At the exact moment the sun set the next day, Sora, Kain and Z set out of their quarters walking side by side with Z in the middle fully dressed in their uniforms. Sora had taken the time to cut his hair and restyle it to reveal his scar. Seeing his reflection in the mirror earlier had helped erase the image of himself as a powerless mage and made him feel more worthy of himself.
Now as he walked, he realized his uniform was starting to get a little tight around his torso but he simply straightened himself and made a mental note to get a new set when they got back to the Academy.
Z on the other hand, looked as clean and put together as always. She let her hair down tonight and the wind swept the layers effortlessly over her shoulders, down to her back. They weren't expecting to get into a fight tonight, only to inspect the covens so she decided to let her hair stay down tonight.
Kain walked with his shoulders high
They walked a short distance through the woods and came to a stop at a cave and walked in. "I traced a soul eater from the city to this location." "What an awful smell?" "Should be from the body. I left it here last night." They walked further into the coven as Arden led the way and stopped at a room where the smell was the strongest. They moved further into the room and Arden pointed to a body covered on a stone table. "That's it." "We'll check around." Sora said as he moved ahead checking the room nudging Kain to do the same "Z, can you check for the burn mark?" "No way I'm not touching that… I got my manicure done before we came." Arden stepped forward towards the body, "What should I be looking for?" "Any sign of burns." Sora replied as he kept searching for anything out if the ordinary. &n
Saq's red energy glowed brighter than before as he drew water from the air. This one move threw the Hunters completely off guard and before they could process their thoughts, his energy hit them again and with no shield up to guard them this time. Sora struck, deflecting his energy but Saq's was stronger, making Sora fall backwards. Saq sent more strikes with red energy their way and Kain's hard shell deflected the strike but the weapon in his hand wasn't strong enough to take Saq's hit, making it shatter into droplets of water that faded into the air and he fell to the ground covering Z with his body. Arden who was the least affected by the hits from the angle he stood was quick on his feet and jumped in the air throwing out a lasso glowing with his energy at Saq but Saq cut his lasso mid air and sent an energy charge at him making him drop to the ground. Arden laid there unable to stand. "He's strong." Z sa
Putting her hand to the wound, Deki channeled her energy to her hands and they flowed from her hands into Z till her entire body began to glow. "She has lost a lot of b-blood." "I don't care. Heal her." Kain demanded as he watched Z remain unconscious. "I'm trying but she's far gone." "Pull her the fuck back!" Kain held on to Z hands which were now very cold. Finally, Deki withdrew her hands from Z's body, filling Kain with anger; " Why are you stopping? She's not awake yet." "I tr-tried." Deki bent her head. "Try again!" Kain demanded as he grabbed Deki by the hand. "T-There's nothing m-more I c-can do." Kain let go of Deki and grabbed Z into his arms. Her wound was closed now but she remained unconscious. "Come back dammit!" Kain yelled as he drove his fist through the floor ma
“Who”“Zavok.”“He was there?”“Yes. They waited for him to come do the ritual. Only he could do the rituals.”“I didn’t see anyone… We didn’t see anyone. Are we just supposed to take your word for it? AGAIN?” Z demanded.“I am not lying.” Deki glared squarely at Z. “I lied before because I didn’t want you to think I was a follower of Hix and leave me there or worse, kill me.”“I could
Sora and Z stared at each other for a few seconds. Sora glanced at Hork who was once again buried in the reports on his table .Z took a step closer to Sora and whispered quietly, “Do you want me to stay?”“Hork said—”“Fuck Hork. You can leave if you want to.”“But—”“You’re answerable to Tydinn, not him.”Sora sighed deeply before nodding to reassure Z he was fine. “I’ll be fine, thanks.”“I’ll be outside if you need me.”
Sora walked into the training area in search of Arden. The area was filled with Hunters mostly in groups practicing maneuvers and some sparring with other Hunters.Sora walked up to the only person he could find who wasn’t occupied.“I’m looking for Arden. Do you know where I can find him?”The Hunter assessed Sora first before answering, probably deeming it safe enough to answer him.“He’s never in this area. Walk down that passage and take a left turn to the end. You’ll find him” he replied pointing the way.“Thank you.”Sora walked past more Hu
“He's here.”“Who is here? What are you talking about?” Z searched Sora’s face for answers but found fear instead.“Zavok. I don't know how but I can feel him. I just know he’s here.”“We need to get the Hunters to help out.” Z pushed.“No” Sora objected immediately. “We need to get the hell out of here.”Arden on the other hand thought they could give it a shot. “It would be dumb if we didn’t at least give it a try. Sora, think about it, there’s three of us here, we can take him.”&ldq
Sora and Z walked in silence through the woods with no clear destination. They had camped under a huge tree for the rest of the night and resumed walking at daybreak. They had been up for hours now and still spoke as little words as possible to each other and walked at an awkward distance.Amongst the many things running through Sora’s mind, the image of Z completely shattered last night bothered him the most. He had never seen her like that beg so vulnerable and he knew it had clouded her judgment earlier.He wanted to reach out to her but the awkward silence made him hesitate. He needed to find a better approach.Sora moved closer to Z and thankfully, she didn’t move away. “Are you okay?”W