Chapter 39 - Aftermath

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Deros' POV

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It's been three days since Pandora had left the house yet there had been no signs of her. We had put up posters and contacted our closest friends for help while Throid and Alan would go into the forest and try to find her.

We thought going to the lack would be the best thing to do until Throid and Alan came back after they had heard a huge explosion from the lake. When they checked, there was a huge black and blue winged lion that was coming out of the water with its mane burning violently that was only rivalled by its fury.

Apparently it was limping to shore because it's leg was broken, yet Throid and Alan had come back after seeing that the beast might have been too wild and strong to win against if they were put into that situation, that is.

The lion had already felt them nearby, so it moved to them as fast as it could before stopping after seeing it wasn't the one it was looking for. Beasts were known to be intelligent as long as they weren't new-borns, so they communicated to each other through writing and body gestures to find out what had happened to the lion.

Apparently it had fought against a humanoid beast that had caught it off-guard and plunged it into the water. It apparently took the shape of little girl yet she was able to use magic as if she was an adult who had went to basic training.

At first, we all thought that it might have been Pandora, but after Throid and Alan carried on explaining the situation, it became less and less likely.

Finally, on the third day, many from our close families had come to help use scout the woods. They had apparently found 3 groups of hunters going to attack a tribe of white wolves, yet there was still no sign of Pandora.

Ana wept to her because she thought she was to blame for this. She had only waned her child to understand what she had done, and why it was important to never do it again. Yet, when her child had ran away into the woods, everyone in the family blamed her for the first few hours before realising that it was childish to blame everything on one person. Yes, she might have not ran away if her mother had not locked her in her room, but at the same time, she would have not learned anything if she was given free reign.

Ana had acted with her emotions and now she was paying the price with grief. We knew how dangerous the woods were and we all worried for when we would get only her body back. After the third day, Ana had lost hope and Aroura had started to weep with her, yet I knew better. I had to put my trust in my daughter to come back alive.

I took a break off of work to stay with my family for the next few days by sending them a direct letter. I watched as the the two boys went to sleep worried for their mother and sister who wept until they slept, while I stood watch hoping that I would see Pandora coming for the far away roads.

The next day a few hours after the break of dawn, multiple friends and family member had come to console us. Argenta had come to console Aroura while Elaina had come to console Ana. Sabastian who is Elaina's husband, Throid and Alan had come to visit me and console me too, yet I didn't waver a single bit. I didn't cry nor did I move from the window, looking into the distance.

They all seemed to think that I was holding onto a loose thread to not lose my sanity, yeti knew better. There is no way that my child would have died! She is intelligent and wouldn't take a fight for no reason. She would run away when a beast would come while not taking any chances to hurt herself while fighting. That was simply how she worked.

Then, I finally saw it. A wave of Yellow and white moving in blurs coming towards our house's direction. They were too far away to distinguish, nevertheless, I grabbed my sword and and auto-equip armour and ran outside. All the men in the way thought I was going crazy and tried to stop me, while the women tried to follow me in hopes that Pandora had come back. Only when I had opened the front door of the house did they realise what I had seen, yet now they were closer.

Everyone grabbed their respective weapons and walked outside ready to attack the invaders. dozens of wolves followed 5 giant wolves at the front who were also being lead by a even more gigantic wolf at the front who had a huge white fire like mane and large white feathery wings that were veined with a yellow colour.

"CRAP! Aren't those the wolves that were going to be attacked by the feather clan? How are they still alive?!" Alan said while gritting his teeth

"Are they coming for revenge?!" Asked Elaina while clenching onto her staff so hard that she made her knuckles make popping sounds

"Whatever it is, get ready to fight with everything you have" I stated making everyone tense up for a second before taking their battle stance.

"Calm down humans!" said a deep and stern voice. The winged wolf's presence alone made everyone's hair stand up while some, like Aroura, started to shake a little with fear.

"SIR! I think the humans are scared of you!" Said a wolf while somehow puffing out its chest and holding its head high.

"That's humans for you." said another wolf with a scoff.

All of us were so shocked by the fact that they could speak, that we let our guards down and let our jaws drop to the floor. Before we could pick our jaws up again, On of the smaller wolves asked the leader "Are you sure she is not one of ours? These humans smell and act nothing like her, they only carry similar appearance to her!"

Her?

Before I could think about those word anymore that I could, the leader replied "Yes, I'm sure. I am just as surprised as you but she is human after all. She must live among her own and accept them before she can accept a foreign species." with a wise and ancient tone.

"Ah f*ck!" a small voice complained from the top of the winged wolf's back "my head hurts so much it feels like I drank 30 shots of the most concentrated vodka!" said the voice again, almost like giving the queue for the wolf to lie down on the floor to give the person on top closer ground to land on.

"Pandora?!" Said Ana, allowing everything to click in everyone's minds.

"You have brought to this world quite the fighter, and at the same time the biggest runt I've seen in my entire life. She had saved the people of my tribe from the human invaders, that is why we consider her our own rather than another human. We owe you and her the greatest gratitude for saving the lives of many, so the least we could do is give her a safe ride home." said the oversized wolf while shaking his body slight and dropping the a petite human like body from his body.

Before the human like body hit the ground, a wolf larger than the others yet smaller than the leader grabbed a golden haired girl with his tail and put her on his back.

"Can u stop throwing me around?! My head already feels like it's about to explode and my body isn't doing much better!" Said the golden haired girl without looking up. She was dressed in a black trench coat that was covered in dried up blood marks. The coat had clearly been regenerated which can be seen from the apparently clean spot on the middle back area. Her hair was up to her shoulder and from her hands, her skin was pale yet at the same time healthy.

While her face was still buried in the yellow fur of the wolf, the wolf said "Well, you are going back home now. Go meet your mom and dad again and you better apologize for running away in the middle of the night... Can you imagine how worried they would be?"

"Well I left them a not saying ill return in 3 days, so they should know. Anyways, can I not go home now? My entire body and mental state have been shattered, plus, I would get my ass whooped three times in a row if my parents see me like this" the girl, who I had now recognized as Pandora said with a drowsy voice.

"First off, I'm disappointed you don't know how parents work. Secondly, 3 days had already passed and finally, you deserve to get your a*s whooped if you don't start moving it in the next 10 seconds." Snarled back the wolf

"Stopped acting like you've been deprived of love for your whole life and go hug your parents before I start whooping your a*s too" said the winged wolf while also snarling at her comment.

"hug my pare-.... OH SHI- I MEAN... Oh crap!" The golden haired girl had finally looked up. Pandora's hair had been shortened to down to her shoulders with a smooth nice cut and her eyes sparkled like gold stars in the middle of the night sky, yet they were deep and felt like they would devour you the moment you looked for too long. They immediately turned soft again as she stood up and straightened herself while patting herself down from all the dust and fur that had stuck onto her coat.

A large gaping hole could be seen on the clothes where her abdomen was under, yet she was completely fine. A bit too fine.

Even though she was only almost 6 years old, her abdomen was defined by barely viable abs. Her face was smooth with no imperfections, yet it was stained with dry blood across her face that tainted her childish look. When she patter down her body, she looked at the hole in her clothes on top her abdomen for a second longer than everything else before using the coat to cover up the damages as if they weren't there.

The blood on the black trench coat was barley visible, but the golden yellow inner coat was covered with it. She used the belt in the middle of the coat to tie the two side together tightly before looking at the huge wolf who use water and air magic to clean and dry her up in a blink of an eye.

"when you go home make sure to have a soap bath. You still smell like crap" said the wingless big wolf that was right next to her

"oh... yeah... Thanks for bringing me home by the way" she said while we were trying to regain our balance while being wary of the beasts.

"NO! Thank you for everything you had done for us. Even if your a human or if you were born beast, we will not forget our gratitude for you for the rest of our lives!" another large wolf with a female voice said while bowing her head towards my daughter.

In the moment, every single wolf except the leader followed suite and bowed their heads while bending their knees slightly, as if they were giving a curtsy. In response, Pandora bowed back at them rather than giving a curtsy to them like she was supposed to as a women.. The big feathered leader then licked her one final time before nudging her towards us with a bit too much power, making her fly towards us at high speeds.