Chapter 27: The Letter

*LAYRA*

I was heading to my class when a girl with blonde hair and green eyes called me from afar, "Layra, wait, I'm Anatia, a classmate of your brother Trevor," she says as I look at her to continue speaking, "well, recently we had a simulated group duel, and I was part of your brother's team. He's now in the infirmary because he collapsed from exhaustion and is a bit banged up," she says subsequently.

"How did it end up like this?" I asked Anatia. "Well, he took on a 1 vs 1 against a member of the opposing team, and both were stubbornly determined to keep fighting until they both collapsed," she says, rubbing her eyelids with her fingers.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to go see him," she says finally. "Thanks, Anatia, I'll stop by later to see him. Thanks for letting me know and keep him company until I get there," I say as I walk away, and she just nods and heads back.

After finishing my last class of the day, I headed to the infirmary where a girl with black hair and blue eyes was being observed by the academy doctor. "Hello, you must be Trevor's sister, I'm Rachel," she introduced herself, "I'm a member of the group that fought alongside your brother," she tells me right away, "Hello, I'm Layra, and yes, I'm his sister. How is he?" I say as I introduce myself.

"Well, as you can see, he's sleeping, maybe he'll wake up by tomorrow. You don't need to worry; I'll be here until tomorrow as well," she says, "okay, then I'll leave. Thank you," she just nods, and I leave.

The next morning, I passed by the infirmary and saw Trevor still asleep, but he seemed to be better than yesterday; he didn't have as many wounds as yesterday, so I didn't wonder much since there was no one there, and Trevor seemed to be better, I went to the garden to train a bit and then went to my first class of the day.

After finishing half of my classes, I went to the dining hall since it was lunchtime. I sat with some classmates from my class and ate for a while. I felt something approaching from behind me and heard a "Boo," and when I knew someone was approaching, I got scared and directed a blow to the person's face.

"Ouch, that hurt, you dummy," he says to me as I look at him apologetically, "How are you, Trevor? I went to see you last night, but you were still sleeping," I say as I eat, "I'm fine, it was just exhaustion from the fight, and thanks for coming to visit me," he replies, "No problem," I say as I laugh, "well, anyway, I'm fine, so see you later. They're waiting for me to eat. Goodbye, Layra," he says as I just wave my hand since I still had food in my mouth.

I was still investigating what happened to Therius; I rarely came across Trevor, and so quietly two weeks passed. "Is Layra Emwind around here?" a teacher asks. "Yes, that's me, do you need something from me?" I respond, "No, just that a letter arrived for you from the LEVIATHAN guild, saying it's urgent," the teacher replies as he hands me the letter.

The word urgent wasn't a good sign these days. "Thank you, professor," I say as he hands me the letter, I thank him, and he just nods and leaves. Upon seeing the letter, I saw that there were two, one from the guild and the other from Dad, and I proceeded to read the one from the guild. My head hurt when I read that an accident happened to my family during their return to Shira.

Something about a landslide and about a wave of monsters that had the possibility of passing through Shira, I read carefully as it said, "Hello, young Layra, I'm Atheria. A week and a half ago, we received news that a Wave could approach Shira, so we decided to go. Days later, when we were reaching the mountain you pass through to get to your house, one of our scouts informed us that there had been a landslide on that mountain," my legs trembled, so I sat down and kept reading.

"When I sent my scouts to look for a clear path to reach your village, two of our scouts arrived with your parents. They looked tired and dirty. When they reached our camp, they explained that they were in the mountain landslide and that your siblings were victims of it, causing Therius and Elowen to be swept away to the cliff," I sighed shakily as I read their names and kept reading.

"When we found out, we knew they had been searching for almost 5 days since Therius, in trying to keep you safe, received the blows and could be badly injured. They even went to Shira to see if they were there, but it wasn't the case. So the other inhabitants provided them with help to search for them, but they couldn't find them. After a few hours, we found out that the wave was heading towards a village a few hours away from where the landslide occurred, and we headed there. Your parents wanted to help us but decided to keep looking for them, so I sent our friends and two other members of the group with them," damn, how much misfortune can our family have, I say to myself mentally.

"When we headed to the village, after a few days, we learned that several inhabitants had already evacuated because the Wave had already reached them, and others had stayed to gain time for us. I could see that your brother Therius was okay, but he was one of the people fighting against the Wave," I couldn't continue reading; my head was spinning, but I clung to continue reading.

"Therius and another man were fighting against a superior Fenrir; he was responsible for leading or manipulating the other beasts of the Wave. They were able to defeat him, but I had to deliver the finishing blow and kill him. Your brother was in bad shape; his leg and arm were injured. Then your father arrived and took your brother to your mother, who arrived after going in another direction where the inhabitants had evacuated," I sighed for a long time, grateful that my parents found him but I didn't read Elowen's name, I gathered my courage and continued reading.

"Your brother received treatment, but it wasn't effective. During those 2 hours since the reinforcements arrived, we were able to control the Wave and sent a group to look for the evacuees. We could see that your sister Elowen was with them and was unharmed; apparently, your brother did everything possible to make sure she was okay since she didn't have any bruises or wounds on her body, unlike Therius," I smiled with tears as I read that Elowen was okay and had always been with Therius, but I got angry instantly when I remembered that Therius stayed to fight the Wave.

"Fortunately, there were two other healers, and along with your mother, they were able to treat your brother. By nightfall, he woke up and looked better, but still with his limbs sore. That's all I wanted to inform you, Layra. Your parents can tell you their part of the story, so don't worry, they're fine, and we left them in Shira, and when you receive this letter, I'll be back in the capital," the letter ended, and I quickly went to look for Trevor all over the school until I found him in the garden.

"Trevor, I received a letter from Mistress Atheria informing me that something happened to our family," after telling him, he asked me what the letter said, and I told him about its contents and handed him the letter Dad had written.

"Basically, it tells me the same thing as Atheria's letter, but this one is more detailed," Trevor says, then he shows me what the letter says, explaining that there was a strong tremor in the mountain causing the mountain to collapse, and Therius and Elowen fell off the cliff while being dragged by the earth, and after some hellish days without knowing anything about them.

They found the guild scouts and headed to the guild camp explaining about the collapse and what happened during that time. Otto, Valentina, Sara, Fredic, and two other guild members decided to accompany them and informed them about the Wave heading to the village where Therius was fighting against the Wave. I could see that Trevor was angry reading that part since I also got angry reading it.

Then it continues saying that mom and dad headed to the forest to keep searching and that they were going to surround the mountains in different directions to head to the village that was being attacked. After a few days, mom and dad, together with those who accompanied them, found the evacuated inhabitants and found Elowen intact without scratches and bruises. Apparently, a few hours after the mountain collapsed, two people found Therius and Elowen unconscious in the river, and they treated Therius who was in worse condition since he had a nasty blow to the head and his leg and arm were in bad shape.

The villagers took care of them well until they learned that the Wave was heading towards their village and evacuated after a while. Apparently, Therius was with them until halfway when he decided to return and leave Elowen with a mother and her daughters who took care of Elowen and returned to the village, and halfway they found our parents. After informing them what happened and telling them that Therius returned.

They quickly headed to the village and found injured people and dead beasts everywhere until dad found Therius unconscious and badly injured in the arms of Atheria and another man who was the chief of the village fighting against the Fenrir.

Mom treated Therius, and the other healers helped him until the next day he regained consciousness. "This damn kid could have died. What the hell was he thinking going back there?" Trevor said furiously, even his friend Celia was scared since it was rare for him to get angry.

The letter continued telling how they found the children and how they helped them and that they were fine and back in Shira, and Therius just needed to recover with exercise and meditation until his leg and arm healed completely. I felt relieved when I finished reading and knew they were all fine and that nothing worse happened in the last month.

"Look on the bright side, Trevor, they're fine. I'm also angry with him for going back to fight, but we can't do anything from here," I tell Trevor, who still seems angry. "I know, but Therius's recklessness angers me. He could have died in that fight," he says as he rubs his face.

"For now, let's leave it at that and write a response letter, since we can't leave the academy or leave the capital to go home," he says as I head to my room to prepare the letter.