Chapter Two
Quandary

A silence had fallen, no one spoke. No one dared to speak. Korajinas had returned and as far as Haze, Zen and Haych knew. They were the only ones that knew of the situation. Time ticked by, the old grandfather clock worked as if strained, it were as if the mood were so dire and so distressing, that it projected a physical increase of gravity upon the room.

Haze had been pacing up and down the middle of the house, facing the floor, weapon as his side. He showed no sign of stopping to address the dilemma. He just kept on walking, deep in thought. Understandable it was, as the next step would be of dire consequence if taken lightly. Abruptly, Haze halted and stood in the center of the living room, still facing the floor, his ears flat against his head, his tail completely motionless.

The husky looked up at Zen, then to Haych, his eyes showed a stern look that reflected his age and wisdom.
"There is no proper solution, I have decided. This particular event is beyond us, we cannot be expected to give a proper answer." He paused, where no reaction was coming, he continued. "Korajinas is a destroyer of all things, he is a narcissist, a mastermind. He's not physically strong, but he doesn't need to be, since no one can ever get close to him. We saw him today as close as we did by chance, and even then we stood no actual chance of striking at him directly."
"We should get help, make the Island Guard aware." Haych suggested.
"Should we? Such an act would cause a monsterous uproar, complete shutdown of all economy would quickly ensue. We can't allow that to take place. It's our duty to keep this quiet." Haze looked uncomfortable with his own answer, for it meant that they were alone. To face a nemesis that had once destroyed half of the entire island and changed the other half forever.
"We can't keep it to ourselves!" Zen interrupted, with a panicked expression played upon his face. "We cannot hope to fight him. We need help, Haze!"
"Yes. We do, but it would be wise to stop any kind of widespread realisation of this matter. We only stand a chance if Korajinas can't play his strongest card, his projection of fear unto the population" Haze explained.
"It makes sense, but it's still no less than suicide." Haych slumped into the nearest chair. Haze started to walk towards them when a knock sounded at the door.

A loud rasping knock collided with the door three times. Haze unsheathed his katana, sending a dancing reflection of steel up against the walls. He stood poised for combat.
"Nobody answer the door! It could be anyone." He said.
The others obeyed, standing where they were, Zen picked up a chair and held the legs towards the door in a amateur attempt at a defense.
Three more knocks sounded throughout the house, louder this time. Some time passed, it seemed as if the intruder had gone, before a loud crash sounded from the front door. Whoever was there was trying to break into the house.
"You two! Hide. Anywhere!" Haze sounded desperate. "Don't come out even when you think there's no one here, even if I'm in trouble. Just keep down and keep hidden." Zen and Haych complied and filed into the backrooms of the home.

The front door buckled inwards, numerous characters filed in, swords, axes, shields all held up offensively at Haze. A hulking brown bear stepped forward, towering above all else. He was gabed in a plain grey robe, with small plates of armor over his shoulders, chest and knees. He spoke in a low rumbling tone. He spotted Haze and sighed deeply, he appeared to recognise the husky from his past.
"Oh. Haze..." He paused, his voice sounded with a mocking tone. "Oh, how I thought you had grown out of this. We honestly didn't believe you were capable of kidnapping innocents again, especially after your rehabilitation." The bear shook his head slowly. Haze stood with an aghast expression on his face, they believed that he kidnapped Ayd and Ket?!
"I had nothing to do with these kidnappings. I joined the guard to put those happenings behind me!"
"No Haze, there are no other leads. It must be you. There is no other accusation, aside from at you." The large figure turned his back and started walking away, he peered over his shoulder and said slowly and carefully. "Who else would be it?" The occurance of this phrase seemed almost ironic under the situation, however it played to Hazes advantage. And he took it.

Haze knew what must be done, he couldn't say that Korajinas had returned, he needed to keep that a secret, he would need to give himself in to keep the enemies return as a hidden knowledge.
"Well, come on then! If you're so sure it was me, why don't you just try and see if you can catch me first?" Haze snarled. Katana now held in an offensive position. He pretended to be disgusted by the presence of the guards. Giving them all acidic glances, one by one.
"I know what your capable of Haze, it'd be better if you came quietly." The bear suggested.
"You'd like that wouldn't you? I'm sorry to disturb your perfect world, how many will you lose to capture me?"
The guardsmen looked at each other with anxious expressions. Each of them clearly didn't want to be there at that moment.
"Well, I have great trust in my force, Haze. Trust... Something you may never understand. I'm not sorry, you always get what you deserve." The bear said to Haze, then he addressed his guards. "Take him down, bring him to me when your done, if you get that far." he said, then walked out. The guards started to make their nervous advance on Haze.

An axe swung at Haze's face, he bobbed sideways and avoided it. His katana glided through the air, whistling through a scaled limb. A guardsmen fell to the ground, clutching his severed arm, and passed out. Haze paid no attention, he had already begun a frenzied assult on the guardsmen, he was completely surrounded, over twenty opponents would have their chance to disable him, it had been a long while since he had the opportunity to practice his skills on a live opponent. Haze doubted himself for only a moment, before his sense for combat sank back into place. The guards around him seemed to move slowly, as if they were swinging their weapons through syrup, rather than air.

Before long a number of corpses scattered around the floor, blood had smeared across some fine ornaments, the gloom of battle had transformed a cozy home into a dark void for death to entangle. Haze panted, his ears straight up, he looked around him. No one was to be seen, he had rapidly deconstructed the guardsmen into nothing. His powess in battle had been proven yet again. Just as Haze was about to declare himself victorious, he heard the flapping of a longcoat sound from outside the door. He turned to see who had come to challenge him.

The final opponent stepped into the house, a black wolf. Red eyes shone from under the hood. A black longcoat blew in the wind, the figure lowered it's hood slowly. A female wolf stared at Haze, she wore a slight grin as she studied the huskies weapon.
"Fuck that!" Haze exclaimed. He quickly backtracked down the hallway, his bloodied katana and at his side. He wore a face of pure distress.
"Nothing ever changes, Haze. You appear to have gotten yourself into a spot of bother with the authorities again." She paused for effect. "And it seems you've not lost your knack for battle." She said whilst inclining her head slightly towards the dead guards. The she-wolf followed Haze down the hallway slowly, tail flicking playfully.
"Get out of here, Achleis! This isn't your battle... This goes alot deeper than you think, you need to let me go!"
"I'm sorry, Haze. You know that I want the best for you. And if I need to beat the goodness out of your soul... Then I will not hesitate. I know that you'll go down fighting." she said; with care, she seemed to show an affection for Haze, even in this awkward situation.
"And I know that I'll go down; fighting doesn't matter yet. You need to let me talk to you, we're the only ones here. We can talk without anyone overhearing us. I'll tell you what's going on!" Haze desperately tried to get Achleis to see through his eyes.
"Perhaps you're right. We havn't spoke, only fought."
"Yes. Yes. We need to speak right now, so much lies at stake here. Trust me."
"I-I can't, Haze! I don't believe you. We shall fight this one, last, time!"
"Ok. Have it your way. We shall fight..." Haze stood honourably, as if already accepting his defeat.

Achleis reached into her longcoat, out of visability. She grabbed onto something without and slowly drew her hand back into the light, accompanied with a ruby longsword. The ruby shone at the exact same hue as the she-wolf's eyes. Years of hard battling had left signs of wear across the weapon. The hilt had several dents played into the brass-work, where close parries and deflections had taken place. Achleis pointed the experienced blade at the ground, near where Haze stood. It was a defensive stance that Achleis had always been known to use, and it was obvious why she used it so often. It was tactically flawless to fight against.

Haze reacted by panting from his previous fight, he wasn't ready for a fight of this magnitude, he attempted to straighten his back and retain any sense of combat efficiency. He had been holding his katana in his right paw. He grappled the hilt with his left and spread his feet far apart, to maximize the area he could dodge and weave around in, not that it would make much difference in the end. He sighed and braced himself for a great deal of pain.

Each fighter stared each other down. The battle looked one-sided before it had even begun. Achleis stood wearing a small grin, her confidence shining without any need for words to describe it. Haze, on the other hand, appeared tired and bruised from combat. His cloak had been slashed and hacked at, leaving holes and mishap within the once perfect leather structure. Haze lifted his weapon up slightly and leaned forward dramatically, stabbing through the air at Achleis with a long lunge. It was quickly made to be a mistake, as he realised he had sacrificed his footing. The she-wolf took advantage and used her leg to kick Haze's blade out of her way, before plunging her longsword straight downwards at the huskies arm. He reacted quickly, bringing the hilt of his weapon up to parry the blood-thirsty steel menance. Achleis then brought her arm around and locked her swordarm with Haze's. she then rapidly took her free arm around to collide with Haze's muzzle in a smashing haymaker.

Haze dropped his sword and recoiled from the sheer force of the masterfully placed punch. His vision had turned black as blood rapidly rushed to his head. He veered sideways into a wall and tried to grab onto something for support, he found nothing and fell onto the ground, still blind.

In a last hope, whilst splayed on the ground, Haze attempted to grab for the katana that he dropped. He found the hilt and reached out the grab it. A bolt of agony shot through the center of his paw, the seething pain clouded his judgement as he tried to flail his wound in an attempt to escape the pain. As a result the sensation doubled, Haze quickly realised in his stupor that he had been stabbed through the paw and was pinned to the wooden floor. He felt his warm blood gush onto the old oak floorboards, staining it.

The pain was so great that it sent his nervous system into shock, rendering him no longer able to feel his wound. He was still blind, and his heartbeat was louder than the waves of a raging sea crashing against a cliffside.
"Achleis!" He shouted out.
"I'm here."
"Y-you need t-" Haze breathed in sharply through his teeth as pain returned to his wound. "You need to trust me." He said slowly, hanging onto the end of each work.
"I can't believe you're still thinking straight, if you can explain anything to me in your state it must be important... Go ahead and speak." She said.
"R-remember Korin?" He asked.
"I remember him well, Korajinas is his name now, Haze."
"Fuck it! Who gives a shit about his name!?" Haze was being fuelled by adrenaline. He knew he had only a small part of a minute to reveal the truth to Achleis before he passed out from his wounds.
"Ok. What about him?"
"H-he's the one who kidnapped the two civilians, I saw him with my own two-" Haze stopped speaking whilst he handled with a new wave of agony. Then continued. "I tried to keep it a secret. But we need help, Achleis. You need to help us. Don't tell anyone, it would cause panic! You need to get us-" The husky knew his time was up, he reached up with his free arm, trying to find the she-wolf. She grabbed onto him, pulled the sword free of his paw. She gently lowered him down onto the ground, and knelt by his side. His blood-shot eyes flicking around madly, trying to find light in the darkness.
"It's ok. I know, Haze, I know. I just had to make sure you knew for sure; I'm... I'm sorry it had to end like this" A tear slid from her eye down her face, she began to sob quietly. Haze's eyes then stopped darting around and locked straight onto Achleis, his gaze penetrating deep into her eyes and into the back of her consicousness.

Achleis gasped as a library of memories fused with her mind, she didn't know Haze was a wizard. He was now pouring his knowledge of Korajinas' return into her using potent magic. Images flashed before her eyes and vanished to be replaced with a new array of colour and rapidly progressing pictures. When the transition had faded away she found herself lying on the floor beside Haze. Who now had his eyes closed and had firmly passed into the dark void of unconsicousness. Achleis brung her arm around and held Haze's muzzle with her paw, tears streaming from her eyes. She realised how much trust the husky would had to have had in her to actually open his mind for her benefit. She leaned down and kissed him on the top of his muzzle, then hugged him. After some time had passed she felt a trickle of liquid touch her arm, she looked down and saw Haze's mutilated paw, with a steady stream of blood pulsing from it.

Achleis stood up and quickly produced a small sheet of wool from under her coat, she carefully wrapped it around Haze's damaged paw, and tied a knot in the cloth to keep it in place. The surface reddened slowly. But the bandage held strong against the blood flow, for now.

The she-wolf stratched the top of her head, then sighed.
He said 'us', there's someone else hiding here. Somewhere. she thought to herself, recollecting her talk with Haze. She knelt down picked the husky off of the cold wooden floor. She then transported him into a bedroom and placed him gently on the bed.

She noticed a wardrobe in the corner of the room, and a pile of broken glass on the windowsill. She made her way to the wardrobe and swung open the doors to reveal a small selection of ragged clothes. On the base of the wardrobe were a pair of gloves, Achleis scooped them up and threw them on the bed next to Haze, she intended for him to wear them over his wound, once it had stopped its persistant bleeding.

A small shuffle of movement made Achleis stop searching the wardrobe, she looked towards the hallway and sniffed the air. She could smell a very faint scent from the other bedroom. She quietly, but quickly strode into the room and stood in the doorway, the room had clearly been disturbed recently, dust floated in the air, it had been unsettled by some kind of movement.
"I'm aware of your presence here, it'd be most helpful if you simply showed yourselves." Nothing happened. "There's no need to fear, I'm on your side. I know it may seem hard to believe. But. You got to trust me, I can help you." There was no movement as a reaction to Achleis' short declaration, she sighed. This was only making her life more tedious than it need be, she carefully scanned the room, the occupants had hidden themselves rather well. They clearly knew their home expansively, not enough so though, that they could hide themselves from Achleis.

Achleis spotted an odd peel on the ceiling, almost as if the seemingly solid shelter was actually made of something lighter and more flimsy. The she-wolf stode forward until she was directly underneath the peel in the corner of the room. Examining the breach closer she could see that there was a small amount of space above the ceiling.
"I-I think she's right underneath us" a voice whispered from above. Achleis smiled slightly, acknowledging the fear that the unknown people above were experiencing. She reached out and pulled lightly on the peel in the ceiling, to her surprise it came away easily. It seemed that the whole ceiling was simply a taught membrane. She continued to pull away at the membrane until she could potentially begin to climb up into the space aloft, though she didn't, not yet.
"Have no fear." She said to whoever could hear her. "I'm going to come up to you so we can talk properly, or you can come down to me. I don't want to do anything to you, but regardless, we need to get this over with. We need to leave this place as quickly as possible." Achleis waited for a response, when nothing happened she put a paw on the wall infront of her, she then jumped up and pushed herself into the gap in the canvas-like ceiling. She pulled herself up and looked up to see two wolves, looking extremely frightened. She looked away from them and pushed herself completely into the loft space, the membrane holding Achleis was an odd phenomenon it was rigid under pressure, but laxed and became flowing and flimsy whilst left alone. She decided it'd be best just to not think about it too much.
"Hello." She said, and smiled. Trying to seem as friendly as possible. "I'd just like to let you know. You can know everything you want about me. You can trust me. But we really need to leave this place first, the guard aren't our friends anymore, Haze and I are no longer part of them. They'll be decending upon us soon and we must move. Do you understand?" Achleis spoke as seriously as possible, attempting to strike the seriousness of the situation as accurately as possible. The two wolves nodded slowly, looking at each other for reassurance.
"Is Haze ok?" Haych said.
"He's in a bad way, he'll be fine. He probably won't awake for a while, we'll need to carry him away from here."
"Oh. Ok." Haych paused. "How can we trust you?" He said.
"The ironic truth is that you can't. Not right now. You may come to trust me at a later time, now is the moment for flight." Achleis annouced, then turned around and jumped back into the bedroom below, leaving the claustrophobic atmosphere of the loft space.

As Achleis made her way quickly to the other bedroom to check on Haze, she heard footsteps from around the house. Her acute hearing picked up boots striking the ground, approaching them from all angles. She ran into the room with Haze lying doment within, Haych and Zen followed her and had obviously heard the commotion too.
"We're going to need to fight to get out of here. Have any of you two fought before?" She asked.
"N-no. Not seriously, anyway." Haych said.
"I'm afraid not. We're both very fast though, we can run for miles." Zen looked at Haych, who nodded his agreement.
"Good, I can see you doing alot of running in the future. Leave the fighting to me, I'll try to defend us all." Achleis said, slightly uneasily. That's alot of people they've sent, it's as if they've assigned every guard and soldier in the city! she thought.

Suddenly, soldiers began to pour in, more than could be countable in the time they took to flood into the room. Swarms of shields and swords were pointed at Achleis, whom remained passive at the time, knowing that such overwhelming numbers would destroy her superior fighting skill. The soldiers lifted their weapons to execute their newly-taken prisoners. Haze's eye's flickered open, he beheld the situation briefly before uttering two crucial words.

Achleis fell forward, suddenly blind and deaf, she collided head-first into a solid object. She blinked and saw she was no longer in a wooden house. She quickly stood and looked around, her maw open in disbelief. She looked down at Haze, who had returned to his coma-like state.
"I know where we are!" She exclaimed, hardly believing her own knowledge. Haych and Zen stood up, looking at Achleis. They had clearly just experienced the same odd experience, and were just as confused as she had been just a few moments before.
"Where are we?!" Haych demanded.
"We're at the ruined Anrai city of Anrai Nolscene. I've been here only once before, we're safe for now."

Around the group were a vast collection of destroyed buildings, ruined achitecture and other once-magnificent pieces of art.
"How the fuck did we get here?!" Haych asked. Looking at Achleis with an accusing gaze.
"I believe that Haze teleported us here, I found that he was capable of complex magic earlier on. He must've sensed that we were in danger and given us this opportunity to get away." She said.
"Alright, so where exactly are we? Obviously quite far away?" Haych continued to reel off questions.
"We're very far away, if you can imagine Decipia, you live on the western coast. We're now on the very northern side, we've gone at least two hundred miles in a fraction of a second." She paused, absorbing what she just said. "Haze must be a ridiculously talented Wizard to pull that off in his state. I never expected a thing, I'd imagine he had to keep his magical skills secret, or else he be summoned for judgement at the Anrai capital city of Anrai Lokeain."
"So... Haze is a wizard?" Zen asked, interested.
"It would appear that way, and we're in luck too. If we didn't have a wizard on our side, that situation back there would've been alot harder, if not impossible to overcome. Since no one knows where we are, we should probably wait for Haze to recover now. Don't worry about food and drink, this city is oversaturated with magical energies. It'll fuel your body without the need for such mundane things as bread or water. You'll also find that you shall stop tiring, vanquishing the need for sleep. The Anrai Order did this with all of their cities, allowing them to remain at full strength at a constant, unfaltering rate."

Achleis knelt beside Zen, his face dorment and un-living. The she-wolf examined his condition for a moment, then smiled. It wouldn't be long.