"What did you find?"
Malcon's heart skipped a beat as he heard a cold voice above him. Looking up he saw the captain staring down at him.
He jumped down from the tree, looking around.
"I found his shoe and some blood stains," Malcon replied.
The captain bent over to sniff the blood."demon's blood" he concluded , standing up.
"Does that mean there is a possibility that Sam is alive?" Malcon asked.
"There are still odds," he said, looking up.
"Did Sam's voice lead you here?" the captain asked.
"Yes"
For a while the captain didn't say anything, it looked like he was thinking. Suddenly the ground slightly vibrated, they both looked at each other. They could feel a strong presence coming toward them.
"Run!" the captain said in a whisper.
They quickly jumped up to the tree, and began their journey back to the house. Not only did the ground vibrate but Malcon could feel the tree vibrate, whatever that was chasing them was ganning on them. Malcon slightly turned his head to look at what was chasing them and his heart skipped a beat. There were beasts of different kinds chasing them, some were large spiders while some looked like bats, except they were huge.
"The barrier at home won't be able to hold the beast off," the captain said. "Keep running, I will kill as many as I can".
"No…you will die."
"that an order Eden Malcon…keep running." he said as he stopped running, waiting for the beast.
"And don't underestimate your captain again kid." he shouted as Malcon ran past him.
At interval Malcon kept on turning to see the captain, and he just saw him standing on a tree branch. Malcon turned again to look at the captain and his eyes widened in surprise.
"this is suicide." he said watching the captain fall from the tree branch, with his head facing the ground. As the beast saw the falling food they all moved toward it, struggling on who would eat him first.
"Mirror magic." the captain Said,as he slightly brought out his sword from the shit, and thousands of mirrors appeared throughout the forest.
"reflective slash" he continued slashing his sword toward the mirror that appeared in front of him. a massive air wave escaped from his sword entering the mirror, as it entered the mirror it reflected through the other mirror that had appeared killing the beasts.
"Never underestimate your captain," Malcon repeated on seeing what had happened.
Looking up ahead he could see beasts at different corners.
"Shadow armor" he said, as a thick black shadow covered him.
"shadow craft" Malcon chanted, elongating his hands and giving it a sharp edge. Let's have fun.
Malcon quickly opened the door to the house and saw everyone sitting in the dining hall. As the vice captain walked toward him, he could feel the anger oozing out from her body. She raised her hand ready to slap him, malcon closed his eyes and accepted his fate. But the slap never came, opening his eyes he saw that the vice captain's hand was stopped by someone, raising up his head, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw the captain.
"Sam called him, I believe he must have unlocked his ability when he was attacked," He said.
The vice captain furiously moved her hand out of his grasp.
The captain was breathing heavily and was completely covered in blood.
"Go up to your rooms," he said, tired.
About an hour later they called them all outside, where they had lit a fire, and dug up a hole. Sam shoe was buried in the hole, and they stood there mourning. Malcon never thought he would lose anybody close to him so soon.
The house was miserably quiet, the loss of Sam had affected everyone. Despite the fact the captain said that there was a possibility Sam could still be alive, Malcon doubted it now. Even if Sam had survived from the first demon he encountered, Malcon didn't see him surviving from the hord of beasts that chased after him and the captain.
The early morning sun casted upon malcon's face, he used his hand to cover the Sun rays as he stood up. The room was empty, and the house was still quiet.
Malcon took his bath and wore his black uniform before going downstairs. Everyone was already seated in the dining hall, their faces pale, yet mournful. Malcon sat beside bane who didn't seemed to notice malcon's presence.
The captain and the vice came down to the dining hall, their face nondiffrence from the rest of them.
"We all mourn for the loss of our dear one...Sam." the Captain said, and a few people broke down in tears.
"Tears won't solve anything, it won't bring back your dead villagers, and it certainly won't bring back Sam from the dead," the Captain shouted. Malcon had never seen his voice this emotional, his voice reflected the grief he wore.
"The only thing we can do is to get stronger, strong enough to avoid this awful reality from repeating itself, strong enough to protect all our loved ones."
He seemed to have poured out his heart to them, as for a moment he stood there.
"Enough of the crying, turn those tears into weapons and utilize them…the king will be coming here tomorrow. And he would like to see how far you have grown in your training so far, so prepare yourselves, there will be a duel." He finally said leaving.
The speech seemed to have enlightened everyone a little. They had to get strong fast.
After their breakfast, most of them went down to the training ground, the captain did not restrict them from cultivating, and since there would be a duel, they all wanted to train themselves personally.
"Are you going down to the training ground?" Malcon asked bane.
"yeah…i have been wanting to cultivate for a long time now" he answered. "aren't you coming?"
"No, I am a little bit tired," Malcon answered, going up to the boys' room.
Malcon fell to his bed on entering the room, the thought of his blood flooded village and Sam death seemed to have clouded his mind.
****
"What exactly happened to you?"
"Commander!" he stood up saluting, as a tall, dark, muscular man with bald hair walked into the hospital.
"At ease, soldier." the Commander said, and the young man dropped his hand.
"Boy, when was the last time you had a proper sleep?" the captain asked, noticing the dark shaded underneath his eyes.
"How can i sleep sir, take a look at my sister, she is dying." the soldier lamented pointing at his sister who was lying down on the hospital bed.
Her skin was as pale as a demon, there were dark circles around her eyes, as though she hadn't slept for a long time. The doctor slowly brought down the white cloth that was covering her body, and the commander's eyes widened in surprise. He had never seen anything like this. It looked like black veins spreading all over her body, just by looking at it he could see the vein slowly traveling up to her neck.
"it has been spreading fast lately…i have never crossed part with such an anomaly in my life." the doctor said, placing his hand on the girl's body.
"Excuse us doctor…I will like to talk to the soldier alone." the commander requested.
"of course…if you will excuse me then." he said leaving.
"What exactly happened at Diagon?" he asked.
The soldier looked taken aback in remembering what transpired in Diagon.
"when looking for survivors." he began" I felt a sudden death intent…a wild desire for blood thirst, and it was emitting from the room my sister had entered." the soldier said as he broke down in tears.
"Brace yourself soldier," the Captain motivated.
"No…if I had gone with her this wouldn't have happened." he cried the more.
"I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened to your sister…was it a beast?" the commander asked.
"No…it was a boy" the soldier answered, cleaning the tears of his eyes. "He attacked her with a black small pin," the soldier explained.
"What ability did he use?" the commander asked.
"Shadow," he answered instantly.
"Shadow?" the commander repeated.
"yes sir."
"Are you sure of this?" the commander asked.
"positive"
"Then his an Eden," the Captain muttered under his.