*Adela*

I slowly made my way toward the direction of the sound. A thick dark miasma covered the forest the deeper I got to the source. "Lei!" I shouted, moving at full speed.

A roar shook the mountain and this time it was followed by rampaging footsteps that sounded like a cavalry was upon us. The beast that had produced the sounds was coming directly toward me.

A jaguar-like creature made out of shadows appeared before me. It exposed its sharp ruby fangs and glared at me with its golden rimmed emerald green eyes. At one point its eyes seemed to have shifted to a turquoise color like Lei's.

"You're the beast that devoured Lei aren't you?" I question as if the beast could understand me.

The shadowy being encircled me. It growled once more and this time deep sapphire blue spots appeared in the deep black shadows. Its roars sounded somewhat painful as if it had been horribly wounded.

I raise my wand towards it. "Don't move, or I'll blast you!"

The big cat purred like a house cat. I looked up at the dark sky, sun rise was still a couple minutes away. Yeah, an entire day had passed since the darkness had been unleashed upon this world. Who knew how many had died?

The dark creature continued to repeat the same odd behavior as before.

I lowered my wand to approach it. "Are you fine?" It showed off its canines, warning me to stay away. "I'll leave you alone if you do the same for me. I have no time to play with you I need to find my friend."

The creature stopped moving and sat down like a dog before its master.

I felt a strange pain in my chest. I stretched out a hand towards the creature and touched its head. I saw images of what seemed like a child running around with young Yutika and Kun, back when his hair was brown. The next image was of the child starring at a baby and hugging it, yelling that he was finally a big brother. There were also painful images, such as feeling like a fish out of water as Ayawamat taunted him about his inability to breathe correctly.

"Lei?" I said, letting go of its head.

The creature turned tail and ran into the forest. I chased after it while clearing my path of any roots and vines. I redirected some of the roots towards the creature to try to capture it, but it jumped through all of them as if they were nothing.

"Wait!" I pounced on it as soon as I got close enough. It struggled against my grasp but I didn't let go. "Lei! Hey, listen to me. What happened to you? Why are you in this form?"

The creature stopped struggling and looked up towards the lingering triple moons. It finally broke the silence of the night by howling. The howl vibrated throughout the forest and knocked down some of the surrounding trees. It would've blown me off too if I hadn't encased my body in metal armor. The howl echoed in my ears for some time.

Despite the starling shockwave inducing howl, I kept holding unto Lei. "Give me back Lei... please. Give me back my friend!"

"Adela," the creature spoke softly as it turned its head toward me. Its legs gave in as the shadows around it dissolved. I looked down and saw that I was now holding onto Lei.

"Thank the heavens."

"Adela!" Zelde shouted as her voice got closer.

I glanced behind me and saw Zelde with all of the exchange students plus Shiori, Yuuta, and Yuuto. I would've punched Shiori's teeth out if we were in a different situation.

"Ah, you found the wimp," Shiori said, looking at Lei with disdain.

"Hey, only I can call him that," Ayawamat snapped, narrowing his eyes at the weasel.

"What happened?" Wanikiya said, pushing aside the two. "We heard a roar coming from here...it sounded like a wolf at moments and like a big cat at other times." His eyes widened upon seeing Lei. Tears streamed down his cheeks. "Lei. He's alive!"

"Yeah," I said, staring at the barely conscious Lei. "Let's go. He needs to be treated."

"Did you defeat the beast that devoured him?" Zelde asked.

I was speechless, unaware of what to say next. If I told them that Lei was the cause of all the noise what would they have done to him? He had turned into one of those shadow monsters.

I stood up and carried Lei as if he were my newly wedded husband. "We should return to the school, Lei needs a safe place to recover." My eyes felt heavy with every step I took. My head drifted toward the floor but an arm wrapped around me, giving me support.

"Are you alright? Shall I carry Lei?" Iah said, concern in his eyes. He must've been worried after I left him and the others. Nyima. Where had she gone? Had she already left for Wahkan?

"I am getting sleepy. That's all. How far is the closest camp?"

"It's not that far," Nyima said as she hiked the ruined mountain trail. She and the rest of us came to a sudden stop. Snarls shook the earth. A pack of dark creatures manifested around us.

"Sorry, but it seems that we won't be getting a break any time soon," Alto said, summoning his wand. He transformed it into a pair of brass knuckles, and infused them with lightning. He shot one of the beasts with bolt but was hit by it instead.

"Alto!" his teammates yelled. They surround him as he fell to one knee.

"What was that?" Lei asked in a hoarse voice. "Why did his attack bounced back?"

Alto waved his worried teammates away. "I don't know, but it seems lightning won't defeat them."

"Silvia Draco," I chanted. My spell was also deflected back at me.

"Do they have some kind of barrier?" Ulissis suggested. He took out his wand, transforming it into a silver revolver, and pointed it at one of them.

"Don't. If one of those is deflected back, you may die from the bullet," Alto said.

Iah rapidly shifted the earth around us, forming a barrier. "We got to get Lei out of here. Adela, I'm going to make an escape tunnel that will lead to the closest encampment. Ask for reinforcements to at least help us escape out of here alive."

"You won't be coming with me?"

Iah shook his head. "The rest can go but I'm going to hold down these beasts while some of us get away."

Before I could respond, I felt a strong darkness over me. I dropped Lei without meaning to. The darkness was coming from him.

Lei opened his eyes and stood up quickly as if all of his energy had returned. His eyes were dull. He blasted a hole into Iah's earth barrier with a dark purple laser. In moments, he had taken down a fourth of the dark beasts that were outside. He spun around rapidly, blasting the remaining enemies as the rest of us hit the ground.

Iah rapidly reinforced his barrier but this time with an opening for Lei to attack. Lei blasted entire thing to dust, and gave Iah a cold glance as if telling him to not get in his way.

"What's wrong with you?" Iah snapped. "You want to bury us alive? Not to mention, you nearly hit us with that strange new spell of yours!"

Lei blasted the remaining beast with one final black sphere. He transformed his hands into a pair of claws covered in pitch black shadows. He shifted his attention towards Iah, and charged at him with all his strength. I quickly shielded Iah by blocking Lei's claws with an armored arm, while grabbing his arm with my free hand. "Stop this."

Lei turned his hands back to normal and slipped them out of my grasp by moving forward. With little warning he grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. His eyes were duller than before. They were even colder than when he killed those mercenaries all those years ago.

**Solar Questions: What do you think will happen to Lei? Think that his friends will be able to save him? Is the actual Lei even still alive? Please share your thoughts :3**