Part 6

Drake gazed at the dominating figure ahead of them in a moment of trepidation, as he and Lance charged towards the creature. Without a doubt, there would be very few monsters who would be on par with the Wolf Brood, let alone those who would have a reliable chance of killing such a beast.

It only took a moment to realize such a fact. The imposing figure, the wild and entirely savage look, and the undeniable sense of danger that emanated from it. However, such a simple evaluation of the creature would lead to some massive misunderstandings.

The Wolf Brood was wildly chasing after the old man, but even at a distance, both Drake and Lance could tell that something seemed off. The gait of the large creature seemed to only be lumbering along. If he had to take a guess, it looked as if the giant creature was actually tired. Whether it had been involved in battles with other monsters beforehand, or if it had been weakened by humans it had come across, it clearly wasn’t in the best of condition.

It looks like we came just in time. Drake chuckled to himself. With the situation like this, their plan would be almost too perfect. Once they had separated the old man off from the Wolf Brood, Drake would take the opportunity to distract it, and let them get away. If the Wolf Brood was already exhausted, well, it would only be beneficial for Drake.

Nodding to each other, Lance split off from him, deftly positioning himself to the right while Drake took off to the left of the wolf. They quickly began to approach the creature, and the old man it was chasing after.

Fenris Wolf Brood… it really is huge. Drake looked on with a growing sense of danger, as the electricity in his body began to flow faster, further enhancing his speed. While it was somewhat new, thankfully, it was almost too simple.

In the week that Drake had skipped over, he had learned a few things about himself, and the storm element in his body. The most obvious would be to simply blast others with it, but he quickly learned that it could also be used to increase his reaction time after getting his ass kicked one too many times by Lance. An increased reaction time, boiled down, meant more speed in Drake’s own opinion, and now was the perfect time to use it. He couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.

Confident, Drake gestured to Lance, shouting, “Lance, go now!”

Giving a brief nod in return, the elf took off in a sudden sprint ahead of Drake, his spear held out to the side of his body. In a flash of movement, he curved around to the side, taking both the old man and the wolf by surprise. His speed increasing to an almost blistering pace, he suddenly shot in front of the wolf, and taking the old man by surprise, practically lifted him up in a single movement before shooting past Drake in a blur of speed.

The Wolf Brood’s eyes widened in anger at the brief exchange, as it began to angrily chase after the interrupting elf. All the while, Lance maintained his blistering speed, far outpacing what either Drake or the Wolf Brood was capable of at the moment.

“You better make it back, you hear!” With one last shout, Lance took off past Drake, leaving him behind with a very confused and angry monster.

“Heh.” Drake gave a soft smile of appreciation before turning to the creature. Not one to give up an opportunity, he quickly centered himself on the creature as he charged forward, and held out his hand. While the memories that were given to him never had any explicit techniques, there was one attack he never had to learn.

“Lightning!” In a flash of light, a bolt of electricity shot towards the creature, nailing it directly on its skull. The giant wolf suddenly stuttered in its step before stopping altogether, which only left a diabolical smile on Drake’s face as he jumped over the creature with an evil laugh.

“Take that, you damn animal.”

The Wolf Brood didn’t move a muscle from the moment it was hit, with only a small trail of smoke that made its way up from the top of its skull leaving any indicator that the attack hit. For a brief moment, Drake even pondered to celebrate, thinking that he had blinded the beast somehow. However, as the great beast turned its head, Drake was able to see the results of his lightning bolt.

The attack itself was able to stun even moderately sized creatures, which had let him, and the others succeed in killing off more than a few monsters in when they attacked in a group. Upon closer inspection with the Wolf Brood however… Forget damaging the creature, he barely even burnt its fur.

“E-eh….” Drake let out a pitiful laugh, before stammering out a few words.

“Y-you know… I always thought wolves were rather cute. You may look all intimidating, but under that, you just want to be loved, right?”

The wolf’s eyes lowered down in a look of surprise and pity, only responding with a brief shake of its head, barely even taking notice of the lightning bolt that only grazed its fur. It gave out a low growl, before it lowered its jaws in a threatening manner, and lazily lunged towards Drake, almost taking his head with it.

“Fast…” Drake flattened his body to the ground, and dodged out of the way just in time, before dashing behind the solitary figure of the wolf and putting distance between itself and him.

The wolf gave a short growl, before it swiveled around and lunged towards Drake again, it’s mouth opened wide. Drake rolled to the side, as a brief flash of arcane lightning came over his body, furthering the distance between them even farther before dissipating the glow of lightning energy. The sheer speed of the Wolf Brood was almost overwhelming. Despite how weathered the wolf was, it’s speed rivaled him in short bursts. If it had taken him seriously, even for a moment, Drake would have no choice but to run for his life.

He quickly glanced over, as he looked for Lance and the old man, his eyes darting back and forth for any signs of them. Lance was rocketing off with the old man they had saved with all the speed he could muster. They were almost out of sight, but that didn’t mean they were safe just yet.

Just hurry up and run faster, dammit. I don’t know if I can distract this thing much longer. Drake fought with himself over what to do, as he looked at the great beast.

A growing sense of danger was continually welling up within him every second he spent with the creature. It wasn’t treating him as a threat at all, and given how it shrugged off his attack, he doubted he’d be able to take on this monster even if he had a few months of preparation. It was fully confident in its defenses and it had full reason to be. He had no way to hurt it.

There was a pause, as the wolf slowly turned around. There was a reluctant look on its face, as if it could barely even be bothered to attack Drake in the first place. It scanned the surroundings, carefully examining the environment as one last huff of air escaped its mouth. Giving a short shake of its head, its ears flattened, and a low growl escaped its teeth as it turned to Drake.

E-eh… Drake’s eyes widened, as he slowly took a step back away from the wolf. That brief glance it gave, it almost looked as if it had given up on the old man. If Lance and the old man had gotten away, that means he could finally… run!

In an instant, the wolf had closed in on Drake’s previous location, it’s teeth closing down on a streak of electricity and light. Feeling nothing but a faint buzz of electricity, it angrily shook its head, searching for the direction Drake had run off to. Spotting the fleeing figure in the distance, it growled angrily before charging off towards Drake.

“Too close.” Drake muttered under his breath, as lines of blue, bright light covered his body in an arcane look. This was what he meant when he told Lance that he was best suited to act as a distraction. His normal speed was dwarfed by Lance when he was running at full speed, but when Drake was using his elemental energy at full power? He was the fastest of any of them by a sizable margin.

I’m on a time limit now, though. I need to lose this thing and quick. Drake grimaced to himself with a sly smile. Everything had a cost, and this method drained his source of elemental energy quickly. More than a minute or two, and he would be completely drained of all his energy, leaving him weaker than the large majority of other transformed humans. As a result, it was only useful for short bursts of movement, under normal conditions at least.

In a bright-blue streak, Drake raced into the forest that the Wolf Brood emerged from, as he quickly began making his way in-between the myriad of trees and small streams in his way. He glanced behind him, only to see the faint lines of light that was left behind from his ability. If Drake had to guess correctly, the large wolf likely didn’t have the speed to catch him in a dead sprint. That it seemed to have so much difficulty in catching the old man proved that much, not to mention that it was likely exhausted from the long, yet fruitless chase.

Drake simply shook his head at the thought. The monster was just too terrifying to be taken lightly. He would need to keep on his guard and keep moving.

Hm? Drake paused as his attention shifted to his surroundings, his eyes darted back and forth among the trees as he dashed through. He… recognized this place, for some reason or another. The sparse forest, filled with a variety of deciduous trees, it all seemed entirely too familiar.

“We traveled for about half a day… given where we were based out at, this should be Berry Park, right?” Drake murmured to himself, a deep sense of nostalgia hitting him all at once. He didn’t understand why though.

In any case, after all that time avoiding monsters and traveling closer to the city, they ended up even closer than he expected. Despite that, Drake was still filled with caution. It wasn’t just his own feelings on the matter, either. The entire forest seemed to be utterly devoid of any sound that might give away a creature’s location. Did it have to do with that Wolf Brood being so nearby?

“Hahaa… well, I understand why.” He said with a nervous chuckle. He had never imagined there’d be anything that powerful around besides the supposed Boss monster that was released into the city. No doubt the Wolf Brood was a derivative of Fenrir, but still.

As Drake continued to run, the glow of energy inside his body began to dim ever so slightly, a fact that wasn’t lost on him.

“Can’t keep this up for much longer. I’ve gone a good way from where it was, I should have lost it for now.” Drake breathed out, releasing the movement enhancing ability. The lines of electrical, bluish energy faded as well, leaving Drake looking on from the interior of the forest.

The Fenris Wolf Brood. The bursts of movement it was capable of was comparable to him at his fastest, but when it came to traveling at a distance, it was obviously much, much slower. No doubt its large size contributed to that, and he was thankful for that much. Still though…

A sudden chill traveled down his spine as he thought of the hateful look it gave him. In its eyes, it obviously didn’t see him as much more than a bug, something it could kill or let go at a whim, which was reflected in the way that it didn’t immediately attack him once Drake had hit it with a bit of his inner lightning. That he had escaped, even momentarily, would no doubt inspire a hatred in such a creature. He would need to hide for at least a day before returning to the others.

“Heh. Better get to moving again. Need to find a good place to hide out at for a while.” Drake remarked in a rather sarcastic voice. Regardless with how dangerous the creature was, that he was out of sight already reassured him immensely.

He sighed a breath of relief, before pointing himself towards the interior of the forest, breaking out into a slow sprint that was free of any of the magic he was previously using. Several seconds passed while he made his way deeper in, but just as he began to relax, a horrific sound made its way to his ears.

“Aaaghh…” Drake covered his ears, his body shaking with the intensity of the sound. A foreboding howl echoed throughout the entirety of the forest, shaking the trees and the variety of monsters within it alike. There was a sudden flutter of movement around him, as Drake noticed a variety of smaller, more mammal-like monster’s scramble through the treetops and into various holes and hideaways.

Drake shook his head, in a poor attempt to rid himself of the pain from the deafening noise. That horrifyingly loud howl, it was entirely too similar to that same howl that created the spirit wolves.

As if responding to Drake’s suspicions, his eyes widened in horror as a series of cascading howls began to echo throughout the air. They were all significantly less powerful, no more than one would hear back in the old world, but the sudden addition of so many different and varied howls could only mean one thing in Drake’s mind.

Don’t tell me that Wolf Brood can summon those spirit wolves as well. His body tensed, he quickly looked around, before shaking his head in anger. The forest was useful for basic animals, such as deer and coyotes in the old world, and while the ecosystem had changed recently, the forest was just the same, with only a few minor differences. Hiding would be outright impossible in such an area. He had hoped that he had enough of a head start to find a more suitable place, but now?

A deafening series of screeching howls washed over the area, drowning out Drake’s thoughts and all other noise with it. The disorienting sound was closing in, rebounding off the various trees and rocks, blending together to create a chorus that left a feeling of pure terror. The spirit wolves were closing in on his location, and quickly.

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“Dammit!” Drake didn’t wait another second, as he bolted away from the ensuing howls with extreme haste. A layer of electric light engulfed his body as he activated his ability at full speed, before speeding away from the source of the noise. An irritated snarl flashed over his face as his mind raced over what to do.

Escaping from the source of the trouble was easy enough. In fact, the Fenris Wolf Brood seemed far too slow to actually catch him. But those that it summoned? It was obvious that the original spirit wolves he killed were severely weakened, so much that they died from the slightest of attacks. Reduce that the power needed to summon one for hundreds of thousands of people, down to under a dozen? Even if the Wolf Brood was significantly weaker than Fenrir itself, the spirit wolves it summoned would still pose a problem.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit! I got in over my head, and got cocky. Of course, the Wolf Brood might have the ability to copy Fenrir. It’s practically just a water down version of it.” Drake scolded himself again and again. He should have tried to prepare more for something unexpected, but in the heat of the moment, he simply accepted that it would have used such an ability beforehand. Maybe the beast felt that it would be able to capture its prey eventually, and never resorted to such a skill, but quickly changed its opinion when it came to Drake.

“I just have to run fast… and run as far as I can.” He remarked to himself sourly.

He continued to charge forward, all the while draining his source of limited elemental energy. This wasn’t something that went unnoticed by him either. Ever since he had first transformed, the comforting feeling of the energy constantly surged throughout his body, and he had never drained himself completely. As a result, an increasingly uncomfortable ‘hollow’ feeling was starting to build inside of his body, and his own speed was beginning to slowly drop as well. Worst of all, it wasn’t difficult to tell that the sounds of the wolves were beginning to gain on him, even with his use of his ability.

“Aaarggh…” Drake’s eyes darted back and forth, scowling as he did. Nothing around him showed any promise. Berry Park was a fairly large nature reserve, and it was originally formed to prevent the expansion of the increasingly growing city into a valued and protected region near the center. As a result, it was fairly large, but was surrounded on all sides by what amounted to empty plains, where the forest slowly petered out into grasslands. If he even attempted to leave, he would do nothing but leave himself wide open. At the same time however, even his current situation left him without any place to hide. Which only meant…

He was running out of time.

I can’t just keep running like this. If I run out of energy, I’m as good as dead. Drake’s nails dug into his palm, as he shook his head angrily.

He continued to charge ahead, as the sounds of the ensuing wolves began to get ever so slightly closer with every passing second. The spirit wolf ability. When scaled down, those that were summoned matched his top speed, and more. All the while, his own source of energy slowly drained down. Truly, it was a skill that far surpassed anything Drake thought was reasonable.

As he continued to break through the forest, he constantly scanned his surroundings for any of the signs that he needed. A cave, a small hollow, anything, he just needed to find a place to hide. He… he…

“I can’t run… I don’t even think I can hide like this.” Drake stopped suddenly, a sad, reluctant look smeared across his face. As it was, it was simply too much. He put himself in a situation that was undeniably fatal, and with no one to help him.

“Haaa.. haa..” Drake covered his face as an almost manic laughter overtook him. It only lasted for a short moment, but Drake’s state of mind changed quite drastically in that time period. Running was no longer an option.

I need to at least test the wolves. The originals that I fought were class E. The weakest they come. As long as they aren’t overly strong, I may be able to kill one or two. Depending on my luck, that may be enough for me to get an advantage over them.

He let out a reluctant laugh, his body shivering as the flow of energy that surrounded him stemmed and slowly returned to his body. “They can only be affected by magical energy. The moment I lose that, I’m as good as dead anyway.” He shook his head sadly.

He was alone. Utterly alone. Faced with the fact that this may be his last fight, and that he would never be able to keep his promise to Grant and Lance, he couldn’t help but feel a horrible gnawing feeling in his chest. That fact just now hit him the hardest it ever had, and all he had for comfort was the sounds of the spirit wolves closed in on him.

“Cheer up, dammit. It’s time to show them what you’re made of.” He laughed sadly, consoling himself as best he could, before pressing his back to the trunk of a tree, his head turned carefully around the corner to see just where the wolves were approaching from. The howls of the wolves were closer now than ever. It wouldn’t be long.

“Psst.” A quiet, almost inaudible voice called out from the interior of the woods.

Drake turned to the source with an incredulous expression before waving it off with a shake of his head. “Now I’m hearing things…” He murmured. It could be said that this was the most stressful moment of his life. It was understandable that he might imagine something.

“There they are…” Drake caught sight of one of the spirit wolves almost instantly. The faintly incandescent, blue outline, with so much mana radiating off of it that faint trails were visible. The ones summoned this time really were stronger, judging from that alone. Not only that, they had gained a lot more ground on him than anticipated. However, something about the situation struck Drake as strange. There was only one here.

There was no doubt in his mind that at least half a dozen of the creatures was summoned to chase after him judging from the series of howls that he had heard, and the rampant sounds of their chase that followed behind him. Given that they were faster than him in the first place, there really would be no need to fan out to corral him into one place. All that did was give him the chance to attack them one on one, if he planned to trap and kill one.

Wait… Are they actually planning to trap me? The thought suddenly struck Drake, as he reluctantly peered from behind the tree. In his mind, that should have been impossible. Their description mentioned them to be unthinking, merely acting more as drones for the Wolf rather than any independent creature. Simply being summoned as a higher rank would mean nothing more than it being harder to kill. That didn’t change the monster in the slightest.

As Drake looked on, he noticed something curious. The spirit wolf he was watching suddenly turned away to the side, before breaking away from him with an almost blistering speed. It had run straight past him, like it didn’t recognize his presence in the slightest.

A short, frustrated noise came from the inner forest, where Drake had heard the previous noise. Before he had a moment to react, a small, lone stone zipped over towards him, before promptly nailing him straight in the back of the head.

Now admittedly, under any normal circumstance, a rock to the back of the head would upset anyone, let alone someone who already had a great deal of stress due to being chased by a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. Drake’s own reaction wasn’t far off the mark either, as his head immediately jerked towards the source of the rock with his hand held outstretched towards the source. A faint sheen of energy in his hand crackled, as Drake’s eyes scanned the forest floor.

A faint, high pitched squeal immediately emerged from the direction of Drake’s hand. Whatever it was, clearly it wasn’t expecting nearly as violent as response as it got. It was that exact reaction that drew Drake’s curiosity, however.

“Who is it…?” Drake asked suspiciously. His voice was one of urgent panic, as even now he could begin to hear that the howling had suspiciously gone quiet.

There was a moment of complete silence, before a sudden, murmured complaint emerged from behind a nearby tree. It stammered on and on, completely ignoring Drake’s own question.

“I knew it. I just knew it. Miss Bryn is crazy. That lonely, old woman is going to get me killed!” The voice chattered on and on in a panicked, muttering tone, completely oblivious to the fact that Drake had quickly dashed over to the source of the strange noise the moment he had realized something was actually there. In his eyes, the wolves should have been on him within moments. Yet, despite that fact, they didn’t. Even with the stress of the situation, he realized that something was off.

“Uh… hello?” Drake asked in a perplexed tone. He slowly peeked around the corner of a large oak tree, only for him to suddenly lock eyes with a curious creature.

Strictly speaking, it looked undeniably human-like. However, two arms and two legs were just about where the similarities ended. The creature’s hair resembled a cluster of soft, and fluffy down feathers, with two larger feathers sticking out much like antenna. Similarly, it’s legs resembled that of a bird, with the only real distinction being that it quickly morphed into a normal human one at the knee. Two, bird-like wings were arranged delicately behind its back as well, giving the creature a sort of stereotypical angel look. Brought together with its lavender-like skin, it all looked strange at first, but it fit her quite well, really.

“Eeep!” Discovered by Drake, the strange creature immediately looked from left to right, before suddenly disappearing in a sudden flash of bright, glimmering sparks. It quickly re-appeared roughly ten feet away, before darting behind another tree in a flash of movement.

Drake stared at the cute creature, only tilting his head to the side slightly as he looked on. “Does it want me or not?” A confused grimace crossed his face temporarily, before he looked around again.

The howls had stopped, and there wasn’t a trace of the spirit wolves to be found. They shouldn’t have lost his trail, but all of them were simply gone. The strangely cute creature must have had something to do with it, but he simply had no clue how it did.

“Hey, can you understand me?” Drake motioned the creature over, as it looked to him suspiciously from behind a leafy branch.

Drake studied the creature for a short minute. Judging from its reaction alone, it looked to be here unwillingly. It had tried talking to him, but in the heat of the moment, he thought he was being attacked. Not that he could understand a word of what it said in the first place. Still, maybe it could understand him.

Drake held out his hands in a non-threatening way, trying to console the creature as best he could. “Listen, I’m sorry for scaring you. It’s been a long day.” He laughed half-heartedly. The sudden switch from life and death to… whatever this was, threw him off a bit.

“Did you have something to do all this?” He gestured around himself. “If so, all I can really do is thank you.”

He truly was grateful. Whether it had saved him on a whim or not, he’d do whatever he could to repay the cute creature. Speaking of which…

“Identify.” Drake eyes flashed with an arcane light, as the winged creature finally met the requirements for the skill as it emerged from the leafy branch it had been hiding in.

Monster identified as an Ariel Mutant. Name: Unknown. Threat level: D. One of the Fae class species. Small and bird-like creatures, they look quite innocent but are known to be very mischievous at heart. They are known to assist others with the power of the wind, as well as cause children to lose themselves forever in the woods they inhabit. Often found in forested areas, they protect the place they view as home zealously, although one could gain this protection for themselves as well.

“A sort of variant on a fairy, huh… Or is it the other way around…” Drake looked on approvingly, nonetheless. “Still, I wonder how it’s a mutant compared to the rest.” He pondered to himself momentarily. Regardless, he felt strangely comfortable around the small creature, merely taking the time to relax and further observe it as the Ariel slowly floated down towards him with a skeptical look.

“So… He’s not going to attack me after all. Good.” The Ariel quickly took on a more confident expression as she floated down towards Drake. Her eyes narrowed, as she slowly circled around Drake, inspecting him as one would a small pet or cute animal.

“Nothing special at all. Why then…” A perplexed look came over the Ariel, before she merely shook her head and darted over to Drake’s hand, pulling him up and over towards the inner reaches of the forest.

“Well, come on then. No sense waiting. The moment the others get tired of playing with them, you’ll be as good as dead if you stick around.” A mischievous laugh rang out of small Ariel. While the others of her race were willing to play with the wolves that were chasing Drake, they’d only do so for so long. It was the best interest of the both of them to move quickly.

Drake gave the small creature a bit of resistance at first. It was clearly trying to lead him somewhere, and it had even saved his life. But simply being taken without any reason left him uneasy. However, after a brief moment of… vigorous prodding, the Ariel managed to convince Drake to follow her.

From there, the Ariel slowly led Drake through the forest, walking and meandering through for the better part of the evening. She would occasionally attempt to talk to him, only for a confused look to pass over Drake’s face, resulting in a small sigh as she merely continued her role as a guide. It was fairly uneventful, with only a variety of the small, harmless creatures he had seen before in the forest. A small squirrel-like creature called a carbuncle hiding in the trees, or a small red lizard casually making its way across the floor of the forest, nothing seemed to exude danger in the slightest.

“Why is it all so serene? In every other area, it’s been nothing but a non-stop fight to the death, but here, well it’s practically heaven in comparison.” Drake murmured to himself, only taking it all in slowly as they made their way deeper and deeper into the forest. He simply couldn’t understand why it would be so different.

Monsters were fighting for dominance, and to establish their own territories. That was the whole purpose behind the bloodbath that was ensuing for the vast majority of monsters of similar strength. Each would attempt to build their own domain, and keep it for themselves. Doing that would allow them to grow in strength, while keeping under the radar of those too powerful, and preying on those who were weaker.

His mind continued to wander in such a way, before finally settling on his original race, the Draconian.

If the monster responsible for taking over the forest didn’t need to establish a pecking order in the first place, then the area would be free of violence. That’s what happened to me. Drake was hit with a sudden epiphany.

In such an area, the lower species would be free to grow as if there wasn’t any competition at all, until the one responsible for that peace took what it considered as payment. And in that case…

…who are these Ariel following? Drake felt a chill come over himself at the thought. They were capable of stalling the spirit wolves, and from her behavior alone, made it seem easy. If he could only at least talk to them. If he could speak to the Ariel right in front of him, then maybe he would know what he was walking into.

“Talk to her…” As if under some spell, Drake reached out his hand unthinkingly, as his finger lightly touched the nape of the Ariel’s neck. As he did, a magic unknown to either of them suddenly manifested between the two. Drake jerked his hand back, as if something had just shocked him, and the Ariel lurched forward, as if she had just been attacked.

“W-what’d you do to me?!” The Ariel shouted out, clearly upset at the sudden sensation. After being followed by Drake for such a distance, she had completely let her guard down, resulting in the small interaction.

“I can understand you.” Drake looked to his hand, as a curious look overcame him. There was that nostalgic feeling, all over again. That feeling that he was imitating something from before.

The Myconid had left him to his own devices, for the most part. The most crucial parts of the test had been left up to him alone, but how he made contact and connected himself with the Ariel was something that was unknown to even the Myconid. His race, the Stormsoul Genasi, was never given such an ability.

And speaking of the Myconid, the correct choice back there was to antagonize that wolf? There’s no doubt that I’d have been killed if it hadn’t been for the Ariel. Drake grimaced. He just couldn’t shake the gut feeling that he was being played by them in some way or another, but all they seemed to do was just watch him.

As Drake continued to contemplate on his own thoughts, the Ariel only raged on, clearly indignant with the whole affair.

“You! Are you even listening to me?! What did you do? You couldn’t understand me before!” The Ariel suddenly cut in front of Drake’s vision, causing him to suddenly jerk back.

“I’m not sure myself, honest. Sorry.” Drake said simply.

“You… Miss Bryn isn’t-” The Ariel suddenly cut herself off, her eyes widening with surprise.

Behind Drake, a blazing mass of blue flame had suddenly manifested itself, appearing in midair effortlessly. As the Ariel looked on in shock, Drake turned around as well, only to watch the flame began to position itself in the shape of a doorway, with a mass of black, empty space in the middle. As the mass of fire spread, a portion of it touched the ground. As it did, the nearby plants and grass suddenly sprang to life, growing in what would otherwise take weeks. They were only being invigorated by such a flame.

“What-” “Oh no!”

With unified shock, the two figures were suddenly enveloped by the dark void that made up the center of the flames. In only a moment, their bodies had disappeared entirely into that void, leaving only the blue flames hovering harmlessly in the air, as they too suddenly vanished into midair…