The King has no Heir?

A town without children

They searched far and wide, coming across a town in the middle of knowhere.

"Excuse me, but what is the name of this town?" They asked a passing grandmother.

"This is Hael town, blessed by the goddess of youth."

"I see. Have you seen a small child? Female, blonde, with red eyes? Our lord has lost his child, and we were wondering if she has wandered here." The old woman frowned, and shook her head with a mournful sigh.

"If he had lost his child in these parts, then she is gone. You have no chance of finding her."

"Madam, what do you mean by this?"

"Well, as you can see there are only middle aged and elderlies in here. But where are the children? There are husband and wives, but where are the small ones that should be running about? Have you wondered?" They looked around and noticed that what the old woman says was right. There was not a single child in sight.

"This...the children..."

"Yes, this is a town who has lost its children. A town whose only route is to extinction. Any child that may wander in this region, will be taken away by the snatcher." Snatcher?

"What is that, good lady?"

"Come, I will tell you far from the woods itself. For it listens, and I fear it may hear us."

The snatcher, or the creatures that the village lost its children to, loves in the woods and devours any child it may come across. Usually children wandering on their own or children that are loud or too children that are too silent will be taken first. It snatches children at night, and slaughters livestock.

"So far, no one has ever seen this creature, only it's tracks and it's shrill screams coming from the forest. Our men tried to find it, but no one was able to come back successful."

"A creature that snatches children. How long has this been going on?"

"Five consecutive years? The recent one was five months ago, when it discovered the five month old baby of the couple across the smithery. Oh it was heartbreaking."

The knights looked at each other, and then the king.

"We will head out."

They stood and thanked the old lady, she waved her hand and did not receive any of their gifts, only praying they find the missing little girl. The king and his men heads out unto the forest, with villagers looking at them, thoughts unknown.

The forest is an endless darkness, filled with trees and vegetation, and the branches covered the skies, allowing no light within. They had to use lamps powered by fairy crystal, in order to hike through the forest.

"Sire, the path ends here." Before them was a dead end, where no man can walk through. However, the King raised his hand and destroyed the trees that was on the way.

"We shall continue."

From within the darkness came shrieks of pain, and then there was nothing. The pattering of small feet, the humid atmosphere, and the sickening feeling of dread filled up the darkest part of the forest. From a distance, came a roar of a beast and disgusting goblins came out of hiding, a pair of red eyes watched all of this unfold, unblinking.

The king and his men ventured even deeper, and the deeper they go all the more they felt this horrid feeling of being watched. Everyone of them was anticipating an attack, only to hear a dreadful roar. It was strong enough to shake the entirety of the forest and the sounds of swords clashing and fighting resounded in the distance.

They hurried over silently, and saw a great battle. There were bandit looking humans and goblins fighting head on. But the most terrible thing was the big wyvern attacking a huge golem.

"Your highness watch out!" the knight slashed a goblin that attacked from the bushes. The sound he made attracted the other green things, and that is how they entered the fray. But the more they slayed, the more of these creatures came out. The bandit looking people was also loosing a lot of numbers.

"Ah!" a small shriek caused the right hand man to look to the side. He was horrified to see a child in tattered clothing, about to be mauled by a goblin. He raised his hand and shot the goblin dead with an arrow made from the humid air of the area.

"Are you alright?!" he lifted the stunned child, and went behind the bushes.

"Listen, you have to hide here. Don't come out. Here is a knife, stab anything that comes to harm you."

"Mhm!" the child looked about five or six, and looks extremely malnourished. He left the child there, and joined the battle.

The king slayed his hundredth goblin and bandit, looking at the Golem and wyvern. They were still going at it, but the wyvern is visibly weakened. The ground shook as the two huge monsters fought each other, even stepping into some of the people fighting below.

The bloodshed was absolutely insane, as if this whole fight had become a war itself deep within the forest. The king slashed another monster and saw a lot of his people had already become visibly weakened and injured. Just as they thought that that the fight was beginning to approach the end, the wyvern opened it's jaws and formed a spell.

"Shield yourselves!" It was a big black ball of compressed energy, which could wipe out half of the forest itself. With a shrill cry, the Wyvern aimed at the Golem in anger.

They all thought it was the end, however the ball of energy suddenly disappeared.

"Look, your highness." on top of the Wyvern was a small person, who seem to have been the reason the Wyvern's attack stopped. The Wyvern stood there, rigid and even the Golem stepped away as if afraid.

"Damnable thing, are you trying to kill my father? How dare you?" the voice that spoke was small, yet it was cold and merciless. They watched as the Wyvern stood there, screeching in pain but unable to move or fight for itself. Moments later, the creature aged, crumbling into ashes and bones. The Golem did not even try to do anything, and directly took his core out to die.

"Escaping me I see." Then the person turned their attention to the people below. Those red eyes held no mercy, and they were dull. It felt suffocating to look at them. The person raised their hands and one by one the goblins popped into meat paste and the remaining bandits lost their strength.

The king watched the person descend Infront of them, standing without moving as if watching him.

As if afraid to approach.

"Meya, come here to Daddy?" he extends his arms open with a smile.

"I might hurt your highness. I- I don't want to." Yes, the child doesn't want to hurt this father. This father has to live.

"No, your father is strong enough to conquer lands and lead a nation. I think that's enough to not die, right?" The child hesitates, and took small steps towards the man. She cautiously extends her arms and he picked her up. He watched her eyes turn into saucers.

"I can walk" The man shook his head with a smile.

"Father will hold you, let's go?"

"Laurence? Laurence is that you?!"

"Mommy!" The town awoke at five to hear one of their fellow men screaming and that the lost children have come back.

Well, some of them at least.

There was happiness, there was sadness and there was confusion since some children that disappeared many years ago has not grown a day. It took a while for the King's resident magician to explain why it was like this

"The children lived in the forest where the concept of time isn't like ours."

Joana met the king and his men, issuing a cry.

"Oh princess! I'm so sorry! If I hadn't been so incompetent then your highness wouldn't be lost!"

"It's not your fault." Joana met those red eyes and saw no blame in them, and immediately became touched.