The bumps on the ground were moving quickly towards the forest, not showing any signs of stopping, and Grey estimated they will get to the forest within at least eight seconds.
Grey felt a little pressured since he had never tried doing this before, although it would be the same process just like when he created mud, the outcome would be different. If the heat generated from the fire essence is not enough, then he will be unable to form lava.
While everyone was waiting patiently, Grey focused his mind and channeled more of his fire essence into the ground.
Just as the beasts were about to enter the forest, Grey tried to turn the ground into lava. But things unfortunately didn’t go as planned.
The ground heated up, before gradually drying up, all the grasses in the area instantly died, but other than that, nothing else happened.
‘What’s going on, why didn’t it work?’ Grey’s mind went into turmoil.
He expected at least the same result as when he tried creating mud, but the results were far from what he wanted.
Screech!
A loud screeching sound filled with pain came from the ground, but it was a little muffled so the group didn’t hear it properly.
“How did he do that?” Reynolds pointed at the parched up ground.
Klaus shook his head, indicating that he had no idea how Grey did it.
‘I get it now.’ Grey thought as he went closer to his friends, vigilantly staring at the bumps on the ground.
The reason he didn’t get the same result as when he tried making mud was easy, mud was created using soil and water, but lava was made using rock and fire. He was currently in a forest, and the ground was made up of soil, not rock.
‘I should’ve tried it while we were still in the rocky plains’ Grey thought with a little remorse.
Luckily, the heat seems to be able to hurt the beasts, thereby making it hard for them to come any closer to the group.
When Grey was previously trying to create the lava, he channeled his fire essence to cover up a width of about twenty meters, and the beasts were gathered in a width of just over ten meters, so even after they moved a little further, they couldn’t get to the trio. Before long, the bumps on the ground disappeared.
A minute later.
“Are they gone?” asked Klaus.
“It seems like it.” Reynolds replied after looking around.
“I’m not too sure, we should stay alert.” Grey added.
Compared to the duo, he could be said to have more experience when it came to these beasts since he encountered them before the duo.
They decided to stay for another minute, but when they saw nothing, Grey finally decided it was time to leave.
After the group turned around and started heading deeper into the forest, unknown to them, on the ground thirty meters in the west, a bump was silently moving towards them. This worm in particular took a detour around the heated soil, not just this one, the others as well.
The bump on the ground slowly retracted, leaving the surface flat again, but the worm was still headed in the direction of the trio.
____
One hundred meters into the forest.
“How did you do that?” Reynolds asked.
“Just a little trick I learned here.” answered Grey who was still vigilantly looking around.
He felt that his previous attack shouldn’t be able to stop the beasts since it didn’t cover a wide range.
“A trick, you call th..”
“Get back”
Grey held Reynolds by the hand and pulled forcefully, Reynolds who didn’t expect Grey would pull him was unexpectedly sent flying by the pull. Just as he went airborne, the ground he was previously standing on cracked, and a worm sprang out from the ground with its mouth wide open.
Bam!
Reynolds landed on his butt, but he didn’t have time to complain about the pain, not Grey’s freakish physical strength. He immediately stood up and seeing that the worm who wanted to turn him into dinner still haven’t gone back into the ground, he attacked along with Klaus and Grey.
“Fuck you! I don’t even taste good, why would you want to eat me?” He cursed as he continued attacking the worm violently.
Before the worm could get back into the ground, it was unfortunately bombarded to death by the assaults of the trio, especially Reynolds’ crazy attacks.
“Hey bud, it’s dead, you can stop attacking.” Klaus stopped Reynolds who was still attacking the worm, even though it was dead.
“Hmph! Ouch!” Reynolds snorted angrily, before crying out in pain while holding his left shoulder.
“Shit! Grey, how the hell are you so powerful?” He asked while rubbing his shoulder with a painful expression.
“Sorry, I didn’t… Stay close to me.” Just as Grey was about to explain, Void told him about more worms that were coming their way.
The trio stuck together and Grey channeled his fire essence into the ground again, heating up the soil around them.
Screech!
A screech of pain was heard once again as one of the worms was unlucky to be in the area Grey heated up. By slowly expanding the area, he gradually drove the worms back.
Twenty minutes later.
“That should do it.” said Grey.
Although he didn’t kill all the worms, the pain they felt from the heat should be able to keep them away.
“So where are you guys headed?” He asked.
“We were initially searching for you and Alice, since we’ve found you, I guess Alice is our next target. But if we don’t find her within the week, then we’ll have to leave this place without her. How about you?” Klaus explained
“Same as you guys.” Grey said.
“Okay, let’s go find Alice, and then leave this place. I’ve missed the Academy so much.” Klaus was the first to start heading deeper into the forest.
“Yeah, me too.” Grey and Reynolds said at the same time.
“I wonder if the empire would change after not seeing it for so long.” Reynolds suddenly asked after they caught up with Klaus.
“I don’t think so, we’ve lived in the empire for so many years and it didn’t change, why would it change in a short six months.” Klaus replied, he didn’t feel there would be any changes in the empire.
“Because there are times when change happens instantaneously, without any warnings, it just happens. People who love you will hate you, and those who said they would die for you, would try to kill you instead. All these will happen in the blink of an eye.” Grey joined in the conversation as well.
He continued, “It’s not that they didn’t like you before, it’s just ‘change’. That’s why it’s said, change is constant, you’ll never know when someone or something will change, they just do.”
“Well, I can’t say you’re wrong about that. But, I still believe even if the empire does change, there wouldn’t be much of a difference.” Klaus said.
“We all do.” Grey replied.
The group fell into silence as they all thought about ‘change’. What if the empire does change, what would they do? And how can they adapt to the sudden change?
“Hey Grey, you spoke like an elder just now.” Reynolds decided to break the silence.
“Yeah, are you sure you’re not over fifty?” Klaus added while laughing.
The trio soon broke into laughter at the expense of Grey, but he didn’t mind since he joined them in laughing as well.
“But seriously, where did you hear that?” Reynolds asked after their bout of laughter.
“From a book I read.” Grey replied after some time.
“It’s a nice book.” Reynolds said before keeping shut.
The trio continued with their search for Alice, but even after six days passed, they didn’t see any signs of her. Although they were confident in the ability of their friend, they couldn’t help but feel a little fearful, after all, they knew there were dangerous places in the trial land that even if they all grouped together and entered, they would still most likely die.
_____
In a mountain range deep in a forest at the Azure empire.
The compound belonging to Quinn’s family could be seen standing proudly.
In a study room.
Knock! Knock!
The middle-aged man who was sitting on the chair raised his head, a hint of tiredness could be seen on his face.
“Come in.” He said in a dignified manner.
The door of the library was opened slowly and the butler of the family walked in with his heads down.
“You summoned me, my lord.” The butler knelt in front of the desk before speaking.
“Are they back yet?” The middle-aged man asked.
“No, my lord.” The butler shook his head.
“You can leave.” The middle-aged man waved him away as a hint of grief flashed through his face.
‘Could it be that they faced a mishap?’