Mel

Heat walked to where he was directed, deeper in the forest. More trees, thicker bushes, eerie feelings, the sense of constant motion along the forest floor. Every step gave him the growing feeling of being watched. From behind, a small snake lunged at his feet, sinking its fangs into his heel.

"Crap!"

A snake slithered from his sleeve and fired a bullet of spa at the attacker, killing it. Heat knew exactly what to do in a situation like this; he needed to move as little as possible to prevent the spread of venom through his bloodstream and use something to restrict blood flow in his leg. He picked out a face towel from his pocket and went down on one knee. As he began to tie it around his leg, he heard a voice.

"Arigato."

That was Japanese and Heat recognized it. He couldn't read Japanese, but he had a fair understanding of the language and he knew what that meant—thanks. Suddenly, he knew how to take the venom out; he simply placed his finger on the wound and as he took it off, the venom came out.

"Ha. Interesting."

He took in a deep breath and released a burst of spa. He could sense through the ground, a dozen snakes slithering quickly in his direction.

"Nice, nice."

He snapped his fingers and they stopped.

"Let's find this accomplice, shall we?"

The snakes spread out, searching for anyone they could find, while Heat used his ground reception. One snake saw someone hiding, grabbing Heat's attention. He detected the person too and signaled the other snakes to head there while ran there himself. However, he was taken by surprise when although he was still a distance from the person, he saw her leap at him. Heat instinctively dodged and formed a Hebikaze on his right hand.

"Whoa, whoa. Calm down, let's take it easy," he said to the girl, who snarled at him.

She was a blonde teenage girl who just as tall as him. Out of her hands, long claws grew, accompanied by long, sharp, dangerous teeth. Her ears extended and the eyes on her hairy body flashed bright yellow. She had transformed, but only halfway.

"You don't look half as ugly as Deucalion did."

Ignoring Heat's words, she swung her arm at him. Despite her quick movements, he managed to dodge and used his Hebikaze to tie her neck, pulling her to the ground. The amaroq swiftly got back up and kicked Heat down. He leaped away from her and fired two Snake's Hisses at her, which she dodged with ease. She sunk one foot into the ground, about to jump at Heat, when she felt fangs sink into her foot. Heat could not believe how easy he had it; all he had to do was distract her with his attacks while the snakes got close enough to bite. The amaroq crushed her attacker's head but before she could do more, she was bitten by more snakes. Braving through it all, she finally threw herself at Heat, managing to wound his arm. However, before she could do more, she fell to the ground, gasping.

"Whew!" Heat sighed. "Conveniently, the snakes were all incredibly venomous."

He looked at the amaroq struggling to breathe. Doing what he had previously done for himself, Heat removed some of the venom from her body. She reacted well, breathing easily and moving her hands slowly. Meanwhile, Heat took out the fangs of the snake that bit her, dripping with poison, and pocketed them.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Whoa. She talks." Heat sat on the floor close to her. "What's your name?"

"Mel."

"Hi Mel, nice to meet you. I need to find Deucalion. Can you help me?"

"Go to hell."

"What is with you amaroqs and your attachment to hell?" Heat sighed. "I guess I'll just send you to Ur-tir'ak instead of Deucalion."

"No! Wait! I'll tell you what you need to know."

"I'm listening."

"I was asked to go to Deucalion's rendezvous site because you might appear, and if you did, I was supposed to bring you back alive."

"Where's he is right now."

"Do you think you can pull it off?"

"People thought the Earth was flat, man was alone, God was good, etcetera. I think you should be more worried about those."

"Wh-what does any of that have to do with this?"

"I don't know, habit. Just tell me where to find him."

"Keep walking north from here, in a few meters, there's a tree with significantly fewer leaves than its surrounding trees. You will need an amaroq's howl to unveil a pathway that would lead you to Deucalion."

"Are you sure you're not lying? This plan means I will need you with me, alive, conveniently."

"Precisely."

"Fine."

Heat grabbed her hand and dragged her along the floor.

"What is wrong with you?!"

He smiled at her. "It's an arm workout."

In a few minutes, they arrived at the tree.

"Now's your time to howl."

The amaroq frowned. "If I do that, you're gonna kill me."

"If you howl, I wouldn't lay a finger on you…I promise."

Mel howled lowly. There was a short-lived breeze. Heat squinted his eyes, it was as if his vision was clearing, unveiling a pathway. When he saw clearly what was before him, he smirked. It looked like the setting of a western fairytale; surrounding trees were all odd one way or another, either with strange branches, trunks or leaves. There were two clear paths; one led to a small cabin in the center of the clearing, and the other was from the cabin into a group of trees that formed an arc. "Thank you, Mel." He walked away. "I said I wouldn't touch you, I never said my snakes wouldn't."

"No! Please!"

Her pleas fell on deaf ears as the snakes attacked.

Heat walked over to the cabin. Using his ground reception, he detected two people inside. He kicked the door down and activated his Hebikaze. Two amaroqs turned to look at him and transformed halfway like Mel was. The growling creatures charged at Heat; he lifted his hands at them and threw Snake's Hisses at the amaroqs, who dodged with ease. One of them got close to Heat and threw a punch, but Heat read it easily. He used the snakes from his arms to tie the amaroq's arm, brought him closer and stabbed him in the neck with one of the fangs he pocketed. The other amaroq swung his arm at Heat, who dodged swiftly and stabbed him in the same way. Initially, the stabbing had little effect, but a few seconds after the amaroqs tried to turn the tide of the battle, they fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Heh. I'm really figuring out this whole amaroq thing very fast."

Heat glanced across the empty room; at one corner, there was another door. He walked up to and held the handle. The moment he opened it, he got hit in the chest by a force so strong that it threw him out of the cabin entirely.

"Ouch."

He staggered to his feet. Walking towards him was an amaroq with a full transformed arm.

"Well that's nasty," Heat said with a smirk. It immediately faded away when he realized his ground reception had not detected the amaroq behind the door. "Crap."

Heat took a fighting stance when the amaroq got close to him. With his eyes focused on Heat, the amaroq lifted his untransformed hand and whistled. Out of the surrounding trees, nine more amaroqs approached trees.

Heat could not detect any of them either. "What's going on?"

"He killed Mel, right?" one amaroq asked.

"You're so lucky that you are wanted alive," another said.

"I killed who?" Heat asked.

"Playing dumb won't help. After all, we're not going to kill you," a third amaroq said.

With a smirk, Heat replied, "Then I guess I am lucky indeed."

In an instant, Heat activated his Hebikaze but before he could do anything, two amaroqs ripped the snakes from his arms, and two more pinned him to a tree. While being held up by two amaroqs, another transformed his arm, moved up to Heat and punched his chest, with his hand entering Heat's body. The move was intended to completely immobilize Heat but he accidently punched a little hole in Heat's heart.

"Helix, I don't really care 'bout your dead almost girlfriend as much as I do my life. Our orders were not to kill him," one amaroq said.

Heat was striving to stay alive as he lay on the forest floor, bleeding. The amaroqs were just as lost as he was; if Heat died, they were as good as dead. Unlike his opponents, Heat was not lost because he feared for his life; on the contrary, he was lost because he felt nothing at all. There was no sadness, joy or pain, just the feeling of emptiness.

"Uh-oh, big mistake."

Even in this dying moment, Heat heard the deep voice again.

But this time, he wasn't the only one. The amaroqs almost jumped out of their skin, their minds snapped into a state of extreme alertness, as they heard the voice within them. The hairs on their bodies stood upright and a chill ran down their spines in unison. Helix watched as his hand shook uncontrollably.

"What disgusting feeling is this?"