With a whoosh, Kobi lunged and whilst splitting through the air, tore past the forest's confines.
His feet crisply planted on the ground and his eyes rushed toward the village.
His trembling pupils, sizing the raging flames in horror, inscrutably turned to the sideview of Jake's house.
It wasn't the house which beckoned him, but the thing... on its roof.
With two moon like silver eyes peeled to him and its large maw biting down on a strange blue flecked rock, it towered atop the red tiles with its shimmering claws digging into the roof. Supporting a frame twice an ordinary silver wolf's, its fluffy tail swayed in the chilly breeze as it entered a stare with Kobi.
"What the..." Kobi's voice trailed off as he gazed at the profile flashing above it, (Silver Wolf General: Level 15)
Shik grinned whilst muttering subtly in Kobi's ear, "She... is stronger than the Prince." An ironic chuckle escaped his lips, "By a wide margin, no less!"
The Silver Wolf General ignored Kobi and glanced up, letting loose a deep howl.
Her solemn and serene voice echoed far and wide, piercing past the confines of the forest and drilling into all the Kombops and horned rabbits, making them shiver uncontrollably.
Even the wind seemed to churn in her prescene, as, without a sound, her figure vanished... like it was never there.
But Kobi knew she was there... she had been there... as he gazed at the loft breaking down from its jump.
"She... where did she go?" Kobi asked Shik, his pupils narrowed into needles.
It wasn't fear... but the scent that had him on edge.
'What a pungent scent... what a frightful scent... the scent of blood... The scent that I smelt whilst searching for Uros... it has finally dissipated.' His eyes fluttered, 'But at what cost?'
He sized up the raging flames fluttering atop the breaking down straw huts and admits the fields the farmers always worked in.
The vast land had been devoured in its rage, fueled by silvery furs and succumbing to their ire.
Shik shook his head regretfully, "It seems to have departed."
Kobi didn't reply and treaded on. As he advanced closer to the paved road, his vision aligned with the front of Jake's house.
Standing a step away from the road, he caught sight of a horror-filled Jake's gaping face, with his lower body missing, he was suspended to the door. Fresh blood driping down the door and piling beneath him.
And his missing body... was the one Kobi had just accidentally trampled over.
His weak bones crushed from a careless step.
Sweat dropped down his chin, and directing his sights straight, he headed on to the road glittering with blood and terrific claw marks.
Both the left and the right supported huts, burned and charred... and caved in.
One the right, he could see the half exposed torso of a young boy buried under his own burning house.
His body had burn marks, his ghastly face frozen in pain and despair, his arm protruding toward Kobi.
"He's dead." Shik entwined his fingers behind his head and leisurely hovered over in air.
Kobi's eyes turned glazed and he nodded, "I know." Without more dawdling, he continued down the road.
He saw the corpse of James, mauled and left to rot in front of his dead house... and his dead mother who was buried underneath.
A few steps ahead and he found a hut, to his surprise, still standing.
With a silver of emotion, he stepped over toward it, noticing that the rag the villagers used as doors had been torn down.
And from a distance back, he could see the corpses of two children, drenched in a puddle of their blood, and half eaten to the luxury of the one who had wished to amuse his appetite.
"Divl... and Tina?" Kobi stood silently for a while, an ironic remark coming to mind as he turned to leave and he muttered it aloud with a chuckle, "Did you tell God, Divl? Who killed you?"
His eyes fell upon the second most sturdy building of the village– the warehouse.
It was made of wood, crude but strong, to guard the villages harvest before it was sold off. But nothing remained now, and whatever remained safe from the flames... had been crushed underneath the planks and splinters.
A sigh escaped Kobi's mouth as two figures flashed in his mind. And ruffling his hair with a tired expression, he strode ahead. A frown on his face, 'I should check their huts... just to be sure.'
He wasn't the type to believe in miracles. But he wasn't the type to submit willingly to fate either.
But suddenly, merely as he took a few steps, his ears trembled. Picking a low, muffled groan.
'Where?' With his body tensed, he scanned around. But seeing nothing, his expression turned nasty, 'Am I halluci–'
His thoughts froze as he inadvertently caught sight of Shik's odd– mesmerised expression! As he glanced at the warehouse still in the midst of burning.
'...There?' Kobi's eyes drew toward the remnants of the building and his heart began to throb.
Instinctively, almost in a daze, he began walking toward it.
'Unbelievable!' Shik, with a silly smirk, gawked at his own hands as if he was seeing them for the first time.
'Truly... truly...' He glanced at Kobi, a conflicted glint flashed past his eyes, 'He may truly be the best host for me... despite all that he is.'
Kobi, ignoring the raging flames, hurled away one piece of wood after another.
And the more rustle he created, the more the groaning increased, as if telling him that yes... they were here... and they wanted to be saved.
Kobi, whilst hurling aside a burning plank, shivered seeing what laid beneath it.
A mangled corpse, one he recognised despite its ugly shape, "Mib!"
His body had been twisted in a horrifying way, his spine had been shattered, his waist coiled around a plank burying his legs and leaving his face above to be squashed by the other splinters.
But despite the ugliness of his death, Kobi, for some reason, found a strangely happy... even relieved look on his face!
His eyes snapped wide, realizing that the groaning had been coming from right beneath the plank Mib's legs were buried in, since it was buried deep down the rumble, the fire had just caught up to it.
Kobi hurriedly lifted it with both hands and hurled it aside. Revealing a crooked back to himself.
It was a tight space, a very tight space, that had been miraculously created in the gaps between the planks in which this figure had been trapped in, supported by a machete that had dug into Mib's leg and forced it to stand its ground for this long, saving the figure beneath it.
Despite a bloody third degree burn mark, travelling from her cervical vertebrate down to her spine and a thrawn backbone, Kobi knew, this back was, this body... She... She was... alive!
"REKA!!"
His cold body finally gushed with warmth, the fire's rage finally catching up to his cold feet.
And hurriedly, he collapsed to his knees and grasped her shoulders, gently, he tried to lift her, but a shrill scream broke loose from her lips.
Her clenched eyes, despite not even facing Kobi's direction, loosened. The pain seemed to dissipate just from his touch.
"Her injuries are bad... Her chance of survi–"
"Shik!" Kobi, desperately gazing at Reka's back, cut Shik short and pleaded, "I nee– I want to save her! Give me the potion I first received from the rollete. The one which helped my injuries recover."
His rememberd the gush marks the Silver Wolf had left him and the hand which he had so carelessly broken and watched heal so effortlessly. 'Maybe her spine will heal from its effects.'
Shik, seeing Kobi's resolve, didn't utter bullshit and out right demanded, "Three... Three of your spins will be consumed. This is the cheapest price I can offe–"
"Quickly!" Kobi interjected. His hands trembling while supporting Reka, his eyes glancing in horror at the flames that had began to flicker and were swarming over.
Shik didn't say anything more and snapped his fingers. Instantly, the rollete icon appeared and flickered thrice before dissipating again.
And a potion appeared in Shik's hand magically.
"How will you feed it to her?" Shik frowned.
Kobi's expression tensed as he let go of Reka and started kicking aside the wreckage around her.
After creating a safe zone and leaving only the piece on which Reka's head had smashed against, he took the bottle from Shik's hand and crouched his head next to Reka's.
Her sallow cheeks had caved in, and her saliva moistened the ground below. Her breath was ever so feeble, like a fire in a storm, nearing the corners of puffing away.
Seeing that she was half-unconscious and what was awake of her was only due to the pain, his eyes flared up from resolve.
'There's only one way, and I don't know know whether it will work.' He threw aside the cap and poured the contents inside his mouth, not even noticing its sweet flavor.
With trembling eyes, he clasped her shoulders and in one swift motion, pulled her straight.
"UGGHHH!!" Her eyes, shooting wide, rolled back and her dry throat began to tear from her vicious scream.
Kobi's heart twisted, as, without thinking, he hugged her gently and connected his lips with her's, sealing her shut and pouring the liquid into her while wishing to absorb her pain inside him.
But, still screaming, he realized the liquid was being thrust out instead of being swallowed, 'Shit! The pain is such that she can't stop...' His eyes shivered, 'But she must!'
His fingers dug into her body, his eyes pleading for her to stop.
And as if all her pain had suddenly been sapped, her body dropped all resistance and the liquid fell down her throat in a single instance.