242 Out of the woods (1/2)

”Well... Damn...” Knucker whispered while gazing from the top of a mountain at the path of destruction Evlin carved during her fight with Wrath, ranging from the city of the west all the way to the middle of the forest.

”Yeah... No kidding...” commented a female voice behind him, ”you sure Stick-girl isn't a threat as well...?”

The white-haired man nodded, ”pretty sure...”

His eyes suddenly began to glow with an orange light, making it look like his face was on fire.

”I've seen many possible futures, and that mage never proves to be a problem I need to deal with by this point... My only concern is always only those three...”

”She just stomped Wrath like he was a bug... How is she not a problem we need to deal with??”

Knucker then began to smile, ”I never said 'we'... I said I don't have to deal with her...”

”Then...”

”You have to have more faith in your friends, Dria! Now come on! We gotta get things ready for the meeting with the king!”

Part 2

Gustav and Marcus were placing Daren and Leona on top of Sphinx so the griffin could return to Auren so she could receive some treatment from him since  the woman still refused to let the earth mage touch her.

Once they left, the two lads began to stare at Evlin.

”Tell me again what happened...” Gustav asked.

Evlin looked down, ”I told you... All I remember was fighting that dragon guy and next thing I know I was one step away from killing Daren and Leona...”

”For some reason, when I was in the white void, chains started to appear and made me unable to leave, all while Evlin kept screaming from that dark room...” Marcus added.

Gustav began to hold his chin, ”that dark room... what exactly was that...?”

Evlin rubbed her arm as if she received some chilling sensation crawling her skin, ”the dark void...”

While they were in the middle of their discussion trying to grasp what had transpired, they suddenly heard a voice coming from not too far away.

”Oh, dear...”

Evlin, Gustav, and Marcus all began to shiver as they turned around and noticed Wrath getting out of the boulder and approaching them with soft steps.

Gustav grit his teeth, ”you gotta be kidding me... This guy is still alive!!??”

They all assumed battle position but Evlin immediately fell on the ground as she used way more energy than she expected and realized she had no strength left in her body.

”Oh, great...” she whispered as Gustav hurried to catch her.

Marcus was the only one of them that had any fighting chance at that point so he moved to stand between Wrath and his friends while raising his blades.

”Stay back!!” he warned.

”Mmm...?? Oh! Young man!! Could you be a good boy and tell me where the church of the west is?”

”I'm warning you!! Stay back!!!” Marcus shouted.

”No need to be so rude... I'm just looking for directions...” Wrath replied while rubbing the back of his head.

”What do you want with the west temple??”

Wrath just stared at him while holding his chin, ”That's a good question... Why am I looking for this temple...? Ah!”

He was about to search for his special piece of paper that had instructions in case he forgot what he was supposed to do, but everything got burned by Evlin's terminal fire during the battle.

”Oh, dear... This is a problem... I have no idea what I was supposed to be doing...” Wrath confessed.

”Then... Maybe you should go home and stay there until you remember!” Marcus suggested while shivering in fear wondering if this would work.

”Mmmmm... Maybe... I do feel rather tired right now... And I do seem to be missing a hand for some reason...” the demon commented while finally noticing his arm.

”So...”

”But I think Knucker told me to not leave any survivors... Are you a survivor?”

Marcus could not stop sweating, ”... ... ... No...”

”I see... And those two?”

”... ... ... Also no...” Evlin and Gustav replied.

”I see... Then I guess I have no choice then... I suppose I'll have to return later...”

”Wait!!” Evlin shouted, which made Gustav and Marcus want to strangle her, ”before you leave... Who is Knucker??”

”Knucker....? Mmm... How strange... I usually tend to forget things quite easily... But I can clearly remember who Knucker is... I wonder why is that...”

The three of them just stared at Wrath terrified of what his next move would be.

”Ah! That's right!” the dragon gasped.

”...” x3

Wrath then began to glare at the three of them, ”I remember he told me to eat anyone that mentioned his name!”

The three began to tremble even more as Wrath started to charge at them.