Chapter 197: New foes

As the hole continued to widen, something that looked like mist began to crawl out. It spread into the field, hills and valleys, taking everything in sight. The gryphons automatically dispatched themselves across the plain, saving everyone in sight. They landed everyone on the empire, and now the only person who can be seen in sight was Richard.

He landed on a mountain close to the source. The only mountain that had not been swallowed by the hole.

There was no sign of Elias.

In a moment, Myai landed beside him.

"What are we going to do about this?"

He turned his head and looked at her. "Can you trace his vital energy?"

"No." She shook her head.

"Good. Trace his vital energy. I’ll contain the hole." He said.

Her eyes went wide and before she could retort, he was already gone.

"Hey!! Just said I can’t...damn you!"

She heaved a shallow breath and looked down.

"Here goes nothing." She hopped in.

Myai fell fast. The mist closed over her head, and the light from above shrank to a coin, then to nothing.

Above her, Richard rose until the mountain was a small gray speck below him. He stopped where the mist could no longer reach and looked down at the black sphere eating the ground. For a moment he only watched it.

"Alright," he muttered.

He raised his hand.

The air in front of his palm split with a sound like glass breaking underwater. A thin dark line ran across the sky, then another, and another, until the cracks joined into a shape. Something folded open behind them. It was a dimension, vast and quiet, with its edges still unfinished.

Then it cracked and enlarged.

Further and further until it clashed with the hole. There was a quiet wrestle of will, and Richard just had to expand the dimension a bit further.

The mist thinned. The ribbons of earth stopped coming, and the hole began to shrink toward its center, drawn inward and collapsing. The edges curled in on themselves, and the sky around it grew pale again.

His eyes stayed in the dark at its heart. A shape was climbing it.

It was small, no more than a speck at first, rising against the pull with the stubbornness of something that refused to be dragged the other way. Then it became a figure, and the figure had a second shape clutched against its side.

Mona burst out of the hole in his dragon form, carrying Myai who was grinning and an unconscious Elias. He flapped his wings and soured the dark sky.

Seeing them out, Richard let the last of the void pour into his dimension, then closed his hand.

The dimension folded shut. The cracks in the sky sealed, one after another, until there was only air.

Below him, where the hole had been, there was a wide scar in the earth and nothing else.

The battle was a funny one. All the generals and invaders were totally wiped out. None left behind to tell the tale of how they were defeated by kids.

But that was the unsettling part. An attack like that felt like testing the waters. The generals were too weak to deploy in a land with an active protector.

"They were decoys." Nel nodded, convinced by her own words.

The protectors and disciples gathered at the edge of the floating empire.

Haliad seems to agree with her words. "If they were knocked out by children, then this mission was too much of a joke."

"They should know that the marking circle won’t end until they kill all the marked ones together in twenty four hours right?" Myai placed a hand on her chin. "The ones that died will just transfer the mark. It almost seems like a waste."

Richard turned around and began to walk away with fast strides.

Myai’s eyes followed him. "Where is he going?"

___

The gryphons didn’t get to them until the hole closed.

The forest was loud with ragged breathing. The children stood doubled over, hands on their knees, chests heaving after the long run.

Brin straightened first and let out a shaky laugh. "I think it stopped."

Kael didn’t laugh. He looked back along the path they’d torn through, and his eyes bled to white, the way they did when he used his vital sight. "The hole closed," he said softly.

"So we’re safe?" Fin asked, still catching his breath.

Coco, Jordan and Quil had already drifted apart, turning in slow circles, studying the trees. Something was off. No birds. No insects. Just the creak of branches.

Kael turned to follow their gaze, and that was when he saw it.

Far off between the trunks, a figure stood on a flat black rock, utterly still. It was tall, too tall, and narrow, wrapped in a long coat the color of wet slate. It simply watched, the way a cat watches something it has already caught.

Unease crawled up the back of Kael’s neck and settled there, cold.

"Guys, I think—"

Something moved past him. There was no sound, no footfall, only a gust of cold air against his cheek, and when his eyes snapped back to the rock, it was empty.

The figure had already reached them. It had crossed the whole distance and gone past him as though he were nothing. Kael spun around, mouth open to shout a warning.

He never saw the second one.

A hand closed on his head and slammed him to the ground, and then around the joint of his wings. A terrible, wet tearing split the air as the person ripped them clean off. Kael’s scream cracked through the forest as the wing came away in the stranger’s bare hand, feathers and blood running down the person’s long hand.

Ahead of him, the first intruder had already lunged at Fin.

Everything happened at once. Coco’s hand shot out and snatched Fin by the collar, hauling him backward just as clawed fingers swiped the space where his throat had been.

Jordan slammed both palms together, and the air roared into being around them, a spinning wall of wind.

And Quil didn’t wait for a plan. He lowered his shoulder and charged straight at the enemy. However, with this, he knew quite well that he was never a match against this person.

In fact, if they were all to attack at once, there was less than a percentage that they’ll land a hit.