Walking through a paved path surrounded by a forest of wisteria trees, was squad three, along with Sofia. Thea took the lead, as she walked next to Sofia, chatting with her about Sofia's life as a waitress whilst making sure that she doesn't fall under the effects of the wisteria trees.
While Sofia was all smiles, as she happily chatted along with Thea.
Ailani calmly walked behind Thea and Sofia, taking the scenery around her with an indifferent expression. It was clear that after coming here more than once, the place no longer impressed her.
Zyran was further behind from the girls, as he chatted with Telos.
[In that case... I suggest you don't hesitate to let me out]. Telos spoke in a reluctant tone, as if he has no choice but to come out. But Zyran won't be easily fooled again, he knows better than anyone how badly this demon wants to have control again, not to forget how dire the consequences would be if he let Telos have control for too long.
"How about we shelve that idea for now", Zyran has not forgotten how Telos caused the death of thousands of people, so unless he's put in a tough situation were he has no choice other than to let the demon out, there is no way he'll let Telos out. He refuses to become dependent on Telos's power.
[I see]. Zyran doesn't have to say it, Telos can already tell that the boy refuses to let him out, but he's not hasty, he'll patiently wait for him to beg for his help.
The group continued to walk deeper into the forest, with nothing but the echoing of their shoes and the rustling of leaves to accompany them. The rays of the sun can barely pierce through the canopy of leaves, making their path darken, the deeper they went. Surprisingly, Thea and Ailani weren't bothered by the darkness, not even Zyran as he realised why. Because even as their path darkened, they could still partially sense the path forward.
From the back, Zyran watched how Thea held Ailani by the hand, leading her forward as it was too dark for her to walk on her own. Her actions had him wondering about what her end game was. He refuses to believe that a person can suddenly take a liking to a person they just met and begin treating them like their daughter. It's either Thea is a very kind soul or Sofia has something special that only Thea noticed and wants.
At the end of the day it wasn't Zyran's business, even though he gave the girl a shoulder to cry on, that's how far he's willing to go to thank her for helping his sister and him on that day. As for her feelings... He will never acknowledge them, at this point of his life, entering a romantic relationship is a far fetched dream.
[It seems I'm beginning to rub off on you]
"It seems you should shut it", Zyran was not in the mood to entertain this demon's nonsense.
As he continued to walk in the now dark path, he noticed a bright light up a head, which indicated the end of the forest. The group walked for a few more minutes and eventually came out of the forest.
What came into view was a wide grassy field that seemed endless. The smell of fresh grass tickled their noses, as a gentle gust of wind blew their way and rustled their hair. Infront of them, was a well built wooden shack.
The group stood a few metres away from the shack...
The expression on Zyran's face is hard to describe, it was a mixture of confusion, surprise and disappointment. He was confused because he didn't understand what he was seeing, surprised because he didn't believe that he is even seeing something like this here and finally, disappointed because he was expecting to see something a little more... Advanced, bigger and cooler. Not a freakin wooden shack. For a moment, a second some would say, he was tempted to turn around and walk away. But he didn't do that, instead he turned to Thea with a look that demanded answers.
Thea who felt Zyran's sharp gaze, turned to him and suppressed the desire to smirk. She knows exactly what he was expecting and she could almost taste his disappointment.
"The head captain has a unique taste for old houses". Was all Thea said before walking towards the shack, her hand still on Sofia's, who followed along without question. Ailani was next to follow.
Zyran took a moment to look at the shack, the gaze from earlier disappeared the moment he entered this area. The person responsible, should technically be in there and because of that, he has prepared himself for any sudden turn of events. It's better to be cautious and prepared than to be reckless and unprepared in someone else's territory.
Zyran then walked forward and approached the group that was already near the door. As he came closer, he noticed the signatures of two Psychi in the room. One black and one golden, the black psychi was apparently sitting on something, whilst the golden Psychi was standing. Just as Thea's arm touched the door handle, the golden Psychi turned towards the door, as if the person could see through it. Something immediately didn't feel right to Zyran.
Just as Thea was about to twist the door knob, she suddenly stopped, and with movements quicker than Zyran's eyes could follow, she turned around and picked up Sofia in a princess carry and jumped back 20 metres. Ailani was next to move out of the way.
Zyran was temporarily stunned by their sudden actions before Telos's voice boomed in his head.
[Move you fool!]
'Boom!'
The shacks door exploded, sending pieces of the door flying everywhere.
Before Zyran's mind could catch up with the things happening around him, a fist suddenly appeared right Infront of his face, descending with unbridled force.
Out of pure instinct, Zyran crossed his arms Infront of his face.
'BOOOM!'.
'Crack!'.
The moment the fist connected with Zyran's arms, he felt like he just got hit by a fright train, as the bones in his arms broke without any resistance. For a second, his vision blurred before it cleared again, followed by the feeling of falling down. Through his eyes, he could barely make out the figure of a person that wore black. The person fell alongside Zyran from the sky but their posture resembled that of a standing person, as if they weren't falling but standing in the sky. The individual then raised their arms and connected their fingers together before furiously bringing them down on Zyran's chest.
'BOOOM!'
'Crack!'
The sky crackled as Zyran, who's chest has now sunk in, tore through the sky like a meteor. He could barely keep up with the events happening around him as the pain of having his arms broken and his chest crushed sunk in. His expression then turned into a pained grimace as he bit his tongue, badly trying to ignore the numbing pain. Suddenly, his brain lagged.
'BOOOOOM!!!'.
Zyran's body crushed down on the grassy field a little further away from the shack. Creating a 30 metre deep crater, with the surrounding grass scotched to oblivion. He layed there, lifelessly, barely conscious enough to even feel the pain of the wounds that littered his body. His sweat suit was nothing but pieces of torn cloth, only covering the important areas in his body.
'I knew that I would be betrayed, I even prepared for it but in the end I didn't even last 15 seconds. Damn useless!'. Zyran's whole being seethed with hatred, not for the person that did this to him but to himself. Even with his newly gained power he was still pathetically weak, barely able to do anything in a fight. He ignored the pain of having his arms broken and clenched his fist so hard his palms began to bleed. 'I hate this!'.
"ZYRAN!".
All of a sudden, he began to hear a voice screaming out his name, he could even feel the pain from the person's voice.
"Who... is that?". Before Zyran could think over the owner of the voice. A shadow was cast upon him, as the cause of his misery appeared at the top of the crater. The features of the person were now visible to him, even as the sun shone brightly behind them, as if to welcome their arrival.
He had long snow white hair, that gently swayed along with the wind and cold silver eyes. His skin was pale white and appeared to be softer than silk whilst his features were less sharp but more on the delicate side. He wore a tight, black body suit that had a hard time hiding his muscular body. If not for his god like physique, he would have passed for a woman. The man then spoke, his voice sharp and emotionless...
"How did a disgusting creature like you get in here?".