The Escape

Two individuals could be seen racing through the Cilebar forest near Ecrin town. One was a boy with shoulder-length pure-white hair, purple eyes that were strange yet charming, and a childish and cute face. Even though he was short in stature, the speed in which he ran would put any adult to shame. There was a girl running beside him with similar white hair that reached her waist and purple eyes, and her face had traits that were a little similar to the boy's.

These two children were none other than Tsar and Shura, and they were on their way to find a road to hire a passing-by carriage to take them to East Cliff town. They had estimated that finding a route would take at least sixteen hours, and then seven days to reach the town by carriage. They decided to activate the bracelet by shattering a small glass jewel that was placed on it as they were tired of running even with their unnatural stamina and strength.

While they were on their way running after a short break, Shura was looking at Tsar worriedly. Though her words of encouragement had helped Tsar to calm down, she knew that, given Tsar's past trauma, Alkis' betrayal had had a significant impact on his emotions. Despite the fact that she herself was shaken and was scared of the upcoming future, she was still worried about Tsar at the moment.

Tsar, on the other hand, was trying to comprehend everything that had happened within the last two days. First, Alkis found a law treasure, then he became a trainee-envoy, and after getting a taste of money and power he even decided to kill his own children.

Tsar finally gave a melancholic sigh and looked at Shura, smiled apologetically as if he knew she had been worried about him the whole time. He then started speaking

"Don't worry about me; even though I'm disappointed in Alkis, I'm not foolish enough to waste the rest of my time in sorrow. I'm just regretting myself for putting so much faith in him; I guess money and power do erode you over time. Anyway, let's continue on our journey; we'll think about it more once we're out of this dangerous forest."

When Shura heard Tsar's thoughts, she heaved a sigh of relief; she could tell he wasn't lying, and that was enough for her. They continued on their way to the road without wasting any more time.

They arrived at a road that was fairly wide, indicating that it was used by carriages, after a couple of hours. The twins eventually relaxed when they saw the road and sat down at the road's corner, waiting for a carriage to pass by. They'd used up all of their water and were now thirsty but unable to drink. All they could do was wait.

While they were waiting, Tsar looked at Shura and said

"Act as if we belong to a force-family and are force-users ourselves while we're in the carriage. I'll do all the talking; all you must do is stay silent and maintain a profound demeanour."

Shura nodded and then they started dusting off the dirt present in their clothes. When they were finished, Tsar stared at Shura for a bit and said

"Wear a veil too"

Shura was confused and asked

"Why?"

"Seeing the potential of your beauty, there is a chance that greed will overtake them and they may try to capture us. We are currently too weak to fight back."

Shura was surprised for a moment, but then smiled and said

"Alright"

She then tore a piece of her cloth and used it to cover her face till just under her eyes. They heard horses neighing just as they finished getting ready, and when they looked in the direction, they saw a carriage nearing. The carriage had a driver and four burly men, two on each side, walking alongside it.

The bulky men did not surprise Tsar, as he had read about them. They were hired by the carriage's drivers to safeguard their goods from bandits and beasts. Despite the fact that these guards were not force-users, they had reached the limit of a normal human and were strong. Tsar wasn't confident that he could beat them one-on-one, despite his extraordinary power and endurance. The guards had much more battle experience and were decisive killers, even if their strengths were nearly equal. Tsar, on the other hand, had never fought anyone before, let alone killed someone.

The twins suddenly appeared in front of the carriage with incredible speed as it was moving forward. The carriage came to a sudden halt, and the guards drew their weapons when they saw someone nearly as fast as them stop the carriage. The driver was astonished and enraged, seeing two children, that too with ragged clothes, stop his carriage. He needed to make an urgent delivery in East Cliff town or he would not have hired the finest guards available.

But seeing the vigilance of guards, he inferred that the twins must be formidable, and, though perplexed, he meekly inquired.

"What can I-"

Before he could even complete his question, Tsar interrupted him and stated in a laidback tone

"Let's get straight to the point, I don't want to waste my time talking to you commoners. I want to use your carriage to visit that mayor of East Cliff town."

The driver's eye widened in realization, the guards also dropped their weapons. They didn't need to confirm anything as it was obvious witnessing children roughly half their size casually running at such an atrocious speed, seeing their ragged clothes, they assumed the twins to be returning from a fight with a strong beast. The fact that they both had such a laid-back attitude in such a dangerous forest further reinforced to their conviction. They didn't waste any time and immediately bowed, the driver then answered

"Young lord and young miss, I shall do what you wish. Please take a seat; I'll travel there as quickly as possible."

"Hmm, also call me Micheal and her name is Falana"

Tsar found it weird to be addressed as master by someone considerably richer than him, so he devised fake names for him and Shura.

After saying this, the driver wasted no time and began moving at twice the speed he was previously travelling at. They didn't encounter a single beast during the entire journey, which puzzled the driver and guards, but they soon assumed that it was due to the twins' 'aura'. The guards' respect for the twins arose as a result of this, as they were usually injured and sometimes even killed during an encounter with a beast.

The twins didn't talk much during the journey in order to maintain their 'expert' demeanor. This had a visible effect, as the driver and guards did not try to communicate with them and rather left them at their own accord.

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The twins were around four hours away from the East Cliff town after a three-day ride. They had arrived much faster than expected due to the driver's increased pace, and as they were getting excited about reaching the town, they heard a commotion happening between merchants in the way.

Tsar got curious and asked the driver to check what's going on. The driver hastily rushed towards the merchants questioning about the situation , and only returned after about 10 minutes, a little afraid, and started telling

"Master Micheal, a merchant was returning from East Cliff town, and in the middle of the way, some unknown force-users started inspecting every carriage passing by. According to the merchant, all routes originating from Ecrin town are being investigated."

Tsar and Shura exchanged puzzled looks for a brief moment before Tsar's eyes widened and his body shook, which fortunately went unnoticed. He then stated in an angry tone

"Those poor peasants, they dare block my way. Lets go, Shu-Falana, and see who have the guts to block our way."

Since Tsar was so panicked inside that he almost blurted out Shura's name but managed to correct it timely. He then turned to face the driver, handed him half of the money he'd received from Sophie, and added, arrogantly,

"Take this, commoner, also do not say anything about me to those bastards. I'll deal with them after contacting my uncle."

The driver simply nodded, thinking the twins belonged to a large force family.

Tsar then grabbed the hand of the bewildered Shura and sprinted away at his maximum speed. While they were on their way, Shura awoke from her stupor and asked

"Why did we leave? Weren't we supposed to enter the town in the carriage?"

"The force-users who are inspecting the carriage are certainly from the cult."

Shura was shocked and confused, but she believed what Tsar had said, she then asked with curiosity

"How did you find that out?"

"Really? Do you really not know that? *sigh* I guess you are exhausted. Simply put, it is prohibited for force-users to use their powers and authority anywhere near the Ecrin town in the empire. The only powers with the courage to do so are those who are equally or even more formidable than them. And who do you think those people are now that the cult wants to kill us?"

Shura's eyes widened in surprise, and she let out a sigh of exhaustion. She'd been stressed for three days straight, which had left her fatigued and hampered her ability to think clearly. But then the most important question occurred to her, and she came to a halt and addressed it to Tsar

"How are we going to get inside the town now?"

Tsar, who had also came to a halt, answered

"We could wait inside the forest, but we would starve to death before they leave. Going back also isn't an option, as it would only burden Sophie, *sigh* I guess we could try hunting some beasts."

Shura started to consider all of the possibilities as well, and just as she was about to agree to Tsar's suggestion, an idea struck her.

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Three figures dressed in pitch-black and wearing a mask stood in the center of the road, surrounded by large trees. Currently except for the three people that were around, there was no one else present.

One of the figure looked at the other one and asked

"What do you think, Adam? Can we get those two today??"

Adam looked at the man and said

"Of course, the cult has sent more trainees to search the forest, Nathan. As long as we don't kill an innocent, we can be here as long as we want and search for them."

Nathan sighed and answered

"I don't think they are here; the Envoys said that this could be a possible but not a guaranteed escape."

Adam also sighed and said

"Well, we have to do what the higher-ups say. We don't have a choice to make here- huh, Mark?"

A hand landed on Adam's shoulders before he could finish his sentence. This hand belonged to the third person standing there.

Mark looked at both of them and said

"Don't you hear the footsteps? There are atleast two people approaching us, stop talking and get your guards up."

Adam and Nathan complied since Mark was the strongest there. A few moments later, they began to hear the sound of footsteps as well. They were ready to attack at any moment, but when they noticed the figures of the people they were dumbfounded

The approaching 'threat' were two children who looked like beggars. One was a young boy with black hair and closed eyelids, ripped clothes, and mud all over him, making his skin tone hard to determine. Another 'boy' stood next to him, with similar but longer hair and closed eyelids, and he was in the same condition as him. These two were none other than Tsar and Shura in disguise.

The twins continued to walk forward towards the trio. Only when they were about to collide with them, did the trio came out of their stupor. Mark was quick to respond and shouted

"Stop! We will take action if you get any closer."

The twins made a 'surprised' reaction, Tsar then asked

"Have we reached the East Cliff town?"

For a brief moment, the trio was confused, but they soon assumed that the children were blind, Adam questioned

"How are you here in this forest? You shouldn't have the ability to travel alone."

Tsar replied with a panicked expression on his face.

"We were on our way to the town with our father when we were attacked by a group of bandits. Our father told us to run and bring help, we have been searching for a way there from the past three hours."

Mark was skeptical, but Nathan hugged the children and started speaking before he could ask any questions.

"We'll send someone to help your father, so don't worry. And as for you two, one of our men can walk you to the town."

Nathan's father died while he was young, and his mother went on to become a prostitute and stopped caring about him. Despite the fact that being in the cult had toughened his heart, he still had a soft spot for orphans. Listening to their story, it was obvious that their father had died and had helped them to get out of there, so he decided to help them reach the town.

Following that, he ordered a trainee surveying the forest to take the twins to the East Cliff town.

When they left, Mark walked towards Nathan and said

"You didn't even inspect them, our targets are two ten-year old children, and these children both fit the age criteria. What if they are our targets?"

Nathan chuckled and answered

"Aren't you aware that they aren't? The targets have fair skin, white hair and purple eyes; also, do you think that children as young as ten years old are capable of devising such tricks?"

Nathan's thoughts were biased towards defending the twins since he was clouded by his sympathy for them.

Mark noticed this, but chose to remain silent as he found some of Nathan's statements to be logical. They then proceeded to examine the arriving carriages and woodlands.