"Great elder, there is someone who was able to enter the city through a portal. And he holds the third key." A cloaked man said to a woman who sat comfortably on a couch.
"Bring him in." The woman said calmly as if she had been awaiting this moment.
***
A few minutes later Ethan was brought in to come and see the woman.
"You haven't been to the family yet so, welcome to the Stormhaven city." The woman welcomed Ethan.
" Thank you." Ethan responded.
"So you were the one who came into the city through a portal." The woman said and got up from the couch.
"Yes. I'm the one." Ethan answered.
"Your first mission will be…" The woman wasn't done when Ethan cut in to ask a question.
"Uh…but I haven't started training."
"When I'm talking you don't interrupt." The woman said after Ethan was done talking and continued.
"Your first mission will be to find the lady of the house and bring her back safely. Just a hint, find the person who is being watched from the shadows the most." The woman said.
"But…"
"Remember during training none of your rights will work for you." The woman cut Ethan's sentence short.
"Now leave!" The woman ordered.
Ethan went out of the woman's big room confused at how he was even going to start.
He'd barely walked through town after arriving at an alleyway through the portal when a masked man had called him to visit someone so he didn't even know much about the town.
He stepped out of the woman's residence and entered the city to start his mission but thinking about how big the city was he attempted going back to the woman for a map but unfortunately a magic barrier blocked him from entering.
"So I'm really doing this?"
He turned and started walking towards the place the portal had brought him earlier.
" How am I going to do this?" Ethan asked himself as he continued walking through town.
Stormhaven city was a really huge city but seemed to be isolated from the rest of the world as they still used wood for almost all their buildings.
Roads were well constructed and security wasn't lacking. Therefore the behavior of all the citizens was also good. Everyone cared for each other and no one caused any problems for the guards on duty.
But something was off. As Ethan walked through the town everyone seemed to see him but avoided him instantly as if he never existed. It was as if they'd been warned not to interact with him.
"It seems they really planned his mission well." Ethan thought.
"She said to look for the one being watched from the shadows the most. Does that mean she already has guards watching the lady of the house?" He thought. "But how will I find her?"
That was when it struck him, being watched from shadows meant he wasn't supposed to see them physically he was supposed to sense. But the problem was he hadn't learnt how to spread out his Lumaflux to sense other people's Lumaflux or how to detect people just by environment.
***
"Attack him once he attempts to spread his Lumaflux." The woman said to some cloaked men who were kneeling before her.
"Yes, Great elder." All the men responded in chorus before disappearing into thin air as if they never existed.
***
"Let me try it." Ethan said to himself but the moment he leaked just a bit of his Lumaflux, steel sang through the air as daggers flew towards him in all directions.
"What is this?" Ethan questioned as his feet moved faster than his brain could comprehend, dodging each and every dagger that came his way.
When Ethan looked around, almost everyone had left the surroundings leaving just a little girl who seemed to have gotten too scared and was hiding under a broken signboard.
Ethan ran quickly to the girl's side and asked if she was ok.
"Where did those come from?" Ethan questioned as he studied his environment but found nothing.
"This is getting ridiculous. How am I supposed to find the lady of the house without spreading my lumaflux?" Ethan realised. "I guess I'm actually in the middle of a training session."
Ethan took the little girl on his back and stopped her from crying.
"It's ok now, I'll keep you safe." Ethan assured the girl.
With the girl on Ethan's back he couldn't stop thinking about the safety of the girl if another set of daggers.
"Do you know where your mom is?" Ethan asked the girl.
The girl just shook her head and kept silent on Ethan's back.
" This is going to be a drawback." Ethan thought.
He walked for a while before getting to another side of the city where some of the citizens who fled from the location he was attacked had moved. Gently, he placed the girl down.
"You can go look for your mother now." Ethan said and turned away from her.
"What is Lady Cresta doing here of all times?"
" The Demon blood Dynasty might attack her."
"She must be really cautious as the acting heir to the Stormhaven Dynasty."
Ethan turned immediately after hearing what the citizens were rumbling on about and saw a beautiful teenage girl just about his age. If he was to compare her to Solara she'd be just a few blocks below.
"I guess that's her." Ethan said to himself and started walking towards her.
"Oh Lady Cresta! Can I walk you around." A teenage boy just about Ethan's age said jokingly to Cresta.
"Isn't that fourth rank?"
"Yeah, that's him. Cyril, the war psycho."
"Always joking around..."
Ethan heard the people around say. He had a brown disheveled hair, a pointed nose and small eyes with bright pink lips all complimenting his round face. He was 5.9ft tall with long athletic legs and barely muscular.
"Well if he's around maybe Lady Cresta could take them on with the help of the War physco." The citizens kept on mumbling.
" The fourth? What does that mean? War psycho?" Ethan kept on asking himself as he walked closer to the lady.
In an instant Ethan felt like something had pierced him in the heart. It was just like the same day Melwen was almost attacked by the grimlore.
Although faint, Ethan could hear the footsteps of strong people approach and he could feel it.
He was nowhere near their level to think of fighting back when they attacked.
"It's great the demon blood dynasty!" Someone from the crowd shouted.
Before his brain cells could properly process what was going on, the attacks were already at their destination—Cresta.
"You don't need to get worked up." Cyril said to Cresta who stayed calm.
Instantly, a brown furry Lexicon materialized in front of Cyril as he grew more fur like a gorilla on his skin and a golden staff manifested in his hands with two other golden wristbands also on his wrists.
"Come!" Cyril shouted as if he was in a battle frenzy befitting his name as the "War psycho."
Ten men cloaked in some red attires like ninjas surrounded the lady and Cyril.
"Are these people really serious? What do you take me for? A joke?" Cyril said with a devilish grin on his face.
"Bloodveil miasma!" One of the men said with a red Lexicon manifested before him and instantly like a veil that covered the surroundings a blood red miasma spread throughout the environs hindering everyone's eyesight and threatening to suffocate them.
Krsshh-krkk
A piercing hiss erupted, followed by a crystalline crackle as frost raced across the ground. In a split second, the blood red miasma dissipated almost instantly as Cyril and the lady stood unfazed.
"I'll ask you this again. Do you take us for a joke?" Cyril asked.
But for an answer a spear was rather sent his way.
"That's your answer? Then I shall grant your wish." Cyril said as his lumaflux flared disrupting the normal flow of the wind.
"Let me end this."