Chapter 10

"Aren't you looking too?" Ember countered, unamused.

It was the brown-haired swordsman who spoke, his head tilting slightly to the side as he halfheartedly smiled.

Autumn glared at the adventurers from behind Ember, slightly resentful that they couldn't see her angry gaze due to the large hood of her cloak.

The archer, with his annoyingly sunny smile, turned his gaze to her. Autumn wrinkled her nose in distaste. Sneering, she thought, 'How annoying. They have the nerve to wake us up this early in the morning, send us on a wild goose chase through the forest, and still have a smile on their faces?'

Autumn took a few deep breaths to calm her chaotic emotions, barely stopping herself from letting out a snarl.

"We'll be leaving now, excuse us. We have places to be, things to do, but entertaining you lot is definitely not on the list," Autumn said, her patience running low.

With a curt nod, Ember turned around and pulled Autumn away quickly. Autumn felt exposed by turning her back to the adventurers, but she knew it was necessary in order for them not to expose their identities.

What children would be afraid of adventurers? They all held them in high regard, an exceptional role model to look up to.

Autumn rolled her eyes. What role model? Autumn, as well as every other Spirit Animal, knew the truth. The adventurers were nothing more than greedy, two-faced scoundrels with a superiority complex.

What race nearly drove Spirit Animals to the brink of extinction? Humans did.

Spirit Animals were a very powerful race, bonded together with a deep sense of unity. Every Spirit Animal was raised by many, learning as much as possible from each individual.

As Spirit Animals grew in both numbers and power, the humans, newly awakened with stronger, more deadly powers, deemed them a threat. The fragile balance between humans and Spirit Animals snapped, and thus started the war that polluted, destroyed, and killed many.

It would have continued, if not for the discovery of an ancient rune that could contract creatures to a master. A blood pact. Suddenly realizing the value Spirit Animals had, the hunt stopped, but what began was much, much worse.

Crunch. The sound of dry leaves crunching snapped Autumn out of her thoughts, or rather, her memories? Despite the war happening more than a century ago, Autumn could vividly remember the feeling of hopelessness, despair, and suffering the war brought. It was a deep-rooted resentment that all Spirit Animals bore.

"What now?" Ember mumbled to herself.

The adventurers, previously standing together, had moved to surround them.

"If I recall correctly, we never did get down to discussing anything..." It was the mage that spoke, his ice-blue eyes glinting with a calculative light.

Ember growled softly, "Run."

As soon as the word was spoken, both Ember and Autumn dashed forwards, sprinting towards a gap between the mage and archer.

The archer smiled brightly, reaching out and pulling back the string of his bow. In between his fingers, an arrow quickly condensed.

Autumn's eyes widened, sensing the large amounts of energy the arrow was radiating, but it was too late to turn back. Autumn ran faster, silently hoping she could slip through the gap between the archer and mage without them grabbing hold of her. She had no plans to be at the beck and call of a few adventurers.

Surprisingly, they made no effort to stop her, only aiming the bow towards her. Glancing towards Ember, she nodded her head. Quickly pulling apart and running in separate directions.

Her heart lurched when she saw the arrow pointed towards Ember, turning around and launching herself back. Autumn tackled Ember, pushing her off to the side and bracing herself for the pain.

The arrow released a blinding light before splitting into countless other arrows. Between the arrows, was a golden net. The arrows swiftly lodged themselves into the ground around Autumn and Ember, for the arrows had still been able to trap Ember inside the net.

Autumn kicked at the net. The golden strands of light were pressing her to the ground, and no matter how hard she struggled she only managed to become more tangled.

Autumn glanced over at Ember and with a jolt of realization, noticed her hood had lowered and exposed the soft golden fur of her ears. Twitching her own ears, she saw that her own hood had fallen down in the struggle as well.

"Sorry," the mage whispered as he walked over. His soft voice sent off warning bells in Autumn's mind, and she twisted her body so she could see him.

The mage bent down beside her and in the same soft voice, whispered, "Sleep."

Autumn snarled, fighting off sleep as her eyes grew heavy, but soon unwillingly succumbed to the darkness.