Emergency in the Ascension Platform

Kai rolled to the side, the paw narrowly missing his head. A chill surrounded the wolf, as though it was sucking the heat from the surroundings. Kai and the wolf watched each other in silence, neither making a move as they circled each other.

Continuing to roll, Kai distanced himself before pushing himself back to his feet. By this time Bjorn had already summoned Mímameiðr, the glowing tree healing Emma's injuries. Jax had also activated his Blood Puppet and was ready to support Kai in fending off the beast.

Jade and Rick, on the other hand, backed off and observed. Waiting to see how things would play out, both hovering over the escape buttons in case of emergency.

Kai activated Four Seasons: Spring, the sound of the flute resounding through the area as him and his allies received a boost in speed. Focusing on his spirit ears Kai soon frowned, finding that other than the howl earlier he couldn't hear anything coming from the wolf.

No breathing, no movement. Not even the sound of the fire burning on its back, it was like a void in space. Absolute silence standing right in front of him.

"I can't feel it's heart!" Jax called out in a panic. "My Spirit abilities won't have any effect!"

"Back off and stay safe!" Ashe said, stepping ahead of Jax. "Kai and I got this."

Ashe then rushed forward to where Kai and the wolf were having a stare off. The wolf didn't seem to pay her any mind as it simply waved its tail, swatting at her. Ashe raised her shield, the blow from the tail causing it to erupt it a sparkle of light and disappearing. The force had caused her shield to shatter.

Seeing this Kai ran forward hoping to distract the wolf and stall for time, hoping his friends would have enough time to escape. He used his first Spirit Ability, Nature's Lull, trying to draw the beast's attention. It seemed to work as the wolf's eyes continued to follow Kai as he ran around.

Once the wolf had turned around Ashe swung her sword out, trying to cut one of the Wolf's legs. Her sword struck the beast's hide drawing sparks, her blade unable to even cut the fur. Not only that, but a white frost also began to creep up her sword and forcing her to drop it in fear of it continuing to freeze her armor.

Jade watched with a strange sneer on her face as Ashe was forced to retreat. Paying her no more attention, she focused on Kai. He was jumping around the Wolf biting and clawing, always missing at the last second.

She subtly externed her arm, the wooden puppet shaking slightly as a thin string began to extend. It travelled silently, like a snake stalking its prey, towards where Kai and the Wolf were fighting. It moved towards Kai, the string hiding amongst the grass. Waiting for Kai to step near it.

Jade didn't have to wait too long as Kai soon step nearby, getting ready to dodge another strike from the wolf. The string shot up from the ground, moving to wrap itself around Kai and immobilize him. Jade smiled madly as the others gasped in surprise.

"Better luck next time" Jade mocked, confident in knowing Kai was going to fall here. She watched on expectantly, eagerly anticipating Kai's body exploding on impact. Each second felt like eternity when suddenly her vision went black, the surrounding temperature dropping significantly.

She moved to turn around when she suddenly felt extreme pain coming from her chest. Looking down she saw a row of razor-sharp teeth stabbed into her body, her chest being crushed under the pressure. She screamed in pain as her upper body was torn from her legs, blood spaying everywhere.

To her side, Rick fell to the ground. His legs trembling in uncontrollable fear, his heartbeat like a drum as it pounded in his chest. He shakily moved his hand towards he escape button, tapping it as his face was covered in Jade's warm blood.

A moment later though he still found himself inside the Ascension Platform. He hit the button again. Nothing. He shook it slightly, hoping maybe something had just gone wrong, and pressed it again.

His heart filled with dread as gazed up at the unknown black and purple Wolf. Tears appeared in the corner of his eyes as his lips trembled. He called out, his voice breaking and weak. "The emergency button won't work!"

…

Outside of the Ascension Platform, back in the Spirit Pagoda, researchers and scientist rushed around in a panic. The screen that showed what was happening inside the platform suddenly went dark, leaving everyone clueless as the what was happening.

Luckily, it didn't take them too long to figure out it only seemed to affect a certain group. Most people who had entered the Ascension Platform that day hadn't been experiencing this.

"Can't you forcefully eject them?" Evelynn asked nervously. She had returned from Conrad's office only to find that her disciple had gone M.I.A. while in the Ascension Platform. One of the scientists stopped in their tracks, giving her a pained expression.

"You know just as well as I do, we can't" the man explained. "We can only prepare for the worst and try to find out what's going on."

Suddenly a group of paramedics rushed past the room. Yelling and pained screams could be heard from down the hall, causing Evelynn's face to stiffen. She turned back to the pod that Kai was in, placing her hand on the glass. She gasped and widened her eyes, noticing that the ring around Kai's neck seemed to be glowing.

She looked around the room warily, making sure no one else had noticed. She quickly shifted her body, trying her best to hide the subtle change that had occurred to Kai.

…

Inside of a dark office, the sound of rhythmic tapping could be heard.

Conrad was silent, his finger tapping slowly against his armrest as he started at a nearby screen. It was black, covered in static. After a minute or two he sighed and got up, making his way to his desk.

He opened one of the lower drawers. Inside were two phones, one red and one black. He grabbed the black one and calmly sat back down in the seat from before. He took one last look at the blank screen before shaking his head and dialing a number on the phone.

"It's me, Conrad."

"…"

"Yes, I understand but this is an emergency."

"…"

"The Key has broken the veil; it's awakening faster than expected."

"…"

"Understood, I'll continue as planned" Conrad sighed as he hung up. He looked at the phone in his hands for a moment before crushing it. He began to chuckle, eventually breaking and laughing loudly. He stared at the static screen, a wide smile on his face. "Isn't this exciting?"

…

Kai dashed through the forest, the Giant Purple Eyed Wolf following closely behind. After Jade and Rick had gotten themselves killed Kai realized that the Wolf could easily kill any of them if it wanted, at any time.

The Wolf, however, seemed to be satisfied with just killing the two before returning to its attention back to Kai. Thinking back to the whispers from earlier, Kai decided to dash off into the forest. If the whispers were telling the truth, it wanted some 'Key', whatever that was, and it seemed like the Key was intrinsically connected to him.

Kai turned back, giving one last look to his friends and disappeared back into the forest- the wolf soon following.

…

The friends watched in silence as Kai disappeared from sight. They turned to each, checking to see whether they were going to follow Kai or not. Emma was still pale; despite the healing she hadn't recovered any blood and wasn't in any condition to keep going.

"It's fine, don't worry about me" Emma said, waving her hand in the air. She smiled weakly as she continued. "I'll use my emergency button when the Wolf gets far enough."

Hearing this Bjorn didn't hesitate to speak.

"I'm going after him" Bjorn declared. "Kai saved me, and I'll do my best to save him as well."

Without waiting for anyone's response he ran off, not turning back as he disappeared in the same direction as Kai and the Wolf.

"Well, I'm not getting outdone by some munchkin!" Ashe said, quickly following behind Bjorn.

Jax and Emma were silent as they watched Emma disappear. Jax turned to Emma, wondering what he should do.

"Kai had given himself up so they could escape, wouldn't following him defeat the purpose of his sacrifice?" Jax asked, more so himself than Emma.

Emma simply gave him a shrug before trying her emergency button and vanishing from sight.

Jax tapped his foot against the ground, now alone as he debated what to do. He shifted his gaze constantly between the button on his wrist and the forest the others had entered. Jax tilts his head from side to side before yelling out. "Screw it!"

He then dashed towards the forest, following after his friends.