The blizzard was thick and was piling on as Liv rode with her horse through it. The horse continued gallop its way along the road. She kept thinking this was the path to finding out her legacy. Her heritage wasn't born on Earth, it started on the planet of Alviren. 

After leaving her friend Hardwire, she went to the most learned libraries and the latest astronomy sites to figure out where her planet was situated. In the books, it was orbiting a star not in the Sol system. They said it orbited a blue dwarf star, but it wasn't appearing where they said it appeared. The books said the star was destroyed and the planet with it.

"On that planet were my brethren, sisters, and kin. But my warrior family could be here. Steps to my family could be here." she said.

 She kept leaning to the horse's body feeling the horse's energy galloping past several neighborhoods.

 "I have to find them." She began to remember what her old friend had said. 

"The places that were hit were all pinpricks of the castle...An enemy of the king wants to get his attention." said Harry.

"An enemy of my father's? Could that be related to me? I know so little about my family of peoples. All I know is from pictures on a wall or books in a library. I need actual contact. And this Liriel Lilyanha. They said she has been living on this mountain top in the distance for years. I don't even know if she was real. Or even if this is a dream." 

 She brought out the map she had gotten from the library. Soon they had been riding for hours up the rugged terrain. It had been rough. They were coming up on rough terrain. She had wanted to slow the horse's progression. So, they neared a river so the horse could drink there and rest.

They reach a small town named Sunder. She got off her horse for a minute to think. She watched four children with two adults gathering for warmth in the storm. She wished she had that with her mother. She reached toward one of the children playing with their dog. It was a small and scruffy little animal. It yipped and yapped at the children. She heard the children mention about certain strange things that were happening in Sunder. 

"Did you see that light in the sky?" asked the boy." 

"What light?" asked the girl. "It was more than a light. It was over there. And it was a flying meat eater!"

 "That was no meat eater, you're weird!" The boy pointed to the west as he made a whooshing sound.  He explained the object that he saw come screaming through the air. 

"Am not!" The boy screamed at her.

 "Are so!" The girl yelled back.

She walked to them and tapped the boy on the shoulder. The boy was sitting on a rock playing with his toy dragon set. His hair was short with a curl in his hair. 

"Hey, you said you saw something west of here?" 

The boy looked at her and then backed away and went to his toy set.

 "..." She saw that he was hesitant to talk.

 "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." She placed her hand on his shoulder.

 "I just want to know what you saw." 

"...Why? Who are you?" The boy asked. She stood on the silver steps that were displayed before them.

"I am a warrior. And I am on a mission. And I need your help." She stated. 

"Cool!" 

The boy brought out his coloring books out of his sack as his mother called out to him. 

"Dani, I need you to come in to eat!"

 "Okay, can I just have five minutes, mom? I've got to finish this!" His mother sighed. 

"Okay, five minutes! But then I'm coming out to get you." 

"Yes, mom!" She closed the door.

 "You said you saw an object streaking across the sky? Like this?" asked Olivia. 

 She moved her arm in a horizontal position down towards him. "Yeah, it came down and made a roaring sound over there."

Olivia saw where the boy was pointing to. She went and got a map from her backpack and a highlighted marker and showed it to the boy. The map showed where they were. She highlighted a red circle over the small, populated town of Sunder on the map. 

"Do you know where we are on this map. young one?" She asked.

 "My name's Dani. And yeah. We're here." He points directly in the circle to the city on the map.

 "Good. I appreciate you doing this for me."

 "Of course." he said. 

The boy clamored up on the table that was used as their coloring spot.

 "And where did you see this meat-eater?"

The boy looked back in that direction. He hesitated but then he thought about it. He placed his index finger up in the air and then observed the map. 

"I think it was here."

 He pointed to a spot several inches away. The spot he pointed to was to the northwest of Sunder. It was about 10 to 25 miles from where they were. It was in the city of Arcvale. It was a populous city. A city of five million plus of working people. They were the more technological, cultural hip city than Denbrook. And that's where the disturbance went. But it wasn't where she had been going.

 "Thanks, Dani." She circled the city in red marker on the map. 

"You've really helped me with finding these meat-eaters." She put the map in the backpack.

 "Was there anything else you might have saw or heard?"

The boy jumped off the table and grabbed some of his coloring books and sat on the steps of the house he lived in with his mother. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, was there any sound you might have heard from the meat-eater?" He looked at her. And thought about it. And then he had a shocked look on his face. He had his hands on the side of his face with his mouth open.

 "There was." 

"What was it?" 

"It was a scream. I heard it! I swear it!" yelled the boy.

"From the meat eaters in the sky?" asked Liv.

 "I don't know about that, but I heard it afterwards, when it came down!" The boy was scared. 

He grabbed Olivia's arm and hung on to it. Olivia held on to the boy to calm him.

 "It's going to be okay, Dani, I won't let anything happen to you."

Meanwhile just up the road two former soldiers employed by the King's Royal Guard are on horseback. They asked about our young adventurer Olivia. They asked whether someone had seen a young girl travelling on horse. Through the reports they received, some villager may have seen a young girl on horse. It just wasn't Olivia. But they were not going to give up. They were persistent. The one on lead was extremely persistent. He had short brown hair, a ruffled beard, a scar on his left cheek, a sword and piercing enigmatic stare. He was the best at what he did. And what he did was track. He slowed the horse to stop a nearby store. He looked down at the snow on the ground. Other horse tracks were next to the ones his horse had made.

"These horse tracks, there have been no one else on this road for hours." His compatriot agreed with him. 

"With the storm being as constant as it is, His Majesty wanted the roads blocked off. Everyone's been in their houses. You think this could be who we're looking for?" asked Delios. I'm positive it is. This is a small town. Everyone knows anyone lives here. If the King's runt is here, we'll find her. That bounty is good as ours!" He got back on his horse and they both galloped away.

Meanwhile inside the castle providence, a worried Violet paced back and forth. Inside the dining hall the guests had arrived. They were mostly an aristocratic sort. People that were more worried about their stock market percentages than about the state of affairs outside. But Olivia's stepsisters and brothers did inquire about her. Her stepsister Janet wondered about her. 

"Please tell me, mother, did she even remember us?" Janet asked. "Your sister chose not to come but that does not prevent us from being united." She walked down the steps to greet the incoming guests. "Please, mother this not about us being united, this is about our wayward sister not performing her rightful duties as heir to the throne." spoke Janae. 

Another of Olivia's relatives came up to the side of her sister. "Liv, still not here?" asked the middle one of the group. "Like you expected her to be, Devon?" asked Janet the older sibling. "Nah. But appearances are appearances." 

"Speaking of appearances, those dudes over there in corner, look mighty suspicious." said Jan.

 They are wearing all black tuxes with masks. Most of the attendants were wearing masks. It fits the masquerade theme their mother wanted. It evoked mystery and intrigue. "Did they come in with you in the limousine or..." "No, Jan they did not. They were not a part of the organizing committee. I'm going to pay these guys a visit."

 "Devon, don't do anything I wouldn't do, I want this extravaganza to go off without hitch. Don't you?" 

She eyed him while pointing to the steps where the King would appear. 

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of it. I'm just going to ask them if they are from around here. I'll be cool. I'll be cool."

 "And I'll check the list that dear mother has. See if I recognize anyone on it." She spoke.

Through the crowd of attendants, he saw one of the masked men drinking the champagne brought him by one of the servers on a tray. The mask the server was wearing has a golden wolf logo on it. It sparks with a shine that echoes in the festivities. Most of his group are wear the wolf masks. He himself grabbed a mask from a previous table of food and drinks. It was a hideous grizzly bear mask.

"Not really what I wanted. I'm a wolf myself. Determined, intimidating, and pursuing my prey."

 He walked over slowly and paced himself to one of the golden wolf members. The table that they were presiding at had a sign that said The Golden Wolf. He bumped into one of the members as they were moving in the opposite direction. Their drink was spilt on the tux.

"Oh...sorry. My bad. I can offer a napkin." 

He took a napkin out of his light blue tux and as he went, he bumped into a server who then spills onto the said Golden Wolf. The guy is then soaked in champagne. 

"Oh, sorry about that. Sorry." 

"Never mind. I'll handle...," said the elven wolf.

 "I can get a new suit for you, if you come this way." said Devon.

"No, damn it, that is not necessary, I have one in my car. Just..." He handed him the napkin. 

And he dabs the suit and then trotted quickly to the restroom. One of his members with a mask on noticed what happened and touched his arm. "Don't forget the speech." He nodded. He darts in the restroom. 

"The speech?" Devon figured what they are talking about was what their father is about to give.

"I better trail him. Something is happening. I don't know what. But it sounds dangerous."

At the same time Olivia's father King Leo had men stationed by the door.

 "Your excellency, information has not come back yet regarding the asset."

 "Thank you, Tristan. Let me know when they find her immediately. But they can have the gold bullion when she comes back to me." 

 "Yes, My Lord." His man went back outside the door to his station.

 "This has to stop. My daughter has caused enough stress and strife on me, on this republic." 

He watched the movement out the window of the throne room behind the curtain. He walks back to and fro with his staff in hand knowing what has to be done. 

"My wayward child I spired in the heat of my passions back when I was young has stood in the way of rule and proper governance. And I have waited for far too long for this stop me now. Olivia will come home, or I will ban her from ever coming back here again."

 He stared at a picture of her happy with him and her stepmother.

One of his Royal Guard rapidly knocked on the door. "Yes. Come in." 

A light-haired soldier with tanned outfit with silver armament opened the door.

 "M' Lord, I didn't want to interrupt you before you graced us with your presence, but..."

"Go ahead, Jasper." The soldier bowed and stood near him.

 "We are encountering numerous monster sightings out in the field. If I may say so, I think we might be outrun." 

The King looked at him in steadfast shock.

 "That's ridiculous. We have more than enough weapons to hold these creatures." 

He along with the soldier went into the next room which happened to be the strategy room for battles and assaults. He pulls up on a monitor, a video of previous visual sightings of the creatures.

 "See? We have it in hand." 

The screen showed most of the cities having it under control but one city next to the Capital City is being besieged with creatures. Especially with the creature called a grill. It was a furry feline short like creature with ears like a cheetah or hyena. They were commanding their feline armies with assault weapons and swords. They were very adept at forcing the soldiers to back away with swords and then laying traps to confine them in nets underground. They were losing ground near the Capitol city border. 

These little Grills were getting in their footholds, in their cities. But they weren't alone. Another enemy was with them. Or rather leading them were the Warriors of the Mist. Clad in their armored suits with their electro staffs they charged ahead against the King's men. The King knew he had to try something else. His people were at the mercy of these creatures. They were depending on him. They were depending on his strength.

He saw one of the creatures charge ahead of the soldiers trying to capture it and saw it corner an elderly woman. It hissed and then growled and then attacked her. It jumped on her. It bit into her neck, she tried to fight it off but to no avail. She slumped down against the shop door. More Grills came on to the scene and tore apart the citizens of the Kingdom. It pained him to see this knowing he could have stopped this before these creatures got here. But what's done was done.

 "Who is that, Jasper?" The second monitor from the left showed a human floating above the battle giving signs to its troops.

 "Zoom in on the face." 

The screen immediately closed in on the floating cloaked figure. He was blue skinned, armored with silver tipped hair with piercing long ears. "Is that a..." questioned Jasper. He knew who it was. He was afraid to say it. It was an elf. Not just any elf. One of the Supreme Elven leaders. It seems the Elven Council had taken notice of him and have not found favor with what he did.

Meanwhile in Sunder, Livi finished talking and coloring with the child and his mother came out and asked for him to come inside. "I have to go, Livi." said the child. "Alright, Dani, Thank you for showing me where the meat eaters were." The boy turns and hugs Olivia. "I know the meat eaters aren't real. They're just bad men." What he said surprised Livi. 

"That's why you're here to send them back to the nether realm. Right, Livi?"

 Olivia hadn't met a boy his age this observant.

 "Right." She gives him a high five. 

"Yeah!" 

As they moved back to the house, two armored men show up on the road with their horses. One of them gets off their horse and approached the two of them.

Livi recognized them as the same thugs she met before at that party.

 "Dani, go in the house. Your momma needs you." 

The boy saw the men and Livi nodded, and he ran into the house. "Are you Olivia Corsair?" asked the knight. 

"Who wants to know?" asked Olivia. 

Livi walked to back to her horse and got her gloves to cover her hands. She also snagged her bandana and tightly wound to her forehead. "Elias Garver, and this here is my friend Tobias. We're here on a hunt for you." 

 "Really? Whatever for?" she asked. 

"Do you know there's a bounty on you?" asked Tobias.

 "Me? Little old me?" asked Liv.

 "There's a not really modest bounty on those who ignore a royal order. And stealing people's cash out of their locked vaults ain't going to endear them to ya, neither." stated Elias.

Liv remembered getting the cash out of the vaults after they assaulted her on the street in their run to get out of town. She didn't really steal the money. The vault was open and while the bandits were distracted with the authorities, she took it, but she gave it back to the sheriff's office later when it was discovered she was instrumental in catching them. After she did the sheriff gave her a reward. The key to the city. It was superb day in her stepmother's life and her father's. 

"About that, how about we just say that I let you go and call it even." 

She went back to her horse. As she went, Elias grabbed his sword and placed the tip of it on her face. 

"You're not going to get away that easy. We got a bounty and we're going to collect. If we have to drag you kicking and screaming! That was 25,000 in gold bullion you took from us! And we're going to collect!" yelled Tobias.