Mandy quickly ran over to the counter, took out a key from behind it, and ran towards the door leading outside. But before she could reach the door, I grabbed her hand and stopped her.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Sir, I have to go and check on my mother. You should get out of here while you can."
"No, I'm coming with you."
"But sir, the...."
"No more talk, let's go," I interrupted her and moved to open the door. The gentle afternoon sun rays touched my face.
As we were running down the street, I observed the panic on the faces of the people for a bit, then turning to her, I asked a question;
"By the way, where does your mother live?"
"By the entry gate," she replied in a nervous tone.
There were two reasons I had decided to follow her. One was that I had nowhere else to go, plus it wasn't like I knew how to get around in this place.
The second reason came when she told me that her mother lived at the entry gate. If my guess was correct, then her mother had already been killed. Among the pieces of info I had gotten during the walk down that hallway, was one about the town I was in.
This town, named Evomore, was initially located at the boundary of two races, the elves and the dragons. But as the town continued to expand, the leaders had decided to expand in the direction of the elves' territory. Everything was peaceful, the town was prospering until one night, two weeks ago, a child was born. When that child was born, a bright ray of moonlight fell upon the baby, everyone celebrated the birth of the special child, but the next morning emissaries from the Elven kingdom came demanding the child. Of course, the leader disagreed, why would he hand over his child to be killed for no reason. But before the emissaries left, they gave the people of the town a strong warning that if that baby was not killed or handed over to them in one week, they should be prepared for what was to come.
The members of the council, who were often called the 'leaders' by the people, asked the head—the real leader—to hand his child over, but he refused. Instead, he took the child and gave it to his wife, telling her to hide the child.
Once he had done that, he urged the people to prepare for war.
And true to their word, the elves attacked after the one-week period had expired.
While I was having this thought, we had arrived at Mandy's mother's house. For some reason, they didn't live together.
We entered the one-story house and began searching. I told Mandy not to shout because if there was someone bad here, it would be better not to alert them.
We were checking everywhere when suddenly a thud was heard from the upstairs bedroom.
Mandy and I glanced at each other, and with a nod, Mandy went to the kitchen and came back with two knives. Handing one to me, we proceeded to ascend the stairs.
We moved up the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible.
When we got to the bedroom door, I looked at Mandy; she was shaking subtly. I could tell she was scared and nervous. I was surprised when she went over to the kitchen to get the knives.
Opening the door, we barged in.
***
In another part of the city, a tall man with long black hair and deep black eyes was seen walking down the street on the cobbled stone sidewalk. He was wearing a long black coat and was speaking to himself.
"Why the fuck did I enter this trial? I can't even use my powers or even enter my spirit world here," he grumbled. "And worst of all, this place is about to be destroyed."
He continued walking down until he came to a stop in front of a weapons store.
'And that person, who was he? And where did he even come from?' the image of Nicholas entered his mind. He only wanted to save that child, but now he was sent into a rank B trial with no power whatsoever.
He sighed in frustration before entering the store.
***
Mandy and I had entered the room just in time to see a blade swing and remove the head of a kneeling woman.
The wielder of the blade was a very beautiful man. He had long raven black hair, a pair of beautiful sunset-colored eyes, and the most outstanding of his features were his ears, which were long and pointed. He looked exactly like the stories. He was an Elf.
The head had rolled over to Mandy's feet. She didn't even react; her face was empty. She just stared at the head, then slowly moved her gaze to the body.
By now, the elves had noticed us.
"Humans? Die!" The Elf immediately swung his sword at me.
I pushed Mandy away and used the knife to parry the strike, but the knife broke in half. The elf didn't give me room as he performed a follow-up strike. This time around, I dodged it.
The Elf continued to send attack after attack, and somehow I had managed to dodge them all by twisting my body.
The fight had reached a minute, but when I glanced at Mandy, she was sitting on the floor.
Dodging a strike aimed at my left abdominal area, I shouted to her to get up,
"Get up and leave!" I was telling her what to do when the sound of a crying baby entered our ears. Everyone paused, even the attacking Elf. The crying was coming from a wardrobe not far from Mandy.
The Elf reacted almost instantly as he tried to attack Mandy, but he was stopped by me.
Seeing that he had to go through me, the Elf's attack became even fiercer. He stabbed his sword in a horizontal line, aiming for my heart, but I jumped into the air and spun horizontally just above the sword. Using my hand and the momentum behind it, I knocked the sword out of his hand and grabbed it mid-air while landing. Then, I stabbed the sword through his throat. All this was done in one fluent motion.
The Elf staggered and fell, gasping for air. He tried to pull out the sword, but I made sure to lodge it in the wooden floorboard. Choking on his own blood, he died a slow but painful death.
When I looked at the dead Elf, it made my mind go back to the fight, and something seemed off about me.
Yes, I knew I was fast and good at evading attacks, but I wasn't this good. The only explanation I could come up with was the necklace I was wearing. Somehow, it had followed me to this place.
Mandy had gone to the wardrobe and brought out the child in it.
The baby was very beautiful, with curly silvery white hair and silver eyes.
I looked at Mandy, and she nodded. This was the baby the elves were looking for.
I glanced at the lifeless body of the woman and said, "I'm sorry."
"Let's get out of here,"
she said calmly.
It seemed like she hadn't accepted the facts yet.
She paused, then continued,
"I can see you're good with weapons. Let us go to the armory; there, you'll be able to find weapons you can use."
We took a bedsheet, wrapped the baby nicely
--
In the weapons shop, the tall man had come out of the shop with a disappointed look on his face; he couldn't find anything useful.
So, the only thing he could do was go to the armory at the center of the town.
Looking at a two-story building that had a symbol of a sword and shield on it at the center of the town, he sighed and began walking in its direction.
---
Mandy and I had left the house, and we were walking down the road, which was empty with no sign of the other citizens. "It seems like the elves have captured them," Mandy said, then continued,
"I know a secret passage. Let's go." I watched Mandy's back as she entered into a random building.
I was worried; she hadn't accepted the reality that her mother had died.
If she realized it in an unfavorable situation, I was worried about what it would do to her.
Seeing I was getting left behind, I ran after her.
After about an hour of walking, we had arrived at a building.
It was a two-story building and was located at what looked like the center of town.
We moved towards the door; that was when I noticed a tall man with long black hair standing at the door.
It seemed like the man felt my gaze as he turned to look at me with indifference in his eyes, which turned to surprise the moment he saw me.
"It's you..." I muttered
Then he asked me,
"What are you doing here?"
"I don't know, one minute you were saving me, and the next I hear a message that I'm in some kind of trial." Our conversation had to end abruptly as we noticed the presence of those elves.
"We've been surrounded," the man whispered as he watched the approaching elves with alert eyes.