Spectacular World

Hope held her hand out to her father. Her smile faltered for a moment when he gripped it. It wasn't as strong as she expected. Was he still a bit weakened from the last battle? He had said he was fine, though. She put the smile back on her face before he could notice.

"Ready to look at the village?"

"Yeah?" Alexander looked down at himself, noting the tunic he wore now. "Who changed my clothes?"

"Nikos did. He told me we should lay low and not act like 'Mages'. If anyone asks, we're supposed to tell them we're from Apple Tree Village. Nikos told me all of this before he headed out."

"That kid headed out? And you're not with him?" Alexander asked, a bit worried.

"Kevin is with him." Hope explained. She kept a hand on her father and helped him walk to the door. "Also, I have my senses ramped up. I can hear them. If they scream or something, I'll go running over to them and should be able to arrive in about three or four seconds. I'm confident that Kevin can hold any threat off for that long."

"I see. Why did they head out, though?" The man asked awkwardly. "And what of those stone monsters?"

"The golems aren't around here anymore." She said, shaking her head. "With how far down they are beneath the planet, though, I can't hear any of them till they pop up, so who knows how many of those orbs are out there? I wanted to talk to Druid about it, but I haven't had the time. As for why Nikos headed out, he went out looking for another hunting group. Normally, I would have gone with them, but I was worried about you..." She said a little awkwardly.

Alexander chuckled and ruffled his daughter's hair before his look grew serious. "How long exactly was I knocked out for?"

"Well, by the time we got to the village, a full day had almost passed, and we're now about halfway through the third day." Hope sighed and folded her arms over her chest. "To tell you the truth, I'm kind of worried about time. We only have about four days left before the Immortals show up, and apparently, more and more villages have been getting attacked by Supers. They all thought they were safe and that the Supers would help them, but now that the Murder Games have started, the villains all seem keen on tearing down this world they helped to create. It's pissed me off if I'm being honest."

Alexander frowned and nodded. "Sorry. I didn't expect to black out like that... I'll try not to do it again."