Run to Flee or Run to Chase?

Countless envious thoughts forced its way into his mind as his wings rigidly fought to keep him in the same position.

He thought about all of the things he was envious about, even the Crystal Dragon King and goddess, but the most recurring thought that bounded its way around his mind were thoughts of Argentino.

Theodore hated him to the core, and yet, Argentino was all that he aspired to be. Talented, powerful, domineering, intelligent. All these things and more, but he had none of it!

Theodore groaned out in pain and anger as his head began to ache. But because his head was bowed and his eyes were shut tight, he wasn't aware of the fact that his eyes had begun to shine green.

= Good~, now the connection between us is even greater than before, do you feel that? =

The unknown being suddenly pierced through the cloud of turbulent emotions and spoke up in his mind once again. However, the voice was much clearer and louder than before, and there was even an obvious jovialness in the tone that Theodore was sure wasn't there before.

'Get out of my head!' Theodore inwardly screamed, which was already impressive considering his current mental state. However, he wasn't able to stop his body from thrashing around, nor was he even aware of it. But that didn't mean that others were blind.

"Hey, everyone, look at the Lizard! He's going crazy! Hahahaha!" came the voice of a male Dragon, but Theodore was so disorientated that he barely heard it.

= Hmm… this seems to be a bad time. What to do…=

"Hey, do you guys think that… he's being possessed?" said a female Dragon, which put an almost comical stop to the laughter. However, the accusation that was being made wasn't funny in the slightest and the Dragons in the surroundings started looking at Theodore's twitching figure with a growing hostility.

They had heard of the sinister tales concerning possessed people, and they didn't want a repeat of it.

Unfortunately, Theodore's mind was so addled that he was completely unaware. But luckily, there was another entity within his head that wasn't as oblivious, which perhaps… wasn't as lucky as it sounded. After all, the same foreign entity within his head was the root cause of the entire situation.

= A bad time indeed… Alas, I do not have time to give you… my gift. But there will be other times, so worry not! =

Theodore completely ignored him as he focused on trying to regain control of his mind.

= If you ever find yourself desiring more power, call out to the Demon god of Envy with all your hear- whoop, gotta go! How scary… =

The compelling voice that was almost singing in Theodore's head suddenly balked before anticlimactically fading into nothingness. Even the avalanche of envious thoughts that was throwing his mind every which way suddenly left him alone, restoring a semblance of peace to his soul.

But Theodore was confused, he was sure that the unknown being was gone, but why had it seemed like it had… fled?

Opening his eyes, he saw the mass of Dragons that were looking at him with wary eyes, which was something that he had never seen before, but he would do his best to deal with it later. Over in the distance, he saw the distressed face of Lyrria as she looked at him with clear worry, which warmed his heart. However, she seemed to be… signalling to him?

Ignoring his desire to glare at the embodiment of garbage that called himself Argentino, who had made it to her side, he looked at the direction of Lyrria's pointing, and his heart froze.

It was the goddess in all her glory, and she was staring right at him.

…

[Lolay Galaxy, Desolate Region, Miyanka World, Unknown Forest]

(Still Year 157)

Within an ancient Forest that had remained largely unblemished by mortal influence. A large pack of wolves was running towards a specific location with their hackles raised and a cautious light in their eyes.

Around 70 minutes ago, a large explosion was heard from the location that they were now running to. At that time, they had fled without a second thought, hiding their cubs back into the den and preparing for any sudden attack.

However, nothing had happened in all this time, and the alpha's fear had long ago converted into curiosity with a tinge of greed. In his mind, there was a chance that whatever had occurred in that moment had left dead bodies in its vicinity. Because as a transported wolf experiment that used to live with humans, he wasn't unfamiliar with weapons that make the same sound and destroy all the lives around it.

But even if that wasn't the case, there was still a chance of their being something to be gained right? The explosion had only occurred once and no other sound was heard afterwards, so the danger should have passed, right?

So off they went, and here they were. (The cubs and weaker members had, of course, been left behind).

As they neared the sight of the explosion, a large crater that was 4 metres deep and 23 metres wide was revealed, causing the alpha of the pack to be even more wary than he was before.

He couldn't really smell much thanks to the dusty and earthy smell that came as a result of the explosion, and neither could he really see anything of value or danger that could attract his attention (other than the crater). So hoping to get everything over and done with, the Alpha quickly pressed his nose to the ground to scout out any possible dangers or prey.

The pack also did the same, and they spent a good minute or so moving around to pick up any scent that would dictate whether they ran to flee or ran to chase.

With the whole pack moving as a single unit, it didn't take much longer for them to pick up a scent that they were very familiar with.

Blood.