About twenty minutes ago…

"Ahhh!" Ouran yelled.

Frides ran between Ouran and Elle with Urs under his arm. "What are those things?"

"Oh, why me?" Elle sprinted faster. "Come on, you guys!" She turned deeper into the forest.

Frides ran after her but Ouran didn't hear her and kept running with the Bubonic Hornets chasing after him.

Ouran looked around but couldn't see anything but he could still hear the hornets behind him. "Guys?" He whined. "Where did you go? Don't leave me!"

Ouran got into the forest and saw the glowing tree canopies and ripe shining fruit. Birds and rabbits flew in front of him taking refuge under a bush or deep into the tree. A plump piglet was caught unawares and he jumped over it. He looked back at the hornets attacking it and stopped and slipped back. He whisked up the pig allowing the hornets to sting his arms. He winced and kept running but was feeling the venom. His arms throbbed and pulsed.

Ouran wasn't going to be able to run much longer and decided to take a chance. He slid under a bush and the hornets buzzed and hummed over and past him. He pushed himself up on his elbow.

"Hey, I see Ouran." Elle looked from up in the trees across to a glowing tree not far ahead. She skipped from the branches.

Frides jumped in front of her. "Wait."

Elle stopped on the branch ahead of him. "What are you talking about? What's going on?"

Frides struggled with Urs. "What are you doing?"

"She's trying to go to him. She can feel he's hurt. Let her go." Elle said pointedly.

He held her tighter. "Not yet." She frowned at him. "Don't get mad. At least not at me. This was Nero's idea. So, get mad at him."

Ouran got up and held his arms together. They were throbbing with a burning pain. The purple piglet rolled out from under the bush and popped up on its legs. It wiggled its butt and strutted off. "A thanks would have been nice."

Ouran whipped his head around. He slipped over to the pig and lifted it up under his arm. "Owww!" The act of lifting up the piglets brought back the sharp burning pain to his arms. With the piglet in his arms he could see his arm was swollen.

Glowing squirrels, rabbits, and raccoons ran through his feet and deeper into the forest. He could see their orange glow through the trees as they pranced after their pray.

One, two, then four bright orange striped foxes with red stripes poked their noses out. They stopped when they saw Ouran.

He tried to glow his dagger but it wasn't happening. It started to form then dispersed sharply. He turned to run but was met by an even larger fox. It had no right to be called that for as big and tall as it was, it was doubly long and sleek. It sat at least ten heads taller than him. He backed away but remembered the other four behind him.

Ouran crouched swiftly as the giant tiger fox's jaws flew over his head. He slipped in between its legs and to the side. The massive Tiger fox and its pack burst through the trees after him. He slipped around the trees and the tiger fox just bumped against them and they fell over around it as it snaked through the forest after him.

Ouran jumped up into the trees and crossed over the tiger fox towards the large tree in the center. He dropped down from the treetop onto the stairs carved into Iyagdrasil. "I think I lost it. Why am I even trying to help you."

"I don't know?" The piglet said and Ouran stopped. As he did, the giant Tiger-Fox blasted through the tree tops and dug its claws into the tree and barked at him through its snarling teeth.

Ouran was stuck. He looked at the Tiger-Fox and it turned its eyes past him. It didn't make any sense to sit there but he did and looked around the tree at what the tiger fox was gazing at.

Something was flying fast at them. It was glowing every color Ouran had ever seen. It was moving fast. Ouran had no idea what it thought it was doing. It was going to crash into the stairs, and so it did. In a twisting, hurtling mess, Ouran could see that it was Urs. She tumbled down the stairs and flapped her colorful wings till she got back upright.

Urs ran between the tiger-foxes snout and Ouran and roared. The tiger fox backed up. "Urs what are you doing?"

"I'm rescuing you. Just sit back!" She flapped her rainbow shimmering wings and roared again, but this time it sounded different. "Get back or you'll be marked by Sieana's Steed."

The tiger fox unhooked its claws and crashed to the ground. It puffed its nose. "What?"

Urs rushed over to Ouran and started licking his arms. "Are you okay? Your arms! Does this help. Don't worry I'll lick the pain away. Don't you worry. Oh your face, too."

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Ouran pushed Urs face away from his. He looked around. Side to side. He looked into her eyes. "Urs, was that you. talking?"