Wade ran through the woods, wishing dearly that Sarees or Platees had been out instead of Larian, the smallest and weakest of the three moons. Its pale blue light wasn’t the best on even the clearest of nights, but on a night that was still deciding whether it wanted to rain, and the light was hardly enough to see her hands in front of her face.
With Alder right behind her, they crashed through the Rose Forest with utter disregard for direction or obstacles. She was so close to her next star, so achingly close, and she had been for so long. She cared very little for what all was about to happen, for what the ramifications of it would be afterwards, whether they’d end up lost in the woods for days on end, none of it mattered to Wade. So long as they kept after that beast, so long as they found whatever it was that was making that horrific, cacophonous din.
“There’s no way this is an adult chiroptera” Alder said from just behind her, hardly seeming out of breath as they continued their mad dash, “Most likely it’s still just a juvenile.”
Wade nodded, knowing that Alder would be able to see better in this murky atmosphere than she could, and would be able to see her movement.
“If that’s the case, I’ll stand by and let you handle it unless it becomes obvious you’re about to die. If this is an adult though” he said, his voice brooking no dissent, starkly contrasted with the goofy guy who was playing evasion earlier that day, “I want you to follow my lead on every action. We may be able to take it, but a 2-Star beast is not something to be taken lightly, even with a 2-Star on your side as well.”
“We’ll… still fight it then?” Wade said between breaths. She wasn’t nearly at her limit, but running full speed for several minutes could exhaust even the highest levels of endurance.
Alder took a long moment to respond, during which the only sounds were the indistinct cries of the insects in the trees, the crashing of their feet against fallen leaves, and the cries of the monster as they rapidly approached.
“We’ll see” he said finally, then put on an extra bit of speed, pulling ahead of her in the dark.
Refusing to be left behind, Wade forced herself to follow as closely as she could, eyes peeled, and aura extended to its limits trying to sense anything and everything that she could. Ahead, they felt more than saw or heard the awesome crash the monster gave as it finally landed itself, willingly or not, on the ground of the forest floor.
With a wave of the hand, and a flash of her ring, the midnight black helm materialized over her head, and her maroon pugilist gauntlets on her fists.
She was ready to begin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kya felt like she’d been playing tug-of-war for the last several minutes.
She had seen the massive beast flying by overhead and after giving it an almighty pull, found that it was highly susceptible to her manipulations. The only downside was that it was significantly larger than she’d been anticipating, so while her pulls made it both slow down and drop lower and lower to the forest floor, it was also like she was trying to stop a runaway train with a fishing net. After a split second of her pulling, the ability would simply cancel out, like the monster had resisted her or broken their connection somehow.
She didn’t know if it had an ability to cancel out foreign magic, or resist her attack specifically, or what, but as long as she was able to reapply her skills, even for just a moment, meant that she was able to slowly wear it down. After what felt like several minutes of determined chasing and periodic pulls at the very edges of what she considered possible with her own abilities, there was a noticeable change. The monster grazed the tops of the tree’s spelling out the end of their chase and the beginning of their fight.
The moment the first skyward branches scratched against the belly of the beast, it let out a fearsome and deafening roar, as its three enormous wings slowed, and it crashed into the forest below with an earth-shaking tremor. The sounds of wood splitting as it knocked over dozens of trees and gouged a landing strip into the earth were more horrible than the beast's cries, and even the forest seemed to be reeling from the impact as absolute silence reigned the next moment. Not a bug, nor bird, nor animal seemed to make a sound, only the wind in the trees and the grunting retorts of the monster.
As Kya entered the newly made clearing, she appreciated for the first time how absurdly large the dazed creature truly was. It stood at least five feet tall, with a single of its leathery wings standing out another seven or eight.
The wings were the first thing she noticed, in fact, after simply marveling at the size of it. They weren’t linear like normal bird or bat wings where there was an arm with feathers or membranes trailing behind, but rather it was more like a leaf in shape. There was a central bone as thick around as Kya’s leg, with the epidermal wing membranes extending out symmetrically to either side. The thin veins and smaller bones trailing throughout the wing could just barely be seen in the pale moonlight, but even still she could see several small tears and holes where the wings had been damaged as she pulled the monster from the sky.
It had the face of a bat with a pig-like nose and short fuzzy fur leading up to tall, pointed ears. However, from the neck down, the fur faded until there was only naked black, brown, and pink flesh. But it wasn’t what Kya would have associated with any sort of ordinary mammal. It was semitransparent, like the body of an inordinately large jelly fish had been tacked on to the fuzzy bat head. She could somewhat see all of the internal organs of the monster, all pale white and washed out red, the heart beating slowly and powerfully, the blood pulsing out to the membranes of the three large wings. It was almost mesmerizing to watch it simply… be.
However, in a quick moment, that sentiment rapidly changed for Kya. Watching the tempo of the heart pick up to start beating more and more rapidly, she gazed on as it began to lift its head and let out a low rumbling growl that resonated in her bones.
Not wanting to miss the golden opportunity she’d stumbled on, and already berating herself for simply watching the past several seconds, she immediately used to identify on the creature while running forwards, venomous dagger in a reverse grip, blade pointed down. Her narrator took on an almost motherly, nostalgic tone as it read the description to her.
- - - - -
*** NEW CREATURE IDENTIFIED ***
- Midnight Chiroptera - 1 Star - Epic
- Ah, puberty. The cold bucket of water that wakes everyone from the whimsical dreams of childhood. And yah know what? This guy doesn’t like taking baths! Significantly less little, and a lot less cute, depending on who you ask, this guy is currently in the midst of his pituitary transformation, and consequently suffering bouts of uncontrollable hormone induced rage! Also, he still likes to snuggle up under his mother's wing for a nap every once in a while, but be honest, who doesn’t? All jokes aside, he is in the midst of puberty at the moment. Do. Not. Let. Him. Mature. Fully.
- - - - -
With the last words read in the sickly-sweet tone of a proud parent ringing ominously in her ears, Kya leapt and thrust her dagger into the hide of the beast.
Only for it to be wholly and unceremoniously ineffective, glancing off the transparent, squishy looking body as if it were solid stone rather than flesh.
“Well… fu-”
The monster, now thoroughly awake and none to please by its present circumstances, quickly batted its wings down at her, blasting her back with a concussive wave of wind. At the same time as she was buffeted, taking several quick steps back in an attempt to stay on her feet, she watched the monster ever so slowly, almost gently, rise into the air.
Kya genuinely thought she could have come to appreciate this creature by simply watching it live out its life. It was so alien to her in its form and function, wings slowly rotating back and forth, it was almost majestic. For a brief moment, Kya considered letting it go, sheathing her dagger and moving on to other prey.
The moment passed as the monster, as if in mockery of its gentle rise into the air, turned with a powerful simultaneous movement from all three wings, and shot towards her growling and barking.
Taking a costly second to simply stare, mouth agape at the gargantuan living missile now headed straight for her, Kya tried to jump to one side while using her ability to push against the thing's snout.
But her hesitation had cost her. Moreover, that same feeling of trying to hold sand that was slipping through her fingers returned as she was only able to push on the creature for a split second before it outright failed.
Still, Kya had managed to push, even if only for the briefest of moments. So instead of a snarling maw biting out her throat, she instead got clipped as it went by, sending her spinning and sprawling into the dirt, her breath leaving her lungs in a painful rush.
She lay there for a moment, dazed and dizzy. The impact again told a different story than simply what appearance had led her to believe. The soft wings and transparent gelatinous body were as cold and hard as steel, making Kya suddenly empathize with raccoons on the freeway more than anything else.
She couldn’t cut into it, she couldn’t use her ability on it, and moreover, she couldn’t take any direct hits from it without being flattened like a pancake. She had her new cloth armor on, which theoretically would lend her some measure of defense… but as excited as she was to test it out, letting that thing hit her head on wasn’t the way to do it.
Clearing her head by force of will and getting to her feet while staying in a low crouch, she saw that the bat hadn’t been idle while she’d recovered. Already it had returned to being a couple feet in the air, and about two dozen feet away from her, the same low murderous growl and wrinkled snout bared at her as before. The moment their eyes met, it let out another horrific yipping, barking howl, and launched at her again.
This time, however, she was expecting it. Leaping forwards and rolling as she hit the ground, she came up underneath the monster as it flew past. Trying one last time to leave some sort of mark or injury on its flesh, raked her dagger along its body. But again, it may as well have been a passing freight train for all the damage and notice it took of her.
In the precious few seconds, she had while it turned itself around, Kya thought furiously about what she knew of the beast, and what she could use against it. She briefly entertained the idea of trying to push or pull on the internal organs she could see through its transparent flesh but discounted that as impossible. She hadn’t tried it before, the closest thing to it being when she’d tried to open the locked door in Arthur's house. Still, she had an instinct to tell her almost immediately that that wasn’t an option. At the very least, she resolved to think on it more at a later date, as just now wasn’t exactly the ideal time for random experiments.
What did she know then? Both from the smaller ones and from this one as well, she knew they were nocturnal. That they skyrocketed in power as they got older, which was abundantly obvious to her when comparing this thing to the more common varieties. But what else? What was a weakness she could exploit, some choke point or vulnerability…
The idea came to her like a ray of light parting a cloudy sky. It was so obvious, Kya felt slightly foolish for not realizing it sooner. The monsters hadn’t once been scratched or injured by her… except for when it was pulled however unwillingly from the sky. She had seen the holes and tears in the wing membrane earlier, just not considered them. This thing would be a hell of a lot easier to kill without its ability to fly, now she just had to make it happen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Carcelo Sayad wasn’t as smart or strong as his older brother. He’d watched, still just a young boy, as the proud first-born son left home to head for one of the monasteries of Knowledge to become a logistician and tactician for the Loterran military.
Nor was he as adept with his aura manipulation techniques like his elder sister. She was the only one of them to get a second-class item, taking after both their father and following in their elder brother’s footsteps to become a Scholar of Tera. She was working in another part of the kingdom, and was apprenticed to the branch's guild master there, with ambitions to take the position when she earned her third star.
Carcelo, though, well he had never been a real focus for his family. His father personally trained both of his older siblings, turning them into the warriors and thinkers they were today. His mother had taught them both more practical skills, as well as tutoring them in their aura control, making sure that by the time they went to the academy, they were both already top of the line contenders.
Carcelo, though, well he got to spar on the rare occasion his older siblings were done early. He likewise got to sit in on the lessons his mother had given, but as he’d still been too young to be a user, had simply sat and listened to the theory without getting any of the practical experience.
Oh, his mother had still given him all the same lessons when he finally was of age, making his aura control more than adequate compared to most. They’d additionally hired a personal trainer to come in and shore up his foundations in the six months he had before going to the academy himself, his father being away again on some other assignment. Still, he couldn’t help but compare his outsourced training to that of his older siblings.
Honestly? He was somewhat grateful for it. His father could be, well, strict at times, which led to a somewhat ruthless training style. His older siblings were more powerful and absolute demons on a battlefield, but they had had to endure their fathers training to get to that point. Carcelo respected their father as an implacable and almost unstoppable force, but that didn’t mean he was eager to endure the training his siblings had undergone. He knew his father suffered from bouts of extreme fervor, and he knew that sometimes he didn’t do his best to keep them away from his family like he should, but he’d never been too bad to Carcelo himself, and recognized that the other… incidents were somewhat out of his control so…
It was this penchant for empathy that had led to Carcello growing up and taking on something of a peacemaker role in the house. Neither suffering their father’s training nor his tutelage meant that when the others had been at their wits end with him, it had fallen to Carcelo to speak. Even the serving staff had come to rely on him as go between, doing and saying what they could not.
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All of this meant that when, in the middle of the night, one of the house servants came to him, he already had some idea what it was going to be about.
Opening the door a few seconds after the gentle knocking, Carcelo saw Zita, the master servant in her formal white sash flowing over her golden threaded suit.
“Car, it’s…”
“Father?”
The curt nod that followed made Carcello’s heart sink slightly, and he retreated into the room for a moment, coming back out with his spatial ring gleaming on his right index finger and a dark brown coat on his shoulders.
“I’ll make sure he doesn't go too far. Where’s he gone Zita?”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Wade leapt into the clearing after Alder, just as an uncomfortably loud tearing sound echoed out from the monster making her skin crawl, followed by the most blood curdling scream she’d ever heard making her blood run hot with anticipation.
“What in Gaius’ name…” Alder said, trailing off as they both experienced an almost profound sense of deja vu.
Ahead of them, thrashing and writhing as it fled into the air with loud protests and infuriated whines was the chiroptera, blessedly still only a juvenile. One of its wings hung in tatters, two large holes cut down almost its entire length. This, Wade realized, must have been the source of the hair-raising noise earlier.
And, because of course she was here, was the Kya the spatial user, single handedly attempting to fight a monster that by all rights was out of her league to handle.
She was looking worse for wear, caked in dirt and dried blood running down the side of her face. Her left arm looked to be at an odd angle and was hanging limply down at her side, but even as they watched, she downed a potion and with a half laugh half scream, clenched a fist and readied herself.
Alder, for his part, started laughing. “Looks like you have some competition tonight! Are you going to get in there?”
Wade's pugilist glove clanked softly as she both clenched and released her fists several times. Sounding utterly pained as she spoke, she said “No… no I won’t interfere in the contest of another. Not without-”
“Hey Wade!” Kya called over her shoulder, “get over here and help me kill this thing!”
Without missing a single beat, without a single beat of her heat passing in the intervening time, Wade heard the call, and took off at a full sprint towards the battle ahead, the raucous laughter of Alder following behind.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kya was feeling pretty good right about now.
She’d had a brief moment of doubt in her ability to take down this giant jellybat, which she’d started thinking of it as, but after several failed attempts, and two more collisions with the idiotic monster, she’d managed to land not one, but two large slashes with her venomous dagger. Which had immediate and noticeable effects on the creature.
It was now moving much slower, and some of it’s blinding rage seemed to simmering down into a more controlled malice as after the first successful hit, it had stopped simply launching itself at her like a battering ram, and taken a more considered approach, actually circling around her and attempting to flank her and faint at going low, before changing trajectory last minute and going for her left shoulder.
That had been painful. She had definitely fractured the bone a little, and it had been dislocated as she was sent flying. But, at the same time as she’d been hit, she’d launched her dagger forward landing the second long gash on the same wing as before.
Just as she removed a health potion from her storage space, she felt the approach of two familiar aura’s at the edge of the clearing some thirty meters back. She realized it wasn’t so much that she felt them, as the edges of their own aura’s coming into contact with hers. Regardless, she grinned and downed the health potion, trying to laugh but inadvertently gurgling out a scream as her shoulder popped back into place. Flexing, she looked over at the two figures who were just standing there, staring straight back at her. Not knowing what the hell the problem was, but also having absolutely no qualms about a vastly more experienced duo lending her some support to speed this along, Kya yelled out “Hey Wade! Get over here and help me kill this thing!”
And get over she did.
Within a matter of moments, the warrior sprinted headlong into the frey, activating some ability that made her glow ever so slightly with a bloody light, and promptly punching the jellybat into the ground with one hand, and then tumbling back with the other.
Holy shit, that was the coolest thing Kya had ever seen. Actually, she thought, “Hey Wade, that was the coolest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”
Laughter sounded out from inside her helm, before the giantess of a woman replied more seriously “Thank you. Now sitrep, quick as you can, what have you done so far and what do you know?”
“Wait, you haven’t fought one of these things before?”
“No, just the common variety, this is my first time with one so old.”
Kya nodded, thinking quickly “It seems to resist my abilities almost entirely. I’m able to get off momentary bursts, but after that it’s like it’s immune. Oh, and it’s body is hard as stone, the only weaknesses I’ve seen so far are the wings. Landed two good hits with a venomous dagger, but that thing’s so big it might not have much of an effect.” Kya then simply shrugged, taking another ready stance as jellybat rose from the ground on it’s boney and clawed arms.
“I see what you mean. My punch may have sent it flying, but it didn’t have the effect I usually get. Let's go for the wings first to ground it, and see what we can do from there.”
Shooting her a brief smile, as she summoned her dagger back into her hand with a quick pull, Kya just said “That’s what I’ve been doing. Nervous?”
Wade looked at her, black helm disappearing with a flash to reveal tightly bound bun and ruby eyes streaked with emerald that glittered in excitement and anticipation. “Nope!”
And then the monster was once more upon them, half flying at them, half clawing at the ground, yipping and growling stupidly the entire time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Carcelo pulled his coat closer as he walked up the massive marble steps to the three-star coliseum. He knew he’d find his father inside, just as he knew he’d find the carriage waiting out front before even seeing it.
His father had made much better time than him, taking the carriage wasn’t just for show after all, but still he should catch him at the very least in the beginning parts of whatever duel he’d found.
And of course, Carcelo knew he’d find a duel. He always found one when he wanted one.
Tossing a silvery agren to each of the 2-Star guards, they nodded and one said “Thank you kindly Car, your father went in not too long ago. Though I hear he’s already started a bout with some foreign dual sword user.”
Sighing in resignation, Carcello just said “Thanks Jay, if it’s on the up and up, I’ll put another five agrens on my dad just for the hell of it.”
Both chuckling, Jay said “You’re on, little man.” as he turned and together with his companion, they barely managed to open the doors wide enough for him to slip inside.
He hated the smell of this place more than anything. The smell of leather, and sweat, and metal. It filled his nose and threatened to turn his stomach, but needing to feign appearances even at this late hour, he managed to pass it off as a particularly violent yawn, before carrying on.
He could almost feel the energy of the room guiding him towards the arena his father would be in. There were still one or two people not paying attention to the fight, but the majority of the training area’s sparse occupants had all gathered around to watch a single of the clear crystal dueling champers.
This wouldn’t have been anything out of the ordinary, in fact it would have been more strange for his father not to have drawn some sort of crowd. No, the thing that made his skin crawl, and the hair on his arms stand on end, was the dead silence of the crowd. No one cheered, or cajoled, or cursed. It was almost like they were observing a ceremony rather than a sparring match.
Running forward just as the dread thought entered his mind, Carcelo took in a sharp breath as a spray of blood flew up like a crimson mountain peak over the heads of the onlookers, who all recoiled back at what they saw.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kya and Wade each broke to attack their respective targets, Wade simultaneously returning her helm to her head and activating an ability in her fists that made them glow and promptly started wailing on the jellybat’s face like it owed her money while Kya began to strike, stab, and slash at the next wing, making sure it too was crippled and unable to be used for anything more than an excellent front porch awning.
It wasn’t a completely one sided slaughter. To jellybat’s credit, it did manage to batter and claw at both Kya and Wade numerous times throughout their exchange.
Kya had just gone in for another slash at the underside of the wing, when with a mighty bellowing growl, the entire body of the monster spun like a drill, and the wing she’d been about to strike instead struck her into the ground with incredible force and power.
Suddenly, Kya knew exactly what it was to be a fish flopping on the dock, unable to take in air no matter how much gasping it did. Looking up and around, she saw that it had, by using it’s drill technique, also once more launched itself forward, managing to bite onto Wade’s armored shoulder.
Kya could visibly see the beads of red pooling from the wound, even in the pale moonlight, she knew the wound had to be something horrible to deal with. Nevertheless, she persisted. Her punches never stopped and her blows fell with an almost rhythmic quality, like the beating of some ominous drum. She didn’t quite know what it was, but she felt a resurgence of strength enter her limbs. All of her aches and pains seemed to fade into background noise as her determination and spirit were roused like never before.
Exploding up to her feet, Kya launched the venom dagger forward at the exposed skyward wing of jellybat, then summoned her rat fang dagger and repeated the process, all the while running headlong towards the pair.
Through concentrated force of will, and through the indomitable spirit and fervor that convinced her she could not fail, she pulled the daggers back and launched them again and again, over and over like a storm of blades raining down from on high as she cut and slashed the wing to ribbons. She had no idea how she was able to do this, and she knew that even just moments before, this level of finesse and control over her ability would have been beyond her grasp.
The whistling of her blades joined the percussive staccato blows from Wade’s fist, and an almost melodic tune came from their combined onslaught of the poor jellybat. Truly, the moment Wade had arrived, its coffin had been sealed. This power flowing through her veins, though, that was simply the last nail before burial.
She only stopped a full minute later as the feeling of being unstoppable faded away, and she first lost control over one of her daggers, hearing it thud softly to the mud below, and then the other joining it as Kya felt utterly spent.
But that minute of raw damage dealing had been more than enough. Whether it was the poison in the dagger, or the sheer terror that had become Wade’s fists, the monster lay broken and bloodied at their feet. Both women breathed heavily, sweat pouring down their faces, Wades now visible after she dispelled her armor.
In the exact same moment jellybat was overcome with shadows, both Wade and Kya began to emit soft glows of ethereal light. Although she wasn’t sure what was happening with Wade, as hers was clearly more powerful and even just looking at her with her aura, could tell something intrinsically amazing was happening to her, she was distracted by her own sense of wonder at the series of notifications she received next. Even her narrator taking on an almost reverent, hushed tone as he read.
- - - - -
- You have defeated Midnight Chiroptera - 1-Star - Epic.
- - - - -
*You Have Advanced Class Ability {Push and Pull}*
- Ability {Push and Pull} 1-Star - 100% has changed to {Push and Pull} 2-Star - 0%
- You must advance the remaining abilities on this star before any further progress can be made on this ability.
- - - - -
*You Have Unlocked Class Ability {Slow Fall}*
- Ability {Slow Fall} 1-Star - 0%
- Description: Through your experience and understanding of space, you are able to moderately affect the inexorable force pulling you down. May be extended to others in close proximity at an increased rate of mana consumption.
- - - - -
The moment the narrator finished reading the last word of the notification, she felt a burning on the back of her left hand, and saw that the glow in her body had all coalesced there, in her small star mark, as it was reforged. Kya wanted to scratch at her skin until it came off, wanted to plunge her hand into ice water or chop it off, but she rather stood rooted to the spot as the glow finally faded and she saw her newly evolved symbol. The single pink dot at the center of her pink leafed flower was now an exact replica of a yin yang symbol. A thin gray line separated the two identical halves, both fields of black with two radiant rosey dots on either side.
Kya was torn away from her own star, however, as she heard and saw the other incredible things happening in the clearing. Alder, during all of this, had been whooping and hollering like a mad man, casually jogging to meet them. But what truly caught her eye, were the two simultaneous light shows in front of her.
The beasts that fell to her shadows left behind small flames of light in their wakes. Like their spirit dancing around in one final act of defiance before fading into oblivion, she had seen the small sparks linger each and every time. This one, though, this one had been an epic rarity beast. The strongest she’d ever fought, even if it had been something of a let down. Big and fast at times, but nothing she’d have written home about. Still, it’s spark or flame or spirit, whatever it was… it was marvelous. Simply something to be marveled at on any other occasion. It was bright and bold, it rose and radiated out at least two or three feet like the blossoming of an ethereal infant tree, and whatsmore, it stayed around for significantly longer than anything she’d seen before. Again, on any other night and in any other place, Kya would have simply sat and stared, awed at the sight of its dancing colors and brilliant effects.
But unfortunately, it was shown up on this night. Because right there, not three feet from it, was Wade, who Kya could immediately, instinctually, and undeniably tell was advancing to her second star.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Wade saw the cosmos open up their arms. She saw countless warriors who had come before her. She saw wars fought for millennia, for eons, for vast swathes of space, for control over star systems and galaxies. She saw titans bigger than mountains destroy whole civilizations with the swing of an ax. She saw great armies composed of entire races, entire species, entire worlds, charge each other in a profound field of death and carnage, and sing all the while. She saw men who missed the birth of their children. She saw children who grew up without their parents. She saw the proud and the righteous, she saw the broken and beaten.
Wade felt the most overwhelming sense of strength, vitality, energy, power, purpose, will, and determination. She felt the most debilitating sense of weakness, fatigue, apathy, distress, listless abandon, and cowardice.
And beyond it all, she felt the ever so slight gaze of a god looking down upon her. She had never before experienced even the passing acknowledgment of her god, but it seemed now she had earned the right to his awareness. He had seen her existence and would not forget it.
Just before her state of rapture ended, she heard one single statement in a tone so low, the heavens themselves must have been the ones to say it, for what else could echo with such singular purpose as this voice, with as much awesome and terrifying power.
“You have reached a peak. Do not let it be the last.”
The words reverberating throughout the galaxy in Wade’s head, she promptly lost consciousness as the seal of her second star formed on her hand.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I've got her, I've got her." Alder said quietly as he caught Wade before she could hit the ground.
"Is it always... that intense?" Kya asked, walking over as well.
"It can vary from person to person, and from star to star. But usually, no. I think this was just so long in coming for her, that it somewhat overwhelmed her when if finally, did arrive. Passing out isn't too uncommon though, it takes a lot of mana to evolve your body like that.
Kya contemplated his words while he took in Wade, her face having changed ever so slightly. Her once hawkish nose had been reduced somewhat, and her long-pointed ears seemed to have... gotten even longer? That could have just been her imagination, but it definitely looked like her ears had changed a little.
Opening her mouth to ask about this, Kya stopped with the word's half formed when she saw the utter tension and rigidity in Alders body and face.
"Wha... Alder, what's wrong?"
Rising like the tide, he threw the mountainous form of Wade over his shoulders in a fireman's carry, and in a voice harsh and urgent like a whip said "We're going. Now. Follow as closely to me as you can and don't fall behind." Then without another word or glance around the clearing, took off back towards the direction of the city.
Pouring on as much speed as she could muster to catch up and stay with him, she asked between breaths "Alder, what the hell is going on!?" But a moment later, she didn't need him to answer.
A barking, yipping keen echoed out across the forest, only this one was much deeper in pitch and much louder in volume than jellybats had been. She already knew what was happening, but somehow still needed to hear Alder say it. To confirm her suspicious.
"Mama bat is looking for her son."