Whether it was because of the cold, the hunger, the company, or the fear, Leo’s first night in Libero was a sleepless one. As he laid on a rock with his arms under his head, he found that each time his mind would start to relax, something would rustle in the distance. A constant reminder that they were not alone. Every time he found himself sitting up, Kaira and Dorian would be in the same position. Bailey, however, rested easily whilst curled up in the foetal position.

Once the moon had been covered by clouds, the stars had taken up the mantle of lighting Leo’s surroundings. Though their efforts were valiant, it was still too dark for Leo to see much at all. One thing he did know, was that even though he never looked directly at him, Arctier’s eyes were always watching. He could feel them.

Morning came around after an eternity of half-conscious naps. The sun was doing its best to provide warmth and rays of sunny hope to those who awoke to another day.

‘I half expected to hear the calls of someone with the instinct of a cockerel,’ yawned Kaira, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

‘You won’t find anyone with those sorts of instincts near Saxum,’ Lu smiled as she joined them, not looking as groggy as they felt.

Leo knew how well she had slept having heard her little howls throughout the night. Just as he went to ask how she managed to sleep in such an eerie environment, he was interrupted by a shrill call from above.

Circling just over the tops of the trees was a man whose wingspan was at least three times wider than Leo was tall. His light brown wings featured a patch of white feathers that branched out from his body, going all the way through the centre of the wing and to the tips. Although huge, his wings remained still as he glided on the wind, a slight tilt allowing him to circle effortlessly.

‘Do you know him?’ Bailey asked, shuffling in towards her friends.

‘That’s Chrys. He likes to make an entrance,’ sighed Lu, rolling her eyes.

After a few rotations, the winged man let out another loud squawk and adjusted his wings, propelling himself towards them at alarming speed. Chrys managed to make up metres within moments, hardly moving his wings and without making a sound. Much like Devolo, this man’s lips had changed colour to become yellowish, and his body was also coated in the same feathers as his wings.

Following a final call, he landed with a smirk on his lips as his scaly talons scratched the rock.

‘Where have you been?’ Arctier growled, the smirk faltering slightly on Chrys’s face, ‘you should have returned to me before nightfall.’

‘Well, you know what they say, time’s fun when you’re flying,’ he retorted, trying to force his sly smirk back into its original position as he swept his light brown hair across his forehead.

‘If you ever want to stretch your wings again, cut the theatrics and get to telling me what you should have done hours ago.’

Arctier stepped forward, and whether consciously or not, Chrys flapped his wings and flew backwards a few yards.

‘Of course, of course. In front of present company?’ he asked, his small yellow eyes darting in the direction of Leo and his friends, his head bobbing slightly as he did so.

‘Perhaps not.’

Arctier and Chrys walked over to the side of the lake, and Leo found himself almost fearing for the newcomer as he watched them go. Even sat down, Arctier dwarfed him, a huge contrast between the slight frame of a man with an instinct of a bird and that of one mixing man and polar bear.

Whilst Arctier listened intently to Chrys, Leo took in their surroundings under the early morning light.

For the most part, the lake sat still, although some ripples lapped up the side of the rock and painted it in a darker coat of grey. The shadows of the night before had also started to disappear as the Taiga forest came to life.

‘How long have you been here?’ Bailey asked Lu, who had taken to sitting with them, her pale green eyes looking playful now they were not locked onto prey.

‘I’ve been in Libero …’ she looked thoughtful for a moment, ‘I don’t know how long I’ve been here. After a while you stop caring about things like date and time. I’ve been here as long as I’ve been here,’ she smiled a friendly smile, but the sight of her teeth still made Leo shiver a little.

‘You’ll get used to the sight of everything,’ Charlie grinned, showing off his array of oral weaponry, clearly having seen Leo shiver, ‘you’ll have your own set soon.’

‘Does it hurt?’

‘Not really. It’s like when your baby teeth fall out. Except you won't get a visit from a fairy with a tooth addiction.’

‘It also depends on your mouth. I have had to stretch a bit to get more teeth in. I last counted forty-two. That bit is not fun,’ said Lu, licking her teeth one at a time.

‘I’m surprised your mouth wasn’t big enough already,’ Charlie laughed, his nostrils flaring. The two black markings running beside his eyes and nose making it look like he was crying with laughter.

As Charlie’s yelping gradually stopped, the silence of the immediate area surrounding them was hard to escape.

‘This looks like the perfect place for people to come and hang out. But no-one is here. Why’s it so quiet?’ Kaira asked.

Charlie and Lu exchanged a glance, their smiles faltering before Lu raised her snout in the direction of Arctier.

‘Why, what’s wrong ...’

‘It doesn’t matter. You won’t be here for long,’ snapped Sam, who had been facing away from them seemingly asleep, with one wing behind his back and the other providing him with a soft pillow.

‘Neither will you,’ Leo said softly, ‘you’re coming back with us.’

‘And what if I don’t want to come back?’ Sam snarled, sitting up and turning to face Leo, a menacing glint in his eye.

‘Then I’ll make you.’

‘I can’t wait to see you try,’ he smirked as he rose to face him, his wings sweeping out behind his back and casting a shadow upon Leo who remained seated.

‘What, you think that because you’ve got yourself a pair of wings that you’re now stronger than me?’

‘I don’t, think so. I know so.’

‘Shut up! Both of you. You are the same here as you were back home. Neither of you wants to hurt the other,’ Bailey barked, causing Sam to raise an eyebrow.

‘I don’t get it, Sam. Why won’t you come home?’ Leo asked, trying to follow Bailey’s more peaceful approach.

‘Why would I want to?’ Sam shook his head, exasperated, ‘you couldn’t let me have this, could you? My brother, always the knight in shining armour.’

‘What? We thought you were dead! We just want to take you home.’

‘You should’ve just left me dead. We all know that’s what's best for all of us.’

‘What are you talking about? Mum’s been broken since you disappeared. You know for a fact how worried she would have been. Yet here you are, living some sort of high life in a jungle? I guess the selfish instinct within you is just as strong here as it was back home,’ Leo rose and faced up to his brother, his blood beginning to bubble, ‘come home! You owe Mum that.’

‘Bailey’s right, you really are straight back to normal,’ sighed Kaira, getting in between them.

‘How comes she’s not here if she cares so much?’ Sam sneered, stepping forward as his perfectly slicked hair showed signs of becoming unkempt, ‘does she know where you are? Her precious Leo? It is time you hopped off your high horse and started to realise that you are no better than I am. In fact, in here I am the one who’s calling the shots.’

‘Is that right?’ Arctier growled, lugging his bulking frame over to them, ‘what’s going on?’

‘He’s trying to get me to go home,’ Sam said nervously, stepping back and lowering his wings.

‘Your efforts are going to have to wait, Leo. I am needed elsewhere. No-one will be going anywhere today.’

Arctier whistled and his pack immediately circled him.

‘We’re needed back. Charlie, you are going to get Komado. Lu, you will run ahead, and Benni, you are going to stay with me,’ Arctier said in an urgent tone, ‘you know what to do.’

Without a moment’s hesitation, Charlie and Lu ran off in opposite directions around the lake, their differing tails the last thing Leo managed to see as they dashed into the trees.

‘Sam, you are going to take your brother and his friends to Regnum and show them around. Perhaps they will change their minds.’

‘But ...’

Arctier’s eyes met Sam’s.

‘Can you handle that?’

‘I can fly ahead. I’m much faster than Lu,’ he said, giving Arctier a pleading look.

‘My orders are final,’ Arctier said firmly, rising on his hind legs and looking down on Sam, ‘your day will come.’

Sam nodded, doing what he must have thought was a silent protest, but was in fact what Leo recognised as a trademark sulk.

‘You will follow Sam to our capital. In Regnum, you will find answers to questions you are yet to have.’

‘Where are you going?’ Leo enquired.

‘To take care of some things.’

Arctier turned his lumbering frame and started towards the trees that hid the lower regions of the mountains that dominated the sky behind them. Settled snow coated the tops of the tallest, while trees and grass grew on the lower areas beside sheets of rock. As Leo watched Benni follow on behind Arctier, a cold wind brushed past them and caused him to shiver. They found themselves alone once again, though at least this time he had his brother.

‘Um, Leo. Your brother’s walking off,’ Bailey said, tapping his shoulder.

Sure enough, Sam was already walking in the opposite direction, kicking rocks into the lake as he walked around the outskirts of it.

‘Don’t bother trying,’ said Sam, as Leo and his friends caught up.

‘I’m not going to.’

‘If you aren’t, then I will,’ Kaira said bustling past Leo, ‘where are they going?’

‘Back to the mountains.’

‘Yeah, I got that,’ she said, slapping her forehead, ‘but why have they left us? What’s going on?’

‘None of your business. There are things going on here that are bigger than you can imagine.’

‘Your ego for example,’ she retorted.

Sam shook his head before spitting at the ground in front of her.

‘Look, you don’t get to just rock up and start acting like you know everything. I don’t care what you think you have going on back home and how hard you think you have it, because none of that matters here. That’s right, I know all about your stripes.’

Kaira stopped walking abruptly, her arms wrapped tightly around her body and her face looking as though she had just been punched.

‘You feel powerful now do you?’ Leo said angrily, going to push him, but missing as Sam quickly jumped out of the way.

‘You are out of your depth here, brother. It’ll be best for all of us if you don’t talk and just follow.’

Leo gave his brother a despising look before going over to Kaira and pulling her into his arms.

‘Are you ok?’

‘You know I will be,’ she forced a smile.

‘I didn’t ask if you’re going to be ok, I asked if you are.’

‘I'm fine. Don’t worry about me, just worry about your brother,’ she sniffed, glaring at Sam’s winged back as walked away.

‘I am.’

For the first time since Arctier had arrived, those who lived in the surrounding land did not run off as soon as they approached. Up close, they could see a couple of people whose noses had morphed into pig snouts that twitched as they spoke. Two of their teeth had also grown into tusks, poking out of their lips, and reaching around their snouts. As more instinctive came into view, they started to see people just sitting around and grabbing a handful of brown grass and eating it.

‘For them it’s probably normal,’ Dorian said, answering nobody’s question, ‘they must have developed the stomachs needed to process all the different types of foods they now need to survive.’

Deeper into the Taiga forests they went, walking non-stop for hours. The sun that had lit their way for most of the journey was now checking into the sky’s departure lounge.

‘How far is it?’ asked Leo.

‘About two days walk,’ Sam said sharply.

‘Can’t you just fly us there?’

Sam stopped and turned to look them up and down.

‘No offence, but I may struggle with all of you,’ he said to Bailey.

‘That is not really how you don't offend someone, but it’s fine. I’ll just walk.’

‘Wait ... if you take Bailey first and then you can come back and get each of us,’ Leo said.

‘I guess I can give it a go,’ Sam agreed, ‘it’s more fun than walking.’

‘Fine. What do I do?’

‘Just stand there,’ he said, a sly smirk appearing, ‘this might hurt.’

Sam widened his wings and beat them in the air, causing huge gusts of wind to blow dirt into their faces as he rose. With his wings maintaining a steady beat, he manoeuvred himself above Bailey.

‘Holy…’ Bailey screamed, biting down on her lip as blood trickled from where Sam’s talons pierced her shoulders.

‘I warned you.’

‘That doesn’t stop it hurting!’ she yelled.

‘I’ll be back,’ Sam shouted to rest of them above the flapping of his wings, which now beat harder and faster.

Slowly, the two of them moved up and over the trees and were soon gone from view.

‘It gets weirder and weirder,’ Kaira muttered, turning to look at those who had not just been airlifted by Leo’s brother.

‘You can say that again,’ Leo agreed, though his attention was no longer air bound but focused on the land around them...