Chapter 852 A Fiery Rune



/ POINT 4LJ1… 30 MINUTE JOURNEY \

The large white dragon flapped its wings in the air, creating large gusts of wind. Team Zephyr pushed against the wind, taking in the large dragon. Its white scales majestically glimmered in sunlight as the dragon looked down upon them.

'What's a dragon doing here?!?' Evan asked telepathically. 'I-I thought they didn't come too close to settlements!' Lee Seng had definitely heard many things about dragons. One of them being, dragons had no interest in human affairs at all. Evan's question was a question they all had.

The dragon quickly turned and flew away, leaving the tiny little humans to their own devices. The pressure in all of their chests shook violently, forcing the group to release their held breaths. The dragon was certainly majestic like people had said it was.

'Thank god.' Lee Seng thought. He sucked in a couple breaths and regained his composure. 

"Everyone okay?" Liz asked. The group quickly started to nod, straightening their backs.

"It's like they say…" Ritsuka said in amazement. "Dragons are… crazy cool. D-did you see how b-beautiful that was?" He turned and pointed up into the sky. "She was oozing with pure Dark Matter energy! To think something like that exists…! I-it's so…"

"Scary." Evan finished.

"I was gonna say 'worth the twenty-five years of panic' but scary works, too." Ritsuka agreed with Evan. 

"Alright, let's reel ourselves back in from that encounter." Manny sighed. "I didn't think we'd see a dragon out here, but Evan's right about that… Why's a dragon here? They usually don't like interacting with humans." He looked around for an answer and the group simply just shrugged it off. "You don't think it's nest is here, do you?"

"There would be more signs of destruction around." Lee Seng motioned. "Dragons like to mark their territories with destruction. We would've seen carvings all over the place, dragon claws, probably a couple broken scales. The forest has no signs of that."

"Plus it looked like it just came by to say hi." Keng added. "I don't think we have to be scared of anything."

"Why don't we just… keep our wits about us and carefully get to the other point, hm?" Manny suggested.

The group carefully made their way through the forest. The dragon had certainly destroyed part of the forest, creating a harder steady path to get to the point. Lee Seng and the group theorized the dragon was probably looking for something to eat and came all the way here for some reason.

Point 4LJ1 was burning when the group arrived. There were no signs of survivors as Keng and Lee Seng swept the area with water. 

"Who could've done this?" Keng asked, putting out the last fire. Lee Seng shook his head.

"Dunno." Lee Seng answered. His eyes were focused on a particular tree. A strange burnt carving was engraved in the tree. "What's this?" 

"What's what?" Ritsuka asked, wandering over with Liz and Evan. Lee Seng pointed up to it. 

"It looks like… a symbol of sorts?" Liz guessed. The symbol looked like a lowercase t with two diagonal points coming out at a forty-five degree angle. Sharp curves like a scythe came out of the diagonal points. 

"It's like a cross with scythe wings." Ritsuka told them. He reached up and traced the symbol. The symbol lit up in teal energy, immediately lighting ablaze. The three gasped as the symbol exploded. 

"Guys!" Keng shouted, rushing over. Lee Seng winced in pain with his arms wrapped around Liz and Evan. "Are you okay?"

"Ouch." Lee Seng hissed. He pulled away from the group. "I'm… fine." 

"Hey, what the hell happened over—" Manny and Olivia rushed over. Manny's eyes widened as he took in the sight. Shards of burnt wood had exploded all over and pieces of it were sticking into Lee Seng.

"Lee!" Liz gasped. "You-you're back."

"Argh!" Lee Seng grunted as he forced the splinters out.

"H-hey!" Manny rushed over to Lee Seng. He pushed his healing energy onto Lee Seng. "Hold still." Lee Seng tightened his jaw as he squeezed his eyes shut. 

"What happened?" Olivia asked after Lee Seng was healed.

"There was a strange symbol. I-I went to touch it and it exploded…" Ritsuka looked down.

"Who could've known it would've done that?" Lee Seng rolled his shoulders. Lee Seng looked at Ritsuka and shook his head. He put a hand on Ritsuka's shoulder and smiled. "I would do it again if it meant protecting you guys. Any of us would, right?" Ritsuka nodded.

"The forest was on fire and a symbol was on a tree… Doesn't that sound a bit suspicious?" Liz asked. 

"There's no signs of fights, either. It's like someone just wanted to burn the forest down." Evan replied. Liz shook her head and turned.

"That symbol. There's only a handful of things that pop up in my mind when I think about symbols." Liz looked at everyone. "Witches."

"Or Rune mages," Lee Seng answered. Liz nodded and pointed at him. 

"You're saying a rune mage came here and decided to burn the forest? Why?" Olivia asked. Liz turned and scanned the area. 

"Search around similar symbols. Maybe we can piece together who did this." Liz suggested. 

"Should we even write it down?" Ritsuka asked. "Runes like that could… be deadly to us if we did write it down…"

"If it's a rune any normal person is able to use, yes." Lee Seng answered. "But, if it isn't any normal rune… we should be fine."

"Just search for them and we can look at them together." Liz told them. The group scattered, looking around for any runes. 

"They're looking for runes?" The shadowy figure asked. The bird mask shadow shifted, leaning against a burnt tree. "They won't find anything… I only planted one. I guess he doesn't remember me." 

Beep, beep!

"Why did you intervene? You were strictly told not to intervene under any circumstances." The male voice spoke. The shadow figure pressed the ear piece and lowered their hand. 

"I thought I should give him a hint, sir." The shadow figure answered. "I've watched him fight two Deimons and win. I wanted to see if he remembered anything."

"He's a threat to us, then!" The male voice hissed. The shadow figure listened to his superior sigh. The shadow figure grabbed their mask and pulled it off. Shadows untangled around them, revealing a man in his late thirties. Silver hair and a dark five o'clock shadow. Heterochromatic blue and gray eyes watched Team Zephyr from a distance. "You weren't supposed to get involved one bit, Niko! What if the others find out you're alive? What will you do then?"

"Don't worry, Carlisle." Niko sighed, folding her arms together. He wore a black trench coat, slacks and a button-up shirt. Niko may have been sent to watch Lee Seng, but he passed as a businessman. "I won't let the little one know I exist."

"And what if they do, Niko? He'll blow your cover! We need to know what the Creator is doing first and the only way we're doing that is by confirming whether or not the kid—"

"Young man." Niko corrected Carlisle.

"The young man actually is who we're looking for." Carlisle sighed. 

"Something's bothering me about all of this, Carlisle…"

"Don't you dare do this to me, Volkov! You can't flake right now!" 

"It's not like that." Nikolai sighed. He watched Lee seng attentively study his surroundings. His ears twitched and he began to turn for Nikolai. Nikolai watched as Lee Seng looked directly at him, not seeing anything. Nikolai's cheek burned as the roman numeral 'II' appeared. 

"I found something over here!" Ritsuka shouted. Lee Seng turned his attention to Ritsuka, jogging over.

"Coming!" Lee Seng shouted.

"I just…" Nikolai stopped. Carlisle sighed.

"Number 2… I know you miss him most, but you know something he doesn't. You have to protect him by staying in the shadows." Carlisle reminded him. Nikolai nodded and sighed. He turned and pulled away from the tree, leaving a rune of a bird on it. Nikolai's body lit up, vanishing in an instant.

"I know, I know." Nikolai nodded. "I'll continue to monitor. If Lee Seng really does have what we're looking for, I'll show myself then." 

"And only then." Carlisle stressed.

"Yes, only then, sir." Nikolai nodded. His earpiece rang, again. "I have to go. Someone else is callin' for me." Nikolai clicked the earpiece twice. "Hello?"

"I never thought I'd get in contact with you, again, Number 2." A female voice spoke. "I've studied the remains of the Deimon and… I think you should meet me for this one."

"I'll be there soon, Laura." Nikolai turned his head and found himself staring at Lee Seng. He smiled. "You've grown into such a handsome young man, Lee Seng… I hope my war doesn't involve you…" Nikolai lifted his hand and drew a circle below and above a a line. He grabbed at it and shimmered. Nikolai blinked, appearing in the bloody forest. A light pink hair young woman was in the middle of taking blood and flesh samples. She turned and lit up at Nikolai's appearance. 

"You're here!" Laura smiled, standing. 

"What did you get, Miss Hyrrie?" Nikolai asked. Laura turned and looked at the mauled body.

"I found traces of his energy embedded into her and… It's looking like he might be the one we're looking for, Mr. Volkov." 

Nikolai sighed. He turned away cursing under his breath in Russian. "I hoped this wasn't the case." Nikolai cleared his throat and switched back to English, turning to Laura. "Have you told HQ this?"

"Not yet, Mr. Volkov." Laura shook her head. "I can report it now."

"I'll do it. Finish up here." Nikolai motioned. Laura smiled and nodded, turning her attention back onto the mauled body. Nikolai slid his finger across his earpiece and swiped at the air. A holographic screen appeared, ringing someone.

"Already callin' what's up?" Carlisle asked.

"I got news for you. Laura traced his energy to the Deimon and he's the one we're looking for."