Chapter 39

I didn't know what to do.

I knew that I couldn't shift my attention into my own mana core. Not while I was restraining the twisted. I had already learned that lesson. If I couldn't make use of the wisps in my mana core, I couldn't strengthen my current abilities or gain new ones to assist in saving the man in front of me.

I also didn't think I could rely on Sil to keep the twisted restrained for much longer. She already seemed to be straining to keep the monster in place as it was.

That left me in a bit of a conundrum. What was worse, I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to peer into the crystal no matter how high I raised my mana sight ability. I wasn't sure why I felt that way, maybe it was intuition, or maybe it was something else altogether, but the crystal that had replaced his mana core seemed to be something completely different.

I glanced around looking for Delilah, but she was still floating over the head of the wolf I had left injured. I wasn't sure what she was doing, she was too far away for me to see anything more than the fact that she was hovering over the wolf. I tried to think my question at her, but I didn't get any kind of response from her.

While that irritated me, I knew that asking her was useless anyways, she hadn't even known there was a way to stop people from becoming twisted. I was just pushing off the inevitable. I had to make a decision, and to ensure my own safety and the safety of the others I only had one choice.

"Daryl?" Karen called my name from behind me.

I sighed then stood up. Sil was able to restrain the monster without me, but I could tell it was difficult for her, she had already been struggling so I was sure I only had a few more moments before she couldn't hold on any longer. With a thought I summoned a ball of shadow fire. Every time I created one, it became easier for me to do it again.

I stared at the shadow fireball in my hand. The darkness that made up the flame came in several shades of black and dark grey, it was a sight to behold especially as I knew exactly what it could do, or at least some of it. Those explosions the darkness fireball had caused earlier had been a big surprise for me. Though not as surprising as the wolf that had resisted the shadow fireball. I would have to ask Delilah about that once she was done with whatever she was doing.

I looked down at the twisted as it glared up at me. Meeting its pitch black eyes was incredibly uncomfortable. Not only did the monster seem like it wanted nothing more than to rip me into shreds, but I could still remember the gaze of the man those eyes used to belong to. While angry, and a bit crazed, they had been very human. I was sure those green eyes were going to haunt me for a while.

"Get back." I told everyone as I myself stepped backwards to put more space between me and the twisted.

Just as everyone got clear Sil gasped. "I can't…." she said then dropped out of the air. I had expected it so I was there to catch her with my free hand.

With the bindings that Sil had been using to restrain it gone, the monster was quick to regain its feet, but I had already tossed the fireball onto the twisted.

As soon as the shadow fireball hit the dark green twisted it was engulfed in shadow flame which quickly burned it to ash.

With the monster dead I looked around at those around me.

Everyone had gathered around me, even Samantha and the guy who had been running from the wolves. It seems he hadn't run away, just hid himself, and was now standing beside me staring down at the monster's ashes with a fearful gaze. Several of the other girls didn't seem to be doing much better.

"What happened?" Micheal asked from behind me.

"I was too late. By the time I got back to him the transformation was complete." I replied sadly.

"You couldn't change him back?" Micheal asked. "Like you did with Mike?"

I shook my head as I turned to face him. "Mike hadn't completed his transformation so I could save him. This guy didn't even have a mana core anymore. There wasn't anything I could do." I explained.

"What do you mean?" Micheal asked. "What happened to his mana core?"

I shrugged. "I am not sure either. I just know that instead of a mana core like what we have, it had a green crystal." I explained.

Micheal looked at me doubtfully for a moment then sighed. "So what does this mean?" he asked.

I shrugged, then frowned as I realized something. "It means that if someone starts to turn I have a small window to stop it. If I can't then they will become one of those monsters and I won't be able to save them." I replied. "A really small window."

Micheal frowned. "Are you sure?" he asked.

I flung my arms out in irritation. "As sure as I can be with all of this Micheal." I yelled at him. "I didn't want to kill him!"

My movement startled the car driver. He stumbled back away from me. I turned to look at him, when our gazes met he screamed and started to run away in the direction the wolves had come from.

"What the hell?" I asked aloud.

"No idea. All of this might have been too much for him." Caly replied.

"Sorry Daryl, I didn't mean to imply that." Micheal told me. "I just thought we had a way to save our friends and family in case they changed." he told me.

"I know. I thought so too." I replied.

I sighed then looked around at the others. Karen was there in an instant wrapping her arms around me. "It's alright, you did the best that you could." she reassured me.

Caly followed after Karen wrapping the pair of us in her arms. I smiled slightly as I felt the warmth of their embrace. I really needed it. I felt guilty for being unable to save that man. I knew I shouldn't, I had tried, but the untimely intervention of the wolves made it impossible. I knew I could have let it live, but it would have attacked us. Even if we had restrained it long enough to leave, I knew it would have just killed others once it was free. I couldn't let that happen. It was a monster, so it had to be put down.

I turned my head and found Megan hesitating. She was staring at the ashes with a look of horror.

"Megan?" I called out worriedly.

Megan looked at me, our eyes meeting for a moment before she looked away from me. In that brief moment all I saw on her face was fear. She was scared of me now. Some of the other girls looked at me in the same way, but I didn't care about their opinions.

Karen groaned then hugged me a bit tighter. "It isn't you." Karen whispered to me then kissed my cheek before releasing me and walking towards Megan.

I frowned after her but Caly pulled me into another hug and followed it up with a kiss. Her lips were soft and inviting which was a great distraction from Megan.

"I thought you did well. Though you will have to explain to me what it was you were attempting to do before he finished his transformation." Caly told me once she let me go.

I nodded in reply.

"While this is touching and all, we really should get back on the road." Micheal reminded us.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." I agreed. We really needed to get out of town. With giant wolves already appearing in the streets, things were only going to get worse. Much worse.

As we walked towards our respective cars I gently held Sil in my hand. "Thanks Sil." I told her.

She smiled up at me tiredly but didn't reply.

"Give her some energy." Enya told me. "She spent all she had, a boost will help her recover quicker."

I nodded and did as instructed. Sil seemed to glow faintly for a moment as I pushed some of my mana into her.

"Much better, thank you master." Sil said. She hadn't moved but she didn't seem as worn out as she had just a moment ago.

"No problem." I replied.

A loud horrified scream came from down the road but the sound was cut off rather abruptly.

I turned to see what was going on. Further down the street the wolves had come from I saw an enormous black and gray striped feline creature crouching in the middle of the street. While I initially thought it was some kind of tiger, I couldn't be sure. Its coloring looked too dark, it was also way too big, so who knew what else could change. Under one of its massive paws looked to be the man who had run away from me just a few moments ago. I couldn't be sure, but I had a feeling he was dead.

I cursed under my breath. "Hurry up we need to go." I told the others as quietly as I could.

"What about Delilah?!" Enya asked.

I looked over at the wolf that the shadow elemental was supposed to finish off, but I didn't see her. Instead I stared in horror as the wolf she was supposed to kill stood up.

It didn't look the same as it had before. When we fought the wolves their fur had all come in shades of dark grey. This wolf's fur was black. A black so dark that it seemed to absorb all the light around it. Just like the hair of a certain fairy.

The black furred wolf raised its head and howled loudly startling everyone.

"Delilah!" Enya screamed fearfully.