Raiden felt his feelings of unease grow stronger as the day passed.

He started noticing the little things around noon.

At first, it was the birds.

Usually, the skies around the farm were lively. Small winged Terrans flew between the berry trees, chattering noisily, while a few larger ones glided lazily above the distant jungle.

Today, however, the noise had changed. Instead of normal chirping, he could hear sharp, frantic cries. And they were not circling peacefully either. They were moving in groups, flying away from the deeper wilds.

Raiden stood beside the fence and frowned.

"Brother?" Sylvia called from behind. "What happened?"

He did not answer her as his eyes stayed on the horizon.

Far away, beyond the greener stretch of untamed land and the line where the farm ended, and wild territory began, he could see flocks of birds rising one after another like dark waves. They were leaving too quickly. Too chaotically.

Woolie came to stand beside him, chewing lazily on something that Raiden was almost certain it was not supposed to be chewed, before the little sheep froze too.

The carefree look in its eyes disappeared. Its ears twitched once as its eyes also got fixed on the horizon.

Neva slowly crawled up Raiden’s shoulder and went still. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

These two idiots were always noisy. Always energetic. If both of them went quiet together, then something was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

He placed his warm head on Sylvia’s head and narrowed his eyes. For a few moments, the entire farm seemed to hold its breath with him. Even the wind felt strange. It carried a faint smell toward them, earthy and heavy, mixed with the distant scent of leaves, mud... and something else.

Blood.

Sylvia stepped up beside him now, her earlier laziness gone. "Brother, did something happen??"

Raiden spoke slowly. "I don’t know yet. Probably a storm is coming. You should get inside the house."

But he had a bad feeling.

A very bad feeling.

Just then, Ruby, who had been sleeping for a few days beneath the Banyan tree, slowly opened her eyes.

"Aunt Ruby!! You are finally awake!! That’s great!!"

Raiden turned toward her at once.

She did not answer him and simply lifted her head and looked toward the same distant horizon he had been staring at. Her golden eyes, usually so full of lazy amusement, had become cold and sharp.

That was the moment his bad feeling got worse.

Because if even Ruby looked like that, then this was not some small trouble.

The next second, a loud ringing sound came from inside the house, breaking the solemn silence.

Sylvia blinked. "Your phone."

Raiden was already moving.

He walked quickly inside, grabbed the phone from the table, and looked at the screen. His face changed the moment he saw the caller.

John, the new leader of Platoon 4.

He picked up immediately.

"Hello?"

On the other side, John’s voice came out rushed and far louder than usual, full of panic and disbelief.

"Raiden, where are you right now?! Please tell me you are away from the city boundaries!!!"

Raiden’s frown deepened. "I am at my farm. Why are you shouting like that? Did something bad happen??"

There was a brief pause, followed by heavy breathing.

Then John said the words that made the temperature around Raiden seem to drop by several degrees.

"The frontier defence lines have collapsed!! A massive beast horde is moving toward the city!!! And it’s moving far faster than we thought!! We don’t have enough reinforcement at hand. The horde is bigger, much, much bigger than we ever predicted. "

For a moment, Raiden said nothing.

His fingers slowly tightened around the phone.

Outside the house, the sky filled with the cries of fleeing birds.

And far away, from somewhere beyond the wild lands, a deep trembling finally reached the ground beneath his feet.

"Where are you right now? Is everything going to be okay??"

Instead of an answer, frantic explosion and bombing noises sounded from the phone, making Raiden even more worried.

"I..am...okAY!! But we don’t know how long we can hold the front lines. Listen to me very carefully and don’t come near the border. I repeat: under no circumstances should you come to the border. Stay at your farm, cause I am not sure that even you can walk out of this fight alive!!!"

Click.

"Hello?? John, hello?? John?? Damnit!!" Raiden looked at his phone with a scowl on his face. He knew something was going to happen. His life couldn’t possibly be this peaceful for so long.

"Big Brother, did something happen??" Sylvia approached him with a worried expression on her face. Looking at her, Raiden tried his best to put on a cheerful smile on her face as he messed up her hair.

"Nothing major. Just a friend who was warning me about large weather changes. The typhoon is going to hit our city. You should do your best to stay inside. I will go check on our Aunt Ruby. She has been sleeping for so long. I’ll be back soon."

Under Sylvia’s disbelieving gaze, Raiden exited the house before jogging next to Aunt Ruby, who was consoling the two little ones who were talking animatedly to her.

"Aunt Ruby, you are finally awake. How do you feel?? Do you feel any pain?? Are you okay?? You have been asleep for a long time."

"I am finee Rai Rai~ Don’t worry about mee. I was just tiredd. Everything is going to bee okayy." She swept her crimson tail before patting his head, unconsciously making him feel secure.

He had been so worried about everything, but as soon as she woke up and patted his head, he felt half of his worries fly away. She had unknowingly become a spiritual pillar for him, assuring him that, as long as she was here, nothing would go wrong.

"I am glad to hear that~ But Aunt Ruby, I just got a call from my friend. He said there is a beast horde coming. And it is bigger than they thought. The front lines are in danger. What if they breach the walls and enter the city??" Raiden spoke with a worried expression on his face.

"Don’t worry...the cityy is not as weakk as you thinkk. Just obidentlyy stay heree. As long as I am here, no harmm will comee to youu or little Sylvi~ That’s my promisee." Ruby narrowed her eyes as she looked off into the horizon. No one will ever harm her children ever again.

"If you say so, Auntie. I’ll go check on Sylvia. Take care of these little ones."

Raiden glanced at the horizon once again. He had a feeling he was going to get pulled into this vortex one way or another.