After a short debate, Dreu approved of Dar’s daring plan. The demon butterfly flew down the stairs and stopped to face his captors.

  What’s wrong, Dar? Can you move?

  Dreu thought that his foes had a way of locking others in place which would be problematic. Their plan of distraction was no longer viable the moment Dar couldn’t move. The young man drew his blade as he readied himself to jump down the stairs, hoping to use the element of surprise to even the odds. Then, Ragellon appeared and embraced Dar. The demonic child then looked up the stairs at home and waved her hands.

  What a relief!

  Dreu walked down the stairs and was surprised when all the demonic children embraced him. Apparently, they went to investigate what sounded like a battle. Once they arrived, Dreu was already unconscious on the ground. In addition, the residence he was in had vanished without a trace but there were no signs of a fire or anything that could explain the disappearance. They were worried he was dead but he was luckily still breathing. A quick investigation nearby revealed no signs of the combatants. Through teamwork, they then hauled him to their residence where he slept in the bed for a few hours. When asked about the wolf, the children said that they saw nothing of the sort.

  “I’m relieved all of you are safe,” said Dreu. “We may need to check the city for anything dangerous.”

  And has it really been a few hours? I feel like it's been days...

  The young man was puzzled by the disappearance of such a strong foe. After seeing the wolf’s abilities firsthand, he knew that no one in the city could fight it. In that case, he couldn’t understand why the wolf disappeared. If anything, the lack of information was more terrifying. He and the demonic children could be walking the streets one day and an ambush would be their demise.

  “I have something that might be useful.” Ragellon walked into an adjacent room and returned a few minutes later with a crystal. “We can use this to check for intruders. Until the arrival of those who attacked you, I didn’t think it was possible for uninvited guests to get inside.”

  The demonic child put the crystal down and began her chant. As she chanted, the crystal slowly changed its form until it resembled the city with walls and all of its buildings. Dreu leaned in to admire the details exhibited by the crystal. Ragellon then casted a spell that saw a light blue dot glowing at a certain location.

  “This is where we are at,” said Ragellon who then turned her attention to another light blue dot.

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  Dreu would then be told that the light blue dot represented allies. She expected them to all be gathered in one place so the other light blue dot puzzled her. Next, a red dot showed near the light blue dot and the young man didn’t need to be told what that represented. Without further words, Dreu ran out as he needed to find out what the light blue dot represented. He could only hope the red dot wasn’t the wolf that dispatched him with such ease. It took him a few minutes to reach the location of the dots.

  Is…is that the bear cub?

  The creature was clearly a juvenile bear, easily triple the size of the bear cub. Yet, something about the creature was familiar. The young man then turned to see what the juvenile bear was facing.

  A velo?

  Dreu couldn’t believe his bad luck. Zog was the best candidate to defeat a velo but the demon butterfly wasn’t available for a day. He couldn’t ask the demonic children because the velo was simply too dangerous for them to face and he wasn't much of a frontline.

  Do we not have any other way to beat it?

  The bear closed the gap between it and the velo with surprising speed. Then, a single swipe from the bear ripped the underworld creature apart. In a single blow, the bear succeeded in defeating a foe Dreu wouldn’t see himself ever winning against. The bear then turned towards the young man. Before Dreu could draw his weapon, the juvenile bear charged at him, knocking him to the ground. For the next couple of minutes, he was helpless as the bear nuzzled against him while he was pinned down. Eventually, the bear had enough nuzzling and got off him.

  “Are you the same bear cub from the cave? You grew so quickly.”

  Yes, Dreu! I needed a trigger to grow and that trigger happened in your fight earlier.

  Earlier? The one where we faced those bulls?

  Yes, it was Brornun who came to your aid and activated the trigger for my growth.

  At the mention of the direwolf, Dreu quickly asked the bear what happened to his companion. He was very concerned when the direwolf didn’t show up in his recall list, even though his residence was gone. The bear stared down at the ground before sharing that Brornun was dead. The direwolf sacrificed himself to save Dreu while assisting the bear’s growth. Shortly after the battle, Brornun vanished before the bear's eyes, along with the rest of the residence.

  Where were you after Brornun saved me?

  I tracked down and killed all the underworld foes. Brornun asked me because he knew I was strong enough to fight whatever showed up. He said that he would take care of the hitching post before he left.

  Dreu screamed at the top of his lungs while tears ran down his cheeks. Since he came across the recall list, he thought all of his summons couldn’t be killed. They would at most be separated for a short amount of time. The death of Brornun felt like an unreal experience, especially when the direwolf used his last bit of life saving him and the demonic children. The experience reminded him of his unexpected farewell with Bayard. Like so many people in his life, they left him before he was ready.

  You said you only followed the strong, Brornun. In the end, I was so weak that you needed to save me. I’m sorry about everything.