The abandoned storage

The thunderclouds were gone, so Hildegard, Railan, and Johnatan started walking forward. When Johnatan checked his map, he noticed that the outside forest was filled with pretty strong monsters.

"Hildegard, what should we do? We will have a hard time dealing with those monsters if we stay out here," said Johnatan. He looked at Hildegard, who was already thinking about it. The only seemingly way to stay safe was in the forest; however, the seven cloaked men might attack them again.

They decided not to risk it and began walking slowly away from the forest. There was a safe place from monsters about 5 kilometers away on the map. However, there are supposed to be more monsters on these plains than they wouldn't be able to fight.

The three guys were silent while they walked through the plain with nothing on their minds except thoughts of their safety. They stopped walking when they saw some light coming from the distance. The closer they come to the source, the better they can see it.

An abandoned storage house. Suddenly the bolts of lightning returned. They started to hit the ground, making loud sounds like a firework. The lighting pushed them toward the house, always striking close to them but avoiding hitting. Hildegard ran towards the door. The others are also running, but Hildegard just pushed everyone else away from the door. He opened it and went inside.

Inside, two people were sitting at the same table while drinking coffee. One man is wearing glasses and is reading a book, and the other is holding a mug full of red tea. When they heard footsteps, both of them turned around.

"Hi, you must be newcomers. The rest should arrive soon! My name is Tom." said the man, down his cup.

"You got caught as well?." He took off his glasses, put them on the bridge of his nose, and continued talking. "I'm Jack." He said, extending his hand out for a handshake.

"My name is Johnatan," said Johnatan, shaking Jack's hand and smiling, but he felt something was wrong. It wasn't until Jack pulled back his hand did he realize that something seemed different.

"What happened to your arm?" asked Hildegard.

Jack looks at his arm. There are several cuts and burn marks on his skin that look suspicious.

"When my group was attacked by a mysterious flying cloaked man," Jack answered. "The creature grabbed me with its hand, leaving my group be. But taking me to this place."

"Same here, but in my case, two monsters attacked." Tom added to what Jack said." It took my brother here and me. They are in the healing Chambers."

A moment of silence passed before they started speaking, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, the group heard wings flapping outside the house, and doors opened. Four shadowy creatures dragged in four unconscious people.

"What?!" Johnatan, Hildegard and Railan exclaimed simultaneously.

"That's what I'm saying," Tom replied.

One of the creatures threw one of its victims against a wall and walked out.

"It is Kalaar!" said Railan, seeing the boy.

"Who?" Asked Jack, confused. "You know this guy?"

"Then the other three must be..." Johnatan walked closer to the unconscious people and paled when he saw their faces. "Yes! These guys are the rest of our party!"

"I thought the creatures killed them!" Hildegard shouted after seeing Lothor's injured face. Lothor's family is higher ranked in noble society, meaning if Lothor survives, Hildegard will be executed.

"No, they don't kill people" Jack looked at Hildegard, shocked. "Infact, the creature that attacked me didn't even injure my party members. It specifically aimed for me, avoiding my group."

"Same here, the two that attacked my brother and me avoided others." Tom looked up and pointed to the entrance of the building.

Hildegard wanted to check if they could escape since the doors seemingly were open. However, when he tried walking out, the lightning struck him, blinding him. He fell backwards to the ground.

"They keep doors open because you won't survive outside anyway." Tom looked back and saw Hildegard's pale expression.

"Someone used weather magic to trap us within this place. Lightning prevents us from leaving."

"But...how can this be..."

Suddenly flapping wings were heard, and another person was thrown into the room. He fell on his face, sliding for a few meters and leaving a blood trail until he crashed into the wall. Everyone turned, and paused momentarily.

"Another one?"

Rail an fixes his gaze on the stranger, he knitted his brows as a thought flashed across his mind—

"Hey, it's you! I know you," he uttered with certainty. His eyes alternated between the stranger and the bloodstained wall. His gaze held seriousness.

"Auch. Auch. Auch!" He kept repeating himself until he lifted his head up and looked at Railan.

"Whew...that hurt!" He stood up while still holding his nose. He then turned to Tom, Johnatan and the other man. "Those things need to give a safe word!"

"Do you think this is some sort of a joke?!" Hildegard was getting angry. "

The stranger just shook his head. "No, no. I am extremely serious. So what's next, BDSM?"

"Bdsm?" Railan raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Nevermind that," Hildegard interjected, "I saw you in the magic academy. You're in luck. If you stick with us, you have higher chances of survival."

The stranger's eyes widened as if he was shocked.

"Wait a minute!" He pointed his index finger at Hildegard. "You're the guy who called my girlfriend a monster!"

"Forget that! Do you understand what is going on?" Railan grabbed the stranger's shoulders. "We need to escape this place and return to a safe zone. If you stay with us, you have more chances to survive!"

They wanted to gather as many people as possible if they needed a meat shield. They had to get out of here ASAP. However, he noticed Tom and Jake shaking their heads.

"To be honest, we need to find out what's going on." Tom wondered. "Don't you find it strange that we were handpicked from our parties while your entire party was forced to come?"

Everyone stayed quiet for a moment until the stranger spoke again.

"We will find out sooner or later. I wouldn't worry about it."he smiled "If creatures wanted us dead, we would be dead already."

After hearing about the stranger, everyone's mood changed immediately. Jake and Tom walked up to the stranger and introduced themselves. Then the stranger smiled and introduced himself as well.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Dorian." Dorian smirked and added. "I hope we will get along."