I rode Emael down the mountain and through the forest, which now felt simultaneously darker and more friendly somehow. Fall was coming and mushrooms we didn’t see during the first trip had grown from logs, and leaves lost their structure and began the process of wilting and dying away.

The first half of the journey was spent in silence. Kyro was green at the gills and a wretched mess, and Kline sat in my lap, ears twitching, keeping life as simple as possible.

We were waiting on something, but we didn’t know what it was—and we didn’t get answers. So I asked:

“Can you tell me about Yakana?”

Emael slowed for a moment and then pressed forward. I don’t know the specifics. Yakana was Brindle’s friend. Beyond that, it’s unclear. Some say that Yakana was a warrior and he and Brindle fought a mythical battle and became friends from mutual admiration. Others say that Brindle was lonely and decided to spare the human for trespassing. All we know is they met and decided to live together for at least a few centuries before the Jacksmore War.

“The Jacksmore War?” I asked nervously. “Was it like the Last Conquer?”

Worse, Emael said. That was long before my time, but I do know that the war spanned the forest. The outside forces decimated the Bramble and broke through the fifth and sixth domains. They decimated the Drokai in the Fourth Ring and wiped out most in the Fifth. It was a massacre.

“But they won? Yakana and Brindle?”

Yes. They won. Brindle wiped out the remaining force in the Sixth Ring. But that was only possible because Yakana blocked the ravine leading to Aelium, sacrificing his life to rout the enemy forests into Brindle’s trap.

It was right then, passing through a swollen meadow of broken logs and yellow trees, hearing the story of Yakana’s life from Emael herself, that everything I knew about Brindle, Yakana, and the Areswood Forest came full circle, and I grasped the implications of what happened.

Yakana was a human.

Brindle was a soulmancer.

Yakana was now an amalgamation of souls.

Brindle took his friend and created him into this… thing… and that was honestly disturbing beyond my comprehension. I didn’t want to confront the situation. I didn’t know if I could. This was one of the rare instances where something could be extremely sensitive or a sign of true psychopathy, and bringing it up could be dangerous to my life or relationships.

I felt the waves as Emael crawled over boulders and slid between trees and tried to clear my mind—but it was to no avail. It would eat at me forever if I didn’t address it. So I asked:

“What happened to him?”

Emael didn’t slow down. It’s as you suspect. Brindle found Yakana’s soul and bound it with nature somehow. Why isn’t clear. Many think he was lonely. Others think it’s just the way of druids or that they made a soul pact to protect the forest forever.

“And you?”

I never asked, and I refuse to speculate. Brindle has his ways. Humans have theirs. I do not plan to understand either.

“I see…”

Emael crossed over a final boulder, and I could see and hear the river through the trees. She moved with us all the way to the water and stopped, turning south in the direction of Aiden and Halten and the Lurvine.

You must go on by yourselves, Emael said. I do not wish to flaunt our aid nor interfere with the Harvest.

“Okay…” I said. I dismounted, untied the canoe, and helped Kyro and his clunky bag off of Emael’s back. I then pulled the herb bag and slung it over my backpack straps, something uncomfortable but hardly bothersome with the amount of strength I possessed.

Emael waited patiently and then eyed me seriously.

“Thank you, Emael,” I said.

I merely repaid a debt. She glanced between Kline and Kyro. I pray you continue down this path.

I nodded.

Goodbye, human.

I felt a deep loneliness watching Emael turn and disappear. It wasn’t crushing, but it was the feeling that people got when their lover, family, or friends saw them off at the airport for a trip or when parents dropped their kids off at college. I was certain we would see each other soon, but it was still saddening.

Just moments after becoming accepted by the Drokai, I left. Moments after making up with her, she left me as well. Now, it was time to see off Aiden.

How bittersweet.

“Okay… how are we going to hold this canoe?” I thought. I picked it up and felt like She-Hulk, as it was remarkably light. Still, it was very difficult to hold. Just as I gained thoughts of holding it on my head like African women with pails of water, I turned and found Kline staring at me with massive, glassy eyes.

I froze and stared at him. He was the size of a tiger, and his whole body was there, staring at me. We locked eyes and blinked a few times before I said:

“What… the fuck?”

Kline’s lips curved into a creepy smile, which was now a big creepy smile.

“No seriously! Tell me!”

“Ugh… keep it down.” Kyro groaned and sat up. “Kline’s ethereal form’s evolved. Or… rather, he’s achieved enlightenment and can now project his soul. Humans do it, too… Just… please accept it.” He sat cross-legged under a tree and pulled out his flask. It was empty, so he reached into his pillow case and dragged out a full bottle of spirits.

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“Seriously?” I asked.

“What part of alcoholic don’t you understand?” Kyro asked before grumbling, “Fucking kids. Thinkin’ I wanna be here drinkin’ up on all this shit…” under his breath.

I frowned and turned to the canoe.

“You mind if I tie it on you?” I asked Kline.

He meowed, albeit closer to a baritone growl, and lay on the ground.

“Just leave it,” Kyro said, taking a drink and exhaling in relief. “It’s only a couple miles… besides. The reason she didn’t return was ‘cause there’s a family of jaslos next to Halten. Hell, there’s a shit load of third evs down there just… clumped together.”

My heart rate skyrocketed. “And she didn’t tell me.”

“Calm down...” Kyro grasped his ears. “There’s some typea barrier between the two sides. Pretty weak, but they look like they’re just starin’ at each other. There’s plenty of time to…” He lifted up his flask, and I snatched it away with Separation, hovering it in the air.

Kyro’s bloodshot eyes glided over to me like a drunk following a cop’s flashlight at a stop. But it wasn’t docile. There was true, unadulterated murder in them.

“As of this moment, I’m the only thing standing between you and a truly gruesome death. And as such, I ask for you to treat me with respect.”

I slowly flew the flask back to his hand, and he accepted it without further complaint, taking a drink. We sat in deafening silence for a while before he groaned, lying back and resting his head against a gnarled root of the tree that he was leaning against.

“I wanted to see…” he sighed. “But you’re ready to murder things, the human boy can’t see me, and I don’t think I have what it takes to handle active camouflage… so… how’s this? I’ll watch this here canoe, while you and Kline go deal with the thirds.”

The hairs on my arms raised. “How many are there?”

“Uh… twelve? I don’t know. They all look pretty slow. So… get in… do some damage, and see if you can’t scare ‘em off.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“You would’ve done that anyway, right?”

“With mushroom spores… poison… planning.”

“Yeah… but there’s not enough time. That barrier’s pretty weak. I don’t even think that it’s stoppin’ ‘em from fighting. The beasts on the inside look pretty nasty.”

“Can you see?” I asked.

He rubbed his closed eyes. “Yeah.”

He must have the Root Wide Web or something similar, I thought.

“Anywho… you’re pretty fucked if you don’t. So… try to figure it out or something.”

He shut his eyes, and Kline and I looked into the distance. We were prepared. Kline had his trump card, Silvern’s Triumph, that could convert all the soul force that he ingested into a massive attack—and I had my bow. He was also far stronger than he was before. We both were. This was the perfect opportunity to test out our new skills.

I calmed my racing heart and jumped onto Kline’s back. “You ready little guy?”

He purred sassily.

“Big guy?” I asked dryly.

He growled proudly. Asshole.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

2.

Aiden watched the family of jaslos pace back and forth. The creatures looked like Hyenas out of Mad Max, sporting red mohawks down their back and jaws as wide and thick as crocodiles. They were large as moose—and anyone who hadn’t seen a moose couldn’t understand the true terror of beasts of scale. An average bull moose’s shoulders were six feet off the ground, and the average weight was half a metric ton. If an average compact sedan hit it doing thirty, the moose would likely stand up again, but that car would be a crumpled block of fiberglass and mangled engine parts.

That’s how large they were—

—and there were five of them.

Worse, these weren’t moose. When their frustration boiled over and they would attack the barrier, Aiden’s eyes couldn’t follow their movements. They were massive and fast and their bodies released wind blasts seemingly at random that destroyed all the foliage.

These were third evolutions—enlightened beasts that could learn magics and the jaslos were called wind dancers from their speed and razor winds.

Aiden looked at Kael, Sina, and the other six lurvines. They were twice the size they were a few days before. Each of them had evolved into their evolution beasts while Mira was away—

—but they were the weakest of the weak as far as third evs went. In a five-on-seven with seasoned third evolutions, they were dead. Aiden couldn’t even rely on the water because the jaslos used the river as a watering hole. They were third evs in a lower part of the river. They could swim in it and be fine.

So yeah, if they broke through, he was dead.

But hey, there’s nothing like certain death and impending destruction that bonds creatures of all varieties, right?

Where are you…? Aiden thought as the jaslos paced back and forth, preparing to strike the barrier. It was hard to keep positive when Mira suddenly disappeared without warning and didn’t return for four days. He wanted to be optimistic, but he didn’t think that Mira would go away for a week and not tell him to hold still. She didn’t seem like the type to do something like that.

That meant that she went out searching for something—

—and she died.

Aiden still doubted that she was dead. Everyone did. She’s with Emael, Halten had told him. She’s the guardian of this forest. So long as they are together, she should be safe.

Of course, he replied as he threw twigs into the fire. Did I ever question it?

No, but I can feel your anxiety.

Nah… I’m just tired of burnt meat. Aiden had tasted the sweet ambrosia of soul meat with Mira’s cooking. Since then, he had to cook chunks of second evolution meat for twelve hours just to get edible jerky. He couldn’t imagine how Mira had lived so long. She was amazing… and here he was, waiting for the end.

Suddenly, the jaslos turned and erupted into a chainsaw clatter of cackling and howls. Two turned between the north side of the river to the barrier, passing back and forth before three smashed into the barrier with ghostly speed, creating cracks.

“What’s going on?” he yelled.

Calm yourself, Aiden! Halten yelled. And get behind me. Beasts are approaching from the north, so they’re trying to break through when they have the chance.

Another set of thunderous cracks sounded as webs flew up the barrier, rippling blue in the sky before disappearing. Three of the jaslos turned up north, and the other two sped up, cracking into the barrier as the lurvines growled and prepared to fight.

Everything was moving so fast.

Crack! The barrier webbed with so many cracks that Aiden thought it would break.

What the hell’s coming? Aiden internally cried.

Suddenly, a wave of intuition washed over him, compelling him to turn toward the distance. He narrowed his eyes and saw something orange in the hot sunshine, shimmering like a mirage. Then something sparkled in the far distance like a prism of light.

For whatever reason, he turned to the jaslos at that exact moment, and that’s when he saw the most surreal scene of his life. His brain created a snapshot of a thousand droplets of water shooting across the beach.

All the jaslos jumped in unison, dodging the strike. But at the last second, as if the laws of physics didn’t matter, the water veered sharply to the left. The next moment, Aiden heard a devastating boom, and when he looked up, he saw that one of the jaslos was sent flying into the forest, smashing into a tree with a trunk at least ten feet in diameter. Despite that, the beast plowed straight through it, sending the tree crashing down on the Diktyo River’s sandy shore.

“What…” Aiden whispered. “The hell was that?”