Aiden could hear the duke's quick running footsteps outside as he lay motionless underneath the bed.
He had no idea whose room this was.
It might have been someone's bedroom.
It might have been a random guest room.
What Aiden did know was that he would very much like to live another day.
It had started out so innocently.
They had been given training weapons that, without class buffs, could only ever do a single point of damage. Combined with the bracelets the duke had given them, which allowed them to regenerate HP over time, Aiden had foolishly felt hope.
This could be educational.
This could help him improve his skills.
Instead, he had watched Jax get slammed through a wall with a single swing, fall unconscious, then wake back up because of the healing.
Selene had taken a swing and managed to do four damage before getting knocked out herself.
What made it worse was that the duke was casually talking the entire time, as if this were a regular afternoon stroll.
They had all bolted for the door and made it back into the house.
The duke had followed.
Aiden glanced across the room to where Jax was lying underneath a dresser.
The door creaked open.
Then came a terrifying voice.
"I know at least one of you is in here. I have nine kids. You think I'm not a champion hide-and-seek player?"
Jax and Aiden silently looked at each other.
Aiden's eyes slowly panned to Jax's tail, which was sticking out slightly from beneath the dresser.
A hand shot down like lightning and grabbed it.
Jax screamed.
"REMEMBER MEEEE!"
He was dragged out so quickly that Aiden barely saw it happen.
A loud thwack echoed through the hall, followed by what sounded like Jax crashing down the hallway.
"You know," a voice said from beside Aiden, "for someone who is seemingly so adamant about getting better with a spear, you sure are hiding quite a bit."
Aiden slowly turned.
His entire body shook from fear.
The duke was lying on the floor next to him, head resting on his palm as he grinned.
Aiden did not remember the impact.
He did, however, wake up midway through crashing through the window he had been launched toward.
Below him, he could see the duchess speaking with Kaelen, Liora, and Thalia.
Kaelen looked resolute, like he understood there was no saving Aiden now.
Liora and Thalia looked surprised and horrified.
Aiden bounced several times across the cobblestones before somehow jumping to his feet in a sprint.
"This isn't training!" he yelled. "It's a slaughter!"
He leapt over a bush, only to hear breaking glass above him.
The duke landed with a loud boom.
In his hand was Jax, held by the scruff of his neck.
"Hey, hey, check it out," the duke said. "I call this one... Wolf Chucks."
He grabbed Jax by the tail and started spinning him around his body.
Jax screamed, his voice stretching and warping with every spin.
Aiden saw Selene on the second floor, looking out the window in horror.
He shakily readied his spear.
The duke's eyebrows rose.
"Confident in your friend's durability?"
Aiden gulped.
Then he nodded.
Jax, who was still being swung around, seemed to disagree.
"No! No, he's not! I am very fragile! Very fragile!"
The duke did not seem to listen.
He swung Jax toward Aiden.
If Aiden had more skill with a spear, he might have been able to do a light deflection.
Unfortunately, he was still very much new to this.
So instead, he had to retaliate with full force.
Each time Jax came flying toward him, Aiden struck back, blocking the wolf's path before he could slam directly into his body.
Each time, Jax let out a pained yelp.
Each time, Aiden could only say, "I'm sorry!"
His muscles ached.
Part of it came from hiding and running for over an hour.
The rest came from the sudden movements that demanded every bit of speed he could muster.
None of it helped the fatigue dragging at his body.
He could barely keep up as it was.
Even that was only because of Accel Thought and Will stepping in every other second to twist his spear toward something Aiden had missed.
Then the duke swung Jax in a wide arc.
Aiden tried to intercept.
To his surprise, Jax was closer than he should have been.
The duke had thrown him.
Aiden and Jax both went flying backward and landed hard on the cobblestones, bruised and aching.
The duke, seeming satisfied, turned toward the window where Selene was already sprinting away.
He jumped what must have been twenty feet into the air, flew back through the window, and sprinted after her.
"My... everything is broken," Jax wheezed, twitching on the ground.
A moment later, Kaelen, Liora, Thalia, and the duchess came over.
"Um, guys," Liora said slowly, looking them over like she was inspecting damaged equipment, "you good?"
"No," Aiden said. "Jax just got used as a set of nunchucks, I got launched out of a window, and—"
He was cut off by another sound of breaking glass.
Aiden continued.
"And I'm pretty sure that was Selene getting thrown. We have been playing some morbid game of hide-and-seek where the penalty for being found is unconsciousness, only for these stupid bracelets to wake us up again so the cycle can repeat."
He sat up with an annoyed look on his face.
The duchess gave a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.
She seemed to mumble something under her breath, but Aiden was too distracted by the strange sound of someone screaming.
He looked up.
Above the duke's house was a figure flying through the air, waving their arms frantically.
Worse still, they looked like Selene.
But that would imply she had been launched hundreds of feet upward.
And only someone like...
The duke.
Oh fuck.
Aiden jumped to his feet and tried to position himself underneath Selene.
Thalia turned, forming a set of strings in three layers. Each layer snapped as Selene hit it, but they slowed her descent.
Aiden held out his arms to catch her.
Selene landed.
His knees almost buckled.
Every joint in his body popped at once.
His cheeks puffed out as he tried not to scream, and a strange sound like a deflating balloon escaped his lips.
He gently lowered Selene down.
Then he fell backward.
Kaelen quickly chanted a prayer and healed Jax, Selene, and Aiden.
They remained lying on the cobblestones.
Whatever fear of impoliteness they had held when they first entered the estate had been washed away by the beating they had received over the past hour.
Aiden glanced over at Jax and Selene from where he was lying.
"I have no idea how you all do it," he said. "This hurts like hell."
Jax and Selene glanced at each other.
Then they shrugged.
They heard the swift approach of the duke.
All three of them sat up and started to scramble.
The duchess held out a hand.
Green energy flowed forward, coalescing into a large wooden mallet made of vines and leaves.
The mallet swung down on the duke, who seemed none the wiser.
It landed with a loud crash.
The duke was now lying face down in the dirt.
He sat up with a timid look.
The duchess turned to her husband with a sharp expression.
"How many windows did you break?"
The duke stammered.
Then he looked to the others.
Kaelen, Liora, and Thalia seemed uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, in that moment, Aiden, Jax, and Selene would have worn Duchess Therindor merchandise if they could.
"I mean, a few happened to break," the duke said, "but it wasn't my intention to—"
The duchess pulled a small handheld mirror from her pocket and ran her finger along the rim.
"This is Emerelda Therindor. I am ordering that Alvin Therindor's weapon supply be confiscated for the span of one week."
The duke looked horrified.
He turned to Aiden, Jax, and Selene with pleading eyes.
All three of them gave him innocent smiles.
Then they started talking loudly.
"I-I got thrown through four windows," Selene said. "How about you, Aiden?"
"I only went through three," Aiden said, "but I believe Jax holds the record here."
"Of course," Jax said. "I went through seven windows. And let us not forget how much furniture and other things were broken as he chased us, swinging a sword through the hallways."
Jax gave a solemn nod.
"I mean, think of the wallpaper."
The duke paled.
He slowly turned to look at his wife.
Emerelda seemed to be emanating what Aiden could only assume was killing intent, and it grew stronger with every described damage.
She walked over to the duke and grabbed him by the back of his collar.
"Let's go assess the damage together, shall we?"
Several veins bulged on the duchess's face as she began dragging him away.
The duke gave them a sheepishly pleading expression as he disappeared after her.
"Man," Jax said, laying back down and resting his chin on the ground. "Karma's a bitch, but today she's beautiful."
Aiden joined him on the ground.
Selene turned to the others.
"S-So what were you all doing while we were being hunted?"
They looked between each other.
Kaelen shrugged.
"Mom said they are hosting a party to commemorate my return in two weeks. Even my fiancée will be there."
Aiden, Jax, and Selene glanced at each other, not entirely sure how to respond.
They remembered Kaelen's story.
How he had fled from his home.
And his fiancée.
Liora crossed her arms and spoke next.
"Worse still, we are part of that party as a bit of a spectacle."
Selene let out a tired sigh, apparently already knowing what that meant.
Aiden and Kaelen exchanged confused glances.
"And that means?" Aiden asked.
Thalia rolled her eyes and looked at him.
"Do you or Jax know anything about ballroom dancing? Because if not, our next two weeks are going to be dance drills with instructors that Kaelen says are rather... particular."
Aiden and Jax slowly turned to each other.
"Do you think if we beg," Jax asked, "the duke may go back to just chasing us down instead?"
Aiden shrugged.
"Worth a shot."