Oliver woke up in a bed, he noticed immediatly that something was amiss. He recognized this room it was buried deep in his memories, memories of happier times. This was his room back when his mother was still alive.

Looking around he was filled with a deep sense of nostalgia. Hanging on the mirror He could see the fake medal his father had made him when he had first learned to swim. Standing at the head of his bed was a smaller replica of a pirate ship which bought memories of stories his grandfather used to tell him about his days as a sailor. Looking at the wall he could see a standard size television hanging on the wall under it, he could see the last Nintendo console the company ever made before the Invasion.

Looking down on himself he instantly noticed than his hands were much smaller than he was used to. He got out of bed and rushed toward the mirror and he gasped in shock when he saw himself. He looked like a three years old as fast as he could he ran toward the window and his eyes widened when he saw the town of Fluoti in all it's glory.

The houses weren't worn down anymore they looked pristine and lived-in there was no detritus in the streets and he could see people and cars passing throught town as if nothing was wrong. ''What the heck is happening?!''

Then he heard footstep coming his way and his breath caught in his throat when he saw his mother standing in the doorway. ''Oliver is somtehing wrong? You're making a lot of noise this morning.''

Oliver took a defensive position. ''I'll not be fooled twice, I know you're not my mother and I don't know how you create this perfect world but I see right through the illusion!'' The woman smile sadly toward him.

''This is no illusion Oliver this is only a dream.'' Oliver relaxed at the news but he also felt kind of disappointed.

''Oh... Yeah that make sense I suppose.'' He looked out at the window in longing. ''Do you think the world will ever go back to being like this someday?''

The dream version of his mother sat on the bed and put a conforting hand on his back. ''Maybe someday another civilisation will rise up and it will be just as great as this one was. But I don't think this world will ever be quite the same anymore, too much has changed arleady.''

Oliver looked back at his mother with longing and finally he sighedé ''At first I wanted to kill all the Elestia but now I'm not sure. I still hate most of them, but I can't hate Sandy and Bolt I arleady grew close to them after spending a month with them. And I also realised that killing the Elestia would mess up our planet even more than it arleady is. But at the same time I don't know how we can rebuild anything if the Elestia is going to destroy it all later on.''

Isabelle smiled at her son. ''I'm sure you will find a way. Humans might not have sharp teeth, claws or the power to shoot lightning at their foes. But we're a species that can adapt to anything. We got caught by surprise ten years ago but I'm sure with time humanity will bounce back. But first you must wake up.''

''Huh?'' Oliver asked questionly somehow at the end it felt like the voice of his mother had changed it sounded almost like...

''Oliver wake up!'' This time it definetly sounded like the voice of Clara! The world around him faded to white and felt himself being shaken awake, quite litterally.

''Wake up Oliver!!'' The boy woked up with a gasp. His vision was blurry but he could make out the silhouette of Clara in her human form. He groaned groggily he felt like he hadn't slept at all and his body was cold all over and there was a strange sort of emptiness he could feel inside of him.

''Did you really had to shake me like this?'' He asked with a hoarse voice.

Clara looked down guiltily at that. ''Sorry but you wouldn't stop saying mom over and over again, I thought you were having a nightmare.''

''I'm fine... I dreamt of my old hometown.''

Clara looked at him confused and look around. ''Isn't this your hometown?'' Oliver nodded.

''Yes but I dreamt I was back in my house back before the Invasion ever happned... And my mother was there, she talked to me in my dream.''

Clara looked at him sadly. ''I know how that feel, I dream of the Old World often myself. Maybe you don't dream of it as often since you're technically younger than me.'' Oliver nodded, it was weird to think about, but Clara was technically nine years older than him. But since she had been frozen for nine years she looked the same age as him. He wondered if that legally made her an adult or not? ''But let forget about dreams for a moment, what happened to you Oliver? We found you passed out on the back of Sandy.''

Oliver breath caught in his throath as he finally remembered what had hapopened. ''I saw my mother.''

Clara nodded. ''Yes we arleady went over this.''

At that Oliver shook his head. ''No I saw her in the real world... Or rather I saw her reanimated corpse. I wasn't able to attack her and she drained something from me. I still feel cold and empty since the attack as if she had drained a part of my soul.'' Clara hugged him which surprised him. He was too shock to return the hug.

''I'm sorry if you had to live throught that. I don't blame you for hesitating I would probably do the same thing if I saw my own mom. Xofamai said that the undead take a part of your life force away. I don't know what they do with it but fortunately you were saved before any serious harm happened to your life force.''

''What my life force was taken?! Does that mean I'm going to die?!'' He asked in a panic.

Clara shook her head. ''As I said your life force isn't damaged your body can produce more of it with little issue. It's kind of similar to how blood work. Take a bit and nothing major will happen but if you take too much, it can end your life.'' Oliver gulped and nodded in understanding.

Both teens heard footsteps coming their way. Xofamai entered in the room and looked at Oliver with his usual neutral expression. ''You're finally awake? Good, Clara since we're sure that Oliver will make it. I want to do a little reconnaissance, will you come with me?''

''Hey what about me? I'm ready to go!'' Oliver exclaimed, but as soon as he tried to lift himself from the bed he immediatly fell back down.

Xofamai shook his head. ''No you still need to recover, don't worry we won't attack any Elestia tonight. And even if we wanted to it would be suicide to attack at night if the words of our client is to be believed. I just want to know what we're dealing with exactly.'' Oliver pouted at being left out, but he knew that the man was right he wasn't able to even stand up right now so he wouldn't be of much help.

''But what if something happen to Oliver and we're not here?'' Clara asked with a concerned frown.

Xofamai looked back at her with an impatient expression. ''Timothy is Oliver great-uncle, I'm sure if Oliver need anything he will be more than happy to provide. Now let's go before we get too tired to do this.'' Clara sighed and nodded in acceptance before following the man outside of the library.

Oliver let himself fall back on the bed with a groan. ''Great now what can I do? Oh right I should thank her for saving me. Sandy come out.'' A brown beam of energy emerged from his pocket and the young Fawna materialised in front of the brown-haired boy.

As soon as she saw him Snady began to nuzzle him on the face and Oliver chuckle. ''Thank you Sandy you're really saved my life back there... I never thought humans and Elestia could really work together like this, you really proved me wrong. You make me question a lot of things I though I knew about this world.'' He said with a thoughtful look on his face.

- - - - -

The streets of Fluoti Town were abnormally calm at night. Just as Timothy had said all the undead had retreated at night. They still met a few rodents on the way but as soon as they saw the group of two humans and three Elestia they gave them a wide berth.

Clara was still getting use to see the ruins everywhere she went. Unlike most people she hadn't been living in this new world for long. Sometime it still felt like only yesterday that every cities in the country was filled with busy people and the sound of cars roaming the streets. Back where she lived she also often heard the sound of airplanes in the sky but since she had woken up she hadn't seen a single one of them.

It was kind of depressing to be honest. She had never really asked how many people had died that day ten years ago. But judging from everything she saw it had to be at least half of the population. Humanity were just about to make their first real step into colonizing the stars but that dream had been instinguished a long time ago along with most of their civilisation.

''We're here.'' Xofamai said interupting the thoughts she had. The cemetery they came in front of almost looked like something you would see in a typical horror movie. There was a large gate that clanked loudly everytime the wind picked up. The trees in the cemetery looked old and withered despite being in the middle of spring. And the thing that caught her attention the most was all the holes and empty coffins all over the place.

Xofamai glared at the scene in disgust. ''So the Elestia used the corpses of the cemetery to build it's army, disgusting. That's why I hate Death Elestia they have no respect for the dead.''

''Look!'' Clara said in shock, further in the cemetery they saw dozens of undead all of them forming a massive circle around something. There was a massive shadowy figure in the middle of the circle but neither of them could make out what it was. Some of the undead advanced toward the shadowy being and opened their mouth so wide Clara thought it would snap in half. Then a beam of light emerged from the undead mouths and was absorbed by the mysterious being.

''I think we've seen enough. I wish I could have seen what species of Elestia it was. But if we come any closer we run the risk of attracting the attention of the horde. Even if we had Oliver with us we couldn't take that many at once.'' Clara nodded in acceptance and the two of them made a quick retreat back to the library...

- - - - -

It was now morning. The three of them had slept as best as they could unfortunately there wasn't enough bed to go around. So Clara and Xofamai were forced to sleep on couch. Oliver had tried to convince Clara to take the bed but she stubbornly refused saying he needed it more than her.

They were now making their way back to the cemetery. Now that the sun was out it wouldn't be as dangerous to attack their target. ''So... You say the undead gave some sort of energy to a Elestia?'' Oliver asked incrediously.

Xofamai nodded in response. ''Most likely they gave him the life force they had collected to make himself stronger. Let's hope the Elestia hasn't absorbed too much of it or this could turn even more dangerous.'' Now that they knew the town like the back of their hands it didn't take long for the group to arrived at their destination.

Xofamai looked at Oliver then at Sandy who was standing alert for any dangers. ''We're fortunate that you have an Earth Elestia Oliver. It's one of the weakness of death Elestia.''

Oliver cocked his head curiously. ''Weakness?''

Xofamia nodded in confirmation. ''Yes each Nature have their own strenght and weakness. It would be too long to explained all of them but Death Elestia are weak against Earth and Water. But they are strong against Mind and Lightning.'' He stared at Clara as he said the last part.

Oliver nodded. ''So I should be careful with Bolt during this fight.'' As they cross the gate Xofamai made a motion for them to stop talking and they began to look around the cemetery as silent as they could. But they couldn't see the Elestia anywhere.

''Maybe it's inside this mausoleum?'' Clara suggested in a whisper. Standing in the back stood a pearly white mausoleum that had stood the test of time. Oliver was about to dismiss her after all Elestia can't open door right? But then he remembered the Kitsubi they had meet at the farm and he wasn't so sure anymore.

''Alright I'll go check it out, you two stay here and be prepared to attack if anything come out of there.'' Xofamai said as silently as he could. The two teens nodded at him and the man dressed in black slowly stalked toward the lone building.

As soon as he opened the door it made a loud creaking noise that resonated in all the cemetery the trio winced at the sound. If the Elestia didn't knew they were there, it sure did now. Then they heard something roar from inside the mausoleum and Xofamai ran back toward the group.

''It was in there! Just as you said, be prepared for a fight!'' They heard loud footstep coming from inside the building they a loud crack as the Elestia ran clumsily into the wall and took out a portion of it. The creature was made entirely of black shadow but as the light of the sun pierced throught the darkness they saw what looked like a skeleton underneath.

The skeleton used to be something large and reptilain with a pair of wings. Xofamai face paled as he saw the creature roared threateningly at them. ''Holy shit... This is a Dragonling.''

''A Dragonling?'' Oliver asked fearfully, he had never seen the man as nervous as he was right now.

''Both of you! Run now! This is way too dangerous for you!'' Xofamai yelled but the two teens were frozen in place. ''Crap, Scorch, Aqua distract the Dragonling!'' The two Elestia nodded before they blasted the the raging shadow creature with a fireball and a precise stream of water respectively.

Xofamai turned toward Oliver and Clara and shook both of them to get them out of their daze. ''This is not the time to stay still get out of here! I will keep the Dragonling occupied!'' Behind him the battle was raging as Scorch and Aqua blasted everything they had at the Death Elestia. But then the Dragonling spreaded it's wings and flew over them. The two Elestia cried out in alarm at this development.

Xofamai turned around but he wasn't quick enough to react. as the Dragonling landed in front of him and slapped him with it's tail. The impact was strong enough to send the man flying into the air and crashing upon the trunk of a withrered tree leaving a large hole in the wood because of the impact.

''Xofamai!'' Both teens yelled in horror, finally snapping out of their fear. Scorched cried out in rage and spewed a torrent of flames toward the Dragonling that had attacked his master. The Death Elestia roared in pain before turning toward the Fire Elestia it's red eyes glowing malevolently toward the one that had caused him pain.

The dark creature opened it's mouth wide and let out a stream of pure darkness toward the anteater. Scorch cried out in alarm before he was completely engulfed by the dark energy. When the attacked ended the Fire Elestia was laying down on the ground. The only sign that it was still alive was it's faint breathing.

The Dragonling ran toward the fallen Elestia with a predatory gling in it's eyes but just before he could reach it Aqua attacked the Dragonling with a ball of cold water. ''Leave him alone you demon!'' The Kitsubi said defiantly before forming a whip of water out of her own body and slapping the Dragonling with it across the skull.

In retaliation the Death Elestia opened up it's wings and flew toward it's attacker before landing on it with a large stomp. The slime-like fox bursted like a bubble at the impact sending out water everywhere in the clearing. The Dragonling roared victoriously before turning back toward Scorch.

The creature of bones and darkness opened up it's mouth and a stream of light emerged from the fallen Fire Elestia. Oliver had been frozen during all this but as he saw Scorch whimpering in pain he decided to try to stop it before it could kill another being. ''Sandy help Scorch!'' The Fawna nodded at her master and tangled the Dragonling in dozens of vines that she sprouted from the ground.

But it made quick work of getting out of the vines and resumed it's assault on Scorch. ''Sandy Earth Elestia are supposed to be able to control the ground try to throw rocks at it, the bigger the better!'' Unfortunately Sandy was still a pretty young Elestia so the rock she managed to throw at the Dragonling weren't that impressive it only managed to anger the monster even more.

Much to their surprise the Dragonling vanished into thin air then he reappeared behind Sandy and bit her with it's huge razor-like teeth. The Fawna cried out in pain and Oliver could see blood coming out of the flank of the poor Elestia. Oliver wasn't able to support this anymore. ''Sandy return!'' The deer-like creature dissapeared in a flash of brown and returned to her gem. ''This is risky but you're my last Elestia, come out Bolt!''

The rodent emerged with a flash of yellow and stood ready in front of his master. But when it saw the creature it was facing and it lost all confidence. Bolt instantly went to hide behind Oliver. The boy gulped as he realised that if Bolt didn't want to fight he was completely defenseless. ''Bolt return!'' He said before running away at full speed not even taking the time to see Bolt return in the gem in his pocket.

The monster of shadow growled loudly before giving chase to the boy. Oliver realised quickly that there was no way he could outrun this thing not only was it quick on feet but if it started to use it's wings there was nothing he could do... Was he really going to die here?

''Leave him alone you abomination!'' The voice of Clara rang out in the cemetery. The girl used her power to lift one of the various tombstones and throw it at the Dragonling at full force. Oliver winced as he remembered how much her power had hurt during training he couldn't imagine how much worse it would be with solid stone.

But even that didn't seemed to slow down the creature much. Because it abandoned Oliver and went after the much more interesting prey that was Clara. Seeing that she had caught it's attention Clara tried to push the monster away with her telekinetic grasp. But as soon as the energy came in contact with the shadow creature it fizzled out.

Clara looked at this in confusion but before she could understand what was going on the Dragonling was on her and it swiped at her with one of it's skeletal claw. Clara screamed in agony as she felt her flesh being ripped apart and blood marred her snow white fur.

''Clara!'' Oliver yelled in terror. Without thinking the boy ran up to the monster and jumped on it's back trying to restrain it from doing any more damage. The Dragonling began to shake around like an enraged bull as it tried to dislodge the boy from it's back. Oliver made a valiant effort but in the end he was sent flying in the air and fell down in one of the many holes littering the cemetery.

Xofamai eyes opened wide as he finally regained consciousness. His vision was blurry but he could hear a lot of noise from screaming and roaring and the sound of crashing as Clara tried to keep the monster away from her. But the girl was losing blood and the monster was begining to gain on her until finally it was only a few inches away. It opened it's mouth and once again started to exctract energy.

At this point the girl was too weak to try to fight back. Her wound, coupled with the cold sensation that was invading her body made staying conscious a difficult task. Seeing the girl in pain and Oliver in not much better shape. Xofamai tried to chase his grogginess away and stand up.

Clara vision was turning black there wasn't much time left to save her. Xofamai started to run ignoring the protest of his body. His fist became coated in a dark light and he punched the monster on the face. Much to the surprise of Clara who layed on the ground in exhaustion. The Dragonling toppled on the ground at the impact of the hit. Then Xofamai kicked it while it was on the ground and the skeletal monster was sent skidding on the ground.

The Death Elestia didn't take a long time to recover and it sent out a orb of black energy toward the man. He tried to block the attack with his arm still coated in black energy and much to the surprise of Clara he managed to stop it but with some difficulty. The shockwave that resulted from the attack made his sunglasses shatter. Xofamai growled and disgarded the broken glasses on the ground.

The Dragonling recoiled slighlty when it saw the eyes of the man. They were glowing red and his expression was wild like an animal. ''You really pissed me off now. Not only do you attack the people I'm supposed to protect, but you also broke one of my most priceless possession you're going to die!''

Xofamai clothes had become torned after he got attacked earlier. In his rage he disgarded them. Getting anoyed at how they empered his movements. Now that the trench coat laid on the ground Xofamai was revealed in all his glory. He was wearing a riot armor underneath, kind of similar to the one Oliver was wearing. But unlike Oliver the gear had clearly gone throught a lot as it was battered by years of abuse.

But what was most shocking was his appearance the red eyes were shocking enough. But he also had many non-human charateristic. For one thing his ears stood at the top of his head and they were coated with black fuzzy fur. His arms were also covered by the same fur but the rest of his body had normal skin. He also had a tail hanging behind him but as rage build up inside of him a second tail suddenly appeared and his eyes began to glow more intensely.

''W-what are you?'' Clara questioned too quiet for anyone else to hear.

Xofamai grabbed something on his left side it was soon revealed to be a scabbard. From it Xofamai retrieved a one-hand sword. Taking his weapon in hand the man glared down at the monster who was staring at him with a ravenous expression.

The man closed his eyes and the sword began to shake slightly in his graps before it was engulfed in a black energy exactly like the Dragon he was facing down. ''You think you can take me you filthy beast?! Then come take a piece of me if you dare!'' He yelled, his emotionless expression had completely melt away, it was replaced by an almost feral look in his eyes.

The Dragonling growled at him before opening up it's skeletal wings wide and charged at him. It's bony jaws snapped toward him but Xofamai quickly ducked to evade the attack and pierced the creature's skull with his sword. It screamed in agony and began to trash around knocking over many of the remaining tombstones.

In the process Xofamai lost grip on his sword and was sent skidding a few meter away from the beast. Clara eyes widened in shock as the creature recovered from the blow and cried out in rage. ''It's not dead?! But he just pierced his skull!''

Xofamai chuckled before responding to her. ''Don't worry about it, this thing is as good as dead.'' Xofamai said with a feral grin that sent shiver down the girl's spine. Clara noticed something shifting from behind him and was shocked when a third tail suddenly appeared behind Xofamai. Not only that but a dark mist began to surround him like a sort of cloak. Then without any warning he started to sprint at full speed toward angry Dragonling who roared in defiance and began to charge at him too.

Xofamai went to grab for his sword still embedded into the monster's skull. The Dragonling saw that and immediatly shrouded himself into a thick cloak of darkness then the darkness explode outward. Clara gasped at the wave of darkness coming for her. She yelped in pain as she was pushed away by the attack but it had been far enough to not do that much damage to her.

When she regained her bearing she looked over at where Xofamai used to be only to see nothing there. ''Xofamai?!'' She yelled worriedly but then she noticed something moving in the air and she gasped both in surprise and in relief. Xofamai had jumped high up in the air evading the dark wave of darkness entirely. He grinned savagely as he looked down on the Dragonling who seemed to think he had arleady won the battle.

The cloak of darkness surounding Xofamai began to move and went toward the palm of his right hand to form a large orb of darkness. Then Xofmai released the energy forming a beam of shadow that went straight throught the skeletal monster back and pierced what would have been his heart if he had any organs.

The Dragonling screamed in disbelief before the darkness cloaking him started to slowly disappeared around him. It's skeletal body crashed the ground with a great shock sending dirt and small rocks everywhere. Finally it's red eyes slowly dimmed and went dark until all that was left was an empty skeleton laying lifeless on the ground.

Xofamai stayed defensive for a few more seconds. Then the body of the Dragonling lit up once again and exploded. Sending out small rocks everywhere, Clara ducked her head afraid to receive one of the rocks on her head. When the chaos finally ended she looked up and looked at the strange rocks that had come out of the beast and her eyes widened when she realised what it was. ''Are those Draconid Gems?! What does that mean?''

The Dragonling body had completely disappeared as if it had never existed. When Xofamai realised it was truly dead he chuckled until it turned into full blown laughter. Clara honestly couldn't tell what to make of the scene. Then the man stopped laughing and let himself fall on the ground. Clara gasped and ran toward him.

''Xofamai! Are you alright!'' The man chuckled weakly but managed a nod.

''Sprouting three tails took a lot out of me. I'll probably have to rest for a few days but I'll be fine otherwise. More importantly what about your wounds?'' Clara eyes widened and she checked to see her wounds. The blood on her fur had almost dried up and it looked like there wasn't more coming out.

''My wound arleady healed?'' She asked in shock.

Xofamai nodded with a relieved expression. ''I knew Elestia, even hybrids ones healed fast but I wanted to be sure.'' It was then that Clara finally realised she finally had the chance to ask the question that had been burning on her tongue since the fight first began.

''Are you one as well? Are you a hybrid like me?'' She asked her eyes full of curiosity.

''I think that question should wait for another time we should check if Oliver is alright he hasn't moved since he was thrown in that hole.'' Clara eyes widened in horror as she realised he was right. She instantly went to where Oliver had fallen. Clara was shocked when she came face to face with the boy merely inches away from her face. So surprise in fact that she yelped making Oliver screamed in surprise and letting his grip slip making him fall back into the pit he had almost gotten out of.

Oliver groaned both in pain and dissapointment. ''Crap, I was almost there, I really suck at climbing too.'' Clara laughed and laughed until tears appeared in her eyes. Oliver grumbled at her. ''I'm glad my suffering is at least making someone happy.''

Clara finally managed to calm her laughter and wiped away the tears from her eyes. ''Sorry I'll get you out of there.'' She said before her arm was enveloped by a blue aura.

''Whoa!'' Oliver yelped as he was lifted into the air by Clara's power. Finally he sighed in relief as he was let down on the ground and finally out of the hole. Then he froze when he saw Xofamai laying on the ground a few meter away from them. ''Umm Clara maybe I hit my head too hard. But I'm pretty sure I'm seeing Xofamai with animal ears and three tails and he's looking at me with red creepy eyes.''

Clara nodded at him. ''You're not imagining things I don't really know what happening either but Xofamai killed the Dragonling by himself.'' Oliver gaped at her as if she had grown a second head.

''You're serious?!'' He asked incrediously.

Clara nodded before showing him a black gem. ''And when it died it exploded and produce dozens of Draconid Gems.''

Before Oliver could point out how unbelievable that was, the voice of Xofamai interupted them. ''Well shit, kids it look like we got company.'' The two teens turned around and both of them gasped in horrors when they saw a huge horde of undead advacing toward the cemetery. They were completely blocking the exit. For a moment the three of them thought they would have to fight all of them. Then one of the zombie began to move in a weird way before he toppled on the ground and vanished in a cloud of ashes. All the undead after him follow suited and slowly turned to dust until there was nothing left of the horde but particles floating in the air.

All three of them sighed in relief. ''Look like killing the Dragonling made them disappeared too. Good thing because I don't think I had much fight left in me after this.'' Xofamai said before slowly lifting himself from the ground. He went to a certain pile of ash on the ground and close his eyes in respect.

Clara felt bad at seeing this. ''I'm sorry that both of your Elestia died. I wish we could have helped them.'' Before he could respond Clara felt something rubbing against her leg. She screamed when she saw a blob-like creature rubbing itself against her.

''Clam down Clara.'' Xofamai said before picking up the small slime in his hand. ''This is just Aqua.''

Clara looked at the blob incrediously. ''It look nothing like her.'' She said in an unbielieving tone. Xofamai went to search throught his backpack that he had flung on the ground along with his coat and retrieved a bottle of water. He uncapped it and proceeded to unload it's content into the small slime who quikcly grew in size and took the shape of a very small fox.

Clara looked at it in wonder. ''It is Aqua!'' She exclaimed happily.

Xofamai nodded in confirmation. ''Her body is almost entirely made out of water so when she exploded earlier she lost almost all of her body mass. As soon as we can find a river or something similar she will be able to regrow to her full size. For now she should be safe in her gem, Aqua return.'' The miniature fox slime returned in her Draconid Gem in a blue beam of light. Then Xofamai started walking toward the exit of the cemetery. ''Well alright then, I guess we should go tell our client that's the job is done and maybe take a small rest before going back to the Ding Dong Community.''

Oliver and Clara nodded before following him. Now that the danger had passed it was like a weight had been lifted from Oliver's chest. Sure there might not be much of it left. But this was still his home and he was glad he was able to bring peace to it...