This means war

John ran into the temple, finding his girlfriend and her parents standing near each other, Cynthia’s eyes red as she wiped the last tears from her cheeks. Arnold gently patted her back, kissing her forehead as he reassured her, John being able to pick up the last part of the sentence. “... can’t kill me, I’m too dadly for it.”

Cynthia groaned in spite of her tears, shaking her head with a sigh. “Alright, alright. I’m calm, Dad, no need to add **** to the list today.” She sniffled softly but smiled again soon after, Arnold sweetly rubbing her head as Miranda kissed her cheek.

“Don’t worry, dear, if your old man got himself killed, I would chase him all the way to the halls of Hades to kick his ass,” Miranda sagely told Cynthia, causing Arnold to let out an awkward laugh and, when his eyes spotted John, gratefully took the opportunity to change the topic.

“Ah, John, how are you doing?” Arnold asked as he waved the guy over, his eyes begging him to help him out here.

“I mean, I’m sad that one of your friends got killed and worried about Cyn?” John replied honestly, looking at Cynthia as he spoke the latter half of his sentence, opening his arms which the girl gracefully slipped inside of, embracing her geek boyfriend and nuzzling into his chest.

“Yeah… we did not expect this; the mercs seemed to be a bunch of uppity amateurs; we didn’t think they would… you know, pull something like this,” Miranda started. “Mind you, we have dealt with amateurs before; some magical groups carrying the same thoughts as PETA, they come, kick up a fuss, get beaten down and leave us to do what we do. But none of them have ever been as vile as these ones. John, they carved her up and hung her dismembered corpse from a tree, in our own hunting ground. They put her on display. They wanted us to find her and witness their savagery.” Miranda started to fume again.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” John asked as he kissed Cynthia’s neck, his fingers combing through her hair as the girl whispered: “I love you,” into his ear.

“Well, in fact, you can. We know of a certain man living in the forest barrier, and we think that he might be able to tell us what happened. I want you, Arnold and Cynthia to go there and talk to him. He’s not a hostile guy, so don’t worry; he’s a bit odd, is all. A hermit if you will.”

Arnold asked with a concerned tone, “What will you be doing, my love?”

“Me? I will call a war council; I’m going to the Gjoskenholms after we send off Charlene’s remains. We still have allies around these places, some by choice, some by contract. It’s time we remind them that we helped them when they needed us.”

John was surprised by the feeling of power Miranda exuded now; there was a primal power inside of her that made him feel a sense of tension. “Are you sure it’s wise to go alone?” John asked, not wanting his girlfriend to actually lose a parent today.

“Who said I was going alone, John? I’m taking Jonassn with me. Now, if there is nothing else, I have a few more rituals to perform. I need you three to leave right away, the sooner we know which of their bastards did this, the sooner we will be able to start looking for them. Dismissed!” With those words, Miranda turned around and walked into one of the rooms inside the temple, slamming the door behind her.

“Is Mom going to be okay?” Cynthia worriedly asked Arnold, the older man taking a deep breath, shaking his head slowly.

“I think so, but I’m not sure. These are her people, her responsibility, Cyn. I think your mother needs time to grieve. Regardless, we have a task, let’s go,” The older man waved his hand and started to walk out of the temple, whistling sharply to get Marco’s attention.

John and Cyn followed right behind him, John softly asking his girlfriend a few questions about the lights and if this happened often. The short summary was that the lights were a byproduct of their rituals for the dead and that this was the first dead hunter in years; Cynthia couldn’t even remember the last time one of theirs died, and that had been a beast, not a person.

Twenty minutes later, in which Cyn switched out of her civilian clothing and Arnold led their way to the forest Barrier

“So, Arnold, who is this hermit that Miranda talked about?” John inquired as they jumped from branch to branch, Arnold holding back to let John catch up to him, his eyes scanning the surroundings carefully every now and then, a clear show of the highly alert state even the petmaster found himself in.

“He’s a mage; we found him in the forest years ago. He likes to keep to himself. He is one of the most powerful mages we’ve ever seen. He is, however, a very reclusive man. We are of good standing with him, but you shouldn’t count on him to help us out. He withdrew from the Abyss for a reason, and he won’t come out of exile, not even for us.”

As Arnold talked, he led them towards a very big tree, standing tall even in this forest where trees could grow freely for hundreds of years. Small sets of stairs were built all over the thick trunk; creatures, only the size of ants from John’s vantage point, were crawling crisscross across the stairs and ladders, going from top to bottom, rolling down slides and quickly disappearing into doors or holes in the sides.

When John got closer, he saw that the creatures he mistook for ants were hedgehogs, thousands upon thousands of hedgehogs were playing, frolicking and going about their business around the tree.

Just as Arnold jumped down in front of the tree and John and Cynthia joined him on the floor, a door on the bottom of the tree opened up, a hedgehog running out with a piece of parchment in his mouth. A tall man, a black pointy beard gracing his face, rushed after it.

“My chapter! Steven! Give me back my chapter right now! I need to publish it!” the man yelled as he chased after the hedgehog, the creature called Steven rolling up in a ball and making a quick getaway.

“Arnold, is that the hermit you are talking about?” John asked softly, earning a short nod from the older hunter.