The Third Party - Chapter 49

3rd Person’s POV (12 yrs. and 8 months old)

‘Other than that, what happened to my telepathic connection? Hmmmm, gotta scour my memories.’ Ken remembered having sent a vague image of the place he had fought before going to sleep, and now that he thinks of it he found out that, that message had only been the one he was able to send with telepathic connection and his connection with the group severed.

‘What’s with the sudden thought?’ asked White, his form in front of Ken, directly in front of the group’s circle.

“Excuse me everyone, I’m just going to check the area first.” said Ken, about to step out of the group.

“This early?” complained Glen.

“Oh you guys don’t need to come with me to scout, you guys can just follow right after, take your time.” said Ken obviously knowing that his companions were exhausted from the fight, he’s exhausted too, but he’s a workaholic so….

Hope one of these days he’d just take a rest, White thought. The group contemplated for a moment.

“That’s okay for me, what about you guys?” said Saber, curious as to what happened to the area before the attack happened, so he’d like to scout the area too.

“I’ll take a rest first.” said Lila. The siblings looked at one another and nodded, both having similar thoughts in mind, but for Lila she knows she has to gather information here first.

“Me too!” –

“Me too!” said simultaneously by Icarus and Glen, the two looked at each other and laughed their eagerness off, the group chuckled at the two.

“I’ll follow you right after a minute or so.” said Allen, uncertain why he feels bad for a moment when Ken suddenly mentioned going out to scout, but he did not show it on his voice or face. Ken nodded okay.

“I’ll stay for awhile too, then follow you later.” said Celine as she doesn’t trust why Ken would say what he said earlier, he looked worried in Celine’s eyes, but she knows when her friend needs time to sort out his thoughts, and this are one of those times.

“I’ll do so too.” said Princess Lang, seeing as she doesn’t really have much to do, but more of the fact that she would be surrounded by other beasts, she’s okay with the group, but she’s more comfortable with Celine at the moment.

“I’ll stay here for the time being, the dark energies of the demon from earlier nauseates me.” said Flin, and judging from his expression, it is nauseating him, he looks pale and seems to be sweating profusely, but he’s still standing.

“I’ll stay too and assist Flin.” said Riyah, thinking that maybe she can help him. Ken for a moment activated Glow and peered into Flin’s light, right there on Flin’s glow, looks to be a remnant of dark red energies that clung to him.

Ken immediately but calmly walked to Flin, touched Flin’s shoulders with both hands and chanted…

“Healing Magic: Cure, Rejuvenation.” Flin instantly felt relief as if a heavy burden was lifted off of him, the dark red energies had flew out of his body dissipating in thin air, Ken checked with glow again and found no more of the dark red energies.

He looked at the others but found that they didn’t have any of the dark red energies stuck to their bodies, so why was it present on Flin’s, this shall be a question he’ll have to find out later, Ken concluded to himself.

While this happened in seconds, the group wondered why Ken had such a serious face on, when he cured Flin, they kind of understood the situation, but are still wondering what was that for.

“Flin got poisoned by the dark red energies of the demon realm, probably through those creatures from earlier, do you guys know the term demon?” he asked, the group gasped, but nodded at his question, except for Wilbert and Celine, for they are still not informed of demons for that matter.

“It was probably due to that demon we fought earlier, but as to how he was poisoned I do not know.” He said, checked on Flin one last time and turned off glow, all the while everyone questioned how he was able to determine that Flin was poisoned, the person was even more shocked as well.

“Alright, I’m gonna go scout ahead now, there might be dark red energies left anywhere.” said Ken.

“You can call them demon magic.” said Coralia appearing behind Ken.

“Okay auntie.” replied Ken while nodding.

“Where you off to?” asked Coralia, Trunk, Raze, Rain, and Cloud walking to her side, apparently hearing of the topic demons, they wonder where Ken had heard of such a word when they themselves barely talk about it, a sensitive one if they may say.

“I’m just gonna check out the area and scout whether there are any more demon magic left in the area.” replied Ken, Coralia was reluctant, but she nodded nonetheless, for she doesn’t need to worry about Ken being poisoned by the magic seeing as he cured Flin.

“Alright, but we’ll have a discussion later after your scout, understand.” said Coralia sternly.

“Yes auntie.” and there Ken was off to scout the area in a hurry, why is he in such a hurry? Asked Coralia to herself.

‘Okay, to answer your question White, the thought just popped into my mind when I remembered I used that spell before.’ said Ken, landing on the other side of the crater, right where the demon gate stood.

He activated glow and observed the area.

‘Then what about our previous topic?’ asked White. Ken found residue demon magic and got to work cleansing the area.

‘About the demon gates? I worry about those too, but I don’t remember King Raze saying where it spawned.’ Ken paused for a moment. ‘Wait, did he tell us when it would open? Of course he hadn’t.’ Ken was getting confused.

‘Oh great, what do we do?’ he said to no one in particular while he went from areas littered by dark energies into the air to another, clearing everything out.

‘Wait, what about the first gate I closed, would there be demon magic left there too?’ he paused again.

‘Probably.’ replied Ken.

‘Then I’ve got to go there, right after I finish things here.’ he said enthusiastically doing a small fist pump. White just looked at his host and can’t help but thought of how goal oriented Ken is, and now here’s another goal he wants to achieve too.

And the fast change of moods never fail to baffle me, earlier he was nervous and reluctant, now look at him, all determined, White thought.

*BANG*

Ken jumped in fright -while shrieking-, turned backwards to where the noise originated, and witnessed as a werewolf fell down in front of him, with its head nowhere to be seen. Ken calmed down instantly, after thinking that the head must have been blown off.

Cloud appeared before Ken emerging from the crater.

“You should be more mindful of your surroundings Ken, lucky for you I was near and apprehended the monster.” said Cloud, mentally sending his thoughts to Ken, now that Ken is not so occupied he wonders if this was how Granarados communicated with them.

Ken shook his head.

“Thank you Alpha.” said Ken and bowed. Gotta adjust my scythe, thought Ken and adjusted the strap of his scythe on his back.

“Call me Cloud, Ken, apologies for the late introduction.” said Cloud.

“Not at all Alpha, I-I mean Cloud.” Ken paused for a moment. “Wow, that’s feels so unfamiliar for me to say.” Cloud chuckled at his comment, but Ken only smiled at him, a feint blush tinting his cheek.

‘Oh wait, now I remember what happened with my telepathic connection spell, I connected with Allen but got disrupted right after a barrier appeared.’ Ken thought to himself.

‘Seriously, where did your head go to not remember that.’ remarked White.

‘Sorry.’ Ken sprouts a sheepish grin, not knowing that Cloud witnessed it.

“Ken?” asked Cloud, waking Ken up from his trance.

“Yes?” Ken asked.

“You spaced out for a moment, are you okay?” Cloud said and walked towards Ken, pretty close for comfort and started sniffing Ken all over, his alpha instincts kicking in. Ken didn’t mind though, he thought nothing of the matter and just answered…

“I’m okay Alpha Cloud.” Cloud stopped sniffing and looked him in the eye sternly, as if conveying the message of disapproval. Ken scratched the back of his neck and chuckled awkwardly.

“I-I’m… embarrassed to call you by your name Alpha, I-I don’t want to be rude, so…” Ken held both of his hands and appeared small in the Alpha’s eyes despite having witnessed his prowess in combat earlier, he cannot help but succumb to the vulnerability Ken portrays.

The alpha sighed in defeat.

“Alright, I’ll let you call me that way.” Ken smiled widely and bowed.

“Thank you Alpha Cloud.” He said enthusiastically. “Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what was that spell that you used earlier, I didn’t see you use it on our first encounter.” without dropping a beat, Ken asked right away of the things that he was curious about.

This kid really is different. Cloud thought.

“That was a Psychic Spell called ‘Wave Pulse’.” said Cloud, noticing the glint of curiosity and wonder in Ken’s eyes.

“What does it do? I mean yeah I get that it can blow up someone’s head, but is there more to it?” asked Ken, Cloud chuckled in response.

“There’s nothing much, only that I can shoot out a condensed energy of psychic magic and causes that.” said Cloud pointing at the dead werewolf.

“Mm *nod* (thinks for a while) I’m really intrigued of such a spell, and I want to learn it, can you teach me?” asked Ken. Cloud looked around reluctantly.

“I guess I can, but not now.” said Cloud after much debate with himself.

“Yay! I can hardly wait.” said Ken jumping while raising his hands. “Anyway, can you please accompany me in clearing out the demon magic lingering around?” asked Ken out of the blue after he finished jumping.

“Uh, sure, but I won’t be much of help.” said Cloud.

“That’s fine, I’ll do them myself.” replied Ken smiling, Cloud nodded along and the two resumed Ken’s work of cleansing out the poisonous magic left in the area by the demon vanguard.

The demon gates leave some of the demon magic in the area it spawns, do those twisted creatures from earlier also left some demon magic? Thought Ken to himself, this time White was silent, for if he confirms Ken’s thought, then what is there left to discover.

As the duo in the distance got to work the people back at where the group was cannot help how deeply contrasting and at the same time complimenting the two are to one another, one exudes power with his stance and build, while the other looked frail if resided with the other along with his quite skinny build, or so it looks like on the outside seeing he’s clothes mostly covered his body.

But the group thinks otherwise. The others who didn’t know Ken, did not know how to address the situation, had mixed feelings, but the question that stuck the most was how nonchalant Ken was, even exposing himself to danger.

Luckily Cloud was there to help him due to him noticing the troubled signals Ken was sending, as an esper wolf, he was sensitive to signals of the brain, and what Ken sent was pretty strong that it alarmed him.

He quietly observed the kid casually using his magic to cleanse the area, he thought to himself how calm and composed Ken was now, in contrast to how chaotic his signals were earlier, Cloud cannot help but think how unexpected this child is.

He kept to himself his contrasting thought of this child who he deemed knows how to think as an adult from distracting him anymore. No matter, this will be revealed to him in due time, he thought.

From time to time he would help Ken dispatch of the remaining small numbers of werewolves and ogres, either by killing them head on or with his abilities, but he’s surprised as he watched Ken cleanse and fight at the same time.

His friends and the rest of the adults had also joined in on the clean up, they helped remodeled the land and the dispatching of the remaining monsters.

“There, I’m done.” Ken observed again at his surroundings and nodded to himself. “Alpha Cloud, I’m sorry to cut this interaction between us short but there’s somewhere I have to be, please tell the others that I’ll be away for a moment.”

Cloud nodded, and without a second to spare Ken waved and jumped to a portal he created leaving Cloud dumbfounded yet again. He shook his head and casually walked to Ken’s group of friends to tell them where he was heading, since that was what Ken asked him to.

After telling them what Ken told him, everyone was confused of the vague message he left, but seconds after Ken was back appearing in front of the group . This kid never fails to amaze me, thought Cloud.

“Where did you go?” asked Allen.

“I went back to the first gate I closed and checked if there were demon magic remnants, I saw some and cleansed them, then came back here.” replied Ken.

“O-kay…?” said Glen. Ken just chuckled it off.

*BOOM!!!*

“HUH?” thought everyone, wind suddenly blew at the group once and beside Ken now was Lyn, Lorna, Alfred, and Erick who appeared out of nowhere clad in their battle outfit.

“Mama, papa, what are you guys doing here? Together with aunt Lorna and uncle Erick.” said Ken. His parents look were unreadable to Ken, as he was most accustomed to their cheerful and nonchalant side, and now, they almost look tense and alert.

Ken looked at his aunt and uncle for a second and found the same unreadable expression on them, only, they look sad.

“Our village has been destroyed.” Everyone stared at Alfred in shock, the others who were not that close to the humans just sprouted confused expressions. Ken took a deep breath.

“Why papa? What happened.” he asked.

“Monsters suddenly flooded the village without warning, slaughtering everyone in an instant, save for us who escaped, it all happened moments ago.” Gasps rang around everyone including Ken.

“All of your friends?” Ken asked. The four adults nodded. Ken felt even more heavy at the news that even those people and friends he’d made at their village were killed, wait he hasn’t asked about his friends.

“What about the children, our friends.” said Ken, desperation laced in his voice. Alfred shook his head. Ken felt tears forming on the corner of his eyes, even though he didn’t really get to bond with them that much but they were their playmates when they were but a child.

Ken sucked in a breath, exhaled, and two tears streamed down his face. The couple felt even worse for their child, they know how much their child values bonds formed with other people.

Right now they feel remorse for themselves of how bad of a parent they are for not easing the pain of their child.

“Ma, Pa, what where the monsters that killed them.” asked Ken his calm tone greatly contrasting the emotion raging in his eyes, the sound even carried out a certain chill to the surrounding beasts and people, but not to those Ken is close with.

They already know that this was one of the phases Ken delves into when he’s seething with anger and has no conduit to take it out on. Alfred complied and said…

“They look to be wolves but were standing on two feet, a monster we like to call werewolves in our country, along with ogres.” The information confirmed Ken’s speculation, making his anger flare as the air around him sparked with a purple-blueish color for a moment, leaving a wisp of his raw mana.

Ken was about to walk out and assault the location but looking into the eyes of his mother and father, he knew then and there that they were grieving too, and he saw pain in their eyes seeing him act this way.

“I’m sorry mama, papa, for scaring you two.”Ken hugged his parents, barely reaching the chest height of his father as his father was tall, while he reached neck height of his mother.

Despite Ken being just a child, Alfred and Lyn never thought that they would be consoled by their own child, and having gotten used to in the past, their reaction had been natural to hug their son back.

“I knew how much those people meant to you both, I’m sorry.” Alfred and Lyn’s tears flowed profusely at the statement, reminding them of the years that flew by with those people of the village they had shared with.

But this would be a story for another day.

They are more than grateful to have an understanding and sympathetic son, who they not only treat as their own child, but someone of equal terms, it’s weird but they felt like they could be like so since the three of them share similar traits in responsibility and mind processing.

Ken’s parents genuinely felt like they didn’t have to be that much of an overbearing parent since they know that their child is more than capable enough to take care of himself, this may be a side-effect of the prophecy and its regulations or something else.

Nonetheless, they would not abandon their responsibility as parents to Ken.

Ken broke from the hug and wiped the tears falling down the cheeks of his parents, Alfred, a manly man breaking into tears had always been a sight to behold, everyone would feel awkward at being in his position, but he is not.

Lyn thought otherwise, as she loves this side of her husband, the soft vulnerable side that he mostly shows to his family. Others who doesn’t know of their family background felt at a loss of the scene, but they respect them nonetheless.

They could also feel how strong these two individuals are, along with the other two, a question popped into their minds.

“Ma, Pa, were you not able to help everyone at the village?” asked Ken, there goes their question.

“No, we weren’t able to, for when we arrived there, everyone was slaughtered, your mother and I were out collecting herbs for the village doctor along with your aunt and uncle, today was supposed to be a leisure day,

But when we came back, the village was destroyed, no one was left but their corpses lying scattered all over the ground, and we saw those monsters tearing into them. We struck down any monster we could and came flying to find you.” explained Lyn.

Ken nodded.

“Are there any more monsters left on the village?” asked Ken.

“As far as we know, there might be, for before we left, there were some that emerged from the trees.” replied Alfred. Ken nodded again. Right now it was sharing information time, a moment the three had become accustomed to.

They would share relevant information within one another and work together to solve a particular problem if any came up in their discussion.

“What about our house?” asked Ken.

“We’ve hidden it with illusion magic, but it will only be a matter of time before it will be found out.” said Lyn. Ken was about to ask more of his concerns when Lyn beat him to it. “And don’t worry about our things, I’ve stored them in a storage ring,

Other than losing our people in the village, their things were still intact, Erick and Lorna was able to pack up most their stuff too.” Ken nodded, he touched his chin and hugged his body entering into deep thought. A thought struck him.

“Are the magical beasts of the northern village warned of this?” asked Ken.

“They already are.” A voice said from out of nowhere, and from the trees came out Vin and Kel, it was Vin who talked.

“Father, Mother.” exclaimed Celine and went to hug her parents.

“Excuse me uncle, I apologize if this would be rude, but how were you able to inform them?” asked Ken, walking to Celine’s parents, Alfred and Lyn had now calmed down.

“We had one of our scouts report to us of what happened to your village, and had sent our entire tribe to the northern village to warn them of what is to come, a plan we had just in case of a certain calamity befalling this valley.” said Vin, that caught the ear of many listeners.

“Pardon me for asking, but don’t Tribes people prefer to stay on their place and defend their homeland?” asked Princess Lang, genuinely curious. Vin noticing the curiosity this young girl has didn’t take offense of her question and said…

“We do defend our homeland, anywhere here is our homeland, but faults of the past has taught us that there is strength in numbers, so we’re going with this plan to repel those demons.” Celine cannot help but be confused of the word demon -along with Wilbert-.

She looked at Ken and gave him a questioning look, Ken just smiled at her and nodded, indicating that he’ll explain those things to her later.

“Come we best be on our way to the northern village they’ll be expecting us there.” said Kel to the group and turned to the leaders of the animal beasts or those that are present thereof.

“Greetings your majesty and Alphas, we humbly request your assistance to aid us in defending the Northern Forest.” she said, bowing to the three. The three took a glance at one another and nodded.

“We’ll help, but we will need a plan.” said Raze, Kel nodded and the four went into discussion, later joined in by Coralia, Trunk, and Vin.

Allen gathered his group in a circle with the initial command to await orders. Ken noticing that Wilbert hasn’t approached his parents, was concerned, so he went to Wilbert’s side and said…

“Go to your parents, I know you want to be with them right now.” Wilbert looked at Ken in the eyes, unsure of what to say.

“Don’t worry too much Wil, just, be there for them. It’s a tough time for everyone, but by being there for each other will make things lighter for you and for them.” Wilbert nodded slowly, reluctance evident in his eyes. Ken just smiled and nodded at him.

Eventually Wilbert went to his parents, had a talk with them, and bonded as a family, even if they’re in tears, but just flat out sentimental, which was nice considering all that has been happening.

Ken observed in glee of the outcome, now he only has to worry about other people now, namely, his leader, a royal, a spirit, two twins, and a giant.

Moments right after, the adults had finished their discussion for as Alfred, Lyn, Erick, and Lorna had joined in on the discussion minutes later, made the conversation run smoothly as Alfred and Lyn had interconnected their minds with an arcane spell that had let them process and share their thoughts faster.

“Alright everyone, we shall move out, Alfred and Lyn here will share to you the plan we have come up with.” said Raze, Alfred and Lyn summoned a magic circle together in front of them and chanted…

“Arcane Magic: Information Access.” a purple light passed through everyone including the regular soldiers and warriors of the animal beasts, giving them information of the plan the adults and leaders had conjured.

Raze took the time to let the information seep into their brains.

“Let’s move out!” shouted Raze, and there, the group was in motion, in formation, and had long strong strides moving towards the northern village, everyone was determined, for they were given information they never thought would be viable even for them.

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