Lucien glanced over for a final time.
Maelis standing at the clearing's edge, her flour-covered apron clouded with powder, her hair tied up in that messy bun she always had. She smiled, her wave shaky but warmly. Wishing for Lucien to be safe in his journey.
Lucien nodded in turn. Her scarf, which she had wrapped around his neck, whipped in the wind. The new clothes a loose, earth-toned tunic, padded jerkin of leather, and dark breeches that filled scuffed boots still felt strange on him. Clean. Unearned.
But warm.
He spun and walked away.
With each step into the forest, he felt lighter, and heavier at the same moment. The trees grew thicker, standing guardlike from a forgotten time. Sunlight dripped through the leaves in ribbons, lighting his path as he waded deeper into the unknown.
There was serenity for a time.
The crunch of leaves underfoot. The wind sighing through the leaves. For once, his heart didn't thud like drums in his chest.With the feeling of having a mother it felt nice for him he will never forget it.Walking through the forest still daydreaming.
Until—
A SCREAM.
Lucien wakes up from his daydream after hearing the scream .It wasn't loud.But it was wrong. Lucien hardened.Then he hears a voice a voice raw, authoritative. Then a scream. Then a crash.
Not thinking, he left the trail and fled silently through the shrubs. His instincts sharp from pain and paranoia led him toward the noise. He vaulted up a deformed oak and moved swiftly into the limbs.
Huddled in the leaves, he blinked.
Three armed men towered over two young girls,with weird facial expression of lust greed and more,tied and kneeling, below, amidst a thick thicket of vines and twisting roots.
Elves.
Both sisters with pointed ears and skin that shone very slightly in the filtered light. The other no more than ten, the second a wiry teenager. Dirty, battered, but stubborn.
The men circled them, buckling wolves.
"High price for the live ones," growled one, holding the older elf's chin up with the blade of his dagger. "Purebloods, too. A pity to hurt 'em too much."
"What about her?" the second man sneered, kicking the younger girl in the ribs. She winced but did not weep. "She's still an elf but she looks battered maybe from defending this pretty one well money is money we will just clean her up then sell both."
"Little fetches more in the north," the third said darkly. "The nobles there prefer 'em young.".
Lucien's hands clutched the bark.
His breathing accelerated.
He did not think. He could not.
All he could feel was the heat rising behind his eyes. That same heat that surged up when Kaela died in his arms. When the Vault was destroyed. When the world told him that he was nothing but a shadow.
And now this.He closed his eyes.
A voice. Muted, cold, familiar to Veyr's voice spoke in his mind."Will you turn away again, Lucien?"strong.
"Or will you become the monster they fear?"
Lucien opened his eyes.
And fell out of the tree.The ambush for a rescue began.
The girls were thrown into the back of a wooden wagon its wheels creaking as it traveled down a poor dirt road barely wide enough for it. The clinking of shackles. A soft whimper from one girl, but the older girl wrapped her arms around her.
"It's going to be okay I'll protect you."The older teenage girl said to her younger sister.
They were being escorted by three slave traders, two on either side of the wagon and one leading, leading the mule.
None of them noticed the boy in the trees.
Lucien followed behind as a shadow, creeping from branch to branch overhead. His breath suspended. Quiet movements. Eyes locked on their shape.
His heart racing but not with fear.
It was cold now. Suspended.
He waited.
Watched.
Plotted.
He didn't have enough mana for a full spell.So the only way to defeat them is with brutal combat
The wagon keeps going until a sound occurs making him aware.The front trader jerked hard. His senses pricked the mule stopped, ears flagging. The woods grew too quiet.
"You hear that?"the man in the back answered, squeezing his grip on his crossbow.
"Hear what?" The other slave traders confused thinking that the other trader is just tired since they all haven't slept for days.
While they are trying to recover Lucien sees a open spot so he goes for the weakest link he jumps of the tree,the trio decide to stop for some rest they all get off the leader and the second trader go for a break leaving the weak trader Rax alone. Lucien takes the opportunity and stands infront of Rax.
Rax gets confused but Lucien gives him a death stare making Rax scared then before he could do anything his head is chopped clean off from his shoulders.Then Lucien vanished again.
The leader Kaen and the other trader Joe come back they call for Rax to start moving but he doesn't reply so they look for him Joe sees blood on the sheet of the wagon so he goes to investigate and sees Rax's dead body.
"Rax?" Joe asked.
Lucien moved silently without wasting time killing Joe as well, slipping behind the back guard and jamming the tip of a jagged rune stone into the man's back.
The man collapsed, jerking.
"RAX? KAEN?!"
The last trader spun on his heel, looking — and there was nothing.
Only trees. Leaves. Wind.
He spun again
And Lucien fell from above.
He hit the man with strength, driving them both into the mud. The trader tried to scream, but Lucien's hands were already clamped over his face and a spurt of taint-polluted mana strangled the breath from him.
The forest was quiet again.
The only noises were the rustle of leaves and the rumble of thunder in the distance.
Lucien walked towards the wagon.
The two girls huddled away initially, against the corner wide eyes with horror. Lucien remained silent. He did not even look at them.
But he knelt and grasped the lock and muttered:
"Velthuron."
The metal screamed as it dissolved into black dust.
The shackles fell.
The older girl shook with shaking hands. "Who are you?"
Lucien finally looked up. His was white, exhausted, and his eyes too dark as they should have been — sparkled with violet heat.
"No one."
He turned.
Had started walking.
"W-Wait!" the younger girl exclaimed, standing up. "You… you saved us. Where are you going?"
Lucien didn't answer.
He disappeared among the trees again.
Lucien had vanished like smoke, but the presence of his shadow remained in the air.
There was a silent moment before a shadow emerged from the night.
Muffled steps echoed.
The faint crunch of branches.
And then Lucien stood before them, narrowed eyes and expressionless. "You're foolish."His low voice was tinged with quiet rage.
"Going out alone at night in these woods. Don't you have any idea how dangerous it is?"
The older girl swallowed. The younger stayed close behind, eyes flicking from Lucien's hard face to the darkness outside.
"We didn't have a choice," the older girl breathed. "We had some family issues some we wanted some fresh air so we fled."
Lucien's gaze narrowed. He moved closer.
"Where do you live?"
There was hesitation, then the younger girl replied, voice trembling."Not far… past the Silverbrook River. The village is Eldoria."
Lucien's listened to the girl explaining the way there.Even if she says it's close by just from her words it's sounded far so he had one choice on his mind.
"You shouldn't go back alone."
He looked at them both, scanning the dark forest that stretched endlessly beyond.
"I'll walk with you guys back."
Neither girl spoke, but relief washed over their faces like the first warm light after a cold night.
Lucien nodded once, turning toward the shadowed path.
"Okay now we should rest for now as tommorow is going to be a long day of walking"
And with that, the girls nodded so they went to sleep but Lucien wanted to stay awake incase of more traders so be sat next to a tree while a campfire lit up the place.