“This wind is unsettling,” Zephyr huffed, looking back the way they came. He was unable to read the wind at all. It was so over saturated with a strange mana he couldn’t even control it.
“Yeah I can’t float on it. Walking is such a pain,” Breyze pouted.
“You can’t float forever, Breyze,” Pree patted her head.
“Well all things considered we managed to glide pretty far,” Kindle smiled up at Zephyr, able to match his stride as they trudged through the sandy beach. “That was a pretty good idea using the wind under my wings to extend our glide up the coast.”
“I wouldn’t have thought of it if you didn’t suggest gliding down in the first place,” Zephyr smiled back. “If this wind wasn’t someone else’s then we probably would have made it all the way there.”
“I mean, if I draw in some lighting into my wings I can actually fly us there instead of glide,” Kindle mused upon hearing the rumbling thunder coming from the forest. “Uncharged they are too stiff. Quick lightning strike could fix that!”
“Can’t we just stick to the ground instead?” Terbius whined in unison. They didn’t like being separated from the earth.
“We are probably going to be way ahead of the other three anyways,” Zephyr agreed. “No need to push our lead.”
“I guess walking never hurt anyone,” Kindle shrugged.
“Speak for yourself,” Breyze mumbled under her breath.
“We’re almost there,” Zephyr chuckled. He squinted down the beach and saw the waves were rougher ahead closer to where the beach narrowed. He pointed to where the forest was inching closer to the sea, “Actually pretty certain that’s it there.”
“We’ll go check it out!” Terbius both ran ahead excited to see their destination.
“If it’s not you better stay put,” Kindle yelled after them. She didn’t really doubt Zephyr, but she needed some way to reel them in. “Don’t get lost, please.”
The rainfall was light but quickly getting heavier. The wind whipped at the waves as they crashed over submerged crumbled buildings. As the structures drew closer to the water, they became increasingly buried in the sand. The handful of structures along the treeline were covered in moss and vines as though they were claimed by the forest rather than the sea. A number of structures were occupied by trees growing adjacent or even inside, with some even providing support for the more dilapidated buildings.
“This place was a pretty big city,” Kindle looked out into the water, seeing a few of the structures standing up rather far out. “You made it sound like it wasn’t very big.”
“I wonder what happened to this place,” Breyze was looking around curiously.
“I have no idea really,” Zephyr shrugged as he walked closer to the buildings that remained standing. There were only a few along the treeline that would keep them dry even though it was already too late for that. “No one enters this forest anymore so who knows what really happened. I have a few theories.”
“Ooh! Let’s go somewhere dry and you should tell me!” Breyze skipped over to the buildings he was heading to.
“This one is pretty dry!” Ter yelled from the window of one of the two buildings closest to the treeline.
“This one too but there’s a couple bags in here,” Bius called from the doorway of the other. “Someone else might be staying here, looks like some used firewood left too.”
“Maybe someone got lost here?” Kindle narrowed her eyes, uncertain of what to expect of someone being in a forest no human and rarely even Spirits will enter. “Maybe we should scout the area a bit?”
“Not a bad idea given it’s starting to pour and whoever is here just left their bags,” Zephyr crossed his arms and knitted his brows. “Either they are scavenging or something scared them off.” He never experienced any Demons last time he was there, but there was no shortage of rumors as of late. If there was anything dangerous he wanted to deal with it before Aliya, Erik, and Sigmis managed to catch up. “Let’s stick together though, with the wind so over saturated in mana like this I can’t read what’s around so if we get lost it’s better to do it together.”
“Best not to split us up more than we already are,” Kindle nodded.
“Why don’t we head this way?” Terbius met up and pointed out a small trail into the forest that quickly got swallowed up by the roots and vines. They noticed a small scrap of shredded fabric on a branch protruding from one of the gnarled roots sticking out of the ground.
The snap of a twig caught everyone’s attention. The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching along with several deep growls could be heard just under the thunderous rumble from the sky above.
Two large black wolves completely shrouded in misty clouds of Darkness scampered over the roots above Terbius. They snarled and were about to pounce on Terbius until a familiar redhead stabbed one through the throat with the retractable blade from her gauntlet while Zephyr used his Wind Step to close the gap and slice at the other one. The once physical forms of the Shadow Wolves quickly dissolved as their eyes stopped glowing and their bodies went limp.
“Thanks for the assist!” Gwen smiled at him before looking down, seeing Terbius and Kindle and perking up. “Oh it’s you!”
“Gwen? What are you doing here?!” Kindle blinked in surprise. This was the last place she expected to see her.
“You boys mind helping me out again with these Demons chasing me? It’s kinda hard with my arm the way it is.” She wiggled her fully bandaged right arm in the makeshift sling around her neck. She seemed rather carefree about the whole situation but her arm wasn’t the only thing bandaged, she had some around her neck, her waist, and a small one above her eyebrow.
“There’s more coming!” Zephyr called from the roots above.
“We got your back Gwen!” Terbius turned around and each pulled out their own half of their blade from the subspace it was stored in. They ran in to help Zephyr dispatch the pack that was closing in.
“Did all these Demons hurt you?” Kindle crossed her arms in concern.
“No way these Demon dogs have been so easy,” Gwen chuckled. “I… This is…” Gwen couldn’t think of an excuse. “How about I answer questions after Demon dogs.” Gwen pointed at the boys fighting the Shadow Wolves. “Shouldn’t you help them?”
“They can handle it, can’t you boys?” Kindle crossed her arms and glared at her
“These aren’t a problem at all,” Zephyr raised his voice as he easily took out the three that tried to pounce on him with a quick spin with his dual wingblades.
“Leave it to us ladies!” Terbius had united their sword and they were tossing it back and forth between them, cleaving any Shadow Wolves in its path.
“In the off chance anything gets past them, I got it covered,” Kindle placed her hands on her hips. “Answer me. If they didn’t beat you up, what did?”
“Kindle,” Breyze tilted her head into Kindle’s view. “Did you really not notice?”
“Notice what?” Kindle slowly shifted her gaze to Breyze.
“Don’t you remember the assassin, Raven?” Breyze pointed out.
Kindle blinked and looked at Gwen, her injuries were similar from what she could vaguely remember and the gauntlet was identical.
“Yeah… That’s me!” Gwen giggled pointing to herself. “Nothing gets past you.” She patted Breyze’s head.
“Same height, build, complexion, and her bangs were pretty much the same and the length of her hair seemed about right despite the style and color.” Breyze started listing it off. “Her eyes and voice were a dead giveaway though. Although I wasn’t entirely certain until we met again and she had those injuries bandaged in the same place.”
“I honestly panicked a little when I saw you guys walk into Blacksong,” Gwen smiled nervously. “I quickly cast an illusion to change the color of my hair. I tried to stay all serious and talk a bit deeper because that was all I could really manage to alter.”
“Okay, so, you’re hiding out here, and you encountered the Demon?” Kindle speculated.
“Sorta,” Gwen chuckled. “The Demon actually started chasing me the moment I parted ways with you guys. We didn’t exactly exchange words. Those wolves came out of his shadow and he just sicked that pack on me. I didn’t think anyone came into this forest because it’s so big and dense that I thought I could escape. But it seems like I was wrong.”
“If there is a Demon controlling those around here I’d rather we take it out before Aliya and the others have a chance to run into it,” Zephyr approached the ladies, storing his blades in their sheaths behind his back after having dealt with the last of the shadow wolves.
“Oh yeah where is Aliya?” Gwen realized she hadn’t seen her around. “Did you guys find Lios and Erinna?”
“You know them?” Zephyr raised an eyebrow at her.
“Yeah! I’ve run into them before,” Gwen nodded. “Let me guess! You’re Zephyr!” She pointed at him with a grin. “You are exactly like Lios described!” Gwen snickered.
“Again? Geez! Do I even want to know how he describes me?” Zephyr huffed, crossing his arms. Knowing Lios, it was some sort of joke but considering two complete strangers pinned him down from it immediately, he was curious but also afraid to hear what it was.
“I’m Gwen by the way!” She smiled up at him amused by his reaction.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Zephyr smiled warmly in greeting. His expression shifted again getting back to business, “So, where was this Demon that sent those Shadow Wolves after you? Though, I guess it might be better to ask how long have you been running from them?”
“I wasn't that far really. I didn’t even make it to the cliff.” Gwen looked into the forest the way they came. “When this storm came out of nowhere I thought I should get stuff for the night. Now that I think about it, could the Demon have caused this? I’ve run into one before that was the center of a storm that disappeared when we killed it.”
“With this heavy amount of mana it has to be a Spirit that’s causing it,” Zephyr looked up at the darkened sky with the mana on the wind looking like fireflies, a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach was still ever present. “This mana is vaguely familiar to me but the only Spirit I know for certain that can cause something like this is Volarius, but it’s definitely not him. His storms are never this oppressive in mana even when he’s angry.” Zephyr sighed, “I wish I could pin why it is so unsettling to me.”
“We can worry about it later!” Ter puffed up all excited.
“Let’s go Demon hunting!” Bius cheered.
“Who’s hunting who now?” A deep, gravelly voice came from the treeline. He was so quiet no one heard his approach. The Darkness from him was overwhelming yet because of the mana on the wind he was able to approach them unnoticed. His blackened eyes that were locked on Gwen snapped to Zephyr. His grim expression twisted into a grin fully exposing his fangs and his claws started twitching. “I never expected the one who dared to assault my master to lead me to you, Zephyr!”
“Who the hell are you?” Zephyr drew his blades again.
Everyone was on edge. Terbius had their blade at the ready and was slowly inching their way around the Demon. Kindle balled her fists and stood between Gwen and the Demon. Gwen had extended the blade on her gauntlet. Breyze drew her bow without even getting prompted by Pree, whose fur was standing on end.
He was clearly human but the Darkness was so intense it heavily twisted his appearance. His dark red and black skin was heavily charred and twisted into scars as though he’d been badly burned. His face still retaining some semblance of human features, had a canine likeness to match the wolf-like ears. His loose dark robes were a little tattered on the edges that swung freely beneath the light armor pieces he wore.
“This is quite the predicament,” the Demon started chewing on the tip of the claw on his thumb. “So many Spirits I could turn into a Fomorian. If I do it to Zephyr, the master will get mad at me. It’s just so tempting but Master is in the wind, I won’t be able to hide it from him.”
“Master?” Zephyr eyed him suspiciously. He was worried his fears were coming true.
“Just who did you piss off?” Kindle whispered over her shoulder to Gwen.
“A better question might be who I haven’t,” Gwen chuckled nervously.
“The allure of another Spirit from Black Briar turning into a Fomorian is such a lovely idea.” The Demon cackled. “To drag the purest enemies of my master to my level is such a wonderful sensation.”
“Another?!” Zephyr’s eyes grew wide because of his concern for the others of Black Briar. “You-!”
“Zephyr, is Aliya in this forest as well?” He could tell from Zephyr’s burning scowl that she was. “If I bring her to him it might make up for it. Your wings pale in comparison to her-,” He was interrupted when Zephyr snapped, appearing directly in front of him swinging a wingblade up at him. He leaned back feeling the wind emanating from the strike graze his chin. He backed away, worried that it might be followed with a Magic Arte.
“You work for him?!” Rage coursed through Zephyr like a fire. “How did that bastard survive what we did to him?!”
“You have to ask when it’s the only man in the world who can’t be killed?” The Demon sneered as he avoided every swing Zephyr had to throw at him. Zephyr’s strikes were wide so he saw his opening between strikes and dug his claws into Zephyr’s stomach.
“Damn,” Zephyr coughed as blood dripped down and mixed with the rain, pooling on the sand. The Demon dug his claws in deeper and all the strength left Zephyr’s body as pain from the Darkness poisoning him caused him to scream.
