Secret behind the mansion

...The ones inside the mansion busied themselves with clearing dust and cobwebs, using whatever tools they could find....

...A few insect-like mutants crawled out from under the broken floorboards-quickly dealt with, then forgotten....

...No one made a big deal out of it. Just another day in their new, cursed home....

...The others outside have went to level and one noticed a door just left standing inbetween of two trees....

..."A door?" Said Felix...

..."Maybe I will tell the others tomorrow- well, somebody will eventually find out by the time we come here" as he walks towards the rest who are leaving for leveling up....

..."Hey, doesn't the village seem strange?" Asked Milo...

..."No?- why is it strange. There is literally nothing out of the ordinary" replied Gabriel....

..."No like, they are live even when the abominations have invaded their village."...

..."Yea... Maybe they have a strong protector or something"...

..."Don't worry yourself with unwanted-"...

...A loud bang was heard across the river. They ran away but realized that there was the village where the have got the mansion's direction form. They sprint toward the village-only to find it surrounded by a large wall... and under attack. ...

..."What-WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VILLAGE?!" shouted Milo....

..."Where did those walls even come from!?" yelled Varun, eyes wide....

...Above them, four figures stood at the edge of the wall, silhouetted against the blood-red sky. Each of them glowed with an aura-like energy....

..."See!? I told you there was something wrong with the village!"...

...A horde of abominations erupted from the ground, with two descending from the sky. They looked severely distorted, especially the airborne ones. The creatures charged toward the village-until a massive gust of wind blasted them backward....

...A man with fine blonde hair stepped forward, radiating yellow energy from his sword. He slashed once-cleanly-and sliced through the front line of abominations....

...The two sky abominations screeched and flung themselves downward, but one was struck in the head by a glowing arrow and began to disintegrate. The second was instantly crushed beneath a colossal hammer....

...The woman with the bow had silky white hair, her arrows pulsing with red aura. The bulky man who wielded the hammer radiated green energy as he lifted it with one hand....

...The abominations on the ground froze for a moment-stunned-before charging again, as if bound by an invisible command....

...The blonde man suddenly tossed his sword into the sky....

..."What-why is he throwing his sword up!?" asked Milo, his shocked expression bordering on horrified....

...Meanwhile, a second woman, with curly red hair and blue aura flowing from her fingertips, lifted her hands toward the sky. In response, columns of water shot from the ground, blinding the advancing monsters....

..."Whoa, that water thing was cool!" said Arjun....

...Just then, a rain of swords shot down from the sky-each one piercing an abomination with deadly precision. Not a single blade missed its mark....

...The players were stunned-except for Arjun and Milo, who had seen enough weird stuff by now to be unfazed....

..."This will be sufficient for the village, won't it?" asked the hammer-wielding man....

"Well, if they don't gobble them up before we even cook them," replied the blonde man with a deadpan expression, "it might actually feed the whole village. And us."

"They must be the guardians of this village... maybe we should talk to them?" Felix asked, eyes squinting at the figures on the wall.

"Definitely! Maybe I can learn to be strong like them!" Milo beamed, already halfway through a daydream fight montage.

"They're good people," Arjun added confidently. "They've always been like that."

"Good? Just look at that bulky guy! He looks like he eats boulders for breakfast!" Varun barked, elbowing Milo.

Milo snorted. "Yeah, but like... respectfully. I still wanna ask for sword lessons."

"Maybe we can ask for help," Gabriel suggested, glancing at Sora.

"Strategically, it makes sense," Sora muttered. "We'll need allies."

Meanwhile, Milo, entirely off-track, pulled a crinkly snack bag from his jacket. "I just want the food though right now."

Sora, standing next to Milo, blinked as he pulled out the bag of chips.

"Where on earth did you even pull-actually, you know what? Never mind you."

She gave up halfway through the sentence, already regretting the curiosity.

"What!?" Milo protested, stuffing one into his mouth. "I was hungry, okay?... I want food."

His tone dropped into a tragic whimper, like he'd been starved for days instead of five minutes.

Arjun stood up, brushing off dust as he walked toward them.

"Felix, go get the others," he said, nodding toward the camp.

As Arjun approached, the blonde man standing next to the plie of dead abominations narrowed his eyes.

"Someone's coming this way," he said to the others.

"Who are you and for what purpose have you come here?" Asked the bulky man in ruff tone but soon realises that he was a young boy

"Wait-you're a child... What are you doing here? No-where is your family, or your village?" he asked, his tone softening.

Arjun looked at him and the others.

"It stinks here. I want to have a chat with all of you somewhere else."

"Yeah, hold on," said the blonde man. "Are you... coming with someone?"

"Yea they're on their way here"

The blonde one narrows his eyes but gestures toward a side gate. "We'll talk in the outpost."

While entering the outpost, Arjun saw the same village they had seen before - the only difference was the wall and its guardians.

"Sit down and tell me - what is it that you want to talk about?" asked the blonde man.

Varun seeing Arjun go inside wondered about something

...Should we follow him or just stay?" questioned Varun....

..."No, he didn't give any orders anyway," replied Gabriel....

...Sora added, "I think we should enter..." She paused. "But he didn't want us there 'cause he knew Milo would mess things up."...

..."Damn... so straightforward," Milo said in a broken tone....

...----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...

Felix pushed the door open and blinked in surprise.

"Woah! You guys finished cleaning already?"

The room fell silent. Death glares from every corner.

Jasper sitting on the broken couch, his voice low. "Where were... you?"

And then, suddenly shouting-

"AND WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!?"

Felix scratched his neck, awkwardly grinning.

"Long story short... there was a fight."

He asked them a question

"Anyway, where are the rest?"

He turned to the window, spotting a few figures outside.

Jasper crossed his arms while still sitting on the broken couch he said. "They recently went outside. Said something was glowing."

Then, muttering under his breath,

"While we were scrubbing floors, they went off investigating..."

Felix spotted a strange glow emanating from the door.

He didn't understand why, but every nerve in his body screamed - run.

Something was about to go terribly wrong. He had to warn Arjun.

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"And maybe you could help those without combat abilities," Arjun said.

"Very well, then. It's a deal," replied the blonde man.

"ARJUN!"

A shout pierced the air as Felix sprinted towards them, breathless.

The guardians turned in shock.

How did he get in? The entrance hadn't even opened yet.

"The weird standing door... it's glowing!" Felix yelled, panic rising in his voice.

He didn't know why he was so afraid. But it was needed to be said

Arjun didn't flinch. Calm and composed, he looked to the guardians.

"Would you kindly come with us?" he asked.

The guardians exchanged glances, the blonde man was shocked her ran first with his sword, without a word, the rest took up their weapons and followed.

Felix didnt move

He knew what was going to happen

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