"Then I moved through the woods in the darkness of the night and bam—"
August watched Shelly as she kept going on and on about her imaginary tale. He was enduring this mental torture for about an hour now.
Biting onto the snacks he looked at her with bored expression,
"You know all that didn't happen right? Or are you just believing your own lies now?"
Shelly stopped speaking as she looked at him dramatically,
"Oh it is true. It's very true. Believe me."
"Believe you? Really?" He turned his gaze away from her. "You want me to believe that in the dark night the monsters abducted you from your house and then they took you away from your father. Is that right?"
Shelly nodded at him, "yep! You're going in the right direction."
August heaved a sigh,
"...and they wanted you and only you because they mistook you for their queen. Then they made you sit on a tall throne and served you fruits and berries right?"
Shelly raised a brow, "that's right but maybe you have misheard me there."
"Oh thank Gods," August let out a sigh of relief thinking if she had doubted her own story then maybe she's not a complete lost cause.
Not yet at least.
However, at the very next moment Shelly proved him wrong as she said,
"You said they mistook me for the queen but they did not. Don't misunderstand little brother. They knew exactly who I was."
Saying that she stood up slowly, spreading her arms as she closed her eyes for a more dramatic effect,
"....They knew I was their queen."
She turned to August as she slowly opened her eyes,
"...and it was the truth."
August stayed silent, his face carrying no expression. Like a blank slate.
Back at the west gate, the flames on the corpses had already died down.
Valerius and Sophia stood beside each other talking to the woman in mist.
Painfully so, but her body was reforming itself slowly from the mist. She groaned while she listened to Sophia.
"So you're telling us that this new creature leader is after our son? But why did she want a five year old anyway?" Sophia's words sounded afraid.
"...you misunderstand my lady, not only Queen Monarch but almost every creature leader would be after your son as he takes even a step outside Aurelion's barrier …and that's because."
"Mark of the unknown," it was Valerius who had answered this time, causing both his wife and mist woman to look at him. He contemplated his words for a moment then spoke again,
"That strange old man at the festival, he told me our son bears the mark. He warned me giving two choices, that I should either take our son's life or do what I must as a father. I guess I know what the second choice means now. The reasoning is pretty clear.."
He turned his gaze towards the darkness,
"...gods are playing their ugly games again. They want either me to kill my child or someone else will do the job for me. I had suspicions but now I am sure. The arachnid attacking our town and now this mysterious creature Queen sends her soldiers to hurt August—it's all related, not a coincidence."
Sophia heard her husband's words but something felt amiss to her,
"...but the Monarch's soldiers didn't try to hurt our son. They tried to capture him, and that means?"
The mist woman raised a brow,
"Exactly, but this doesn't make any sense. Unless the Monarch too bears the mark."
Valerius' eyes shone with recognition as he finally understood the truth behind all this.
As the name implies on itself— no one in the world knew who or what the unknown was.
However they knew two things, that being marked by such an entity was a bad omen and that the marks of the unknown attract each other.
However there was still a question in his mind,
"...if Monarch bears the mark then it's understandable but why did you say every other creature would also be after him?"
The woman in the mist looked Valerius straight in eyes,
"Are you saying that the mighty lord Valerius didn't recall the voice of the gods? About what they refer to the unknown as?"
"They call them the unwanted star, in ancient language Myrrhen aka voice of the gods."
It was Sophia this time who had spoken absent-mindedly.
The mist woman gave a subtle nod,
"Precisely, my lady. The unwanted star, the being of misfortune, the dark omen itself. There are countless other titles as well—"
"Get to the point already," Valerius interrupted her sentence with a raging tone.
"An unwanted star translates as the one who shouldn't have existed in the first place. So by simple reasoning whenever a fragment of the unknown appears nature tries its best to make sure it remains out of existence."
The woman spoke hesitantly,
"...and in this matter you could probably assume who that fragment of the unwanted happens to be."
"It's our son," Sophia's breath hitched, her footsteps faltering.
Valerius on the other hand stood silent for a while then responded looking at the mist woman,
"You know what kind of dangers are lurking out there and you still want us to put our faith in your traitor words—do you really think we will let our five year old walk by himself out there? Who do you think we are …a couple of fools?"
The mist woman slowly nodded in agreement,
"I get why you couldn't trust me. But please believe me this is the only way your child could live a much less painful life."
She turned to Sophia with a confident attitude,
"After years of thought, I've found this way. Right now, August is very young indeed. So we have some time …rather years for preparation. And he won't be alone. Since I can conceal my presence, I will personally accompany him so you don't have to worry about his interaction with echoes."
A complicated expression appeared on her face,
"However, you have to teach him how to defend himself because I can only protect him from one threat at a time. As for Monarch, she's out of range or really good at hiding her presence from me. Either way, she won't cause any trouble. The forest still answers to me."
Valerius shook his head,
"...even if everything works out as you're saying, what about other creatures attacking August? He can learn to defend himself but truth be told he's not a mage, he can't fight the dangers lurking in there. And there's no way those flesh hunting monsters won't sense the mark of the unknown."
Sophia spoke immediately after her husband,
"...I say the plan is perfect. The only addition is that one of us joins him in this journey. Surely having his mother or father close will help him out there. And I am ready to go, it will also lessen my worries. What do you say?"
Valerius also turned to look at the mist woman,
"...that is what I call a perfect plan. What do you say? Agreed? Unless of course you weren't up to something this whole time. You won't be putting up an act to hurt our son now will you?"
The woman however did not respond but stared back at him, blankly. Her lips curling up in a faint smile.
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