The search went on and even people from neighbouring towns came to North Alania. Their only objective was to find the missing girl. Having no interest towards the case, Sierra only trained the boys every day.
However, a week after that, another young girl went missing.
At first, people didn’t pay much attention to it. Since the second girl came from a poor family, they could only ask for help from the mayor. Fortunately, being in the border meant that soldiers were stationed not too far from here.
Mayor Charles needed to write a long letter to request an official investigation from the nearest army. He also sent another request to the capital.
The second missing girl lived with her old mother; they said that nobody wanted to marry her as she was poor and ugly. The old lady would pray every day in the centre of the town, crying to the gods to help her poor baby.
Sierra saw her on the third day and shook her head. No gods would help her for som
The crowds who were marching bravely a minute ago, now coward in place as a wall of fire surrounded them all. People was screaming as they had never seen such powers before.“Help!” A woman voice was heard, shrieking through the noises.“Mommy!” A man cried out loud, dropping his spear down.Sierra, the caster, didn’t seem disturbed at all as she glared at those rude townsfolks. Who told them to accuse her without any proof?!However, she suddenly felt a strong grip on her wrist. “What?” She asked nonchalantly.“Sierra, stop it,” Gray pleaded, “They’re afraid of it.”The silver hair woman saw that the heat made the boys’ forehead dripped with sweats. She glanced at the crowd, people were kneeling and hugging each other for fear of dying. At that moment, she knew when to stop.With a snap of her slender fingers, the fire was vanished - as if it never happened
“So, what’s our plan?” Asked the boy with hazel eyes.“Yeah, we need to act fast! We only have three days to investigate,” said the other boy with black hair.The centre of the attention only sat as she crossed her legs, ignoring the two eager persons. “Um, Sierra?” Gray waved his palm right in front of Sierra’s beautiful face. Inhaling a deep breath, she finally spoke, “I told you this is not a play thing.”“We know,” Leon stepped forward. “But we’re still going to help you no matter what.”Sierra stared at him fiercely, clearly, she was unhappy that Leon skipped his class today. Leon cleared his throat as he stammered, “G-Gray, say something!”However, just before Gray wanted to open his mouth, Sierra raised her hand. “Fine,”“Stop giving me more headache, will you? If you want to help, then prove it. I’ll give you
Now that it was his turn, Leon flawlessly reported his investigation. “I went around the market and overheard an interesting coincidence about those missing girls. All of them used to suffer from various illness when they were kids. D- does it count as information?” Sierra nodded her head. As expected, living in a small town had its own benefits. You didn’t need to exhaust too many energies to find something useful. “Great. Now you’ve done your parts, let’s talk about this again tomorrow.” “Eh?” Gray was surprised, “Sierra, you’ve told the townsfolks that you’re going to solve this in three days! We can’t just sit idle like this,” The silver hair woman snorted, obviously, she didn’t need to be reminded. She didn’t bother to answer and the boys stared at her dumbfoundedly. Then, she picked the hairpin and observed it closely. “The dark energy is so weak,” she glared at Gray, “If you’re affected by this then it means you need to train harder.”&n
“Huh? What does it mean?” Gray mumbled in confusion. Unlike his friend, Leon understood right away the meaning behind Sierra’s words. His respects for her increased until it reached the peak. Smiling widely, he followed that cold woman, like an excited puppy.“So, does it mean that you’re planning this with Uncle Ten?” He asked.“I only ask him to bring the foods at a certain time,” Sierra answered, “He’s a smart man, even without me explaining, he understood my intention directly.”“Uncle Ten?” Gray’s face looked like he was in disbelief, “How come you’re asking him for help and not us?”Ignoring the boy, she rolled her eyes and scanned through the night. “We can’t stay open like this,” she turned her back to Gray, “Show me the place where you found the hairpin.”Since the situation turned serious, the boys didn&rsquo
“What should we do?” Leon asked his friend. They were on alert, weapons in their hands, as they finally realized they had lost one of their companions.Gray didn’t answer Leon as he gripped his sword tighter, “Sierra? Come on. We’re sorry for forgetting to use our power. Now that we’re fine, you should come out and join us.”There was no reply from the darkness, only the sounds of their pounding hearts. After that, Leon exhaled his breath, “Should we go back? I’m worried about her,”However, the hazel eye boy calmly answered, “We should continue, Leon. I just remember Sierra’s words about testing us. Maybe this is it.”He didn’t wrong, Leon thought. Sierra did say she wanted to test them, it’s just that it was kind of cruel of her to leave them alone in the forest, without saying anything.“It’s Sierra, what can we say,” Gray laughed a little
He glared to the girl and spoke chilly, “Lily, you say? Which city do you live right now?”Gray was shocked as he heard the cold voice; Leon was not the type of person to speak like this, especially to ladies. However, he knew this action was needed. They couldn’t be too naïve in front of a stranger. It was a great thing that Leon knocked some senses for him.The pale girl’s eyes shot around nervously, but she managed to squeeze out an answer, “A- Alania,” she whispered pitifully, “I live there with my poor brother!”Gray actually didn’t have any worries about this girl. Wasn’t she only a poor, unlucky person that got kidnapped? Shouldn’t they help her out as quick as possible?On the other hand, Leon’s face went dark as he heard the answer. With a loud hiss, Leon unsheathed his own sword and aimed it to the girl boldly.“Leon! What are you doing?!”&ldq
Sierra ran with not much effort as she followed the creature who was kept falling down from the air. It was apparent that its power had gone low; almost none actually, only from protecting its body before. With a finger, Sierra sent a ball of fire that blew like a bomb.“Gah!”The creature who introduced itself as Lily, crashed to the dirt. Not even spending one second, Sierra summoned a tall wall of flame that encircled both of them. “Let’s see if you can still fly,” she sneered, “I always hate running, you know.”“It’s hot!!! It’s hot!!”Lily squirmed around, but looking at the raging fire, she crawled back to Sierra. “Please! I’ll return the power to them!! Get me out of here!! It’s hot!!”The silver hair woman snorted and answered, “You think you can fool me? What’s taken by the dead can’t be returned to the living!”Lily let
The three of them walked in the forest again. No, to be exact, it was Sierra who led them out. This time they headed to the south, but they didn’t talk too much because the woman was surprisingly fast with her steps.“Are we really leaving those women behind?” Gray protested as he matched the other’s pace.“Yes, there’s nothing we can do. The Mayor will take care of it early in the morning,”Still unsatisfied with it, he asked eagerly once again.“So, when will you tell us the story? How did you kill Lily?”In his side, Leon also stared at her with so much interest in his eyes. The woman slowed her pace and massaged her neck, “Aren’t you guys tired?”“Not at all!” They both answered quickly. Hearing the eager voices, Sierra smirked dangerously, “Ah… I see; it’s good to be young, huh?”Sensing that unusual response, the boys low
While Gray and Zed had their sudden meeting with the strategist, Sierra purposefully stood outside the castle to wait for Xion. She was embarrassed, but somehow, she felt that she was supposed to do this and comfort the man. And she didn’t regret it. The moment she saw Xion, the other’s face beamed with relief and happiness. They hugged and kissed for a short time as Sierra rubbed his back. “You thought I was dead?” She tried to lighten up the situation a little. Xion snorted, “Yeah…” He paused as he stared at Sierra’s face, “But I think I’m stupid to think about it. You’re probably the strongest being ever, you know that, right?” His expression was tired, definitely lack of sleep, but his smile was bright; his voice showed a clear proudness. Sierra didn’t want to imagine what happened with this man while she’s gone for a moment. They talked for a moment while holding hands. Xion cleared his throat, “Hey, Sierra. I need to talk to you.” She titled her head, confusion was appeared o
“Gray!” Sierra grabbed Gray’s shoulder and squeezed it gently. The soldiers already started scattered around and broke the formations; even the mages couldn’t protect them from the monsters below.“Argh!” Someone got sucked below, and Sierra knew that person had already gone. Amidst the chaos, Sierra could feel a familiar power around them; just like the last time when she felt Gray’s True Blessing on the underground. And she finally understood, why the barrier around, that was summoned almost perfectly didn’t work.“It’s a True Blessing!” Sierra yelled as she kicked her leg from monster’s grab. “What?” Gray was confused. “It’s an Earth True Blessing. That’s why the barrier won’t work. It could pierce anything! We have to fall back!”Gray quickly understood and he screamed, “Fall back to the north gate!” The soldiers were relying the message to each other. Those who cherished their lives quickly abandoned the formation and ran. The earth kept trembling and people started to sway and f
“That idiot!” Sierra snapped at the news. “I can’t believe he reject it. I wonder what his mother said to him!”Nevertheless, the next day, they marched to the gate to retake the capital. It wasn’t a hard fight because for the first time ever, they won by numbers. The enemy also lacked their leaders so it was pretty easy to break into their defence and controlled the castle. Many of the soldiers were surrendering as they wanted to trade it with their lives.Gray nodded appreciatively as they surrendered. “It’s nice not to kill someone,” He grinned to Sierra at the main room.From that day, the they took back State of Etherna’s freedom. People in the capital were cheering as they were freed from the oppressions. However, Gray’s liberation army still couldn’t relax at all. They still had the north area to retake and Kingdom of Bealaris to attack. The north gate was still shut tight.Then, Walter advised that they took a break after the long, continues fights. They also had to reunite wi
“How’s the kid?” Sierra crossed her arms impatiently in front Gray’s bedroom. A healer just came out, and he nodded his head in delight. “Lady Sierra, you don’t have to worry about anything. Thanks to his Blessing, the explosion didn’t do much damage to his body. Right now, he’s just sleeping.”Hearing the news, Sierra huffed a relief breath. Then, she decided to let the kid rest and find Xion. Frankly speaking, she didn’t do much at this fight because her main task was to defend the fortress. That’s why, she was in a good condition and everyone relied on her more because she was the only general who still alive and in perfect condition.As far as she knew, Keith was passed out from massive blood loss. That’s why, she moved to find the other one. Thankfully, Xion didn’t hurt that bad. He was wrapped in bandages, but he was practically fine.Seeing Sierra’s presence in the yard made his cold face cracked into a warm expression. He waved at her, and Sierra also smiled softly. “How’s you
Everyone became aware how dangerous the situation was. Gray frowned and cold sweats already dripped down from his forehead. Sierra quickly took control, “Okay, kid. Don’t force yourself. You still have to fight at the frontline. Let us handle it.”Gray bit his bottom lip; but then he nodded. The mages were ready as they chanted the spell. “On three, just let your power go.”“One…”“Two…”“Three!”Gray’s let go of his Blessing, but the lightnings were still under control. “See? We’re good at what we’re doing.” Sierra smiled. Since the first wall of protection had fell, Gray quickly moved to join his own troops.“Lady Sierra,” Walter appeared behind her, nodding appreciatively, “You really level up your troops abilities.”Sierra snorted at the words, and she grabbed her bow. This time, she didn’t bother to hide the exquisite design of it, making the archers stared with envy. “It’s family heirloom,” She added awkwardly.“Archers! Prepare your arrow!”Thousand of arrows were prepared, poi
It had been six months since Don departed from the fortress. The good news was he never failed to bring back victories. And the bad news? There’re so much things going on inside the fortress; refugees, soldiers, volunteers, travellers, even merchants, all came to them since Sierra had lifted her maze spell.Now, the fortress became really lively with crowds. Sierra could only shake her heads from the noise. “You really hate people, huh?” Xion chuckled as they stood at the third floor, staring at the yard.Both of them just got back from separate missions and now, they decided to rest together. Hearing the statement, Sierra couldn’t help, but smile softly, “No, it’s not like that. This view somehow reminds me the last time I’m here.”She paused and her eyes wondered longingly. Xion just stared at her, savouring the beauty. “This place used to be like this too. Buzzling with merchants, and people… I just hope this will last; now that we’ve made our location known.”Xion smiled too; thes
“Bring it on!!” Gray roared as he braced himself from the destruction. Leon grinned wickedly; he was waiting for this moment of showdown. The wind was growing stronger around them and the woods around started to be plucked up by the whirls.“Damn it!” Sierra cursed under her breath. It was getting harder to breath and open her eyes widely. “Gray!! Don’t!!” She could hear herself screaming at the kid. However, it was unclear whether the kid heard her or not.Thus, in that split second; when Leon unleashed his enhanced power, Sierra decided to call upon her own. She spread her arms wide and felt her fire brought to life. The wind still went strong, and now with the addition of big flames around.Gray sensed the power and then looked at her. Once again, Gray couldn’t help, but awe at the magnificent sight. No matter how many times he saw that big wrath of flame, he always amazed by her. Now, the snow was truly disappeared, melted down from the extreme heat.Sierra gritted her teeth; it’s
“Sierra, you still look as pretty as ever,” Leon gazed at the woman and smiled tenderly. However, it couldn’t fool her. Leon had changed. Totally. Whether the compliment was sincere or not, she didn’t want to think about that.“Leon! Come with us! Quick!”“Gray, wait!” Sierra tried to snatch his collar, but he’s already running towards his ‘friend’. Gosh, she could see the way Gray’s eyes sparkled with excitements. This fool literary forgot everything they had taught him about awareness.But who could blame the kid? It’s been two years; not being able to see his childhood friend, with so many questions on his head about why were the reasons Leon left them that night.With only three, maybe two steps from Leon, suddenly a big wave of wind came around them and managed to knock Gray back until he hit the nearest tree. He was caught off guard; never in his life, he would imagine that Leon would hurt him with the intent to kill.“Stupid kid!” Xion cursed under his breath; with Don who pass
“What’s with this early meeting on snowy days?” Keith yawned as he sat down in the meeting room. Gray rubbed his eyes tiredly, “Don’t know. Walter just sent the servants to each of us.”Sierra, who wrapped in thick clothes commented too, “Judging that it’s only the four of us, I think he has special mission.”“Sharp as always, Lady Sierra!” Walter came in into the room right at the moment, while bringing a warm cup of coffee.“You look horrible,” Xion said to the strategist. The bags under Walter’s eyes were horribly dark and big; anyone would know that he didn’t get sleep. “Yeah, it’s winter time. I have to think further to spring, you know.”“Right, now tell us what’s with this morning arrangement?” Sierra cut to the chase.“Okay, apparently. I just found out that a strong warrior was captured months ago by Bealaris.” He started to explain, “Here. This town, West Land.”“Who’s the warrior?” Keith asked curiously; he might know one or two martial arts experts in this land.“His name