Enid

"Berry stay with me!"

Caelum rushed down the hall, the sounds of explosions going off behind him, he ran frantically with the Rune in his arms, his breathing short and heavy as he tried to make his way through the fog.

He had blasted the machine to bits, saving Berry quickly before he could get caught up in the explosion. He now held the unconscious Rune in his arms, looking for help.

Damn scientists!

There was no one to turn to, the explosion must have chased everyone away and Sepehr...

Caelum steadied his emotions and tried to think of what to do but nothing was coming to mind, all he could think about was how cold Berry was. He could barely see him in the thick smoke but the chaos but he knew something was off. The rune felt almost lifeless in his arms but he didn't want to assume the worst.

"Just hang in there, I will find some place safe" he said, mostly reassuring himself.

He got to the end of the hallway and took a turn and saw several labs, but they were all empty, all the scientists abandoning the place for their safety. Even if they were around, Caelum wasn't sure he could trust any of them but he didn't know what to do.

"gods….help me please"

Maybe it was his imagination but Berry seemed to be getting colder in his arms.

"Fuck!" He cursed out loud, the situation starting to drive him nuts.

"Your Majesty!"

He turned back to the sound of a woman calling out to him. She had short blonde hair, straight and shoulder-length, she seemed familiar but Caelum was too occupied to remember where he had seen her.

"Over here!" she yelled, turning around and running towards a door.

He was skeptical but he didn't have time to think, he just wanted to get Berry someplace safe and following this woman was a risk he was willing to take.

He quickly ran after her, holding Berry tighter. She opened the door and it seemed to be a portal, shining blue with draconian symbols written on it.

She went through, urging him to follow. Immediately he did, a blinding light struck him, making him disoriented for a moment before clearing up.

He opened his eyes and found himself in a forest, the place was tranquil, a stark contrast to the blown up lab.

"Follow me" she said firmly and made her way through the trees.

Caelum contemplated for a moment but since he didn't have anywhere else to go, he hesitantly followed her through the trees.

The forest seemed to clear up as they went deeper and soon they came across a small wooden cabin. The place seemed rundown and abandoned but Caelum couldn't sense any negative energy from it or the girl, he was a bit skeptical but he followed her inside anyway.

The inside was worse than the outside, filled with layers of dust and cobwebs, there was a small couch at the far corner of the cabin, a small door to the right and some other things Caelum couldn't really see because of how dark it was.

It was a terrible living space but he knew it wouldn't be for long, it would have to do until Berry recovers.

"I'll turn on the lights", she flipped a switched, the old bulbs blinking to life. The lights were dim but it managed to chase away the darkness.

Caelum looked down at his arms, his eyes widened as he took in Berry's almost colourless form. The bright pink hair now almost gray and drained of it's colour, his face sickeningly pale and dry. Caelum felt guilt build up in his chest, if only he had protected him and not trusted the scientists, this wouldn't have happened.

"Here, put him on the couch"

Caelum quickly complied and dropped him on the couch gently. The blonde girl immediately went down to his level and began touching him an feeling his pulse.

Caelum looked at her warily but he had no time to process what she was even doing, all he could think about was Berry, please be okay, please be okay, he repeated in his mind.

"He's alive"

Those words sent a wave of relief over Caelum's body, he felt lighter after hearing that but there was still a big issue at hand, "But the-"

"Yes I am aware, thankfully the machine did not drain all his powers, it overloaded before it could" she said standing up to look at Caelum.

She sighed and continued speaking, "But it definitely drained a lot, but no worries, he will get it all back, he will just need to recover"

"How long will it take?" Caelum asked, his voice filled with worry.

"I don't know, for now he has to hide, there are other people after him and if they knew what state he was in, they wouldn't hesitate to attack".

Caelum looked at her skeptically before speaking in a low but firm tone, "how do you know all this? Who even are you?"

"My name is Enid, I am the woman from the research team, the one who discovered the man from the past"

Caelum hummed and nodded, Sepehr had mentioned her before. But his suspicion had not died down one bit.

"And why are you helping us?" He asked with a raised brow.

"Because I have to"

She has to? Caelum narrowed his eyes at her, he felt like the more he spoke to her the less he understood.

"Where did you come from?"

"With all due respect Your Majesty, I cannot give you that information, all I can say is that I am on Berry's side".

Caelum hummed again, he was still at alert but he did not sense any malicious intent from her so he was a little at ease.

"What is shocking is that a dragon, not just any dragon, but the king of star dragons, is here, protecting a Rune" she said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

Caelum scoffed and rolled his eyes, "I am not a monster, Berry did nothing wrong, he doesn't deserve to get hurt, I am simply treating him fairly".

"Ah! Fair treatment for a Rune? Now that is something new" she crossed her arms and leaned on the couch, " I thought you would be one of them but I was wrong, they didn't even include you in the plot".

"The plot?"

"The scientists never wanted to train Berry, they wanted to extract his power and learn how to wield it themselves"

I thought so, Caelum had figured out that much but the question was why?.

"I know what you are thinking, why would they want to do that? Well let's just say they had urgent use of it"

"What could they possibly use it for if not to free Runes of the feral nature?" Caelum said in frustration, And what could be so important that Sepehr would turn into a monster and hurt Berry because of it?.

It doesn't make sense, Caelum placed a hand on his head, feeling a strong headache. He wanted to understand everything happening around him but he was just as clueless as ever.

But for some reason, looking at this girl, he felt like she knew what was going on, she was no rookie in the research team, was she a spy? Most importantly, is she really on their side?.