I drop to the ground level, ignoring the height, the fire, and the debris. It takes several seconds of falling, from our lookout to the mess hall, and I land with a shuddering thud. The tree takes all the impact, my body unfazed.
The smoke is hard to see through but I rely on my other senses to traverse the raging flames. That's odd. I don't hear wails, no cries for help, no sounds of a ghoul feasting on flesh. It is too silent.
The flames presence is large but the sound it emits is like a whisper, resembling a candle light. I clutch my pendant. I miss my parents, my old family dearly, but my current one is in grave danger and I have no clues as to what is happening.
I quickly rush with all my speed to each cabin. No one. Not even a trace. The fire has caught everything a flame, and not a single ghoul is in sight.
Aziel's office is empty. Panpun, Aki, and the twins are nowhere to be seen. My clothes have burned off by now, revealing my markings, glowing even brighter than the flames.
I see Dior above me, scouting from her hover board. She loops around the entire tree as I double check each cabin, by the time we meet back up, the flames have eaten through half of our home.
I should fight the flames, but the kids are the priority. Dread fills my heart. Maybe ghouls have already devoured them, maybe I was too late; and now our home is beyond saving.
I don't even bother asking Dior about what she's found as she descends. I just shiver in the flames from my heart growing cold; I'm numb, I'm dead inside.
She hovers just over the flames, about my height, as the flames lick her board. I look up at her and our eyes meet, both brimming with tears.
"It's over... All that I've sought out to protect. Nothing matters anymore." My voice rings clear amidst the silent flames; the storm that caused this hushes, allowing my sorrowful words to echo throughout the tree.
A gust of cold air exerts from the bottom of her board cooling the surface around me and extinguishing the flames. Only more cold creeps up my heart and I feel a breeze down under.
Oh shit. I'm butt booty naked. The flames covered me earlier. I'm assuming Dior was attempting to come down and comfort me but now it's severely awkward.
My hand instinctively covers my privates just as her eyes recognize the full exposure of my short stalky frame. Her face burns bright red and a slight shriek escapes her before she darts off.
I am left alone. Naked, and afraid of what happens next. I don't move. I let the flames crawl back to me, inviting their warmth, but my heart still remains frozen.
It aches and shivers, beginning to crack and shatter. I start hearing voices. I'm hallucinating. No, wait, a ghoul is approaching.
I look past the flames and hear the familiar howl of Panpun in the distance. Several human voices trail behind it, and a roar of an unfamiliar ghoul.
I rub soot on my self to cover the nakedness as best as I can as I dash down the enormous tree towards where the sound came from.
Hope and relief floods my brain, pumping me with motivation to protect them, to kill, to invoke the same pain I felt just a moment ago, thinking all was lost.
When I reach the ground, I can feel the earth vibrating under my feet; not from impact, but from a colossal figures footsteps.
A giant white blur is headed in my direction and I prepare to slice it open; using my arm as a blade, with my legs under me on a wide stance.
"Tyde! You're alive! Hop on, it's coming for us!", It's Aki's voice.
He is atop this enormous white beast, his body buried in its fur, with his head peaking up over them. The blur was Panpun. He is ten times his size now.
Three other figures are riding it. The glowing blur of Aziel and the two green blurs of the twins are spotted.
"What's coming!?" I yell.
Panpun gently grabs me in his enormous jaws and hoists me over his shoulder, onto his back.
It all happened so fast, even my enhanced body didn't react. I really underestimated little Panpun. I figured he was an F tier ghoul, remaining that petite size forever.
I was thoroughly wrong. He must poses shape shifting abilities. He is probably on the brink of an A tier just on physical attributes alone.
I look behind us, trying to gauge what kind of danger we're in. I am met with a pair of terrifying obsidian eyes.
A giant muzzle with razor spikes and a slithering body that trails behind its fearsome head is trailing at an arms reach behind us.
It is a dragon. All black, long, and extremely deadly. Truly a horrifying sight.
"The kids?" I yell at Aziel.
He shakes his head. Rage builds inside of me. I face the dragon. This beast devoured them. Now I will devour it.
My hands shake, my body trembles, I am terrified. Frozen by fear. I should be fearless. I need to be, for the vengeance of my family.
But that dragon's dark eyes stares directly through me. It's grgantuan powerful aura eating away at my confidence. I am a vessel of the demon of Lust, enhanced over a thousand times, I have no reason to fear it.
I'm hoping to attempt to jump straight through its maw like I did with the narwhal ghoul, but I Dior by my side to gather my courage.
"Hey Tits, you found the gang!" , Dior is floating above me. Too perfect on timing.
"Where the hell did you go? You really left me naked and alone back there?"
"I uhhh, went to grab you some clothes." She blushes as she throws down a towel.
"Really? The bravest girl I know is scared of some bare ass?", I wrap the towel around my waist.
Her cheeks grow a darker shade. I rarely get to see this sight, usually the roles are reversed.
"Hey... listen... all the kids... they're gone because of this bastard. Can you make sure Aki and the rest are safe? I think I have an idea."
"If you're thinking of doing that thing with the narwhal, I swear Tits, that is a terrible idea. I don't care how much you think you're powerful, S tier ghouls hold mysterious blessings of their own. Don't forget, they have their own marks, that's what separates them from the rest of the ghouls. This dragon is marked with the demon of death. Death, Tyde. This is not an ordinary creature."
"Thanks for the pep talk." I got all the confidence I needed out of her.
I aim my arms over my head, duck my head between them, look straight down the pipe, at the throat of the beast, and lunge with all my might off of the back of Panpun.
I'm a human missile. It's skin breaks on contact with my domineering force, and I plunge into darkness.
"You choose wrong little human." I hear a voice, a third eye, penetrating my mental psyche. It invades my mind and fills me with dread.
"Welcome to my domain, where you will meet your fate and die."