?


    Hannah gently patted his shoulder and gestured that they talk inside. Cygnus nodded as he followed behind the woman. They returned to the hut and sat down on the bamboo seats that were in there. ra jumped down from the woman''s embrace and went to pour them water before she bid them goodbye and left to y with her friends.


    "My husband and I found you and your sister in the forest while we were hunting and foraging for herbs and edible greeneries. You were soaked in blood that we thought you were actually dead. Luckily you still had a pulse and your sister was just unconscious." Hannah exined how they found them.


    Cygnus nodded but his hands were tightly clenching his pants. "Thank you for saving us." He mumbled but the woman still heard and it made her smile.


    Hannah reached out and gently patted the boy''s hand. Cygnus looked up and saw the smiling face of the woman. His tears fell down at the memory of his smiling mother even in that situation. Hannah immediately gathered the boy in her hands andforted him.


    She did not know what happened to them but based on what she observed on ra and the boy''s reaction, it must have been something that was traumatic. ra would have this sad look on her face whenever the woman would try to ask what happened to them. She would also m up and wouldn''t speak for a day once the topic was shifted to what ra experienced.


    "It''s alright you can take your time. You and your sister are safe here. You can stay in this ce as long as you want." Hannah whispered to the boy who couldn''t stop the tears from falling down.


    From that day forward, ra and Cygnus lived in that ce called Amarilyo. They lived amongst the people of that ce and learned of their culture. It was very different from the city where they first lived. There were no cities in that ce, only viges and towns. There were no kingdoms and people were living peacefully on their own.


    There were conflicts but most of it would be easily resolved. Cygnus also learned that a ce called Lunaira did not exist in that ce. He was confused at first but he started to ept that they were already far away from that ce. He became content in seeing his sister living a happy and simple life.


    As the days passed, he got used to how they lived in that ce. He also got acquainted with their belief of gods. They offer to the gods and in return the gods would provide them with prosperity and protection. It has been like that ever since Hannah could remember.


    Their devotion awed and made Cygnus apprehensive at the same time but as the years went on, he too tried to believe in them. In the blink of an eye, Cygnus was now eighteen years old and his sister ra just turned sixteen. A grand celebration was hosted by Hannah and her husband when Cygnus turned eighteen and a grander celebration was dedicated to ra''s sixteenth birthday.


    They were drunk in joy that what happened next caught them by surprise. Viges and towns believed in different gods and it was often the cause of small scuffles between these viges and towns. It never came to mind that raids such as what happened to them were being carried out by devotees of the god opposite to them.


    That day, Cygnus was out with the hunters as they were hunting for food for the uing winter. They went further than usual so they could hunt more and store food that couldst them the entire cold season. They hunted a lot but all of it became useless as they found Amarilyo in ashes.


    The huts and the flower fields were burned to the ground. Dead bodies were scattered on the ground and most of them were of the vigers. Cygnus returned to their dwelling and found that it was also burned and that ra was nowhere to be found.


    Hannah was found as she was already on herst breath. "They took the children and ra. You-you must save them. The gods are watching, you must save them." These were herst words as she drew herst breath.


    They buried all the dead and ran after the perpetrators who destroyed their vige and killed their family members. Each man was filled with the burning desire for revenge. It took them five days to finally catch up to them. They managed to track them down and find their hide-out.


    It was a temple in the middle of nowhere. The journey to that ce was not easy as they did not take the usual path to conceal their presence and traces. It was in a ce that at first nce could be said to be uninhabited. Along the way, they also heard that that ce was a ce of no return.


    The hunters weren''t fazed by what they heard as they continued with their journey. They lost too much that they couldn''t wait to tear those people piece by piece. Cygnus looked at the direction of their hide-out with his fists tightly clenched.


    ''ra wait for me! I will definitely save you!'' He closed his eyes and uttered a prayer to the heavens where the gods were believed to be dwelling. He did not truly believe them but if they were truly listening to the people then he hoped that his fervent prayer would be answered.


    They reached the temple and with Cygnus''s magic, they managed to infiltrate the ce without being detected. They navigated through the path that the perpetrators took until they reached a hidden space below the temple. There were almost no guards in that ce as most of them were above.


    One reason might be because they were confident that their hide-out won''t be breached by anyone. It was this confidence that would eventually bring them down. The space had a path that goes straight and each side of the path were cells that held their prisoners. The path and the prison cells were carved from the earth that was already there.


    The ce was a bit damp and the smell of earth was overpowered by the smell of decaying flesh. They couldn''t pinpoint where the smell wasing but their main priority was to look for the captured kids. They took that chance to check each cell and saw that the people in each cell were already wasting away.


    This was a sign that they weren''t fed nor taken care of but who would even think of feeding and taking care of their prisoners. They also noticed that the prisoners were mostly children and teens between the ages of fourteen to eighteen based on their body builds. The warriors were already halfway through the path when they finally saw familiar faces.


    Cygnus easily destroyed the lock that was keeping the cell locked and the warriors immediately entered to check on them. All of them were fine aside from the minor injuries and bruises on their bodies. Cygnus looked at the group but he did not find ra.


    His heart started to beat loud inside his chest. He did not want to think about it but the absence of his sister amongst the group made it impossible for him to rx. "Where is ra? Where is my sister?" His voice echoed in that dark and scary ce as the children looked his way.


    "They took her. We tried to stop them but they were powerful. You need to save her." One of them answered and this sprang Cygnus into action.


    The warriors stood and stopped him but Cygnus was already gone. He followed the path without looking back until he reached a wider space at the end of the path. In the middle of that space was a high tform and a figure was lying on it. He could clearly see the blood that was flowing down from the tform.