68 Chapter 68

Delilah was silent for a while before she replied. "I can not be sure. I have never heard of anything like this, but five gates opening so close together is a lot of pressure for the world barrier to handle."

I looked back through the portal at the city. I could see smoke rising up in several locations nearby and hear sirens blaring. I turned my attention to the distance where the center of the city was. Several more columns of smoke were rising in that direction as well. I looked back at the spatial crack, but there still wasn't any sign of the firebird. "Any idea what it went to do Enya?" I asked her as I considered closing my portal. The firebird hadn't been the only thing to come through that crack, and I didn't want to deal with anything else that might come through.

Enya shook her head. "No master. Given its desperation to get through the crack, this doesn't make any sense." she told me.

I nodded in agreement. Its entire temperament had seemed to change once it saw me and Enya. I had no idea why it left without saying anything and I didn't know how to interpret that. Despite that the view of the city was a good reason for me to keep the portal open, if it wasn't draining my energy so quickly.

After a few more moments of waiting I closed the portal. I could stay outside and watch the spatial crack in case the firebird reappeared, but leaving the portal open was a waste of my energy, especially if I needed to create a separate plane for the firebird to stay.

"Are we giving up?" Enya whined.

"My energy isn't limitless." I replied. "We can keep watch for it to return."

Enya seemed consoled by my words, but she was still pouting a bit.

"Is it coming back?" Megan asked.

I just shrugged. "No idea." I replied.

"So now what?" Karen asked.

I just considered that for a moment. I didn't have many friends, and all the ones I had were already by my side so I didn't have anyone to call. It should be similar with Karen since her parents were in Hawaii. I looked over at Megan. "Is there anyone you need to call?" I asked her.

Megan hesitated for a moment then shook her head.

"I don't either," Karen volunteered.

I nodded my understanding. Since that was the case, I wanted to practice my abilities, but that would use my energy. As such I was at a loss. Given what I had seen from the portal I knew that things had gone crazy. While it was quiet and peaceful now, that could change any moment.

"You girls could practice." I suggested after a moment.

"Practice?" Megan asked, obviously not thrilled with the idea already.

I nodded. "Yeah, I have no idea what abilities you girls have and what you can do with them." I told them.

Karen frowned, "I guess we haven't really had a chance to talk about it since we awakened and advanced." she agreed. Then she gave me a kiss on my cheek. "But I don't think now is the right time." she told me.

"Why not?" I asked, surprised by her response.

"Because we could be attacked at any time." Karen replied. "Though just so you know defensive abilities seem to be my strength."

I frowned as I considered that. It was exactly what I was worrying about, but was it ever going to be safe? We needed to practice at some point, or we wouldn't know how to use our abilities effectively. I had gained lightning, but I wasn't sure I could use it as well as I did my shadowfire.

Before I could come up with a valid argument there was a loud screech from the direction of the sky crack. I looked over quickly only to see the firebird's head poking through the crack looking around hurriedly.

I quickly summoned a portal so I could speak with the firebird.

As soon as my portal appeared I could see that something had happened on the side of the firebird. Earlier it had seemed to be perfectly fine, just frantic to get through the spatial crack.

Now though its feathers were disheveled and golden blood dampened several places on the immense beast. "Are you alright?" I asked out of concern.

"I am alright, these wounds are superficial and will be healed in a little while." the firebird replied in its odd chirp language.

Enya flew through the portal and up to the firebird. "You left without saying anything! We had no idea if you were coming back or not!" Enya told the firebird angrily. As she was small enough to be swallowed by the large bird with one bite, it was kind of funny.

The firebird regarded her for a few moments before ignoring her and looking at me. "I returned to thank you for your concern and decline." the firebird said, confusing me.

My confusion must have shown as it chirped in what I guessed was a form of laughter. "Human, it is normal you would not understand. However while your elemental had her own reasons for offering me sanctuary, your own intentions were true and respectful. As such I will not hold it against you when we next meet." It told me.

"Uh, what?" I asked then looked over at Enya who very quickly flew back through my portal and hid behind me.

Before I could even consider any other questions the firebird disappeared again.

I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel about that. Part of me was disappointed, while part of me was relieved. Either way the firebird was gone, as such I closed my portal before turning to look at Enya. However as I turned she moved to stay behind me.

"Enya?" I asked curiously.

Enya stopped trying to evade me and let me turn to face her.

Before I was able to ask her what the firebird meant there was a loud angry barking from one of the other yards.

As I looked in that direction Chewy leapt over the fence that separated the backyards and quickly headed straight for me. A moment later a pair of cats followed him over. Chewy was in his normal sized dog form however both cats were in their giant cat forms.

"What is going on?" I yelled angrily. Hearing my voice the cats both stopped and turned to look at me. As soon as they did I realized something wasn't right. Felix's eyes seemed dull and lifeless while the other cat's eyes seemed crazed. I could feel my bond with Felix, but it was fuzzy. As I hadn't been paying attention to it I hadn't noticed.

"Shit!" I cursed and summoned my shadowfire.

"No!" Enya shouted before flying in my way.

"Enya!" I shouted angrily before canceling my shadowfire. I had no idea what was wrong with her but I didn't want to harm her.

Unfortunately Enya's interruption cost me my best opportunity to deal with the cats. They rushed towards me and my girls.

Thankfully Delilah's shadows came out from beneath the cats and wrapped their legs then Sil appeared and used her wind to push the cats down onto the ground letting Delilah wrap them up even tighter.

I glared at Enya for a moment who seemed to have realized what she had done as she floated in the air with her head and wings down.

"What in the hell is going on?" I asked walking around the fire fairy then approaching the cats. Felix was sitting tamely within the wind and shadow prison but the female cat was thrashing and yowling angrily.

"She seems angry." Sil said.

I gave her a look, but didn't respond, she at least had not interfered.

"I do not know master." Delilah replied. "Perhaps you can look into her beast gem?"

"Beast gem?" I asked.

"Yes master. Humans, and other races like your own have cores, twisted of all types have crystals, beasts and plants have gems." Delilah explained.

I nodded, though I was a bit surprised that beasts and plants had the same type of internal mana structure.

While it was an interesting oddity, it wasn't important at the moment. I took a couple steps closer to the female cat. I wasn't sure if I would be able to understand what was going on by looking inside her beast gem, but I was willing to take a look.

As I stepped closer the cat struggled even more. Then our gaze met and I felt a powerful energy wave pierce into my head. It was immediately stopped and dispersed, but I took a few steps back.

"It is alright master. It tried to use its charm on you. Your defensive abilities stopped it." Delilah reassured me.

I frowned. That wasn't good. Whatever was going on it seemed to have driven the cat crazy. While I had defenses against it, I wasn't sure about the others. I quickly glanced back to see Karen holding her head like she had a bad headache while Megan looked nauseous. As I watched she bent over and started to puke on the lawn.

Anger seethed through me and I turned back to the cat.

"Master?" Delilah said having noticed the change in my expression.

I didn't say anything but instead of getting closer to look into its beast gem I summoned a ball of shadowfire.

"Master!" Delilah called out again.

I frowned as I looked at the cat. It wasn't reacting to the sight of the shadowfire, but I didn't want to risk it causing anymore injury to my girls.

Before I could make a decision Felix's size suddenly doubled. He pulled himself free of the prison created by the shadow and wind then pushed the female cat aside so I was facing him. His gaze was no longer dull as he stared at me angrily. Unfortunately while he didn't seem to be under the control of the female cat any longer, I could see traces of the same madness that was overwhelming the female cat. I could even feel it through our bond.

I tried to use our bond to calm it down but as soon as I did the bond between us broke.