Blanc wasn't able to react in time.
His brain barely recognising the approaching threat.
The Moroi's claw drew near, its dirty fingernails sharp as steel.
If that touched him, he would surely join the Vita.
Luckily, the fox jumped towards the Moroi at great speed, and with a loud snap, biting the Moroi's body in half mid-jump.
The remnants of the Moroi fell in front of Blanc's feet.
"Go now, Child of man. And hope you all have time to run away," said the voice as the giant fox, towering over him, looked deep into Blanc's eyes.
"Why are you doing this? Why are you protecting us?" asked Blanc.
"How selfish of you, human," the voice said, this time coming from the eagle, "We are protecting our own life."
The deer, mid-fight, looked towards Blanc, "Although… we have defended this forest and all that lives in it for a millennium, we will not let this filth change that now."
Blanc could only nod in understanding as he began running to the left, trying to circle the area where the True Vita was fighting the Moroi.
There was a clear path, as the fight so far had made a few of the trees crash to the ground.
He followed it, safely escaping the battle as the True Vita, with all its three bodies, made sure to clear the path for him.
Blanc turned around when he was far away, just in time to see at least eight of the Moroi slowly but surely overwhelm the three.
A blinding light escaped the three bodies, and the next moment, the creature was gone, sending everything into the darkness of the night.
But just as suddenly as it disappeared, it reappeared above the ground, the deer, fox, and eagle, now a single creature.
It was beautifully horrific to look at the amalgamation their bodies resulted in, but Blanc's admiration came to a stop as the creature said its final words towards him.
"Go."
And Blanc listened, turning back and running with all the might he had left.
An hour of continuous running later, he now stood before the entrance of the cave, after finally running around the mountain.
There were three hours left until dawn.
And the Moroi, if he was lucky, might still be fighting the creature of True Vita.
He did not know how much time they had, but he hoped that now, they had a chance to run without fighting.
If there weren't other Morois around them, of course.
So he checked the surroundings, trying to hear everything around them as far as he could. Nothing.
Good.
So he went into the cave.
"Everyone, wake up. Quickly!" Blanc yelled at the top of his lungs as he entered the cave and dropped to his knees, trying to calm his uneven breath.
No answer came from the rooms, so he screamed again, "Everyone!"
At that moment, Celine came out running, "My love? What is happening?"
"No time to answer, wake everyone up, and prepare to leave as soon as possible," Blanc replied.
"Why? What happened?" Celine asked, panicked by the suddenness of Blanc's words.
"Now!" Blanc ordered.
Celine did not ask anything further, as she went into each room, waking everyone up.
It didn't take long for Blanc to hear confused questions, half-asleep, but he did not care.
There was no time.
He went into the kitchen, trying to pack all the food that would not spoil immediately, between pieces of cloth.
As he was doing that, Celine, Kael, Lune, and Miyanna gathered near the table, all watching Blanc prepare the food in the other room.
They asked questions, but Blanc was not there to hear them.
His mind made plan after plan.
When he was done with the food, that's when he saw all of them watching him.
"What are you doing? Go, prepare yourselves to leave," said Blanc.
"What is happening?" asked Lune, panicked and already with tears in her eyes.
Not now, please, thought Blanc, seeing her.
There was no time for tears, but he knew they would only panic more if they did not know what the situation was.
"Morois are coming towards us. I'm not sure how much time we have, but we have to try to escape. There are too many of them, and they are stronger than us. So, either we escape or die fighting. Please, do not question me anymore, and go and get ready. Grab all that you can, and prepare for battle just in case we do not make it."
While the words Blanc uttered sent shivers down all of their spine, making all of them realize the problem they found themselves in.
They did not question his words any longer and ran towards their room.
Blanc did the same, as he had things to pack as well. So he went with Celine inside.
"What happened, my love?" asked Celine, as she began rushing through her things.
"Gone. All gone. The mansion, Duldera, my family captured, all gone," said Blanc.
"My father?" Celine asked.
Blanc shook his head. "He escaped."
"And the Moroi?" Celine asked, breathing a sigh of relief.
"That king we saw that night talking with Father, can use them as a fighting force. They are now in the Golden Forest. One even almost killed me,"
"How did you survive?" asked Celine, wide-eyed, hearing her fiancé almost die earlier.
"You know that Creature of True Vita we saw when we first ran away?"
"Yes, what of it?" she asked.
"They were fighting the Morois and protected me. Hopefully, they won or at least are still fighting with them," explained Blanc.
"How many are there?" asked Celine, preparing the armor she had brought with her.
"There were twelve, but at least four were killed before I left. Hopefully, those are all, and they manage to defeat them. But there could be more," Blanc replied, putting the satchel full of gold coins inside his bag. "I am ready."
"I am not, but everything necessary is ready to go," Celine nodded.
"Try to grab whatever you can, I can't say for certain where we're going or for how long we will be on the run," explained Blanc, grabbing his bag and heading towards the exit of their room before he turned towards her, "I'll be waiting near the entrance to the cave."
Twenty minutes passed, and everyone packed whatever they considered important, leaving most of their stuff behind as they gathered near the table.
"Blanc," said Celine, patting the heads of Kael and Lune, who were confused and scared, both clearly crying during their earlier preparations.
But Blanc's hope of responding was overshadowed by a shriek so full of hatred and horror that it made their attempt to escape futile.
"GRIEEEEKKK!"
Blanc closed his eyes and sighed, taking his bow into his left hand.
"Prepare for battle."