try to catch up with Ian because I knew he was hiding something big. When I saw the panic on his face, I knew he was thinking about going somewhere secret. So I was letting him guide me to it." Erik then turned to Ian and continued, "However, he managed to slip away from me. Not many people have managed to do that. Especially not a copper rank. I commend you for that."
Ian looked terrified as he looked up at the two standing above him. Due to Emmett closing the opening around Ian's shoulders, they weren't able to see Lucky. Ian moved Lucky to his stomach so he wouldn't be crushed when the opening closed. There is no escape for Ian now. It was only a matter of time before Lucky was discovered, but he didn't expect it to be so soon.
Both Erik and Emmett turned to face Ian, a mix of anger and confusion filled their faces. Erik was the first to speak, "What are you hiding?"
Ian was too nervous to speak. His entire face was covered in cold sweat.
Emmett spoke up next, "Why did you run?"
A dozen thoughts ran through Ian's head. He tried to come up with an excuse but everything he thought of would've been hard to believe. Eventually, he accepted defeat and put his head down. He looked like a child who was caught doing something they weren't supposed to.
Erik and Emmett saw the look on Ian's face. They didn't know how to feel. Erik turned to Emmett and said, "Release your brother."
Emmett did as he was told and widened the opening.
Ian immediately fell back into the stone prison. When he landed, he curled up in a ball, holding Lucky tightly and covering him from view.
Lucky didn't know what was going on but he was scared. He curled up closely to Ian to both comfort him and to hide.
Once Ian fell into the stone prison, Erik and Emmett jumped off it. They landed in front of it and walked closer to it. Erik turned to Emmett and gave him a nod. Soon after, Emmett began to pull down the walls around Ian.
Once the walls fell, Erik and Emmett were greeted by the sight of Ian curled up in a ball. Both of them had a concerned look on their face. They didn't know what was wrong with Ian.
Emmett stepped forward and asked, "Are you okay? We didn't mean to hurt or scare you. We were just curious and concerned with the way you were acting. We're sorry for what we did."
Ian didn't move. He stayed curled up and mumbled out, "No, I should be the one to apologize."
Erik and Emmett were confused by this. They didn't know why Ian was apologizing so Erik asked, "Why would you apologize? You did nothing wrong. We were the ones being nosey and decided to chase after you."
Ian's voice was a bit shaky as he said, "No, I did do something I wasn't supposed to do. I went against your orders and tried to keep it a secret. But now, there's no hiding it."
"What do you mean? When did you go against my orders?" Erik was more confused now. He had no idea what Ian was talking about.
Ian didn't try to explain anymore. He instead uncurled himself and revealed Lucky to Erik and Emmett.
Upon seeing Lucky, both Erik and Emmett were left even more confused. They didn't know why Ian was showing them a random black wolf pup.
Ian saw the confusion on their faces. He looked down towards Lucky and said, "This is Lucky. He is one of the wolf pups that we found in the cave when we attacked the wolf den."
It took them a moment but Erik and Emmett eventually connected the dots and understood what Ian said. Both of them were filled with mixed emotions. They didn't know how to feel. All they could do was stare at Ian and Lucky with shocked expressions.