Journey Back II

They walked and walked, heading in a certain direction on the map.

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?" Luke was the one to encourage them on the journey but he was the first one to get tired.

They had walked so far that the landscape had changed. The tall thick trees had now been replaced by a plain field with short grasses growing all over. Flowers of different colors and scents grew as they progressed further.

"Yeah, it's the right way. In about three hours, we would arrive at the region where the guards reside." Kyne answered.

"But to think that would happen to the camp where I was gonna spend the night of our arrival." Kyne was still sorrowful about something he had seen almost a day ago.

The place they were heading was in the opposite direction of their tree base. They had to pass through the place where they had arrived when they first got to this training ground.

Kyne hadn't seen the corpses because they had been buried by others, but the blood that stained everywhere told him that a lot of people had died.

"They'll forever remain in the hearts of others. Not mine though, I know none of them." Luke replied, bringing Kyne back from his stray thoughts.

"That's not a polite thing to say at all." Kyne chided Luke.

"But I'm being honest. I didn't even see their faces. The moment I got here, I was in a hurry to leave, or have you forgotten you stopped me on my way out?" Luke replied with a lazy tone.

"Oh, that's true. That reminds me… Miss Aurora, when did you guys leave the group?"

Aurora, who had been silent most of the trip answered him. "We had some things to take care of so we were among the last people to leave."

"Oh, I see. Your family will surely be happy to find out you survived the massacre because I'm sure that the news of this incident would've gotten to others outside this zone." Kyne spoke back.

"But it's somewhat strange. We should've been teleported to the base of the guards and not here." Kyne then walked closer to Luke and whispered. "Pretty sure they unknowingly messed with the portal device when they were trying to catch you."

Luke was quite surprised when he heard that from Kyne. He was behind almost everyone when they were warped so he believed only a few people knew the guards tried to stop him.

He just didn't expect Kyne to be one of them. "And you didn't bother saying anything about it and still had the guts to follow me away from the group?" Luke asked again. "What if I was an assassin trying to get away and then, I killed you for getting too close to me?"

Hehe… I told you when we met, right? I trust my instincts one thousand percent. I just go with it when it tells me to do something, for instance leaving with you when I felt like something bad would happen that night."

"Fine, just lead the way then." Luke wasn't in the mood for long talks.

"What are you guys talking about?" Aurora interrupted them.

"Nothing much. He's just getting nervous as we approach the camp of the guards, so I was giving him courage." Kyne lied blatantly.

"I don't believe your lies." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh, that's great, but we can't tell you." Kyne smiled brightly.

They all went silent. Sihlon had been silent since the beginning, so they didn't even remember he was present.

Their journey continued for an hour as they climbed up a hill. When they got to the hill's peak, they all stood there, admiring the surroundings.

They saw the camp from there and Luke gave Kyne a thumbs up. He didn't believe they were going the right way till he saw the camp.

"It'll take about two hours to get there and the sun's going to set very soon. My Lady, let's hurry on." Sihlon finally spoke after being quiet all the way.

Luke and Kyne immediately turned to look at who had spoken. "Thought you were lost," Kyne said with surprise on his face.

"Thought you were dead." Luke also spoke and Kyne held back his laughter.

"You took it too far." Sihlon's deep masculine voice warned Luke.

"Look, I'm sorry. I don't want Aurora leaving here without a guard so let's just act like this never happened and head to the camp." Luke responded with a deadpan expression. He was already going down the hill.

Sihlon just stood, trying to calm his rage. Luke was right. If they tried to fight, he would be left with only his corpse.

Kyne acted like an older brother, tapping Sihlon on his shoulder and shaking his head before walking down the hill.

Aurora smiled and followed behind the two of them. Sihlon was left at the top alone. He sighed deeply and began walking down too.

*****

A few meters after they completely descended from the hill, they were attacked by a group of beasts. The White Oncas were here again to disturb Luke's plan.

About four of them stood, surrounding Luke's team of four.

"Kyne, I'll leave one for you and the other two. I'll take the other three. Do not underestimate them in any way, and be fast about killing it." Luke dropped the bag he has been carrying since he arrived at this zone.

He rushed at the first cat and soon, it was injured. The second and third attacked him together but he could his ground against even four of these big cats.

Kyne and the others were doing well, attacking the White Onca together even though it was their first time. Although it wasn't deep, they had injured it all over.

They swiftly killed these cats. "We'll take one of them with us. It isn't until two days before we can leave this zone so we'll need something to eat." He picked the one still in better shape. They had cut these cats badly and one was even in pieces.

They continued their journey, and soon, they were at the entrance to the guards' camp.

"Identify yourselves!" One of the guards at the entrance shouted when he spotted them approaching.

"We're a part of the last group that arrived eleven days ago. We were part of those that left the group immediately after we arrived." Kyne was the one to answer since he seemed quite familiar with processes like this.

"Oh, we thought those that had returned were all that survived. To think there were four more." The guard said the other one.

"They were quite lucky I guess." The large-toothed guard chuckled.

"Well, thank you for the compliments," Kyne said, even though he knew they were being indirectly insulted. "I'm Kyne Gadoth, She's Aurora Daveon from the Daveon family. That's her guard Sihlon. The last person is Luke." He introduced them to the guards, accompanied by their IDs. Except for Luke of course.

"It's an honor to have someone from the Daveon family in our midst." The guards gave a light bow to Aurora. They turned to another person. "Where's yours?" The guard asked Luke.

"I'm sorry, but I got robbed and had every valuable taken from me. They only left my clothes but took the money and my ID. I was really 'lucky' to have encountered these people along the way." Luke lied, even mocking the guards who had said they were just lucky to have survived.

"Ah, that's a pity. You can all head inside then. You really are lucky to have met with the Daveon family. Pretty sure she saved your ass." The guard allowed entry, showing sympathy for Luke.

They walked into the camp and Aurora was the first to speak. "Is that fine by you?"

"Well, it doesn't really matter to me how they see it. Or would you have preferred I beat them up and permit me to enter?" Luke replied.

"No. But I was asking if it was fine to conceal your mana that much." She spoke again.

"Oh… yeah, it's good this way. I don't want to get into unnecessary trouble." Luke just finished speaking when someone bumped into him.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" The muscular man scolded Luke.