Dragon Aster Trilogy

28: HIDE AND SQUEAK



Sybl giggled as she hid behind the large tree, trying to keep her focus. With just enough concentration, she could feel which direction Loki was coming from. She quietly circled the tree in turn to remain hidden. But he had resorted to cheating when his Ancient set some vines on fire. The small flame burned them away towards her like a fuse from a bomb. Why you!

The fire went out all at once as she glared at the dragon Ancient. It bolted into the foliage while she dashed off the other way. But before she could make some distance, something appeared from behind a tree she ran past and caught her mouth and nose, before dragging her underground in her struggle to scream.

When the hands finally let go of the panic she was, she scrambled with a cry back to her feet and off of the burning ground. Kas stood unmoved by the burning charcoal they were on. “Kas?” As she looked around the fiery wasteland, it was almost fitting that she would find a real version of her imaginary friend in Hell. She looked at her hands that had been burned and then down to her runners as the rubber was already beginning to melt from the heat.

“We cannot stay down here for long.”

“Where is—where did you come from?” Sybl asked him.

“I am taking you back to the Sanctus, to my home.”

“What? Now? Are you out of your mind? Let me out of here! I want back to Loki.”

“The dragons will kill you once they find out who you truly are,” Kas said.

“I didn’t ask!”

“Neither did I.” Kas somned into his phelan form as his black mist raised the ashes of the Keol around him like a dark snow. Then he bared his fangs and let out a threatening snap of teeth at her.

Sybl stifled a scream before fainting.

Kas unsomned and caught her before she could hit the ground. He pulled her over his back and somned back into his phelan form. He used his estus energy to weigh her down so she would stay on him. Before he could make a Rift out of the Keol, knowing that the intense heat would make her sick, he stopped on sensing something on the other side.

When Hain’s thoughts didn’t return to him, he sprinted off to see if he could lose that which was on his trail. The heat and weaves of Animus Thread were volatile and constantly moving, as the lava and fire was the blood of Aragmoth. The Great Dragon was constantly moving under their world, even if the stars above them never did. But this tracker who had found them wasn’t lost in its tangle. Kas decided to make it more difficult for it to follow, and broke into a full run.