Seeing the Forest Guardian standing in front of me, I smiled. Without wasting a second, I teleported back to the wall as I run behind the owl and attacked him as It turned his head, as then Kite, Athena, and two soldiers cuts its head clean off. I joined them as we pushed forward, killing and helping other soldiers along the way. After a long and tiring battle, the wall was finally cleared from owls. We all let out a sigh of relief as the generals returned to regroup.
But suddenly—a scream. We all turned toward the direction it came from… only to be met with complete silence. It wasn't just quiet. It was too quiet. The kind that made you feel like something wrong is about to happen .Then we saw , a massive tree came flying toward us.
One of the generals cut it down mid-air. That's when we saw them—dozens of Forest Guardians approaching from the woods. And then something far worse happened. They started merging.
Explosions rang behind us. We turned and saw three massive Forest Guardians, larger and far more terrifying than before. They had merged as well. I heard the call: "All soldiers, divide into groups and follow each general ! . " Athena looked at me, worry in her eyes. "Winter, what should we do? "I didn't answer. I was scanning for the king.
'Where is that bastard hiding? Damn this monarchy system ' .Another explosion shook the wall. The Guardians had climbed it. One was right in front of us. I grabbed everyone nearby and teleported to the safe side of the wall bearly avoiding the attack of the Gaurdian . A general looked at me, impressed.
"Can you teleport anywhere?" . "Only to places I've already been," I replied simply—just before collapsing. The stress caught up to me. Fighting the owl, being thrown into the river, taking hit after hit. My body was at its limit. "I can't use it much now," I muttered. "I don't even think I can stand."
The general looked concerned. I forced a grin. "Just carry me around. Get me a healing potion, and I'll be good to go." He nodded with a confident smile, lifted me up, i teleport us to the ground as he sprinted toward the hospital. I held on to his uniform, barely conscious. Finally, we arrived. He handed me healing potions, and I chugged three in quick succession.
"Where is everyone?" I asked, still catching my breath. "The king took the citizens underground and is guarding them with his sons." That explained his absence.
I placed a hand on the general's shoulder and said, "By the way, I'm Winter."
We teleported back to the wall. A Guardian was about to strike a soldier—I sliced its roots with a wind spell and teleported the soldier to safety. 'Their roots can still be cut with wind magic? But how?'
I regrouped with Kite and a different general. An idea sparked. "General, how fast will it take for all thirteen of you to take down one Guardian together? "He thought for a moment. "Yes. In about ten seconds." "Perfect. I'll teleport all generals to one Guardian at a time. There are only twelve left. We can do this with minimal city damage."
He nodded. I told him to gather all generals in five minutes—I needed to first mark each Guardian's location for me to teleport to them. as i teleport back to the general after 5 minutes completed all generals was standing there as we all joined our hand and teleported .
The plan worked beautifully. I teleported the generals from Guardian to Guardian. They obliterated each one in seconds. But the cost was high—group teleportation was draining. With only three left, I warned the generals I could only teleport twice .
They handled the second-last one. Then the last. I collapsed right after, exhausted. about to lose my consciousness, I saw someone's white shoes... and smiled.
****
I awoke, wrapped in bandages. The room was empty. I waited, thoughts racing back to Emberbrook , the school, and everything in between. "Why is no one coming to check on me? "I wanted to tear off the bandages myself—but I do not want to seem rude. The door creaked open. Athena and Kite walked in with warm smiles.
I tried to smile back, but apparently, even my mouth was bandaged. Athena gently unwrapped my bandages . I sighed in relief. "How long was I out?" "About a week," she said. I looked out the window—houses being rebuilt, smoke in the distance. "Any idea why the Guardians and owls attacked? "Kite shook his head. "Nothing. No clues."
I healed myself, peeling away the rest of the bandages. "I want to talk to the king."
Kite hesitated. "No need to worry. The king also wants to meet us. "My anger faded into confusion. "Why would he want to meet us?" "Because we helped them save to the kingdom. He wants to reward us."
Before I could reply, Silver entered the room, his face serious. "Winter, I think I know who attacked us. "I smirked. "The Nameless Faith. I already know." He was shocked. I patted him on the shoulder. "Let's go tell the king." As we headed for the palace, Athena and Kite joined us. I paused. "Wait… who the hell changed my clothes?" all looked away.
***
We walked through the main street, citizens bowing and thanking us as we passed. Two carriages stopped ahead. A familiar general stepped out. "Mr. Winter, the king's eldest son wishes to speak to you in private. "as I turned to see my friends trying to asking what should I do should I enter the carriage and talk to him.
My friends nodded in approval as I entered the first carriage, sitting across from the prince. "Let's get straight to the point," he said. "You can teleport to places you've been before, correct? "I met his gaze. "Yes. "His serious expression broke into a grin. "Sorry to be so intense—let's keep this light. "I didn't lower my guard.
"I want you to infiltrate Eldora and steal the Scroll of Eclipse from their old library. Then teleport back and give it to me ."
I blinked. "You mean, get my ass hunted by an entire kingdom?" this is what i thought as I said "sir but you also know that to access the old library you need to be a royal family but I am just a commoner"
He smiled again. "Yes, I know that that's why I am allowing you to marry my sister."
I shocked then laughed after hearing what he said. "You're joking, right?".
He wasn't.
My smile slowly faded. "Wait. You're serious? You want me to marry the princess, gain access to the old library, steal a forbidden scroll, teleport back, give it to you, and then go back again and act like nothing happened?"
He nodded after each point I said .'What kind of brother is he ?allowing a commoner to marry his sister -a princess 'as I said "sir am I allowed ask few question" "go on ".as I sigh
"First—does the princess even know about this? Second—what does the scroll actually do? Third—how much am I getting paid for doing this ? And fourth—if I do marry the princess and get you the scroll… then what?"
I waited for him to response but there was a knock in the carriage as the prince roll down the window as he smiled and said "get inside fast I want to talk about 'THAT ' as I look down and saw a girl as she enter the carriage and sat beside the prince and look down .
"winter this is my sister and the girl you have to marry " as I saw her blushing and looking down as I said "sir you still haven't answered any of my questions" .
The prince grinned. "Let's talk over dinner. "The princess looked away, still blushing.
And me? I was starting to wish I had just stayed in that hospital bed.
"hello" as the princess finally looked up ...