The Divine Wolf... or?

As Sharon and Edward were busy staring, Cecily and John quietly approached Atar. Maybe it was because he was the smallest of the three or because his human form was just a child like them, but they felt less scared of him. Atar didn't know what they wanted, so he watched them silently.

Ark and Ephine were also curious to see what they were up to, but they kept quiet so the children wouldn't know that they had noticed them.

Cecily was a little older and braver than her little brother, so after mustering up her courage, she stuck her hand out, and gently brushed it against Atar's fur. After seeing that Atar didn't react, Cecily became a little braver and started furiously patting Atar's fluffy fur with an excited expression on her face.

John followed his sister and was also enamoured with the feeling of Atar's fluffy fur. The two scared parents watched as their children ran around and patted a big wolf over and over again, not so sneakily giggling to themselves.

Ark and Ephine both laughed at the sight of Atar's helpless expression, as he silently enjoyed getting patted, but also felt a little embarrassed.

"It seems like your children don't really care at least."

Sharon and Edward woke up from their stupor as they heard Ark's voice once more. To make it easier to converse, Ark transformed back into his human form. Both Edward and Sharon seemed to hesitate for a second before they made up their minds. Even if they were not human, they were their saviours. The least they could do was thank their saviours.

"I'm sorry, we were a little taken aback. Thank you all so much for saving our lives."

As he apologised, Edward had an apologetic expression on his weathered face as he was about to get down on his knees. As he was on the way down, a sudden gust of wind brought him back to his feet, shocking him a little, until he realised that it was probably Ark that had done it.

"There's no need to bow or kneel, I don't like such traditions."

As he took a closer look at this small family of four, he noticed that they all had very similar appearances. All four of them had similar brown hair colours, albeit different shades, and they all had blue eyes, except for the daughter Cecily, who had emerald green eyes. The reason was probably that she was well-liked by the wind spirits, as Ark could see some always keeping watch over her.

If Ephine hadn't saved them earlier, the wind spirits would have probably saved her life. Her family would have probably still died though, because the spirits didn't have the same concept of family as humans did, and they wouldn't understand to keep her family safe.

"Do you guys have anywhere to go?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Ark asked them. As he did, he noticed that the mood quickly became awkward, and even the giggling of the children abruptly stopped. He had a feeling that it would be like this, but he still needed to ask.

"N-no, all the relatives we had passed away in the attack..."

Hearing the results, Ark couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. If he wanted to, he could've stopped the battle from even happening. Then again, he had no idea that the common people would get dragged into the fighting, if he did, he would've definitely done something beforehand.

Although he felt some guilt, Ark quickly snapped out of it, this wasn't his fault, and blaming himself wouldn't get him anywhere.

"If you want to, you can come with us."

Edward and Sharon were both surprised, but after thinking it through for a second, Edward's surprise turned into joy. What he was most worried about was the safety of his family. There was no way he could protect them on his own, but if they could tag along with these three, then they would be safe!

Seeing his determined expression, Sharon could guess what he was thinking, and she felt a little worried.

After taking a look at her children, who were both happily playing with Atar, she could only sigh to herself. Maybe she had been too guarded. Edward glanced over at Sharon, and after seeing her nod, he made a decision that would come to change the course of his life completely.

"We'd like to come with you!"

Ark smiled gently at his answer and looked up at the night sky for a brief second.

"Alright, we can talk more about plans for the future later, for now, we should probably get out of here before any more demons or humans come to stir up trouble."

Edward nodded and told John and Cecily to stop playing around. After telling them that they were going to go with the three wolves, they were both ecstatic and looked at Atar with a sparkle in their eyes. Atar himself was also feeling a little secretly happy, but he wasn't going to let it show in his expression.

At least that's what he thought, both Ark and Ephine simply looked at his cute antics, and smiled to themselves.

After thinking for a little while, Ark transformed back into his wolf form, but this time, he controlled his size a little, to make himself seem a little less intimidating. Before Sharon or Edward had any time to react, they could feel a strong gust of wind suddenly blow their entire family of four up on Ark's back.

Both Edward and Sharon were scared, whilst their children giggled in the air, seemingly having fun.

After they landed, all four of them simply relaxed. Because of Ark's species, his fur was probably one of the softest and most comfortable materials in the entire world, to be able to sit on his back was truly something to brag about for generations. To the children, riding on Ark's back was like sitting on clouds, and they were excited.

To get the parents to calm down a little, Ark explained to them using telepathy that it would take too long to travel on foot.

After making sure that everyone was ready, Ark took off, with Ephine and Atar following closely behind him. The ride was a lot more comfortable than either Edward or Sharon could've thought.

They thought that they would have to hold on for dear life because of the speeds that Ark was running at, but he simply used wind magic to get rid of any air resistance that they faced, and created a comfortable environment for them on his back.

Normally, Ark would never let someone ride on his back, but since they had children with them, he didn't feel that opposed to the idea. Then again, it might also be because he still felt a little guilty, and having them ride on either Ephine or Atar didn't really sit well with him.

Even though they now had some extra company, Ark still decided to go to the Moonlit Caves. If he was going to create his own settlement, then growing stronger was even more important than before, and whilst he trained to get stronger, Ephine and the other humans might be able to find some more people to join them on their journey.