It was the end of Burrow Hollow.
It was the end of Pepper Tourism's Supercool Visit Package for the Continent of Eternal Winter.
It was the end of easy Level 3 Coco Iron mining across the entire far south. Anyone wanting Level 3 Coco Iron would need to either import them from a great distance or refine them from Level 2 or Level 4 Coco Iron.
It was the end of Nakama World's independence. Due to Fenria's appearance at Burrow Hollows, a certain decision was made that night, and that decision pretty much changed Nakama World forever.
It was the end of Colin's childhood. That was his twelfth birthday, after all.
But Colin didn't worry himself over that just yet. Right now he had other concerns on his mind...
"RUN!!!!" Alicia and Colin yelled at each other as Fenria's Howl caused avalanches on every mild slope of Burrow Hollow.
There was, to be sure, a lot of screaming going on over there. A lot of shouting and running around and overall panic in the village. But right now, Colin wasn't concerned with all that. There was a time to be selfless and there was a time to be selfish and right now it was extremely important to Nakama World that Colin and Alicia avoid any more dying.
Why? Well, on one hand, Shiro's and Raiki's eyes glowing red. They were this close to going Frenzied. But if that wasn't enough, the plain fact was Colin dying would mean respawning at the Forest of Legends with Fenria.
{We're stuck together. I don't know how or why, but somehow, when I called Fenria... somehow...}
There was a link between them. A link similar to the one in which he'd joined minds with Kyubia. But Colin's mind was too different from Fenria's. Or maybe Fenria just plain wasn't as accepting of him (or any other human!) as Kyubia had been. Colin was distinctly aware of their apart-ness, their differences, and how very, very furious Fenria was.
Like Kyubia, Fenria, too, had a towering intellect. But it was dwarfed, nearly drowned by a deluge of feelings. There was rage, and hurt, and bitterness, a sense of great betrayal and heartbrokeness... and rising above it all, something born not of her time with humans but of her time away from them, a consequence Nakama World itself could not have anticipated; an unspoken aspiration to be free, without bonds or burdens. To be truly {free}.
{How? How do you stop this? How do you fight THIS?!} Colin and Alicia were basically rolling downhill on the outskirts of Burrow Hollow and the avalanche caught up to them in no time. They stumbled, then got completely swept away despite all their efforts.
"Stop her!" Alicia gasped to him as they tumbled uncontrollably downhill.
"HOW?!" Colin let out all his frustration in a near-scream. "I can't just Pardon her like Cour! She's not like that! We're not that close! And this is a whole different level of Frenzy! I can't reach her! I can't reason with her! I can't calm her down! I can't do anything! I can't stop her!
For his troubles, Colin got a mouthful of snow and ended up spluttering. COLD!
But Alicia wasn't done yelling. She was too sick from dying to run, but she sure could yell. "DO SOMETHING!"
"Like what?!" Colin demanded.
"Call something!"
{Call something? All my Comrades were killed except Shiro and Raiki and they already had red eyes...}
Colin paused. Maybe he could call Cour. Ever since he was Pardoned, Cour didn't seem affected by Frenzy. Maybe...
{Forget it. Cour just died earlier. It's too soon for him to battle again.}
{But maybe... Alicia has a point. Maybe there is someone I can warp in who might be able to help. There was one last Lord of the Lamico Wilds that I hadn't called. The one that I was afraid to call for this very reason.}
{Because if I called her, we might mind-link again.}
So instead, he'd called the last creature on Nakama World anyone would want to call, and mind-linked with the Mother of All Frenzieds.
{But maybe... maybe if I...}
"COLIN!!" Alicia yelled at him to take action as they finally came to a stop at the bottom of the slope.
Colin went for it. He tapped his badge. "Kyubia!"
Kyubia appeared in little cub form, small enough for Colin to carry cupped in his two hands. She greeted him fondly, with waving tails and a whuff. [Colin! You seem troubled. Again.]
She glanced about, looking up at Fenria and shook her little vixen head slightly. [What has that huffy she-wolf done this time? Is she throwing a tantrum again?]
[Sorta.] Colin winced, remembering what Fenria's last tantrum had done to the Forest of Myth. Nakama World had never recovered from it. [I'm afraid I called her by accident.]
[She's missing out on all the fun.] Kyubia sniffed.
[Is there a way we can calm her down? Talk to her?] Colin wondered.
Kyubia thought for a bit. [You and I are... unfamiliar to her. Perhaps one of her own clan, or someone she recognizes...]
Colin thought about that. [Fenrix? Her own son?]
[Perhaps not. That would be cruel to him.] Kyubia shook her head.
Colin had another thought. [What about Asblar? The Lord of the Frenzied Obsidian Ants?]
[Better. She, too, is Frenzied, and she, too, is a Lord of a Frenzied Clan. But how would you reach Asblar? She will not take kindly to you.]
Colin hesitated, thinking. [What about... a Pardoned Comrade?]
[Not likely. Fenria wouldn't listen to such.]
[Would Asblar?] Colin suggested.
Kyubia wondered about that. She whuffed. [It's worth a try. You and I will link to Cour, and maybe he can get through to Asblar. If he does, then maybe she can get through to Fenria. It's a bit roundabout, but it might just work.]
Colin tapped his badge. "Cour!"
The Redeemed Red Panther appeared, glanced from Kyubia to Fenria and then stared at Colin as if wondering whether he'd gone mad. Colin could almost hear him thinking {'You want me to fight THAT?!'}
"Not quite." Colin told him. "We need you to link up."
Cour was dubious about the idea when Colin explained the plan to him, but he braced himself for it anyway. Colin took a deep breath, and said, "Okay. Let's get started."
[Get on my back.] Kyubia advised. [So we can run for it if the worst happens.]
"The worst is already happening." Colin said gloomily as Fenria blew up another chunk of Burrow Hollows.
They linked up, and Colin's mind opened up with a sudden clarity and understanding and cunning that sort-of felt like he was back in the Higher Plane, except this wasn't his own mind, it was Kyubia's smarts... and then Cour joined the link and there was a calm determination, a bravery that wasn't about charging in yelling, but about honestly facing whatever comes and moving forward still.
{What are Comrades?} Colin thought suddenly. {How is it that they have personalities? Are they just programs, applications of artificial intelligence? Or are they something of dreams themselves, pieces of thought and feelings that are given form, like how Nightmares take form?}
{Hmm. Maybe the Breeders will know. Now isn't the time to wonder.}
"Asblar!" Colin called with his hand on his badge and his heart in his throat. {I have no idea if this would even work, calling in a Lord of the Wilds from a Forest other than the Lamico Forest... but if Fenria appeared when I called her name, even accidentally, then Asblar, too...}
Asblar appeared, glaring at Colin. "YOU! What have you done?!"
"The worst possible thing." Colin admitted gloomily. "We need help to calm her down. We need you to reach her."
"YOU!" Asblar seethed and looked about to berate Colin every which way, but then Kyubia stepped in and released her cub form, returning back to her actual size, towering over Colin like a truck.
"No time!" Kyubia barked. "We must act!"
Colin almost fell over. "Kyubia! You can talk! With your mouth!!"
"If she can, why can't I?!" Kyubia demanded. Her voice out loud sounded gruffer, like a bark, and more nasal than her voice in Colin's head, but it was her, all right. {Well, if she can shift her shape to a cub's, why can't she shapeshift her tongue and teeth around for speech? I mean, hey, Asblar took on human form.}
Kyubia stared at Asblar and Asblar stared at Kyubia and then Cour stepped up next to Kyubia and stared at Asblar some more. They didn't mind-talk, they didn't say anything aloud, they didn't even twitch. They just looked at each other.
And then Asblar turned to Fenria and snarled. [FENRIA!]
Fenria spun around while her latest roar demolished an assembly plant.
[CHILLAX!] Asblar hissed. [This isn't the Uber Marshes! You're destroying everything!]
Fenria howled. [Humans! Traitors! I will kill them ALL! I will...]
[Settle down!] Asblar pounced on her mentally, like wrapping arms around a friend to hold her down.
Fenria raged, but Asblar had Cour and Kyubia and Colin's mental strength added to hers. No matter how large a body she had, Fenria was facing a four-on-one fight... and it was a fight among friends, Colin felt. This wasn't a fight to harm each other. Asblar did not want to harm Fenria and Fenria did not want to harm Asblar, or Kyubia, or Cour...
{Or even me.} Colin was surprised to discover the truth. {Fenria doesn't want to hurt me. She wants to wipe all humans off the face of Nakama World, but she doesn't want me to be hurt. How come? Why not me of all people?}
[Colin.] The thought was Fenria's and it held warmth. It held a great deal of sadness, and something more, a plea of some sort, but Fenria's feelings for Colin were clear. Her thoughts for him held warmth, just like Kyubia's, just like Cour's... just like Asblar's.
{I don't understand. How come? Why me?} Colin couldn't make head or tail of it, but Alicia stood right next to him and she meant nothing to them. They wished her no harm because she was with him, but to them she was {nothing}. Fenria, Asblar, Cour and Kyubia agreed on that. Frenzieds, Redeemed and Lord of the Wilds alike all felt the same way. Colin was {different}.
[Save us.] Fenria said even as her fury dissipated under her friends' pressure and presence. [Save us, Colin!]
[How?!] Colin didn't understand.
[Save us from THEM!] Fenria pleaded, as the threat of humans loomed up all around her.
[But it's over! All that happened a long time ago!] Colin protested.
[It never ends! It NEVER ENDS!] Fenria howled.
[Colin, chill!] Asblar snarled. [Don't agitate her any more! We're trying to calm her down, remember?!]
[She is right.] Kyubia nudged him with a gentle nose. [Now is not the time. Comfort her first. That is the most important thing.]
Comfort her...? Colin didn't know what to think. [How?]
[Save us!] Kyubia howled with Fenria's wish as the avalanches around Burrow Hollow pretty much flattened the place.
[Okay!] Colin told her. [I will...]
The world froze. Colin froze. Fenria froze. Asblar, Kyubia and Cour froze.
All of them felt it happen. Nakama World itself seemed to have woken up, sat up straight in bed, and stared in shock.
Fenria's mind began to open up. It was as if she was showing Colin a vision, the idea she had in her mind when she screamed for help.
It was a vision of freedom for her kind. A land free of humans. A place where any Wild could go without fear of humans coming to bind them. A place where Frenzieds could go without fear of humans coming to seal them. A place where the Desolate and the Abandoned could find a home.
{Sanctuary.} The idea immersed Colin in its entirety. {A place that belonged to the Wilds. Where they were truly free.}
There was a vast mental gasp, as if all the air was being sucked someplace. Fenria zipped away first, her entire huge form streaming toward the north. Asblar was next, and Cour, and then Kyubia and Colin together.
"COLIN!!" Alicia screamed, but then she began to stream away too.
It was like the world became a rubber band. Colin saw the whole thing stretch before him and he saw everything from snows to seas to trees all in one glance. When it finally bounced back to normalcy, he wasn't at the ruins of Burrow Hollow any more.
He was back in the Uber Marshes...
Or at least, what used to be the Uber Marshes. Colin took one look around and realized that this place had changed forever.
On the left, slopes of snow. On the right, a lake. Before him, a tall, lush forest, and behind him, a vast open field.
{This is... this is...} Colin didn't know what to think. {Was this what the place was like before? The original Forest of Myth?}
[No.] Asblar simmered. Colin looked at her and her eyes were purple, neither the red of the Frenzied, nor the blue of the Redeemed. [This is something else. Something new.]
[Where are we? Isn't that your Anthill over there, Asblar? But this isn't the Uber Marshes.] Colin mentioned.
[That is my Anthill.] Asblar agreed. [This WAS the Uber Marshes. But no longer. This place has changed, Colin. It changed because of you. This place has a different meaning, a different purpose, a different name, now.]
[Then... where are we?] Colin had to ask.
Asblar didn't answer, but Colin's Traveler Watch beeped in response to his query. It gave him a simple greeting.
[Welcome to Sanctuary.]