Against the flaring pain that throbbed over her scalp, as well as the pit of emptiness clouding where her Core should have been, Elaine sprung up again, sitting up straight with her arms in front of her. What last she'd seen of Kliff, well, the boy had been laying face first in the ground with the horrible warlock calling himself "the Void" towering above him like a snickering shadow.
Looking at him now, elements of a previous magical engagement lingered over him, most noticeably his tanned face—despite the smile that suggested that he was otherwise fine—was marred faintly by tiny bruises, none of which bled, but they were deep enough to where Elaine could see red skin boiling underneath.
Other than his missing tie—burned off by his flames, more than likely—his school uniform was more or less intact. In fact, discounting a few scorch marks, the fabric looked just as it had been before they even began their exam, though Elaine suspected that had to do with the uniform's reparation enchantment.
Glancing down, Kliff reached for something beside him and handed it to her gently, Elaine's eyes shot open with astonishment. It was her wand, the ordinary commoner's wand rolling out of his fingers and to her outstretched hands. "One of those Serpent Fang bastards took it after you fell unconscious," Kliff said. "Figured you'd make better use of it, now that you're back to yourself."
Elaine took her stare off of it and slowly looked back at him, her brows pinching together with confusion. "'Back to myself'?"
Kliff paused for a moment, his brow furrowing as a weary sigh slipped from his lips. He gestured subtly behind her, drawing her attention to the desolate scene beyond the clearing. In the distance, the remnants of what had once been a thriving grove of galbora trees lay in ruin. The charred remains stretched out as a smoldering path, with blackened trunks and splintered branches scattered across the forest floor. The air was thick with the acrid scent of burnt wood, a stark contrast to the vibrant life that once flourished there, now reduced to mere shadows of its former glory. The path extended far past Elaine's line of sight, making her contemplate what innocent creatures had been caught in the destruction.
Pain stabbed her in the side of her head, and Elaine instinctively shot a hand to her temple as a rapid collage of memories replayed in the darkness of her mind. She saw them, clear pictures of crimson energy frenzying like lightning bolts, of dying flames crushed underneath a warlock's heel, of concentrated light matter, rampaging through the forest, tossing fully-grown galbora trees skyward and sending a monsoon of dust pouring over everything. Just like that, as Elaine opened her eyes again, the horrid truth of what had transpired here crystallized within her.
"It...it happened again, didn't it?" Elaine glanced at Kliff worriedly, solemness in her voice. "I had a...another spell distortion." It looked as if Kliff had something he wanted to say, opening his mouth to speak only to clamp it shut and presenting her with a steady nod. "Why does this keep happening?" Elaine grunted, grabbing the sides of her head. "No, no I know why, at least, this time I do."
"It's because you wanted to protect me, right?" Kliff inquired.
"The Void!" Elaine exclaimed, remembering the mage covered in archaic runes that glowed like illuminated, rivers of blood across his skin. "Where's the Void?!" she asked, more forcefully this time, reaching for Kliff with alarming speed, grasping him by one of his shoulders. "Is he...is he..."
"Calm down," Kliff reassured her, placing a steady hand over hers. "He's long gone. Or rather, I don't think he's anywhere close by." Despite his word, Elaine watched Kliff sweep the area, eyes narrowed into a hostile if not observant glare. "If he was, I imagine he would have intervened by now. But your...your spell distortion, it saved all of our lives."
"I remember," Elaine gulped, clasping her chest with a fist, feeling the pounding of her thundering heart, "I remember...what I did...the Void was there...and I...I used my magic to..."
"You didn't have a choice," Kliff said swiftly. "He attacked us first, remember?"
"We're supposed to be better than him, aren't we?" Elaine said challengingly. "I used my magic to...when I lost myself, I felt the desire not to incapacitate, but to kill. My magic, some part of me wanted to use it to kill him."
"Nonetheless, I owe you my life," Kliff said with a smile. That should have hearted her; in reality, his words did anything but. "Like I said, the bastard's still kicking. I don't know where he went, though. Needless to say, it'll take more than the two of us to beat him. He might even give Professor Marsh a run for his money."
Elaine held her stare on her lap, particularly, the commoner wand she had placed there. "And there's still no sign of any of our professors? Not even the Gray Cloaks?"
"Nope, we're still on our own." Exhaling, Kliff pressed a knuckle to the ground and rose off his knees. "And until they can somehow get passed that damned barrier, we just have to keep looking out for each other." Elaine hesitated as Kliff extended an offering hand down at her. "We've survived so far. It must mean we're pretty good sorcerers, huh? Come on, Elaine. This isn't over, not by a long shot. We'll beat Serpent Fang and get out of this forest together."
It took effort, but Elaine eventually found herself accepting Kliff's gesture, her fingers lacing around his as she allowed him to pull her back to her feet. The strain of excessive magic usage weakened her body more than she'd thought, and with the next step, Elaine clumsily fell into Kliff, straight into his solid chest. "Sorry," she apologized meekly, brushing hair out of her face as she felt the sting of a blush on her cheeks.
"Don't worry, you're fine," Kliff chuckled, a hand behind his neck. "We'll look out for each other, all the way until the end."
If there was anyone Elaine could count on, she was glad it was Kliff. Looking worse for wear, Elaine honestly thought he might collapse at any moment or stumble over himself, much like she had. Yet, despite his ragged appearance, there was an undeniable fire in his eyes, burning fiercely with determination. Kliff held a spirit inside of him, that of a man—a mage—who relished the chance to confront challenges head-on, and as long as Kliff was willing to face whatever threatened them, she felt empowered to join him in that fight. Resolutely, she tightened her grip around her commoner's wand, understanding then that, together, they just might live to see tomorrow. "Kliff, I...I wanted to—"
"Oh, thanks! Don't worry about me or anything, guys! I'm fine!" Custas abruptly shouted. Elaine found him on his knees, a hand still clasped over his forehead, right above the irritated scowl he had beaming toward the two of them.
"Ah! Custas, I'm so sorry!" Elaine exclaimed, frantically running past a stunned Kliff, lowering to a knee beside him. "I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?"
"You don't have to apologize," Kliff exhaled. "It was the sulmo's fault for getting too close to you."
Custas opened his mouth to respond—more than likely, to shout—at Kliff's snide remark, but instead, he only sighed, sinking in on himself with exhaustion. "Oh, forget it! By the way, Elaine, when were you going to mention that you were a Summoner?! I can think of a few occasions where an extra spirit or two might have come in handy."
Elaine glanced at him confusedly. "What? I'm not a Summoner? I couldn't even Summon a spirit in class, remember?"
"Oh, yeah?" Custas said dubiously, tossing a thumb over his shoulder. "Then how do you explain that guy?"
Further passed him, Elaine's gaze identified the enormous mound of fur brought to its knees by the scale-covered creature coiling around it with a tightening grip, forcing the larger animal's hulking limbs down its sides. It resembled a wolf, but not like any she'd seen in the forests near Page; it was practically a behemoth by comparison, dwarfing the size of a young dragon, easily reaching five meters in height.
Sharp, pointed ears stood tall atop its head, claws—elongated and lethal—extended from its hands and powerful paws, resembling that of obsidian blades, and its broad snout was filled with jagged fangs, each tooth shaped for ripping through flesh and shredding meat with terrifying ease. Elaine also absorbed the cuffs—purple and yellow in color—secured tightly around its bulky wrists, broken chains strewn on the forest floor.
The other creature holding the beast in place, well, Elaine recognized it. The snake-like spirit wrapped itself around its captive, its sinuous body exhibiting remarkable flexibility like that of rubber while boasting the sheer muscle mass of a bison. Meanwhile, the spirit's feathered wings flared out menacingly as it craned its neck over the titanic wolf, its forked tongue flicking in and out as it hissed and snapped. Serpens the Elusive. That was the name Custas had given it.
A towering mass of pure white fur, the beast dropped low to the ground, forelimbs splayed as it clawed violently at the earth. Silvery strands of drool hung glistening from its gaping maw, the edge of its mouth stained with a dark, sticky substance that clung to its fur. Flexing its muscles, the contours of its body undulating beneath the surface, revealing networks of veins pulsing with raw power, the beast suddenly reared back on its hind legs, its deep chest swelling as a howl erupted from its throat, a thunderous sound that echoed through the trees, rattling branches and dislodging leaves. The force of the roar stirred up clouds of dust and debris, swirling towards them.
Gasping in shock and terror, Elaine jumped back. "What the heck is that thing?"
"We were kind of hoping you knew," Kliff said cautiously. "You were the one who Summoned it, after all."
"I...I did what?"
"I know this spirit," Custas said, steadily picking himself off the ground. "That there is Lupus. Lupus the Hunter. One of the most powerful Minor Spirits in existence. He's revered for his strength and tracking prowess but also feared for his brutality. Not even the best Summoners go after him, and those who try to, well, they aren't exactly around anymore, if you get what I mean. If you manage to forge a Bond with him, as well as earn his respect, then you've got yourself a loyal asset for life. Which only makes me wonder," Custas glanced at Elaine again, "how you made him one of your spirits."
"I'm...I'm not a Summoner, Custas. You both know this!" Elaine said with a bit more frustration in her voice. "Last I checked, I only have a B minus in that class! The most I know about spirits is what I've studied in textbooks, for Aeris' sake. There's no way I'd be able to make a Bond with a real spirit."
"Look, I'm only telling you what I saw," Kliff replied calmly. "Serpent Fang had us tied in ropes, having already confiscated our wands, then, out of nowhere, you started drawing a spirit circle in the dirt. The next thing I knew, that...thing was brought to this world and went on a rampage."
"Rampage?" Choosing not to answer, Kliff flicked his chin over to the roaring spirit again, and only once Elaine narrowed her eyes her sights fell upon the numerous bodies littered across the forest clearing. Some of them had been severed in half, missing arms or legs or even heads, while others had merely been reduced to puddles of crimson and tangled entrails. Flies had already begun buzzing around the mounds of twitching flesh, as did she spot flocks of black-feathered birds observing carcasses from where they were perched on the branches of a galbora tree. Before she knew it, Elaine had both her hands covering her mouth as she spun away from the carnage, her vision cloudy from accumulating tears.
"It's as I said," she heard Custas wince, "Lupus is merciless to anyone whom he views as his enemy. These sorry bastards never stood a chance. And it's a good thing I showed up when I did, otherwise, you two would be no better off than them. I guess we can thank my Luck for that one."
"What do you mean?" Elaine slowly inquired, peeking at him, quivering lips kept behind her fingers.
"Lupus, he tried to kill us," Kliff explained. "Or, to be more specific, he wanted to kill you."
"Me?" Elaine gasped. "What did I do?!"
"He's convinced that you're his Summoner, and he hopes that by...killing you, he'd be free of the Bond you two share."
"That's ridiculous!" Elaine shouted in denial. "I would never want this...this monster as my spirit! Never!"
"But you were the one who Summoned him, Elaine," Kliff countered. "That technically makes him your spirit."
Elaine slid a hand to her chest, nervously panting as she looked down at her feet. "A spell distortion, that must be what this all is, right?" She looked up at Kliff again, feeling her mouth form a smile of fragile hope. "During one of my spell distortions, I must have Summoned him by accident. That has to be it!"
"Hate to break it to ya, Elaine. But that's not how this works." The two of them fixated on Custas, whose gaze remained on the writhing Lupus. "Out of all the magic art forms, Summoning is by far the most unique. The spell distortions you suffer from, they're more like fight or flight responses. But arbitrarily manifesting a spell isn't the same as Summoning a spirit. You need to be precise, in control, and, most importantly, your spirit circle needs to be one hundred percent correct. It's not something you can produce randomly. Believe me, I've tried."
"Then if it wasn't a spell distortion, what was it?" Elaine asked, stepping closer to him. "I couldn't have consciously Summoned Lupus, could I? I mean, if that were true, then all of this...this death and destruction..." All of it would be her fault. No! Her magic wasn't for killing! But the corpses once again materialized in her eyes, soundless voices screaming in agony. Suddenly, Kliff slapped a hand over her shoulder. It was enough to break her out of the stupor. "Kliff?"
"I know what you're thinking," Kliff said, his eyes serious and his voice stern. "What happened here wasn't your fault. You're talented, but you've made it clear to us that not even you know the full capabilities of your Light Magic. If you did, you wouldn't be having these spell distortions in the first place. Look, we can figure all of that out later. But know this, Elaine, your magic didn't claim a single soul today. You're no killer. Not like me."
"Plus, it isn't all that bad," Custas chimed in. "He may be unstable and practically feral, but if I was Bonded to an awesome Minor Spirit like Lupus, I'd be skipping with joy!"
"Hey!" That guttural snarl filled with fury rammed into them like the unrestrained lashings of a tempest, cutting off whatever retort Kliff had on the edge of his tongue as he opened his mouth to speak. Glaring at them, his eyes flickering like burnished gold, the wolf-like spirit had his fangs bared, the edges of his snout quivering as he growled. "Fleshbag Summoner. Who the hell are you calling "minor"? You looking to die?!"
Custas practically hopped in place, fostering an anxious smirk. "I meant no disrespect, oh great and powerful spirit. On the contrary, I was only attempting to draw attention to your...your excellence! Yeah, that's it! Very rarely can a creature be awe-inspiring and horrifically intimidating at the same time. Why, you make some of Erith's beasts pale in comparison to your amazing, daunting, absolutely spectacular—"
"Stop talking!" Lupus roared, his voice as loud and furious as thunder. "My nose can smell anything, even lies!"
Custas gulped, turning completely stiff with his arms at his sides. "Duly noted."
"You're a Summoner, aren't you?" the spirit asked with a slight tilt of the head. "Order this Serpens to release me right this second! I'll tear you all to pieces!"
"You know, as tempting as that sounds, I'm more inclined to keep you like that. At least, until you calm down a bit."
Globs of saliva flew out of his snout as the spirit thrashed and growled, wrestling aggressively to escape Serpen's constrictive grasp, but to no avail, and when it was that his burst of renewed exhilaration hit him, he slumped to his knees, shoulders sagging and panting heavily. "And just how do you expect me to calm down when freedom is so close to my grasp?" he asked, his ears drooping in the disappointed fashion of a dog begging for a treat under the table. "It has to be now, do you understand?! My chains are so close to breaking!"
"If only I could sympathize with you, Lupus the Hunter," Kliff muttered. "But I know you intend to end my friend's life. And to that, I cannot allow, even if it means prolonging your Bond with her."
"Leave it to a human to be so heartless! Summoners Bond with spirits all the time, but do you have any idea how it feels to have a Bond, boy?! Imagine wherever you stride, the chain of an anchor is keeping you weighed low to the ground!"
Custas hummed to himself. "Kinda sounds like gravity."
"Imagine longing to reach the highest of heights, to see what lies beyond the clouds and stars, only to be lugged back down into the pits and muck...only, it's your soul being pulled beneath the fabric of your reality, tethered along the soul of another in an entirely separate dimension! That is what a Bond is! A constant reminder of an eternal imprisonment." Lupus licked the tip of his nose aggrivatedly. "And it's not Lupus the Hunter. I go by Lupus the Unchained, these days. Don't make that mistake again. It'll prove to be your last."
"Huh, must have missed the memo," Custas shrugged. "In any case, if I could ask, Lupus the Unchained, just how did you become Elaine's spirit in the first place? I mean, a Bond is a mutual agreement, yes? Someone can't force you to forge a Bond with a human. It's impossible."
Lupus cut his smoldering eyes at them. "I didn't form my Bond with her, rather, our Bond persists because of her Connection with my original Summoner." Elaine flinched as the beast pointed his snout at her again. "She's an Alight. A Bond as special as that can only be severed by force."
Gathering her courage, putting on the bravest face she could, Elaine pressed on past Kliff—who reached for her worriedly as she did—and stepped closer to the restrained spirit, each of his heavy breaths heaving up and down, the shine of his teeth glistening wet with saliva. Once again, the cuffs shackling him caught her attention, but Elaine was forced to raise her chin upward if she wanted to meet him in his enraged eyes. Why, her mere presence seemed to incite Lupus to an even angrier degree, the wrinkles of his scowl contorting his snouted face, burnish gold flashing like diamonds in his glare. "The Void called me that as well. What exactly is an Alight?"
"You're kidding!" Lupus growled. "Do you seriously not know?! Surely, you humans can't be this stupid. You're the Alight! That means you alone carry the will and magic of Faye Theodora! The infernal mage who made me this way!"
"Faye?" Elaine asked, sharing a bewildered glance with Custas next to her. "Wha...What does the Founder have to do with any of this?"
"Founder? Is that her name? Well, she's the reason I'm in this mess, to begin with!" The spirit's powerful lungs exhaled a sound so deep, so resonant that it could easily shatter the earth. "That no-good sorry excuse for a mage! When I find her, I'll make her pay! I'll ensure that she—"
"I think we're getting sidetracked." Elaine didn't realize when Kliff had moved to the right side of her, just that he was now lifting his crimson-colored Salamander Wand at the enraged spirit with an unforgiving grimace. "The bottom line is, spirit, we won't let you harm Elaine. You'll have to go without your freedom a bit longer!" Kliff's serious expression was painted across Lupus' fangs as the spirit shot him with a look of death, yet Kliff glanced over at Custas with naught but a disgruntled sigh. "Custas, you're our resident spirit expert. There has to be a way we can send this thing back where he came from, preferably before he gets the chance to hurt more people."
"Well, the easiest solution would be for Elaine to return him to the Celestial Realm herself," Custas suggested, holding up his hands. "Project your commands to the spirit via your Bond, and that should do the trick."
Not taking her stare off Lupus, Elaine simply heard his advice, although, she wasn't certain if she could actually pull it off. Her experience with spirits was limited solely to her lessons with Professor Altair. Outside of that, she'd only ever see any of them in the material they were tasked to study. Henceforth, imbuing a command to a spirit was essentially out of the question. However, she would much prefer an attempt over their other alternative.
"If a spirit sustains enough damage in the Physical Realm," Custas continued as if he could hear her thoughts, "then they'll disappear from our world and return to theirs."
"I see," Kliff said contemplatively. "How many fireballs do you reckon it'd take to finish off this one?"
"Just try it, fleshbag!" Lupus grunted, a smirk curving within his snout. "You're not even worth the effort of hunting! It'd be a waste of magical energy! You could attack me all day and still be nowhere close to damaging me! But don't feel bad. After all, you are just a human. Your kind has always been weak. It's a part of your nature."
Dancing flames twirled like flickering tongues around the slender shaft of Kliff's wand, clenched tightly with his fist. "The last person who underestimated me wound up scorched in the dirt. Hear me, spirit. My fire can destroy anything. Even you!"
Custas sighed. "And here we go."
"Order Serpens to hold him tightly," Kliff strictly demanded. "I'll blow the rest of him apart!"
Elaine barely registered Custas hurling a report back at Kliff, a counter that would assuredly spiral into a heated argument between the two boys who very seldom agreed with one another, yet she couldn't afford to get caught up in their back-and-forth. It took every ounce of courage she could muster to keep her eyes trained on the furry giant looming in front of her. Drool trickled from his jaws, splattering onto the ground at the feet of the ethereal spirit. Its golden eyes shifted away from Kliff and Custas, locking onto her with an intensity that sent a jolt of terror through her, as if the world narrowed down to just the two of them, her heartbeat echoing in her ears.
Something strange swirled in his gaze, an intensity that flickered with moving images that hadn't been there earlier, or maybe they previously eluded Elaine's notice on account of the spirit's jagged fangs consuming most of his face. Yet, within them, something stirred wildly, moving pictures reminiscent of the snippets sometimes found in the pages of a tabloid or a newspaper. The edges of Elaine's vision began to blur, smothered in a viscous haze that felt almost oily, and she felt herself being whisked away by...by a vision, one held from the perspective of an enormous figure with a heart as wild as a stallion's and instincts sharper than an eagle's talons.
This creature, its gaze fixed intently on the figure below, unmistakenly human and dressed in the traditional attire of a Strix. There the woman stood, her wavy brown hair cascading around her shoulders. Her wide blue eyes were reminiscent of a clear, pastel sky at dawn, sparkling with a mixture of wisdom and curiosity. Before her stood none other than the Founder of Glyph Academy itself—Faye Theodora.
Occasionally, interspersed amidst the tapestry of her dreams and vivid threads of her memories, Elaine would find herself confronting fleeting, fragmented images of the woman, as though their paths had crossed in another life. Although trapped in the depths of Lupus' eyes, she appeared significantly younger, as well as her eyes were no longer pink as they had been during her other "visions". The woman's lips moved with passionate urgency, yet her voice remained an impenetrable silence, much like her memory of Aunt Delilah. However, the excitement and familiarity of the body that she inhabited bled through the Bond she shared with Lupus.
Based on his animosity, Elaine all but figured that Lupus would want just as much to slaughter Faye as he longed to do with her. Yet, so it seemed at one point in history that the two were on relatively peaceful terms. So then, what happened between then and now? And if Lupus felt so strongly opposed to a Bond between a Summoner and their spirit, what convinced him to form one with Faye Theodora, of all people?
Staggering as she stepped back, a flicker of light brought her transfixed gaze to Lupus again. His body, it was splintering apart, flaking away in white and silver shards of crystalized energy, his once-solid form peeling into nothingness like layers of old paint, and as each particle of Lupus disintegrated, Serpen's serpentine shape started to lose its tension, its coiling muscles gradually unraveling around its captor.
"What's happening to him?" Kliff gasped.
"He's being beckoned back to the Celestial Realm." Custas glanced toward Elaine again, nodding at her with understanding. "Looks like we're going with the third option, huh? Another way to send a spirit home is simply by waiting for its Summoner to run out of magical energy."
"'Much like spells, spirits can only exist in this plane as long as they are supplied with a constant supply of Essence,'" Elaine recited with effort, a hand placed over her scalp. She'd learned that during her lessons, and for a spirit as powerful as Lupus to remain in the Physical Realm, she imagined it would require an obscene Essence quantity. More than she was physically capable of giving. The weighted fatigue slowly creeping upon her was but a testament to how much magical energy the spirit had stolen from her.
Dispersing in a dazzling flurry of shards, Lupus lowered to them on one knee—the knee that had yet to disappear—dangerously close to where he could snag her between his fangs, his heavy breaths enough to flutter Elaine's hair. Regardless, Elaine challenged the spirit's glare, meeting him directly with her look of determination. "Listen and heed my warning well, Alight," Lupus said in his rumbling voice. "Summoning me was the worst choice you could have made. Should you be so foolish to Summon me to this world again, I won't stop until I destroy you and everyone you care about. The day you Summon me again, Alight, is the day you take your final breath!"
Fangs and fur and burnished eyes that burned with hatred splintered away until, where once an enormous wolf from another world stood tall, there remained a whistling wind that swept leaves off the ground in spinning patterns. Lupus the Unchained was gone. Elaine didn't realize she'd been holding her breath that entire time, but not until it was that she slapped a hand over her chest and breathed in.
"You all right?" Kliff asked, offering her his hand.
Shaking her head, Elaine resolved to stand straight again, brushing hair out of her eyes. "I'm fine...just, that was a lot."
"I'll say," Kliff said languidly. "Had it not been for Custas' intervention, I thought I might have to fight the beast myself."
"Yeah, yeah, feel free to worship me later. For now, how's about we get out of this stupid forest?" Custas suggested urgently, starting toward Serpens, the white-scaled snake lowering its head to him.
Elaine glanced at him funnily. "How can we leave?"
"In case you haven't noticed, we're kind of trapped." Kliff pointed his forefinger skyward. "As long as that barrier's there, we won't be going anywhere."
"Spoken like a true gold-blooded idiot," Custas snickered, spinning on his heels to meet them again. "This barrier won't hinder us in the slightest."
"Custas, what are you talking about?" Elaine asked.
"Come on, guys! We learned of this during our Charms and Enchantments Class! The fact that I remember it and you two bookworms don't is amazing!" Custas scoffed. "There are multiple different kinds of barriers."
"He's right," Elaine agreed slowly. "Containment Builds, for example, are used to trap entities inside of them. I've heard the Arcanum employs them to capture rogue sorcerers on the run."
"There we go!" Custas exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "Now at first, when I noticed the barrier, I assumed it was an Absolute Build, a barrier that would keep us trapped in here while simultaneously preventing anybody from getting inside. I soon discovered, however, that this barrier is similar to the one that protects Glyph Academy."
"An Eviction Build barrier," Kliff deduced for them, grasping his chin. "A barrier designed solely for keeping people out."
Custas nodded with a chuckle. "These cowards are way more scared of our professors than they are of us, and for good reason. I doubt they'd want them interfering in their plans, especially if our headmaster gets involved."
"So what you're saying is," Kliff said, eyeing the barrier again, "we could have escaped whenever we'd like?"
"Totally!" Custas confirmed, pointing his fingers at him. "Well, to be fair, the only reason I found out about it is because of ole Serpens here!" The snake spirit flicked out its forked tongue, nuzzling against its Summoner affectionately as Custas patted the creature on its head. "I ordered him to fly into the barrier to test its durability. Wouldn't you know it? Serpens went straight through! Now getting back inside? That was the tricky part! That's when I learned about their little secret!"
"I got to hand it to you, Custas. You've really outdone yourself," Kliff said, smiling.
"Argh! Your compliments won't win my favor anytime soon, stupid fireboy! But, feel free to keep doing so, if you must," Custas grinned, wiping underneath his nose with a finger. "Well, then, you two! Let's hop on Serpents and fly on out of here!"
"No." Freezing in place, Custas slowly peered a confused stare at her, as did Kliff with a raised brow. "I can't leave this forest," Elaine said, her tone low, barely above a whisper, and as she glanced at the two boys, she couldn't help but question whether her words had reached them. Her gaze, however, remained unyielding, determined to hold their attention while she subtly gauged their reactions. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Not yet."