This wolf, what went on from the forest, looked down at the dragon with a kind gaze as her size made it unable for her to properly talk to him she could only sit in front of him and nonchalantly stare at him for a while.
“I take it back. You don’t look that great right now.” She jokingly added.
“W-what can I do for you? I can’t possibly go against your words.” the Dragon said with a quivering voice.
“That is true. For you to be abandoned by your people. That is just plain stupid, but, for you to lower yourself to such means. It makes me sick to look up at your ancestors.”
“I know… that. What choice do I have in this matter? Then try to live and go on?” He helplessly said.
“To a point that you work for humans, or with humans? I never liked that.” She asked.
“W-w-what does it even mean right now? I… don’t understand for your presence to be here. There is nothing here of your interest.”
“What can you even know? I wonder.” She asked as her gaze intensified.
“I sensed a scent of The Destroyer. Some kind of disturbance made me end my sleep. It went right at your place where I could feel it.” Dyrren sternly said.
“Huh? The Destroyer? I don’t know who that is? Some time ago… some intruder attacked my place, and I tried my best to protect my business.” He said truthfully. It was by no means wrong of him to attack and even tell the truth.
“Did you see it?”
“Yes, it was a crimson vortex and later some humanoid figure who injured me.”
“I see. Where is it now? Did it flee?” She continuously asked. She did not think he would be able to kill or destroy it.
“It disappeared amidst the explosion. I do not know where it is at the moment.”
“Did it talk? Any words it said?”
“It wasn’t conscious. It acted on instincts only. Nothing I can say to be meaningful.”
“I know that you are not lying. For you to be alive is fortunate enough.”
“It seems a string of fate is beginning to move once more. I hope for you to not tell anyone about this. There is a chance that there is more like me who sensed the disturbance and come here to look for it. It should dissipate soon, but you better be careful.” She ordered, that no room for retaliation was possible. The dragon could only remain without a choice, as if he had some.
“Can I ask a question?” Dragon said after summoning his courage.
“What is it? Do you have some problem?”
“Do you perhaps know who was that? I did not know what attacked my place.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not. The universe is way too chaotic recently. For people of Blood to do such things is normal. But the cause for such a problem to occur against my senses. I feel like this is beyond my knowledge. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the demonic pathways of Blood.”
“B-blood? Is it true?” He asked in astonishment.
“You probably know some things yourself. Do not waste my breath… For you to meet such an attack, there must be a lot on your mind, but nothing I can tell you will matter to you. I could only have some guessed myself, as I had not seen it myself.”
Dyrren answered as she got up. No longer glancing at the dragon, and turned back to the forest.
“Farewell, little Cendirr. I hope you will go find your peace.” She quickly disappeared into the forest while the dragon was left there speechless. He did not expect in his wildest dreams to meet such a powerful being that was at the same level as the singular dragon that he knew about.
The rest of the black wolfs quietly followed behind her. Their gazes lingered on Cendirr for a moment, yet they quickly moved away as they had their orders.
Cendirr stood there for a good while, before flying up in rejection. He wanted to know some things, but the answer would not reveal itself.
He decided to look for it himself. For him and mostly for his life, what was very dear to him. Gliding through the air and up beyond the mountain, he quickly reached the ruins of his home.
Crying wails sounded from the inside at almost the same time.
“Little treat huh… I will show them one day… ”
“But how come she even remembered my name? I don’t even remember it myself when was the last time we met.” He thought carefully, amid his anger and sadness.
Nonetheless, cries did not leave the ruins yet. His fate will be lingering outside of his expectation.
This encounter would make a drastic change for him, and he hardly thought about it at the moment. All that was on his mind could not bother him at the sight of his injuries and destroyed home. His fate was his since the unknown past, yet it was ripped from him by the terrifying being that even someone like Dyrren put on her sight.
Outside of the mountain range, deep within the giant forest. Ruler of the Shadow wolfs Dyrren was walking by. Surrounding her were her guards and kin, who she found to be trustworthy. This trip left her with many questions in her heart, yet the answers that she got just made a single point of interest for her. Identity of her fear, what she was unaware of.
“Lady Dyrren. May I inquire you about the decision you made about Cendirr’s place?” One of the bigger beasts approached from the shadows behind the trees. Dozen of meter tall wolf appeared. It was still unnaturally smaller than the Dyrren’s stature, but still a very impressive beast.
Who knew how she became what she is today? The size was not always meant to figure out one’s power. There were such cases when smaller creatures were more deadly than the bigger ones, but at some point in power scaling what humans came up with, it became a useless metric.
In a world of the carnivorous beast, size and aura mattered with status and strength the same way as in a cultivating world of immortals. Its advantages were at the level of disadvantages. There was no weak or weaker. Only strong and stronger were in the jungle what was a world of the Rulers from the Heavenly List.
“Leave it alone. No disturbance will be permitted.” Dyrren answered.
“Of course. It shall be as you wish.” The tall wolf lowered its head in confirmation. A sheen of admiration and determination was in its eyes.
“Also, there will be some significant changes that will shake our world. I currently do not know the reasons or the time. I just hope you will prepare my kind for the worst problems that we faced before. Make a schedule for the next century and prepare the most powerful species. It does not matter if we are all Shadow wolfs anymore... Contact others, and I will make the call personally.”
“What? Is… Is it that bad?” The wolf asked in uncertainty.
“It is… in a way. Are you not willing? I could ask others like you.” She asked.
“No. I am willing. I will make sure it will proceed well and within a century, we will have a force that we had never before.”
“It is funny. I may go beyond the physical reaches of my being, but I am forever unable to go away.”
“Lady Dyrren… You don’t have to be helpless like this. I am sure there will be a way one day.” He said as the look of his master was lost in melancholy.
“I will prepare myself for the worst. If there will be some issue, I will contact you or you can go to me if it would be serious enough. Also, since I am tasking you with such a task, open the treasury for this century as well. If someone will complain, you know what to do.”
“Of course. Have a good rest.” He decisively said as the Dyrren left in a speck of dust, disappearing into thin air with a few steps.
“Oh, lord of calamity... What is happening in this world we live in?” He sighed.
One of the wolfs from the earlier group approached the tall wolf. “Sir Talriev, is it fine to leave the dragon as it is? I don't have much of trust in them.”
“Of course. No disturbances. That was an order for what lady Dyrren said. No exception this time.” Talriev said resolutely.
“But he has some deals and businesses with humans? It could endanger the potential risks.”
“What should you know? Lady Dyrren knows herself more than you could imagine. Humans are there and they won’t go away even if you wanted to. So, deal with it as always.”
“B-but…”
“We are leaving. This little trip is over and all of you have a strict order of not leaking the information at all. Additional information won’t go anywhere apart from me. Understood?”
“Of course.”
“Yes”
“Yes”
“Understood.”
A Group of wolfs run away in the opposite way from the mountain range.
All there was now was just empty surroundings with weeping that sounded throughout the mountain. The wolfs perhaps heard it , or not as the flow of wind carried it away.
Far away, outside from the monumental planetary system which spanned millions and perhaps even billions of kilometers. A speck of light was drifting through the space.
A flickering red light was left on its path. Allan and orb’s last escape was drifting away. Inside the comet, or what could be barely said to be the last remaining strand of orb's energy, Allan was conscious from the very beginning, with throbbing pain in his chest. Bubbling blood and vortex was on a brink of cracking apart. It seemed that just a single attack would destroy it in an instant.
But that would be a bad thing at the moment. Mortal’s body couldn’t survive the harsh environment of outer space. Add a stronger resistance while trying to break through the atmosphere of the planets and you have an impossible way of survival.
Unfortunately, as all things were considered with the attack of Cendirr, the red light began to dim within the following hours. Its speed did not slow down in the slightest, but the price that was paid would not be refunded.
The location that it took this time was the same as usual. Energy-efficient and unreliable random escape formation. Only an all-seeking god would perhaps guess what place they chose right now. It could take longer or they could end on the same plains as before? No one could tell anything. That would be a rather ironic way to this journey, but it was that simple.
All around this comet was not just Allan. All sorts of rocks, crystals, gems, and coins, with all sorts of other destroyed cave things, were floating around within. Allan's bag and his diary, in a terrible state, were floating around him as well.
Allan’s body became to freeze over. The temperature was declining at a rapid speed. His previous protection provided by the orb of red was beginning to cease. Its powers were used up. Its results from the possession were unknown factors that would be hard to guess. Allan’s being was the same as usual, but the conscience of the red orb continuously lingered around him.
He began to breathe heavily within this empty space. The last remaining breathable air which lingered from the orb's protection was lowered as well as its speed.
“Where am I? This freezing feeling… it is as if I am deep in the glacier mountains.”
Allan drifted through the space at an incredible sight of the surrounding stars. There was nothing around him, no visible planet nearby. Layers of frost already started to appear on his body.
“No… It’s so cold… home… Let me just go home… I didn’t ask for this. Why…” He helplessly thought. His mind drifted apart as his tiredness got a hold of him. He fell unconscious. His mind could not go on, and falling unconscious was all it could do. Speed slowly declined even more. Red lighting around him dissipated into particles of dusty light, which drifted into the nothingness of the space.
Allan was left there, floating in the encompassing empty void.
Suddenly, the empty void split open.
A hand appeared from the bright crevice, which could barely be called a door to somewhere. It slammed towards Allan’s direction as the sphere of light enveloped the surroundings around him and shot everything into space. Allan was gone from this empty region. Traveling at the same speed as he was protected by the red orb. Perhaps even faster. His body was protected by a veil of light as he left in a blink of an eye through this region.
The hand slowly reclines towards the crack, as if it was never there to begin with. Behind the cracked space was a sight of an old man's grim-looking, yet peaceful smile. His eyes followed the path he chose, but all sorts of things could happen on the journey when traveling like this. Pushing to an asteroid, or being pulled by the gravity of some stars. Even he did not know where the ending result would end.
“Have I done wrong? That person... fate is approaching to the degree that even I am unsure. Was he an Outsider? That... can't be right.”
The crevice closed with the last words that the old man muttered. Whenever he did was right or wrong no longer mattered, as the new fate was approaching not him, but Allan, who was traveling to a new place.
