The air around them had changed. What had been a gentle, healing breeze carrying the sweet scent of blooming flowers and the soft chiming of moon spirits now felt heavy and watchful.
Dave tugged anxiously on Lucius's cloak, his small voice filled with worry. "Brother Lucius…? What's the matter?"
Lucius didn't answer right away. His hand moved almost on its own, resting protectively on the boy's narrow shoulder as a wave of tension rippled through his exhausted body. He could feel something dark and dangerous lingering just beyond the trees, something that had nothing to do with the defeated Heart.
The peaceful moment they had earned after the long, brutal battle was about to shatter.
Captain Harlan noticed Lucius's sudden stop and turned around, his face growing serious. "Everything alright, lad?"
Lucius narrowed his eyes, carefully scanning the dense trees and shadows behind them. "I don't know… but I feel something. Like unseen eyes are watching our every move."
Dave's small hand tightened its grip on Lucius's cloak, his fingers trembling slightly. "Is it the Heart again? I thought we had beaten it for good."
Lucius shook his head slowly, his voice low and uneasy. "No… this feels different. More human."
Harlan's expression hardened with grim resolve. He raised a hand to signal the crew to stop, then quietly drew his cutlass, its blade glinting faintly in the sunlight. "Stay alert, everyone. Spread out just a little, but remain close. If trouble comes, we will face it together."
The group continued forward, but the light-hearted, celebratory atmosphere that had surrounded them since the forest's healing had completely vanished. Every step now felt heavier, more cautious, as if the very air had grown thick with unspoken danger. Lucius kept one protective hand firmly on Dave's shoulder while the other hovered near the hilt of his sword, ready to summon its glowing power at the slightest sign of threat.
They had taken only a few more careful steps when a faint, sharp snap echoed from the trees to their left, the unmistakable sound of a dry twig breaking beneath a careful foot.
Lucius spun toward the noise, his body tensing. "Who's there?"
Only silence answered him.
Then another sound came, this time from the right. A soft but deliberate rustle of leaves, too controlled to be caused by the wind.
Harlan cursed quietly under his breath. "We're surrounded."
Dave pressed himself even closer to Lucius, his small body trembling with fear. "Brother Lucius… I'm scared."
Lucius knelt quickly so he was at eye level with the frightened boy. He placed both hands gently but firmly on Dave's shoulders and looked directly into his wide eyes, his voice steady despite the growing danger. "Listen to me, Dave. No matter what happens next, stay close to me. I won't let anything happen to you. Do you understand?"
Dave nodded, tears beginning to glisten in his eyes, but he tried his best to be brave. "Together… right?"
Lucius offered him a small, reassuring smile. "Together. Always."
Before anyone could speak another word, shadows stirred between the trees.
Armed men in dark cloaks emerged silently, moving with the practised grace of hunters. They formed a loose but threatening circle around the weary crew. At the front stood a tall, scarred man with cold, calculating eyes and a cruel smile playing on his lips.
"Well, well," the man called out, his voice dripping with mockery and dark amusement. "The fifth hero and his little brother. Quite the touching family moment you shared back there with the forest. Too bad it all ends here."
Lucius straightened up immediately, pushing Dave gently but firmly behind him as his glowing silver-and-black sword materialised in his hand with a soft, humming glow. "Who are you? I've never seen you before. What do you want from us?"
The man released a low, mocking laugh. He tilted his head slightly, studying Lucius with clear enjoyment. "You really don't know? How pathetic. My name is Zon. I serve Lord Dox — the true hero of this world. While the King proudly posted a 500,000 gold bounty for the 'useless fifth hero,' it was Lord Dox who still gave you mercy by wanting you alive. He has been watching your every move since the very day you were summoned as the fifth mistake. He sees the immense, dangerous power of the curse you stole from monsters. lord Dox is the only one who can help you in this world."
Zon's gaze slowly slid over to Dave, his expression shifting into something cold and vicious.
"But first, we must remove any weakness. Like that little boy clinging desperately to your cloak, the sole survivor of the village you destroyed. Kill the kid first, or we should help you, then you can join Lord Dox, and we will protect you from even the King. Once Lucius is forced to watch his precious 'little brother' die right in front of him, he will shatter. Then we take what remains of him back to Lord Dox." Zon thought.
Dave's breath caught sharply in his throat. His small hand clutched Lucius's cloak even tighter, his fingers trembling with raw fear.
Lucius's eyes darkened with burning anger. "You touch him, and I'll end every last one of you."
Zon's smile widened cruelly. He raised his arm with deliberate slowness.
Tch, you refuse Lord Dox's Help, you are beyond saving.
"Attack!"
His men surged forward like a pack of hungry wolves, weapons drawn, swords glinting menacingly in the sunlight, axes raised high, and crossbows loaded with deadly precision. The once-peaceful forest that had only moments ago been filled with healing light and gentle birdsong now erupted into brutal chaos.
Lucius reacted instantly. His glowing silver-and-black sword hummed to life in his hand as he pushed Dave firmly behind him. "Stay back!" he shouted, his voice strained with exhaustion.
The first attacker lunged at him with savage force. Lucius parried the blow, but the moment steel met steel, the fragile dam inside him shattered completely.
During the long, desperate battle against the Heart, the shadow had somehow held the overwhelming pain and weakness at bay. Now that the Heart was defeated, that suppression vanished. The suppressed exhaustion and agony crashed over him with triple the intensity, like a violent tidal wave that had been building for too long.
A savage wave of pain exploded through every muscle and nerve in his body. His head felt as though it was being split open from within. His vision blurred violently at the edges. The deep exhaustion he had fought so hard to ignore during the fight with the Heart now overwhelmed him, turning his limbs into heavy, unresponsive weights.
Lucius staggered, barely managing to block the next savage strike. His arms felt like they were made of lead, each swing of his sword sending fresh, burning spikes of pain shooting through his shoulders and back.
"Brother Lucius!" Dave cried out in pure terror from behind him, his small voice cutting through the chaos like a knife.
A burly attacker broke through the crew's thinning line and charged straight at Dave with a raised axe, his eyes filled with murderous intent. Lucius saw the danger through a haze of pain and dizziness. With a desperate, guttural roar, he threw himself in front of the boy. His sword met the descending axe with a deafening clang. The brutal impact nearly knocked him off his feet, sending fresh waves of agony ripping through his battered body.
The pain doubled again, burning like liquid fire spreading through his veins. His knees buckled dangerously. He barely remained upright, forced to use his sword as a crutch to keep from collapsing. Black spots danced wildly across his vision, threatening to swallow him whole.
"You… won't… touch him…" Lucius gasped, his breathing shallow and desperate, each word costing him precious strength.
Zon watched the scene from the edge of the fight, his laughter ringing out cold and mocking. "Look at him. The great fifth hero is already falling apart. He can barely stand on his own two feet! Finish the boy first!"
Two more men broke through the crew's weakening defence and rushed toward Dave with deadly purpose. Lucius staggered forward, swinging his sword with everything he had left. He managed to cut one attacker across the chest, but the second man's blade grazed his arm, drawing a fresh line of bright red blood.
The new wound burned like acid poured directly into his flesh. The tripled pain from the long-suppressed exhaustion now returned with merciless force, making his sword arm shake violently. His legs trembled uncontrollably. He dropped heavily to one knee, using his glowing sword to prop himself up as the world spun sickeningly around him.
Everything was spinning. His eyelids grew impossibly heavy. He could feel consciousness slipping away like sand through his fingers, ready to pull him under at any moment.
One of the attackers raised his sword high, aiming straight for Dave's small, vulnerable form.
Lucius lunged forward with the very last fragments of his strength, shoving the boy roughly out of harm's way. The attacker's blade sliced across his own shoulder instead, cutting deep. Fresh blood soaked through his clothes in an instant. The overwhelming pain became blinding, white-hot and all-consuming. Lucius collapsed onto his hands and knees, his body convulsing as wave after wave of agony crashed over him.
The glowing sword slipped from his weakening fingers and dissolved into faint light. His arms trembled violently as he tried desperately to push himself back up, but his body had nothing left to give.
"Stay… away… from him…" he whispered hoarsely, his voice barely more than a broken breath.
Dave dropped to his knees beside Lucius, sobbing uncontrollably. "Brother Lucius! Please don't close your eyes! Please stay with me!"
Zon's laughter echoed cruelly over the chaos. "Pathetic. He's finished. Finish them both."
The attackers closed in tighter, their weapons raised for the killing blow.
Lucius's head dropped forward heavily. His breathing grew dangerously shallow and uneven. The world around him began to fade into darkness. He fought with every last ounce of willpower to stay awake, but the tripled exhaustion and pain were simply too much.
The shadow inside him stirred one final time.
It didn't help, which puzzled Lucius.
It simply watched everything unfold: the blood soaking the ground, the raw fear in the boy's eyes, the desperate sobs tearing from Dave's throat, and the crew's hopeless, fading struggle. A cold, satisfied smirk spread across its unseen face.
Unknown to Lucius was that the shadow had only helped last time because it couldn't bear to see its successor, its vessel, be overtaken by that heart; it had disrupted its plan, but a human can do anything, so it watched.
How fragile they all are, it thought with dark amusement. How easily they break.
Then it retreated deeper into the shadows, offering nothing, leaving Lucius completely defenceless.
Lucius's eyes fluttered shut. His body went limp as he collapsed fully onto the forest floor, unconscious, pale and covered in blood.
Dave let out a heart-wrenching cry. "Brother Lucius!"
Harlan and the surviving crew fought with the last of their strength, but they were being steadily overwhelmed. One attacker broke through the line and kicked Dave hard in the side, sending the small boy tumbling across the dirt. Dave curled up on the ground, clutching his bleeding arm and crying silently in pain.
Zon stepped forward slowly, savouring the moment of victory. He looked down at Lucius's unconscious, bloodied form with cold satisfaction.
"Enough," he ordered. "The boy will bleed out soon enough anyway. We don't need him. Take the fifth hero."
Two of his strongest men grabbed Lucius under the arms and began dragging his limp body away from Dave. Lucius didn't stir. His head lolled forward, face deathly pale, breathing shallow and irregular. The tripled exhaustion and pain had completely overwhelmed him; he was completely unconscious, utterly defenceless.
Dave's eyes flew open in horror. "No! Don't take him! Brother Lucius!"
He tried to crawl after them, his injured arm leaving a trail of blood on the ground. The pain made him gasp, but he kept moving, reaching out with his good hand.
"Give him back! Please! He's my brother!"
One of Zon's men kicked Dave hard again, sending the boy rolling. Dave curled up tightly, sobbing quietly as blood continued to flow from his wound.
"Stay down, brat," the man growled. "You're lucky we're leaving you alive at all."
Zon gave one last glance at the broken scene before turning away.
"Move out. We have what Lord Dox wanted."
The attackers retreated swiftly into the trees, carrying Lucius's limp body between them like a prize.
Dave watched helplessly as the only person he had left in the world was taken away. His small voice cracked into a broken whisper.
"Brother Lucius… hold on… I'm coming for you…"
The surviving crew stood in heavy silence, battered, bleeding, and defeated.
The beautiful victory they had won against the Heart had lasted only a few precious minutes.
Now, the real nightmare had truly begun.