Barry was silent for a moment, his gaze turning towards Sylvia, who also locked eyes on him. He smirked, “Me? Betraying you all? How could you think of such a thing…”

  “Yeah, Barry would never betray friends. Barry good guy.” Puck vouched for Barry with a smile and nod on his back.

  Suddenly, to everyone’s surprise, Barry pulled Sylvia out of their formation by force with a short sword drawn from his inventory, placed on her neck. Sylvia was shocked to be at Barry’s mercy. “Why, of course I would do such a thing! You wouldn’t imagine the kind of rewards the system is offering me for killing you all!”

  “W-What!?” Puck was flabbergasted by Barry’s response.

  Barry then guided Sylvia backwards towards the rest of the enforcers, who were just as surprised to see him turn against the Nightwalkers. “Hey fellas, I’m on your side! This should be easy work for us, I promise you all!”

  “Barry! What the hell are you doing!” Anna called out, her, along with everyone else, weren’t expecting Barry to be so easily convinced in flipping sides because of some incentives promised by the system.

  Edward and Buford tried moving in towards Barry but saw the other opposing side of city enforcer’s react defensively, brandishing their weapons to intimidate them from making any further actions. “You would fold that easily for some cheap rewards, then to stand with us! I should have never trusted you!” Edward said, sounding very displeased.

  The enforcers allowed Barry to walk the rest of the way to them, believing that he was on their side from the start. Barry snickered at Edward’s words, “I agree! You were dumb to keep me alive since we met, if anything, you should be pissed at yourself and not me. I’m just doing what’s beneficial for me to get through this shit we’re in.”

  Puck wasn’t sure what to do at the moment, he was torn between going along with Barry’s act of betrayal or abandoning him to join back with the others. Barry could see the confliction in Puck and felt a bit of guilt inside. ‘Sorry bud, you’ll understand soon enough…’ He thought.

  Edward was enraged, everyone watched as Sylvia struggled to break free from Barry’s hold. She tried pulling away from him but was making no progress whatsoever, but the more Edward observed, the more he got curious about something. ‘Wait, I just realized something…I know my sister is stronger than him for a fact, she should be able to break free from him, so why…’

  Barry had managed to make it across to the other side without any issues. “You’ll pay for this, Barry! I’ll make damn sure of it, you hear me!” Sylvia cried out.

  “Oh shush up. Hey, one of you mage looking guys, come over here and cast some spell to detain her. The quest I got is offering a bonus if we manage to capture one of these vampires. And if you do that, then I’m sure it will count for all of us.” Barry asked, dragging Sylvia farther back into the ranks.

  The sound of extra rewards gifted by the gods incited them to follow his request, once Barry was near their mages with the struggling vampire, a few of them began rushing up to them to place a spell of restraints on her. Puck was panicking of what to do at the time.

  Edward would then receive a message directly from Barry, what was sent was something astonishing. “When I give the signal, get ready to throw down.” He was totally bewildered by what Barry meant.

  And before the mages had reached Barry and Sylvia, Barry whispered in Sylvia’s ear. “Let’s give them hell.”

  His words prompted her to give a slight smile before being released from his hold and lashing out at the enforcers mages together. Sylvia and Barry swiftly incapacitated the first few mages by surprise, both making sure to avoid inflicting any fatal damage, mainly Barry.

  Puck was confused once again of what had just happened, he had thought Barry had actually turned his back against the friends they had made. “W-Wha- Barry! Was it all pretend?” The Kobold asked, wanting clarification.

  “Yeah, sorry for the misunderstanding, Puck. Now let’s take these guys down.” Barry replied, and with that said, Puck provided his full support again and began spewing flames upon the mages while on Barry’s back.

  Everyone on the Nightwalkers side noticed the chaos that suddenly erupted from their opposer’s backline, Edward figured this must have been the signal that Barry was telling him about. He was now led to believe that it was all an act on Barry and Sylvia’s part, but still had mixed feelings about it, regardless, he gave an order for everyone to engage. “Go! We push through now!”

  With the enemy caught by surprise from Barry’s ploy, Edward and Buford, along with the rest of the werewolves, led the charge to break through the wall of enforcers. Calista and her fellow witch sisters would provide support from behind with black magic, launching beams of dark purple magic at their enemies, placing magical shackles on their frontliners, as well as putting up abjurations of purple shields of magic to protect them from any retaliation.

  Despite there being about 25 or so Nightwalkers, their display of both talent in black magic from the witches and brawn from the werewolves was incredible to Barry’s group, who basically spectated while being prepared to protect the witches. Even if they were outnumbered by the enforcers, their powers together were more than enough to instill fear into them.

  There were a couple of the knights from the enforcers that proved to put somewhat of a fight against Edward, Buford and his werewolf friends, especially the commander that was leading his team. But thanks to Barry and Sylvia’s surprise attack on their mages which cut off their support, they were able to overpower them with their spell buffs.

  The commander was still in shock of what had just happened to his force's backline, he couldn’t believe that he actually fell for such a cheap tactic by Barry. He shielded against the brute force of a werewolf attack and shoved them off. “That rat! Kill that man at once, I want his head on a pike, you hear!” He ordered a few men from behind, he was clearly mad by the tone of his voice.

  Barry dodged and narrowly weaved through projectiles of firebolts that were sent his way, utilizing his bunny hopping technique with his boot's special ability to double jump, acting as a distraction. “What a bunch of dumbasses, am I right, Sylvia?”

  “Haha, they certainly look it. So gullible they are.” She agreed, jabbing a couple of mages just enough to take them out of the fight for a quick nap.

  Things were looking grim on the city enforcers part. Their forces, although larger than their enemies, were slowly dwindling in the presence of the Nightwalkers might. In the face of werewolves capable of enduring fatal wounds that most men wouldn’t dare survive and a vampire capable of flinging men with unknown power, as well as witches that were picking off their forces with black magic, the whole enforcers moral was plummeting.

  ‘If only we had our mages to assist us against these fiends, then we might have had a chance to subdue them…’ The commander thought, slashing and shoving a werewolf before turning his attention to Barry, who was still acting as a distraction for the mages. ‘You, I will take your life before I go down.’

  And just as the commander was about to break away from the front lines to handle Barry personally, a voice called out to him. “And where do you think you’re going?” It was Edward.

  The commander took one glance at the vampire that had just knocked the wind out of one of his men, “You foul creature of the night, how dare you and your kind continue to plague our precious world. I find it hard to believe that you all still exist after the fall of your city. Cockroaches, that’s what you all are!”

  Edward was silent, the commander’s insults were nothing more than paper cuts to him, he figured the people above still feared him and the Nightwalkers as creatures to this day. “Plague this world…that’s rich coming from you all. If you knew the truth, you would know that WE were the ones to build what you considered homes. That WE were the ones to grow and care for the magnificent gardens that you so pride yourselves with.” Anger was stirring within Edward as he spoke.

  The commander could feel a sense of malice resonating from the vampire, as he watched his soldiers getting pushed back by some sort of force that had to be the vampire’s doing. He was terrified. ‘To hells with this fiend, I will take that rat’s head before retreating.’

  He turned his back in an attempt to rush towards Barry, but was only able to make a few steps before becoming still. ‘What!? Why can’t I-’

  “I asked. Where. Are. You. Going.” Edward asked again, using his telekinesis to restrain the commander in place. He was having an easier time using his power on the commander than he did with Barry.

  Cold sweat began to form on the commander, he tried squirming the best he could to break free from Edward’s unknown force but could not budge besides moving his lips, which Edward allowed. “Y-You monster! The city w-will not tolerate your existence, we will erase your presence by all means necessary before you slaughter anyone else!”

  Edward had reached the commander and placed a hand on his helmet, removing it and causing the man to flinch in fear of what he might do. “I know that the city will not tolerate our existence, and you all likely never will. But you are wrong about us retaliating against the city. We will harm anyone who dares to do wrong against us, yes, but never kill. Even now, I am holding back my rage for how we are being branded as monsters.”

  The commander looked around with his eyes, he noticed that his men weren’t being killed by the Nightwalkers, they were showing mercy. Although still frightened, he had given up trying to break free from the vampire’s telekinesis and spoke with a shaky voice. “N-No, I don’t believe it! You and your kind are plotting something, there's no such thing as a monster who is kind!”

  The vampire sighed, he wanted to shut this guy up. “Believe what you will, human. Just know that we let you all off easy, now then.” He flicked a finger towards the right, sending the commander’s body tumbling in that direction. “Have fun, Buford, try not to scare him to death.”

  Once the commander stopped rolling, he noticed he had regained control of his body and was able to experience a short term of relief before feeling a faint exhale of breathing down his neck.

  Upon turning back around, immediately he felt a need to change to his draws after coming face to face with Buford who was staring down at him in his werewolf form, his feral eyes and monstrous jaws freezing him in place. “Hi there, I promise I won’t kill you…but I’m definitely beating the ever living piss out of you.” Buford told him before thrashing at the poor guy.

  The fight would continue on for about 5 more minutes, with everyone being able to knock out their opposers non-lethally. Barry and Sylvia stood side by side, inspecting their fallen foes, making sure that they hadn’t accidentally killed anyone. “Wonderful acting, Barry! A thousand rounds of applause.” Sylvia praised, clapping her hands along with Puck, who also agreed.

  Although they had not killed the mages, which would have given them more experience points, Barry had obtained another level up, while Puck gained two level ups of his own. He would allocate their stats another time when they were in a safer zone.

  The rest of the Nightwalkers approached the two who were standing in near a large group of mages that were sleeping. Edward was the first to approach them, glaring at Barry. “That was quite an act you whipped up on the spot…I surely hope you warn us before you pull another stunt like that.”

  Barry expected this reaction and sighed, “Listen, had I told you and everyone else, they would have caught on to my brilliant plan and everything would have been a lot harder. I’m still in disbelief that it actually worked.”

  “Cut him some slack brother, you have to admit, it was a very effective tactic. The look of shock they showed when Barry and I turned on them, it was so hilarious.” Sylvia commented, reminiscing the fallen mages expressions.

  Everyone had to admit, Barry’s plan was well done and gave him credit for executing it. Especially his group, he had them on edge for the act he pulled and thought he actually decided to betray them all.

  Edward rolled his eyes and spoke, “I’ll admit, that was a good plan. Now, let’s make haste.” Barry noticed something with his eyes just before Edward motioned for everyone to continue moving. With Barry’s enhanced vision, he believed that he saw a slight grin form on the vampire's face, probably amused by his actions, which made Barry smile a bit himself.

  They all continued to travel down the tunnel, encountering smaller groups of Chakarie that were easily dispatched by Edward and the werewolves. Eventually, after about 10 minutes or so, the group would halt at a wall. And with a wave of Edward’s hand, the same symbol as the sigil that was given to Barry, radiated a purple glow, opening a hidden tunnel that would lead them to the Nightwalkers destroyed city. Glowstone was embedded into the walls to serve as a source of light.

  As they were entering through the tunnel, Anna sensed hostility from the way they came from and caught sight of more Chakarie and their beasts approaching from a distance, presumingly following the trail of bodies they were leaving behind as they went. “Hurry, more of the Chakarie have spotted us!”

  Wasting no more time, they all funneled through the tunnel and sealed the entrance behind to stall them for a bit, knowing that their Moldbreaker beasts would have to work their way through in order to continue their pursuit.

  Calista would take the lead with Sylvia to guide them once they had reached their city of ruins. Upon travelling for about five more minutes, they would encounter another wall that would require a touch of their magic to open the path to their previous home. “We’re here, stick close now.” Calista advised before channeling a speck of her magic that would collapse the wall in front of them.

  Edward, along with most of the other Nightwalkers, had not dared to return to their fallen home simply because they didn’t want to revisit those feelings of sorrow and despair of all they had lost. So when the wall was brought down, Edward did his best to maintain his composure as their leader and not give in to the rage that he was suppressing since it had happened.

  A once vast and magnificent undercity that was home to many Nightwalkers and granted them peace and solitude from the people above, now in total desolation and disfigurement from the bomb that Ned and Oswald triggered within. The ceiling of the cave had brought down debris due to the explosion, further destroying anything that wasn’t already blown up by the bomb. Chunks of glowstone were scattered across the city, still illuminating the city as a whole. From the perspective of them all, it seemed to be like a jumbled up maze of some sort that required a bit of scaling and climbing to get over the debris that was in their way.

  Calista and Sylvia had gotten used to revisiting their previous city, since they had kept returning to finish constructing the portal to their new home. But every other Nightwalker felt a deep sadness, even Sherry, despite only hearing stories from her grandfather about her mother’s visit to this very city.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  They would not allow their grief to stale them, as Calista encouraged them to press onwards and follow along as her and Sylvia guided them to where they had constructed the portal.

  They traversed through the fallen history of lost times, being cautious of the rubble around them as to not cause them to fall down upon them. Where Calista and Sylvia were guiding them to, it would take them about 15 minutes till they arrived at what could have been a park. And to everyone’s surprise, there happened to be some lively looking flowers that were still clinging onto life despite the many years that went by.

  There was a perfectly etched rune circle that was drawn around what seemed to be an architectural black marble stoned gateway with a large amethyst gem embedded in the center top of it. Along the circle were miniature pylons with small sky blue crystals sitting on top of them. “Here, this is our ticket out of this place. A gateway to our new home.” Calista said, pointing at the gateway.

  “Finding the perfect place for us to move to, was easy. It was making the rune circle and the gateway perfect that was one of the hardest parts, you can’t imagine the amount of time it took for us to start over and over again. And the amplifier crystals for the pylons, ugh, those were just as time-consuming to find within the rubble. I kept asking Calista if it would be alright to steal some from the city above, buuuut…” Sylvia had a tired-some expression as she explained their ordeal.

  Calista butted in. “The answer was no, we are not thieves and will not resort to such methods unless we really need too.” Her response caused Sylvia to roll her eyes a bit before crossing her arms in a pout. “We should be lucky that the large amethyst gem is still intact even after the explosion; however, it appears to be in a fragile state right now with a bit of cracks and chips here and there. Nevertheless, after using it with Sylvia, this will be it’s last use before being nothing more than decor.”

  “Which is fine.” Sylvia added. “Because we won’t be returning, and we definitely don’t need others following us.”

  Sherry was about to offer mending the amethyst with her transmutation magic but didn’t bother bringing it up because of what Sylvia said.

  Everyone was fascinated by the work that was put into making the portal, they admired the carved black marble stone gateway that was constructed and the large rune circle that was etched. They were intrigued to see it function right away.

  Calista then asked of her witch sisters to gather by the pylons, one of each, and begin channeling their black magic into them so that it could be amplified and sent to the amethyst gem that was within the gateway so that it could process and construct the portal with the magic given.

  She also explained to the group that she would need to concentrate on the place of location while in front of the gateway with her crystal ball in order to open the other end of the portal. Everyone agreed to guarding Calista, as she pulled out a crystal ball from her inventory and focused on their new home.

  Edward called for the werewolves and Barry’s group to secure a perimeter, knowing that the Chakarie were the last to see them and were probably still chasing after them. So Barry and Puck took one section nearby to look after, taking watch on top of a tilted building, while the rest split up to cover more ground.

  Puck got off Barry’s shoulder and took a seat with his cheery attitude. “Puck wonder what sort of place we go to, maybe there’s more yummy mushrooms.”

  Barry didn’t think green glowing mushrooms were a type of delicacy in this world, but then again, this was Puck after all and his taste buds were likely a lot different. “Uh, yeah, maybe…” He replied with a slight smile.

  He would then take the time to adjust both of their stats by applying some of the available points that were obtained from the level ups received so far. Barry was level 22 had 41 available points to use and distributed half of them to his strength and endurance, making both stats 50 each, knowing “King’s Commanding Presence” passive would apply as well with it’s 25% increase. He was left with 21 available points.

  As for Puck, he was level 13, Barry had focused on getting him stronger along their way to Haglethorn aside from the levels gained during their fight with the Chakarie. The Kobold had 29 available points to spend. He invested all of his points, distributing them all in each of the stat scores and making them as followed: [+2] Strength, [+16] Agility, [+16] Endurance, [+30] Intelligence, and [+25] Wisdom.

  He wished he could increase the Kobold’s endurance more, but knew that increasing his fiery capabilities was just as important.

  One thing about Puck’s profile was the Class name that given to him. It read, “Descendant of Valkynox”. The name sounded unique to him and made him wonder if there was something more to Puck than what he was.

  Barry would then remember something that he wanted to ask of Puck, and pulled out the star amulet that he was given to him from the Kobold. “Hey, Puck, you gave me this, right?”

  With one look at the amulet, the Kobold nodded with excitement. “Oh, yeah! Puck gave you it as a sign of friendship, Puck made it from flying rock that came from sky a long time ago.”

  “Well, this thing was glowing when I got near the Nightwalker’s town. I figured it was probably telling me that you were close by and that I was on the right path to finding you.”

  Puck was shocked to hear this, he had never seen the amulet do such a thing and wanted to see it happen. “That’s cool! Show Puck right now, Puck wanna see.”

  Barry looked at the amulet and tried to think of how it happened before, he speculated that it had to be because he was thinking of finding Puck again, and so he concentrated on thinking about searching for Puck. However, the amulet would not react to his thoughts and remain as it was. “Sorry, I can’t seem to make it shine like before. Maybe another time you’ll be able to see it.”

  The little Kobold was disappointed, yet hoped that in the future he would be able to catch sight of it shining like Barry said.

  There was one odd thing that Barry found about the amulet that he still couldn’t explain, it was that the amulet’s description was blank without any sort of information. The name of it was considered, “???”, in black text, which had to mean that it was a common item. ‘How is it that this is the only common item that I’m unable to read? What could the reason be?’ He pondered.

  He put away the amulet and continued to keep a look-out for any trouble that would come their way while they waited for the witches to finish opening the portal. The amethyst needed enough essence of black magic in order to open a two-way portal from their end to their destination, and from what it sounded like from Sylvia, would require all of the witches magic reserves given the distance.

  Nothing would occur for about fifteen minutes until Barry felt a tap on his shoulder. Immediately, upon instinct, he whipped out his greatsword in a twirl, with the blade tilted towards an unexpected person. His expression turned from battle ready, to a look of annoyance. “Oh fuck, don’t do that shit to me, Anna.”

  Anna was with Luna, taking a couple of steps back in response to his defensive reaction. “Damn Barry, relax, we only came by to see if you spotted anything unusual.” Luna laughed at what had just happened.

  He loosened up and put his weapon away with a sigh, “Well, there hasn’t been anything that’s stuck out to me so far. Just the city’s emptiness is all.”

  Puck had also looked back to see who it was that snuck up on them and got up on his feet with joy and rushed to greet Luna. “Luna! Puck wanted to talk to you when you woke up. Are you feeling better?”

  Luna nodded with a cheeky smile. “Sure am, I’m just happy to be back with my sister. Which, by the way…” The little girl looked back at Barry before bowing her head. “Thank you, Barry, for finding me and bringing my sister here. It really means a lot to me.”

  Barry could hear the sincerity in her voice, he felt an odd sensation inside him that he could only describe as being a small warm fuzzy feeling, it reminded him of the strange feeling he would get when he tried resisting the urge to help others. Barry waved his hand and looked away. “Yeah, yeah, your sister kept going on and on about finding you and I found it annoying. You also just happened to be taken with Puck, so everything just fell into place, is all.”

  Luna smirked, she found it funny how he was trying to deflect her thanks. “Of course dude, I was just an extra to save is all.” She then looked at Anna and nudged her head towards Barry, as if urging her to tell him something as well.

  Anna knew what Luna wanted her to say and felt bothered by it, she looked at Barry who was paying half attention to them while he continued looking out. “I…I wanted to say thanks as well.” His eyes shifted back to her, lifting an eyebrow. “I probably would have never gotten to see my sister again if I hadn’t found you again, so thank you…” Anna sounded like she was in trouble.

  There was a moment of awkward silence between them, as Anna expected to hear something back from Barry. She saw him grin, which ticked her off. “W-What! Why the hell are you smiling for!? I said thanks, don’t be rude.” She crossed her arms, causing Luna and Puck to laugh.

  “I never would have expected for you to thank me, that’s all.” He responded, causing Anna to feel like she was being made fun of. “Your thanks has been acknowledged, but it’s like I said, your sister just happened to align with our plans of finding Puck and the ingredients needed to make the potion that would grant us insight to this main quest.”

  Anna was flustered at him, bringing Luna to tell him thanks was the whole reason why she came to talk to him. “Gah! Alright, sure, whatever. Come on Luna, let’s- Wait, I’m seeing something.” She addressed, pointing at something in the distance that was emitting multiple patches of red auras.

  Barry looked at the direction given, inspecting the area with his enhanced vision until he spotted what she was referring to. “It’s the Chakarie…and not just them…” He noticed that they were being chased down by the city’s enforcers, with additional reinforcements of hounds in armor and possible civilians that volunteered. “The city’s enforcers are here as well.”

  “Well, that’s not good. The Chakarie may know that we’re here, but maybe the enforcers aren’t aware of that fact.” Anna said. “Regardless, I’ll message the others and personally go and warn them. Come on Luna.”

  Luna then got on her sister’s back and waved a hand at Barry and Puck. “Bye guys, hopefully everything goes well.”

  And with that said, the two were off to inform the others. Barry would continue to spy on the two groups of enemies, the city’s people outnumbered the amount of Chakarie that he saw, slowly but surely the Chakarie would be picked off clean by their show of force. ‘It seems like the Chakarie that followed us might be handled for us before they even find us.’ He thought.

  It was then, that after further observing the city’s forces, he sighted someone that made him question if he was seeing things. “Is that really him!? Please, please, let it be true!” Barry was sounding anxious, his hands gripping with rage.

  “Who, Barry? What you see?” Puck asked, trying to see what he was looking at, but couldn’t.

  From Barry’s perspective, he saw the same man that he unfortunately allowed to escape during the time Barry went to go chase after Edward, who had Luna and Puck. “The backstabbing doctor that abandoned me.” He explained.

  The doctor was apparently guiding a mass group of people with their own gear, alongside the city’s soldiers and mages. Barry watched as the doctor gave out orders and what not. His heart was beating faster than usual, Barry felt the need to rush over and put the doctor in his place immediately. ‘This might really be my only chance to kill him, who knows I’ll get another opportunity after warping away…’

  Puck was curious to know who was the person that backstabbed him, “Backstab? Is this a bad guy?”

  “Oh yeah, this guy tried using me as bait in order to escape for himself.” Barry began motioning towards the direction of the doctor, his group was splitting off from the city’s enforcers. This would definitely be the perfect moment to deal with him while he’s separated.

  “Are you going to meet him?” Puck figured, seeing as how Barry looked like he was about to take off. “What about the others?”

  The rage inside Barry was rising, he had to take a moment and think about the situation at the moment before he gave into his emotions. ‘He’s right, I could mess things up and alert them all of our presence…’ He was deeply conflicted with himself.

  He was expecting for the unknown force inside him that would challenge his own personal choices, such as making him do the right thing by ignoring the doctor. But that strange feeling would not surface upon thinking about hunting the doctor. ‘Maybe I'll actually have a chance this time…yeah. I'll get the jump on him when he's alone, make him pay for treating me like nothing.’

  “Barry? What are you planning to do?” Puck wondered, seeing as how he was still thinking.

  Barry looked at the Kobold for a moment, realizing that he probably wouldn’t want Puck to be with him if things went south, it would be best to leave him with someone else. “Puck, I’ve got a personal vendetta against this certain someone. So it would put me at ease if I knew that you were near the gateway.”

  The little Kobold was puzzled by his response, but slowly understood what he meant when Barry placed him on his back to take him somewhere else. “W-Wait, Barry! Puck want to go with you, Puck no cause trouble.”

  With haste, Barry traveled back to where the gateway portal was still being manifested. All the witches were giving it their all to provide the gateway the power needed to make their exit. Sherry was there along with Kat and two werewolves in human forms.

  Sherry and Kat were not expecting to see Barry back so soon. “Hey, Barry, we were informed by Anna that the city’s enforcers and Chakarie are present here. However, they haven’t spotted us yet, is what she said…unless something’s changed?” Sherry asked, hoping that wasn’t the case.

  “No, not at all. We’re still under the radar, I just came to drop off Puck, and do some scouting of my own while undercover. I’d like to know if the enforcers were only chasing after the Chakarie, which is led them here. It would make me feel better knowing he was here, is all.” Barry explained, pulling Puck off his back and placing him down with Sherry, despite the Kobold resisting.

  Puck was unhappy with what was said, “Nooo, Puck go with you. Something bad going to happen to Barry again.” Puck was sounding very worried, which raised a bit of concern to the two women.

  Kat was curious by what Puck meant by “again”, thinking that something terrible happened in the past that made the Kobold scared. “Barry…what’s going on?”

  “It’s nothing, I just want to make sure that we’re left alone without any disturbances. Just please do me a favor by watching him, thanks.” And with that said, Barry took off full sprint, traversing through the city ruins in the direction of where he last saw the doctor.

  “Barry! Nooo, come back!” Puck cried out in tears, he would pull free from Sherry’s hand to try and chase him down, but proved to be useless. Barry was had already disappeared from view. “Barry…” The Kobold stopped and sniffled.

  Sherry and Kat would then approach Puck to comfort him, thinking this was probably how it always had been with Puck and Barry. Kat was still skeptical as to what sort of events the two had gone through to make the childlike Kobold worry so much.

  “Hey there, buddy, there’s no need to cry. Your friend Barry is going to be fine.” Sherry reassured Puck, patting him on the back. “He’s not going to be in any danger at all, Barry knows what he’s doing. Isn’t that right, Kat.”

  Her words made Kat reminisce about the times she witnessed him in action, most of it was watching him in a state of relentless rage against all that he faced. “U-uh, yeah! Barry’s a tough guy to take down, he always seems very determined to get through anything.”

  The show of comfort that the two expressed would not ease Puck’s distress, as he shook his head. “Puck knows Barry is strong, but Puck has also seen Barry badly hurt. And Puck no like it…”

  They could feel the pain in Puck’s voice, Sherry then further asked him about what he thought Barry was going to really do besides scouting. “So then, you probably assume Barry is going to do something else besides scouting.”

  Puck nodded his head in response, “Barry told Puck about a bad guy he saw, someone he called a “doctor”, and wanted to meet him. Puck thinks he’s going to see the bad guy.”

  Suddenly, the image of Judas appeared in Kat’s head. ‘Doctor…does he mean Judas? Is he here?’ She thought, but then wondered how Barry could even know about him and why he would ever label him as a bad person.

  Sherry felt that it would be best to stay with the witches and let Barry do his own thing, she believed he wouldn’t do anything drastic. “Well, let’s just wait for Barry to return, Puck. I’m sure he’s-”

  She would be interrupted by Kat, who seemed interested in knowing about more about this doctor that Barry so badly wanted to meet. “Puck, I’ll go with you to find Barry. I’d like to meet this doctor as well, do you know where they could be?”

  Puck’s sad expression would turn around, now looking more cheerful, upon hearing Kat offer to join him in tracking down Barry. “Really!? Yeah, Puck can track down Barry’s scent, we can go find him together.”

  Sherry wasn’t liking the idea of Kat straying away from the gateway, she would prefer for them to stick close. “Kat…” She whispered to her. “Does this really sound urgent for you and Puck to check out? It’s probably not a big deal.”

  Although what Sherry said could be true, Kat had a gut feeling, like Puck, that something didn’t seem right. If Barry truly felt the need to see this person, then it was probably for a good reason and didn’t want to drag Puck into it with the possibility of something bad happening to him. And if that was the case, then who would be there to watch his back if things went south?

  With a sense of conviction, Kat made her decision. “I, too, have a strange feeling about Barry’s true motives. So I will be going with Puck to make sure he’s not in deep trouble, and if he’s not, then that’s even better. We’ll be back safe, I promise.”

  And after that was said, Kat and Puck would take their leave with the Kobold guiding her, utilizing his nose to track down Barry by scent. Sherry would hope that no trouble would befall on them.