《Fantasy fugitives (Dropped)》


 Chapter 1: Warp and Princess

    "Mindy, look... I know we said ''anything'' but..."


    "Hey! Don''t you dare back off now! Just a few more steps and we are done!"


    Looking at the mysterious creature he sometimes called that was his childhood friend, the young boy sighed as he crossed his arms. Mindy, the girl with short black hair wearing black shorts and a black shirt. She was in the middle of painting questionable symbols all over the floor using a brush and setting up candles around said markings. Every time she pulled another candle from her bag, the boy''s regret of ever making that bet with her grew.


    "The angel blood."


    Mindy extended her hand towards the boy without looking away from her dubious creation. In response to that, the boy simply looked at a nearby table where a bottle with some red paste stood. There was a label that read ''angel blood'' written in a barely legible handwriting.


    "Come on Nate, hand me the angel blood!"


    With a resigning sigh, Nate walked over to the table and grabbed the ''angel blood''. After removing the cap and getting a whiff of the tomato fragrance, he made his way to Mindy and handed it over. He made sure to not spill any of it on his clothes.


    "Thaaank you~"


    Mindy took the bottle and started pouring the contents into the middle of her giant creation. Meanwhile, Nate rolled his eyes and sighed again.


    "All done!"


    She triumphantly stood up and put her hands on her hips while looking at her masterpiece. Nate was impressed. It actually looked like a genuine satanic ritual and not some random scribbles like last time. Maybe it will actually summon demons now?


    After admiring her work for a few moments, Mindy proceeded to walk into the part of the drawings where there was a blank circle and sat cross-legged inside.


    "Now you sit over there and we can begin!"


    She then pointed to an identical empty circle on the other side of all the markings. Since he lost the bet, he couldn''t refuse and obediently sat down in the designated spot. In response to that, Mindy nodded to herself before pulling out a thick book from her bag. This made Nate raise his eyebrows as he inspected the book''s cover. It looked like one of those occult books with strange bulging symbols on its cover. No text or a picture.


    "Now then! Repeat after me!"


    Nate simply continued staring at her without responding. To Mindy, that was his confirmation of agreement.


    "We summon thee! Arnagroth, the great fiend of the dimensions!"


    She put her arms up as she yelled that out loud.


    "We summon thee... Ar-..ara-...argaroth?"


    "Arnagroth!"


    Mindy swiftly corrected Nate, who was struggling to pronounce the weird name.


    "Argan-...ugh whatever, the great fiend of dimensions!"


    "We beg you! Grant us the privilege of witnessing one of your many worlds!"


    Mindy decided to ignore the fact that Nate skipped the name.


    "We beg you. Grant us the privilege of witnessing one of your many worlds."


    Nate repeated her words perfectly... except his enthusiasm was on the opposite side of the spectrum.


    "Araga, turoth moro!"


    "Araga tu... what?"


    "Kalu mono tareh!"


    "Kalu... you know what, this is getting a little stupid."


    "Gasta! Horido! Raaakaaaaa!"


    Saying those last lines, Mindy stood up as her lungs emptied whatever air was left in them.


    ...


    And then, nothing happened. Mindy stood still with her arms open and her eyes looking at the ceiling. Nate kept staring at her, expecting something more. The candle flames kept on silently burning. Not even an awkward breeze blew by since the door and all windows were shut.


    ...


    Mindy''s body slowly started trembling before she looked down again straight at Nate.


    "You messed it up!"


    Her finger pointed straight at Nate, who still sat there without any enthusiasm whatsoever.


    "Well, sorry! But I don''t speak gibberish!"


    "Ugh! It''s not gibberish, it''s-"


    And then, a flash of light. Both of them instantly closed their eyes on reflex, but even then, they could only see pure whiteness. Mindy was certain she screamed out when it happened, but her ears didn''t seem to register her own voice at all. Meanwhile, Nate felt something rapidly leaving and entering every cell of his body. And only a split-second after the flash, their consciousness faded away...


    ...


    Head, back, arms, legs... everything ached when Nate finally opened his eyes again. Despite the pain and his blurry vision, he did his best to get his bearings and sit up while holding his head. Surprisingly, there was no need to strain his head to recall what happened. The moment he woke up, he remembered the ritual and the subsequent flash. Of course, he also remembered the other person.


    "M-mindy?!"


    He blinked a few times to recover his sight and looked around in search of Mindy. However, what he didn''t expect to see, were countless trees in all directions. Somehow, he found himself in the middle of a forest. In the back of his mind, the thought that ''the ritual worked'' popped up. But immediately after that, he caught a glimpse of something black lying on the ground. On closer inspection, it was long black hair of a girl lying not too far away from him.


    "Mindy!"


    Despite the pain, he stood up and ran up to her. When he did though, he realized something was off. Didn''t she cut her hair a few weeks ago? Why is it so long now?


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings."M-mindy? Are you okay?! Speak to me!"


    But an oddity or two didn''t stop him from holding her in his arms and worryingly talking to her. Thanks to his voice, the girl started groaning and slowly opened her eyes.


    "N-Nate?... WHOA WHO ARE YOU?! Agh!"


    After her eyes have opened, she suddenly yelled in panic but immediately after that, she jolted in pain.


    "It''s me! Nate! Nate!"


    While reassuring her, he noticed yet another unnerving oddity. Her pupils turned pitch black.


    "Wha..."


    With her mouth half-opened, the girl stared at the boy who claimed to be her childhood friend in confusion and disbelief for a few seconds.


    ...


    "N-Nate?! What''s with your hair?!"


    "Huh...?"


    Nate quickly touched his hair, but didn''t feel like it was messy. After that, he brought his bangs down and took a closer look. They were white. His brown hair turned white.


    "Why is..."


    Another wave of confusion assaulted Nate. Why did his hair turn white? Doesn''t your hair lose color when you are older?


    While Nate worrying about the sudden change, Mindy managed to sit up and look around. Her eyes widened as she noticed the trees, grass and other plants around them. This clearly wasn''t her grandfather''s basement anymore.


    "Hey... we are in a forest..."


    "Yeah, I noticed..."


    An awkward silence followed.


    ...


    "Hey..."


    The silence was quickly broken by Mindy''s weak voice.


    "It actually worked...?"


    Astonishment flowed into the expression of both of them. Mindy couldn''t believe it actually worked. On the other hand, Nate was also surprised that she didn''t even expect it to work herself.


    "N-no, I mean! Of course, it worked! Hahah all according to plan!"


    Mindy tried to laugh it off, but Nate merely held his head as a sigh left his mouth.


    <hr>


    A winged woman clad in shining armor rushed through an empty hallway. Her teeth and fists clenched, she was sweating bullets. Upon turning a corner, she almost lost her balance and fell, but her wings flapped and helped her stay on track. She soon arrived at the end of the hallway where a grand door lied. There stood two humanoid statues, one on each side of the door.


    "Elina Astra from the Heavenly eye district! I bring urgent news for the princess!"


    After hurling these words toward the statues, they made subtle mechanical nods and the door slowly opened. Elina lost no time running inside before gracefully bowing and lowering her wings.


    "My utmost apologies for my sudden entrance princess. I have brought some dire news!"


    Inside that room stood a person, fiddling with floating stones and goo spheres connected by streams of shining dust. The ''princess'', reacting to the sudden visitor, jerked her head toward the source of the noise making all of the stones and goo spheres fall down to the floor.


    Her appearance was identical to that of a young girl... if it weren''t for the fact that her entire body, including her hair, was transparent and had a blue tint. Just like a proper princess, her body was clad in shining golden dress and on top of her head sat a cute little crown.


    After staring at the intruder for a few seconds, her sweet voice resounded in the room.


    "What is it, Elina?"


    Still bowing, Elina started her report.


    "Our district has detected a huge distortion in the space-time fabric near the Kodawa region."


    The words ''huge distortion'' made the princess frown.


    "We have yet to pinpoint it precisely... but we think it might be... a d-... a demon..."


    The princess clenched her teeth and frowned upon hearing that.


    "Another one..."


    The princess briefly closed her eyes and a moment of silence followed. When she opened them again, the anxiety was fully replaced by the dignified look of a ruler.


    "Elina, immediately head back to your district. While you work on pinpointing the distortion, you are to begin searching for the demon''s artifact as well."


    "Y-yes my princess!"


    With that, Elina bowed once again before turning around and dashing out of the room.


    After making sure the surroundings were vacant of people, the princess spoke into the empty air.


    "Marwen."


    "Yes, milady?"


    And an old man''s voice responded, seemingly coming from the same location as her.


    "Go and inform the beast king. Tell him to assemble a party to search the Kodawa region for any signs of a demon."


    "Right away."


    After that, the tiny crown on her head wobbled and fell from her head. However, just before hitting the ground, it grew in size and its shape changed drastically. In a split-second, there stood an old man in a suit holding a hand on his chest. His head featured two white wolf-like ears and his back sprouted two massive white wings.


    "Then, excuse me."


    With these words, he disappeared without any sound.


    ...


    A sigh escaped the princess'' mouth.


    "Always when it''s the most peaceful... just... why?"


    What seemed to be a silent rant not meant to be heard by anyone, was answered by another male voice.


    "Perhaps that''s the reason itself. Demons want chaos, peace is unacceptable for them."


    Not surprised in the slightest, the princess sighed again before replying back.


    "Perhaps you''re right..."

 Chapter 2: Magic and Murder

    "Fireball! Lightning bolt! Earth spike! Blizzard storm!"


    Out in the woods stood a girl with her hands extended forward, shouting random things. A boy standing nearby merely watched.


    "Hey... what are you doing?"


    But he simply couldn''t resist asking after a while.


    "We are in a fantasy world right?! That means magic!"


    Mindy''s response made Nate raise his eyebrows while his mouth distorted. What kind of leap in logic is that? They suddenly appeared in the middle of a forest, they don''t necessarily know where they are. And even if they were in a fantasy world with magic, why would it be so easy to use magic just by shouting random things?


    Mindy noticed his crossed arms and furrowed brows and guessed his thoughts.


    "Because you know! We are from a different world! People like that always get some super amazing abilities!"


    "... you should stop assuming so many things."


    Having his thoughts read, Nate averted eyes, to which Mindy grinned.


    "Status! Menu! Inventory!"


    And then continued shouting more nonsense.


    Nate, on the other hand, fell into deep thought. Wasn''t their situation actually quite bad? They were in the middle of nowhere without any supplies. If they don''t find a settlement any time soon, they might be forced to camp out in the woods. Moreover, he wasn''t very well versed in plants. He wouldn''t be able to tell apart an edible berry from a poisonous one. And then... they also have to be afraid of the wild animals. They can''t ward off a wolf or a bear with their fists. That''s just impossible.


    "Argh! Nothing is working!"


    After Mindy finally gave up, Nate spoke to her.


    "We should really move from here. We need to find a civilization of sorts."


    Although still annoyed by the failure, Mindy nodded.


    But before they even made a few steps, Mindy stopped and looked to the side.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "T-that''s...!"


    And then she ran toward that spot. Seconds later, Nate realized what caught her attention.


    "My bag! It got transported with us!"


    Nate was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps there are some useful items inside? He closed the distance and watched as Mindy rummaged through it.


    Candles, brushes, cans of paint, more candles...


    It all seemed like useless junk for the ritual, but when Mindy unzipped another pocket, a light of hope shined upon them. There were a bunch of wafers and even a bottle of water! Nate had no idea why she needed that for the ritual, but he decided to ignore that.


    "Food! Now we don''t have to worry about it that much!"


    He exhaled these words in pure joy. Now they wouldn''t starve to death.


    "Hm? Oh... umm right..."


    But Mindy didn''t seem to be that interested in it. That made Nate frown. What could possibly be more important than food in their situation? He couldn''t imagine.


    "Ah! Here it is!"


    What Mindy pulled out of the bag, was the occult book. The one she used for the ritual. When Nate saw it, he realized it. With that book... perhaps there is a way to get back?


    They both sat down and Mindy started browsing through the pages. Nate patiently watched as the sheets of paper shuffled. Eventually, Mindy found the page with the ritual they performed to get here.


    "Oh isn''t that it?"


    Nate pointed it out and Mindy nodded.


    "Yeah, that''s the ritual... but I''m looking for ways to use magic in here! And there''s nothing!"


    She slammed the book shut, almost crushing Nate''s finger.


    "W-what are you talking about?! We need a way to get home again!"


    "What?! But we just got here! We didn''t even get to enjoy this place!"


    ...


    Both of them stared each other. Nate worried about their safety while Mindy was out to have some fun. Neither one of them wanted to back off...


    ...


    "Alright fine! We''ll try to find a way home!"


    To her words, Nate smiled and patted her head.


    "But! There''s no way we can do any sort of ritual here! So let''s search for some people!"


    She had a point. Lighting candles in a forest seemed like a big fire hazard. They better find a suitable room for that. Moreover, they were missing a few key ingredients for the ritual...


    "Alright then, let''s go."


    After storing everything back into the bag, Nate took on the burden of carrying it and they finally left their starting spot.


    While walking, they saw all sorts of exotic trees and bushes with fruits. Since they didn''t know what would be edible, they ignored most of them. They instead chewed on their chocolate wafers to satiate their hunger. Gradually though, they started realizing something was a little off... They haven''t encountered any animals. Not even rustling in bushes to indicate their presence. Even insects seemed to be absent from this place. Only trees, bushes and other plants. And while it was good that they didn''t have to run away from wild animals, the silence also felt eerie.


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    ...


    "Haaah..."


    Mindy plopped on the ground while breathing out. Her legs were not trained for this non-stop marching. She was too used to the public transportation.


    Nate sat next to her to also take a moment to catch his breath. But also, he was getting worried. They could still see the sun, but it would soon set and they had nowhere to spend the night. Sleeping out in the wild in an unknown forest was way too risky to put into practice.


    After resting up, they stood up and prepared to wander some more. However, when Nate stood up, he froze in place.


    "Hmm? What''s wr-"


    And when Mindy looked where his eyes were looking, she saw the first animal since coming to this world. Mass of gray fur with menacing eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. It looked just like a regular wolf... if it wasn''t the size of a grizzly bear. And of course, it was slowly walking toward them while staring at them, probably assessing the quality of their meat.


    In other words, both Nate and Mindy realized it at that moment: They are screwed. The wolf making a few intimidating growls didn''t help either.


    "R-run!"


    Nate panicked and ran as fast as he could. Mindy attempted to follow, but as soon as her legs moved, her foot stumbled on something and she fell down. Seeing that, the wolf didn''t hesitate and dashed straight at Mindy.


    "MINDY!"


    "GYAAA FIREBALL!"


    In her panicked state, Mindy put her arm forward and shouted, hoping her magical talent would trigger in this dire situation.


    But just like before, no fireball appeared to ward off the beast... No. Instead, countless horrifying black tentacles suddenly sprouted from her hand and entangled the wolf. The wolf howled and whimpered as the tentacles strangled him.


    "GYAAAAAAAAAAA!"


    Seeing... and feeling that, Mindy couldn''t help but to scream. As her screams intensified, the tentacles started piercing and tearing the wolf apart, splashing blood everywhere. Nate was stunned as he watched the gory scene unfolded in front of him. But as the tentacles started stabbing into the pieces left of the wolf, he finally got hold of himself and ran to Mindy, who still lied on the ground with a horrified expression.


    "Mindy! Calm down... it''s okay!"


    He hugged her close and stroked her head. Thanks to that, her weak voice gradually stopped whimpering. The tentacles stopped assaulting the wolf''s mutilated corpse and retracted back into Mindy''s hand. She couldn''t help but to look at her own hand in terror.


    "It''s okay... it''s okay..."


    Nate continued to comfort the trembling and crying girl, even though he was seriously shaken himself. It took quite some time for both of them to fully calm down...


    <hr>


    "Ugh! W-what?!"


    These words filled with dread came from a woman sporting wolf-like ears and tail. She covered her mouth the instant she saw the gruesome scene in front of her.


    "W-what is this...?! What happened here?!"


    Her partner, a man with similar ears and tail also felt horror from looking at the chopped wolf bits.


    "Verner... Verner! Noooo!"


    The woman kept yelling her dead friend''s name before her partner covered her mouth himself.


    "Calm down... the culprit could still be nearby..."


    Hearing that, her face went pale as she silently looked around in panic.


    The man, although still upset, walked over to the corpse to inspect it. But he didn''t dare to touch... only his eyes examined the remains.


    "Hannah... you know what this means, right?"


    The woman, Hannah, didn''t respond. She didn''t want to accept the truth.


    "A demon has appeared..."


    Hannah still didn''t want to accept it. At this time of peace, out of nowhere, she found her friend ripped to pieces. Even though only a demon could do something like this... she still couldn''t accept it.


    "Hannah! Run back to the town and inform the mayor! I''m going to... take care of Verner..."


    These last few words were said with all sorts of negative feelings mixed in.


    "B-but..!"


    Hannah objected. There''s no way she is separating from him!


    "Please go! The people need to be warned about this!"


    But once she saw the seriousness in his eyes, she lost all will to argue with him. She just silently turned around and ran after leaving him with a few words.


    "Be careful..."


    ...


    "Yeah..."


    And once Hannah was long gone, tears started flowing down from his eyes.


    "Verner... how could anyone do that to you? You were such a nice guy..."


    The man started sniffling, completely unfitting his manly stature.


    "I still remember... when I got lost in a forest that one time... you were the one to find me and guide me back... You looked scary at first... but when I fell down trying to run and twisted my ankle, you were immediately by my side to help me..."


    ...


    "I will make that demon pay! Even if it costs me my life!"

 Chapter 3: Cabin and Commotion

    "I wanna go home..."


    There was not a speck of her previous enthusiasm left. The tentacle incident left a big scar on Mindy. But of course, this wasn''t a matter of whether she wanted to go home or not. The question was... was it possible to return? What if they don''t find the missing ingredients?


    ...


    "Don''t worry... we ought to find some people soon..."


    Nate tried to reassure her, but she didn''t cheer up one bit.


    In fact, since that wolf massacre, the air around them was mostly silent. Neither one of them felt like talking at all. Even during their quick breaks only a few words flew by. And to make the matters worse, the sky turned dark hours ago. They were now wandering in a scary forest in the middle of the night without any idea where to go.


    "Do you think I''m cursed?"


    The silence was broken by Mindy''s strange question. Nate wasn''t sure what to say to that and before he could reply, Mindy spoke again.


    "Maybe Arnagroth is mad at me for messing around... Or maybe god himself hates me?"


    To stop her from getting even more depressed, Nate hugged her.


    "Who cares about that... even if god himself hates you, I never will."


    "B-but... the tentacles..."


    "It''s fine! I''m telling you. I''ll always be here for you!"


    Nate''s bold statement made Mindy blush.


    "B-but... what if you get injured because of me..."


    "I can handle a scar or two!"


    Mindy''s face turned even redder.


    "I... these tentacles..."


    "It''s the magic power you wanted! It''s not a curse or anything like that!"


    ...


    "But what if I''m possessed or something... you shouldn''t just..."


    Her voice got gradually weaker and then cut off.


    "Huh? Possessed?"


    Nate released her from the hug and looked at her, but Mindy kept avoiding eye contact while her eyes teared up.


    "Don''t worry about that... I mean... If there''s anyone who can resist being possessed by evil tentacles, it''s gotta be you."


    A big smile appeared on Nate''s face.


    After a moment of silence, Mindy wiped off her tears while pouting.


    "What''s that supposed to mean... idiot..."


    A faint smile appeared on her face as Nate stroked her head.


    With their mood lightened up, they pressed on. But even if they felt better, they were still all alone in an unknown forest, where another wild beast could ambush them at any second.


    Not too long after that, Mindy came to a halt again before pointing into the darkness.


    "Huh... OH! OOOH! LOOK!"


    "Hmm? What?"


    But Nate only saw more wooden trunks in the darkness ahead.


    "A house! Look! Right there!"


    Mindy urged him to look again, but even after straining his eyes, Nate just couldn''t make out anything that resembled a house among all the tree shadows.


    "I can''t see anything..."


    "Ugh! Come on! Let''s get closer!"


    The excited girl ran forward while Nate promptly followed, still trying to see just what she was talking about.


    In a few leaps, Nate''s eyes finally registered a structure he could vaguely identify as some sort of cabin.


    "How did you see it from so far away in this darkness?"


    To that, Mindy stopped and turned around.


    "Eh? ...well, it''s not THAT dark, right?"


    Nate was about to make a comment... but decided to ignore it for the time being. Getting to safety was the priority after all.


    "Never mind that, let''s see if someone''s home."


    The two of them then approached the house and checked the insides through a window. The cabin didn''t seem to be illuminated from the inside. Either nobody was home, or they were sleeping.


    "Come on, let''s try to knock."


    Nate turned around and walked to the front door. Mindy looked at him, then inside through the window, and again at Nate before finally following him.


    The nefarious thought of breaking in through the window occurred to her, but she decided to go with Nate''s method instead. She probably realized that they can''t antagonize the owner or they''ll have to sleep in the woods.


    When they made their way to the entrance, Nate then steeled himself and knocked on the door. He didn''t forget to put a lot of force into his knuckles to make sure his knocks would be heard. Then, he stepped back and patiently waited for a response.


    ...


    The lack of any reply made the two look at each other.


    "I guess nobody is home?"


    "Hmm... I don''t know if that''s good or bad..."


    Since nobody was home, there was no way for them to get inside... but at least no mad hermit popped out planning to chase them away with a rifle.


    "D-do we break in?"


    Ignoring the fact that his Mindy just proposed carrying out a criminal action, he started to seriously think about it.


    "But how would we even do that? This door seems sturdy and the windows-"


    "F-FIREBALL!"


    Mindy''s yell interrupted Nate as the familiar tentacles shot out from her palm and tore down the door with barely any resistance. Mindy''s teeth were clenched and she was shaking as it happened, but she wasn''t having panic attacks like before. When the deed was done, the tentacles crawled back into her hand without causing any other scene. Mindy sighed in relief as she held her hand.


    Nate on the other hand... looked at the scene with sweat on his forehead. He then gazed at the girl, who willingly used something she was so afraid of not too long ago just to get into the cabin. Mindy noticed his stare and...


    "W-what...? You said it''s my power... so I''m using it!"


    But Nate kept his eyes on her for a moment before they wandered off to the thrashed door.


    "It''s not really a safe place anymore if you destroy the entrance door..."


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident."... Ah..."


    ...


    In the end, they walked inside and found out that it really was abandoned. Though oddly enough, the lack of dust on the tables made it seem like there was someone not too long ago...


    Without using Mindy''s destructive powers, they manually moved a few tables and chairs to the entrance and blocked it off.


    "That should be good..."


    "It''s still a little breezy though..."


    Mindy rubbed her arm as she complained.


    "Well, you were the one to break the door..."


    "Ug... whatever!"


    She pouted again. Feeling a little angry, she headed to the stairs and walked up. Seeing that, Nate followed her.


    "OOOH! Look at this!"


    While the bottom room had a few tables, chairs and a bed, the upper one was crammed with various tools, hanging maps and other eye-catching stuff.


    The item Mindy immediately picked up was a sharp sabre. It was likely meant to cut bushes as you traverse an overgrown forest. But Mindy held it like a katana in front of herself, posing like a samurai.


    "We shouldn''t steal from here... we already broke into this place, I don''t want to become even more of a criminal."


    And when Mindy heard the word ''criminal'', she immediately put the thing back.


    "R-right... let''s just spend the night here..."


    Nate nodded.


    As much as he wanted to get back as soon as possible, they were both terribly exhausted.


    After heading downstairs, they located all of the available places to sleep and found just a single bed. Not even a couch or anything else, just a bed for one person.


    "I guess I''m sleeping on the floor then..."


    "Come on! We can both squeeze under those bed sheets."


    Reacting to Mindy''s suggestion, Nate looked at her with suspicion. Mindy''s face went red when she noticed his gaze.


    "N-not like that!"


    Seeing her this flustered, Nate sighed.


    "Alright, alright... let''s both sleep on the bed."


    And so, despite both still being dressed in their sweat-covered clothes, they tucked themselves into the bed and went to sleep...


    ...


    A few hours later, when Nate was fast asleep, Mindy was still wide awake, lying in the bed facing Nate''s back. She kept staring at her shaking hand, completely devoid of all the vigor she previously had. She was not as fine as she might have let on. After all, having a tentacle monster living in your hand is not something to be calm about...


    While she silently gazed at her hand, Nate''s sleeping body suddenly rolled over to his other side and hugged Mindy, pressing her head against his chest.


    "Wh-!"


    A tiny squeak left her mouth in surprise. When she realized he was still sleeping, she calmed down and was about to return the hug... But she changed her mind and looked at her hand again in fear. Then, she merely clenched her fists without hugging Nate back and finally closed her eyes to drift off to sleep...


    In a different place and time...


    A woman with wolf ears and tail ran through city streets. Since it was night, only skeletons and ghouls were still hanging outside and a figure of a wolf beastgirl rushing through sure caught their attention. But even if it did, none of them cared enough to go and talk to her or chase after her.


    The woman soon arrived at a large building and wasted no time barging though the door. The interior was filled with round tables and chairs next to them. Various townsfolk sit around chatting... except not. When the woman suddenly crashed inside, all of their attention was drawn to her. However, she didn''t mind it and ran straight to the counter where a woman with bunny ears stood. As she finally got there, she collapsed on the counter, gasping.


    "H-hannah! What happened?! Where is Goran?!"


    The woman behind the counter raised a worried voice as she helped Hannah stay on her feet.


    "Haaa.. a... a demon! A demon!"


    The woman''s eyes widened. Just what was this girl saying? A demon? What kind of joke is this?


    And not just her, all of the other people inside started talking and whispering among themselves.


    "Calm down! Tell me what happened!"


    While trying to calm Hannah down, she beckons to one of her co-workers and tells him to get the chief.


    "Verner... he... he''s dead..."


    "Verner...? You mean that old hermit?"


    Hannah meekly nodded. Tears started forming in her eyes as she recalled the horrifying scene.


    As Hannah explained what happened, the co-worked returned along with another person. It was a man of large stature with cat-like ears on top of his head and his entire face framed by a magnificent mane.


    "Hannah, did you say you saw a demon?"


    Unlike everyone else present, his eyes were stern and unflinching.


    "N-no... we didn''t see it... we just saw... ugh..."


    Hannah still couldn''t calmly talk about the gruesome scene from nightmares... even when speaking to her superior. With Hannah not being able to speak, the woman with bunny ears relayed everything Hannah told her to the chief in her stead.


    The chief then closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.


    "Already a casualty..."


    He didn''t seem surprised to hear of a new demon.


    "You know about the demon?"


    When bunny-eared receptionist asked him why, he explained the situation.


    "I got a message from the capital not too long ago. The king was ordered by the slime princess to assemble a party and search for the demon... and I was assigned as the leader for this."


    He then kneeled down to match his eye level with Hannah.


    "Hannah, I will need you to show me where you have seen the demon''s... ''handiwork''."


    Although she was still shaken, she nodded.

 Chapter 4: Practice and Terror

    Mindy''s eyes opened and her vision was flooded with light. It''s morning.


    After stretching with a yawn and sitting up, she noticed Nate, still peacefully snoring away. With a subtle smile, she carefully climbed out of the bed, making sure to not wake him up. After that, she headed to the blockaded door and checked up on it, finding out that, thankfully, nobody tried to break in during the night.


    By that time, her stomach started grumbling. She wasted no time heading straight to the fridge to get some food... that is, if there was a fridge in this place. No matter how much she searched, she was not able to find anything that contained food. Luckily, there were still some leftover wafers in the bag that lied beside their bed. So she silently unzipped the pocket and pulled one out.


    But since the crunching sounds could wake up Nate, she decided to go outside... through one of the windows.


    The mechanism to unlock and open them was a little unusual, but she eventually figured it out and slipped outside.


    The sun was shining brightly over her and there was a distinct fragrance of some flowers in the air. The only thing that was missing were singing birds.


    "This really is like a vacation..."


    Mindy took her time walking around the cabin as she chewed her chocolate wafer. For the city dweller that she was, the scenery was foreign, but not quite at the level of a ''fantasy world''. Where are the slimes, fairies and magical ponds? She couldn''t help but to think back to her old world. Will they ever be able to return there? What if this world has no tomat-... ingredients for ''angel blood''? They can''t perform the ritual without it...


    Part of her wanted to see some classic fantasy things, like traveling around as an adventurer and killing all sorts of monsters with magic. But the other part felt a little unnerved...


    ...


    After finishing her breakfast, she crumpled up the plastic wrapping and put it into her pocket before taking a deep breath.


    She then slowly extended her hand forward and shouted.


    "Fireball!"


    And in response to that, the all-familiar tentacles materialized. This time however, there was no specific target. Mindy merely wanted to practice her ''powers'' behind the scenes. And that''s why, the tentacles just flailed around without doing anything destructive.


    Mindy couldn''t calm down when these horrifying things were attached to her hand, but nevertheless, she tried to bring her palm closer to her eyes to study it.


    The tentacles were pure black, emitting a tiny amount of black smoke around them. Truly something straight out of a horror film. The appearance wasn''t an issue for Mindy though. She has more or less already gotten used to it. Now, all she cared about was how they worked. She then meekly closed in on them with her other hand while a drop of sweat rolled down her cheek.


    ...


    And touched them.


    To her surprise, they were soft and squishy and not something hard enough to wreck a wooden door. But most importantly...


    "This is... so weird..."


    She felt her own touch. Apparently, the tentacles were an extension of her own body. She realized that probably due to her mental state at the time, she failed to notice this back when the tentacles tore through the wolf or the door.


    After ''touching herself'' for a little while, it was time to test her control. She tried to make small movements instead of simply ramming the tentacles into whatever was in front of her. But it was a lot harder than she anticipated. The tentacles repeatedly slammed into the ground and swung high into the air. It was as if her mouse sensitivity was set to 1000%. In other words, absolutely impossible to control.


    "Ugh... this is ridiculous!"


    It didn''t take long until she ''finished her training session'' and retracted the tentacles. While gazing at her hand, she formed a fist before stretching her fingers again. The thought that there were tentacles inside of it seemed surreal. How can they even fit in there?


    While she was staring at her hand, she heard some rustling leaves to her right. She immediately turned her head toward the source... but saw nothing.


    "H-hello?"


    She slowly walked forward with her right hand ready to shoot out tentacles. As she approached one of one bush, another one rustled. Sweat drops started forming on her forehead. She didn''t want to meet another one of those big wolves. And that''s why she breathed in... and shouted.


    "I-IS ANYONE THERE?!"


    At that instant, something shot out of the bushes... and headed away from her.


    "Wha-...wait!"


    It was too quick for Mindy and disappeared before she could even react. She hardly saw what it was, but she knew it was a human... or at least something humanoid. The one thing she noticed was... it had a tail.


    Mindy stood there for a moment, expecting something else to appear. Her eyes were nervously jumping from one bush to another, but the silence persisted. After it became apparent that nothing else was going to pop out, she decided to head back to the cabin... through the window of course.


    When she got back inside, Nate was in the middle of removing the furniture from the entrance. But the moment he heard someone climb in through the window, he immediately stopped and looked at the source.


    "Mindy! Where were you!"


    Nate wasted no time running up to her and hugging her.


    "Wh- Nate?!"


    His overreaction took Mindy by surprise.


    "Oh my god, I thought I lost you..."


    His embrace tightened with these words.


    "C-calm down! I was just taking a stroll!"


    In response to that, Nate released her from the hug and looked straight into her eyes.


    "Then what were those violent sounds I heard? And those yells of yours?"


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.At that moment, Mindy realized that when the tentacles smashed the ground, it must have made quite the ruckus. That and her yells at the unknown visitor must have woken Nate up. She avoided his eyes and pouted.


    "I was just... practicing my powers...?"


    But he just kept staring at her.


    ...


    "Gah! Nothing happened, so stop being such a worrywart!"


    Mindy then shoved him aside and crossed her arms while still avoiding his gaze. Nate was take aback but this for a second. He then scratched his head and looked away.


    A moment of awkward silence followed...


    ...


    "Just... wake me up next time, alright? What if something happened to you?"


    "It''s fine! I have the powers to bust down a door without a problem and-"


    "Please."


    Nate''s eyes showed his concern. Mindy could tell when he was being serious.


    ...


    "... alright, I get it. I''ll wait for you next time."


    After finally getting her to say it, Nate smiled.


    After that whole ordeal, they decided to search the cabin again. But even though they were as thorough as they could possibly be, they didn''t find anything that resembled food. Whose cabin is this? How does he or she not starve to death? Does he or she go hunting animals every day? That''s absurd...


    But other than running out of food, there was another problem on the table. It was the fact that there was no way to get their hands on ''angel blood'' and thus, the ritual is impossible.


    ...


    While Mindy sat down and read from the occult book, Nate enjoyed his breakfast.


    "Can''t we use something else? Something similar to ketchup?"


    With a wafer in his hand, Nate wondered about possible alternatives.


    "It''s angel blood. And no, there isn''t really anything else...


    Well, other than demon blood."


    Nate''s eyebrows rose in reaction to that last part.


    "So what''s demon blood? Distilled wine?"


    Mindy looked up from her book and frowned at Nate before dropping her eyes back to the text.


    Nate simply shrugged his shoulders and resumed eating.


    In a different place but approximately the same time...


    It was morning in the peaceful and silent forest. Right through there ran a man with wolf ears and tail.


    Even though his feet hurt so much he could die, he refused to take a break. His entire being was covered in sweat. He almost died back there. If he hesitated for just a second back there and didn''t run... that would spell certain doom. Just what was he thinking? Take on a demon all by himself? How utterly foolish! Those black eyes could kill with mere glance! There is absolutely no chance!


    While on the run, his nose picked up a familiar smell. To his dismay, it was Hannah! Why was she all the way here? What if the demon gets her? The man wasted no time and ran straight to where her scent was. But shortly after that, he realized that there were other scents mixed in. Perhaps she brought reinforcements?


    In a few moments, he finally caught a glimpse of the backup party. Other than Hannah and the region chief, there was also Maraqua, the skeleton knight, and two other wolf guys he wasn''t too familiar with.


    "Goran!"


    Hannah called out to the man as soon as he approached. Unfortunately, due to his exhaustion and the relief of seeing familiar faces again, his muscles gave away and he collapsed mid-sprint.


    Naturally, the party quickly ran to his aid. He didn''t lose consciousness, but he was dead tired due to overexerting himself. But even then, he managed to squeeze out a few words.


    "I saw... the demon..."


    And just those few words made everyone freeze. While some of them were admiring the fact that Goran was still alive, the others now fully realized that this was not a joke. The demon really is somewhere around here.


    After letting him rest for a few minutes, the questioning began.


    "It was a young female... but it was still much more terrifying than I imagined."


    Goran couldn''t help but shake as he thought back on the experience.


    "I thought I was gonna die...


    That thing with its creepy black eyes...


    It was getting closer and closer...


    So I just ran away."


    "So what kind of demon was it?"


    Maraqua, the skeleton, was unable to produce sweat and thus seemed a lot calmer than the others. But even he was scared as he asked that question.


    "I... I don''t know demon types too well... I thought it was a death devil, but..."


    The words ''death devil'' made Hannah and the other two wolves shudder. Even if one wasn''t too familiar with demon types, everyone knew about the death devil. A being able to kill with a mere glance.


    "No, I don''t think it was a death devil."


    The chief denied that possibility as he rubbed his lower mane. That prompted all of the eyes to center their attention on his figure and await his explanation.


    "You said that it sprouted some tentacles out of its body, right?"


    The question was directed to the still shaken Goran.


    "Y-yeah... I think..."


    "Then it must be a fiend. Probably an abyssal fiend."


    A fiend. Type of demon able to shapeshift and distort its own body. Out of all of the demon types, this one was the most destructive.


    "T-then, we still can''t do anything against it with this small group..."


    Hannah''s ears dropped down as more sweat dripped from her face.


    "That is not the case..."


    "Eh?"


    To her surprise, the chief gained more confidence, contrary to what she expected.


    "If it''s a fiend... then we might have a good chance just by ourselves.


    It''s thanks to the fact that fiends have one glaring weakness..."


    The chief then looked at his skeletal follower. Seeing that the attention was drawn to him, Maraqua nodded and started the explanation...

 Chapter 5: Encounter and Aftermath

    With a slam, the book hit the ground.


    "There''s nothing! Stupid book! Don''t give me false hope!"


    Seeing that her efforts were pointless, Mindy was enraged. Nate, on the other hand, sighed as he looked at the book.


    "By the way... where did you get that book from?"


    Nate was curious. Which store sells a book containing instructions on how to teleport to another world?


    "Hmm? Oh... I got it from my grandpa."


    Nate''s eyebrows turned into a frown and his mouth opened. What the hell is that geezer thinking? Giving his granddaughter an occult book? And even one that works?!


    But Mindy ignored his reaction and let her body drop on the bed. She then closed her eyes and sighed.


    "I miss grandpa..."


    Truth be told, Nate hasn''t really thought about their friends and relatives back home... By now, surely someone has noticed they are gone, right? Maybe they were even already declared missing... What will they say when they finally find a way to return...?


    But Nate shook his head. They will worry about that when they return. Right now, getting home is the main issue.


    He then walked over to Mindy and sat next to her. But before he could speak his mind, Mindy shot up into a sitting position.


    "AH!"


    "W-what''s wrong?!"


    Mindy''s open mouth and frozen expression triggered Nate''s worry mode.


    "I-I think we should leave this place..."


    Nate was confused. What happened? Did she remember something important?


    "Why...? What''s wrong?"


    "I... err... let''s just leave! I''ll tell you on the way!"


    Although he was confused by her behavior, Nate trusted her. He quickly ran over to the bag and picked it up.


    Since, for some reason, they were in a hurry, they used the window to exit. And while they were hurrying out, Mindy explained what happened.


    "Someone was stalking you?! Why didn''t you tell me?!"


    "I... there was no good time to say it! You were all angry and stuff... and then I f-forgot about it...?"


    Nate felt both angry and anxious. How could she just ''forget'' something like that? Was her memory really that bad? And who was the stalker she mentioned? This cabin''s owner? A friend? A foe?


    His anxiety grew with each passing second. That person running away couldn''t mean anything good...


    ...


    Unbeknownst to them, they were being observed. From the moment they opened the window, six figures hiding behind trees and bushes closely watched them. A skeleton, a lion beastman and four wolf beastmen. They wanted to charge in as soon as they saw Mindy, but upon spotting Nate, they immediately held themselves back.


    "T-there''s two?!"


    A surprised female voice softly rustled the air. But Mindy''s ears didn''t miss it. She immediately looked toward the voice''s source. And after Nate climbed out of the window frame, he followed her gaze.


    With her mouth covered and her face losing color, the wolf woman regretted everything. Not only were there two demons, but she gave away their position now. Surprise attack was now impossible.


    The lion man wanted to abort mission as soon as he saw their enemy count double, but due to being noticed, he only had one more option left. He clenched his teeth before griping his sword and hoping that the other demon is also a fiend.


    "GO!"


    To Mindy and Nate, a loud menacing growl resounded in their ears as a group of humanoid monsters rushed at them. Seeing that, Mindy reflexively extended her arm and activated the only ''spell'' she knew.


    "Fi-...?!"


    ... but for some reason, she couldn''t say the whole word. Something suddenly took away her voice.


    The lion man''s sharp blade closed in on her, but she was stunned and couldn''t move due to shock. As her vision tilted and fell to the side, her life flashed in front of her eyes.


    But she didn''t die. No... In fact, Nate reacted just in time to push her down milliseconds before the sword tore through her neck... But even though he managed to save her life, she didn''t come out unscathed... The victim of the assailant''s horizontal slash ended up being Mindy''s right arm. And as the severed arm flew, Mindy blacked out due to extreme pain.


    On the ground and with his companion unconscious and an arm lighter, Nate was completely defenseless. And not only that... he couldn''t even scream. His vocal cords seemed to have given out.


    The lion man wouldn''t miss his chance and immediately raised up his arm again to finish them off. But before he could do that, three black tentacles coming from the side pierced right through his arms and torso. He vomited blood as his body got lifted off of the ground and his weapon fell to the down. More roars from the other monsters echoed in the surroundings, making Nate''s brain finally catch up with the fact that they were saved. His eyes traced the tentacles to the source and spotted their savior...


    For some reason... Mindy''s severed arm sprouted tentacles and started its ''counter attack'' all on its own.


    The tentacles shot into the bushes, revealing a skeleton hiding there. He seemed to be concentrating on something, which made his attempt to dodge being smashed too delayed. Nate could only watch as the tentacles tossed the lion around and pummeled the skeleton into the ground. But the chaos didn''t end there. The black arms from hell then began pursuing the rest of the assailants, who were already on the run. Two of the wolves were slain in no time, seemingly trying to protect the other two. The humanoid wolf man and woman pair barely ended up escaping.


    As the tentacles continued dismembering the corpses, Nate finally snapped back into reality.


    "M-Mindy!!!"


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.He didn''t spare the shortest moment wondering about why his voice has returned as he tried to stop Mindy''s bleeding. The amount of blood pouring from a wound like that was way too low, but he ignored that as well. He was quick to strip his own shirt and wrap it around what was left of Mindy''s arm. But it just didn''t work... No matter how much he tightened it, the blood kept flowing. Panicked as he was, he tried to block the blood with his hand and his shirt before immediately realizing how stupid of an idea it was. He was running out of options...


    "H-heal..."


    With tears in his eyes, he resorted to the same ''tactics'' as Mindy, chanting ''spells''. He didn''t expect it to work, but he just didn''t know what to do anymore.


    However, he would later be grateful for his desperation, as multitude of white strings appeared above his vision and wrapped themselves around Mindy''s upper arm. Nate felt confused for a second, before he realized that those weren''t strings. It was his own hair. For some reason, his hair grew and started to move about.


    The strands of hair then bolted over the Mindy''s rampaging arm and wrapped around it, making the tentacles calm down and retract. Nate wordlessly watched as the magic happened. The hair brought the arm back to Mindy and placed it where it belonged. It then stabbed into the skin and basically sewed the arm back. Nate''s expression distorted due to the grotesque scene accompanied by mushy sounds effects. A good few minutes went by before the last hair threads were sucked into the wound and disappeared. But as soon as they did, Nate was already checking Mindy''s pulse as well as the arm''s condition. Surprisingly, it was as good as new. Blood was flowing through it just like normal and there were no visible white strings anywhere. Almost like nothing ever happened.


    ...


    A deep sigh left his mouth as he hugged the unconscious girl. His body trembled and tears gushed out.


    Who were these attackers? What are these creepy powers of theirs? And just... why do they have to live through this horrific nightmare?


    After calming down, he picked up Mindy in his arms and headed inside... before realizing that he can''t climb inside through the window while holding her. So instead, he headed to the barricaded door. He planned on putting Mindy down and manually moving all of that stuff out of the way. But then... he randomly decided to try something.


    "F...fireball?"


    He didn''t expect anything to happen, but his expectations got betrayed once again. Just like before, his hair grew and started slithering around. But instead of wrapping around the furniture and moving it as Nate initially anticipated, the hair curled into itself and made shapes in the air. It was the shape of a big bow and an arrow... or rather, a spear. Before Nate even blinked, the bow launched the spear straight through the barricade and completely wrecked it. The loud noise caused by the destruction even made Mindy groan.


    ...


    "What... the hell..."


    He was at his wit''s end. Too many crazy events happened in a short amount of time. His legs were about to give out. He needed to rest.


    With his remaining strength, he carried Mindy inside and placed her on the bed before falling on his behind and breathing out.


    At a different place and time...


    Hannah, the wolf woman sat next to a tree, holding her head. There were no tears anymore. Just wide open eyes and pale face that wouldn''t stop shaking. Right next to her lied Goran, trying his best to hold himself up with his shaking arms. It was a miracle he didn''t pass out from the exhaustion and stress.


    Neither one of them could utter a word. One thing was seeing a corpse, but seeing the massacre itself was on an entirely different level. And to add to that, they could only powerlessly watch while the nightmarish tentacles tore their comrades to pieces. All they could do was to run and save their own fur. Pathetic.


    While they lied there, lamenting their uselessness, a nearby bush rustled. Naturally, chill went down their spines and their entire being jolted as their eyes fixated on said bush. They expected swift and brutal death. But fortunately, the demons weren''t the ones to emerge from behind the leaves.


    Instead...


    "M-maraqua!"


    Hannah''s voice was filled with both surprise and a bit of joy as she saw the skeleton with most of his bones cracked totter and fall to the ground. They instantly forgot their exhaustion as they rushed to help the skeleton.


    "We... need to get back quick...


    This is much worse than we were told."


    Even though he was barely able to stand with the exhausted Goran''s support, Maraqua insisted on getting back as soon as possible.


    "What... even happened back there... I thought fiends can''t do anything if you silence them... isn''t that what you said?"


    Hannah, who was in charge of watching their back, finally asked the question that needed answering.


    "Yeah... I silenced them... fiends need their voice to utilize their powers..."


    His voice showed the concern his skeletal face was unable to express.


    "Unless that fiend is in possession of its artifact..."


    "Artifact..."


    Hannah and Goran didn''t know much about these so called artifacts. Just that an artifact was something that the demons wanted to get their hands on. Something valuable to them.


    "Or maybe... it was the other demon''s doing..."


    That was the other possibility. The other demon couldn''t be identified since he didn''t seem to use any powers. But perhaps, he might have done something without them noticing.


    It was a long and nerve-racking walk back to the town, but fortunately... the demons did not chase after them.

 Chapter 6: Feast and Report

    A realization stuck Nate. Mindy lost quite a bit of blood back there. In order to recover, she will need to eat something. But of course, there were complications.


    First of all, Nate wouldn''t call himself a food expert. He didn''t know what one should eat after losing a lot of blood. But more importantly... there was no food to begin with. The wafers were all gone already, so even though his stomach kept loudly reminding him of their food situation, there was nothing he could do about it...


    However, as wondered about what to do, a nasty thought emerged in the corner of his brain.


    ''There is fresh meat right outside the cabin.''


    Remembering the massacre outside, he couldn''t help but to have a gag reflex. There''s no way he would touch that, let alone eat it. The lion even had a face resembling that of a human. Nate didn''t want to become a cannibal... But did he even have a choice? Either risk eating a poisonous berry and dying, starve to death, or...


    Nate shook his head. He really didn''t want to do it.


    ...


    But even if he didn''t, he figured he should probably check on those corpses outside anyway. After making sure Mindy was still properly breathing and her pulse was regular, he headed outside through the wrecked pile of tables and chairs. As soon as he found himself outside, his nose picked up an awful stench coming from behind the cabin. He instantly knew its source, which prompted him to look back at the wrecked entrance with a worried expression. What if that smell of fresh blood attracts a wild animal and it enters the cabin? He needed to find a way to ensure safety for Mindy.


    Then, another random thought hit his head. He extended his arm toward the entrance...


    "Lock...?"


    And as he already half-anticipated, his hair started to move. This time, it moved toward the door and weaved between the door frames like a thread. In a few moments, it created something akin to multiple spider webs layered on top of each other.


    Nate simply stared at the spectacle with a neutral face. He refused to be surprised anymore. After all, his sanity was more valuable than his common sense... Or perhaps throwing away his common sense would mean insanity? Nate promptly decided to cut off that trail of thought.


    As he stepped out toward the carnage site, his stomach rumbled again. Nate realized that his hunger became more intense for some reason. It was almost as if he hasn''t eaten for days.


    While holding his noisy stomach, he reached the destination. Just behind the cabin''s back window, there lied a scene straight from hell. Dismembered body parts covered the entire area and the foul smell of blood was omnipresent. The lion''s disembodied head had a horrific expression painted on it. Somehow, it was even worse than Nate remembered.


    As Nate walked around, he realized something was missing. For sure, Nate remembered some kind of skeleton being there, but he could only find chunks of what seemed to be bones. Where did he go? Did he get away? Nate recalled there were two others who managed to escape and realized that they could return with reinforcements. Nate figured that as soon as Mindy wakes up, they have to move out... And there was also the food problem.


    ...


    Looking at the chunks of meat, Nate''s stomach rumbled and the dark thoughts reemerged. But his disgust wasn''t letting him do it...


    Nate then closed his eyes and extended his arm forward...


    Surely his hair can''t solve this as well, right?


    ... but it can''t hurt to try...


    "...eat."


    His hair moved and shot straight for the lion''s head before enveloping it. And at that moment, Nate''s face went pale as he imagined his hair force-feeding him the bloodied skull chunks. He absolutely did not want that.


    "NO! WAIT! STOP!"


    Luckily, his hair listened to his command and retracted. A sigh of relief left his mouth, but he soon noticed something off... The head seemed to have lost its color and dried up. Parts of the skin even turned to dust and fell off. Its skeleton was showing in a few spots now.


    ...


    And Nate''s hunger subsided. It didn''t take too long for him to put two and two together and realize what just happened.


    He put a hand on his stomach and made a step back.


    "What the fuck..."


    It wasn''t just their appearance and the supernatural powers... Something fundamental changed. They became monsters.


    Nate left the place and ran back to the cabin''s entrance. However, his mind kept bogging him on to confirm something. So, although reluctantly, Nate headed to a few nearby trees. He then raised his arm and pointed his fingers toward one of them.


    "Eat."


    His hair extended and stabbed into the tree in multiple places. The tree then gradually lost its color and withered. And of course, his hunger became nothing more than a distant memory. But even though the food situation seemed to be resolved, Nate didn''t feel good about this. How could he? After all... he turned into a complete monster. One that apparently feasts on life force? Even though those back there were corpses...?


    ...


    Why?


    As the entire tree turned into dust and crumbled down, Nate thought back to the ritual. During the flash, he felt immense pain. It was as if something kept rapidly entering and leaving every cell of his body. Is this the result? Was the ritual actually meant to turn them into monsters as well as teleporting them? What the hell, geezer?! Why did you give that book to Mindy?!


    As he tried to sort out these thoughts, he made his way back to the cabin. The hair still blocked the entrance, but he figured it wouldn''t be a problem for him.


    "Unlock."


    Naturally, the hair blocking his way unwrapped and moved to the side. Nate then stepped inside through the hole, before the hair resealed it again. There was no part of Nate left that got surprised or astonished by it anymore.


    He then made his way to the bed, where Mindy still slept, and sighed. The thought of saying ''feed'' popped into his mind. But he immediately shook his head. That''s just messed up... Even though she needs to eat, he isn''t going to force-feed an unconscious girl. He may have turned into a monster physically, but he won''t let his mind get corrupted... or at least, not any more than it''s necessary.


    And so, he simply sat on a chair and waited for her to wake up while burying himself in various thoughts.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The book, the assailants, Mindy''s grandpa, their weird transformation and... who''s cabin is this, anyway?


    In a different place and time...


    Floating majestically through the air was a humanoid creature with large black wings and a black beak. Its height was relatively small, it had thin limbs and a pair of bulges on its chest, giving its gender away. She held a wrapped up scroll in her right claw as her wings flapped. Even though she soared at speeds, that would make even some bullet wyrms jealous, she had no intention of slowing down any time soon. After all, she carried an important report. A report about the two new demons.


    Luckily, the weather happened to be favorable and she soon spotted the familiar castle on top of the floating island in the distance. The moment she did, she decelerated and prepared for the landing. Of course, with her current speed, it became impossible to do a clean landing...


    The dust scattered around as she crashed on top of the island. But despite her rough landing, she managed to land on her feet without hurting herself too much.


    She was immediately surrounded by two muscular armored figures with white wings pointing their spears at her.


    "State your name and business."


    The bird girl was slightly annoyed by their attitude, but still properly answered.


    "Crie, a messenger sent by the beast king. I''m here to report on the demon situation in Kodawa region."


    The two winged men pulled their spears back and nodded at each other. While one of them left for the castle, the other kept the girl company.


    Crie sighed and looked at the angel.


    "Do you have to do this every time?"


    The angel smiled wryly and replied.


    "Sorry... formalities, you know? Besides... you could be a mimic trying to infiltrate the castle."


    Crie''s unsmiling face continued staring at the angel.


    "And when was the last time that happened?"


    "Probably around twenty years before I was even born."


    With Crie frowning at him, the angel scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.


    The two of them continued chatting for a while, until the other angel returned and informed Crie she could enter. She waved at those two before moving forward and going through the massive castle gate.


    To her surprise, as soon as she stepped inside the main hallway, the figure of a blue-tinted transparent girl with a golden dress greeted her. Crie instinctively kneeled down.


    "G-greetings your highness. I''m a messenger from the Roaris kingdom."


    She felt quite nervous and stuttered a bit at the start, which made her feel even more nervous.


    "Please raise your head."


    Crie listened and stood up.


    "I heard you have a report regarding the new demon. Speak it."


    She was a little surprised how straight-to-the-point that was, but she couldn''t complain about it. After nodding, Crie pulled out her scroll and read.


    "Our search party has discovered two demons working together."


    Right after the first sentence, the princess frowned. Not one, but two demons...


    "One of them is female and one of them male. They both seem to be fairly young."


    The princess crossed her arms. Young demons can''t be that powerful. This might not be as bad.


    "The female has been confirmed to be an abyssal fiend, the male is still unknown.


    The search party got into a fight with them, which led to three out of the six members losing their lives."


    Upon hearing that, the princess clenched her teeth. Half of the group died? Did they get careless since the demons were young?


    "The dead members were Groul Basah, the Kodawa region chief, as well as the Fanog brothers."


    This time, her eyes widened. Those demons took down a region chief? Even though it was just a beastman... that''s not a joke.


    "Regarding their movement... they seem to have murdered a local hermit and took over his personal cabin in the woods."


    How sickening... Only demons could do something as horrible as that.


    "The direction in which they are moving seems to be lady Aria''s dungeon."


    The name ''Aria'' caused her eyebrows to change into a frown.


    "For the time being, a ban prohibiting anyone from entering the forest has been issued."


    "And one more thing..."


    The princess noticed sweat drops on Crie''s face.


    "The fiend was able to use its powers even when silenced. The cause for this anomaly is unknown. T-that is all..."


    The princess'' eyes closed as silence filled the surroundings. Crie, not knowing what to say or do, nervously shifted her eyes from one side to the other.


    After a moment, the princess'' eyes opened again.


    "Thank you for your report. You did a good job."


    To these words, Crie nervously bowed her head.


    "Feel free to take a rest in one of the guest rooms before going back."


    "T-thank you, your highness."


    The princess then snapped her fingers, sending a subtle shockwave through the air. It made Crie shudder.


    Following that, a female angel dressed in maid clothes entered the hallway and bowed.


    "Aetha, please guide her to one of the guest rooms."


    "Right away, your highness."


    The two then exited through another door, leaving the princess alone. She then sighed.


    "Marwen..."


    "Yes, my princess?"


    Once again, her crown responded to her. But even with Marwen''s prompt, she stayed silent while squinting her eyes and looking at the floor.


    ...


    "... do you want me to go inform lady Aria?"


    "Y-yeah... please do that."


    Having her mind read, she got slightly flustered.


    "What should I tell her to do?"


    After a tired sigh, the princess responded.


    "You know she won''t listen anyway. Just tell her about the demons."


    "Alright then..."


    The tiny crown on her head then fell off and transformed into the old man in a suit with wings and wolf ears.


    "I''ll be on my way."


    And after a brief bow, he disappeared, filling the surroundings with silence once again.


    ...


    "I know it''s all hard on you... but it''s not a good idea to antagonize Aria."


    Another man''s voice resounded in the empty hallway. In response to that, yet another tired sigh left the princess'' mouth. She shook her head while putting a hand on her forehead.


    "I know... it''s just that...


    Dungeon cores are so hard to handle..."


    "Don''t say that... wasn''t your grandmother a dungeon core?"


    "Exactly..."

 Chapter 7: Powers and Dungeon

    Mindy''s eyelids moved aside and exposed her eyes. She then blinked a couple of times before turning her head and spotting Nate, sitting in a chair with his eyes closed.


    "Ugh..."


    Her head ached as she tried to remember what happened. Then, the image of large man with lion''s head charging at her came to her mind. She promptly checked all over her body but found no injuries.


    ...


    "... what a... crazy dream..."


    If that actually happened, she would be dead. No doubt about it. Why did she have such a crazy dream?


    When trying to get up, she realized her body felt weak and her stomach was empty. Unable to properly move, she looked around the room instead. And that''s when she noticed oddities.


    The furniture near the entrance turned into a rubble, something white blocked off the door, and a long sharp object was sticking out of the floor.


    "What...?"


    While she was confused, Nate''s eyes opened as well. The moment he spotted Mindy, he jumped out of his seat.


    "Mindy! You are awake!"


    And he lost no time running up to her and embracing her.


    "Gya! N-nate! What''s wrong?!"


    But instead of replying, he squeezed her in his arms.


    "You finally woke up... I thought you would never wake up..."


    "W-what are you..."


    And that''s when Mindy realized that the ''dream''... most likely wasn''t a dream.


    After Nate finally detached from her, Mindy asked him.


    "What happened here?"


    Nate''s face darkened as he heard that question. He then described everything that occurred while she was out. He told her about the ambush, how they were saved and then how he ''healed'' her.


    "T-there''s your hair under my skin?!"


    Mindy quickly checked all over her arm in panic.


    "Calm down... there''s still more to this."


    Although reluctant, Mindy silently held her arm and kept listening.


    "I found out that there''s more to our change than we thought... We might have... become monsters."


    "W-what do you mean?"


    Instead of answering, Nate closed his eyes and stood up.


    "Come with me. I will show you instead."


    He then helped her stand up and walked to the blocked door with her. His arm rose up and his mouth opened to produce the magic word.


    "Unlock."


    The hair slid aside and let them through. Mindy was surprised, but didn''t say anything as they walked through together. The door resealed itself afterwards.


    "So... you also have some powers?"


    "I guess so..."


    Mindy felt a little excited, but the tone Nate''s voice indicated he had the opposite feelings.


    They headed to a random nearby tree and stopped a short distance in front of it. Nate then pointed his hand at the tree.


    "Eat."


    His hair stood up and stabbed into the tree one after another. The tree then gradually lost its color and crumbled to dust, just like last time.


    Mindy''s mouth opened wide as she watched that.


    "H-hey... wha..."


    "Now you try it."


    "Huh?!"


    Shocked by his words, she wanted to protest, but upon seeing the seriousness in his eyes, she gave up. Afterwards she repeated after Nate and slowly raised her arm while pointing her fingers to another tree.


    "...eat."


    And sure enough, tentacles sprouted from her hand and coiled around the tree. It didn''t take long until the tree turned into a pile of dust. And after that happened, Mindy realized her hunger was gone.


    "W...what?! What the hell is this?!"


    She yelled out loud with shock painted all over her face. But Nate kept silently standing there. He didn''t have an answer.


    They then returned to the cabin to discuss their next action. One opinion was trying diplomacy with these ''people''. But seeing as they already murdered some of them, it didn''t seem like it would succeed. And after thinking about it, Nate figured the growls and roars back there must have been their language. In other words, communication is impossible.


    "Gh... in every novel I read, the language is always the same in a different world..."


    Only now has Mindy realized just how absurd that was. It''s like going to a different country and expecting the locals to speak your language.


    With the diplomacy option no longer on the table, they had no other choice but to continue aimlessly wandering through the forest. Since Mindy was out for the entire day, it was more or less morning again. So, after grabbing their bag and cleaning up the mess in the cabin, they set off again.


    "Sorry Mr. cabin owner... whoever you are, I hope we can make it up to you in the future."


    Mindy said that, but Nate already suspected who the owner was. It must have been one of the ''people'' that attacked them. In the worst case scenario, one that died. And that means... they can''t make it up to them anymore.


    And so, even though their mood and enthusiasm was at an all time low, they were ready to leave the cabin.


    But right after taking the first step into the forest, Nate looked up at the bright sky and had an idea. He spread his arms and closed his eyes.


    "Soar."


    The hair on his head extended and weaved into two big sails. Those then flapped around like wings and lifted Nate off of the ground.


    "Whoaaa?!"


    But right after that, his entire body spun around and he crashed back down.


    "N-Nate?!"


    Mindy ran up to the boy holding his head in pain and looked at the two sails growing out of his head.


    "W-what the heck are you doing... are you cosplaying a rabbit?"


    She said that while trying to suppress her laughter.


    "S-shut up... I just wanted to try if I could fly."


    Nate looked away, looking annoyed. But thanks to that incident, the tension and bad atmosphere was ever so slightly lifted.


    After that, they tried a few more ''spells'' as they traveled through the woods. Some of their discoveries included ''dig'', which would make Nate''s hair and Mindy''s tentacles spin and drill through the target; ''cut'', making their tentacles/hair slash horizontaly; and also...''home'', which built a tiny shelter out of the hair threads when used by Nate, while Mindy''s version... curled up the tentacles into a disk and started emitting a suspicious purple glow in the center, making it look like a portal.


    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.When those two realized it, they froze and went silent. After a few moments, Mindy broke the silence.


    "... do we jump in?"


    Nate kept staring at the never-ending darkness emanating from the ''portal'' in front of him.


    "... I''ll pass... Let''s leave this as our last resort."


    "Yeah... good idea."


    There''s no telling what these tentacles recognize as ''home'' after all...


    Their other ''spell'' trials revealed that some words, such as ''fireball'' and ''arrow'', produced the same results. And some words, like ''inventory'' or ''status'', didn''t do anything at all. Although their powers initially seemed omnipotent, they were actually quite limited.


    "But I tried so many things when we first got here... why didn''t it work back then?"


    Mindy posed a good question. ''Fireball'' was the first thing she yelled when they arrived and it didn''t work. Why does it work now?


    As they walked, they soon noticed a mountain range in the distance. At first, they wanted to turn around and go in a different direction, but Mindy then proposed using the mountain as a means to map out their surroundings. Although climbing a mountain is not an easy task, Nate figured it wouldn''t be as hard with their powers, so he agreed.


    On their way to the mountains, the trees gradually thinned out. Eventually, it was impossible to call it a forest anymore. Mindy also noticed some birds flying near the mountain... or at least she thought it was birds. Upon getting closer, she realized these ''birds'' only had wings and bird-like talons, but other than that, they looked like human women.


    "Are those... harpies...?"


    Being able to only see dots on the horizon, Nate confirmed his earlier suspicion.


    "Hey Mindy... aren''t your eyes a little too good?"


    "Hm? What are you talking about?"


    Since she was clearly confused, Nate elaborated.


    "I can barely see anything flying there and you can even make out their detailed features."


    "Eh? C-come on now... they are right there! How can you not see... them...?"


    Nate continued to wordlessly stare at her, to which she let out a resigning sigh and pointing at her eyes.


    "It''s these eyes... isn''t it?"


    "Probably."


    Mindy grunted and crossed her arms while pointing her gaze downwards.


    "Thinking about it... it really is a little too far."


    And then sighed.


    "We really are monsters now, huh?"


    In a different place and about the same time...


    Deep down underground, in a dimly lit cave, there silently walked a person, advancing through the corridor. It was a woman with crimson hair and wings. She looked on with her ferocious yellow eyes while stepping forward with her bird-like talons.


    She soon entered a small room illuminated by a fist-sized white orb sitting on a pedestal. She then stopped about one meter away from the orb and kneeled down before speaking.


    "Mother, it seems that we have a guest."


    In response to her, the white orb emitted a soft and very slow female voice.


    "Yes... I''m aware, Freya... Let him in..."


    Freya nodded and turned to the tunnel. There, a man dressed in a suit sporting wolf-like ears and a pair of white wings emerged. He took a few steps before bowing down while placing a hand on his chest.


    "Greetings, lady Aria."


    "Well, well, well... now what could Fi''s personal guard possibly be doing here...?"


    Hearing the sarcastic tone of Aria''s voice, Marwen, the guest, knew there was trouble.


    "I carry a message from the princess. Two new demons have recently made an appearance not too far away from your dungeon."


    After a second of silence, Marwen got the response he was dreading.


    "Yes, yes... some of my children have already informed me... they spotted a pair of mimics without beast ears or angel wings... so those were actually demons, you say...?"


    Marwen nodded while trying his hardest to mask his nervousness.


    "Why is it that I have not been informed earlier...? Didn''t Fi make a promise...?"


    The man nodded before explaining.


    "Princess Fitodela would like to apologize for delaying the message. The demons caused too much chaos among the people in Roaris kingdom. There were several deaths as well. And princess'' priority was to prevent this from escalating any further."


    A moment of silence followed. Marwen''s unease rose with each passing second.


    "I see... Then I guess I will forgive her... but next time... tell her to spare at least one person to inform me... alright...?"


    Marwen nodded while feeling a mixture of surprise and relief from that response. Wasn''t it a little too easy to convince her?


    "Ah but... since you are already here... surely, you will help us... dealing with these demons... right?"


    And that was when Marwen realized where the trap lied this time.


    "... of course. I will assist in the best way I can."


    Being a mimic, he wasn''t too powerful on his own. He needed a proper wielder to utilize his weapon forms. And Aria knew that. This must be the punishment for the late report, Marwen thought. So, although unwilling, he had to agree in the end.


    "Good, good... Freya, please take care of him... we wouldn''t want Fi''s precious guard getting hurt..."


    After hearing out these sarcasm-filled words, Freya bowed and turned to Marwen.


    "This way..."


    The two then left and the room was filled with silence.


    "Demons... huh? This could be interesting... The imp last time was very fun to experiment with..."


    After that, an unsettling creepy chuckle echoed in the air.

 Situation update

    I''ll cut to the chase right away.


    Why did I stop writing chapters?


    Short answer:


    The stress generated from trying to write this outweighed my enjoyment of creating and sharing it.


    Long answer:


    I started this story in the middle of what I would call my ''experimental phase''. I experimented with different writing styles, POWs, main character types, settings, etc. Unfortunately, the combination I picked for Fantasy fugitives didn''t really resonate with me too well. I realized this 4-5 chapters in, but still tried to somehow make it work. The result is what you see.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    So what now?


    I might restart this story sometime in the future, but right now, consider it dropped. Sorry for that.


    But, of course, I''m not quitting writing. Right now, I''m writing a different story. Currently at over 20 chapters out.


    Curse of the Kat


    Fantasy, Comedy, Adventure, Slice of life(ish?)


    The style is mostly carefree/relaxing.


    Currently going about ~3 chapters a week.


    Each chapter has 1300-1500 words.


    So once again, sorry for dropping this and I hope to see you in my other works!