A Flight Through the Dark

Saiph and his two companions, after slaying the rowdy crowd of beasts, went around, picking them clean of any notable treasure. Saiph had to be the one to extract the incorporeal rewards such as Enzo's coveted Fire Essence Mana Crystals. However, the other two were perfectly capable to skin them and take the easy pickings.

Saiph went through and started to extract the Fire Essence Mana Crystals from one of the wolves. After a couple of hours, he had made little progress.

Essence Mana Crystals were queer quasi-tangible existences that a trifling Magic Initiate would struggle to truly grasp. They were different from pure Essence, for that was completely intangible -- able to be moved through the realm of Mana -- whereas the issue with the crystals was that one would have to find the fine line in between reality and the world of Mana -- no easy feat.

Saiph was by and large lost as to how to go about it. He tried to partially delve into the depths of the world of Mana but would typically fall straight into it all the way or not break the surface of the barrier separating the distinctions of the differing realities.

"Argh!" Saiph groaned and hit the ground in frustration after a few failures on this particular wolf. He had previously extracted only two crystals -- although that is still a form of progress, despite the necessitated time being rather inefficient in length -- but this particular instance was proving to be quite the monumental task.

"Awooooo~" A deep howl reverberated quitely from a ways yonder.

Saiph felt his face go pallid, wrung dry of any surplus blood in mere moments. They really weren't prepared for any more fighting at the moment. Saiph felt shivers as he fantasized the odds of coming out victorious against another wolf group on the scale of the prior one -- the one they were currently skinning.

Saiph looked up, his eyes soon meeting Enzo's. He nodded, which was reciprocated posthaste. Saiph and Enzo both turned to Velvet, who was already nodding herself.

Standing up and abandoning the Fire Essence Crystal extraction, he walked over to the other two.

"What d'ya think that was?" Enzo asked.

Saiph felt a slight base urge to comment 'wolves,' but naturally refrained from such a childish action.

"I'm not sure," he said out loud. "It was pretty remote so I'd reckon the sound was distorted slightly over the distance. However, that subsequently means that the volume is quite noteworthy."

"Mm," the other two nodded.

"They couldn't be Blaze Wolves, right?" Enzo said half-jokingly.

Saiph remained silent, pondering whether or not the existence of Blaze Wolves being here was likely or not.

For starters, there was certainly still a plethora of carcasses spread around the area here. Its reek certainly could have spread out far into the distance, picking up the noses of Blaze Wolves on the way. However, herein lies the issue: Blaze Wolves weren't scavengers. Nay, for they were apex predators that could take whatever loot they deem savory for themselves with little effort.

Just by that alone Saiph felt relatively confident that they would be safe from the dreadful prospect of Blaze Wolves.

After articulating his thoughts the the other two, they agreed with his conclusion.

Still, they agreed that sticking around with a wolfpack coming up would be an irredeemably stupid decision, electing to take shelter away from here for now. All that really mattered were the Essence Crystals anyway; of which, no mere Beasts were ever touching, let alone extracting with their derisory abilities in Mana control.

Beasts' control over Mana came straight from their bloodline. Ergo, they didn't quite have the power to move nor manipulate Mana freely, merely have Spells imbued deep into their genetic code.

That was the obvious reasoning behind why one would never see a Blaze Wolf spraying water everywhere; it wasn't really possible for them due to their bloodline. Of course, their bloodline is what allowed them to have such strength without even having to try, so it would be hard to complain on their behalf.

Saiph, Enzo, and Velvet ran off and away from the battlefield with their supplies haphazardly affixed to them posthaste.

After traversing a decent distance, the trio settled down and listened out for any more howling.

"To be fair," Enzo commented, "you'd have to be pretty dumb to howl loud enough that you announce your presence miles away more than once."

Saiph internally agreed but gestured for him to keep it quiet nevertheless, for he'd be damned if he knew the extent of their possible adversaries' preternatural prowess.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Saiph felt lost as to what their next steps should be.

Should they keep silent here for another few hours? It sounded boring, but it was quite viable for these students who were trained in self-discipline. They could also get up and keep moving lest the wolves find them here, still arguably close to the remnants of the battle prior. There was also the arguable negligible possibility of attempting to set up a sort of resistance then and there, attempting to recreate the success of their prior battle.

With these myriad thoughts and computations rushing through his head, Saiph was stuck in something of a mental bind, unsure as to what their next action should be. On top of that, neither of the other two wished to speak up either, leaving the situation all the more awkward.

Before they even knew it, a few hours had passed, leaving the sky devoid of a sun. Darkness overcame the forest en masse, creating a rift in reality that separated the tangible from the ethereal. Shadows cast from the moon and stars above weaved in and out of the flowing vegetation, and the dark patterns that subsequently portrayed themselves spread around the physical matter of the forest. The moon and stars were certainly shining brightly in the sky, but nevertheless the interior of the forest was dark due to the vegetation blocking the majority of the natural light.

The eldritch atmosphere left Saiph painfully anxious, ready to jump at a moment's notice. There was still no sign of any wolves lurking in the periphery, but that was only to be expected. The earlier howls could have easily been a distraction or intimidation tactic to cause the trio to flee from their relatively safe clearing and into the now-dark recesses of the forest.

As more and more morbid, dreadful thoughts littered Saiph's brain, the unfolding inaction resounding in his heart felt wrong, somehow.

Through perhaps sheer intuition, Saiph felt that there was something uncannily wrong about their present situation by and large.

"We have to move," he curtly said, getting up in the process. "Something isn't right."

Enzo was the first to follow his lead, agreeing with Saiph's intuition without even asking a question. Velvet was a bit more hesitant but seeing the general consensus being to move, she readily followed along.

The trio rushed through the brush, occasionally running into something due to the prevailing darkness inhibiting almost all sight whilst moving. None of the three possessed any adequate support Spells to help rapid traversal nor assist the situation with the low light levels, so the situation was not looking too great.

"Ugh!' Saiph groaned as he clipped a stray stump with his knee. He nearly stumbled over, maintaining his balance through some semblance of technique. He used his prior moment's momentum to spin around and, to his surprise, keep running along with the other two.

Situations like that made up the majority of the full flight until suddenly--

"Ahh!"

--a short, feminine scream ripped through the night. Saiph and Enzo alike froze on the spot and moved over to where they suspected hearing Velvet's scream from. Their eyes were mostly adjusted to the darkness and thus soon found Velvet's figure huddled over on the ground.

"Velvet!" Enzo dropped by her side, inspecting her condition. Saiph felt a slight twang of anger in his heart in a seemingly inexplicable manner but let the thought pass posthaste. He spun around, ready to jump at the slightest movement.

In his mission to guard the other two, Saiph felt his curiosity get the better of him and proceedingly spun back around to see the condition of his sister. Despite the harsh gloom hindering his vision, he could still make out the strained visage of his sister.

A previously nonexistent familial bond tore at Saiph's heartstrings, making him wince at the sight. Saiph wasn't quite familiar with this queer feeling that was vexing his heart and it made him uncomfortable and impulsive.

He dropped his lookout duty and moved over to his sister's side as well, getting a clearer view of her ailment. A clearly deep gash was vitiating Velvet's leg, oozing blood profusely.

Blood flowed to Saiph's face, the feeling of hotness immediately noticeable. Just as he was about to offer to help in some manner, a vicious snarl sent chills down his spine.

"Oh n--" he started before he was cut off by a blunt impact that sent him flying.

"Damn it!" he cried out. As he got up, he started to panic, unsure as to what action to make. The amount of information available to him was derisory, therefore Saiph could only fail to make accurate or appropriate mental calculations for amending the situation at hand.

Before Saiph could properly make his move, a Spell Circle radiated out in front of Enzo, who was a few feet in front of him.

"Ugh," Enzo grunted as the Spell went off flawlessly, sending fire pellets spraying through the woods.

The light emitted let Saiph catch a sight of their adversary: a single massive, ferocious wolf with a plethora of orange and red markings strewn about it.

Saiph felt the blood drain from his face as a terrible sense of despair eradicated almost all of the sense of defiance in his psyche. All he could do is fall backward onto his butt as a name slipped out of his trembling lips.

"Blaze... Wolfking…"