Shrik dashed to the side as the thunder rolled over following lightning strikes.
He had been doing the same for the last couple of hours as he helped ferry people from one part of the city of Sevenren to another.
His knees and elbows were scrapped, fingers had burn marks, and his face? It held soot like a paste applied to soothe his skin.
"Come on! Get help here faster Anaphol!" He cursed inwardly on his luck.
He believed Naph would leave the entire city to rot if it wasn't for Don Extea to send him with a genuine message. One that only he could make and give to Naph.
His hair was all tied up in a bun atop his head. It still wasn't exempt from harm. Several chunks of it looked as if they had been burned but not broken off.
A hand tapped on his right shoulder. Shrik jumped back into the street with his both hands drawing a weapon out of thin air. The weapons vibrated.
"Who is it-"
"Boy, get to the next location faster." Don Extea's voice came from the alleyway Shrik had snuck into but he could not see him anywhere. "I am still keeping them off. Don't ask whom. Stay on the crowd control and engage and kill any who stands in the way of taking this city as theirs until he comes back."
"Fascinating," a voice from above spoke. Shrik immediately closed his eyes and placed his hands on his ears. And he ran.
Ran like the wind he always becomes. Fast, as fast he had developed his trick to be.
"My lesio is not enough to run away." He whispered with a shut mouth.
The voice spoke right next to him, "Indeed, you are smart. But not fascinating enough like that."
A boulder landed right where the voice came from.
Extea's voice echoed over the road, "Was that fascinating?"
Shrik kept running.
Extea however, was truly in a different part of the city. One where the damage was indistinguishable from the forest that had grown out of the city buildings.
Each building held its own four different categories of trees. One that was forever stuck in spring, one in winter, one in summer, and one in autumn. All sprouting and shooting out products that reflected that season's effect.
Was this something that a human couldn't handle by pure existence? Extea did not believe so.
This was the situation of the land taken by the insurgents from Thrysco. None of them ever came out into the streets while Extea roamed and shot at them from time to time. The trees helped him as much as it helped the ones who hid behind them.
Don Extea at the moment leaned against a remnant of a charred house. "Damn it! Just…Just when will this end?"
He huffed. He did not hear a voice close to him nor another hidden insurgent attacked him.
Shrik however had reached his next location. It was right next to a teleportation pole in the middle of one of the nine main lanes of the city.
The lane's name as he remembered was 'Gyptro's stride.'
"Stride, my ass. This lane is dumb and where is this Gyptro?!" Shrik complained to the wind. Wind had no answer except the violent shriek to crash into him. Shrik rolled with it slamming into a wall.
"UGH!" He choked on his tongue. His back slammed against the wall he couldn't move. The wind had him locked in the place.
"Another prey," a melodic statement sneaked into his ear.
Shrik however instantly turned his body into a blaze of lightning. He glowed golden and blue simultaneously.
Having slammed in and still not being able to move even after changing his form, Shrik decided to do something daring. One he had not attempted.
With red mist flowing out of his own mouth, he spoke, "See you soon whoever you are." And he instantly dissipated his entire body into a thin plate across the wall as the wind kept on increasing its threat and force.
His golden and blue lightning form was now a plaster over the wall. Right at that moment, the difference between the wall and the wind to meet was less than even one hundredth of a centimetre.
Shrik's voice echoed. "You sure you could keep pressuring me forever?"
And the plate began vibrating. It kept increasing until it matched the speed of the wind. The wind increased its speed too.
Both slammed at the wall. The wall behind shattered. Sound of it couldn't even escape as another wind came from behind to pressure the lightning plate to die.
Except, Shrik had already slipped away. He now stood several metres away inside a building in front of a terrified family with two injured adults. The kids were crying while the teenager of the group kept a pressure on one of the adults trying to stop her from bleeding out.
"Help, please!" The girl teen spoke up. She had no idea whether the boy in a bun in front of her was a foe or friend. She only thought of saving her mother.
Nodding, Shrik went down next to the girl and placed his hand above her hand. "You can remove it. I'll take care from here." He looked at her again and said, "Don't worry, I won't kill her. I am one of Don Extea's staff member."
A shock and smile both happened at the same moment on the girl's teen as her face was lit up with a golden light.
"Heal of truth," Shrik spoke.
His hand radiated a light that suffused others in the room as well. The two adults showed signs of betterment.
Instantly, Shrik grabbed on the girl and the kids, "I am taking the kids to safety in the western quadrant of the city. I'll come and pick you both too. Just wait here and act like you are dead." He felt the girl's hand grabbing on his shoulder tightly.
Gulping his spit down, "Please, do as I. For my presence here will invite bad people too."
And he vanished, so did the two kids and the girl teen.