Hamil helped his teacher over to a wagon.

“How did you do that? With the magic ring changing color? And stacking them! That was awesome!”

“That thing with the color change is something that you can do once you reach the green stage. At that stage, your magic will be able to take on an element that embodies who you are.” Astrid explained. “I was able to do it the same way that I helped you summon those golems. Sharing mana is a fast way to reach new abilities. Though I don’t want to admit it, the old man is right. What I did was very dangerous, so don’t ever try to copy it!”

Hamil nodded his head and smiled at his teacher who grinned in return.

“Could you let everyone know not to bother me for a little? I’m afraid to say, but I won’t be moving for a little while.”

Through the entire fight, Jaime had been frozen in place, unable to move at all. I could feel something inside her screaming that terrible things would happen if she were caught. Luckily, Pert had been within arms reach of her the entire time. I wasn’t sure what he was capable of, but he definitely seemed confident.

Everyone was busy calming their oxen and ensuring that their supplies were all accounted for and that every person was accounted for as well. Jaime and Hamil had volunteered to trade places with the two Freelancers while they were resting. Once everything was ready, the caravan started moving again, only to stop again suddenly. I peeked around to the front to find that a platoon of around 30 soldiers on horseback had gathered to block the way forward.

“We have seen signs of at least a fifth level mage engaging in battle in this vicinity. We would like your cooperation in investigating this matter.” One soldier spoke, approaching Sir Duncan to introduce himself. “Captain Vance of the Renae City Defense Forces.”

Sir Duncan stepped from his wagon to speak to the captain and introduce himself as, “Retiree Captain, Duncan Filbus of His Majesty’s twenty-first battalion.”

The two men greeted in an interesting and unusual way. Both men pressed their right fist to their chest at the same time, knocking elbows.

“It is nice to meet a fellow Captain.” The captain spoke in a monotone voice, with Sir Duncan replying likewise.

The two of them exchanged conversation in some coded language that I had never heard before. This conversation, however, ended quickly.

“Now, If you would please escort my men and I to the site of the battle so that we may collect our own evidences.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

Everyone, begrudgingly, turned their wagons around and followed Sir Duncan back to the stone guard post where a large crater now sat in the ground.

The captain frowned when he saw the battlefield that the checkpoint had become.

“And you say a Plague Beast appeared to the south of here and pursued you to this point, where the Freelancers that you are transporting defeated it?” The captain asked in his monotone voice, raising his eyes to meet Sir Duncan’s.

Beads of sweat started to appear on Duncan’s brow as the captain questioned him. Even I could feel that there was more to this captain that he wasn’t saying.

“Y-Yes sir.”

“No need to be so nervous, sir. We are only gathering evidence to report back to the Freelancer’s Guild in Renae. Plague Beasts are not the kind of problem that one laughs at.”

It took them several minutes, but the captain’s men finished their survey and returned back to their leader, to whom they whispered their results.

The captain nodded his head slowly and started to walk back to their horses.

“You are all free to go. However, please refrain from destroying any public properties from this point onward.”

As they marched away, I noticed something among the soldiers’ horses. It was a jail wagon, and it looked very familiar. I hovered closer to see the two familiar faces of baldy and baby-stache. Skunky was understandably absent from the trio, though the other two didn’t look too worried about that at the moment. They both had their eyes fixated at the sky behind me. It was then that I had a terrible sense of dread rush to me from Jaime. I quickly turned to see an orb of convulsing flesh twisting and bubbling in the sky.

“You can feel it too, right?” One of Campo’s goons spoke, the fear trembling in his voice.

“Thass Lior.” The other mumbled under his breath in shock.

“No! Lior! Why did they do this to you?” Both brothers sobbed.

Suddenly, the flesh-ball stretched out and formed a large spider-like abdomen. Just past this abdomen, eight long, furry, spindly legs shot out, spraying a horrible smelling mucous all around. Finally, the familiar face of skunky forced itself through the skin of the ball of flesh, though this time he had six eyes and enormous teeth protruding from his gaping maw. This creature’s entire body was thicker than before, with a combination of flesh and fur making up its entire body, and though it was slightly smaller than before, the aura flowing from its six pale eyes was yellow in color.

This new creature dropped from the sky and screeched once more as it agilely dashed towards the wagon that Astrid and Damian were resting in. Nobody had time to react, or at least I thought, because just before the spider-like Plague Beast could make contact with the wagon, enormous roots shot from the ground, swiping at the beast and knocking it away. The force of the attack had smashed in the beast’s abdomen, though like before, it healed almost immediately. 

I had an idea of where the roots had come from and found my answer when I looked to find Bark hiding underneath Pert’s lumber cart. It had its body firmly dug into the ground, but what attracted my attention was that it had two shining gemstones in each of its eye sockets and that a green aura was flowing from the gems.

Everywhere the spider dodged to, enormous, thorny roots shot from the ground to slash at it. It was a stalemate. The spider was fast enough to dodge most of Bark’s attacks, though not sturdy enough to get close enough to attack. Then I noticed something strange in the Plague Beast’s movements. It no longer aimed for Astrid and Damian, but for the jail wagon where baldy and baby-stache were. Then the worst happened as all the roots that Bark had been summoning all withered at once. I found the wooden dog in the same space as before, though the gemstones in its eyes were dull and cracked.

The beast almost instantly reached the two brothers and smashed the enclosure with its large legs, exposing the criminals, though it did not act. Instead, it stood frozen in place, staring at its former brothers.

“L-Leaaavvveee… nnnoooowwwww.” The beast spoke in a distorted and broken voice.

“Lior, are you still in there?”

“Ggggoooooo!” The creature roared.

Baldy and baby-stache didn’t wait for another message and booked it into the woods. Any of the soldiers that tried to follow after them were hit with blasts of the Plague Beast’s venom, melting through their clothes and flesh almost instantly.

“There’s no way we can kill that thing.” Hamil murmured, his eyes distant.

Suddenly, a flash of yellow light exploded from beside Jaime and Hamil as Pert disappeared. The man had rushed into battle, a battle that was too fast for the untrained eye to recognize, though there was one easily recognizable part of the fight. Pert was losing.

I could hear Jaime screaming inwardly to do something. To move. To try and help. To do anything. And so she did. She stepped forward, moving closer to the whirlwind in the crater that Pert and the beast created as they fought. She raised both her hands and closed her eyes. I could see in her mind, two forces battling: one, a whirlwind of golden stardust, the other, a cloud of deadly, violet smog. 

Suddenly, spirits started to materialize in the air by the thousands, blinding everyone in the area with a brilliant light. The light grew brighter and brighter, making it hard even for me to see.

Then everything went dark.