Michael

Michael and the others were gaining distance, while the noise of screaming humans and howling monsters made communication near impossible. Michael looked over his shoulder again, to see Siegwalt swing at the unevolved dire wolf, the beast jumped back dodging his strike. They were safe for now but Michael's concern for Eydis hampered his relief.

The feeling of safety was instantly shattered as Siegwalt looked toward the arena gate and moved back. A second later a group of dog-sized ants skittled through the gate, the connection between the arena and the monster den must have been open. The wolf used that opportunity to slip past Siegwalt who had bigger problems to attend to than a single two-zero monster, as the ants engaged him.

They had a good head start but the wolf was back on their tracks, still following the easy and mana-rich targets. There was no way that they could outrun it in an open field, but they still kept going.

The people fleeing left of them were mostly stuck as there were so many people there and the ones further back didn't know what was happening and unknowingly blocked the escape of the others. Michael could see spear tips poking out of the mass, the city guard was surely also hampered by the fleeing citizens and unable to advance against the flow, so there was no help even remotely close.

Looking back again he saw that they wouldn't make it, the wolf was too fast, so Michael had to make a decision. It only took him a heartbeat to make it, so he let go of Mira's hand, stopped, and turned around. As he did, he could see the confused expressions of Zen and Theodore as they ran past him, too fast to stop before him.

He raised both of his arms and breathed in deeply, "Drown the world before me in light, GLEAMING BURST!" He had not connected the intent with the incantation enough to just speak it, but it still helped him visualize the effect. From his hand, a small light began to shine, and Michael was horrified at the small light, fearing he had failed his spell, just a moment later it fully activated and exploded in the direction of the dire wolf. It howled in pain as the light blinded it, wincing and turning away. Michael hoped that it would rethink the ease of its hunt and go after someone else.

Right after having finished his cast, Michael spun around and scrambled to catch up with the others, who to his surprise had also stopped to wait for him.

He waved at them to keep going but he saw the indecisiveness in their faces. He had to come up with a plan to get out of the plaza, the wolf would not be stopped for long, its blindness would fade quickly – Michael’s magic was still weak - and then it would be back on their heels. He looked frantically around while he ran over to them. All the streets from and to the plaza were blocked with people, maybe they could get inside of a shop and barricade the doors. That thought was crushed as he saw that all the shops were flooded with people who had the same idea. He could see many people banging on doors to be let in. He needed to get the others out of here, but he couldn't see a way.

When he reached them, they could see the desperation on his face and yelled, "What now?" They had moved a little further from the immediate battle zone and could understand each other again. Michael shook his head while clenching his hands and looking back to the disoriented wolf, that was shaking his head and rubbing its eyes with a paw. "I don't know ... there is no way off the plaza, but we can't stay here!"

Zen spoke up first, "Let's get out of here first! Follow me!" He turned around and ran toward the corners of the plaza, looking for holes in the walls or paths that the other people hadn’t noticed and blocked. They closed in on a wall between streets, there were no people there as they all pushed towards the adjacent streets opening up the path toward the wall. Shortly before they reached it, they could hear an angry howl, Michael looked back for a moment and saw that the wolf was able to see again and was moving in on them.

They reached the three-meter-tall wall but there was no way through or over and they didn't have enough time to reach the crowds. With a wooden *clonk* a ladder crashed down from the wall and startled the kids who had turned their backs to it, watching the monster closing in or looking for an escape path. Michael's gaze shot up to see who had dropped it but there was no one.

Shaking off his confusion he pushed Mira toward the ladder and yelled, "Go up, quickly." She began climbing and Theodore followed, Michael wanted to go last but Zen just grabbed him and pushed him up the ladder before he followed behind. Michael reached the top without problem; it was a thin stone wall cutting a backyard of a warehouse from the plaza. Theodore jumped down, growling on impact. He turned around and held out his arms, "Jump, your Highness." Mira looked unsure but then jumped down, being caught in the waiting arms.

Michael turned around and grabbed Zen's arm as he also reached the top, just when the wolf leaped at the ladder, rocking it, and nearly causing Zen to fall. They turned around looking at the beast and a hysterical laughter overcame them as they looked down at the wolf that would have ripped them apart if they were just a little bit slower.

The wolf took a couple of steps back and Michael's eyes got big, "We need to get out of here. Fast!" He jumped down the wall and the impact rocked his legs; Zen was right behind him when the wall began to shake violently, and a paw followed by a gaping jaw appeared as it struggled to shove its body over the wall.

"Why can't this shithead give up," Theodore wailed. He didn't voice his opinion; he just grabbed Mira again and started running as the others did the same. They left the backyard onto a pathway that was not directly connected to the plaza so there weren't any people there. Michael ran toward the first door he saw and banged against it, "Please open up, help us!" But no one answered.

The juvenile had made its way over the wall by now and was following them again, so they had no time to try more doors. They ran trying to find a main road, a guardsman, or anyone who could help them. At this moment the bells started to toll; the guard had finally realized what was happening.

They turned left, they couldn't outrun the wolf but if they changed directions often, they might have a chance. Michael saw people - probably workers - running past the alleyway they were in and yelled for help, but no one even stopped. The wolf was close Michael could hear its paws hammering on the ground.

He knew that the wolf was following him and not the others he had seen it in its eyes before, so he let go of Mira's hand and shouted, "Go left", as he slowed down to let the others pass him. They did but Michael cut right not left into another alley. They were on the wrong side of the town, exactly on the other side of the one facing the palace, this part was apparently a district filled with warehouses with many small alleyways, and very few were working today because of the festivities. Michael was shocked at how full the plaza had been and just a couple hundred meters away the streets were deserted.

He could hear Zen yell behind him having realized that Michael had left them. The wolf did exactly what Michael expected and also cut right into the alley. Michael had separated from the others; he was exactly what the predator was looking for.

Stolen novel; please report.

The advantage now was that he didn't have to match Mira's running speed, he pumped his legs full of mana and bolted down the alley, cutting left and right wherever possible. He just needed to find a soldier, this was only an unevolved dire wolf a single trained soldier was all he needed, he saw people running away here and there but no one helped him.

He failed and came to a sliding halt at a dead end. The wall in front of him was too high to jump and nothing he could climb up with. His eyes darting around he fixated on a door and ran toward it, hammering against it and yelling with all he had but no one opened.

It was the only door, the only way out, he turned back and saw the wolf standing at the entrance of the dead end. It moved in slowly, licking its teeth and for a moment Michael thought it was grinning at him.

Panic threatened to overcome him as he looked around for a weapon, something to defend himself with. He had not felt this kind of fear since he was beaten up by his brothers, and Oska pulled him to the edge of the wall. There was no one to save him now. He was about to just surrender to his fate, when a wave of calm washed over his mind and a single word echoed in his brain, "FIGHT!"

The panic was pushed out to the edges of his awareness, and he breathed deeply. If he could blind the wolf again and get past it, he had a chance. The beast was closing in until it was only four meters away when it pounced.

"DROWN THE WORLD IN LIGHT, GLEAMING BURST!" Michael yelled and let his mana flow freely. An explosion of light shot in the direction of the wolf and Michael quickly moved to run past the beast.

He was stopped dead in his tracks as he collided with the head of the wolf and saw to his horror that it had closed its eyes. He was flung back, even the unevolved juvenile being strong enough, he crashed into the wall behind him. At this moment he cursed his element, if he had fire or lightning or any other element, he could fight but light was useless in this situation.

He slid down the wall until he was sitting, his head was spinning from the impact and the wolf was approaching him. He managed to raise his hand and the wolf quickly closed his eyes, but Michael was too confused to manage a coherent cast. The wolf opened its eyes after a moment and bared its teeth as it prepared to pounce on Michael.

Before it had the opportunity though it was suddenly hit by a knife, right in the neck. It winced and tried to jump back but its body was not obeying it as another knife cut through the air hitting the wailing wolf in the eye. The wolf cried out and collapsed.

Michael was saved again; he was confused but this time he was faster. He looked up and saw a man standing on the edge of the adjacent building's roof. He was wearing a simple grey hooded cloak, nothing of his body was visible but Michael could see an also grey mask under the hood. It was formed like a lynx with pointy ears and rims that symbolized the whiskers, but it had no opening for the mouth, just two empty holes where his eyes should be.

They made eye contact and Michael asked as loudly as he could, "Who are you?" The masked figure didn't answer, he just stood there as if frozen in time. "Thank you for saving me", Michael tried to get the man to talk but after a moment of stillness, the figure just turned around and vanished from the building's edge.

"Wait, come back," Michael yelled after him and tried to get up but sunk back when the world started to spin. He had used a lot of mana with his overcharged magic and wasteful use of augmenting, but the bigger problem was his banging head. He must have gotten a strong hit on his head when he hit the wall.

Breathing slowly, he tried to control the feeling of sickness in his stomach. The wolf corpse in front of him had become his focus as he stared at its dead eye - the one without a knife in it - and just breathed. He didn't know how much time had passed when suddenly Eydis came to a screeching halt at the entrance of the alleyway and looked at the scenery with widened eyes. Shortly after Zen, Theodore, and Mira also came into view behind her, all visibly afraid and Michael saw wet spots on Mira's and Theodore's faces, while Zen had an expression that could have been made of stone.

"Hey there," Michael said with a forced smile, he raised his hand to wave which gave him a ridiculous appearance as he sat there.

Eydis was the first to move and ran over, giving the wolf a side glance to make sure it was dead, and then hurried along to Michael. He noticed her ripped clothing and blood running out of multiple smaller wounds. "You okay," he asked her to which she gave her version of laughing, it really didn't sound like a laugh, but the sentiment was enough for Michael to be placated in his concern.

"Who did this," she signed at the wolf after a quick inspection to make sure Michael was not in any danger.

Before he could answer, the other kids arrived running, throwing themselves next to him and inspecting him for injuries while all talking at the same time. Michael smiled as they babbled on, even though he didn't understand a word, their concern warmed his heart.

He had survived, thanks to the mysterious stranger but he would find out who he was and thank him for saving him not once but twice. First, he would have to deal with the aftermath though and it wouldn't be pleasant, of that, he was sure.

- An hour later in the palace -

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING," the queen was yelling at them. They had just arrived and were greeted by an assortment of knights and nobles. With them were also Michael's and Theodore's parents, most of the Kingsguard knights, except Commander Strom, and some of the knights of Rowan. The atmosphere was horrible. The royals were furious, Geron looked at Michael with a betrayed expression, and his mother seemed like she would rip his head off once they were alone. The only one who looked remotely calm was his father, who just stood there watching the chaos unfold with a neutral expression.

"We wanted to watch the stone breaker fight," Zen said with a timid voice, too embarrassed to look his mother in the eye.

"Oh, these stupid fights," she yelled, "I told you to stay away from them, but you just go ahead and drag your sister into it!"

"I w-wanted to go a-along, I-I pressured Zen to take me with them," Mira said, trying to sound brave but her voice shook.

"I am so disappointed in the both of you," their mother glared at them when the king spoke next. "Me too, you have disobeyed your mother's orders and brought danger upon yourselves." They shrunk under the strict gaze of their father until he looked over to Theodore and Michael, but it seemed like he was focusing mainly on Michael as he said, "It seems I have to reevaluate my opinion."

Zen caught the meaning quickly and stepped forward in front of Michael and Theodore, "NO! It is not their fault, they tried to keep us from going but I said that I would go either way and they didn't want us to go alone and insisted on bringing at least Eydis with us. Without them, Mira and I would probably be dead right now." Mira quickly followed her brother's example and also moved in front of them protectively while nodding at her brother's words.

"The right thing was to stop you and once they failed to tell us so we can stop you," the queen snapped at them, but the siblings stood their ground. "That is not how friendships work. You don't stab your friends in the back. How could they have known that something like this would happen, they had no reason to break our trust as they didn't believe us to be in any real danger with Eydis accompanying us."

Their mother scoffed and the king spoke again, "It was still wrong what all of you did but you," - he looked at Eydis - "have my thanks for saving my careless children, I understand that you are not a direct subject of the kingdom, so I won't blame you for what happened, rather I want to extend you my hand and invite you to become a citizen of my kingdom as a reward for saving my children. You will be protected by the laws and will be under the protection of its servants." He stood there with his hand extended to her. She looked at it for a while before she shook her head and began to sign with Michael translating.

"I am grateful for the offer, but I will remain a part of my clan, the only loyalty I feel is the one I chose, and I will not become one of your subjects. My loyalty belongs to Michael for now and as long as that is I will need no other ruler."

Michael could hear the nobles whisper and one even stepped forward, "That insolent savage!" The king raised his hand before he could say anything else though. "I understand your motivations and still give you, my thanks."

After that, he turned back to the kids and said, "Your punishment will be that you are under house arrest for a month, and you will miss the last day of the festivities."

This was the first time that Lord Rowan spoke up, "Johann, confining them to their chambers and banning them from the festivities wouldn't be a punishment, at least for Michael. I have a way better idea." His smile hit Michael harder than the anger of the other adults before and he dreaded the upcoming punishment.