The brothers slept through the rest of the night.
Cassandra woke up and coughed. "I'm alive," she muttered. She slowly stood up and limped into the depths of The Sacred Forest.
In the next morning, the sun steadily rose, and Pepe was gone, too.
Stark, unaware, woke up in the middle of a field with a cold sweat. His chest heaved, and his eyes opened wide. "What a dream," he exclaimed. He slowly breathed normally and listened to the wilderness of The Sacred Forest.
The grass prickled his skin.
"This isn't my bed. Where am I," Stark questioned and sat up. He looked around. His face was covered in bruises.
Hafen and Matteo slept nearby. They were massively injured.
"Ow, everything hurts! Did we sleep outside? What happened," Stark asked and ached. He yawned. His shoulders relaxed, and he commented, "I don't really remember my nightmare. What was it about? It felt surreal." He stood up and gazed around at the barren landscape.
An apple tree, which his mother helped him and his brothers plant when he barely learned how to walk, piqued his interest.
Stark approached it and reluctantly explained to himself, "This apple tree should be by our house." Standing by the trunk, he reached down and grabbed a dropped apple. He ate it and glanced back in the direction of his home. Suddenly, he remembered a little of his nightmare, and he was bewildered. Receiving a slight headache, he grasped his head, and his eyes widened. "It did not feel like a nightmare. It felt real," he noted, and his face darkened. "Did our home burn down? Are mom and dad really dead," he sought to know. "No, it can't be. They have to be somewhere around here," he insisted. He paced around and frantically searched for the house.
Meanwhile, Matteo, asleep, had a weird dream.
Their house was set on fire by two mysterious figures. They had a cloak on with an interesting drawing of an eye on the back. One with short hair and the other one with long curly hair. They had also killed his parents. It was The Exalted One and Sabre.
Just then, multiple images of unrecognizable events flashed in his mind. Everything seemed strange and unfamiliar.
Matteo gasped in shock. His mind was overwhelmed.
In a sudden dim of darkness, a humanoid wretched monster groaned in anger and lunged at him.
Matteo stepped back and shrieked. His back bumped into something metallic.
A clank echoed. Another humanoid monster with red eyes stood behind him and glared down at him.
Almost instantly, a strange salty liquid swept and engulfed the three of them.
Matteo submerged into an endless pit and drowned. He reached for the sky as if there even was one.
In a rapid motion, an unknown monster bumped its head against his torso.
Air bubbles escaped out of Matteo's mouth, and he struggled to breathe. His lungs were full of the salty liquid, and he gagged with discomfort.
There were a lot of fish monsters around him. With fins, they swam by and towards the surface of the salty liquid.
At the surface, lights sporadically emitted, and molten rock sunk.
In a panic, Matteo had difficulty breathing. He flailed around and attempted to swim.
"Matteo. Move," a voice called out.
Matteo turned around, and his eyes opened impossibly wide.
A giant monster emerged from the deep and dark water. Its large mouth with large teeth almost consumed him.
Behind it, Hafen and Stark drowned.
The monster's energy flowed through the three kids and protected them, allowing them to breathe.
Confused, Matteo wheezed and took a deep breath. He could not comprehend what he was seeing. In a sudden flash of light, he floated in the cloudy sky.
The Sacred Forest, with more people and monsters than usual, appeared under him. They rallied and prepared to fight.
"I was supposed to be a hero of the world, old friend. Because of you, the world now sees me as an evil monster," a stern voice echoed in his mind.
A feminine cloaked figure, with grey hair, transformed in a giant burst of energy.
Matteo plundered from the sky, and he screamed. He closed his eyes and made a strained expression.
A cloaked figure leaped and caught him. He held a staff and landed on a tree branch.
Matteo opened his eyes and looked at his insignia of an eye. He yelped and pushed off him. He plummeted to the ground and crashed into a cloud of smoke.
The smoke cleared.
The Exalted One stood before him and laughed maniacally. "Fate has brought us together once more," he remarked and sneered with delight and madness. Eerily tilting his head, he lunged at him with his long sword.
Matteo braced himself, and he was knocked back.
Sounds of the wilderness resonated in the background.
Matteo now stood in a vast and giant forest known as a jungle.
A feathered cloaked figure soared around the trees and towards him with a piercing glare. He cawed loudly and laughed.
Matteo scurried away through the jungle. "You won't eat me," he exclaimed. The hair on his neck and arms bristled. He glanced down at his hand. He held a strange blue orb. He ran as fast as he could and lost sight of his pursuer. He sighed in relief.
A masked, armored cloaked figure waited for him. "Hand it over," he turned and threatened. He wore a frightening mask with tusks.
Matteo leaned back and whimpered, "Scary dude." He swallowed with a loud click, and a drop of sweat trickled down his temple.
The scary cloaked figure lunged at him with bad intentions.
Matteo screamed in horror. His eyes almost popped out of his skull.
The scary cloaked figure loomed closer and faded away. He reappeared next to him.
Instantaneously, Matteo found himself in a scorching and arid desert. He sweated profusely and panted. He wiped his forehead and squinted around at the barren battlefield.
Two armies of knights faced each other.
Standing in front, Matteo was a leader of one of them.
On the other side, a muscular cloaked figure sneered and raised his claymore, absorbing the surrounding energy. His army braced behind him.
"It's so hot," Matteo whined and slouched.
After that, a lone figure stood on a rainy grassland with Matteo and a few others. He wore strange clothes. He unsheathed his sword and mercilessly glared at Matteo.
Matteo stumbled back in fear.
"Who will win this grand tournament," a voice announced.
The world around him changed once again.
"What's going on? When will this end," Matteo managed to mumble. His mind was tired and forced into a frenzy. Transported to a huge, majestic temple in the sky, he stared up at a humongous glowing tree in amazement.
An old and honed figure awaited by the entrance of it. He had a look of disappointment.
"I managed to kill my sibling. I guess I didn't need your training, geezer. Get out of my way, Matteo," a voice, behind Matteo, remarked with anger.
In a city, an odd vehicle, an airship, flew through the sky and blasted the city away in a blink of an eye.
Engulfed, Matteo screamed in anguish.
"Look at what you've done to us! You ruined our lives! You'll pay," a voice threatened.
"Do you love me," a feminine voice inquired.
Matteo shivered and opened his eyes to an icy cold tundra.
A castle was in the distance, and a blizzard blew.
Sabre paced towards him with a menacing stare. "Since you survived the outside world for so long, let's see how much stronger you've grown," he challenged and grinned widely.
Matteo rubbed his arms and trembled in place. "It's so cold," he complained. "Leave me alone," he demanded with a shout.
Sabre stopped and became serious. He raised and flexed his fist, emanating energy.
The ground trembled. It cracked apart tremendously and quaked.
Matteo gasped and lost his balance. He looked down, and his eyes widened.
The icy ground changed, and a portal appeared under him.
Matteo fell through and yelled.
The images continued and overloaded his mind.
After a while, everything was quiet.
The Exalted One appeared again and turned to him.
In the next moment, Matteo jolted awake. He gasped for air and screamed. Sweating, his face was pale, and he teared up with a pout. Then, he wiped away his tears and sniffled. He sat up and noticed Stark.
"Dad! Mom! Where are you," Stark called out and paced around the ruined farm.
Matteo crawled towards Hafen. He was going to wake him up, but he already was.
Smoke had burnt a portion of the canopy.
Hafen laid on the dirt and stared towards the cloudy sky.
"Hafen," Matteo whimpered and looked down on him. His tear fell on his brother's forehead.
Hafen glanced at him. "Did you see it, too," he asked.
"See what," Matteo inquired to clarify.
"Did you have the same nightmare," Hafen questioned.
"I did have a nightmare," Matteo replied with a nod.
At the same time, Stark realized his brothers were awake. "Hafen! Matteo! Help me find mom and dad. I already found mom's headband," he suggested loudly and walked towards them. He waved but stopped when he saw Matteo crying. "What's wrong," he queried.
Hafen slowly sat up. He surveyed, "Did you not have a nightmare, Stark?"
"What do you mean," Stark asked.
"Our house burned down. The Exalted One and Sabre killed our parents, and Matteo and I had a strange dream about it," Hafen elaborated.
At that moment, Stark remembered the complete nightmare. He looked at his brothers in pure shock. He broke down and sobbed. "I can't believe it's true. Mom and dad are dead," he exclaimed.
Matteo nodded and cried, as well.
Stark fell on his knees and slammed his fist down to the ground. He looked at the red headband in his hand. Devastated, he tightly clutched it and realized that it was the only thing left behind by his mom. His mother was dead. His father was dead. They were alone. He sat and mourned.
Matteo hugged his legs and cried.
Hafen furrowed his brows and stared at the ground. He took a deep breath.
Stark put the red headband on and wiped his tears. His eyes were wide with determination and fury. With a scowl, he stood up and mustered, "We must find the cloaked figures. I cannot forgive them. We will get our revenge."
"You want to confront them," Matteo stammered and gulped.
With a nod, Hafen agreed with Stark. "It's justice, and I'm certain that dream was not just a nightmare."
"What else could it be," Matteo questioned.
"It was more like a vision," Hafen elaborated.
Matteo was intrigued and curious. He blinked and asked, "What's a vision?"
"We were shown something in the future that we shouldn't be able to see. In other words, we have to avenge our foster parents, or those cloaked figures will bring catastrophe to the world," Hafen explained.
Matteo gasped in realization.
Stark sternly asserted, "We will have to go to the outside world to find the bad guys."
"We're not ready to face them," Hafen pointed out and frowned.
Stark stretched. He winced in pain and affirmed, "You're right. I was easily beaten."
"We need to get stronger," Matteo remarked.
Stark, Matteo, and Hafen looked towards the sky. Their home was no more, and their parents were dead. They accepted it as a fact.
Under a clear blue sky, the trees rustled, and the wind blew over the barren field.
Stark sighed and proclaimed, "We have to leave The Sacred Forest to move forward. We need to go to the outside world to get stronger."
Just then, Pepe reached them from the path and greeted, "Hey, you're awake."
The Fisher Family, once a happy family, was extinguished of their peace.
The three young, adopted sons were orphans once again. They witnessed how fast things could change and how nothing was promised. They must cling to each other and their own strength.
This was the cruel and cold reality of the world.
Now, Stark, Hafen, and Matteo saw it, firsthand, and sought to face the future with their own hands.