Chapter 31: We Wage War

"You mean..." Ghost whispered, her face going blank upon the realization.

"I-I took too long, it was my f-"

"It wasn't your fault. We had a choice. He just picked the wrong one," Alpha snarled, looking down at Hannibal in disgust.

"I'm going to draw their attention, get ready to move. Some of them might still be alive, I want to give them a fighting chance," Alpha instructed, to which all the leaflings began moving.

"Y-You can't, Alpha," Hannibal whispered, so softly that Alpha nearly hadn't heard him.

"You're still talking? You... you filth," Alpha replied, a look of pure disdain on his face.

"I'm s-sorry, but you can't. There are other creatures lurking around. Making a loud noise might draw them toward u-"

"I don't give a damn. If you don't like it then leave," Alpha interrupted, before preparing to shout.

"You can't. We might never find Lucius if you do this," Hannibal retorted, before charging towards Alpha. The two scuffled on the ground, Alpha landing several kicks on Hannibal's face. In the end, the other leaflings just let it happen, they were still too shocked by what Hannibal had done, and none of them had the will to do anything.

"Can you two stop this?" said Pagan, walking towards the two.

"The Lighted One is on his way, we can deal with this when he finds us," he continued, before looking off into the distance.

"How do you know?" Alpha asked, his interest piqued.

"I can feel him, the orb. He's coming," Pagan said softly, almost as if he were trapped in a blissful dream.

"Huh?" Alpha couldn't help but look at him as if he were crazy. He could feel him? What sort of nonsense was that?

"I'm not done with you," Alpha said to Hannibal, after thinking it over for a moment. He stood up and went towards the leaflings, ordering them to hide behind a few shrubs in case there were enemies watching.

Hannibal was left to indulge in his injuries alone. Though Alpha seemed relatively fine, Hannibal looked like he had just been run over, as his entire body was littered with scratches and bruises.

The group waited there in silence for several minutes. After a while, they had lost hope in Pagan's prediction, though no one said anything. To outwardly voice their doubt, would be to abandon their hope. To accept that perhaps Lucius had left them. or worse, had fallen prey to the unknown enemies.

"I hear something," Ghost whispered, peaking over the shrub she had been hiding behind.

"Luci!" she shouted, as a green creature emerged from the woods.

It looked at them in shock, as if unable to believe what was happening in front of its eyes.

"Luci?" Ghost asked, starting to back away once the creature remained silent for a little too long.

"Will you not let me rest?" the creature asked, its tone heavy as it looked up to the sky. "Why? What have I done? Why does this go on?" the creature continued, slumping its head in defeat before walking off in another direction.

"Lighted One," Pagan whispered, walking towards Lucius before touching the latter's back with the tip of his leaf.

"Huh? You're all real?" the creature asked, turning to look at them as if for the first time. "How?" it asked, though it was clear that it wasn't a question he wanted to be answered. Lucius ran and gave Pagan a hug nearly squeezing all the life out of him, before continuing to the rest of the remaining camp.

A few leaflings passed out from the pressure, but they would be okay. The smile on The Lighted One's face was worth at least that much, or so Pagan thought to himself.

"We were waiting for you," Pagan said once the excitement had died down.

"Yes... I'm sorry. I failed you all," Lucius replied, the happiness on his face dying down as quickly as it came. "If you guys want to leave the group I will understand. At this point you might have a better chance someplace else," Lucius replied,

"We only lived this long because of you, Lighted One. And besides, I don't mind dying, I have seen true beauty, I will not leave it over something so minor," Pagan replied, referring to the orb he could sense pulsing within Lucius.

For a moment Lucius looked at him with an expression he had never seen before, something between fear and confusion, but he quickly passed it off.

"So how did you guys escape? What happened at the river bank?" Lucius asked, turning to look at Alpha.

Alpha remained quiet, only turning to Hannibal in response. Hannibal was sitting in a corner, the scratches and bruises all over his body still visible even in the night. He looked to the ground, whispering something inaudible, tears streaming down his face.

"What happened here?" Lucius asked, walking towards Hannibal like a concerned mother.

"Alpha did that," Pagan reported, walking towards Hannibal as well.

"He deserved it! He sacrificed half the camp, he killed them. IT WAS H-," Alpha tried screaming, before Lucius ran towards him and covered his mouth.

"There are other creatures in the forest. Do you want to get everyone killed?" Lucius asked, an intensity in his eyes that the group had never seen before.

"If anything it was my fault, I hadn't prepared you all enough," he whispered, looking to Hannibal as if to apologize to him specifically.

"But that won't happen again. Listen up," he ordered, his gaze slowly sweeping across the entire group.

"A lot of mistakes were made today, but not again. This is the last time we will ever be prey," he started, a burning flame flickering in his eyes. "From now on, we will never allow them to take anything from us again," he continued, looking up to the sky as if he were talking to the stars.

"From this day on, we will do the taking. The forest is ours, the graves of our fallen are proof of that." And for a moment, Pagan could've sworn he saw Lucius's eyes glow yellow.

He could feel a strange presence infusing itself within Lucius, its aura dark and twisted, but for some reason, it felt comforting.

The leaflings felt as if a strange danger was looming around him, though it seemed to be snarling at everyone but them.

"All bow to the Lighted One," Pagan blurted out. He wasn't sure where it came from, or what bow even meant. However, everyone bent the knee, somehow understanding what had to be done.

***