Departing Souls (I)

<Zero>

"Hey, Zero, are you sure this is the right way?" Agnis asked. She was trailing behind him through the thick forest.

Zero was in his human form, pushing away the bushes and leaves to the side. Unfortunately, he could not tell if it was day or night; everything around him was dark, making it hard to traverse the thick forest. Luckily for him, his eyesight was not poor, so it made traveling easier for him.

"If he said it is, it is," M2 spoke. Then, he quietly stepped over the fallen log with light steps.

If Zero didn't know any better, they would make a perfect candidate in Ninjitsu. But, honestly, lately, he noticed they were becoming more ninja-like every single day.

"Zeraph, say something!" Agnis shook him by the shoulder.

Zeraph sighed and brushed her hands off his shoulder.

"He just shrugged me off."

"Well, he does that." Zero replied. "Now, stay quiet and follow. How long are you going to keep making a ruckus? Do you want monsters to find us?"

"I am not making a ruckus. We've been walking for hours. I swear we just saw that rock a moment ago."

"For crying out loud, that's a rock. All rocks look the same." Zero grumbled. The way back to the Draconis Village took much longer than he expected. "Blame the damn fog; it's been like this since we entered this part of the forest. The sky boat pass is not working correctly." He shook the small stone in his hand, peeved. Of all times for it not to work, it messed up now.

"It is just illuminating its stupid light and not doing anything."

"Your pass isn't broken, is it?" M2 asked. He peered over his shoulder. "Maybe that's why?"

"No, I just got this one made. Zeraph, try yours out."

Zeraph nodded and pulled out a stone. It, too, just brightly illuminated, doing nothing. He shook his head.

"This makes no sense at all. How are we here underneath the Village when nothing is happening?" Zero fumed. He was ready to throw it into the ground, frustrated. "For once, I wish I had wings just to fly there."

"That would be a great help, wouldn't it."

"It's the fog," Zeraph spoke. "Something is causing interference for the light to reach Draconis Village."

"Like?" asked Agnis.

"A monster."

"Is that even possible?"

"Why not? This whole world is fantastical."

"True...We should then find the source of the fog."

"That's easier said than done," said Zero. "If only we could see without stumbling in this thick fog. We can barely see two feet ahead of us. I'm surprised that we haven't lost each other yet."

"Don't jinx us," hissed Agnis. She knocked on wood to counter the superstition.

Sheesh. She's afraid of superstition at such a time. Zero shook his head in disapproval.

Two months and three weeks have passed since the Draconis Library left the City of Diadem. For the past months, Zero had diligently worked on leveling with the other dragons and helping in construction. They weren't much to do but that, and so far, they had succeeded in rapidly building a solid foundation for the city walls.

The Village was still prone to aerial attacks and wasn't considered the best defense against ground attacks. However, it would do fairly well in keeping the monsters from entering the Village without destroying what they had built.

"How is the magic barrier coming along?" Zeraph asked. "These past few days, the number of monsters coming through has been quite numerous."

"Not so good. It's barely holding. I don't think it will last until the end of next week. After that, it might fall in a couple of days."

"That's not good."

"You're telling me. I'm worried that the higher-level monsters might swarm us when the city settles. What's worse is that the time in flight has decreased by another hour."

"I suspected as much when the Draconis village didn't go back up yesterday."

"It's that bad, huh?" asked M2. "It usually had a barrier around it from the start?"

"No, it never had one."

"Really? That's news to me. I always thought it did."

Zero shook his head. "I would love it if the barrier stays up for a year. I just don't know if it's even possible. Without the emergency survival mode, I never thought such a thing was possible. This game surprises you every minute."

"Ah, I see. Then have you looked for the source that's powering the barrier?"

"Well..." Zero went quiet. He did not want to completely spill out the truth of what was keeping the barrier up. In truth, his own Krustallos was powering the magic barrier, and he noticed that the Krustallos itself was slowly losing energy. Even though the Krustallos was part of him, he knew that the constant amount of energy being poured out would not continue forever.

From the amount of power left, he expected that the barrier function of the Krustallos would only hold up for another two days. After that, it needed to rest to replenish its energy. The problem was he needed some kind of extra source that would replenish energy depletion quicker.

Zero noticed that leveling up over time did stall the time of the barrier function from collapsing. His being around level 185 made the barrier last another two days. He wasn't so sure if it was because he was just too young or not old enough to keep the barrier lasting a bit longer. This was something that he hoped to figure out one day.

Right now, the main priority was finding the source of the fog and getting back to the Draconis Library. Unfortunately, everyone already lacked space in their Zenith bag and was almost out of the necessary items to continue hunting.

Rumble! Rumble!

"What's that sound?" M2 twitched his ears; he turned his head towards the sound and stopped.

"What's wrong?" Zeraph was next to him, glancing around.

"There is something out there, and it's big," M2 spoke with a low tone of voice.

"Isn't there always something out there?" Agnis asked. "We have been fighting monsters non-stop, you know."

"Yes, but something caused the ground to rumble." M2 squatted down and touched the forest floor. "There are over a thousand small pounding feet plus one large one heading towards our direction."

"What?" Zero exclaimed in alarm. That were way too many monsters heading toward us. For just the four of us, it would be a very difficult battle four of us, especially because we didn't know what level or type of monster they were.

"This isn't good. They will be here in less than fifteen minutes." M2 got up. "We either need to find a place to hide or run for it."

"If we do run, which way?" Agnis asked. She was searching for a possible escape route, but all she saw was the thick fog that hindered their view.

"Hiding is the best option, and we let them pass," M2 spoke. He was climbing high into the trees.

Zeraph followed right behind M2. He began to scale the tallest tree that was next to him.

"You're kidding me," said Agnis as she looked upwards.

Both Agnis and Zero picked a tree and began to climb. For Zero, climbing trees was no problem at all, but on the other hand, Agnis was having a lot more trouble climbing them. She, out of the four, was the slowest to climb.

"I-I-I'm not g-good with heights," Agnis called out.

Zero leaped towards the closest tree and made his way to Agnis. He clicked his tongue and shook his head. Then, reaching out to Agnis, he pulled her up. "This is not going to cut it, Agnis. You need to get over your fears as soon as possible."

"It's not easy, you know." Her teeth were chattering in fear.

"Don't look down. Just look at me and climb." Zero climbed up ahead and stopped. Every time he climbed a few branches, he would extend his hands to help her. Other times, she would make leaps and bounds in climbing up the tree, and most of the time, she would shake and stop.

It took a lot of patience for Zero to help Agnis climb up the tree without both of them falling. They finally reached the highest point possible and sat down.

"Took you guys long enough." Zeraph came over and leaned against the tree.

"Yea, Agnis was having trouble with heights again."

"You need to get over your fear of heights, Agnis. How are you going to fly with Zero if you are scared?"

"I-I-I'm going to strap me down." Agnis was hugging the tree, not wanting even to let go.

"That's not going to help if you have aerial battles."

"Until then, I'm not moving. I'll think about it then when the time comes."

"Let's give her a break. She did well coming up here." Zero gently smiles at Agnis. For someone who feared heights, she did well in choking back her fears and climbing up here.

"Shhh." M2 came over and pointed downwards. After that, everyone became silent and watched whoever was coming in their direction.

"Damn it!" A male voice called out in anger. "How many soldiers have we lost?"

"Thirty, sirs. If we stay longer, we will lose a lot more." A soldier with Kingdom of Terra's crest on his chest spoke.

"What's causing this wretched fog!" The man slashed down at the plants in front of him.

"We expect it to be a monster of the lakes. This area is known for the guardian of the lake to cause the fog."

"At this rate, we're going to lose the dratted Lizard and the Royal Library."

"But, sir, until the monster goes back to sleep, we won't be able to find it."

"I know!" The man kicked the tree in anger. "We're going to kill it now."

"Sir?" The soldier shouted in shock. "You're going to hunt down the guardian of the lake? That's a bad idea."

"Why not? The king gave our mission priority. Are you going to go against his wishes?"

"N-no, sir!"

"Then we hunt it down now."

"Yes, sir!"

Zero was surprised that Russ had made it out here in the forest for them to make it all the way here to come and kill him. The thought of Russ attempting to take the Draconis Village infuriated him. It was not just his home anymore. It has become home to many species, especially the Drezo Regalias.

"Isn't that Russ?" Agnis quietly spoke. Her eyes were staring at Zero with a surprised expression.

"Why is the king after us? Did we do something wrong?"

"No. It's just Russ that's been causing trouble." Zero whispered to her.