Sorry to leave you all hanging there! Totally wasn't enjoying watching you all squirm.

Totally.

Anyways, Cobs hit up #3 in Fantasy just in time for my birthday, so thank you for the glitchy present Wattpad~

And as usual, thank you all for reading this far! Hope you enjoy the third part.

—————

          Run

          Káel stood there, his mind screaming for his body to catch on to the snapping twigs behind him. It was close, whatever it was, but it had yet to actually reach him.

          He just had to run.

          A tremor of energy crawled through his body, the push to flee slamming against a strange wall of frozen nerves as his body didn't even twitch. He tried again, the same force squeezing his joints resounding with an unnatural pull.

          Run, run, run!

          He could feel his heart dip with the rollercoaster of emotions, picking up to a hammering pound as he came to a disturbing realisation. 

          His mind was racing into a chaotic mess, but the desire to flee screamed over all the other ideas.

          His legs were weak, but not enough to stop him from running.

          It wasn't fear binding him.

          "Káel, quick! Insanctious!" Phantom called, oblivious to the spell that had even sealed his lips from moving.

          Káel could only stare at Phantom in crushing silence, every inch of his skin crawling as the shadow passed his side. It felt exactly like the spell Ray had used on him to walk him through the doors of Cobalt, a sinister force drained of any comfort by sappy musk that hit his nose.

          The thing's shadow had stopped beside him, ducked into the cover of his peripheral as it laid in wait for something.

          But what?

          His thoughts were answered by the pounding pawsteps that approached, scraping claws rounding the final corner to the clearing as a single molve skidded to a stop. It took one look at the thing Káel so desperately didn't want to see, orange fire engulfing its body as a bone chilling roar rattled its throat. 

          Káel let out a breath of relief at the terrifying creature that had come to protect him. In that moment, bearing witness to the beast's shot at intimidation, safety was a thought fresh on his mind. But all at once the illusion was shattered, the shadow taking two steps forwards into the spotlight of Káel's view and freezing every vein in his body.

          Cloaked entirely in ragged black robes the towering humanoid didn't flinch at the molve before it, instead raising a ghostly white hand to snap its fingers, flicking its wrist to the side with a careless swipe. 

          Like a stringed puppet the molve was ripped from its position, flying into the closest wall with a cloud of white dust and pebbles to mirror the creatures small motion.

          Káel's heart stopped. His hope had been tossed to the side like dirty laundry, leaving him alone and vulnerable to whatever was standing in front of him. And the way it dressed and carried itself didn't leave much room for doubt in his panicked mind.

          It was a chirop.

          The stranger watched as an orange ball rose from the rubble and fled into the ruins, finally turning for Káel to get a good look at his front. His pointed hood covered most of his black hair in shadows, barely dipping past the toothed bone mask concealing everything above his nose. A black stretch of cloth concealing everything below.

          Reeking a cold wet musk as he moved closer to Káel, the stranger reached out, focused entirely on one simple object Káel bore. He gently grabbed the glossy white tooth of his necklace, rolling it in his pale palm and holding it at different angles with his sharp black nails. After finishing his inspection he grabbed Káel's ID card and was only able to glance at it for a couple seconds when a chillingly hostile voice rang out.

          "Step away from him."

          Káel was so blacked out with fear Mrs. Vienta's voice took a moment to truly reach him, pulling his attention over the man's shoulder where his teacher stood poised for battle with her long silver sword bearing an energetic golden shine.

          The stranger slowly turned his head to her, stepping away from Káel with an unreadable posture.

          "By order of The High Council of Lumi you are trespassing and assumed to be of malicious intent, drop any and all weapons and come peacefully for questioning." She ordered, grounding her feet as a growl crept into her voice. Whether she felt it deep down or not, fear was all but lost in the fierce scowl she wore.

          Her words couldn't sink into the strange man however, his movements entrancingly slow as he pulled a small object from his pocket, holding the little black ball between his fingers for all to see. 

          Káel immediately recognised it. Small as a marble with the punch of a forest fire when you crushed it, and the only trick that had worked on the Molves in his entrance exam.

          A smokeball.

          Mrs. Vienta opened her mouth, words drowned by Vera's ripping battlecry as she vaulted the wall next to her, five molves drenched in orange flames deftly streaming from their hiding spots to converge on the threat. 

          Without a sword to charge with, she grabbed the closest rock she could scoop, ignoring Mrs. Vienta's calls and running just ahead of the molves as the man crushed the smokeball between his fingers. "Cinder! Roast him!"

          Black billowed from all around Káel, the burnt stench clogging his nose and leaving the simple senses of hearing and touch as his last hopes in escaping. He could feel his body again, the nerves finally shaking up his stiff joints as he twitched to fullfill the urge to run. But as the thick black cloud blacked his vision and Vera's cutting cry mixed with the howling molves, a gentle sound tickled his ear, the whisper somehow drowning out everything else around him.

          "When?"

          He felt a hand grip his wrist, tight as iron as it ripped him forwards and dragged his feet from the sound. Before he could build his mind back up to try and flee he was out of the cloud, coughing up the burning stench as the starlight bit into his eyes and a fresh breeze filled his lungs.

          "So what's that? Full points?" 

          He relaxed a little at Vera's voice, focusing his blurred vision on the smirking redhead as she stood next to Mrs. Vienta, who wore anything but a smile in return.

          "That's almost a detention, I told you to wait and let the molves handle it," Mrs. Vienta bit back, focusing her worry on Káel as she scanned him frantically. "Did it do anything to you? Anything at all?"

          "I couldn't move... But I'm fine now," Káel replied, flinching as Mrs. Vienta grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the ruins, waving for Vera to follow suit.

          Nim flew over to them, perching regally on a crumbling stone pillar when they had gained a suitable distance from the scene. "Nim, scout the forest area, and call the Molves back to Cobalt if you can't find that thing. If you do alert the molves immediately," she ordered, pulling a folded up letter out of her pocket. Nim snatched the letter and quickly flew back in the direction the molves had ran, ducking out of sight as Mrs. Vienta snapped for Vera and Káel's immediate attention.

          "Do not tell your classmates about this, it must be addressed immediately before any sort of publicity is to happen, am I clear?" she boomed, something in her voice wavering near the end.

          "Yes Ma'am," Káel quickly replied, watching his teacher's face melt to worry yet again.

          "Are you sure you're alright? If you feel odd in any matter tell me immediately," she insisted.

          "I'm fine, just a little freaked out."

          "A little?" Phantom scoffed. "If hooded strangers immobilizing you can only get up to a little, then there's something seriously wrong with you."

          Mrs. Vienta tapped her sword, letting loose a heavy sigh. "Oh it's always you that gets all the trouble, the god of fortune must truly have something against you." She gently pulled Káel along through the ruins. "I'm sorry, but I'll have to take you to Samanthra right away. Strylaz, please return to class and tell them all to come back to Cobalt, we'll get a story from you later."

—————

          Káel tried to focus on the good things. 

          For one, Lady Samanthra seemed to have dusted most of the forgotten corners of her office, but it had left a clear contrast that exposed every dirty secret the rest of the floor had been trying to hide. He grimaced as his gaze shifted to her packed desk, a full stack of papers one poke from tumbling into a massive mess. 

          There really wasn't a lot of good things to focus on.

          Especially when he was being poked and proded at by a strange teacher while Samanthra and Mr. Mudelin watched in eerie silence from the corner of her office. 

          The teacher pulled his head back forcefully, finally breaking the silence as he finished his grabby inspection. "Yeah, nothing off about him. Might be thanks to the protective charm around his neck, but all I'm getting is traces of an immobilization seal and some illusionary magic on his eyes."

          Káel rubbed his hair back into place sizing up the lean man that looked a little older than Ray. "I said he just immobilized me."

          "You could've been under a number of mind tricking enchantments so we chose not to believe you," the man retorted. "Better than taking your word for it and suddenly finding you dead."

          "Thank you Mr. Lightwood, you may return to your teaching duties," Samanthra cut in.

          Mr. Lightwood grabbed Samanthra's chair and sat in it, wearing a playing smirk as he cranked his head back to look at her. "Pass. I'm not teaching any classes right now and this chair is to die for." His smile grew as Samanthra tapped her fingers along her folded arms. "I still haven't gotten any info on this 'mysterious trespasser.'"

          She passed Mr. Lightwood without a word, finally coming within a friendly distance of Káel to flash a pressed smile. "Can you provide us with a description of the man?"

          "He was really pale with black nails... I think he was a chirop."

          "A chirop!" Mr. Lightwood exclaimed, his voice rising with a cackle. "Next we'll have Coinkidinks crossing our borders!"

          "If you're going to sit there act professional," Mr. Mudelin growled, glaring as Mr. Lightwood's grin intensified.

          "I am, but I gotta break it to you, I'm really bad at acting."

          Mr. Mudelin didn't even hide his sigh, resting his darkened eyes on Káel as a thought fluttered through his mind. "Raymond Peterson mentioned Chirops in his little trip to Earth."

          "Yeah, they attacked us out of nowhere." 

          "I'm sure they had their reasons," he replied, pulling his critiquing squint up to Samanthra. "Just like Mr. Peterson did." His expression didn't twitch as he lingered on Samanthra for a painful moment, judgement hanging in the air like an eager guillotine as Samanthra pursed her lips. "Or perhaps I'm being too optimistic?"

          She shook her head. "Another problem, another day." 

          "Seeing as we're still on topic, have we ruled out scouts?"Mr. Lightwood said, shrugging off the confusion of his audience as he gave Káel a prompting nod. "It's more believable than the weeks of travel a Chirop would have to do so it can pop in and harass a lanky schoolboy for five minutes."

          "I've taken a number of measure to ensure the knowledge of his existence stays in good hands," Samanthra cut in, raising her hand to silence Mr. Lightwood's argument. "No one in this institution would leak such information to outside sources."

          "I never said they had to be in this school, anyone will talk for the right price," Mr. Lightwood replied, nudging his head at Mr. Mudelin. "What I'm saying is I can't even walk through the forest without the vidaeans hunting me down immediately and I'll bet you my next paycheck Mr. Frowny can't do it either. Hence, our trespasser had no malicious intent. They were an observer that the forest allowed."

          "That's true, but it has its flaws," Samanthra said, turning away from Káel as if she'd completely forgotten he was still sitting there while she argued that the stranger was trying to kill him. "Theoretically, with enough illusionary magic someone could tread through it unnoticed."

          Mr. Lightwood broke into laughter again. "Oh yes, then I suppose we have a god taking leisure strolls through the forests, entertaining itself by frightening the freshmen!"

          "Káel has seen a Chirop before," Samanthra said, her tone dropping on the room like a brick of steel as she folded her arms. "Seeing as he is our best witness aside from Vera Strylaz and the molves, I'm inclined to look into the possibility."

          "The kid was pissing with fear and started seeing things to match the chirops that attacked him on Earth, it could've been an albino thug with dirty nails," Mr. Lightwood argued, tossing Káel a disinterested frown as he slouched down in Samanthra's chair. "In my opinion his information is completely useless."

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~Stephen King