Winston didn't know how to feel after these strangers saved him. They were friendly, sure, but their looks told him they were searching for him, which meant they wanted something.
He'd be helpless if they forced him; their strength meant he could do nothing.
"Don't be so scared, boy, we don't bite," the troll-like man chuckled, instantly earning a smack on the head from the woman.
"Ouch," he complained, though it barely registered on his thick skin.
"Where are your manners, Throne? Don't forget you're talking to the heir," the woman chided.
'Heir? Are they talking about me? I don't even know these guys,' Winston thought.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Seraph, this is Rylen," she said, gesturing behind her to the handsome man, "and this is Throne," she added, looking at the widely grinning half-giant.
"We're here to accompany you to our clan. This is very important and concerns not just your life but the fate of this entire world," she explained to Winston as if he were her younger sibling.
"You're scaring him more," Rylen remarked from behind her.
"We don't have time for this. Hey, Winston, is that right? We'll tell you more on the way. If you want to live, follow us. We were sent by the clan to bring you," Rylen said, as if that would be enough to earn a stranger's trust.
"Wait, what?" Winston said, baffled. "How do you know I was here, and why would you take me to your clan?" He wouldn't just go with these strangers. He needed answers. While he was happy to find this planet wasn't barren of humanity, he couldn't blindly follow anyone.
"Should I just carry him and his puppy on my back?" Throne, the half-giant, said with amusement, as if it were funny.
Noah growled at the man, who only smiled even broader. "How cute."
"And this is how you two handle it?" Seraph glared at the two, making them back off.
"Winston, please, you have to understand there are forces coming after you, and we aren't safe here," Seraph tried the big-sister voice again.
"Okay, only if you tell me everything on the way," Winston demanded. Though he didn't like the woman talking to him like a child, at least it was better than the two men who seemed to look down on him.
So they began to walk. Winston had to climb on Noah to keep up with their pace. Even the mountain giant was incredibly fast despite his size, and yet Winston could feel they still weren't satisfied with how slow they were moving, despite Noah running at top speed.
"Let me pick the boy up; he's slowing us down," Throne said again, making Winston extremely wary of his intentions.
"No," Seraph said sharply.
"There's a group coming after you, Winston," she continued. "There was a prophecy made about you. What exactly, our clan head will tell you in detail; it's not our place to say it. But it predicted that you would be coming to this world. So, according to the prophecy, it must have been a week, right?"
"Yes," Winston said loudly so he could be heard over the fast-moving wind created by their speed.
"Right, so it's not just us who know about the prophecy, but also groups called the Duskborns and the Order of Silence. The former wants to capture you, and the latter wants to kill you."
"And what do you want?" Winston asked bluntly. "You people couldn't be white knights trying to save a random life."
Seraph was stunned by the boy's bluntness but tried to speak again. "We want you to live and fulfill the prophecy."
"I won't have to die in the end to fulfill the prophecy, would I?" Winston asked, remembering some story about a boy from Earth in this exact situation.
'Marry Potter or Gary Potter, which one was it?'
Seraph was again taken aback. "I suppose not."
"Good," Winston said. "So where are those two groups you were talking about, and is it just your and, supposedly, my luck you guys found me first?"
"It wasn't luck; we planned everything, preparing for centuries for this moment. Our clan had sent many groups, had encircled this entire kingdom, and despite that, we've encountered the enemy multiple times, killing two groups today before we found you. That's why we're moving as quickly as possible."
Winston didn't know how to feel. There was this full-scale war going on between these three groups just to find him. He might already be the most popular person in this world and the biggest target. If it wasn't for the constant near-death experiences he'd had after coming here, he might have already panicked.
"So what kind of powers does this world have?" Winston asked. He might as well stop thinking about the price on his head, as he could do nothing about it.
Seeing how well the kid was taking things, Seraph couldn't help but smile. "I'm a mage. I don't know whether you understand what it is..."
"I know, you use mana from the world to cast spells and use it in different ways," Winston didn't have magic on Earth, but humans probably had the greatest imagination of all species.
"It's surprising you know that. So, Rylen here is a knight; he uses qi to power his body from within, and Throne is a Runesmith. He creates symbols called runes which, when activated, create a permanent effect in the area but need specific conditions for activation."
"Yes, they're permanent, which means unlike magic, which can be countered, runes once used are absolute," Throne said from ahead, pride clear in his voice.
Suddenly, Rylen, who was leading the way, stopped in his tracks. So did Throne and Seraph, and Noah also had to stop to avoid colliding with them. But Winston, busy thinking about how vast the application of Runesmithing could be, went flying forward.
Fortunately, or rather unfortunately for him, he was caught in Throne's arms.
Winston's face was flushed. He tried to jump down, but thankfully Throne let go, and he thought he might fall on his buttocks from seven feet high, but Noah was there to catch him.
"It's an ambush," Rylen said, his voice dead serious.