Welfare and Warfare

Chapter 10

Eventually, the thunderbird had become so singed that it collapsed in the fire demon's arms, losing consciousness.

The rest of the battle was almost won. With no more aerial support from the thunderbird, the attackers lost faith and retreated, trying to escape to the emerald forest; however, most of them were captured and restrained, prisoners who would likely have to pay for their crimes. With all of the troublemakers dealt with, the guards of the Warren worked on putting out the fires whilst retaining the border at the gates in case any other prisoners had any ideas about using the opportunity to break into the Warren.

The fire demon glanced confusedly at Henry, perhaps wondering if he deserved any thanks since only himself and the man knew what he had done to help before dragging the unconscious thunderbird away.

With a sigh of relief, Henry unzipped the inside pocket of his blazer, letting Nia out. The pixie rested on his hands, shaking slightly but thankfully unharmed despite Henry being knocked down many times.

"You okay?" Henry wheezed.

Nia bit her lip and nodded, patting Henry's thumb in reassurance.

"So, that was only perhaps the first half an hour of the blood moon. Just twenty-three and a half hours to go." Henry glanced around at the destruction, the debris and scattered belongings that were scattered from the thunderbird's storm. "Let's try and find our tent, shall we?"

The rest of the refugees returned to the destroyed camp, trying to find their belongings or taking anything they could find. A few scraps broke out as they fought over shelter and supplies, but nothing too severe as no one wanted to risk losing the potential citizenship of the Warren. The guards remained cautious but mainly concentrated on restraining their new prisoners, as well as calming any monsters that lost control from the panic, the amphibian using its glowing antenna to put them to sleep to be more manageable.

Eventually, Henry and Nia spotted their tent, which was recognisable due to the unique stitching that fixed up a tear. They set it back up, using sticks from the forest nearby as the nails were long gone. Finally, Henry allowed himself to rest, Nia keeping watch and allowing him to recover from his multiple bruises. Much to everyone's relief, the rest of the blood moon went without any more incidents.

Day: 3126

With the blood moon over and only a few remaining streaks in the sky, Henry could transform back into a human and found that he was one of the few people who opted to. Nia, being a pixie and such a small size, had to wait usually a day or so to return to a human unless she wanted to risk transforming wrong and her body becoming deformed. Other prisoners chose to keep their monster form, likely out of protection as, whilst the battle was over, it had yet to settle down completely. A few monsters were being restrained by The Warren's guards and prisoners who had surrendered in their failed attempt at capturing the city. They were all escorted over to a clearing, the flock of ravens following from above, whilst a few remained surveilling the rest of the refugees.

Henry craned his neck, wondering what was going to happen to them. Nia was curious, too, and motioned to follow at a distance. Other prisoners watched and gathered as the surrendered and captured attackers were brought to the same area, the amphibian-like monster using its glowing antenna to entrance those still struggling into a vacant state.

The hulking giant troll lumbered over to the group as if being controlled, and Henry noticed that the stone arrow was still embedded into its shoulder. Standing atop the giant troll was the archer, his body made completely of stone like a statue and jumped off when the troll lined up with the other culprits.

"What are they going to do to them?" Henry asked aloud and glanced at Nia.

The pixie flittering near him shrugged her shoulders.