While Levis and Hubert had the sensation of being thrown into a freezing hell, the old man, if any one of them could glance at him, they could see his right eyebrow rise, as he rose to his feet to look southwards, where the hills were ending and the prairie began.

“Nothing more than young lads.”

But as he darted at the two of them, he could only grin wryly, as he extended his hands to pat the shoulders of the both of them.

“Hey, you lads alright.”

“Gasp”-”Gasp”-”Gasp”

However, as they came to the senses at the small gesture of the old man, both Hubert and Levis found themself covered in sweat, as though having done a task that had consumed both their mental and physical energy at the same time, as they were taking big mouthfuls of air like madmen's, after being pressured to the point of not being able to breathe even once.

“A-"Gasp”-, what-Gasp”- was that—”Gasp”.”

“Ahaha, these are the eagles that I was talking about, but do not worry, as they will not come her—.”

“Rumble”

But as the old man was finishing his words, while enduring the pressure for the three of them, what came next, was a crushing force that made all the houses in the village and the nearby trees to tremble, as even the ground seemed to move as though it was affected by a small earthquake.

As for the old man, while his stature did not change, his complexion had already become devoid of blood as sweat covered his face, meanwhile, his feet were starting to be pushed into the ground, as he was already a finger deeper making both his feet to no longer be visible.

As for Hubert and Levis, while they were not pushed into the ground, they were feeling the pressure of an entire mountain crushing them from all around, as they become red-faced from the monstrous force, while being unable to breathe, as they were slowly suffocating.

“Aye, aye, aye a big shot had come out—, now will you come here or not?!”

"---."

“Cough”-”Gasp”-“Cough”-“Cough”-”Gasp”-“Cough”-”Gasp”

However, as the old man and the two of them were doing their best, to resist and not be crushed by the force, without any warning, the crushing pressure disappeared, as fast as it had come, making the three of them lose their balance while coughing and gasping for air desperately.

“ “Cough”-, what was—”Gasp”-, what– is going—“Cough”- on?”

“Aha, sorry lads, this is my fault, but it seems that this was the worst of it. Ahhuuuu, still they sure are persistent, haha.”

But as the old man was still speaking normally, when compared with Hubert that was coughing like crazy, despite feeling only a small portion of the force, for as the old man had protected the both of them from the short but horrifying moments, yet the said old man was already recovering his complexion faster than any one of them could understand, as just a moment ago he was pale as a ghost while now he was as healthy and jovial as the moment he had arrived.

“I am truly sorry for what I have done, but if you look on the bright side, the fact that you have experienced something like this is a kind of blessing.”

However, as he was speaking, Huber and Levis were looking at him as though wanting to crash this blessing into his head, particularly was the look on Hubert, as he was glaring at the old man, casually joking over the fact that they had nearly died out of nowhere, from someone else's situation.

“Aaa—, don’t look at me like that lad, it is not like I had anticipated such a thing to happen. A— yes to make it up for this and your fish, I will give you this.”

But as the face of the old man brighten, he took a small flash of what was supposed to be alcohol and place it on the ground near the glaring and infuriated Hubert.

“Now, now this is the good stuff lads. If you ever catch up to me, then come and we will dring and laugh at what has happened on this day. And now, it is time I make my leave before things change again—. Well, lads, it had been a pleasure to eat with you, but if you want to drink with me, you will have to catch and find me! Time to run, time to run!!”

Nonetheless, as Hubert and Levis were trying to take control of their breathing, and the shaking of fear, that they had just experienced, the old man that was the cause of what had transpired, began to run like any other drunken old fellow down the hill, before being completely surrounded by the darkness of the night as he had gone out of the light made by the fire and stone. While they were looking dumbly at the place where he had disappeared in the darkness, after which they looked at one another before looking at the flask and the deep imprints left by the mysterious old man, before looking at one another again in silence as they could not find the correct words to begin any conversation.

But, while the old man was running in directions unknown by the speechless Hubert and Levis, far from their locations, down south where the grassy plains of the prairie began, the figures of eight men and women were gazing down south at a large shadow in the sky as it was approaching them at high speed.

However, it did not take long before the shadow, became visible and distinguishable, as a large bird that was flying towards them was also carrying a man with black, long, and tied-up hair, in somewhat loose robes like clothes, that landed before the eight people.

“Greetings, Young Chief.”

As the bird, which was nearly six meters tall, while resting on its feet, could be observed well, the five men and three women could understand that the creature was a very big eagle, after which they all made different and small gestures of respect to the man on the bird's back.

“Thud.”

“Easy, easy.”

But as the man got himself off the bird, he immediately began to stroke the eagle's feathers, in an attempt of calming the creature down, as it was becoming more and more relentless in its behavior from the moment it had landed.

“Young Chief!?”

“What?”

“Do you want us to kill that running rat?”

However, as the man was tending to the bird, one of the women, a woman that seemed to be in her twenties, walked forward, while she took a step closer to the said man while keeping an amicable smile on her face at all times.

Nonetheless, as the man turned his head to look at the woman, he was not moved in any way, as his eye were more clear than anything else that the woman had ever seen, making her take her step back subconsciously as she returned to her original position.

“Have you inspected him?”

“Yes, we all did, he is with two fledglings of the Kingdom right now.”

Yet, as the man turned his head towards the direction of the Down River village, and ask the eight before him, one of the men, began to speak, while not giving any regard to the title of the man.

“For how long, have you pursued him?”

“Yes, we have noticed him tracking the one from the Kingdom, for about two day ago, so we have tried to capture him, however, he had escaped our suppression in no time, only giving the other one time to escape.”

“So you have been unable of subduing him and all you have done is to chase him for more than two days.

“Indeed, it is as you have said.”

“I don’t know if I should call you smart from not going out of the prairie, or if I should be angry for waiting to act only now that I am here.”

As he was saying the last part of his phrase, he gave a downwards look over all the eight of them.

“However, I have as well examined him, just now.”

“What?”

“When?”

However, at the almost lethargic words that were coming from the man before them, six of the eight had various changes in their expressions, as they had not felt the consciousness of the man moving through the surroundings, despite them being on full alert of their vicinity.

But while there were those that were surprised, there were those that did not react eighter, as one old man alongside a woman that was approaching the end of her prime, as several white strands of hair, were mixed between her head of full black hair.

“As aspected of the Young Chief.”

“Praising someone on a higher stage, of being able to do something hard to detect for those under, it is not a lavishing thing to do, old Crow”.

While the six that were surprised, were forced to think about how they could sense the man’s consciousness, in case of another move, the old man proceeded to congratulate the man, after which, he was berated by the woman for his shameless behavior. But as the man was looking at the still perplexed six of them, he was aware that the biggest reason for not detecting him, was laying with him, as the moment he had become visible for all of them, he had taken the moment they had ceased their own scanning of the escaping rat and of the two fledglings to begin his own, making it seemed as though there was a great gap in their consciousness when in reality he had used the minimum possible while being noticed only by the two most experience of the group in front of him.

“See to yourself, you old woman. If I am expressing my compliments to someone younger than me it is my own business, or are you trying to be rude to the Young Chief?”

“Are you not the one? Or are you trying to say that he needs to be that strong or else he could not impress these idiots?”

“What—? You ha—!”

“Aham!”

But as the two of them were about to start a fight, as the energy surrounding them was becoming more active, a strong cough from the man was enough for the two of them to be forced down from their heated attitudes.

“I am truly sorry for my behavior Young Chief.”

“I seek your forgiveness Young Chief.”

“No need, and you can drop the pretense, Uncle Crow and Aunt Meadow, I have just been selected as one of the candidates and not the true “Young Chief”

However, the way of exchange between the three of them surprise the remaining six as they did not know the relationship existing between them.

“So have you decided on something, do we kill him do we not?”

“When I took a look, I tested him by pushing enough force on the fledgling to kill them, however, it surprised me that he actually protected them.”

“Truly?”

“Yes.”

As the man continue to look in the direction where Levis and Hubert were staying, he suddenly moved his gaze eastward towards a far place, where a person was flying at full speed towards the Kingdom's true border.

“Useless, this one is moving too fast, and it is already on to the borders of the Kingdom, if we are to hunt him we will be fighting in the see of the forest, I don’t want to deal with the troubles from that. And how much time have we given to the one from the Kingdom to run?”

“As you have heard, a day and night we have kept this one at bay, as for the other one he was wounded from a fighting with him, so even with an entire day of movement he will barely arrive before one of the major cities.”

As the small run-down of their situation was elaborated by the old Crow, they all looked at the man that had begun to stroke the feathers of the eagle at some point, while constantly looking up and down from the moon to the running rat and the place where the two fledglings were.

“No need, we have given the Kingdom more than enough, If the one from the Kingdom dies, then that's the fate predicted by the wind.”

“As you command, Young Chief.”

“You can return to your domains. If you notice anything else, notify me, as I will be staying close for the time being”

“Alright, you kid, don’t forget to visit this old man, now that you are here.”

“Aaha, Little Eagle, come visit me instead of this air for brains, aunty has many girls you might want to take a look at.”

“You old hag, are you not ashamed to say this outright.”

“So you are not going to do it directly?”

“Of course not, I will use my own methods.”

However, as the old man and the woman were bickering while not giving any importance to the spectators, the remaining four men and two women gave their farewells to the man, especially the young woman that looked intensely at the man before leaving while gliding over the tall grass as though a bird above the see.

“Uncle Crow, Aunt Meadow, I will visit the two of you in a few days.”

“Hahaha, alright don’t forget to come to visit me.”

“Litle Eagle, I hope to see you soon.”

As the last two, were gone as well, the man took a look to the north again, as he began to murmur in a voice only he could hear.

“Why am I feeling so uneasy? And this red moon, the wind has a feint smell of blood.”

But if one could look the same way he was gazing northwards, one could realize that he was looking far beyond where the fledglings were, to the place where the huge and tall hills could be called proper mountains, as a foreboding and dangerous sensation was brooding on him.

“The Mad Mountains.”

“Kwit-kee-kee”

“A—, easy, easy, no need to be scared, I am sorry that I have brought you so close to them.”

Yet at the name of the mountains, the cry of the eagle began to resound as it was trembling non-stop while looking at the neverending Hills and Mountains in the distance with a terror that could not be explained.

“Easy, easy. Let us go back---. Ural Empire and South Desert, truly a load of problems.”

But while constantly rubbing and stoking the feathers of the eagle, the man jumped onto its back, as the animal began to run before extending its huge wings, as it took to the sky in time, and was out of sight in mere moments, as the place where the near-death danger the two fledglings had suffered, was now devoid of the people that had nearly crushed them like nothing more than ants.