"I can't believe… everyone was so happy to see us back," thought Darian as he was laying on the bed. Liro and Vane, in the same room, had already fallen asleep. Darian couldn't stop thinking about what he saw today.
The image that kept popping up inside Darian's mind was when he heard the claps. Once he got up on the stage, he focused a lot on people's faces; he felt really happy to see everyone acclaiming them as their heroes.
Even if Darian wasn't really from that city, he couldn't leave these images from his mind, and a thought arrived in his mind. "I wonder if people will do the same once we return to Therya… right, it's small, but at least someone will be happy to see us back, right?" thought Darian as he slowly drifted into sleep.
The night passed, and the Veilguards were just about to return to their city. It was early in the morning, and the ones who were saying goodbye to them were the Shakurn.
"I don't know how to thank you guys, you were amazing during these battles," said Tauren as he got next to Kael and hugged him warmly. Right now, Tauren was the leader, and Kael was the leader whenever Alerya wasn't on a mission with them.
"He's right… I don't know if without you we would have been able to save Nysira… we could have been killed," said Jaune. Right now, the Shakurn were only four. Eros was with them to say goodbye to the Alterids, but the group now was really small for a city this big.
"By the way, guys… now that you are just four, are you going to get new Alterids to add to the squad?" asked Darian, wondering how people even joined the Alterids group. Was there some sort of trial? "I mean, I joined without any type of test or anything…" thought Darian.
"Yeah, I have already got something in mind," answered Tauren as he focused his attention toward Darian now. "Once you return, you might find some new people to work with, so you'd better get ready, haha," joked Tauren. He already had something in his mind for a test, but he would need to create it by himself.
"Remember that if you have some problem, I can still help you with stuff like that, Tauren. I have got more experience," Eros joined in the conversation, but Tauren, hearing what he said, simply shook his head.
"No, I have chosen. Right now, I'm the leader of the Shakurn. I can't always rely on you. I will do it by myself," answered Tauren with decisive eyes.
He was really sure about what he was doing; he wanted to actually prove himself and make Eros feel that he had chosen a really good successor.
"Well, I guess that now we really need to go. Therya is waiting for us," said Liro as he reminded everyone that it was time to go back home.
"Yeah, you're right…" said Darian as he gave one last look toward the Shakurn. Everyone was smiling and waving their hands toward them, Nysira, Jaune, Tauren, Eros, and even Bianca, although you could not tell if she was smiling or not because she was inexpressive as always.
"Bye, guys!!" shouted all of them together. The Veilguards did the same and turned around—their next destination was Therya.
All of the group was really happy to be back in Therya. The mood got really happy; everyone kept thinking about what they would do once they got back. Knowing that the next big battle might happen in a month, they kept wondering how much they could remain in Therya before really going to Yalemba.
"I think that the Seven Sages will give us two weeks off, and then we will go to Yalemba," said Vane, already making his guess. Allocen and Kael agreed with him, while Liro and Darian thought differently.
"We don't know what type of people we might find. They might also see us as crazy people and simply send us away," answered Darian, debating with Vane.
"Yeah, we might even need more than two weeks to convince them. Going to Yalemba even takes like six days of travel…" said Liro. Everyone understood that what he said felt even more true than what Vane said.
On their fourth day of travel, they arrived in Therya, but they found the city… different than usual.
"It doesn't feel right…" said Kael. Usually, whenever the Veilguards were back from something, some people would greet them, not all the city, but around 1000–2000 of them were always at the main city entrance making loud noise. But now?
As they passed over the city, it felt extremely quiet, just too quiet. "What is it, Kael?" said Darian, confused. The only time he returned to the city after an expedition, it was under attack. "Please don't tell me it got attacked again…" Darian hoped that the city would be all right.
"No, I might be wrong…" whispered Kael, although it didn't feel right even for Vane and Liro, who had more experience than Allocen and Darian.
As the group arrived at the cave entrance, the city was silent. In fact, no one was waiting for their arrival. The city was like it had been put to sleep for so long, and nothing could wake it up.
"What the hell happened here…" whispered Liro, visibly scared. The streets were empty; no one was around.
"Maybe they are just making a surprise party for our arrival," thought Darian. Everyone looked at him confused. "It's no time to joke, Darian… it might be something serious," said Kael as he got worried. The city was really empty, not even a single scream from a child, from the people selling stuff, nothing.
"Snowy… get ready to fuse with me if something bad happens…" whispered Darian to Snowy on his shoulder. He nodded.
Suddenly they heard a loud scream of someone crying. "AAHHH I DON'T WANT TO, PLEASE HELP MEEE!" they heard the scream; it was from a woman not far away from there.
"Let's go!" immediately reacted Allocen as he rushed toward the spot; everyone followed him.
"Guys, what is it… are we really sure it isn't some sort of surprise party…" said Darian as he ran. "Let's hope…" answered Vane, who turned into an eagle and flew toward the spot, moving faster than the others.
As Vane noticed what was happening, he stopped. He turned human and immediately rushed to help the woman. As the group arrived, they felt shocked.
The woman was really weird. Many plants had grown over her body, and it felt like she could not move. In fact, the plants entered directly into her body and skin, stopping her bones from moving. The woman was becoming a statue made of plants.
"Help me please… I know I should have not come out… but something happened… AAHHHH I DON'T WANT TO DIEEE!" shouted the woman with tears in her eyes. Suddenly the plants reached her mouth, and she could not even speak. Vane was trying to cut them down with his polar bear's claws, but once he destroyed them, they grew back immediately.
"What is that…" thought Liro as his legs shook a lot and he could not move anymore. Kael went to help Vane, while Darian fused together with Snowy, and Allocen watched around him, trying to see if something or someone was still around.
Kael and Vane tried with all their powers to cut the plants down. While Kael used his power to make the gravity stronger only for them, Vane cut them down, but it didn't work, in fact, they kept growing back. They were even becoming more. Suddenly the woman didn't have any skin left; it was all taken by the plants.
The woman became a statue, or more a sculpture, totally made of plants and roots. "What the hell happened…" said Vane as he walked behind to study the body of the woman. Kael did the same.
Suddenly they heard a voice. It was of a woman, but it was coming from a roof of the city. "Look, Dane… all the Veilguards are here…" said the woman. She had short red hair with a hint of orange.
"Perfect… soon then we will start," said the man next to her. He had a weird dress; this dress had some spider webs on it. His eyes were black and messy; his face looked tired.
"Who are you?!" shouted Kael after seeing the two mysterious figures, but they did not answer. The only one to speak was Dane, who summoned something weird. "Weaver's Summon," said him. A blue portal, different from the one created by Anacreon, opened in the street. From it, a roar echoed, and a strange creature came out.
It was like a female figure, but she was different. In fact, her head was larger than usual, and it had fifty teeth that were moving, it felt like they were dancing around, waiting to bite something. This creature looked like a spider; in fact, it had eight legs and was watching the humans with a really scary look.
"Go… grab the statue," said Dane. The creature immediately rushed toward the statue. Vane and Kael, scared, jumped back. "Ice shards!!" shouted Darian as he created multiple ice shards toward the creature, who didn't even flinch. Some scratches were created, but they were healed almost immediately.
Kael made the gravity harder for the creature, who now wasn't able to move, and it got crushed on the ground. "Arghhh…" the creature emitted a strong sound, feeling the pain of her body being crushed on the ground. The street under them got completely cracked.
Allocen created his golem in front of the creature. In a few seconds, he would strike down his fist and slam her. "Octavia, it's your turn…" said Dane as the woman immediately raised her hand and created some fire under Kael's feet, about to erupt.
Kael noticed it at the last second and jumped away. "Fire magic?!" thought him as the crater in the ground emitted some fire; it went up like a geyser. Kael, surprised, lost his gravity magic on the creature, who could move freely again.
Allocen's golem, about to strike down, was now being eaten. The creature moved too much for the golem to react. The golem tried to punch her, but the woman made her way by opening a hole in the stomach of the golem.
"Tch…" said Allocen as he created multiple spikes in front of the creature, who, even though she got impaled by them, kept moving. Now Vane turned again into an eagle and flew toward the two humans. He created a really strong wind toward them.
"OHH SMALL ANIMAL!!!" shouted Octavia as she jumped over Vane with fire right under her feet. Vane, scared, went away. As the woman touched the ground, the fire under her feet exploded and created the shape of an O.
Without anyone realizing, the woman summoned by Dane grabbed the body of the woman and returned toward her owner. She jumped right under the house and gave the statue to her owner, who jumped down from the house too.
"Thank you…" said Dane as the creature destroyed one of Darian's shards with her paws. Darian was shocked to see that the creature destroyed his shard this easily.
"Well, it isn't time to fight now… not yet," said Dane as both he and Octavia got on the creature and got away by jumping really high, their heads almost touching the ceiling of the cave.
"What was that…" said Liro as he could not even move for the whole time, his whole body shaking. What he had just seen made his heart shake.
Suddenly the group heard other footsteps coming from a dark alley. As they got ready to fight once again, Alerya emerged from it. "You're finally here," said her, looking directly into the eyes of the group. Snowy, going out of Darian's body and realizing that the fight was over, laid his paws on the street.
"What just happened? We just got here, and this is what we found, that the city is all strange… we just fought in the middle of the street… what the hell is happening? Why couldn't we have a normal return like in Skar-Zhul?!" thought Darian as he fell on the ground with his butt.