New Normal (2)

Amari zipped through the forest as fast as he could, occasionally adding a few Shadow Movements in-between. He was determined to reach his destination in time. Amari pushed himself further, his feet barely touching the ground. He had to make it. The cool breeze zipped through his hair and his vision grew increasingly strained with each second.

This night felt darker than usual. An unusual amount of mana lingered in the air.

"A spell," he muttered, realizing.

Someone was casting a spell in the environment. Amari didn't know much about spells, but something told him this wasn't a good thing.

He'd heard that powerful beings could affect the environment in a much larger way than ordinary ones could. It was even said that the more powerful ones could create terrain-changing storms or other extraordinary weather phenomena.

They even spoke of mages who were able to bend time and space to their will!

"Could it be Mom and Dad or this Vornolia the Destroyer?"

As he thought of such a power, he shuddered. He wasn't certain if his parents' abilities had reached that level, but from what the old wolf told him Vornolia the Destroyer was something else entirely.

As Amari contemplated, a bright red fireball whizzed right past his face, burning a small bit of his hair off.

He felt a chill run down his spine as he looked around, trying to figure out where the spell had come from. He quickly spotted a figure in the distance, and realized it was the spellcaster. He didn't hesitate and sprinted towards them.

What followed was a storm of blazing red fireballs that cascaded over him, falling like water droplets from a shower.

Amari cursed and activated Shadow Tendrils, one of his skills learned from Reida and Felaud.

Mana coursed through his body. The chilling feeling subdued the raging heat bathing his body on the outside. Then, a mass of shadow tentacles shot from the ground and enveloped him just before a fireball hit him.

Amari cringed a bit. The only disadvantage with this spell was the fact that it transferred some of the damage the tentacles experienced onto the user. But he felt nothing. He retracted his own tentacles and saw another wriggly, more vibrant mass protecting him.

Those tentacles retreated into darkness causing Amari to grin a little at Zlatan and Riux.

The two of them grinned back at him, "Hello.".

"What are you two doing here?" He approached them through the now subdued sea of flames.

Zaltan shook his head. "Not now." He answered, shaking a paw in the direction of the spell caster.

"We asked Tamara and Amira to take care of them, but they couldn't hold on for too long last we'd seen. That person is too strong for us to deal with." Riux said to himself.

"Alright, let's go and you'll explain what happened."

The two wolves nodded and disappeared in a sudden burst of shadows. Amari barely had time to blink when he saw them suddenly appear next to the tree where he'd last seen the figure.

'Really, what kind of big brother am I?'

[Name: Zaltan]

[Race: Demon Beast]

[Rank: Lesser Demon Beast (Birth Rank- Increases with Age)]

[Species: Shadow Dweller Wolf]

[Attributes]

[STR: 28]

[AGI: 30]

[STA: 35]

[INT: 50]

[MP: 100/100]

[Skills: Intermediate Shadow Manipulation, Shadow Movement, Shadow Concealment, Shadow Tendrils, Basic Shadow Animation, Shadow Paralysis]

[Remark: Level-headed wolf pup with a knack for leadership.]

That was Zaltan's status currently.

[Name: Riux]

[Race: Demon Beast]

[Rank: Lesser Demon Beast (Birth Rank- Increases with Age)]

[Species: Shadow Dweller Wolf]

[Attributes]

[STR: 20]

[AGI: 40]

[STA: 25]

[INT: 55]

[MP: 110/100]

[Skills: Basic Shadow Manipulation, Shadow Movement, Shadow Concealment, Shadow Tendrils, Shadow Paralysis]

[Remark: Sly wolf pup who hunts and makes do with the situation]

Both of their statuses embarrassed him to call himself a big brother. His race had not done him any favours in learning their skills. All five pups were born with Shadow Affinity and only had to play for a while to unlock Basic Shadow Manipulation.

Amari was still determined to help them, no matter what. He would be the best big brother he could be and teach them all he could. He knew he was up to the challenge.

"Big bro, are you okay?" Zaltan's voice asked, snapping him out of his trance.

Amari quickly composed himself and looked at Zaltan with a warm smile. "I'm absolutely fine, little brother."

He quickly got to their location and saw a crumpled serpentine body on the floor.

"Is that a dragon?" he asked wide-eyed.

"Yeah, genius. I can't believe the lack of wings and the snake-like form gave it away." Amira rolled her eyes.

Amari shot a dirty glance at her comment but still examined the body.

'Observe!'

[Name: Unknown]

[Race: Demon Beast]

[Species: Variant Snake Dragon - Fire Snake Dragon]

'Oh.' As a result, he lost all interest and stopped reading there.

"You guys okay?" He turned away from the corpse and turned to his only sisters among the pups, Amira and Tamara.

Amira was... well Amira, but he was used to her. She behaved almost exactly like Jasmin and not like Amari who named her.

'I miss her.'

On the other hand, Tamara wasn't much like Tamira, whom she was named after. She was quiet, wise and inquisitive. She was an excellent listener who could always be counted on for advice. She had an eye for detail, and often caught things others missed.

And most importantly, she reminded Amari of his original self.

"I'm okay, aside for the very obvious burns on my goddamn fur!" Amira blasted, turning her back away from Amari.

Tamara nodded. "I'm good."

"Right so what happened before you guys came here?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"Filten returned home not long after you did. He and Aunt Tamira were severely injured." Riux answered, as if stating a fact.

Amari blanked out. That was both good and bad news.

"Were they treated promptly?" He returned in Riux's tone. Thinking maybe if he detached himself from the situation, everything would be better.

"Yes. We took them to Aunty's den. That was when we got ambushed by enemy soldiers. They told us that Mom and Dad are getting executed by their leader tonight."

'It just keeps getting worse!'

Amari's ribs hurt more and more each time Riux spoke, causing the pups to laugh a lot. He glared at them, especially Amira.

"Little girl, don't forget I named you! And what's so funny?"

Zaltan quickly shut Amira up, "Don't worry big bro, everything will be okay."

Amari wasn't convinced. "Really, how so?"

"Well, even though they only told you at first, we learned some information while Mom and Dad were gone. We didn't want to tell either you or Filten,"

The violent pounding in his heart ceased and returned to the slow rhythm of elevator music he was used to.

"What did you guys find out?"

Zaltan looked at his siblings and nodded.

"Mom and Dad have a few double agents working on the other side. They'll interrupt the execution when they have the chance. That's why mana lingers in the air."

Amari was shook. He didn't even want to ask how they got the information, but if the people sabotaging were that strong, how strong were his parents?

"Ooh, it's starting." Amira muttered and looked towards the other side of the forest.

The lingering mana rushed toward that direction. It no longer felt like static in the atmosphere. It as now a raging electricity current that could harm on command.

It transformed rapidly, from a colourless mist in the air into something like an aurora borealis. Multiple different colours filled the sky, replacing the initial dullness with colouration that put daylight to shame.

Then it transformed again into a mass of a shadowy substance, and the moon disappeared from sight. No moonlight pervaded the area and everything fell silent.

Amari wanted to speak. He could have broken that silence, but it felt silly and disrespectful of him to do so. Disrespectful towards the being that put him in this world, his parents, and his siblings.

A few seconds later, silence was broken, and that led to the final transformation. But this time, it wasn't colours.

"AWWWWW!!"

Two howls broke the silence, and their howls transformed the shadowy mass into a giant wolf head that stared down on everything.

"That's-"

He could not finish his sentence.

Three large shadow balls, much like the ones he'd first practiced with, appeared in front of the wolf. It wasted no time and crashed into the forest easily.

Upon impact, shadows invaded the soil and changed the colour from brown to a corrupted dark. Several trees wilted and all the Demon Beasts in that area died even when not in direct contact with the shadow balls.

In the second half of the forest, the same scene repeated everywhere.

Amari should have been frightened. Angry. But he smiled.

That was genocide. If it were someone else doing genocide, he'd be furious. But those were his parents. He couldn't help but not care about what they did.

His smile remained for as long as the wolf in the sky remained there.

"Let's go grab mom and dad,"

"Okay!"

"Sure!"

"We're on it!"

"Okay."

What he saw that day was the most morally wrong thing in the world, but he had no single mind in the world to listen to that. After weeks of being apart, his parents were back and nothing would separate them again.

'I guess this is my new normal from now on,'