*AETHERIUS*

"After they convinced me not to go fight, we quickly headed to the chief's large house to take shelter. Damian began giving instructions, 'Children, girls, and the elderly behind. Women at the front, men who will stay to guard the house will stay in front of everyone and some outside, the most capable to stop the Wave until help comes,' he concluded.

Then he left since he was one of those who would stop the Wave. Although I already knew the Wave wouldn't be easy, as each wave is accompanied by a superior or evolved monster, so they would have to wait for the reinforcements.

You could feel the rumble of the monsters' footsteps. Elowen trembled as I held her in my arms. Even though I wasn't scared, I was nervous, as the waves could consist of hundreds or even approaching thousands, and only 30 to 40 yellow or green core mages could stop the wave. But I didn't know the level of this village. After a few minutes, the massacre began.

I could hear the growls of wolves, bears, boars, mandrakes, and even griffins. It could even be heard from a long distance from where we were. The Wave was coming from the west, so we were about 6 days away. We couldn't know what would come since that direction was partly hidden by the mountains, and they would have to go around the village if they wanted to get anywhere.

Two hours passed, and the monsters still didn't cease, so I knew the Wave could consist of hundreds. Suddenly, Damian came through the door saying, 'Prepare for an evacuation towards the bridge; a superior Fenrir is leading them, and they are more than just hundreds.' Upon hearing that, I quickly grabbed Elowen and lifted Evan, Tiara, and Lora. 'Everyone, up! We need to move. Women, grab the youngest children. Men who stayed inside, help the elderly. Children, do not separate from your parents or any adult. We have to leave now,' I shouted at the top of my lungs, knowing that if a Fenrir commanded them, it was dangerous.

Even though they were confused, Jafet entered and shouted, 'You heard the kid, move!' After he shouted it, everyone began doing what I had previously ordered. I carried Elowen, who was terrified, in my arms, grabbed Evan's hand, making him follow me. We all managed to leave, and some of the mages from the village, along with the healing mage, followed us.

Upon exiting, we could see the hundreds of spells being fired by those who stayed behind, fighting against the Wave, and many corpses of monsters piling up behind one another. After running for an hour as we distanced ourselves, I couldn't take it anymore. My instinct as a fighter from my past life kept whispering for me to go and fight, but I knew I couldn't. My body was immature, and I wouldn't be able to handle a long battle.

Something pulled at my mana for the third time, then everything slowed down. The shadow that spoke to me appeared in front of me in a robe with wings behind its back, along with what seemed to be my scythe. It looked like the Grim Reaper itself. 'Take it, child. This time, I will help you. I will lend you my power until the reinforcements arrive and take your place. Take it, and your power will be enhanced along with my magic.'

Then everything returned to normal, and we kept running. I positioned myself next to Damian, who was with us. 'Damian, I need you to take care of my sister. I'm going to help.' Damian turned pale, and Evan, his sister, and mother turned to look at me, even the healing mage.

'You can't go, brother. You'll get hurt. You said you'd be with me, that you wouldn't go fight,' Elowen scolded me, even the other five people said the same thing. 'You're not in a condition to fight, young one. Your arm still hasn't healed,' the healer told me. 'Besides, you're a child. I can't leave you behind. Jafet will kill me if he knows I left you. Come back,' Damian reproached me.

'I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm going, and that's it. After all, I'm not just a kid who knows how to use magic. I also know how to fight, and very well,' I told them determinedly. Even Damian was scared. "You can't, Ther. Please, we won't be able to return to mom and dad together,' I kissed Elowen on the forehead for a few seconds and made her let go of me, giving her to Damian. 'I'm sorry, my girl, but it's not up for discussion. Besides, reinforcements are coming, and I'll only provide support until they arrive". Evan and the others just looked at me as they moved away. Elowen said one last thing to me, "You must come back, Therius. We have to return".

I stopped and took out my scythe, saying, 'I accept.' Suddenly, I felt my mana increase, and my vision improved. I could feel and see all the shadows of everyone, even miles away. I was truly surprised when I felt the shadow of a group of people approaching at a fast speed, but they were too far away. They would take at least an hour to arrive if they were the reinforcements. I could feel my body feeling light as I was still in position, and I noticed that I started to shine. The static clung to my body, and I moved swiftly.

***

*ELOWEN*

It may sound ridiculous, but I remember a few days after I was born very well. The first thing I saw was my tired mother and my father shining with happiness. My mother was breastfeeding me, and my father just watched from afar but happy. I spent most of my time sleeping, and when I slept, I could feel my surroundings, how they moved, talked, I could even feel the mana of anyone who was close to me.

One day I finally met my siblings. Trevor resembled my father a bit. I remember his funny faces he made every time to make me laugh. My sister, Layra, also visited me, and she always told me about how things were outside my room, where my mother, every time she came, would feed me, and my mother's friend, Sonia Cheron, would take care of me while my mother rested after giving birth to me.

Layra told me about a person who was unsociable and didn't care about life, who behaved like an incoherent adult despite still being a baby, but that person was my brother Aetherius. Whenever they visited me, they talked about him, how he behaved, what he said, what he did, or why he did it. They even told me what he looked like, how his purple eyes looked, and his pale reddish hair like my mother's and his skin even inherited my mother's, which is why he seemed to be the favorite.

But the reason was different because he was different. He seemed like a pervert whenever a woman approached him and he drooled, he didn't care much about his family since he always seemed distant, although they didn't hate him or speak ill of him.

He always seemed like a different person until one night when we should all be sleeping, I woke up to a loud sound and the whole house was in chaos, everyone was running whether they were moving away or closer, I couldn't tell, a loud scream echoed almost throughout the house.

I had to rely on my senses until I saw that it was my brother Aetherius, who had some kind of trouble with his mana which was still "filling up" causing his whole body to ache and his core to waver, apparently his pain was so much that his voice sounded throughout the house, it seemed to have his voice wrapped in mana.

My mother cried seeing my brother scream in pain that even her healing magic didn't work on him, perhaps his still premature core was damaged to the point that the mana entering it destabilized, even my father who was of the air element tried pouring his magic into him to see if he could do something but it didn't work, so my mother had the idea of using her element, her healing magic and my father his wind magic.

They were with my brother for almost 6 hours, still pouring their mana into him until he finally stopped screaming or writhing in pain, everyone said it was a divine miracle that he didn't die from the pain, my parents collapsed from their endless struggle to keep my brother alive. In the afternoon of the same day my brother had his attack of pain, my parents got up from bed after replenishing their mana and went back to pouring their magic into him, now faster they were able to stabilize him, after verifying that everything was fine they returned to their room to sleep again.

After a couple of hours Aetherius woke up calling for our parents, who were watching behind the door that was behind my parents when they arrived at the call of my brother, everyone was amazed when they saw my brother throw himself happily towards my parents, embracing them with a love he never showed towards them before.