kids always did in parks, I took a seat at a nearby bench and pulled out my phone. The misunderstanding with Etienne from earlier (or rather his ‘jumping to conclusions’ form earlier) had long been resolved, and we were chatting about all and nothing, as we usually did.

Suddenly I felt that familiar sensation in my eye. When I lifted my head, I saw an ethereal red ribbon directing me into the forest. I briefly considered my options. Last time I ignored it I got hit by an icicle, and I also couldn’t see any apparent dangers around me. But this didn’t mean that the skill was wrong. Just in case, I looked up to the sky, and saw dark clouds gathering at an alarming rate. Perhaps the skill was guarding me against the weather?

I got up from the bench, and somewhat hastily headed towards the trees. Their cover was closer to my current position than the park’s gate, but there was no way I’d be getting in deeper than I needed. With that thought, it started hailing.

At first, only a few grains of ice fell from the sky, but they quickly got more frequent and larger, and soon Cain and I, as well as other people were running towards the trees.

“Were you just going to leave me there?” Cain asked, once we finally took refuge under an ancient pine tree.

“What, in the middle of a park, less than two hundred meters away from me?” I joked.

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he turned around and tried climbing onto a low branch.

“What, don’t you have any skills to help you with that?” I teased him, as I approached him and lifted him onto the branch.

He pushed my hands away, once he was on the branch, before saying:

“These clothes are impractical to move in.”

I didn’t respond, as I pushed myself up on an adjacent branch. By the time I had settled against the tree, with both my legs comfortably off the ground, Cain had already climbed up a few meters.

“Be careful not to fall down,” I distractedly warned him. I had said that more out of habit, rather than actual worry, as I was sure with his skills there would be no chances of him falling or hurting himself.

“If I do, I’ll make sure to aim for your head.” He said as he continued his ascent.

“Hey!”

“What?” He asked, in a genuinely surprised tone.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, ignoring his antics once more. Instead, I turned my focus to the forest around us. The canopy of the tree was so thick, that only the occasional chunk of ice tumbled down the branches. And even then, it had lost all its velocity by the time it reached the ground, and could thus not do much damage. But the almost literal wall of hail that separated me from the family who’d taken refuge, much like us, on the other side of the path, seemed alarming. I’d never seen this much hail in one spot in my entire life, and the fact that it only came through in the middle of the path, where even the tallest trees could not shelter the gravel path, only made it look more surreal.

“I meant ‘not to’.” A voice came from far above me.

I lifted my head and took a second to spot the familiar green shorts and red shirt.

“What?” I called back.

A muttered answer came back down to me, and I decided to ignore it. At least he was having fun, and hopefully starting to trust me, which was the intent of this trip. Everything else, including his lack of manners with was only second to my own, wasn’t important.

As I returned my gaze to the hail-covered path, I was surprised to see that I could no longer see the other side of it. There was nothing but white on that side. I hopped off my branch, curious to see if the hail had truly become this dense, but I noticed that this wall of white wasn’t located just on the path, but rather all around the tree.

“Cain! – shit. Thebes!” I called out, as I glanced up, only to be met with a dark, non-defined, figure, looming up in the branches.

“Shit- shit- shit-” I swore, as I rushed back to my bag.

Carrying weapons in public was illegal unless you worked with the military or police, but that thankfully didn’t extend to pocket knives. A 15-centimetre foldable blade was by no means the ideal method of defence, but at least it was something.

The tingling sensation returned to my eye, as the familiar red ribbon told me to duck under a branch. I did as I was told, snagging my bag as I did so, as I nearly avoided the shadowy figure landing mere centimetres away from me.

Before I had had the time to catch my breath, and wonder if my reaction time buffs stacked, a red ribbon on the ground told me to move. Following its guidance, I leapt over a branch, and under another. I heard a noise behind me. Someone else had landed on the ground, just where I stood, The ribbon vanished, and as I turned around I realised with fear that that person had been none other than Cain.

Even with all the reaction time buffs, I barely had the time to dodge out of the way as he launched at me in his half-human, half-wolf form. His eyes were void of any sort of emotion or recognition as if he didn’t know who I was.

I dodged another of his claw attacks by ducking under a branch.

It was clear what had happened. That figure had been the one to make Cain do this. I needed to get to them and knock them out. Hopefully, then the skill would stop taking effect.

I stepped aside, trying to avoid another one of Cain’s attacks, but I had been distracted with coming up with a plan, and his claws brushed by my shoulder.

I cried out in pain, as I grabbed the wounded area, dropping my bag. There was no blood, as the wound closed up the second he pulled his claws away, but it sure hurt like it hadn’t.

I ducked under another attack, as I grabbed my bag, pulled the knife out of it, and shoved it a few meters away.

Then, I stood up, and tried to leap over a branch, closer towards the figure. But Cain jumped from a branch, using the tree to run above me, and land mere centimetres away from me. I immediately leaped backwards, nearly avoiding a claw attack aimed at my chest.

It was then that I realised that from the start Cain wasn’t really attacking me, but rather cutting off my way to the one who orchestrated all of this. He was also likely going easy on me, and sparing his MP, to tire me out. Despite everything, I still managed to be surprised by this realisation, even if it was just for a split second. Cain was proving to be more of a strategist, and less of the brute I imagined him to be.

But, much like in the fight against Solomon, he wasn’t thinking though all the possibilities. As I continued to dodge his attacks, trying to avoid using my knife as much as possible to redirect his claws, as I was certain he would break it in one hit, I made my way around the tree.

Dodging the attacks, and moving around the branches proved to be quite the challenge. But, thankfully that figure hadn’t moved form their spot, no doubt needing to remain still to maintain all the skills active.

“Shit.” I swore, as sharp claws sliced at my leg, just as I was leaping over a low branch.

I hoped to gain some time, but to my greatest disarray nothing happened.