Somehow he reminded of Noah to her. They were still on the outskirts of the forest as they did not go deeper into the forest. A few yards away, they saw a line of red oak trees. Students were forbidden to cross the red oak trees.
”Now you should feel the arch energy once again,” said Gilrine, turning back to look at the three students.
He was oblivious to the fact that except for Edith, both Michael and Victoria could use spells. The latter had the Cosmic energy running through her veins while for Michael, the system enabled him to use arch energy despite the arrays.
”Look around, you will find the mushrooms you’re looking for,” said Gilrine,
”Where are you going?” Gaya asked Gilrine,
”Just making sure we are alone. I don’t want any more surprises” Gaya could see the sweat drops forming on his forehead. It was obvious that he was lying.
COnsidering Gaya wanted to follow him, she pretended to believe him.
”Good idea” she nodded,
”You three, start picking the black foot mushrooms” Gaya sat on a log as the three of them pretended to look around to pick the mushrooms,
Thanks to the light orb conjured by Gaya, they were able to look around their surroundings.
Edith stared at Michael picking the charcoal-colored mushrooms. As their name suggested, the mushrooms were in the shape of a human foot. Michael picked a bunch of mushrooms from the rotten logs and the ground surrounding the trees.
Following Michael, Edith also located the mushrooms and collected the mushrooms. Victoria was just pretending to pick mushrooms. Gaya saw that but did not give any shit.
”You go look somewhere else” Edith saw professor Steinmeyer shouting an order at sixty-six.
”Yes professor” he nodded before walking away from their spot leaving the girls.
Victoria and Edith sighed in relaxation as they now only had to deal with professor Steinmeyer. IF she left the area, they would be able to look for the primordial flames.
Just as they hoped, a few minutes later, professor Steinmeyer left the area after telling them to stay put.
Victoria waited until professor Steinmeyer’s figure disappeared into the forest.
She then flicked her wrist as a golden compass materialized on her palm.
The single red needle kept spinning fastly before coming to a halt pointing towards the east, the opposite direction Gilrine went.
”We are close to finding the flames, come on” Victoria dragged Edith in the direction the compass was pointing.
Meanwhile, Gaya and Michael regrouped on top of a banyan tree. They were far away from the girls. As far as they were concerned, the girls were collecting mushrooms as they were told.
Michael was watching Gilrine navigating through the forest in the mirror in his hand with Gaya,
”Where is he going?” frowned Gaya,
”Let’s find out”
The duo shot out into the air like bullets. They avoided breaking branches or making any noises. Michael sent a drone in front for reconnaissance.
Almost ten minutes later, they landed on a tree branch. In the distance, they saw Gilrine standing under an oak tree. He was gawking around to see if anyone was following him.
After making sure he wasn’t followed, Gilrine took out a leather pouch from the inner pockets of his long faded coat. He poured out a white powder from the pouch. He drew a ‘W’ on the tree using the white powder.
The oak tree’s branches moved as several glowing symbols appeared on the stem. Looking at the symbols, Gilrine sighed with ease,
”Thank the gods. Huh?”
All of a sudden, they heard a twig breaking nearby. Gilrine’s body immediately tensed up as he started to look in all the directions. He then quickly wiped off the ‘W’ on the tree. When he removed the symbol, the tree moved yet again to its previous state as the glowing symbols slowly faded away,
Michael sent the drone in the direction of the noise.
”Fuck” Michael cursed,
”What?” asked Gaya. She did not seem very patient. It took great effort for her to stay put instead of jumping on Gilrine, knocking him out, and interrogating him to get the truth.
”It’s Wilkas,” said Michael,
”And he is not alone”
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind blew past them. Both Gaya and Michael almost lost their balance and fell off the branch. Gilrine was just about to take a step forward when he was knocked out by an invisible force. Gaya and Michael looked at Gilrine stumbling to the ground. For a split second, they saw a humanoid shape standing beside Gilrine before vanishing into thin air.
”Tell me you saw that?” frowned Gaya. She could swear she saw a shape beside Gilrine who lay on the ground without moving a muscle.
”See what happened to him. I’ll deal with Wilkas” said Michael before leaping towards the next tree. Just like him, she leapt from the branch and landed near Gilrine,
Before squatting down to check on Gilrine, she looked around vigilantly. Until she was sure that the humanoid shape was nowhere near her, she remained vigilant. Still being vigilant, she squatted down, putting her finger on Gilrine’s throat,
She felt the pulses but his body was cold. Quickly, she picked up the leather pouch. Before standing up, she took out a needle from her space ring with a flick of her wrist. She injected the needle into Gilrine’s neck.
”Stay down”
Amidst the woods near the oak tree, Wilkas was bleeding on the ground. His face was all bruised up and a white bloody bone was sticking out of his forearm. Another youngster laid not so far from Wilkas and compared to Wilaks, he seemed to be in a much better state.
”I only wanted to kill one bitch. But now I have to kill a bitch and a maggot”
It was Decker who just spoke these words. Yesterday after Victoria beat the crap out of him, he was found by professor Lane. In front of the most terrifying professors in Mazeroth, Decker’s lackeys crumbled, spewing everything they heard from Victoria. Professor Lane did not immediately take any action. He just gave Decker a truth pill and interrogated him. The pill prevented Decker from lying. Hence, he admitted to violating and killing his fiance. Professor Lane expelled him on the spot and gave him two days to get his affairs in order before leaving Akilan Realm.
Decker had no affairs to settle except dealing with Victoria. Learning Victoria received detention, Decker was waiting for the two girls in the black forest when he saw Wilkas.
Wilkas was already in a bad shape when he saw him. Since Wilkas too saw Decker, Decker planned to take him out before he informed the professors. Decker did not want the professors to find out what happened to Victoria and Edith.
”And here I thought coming to Mazeroth was the best thing in my life” Wilkas coughed up blood. Weirdly, he was laughing for some reason.
He always thought he was going to achieve something bigger but now he realized his life was a bit anticlimactic. As his last wish, he just wanted to bring the god’s wrath on those elves who kidnapped him from sixty-six’s room and mercilessly beat the hell out of him.
”You’re not going to beg for me to let you live?” Decker asked while walking towards him with a crimson red dagger in his hand,
”Nah, I prefer to die with a bit of dignity” Wilkas coughed up some more blood,
”Let me out”
Suddenly a demonic voice reverberated in the area. The voice sent a chill running through Decker’s body. He tensed as he frantically looked around,
”Tear him”
”Piece by piece”
”Broke his limbs”
”I want to feel his warm blood between my fingers”
As the demonic voice sounded closer and closer to them, Decker heard twigs breaking. He conjured an orb of light to see a figure walking out of the shadows,
”You” Wilkas couldn’t believe his eyes. It was sixty-six, his buddy, roommate, and who punched him in the face to get detention.
”Who…who are you?”
”Go away,” Michael growled.
Seeing Wilkas bleeding on the ground reminded him of Jack’s death. Although he avenged Jack, he could not save him. Michael sensed the third persona within him getting stronger as though it was harnessing the power of darkness somehow.
The last thing Michael wanted was to let the third persona take control of his body and wreak havoc in one of the most powerful places in the world.
”What the fuck are these prefects doing?” Decker cursed the prefects for letting students sneak out to the black forest which was supposed to be forbidden for them
Michael threw a healing potion to Wilkas,
”Leave” once again, Michael warned Decker.
”Let me out” Michael’s eyes suddenly flamed up. A set of pitch-black armor replaced his green robes for a second,
”Whoa” Decker was stunned to see the voice was actually coming from the student in front of him,
What shocked him more was his eyes and the way his looks changed. For a few seconds, he grew taller, a scary-looking armor appeared covering his body from head to toe and his eyes were shooting crimson red flames.
”Buddy, I don’t know what drugs you are on. But it’s one spooky thing”
What could one more body do to him? Thought Decker, hiding the crimson red dagger behind his back.
At this point, Wilkas was completely healed. He picked himself from the ground.
”I’m not going to…” Michael closed his eyes, mustering all of his strength to control the third persona,
”Let you out”
”Oh you will…you will” the demonic voice of the third persona once again growled. This time, it sounded as though it amused,
Finally, Michael felt the urge to go berserk calming down within him which was a sigh the third persona went away.
”Human, we have a problem” he heard Gaya’s voice in his head. Michael took a long breath. Yet again, his third persona put him in a heap of trouble. Both Wilkas and the new guy saw him transform and if either of them told anyone in MAzeroth about this, his life would be at risk.
Wilkas could be dealt with easily unlike the new guy.
”We didn’t see each other. Got it?” Michael asked Decker,
Decker took a few minutes to ponder and answer,
”Why not?”
Michael snickered, “I don’t believe you”
The very next second, Wilkas saw sixty-six dashing at Decker. The next thing he knew, Decker was lying on the ground without moving an inch.
”The hell are you doing?” Wilkas asked, looking at sixty-six tying Decker onto a tree.
”Go back to the dorm,” Michael said to Wilkas before injecting a needle into Decker’s neck.