Tharic's stomach started to feel uneasy as he heard more of the silence of the forest after the gust of wind he had just felt.
"Why do I feel so sick all of a sudden…"
He looked over in the direction of Pinehollow. "Please be safe…mother…"
Tharic grabbed his spear and quickly made his way toward Pinehollow as fast as he could. By the time he made it back, the dark night had started to fall over the sky even more, and the thought of the farmers' market only grew stronger in his mind. Tharic felt bad that he was coming home late…and, more importantly, scared that she had gone out by herself.
Tharic immediately went to his house and opened the front door, calling out for his mother, but there was no response. The only other place she could be was the farmers' market. Without hesitation, Tharic made his way over to the market as fast as humanly possible.
When he got there, he found many villagers sad and depressed, with one boy even crying, tears soaking into his shirt.
Tharic went over to the boy first, kneeling to ask, "Is everything alright?"
The boy sniffled. "Oh my god…you're finally here! They took…they took your mother!"
Tharic's worst nightmare came true right before his eyes. He frantically asked the boy, "They?! Who was it? Where did they go? Tell me everything, kid!"
The boy wiped his tears. "South, those aether hunters went."
Tharic stood up, tightening his right hand into a fist until blood started to spill. "They will pay…"
He then looked over at the boy. "Thank you. I will rescue her."
The boy nodded. "Please do…rescue her back. We all need her!"
Tharic nodded and, without a second to spare, headed south of Pinehollow in search of his mother.
"Damn it all…please let her be safe…"
Tharic ran deep into the forest south of Pinehollow for minutes but couldn't find a single clue that might help. He looked around, examining every single little thing around him until suddenly, he found a couple of blood marks on a tree trunk. The blood drops seemed to be heading east of where he was. Without a second doubt, Tharic started to follow the blood trail in hopes of finding something that would lead to his mother.
As he kept running, he could hear his mother screaming in pain, louder and louder.
"SHIT, DON'T TELL ME I'M LATE!!" worriedly thought Tharic.
Tharic arrived at the scene, standing there in shock, watching two aether hunters toy with his mother. One aether hunter, wearing a wooden mask with red paint in random spots, was holding her by the hair while the other was digging a knife deeper into her arm. Marcel's spear was on the ground as well.
"At long last, we have finally got to you," slyly said the masked aether hunter.
"For too long you and yours have gotten away with killing our ranks and creating such a meaningful revolt. No longer shall we suffer your nonsense."
"With the village fire gone, we don't have to worry about any revolution happening soon. Which means more aether for us!" gleefully said the other aether hunter.
"The spark…will never die!" said Marcel, breathing heavily. "Even if you kill me, there will be others who will stand up to fight for what's right!"
The masked aether hunter cackled. "Let them stand up. Let them have something to do in life, and we will let them have fun for a bit. And then…we will destroy their hope like we have done with you!"
"Why do this?" asked Marcel. "What is the point? You all were our fellow citizens once. Why destroy our beautiful country and any hope of a future?"
The masked aether smiled under his mask. "Future? Destroy? Of course, that's what you lot think of us. But mark my words in the end, it will be us that saves Sylmora from her wretched future!"
"SAVE?!" shouted Marcel, before getting stabbed in the same spot with the knife.
"Yes, you heard me correctly. And we will accomplish our goal, no matter what it takes. But people like you, who-"
"WAIT!" screamed Tharic from afar, his eyes bulging in shock and horror at what he was witnessing.
"Let go of my mother, please!" Tharic pleaded.
"Tharic, what are you…" his mother said, unable to believe her son was right in front of her to save her.
"If it isn't the village boy," teased the masked aether hunter, looking in his direction, his red eyes glowing through the mask's eye holes.
"I must say, your presence with your mother made it more difficult over the last several years for us to get to her effectively. But once we saw you leave, I knew I had to personally come and finish off matters that have been going on for far too long."
"The Pinehollow revolt has been a pain in the ass for us aether hunters, but with your leader's death, that hope shall soon fade away as people sit there patiently in despair, never to raise arms against us again!"
Tharic, tightening his fist, shouted, "Why you!"
Wind Technique: Gale Step!
Using every ounce of strength available, Tharic used aether to quickly push off the ground and rush at both aether hunters.
The maskless hunter quickly drew his sword to defend; however, it was too late. By the time he drew it, Tharic kicked him square in the chest, sending him flying several meters back.
Tharic then looked over at the masked hunter, tightly gripping his spear to make an attack.
The masked hunter smiled, throwing Marcel to the ground as hard as possible before grabbing Tharic's spear with his right hand.
"Ugh!" grunted Tharic.
"What a valiant effort," slyly said the masked aether hunter.
Tharic tried to pull the spear back, but to no avail; the masked hunter's grip was too strong for him to regain control.
"You're so weak, it's pointless to keep trying."
The masked man then tightened his left hand and, in a quick second, slammed it into Tharic's stomach before letting go of the spear, making Tharic stumble backward with his weapon in hand.
Tharic got up slowly, breathing heavily, holding onto his spear for dear life.
The masked man shook his head. "Are you going to fight until you die? You have no chance of winning against us."
Wind Technique: Gale Step!
Once more, Tharic burst off the ground, this time bouncing from tree to tree, faster and faster, making his movements harder to track.
"What the—" said the masked aether hunter, looking around, trying to follow him.
Tharic leapt high above, his spear in his arms, ready to attack from above.
As he made direct eye contact with his opponent, the air around the masked hunter stiffened as he grew more serious.
"Let me respect this kid's effort with an ounce of mine."
The red eyes inside his mask locked onto Tharic's.
Stone Technique: Stone Gaze!
Suddenly, Tharic couldn't move. His body was completely paralyzed as he fell hard to the ground.
"It's as if he immobilized the aether in my body to the point where I couldn't move!"
The other hunter, who had been tossed aside, slowly began walking back to the scene.
"My, you definitely caught me off guard with your technique right there, kid."
He then suddenly felt the masked aether's presence grow heavier, more intense.
"Lord Ivance…to see him use his power in battle is rare…"
The hunter then turned his head toward Tharic. "To think you actually pulled this out of him—something most people can't."
The maskless hunter laughed. "Amazing, I can see why all our weaker men have failed to kill you!"
Ivance turned to him. "Grab her spear. Throw it on my signal. We'll show our appreciation for all his hard work."
The maskless hunter smiled and nodded, grabbing Marcel's spear from the ground.
Tharic slowly got up, more shaken than before. Blood covered his body, along with cuts and bruises from the battle.
"Let go…of my mother…please!"
Ivance looked at him. "You can't fight any longer. Run now, and we'll spare your life. Don't waste your time here."
Tharic gripped his spear tightly and pointed it at Ivance. "Never!"
He once again began to gather as much aether as he could beneath his feet, preparing to use his technique once more.
"Tch, my aether is running low. This is the last one I can do. I must make it count!"
"You're wasting your time, kid," said Ivance, watching him struggle to form another Gale Step.
Marcel slowly regained consciousness, watching from the ground. She turned toward Tharic and shouted, "Run, Tharic! Please run! Don't worry about me!"
Ivance looked at her. "Look who's awake."
He then turned back to the struggling Tharic. "Watch as we kill your foolish son before your very eyes."
The air around Ivance grew heavier, the entire battlefield becoming stiff and cold. A strange, mystic aether filled the air, making even Tharic tremble.
"What is this cold sensation…!" wondered Tharic.
Ivance lightly tapped the ground with his right foot, and suddenly, the air became even colder and more suffocating, to the point where Tharic couldn't move.
"My body…this aether is so ominous!"
The maskless aether hunter couldn't help but shiver, goosebumps rising as Ivance's power spread across the battlefield.
Ivance sternly looked over at him. "It was fun while it lasted. You didn't leave when we told you, and now we will kill you both."
"For the sake of Sylmora, we will not let you be a thorn in our plans any longer. No more revolutions shall happen once we kill you both!" Ivance declared.
He looked back at his subordinate. "Now, kill him!"
Without hesitation, the maskless aether hunter threw the spear toward Tharic's chest.
Marcel, gathering all the strength left in her body, suddenly pushed herself up and ran toward the frozen Tharic.
"Tharic, run!" his mother cried out, rushing toward him.
Ivance looked at her in shock. "What is this? How is she still moving?"
But Tharic stood frozen, his grip loose on his spear, fear rooting him in place as the aether hunter's spear closed in.
KHESHH!
His mother threw herself between them just in time, catching the spear midair. A brief, relieved smile crossed her lips—Tharic was safe. Then, her strength gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
"Mother, no… this can't be…" Tharic thought as he stared in distraught.
He looked down at her. "Please…say something…don't die on me, Mother!"
Alas, there was no response as she lay on the ground quietly.
"She saved us the trouble of killing her," said Ivance. "But now, you kid—you will not leave here alive!"
Suddenly, Marcel's body twitched. She looked up at Tharic, smiling one more time. "My dear Tharic…please don't forget what I told you…"
"MOTHER!" Tharic cried out, falling to his knees beside her. "Don't you dare die here!"
A strong breeze began to swirl across the battlefield.
"What is this?" Ivance questioned, looking around. "The breeze is getting stronger and stronger."
Marcel's body started to glow, as if it were one massive lump of aether.
"Oh no, this is bad!" Ivance thought. "She intends to take us down with her—using her body as a bomb filled with aether!"
"RUN!" screamed Ivance to the maskless aether hunter.
"Huh, but—"
Before the maskless hunter could finish, Ivance cut him off. "This is not the time. That mad woman intends to kill everyone here!"
BOOOOM!!
Marcel's body exploded into a massive tornado of wind, flinging all three of them far away from the battlefield.
"MOTHERRRR!" Tharic cried out as he was hurled through the air.
Tharic was flung all the way back to the outskirts of Pinehollow, while the two aether hunters were blasted in the opposite direction.
"Should we go after him?" asked the maskless hunter as they fell from the sky.
Ivance shook his head. "No. We did what we were supposed to do."
From Tharic's thoughts, as he looked up at the star-filled sky, far from Lostwood Meadows…
"Since that fateful day, our village and I struggled to find hope to keep moving forward. Facing such strong aether hunters, combined with losing my mother the way I did, turned me into the most pessimistic person I had ever become. In my anger and despair, I forgot those conversations with my mother and what she was trying to pass down to me—her will to move forward and strive for a better tomorrow. Even when we lost Ralph and Samuel, she didn't give up; she kept striving forward, while I only kept looking at our losses, becoming more frightened of what was to come."
"But after what I saw, I didn't think our country could be saved anymore. The thought of Kyro trying to do something like that again only made me furious, because it reminded me of the loss of my mother—a kind-hearted soul who had the best intentions, yet fate killed her and let those savages live on while we continued to suffer."
"The version of myself that I am now…my mother is right. She is right to be appalled and ashamed of what I have become. I've turned into a fearful fool who is trying to kill the spark of hope right in front of us. Once, I took pride in helping protect hope reborn…now I've only tried to smother it. If I do that, then I'm betraying Pinehollow, failing as someone who was supposed to guard their hope for a brighter tomorrow."
"How selfish I was…convincing myself I was saving him, when in truth, I was only trying to save myself. To think he was an idiot for letting fear get to him—when I was the one most afraid to even move forward."
Tharic gazed up at the night sky, spotting a bright star shining among the many smaller ones. "I'm sorry, Mother, for the mess I've become these last few months. I promise I will protect your will of hope, the one Kyro now carries, and fight alongside him to bring a brighter tomorrow—not just for Pinehollow, but for all of Sylmora!"
Tharic picked up his spear and began heading quickly back toward Lostwood Meadows, where Kyro awaited.