The Basilisk Arc: Five

Shadow sat in the captain's chair. Over to the side of him was a stand that contained a mug of beer, and a tray with an assortment of crackers and cheese. Now this was serene to him. All he needed was a a banjo or a harmonica and he would be fine. He leant back and closed his eyes, his arms crossing his chest. It was a short lived moment, for her heard the water sizzle around the boat. He got up to see over the deck to see bubbles forming around the body of the boat.

"SOUS!!!"

Sous was below in the cabin performing a chant. "He-ho-ho-ho, he-ho-ho-ho, he-ho-ho-ho!"

"SOUS!!" Shadow yelled. "DON'T BE SUMMONING DEMONS, SOUS! SOUS!"

She heard Shadow screaming her name and immediately closed the book. She attempted to throw the book but Shadow came behind her and picked her up.

"HELP, HELP! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED!"

Shadow ran up the stairs and plopped Sous on the deck. He threw the book into the air and with his shotgun, shot it two times, watching it slowly float downward into the water.

Sous stood next to the railing and peeked over. She turned back to Shadow. "That book was 40 don, just for you to shoot it," she said. "AND I wasn't summoning demons. You should have looked at the title before you shot it, your trigger happy vamp-wolf."

"What kind of book was it?"

"You're right. It was a dark arts book but I didn't know that. I handed the book to you and apparently you didn't know either."

Touche.

Sous wasn't summoning demons, she was chanting a spell to raise the dead. Shadow looked at her as she shrugged.

"I'm telling Monica on you," he said.

"Tattle-tell!"

Because Shadow had to go back to take part in another mission, he turned the boat around, deciding for them to stop by a vampire city called Vania. Shadow would come here often via his mother due to their blood products. Vania had a good surplus of blood ranging from various species including human, deer, elk, unicorn, phoenix- it was just endless. The unicorn blood Sous had a few months ago was light pink in color but the bear kind was the silver blood.

Shadow helped Sous down from the dock, promising to her that he would read the summary of each book she purchased, even go as far to read a page or two, including the table of contents. Her sticky little hands were hard to clean, but having her dive so deep into such ruthless magic would be a mistake.

When entering into the city of Vania, it was quickly apparent something was wrong.

"A basilisk is here," Sous whispered. She was right. Both her and Shadow could smell the large serpent, and they could see it was here as well. Although the vampires were indoors due to it being day, the non vampires of the city were stone- gray, hard stone.

The city seemed abandoned, vacant. Cars left running, carriages left unattended besides for a bored horse. Even the birds were hiding it would seem. One thing that stood out to Sous was the lack of destruction.

"Everything is so clean."

"Its like little girl Julia. When she came back to her village, the story never mentioned her breaking or destroying anything besides for the witch's door," Shadow exclaimed. "Basilisk are pretty elegant."

Sous could imaging the basilisk slithering over buildings and houses, going around cars and buggies.

"The more we populate their habitat, the more interactions we have with them."

"I read basilisk magic is powerful magic. Their ability to turn someone into stone can not be undone."

Shadow nodded his head.

"So..." Sous murmured.

"These people are all dead." Shadow finished.

It was hard to hear. Shadow may have looked at Sous that was a little demon that like to kill people, but she only ever felt compassion and kindness to those who desired to do nor harm. All these people: the elderly man sitting on the street bench with his cane, dead. The mother holding her infant child, dead. The children pointing toward the street, dead. The vampires will clean up the stones...

Sous shook her head. If it was true the basilisk can choose who to turn and who to not turn into stone, why turn all these people into stone? Unless it was afraid. It was probably afraid.

As they continued to walk, over in the distance of the sky line, the body of the beast rose up and then down. Sous and Shadow stopped in their tracks.

Shadow walked into one of the stores. The door was unlocked and when Shadow looked over the cash register, she saw the attendant hiding.

"You're alive," he said smiling. The teenage girl looked up at relief feeling her body. She stood up and jumped over the counter appearing to be a wolf herself.

"Thought I was a goner. They eat wolves, you know."

"It seems a lot of them are goners," Sous said.

Shadow slapped her on the shoulder. Her lack of tactfulness was also a hindrance.

"Are you a piper?" The teenage girl asked.

"What's that?"

"A magae who lures certain animals away with music using instruments like a pipe," Shadow explained. "And no, I am not one. I tend to protect the Nadia border from Apex."

The girl looked at Sous. "Isn't she Apex?"

"Ugh-"

"I will be!" Sous interrupted Shadow before he could respond properly. "I will be the Alpha!"

Shadow and the girl exchanged looks then smiled. Laughing would have meant they were mocking her but them smiling showed they resonated with her.

Shadow took hold of the reigns of the hose who was connected to the carriage. The teenager told them the piper and his family have been missing since he attempted to lead spiders away from the city.

A few weeks ago, it has been discovered the spider population was growing at an alarming rate. Usually predators would keep their numbers low and their biggest predator was the basilisk.

Shadow helped Sous on the horse and lightly kicked the horse to get to run west of the city toward the upperclass area where the the piper and his family were said to live.

"Remember that wolf to bring a message to Kara?"

"Funny you should mention that," Shadow said perplexed. "We"ve gone to numerous places and I haven't seen not one."

Sous held on tight to Shadow's back. "I read they're being hunted for their fur in the animal book."

"Hmm..."

Phoenix's were known to eat fresh spider eggs and hatchlings. "What does the book say about the phoenixes? Are they also being hunted?"

"Not the way the basilisk eggs are and wolves," Sous answered.

"Hmm."

The horse made a turn up a dirt road toward the hills where the piper lived. The houses they rode by were spacious and luxurious. It was said pipers earned a pretty good income that could afford them such a fine life.

Shadow glared ahead noticing the webs thst formed. He stopped the door.

"It looks like we're going on foot, Sous."

"Okay." Sous jumped off the horse before Shadow did. She walked up ahead stretching a bit and cleaning her wand. She placed it back in her pocket and looked at Shadow.

"You're not afraid?" Most people had a fear for them but there she stood, nonchalant.

"No, they're kind of cute-with their fat little butts."

Shadow slapped the butt of the horse, making it run away. He didn't want it to stay just in case the spiders were hostile.

On the ground, Shadow his boot to create a seal, a transportation seal. He drew a circle with Sous watching from the side. He then placed four lines in the circle, splitting it into fours. Within each section, Shadow drew an S to symbolize the seal was to transport only him and those with him such as Sous.

He looked at Sous, "Just in case it gets crazy, we have the seal to transport us quickly."

"Is it possible to do a teleportation spell without a seal?"

"Of course." He placed his hand on her shoulder as the two walked toward the spider webs.

Shadow plunked one of the thick strings and the two waited. Nothing. Shadow nodded his head to Sous.

She took her wand out of her back pocket and pointed it to the webs. "Ignis!" Watching the silk threads burn, allowed them to continue on the path upward. Sous kept her gun out as Shadow took the opportunity to make sure all of his guns were loaded.

"The basilisk controlled the spider population." Sous said matter-of-factly, and she was right. Shadow was aiding an industry that allowed for such consequences to be born. After this, after finding the piper, he would see if he could get in contact with the conservation team. If the spider population lost their biggest predator, it would devastating for the surround ecosystem. The lack of phoenixes was also another worry.

"Step at a time," Shadow. "We gotta take it a step at a time."

With Sous still burning the webs and Shadow readying himself to shoot on sight, they were close to the residential neighborhood. And its future seemed bleak.