Akari stared at a viridescent teardrop gem swaying on a dark silver chain dangling from Essairyn’s right ear. The fox blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to cancel the hypnotic effect of the swinging pendulum.

“You really like this style of earring, huh?” Akari commented as she returned facing toward the road while perched on top of the girl’s shoulder. “Your old earring looked similar, too.”

“Mmh.” Essairyn reached up to touch the stone but instead met Akari’s chin and scratched it. “This way is nice and light. The ayvirdizite I found in the basket was the perfect size and shape for an accessory. So, I fiddled around with the metal that D’yrwin gave me and discovered it was both magic-conductive and malleable. Maybe that’s why she gave it to me; she liked crafty stuff, after all. Although, it’s actually pretty strong. I’m surprised that the thin chain loops are this secure.” She tugged gently on the earring chain as they briskly strolled on the road to Byar’non. The trio had gone separate ways from their initial wagon ride out of Reisparte and could see the upcoming farmstead in the distance.

“I also still have a lot of the metal leftover from making the earring, it’s asymmetrical pair, and this necklace.” She touched her chest lightly where the lilac gem of her previous earring from Earth hung on a chain. “I’m not sure what to do with the rest, though.”

“Hmm, I’m sure you’ll find a use for it eventually.” Akari chuckled. “You always seem to be able to make use of everything.”

Darren nodded while swallowing the last bite of a golden mango-shaped fruit that tasted similar to peaches. “It was pretty fascinating watching you while we were on the cart. To think that mages can manipulate shapes like that with magic, and here I am, struggling to create a magic cache the way you and Lachlan showed me how.” He shook his head ruefully and tossed the fruit core on the side of the dirt road.

“By the way…” Darren hesitantly continued as a realization arose on the subject. “Lachlan mentioned that humans can only cast spells and enchantments…”

Getting the hint, Essairyn confirmed his supposition. “Yes, I don’t need to say spells in order to use magic. That’s why I didn’t explain how I survived in the Spirit and Demon Forest. Just that a wolf attacked me right away, and I jumped into the trees. That wasn’t a lie, though. I simply left out that I killed it with magic afterwards.”

Essairyn paused, thinking of the spells she had written down on some loose paper at the school. Even if she didn’t need spells to utilize her magic, she learned that spells were spoken in the ancient language, a complex tongue different from common Sol. She had recognized some of the ancient characters in the beginner spell-books because they looked exactly like the letters on a magic circle used to fly. So, she figured it might be worthwhile to deepen her understanding of magic by learning spells, too.

“You think it has something to do with rain being elemental magic?” Darren broke the girl’s inner thoughts.

“Yes, it’s highly likely since elementals don’t need the ancient language to cast spells.”

Darren sighed, crossing his arms behind his head. “Man, you sure are lucky. Not only do you have decent magic, but it’s also the rarest type a traveler can receive.”

Essairyn smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, sometimes I wonder if it has anything to do with me liking rain. Though, the rain from here is different from Earth’s rain.” She looked up at the sparse clouds. “No wonder it didn’t rain in that lush forest. It makes sense now, that trees and plants get energy from the magical atmosphere. There’s no sun after all to give them solar energy. And water isn’t as much of a necessity for animals as food. It feels kinda backward.”

“Backward to biology? Yeah, I agree. It still feels sorta trippy, just like speaking English. I feel like I’m speaking English, but I’m not. I feel like I should be thirsty after eating, but I’m not. My mind is so accustomed to the sensation and regularity of drinking water, that I almost imagine the thirst and feel sick. It’s definitely going to take a while for my body to acclimate to drinking less.”

Essairyn chuckled, thinking back to when she had been concerned about not finding a water source in the forest, and yet, she hadn’t stopped to think that she was hardly ever thirsty despite all her jumping around in the treetops. So, she had continued to drink the habitual amount until she learned today that large amounts weren’t necessary to survival.

“Yes, now, it’s almost like a delicacy, treat, or merely a method for cooking food because of how little we need. Thankfully, it doesn’t hurt us if we have more. But I’m still wrapping my head around how our bodies adapted to the environment since we’re the only race that needs to intake water. It also makes me curious about what the water kingdom of As’wyde was like in the ancient days.”

At first, Essairyn wondered if Water was able to inadvertently contact Earth during the Great Elemental War because the blue planet was covered mostly in water. But then she remembered that the core of it was metal and rock. And while water on Earth and in Sol’h’meyr were similar in appearance, one was a chemical compound and the other was a magical element. So fundamentally, the two couldn’t correlate. But Essairyn still had her doubts due to her clothes being damp from spring rain when she entered the world.

“As’lyte, too,” Darren added, “since light magic still exists in Sol’h’meyr just like water.”

Essairyn firmly nodded. “That’s how we’re able to fly in this world, because some light magic still lingers.”

“Don’t forget that half-light and water elementals still exist today.” Akari interjected. “It’s not like all the water and light peoples got evicted along with their gods to another dimension.”

“True,” Essairyn agreed, “because As’ayrens are half ice and light elementals, As’spykens are half fire and light elementals, and As’glyfens are half earth and water elementals.”

“Dang, all these elemental races makes me so curious." Darren breathed out thoughtfully. "I wonder what they’re like, you know, besides despising humans for invading their world.”

Essairyn lightly snorted. “Right? None of the books had pictures of them. But they described them all as big and beautiful-looking. So I have this image of snobby giants stuck in my mind.”

Darren snickered at Essairyn’s imagination. “I’m sure you’re not too far off, haha!”

“Oh! Speaking of flying, do you want to try something fun now that we’re on our own?” Essairyn smiled mischievously, making Darren lift an eyebrow suspiciously and Akari groan in sudden unease.

Giggling at their reactions, she took his hand and said, “Trust me.” And with that, she vaulted upward, hauling a flabbergasted Darren with her.

“I knew it!” Akari shrieked, clinging onto Essairyn’s shoulder with her forepaws while kicking wildly with her back legs to prevent floating away. “It doesn’t hurt to give a warning, you know?!”

Essairyn chortled at the fox’s displeasure and the alarmed boy flailing his legs in open air.

“What the hell?!” Darren yelled, “Are we flying?” He gaped at the ground far below.

“Hmm, not quite.” She winked wickedly and let go of his hand.

“What the f––” His voice died as he plummeted onto the road. As he landed heavily on his rear, Darren could hearing a cackling girl walking in circles above him.

“It was enough breaking my butt once! Did you have to make it twice?!”

Essairyn descended and waved a hand while the other held her belly. “Sorry sorry, I thought maybe I could walk with you in the air, but I quickly realized we’d both drop if I held on.”

“So you just let go of me?!” Darren was aghast.

She coughed lightly into her hand. “At this height, I knew you’d be fine. Besides, isn’t it cool that we can fly?”

“You mean that you can fly?”

“Minor detail. I was speaking generally.”

Darren rolled his eyes. “Yes, very cool,” he sarcastically replied as he dusted himself off and stood. “And what was the purpose of bringing me along in your demonstration?”

“Well, you were able to be afloat for a short period, right? Wasn’t that pretty awesome? The weightlessness even if just for a few seconds?”

He sighed defeatedly and face-palmed. “You got me. I will admit, I got excited for a moment there until you dropped me.”

Essairyn grinned jubilantly. “You might not be able to fly on your own. But I’m sure you could leap just as high and get a similar feeling.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, try it. You can practice fortifying your body like how knights supposedly do it.”

“But how…?” Darren frowned, skeptical of the three-story height she had reached.

Essairyn walked backward while humming. “Run as fast as possible and then jump? Like…” She bolted away abruptly, leaving Darren shaking his head reprovingly in the resultant dust cloud.

“This girl…” She was all too at ease in this world, like a fish swimming in water. He recalled her cheerful expression while showing him around the Reisparte marketplace. She had babbled like an overly enthusiastic tour guide who wanted to point out every oddity and unique feature of the surroundings. He had watched on wordlessly, half-heartedly striving to match her tempo.

But, he couldn’t cast aside the persisting hollowness that followed every spurt of positive emotion since exiting the school. Inside that room, he had temporarily felt like in a dream, slowly turning the pages of a fantasy story. And as the outside stimuli bombarded him upon leaving, he retreated to a state of soullessness. Despite feeling very much alive and awake, his mind felt dead. And, only when they left the bustle of Reisparte’s outskirts did he regain some of his awareness. But with neither money nor possessions, Darren could only follow Essairyn in a daze.

Still, I can’t be like this forever. He charged up his competitive spirit and sprinted after the girl. To his astonishment, he accelerated at an anomalous pace. The refreshing air whisked silkily about his face, and he felt freer and more invigorated than ever before. Every bound took him closer to her, and he shouted, “Essairyn! This is amazing!”

The girl turned her body in a sideways run to look back at Darren. “Right?!” She spun on her heel and ran to meet him. A few strides before she reached him, Essairyn leapt into the air above him in a somersault.

“Whoa there!” Darren laughed as he reflexively ducked; even though, she was several feet above his standing height.

Essairyn giggled with giddiness when she lightly landed. “It’s incredible, isn’t it? We couldn’t ever do this on Earth.”

“Yeah, my body feels light, but not as if I’m floating. I’ve always been athletic, but this is beyond any feeling I had on a good day of basketball practice.” Darren grinned sunnily, inwardly shocking Essairyn. It was the first time that he had smiled for real after setting foot into this world. The sight twisted something instead Essairyn’s heart, and a trace of melancholy edged her smile.

“I’m glad to hear.” She pointed toward the quaint little farmhouse on the nearby hill. “And now we’ve arrived in no time at all!”

They trudged up the slope with Akari now on foot and knocked on the gray-blue door. An elderly woman soon joined by her husband welcomed them inside. To repay the couple’s hospitality, the travelers decided to fix a part of the fence broken by dire wolves the night before.

“Thankfully, all the animals were safe inside the shed, but what a fright that was!” The old woman sighed while fanning herself.

“Yes, wolves rarely leave the forest, much less run into human habitation,” said her husband as he showed them the smashed section. “We’re lucky that all they did was run through our land. It was strange, though, as if they were running for their lives from something in the forest.” He shivered the eerie notion away.

“Anyway, we greatly appreciate your help fixing this ol’ fence. Adventurers these days are so kind. Though perhaps they take pity on us in our old age, haha!”

Darren gave a small smile at the man’s ebullient laugh. “It’s the least we can do. Thank you again Mr. and Mrs. Welfort for having us.”

“Don’t mention it, youngster,” said Mr. Welfort, wagging his hand. “We’ll be going back to finishing some chores now that we don’t have to worry about the fence. It was taking quite a while to repair, so we’re a lil’ behind. Let us know if you need anything.”

“And dinner is in an hour,” added Mrs. Welfort as they walked away, “so even if you don’t finish, just come inside, dears.”

“Will do, thank you!” Essairyn waved.

Settling down to their task, the duo worked efficiently as Akari spectated. Essairyn cut down and transported a normal-sized tree from the nearby forest with magic. Then, they tested their enhanced physical strength by chopping the wood with the Welfort’s axe. After which, they replaced the shattered wood and realigned the seven meter stretch of fence.

“Whew!” Essairyn wiped off imaginary sweat from her forehead before placing her hands on her hips in satisfaction at their work.

“Haah…” Darren exhaled contentedly and leaned on a new fence post. “That should have been tiring, but I feel fine. How strange…”

Essairyn chuckled. “You’ll get used to the feeling.”

A shrill call from the farmhouse turned their heads.

“Ah, Mrs. Welfort,” stated Essairyn. “Nice, we finished just on time for dinner. I can’t wait to see what kind of food she’ll cook. All the ingredients from the market were so exotic-looking.”

Darren smirked. “I’m sure you are, with all the fruit you bought.”

“Hey! They looked and tasted amazing, you can’t deny!”

“True,” he said while nodding, “if I had money to spend, I probably would’ve done the same.”

Essairyn creased her brows regretfully. “Yeah, it’s hard to suddenly be penniless. That’s why I didn’t leave the forest right away and collected some resources and carved some stuff––though I didn’t think they’d actually sell. And as it is, the scales and tooth from the valguarkin made more money than my pitiful pieces.”

“Well, what can you expect? They were drops from a third tier, hybrid jaguar demon with faint dragon-blood ancestry,” said Akari while trotting beside them as they walked to the house. “And on top of that, it was rampaging, so the quality of the items leftover are better than if the whole body was intact. Five eleuars for the tooth and one each for the scale sounds just about right.”

“Pft!” Essairyn snorted, giving the fox a side glance. “You speak as if you’re an expert on values of demon drops despite only recently learning the currency.”

“But I do know the value!” Akari retorted, “I just had to reapply what I know to the new currency. We didn’t have this half and quarter coin thing back in my day.”

“You mean hathe and quarthe?”

Akari puffed. “You know. All the mathy conversions gets my head in a muddle. It was simpler when everything was in units of ten.”

“Agreed, I hate fractions,” said Darren. “Math was my least favorite subject, and yet I had to take all these required math courses for my degree in business management. Also…” He cast a brief look at the girl before facing forward again. “Demons dropping items after death bugs me. It reminds me too much of game mechanics with monster drops. When I hear about you killing demons and selling their parts, it feels too unreal. Like am I in a simulation? It seriously whacks me out.”

Essairyn dwelled on his words a bit before replying, “I feel you. It does feel really odd in a way… Did you play many games?”

Darren exhaled heavily, not wanting to think of the precious time spent with friends playing video games on Earth. Those happy memories only stung him now. “Yeah.”

His terse response silenced Essairyn as they reached the door. She could feel his mood turned sour again, so she quietly uttered, “You didn’t have to come with me, but I’m glad you did. You were the first person also from Earth that I met, and so soon after I arrived, too. I just couldn’t let you go…” She looked up at him lamentably. “I know it’s rough out here, but I can’t express how much better I feel not being alone in this situation, no matter how terrible that may sound…”

“…It’s okay.” Darren tousled his hair, conflicted. “Haah, it’s not like I had any other place to go. And I agree it’s comforting having someone else in the same boat. So, I understand. It’s just…” He looked away. “It’s hard when I see you so much more relaxed and comfortable in this world than me. It’s like you were born to here, but I feel so out of place. Maybe it’s just because this is only the first day, but I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.” He laughed softly.

Not opening the door to head inside, Essairyn looked reflectively at the porch floor. “Born to be here…?” The words prickled her conscience. Even to herself, she didn’t want to confess they were right––she wanted to be born here. Is that why I feel so happy despite all the pain? She wrinkled her brows in wretchedness.

Seeing her somber expression, Darren apologized. “I don’t mean to upset you. Just…don’t mind me. I’ll…figure it out.” Even if her magical abilities warranted her some security in a strange world, they had both lost everything and everyone they had ever known and loved. Surely, she was suffering on the inside. But thanks to her, he wasn’t as miserable as he might have been on his own. Perhaps it was a delayed or prolonged reaction that would bite back at random times, but in this moment, he felt he was still sane because of her.

After all, it still felt like a dream—the way he fell from the sky without breaking a bone; a beautiful girl suddenly taking his hand and running; a man dressed like a rich, modern wizard; a talking Pomeranian with short fur, a sassy mouth, and twin tails; and an antiquated, cobblestone town encircled by a labyrinth of a market. From the moment she took his hand, he had been engaged every second without a full chance to really stop and ponder his forsaken existence in a foreign universe. And he wasn’t sure if he wanted to either.

Essairyn’s weak smile brightened determinedly. “We’ll figure it out together.”

Inside, the farmhouse was cozy and rustic with pastel painted wooden furniture and iron utensils. Several handmade toys and a family picture frame rested atop the fireplace mantle.

“Beef or chicken?” Mrs. Welfort asked when they walked in the kitchen, stirring a pot of hearty stew.

“Beef!” Essairyn immediately answered with her eyes shining in anticipation.

Darren gave a small laugh and agreed. “Beef sounds good.”

Mrs. Welfort smiled jovially. It was a long time since her children had grown up and left, and she missed the laughter and excitement that used to ring throughout the house. Even though they had welcomed many adventurers and merchants traveling to Byar’non, it wasn’t often that their visitors were this young. The two youths reminded her of their youngest a few years before she had gotten married. It seemed like it had all passed by so fast, but the memories of those days were still vivid and alive.

“Suzanne!!”

The sound of her husband’s distressed voice brought Mrs. Welfort out of her reminiscence. With her ladle still in hand, she rushed over to the door as it burst open to an apprehensive Mr. Welfort.

“The wolves are back,” he shouted as he pointed toward the woods. “They look like the same ones from the other night, but there’s something off about these. They’re are emitting a strange aura, and there’re even more of them than before.”

Mrs. Welfort furrowed her brows in unease. Essairyn and Darren exchanged alarmed glances while Akari narrowed her eyes. They looked past Mr. Welfort’s arm and spied the horde of wolves racing erratically toward the farm. Their eyes glowed scarlet, and dark shadows like grainy smoke hung over their bodies.

“I had to close the barn doors quickly, so I couldn’t get all the animals inside in time. Hopefully the wolves will just run past like last night and won’t harm them.” Mr. Welfort voiced tensely as he reached to close the front door. “However, I’m concerned about the crazed look in their eyes…”

“Wait, you’re just going to leave them out there?” Essairyn blurted out as she impeded the door from closing. The manic wolves reminded her of the previous beasts she had fought. Rampaging demons could be unpredictable.

“Unfortunately yes, I have to protect as many as I’m can,” he replied regrettably.

Essairyn’s eyes shot back and forth between the quickly approaching wolves and remaining animals. A plan of action to save them was already forming in her mind.

“Bloodlust.”

Everyone turned at Akari’s abrupt words. “I wouldn’t go out there. Those wolves are demonically possessed and out to kill. There’s a lot of them to handle, and you’ll have to deal with any escaping demons.”

“Possessed?” Essairyn echoed.

Akari nodded gravely. “First tier demons aren’t very dangerous on their own, but some are capable of possessing other creatures. Unless the demon leaves the body on its own, you’ll have to killed the creature being possessed. Also, dire wolves are intelligent, born predators. Possession grants them magical abilities, making them even more formidable.”

Essairyn frowned deeply. This was now the fourth demon disturbance since entering this world. But this time, she had a hunch it wasn’t because of Akari. She turned to Mr. Welfort. “I’ll stop them, so can you herd the rest of the animals back inside?”

The man gaped at her in shock for even bringing up the idea to fight against them. “You heard what she just said; you shouldn’t go out there! Even if you have strong magical abilities, you’re still only a human!” In all his years, he had never come across such an audacious adventurer as Essairyn.

“Don’t worry, I can handle this.” She assured with a grim smile. In truth, she was a little concerned about the number of wolves—it looked like there were at least twenty. She had only dealt with large demons one-on-one, but she figured each one individually wouldn’t take much to defeat now that she had ample experience and plenty of room to fly. Besides, the thought of taking on so many actually enlivened her.

“Then if you’re going to do that, is there any way I can help?” Darren apprehensively asked.

Essairyn nodded. “If you can assist Mr. Welfort in herding the animals, we can escape quicker.”

“Ok, sounds good.” Darren knew that with no weapon or magical abilities of his own, he wouldn’t be able to help her fight. But he didn’t like the idea of staying inside either while she was out risking her skin. “So, what’s your plan?”

“I’ll cast some barriers in front of them and direct their attention toward me while you two get the rest of the animals inside. Shout when you’re done and run inside the barn.”

“The barn? Why not the house?”

Essairyn smirked. “So I can finish them off with any distractions from you guys running back to the house of course.”

Everyone looked at her in surprise except Akari who had hopped off Essairyn’s shoulder and begun casually eating the leftover stew ingredients. The girl glared sharply at the sly fox before sprinting outside. Darren followed, and the older man was left trailing behind and wondering how they were both so fast.

As she ran, Essairyn formed a new weapon in her hand while casting a long barrier a few meters in front of the wolves. In a matter of seconds the foremost wolves crashed into the transparent barrier and the ones directly behind toppled over their fallen bodies. The middle and rear wolves slowed down and searched for the source of disruption. They quickly discerned the source as tiny magic pellets came barreling toward them from Essairyn.

Provoked, the wolves changed direction and rushed headlong toward the approaching human girl. Once she was within twenty feet of the wolves, Essairyn flung a wide arc into the pack and leapt in the air above. The arc knocked out the front wolves upon impact, and as she came down, she sent a blast of magic outward from her body that sent the wolves below her flying. Landing on her haunches, she sprung forward with a now fully formed weapon: an eight-foot scythe. With the blunt back, she clouted the nearby wolves. Rather than killing them, she hoped to force the demons out by allowing them to escape the unconscious bodies.

However, she quickly noticed that the fallen wolves soon regained their senses and staggered up like unfeeling marionettes. She didn’t want to kill them as they were simply the victims of demonic possession. But, it seemed it would be tricky to get rid of the demons without killing their wolf hosts. She had thought this might be the case, but she was nonetheless disappointed.

“Hyrts, hyrts, i hyrts..”

Essairyn grimaced at the guttural grumbling of the dire wolves. It was an unpleasant, distorted sound of pain and ire. She gripped her scythe tighter and vowed to give them all a quick death. Taking a light breath, she dashed into the horde and swung the scythe in frenetic spirals. She let her body spin with the shifting centripetal force and took out the wolves in her erratic path with seamless, constant motions.

While scythes weren’t realistically ideal for fighting as they were portrayed in some movies and animations, in this situation, it was the first weapon to come to mind in order to keep a safe distance from the wolves while attacking. Essairyn did find the handling to be somewhat awkward due to her inexperience, but because of her enhanced speed and strength, it didn’t prove to be a major impediment.

After whirling out of the horde onto the other side closest to the forest, she gauged the situation. Of the dozen or so wolves she sliced, only about half remained on the ground. The red glow of the fallen wolves’ eyes faded into dullness, and their bodies began dissipating. The standing wolves growled cautiously while repositioning themselves to attack. Seeing this, Essairyn readied her stance. She had to take down as many as she could before they reversed their focus onto the farm instead.

However, as if reading her mind, the wolves backed away and resumed sprinting towards the barn. Caught by the turn of events, Essairyn silently cursed and pursued the dire wolves. Her mind quickly calculated all the possible courses to overtake or beat the wolves to the farm. Circumventing them on the ground would take too long, but if she cut through them, she might get tangled up and still waste time. Flying remained the only other option.

Essairyn gathered her magic into a disk, but before it fully materialized, she noticed that the scythe was losing its shape. Even though she could form an object while casting magic, it seemed that she wasn’t able to maintain two fully formed magical objects. It was also possible that the large scythe was too new and strained her magic. Just as she deduced this and let the scythe disappear, the rear wolves swiveled their heads and fixed their crimson eyes on her.

Startled by their sudden stares, she barely dodged their lunges. Cursing again, she realized she had miscalculated. While she had held all their attention earlier, with their numbers, some could easily remain behind to attack her while the rest ran. Wolves were smart after all. At the current distance, it would only take them ten seconds before they reached the barn.

Gritting her teeth, she sprung as high into the air as she could, hoping she could gain enough height to land on the disk above the wolves’ range. But with the short reaction time after dodging, she wasn’t able to reach as high as she desired. She would have to hover-hop to a safe height before stepping onto the disk.

Just as she took that midair jump, a wolf vaulted up and grazed her calf with its claws. Unexpected pain flared in her leg as she wobbled forward in the air. She was only fifteen feet high; she needed one more jump. She leapt again, reached twenty feet, and grabbed the edge of the disk she lowered in the process. She angled the side of the disk she was holding upwards in order to get a more secure grip as she directed the disk higher and flew toward the barn roof.

“Essairyn!” Darren yelled anxiously while waving his arms.

All the animals were now safely inside the barn, but he was uneasy about Essairyn’s precarious situation. Initially, he didn’t think that this would be too dangerous because of her confidence and magical abilities. But he had clearly underestimated the wolves and overestimated Essairyn despite knowing they were both still very new to Sol’h’meyr. He couldn’t take their lives and this world lightly as if they could revive and start again like a game. Darren wondered whether he should retreat into the barn with Mr. Welfort as planned, or if there was any way he could help her. A sense of guilt bubbled in his gut, and he turned, slammed, and bolted the door closed.

“Mr. Welfort! Barricade the door! I’m going to help Essairyn!”

“What?! She said to stay inside the barn!”

“Don’t worry, I never said I was leaving it!”

The aghast farmer watched as Darren ran to the ladder and climbed up to the hay loft. Shaking his head, Mr. Welfort could only mutter in grim mirth at the madness of these adventurers. But he did as he was instructed and quickly went about blocking the door.

Meanwhile, Essairyn beat the wolves to the barn and landed on top of the roof. Her arms were a little shaky, and her amused mind, even in this situation, thought that she would’ve lost her grip if it had been her body from Earth.

Returning to her senses, she steeled her gaze on the oncoming wolves and lifted her hand. The motion erected a transparent wall a few meters from the barn, and with the end of the gesture, magic needles darted from her open palm. They ruthlessly pricked the wolves’ skin and exploded in showers of lavender particles and strewn fur. The forefront wolves smashed into the wall while the middle ones were punctured into submission. The rearmost wolves reflexively retracted their bodies from the range of the needle barrage. They howled indignantly at the plight of their pack and scattered in serpentine directions. Some remained in front of the barn, outside of Essairyn’s range, while others encircled the sides and the back.

The girl wasn’t bothered by their maneuvers until she spied some streaking toward the farmhouse. The windows situated on the ground level would make it easy for the dire wolves to burst inside. But if she headed over, she would put the farm animals, Darren, and Mr. Welfort in peril. Even though she didn’t know that Mr. Welfort was barricading the door, he wasn’t yet finished, so the doors were still susceptible to breaking. A roundtrip from the barn and back would take a minimum of twenty seconds while flying. That was enough time for the wolves to regather and stampede the barn doors. Not to mention, picking them off one by one would increase the trip duration.

A light sweat veiled the back of her neck at her predicament. But before she settled on an alternative course of action, Darren flung the hay loft’s doors open. The wolves snapped their focus onto the now exposed second floor. Although the floors of a barn were taller than a residential building, the height was still barely attainable for the wolves whose possession elevated their physical strength.

Essairyn watched with trepidation as Darren heaved a pitchfork tied to the hay loft’s conveyor rope at the dire wolves. They snarled in aggravation when the pitchfork viciously raked the side of one wolf. It yelped upon impact and tottered to the ground after Darren roughly retrieved the pitchfork with a vigorous pull.

He perspired in tension. He had never seriously injured a living animal before. While he had played plenty of fighting games that involved killing life-like creatures, he had been detached from the bloody act as it wasn’t reality. But upon seeing the grimy scarlet flowing from the wolf’s side, the shredded flesh and bone, and the rolling of the enraged yet frightened wolf’s eyes, his stomach lurched queasily. This was his new reality now. He steadied his sentiments, gathered his willpower and continued accurately piercing the wolves in cold blood.

Seeing this, Essairyn’s chest lurched in heartache. Darren had put himself on the line all because of her altruistic arrogance in saving the barn animals. They were no longer in a world secured by law and order. This was a kill to survive world where power granted protection. It was possible that for the sake of their lives, they might have to execute future callous acts against innocent animals or even people. In this distorted morality, tossing aside some principles in favor of upholding more vital aspects of their integrity was a paradoxical reality.

Fear for such a future tingled down Essairyn’s spine, but dwelling on this prospect was only a distraction in the present. She couldn’t let Darren’s efforts go to waste. While he maintained the wolves’ aggression and fended off their advances, Essairyn hunted down the runaways.

This gave Mr. Welfort enough time to finish obstructing the door. He yelled at Darren upon the barricade’s completion, and the boy quickly fished the pitchfork back up, tossed it onto the hay beds behind him, and started shutting the loft doors.

But halfway through closing them, a wolf vaulted toward the vulnerable youth. Darren strove to snap the doors shut, but the lunatic, cochineal orbs of the triumphant beast blazed closer into his eyes. With less than one meter remaining between them, Darren readied himself to dodge the incoming fangs and claws.