Ian opened his eyes as the sun crept over the horizon. The carriage rocked on the bumpy road. He looked out the window of the carriage, seeing the grand open fields. He turned his attention to his lap, where Lucky had his head, sleeping. It wouldn’t be long before they arrived back home.

  Further in the distance, the village came into view. With the sun rising, the village also began to wake up. There were a few people walking around already.

  Ian opened the window next to him and stuck his head out to get a better view. He could see people setting up their stands or opening their shops. The few lamps within the village turn off one by one with the growing morning light. Near the outer edge of the village, Ian spotted a group jogging.

  “This place never changes, huh?” Ian whispered to himself.

  Looking closer, Ian could see all of the guards in the group except for one.

  “Huh, where’s dad?” Ian kept looking within the group jogging, but couldn't spot him.

  Ian thought he was being quiet by whispering, but even so, his voice managed to wake someone up. Across from him, Kevin started to stir awake.

  “Dude, why are you up? We still have a ways to go,” Kevin said, groggily.

  “Actually, we’re almost there. I can see it in the distance. We should be there in a few minutes,” Ian replied.

  Kevin blinked his eyes a few times, processing what Ian just said. He then turned his attention to the open window and stuck his head out a bit.

  “Huh, well, will you look at that. We are almost home,” Kevin said, still partially sleepy.

  On the opposite side of the crosswise seat Ian was in, Ellie began to wake up.

  “Could you guys be any louder? I’m trying to sleep.” Ellie gave them an angrily groggy look.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you,” Ian said.

  “Well, now I’m awake, thank you very much.” Ellie stretched her arms as best as she could in the small space. “Are we almost there?”

  “Yeah, shouldn’t be more than a few minutes.” Ian stuck his head out the window again.

  “Good. I can’t wait to get home and eat some of Mom’s cooking. I miss her breakfasts.”

  “I know we’re almost home, but do you guys have to be so loud? We’re still trying to sleep,” a half-muffled voice said.

  Everyone turned their attention to Emmett, seeing his eyes still closed. He had his head leaning against Zoey’s who was sleeping on his shoulder.

  “Sorry,” Ellie said,

  “It’s fine. We’re almost home anyways.” Emmett opened his eyes and lifted his head.

  “I guess we should get ready?” Emmett asked.

  “Yeah, let’s gather our stuff,” Kevin said.

  The group nodded at each other and started putting away their drinks and snacks.

  Emmett turned his attention to Zoey and gently shook her awake. “Zoey, we’re almost home. Wake up.”

  With a small groan, Zoey opened her eyes, “Just a few more minutes, Emmie.”

  “Emmie? That’s a first,” Kevin teasingly said.

  “Shut up, Kevin,” Emmett snapped. He then turned back to Zoey, “Come on, we can rest more when we get home.”

  Zoey groaned more, but begrudgingly lifted her head off of Emmett’s shoulder. She started gathering her stuff, though her eyes seemed to remain closed.

  A few minutes later, the carriage arrived at the entrance of the village. Ian opened the carriage door, stepping down with Lucky to see a small group gathered.

  “Mornin', everyone.” Kevin stuck his head out to see the crowd. He stepped down, followed by the others.

  “Welcome back, guys,” A voice within the crowd said.

  Ian and the others turned their heads towards the voice, only to see Liam step forward.

  “Liam, it's good to see you again,” Ian said.

  “I’m glad to see you’ve all made it home safely. You all must be tired. You should head home and rest. I’m sure your families will be happy to see you again,” Liam said, gesturing towards the village.

  “That was the plan.” Ian grabbed his bags. “Oh, and Liam, I’d like to talk to you about how the gauntlets have been doing, later.”

  Liam’s eyes opened excitedly, “Oh, absolutely. I’d love to collect data on how they’ve performed over the past year. But for now, go home and rest. There will be time to talk later.”

  Ian nodded at Liam before turning to the other and signaling to go. They all walked into the village, taking in the fresh morning air.

  A few minutes into their walk home, Kevin broke off from the group, heading to his house. Once he left, the others made their way to Zoey’s.

  Dave had heard the commotion about them arriving and was standing outside the restaurant. Zoey saw him standing there and nearly teared up. She dropped her bags, running up to hug him.

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  Emmett didn’t waste any time picking up her bags. He turned to Ian and Ellie and said, “You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up later.”

  Neither Ellie nor Ian complained. They understood what he was going to do. With a simple nod, the two of them continued walking towards their home.

  Their house looked peaceful as they approached it. There were no lights, no movement. Only the chimes sounded in the wind.

  As they got closer, the two of them were stopped by a sound of someone yelling.

  “Ellie… Ellie… ELLIE!”

  Before Ian could react, a blur ran past him, taking Ellie with it. Only her bags remained in the air when she disappeared.

  Ian’s fight or flight response was activated when he saw Ellie disappear and was getting ready to chase after the blur. However, he immediately stopped when he saw what the blur was.

  Standing a bit from the house, Ian saw Erik holding Ellie tightly, her legs dangling off the ground.”

  “My dear Ellie has returned to me. Oh, thank the heavens.”

  “Dad, let go of me. You’re crushing my ribs.”

  Ian was about to go save Ellie, but was soon stopped by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He turned his head to see Crystal standing there.

  “Oh, hi, Mom.”

  “Morning, dear. I see you’ve made it home safely again.”

  “Should we help Ellie?”

  “We should. Erik can get a little carried away.”

  “It's only been five months since the last time we visited. How can he be so… overbearing?”

  “You know how your father can be with his little girl. He’s very protective of her.”

  “I wish he were more like that with me and Emmett.”

  “He’s just trying to toughen both of you up. Speaking of which, where is your brother?”

  “He’s at Zoey’s.

  “Of course he is. Well, in that case, how would you like some breakfast?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “Okay, go help your sister, and I’ll get something started.”

  Ian nodded his head before walking towards Erik and Ellie.

  An Hour later, Ian, Ellie, Emmett, Erik, and Crystal were seated at the kitchen table. Crystal had made a large assortment of different breakfast foods for everyone.

  “It's so nice to have you kids back home again. Things have been very quiet around here,” Crystal said.

  “We’re not really kids anymore. We’re all adults now,” Ellie said.

  “I know, but you’ll all still be my kids in my eyes.” Crystal passed a plate of bacon towards Ellie. “So, tell us. How has everything been? Last time you visited in the winter, you were all tired from all the learning you were doing.”

  Ian, who was devouring a massive plate of scrambled eggs, said, “I’d say we’re all doing better than before. Now that we’re done with exams and studying, I feel more relieved.”

  “Agreed, the stress of preparing for so many tests was very draining. Thankfully, we managed to pull through,” Emmett said.

  “You two are just weak. I had no trouble preparing and passing my test,” Ellie interjected.

  “Hey, I didn’t have trouble with my tests. I was just tired from studying so much.” Ian pointed his fork towards Ellie.

  “Whatever, Mr. Overachiever,” Ellie annoyingly said.

  “Overachiever? What are you talking about?” Erik asked.

  “Oh, yeah. Get this, Dad. Ian went on to outshine the entire school by getting an unimaginable score on his nature survival final,” Ellie happily and teasingly said.

  Erik’s eyebrow rose with intrigue. “Explain, Ian.”

  “Oh, well, you see…” Ian proceeded to explain what happened during his final. He didn’t go into too much detail, but did list all the creatures he defeated and what he did to survive. Emmett and Ellie also added some details and talked about their achievements.

  Erik listened attentively, making mental notes. His eyes never left his kids, even as he ate and listened. Even Crystal was listening carefully, impressed by what she heard.

  “So, yeah, I guess I took things a bit too far and ended up getting a ridiculously high score.”

  “Oh, and get this. Apparently, Ian did such an impressive job that he was volunteered to participate in a tournament. Because of that, we all decided to sign up as well,” Ellie added.

  Erik’s brow rose in surprise at the last bit of information. For a moment, he processed the information. Then, in a sudden burst, he started laughing.

  “HA HA HA! That’s my kids for yuh. Overachievers who push themselves to their limits and beyond. HA HA HA!” Erik’s laughter shook the air around them.

  “I had no doubt you three would reach such heights. Even though you’ve been there for a year, you’ve proven yourself to be the cream of the crop,” Crystal happily said.

  “So tell me, when is this tournament? I want to be there to witness your greatness,” Erik asked enthusiastically.

  “It’ll be nearly a month from now, during the Founding Festival,” Ellie answered.

  “That makes sense. I guess I should’ve thought of that.” Erik paused for a moment, “I guess that gives us a bit of time to prepare. You all have to train, and I have to make preparations for my absences.”

  Hearing what Erik said, Ellie asked, “Speaking of absences, where were you guys at when we arrived?”

  Erik and Crystal’s faces immediately froze in surprise and embarrassment. The question caught them completely off guard.

  “Well, we went on a bit of a hike to explore the areas further out,” Erik said, his voice a bit shaky.

  “In the middle of the night?” Emmett asked, unconvinced.

  “We were exploring very far, so we had to camp out,” Crystal tried to explain.

  “I didn’t see any camping gear with you guys,” Ellie pointed out.

  “We didn’t need any camping gear. Your mom and I can take care of ourselves perfectly fine.” Erik tried to play things off.

  “Uh huh… if you say so.” Ian didn’t want to push any further.

  “Well, in any case, you three must be tired. Hows about you all go upstairs and rest for now?” Crystal tried to change subjects.

  “Yeah, you’re not wrong there. I am pretty damn tired.” Ian yawned as the sleepiness struck him.

  *Yawn* “I could sleep. We have three weeks to get stuff done. We can take one day to just sleep,” Emmett said.

  ‘I guess we should sleep for now, but I’m not done with this conversation yet, Mom, Dad.” Ellie said, turning to face Erik and Crystal with serious yet tired eyes.

  Erik and Crystal sat stiffly as they watched their kids head upstairs, a cold sweat forming on their foreheads. Once they were gone, the two of them let out a sigh of relief.

  “Those kids are too perceptive,” Erik said.

  “You’re the one who taught them. You have no one but yourself to blame.” Crystal playfully slapped his shoulder.

  “I know, but at the same time, I can’t wait to see what kind of people they become.” A sense of pride formed on Erik’s face.

  Evening came fast. Ian had woken up from sleep through most of the day. He stretched his body, feeling the stiffness from the journey gripping his muscles.

  Lucky looked at him with tired eyes. It quickly lay its head back down to sleep some more.

  “You lazy dog,” Ian yawned out. “Fine, you can stay.”

  Ian put on his shoes, readying himself for a simple walk. He was going to look around the village and take in the country air.

  The house was quiet as he left. Emmett and Ellie were still sleeping, and his parents had left to do their own things.

  Ian’s walk was calming and refreshing. He felt the wind blow by, carrying the scent of food, spices, and the beginning of summer. The villagers went about their evenings, finishing their day’s activities.

  Along the way, Ian saw his mom buying ingredients for dinner, he saw Liam discuss building terms with some villagers, and he watched his dad as he oversaw the end of the day watch, switching to the night watch.

  As he was nearing the end of his walk, and the sun began to set over the horizon, Ian thought of the future and what was to come. He had many things to look forward to and many challenges waiting for him.

  Even so, there was a lingering thought in the back of his head, one that never went away. A voice he couldn’t hear, but that was there. Waiting. Only breaking through every so often.

  But now, it was quiet. It had been so for some time. And it worried him. The voice would go quiet for short periods, but it would always come back. However, it has been quiet for a few months now. And the thought of it being gone for so long worried him more. Something was coming, but he didn’t know what.