Placentia

Two people who appeared to be floating in mid-air looked down and expected to see a flattened body with bones and cartilage sticking out but were instead greeted with the sight of nothing. They dropped down and landed down on the ground where the body should've been and inspected it. there was nothing there, it was as if he had vanished into thin air.

***

Alex and Claire were strolling through the forest when he was struck with a thought,

"This might be a trap and the person in the mask is leading us on" but he felt like they had no other choice when they encountered a green looking monster who looked very humanoid and was wearing a loincloth and was approaching a child who was crying. the masked man leapt 3 feet into the air and used the tree branch to propel him towards the monster and he cut its head with a hidden knife so cleanly it looked like he was cutting up butter and went up to the sobbing child and kneeled. He then calmed the child and sang a lullaby and the child fell asleep almost immediately. he gave the child a piggyback and they all continued on their path. Connor thought that could a person this nice to strangers be leading him unless it was a ploy but he doubted that that was the case. they continued marching on through the lush green grass and plump bushes, through the overhanging leaves until there was a clearing in front of them.

they walked into the clearing and marvelled at their surroundings. there was a half-circle of trees behind them and in front of them, there were two dead trees with a staircase behind it up a snow-capped mountain which filled their view. they trekked up the mountain which took 5 hours while sprinting at full speed and the masked man was matching their pace effortlessly while carrying a child.

***

The man with white hair was sitting on a black throne on the top floor of a building rifling through an old newspaper which had an image of two boys laughing together, 20 years old. The room he was in had a huge window from floor to ceiling and the walls were painted black and at the opposite side of the room was a door that had just opened and two familiar faces walked in.

***

Alex's group reached the mountaintop and sat down panting but then the masked man was just standing there not even sweating. They walked through two interconnected trees with nothing but mountains on the sides of them. They walked into a little town with cobblestone as streets and stone buildings.

"Welcome to Placentia, it is a small mountain town known for its quality goat meat, it tastes good despite what you might think," the masked man said. They were walking down a street when a grown woman wearing a tartan dress was overjoyed at the sight of them. she ran up to the masked man and grabbed the child.

"Oh William, I thought you were gone forever, how many times did I tell you not to go down the mountain to play, it is dangerous out there and monsters often like to roam around there."

She then broke down and started sobbing while hugging the child affectionately in the middle of the street

The onlookers only glanced at her and looked away concluding that she was a loony. She thanked them and they started walking down towards the town square where a large number of people seem to be gathered, they started to walk through it smoothly until they had to push and shove to get where they wanted to.

They looked at what the others were looking at and saw a huge platform in the middle of the square right in front of the fountain. Two children which were standing behind a guillotine looked like they were about 10 years old.

One had sandy hair and the other had black. Alex gasped and thought

"This is horrible, nothing could warrant such behaviour towards children this young."

A soldier grabbed the sandy-haired kid's right arm and shoved him forward. Alex tried to run upon the platform but the masked man grabbed his wrist and dug his nails into Alex's skin.

Alex ignored the pain and pushed him aside. He leapt upon the platform but he was far too late, the sandy-haired boy was gone from this world and his head separated from his body.

The black-haired boy began to cry but Alex knocked over the guard holding him and used his ability to fly.

Countless arrows were aimed at him but none hit the mark. He flew down into the forest and sat down on a log. It was a few hours later, but the boy's eyes were still red and puffy, nose still crimson and runny. Alex approached the kid

"Do you want to travel with me and my friends, I assume you have nowhere to go?" He heard rustling leaves behind him and spun around. A squirrel walked out from under a leaf and when he turned around, the boy was gone.

He searched for the child until sunset when he thought that it was best to regroup because he knew nothing about where he was. He ran into town and saw wanted posters of him and the child when,

"psst, hey come here,"

He turned around and saw Claire and the masked man who handed Alex a cloak which he used to cover himself and used the hood so no one could see his face.

They left the city and the masked man pulled some meat out of nowhere.

While they were eating, the masked man announced

"We're heading to the capital!"

Claire and Alex looked at each other with confused faces.