Walking down the broken cobblestone streets, between many houses made of red bricks and arranged in a dangerous fashion, Hashi runs towards in the direction of the howl that minutes before tore the night sky. That howl and that sound like if the glass were breaking apart, she knew them really well. Her body was yelling to run away, to stay away from the zone for a J’avo was roaming the land, the very land of the state that is supposed to be safe and no J’avo could enter, yet another part of herself pulled her forward, tightening her jaw in the process. She needs Fleck in case that they face another J’avo in their travel, all in order to reach New Arcadia and finally remove the huge shadow that has been towering herself all of her life.

As she starts running up the hill, Hashi catches an explosion further away from the houses, and moments later a ton of people of all sizes and races come running in the opposite direction. Pulling herself to the side, Hashi extends her prosthetic to catch a woman running and pull her to herself.

-”What is happening?”- Hashi asks.

-”Let me go! Let me go!”- The woman screams.

-”What is everyone running away from?!”-

-”Are you blind?! Don’t you see the giant J’avo in the shape of a Wolf back there?!”-

Just as the woman says this, a couple of people fall to the side where Hashi and that woman where making Hashi lose her grip as she took a couple of steps back. The woman takes this chance to run away.

As Hashi turns once more towards the direction from which all these people came from, she now sees how basically the town turned into a ghost town. Feeling pressure in her gut, she puts her left hand on her belly as she clenches her right fist a couple of times, then moves her jaw a bit more.

A sound reaches her ears from her left. Turning, Hashi catches how a wooden door opens and a small teen comes running out of the house. Carrying a jet black stick, the teen runs up the hill towards the second howl that tears through the sky.

As the boy runs, Hashi extends her right arm and says -”Don’t lose him.”-

A small ball of light, no different from a firefly at the naked eye, comes out of Hashi’s arm, sticking itself on the boy’s shirt, leaving a trace of golden dust floating in the air.

Following the trace, Hashi runs uphill. Following the golden dust, up and down the slums, through a myriad of turns and twists in this maze-like place, crossing through a couple of houses, Hashi notices how she is coming closer and closer to the source of the howls. Going down a creek, she recalls her little helper with one snap of her fingers.

In a matter of seconds, the little firefly helper comes back to her, straight back into her arm.

-”What’s wrong?”- Hashi mutters as she raises her arm to her eye level.

Fairies aren’t scared that easily. The J’avo must be quite scary.

Running around the source of the howls, Hashi reaches to the top of the houses in the zone, only to see, just as she stands over the roof of the house, an entire body fly by her side. A cold feeling runs through her body as she hears the crash of this body back against a house, yet she doesn’t turn around to see it. Looking forward, Hashi sees how multiple people come out of a sector of the slums with buildings made in the same dangerous way as the rest of the houses in the slums. Turning, they aim their basic magic weapons into the alleyway submerged in shadows, hitting what she could only guess was the J’avo. Followed by these groups of people, another group appears, all pulling tightened ropes, trying to take the J’avo out of the shadows into the light of the moon.

Hashi tries to look into the people present as they fight the J’avo, yet she struggles as she goes one by one trying to see if any of them was Fleck. While she is at this, white stripes light up within the shadows, and in an instant, they move to reach a single point of light. She knew what this was about as she throws herself against the roof while an energy beam comes out in a sweeping motion, from left to right, with the sound of a howl. Hitting multiple buildings, they come crashing down, taking other buildings that weren’t hit by this attack with them with their fall. Many people that were pulling the J’avo trip and run away in the difficult terrain of the roads that no longer had cobblestones, making it completely uneven. The energy beam goes right above Hashi, so close that Hashi grabs her hood and pulls it down, otherwise it would have been cut out.

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-”What am I doing?”- Hashi mutters -”Almost getting killed here…”-

I will not be able to kill him if I’m dead.

Not thinking twice, Hashi then goes down to street level. Raising her arm, she asks her little support once more -”Please, Amber, guide me back to the merchant’s guild. Fast please, I want to put enough space between me and the J’avo.”-

Emerging from inside her prosthetic arm, the same little fairy raises into the air, does a couple of circles, and then starts going down the street, taking a turn to her left. Taking it with a jog, she starts going down the streets, following once more the golden dust left behind by her little helper.

After some minutes, Hashi feels that she finally comes out of the maze, getting to the outer ring of the slums. She is still in them yet this part is pretty straightforward, plus she recognizes this is the place where she entered half an hour ago.

Recalling her little helper with the snap of her fingers, she sees how it starts coming back, but then it stops. It wobbles a bit in the air and then goes away as fast as it can. Taken surprise by this, Hashi turns only to see another teen come out of the slums, this one carrying a spherical object emitting light.

Hashi’s gut tightens when she hears another howl, this one really close, and realizes what the teens were carrying with him: Some sort of Ether bomb. She then recalls Fleck words:

They are attracted to high concentrations of Ether. The higher the Ether, the higher the priority it is for the J’avo.

Just as these words ring within Hashi’s head, she catches the J’avo coming out of the slums: A tall, large wolf. Jet black, the tip of its hair an orange color. Its body as it was made from black pearls, and within it multiple points of light, as it was reflecting the night sky, something that Hashi would’ve thought was the case if the sky wasn’t still crimson, the remnants of the Ether Storm still over her head.

Covering herself with her cloak, she instantly starts gliding with the slums, being followed by the J’avo which by weight each step made the earth shake a little bit. Getting to the teen that was still running, Hashi pushes him to the side and takes the Ether bomb, all without breaking her glide, and then speeds up.

As she closes to the border of the slums, the part where it connects to other zones, a roar reaches Hashi from behind. Suddenly, her cloak unwinds itself, making Hashi fall into the ground and make a couple of turns, finally hitting a fig tree. Seeing the J’avo coming closer with giant strides, she injects as much Ether as she can within the Ether bomb, reacting so fast that she didn’t process that the Ether bomb was no longer emitting light before lighting up again, and then throws it with all of the strength of her right arm. Hitting the J’avo squarely in the head, the Ether bomb detonates, at which Hashi covers herself with her cloak but that the force of the impact again pushes her against the fig tree, stealing her breath away, the explosion echoing miles away.

As Hashi struggles to catch her breath, from within the smoke and dust raised the J’avo comes out, wimping, without a head. Trying to get up but failing in the process, Hashi sees how white stripes start forming within the surface of the J’avo’s body, this time around these stripes twisting and disconnecting before joining again. A light forms within the hole were previously the head was. Hashi tries to go to the side, yet a stinging pain takes her by surprise and jolts her body, making Hashi groan and wimp.

I can’t… no, no, please no… at least not before I kill him…

Suddenly, the J’avo starts quivering. Then, shaking uncontrollably. Taking Hashi by surprise, she sees as how white flames start surrounding the J’avo, and in an instant, the J’avo is turning into a ball of only white flames, the J’avo nowhere to be seen. Shrinking, the ball finally expands, making Hashi raise her cloak once more expecting another explosion, but this time around only a gentle wind caresses her instead.

-”What are you doing?”- A voice asks Hashi, this voice she knows very well.

Lowering her cloak, she sees how the dust was pushed away. Coming to her, the sound of his steps reach her ears as she sees how Fleck approaches her straight on. She sees how he was turned into a pulp, yet he was still walking, sword in its scabbard, and somehow still wearing that eye patch.

Reaching his hand, he says with a smirk on his face -”You know, has anyone ever told you you know how to be a fantastic bait?”-