From above, a heavy draft of wind blew down over myself and the wolfman causing the long crimson hair atop my head to flail wildly in all directions. I raised my arms to shield my face and catch my breath while squeezing both eyes shut to keep away the sting of flying dust. I heard the descent of someone touching solid pavement and waited for the wind to die off before reopening my eyes to see who our new guest was.

                “Zavis?” I looked on in bewilderment at the man standing before us. Despite the crazy wind that’d blown my hair into a twisted chaotic mess, Zavis’ green hair remained wavy and stylized, completely unfazed. He stood tall and wore a completely black suit lined with a subtle gold trim. Black boots and matching black gloves adorned his hands and feet and I couldn’t help but notice the weapon which Zavis held at his side. It was a large recurve bow shaped and designed in such a way that it looked almost futuristic in design. A glowing green line of light ran the length of the bow’s edge, sandwiched between two metallic plates which curved on either side of the grip to form the bow’s shape. As Zavis planted his feet firmly upon the ground, the green illuminating his bow faded to black, leaving behind an entrenched divot in its absence.

                “Zavis, sir! I didn’t expected you would personally see to the frontlines.” Taken aback by Zavis’ presence, the wolfman took a step backwards before bowing respectfully.

                “Well yes, when you reported that Lulu was the one causing problems it wouldn’t have done any good to send just anyone in to deal with the situation.” Zavis’ gaze scanned over the wreckage of the battlefield, pausing momentarily upon the fallen beastkin before his emerald hues met my own interested gaze.

                Folke’s features grew quizzical and he followed Zavis’ attention turning his own gaze upon me before returning his attention to the green haired man. “Lulu’s unconscious for now but what should we do with her now that she’s become like this?” He asked, giving myself no further notice.

                “She’ll be fine once she wakes. For now I’d like you to take Lulu and your surviving crew back over to headquarters. Heal yourselves and wash up. I’ll debrief you once Lyssa and I have returned.” Zavis dictated to Folke. Depressing a button on the bow, the weapon mechanically folded in on itself until it was no larger than the size of one of his own gloves. He then placed the tool over his left arm where it proceeded to automatically secure itself, winding a band around Zavis’ arm.

                While I stood in wonderment over the mechanical marvel of the bow Zavis possessed, Folke hoisted the still bound and unconscious Lulu up over his shoulder and moved to gather his one remaining squad member before taking his leave. “What kind of bow was that?” I asked Zavis once Folke was out of earshot, to which he promptly shot me a questioning look.

                “Help me with these. This process will go faster if the two of us work together.” Zavis ordered. Ignoring my curiosity, he unstrung one of the two brown leather satchels from over his shoulder and offered up the freed bag to me.

                The first thing I noticed when accepting the bag was how unexpectedly heavy it was. By my judgement it weighed roughly twenty pounds. Curious, I clicked open the sealed flap and took a look inside. What I saw perplexed me. Inside were a plethora of opaque blue spheres the size of golf balls. Each ball was separated into two hemispheres at middle by a subtle line and on one end of each ball were two buttons. “What are these things?” I asked.

                Pulling out one of the balls, Zavis depressed both buttons on the top of the ball and twisted. It immediately popped open, expanding to reveal a white cylindrical middle section. One of the buttons subsequently illuminated itself with a red light. “Placing one mana detainer every ten feet should be sufficient but we should hurry before this Charmolgrath has a chance to wake.” Reaching out, Zavis dropped the ball.

                My jaw dropped in surprise at what I perceived. The device fell only a few inches before it recovered, floating in midair. The second button on the device then illuminated yellow. Computers, weird mechanical bows… Anti-gravity golf balls… This demon world wasn’t just a fantastical marvel, it was a bizarre futuristic sci-fi experience too! “Wait- You mean to tell me that this monster is still alive!?”

                “That would be the correct assumption, yes.” Zavis stated. Pulling out a second ball, he prepared the device for deployment and placed it ten feet from the first one he’d set. “I’ve got this side. Start deploying your half of the mana detainers in that direction. We’ll circle around the Charmolgrath and meet on the other side.

                Following Zavis’ direction, I pulled out the first ball and pushed the buttons before twisting to activate it. I felt giddy with awe at my first deployment of the floating mechanical wonder, but at the same time I couldn’t help but be worried. This Charmolgrath, as it was apparently called, wasn’t dead? I glanced up at the behemoth of a creature in disbelief. This monster had lost a ton of blood, plus it had yet to move at all after I’d found it again... “How exactly is this thing still alive…” I wondered silently to myself while deploying another mana detainer.

                It took the better part of fifteen minutes deploying the floating devices before I finally reached the other side of the Charmolgrath. Zavis was already there standing patiently while I deployed the final device from my portion of the satchels. I’d spent the time deploying floating spheres wondering what exactly we were doing this for. I felt it was now time to seek answers. “So… what are these things supposed to do exactly?” I directed my question at Zavis.

                With a stern gaze, Zavis looked me over before returning his attention to the Charmolgrath and the devices we’d placed around it. He then promptly turned and started to walk away from the Charmolgrath after observing both lights on each of the spheres turn green.

                “Hey! I asked a question, why aren’t you answering me?” Agitated, I followed behind Zavis until he stopped and turned around.

                “The Charmolgrath are a demon that exists due to the presence of mana. Because mana shapes their physical existence they’ve centered the entirety of their lives around seeking and consuming it. But there isn’t enough mana available in this city to sustain even a single one of these demons…” Zavis offered me a somber glance before continuing. “This Charmolgrath was desperate and is only here right now because it’s dying of starvation...”

                Dying of starvation? That sounded horrible. Had it been because of me that this Charmolgrath had broken into the city and started on its rampage? But if that was the case and it was after the mana I’d been releasing, why had it so quickly switched targets and pursued Lulu instead? “Sorry. I think it’s because of me that this thing started attacking the town…”

                Instead of responding to my apology Zavis stood silent, watching the line of spheres disappear around the fallen Charmolgrath’s body as they changed colors. “That is a hopeful thought, but I’m afraid you didn’t cause this…” He finally spoke, though his tone sounded unusually despondent. Cones of light shown from each sphere, illuminating the enormous creature before us. I raised a hand to clear some of the brightness from my eyes and that’s when I noticed what the spheres were doing. Wherever the light from each device touched the Charmolgrath that area would begin to disintegrate, causing a stream of bright particles to tear away from the monster and be sucked into the small spheres that formed a perimeter around its body.

                “This is…” Seeing the creature before me vanishing into nothing but particles of light, I was amazed that the Charmolgrath wasn’t making more fuss over the erasure of its physical body. It continued to lay unmoving while the spheres worked away, erasing every corner of the beast’s existence.

                “We’re putting it to rest by stealing what’s left of the mana it possesses.” Zavis explained.

                “I see…” I’d never seen anything die in this sort of way before. It felt both eerie and surreal to me, like I was watching a fantastical creature’s life-force fade away into a distant place.

                “Lyssa. There’s something I’d like for you to do.” Zavis spoke up once the Charmolgrath’s body was almost completely consumed by the spheres.

                “Yeah?” I asked, still entranced by what I was seeing.

                “I’ll be taking you back to headquarters with me once this is finished and we’ve gathered up the mana detainers. I want you to stop asking questions and keep your mouth shut from now on.”

                “What? Why?” I asked, shooting Zavis a concerned and questioning look.

                Zavis responded with a stern look of his own. “You don’t make a very convincing imposter when asking questions about the things Lyssa already knows.”