111 My aunt is being hunted (1/2)

Ellie was feeling overwhelmed.

She had spent so many hours hearing her aunt's stories about a fantasy land with a group of people with amazing powers that would help a crossbow girl. And now, here these people were, popping out of nowhere, one after another.

The man who could turn into a huge black lion, the kid that could become a sword, the griffin that the crossbow girl would take care of like a pet.

Evlin never imagined that any of them would turn out to be real, and now here they were standing around and chatting like they were in a college reunion.

The girl wanted to simply spend the rest of the day talking with them and asking about more details from their adventures together while playing with the huge creatures.

”I can't believe this is real!! I must be dreaming!!”

Evlin realized her niece full of sparkles on her eyes and realized she had forgotten something important.

”Ellie, you go back to the hospital and call your mother to pick you up with your phone.”

”Ehhhhh???”

The young girl's heart felt like she had just received the stab from a spear. She just managed to meet all the figures from her aunt's fairytales and now she wanted her to just go home?

”Aunt Evie?? But... But...”

”You wanna come with us, right?”

”Yes!!!”

”Not happening...”

”Ehhhh!!???”

Evlin sighed and rubbed her forehead as if thinking ”Oh man... Being the adult sucks...”. She then bent her knees and faced her niece.

”Ellie, you saw how dangerous that girl was. I can't let you get closer to her ever again. You go home and stay with your mother until I finish this up, ok?”

”But... But...”

”It's for your own good.”

There was no way Evlin would let a nine-year-old girl like Ellie go on such a dangerous mission with her. On the other hand, Ellie didn't want to leave her aunt alone. Not only because she wanted to see the famous crossbow mage in action, but she feared that if she let her aunt out of her sight, the next time they met she would have turned into Myriad.

Ellie began to develop a desire to protect her aunt, just as much as her aunt wanted to protect her.

”But... My dream... I saw...”

”Yeah, I know honey... I also used to dream about going on adventures with magic and stuff... But this isn't a game, this is real... And you could be in grave danger.”

”Huh!? No! I mean...”

”Ellie... Call your mother... Now!”

”... Fine...”

Ellie was starting to get annoyed. She used to think her aunt was cool because she always treated her like they were equals. There was no ”You're the kid and I'm the adult, so you need to listen to me!” talk. But now her aunt was looking at her and speaking to her in the same way her parents would often do.

She picked her phone and finally tried to contact her mother. Ellie realized that she was probably worried sick after not hearing any news from them for so long.

While that happened, Evlin returned her attention to her old friends. Even though yesterday had quite a number of stressful events, Evlin was starting to calm down a bit while looking at so many friendly faces again for the first time in a while.

She was so focused on Mia that she didn't even realize how weird it was for all her old party members to just be in front of her like that.

”I can't believe you all are really in my world. How did you even get here?”

Lilith took Lance from Daren's arms while he and Marcus would help pick up her armor from the ground and began her explanation.

”West sent us here to punish Mia and Auren...”

”West?”

Evlin tried to remember the last time she saw the goddess of the west. She was crying like a little girl begging Evlin to help her deal with East while they were in a place filled with nothingness know as the white void. She was a little annoying but never actually tried to harm any of her friends during their time working together. The idea of West trying to punish them felt a tad odd for Evlin.

”Yeah... You know how gods can interact with their champions in order to punish them? Once we found out about how Mia and the dryad had escaped to this world we decided to try and call her attention by stopping with our mission to kill demons. As a result, they agreed to continue their mission if West opened a portal for us.”

”You guys did that for me? What if she tried to harm you?”

”It was worth the gamble... You always helped us when we needed you... Of course we would do the same for you!”

”Oh, Lilith...”

Evlin locked Lilith in a bear hug and almost squashed the poor Lance that was in her arms. She was starting to feel bad for acting so cold towards Lilith a while ago considering how hard they were all trying to help her.

”I'm so sorry... I shouldn't-”

”It's fine... It's fine... Let's go get your wooden armor and deal with that little brat.”

The two were enjoying their little moment when Marcus and Daren approached while carrying pieces of Lilith's armor with them. Evlin was hoping she could hurry and get her magic back so she could change all that metal into something easier to carry.

She took another look at Marcus and noticed that he had changed quite a lot. He wasn't as well shaped as Daren but was definitely looking much more ”manlier” than the last time she saw him five years ago. She noticed that the lad was staring at her face quite a lot.

”Marcus, everything ok?”

”Ah! It's... It's nothing... I'm just... Just glad that you're ok...”

”Ah... Thanks...”

Evlin wasn't really sure if she was truly ”ok” right now but she was glad to at least have her old friends by her side to help her.