1 Night of discovery

I dash through the forest with my heart beating a mile per second.

I should probably try to be more careful as I keep stumbling into rocks, holes on the ground, or tree branches, but any time I waste is a time that puts him in more danger.

"Lance!!" I shout, praying that I'm not too late, "Lance!! Where are you!!!"

I try to study my surroundings but there was no moon in this night sky. Luck is not on my side this time, so I was on my own.

The more I run the more my head gets filled with what could have happened to him. I can't believe I was so careless. I should have paid more attention. If something happens to him, how will I ever be able to look at my wife again??

"Lance!!!" I yell once again.

I sent out Eclipse to help in the search, hoping that his enhanced senses would come in handy, but I haven't heard anything from him since. Either something happened to him as well or Lance must be more well hidden than I expected.

What should I do!? What do I do!?? Please, don't let anything bad happen to him! Lilith would never forgive me.

To think he would have been dragged all the way out here. The city gates should have kept us safely guarded from danger... How did the creatures managed to get past it?

At this moment, I hear a strange sound coming from the bushes.

It's dark, my vision doesn't give me a clear picture, but I can see that it is some sort of humanoid shape.

"Lance...?" I whisper. Every time I mention his name, I feel my heart accelerating even more like I'm approaching some kind of truth I'm not ready to face.

The figure approaches and I finally make it out its appearance.

It was indeed humanoid... But definitely was not human.

It looked like a man with scales covering his entire body, a long tail could be seen coming from behind him, claws were in the place where his hands and feet should be, and above its neck, the face of some kind of lizard, staring at me with drool coming out of its fangs.

"I don't have time for this..." I mention while staring at the creature who continued to gaze at me with its orange eyes that shined in the dark like a pair of floating fireballs.

I aim at him with the crossbow in my right hand and start to summon energy at its tip.

"My son is waiting for me... So get out of my way!!" I order as I finish summoning an arrow made of dark energy and shoot the being in the center of its heart.

The impact makes the creature fly backward until it collides with a tree, locking its body in it.

I assumed this would be enough, but the lizard-like being just grabbed my black arrow with its bare hand and squished it into nothingness.

This is bad. I can't keep wasting time with him. I need to find Lance. Should I call Eclipse to back me up?

No... Eclipse is still looking for Lance. If I call him now, I might just lose his track.

Just gotta deal with this thing on my own then.

The lizard-man starts running at me, his jaw wide open to swallow my head in one bite.

"I said... OUT OF MY WAY!!!" I order one more time as I aim my crossbow at him again and summon five more arrows of dark energy, this time aimed at its head, and pierce its skull with a series of consecutive shots.

This time he falls for good. I take a deep breath assuming that everything had been settled, but suddenly more noises start to come out.

Another lizard-man appears in front of me, then two more appear, one on my left, and one on my right, and finally another two behind my back.

I'm surrounded.

"Tch!" this is annoying... These things are not that dangerous but if they start to gang up on me while my head is distracted thinking about Lance, even I might end up in trouble.

I have no choice then... I need Eclipse.

I aim my crossbow at the ground and shoot one more arrow of darkness at it.

The creatures seem confused for a moment, probably thinking I lost my mind, but the arrow starts to sink into the terrain immediately after that and begins to spread like a black pool.

I look around to make sure they are not trying to sneak-attack me from behind, but it seems they are almost curious about what I'm doing.

Good! these things are idiots! I need to use that to my advantage.

The pool grows larger and a new creature starts to emerge from inside of it.

A black lion, bigger than a carriage, rising from the darkness while analyzing the situation with its blood-red eyes.

"Eclipse... Did you find Lance??"

My black lion remains still. The two of us have a special connection so I always know what it is thinking or feeling. But from what I can tell, he had no luck.

"I see..." I reply, trying not to let my emotions show too much as my fist starts to shake. This is a delicate situation, I need to stay composed at all costs, "Help me deal with these things!"

The lizards finally seemed to have understood what situation they were in as they all started to jump on us one after another.

Eclipse copied their behavior and pounced on them as well, eviscerating them with its claws and fangs.

I didn't just stand still either. While they tried to go for Eclipse's blind spots I rushed to aim my crossbow at them and immediately pierced their skulls with shots of my arrows.

I tried to aim for their heads since this seemed to be the faster way to take them down, but now that I wasn't alone, they started to be more careful and kept making sure their faces were well guarded.

Eclipse pinned two of them down with his paws but a third one jumped on his back and began to slash his skin. My lion howled in pain as a result.

"Get off of him!!" I shout while shooting the reptile. My arrow opens a hole between its eyes as it turned to look at me and its body soon fell on the grass.

My lion uses this chance to finish the other two he had imprisoned as I tried to spot those that remained.

The moment I turn around one of them jumps towards me out of a bush with its arms wide open. I didn't manage to react in time and the being locked me in its embrace while craving its teeth on my shoulder.

"Aaarghhh!!" I cry as the pain spreads through my body. I try to fight back, but my arms are locked by the world's worst hug, making me unable to aim my crossbow.

These things are dumb but stronger than I imagined! I can't escape its grip!

Eclipse rushes to my aid and crushes the Lizard's head with its jaw, finally freeing me.

I drop on the ground and although the dark of the night makes it difficult to see, I can feel my blood dripping over the leaves.

I grab a healing crystal from my pouch and hurry to fix my injury after pressing it against my skin.

There was now only one left, standing in front of us without making any move. It seemed like it had realized that it could not defeat us alone.

Before I could react, it suddenly turned around and began to run away.

"Not happening..."

As soon as my wound closes, I pierce the creature with one final arrow, and its body falls to the ground.

We were finally over with the five of them. One managed to land a strike on me and almost tore my whole shoulder out, while another also managed to get a strike against my friend, but in the end, we managed to make it. I'm glad there were only five, more than that could have been serious trouble.

"Thank you, my friend... But we still have a job to do..." I mumble while pulling a crystal from my pouch and pressing it against Eclipse's back.

The crystal starts to glow with a green light for a couple of seconds and the wound starts to disappear.

I still have a few scratches. Should I use another one on me as well?

No... This is not a wound deep enough. I should save it in case something happened to Lance.

Heavens... Please, don't let anything have happened to Lance...

I resume my search and start to run once again. But finally, some small bit of luck shined upon me.

I hear voices, human voices, coming from not too far away. A sea of trees covered in the dark of the night standing before me, but at the deep end, one small light can be spotted.

"Fire! Someone is there!! Eclipse!! Let's go!!"

I mount my lion and we speed through the darkness until we reach our destination.

I see an open field free of trees and in it, several individuals standing around carrying torches. I recognize their faces. These are my friends, who I requested to aid me in the search.

Among them, I also see my wife, with a look of bewilderment.

"Lilith!!" I shout.

"Daren!" she replies as she notices my arrival.

I notice that her sight is working properly. She must have used a blessing to temporarily recover her ability to see to help out in the search.

The rest of my friends look at me as well, all with their mouths wide open and sweat dripping from their faces.

Oh no... What happened...

"Lilith... Lilith, did you find Lance??"

My friends are all standing in a circle as if trying to make a wall to hide something. I approach hoping that my fears did not come to be.

"Daren... Daren, I... I don't..." she tries to speak but her words don't make any sense.

What!? What are you saying?? Where is Lance?? Where is our son?? My head feels like it's about to blow.

I finally enter the circle and see her on her knees with our boy in her arms. My eyes rush to find anything wrong with him.

A wound, a scar, anything that might indicate he is in danger, but... I find nothing.

"Is... Is he okay...?" I dare ask.

I look at my seven-year-old son again, this time slightly less desperate, and notice that he is just sleeping as if my wife's arms were the world's most comfortable bed.

He is fine... He is fine!!

I finally let my emotions flow and a wide smile appears on my face.

"Thank heavens..." I murmur while falling on my back.

I was worried for nothing. My friends kept him safe.

But... Why are their faces so tense?

"Daren..." one of the women approached me and handed me a torch, "Look..."

She raised her arm in one specific direction and I used the fire to illuminate the ground.

My eyes then gazed at a large pile of dead lizard-men. Ten? Twenty? Twenty-five? How many bodies are there?? They were all completely pulverized as if someone had thrown them into a whirlwind for hours and dropped them on the terrain after it was done.

Seems like my friends got a little carried away and easily overpowered them. Also, none of them had a single scratch on their clothes. Considering that just five of these guys almost trashed me, I was very impressed.

These things tried to sneak into my house and steal my son so I honestly don't feel sorry for them at all. I'm just relieved it's over.

"Thanks, everyone... I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to Lance..."

"We didn't do anything..." One of them replies.

"What...?"

"When we arrived... Lance was already sleeping... And the monsters were already dead..."

I stare at their faces for a couple of seconds, then stare at the pile of monsters scattered on the terrain, "So... Who did all this...?"

"Daren..." My wife calls my attention again, "Look at Lance's hands..."

I come closer and felt a small cold shiver crawling through my spine. Lance was still sleeping without a care in the world when suddenly he moves his fingers to scratch his nose. And once he is done, a red mark appears on his face.

Our son's hands were covered in blood.

My eyes meet with Lilith's, she seems just as lost as me.

"What happened here...?" I ask her.

"I don't know..."