Chapter 23

Snog felt something was wrong.

After Ahri dropped them off with Ellen’s group, she decided it was best for them to head back to the village. With double the number of students, she felt it was too risky to try and hunt further.

It was as they were heading back that Snog felt something was wrong. He was very in tune with nature and although the nature of the cross-over zone was a little different, he could still sense the changes that were going on.

“You all right?” Snog had a troubled look on his face, prompting Aiden to speak up and ask if he was okay. Snog shook his head.

The uneasy feeling increased and Snog felt as if something was watching him. He snapped his head back looking frantically into the forest but there was nothing there. His strange behavior attracted the looks of the other students in their group.

“What happened?” Ellen asked.

Snog didn’t look at her as he continued to stare into the forest. “Something is very wrong.” He whispered mostly to himself.

The fear in his voice made their stomach churn. Ellen tried to keep everyone calm. “It’s okay, we’re headed back to the village. Everything will be fine.”

“NO!” Snog turned to her with a wild look on his face. “We can’t go to the village! We cannot!”

“Okay, okay!” Ellen placated him.

The students were already on edge from what happened earlier, when a burst of black energy had infiltrated the reddish-brown aura of the cross-over zone. And now with Snog’s strange behavior, they were starting to panic. Ellen tried to keep them calm but they devolved into chaos.

Half of them wanted to run back to the village, to where the instructors were, to be safe. The others were afraid of what Snog had said, and were reluctant to go. They were only half a mile away from the village, and Ellen was afraid the first group would run there if she didn’t do something soon. The last thing she needed was for her group to split up.

The decision was made for her when a large explosion erupted in the out skirts of the village. There was yelling, screaming, and the sounds of a fight coming from the village.

“Oh my God.” One of the students whispered, voicing the fear the other students felt.

Ellen couldn’t believe it. They were in a low-level instance, meaning only rank-less monsters would be crossing over. At the most, there would be a one-star beast, and even though she couldn’t kill a one-star beast, she could fight it long enough for help to arrive.

But seeing and hearing what was going on in the village was alarming. The only explanation for such a battle would be a two-star beast, or higher. If it wasn’t safe to go to the village, then what would she do with the students in her charge?

“We’ll wait here.” Ellen decided. “The instructors will take care of whatever’s causing the problem soon enough.”

…

Aiden couldn’t believe the tragedy that surrounded him. There were several corpses lying there on the abandoned village floor, covered with white sheets that were stained with blood. The smell of burning flesh and wood smoke filled the air.

He wasn’t alone in the village. There were several dozen students all standing around shell-shocked at the scene before them. They were all out hunting in their respective groups when they saw the battle from a distance.

Ellen had them waiting in the forest until the fighting ended. When they arrived, they saw what looked like the scene of a war movie before them. The village houses were covered in blood. The ground was littered with broken glass, rubble, and congealing blood. At the village square they found the corpses that the instructors had already gathered. Corpses belonging to their peers. 

Aiden and the others were informed on what took place here. It was a battle between a two-star shadow panther and one of the instructors. The shadow panther had appeared out of nowhere and killed several students.

Due to the creature’s affinity for darkness, it took instructors several minutes to realize what was going on. But several minutes was enough. The shadow panther had killed two upper classmen and a dozen students before one of the instructors managed to take it down.

A death or two was inevitable in low-level instances. It was just par for the course. Although this was a low-level instance, it was indicative of what they would be doing after graduating. Instances of cross-overs happened all over the world, and it was up to them as mages to stop them from happening.

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The instructors did everything in their power to make sure the students fought against monsters they were stronger than, but accidents do happen. And they were expecting one or two students to perish. But fourteen deaths were too much.

“All of you wait here.” The scarred instructor said. The look on his face was filled with anger that this travesty happened under his watch. “This field trip is over.”

The instructors began discussing things amongst themselves. Then they pulled out stones and disappeared in flashes of light. One teacher stayed behind to look after them all.

A flash of light drew Aiden’s attention. In a space clear of any students, an instructor and several students arrived. One by one all the instructors teleported back to the village square, dropping off a group of students before teleporting away again. 

“I think that’s all of them. Mendell and his group have already gone, and Amarosa has teleported back already.” One of the instructors said.

“Take it down then.” The scarred instructor ordered.

The mage instructors gathered together and began to chant. Several moments later the sky had returned to its normal sky-blue. The brilliance from the sun seemed to illuminate the wreckage and chaos they were standing in.

…

Strange. Nate thought as he journeyed through the forest on his way to the abandoned village.

Nate wondered where all the students were. The sky was a murky shade of black and brown, so he knew the cross-over was still in effect. But there wasn’t a single student in sight.

He paused behind a tree. Through one of his tendrils he could sense there was a leopard in one of the trees not too far from him. If he’d kept walking, it would’ve seen him and most likely attacked. He wasn’t afraid of it, but Nate wasn’t looking for a fight at the moment so he was going to give the creature a wide berth. Most of the creatures that crossed over were altered in some way, and he didn’t want to find out what nasty little surprise this leopard had in store.

Suddenly, Nate rushed forward. He sensed another presence drawing towards the creature. There was a little girl walking alone in the forest. And the path she was heading down was in line of sight of the leopard.

The girl saw him but didn’t look panicked. She just looked at him as if he was a puzzle. Nate noticed the girl was small, most likely around ten years old. Yet, here she was looking perfectly normal in such a hostile environment.

The leopard pounced. Nate reached out with his tendrils, combining several dozen to make a thick enough strand to capture the leopard. But as he grabbed the leopard, who was five feet away from the girl, the leopard erupted in a fiery heat.

Sigils appeared in mid-air and the leopard was incinerated almost instantly. The energy in the fire was able to burn his incorporeal tendrils of mental energy. A trickle of blood leaked down his nose as he recalled what was left of the tendrils.

“Gina!” A woman came running behind the little girl and inspected her all over. Once she was satisfied the girl was okay and she began to berate the girl. “What did I tell you about running off by yourself! You could’ve been hurt, or worse, killed!”

The woman seemed to notice another pair of eyes on her. She turned to stare at Nate, and when they saw each other, both froze in surprise. The woman rubbed her eyes as if in disbelief at what she was seeing.

“Nate?” Amelia whispered, then cleared her throat. “Nate? Is that really you?”

Nate had been wracked with doubt and guilt ever since he transformed back to his human form. No matter what justifications he used, he couldn’t purge himself of these feelings. But hearing Amelia’s voice made him forget all of that for the moment. 

“Hey.” Nate cracked a wide grin. “It’s been a while, huh?”

Amelia continued to stare at him, confused. “B-but how is this possible? I saw you die… there’s just no way you could’ve survived that…”

Nate was hoping she’d come running into his arms but when she stood there shaking her head at the reality before her, he decided to make the first move. He went over to her but before he could get close a sigil materialized before him.

He turned to the little girl who was staring at him with a bored expression. The sigil she produced blazed red with fire. Nate had no doubt he’d be severely burned, if not incinerated, if he walked into that without any forethought.

“Friendly here.” He said to the girl. But she didn’t even bat an eyelash. The sigil remained up and she continued to stare at him waiting to see if he’d come closer.

Amelia finally looked up from her daze and realized what was going on. “It’s okay, honey. He’s a… friend.”

The sigil disappeared and Nate walked over to Amelia and wrapped her in an enthusiastic hug which she returned with just as much enthusiasm. The hug lasted for a minute, but to Nate it felt too brief. He didn’t realize how much he’d missed her.

They’d been together for a couple of months back at the Asylum, and at the time, Nate loved her. It was his first serious relationship and to have someone to love in that heartless Asylum was soothing. She was one of the factors that motivated him to hold on for dear life when his soul core was shattered.

He never thought he’d see her again, yet here she was. Staring at him with disbelieving eyes even though he stood right before her. There was an awkward silence that settled where they both just stared at each other.

Finally, Nate felt compelled to say something. “So… is this your daughter?” He looked at the girl who’d been watching them silently.

“Ah, y-yes.” Amelia stammered.

“Hey.” Nate bent down and greeted the little girl, but she was determined to show him her resolve not to speak. “Doesn’t say much, does she?”

“She’s just a little shy.” Amelia said.

Gina was like a miniature version of her mother. But, noticing her age, he felt compelled to ask. “Is she mine?” 

“Yours? God no!” Amelia denied almost too fervently.

“Alright, no need for that. Just a simple question.”

Amelia grabbed his hand. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just… this is a little weird for me.”

Nate felt a little strange as well. To him it felt like a couple month since he’d last seen her. But she hadn’t spoken to him in ten years, and she thought he was dead. It was only normal for her to move on, although Nate couldn’t deny feeling a little bitter.

“What’re you doing here anyway?” Nate wondered. “I didn’t see you here earlier?”

“My daughter and I teleported in after the event started. I’m an alumnus of the Academy so I get notified of instances. It’s actually why I brought my daughter this time. It’s a low level instance and she’s quite adept for her age so I wanted her to get some combat experience.”

Nate remembered seeing her use magic before but he didn’t know she attended the Academy. “We should catch up, if you have the time?” Nate suggested.

“Sure, I’d love to. We were just heading back to the village ourselves.”