"We're just asking who you guys are and what kingdom you are all from. So please calm d…."
"Kyaaaahhhh!!!"
The green-eyed man tried again but their peaceful time was soon interrupted when the rider of the horse where Irene is earlier suddenly flopped down, an arrow pierced his head in just one shot.
The silver snow was soon filled with red blood coming out of his head. "Take cover!", everyone immediately ran towards the trees and places where they can hide.
"Oh my god!", Irene screamed as the riders of the horses where Ran and Earl were earlier slumped down with arrows on their back.
"This is pissing me off!"
"No Natsu! You'll burn the whole forest!"
"Then what do you want me to do?!"
"Tsk, I'll take care of it", and there everyone witnessed how the familiar wind who distracted the soldiers earlier appeared after the man with light blue eyes flicked his finger. But, Akiel noticed something since she's sitting beside him.
As the simple wind soon turned into a big hurricane, the man's face went paler and he started to pant and sweat a lot. Because she's busy looking at him, she never notice a middle sized rock flying on her way caused by the strong hurricane.
"Watch out!", as she finally look ahead of her, she was suddenly wrapped in the arms of a person and was pushed down the ground. She closed on the process.
"Akihiro! Hey! Are you okay?!"
Akiel soon heard a shout and opened her eyes. On top of her is the man with light blue eyes, he is also looking at her with his arms wrapped around her.
"You okay?", he asked in a serious tone. She nodded slowly, still processing everything. He helped her sit up before looking at the wind and moving his hand. The hurricane started to disappear little by little, and soldiers fell from the air into the soft snow, unconscious.
"Is everyone safe?", they all looked at each other. The only remaining ones are the group, and 3 of the 6 men who saved them earlier.
"Just because of a freakin ambush we lost 3 people, fck!"
"Natsuoki, shut it for a moment, let's go find some place safe first"
The group look at each other before looking at the 2 guys helping the light blue-eyed man to stand and walk. He looks like he's drained. "What should we do now?", Gwyn asked. They're all still hesitating when Akiel stood up.
"I….I was saved twice by those people, well, technically, by that man. I guess, I can trust him…them for now", she then looked at all of them. Angela stood up next and held her best friend's hands.
"I'll go with them too. This place is still unknown to us. We can't ask help from other people because people here seemed to be different from the people where we came from. In short, we can't survive here just by ourselves, so it's better to go with them for now"
As the girl finished explaining Ran, Earl, Irene, and Gwyn looked at each other and soon nodded. "Let's go?", as Akiel held Angela's outstretched arm, she was soon dragged by the girl towards the 3 men.
"Um!", the 3 stopped walking and looked at the 2 girls. "T-thank you for saving us!", Akiel bowed together with Angela and they can also see the others behind them bowing.
"It's okay. For now, let's all go to a safer place", they all walked for a bit more and finally found a waterfall. They all sat down near the waterfall. Everyone was exhausted, mentally and physically.
"So, would you all mind introducing yourselves now?", the group all look at the 3 men waiting for a reply from all of them. But, even though still hesitating, Angela stepped up first.
"My name is Angela Montez, I'm 18 years old", Angela has black eyes and mid-length wavy black hair, she's at least 5'3 ft tall.
"Umm, I'm Akiel Montezalco, I'm 18 as well", Akiel on the other hand has black eyes but has long wavy black hair, she's 5'0 ft tall, the shortest one out of all of them unexpectedly and the only one wearing eyeglasses that for some reason, miraculously survived everything.
Next to the two girls, a boy with unusual color of hair and eyes stood up to introduce himself next. "I'm Ran Ariz Cortez, I'm 19", Ran is the oldest one in the group. He has ocean blue eyes and unusual dark blue, almost black, hair. He's 6'0 ft tall.
The 3 men stared at Ran intently because of his hair. Ran who noticed this explained it to them, "I don't know why I have this hair and eye color because even I have no idea who my real parents are, because I'm adopted"
All of them, not only the 3 unknown men, showed a look of surprise to the revelation he told them. "Umm, are we supposed to hear this secret?", Akiel asked cautiously but Ran just patted her head in assurance, "It's not like I'm hiding this. It's just that, people never asked me for some reason"
'Yeah, because you're very anti-social before and you look scary', the group thought while the 3 unknown guys just looked at them curiously, not really knowing what they're all talking about.
"O…kay, so I'm next I guess", Gwyn tried to erase the awkwardness surrounding them and thus, suggested herself to go introduce next. "I'm Gwyneth Garcia, I'm also 19", Gwyn has hazel brown eyes and mid length straight black hair. She's also 5'3 ft tall.
Gwyn looked at the person sitting next to her. She nodded to Earl as he sigh before standing up, introducing himself next after his sister. "Earl Garcia, I'm 19. I'm her older twin brother, yeah we're fraternal twins", Earl has the same black hair as his sister, but, in contrast to Gwyn's hazel brown eyes that she acquired from her mother, Earl has his father's black eyes instead. He's 5' 10 ft tall.
Everyone then looked at the last person from the group as she stood up. "I'm Irene Ford, I'm 18 years old, nice to meet you all", Irene is the youngest in the group but she's the tallest one in all 4 girls of the group at the height of 5' 6 ft. She has long straight blonde hair and dark blue eyes.
The 3 men looked at them then looked at each other. The first one who stood up is the one who always insisted for them to introduce themselves. "I'm Harutora, I'm 21 years old. I'm a healer from the Spring Kingdom", Harutora, who rode his horse with Angela earlier, has emerald green eyes and hazel brown hair. He's 5' 11 ft tall and is wearing clothes that have the color combination of black with brown and green.
The group looked puzzled but was unable to ask questions when the next one stood up immediately to introduce himself next. "Natsuoki, vice general of the Summer Kingdom troops. I'm 19", Natsuoki is the one who rode a horse with Gwyn earlier. He has black hair and hazel brown eyes similar to Gwyn. He's 6'0 ft tall and is wearing black pants with white upper clothes and a red cloth tied on his left arm. He's also wearing armor but only on his shoulders ad they're silver not the metallic bluish ones that the soldiers wore before.
The curiosity grew because of his introduction but they let the last man introduce himself first before asking questions. "General Akihiro of Autumn Kingdom Knights. I'm 20", Akihiro is the man who rode his horse with Akiel earlier. He has dark brown hair and icy blue/ sky blue/ light blue eyes. He's 6'0 ft tall and is wearing black pants and outfit with colors purple and white present on them and a fur located on his right shoulder.
Everyone was done introducing themselves, and thus, questions came next. "So, you only introduce yourselves by stating your name and age, but from what kingdom did you all came from?", Haru asked the group.
They all look at each other, Gwyn was the one who stepped up for them and asked back, "Ummm, excuse me, what do you mean Kingdom?", the 3 gentleman looked at Gwyn like she just grew 2 more heads.
"What do you mean what kingdom?", Natsu asked, his expression showed how weirded out he is. "Ummm, what she means is, we don't really know where we were so we can't answer your question about kingdoms", this time, Angela was the one who answered.
"Huh? What do you mean where you guys are? You're obviously still in Sirthyna. We're currently in the border of Winter Kingdom and Spring Kingdom, two of the kingdoms here in Sirthyna together with Summer Kingdom and Autumn Kingdom", Haru answered her.
The group finally lost it. "We're not in 'Earth'?", Irene asked, emphasizing the Earth to them. "What country is Sirthyna?", even Earl can't help but ask. "Names of Kingdoms from the name of the seasons?", even Ran chimed in.
"Earth? Country?"
Akiel sighed as she saw how messy things have become, and thus, "Okay, can we all please stop for a while?! One question at a time!", she shouted. They all looked at her then stopped.
"Okay, so, what country is Sirthyna?", the 3 men looked at the serious face of Akiel. "Country? What's that? Sirthyna is not a 'country' it's just Sirthyna", Natsu answered her.
"Okay, let's change the question. What land comes after Sirthyna?", she asked again. The 3 looked at each other and this time Haru answered, "Huh? None, it's just Sirthyna", and that's how they were able to confirm a lot of things. But for confirmation, Akiel asked one last question.
"Do you know what Earth is? Are we still on Earth?", but the 3 just looked at her innocently. That confirms it.
"Sirthyna is not a country, it's a world", Akiel concluded. "Okay, that's crazy, you're joking right?", but Irene immediately shut her mouth up when she saw the serious face of not only Akiel but Angela, Gwyn, Ran, and even Earl who all look like they all reached the same conclusion.
They all tried calming themselves first, and then Ran asked them another question. "So, are Summer, Autumn, Spring, and Winter the only kingdoms here in Sirthyna?", the 3 nodded at him. "So that means if Sirthyna is the 'Earth' here, then the countries or should I say, continents of this place are those Kingdoms", Ran explained to the group.
"Then, may we know now which Kingdom you guys came from?", Akihiro asked this time. They all look at each other, and while grasping each other's clothes/hand/arms, they looked at them as Ran told them the answer.
"We….we didn't come from any of those kingdoms. Actually…", he breathe in and out before continuing. "Actually, we didn't come from Sirthyn at all. We're not from this place, we're not from this 'world'", the 3 looked at them.
"Are you all mocking us?", Natsu immediately stood up with a frown on his face. "No, no were not", they all saw how serious the faces of the group looks and thus kept quiet.
"I think they need an explanation", Akiel whispered to Ran; he nodded at her and look at the 3 men. "Okay, this might sound insane to you all, but, the thing is….", and Ran started telling the 3 what happen to them.
While the 3 listened to them, the group just kept their head down. This is an unknown world, they might be killed here easily if they were found out to be freaks and unknowns of this world, but, they might also get killed if they find them suspicious specially if lying, so the best for them now is to gain trust from these 3 gentlemen. That's the best they can do in their situation for now in order to find help in going back home.
After a few minutes passed, Ran finally stopped. Silence filled the whole place. But not until they heard hoofs coming their way. They all shot up in surprise. The 3 men from Sirthyna looked at each other. Akihiro looked at Natsu and nodded.
Natsu let out a whistle and second later, the Akiel and the other's eyes all widen after seeing a creature they never thought they'll ever see in their entire lives. "T-t-t-t-that's a freakin DRAGON!", Earl shouted. They're all still gaping at the fiery big dragon (his snout is the size of a human), both Haru and Hiro whistled as well. But, they can all hear the difference between the whistle Natsu, Haru, and Hiro all let out.
And in a second, a gigantic white lion with pure white wings bigger than them appeared together with a gigantic white wolf with shining blue marks on its body, larger than former, appeared too.
"Climb up!", Gwyn immediately looked up to Natsu above her. He's riding the dragon that they just saw earlier. He's reaching out his hands to her. "W-w-what?! You mean ride?! Ride there?!", Gwyn who was surprised by the sudden idea
"Hurry and climb up! We need to flee!", Natsu shouted at her again. The others looked at the 3 men. Haru rode on the winged lion while Hiro rode on the wolf one. "Hurry up sis", Earl tried to compose himself and then helped Gwyn reach out to Natsu.
When she was able to climb on to the dragon, they helped Irene next before Earl climbed on it too. "Come on Angela", Haru helped Angela up to lion while Ran helped Akiel ride on the wolf where Hiro is.
Then they helped Ran ride on the dragon of Natsu. Hiro and Haru's lion and wolf can only carry at most 3 people while Natsu who on a humongous dragon can carry at least 8 people including him.
"We'll buy you guys some more time, Natsu, throw a fireball!", as Natsu did what Hiro told him. The dragon and the lion both started flying to the sky. "Be careful General!", and with one last shout from Haru, they all escaped first.
As the fireball caused a small fire on the trees in the winter part of the forest, Akihiro prepared himself as they soon saw soldiers coming from a distance. "There they are!", the soldiers on horses called out. "Hold on tight on my waist", Hiro instructed Akiel as the latter did what was told. He moved his hand and later on, the wind started to get stronger, and thus strengthening the fire as well. It created a barrier that stopped the soldiers from progressing more.
"Looks like we still need to shake them off some more before going back to the base"
"How are you sure they can follow us here?", Angela questioned as they all entered an old structures gate, and by the looks of it, it's a temple. They entered the gate but was surprised to see that the two people they left earlier are now busy starting a bon fire in the middle of the ground.
"H-how?! We got here first!", Haru and Natsu, together with Hiro and Akiel just laugh at the shocked face of the others.
"Wolf Spirits…oh, you don't know those, ummm…that wolf they rode earlier, we call them 'Wolf Spirits' they're creatures who helped the people from the Autumn Kingdom. While the 'Winged Lions' helps the people from the Spring Kingdom, which is where we are now. 'Dragons' helps the people of the Summer Kingdom, and finally, 'Ice Unicorns' helps the people from the Winter Kingdom", Haru explained.
"Then why didn't they help you guys earlier when you were surrounded by enemies and are being cornered while in the battle?", Earl asked.
"They're busy fighting the Ice Unicorns from the Winter Kingdom"
"You mean Dragons, Wolf Spirits, and Winged Lions are all stuck facing only the Ice Unicorns?"
The 3 men look at each other. Natsu sighed and finally told them one of the most heartbreaking things that were caused by the war they're facing.
"Yeah, they're outnumbered by just the number of Ice Unicorns. You see, these creatures can only be tamed by strong and rightful people that will serve as their masters. Respective creatures can only be tamed by people from the kingdom where they came from. They help the people survive from danger and attacks from outsiders. But, when the queen of the Winter Kingdom, QUEEN KORI, instigated a war to rule over the whole Sirthyna, she first started her plan with hunting down the cretures from the our kingdoms, and thus, they're almost extinct now. And that's also one of the reasons why we never bring them out that much"
The group became silent after the long explanation Natsu added. But then, another question arose from Angela's mind. She looks at the 3 and asked,
"How were they able to kill strong creatures like that easily?"
"Well, one of the reasons they can kill those creatures is if they gang up on them. As you all have noticed earlier, Akihiro who came from the Autumn Kingdom can create or manipulate the wind, I who came from Spring Kingdom can manipulate nature, Natsu here can manipulate and create fire, and Winter Kingdom citizens can create and manipulate ice. We can use these talents but it'll take a lot of strength from us, depending on what we do. But, it also helped winter citizens to hunt them down"
They all nodded but then, Akiel asked another question.
"But there are so many of them, besides that, there are 3 kinds of creatures, so you can't just say that they ganged up on them and was able to hunt them all down. Besides that, what are the 'outsiders'?"
The 3 boys look at Akiel seriously; Akihiro sighed and came close to her.
"Well, talents are just one of the causes of how they were able to execute that plan, but there is also another one. You asked us what 'outsiders' are, right? Outsiders are people who didn't come from this world, they came from other worlds, that's why we've doubted you guys a bit earlier", the group was shocked the revelation they heard. But they continued listening to Akihiro.
"4 years ago, outsiders from what they call 'Mars' came to this world, they stayed here for so long, in the Winter Kingdom to be precise, and they brought tools from their world when they came here. And these outsiders….the tools they brought, were used in hunting the creatures down"