"Mum! Mum!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, even though she was flying right towards me. "Mum! Father—he's fighting an Ashhound out there! You need to—"

Her arms caught me in an embrace before pulling me up to her eye level. "You're fine!" Her gleaming golden eyes examined me thoroughly, turning me over, as though nothing else mattered in the world. "You're fine, thank the light."

"Mum, Father is in danger."

"Slow down. Breathe," she said, quickly casting the rejuvenation spell on me. "Your father will be fine. Let me look at Eran first."

Her words reassured me as I let her help us land. "Mum, Eran, he was bitten by devourers. Is he going to be all right?"

She did not answer. Her face turned ghastly pale as soon as she took him off my back. "Blight and ashes!" she cursed.

Swiftly, she implemented a cleansing formation and let its golden rays wipe all the filth off his skin; his battered form appeared frightening once he was clean. The potion I had fed him closed most of the gashing injuries and stopped the bleeding, but he had already lost a lot of blood. Almost his entire form was swollen red and purple. I hadn't had time to check for broken bones, but there were likely more than a few.

"Thankfully, it hasn't been too long," Mum said, her expression still solemn. "And you have already fed him a healing potion in time."

Still, she brought out a couple of vials. She gave one to me, as though I did not already have more in my storage. "Drink."

Holding the vial, I watched her work. Instead of feeding him the milky white elixir, she poured the liquid all over his wounds carefully, as chains of runes swirled out from her palm, radiating pure golden light. They were absorbed into Eran's body, along with the dawn essence in the elixir.

The various claw marks on his body began mending. New flesh grew, stitching the tears in the blink of an eye. However, the deeper wounds on his shoulder, calves, and biceps, where his flesh had been bitten off, remained dismally thin, the colour of his skin still far from healthy.

"I'm fine, Mum. The artefact protected me." I held the vial up to her. "Give it to Eran. He needs it more."

"He does," she agreed, but she did not take the vial. Instead, a couple more vials came out from her inner storage. "Drink it. I'll take care of him."

She poured one into his mouth whilst applying the other one similarly to the last time. The angry swells visibly improved, healthy colour returning to his skin.

"Hmm, his inner weave is drawing the dawn essence swiftly," Mum mumbled, her eyebrows knitting together.

My heart skipped a beat. "Is that bad?"

She shook her head. "He's out of danger. All he needs right now is rest."

An involuntary sigh of relief escaped me. I could breathe more freely now, as though a great weight had lifted off my chest.

"You're still not drinking it?" Her gaze shifted to me, voice peremptory as ever.

There was no convincing her. I should have learnt the lesson long ago.

Uncorking the glass vial, I was about to pour the cold liquid when I remembered the Komainu.

"What is it now?" Her gaze turned to follow mine and found the timid-looking lion dog. The Komainu barely seemed conscious, its form limp on the ground, utterly powerless. Its wounds were not as dire as Eran's, but it was afflicted with the same corrosive acid.

"This is..." Her voice drifted off as though trying to figure out where to place the creature.

"It's a Komainu," I supplied quickly. "Father said it's a guardian beast."

"It looks like it fought off the demons with you." Mum nodded and worked out why I was hesitating with the elixir in my palm. "You want to feed it the potion?"

I nodded.

Mum shot me a significant look. "Well, what's stopping you? Go on."

Swiftly stooping next to the Komainu, I held the milky elixir before its head. The guardian beast lifted its weary eyelids and sniffed.

"Drink. It's good for you."

It needed no more encouragement and practically snatched the vial with its mouth, lifting its head to gulp down all of it before spitting the glass vial out. The guardian beast let out a satisfied purr and closed its eyes. Its snow-white fur soon shone with a dim glow, the healing taking effect instantly.

Mother shook her head and cast the same purification light towards us, just to be thorough. The light of the spell had not completely disappeared when a black figure shot through the menacing woods and joined us. I quickly shifted to a battle stance, only to relax upon recognising the familiar silhouette.

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"Thank the Earth, you are fine," Father said, quickly coming to embrace me, still as rigid as the day I was born. His eyes found Eran in Mum's arms, and I could feel his heart clenching within his chest.

"He will be fine," Mother said before he could ask. "What about the Ashhound?"

"Killed it as quickly as I could to search for Arilyn and Eran." His eyes scrutinised me once more. "I fear there are still many packs of those devourers scouring the mountains. I killed many, but thier numbers are not coming down. A rift may have breached somewhere deep."

Mum's face was grim. "I suspected something was wrong when the corpse flies—" She was about to say what she intended when her expression changed as her gaze scrutinised Father. "You killed the Ashhound. Tell me you did not forget to collect its core?"

Instantly, Father's expression mirrored her horror. "I rushed straight to Arilyn as soon as I could, and—" Father cut himself off, noting he was wasting breath with explanation. He did not need it with Mum. "I'll go salvage it before any devourers can take a bite of it, and see if I can find the rift."

Giving us one final glance, his figure faded into the darkness as swiftly as he had appeared.

"What happens when a devourer eats the core?" I asked.

Mum's gaze traced back to me. "You remember every demon has one or more defining characteristics?"

I nodded as the horror of it dawned on my face. The name "devourers" was not simply because they were demons of insatiable hunger. Whilst it did have something to do with the naming, it was mostly because these creatures evolved and strengthened through consumption. And if they could get a greater demon core, the evolution that would follow would be no less formidable than the Ashhound itself. A chill ran down my spine, imagining the horror of a devourer matching an Ashhound in defence and arcane resistance.

"Let's go. We have some heavy tasks at hand." She levitated us, even the unconscious Komainu, and shot towards town. With all the ordeals I had gone through in the last few minutes, even a fraction of her speed was enough to give me motion sickness. But we had no time to lose.

We flew over the Stonecutters, and even our home, shooting towards the centre of the town. I saw many folk through blurry vision, some even chasing after us, if only they could follow. The news of the demons seemed to have spread through the town.

The destination soon became evident as we stopped only before the office of the Magistratus. Ignoring the few sentries, she barged into the hall. There were already a few officials, some from the militia, who gave us a wide berth and dared not question what she was doing.

"Claudius!" Mum shouted. "We have some urgent business at hand."

Finding a hardwood bench, Mum laid Eran there softly. The lion-dog had already come to its senses and positioned itself near me. With the light construct illuminating the hall, I finally had the chance to study it thoroughly.

"You have not drunk a potion yet?" Mum said.

Suppressing a sigh, I brought out a fine new glass vial and poured it into my mouth.

"Channel it," Mum said, as I sat next to the Komainu, closing my eyelids. Only then did Mum allow herself to concern herself with the task at hand.

The warm essence washed over my body. There were no visible wounds needing healing, but the dawn essence restored the strain my channels and body had gone through. My form rejuvenated beyond what should be possible, excess power brimming through my vessels. Most of it was channelled into my centre, and before I knew it, a new green line streaked through my core, splitting to form eight new threads, bringing the number to sixty-four. There was no strain in the action, only some stimulation.

Yet my face became aghast as I quickly opened my eyes to call Mum. Surprisingly, there was no advancement that followed. The eighth formation of Aether root was supposed to trigger the Noble Class advancement, yet there was none. I could glimpse the eight straight roots lined in a circle, but there was not even a minute movement in them.

[Please choose the aspect you want to empower.]

The Spell's voice woke me from my stupor. But before I could collect myself, or even choose the Aspect, I found myself to be the centre of a small ruckus.

The people who had been waiting in the hall could not ask Mum for an explanation, so they had come to me for it, only to be stopped by the Komainu, standing guard with the entirety of its half-metre form. It glowered at them with snow-white eyes, the jagged fangs working as a deterrent, even though it looked fiercely adorable to my eyes.

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. My palm involuntarily moved to nuzzle its wild mane. To my surprise, it turned the glower towards me, but soon it melted onto my thighs, running its neck.

"Empower my Will," I said, between its purr, my thoughts still lingering on my advancement.

With the beast purring like a little cat in my lap, they wasted no effort in letting me know of their grievance.

Honestly, I would have given them something if I had known how to. I fear anything I say would only cause panic.

Then came a man nudging my shoulder. "Done playing with your dog, kid?" A heavy man with a thick moustache, draped in the colours of the sentries. "Tell us wha—"

A deafening horn blared, causing half of the men to jump to their feet. Even I was no better. The booming sound rang not far from the hall, echoing out to reverberate throughout the town.

"Folks of Karmel, I am your magistratus, Claudius Octavius." Following the horn came the roaring voice of the Town Lord. I sauntered to the chamber the sound came, and found the Magistratus projecting his vocal cords into a rune formation created by Mum. "A severe rift breach has been detected near our town. I demand all residents gather at the local temple immediately. We will be establishing formation barriers to protect you all."

The mini formation was channelled in eight different directions into larger formations that broadcast the message throughout the town.

"This is no jest. I repeat, this is not a sick stunt to impede your already hard lives. There have been sightings of a number of demons in the mountains. I once again ask all the townsfolk to proceed to the holy sacrarium of Solas. May the Goddess protect us all."

He inhaled deeply for the remaining part. "To all the sentries and the militia, I also demand that you report back to me as soon as possible and help the people on their way to the temple. We only have until sunset for everything."

He didn't have to strain his lungs anymore; the formation kept on repeating the message throughout the town.

"There will still be some fools who won't take this warning seriously," Mother said, her eyes darting to me. They returned to Claudius. "You organise the people. I will handle the protective barrier."

Then something dawned on her, as she summoned the smaller formation towards her to say, "Dalin and Risna, your son is with me. He's all right. Come to the temple as soon as you can."

The magistratus seemed as though he wanted to say something more, but Mum gave him no chance as her figure flew out of his office, taking me with her.

Collecting Eran and the beast, we flew straight towards the temple. The rescue was not yet over. Not for all the town folks.

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