POV: Back to ThilgonAfter I was done with my goodbyes and recover from the attack on my Shadows Clones I took my revenge upon the sneaky little ones, and being low-level as they were they posed no threat to me until, finally, there was none of them left, some having fled long before, but most met their end here.
The only thing left was a battlefield with no corpses, the black substance a remanence of the creatures that once stood before us.
I look around only to reaffirm that the battles had really happened and were done with, no creatures left behind to threaten us.
And yet…
I could not seem to calm down, as if I was still being watched, preyed upon, like we were not alone just yet.
I had a bad feeling about this.
I turn around towards where Leo is, a background of destruction framing his silhouette over the balcony only to perceive the same concerned expression on his face, a frown covering our foreheads.
"Should we chase them?" He says, looking at the clear path that the few who got away left behind.
As much as I wanted to know who the puppeteer behind this bizarre play was I had to set my priorities straight.
"No, let"s go met the others, I have a bad feeling about this."
He nods, no longer wasting time as we turn and dash forward into the woods, a clear path opening in front of us with trees bend and the gra.s.s crunched under my brother"s big paws.
Told him to invest in stealth, even a blind could follow his trail like this, sigh.
With the help of my nose we track them in a rather precise way, but my brother"s full speed in his Cerberus form had been way faster than our two-legged was now, so without asking I embrace our bodies in my shadow, having it take my hound form and dash forward so quickly that one would think it was just the shadow of a leaf pa.s.sing by, but in fact was I jumping from shadow to shadow, das.h.i.+ng forward fast.
That had been the closest thing I got to teleportation, working very similar to it as long as the place had shadows for me to dash on from shadow to shadow.
As I was moving us my mind starts to wander and think about what had just happened; who could this puppeteer be? What were his intentions? He was not a simple individual, after all beyond finding where we were he managed to break the seals protecting the place made with strong magic brought by the bringers of magic; though part of me questions now if the magic had not aged badly and lost its strength, it would explain why he manage to enter.
But even more to defeat Elfihe, the herd leader, the snow bringer, and to have such strong creatures under his control.
It makes me wonder what else he has under his sleeves…
And his intentions were even more obscure than his ident.i.ty, after all what were his reasons to simply attack us? It seemed coordinated and planned, but for what reason? To steal the money back? It didn"t seem that simple either…
I had the feeling that this was not the last time we will hear from this puppeteer…
But no matter his reasoning right now, what I should focus on is what are we going to do for now on; with our "safe" place destroyed and the country looking for us, our options seemed rather dull… We should stick with the part where we would leave this place to let things cool down, but this soon will make things rather troublesome.
Well… let just say that me and my brother stand out a little too much… especially my brother who could not hide his ears or tail for a second, sigh.
What to do, what to do…
However, as soon as I got farther into the woods and closer to the group all these thoughts slipped away from me, unimportant.
The first sign that something was wrong was the strong smell of blood that hit my nose, carried by the wind between the foliage. With my nostrils flaring I speed up even more, the trees pa.s.sing by as mere blurs.
Until we reached a clearing.
It was not a natural one, I first realize while looking at the cut trees that were threw far away, soil messed around as if a huge dog had rolled over the entire place and, oddly enough, here and there, there were some… handprints on the floor, as if someone was making a handstand; but they were so far apart and numerous that it was impossible, plus they were repeated in the same format, as footsteps, but instead there were four, five, seven handprints scattered around over and over again.
I have a really bad feeling about this.
I run and dash, seeing signs of fighting all over the place, trunks and twigs broke and some still slightly attached to the trees, swinging with the wind, some black fur stuck on the woods and… some of that goopy substance stuck on the soil, almost covered by the shadows of the growing night.
Without further ado my shadow form solidifies even more, embracing us like a coc.o.o.n and jumping as quick as it could, sometimes not even touching the floor before teleporting once more, going into the woods only to end in yet another clearing, a bigger one this time.
But my eyes did not land on the trees this time; but on the bodies lying around on the floor.
For a second I stood there, in shock, only staring at them, not knowing what to do, where to being, when Leonel runs forward and reaches the first body he finds.
It was Ragnur lying unconscious, a b.l.o.o.d.y smear on his forehead, but for what I could hear from here his heart was still beating, proving that his wound was somewhat minor; at least not in immediate great need as he was not bleeding much anymore.
The others, however… did not have such luck.
The twins were on the side, and a quick survey showed me that one of them had lost one of the arms, his heartbeat weak as a lot of blood had already flooded out of him.
Isa and the knight, the only ones still moving and conscious, were beside the both of them, Isa healing the severe wound as both his hands where with the palms open and turned towards the twin"s skin, a bright light flying from it like little rays of suns.h.i.+ne being absorbed by the twin.
They both looked tired, mud covering their bodies, having gone through h.e.l.l and back.
But I was not worried about them… no, there was only one person, one creature that I had been searching for all this time.
"Where is my brother?" I ask Isa in an ice-cold tone, my heart racing in my chest, refusing to feel anything yet, almost in a state of shock and adrenaline high.
"He went up ahead with Aeglos to drive the creatures away."
Without another word I turn and start to walk with wide steps towards where he pointed, going uphill without distracting myself, my focus completely in finding my brother, his smell everywhere mixed with mud and blood and that black goop.
Stupid me, stupid! In what world should separating like this be a good idea?! Stupid!
The farther I went, the faster my steps were as I my mind barely registers another pair of footsteps following me in persuade; I just got to go up, to follow the trail, and find my brother.
As I went up and up, pa.s.sing trees and rocks without a second look, I could feel my panic raising, a pressure growing in my heart as the adrenaline rush makes my limbs tremble slightly, but from anger, fear, for all of that, I did not know each.
Just please, please let him be ok, let him be safe.
Don"t let him get hurt because of me, of my decision to split, of my blind trust in his strength, on that nothing bad would ever happen to him…
Really stupid!
No, no, don"t panic now, everything is ok, you are just going to follow this path and find him safe and sound, not a starch on his body and his usual goofy smile on his face.
Only that… I didn"t.
I first found the place in the same turmoil as the other places, trees were broken and mud turned about, but then my eyes find Aeglos amidst the chaos, lying flat on floor, his clothes torn to shreds and the tip of one of his long elf ear missing, blood covering his face, an expression of pain twisting his features as a whizzing sound came from his breathing, indicating that his internal organs where damage.
But there was no sign of my brother beyond the smell and the fading paw prints.
My head turned like a bird looking all over the place, double-checking as if unable to accept the situation, to accept the fact.
That my brother was nowhere to be found.
Leonel goes straight to Aeglos and starts treating him, but sorry I don"t care, I just want to find my brother.
I"m selfish like that, I"m the worst.
No, stop, I think, closing my hands into fists. You are not like this, get a hold of yourself.
That"s when something glints on the side, standing alone on top of a stone, making me approach to have a better look at it.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
It was a black letter with silver lines on it.
Feeling that I was about to burst I reach out with trembling hands, quickly glancing at the back only to see my name written in pretty cursive handwriting.
On the other side there was a seal imprinted over the envelop, a pair of wings on a red stamp as it"s symbol, ungluing when I open the letter and peek inside, only for my eyes to travel quickly over the words more than one, two, three times, my mind going blank for a second as if refusing to understand what was writing there.
"Nice to meet you Terror
Let"s play a little game
Of hide and seek
How about you come and find us?
But don"t take long
For I get bored quite… easiy
And your brother could prove to be quite entertaining"
My hands shake even more as I keep holding the paper between my fingers, the letter kneading under the pressure and strength that increases as my hands stiffly close into fists, my eyes locked over the words until they were mere silver blurs in front of me.
Then I scream at the top of my lungs, a visceral roar that shook the woods and the very earth beneath my feet, my bloodshot eyes staring into the woods as range consumed my mind.
Who was this creature who dared to kidnap my brother and play mind games with me?!
HOW DARE HE?!
But fear not… I think while a guttural growl raises my lips and shows my growing fangs.
For he had woke the beast inside me.
And it was hungry for his blood.
~~~~~
End of arc/Volume 2