After an uneventful day of walking and a peaceful night’s sleep, they finally made it out of the woods. Eldin’s eyes moved from side to side as he watched Lumina’s tail sway while they walked. He always wondered what it felt like to have a tail. This eventually led to him thinking about what type of tail he would have. He couldn’t help it. Turns out that walking for a few hours without talking to the person you are travelling with can actually be quite boring.

  Thinking back to a time when they were younger, and when his curiosity had gotten the better of him. It was probably about five or so years ago, but he had accepted a dare from some of the guys he hung out with to see what would happen when someone pulled on Lumina’s tail.

  While the thought had crossed his mind many times, he never had attempted to do so until the dare. While they were outside gathering food from the garden Eldin had found the perfect opportunity.

  While Lumina was busy collecting squash, he casually walked over and quickly yanked her tail. Never in his life had he seen Lumina react so quickly. He suddenly found himself on his back looking up to the sky. Lumina standing over him one of her hands had formed a tight fist and her cheeks very red from anger.

  She immediately left the garden, leaving Eldin alone and in pain. As he laid on top of the strawberry patch rubbing his forehead, he remembered hearing what seemed like a soft yelp. The bright red cheeks he had seen on Lumina’s face before she left he had thought was from anger. Giving the image a second thought, it was more likely that she was embarrassed.

  He didn’t really understand what had happened on that day, but he gauged that he probably wouldn’t live if he tried again. He was still curious why she was so red in the face after the fact, but he didn’t have the guts to ask why.

  Again, Eldin was jolted from his thoughts by Lumina. Except this time, he walked right into her back not realizing that she stopped moving. “What the… why’d you stop walking?” he asked as he took a step back. His eyes were level with her ears, and he immediately recognized that she was listening for something. Whenever her ears rotated or twitched, he knew that she was trying to focus on a sound. “Something amiss?”

  Lumina held up a hand signaling Eldin to be quiet as she continued trying to pinpoint the sound. It almost sounded like a thumping. Really loud thumping. Whatever it was. It was approaching fast. She pulled out her sword and donned her helmet.

  Naturally reacting, Eldin stood behind and watched the back as wind began to violently rush around them. He started concentrating and condensing a large amount of air until he held it in a small ball in his hand. He encased the air bomb inside a shell of rock from the ground, making it easier to maintain by only needing to focus on keeping the casing intact instead of holding air from escaping.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  It was at this point that he started hearing the loud and fast-paced thumping that had caught Lumina’s attention. Turning his attention to the front where the sound was coming from, he saw a massive 8ft. tall wolf charging right at them.

  Eldin immediately hurled the rock at the wolf. It impacted solidly on its face cracking the shell and releasing the air trapped inside. An extremely loud pop erupted as the air blasted the wolf to the side.

  Letting out a yelp, Lumina grabbed her ears and reflexively went to one knee. The resounding explosion happening so close to them was extremely painful and made her ears ring. “What the heck Eldin!?” She yelled loudly.

  He had not taken her sensitive hearing into account. Despite growing up next to her and doing training drills under his mom, he couldn’t believe he had forgotten about that. He was about to apologize, but Lumina was already gone.

  Dashing towards the downed wolf, Lumina leaped into the air sword poised to puncture its neck. Although dazed, the wolf managed to get back up on its feet. Lumina’s sword impaling the ground where it once was. Shaking its head and getting its bearings back, it looked at the two of them. Letting out a vicious snarl, it lunged at Lumina who had just managed to pull her sword out and jump away avoiding the dangerous maw.

  As it reared back preparing for another attack, it started to howl in pain. About a dozen little white lines, the size of needles zipped through the air and punctured directly into the wolf’s flank drawing blood and disappearing. Looking over, it saw Eldin preparing another spell. Charging at full speed, the wolf went on the attack looking to eviscerate him.

  Shield first, Lumina charged directly into the beast with all her weight. Even though she was about half the creature’s size, she was able to throw it off balance causing it to tumble before it could reach her friend.

  With the last of the words spoken, Eldin released a ball of fire from his hands. Upon contact with the flame, the wolf’s fur immediately caught fire. It started rolling on the ground attempting to put out the flames.

  Wasting no time, Lumina rushed back in. Holding her sword with both hands, she plunged her weapon into the creature’s gut. Dripping blood became a crimson shower as the monster reflexively retreated from the attack causing a larger wound and freeing her sword.

  With the fire finally out, the wolf stood in front of them, legs shaking. It was easy to tell that it was over. It gave one last angry snarl before collapsing on the ground. Its breaths were quick and shallow as more blood pooled under the fatal injury.

  Lumina approached the wolf. With a mighty chop, she severed the spine in the wolf’s neck, her sword unable to fully decapitate the monster. “How did you get so big?” She muttered to herself as she inspected the dead creature.

  “Ellos has a wide assortment of creatures and critters. While there are some bigger than others, no wolf should ever be this large.” Eldin commented. Something was very off.