Chapter 20
The pack of wolves
In the night, they were grouped up in the middle of a stone arch, looking at the stars. They could see shooting stars, and things gleaming. Although what they remember from a time ago, Enuo basically saved their lives if he did not have a good standing with the guards. The air was still warm, while in some places, unbearably cold, with the weirdness of the environment. They have already hunted, making a steady food supply for them, as they were planning to find Raleigh at the break of dawn.
"Andre." Kareem called.
"Yes?" Andre replied.
"Is it me, or is these stars just fire?" Kareem happily asked.
"Oh my god..." Andre angrily reacted. "Kareem please stop with the bad puns, it is really getting annoying."
"Whatever you say." Kareem sadly said. "Just trying to make you lighten up."
"Both of you, please shut up, something is really coming to us. I am trying to find its direction." Rutha angrily asked.
Rutha's ears went up trying to mark where the person was coming from. From the scent, it was not exactly a person, and it wasn't certainly themselves. She made a low growl, making Marcello wake up from his deep slumber. Marcello then realized that Rutha was knowing that someone is about to sneak up on them, so he followed as well, with the earth trembling with each step, despite how light he really is.
"Sheesh. She is that wolf who always attacks someone that she does not know. I cant believe she was the one who led us straight to the meteor that gave us these strange abilities." Kareem said being confused and standing back up on the arch.
"Its not her fault. If that is Raleigh he cannot possibly escape from us now. If so, then we must be the worst pack ever that cannot work together to kill someone." Andre said while also getting up from laying on the stone arch.
All of them was gathered in one place where Rutha was growling and preparing for their first target for the night. Although after a few seconds, Rutha lowered her tone and became silent. With that the pack became silent, with Andre looking like a trained dog, but with fire spinning around his leg. Rutha then looked back, feeling the warmth of the orb, knowing that Andre was already screwing up the encounter.
"Andre... control the fire, dont let them see it!" Rutha silently yelled. "It is a bipedal! Back up."
Suddenly they heard the target talking with another, and they all were listening, being very silent to eavesdrop on them.
"Misery said she would be right near the Arch, where you could see a hill through it." The unknown person said.
"I know bro, but still, I am certain that message was a fake one, Just in case, let me pull out the shotgun." The other unknown said.
"Fine then, I am pulling out my dual SMG's." The first unknown said. "If you are wrong, I am going to laugh so hard and then say I told you so."
They heard the guns click, reload and get prepped, as they knew that one wrong move could end their life. Rutha signaled the team to back up into some bushes so that they could hide before the Arch was being looked through. They all listened, and in almost no time at all, they were completely concealed, well, except for Kareem with her tail being visible, but still it would take a keen eye to spot them. They heard them come in, as they watched their feet collide with the ground. The odd part was that they had the paws, but were standing up perfectly. Not even Kareem can go on both hind paws, and she is the flexible female. They did what they said and stood at the arch, looking through the hole. Although after they began spreading their legs looking like they were about to attack something.
"Uh oh. There is a Scarlet snake. Tell me if he is near alright? I can kill it with my shotgun." He whispered.
"Alright Coby." He answered.
The sun was beginning to rise above the land, as the light began tinting the sky with a violet color. Some clouds were rolling in and water began falling over the forest. The secluded arch had a location where you could see the plains from the hole, but you can only see foliage everywhere else. The canopy began pouring down the rain from the sky, being too heavy to hold the water from above. With each raindrop splashing on their fur, they began to get a bit irritated, wanting to get out of the foliage, but if they did, they would be spotted. The Scarlet snake that they mentioned was something they did not know about, and Andre assumed that it might of been them that they were facing.
They heard a low pitched hiss from the arch. The footsteps were heard and both of them backed up. Within seconds, they saw its slithering body moving among the grass. It got louder with the noise, until it finally lunged at one of them, but before they heard something been punctured, they heard a gunshot, resulting with a bloodcurdling noise that made the wolves cover their ears with their front paws.
"Hey There is Misery!" Coby informed the other bipedal. "Roast, mind if you come with me?
"Yes, but wait, I feel some warm air coming beneath us." Roast said.
"Well then hurry up, lets get to her!" Coby yelled.
They began running and the pack sighed in relief as they saw them running towards the other bipedal named Misery. With that in mind, they began hearing another one of the Scarlet snakes. With the fear of them getting bitten, they backed up from the arch, leaving their dinner behind. They sped up, knowing that snakes and vipers were fast. They forgot about the bipedals a few yards behind them and they focused on protecting themselves. It appeared, as a huge purple skinned snake, with eyes as red as crimson. It shone like a diamond, but with it's tail being as dull as the rock. It lunged at the dinner that they collected, and saw the blood coming from the two gills that it had. It shot the blood out like fuel from a rocket, but at the same time, it was spraying all over. It glanced at the wolf pack, and with great spread, charged at them, with it hoping he could eat them whole.
"What is up with all these scarlet snakes here?" Coby asked.
"I do not know Coby, but this forest has been infested with them. This one, is probably a mother, and you probably just killed it's son." Misery said.
With the adrenaline pumping with each heartbeat, they prepared themselves for a high paced fight. With the powers they inherit, it is probably anything goes. It lunged at the wolves, missing Kareem by a few grass spikes, and Marcello stomped the ground, with rocks rising up from the ground. Within that area, spikes of pure stone tried to impale the Scarlet snake, but all of it missed. Kareem then began trying to look for the snake, but it disappeared. Behind them the snake was almost about to inject it's venomous fangs into their pelts, but Andre blasted a fireball at it, causing it to stagger it and making it stop climbing the stone pillar. With the sight of the large target, Coby pulled out his long-range shotgun and aimed for it's head. However, it was going too fast, so no matter where he shot at, it would not hit it, cause it was constantly dodging. Kareem then saw the snake, and the wind became one with her sight, and the wind carried the snake into the air, with the air becoming a saw blade at the next second. It quickly sliced it in half, and the snake was dead with it's body cut in half.
Misery was clapping behind them, as Rutha looked behind herself, and got into a defensive stance. Although Misery was not in a fighting mood or anything. Instead she giggled for a second, being slightly amused by the way that they have slain the scarlet snake. Since they did not know how to secretly kill it, the other people knew about them. One controlled earth. one manipulates fire, and one that somehow makes the wind bow to her will. Andre felt a bit embarrassed and turned around, with his head down. "Sorry, you did not hide that well, but do not worry your secret is safe with us." Misery said. With reassurance, Rutha stopped being in a defensive state, and calmed down into a serene mindset.
"That is a relief."
Marcello walked away from them, thinking to himself why they were not killing them. He knew that it would be a fair game, as none was not powered over another. Still, with the situation going on with Raleigh and other things, befriending a human would be really strange and gives a striking thought to Marcello. What if they were Raleigh's Servants? This is bad! He thought to himself. He ran back and nudged Andre at his neck, trying to get his attention. He turned back at him, and he looked like he was about to maim somebody.
"WHAT!?" Andre asked with a expression of disgust.
"Shouldn't we go hunt for him?" Marcello asked. "You know, the one who killed our kin and gives everyone a hard time?"
"I GUESS." He Answered. "Sorry if you had to see me behave like that. I cant believe he would do that."
"Oh it is okay. I used to do that whenever he would accidentally point his gun at me." She stated. "Never ends well, DOESN'T IT ROAST?" She angrily said while holding him up with darkness, making it grip him harder.
"Oh crap. Misery. Calm down, it is okay! By the way, you said it was accidental." Coby said.
"Oh right, I forgot, mistakes are made once and a while." Misery shockingly said and released the darkness from around Roast. "But that one happened too often."
"What did you do that for!? I said I was sorry!" Roast yelled.
The pack decided to run towards the last piece of evidence that leads to Raleigh. Over at a quarry, they found it again, a fragment of a shadow crystal. Rutha bit it and held it with her teeth, but the feeling was weird. It started to make her nose tingle, and her face as well. Soon, the crystal started glowing just enough to show the way. Andre saw that Rutha was then grinder her teeth and asked if she was okay. She answered 50/50, but she sounded like and looked like she could handle the dark energy creeping up her head. The crystal shot a bright beam to the right of her, and with that energy pulsing through her now, she was beginning to start yelping. She dropped the crystal, looking like she was about to say something but it was constant stammering. She began crouching, becoming weaker and weaker with each moment passing. her legs were shaking and she was finally forced to just sit down before she crashed down. Andre could hear her whispers; "He is almost there... There is no escape at this point..." Rutha silently said. With each breath of her, the world became a bit darker, as clouds began spiraling, but not downward. Kareem could see it circling right above her, and lighting struck Rutha right in the leg. She slowly began disappearing, as Andre tried to grab her. He was practically begging the effect to take him with her, but it was too late. She was gone.
With the pack reduced to three, the servants of Raleigh decided to teleport right around them so that they may capture them. One by one, strange black figures began holding up their rifles, ready to shoot at will. Andre could see it and he thought it was the end. Kareem however, was thinking the opposite, she began using the wind to slice the darkness to bits, before they could even shoot. The wind cut off their barrels of the rifles, and the ammo clip, so that their weapons were rendered useless. The fighting let Andre know that there is still hope, and probably Rutha is still out there. He let his fire burst around them, then expanding into one final flame halo. The darkness burnt to the ground, and their bodies disappeared.
"What was that!?" Marcello questioned.
"I do not know, but it took Rutha away, and began attacking just a minute ago." Andre sadly whimpered.
"This is something else. We are not being endlessly Harassed anymore, we are being hunted. As long as we move and take down our assassins, we should be able to make it. I feel like though that there is something that is going to tear this world apart and I know Raleigh is part of it." Kareem explained.
(And ended for the chapter 20. Technically its 21 including prologue, but screw it. I hope you enjoy, and I hope that you would like to read more. I will try and get into it more tomorrow. And Last Chapter I hit the 40k mark, that's nice.)
