Silence. Jon was astonished by the power that the figure in front of him has shown. Singlehandedly blocked the large paw with a flick of her hand, Meyvil could not help but chuckle at the surprised expression Jon was making.

Meyvil then turns towards Halungr the torbir and sighs at the sight of the angered. She lowers her hand and walks toward the bear, the violent gust of wind slowly died down the closer she is to Halungr.

Seeing its master approach, its anger slowly cooled off and it bows down to its master. It softly grunts as Meyvil rubs its thick black fur on its paw, calming the torbir.

"Halun, I told you before that before chasing out people, you must approach me first." Her voice as gentle as the breeze that brush past them while scolding Halungr.

"Y-you know this m-monster?" Jon stammers as he hesitantly approaches Meyvil, anxiously hiding behind her.

"Halungr is a peaceful torbir unlike other torbirs ya will meet in other parts of the world." She chuckles as Halungr rests its head on the ground allowing her to rub its face.

"Verna!" Suddenly remembering that Vernack was behind Halungr while he was being chased, he searches for Vernack under the moonlight,

Neigh! While Jon was searching for Vernack, Bale whined loudly as it saw him going off to a different direction where Vernack was.

Jon immediately turned to the sound and ran towards it as fast as he could. Moments later, he finally sees a dark muscular warhorse struggling to move as a tree fell on it when it was flung away by Halungr.

"Bale!" Jon hastily runs towards Bale and tries to lift the fallen tree off of it. "Stop squirming Bale, it will only get worse!"

"Hm?" Curious by the loud cries, Meyvil searched for the boy she just met.

After a minute, she found where Jon was, to only be inwardly saddened to see the suffering horse. Halungr followed behind her and also sees Jon struggling to lift the large tree over Bale.

Without its master mentioning, and acting out of atonement of its rash behavior beforehand, Halungr extends one of its claws and pushes the large tree away from Bale.

"Bale! Am here now no need to worry." Jon knelt beside the horse and hugs it as he tries to push move some mana within him into Bale, but to no avail.

"Halun, help the horse." Meyvil commanded, feeling uncomfortable that she is not helping the child.

Halungr immediately acted out her command by gently placing one of its claw on the body of the horse and its 'wavy tattoo' all over its body glows in a faint blue light and injects its mana into Bale.

Feeling a warm sensation in its heart, Bale huffs and puffs as mana enters it spreading all over its body. Then the injected mana raced towards Bale's injured and wounded parts, slowly healing it and reconnecting the open wounds.

"W-what is this?" Seeing the baffling phenomenon, Jon turned to Meyvil and the torbir.

"One of the basics of healing magic is mana injection and that is what my Halun just did." She happily boasts her knowledge as she rubs Halungr's fur again.

"Mana injection?" Jon mutters to himself still astonished by how mana immediately closed Bale's wounds.

After all the pain that it felt was lost, Bale immediately stood up and urged Jon to follow it as it gallops toward where Vernack is. Passing through several fallen trees and smashed rocks, they finally see Vernack's unconscious body resting behind a patch of tall grass.

Jon rushed towards him and checks his pulse for any sign of life. A second later, he feels a faint pulse by Vernack's neck but his body was as cold as the midnight breeze.

"Lady Meyvil, c-can you help him as well?" He politely asks but stutters, anxious that she may not be able to help him.

Without uttering a single word, Meyvil smiles and turns to Halungr as if signaling it to do something about it. Halungr then repeats what it did for Bale and injects mana directly into Vernack's heart.

Seconds ago Jon could only feel the faint pulse on Vernack's neck and his body colder than the midnight breeze, now he feels Vernack's body slowly becoming warm and his heart pulsing back to normal.

"Although yer wounds have been healed, it does not grant you satiation and refill of blood." Meyvil said as she loomed behind Jon.

"To atone for my lack of responsibility, I would like to invite you all into my domain to rest and satiate your personal needs." She then proposed.

"We can enter your home?" He asks, hiding the excitement of resting under the roof of a powerful mage.

"It is my wish." Her pleasant reply warms Jon's heart.

'Maybe I can learn more about mana from her, especially that strange circles she used earlier!' Jon inwardly said.

As they were chatting, Vernack suddenly awakes and tightly grabs Jon's wrist, his body emitting a dangerous aura of mana.

"Woah, Verna! It is me, Jon!" Jon exclaimed trying to loosen Vernack's grip.

Sensing the deathly aura Vernack was exuding, Halungr imbues mana on its claws and prepares to attack Vernack the moment he acts up. In response to Halungr's action, Bale immediately stood in between the magical bear and Vernack, ready to protect the two behind it with its life.

"Halun stand down!" Her voice booming even causing the wind around the area to slightly blow violently.

Hesitating for several seconds, Halungr pulled back its claws and reabsorbed its mana acting as if nothing happened. After Halungr restrained itself from attacking, Bale immediately approached Vernack and lick his face trying to make him calm.

"Vernack! Please calm down, the bear is no longer a threat!" Jon winced as he feels his hand almost snapping by the strength that Vernack was using.

A few seconds later, Vernack slowly loosens his grip and the aura he exuded shortly dissipated, the faint glow in his eyes returned to normal.

"What... just happened?" He fretted, seemingly confused at first.

"Wait, the bear is behind you Jon!" After checking around them, he notices Halungr towering behind Jon and immediately stood up as a bright light charges up on his palm.

"Verna! The bear is not a threat; you do not need to worry about it anymore." Jon worryingly said, trying to hold Vernack back from attacking Halungr.

"He is right, my Halun would not dear to kill without my command." Meyvil stood in front of Halungr.

"Who in the taldir's ass are you, woman?" Vernack raised his palm towards Meyvil.

Before she could even speak, Bale loomed beside Vernack and raised one of its foreleg and tries to push his arm down as if telling him not to fight.

"Well is not the horse tactful." She jests.

"The name is Meyvil, and this torbir behind me is one of the guardians of my domain, Halungr." She politely introduces themselves.

"Based on the trail that my Halun has left outside my domain, it had thought the two of ya were out to kill me in my domain."

"We were searching for a place to stay and then I found your cave thinking that none lived in it." He responded, slowly cooling himself down.

"Had that torbir not chased us out, we would have been sheltered tonight, but nay, our lives had to be filled with the most unfortunate events all of the days"

Meyvil did not speak but inwardly she felt pity in Vernack's words, especially she noticed that his tone could not hide the sadness behind it.

"You have no need to blame yerself for the unforgiving crisis ya are facing, it is rightfully my fault for the lack of responsibility and control with my guardians." She expressed as she slowly walks towards Vernack.

"As atonement for the event tonight, I invite the three of ya to my home and get as much rest as all of ya need." Her pleasant yet affirming voice would give both Jon and Vernack a sudden sense of security.

"Why should we trust you? For all we know you might target us while we are conked out." Although her pleasant voice felt securing and her invitation was tempting, Vernack could not help but feel suspicious by the sudden kindness they are receiving.

Meyvil was taken aback by his question at first, but a second later she understood why they are so distrusting especially right after knowing that the torbir was under its control. She could also sense that they are vigilant because Jon and Vernack have probably lived a pitiful life based on his statement earlier.

"I do not wish to hurt any of ya, had I thought of hurting ya, I could have done it here and now, no one lives around my domain for at least two massus and I can remove any trace of all this wreckage in an instant." She scoffed.

"Massus?" Jon interjects, curious about the word.

"Ah, by yer reaction it seems ya have not studied under any academe in Wesout." She quipped.

"Just because we are unfortunate does not mean you can belittle us woman!" Vernack threatens her as his body faintly covers itself with white light.

Vernack threatening her makes her pause for a bit before slapping herself in the face.

Both Jon and Vernack were shocked by her doing and instantly felt guilty for threatening her.

"Why did you do that?" Vernack was the first to voice his confusion.

"I apologize for being rude, it has been several moons that I have not seen any other person but my guardians and the first I meet people again, I was rude." She softly spoke with regret in her tone.

"Massus is a unit of measurement for distance used by mages in Spickloha Academia, the most prestigious institute in all of Wesout." Meyvil proudly said as one of her cheeks is swollen.

Jon and Vernack stood there with blank expressions, unperturbed by her pride about an institution that they have never heard before. The silence between the three felt like an eternity and the proud expression Meyvil had made slowly slacked feeling the tense atmosphere between them.

"Ya do know about Spickloha Academia, right? She questions as her eyes say that she is surprised by their reaction.

"Never heard of that Academia in all of my days." Vernack replied, dumbfounded by her previous statement.

"What is an 'Academia'? And why do mages go to them?" Jon inquired, still baffled by the idea that mages go to an 'Academia'.

Meyvil was taken aback by their lack of knowledge of something that all of Wesout has recognized as the number one school for upcoming mages. Although she had seen how Vernack has controlled his mana earlier, her views about these two suddenly changed.

"Well... we can talk about that back in my domain than out here in the wild." She said, feeling beat by the two boys in front of her.

"Alright then." The two replied in unison. They gathered around Bale, preparing to ride on its back.

"The two of ya can saddle on Halun, if you want." Meyvil suggests as she climbs Halungr's back.

The three immediately looked at each other a moment after she voiced her suggestion. Vernack looked as if it was not willing to stand on top of the bear that was about to kill them earlier, while Jon was astonished by her suggestion as excitement slowly spread all over his body.

"Is the bear fine with us on it?" Vernack looks at Halungr, fear on his face.

"My Halun could have mauled ya earlier if it does not heed my order, but it did not which only proves that my Halun will allow ya whenever I say so." She chuckles at the expression that Vernack was making.

Vernack only smirked at her remark and urged Jon to hop on the large bear. Jon happily climbed on the back of the bear rubbing the thick fur of the torbir as he saddles himself on top of it.

"Bale it would be better that you just tag along the bear since the bear is only large enough for three people to ride it." Vernack said, saddened that Bale cannot ride along them.

Neigh! Bale responded as if it were glad that it did not have to ride Halungr, as its instincts tells it that it may die if it even tries to stay on top of it.

"Onward Halun." Meyvil urges Halungr after she chortled at Bale's response.

****

"Milord! Two beeswax pillar candles have gone out since the loud roars and ground shaking." A knight, with a small crest of a deer with four hands holding a staff branded on his left breastplate, reports as he kneels before a figure wearing a blue surcoat and brown linen trousers under white stockings.

"Aye, I have noticed that as well." The figure mutters to himself as he looks over the horizon atop a stone tower.

"Order the army to slacken the tension inside but tell the patrols to send reports about the situation outside to you every now and then." He adds as he walks back inside his castle.

"As you wish milord!" The knight went down the tower then a distant yelling of commands was heard and moments later half of the footmen and archers outside returned to the barracks.

The figure enters his abode and surveys around the dim-lit hall, moonlight barely shining through the merlots of his abode. He walks towards a stone stairs leading upwards and opens a large wooden door.

"Milady, no need to hide anymore, the roars out in the forest has settled." His breathy voice echoes in the room filled with a number of knight statues whose eyes are glowing in red facing at the figure the moment he walked in.

"Oh love, I had thought that Meyvil's beast would terror our land as well." A middle-aged woman wearing a long blue chemise appears out of a hidden door behind one of the armored statues.

The glowing eyes of the armored statues faded and their heads returning to facing forward than at the stout figure.

"Meyvil's beast probably had met a terrifying foe for it to rage for half the night, but it seems it had no plan to head towards us." The stout figure embraces and kisses the endearing woman in front of him.

"Drakon, we must do something about Meyvil." The woman whispers to his ear.

"I will send out Rolguard Clietus and his footmen to check on her domain." Drakon said in reply.

A moment later, Drakon pulled away from his wife and hanged his surcoat and hidden breastplate on an armor stand by the bedside of the room.

"Lady Ilune, shall we continue?" Drakon whispers to her ear as he pulls her in closer to him, touching her in places which excited the woman.

"Rightfully so." She giggles and returns a kiss, and then they slowly removed their undergarments as they passionately touch each other.

****

Half the time a pillar beeswax candle takes to melt later, Halungr and the people behind it has finally reached the cave entrance to Meyvil's domain. The silence of the night broke as nocturnal wildlife began to become active after the rage of Halungr was lost.

The people around it dismounted and entered the cave along with Bale, whom is hesitant in entering the cave as it feels imminent danger the closer it gets to the inner realm of the cave. At first the entrance into the cave seemed lifeless and ill-foreboding, but as soon as they take a step into the cave, a large number of them would light up on every step a person makes.

"Follow me." Meyvil said not minding the fear Bale was showing inside the cave.

The two followed her without hesitation, knowing that all cases are not as simple as they thought it was. She picks up her staff from one of the staff racks she had made then several orange magic circles atop the staff had appeared.

When they have reached the 'living room' of Meyvil's abode, they were sat down by an invisible force trying to make any visitors come at peace.

"So Meyvil about the 'Academia' you have mentioned earlier." Jon asks without hesitation.

"Indeed, so a few 'Lios' ago the first Grand Magus of Wesout had appeared, Grand Magus Eorlu of Kingdom Domavan, he has had countless of research and theories that came to which lead the development of this world." She proudly said as she prepares a drink for the three of them.

"Oh, wait, yes, before you can ask, Lios is another unit of measurement for the amount of time since the last 'Great Earthquake' that happens every thousand northern seasons." She immediately adds.

"Grand Magus Eorlu is the main reason why the magical development of Wesout was much more advanced than those from Easera and Altaway."