They opened their eyes and saw the swirling clouds above. They were on a small hill they had passed on their way to Laterna. They could see the town up ahead, with smoke wrapping up around it. Around the hill lay a forest.

“Where are we?” asked Sting, slowly picking himself up from the grass.

“On a hill outside Laterna, apparently,” Snaker replied. Hearing his voice, Vreil stood up and looked to see who else was with them. Besides himself, Sting and Snaker, he could see only Heartilia. He looked around a little more and then sighed in relief, spotting none of those beasts or the terrifying old man.

“What was that?” he asked. A little late perhaps, but he didn’t have the time to ask before.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Sting replied. "What was that light, Vreil? And why didn't you use it earlier?" He stood up himself. Now that he was up, his ripped clothes and still-fresh blood were clearly visible. Strangely enough, he didn't seem to be injured. Surprised, Vreil realized his injuries had disappeared as well.

However, Vreil didn't know anything about any light. "What light?" he asked confused.

"Don't play dumb with me, Vreil," Sting replied angrily. "You know exactly what light. The one that came out of your chest right after Ashter saved your ass. You could have saved him, you know!"

"Ashter?" Vreil asked. Then his memories came back like a flood and Vreil fell to his knees, clutching his head.

"No!" he shouted. "Ashter... He died! To save me! No!"

Sting's temper eased up at the obvious pain of his friend. "Do you remember what happened after that, Vreil?" he asked softly.

"No," Vreil shook his head, which was still between his hands. "I remember Ashter... dying... and then it's all a blur."

"A bright light came out of your chest," Snaker stepped in to explain. "It set the Shepherd on fire, healed our injuries and then I guess teleported us here. Don't you know what that was?"

"I don't know", Vreil replied in confusion. He meant that, but now that the Prime Minister mentioned it, he remembered something. A faint voice in his ear, telling him to take good care of this present, for there is no more.

"The wolves!" he shouted suddenly. "It was the memory wolves! One of them said they would give me a present, right after Ashter killed them. It was a ball of light in my chest!"

"Ashter killed the memory wolves?" Snaker's eyes widened.

"Wait, before that, you said that monster was called the Shepherd?" Sting interrupted.

"Yes, but Ashter killed the memory wolves?" Snaker replied, still shocked. "Please tell me you're kidding!"

"Ohh, but that would make perfect sense," he continued talking to himself. "You're not kidding! That's why the Shepherd came to Laterna! Oh, humans, you doomed us!" Snaker was shaking, was clearly losing his composure.

"Pull yourself together," Sting ordered sternly, "and tell us about that Shepherd."

"You don't even know what's after you? Oh, that's even better! HAHAHAHA," Snaker laughed madly.

Sting frowned, then hit him at the back of the head, throwing the Prime Minister roughly on the grass. That brought Snaker back.

Everybody reacts to disaster differently. Some wail. Some lose their mind. Some desperately look for someone to blame.

Prime Minister Snaker's instinctual response was to make sure those around him were not hostile against him. It was a perfectly natural reaction for someone like him. As disaster had just struck, he wanted to make sure he was safe, to minimize his losses.

Not that these were his thoughts, his head was still a bit muddled. It was purely his subconscious acting up.

"It's alright," he told them. "If you don't even know the Shepherd, you couldn't have known he was after you or what he could do. Ashter probably never told you."

"Indeed," Sting demanded, "so you tell us."

Vreil was just looking on absent-mindedly. Half of his mind was still thinking about Ashter's death.

"The Shepherd," the elf explained, "is a creature born in the depths of the Dark Area. It is extremely powerful. It leads a flock of ‘sheep’, as they are called, although in truth they are something closer to tigers than actual sheep. It's only that, when calm, their appearance truly resembles sheep from afar."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose before continuing.

"It is considered to be one of the only four creatures capable of bypassing the boundaries of the Dark Area and entering the Kingdoms, and the most murderous one of them. His sheep are not included in those four, of course. It is often that the Shepherd terrorizes the Six Kingdoms, for reasons unknown. Sometimes, whole cities will disappear overnight, or forests will be razed to the ground. But one of the patterns that have been recognized about him is that he often goes after people that excessively harm the creatures of the Dark Area. Therefore, Ashter killing the memory wolves would make him a prime target. And despite knowing that, he still came to Laterna," Snaker finished his explanation with hatred seeping out of his eyes.

"So that's what it was all about," Sting mumbled while looking into the distance. Of course, he didn't blindly believe the elf, but his instinct told him he wasn't lying.

Suddenly, Vreil spoke up from where he was laying on the grass.

"The Shepherd," he said, and both of the others looked at him questioningly. "I will get stronger. Much, much, MUCH stronger. And then I. Will. Kill. It.”

Realization dawned on them as they saw incomparable hatred in Vreil. If Arthur, Nigel, or Milos had been there, they would have recognized this look. It was the exact same one he had while going after Black Beard. One of darkness, bitterness, and unshakeable resolve. And most of all, bottomless murderous intent.

They sat in silence for a while, each of the three trying to come to terms with a different fact. After some time, Heartilia woke up, and Sting described what had happened to her. "What happened to father and the others?" she asked, her eyes moist with tears.

"I don't know," Sting shook his head sadly.

"If they're still alive, they should be here soon. This is the evacuation route of the city, as well as on the way to your kingdom. Let's just hope the Shepherd takes his time finding us. He most definitely isn't dead yet."

And indeed, just as he had said, Jeffrey, Sir Arnold, and Linda stepped out of the woods, baffled and in a hurry, for the elves had almost chased them out of the city. Jeffrey was tied and being carried by Sir Arnold. As soon as they saw them, Sir Arnold put Jeffrey down and quickly untied him.

“Father!” cried Heartilia when Jeffrey ran and hugged her. “Thank god you’re okay,” he whispered, trying to hold his tears back.

“What happened?” asked Linda. “We thought you were Underground. We were ready to ignore the elves and come after you when the whole thing just collapsed. The elves chased us out and we thought you were dead. We even had to tie Jeffrey up to stop him from looking for Heartilia.”

While father and daughter were celebrating each other's survival, Sting explained everything that had happened for the second time. Sir Arnold seemed especially stumped to hear about Ashter's death. He revered the man as a hero, not to mention his strength was a big boon for the revolution. But they were still not out of danger, and they couldn't afford to mourn him as they should.

“We barely made it out,” Sting concluded. “But what are we going to do now? We have no horses, no wagons, no food or water or any kind of supply, and we cannot go back to Laterna. And where are the other two guards?”

“We looked for them, but couldn’t find them. According to the elves, they were lost in the battle with those animals that flooded the town after you were gone. As for our return, we could get food and water from the land as we walk. But I doubt there will be enough, not to mention this Shepherd coming after us.” Sir Arnold commented. “On foot, we would need about three months back to Waterslide, and we can't fight him. If only Ashter was still here...”.

“And don’t forget we have to cross the Dark Area again,” Linda added anxiously. “Vreil can’t enter the Joke’s forest, from what I recall. Taking a different route would be much slower and much more dangerous.”

They turned to look at Vreil. Unknowingly, at some point, he had fallen asleep. His dreams were clearly troubling though, as he grimaced and flailed his limbs a lot in his sleep.

"There might be another way. You can -", Snaker tried to tell them, only to be cut off by Linda.

"Why would you help us? According to you, we are responsible for this," she waved in the direction of the still smoking town.

"Yes,” Snaker replied, "but the faster you leave, the faster that monster will come after you. And I can't kill you." He stared right into her eyes. She looked away first.

"We're listening," she said.

"There is a portal," the elf explained. "A teleportation portal, in the woods close to here. If you use it, you can teleport back to your Kingdom, close to Waterslide."

"You have a teleportation portal that leads right in the middle of our Kingdom?" Sir Arnold asked disbelievingly.

"Well... yes," Snaker admitting while raising his shoulders. "A small one, though. Can't be used to transfer troops. Not a lot of them, at least."

"Unbelievable," Linda huffed.

"Take us there," Sting ordered, suddenly taking control of the situation. The other humans gave him strange looks but nobody said anything.

"This way," the elf said, clearly disgruntled. He didn't like taking orders from a human boy, much less one that had just destroyed his city. If he’d had any living relatives in the city, he probably would have tried to kill them himself.

Sir Arnold grunted as he picked up the still sleeping Vreil. He was clearly still in shock, so they had decided to not wake him up yet.

After that, the Prime Minister led them down the hill and through the woods around it, heading opposite of Laterna. After an hour or two of walking, the trees in front of them opened up and they arrived at a glade, surrounded by tall trees full of animals. Squirrels and birds ran out of the glade, climbing the trees to find their kin. In the center of the glade were three big stones, about twice the height of Snaker each, and thick like the width of a person’s open arms. Two of them were upright, and the third one was lying on top of the other two, forming a shape like a gate. The stones had creepers on them, giving them an abandoned look.

“What is this place?” asked Sting. The atmosphere reminded him a little of the Joke’s forest, although he couldn't exactly understand why.

“An ancient place,” Snaker answered. “A place that was once brimming with magic, magic that could teleport people. It is time for it to be used one more time.” On those words, the elf stepped forth to the stone and, bowing down, placed his hands on the ground.

He chanted something, but the rustling of leaves and the sounds of insects kept them from hearing his words. Strangely, even Sting's sharpened senses failed to pick up on them.

Gradually, the sounds of the environment grew quieter but Snaker's words continued to be as indecipherable, if not more. The whole forest was growing quiet, as if in awe of what was about to take place.

After some minutes had gone by, the space between the rocks began to be dyed with a slight tinge of green. As time went on, this color became more prominent, until the space between the rocks was nothing but green. The humans were staring at this in awe.

The green gate rippled and a few cracks appeared on the rocks as Snaker stood up. "Go quickly, humans. This won't stay open for much longer. Go and rid us of your blighted existence."

"Thank you," they replied and stepped into the gate. Sir Arnold was the last one to go. As he crossed the green gate he thought he heard howls in the distance. Shivering, he stepped into the unknown.

"May we never meet again..." Snaker said, but only the forest could hear him. With a ripple, the green gate faded until everything was just as it was before. With heavy steps, Snaker walked away as the natural sounds of the forest began to come back. The only difference was that the humans were nowhere to be seen.

🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧙‍♂️

Outside the forest, the Shepherd got off the sheep he was riding. He stood there, powerful and furious, applying pressure with his right hand to where he once had a right eye. His sheep gathered behind him, waiting for orders. They were in their real forms, or rather what they felt like their real forms.

When the Shepherd understood what was happening, he turned his back to the forest and the green light that was shining in its center, and the sheep raised their heads. First one, then three, then all of them let out a horrifying howl. The sheep howled until the green light disappeared. Then they continued on their way, following the old man that was leading them, heading to the Southern Human Kingdom.

It would take some time, but they had never let even one of their targets escape, and they weren’t planning to make this the first one. And thus, the Shepherd, following the orders he had gotten from Mountain Death, marched towards the humans, leaving behind him a path of ruin and disaster.