Ethan slowly regained consciousness and felt his head aching badly and his body burning up. He coughed loudly as he sat up, removing the wet towel from his head. Hadrian and Emily, who were guarding his bed, turned around once they heard him coughing.
"You are awake!" Emily said in relief, and Ethan noticed her visible eye, which wasn't under her hair, looked red and puffy as if she had been crying.
Hadrian also looked very relieved when he saw Ethan awake.
"I feel like death is trying to give me a hug," Ethan said, his voice a bit raspy.
Emily laughed and hugged Ethan. He looks at Hadrian for an explanation. And Hadrian hugs him as well while laughing.
Ethan would shout if he could, but his throat itched so much that he couldn't help coughing.
"You were unconscious when you suddenly appeared in the living room," Emily said, crying again. "And you were severally burning up when you returned, and Taegen said you were having a serious fever," she explained, wiping her tears on his shirt.
"Fever, but I've never had those before," Ethan said.
"Exactly!" Emily said angrily. "I swear to the gods, when I find that woman, I'm going to rip out her wings and antenna."
Ethan sighed and hugged them back; he could feel Hadrian's rage with his hug.
Emily went ahead to get Taegen and Reginald to tell them that Ethan was awake.
Hadrian and Ethan were left alone, and Hadrian was looking down. "I'm sorry," Ethan heard Hadrian whisper out an apology.
"What for?" Ethan asked.
"I don't know," Hadrian said in frustration. "I guess I should have stopped you from going to Flora," he said.
Ethan scoffed at Hadrian. "As if you could have stopped me," he said, then touched Hadrian's shoulder. "I don't think she did anything to me, apart from making me unconscious, I still don't know how she did that," he said.
Hadrian still didn't feel better. "But she was my manager..."
"And we grew up together," Ethan said. "You are sixteen; she's an adult; don't try to take responsibility for her actions."
Ethan then cups Hadrian's face with his warm hands. "Your eyes look so sad," he said, pouting. "They look more beautiful when they spark with joy," he said. "Don't be sad..."
The door opened, and Taegen, Reginald, and Emily came in. "Oooh!" Emily silently squealed.
"It seems we came in at the wrong time," Reginald said, giggling in amusement.
Taegen was anything but amused. "You two are too young to be dating!" he declared.
Ethan released Hadrian's face. His face became redder than it already was after what Taegen said. "Wh-wh-what?" he stammered. Hadrian's face, too, became red.
"I've lived," Emily said.
--------------------------------
Ethan found out he had been unconscious for a few hours since he returned, and Emily was crying almost all the way through until she ended up falling asleep beside him, Hadrian refused to leave his side and waited for him to wake up.
His fever was extremely serious, and Taegen even suspected that it might have been because someone entered his mind without his permission and his mind was too weak to fight the intrusion.
"It's like your mind getting stressed over work and decided to get revenge by taking its anger out on your body," Taegen described his situation like this.
Taegen told him that he and the others would be beginning school on Monday, and would be transferring to the school; they already had their uniforms ready to go as well as the things they would need for school.
Ethan was specifically warned not to behave the same way he did while he was in Silver Field since they were going to a different school. He couldn't just leave class whenever he wanted just because he was bored, much to his dismay.
Suddenly, Ethan wasn't very excited to go to school. 'Hopefully I get sick enough to escape school,' he thought.
--------------------------
"Give the message to the elders to tell their warriors to attack on Monday," the Master said.
The messenger bowed a bit. "Of course, Master," he said.
"And don't forget to give a report of how the battle went. Capture some of the students if it's possible, and kill some if they want, but avoid capturing the boy; it's not yet time for that."
"Yes, Master," the messenger said before leaving.
She looked outside the window and said, "It's time for the beginning of the end."
--------------------------
"What? The Master said to attack on Monday?" Lucifera squealed excitedly when she got the message in her castle. "I am so excited," she said.
"The Master also says to avoid capturing the boy," the messenger said, and Lucifera stopped being excited.
"Really?" she said disappointedly before brightening again. "It doesn't matter," she said. "It's only a matter of time before it is time."
Claude was surprised when he received the message from the Master telling them to get ready to attack on Monday. He smiled in joy, but when he was told not to capture the boy, he frowned, but it didn't matter.
After four thousand years, they are finally going to make a movement.
"Viktor!" he called for one of his warriors. "Get your warriors ready... Your team attacks Silver Field on Monday," he said.
A man with black hair and purple eyes smiled as he bowed. "Of course, Master," he said.
In the Dark Elves territory...
"The Master said to prepare our warriors to attack on Monday?" The new elder that was appointed by the council said.
"Well, I can't afford to disappoint her like Vella did," she said, standing up. "After all, the future of this race the depends on this."
--------------------------
Ethan was getting fed nutrient-rich bone broth by Hadrian because he was the only one who didn't make fun of him while feeding him, and he refused to let Reginald feed him. It is so awkward to let someone you dislike feed you, especially with his boyfriend trying to look like a sad puppy.
And Emily was trying to do the choo choo train to feed him while laughing. He wasn't amused.
Hadrian ended up collecting the spoon from Emily and feeding the broth to him while everyone watched from the side like ghosts waiting for their turn to hunt the new home owner.
After eating, Ethan was obliged to take some fever medicine. It was a pill that he popped into his mouth after it was handed to him without water.
"Bitter," he said, scrunching up his face as he swallowed.
"You beast, you were supposed to take that with water!" Emily said in disbelief.
"I didn't know that," Ethan said, gagging and wanting to throw up, but Hadrian quickly placed a glass of water near his mouth, which he drinks slowly.
"I thought you liked espresso," Taegen said. "They are literally the same level of bitterness."
Ethan glared at Taegen. "Don't compare this to the divine taste of coffee," he said.
Taegen raised his hand in surrender. "Alright."
Reginald touched Ethan's forehead and smiled in relief. "Your fever is going down," he said. "You should get some rest."
"Someone should volunteer to stay here," Taegen said.
"Hadrian volunteers!" Emily said almost immediately before turning to Hadrian with a frightening look on her face. "Right?"
"Absolutely not!" Taegen said, refusing almost immediately.
"I don't want to stay here," Emily said. "I need to regain my beauty after crying for so long," she said, patting her cheeks. Then she wiggled her eyebrows. "And I'm sure you want to spend the night with your lovely partner," she said teasingly.
Taegen's ears turned red as he cleared his throat. "Hadrian, stay here and look after Ethan," he said, leaving with Reginald before Hadrian could say anything.
"Oh well, goodnight," Emily said, leaving as well.
Ethan and Hadrian were dumbfounded. "What just happened?"
----------------------------
In Silver Field...
Malekith looks at the records with worry. "Is there something wrong, Malekith?" Delphine asked as she and the other heads walked to the meeting room.
Malekith had summoned them with a Code Black.
"Where's Taegen?" Malekith asked, not seeing the elf.
"He took a few days off to take care of a few things in the central realm, remember?" Ebenezer said, folding his arm and rolling his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Delphine asked.
"There's been a huge concentration of dark energy heading towards Silver Field," Malekith explained.
"The Dark Realm?" Richard asked.
"That's strange; they haven't tried anything in five hundred years. What would they be up to now?" Ebenezer said it with disdain.
"I don't know, but they are heading here," Malekith said.
"What are you waiting for? Summon Taegen, and tell the arcs and star warrior students to prepare for battle," Richard said, raising his voice. "Now is not the time to sit around wondering around, not knowing what to do," he said.
"Delphine, use your Siren's voice to get the other students to safety," he said.
"I'm afraid they are out for blood this time."