The sudden question knocked every possible answer of their heads, and they found themselves unable to state what they wanted. They turned to Launa for a possible answer.
"We need to get to the hiona wolf," Launa said.
"Oh, the hiona wolf. So what do you need, a portal, directions?" The dwarf asked.
"A portal would be nice," Itsuki said.
"Oh, yes it would, but do you have what it takes to traverse a portal?" The dwarf asked.
"Never seen a portal that needed a skill to be traversed," Expresso said.
"Not a skill at all, hahaha. I wouldn't say everything here, you guys have to follow me to my place. I'm Herrik by the way," the dwarf said, already headed into the woods.
They followed him without saying anything further.
They walked down the woods that thickened with distance, but after a while of walking they began to see the sky again, leaves and branches got less dense, and the trees were not so compact.
At the end of the woods was a large green meadow upon which they could see leaves floating in harmony with the directions of the cold wafts of air. They really loved it here while they walked along. They walked along the meadow till they began descending it's slope, seeing the settlement in which they could see little humans engaging in cheerful activities.
They finally got to the settlement made of thatched cottages, and the dwarves of varying sizes but similar looks couldn't take their eyes of them. They kept moping at the visitors while Herrik led them to one of the huts in front of which another dwarf sat in front of a fire with pink smoke.
"Hey Dumble, look who showed up again, Launa," Herrick said to the dwarf that sat before the fire. He looked a bit older, with a darker skin. He looked at them all at once and his face brightened.
"This time she came with other humans. Who knows what she wants from us now. You're welcome," he said. "I'm Dumble, some people call me Dumb for short, but believe me, I'm not dumb." He snorted.
"Now you have made me glimpse into a flash of memory, I remember everything now," Launa said. "I came here to seek to know my true origin. You said I come from one of the moons of Jupiter, and I believed it strongly, because that's where I feel I come from."
"You're right," Dumble chuckled. He walked to the wolf and stretched his hand to graze his palm along her back, her size dwarfed him the more. "Glowie wasn't this big then." He looked up at the others. "I see the people you brought here, you all are welcome."
"And, what's cooking?" Launa asked.
"Oh." He looked into the fire. "My wood perfume, I prepare it to repel snakes and other dangerous animals in the woods."
"Really, there are dangerous animals there?" Itsuki said. "Means we are lucky."
"I could say, because I was with you guys. I applied the remnant of the last one before going into the woods," Herrik said.
Dumble smiled at them again. "You're welcome to our humble cottage, let's go inside."
Inside the cottage didn't define how they viewed it outside, it was as though it expanded to twice it's size the moment they got inside. Inside the room were racks, tables, and drawers, all containing bottles, cauldrons, and little pots. Some of them contained colorful liquids, some had powders, flowers, and pastes, but the cottage had a pleasant smell.
There were three seats and a bench at both sides of the room respectively and Herrik offered it to them. They sat and the two dwarves sat on their low mattress with legs folded.
Herrik leaned to Dumble's ear and whispered something to him. Dumble smiled and looked at them.
"The hiona wolf eh, what has caused the chaos the overly intelligent humans are suffering today," Dumble said.
"Not really chaos though, I love being a werewolf," Itsuki said.
"Oh, really? But I doubt your dad loves being one," Dumble said.
"Oh, he once told me that though," Itsuki said.
"You see, we've lived through centuries and we could tell you we know how all these came about. It started from a certain laboratory," Dumble said.
They all turned to Marie and Trevor, and that look made Dumble smart enough to ask the question.
"Both of you are from the past right?"
Marie and Trevor were baffled at the precise question.
"Yes," Marie answered in a shaky tone, like she would be sanctioned for it.
"It was actually our fault, what's happening is our fault. We needed a fuel for our time machine, the first to ever be successfully made, the fuel was made from the serum of the hiona wolf, but what we didn't take into consideration was the repercussions, we just needed to satisfy a need," Trevor said.
"Now you've come to correct your wrongs I guess," Dumble said.
"Yes, to save our era from meeting this same problem," Marie said.
"I understand. Human beings have an insatiable need to make things easy and better for themselves, and at times they explore the extremes. The hiona wolf wouldn't be located easily, even if we get you around her perimeter," Dumble said.
"I think that's the primary goal, to get close to where she is," Six said.
"Yes, once we are there, getting to her might not be daunting, we've got all it takes to clear enemies from our way," Kahil said, tapping his gun.
Dumble laughed. "Really? Well it's not just about the enemies, it's the hiona wolf herself."
"What do you mean by that, could she make herself invisible or something?" Expresso said.
"You guys know too little about the hiona wolf. The hiona wolf undergoes five different states -- the hibernation state, the aura state, the fire state, the icy state, the drooling state, and the con state," Dumble said.
"This doesn't sound good, doesn't sound good at all. I don't fully understand what he meant by those dates, but it doesn't sound good," Fern said.
"Please, could you explain to us what these states are?" Marie said.
Dumble looked at them and laughed.