The Story Of Red Fur V

"And ever since then, a single werewolf from each generation is blessed or cursed, depending on who you might ask, with the red fur. And that's the whole story if I remembered it right." Haro finished telling the story and looked to Bloodmane.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," the werewolf said. "You missed a few parts though, but everything else you said was on point," he pointed out.

"Ah, I see. I'll have to ask you for the parts I missed sometime later." Haro pressed his wings against his beak, trying to figure out what he missed from the story.

"Huh, that sure is some story," Ammine commented.

"Hoot, when did you get back?"

"A while ago." Ammine had been there since the beginning of the story but didn't say anything since she was a bit curious and wanted to hear it.

"Do gods really exist?" Kies asked Haro. He had mentioned it several times in the story and it had him wondering if there really were beings of higher existence in the world. And there was also no other explanation for how Miuo transformed from a human to a werewolf other than through the gods doing so.

"Hoot, they certainly do exist but be wary of them. If you ever encounter or attract the attention of one, you will be in big trouble."

"Okay..."

"Well, it's about time for us to leave," Ammine told Kies. They had been in this place for far too long and needed to get back.

"Anyhow child, take this." Haro flew over and dropped the moonstone in Kies' hands along with the torn piece of dragonskin.

"Are you sure you want to give these to me?" Kies asked the owl.

"Well, it's not like any of us needs or wants them. Furthermore, you'll probably be needing those considering what you are doing. And ah, for the piece of dragon skin, you can make it into a pouch. These two items are very rare so be sure to take care of them."

"Okay, thank you."

"Alright, let's move." Ammine was already standing next to the rift that the witch made for them and was waiting for him.

The two said their goodbyes to everyone and were about to hop through when they heard a voice shout out loud in a panicked voice something Kies didn't understand. The demon he fought with before rushed out of the room and ran up to Ammine. It looked like her wounds had already healed completely.

Ammine and the other demon exchanged some words with each other through demonic which none of the rest of them couldn't understand. Ammine was almost twice as tall as her and she had to look up while talking. She was the shortest demon that Kies had seen so far. He was starting to think that she was a child and not an adult. If that was the case then this is the first time that Kies had seen a demon as young as her since he didn't see anyone other than adult demons in the village.

The conversation ended with the small demon blushing and bowing and Ammine laughing. This was the first time that he had seen her smile. "So, it looks like she's coming with us," Ammine told everyone.

"That's fine by me," the witch said. She was fine with them taking the demon away because that would be one less person for her to handle. "Oh yes, before you go, let me remind you that I won't be able to send assistance for some time since we did just lose most of our undead. I'll send you a message once things are sorted out."

"I'll tell that to my lord."

The small demon looked at Kies. Kies looked back at her, causing her to hide behind Ammine. She didn't seem to be angry at Kies for injuring her, but she did seem to be scared of him.

"Did you do something to scare her?" Ammine asked, seeing that the small demon was holding onto her back.

"Uh, we kind of fought."

"Fought? Like actually fighting?"

"Yeah."

"What!? For what rea-" Ammine cut herself off after remembering that she was on the Bone Whistler's side during the battle. "Oh, never mind. Anyway, let's go."

Kies wanted to ask Ammine if they could go to the buried tower he found before but he remembered that the Childish Emperor was there so that was probably not a good idea for the time being. It looks like he will have to come back here some other time to explore it. Kies also wondered if Haro knew of the history behind the Childish Emperor since the owl did seem to be very knowledgeable about the things that went on in this forest. But Kies would have to refrain from asking Haro about it since they didn't have time for another story mainly because he was sure that Ammine didn't want to stay here any longer.

The three of them left through the rift which took them just outside of the forest. There was nothing but coarse dirt as far as the eye can see. There was no sign of life or water. It was a vast and empty plain.

"Just like how I remembered it," Ammine said while staring at the horizon with her hand over her eyes like some kind of an explorer. "Say, how confident are you in your wind magic?" she suddenly asked Kies.

"Sorry?"

"What I mean to ask is, do you think you can keep up with me when I'm flying?"

"I'm not sure," Kies answered. He outran the witch while she was flying but the witch was nowhere near as fast as Ammine. If he were to take a guess, he would say that Ammine would beat him by a large margin.

"Well, this is a good time to find out, isn't it? Since I can't really carry two people at once now can I?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"She can't fly," Ammine said while pointing at the small demon who was quietly watching the two as they spoke.

"Isn't she a demon like you? Doesn't she have wings as well?"

Ammine spoke to the small demon in demonic and the small demon nodded her head. She unveiled her pair of wings to reveal that half of one of her wings was missing. Her left wing was missing its outer half and based on the jagged edges of her wing, it looked as if it had been forcefully torn off by something or someone.

"Oh..."

"Long story short, she sided with the Bone Whistler because he promised her that he would be able to heal her wings if she fought for him. And as for how she lost it, it's a story I rather not go into without her permission," Ammine told Kies.

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