Shadows of Our Kind
Prologue: A World at War.
I am Perseus Shadowclaw, a winged wolf/fox hybrid. Before I begin the story of my life, let me explain the world I live in. I live in the world of Zenith, which is composed of one continent containing six countries, including a little bit of unclaimed territory here and there. These countries are: the Nation of Light, the Empire of Darkness, Empire of Great Flames, the Country of Wind, the Water Republic and the Lands of the Earth Tribe. The Light Nation and the Empire of Darkness are the big military forces of Zenith, and no other nation dare challenge them! Well... except each other. Their armies are so strong because their soldiers were given power from two great magical sources: for the Nation of Light, they have the World Tree "Yggdrasil" granting its denizens holy light magic; versatile magic with very powerful healing capabilities. For The Empire of Darkness, they have the Tree of Darkness "Noctrasil" bolstering the strength of its armies with the most destructive of magics: Dark Magic. Since I was eight years old, The Nation of Light and The Empire of Darkness were at war, and it shook the very foundation of the world. But my childhood was so peaceful that I had no idea that I was living in a world at war; for the majority of my life I've lived in seclusion with my master, Takeshi-sensei, in a small isolated forest called the Twilight Thicket, located shallowly within The Nation of Light. As of now the war seems to be at a standstill, with neither side wanting to risk another play. This pseudo-peace is welcome to many with open arms, but the looming threat of another attack keeps both sides on edge. War is truly an abominable thing, but it was because of war that I would decide to begin my unenclosed life and to go on a quest to save the world!
Chapter 1: The battle at the Forest's Edge!
I looked down the great cliff that lie before me, and saw a large expanse of shadow trees, forming a sea of black leaves. The Twilight Thicket was truly a beautiful place, and yet it was so bleak. Seeing the top of the forest from my vantage point used to be so entertaining, but I grew weary of it after seeing it so many times. The ephemeral nature of a fur's interests, I suppose. I stretched my grey wings out and let out a long drawn out yawn. "I'm so bored now that my training is done for the day... and there's nothing to do around here now that I've read all of sensei's books..." I thought to myself languidly, fiddling with my stringed crystal necklace. "Guess I might as well write my own story at this point." I entertained as I strapped my sheathed katana around my back and slowly began to walk down the cliff. But suddenly, I felt something, not something physical, no, but an aura, a magical one... I focused in on it: it was nearby, just outside the periphery of the forest. I could feel...a voluminous amount of dark energy surrounding a very bright but small amount of light energy. I knew what this meant: some of the forces of light and dark were engaging in battle; there was no other explanation. Whoever was emitting the light force was in serious trouble. I readied my sheathed katana and sprinted quickly in the direction of the energy. I had to stop the fighting; I hated to see people die. The shadow trees flew by me in a blur as I made my way toward the magical presence, and soon I was out of the forest. Upon exiting, about a hundred feet ahead of me, on a dirt road I saw the indubitable battle; three furs, two of which were wearing battle regalia bearing the insignias of the Light Nation military, and one which was a young cleric of some sorts, were being pursued on their left flank by a battalion of Dark Empire troops. The young female cleric seemed not to be able to keep up a running pace for long, so in order to keep distance from the soldiers to the cleric, the two warriors then stood their ground and began to fight off the approaching Dark Empire soldiers. I couldn't tell what species most of the Dark Empire troops were, considering they were armored to the teeth in black chainmail and helmets with no visible patches of fur showing. However, the species of the remaining Light Nation denizens was easy to determine, especially considering there was just three still standing. There was a male dragon, female hedgehog and a female rabbit, the cleric. The rabbit was clearly no battle-cleric; her white coat was in pristine condition, and looked rather frightened as she clutched her golden staff. To further support my hypothesis, the hedgehog and dragon were guarding her, each battling with up to several Dark Empire soldiers at a time. The red dragon towered over everyone in the battle, easily standing at a height of six feet seven inches. He fought with a greatsword, engulfed in magical fire: he would swing and take out his foes three at a time with his massive reach. The yellow hedgehog, conversely, was fighting with dual wielded shortswords, deftly parrying each strike coming in her direction, and returning with precise slashes contacting her enemies in key tendons on their body. Clearly the dragon and hedgehog were more skilled than the lot of Dark Empire soldiers, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming, surely they'd become exhausted soon and not be able to keep up their current pace of fighting.
I had to intervene; if I didn't, the rabbit, dragon and hedgehog were all goners. I unsheathed my katana, took a deep breath and focused all of my magical energy to the tip of my blade. "Shadow Style..." I whispered to myself. As I uttered these words, my fur changed its coloration from grey to a dark hue of purple, and luminous purple energy began to emanate from my eyes. "GREAT SHADOW ARC!" I screamed viscerally as I spun 360 degrees swinging my blade in a slanted vertical slash. The energy released from my sword in the shape of a wicked slice of pure, translucent purple energy. In a matter of fractions of seconds, the originally paper thin width of the blast began to diverge midflight as it incrementally reached a maximum width of forty feet. In a matter of seconds it intercepted the battle at the caravan, consuming The Light and Dark soldiers alike in its energy for a brief second as it continued to soar past them and dissipated in the distance. The lot of the Dark Empire soldiers dropped to the ground unconscious, with the exception of three that I sensed were the strongest of their group. It wasn't intended to be lethal; its purpose was to magically overload the Dark Empire grunts, rendering them unconscious. And with careful precision, I made sure it wouldn't harm anyone I deemed an ally, in this case trio from the Light Nation; they were all unaffected by it, but that's not to say they weren't surprised to see where such an anomaly came from. At this point all eyes were on me, the remaining three soldiers from each faction. Rather elated to see that her chances of survival just skyrocketed, the female hedgehog was the first to speak up,
"Holy shit, that was so cool! Who is that?" she said excitedly. The red dragon was next to speak up, clearly less impressed then his spikey companion,
"Hmph. I could have finished them off without his help." And lastly, the feeble looking rabbit girl just started at me, her blue eyes wide in awe. The leader of the Dark Empire troops was not so pleased by my intervention, he was... well he was pissed,
"Who the hell do you think you are, interfering like this!?" he bellowed furiously. He brandished his broadsword and equipped his steel kite shield. "Thirteen, Twelve, make sure the lizard and spiked rat don't interfere; I want to fight this one alone." he ordered as advanced towards me.
"Understood!" they responded simultaneously as they unsheathed their blades and advanced toward the Light Nation trio by the caravan. I noticed that the two soldiers he referred to as "Thirteen" and "Twelve" were quivering slightly as they walked, probably as a result of taking the brunt of my Great Shadow Arc. In their condition, I was confident that the dragon and hedgehog would be able to defeat them; all I had to do now was focus on the foe in front of me. As his figure became less distanced, it occurred to me that he wasn't wearing a helmet. I'm not sure if it were a sign of military status, or because the stag's antlers would make it neigh impossible to wear a helmet anyway. His fur was a very dark brown hue, bordering black. The dark color of his fur made a strange thematic sense, as he was most certainly a blackheart.
"I am Devian Cross, commander of the third battalion of the guild Nihilum, the strongest mercenary guild in all of Zenith." With his sword still in hand he pointed to an emblem engraved on his chest plate. It was an ornate insignia, golden in color with an intricate design of thorned vines forming a shape that resembled the number nine. "Of all the warriors in my guild I am ranked ninth in strength. Tell me, what is your name? I like to know the names of powerful men before I kill them, although I suppose you are more of a child!" he taunted. I sneered at this.
"A heartless butcher like you doesn't deserve to hear my name!" I retorted, as I continued towards him, katana in my left hand at the ready. Clearly unamused, he snarled angrily at my remark,
"Bah, it's not as though a brat like you has lived long enough to garner a reputation anyway!" Devian spoke angrily. The stag extended his blade outward and focused intensely at it. After a short delay, an intense dark energy engulfed his broadsword, as he assumed his battle stance: body cocked slightly sideways with his shield in front and his broadsword to his side. The technique he just demonstrated was known as "Magical Imbuement", the most efficient and wide spread magical technique used in military combat. I decided to follow suite; I imagined my katana sharper, stronger, lighter, and as I did so it began to radiate a familiar purple energy; now it was stronger than any alloy know to Zenith.
As I readied my katana, Devian spoke, "Enjoy your last breaths, runt!" He charged me head on: he opened with a diagonal slash that I easily matched, parrying it solidly. But as I did so he attempted a shield bash, which I deftly avoided with a back hop; I didn't want to go on the offensive without firmly grasping his fighting style. We exchanged three blows, each of which Devian attempted to overpower me, but I held my ground, parrying each of his strikes while being wary of his shield. It didn't take me long to grasp his fighting style, His strikes were fierce, but they were reckless; he was so focused on killing his opponent that he would tend to leave himself vulnerable to counterstrikes, just hoping that having a large shield would cover him. His battle instincts and powerful sword strokes indicated that he was a veteran in combat, but lacked proper technique. A master swordsman uses not just instinct, but their magical energy to guide their strikes. Devian clearly lacked this intricacy, and because of this I knew I would win. With my magic guiding my blade; blocking his blows was as natural to me as breathing. The dark brown stag came at me once more, this time with a forward thrust. I immediately formulated a plan. Hastily placing two fingers from my right hand on the lower flat side of my katana I blocked his thrust diagonally, and then rotated my sword counterclockwise, pushing his sword to his right side, leaving him open to attempt another shield thrust. He took the bait; he thrusted his shield at me, and once more I responded with a back hop, but this time my blade was in position. I did a 360 and followed up with a cross chop, my katana cleanly cutting through his shield as a hot knife to butter. Devian froze in shock; surely no one had thought to strike at his shield before. I smirked at this,
"You forgot to imbue your shield. That's a rookie mistake, mister 'ninth in strength'." I quipped. My comment seemed to have struck a chord with him, "You little RUNT!" he screamed as he charged at me in a berserker rage, now wielding his sword in both paws.
"Still think you can win?" I taunted. "Then allow me to show you why that's not gonna happen: Shadow Style..." as I softly spoke the last two words, I relaxed my body and focused all my magical energy to my hind paws. As his broadsword reached where he thought my body was, it passed through thin air. "...Shunpo." At that moment I reappeared behind him in midair, katana in a two handed grip, and forced my blade down upon my foe's inner shoulder; my imbued katana cleanly pierced his armor, and cutting through about four inches of flesh. Before he could scream, I followed with a similar slice to his left inner shoulder completely disabling his arms.
"Noctrasil dammit!" Devian roared, as he fell to his knees writhing in pain. "I can't move my arms!"
"You might want to see a healer about that; can't see you holding a sword until you do." I teased while sheathing my katana. He shuffled around on his knees so he could turn to face me. His stare was one of pure unadulterated rage.
"You'll pay for this you half-breed bastard! When the other single digits hear about you, you'll be top priority on their kill list!" he spat at me, with a venomous tone.
"I think I've had enough of your empty threats." I responded, losing interest in conversing with my defeated opponent.
"Shadow Style: Shadow Blast"
As I held out my left hand a six foot diameter blast of translucent shadow energy emanated from my hand streamed at him and engulfed his being. After channeling my attack for a good three seconds I dismissed the flow of magical energy. Devian Cross was out cold, on the ground. I let out a sort of half sigh, half breath as I sheathed my katana. "Well that was disappointing to say the least. He didn't get a single hit off." I mumbled. I turned over to see the aftermath of the inevitable battle between the remaining Light and Dark Empire soldiers. It was just as I thought: the Light Nation soldiers were victorious, their opponents out cold on the ground. I placed my hands behind my head and stretched my back and wings before I ambled my way over to the wayward trio of Light Nation Soldiers. I'd be lying if I said who they were and what they were doing in the middle of nowhere didn't interest me. Their presence here was quite the anomaly; the Twilight Thicket and the surrounding grassland weren't important positions for skirmishes against the Dark Empire. What could they possibly be doing here? Speculation aside, the female hedgehog was racing over in my direction. She seemed quite eager to make my acquaintance.
"Dude, holy shit, that was incredible! You totally saved our sorry asses! Oh my Yggdrasil, That first attack you used was so cool!" She said rapidly as she grabbed my paw and started shaking it before I could even offer it. Now that she was close up, I got to get a good look at her person. Her fur was a tannish brown hue, without a single drop of blood staining it. The spikes that would be on a feral hedgehog's back were what composed her hair; considering I'd never seen an anthro-hedgehog in person before, I though it looked rather interesting. She had rich brown eyes and had her spikes for hair were held back in a blue bandana. She wore a brown leather chest piece, but no protective leggings. But from the waist down she wore what appeared to be a... skirt from a maid's uniform? Why on earth was she wearing a maid skirt under her armor?
"Uhh, pleased to meet you miss...?" Partly because I'd never actually seen an actual anthro hedgehog before, and partly considering her verbose nature, I found myself at a loss of words.
"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Juli, Juli Tekken. I'm a specialist of the Special Corps in the Nation of Light's army, mostly do reconnaissance and the works, but when I'm not on the job, I work at the Royal palace as a maid." Juli spun around, her skirt expanding with the motion of her twirl. "I guess you could say I'm a...Battlemaiden!" she said, laughing. Wow. That was really bad. But she seemed like a genuinely kind and amiable fur, so I didn't want to offend.
"uhh... good one." I said half-heartedly pretending to laugh.
"Juli... your attempts at comedy are an affront to all decency", said a deep gruff voice coming from ahead. I looked to where the voice was coming from; it was the red dragon naturally. As he approached me his figure became all the more imposing: He wore a shiny, albeit blood spattered set of half plate armor, resting his massive (and no longer flaming) greatsword on his shoulder in an upward fashion. He had two large white spikes protruding out of the top of his head and a voluminous amount of spikes trailing down the back of his head down to the end of his large tail. I also noticed something interesting that my eyes didn't pick up from such a far distance: a small amount of his scales were actually golden, glimmering brilliantly as he approached me. Juli chuckled lightly,
"Oh, how could I forget. This giant slab of meat is Kaiser. Don't let his grumpy disposition fool you; he's actually a real sweetie when you get to know him."
"I am quite capable of introducing myself, Juli." As he approached me and Juli, he sported a daunting look upon his face. He was sizing me up, clearly, so I didn't let my guard down. He then furrowed his brows at me, as if he were evaluating my person then and there. "Moreover, we can't trust this man simply because he aided us." He said dryly. Juli rolled her eyes in exasperation at this,
"Oh stifle it Kaiser, if he wanted to kill us he would have made his move already, or just left us to die!" The dragon shook his head at this and stared down his companion with his fierce eyes.
"His intentions could be manipulative. Perhaps he's trying to gain our trust for some sinister purpose." She was not daunted in the slightest,
"Oh you're so full of crap! Can't you believe that there are actually some people with honorable intentions out there?" They began to lob insults at one another, explaining why their stance was correct and the other's was wrong. I donned a slisght smile at this sight, finding it rather amusing; they seemed quite attuned to bickering with one another. While the two of them were arguing the final member of the trio, the young rabbit, slowly approached them and interrupted their banter as nonintrusively as possible,
"Oh, please don't fight you two." she spoke softly. On closer inspection, I found her to be quite cute; she had curly blond hair and well-kept snow-white fur. Her eyes, an endless blue see of kindness and compassion. Furthermore, she was wearing a decorative kimono (An indicator of high society in the Nation of Light) bearing a floral pattern and had a whimsical white silken sash wrapped around her waist. Grasped tightly between her paws, almost as if it were used as a crutch, was an ornate golden staff with a glass orb attached to the tip. She looked at me with those beautiful sapphires and gave me a soft, but kind smile,
"I am Yuki Hikari, youngest princess of the Hikari dynasty." She then bowed graciously at me. " I am honored to meet such a noble warrior as yourself." My eyes grew wide in disbelief and my tail began to wag. This was absolutely incredible! What were the odds that I'd encounter a princess? Kaiser was taken aback by her introduction for some reason unbeknownst to me.
"My princess!" he responded in a scornful tone, "Please do not disclose your identity with such alacrity! As we have seen, there are many heinous villains out there who wish to capture you!" His scorning did not alter her kind expression in the slightest. She simply shook her head slowly and calmly addressed her vassal,
"Even so, it seems that those who wish to capture me have other ways to discern my identity. We were completely anonymous on our journey, and yet those soldiers still pursued us. It seems that simply withholding my identity will not put me in any less danger than I am currently in."
Kaiser opened his maw as if to retort, but then sighed, relaxing his posture,
"...Very well then. I apologize for questioning your introspectiveness my princess. But as you know, I am only trying to protect you from those who wish you harm!"
"I understand Kaiser. But know that I always appreciate your concern. So thank you." Kaiser faintly smiled to this with an otherwise proud look on his muzzle,
"Oh you don't have to thank me my princess, you know I'd traverse the Underbog itself to protect but a hair of your pristine mane."
"I appreciate your protection, but please don't be so hasty to risk your life for so little as one of my hairs!"
"But my princess, it's every sworn knight's duty to..."
And so on went there conversation for about three minutes. Those two really loved being polite with each other... As I awkwardly stood there in silence, Juli inched closer to me and nudged my arm.
"Yeah, so that's Yuki. She's absolutely adorable. Here, watch this!"
After muttering a quick incantation and forming a few hand signs, Juli's being quickly melded into the ground below her. It was an Earth Style technique: Earth Trail!
There were slight movements and structural nuances in the areas of earth that Juli's transmuted body currently occupied, so I could follow her as she slowly traveled behind Yuki and then rematerialized right as Kaiser just finished his discourse of his loyalty. Fluttering her fingers in an over-exaggerating manner, the mischievous hedgehog then proceeded to tickle the living daylights out of Yuki's sides,
"SECRET NINJA TICKLE!"
"KYAAA" Yuki screamed out of surprise before she began laughing uncontrollably.
"P-please AAHA stop it HAHAHA Juli! HAHA, you k-know HAHA I hate being tickled!" she managed. But Juli kept up her pace while laughing at the princess' earlier response,
"Did you hear that? She said 'Kya'! That's the most adorable thing ever!" she said, now tickling down a little bit lower on both sides. As, uh...heh... _adorable_as I thought the tickling incident was, it seemed that Kaiser wouldn't have nay of Juli's nonsense,
"JULI, STOP MOLESTING THE PRINCESS!" he roared, absolutely irate. Still grinning devilishly, Juli ceased her Tickle assault, chuckling quietly in the afterglow of the hilarity.
"By Origin's blade Juli, have you no respect for the princess of your Nation!" He then brought his claw to his face and slowly wiped it down, as he addressed me again,
"You'll have to excuse Juli; she's a bit socially inept..." Kaiser remarked embarrassed.
"Screw you! I'm not socially inept; I'm just delightfully perverted is all." Juli promptly retorted.
"You say it like it's a good thing!"
"Well maybe it is!"
"Please stop you two..." Yuki insisted. It was a quiet command, but it seems that was all it took to stop the hedgehog and dragon's bickering. Kaiser crossed his arm and gave Juli a disapproving look as she proceeded to stick her tongue out at him. These three were quite something...
"Ah, yes, anyway..." Yuki began,
"I imagine these men were after me to hold me up for ransom. If you hadn't shown up when you did..." She shivered a bit before continuing. "Well, in any case thank you. May I ask for your name sir?"
Shoot, I was so caught up in their antics that I completely forgot to introduce myself!
"Oh, I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Perseus Maverick Shadowclaw, a student learned in the teachings of Shadow Style. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Yuki nodded with wide eyes, clearly impressed while Kaiser mumbled "Student, huh..." quietly under his breath. But Juli, however, began to sport a wicked grin,
"Perseus? More like Murrseus, am I right? Huh? Huh?"
Kaiser just shook his head in embarrassment at her comment and Yuki just looked at Juli confusedly. I'm guessing she didn't get the joke. It made sense; it wasn't likely that a princess would know much slang. As for me, well... If I didn't have fur I'd be as red as a tomato: I was more than a little abashed from the prospect of knowing that such a bad pun could be made out of my name.
"You know, 'Murr' instead of 'Per', because he's hot."
Kaiser sighed, "Yes Julie I get the joke, but it was still unspeakably horrendous..."
But then, with a renewed look of concern on his stalwart being, Kaiser spoke up in his commanding voice,
"Bad jokes aside, there's still an important matter we need to... clean up." Kaiser said backwardly pointing his thumb at the pile of unconscious Dark Empire soldiers, each one of them still soundly unconscious.
"Oh that's right, did that move you used kill them?" Juli asked inquisitively, in a now more serious tone. It was always a pain to explain how Great Shadow Arc functioned, but I went at it anyway,
"No, it's actually near impossible to kill somebody with Great Shadow Arc. Basically it overloads their body with magical energy and collapses them, so none of them should be dead. I'd give them three, maybe four hours before they wake up?"
Kaiser began rubbing his chin with his claw digits, clearly in a pensive state,
"I see. Well if that's the case, then I suggest we finish them of them; the less Dark Empire soldiers the better." Kaiser stated curtly. This comment did not sit well with Yuki, as she proceeded to look at Kaiser with big terrified puppy-dog eyes.
"No Kaiser, let us not. Violence should only be utilized in self-defense. And perhaps some of these furs just desperately needed the money, who are we to judge?"
Kaiser sighed at her response, "Does not anyone who raises a sword against my princess deserve to be judged by my blade? But in any case, if we just leave them here, they might very well waylay us again. Morals aside, the princess' safety is top priority." This time Juli responded,
"But if the Dark Empire finds out we just slaughtered a bunch of their troops they might take that as a declaration of rekindled war. So yeah, bad idea."
I was overcame by my desire to correct others, although I probably should have kept my big muzzle shut,
"Well the solider I fought with said they were actually from a mercenary guild called Nihilum. So they're not Dark Empires soldiers per say, but rather a mercenary guild that just so happened to be hired by the Dark Empire."
Juli gave me a "you're not helping" look with a raised eyebrow. Way to go Perseus...
"Oh, but I still don't think we should kill them. Killing's bad... and stuff."
Well that was inarticulate. One more go,
"B-But after that thrashing we gave them, I doubt they'll try anything funny again. So yeah, we don't have to kill anybody here."
Kaiser's stern expression did not change, but Juli nodded joyfully at me in agreement and Yuki smiled at me warmly,
"Thank you for understanding Mister Shadowclaw. Truly you are not just a great warrior but a compassionate and kind-spirited s-soul...and.. ahh.."
As if all the strength had been suddenly sapped from her body, Yuki dropped to her knees, and then collapsed onto the ground completely, her golden staff rolling out of her paw. Kaiser's usually stoic composition became one of panic as he rushed over to the princess' side, got down to his knees and gently propped up her head with his claw of almost equal size. The massive red dragon then put his left claw gently over the unconscious rabbit's tiny forehead, checking her temperature with a frenetic look on his face. I was stricken with concern: was she alright?
"Traitor's Venom! Her fever's back." Kaiser said, a bit of panic evident in his voice.
"It must have been from being exposed to so much violence in such a short period of time." Juli spoke staring at Yuki with an expression of deep concern. Kaiser then angrily averted his gaze to the hedgehog,
"Or maybe it was from you tickling her so hard! But at any rate, don't just stand there: get her medicine out!"
Shaking her head a little as if to awaken herself, Juli broke her focus and addressed Kaiser's command,
"Oh yeah, right, on it!"
And then reaching into one of the pockets in her frilly maid outfit, procured a fist-sized silken medicine pouch. Opening the pouch came out a small glass vial, filled with a clear blue liquid. She then handed the vial to Kaiser, who then began to carefully pour it in Yuki's open muzzle.
"Is she going to be alright?" I asked, not really sure what else to say. Kaiser then handed Juli the vial back and proceeded to move Yuki's head so the medicine would go down her throat.
"Most likely; her medicine is quite potent with regards to alleviating her fevers and pains, but does little for her fatigue."
Quite accurate to Kaiser's description, Yuki's panting dulled to a calm tempo, and while still unconscious, seemed to no longer be in pain. I took some solace in that, but she looked like she really needed a good place to rest... Should I maybe... What the heck, it wasn't like these three were dangerous brigands or anything,
"Hey uh, I live nearby inside the forest. If you don't mind, we could take her there to rest. It'd probably be better than keeping her out here. Only..." I stretched out the last word before it tapered off. I forgot to put my need for sensei's permission into the equation...Kaiser looked at me with a raised eyebrow,
"Perhaps, but 'only', what?" I let out a somewhat exasperated sigh,
"Well my sensei usually doesn't allow guests, but I'm sure he'll make an exception considering how Yuki's a princess, I just need a minute or two to ask!" I said as convincingly as I could.
"Hmm. I suppose that would be preferable to tending to her out here..." Kaiser pondered to himself.
"How far away is it?"
"About a six minute walk from here, give or take. All you have to do to get there is follow the Shadow Thicket's main road; it leads right to it."
"Very well then..." Kaiser responded carefully scooping up the tiny rabbit in his broad arms. While Kaiser was doing so, with a single nod, Juli addressed me,
"You go on ahead and ask your master, er... sensei. We'll start slowly making our way over with Yuki in the meantime."
I realized then that I still had no clue as to why these three were here, but it could wait. Yuki's safety was a far more pressing matter than my own curiosity. Nodding back, I swiftly responded,
"Right then, I'll be back as soon as possible."
I then immediately turned around and darted back into the great expanse of foliage. I sprinted through the familiar sea of shadow trees, dead-set on finding my master and caretaker as fast as my legs could take me.