Looming Threat

Codey reached the bottom of the pit and the same entrance through which Nina had entered, but there was no evidence of her presence at the time; however, the area in which he stood had left her footsteps. Codey's nose picked up on the fact that she was passing through the same tunnel.

"I know Nina was here. I can smell her perfume..." As he proceeded to smell and investigate the surroundings, his nose twitched. "What happened to her, though? She should be here right now. I'm not sure she had the strength to climb through the cavern's ceiling hole..."

He hopped down in front of the bone pile and shifted his focus away from the walls, deciding to thoroughly examine the hole, but there was no sign of Nina's presence.

"She isn't here, to be sure. I'd be able to see and smell her a lot sooner." He gripped his chin, hoping to come up with a plan, but instead chose to plunge through the roof and back into the forest, landing in the midst of a road.

"Maybe someone rescued her from this hole..." He checked his surroundings once more to make sure no one was nearby, and then dashed forward across the road.

Tim, Karisa, and Elliott drove through the forest road, hoping to find the town Dinny had named.

"It's still difficult to travel through this forest, even once the mist lifted." Tim's eyes were unamused as he listened to Karisa's information and never stopped running, but Elliott's expressions of brutal dread remained unchanged.

"Is it really necessary for us to pass through this eerie forest? The night is so black, and no one knows what other monsters may be lurking here! We should've stayed on the ship the whole time!"

"Do you have any idea where you're heading, Tim?" Karisa interrogated Tim who continued to sprint forward. With a lifeless expression on his face, he slowly turned around and gave a thumbs up.

"Nope, no clue..."

Karisa's jaw widened out to the bottom of her feet as she received a crimson mark of rage on the side of her forehead with those words said aloud.

"So, we've been following you around the whole time and you have no idea where you're going?! You can't be serious, can you?"

"Yup. All we have to do now is run through the forest, and we should make it to town."

"You idiot! That's not how it works when it comes to navigation!" She grew depressed and annoyed as she yelled angrily. "We should've just stayed on the path. Now I'm stuck here, and I'm sure I'll wind up in trouble again..."

They had no idea, however, that another 'Looming Threat' was following them from the shadows, staring at them with a curious expression. "Chu-Chu-Chu! Three of them at the same time? That should be sufficient for today's objective! Chu-Chu-Hu!"

"You better make sure I get a hot bath if we ever make it to town! All of this fighting and running has made me sweat like a pig!"

"Yeah, sure..." Tim seemed unconcerned, scratching the back of his head, and continuing to travel for a few more minutes until they abruptly came to a halt.

The previous guy with wings arrived at his destination, which consisted of two gigantic towers in the middle of the ash forest, connected by a long bridge. He swooped past a balcony and into the inner chamber of the tallest tower, where a man sat on a shattered throne.

"Sir, Clawford! I came back to report." The man seated on the throne licked the metal with his enormous claws that shined brightly with the moon reflecting in them.

"Claude, I thought I told you to return to the tower with a child. We've been running low on men, and everyone who worked here had perished. We didn't have enough food or water to cure them, which is a shame..."

"Sir Clawford, you are right. I did track down another human, as well as a kid, but I was interrupted by a group of people with unusual abilities. I'm not sure where they came from, but I suppose they came from the sea."

"You didn't get rid of them? Isn't that a little depressing? I had hoped you'd bring me some more exciting news."

"Sir, please accept my sincere apologies! I couldn't get rid of them. In that time, I was a lone warrior, and a boy prevented me from doing anything. I would have been killed if I had tried to battle them alone, so I left and returned to warn you about their whereabouts."

"I expect you to bring me positive news when I assign you a job, not run away from your prey. I suppose it's not so horrible; at the very least, I now have a motive to kill you."

As Claude exchanged glances with Clawford's scary eyes, his eyes shook with fear.

"Sir, please hold your steed! Please pay attention to me! You are not required to kill me. I realize that fleeing them was a cowardly act, but at the very least, I came here to warn you about them! Besides, I told Smoghand to get rid of them. This gave me an ample opportunity to warn you."

"Should you issue me a warning? Are you telling me that I'm a wimp who won't be able to defeat some sea pirates?"

"No, sir, you're completely wrong! I know you're the strongest human on the planet, but I didn't want to jeopardize your life by failing to complete my informant mission! Of course, you can defeat them on your own, but I don't want to die because of a misunderstanding."

"Although I may spare your life, if you wish to live, you must seek out those few pirates and eliminate them with the assistance of Smoghand. If you fail again, I'll make sure you don't breathe for the rest of your life."

"Yes! Without a doubt, sir!"

"Now get out of here. Do you really want me to change my mind?"

"I'll go right away, sir!"

Claude flailed his arms into black wings and soared through the balcony in an instant.

Clawford, on the other hand, scratched the metal of the throne with his claws while leaning his cheek against the other claw.

Tim stood casually in front of a ruined settlement, with a person standing off in the distance. Smog continued to float from his wrists, giving it a manly appearance.

"Another monster! How much longer do I have before I die to deal with this forest?" As he raced behind a tree and peered behind it, Elliott began messing up his hair.

Elliott's body continued to quiver fast as he sweated abundantly as he saw the man close in on him. "It'll be here before you know it. Every single one of us is going to die!"

Elliott's perspective gradually changed as he realized that the 'monster' in front of them was a living human. "Oh, it's only a human,"

Tim's eyes were serious when Elliott stepped out of the corner and stood unmoving. Tim didn't even have a smidgeon of dread on his face.

"Chu-Chu-Chu! I'm guessing you're the people Claude warned me about. Who'd have guessed he had problems dealing with pirates? Chu-Chu-Hu-Hu-Hu!"

"Pirates? We aren't pirates by any stretch of the imagination. We, or at least two of us, are Spiritual Duelists. But I don't mind if you think of us as pirates. Whatever tickles your fancy."

"Spiritual Duelists, oh my. I've heard of them before, but you're nothing out of the ordinary. Chu-Chu-Hu-Hu..."

"As for you, I assume you're one of the abductor's slaves, as well as an ally of that avian man at the docks. Have you come to murder us or enslave us?"

"Chu-Chu-Chu, you're a rapid learner! Yes, it is an honor for me to appear before you. I've been warned that you might be quite an interesting fellow, a threat, possibly, so you'll have to go."

"Can you tell us who your leader is and where we can find him or her?"

Smoghand's left eyelid lifted as he laughed out loud. "Do you want me to tell you where our leader is? That, of course, would be unlawful. See, if we spell out the location's boundaries, do you think we'll be able to avoid being executed? If you need to know where he is, you'll have to battle me, but don't worry, I do show mercy on occasion, but only if you're lucky."

"As usual... I need to defeat a man in order to obtain any knowledge, and I've been hungry for a while, so I'd better get it done quickly." Tim snatched the hilt of his sword from his back and lifted it over his head, the threats unwinding themselves and pouring about him like water.

"That's a big sword. How much did you pay for it? $2 million, perhaps $10 million."

"It was free since I didn't pay for it. Although the blade was formed by the Holy Light, it appeared to have been implanted within my aura. That's enough information; I'd prefer if you fought me so that I could murder that jerk faster and eat."

"Chu-Chu-Chu! Hu-Chu-Chu-Hu!"

To be continued...