As he tried to follow the directions, it seemed as if the night would be darker than the ones before. It wouldn’t be a problem for him of course. The problem was, that he seemed to be lost. He followed the main road out of town as the toadman said, then took a turn to the left when he came across a sign post. All he had to go straight ahead until he reached the swamp. Yet nothing. Still he hoped and continued, until he noticed a familiar trunk, after that a fairy ring he met also earlier. It was even clearer then. Still it was strange. How could he going in circles, if he was heading straight all along? The easiest would’ve been to go back to the main road and start again. But would he get back to the road by simply turning around? In the end he still tried.

After long minutes walk he started to hear small noises. Noises he recognised. Animals were running toward a common direction. They weren’t totally indiscreet, still it was strange. Even more they didn’t mind Freyan even for a moment. It wouldn’t be a problem if Freyan was hunting them. But he was more preoccupied with finding his way moments before. The longer he listened the weirder it got. More and more footsteps he could notice. And they weren’t even from the same species. Hooves and paws made different sounds, he could tell that at least. Not to mention that here animals usually roam the land by day, less often by night. Yet these seemed to be united by one goal.

So he decided to follow them. As he saw the first one, he started to run faster.

There was a man standing in the middle of the trees. He wore a pale green robe with dark, almost black crimson fringe. He was chanting in some kind of language. Even if he paused for a moment to check something in his book, it was clear he didn’t noticed a single thing going on around him. There was a jackal like animal just arriving at the same time as Freyan to him. It leaped forward without even hesitating for a second. So Freyan had to do the same thing, smashing its head with his fist. The mage looked up in this moment almost frightened to death. But it was Freyan who had to fight of the rest of the black-red furred jackal pack. And at that time the rest of the animals arrived. Wolfs, dears, boars, and even some bears came out of the forest affected by some kind of spell. Moments after Freyan and the mage were slinging their own kind of spells side by side. The unknown man was using a kind of kinetic magic for defence and offence. While Freyan mostly used his speed and dark energy bolts.

In the end there was silence for a moment.

The mage said something, what Freyan clearly didn’t understand. It was so obvious, that the other person changed his words to perfect Qvilick.

“Thanks for the quick rescue my friend!” the man who looked around the same age as Freyan also smiled friendly.

If it would have been so easy to just say ‘your welcome’. As Freyan looked at him he froze. There was so much blood around him, yet he couldn’t be interested less. There was one heartbeat left he could hear accompanied by a human’s presence. The fight took a bit out of him, but now he felt as if the rest of his power just slipped away, leaving him a dry husk filled with hunger. He opened his mouth, showing his teeth slightly. Words were so difficult to form now.

“I… ‘m sorry…” he said shaking.

That small moment made the young mage’s short black hair stand on end. The fright impelled to defend himself. As Freyan lunched him he waved his hand to invoke a small shield barrier in front of him. The same time the magic barrier became a full circle, Freyan dashed into it. This few moment gave the mage enough time to cast a stronger spell, a full barrier which protected him from all sides. So it didn’t mattered that Freyan tried to attack him from the rear. As his new attacker punched the protective spell the third time, it made the spellcaster worry though. Freyan seamed to activate his dark energy aura instinctively and started to drive its energy into his punches. The more he tried the more he made the barrier tremble. So the mage started to cast an other spell. And as the barrier was still standing, he had sufficient time.

A wave of strange warmth overwhelmed Freyan, and in the next moment he stopped attacking. He wasn’t paralyzed. He just seemed to remember his first motive was to help this person. His crazed drive to get human blood was silenced. He still felt the thirst, but now he could think.