"Hey, before we go, do you also have this strange feeling that we're being watched?" Kies asked Ammine. He looked back at the forest and didn't see anyone hiding behind or in the trees. But for whatever reason, he kept getting this feeling that something was looking at them. Maybe it was the witch checking on them to make sure that they made it through safely?
"Hm? I don't feel anything. Any chance your senses got sharper since the last time we talked? Well, that might be the case actually considering how fast your kind grows. Anyway, you don't need to care about whatever it is that is watching us as long as it doesn't make a move," said Ammine.
While Ammine did have a point, Kies was still worried about the thing that was watching them since for some odd reason, it was giving off a familiar feeling like Kies had known it since he was born. He wanted to go back into the forest and see what it was but turned down the idea. He had this feeling that if he did go back to the forest to try to find the person or thing that was watching them, he wouldn't be able to find them.
"Are you done yet? I want to start moving already." Ammine looked at Kies, waiting for him to answer.
"Oh sorry. Yeah, let's start moving."
Ammine picked up the small demon and unfolded her wings. The small demon turned her head around and looked at Ammine's pair of wings admiringly. There was a sparkle in her eye as she stared at them.
"By the way, what's her name?" Kies asked, remembering that he never got the small demon's name.
"It's Jasyeu. It sounds very similar to the word 'freedom' in our language. Pretty ironic considering how her wings which represent freedom to our race were taken from her. Well, enough talk, I hope you can keep up." Ammine took off from the ground and into the air. She sped off ahead, not waiting for Kies to chant his spell before flying away.
"Winds, gather and take me. Be my guide as I make my way under these skies, follow as I find my path." Kies quickly chanted Wind's Blessing and chased after her. It was a good thing that the place was an empty wasteland or else he would never have caught up with the two demons. Kies sprinted across the plains and managed to overtake Ammine for a split second before she suddenly sped up.
Within a few seconds, the gap between them widened until the distance between them was the same as before. It was quite far away, but Kies saw what looked like a smirk on Ammine's face. She was definitely toying with him. Kies tried his hardest to increase his speed but wasn't able to increases it by much. In the end, Ammine had to slow down a bit so that Kies could keep up with her.
Leaning against a tree on the edge of the forest was a tall man with long hair tied into a ponytail and stormy gray eyes. He watched as the three slowly got further and further away from him until they faded into the distance.
"I'm surprised you didn't go greet him. You had two opportunities to, one back at the tower, and right now, but you didn't. Why is that? He's quite the interesting one. I had a little close-up encounter with him and I felt that he gives off the same aura as the Stormcaller," said a female voice next to him. The man didn't bother turning to face the voice as there was no one there with him, at least physically.
"There's really no point. It's too early. But I have to say, he is really growing fast, but... it isn't fast enough."
"So even that doesn't impress you?" The voice laughed softly and began humming a melody, only lasting for a few seconds before the voice abruptly stopped and said, "Oh deary, there's something coming this way. Shall I go deal with it or will you?"
"I'll go deal with it," the man said. "It's only natural for me to be cleaning up my junior's mess." A childish laugh echoed through the trees behind him. The atmosphere around the man grew cold as the winds around him began to blow abnormally.
"I'll move out of the way. After all, I don't want to be caught up when you start fighting," said the voice. The man waited for about ten seconds for her to get away from the area before pushing himself from the tree and turning to face the monster that was coming towards him.
"It won't be much of a fight," the man said. But by then, his partner had already gone away and he was talking to no one.
The man waited for the creature to appear from the trees. "Where are you!?" it shouted despite the man being right in front of it. "Come out! I know you're here somewhere!"
"Right in front of you," the man calmly told the monster. The creature's head snapped in the direction of the voice and it gave a huge smile, revealing no teeth in its mouth, but instead, an empty void of darkness that swallowed everything. The Childish Emperor leaped high into the air and down onto the man without so much of a warning. But just as the creature was about to reach the man, a strong gust of wind slammed into the monster while it was still midair and sent it spiraling into a tree.
The tree splintered from the force of the impact and the monster continued to spin out of control into another two trees before stopping itself by clawing at the dirt. The creature slid to a halt and looked up at the man, still smiling like it was nothing.
"What an annoyance you are..." the man said to the creature, fully knowing that it didn't understand him. The man checked to see if his companion had safely exited the area before extending out his hand and calling the winds around him to gather to his location.
The creature arched its back and then pounced on the man but all it managed to get ahold of were two handfuls of dirt. The creature turned its head up to where it sensed a strange distortion in the area. The man had launched himself hundreds of meters in the air and the winds followed. The dark clouds in the sky disappeared as they were all suddenly forcibly dragged along by the winds to gather in the man's hand and concentrated into the form of an arrow. He then created a bow out of thin air in his other hand and nocked the arrow.
Below the man, still staring up from the ground, the Childish Emperor sensed something was wrong and its smile quickly turned into a scowl. It gave off a roar followed by a maniac laugh, distorting the space around it as it revealed its true form. It morphed into a giant black mist of magic that towered up to the sky. A face appeared in the black mist and two arms came into existence and it reached up to grab the man.
"You're a second too late." The man released the arrow as the giant monster's fingers were about to curl around him, bringing down the might of the entire sky on it.
---
Grammar errors, story errors, other errors, and advice, email flightless05@gmail.com
Thanks!