As Eadwulf slowly made his way through the forest he made sure to take note of the forest around him, even now despite the situation he still found this fascinating how one world could be so different from another.
Despite the light emitted from his lantern these woods seemed to be almost colorless, the trees seemed to be mage of something like a combination between coral and raw metal, giving them a hard and sharp shape.
"How much further do you think we have to go? Questioned Chris looking toward Eadwulf
"We've been walking for about one hour so unless we just happen to be the unluckiest new record setters in existence we should only have a mile or so to go" Eadwulf calculated aloud "only issue is that even if it was only a few meters away we wouldn't know because of how thick these trees are, we probably won't see it until it's right in front of us he finished as he climbed over a fallen tree.
"Well, I don't think these lanterns are going to last more than another hour or so and we have no idea what's out here. So, we should probably speed up right?" said Billy as he indicated to his lantern which was worryingly dimmer than it was at the beginning of the walk.
As they were thinking whether or not they should start moving faster, the choice was sadly made for them as they heard a growl behind them. It was odd, unlike that of a dog or cat, more like the sound you hear when a bad engine is running and all you can hear Is a deep grinding sound
All the boys slowly turned around and simultaneously they turned pale and began to sweat, as Eadwulf looked into the dark behind them he saw to yellow swirling eyes like a golden void staring at him. As the eyes got closer and closer the beast came into view.
It was like something you would only see in your nightmares, something not meant to exist because otherwise people would spend their days unable to sleep out of fear for their lives. It was feline in shape, walking with the stalking prowl of a panther, clearly knowing it could kill them at any time. Instead of fur it seemed to have scales running down its body with it bones pointy at the joints as if its bones were to long for its skin. But the worst part was its face, with eyes of yellow that seemed to swirl infinitely followed by a canine snout and a jaw full of thousands of needle-like teeth that were clearly sharp enough to rip him to shreds.
Thinking quickly Eadwulf through his lantern in front of the beast causing it to spill its oil and flight fire to a small section of ground between them he screamed "RUN!!"
All of the boys turned and bolted toward the direction they had previously been walking with Billy using his increased speed ability to stay at the front and Eadwulf as the smallest just behind William and Chris
As they ran, they could hear they monster let out a shriek similar to the screeching of steel scraping against something followed by its droning growl that seemed to vibrate their very core.
As they ran, they could almost feel it breathing down their necks as if it were simply playing with them like how a parent pretended to narrowly lose a race to their child. Refusing to look behind him Eadwulf doubled his efforts and tried to stay next to his faster friends
"Look!" he heard someone shout and as he turned his head, he saw Chris pointing his arm toward what appeared to be a section of glowing trees "THE RENT!!!"
Hearing this Eadwulf began to speed up as fast as he could. The reached what appeared to be a large clearing within the woods and in the centre of the clearing was a building sized mass of blue and black energy but standing in front of the Rent was…
"Wait!" he yelled grabbing the shirt of Chris
"What!?" Chris turned towards him clearly angry and shocked that he had been stopped just before reaching safety, the twins thankfully also stopped when the heard his shout
"Look!" he said pointing much like how Chris Had only seconds earlier. At the centre of the clearing prowling and growling almost joyously was the same beast that had been chasing them, golden eyes swirling "quick get back!"
Despite wanting to rush towards the Rent as soon as possible they scrambled back to the tree line
"Shit! We were so close" Chris was read in the face from the running, and you could hear the near grief in his voice. "Do you reckon we can take it?" he questioned as a transparent axe seemed to form in his hand
Wind forging was Chris's Eon ability, it allowed him to create a variety of weapons and tools out of the air around him and was why he was considered one of the stronger rank B students in his school. Of course, not that it mattered in this moment
"I don't think so" Eadwulf said as he shook his head sitting against a tree "we are only halfway into the second term of the academy, you guys only just learned how channel your abilities properly and I would be useless in this situation. I think we'll have to wait for the Drivers to get here and they can deal with it."
It was true, by now the drivers would likely have begun to set up the Dimensional stabilizer and the drivers should be coming in any minute now
"We can't risk waiting! Look at the gate, its clearly shrinking! It was the size of the orphanage last time and now it's the size of a house!" Chris was clearly desperate. Suddenly his face seemed to have found a new determination and he looked towards the twins and nodded to them
"a-are y-you sure?" Billy who had just been sitting on a nearby stump watching the monster prowl the Rent seemed rather freaked out and William had gone pale but also seemed to have same expression as Chris and then nodded back
"Yes, I am" answered Chris with a completely serious tone, deadly serious and then he looked at Eadwulf and kneeled down in front of him "time for Plan B"
"What's plan B?" he said looking at Chris who seemed to be running something over in his head before he responded with a tone full of a mix of sadness and resolve
"Bait" he answered grimly looking into Eadwulf eyes as he brought his newly formed axe down on Eadwulf left leg, severing it