Omega's Rebirth

"But that is not possible, how could a troll golem conceal itself and live amongst humans? Magic?" Rauron asked in bafflement.

"It goes against every knowledge we have on golems and summoned beasts,"

"Golems are indeed beasts of sorcery but I have never heard of them wielding magic themselves." Rodvan said with a shake of his head.

"Kaideon?" Cassian asked for the Dune Lord’s thoughts.

Kaideon shook his head slightly to indicate he was yet to formulate an opinion on the situation before them.

"How are the townsfolk taking this?" Jian asked, though he could already predict.

"There is widespread panic throughout the town, My Liege. Many of the townsfolk have seen the bodies for themselves before we took custody of them."

"Word has spread all across, even to neighboring towns and rumors are already in the hundreds and growing."

"The town head has reported dozens of petition to evacuate the town, it will be difficult to keep things in check from here on out." Rauron relayed with a sigh.

"There is more to this than we realize, something is at play here and I want to know what..." Jian hissed as he stood up straight.

____________

A sigh of relief escaped Neveah the very moment she caught sight of the first rays of light seeping in from so far up ahead.

Neveah was not certain for how long she had been walking but she knew she could not have hoped to keep track when surrounded by pitch darkness.

Neveah doubled her pace, hurrying to the opening she knew lay somewhere up ahead and after a short while, she arrived.

It was a very small opening, just large enough for Neveah to crawl through.

Just as Neveah was about to begin wondering why a tunnel would have such a small opening, she recalled the key factor that these tunnels were linked to the Dwarf kingdom.

Certainly the openings would favor their size too. It would take Neveah crouching down to crawl out, but it was just the right size for a dwarf to waltz through.

Neveah sighed as she leaned down and crawled out the opening, stepping into the brightness of daylight for the first time in who knows how long.

The opening was hidden away by a thick bush and so Neveah had to step right through it and the slight pain from her hand told Neveah she had been bruised.

Neveah winced, lifting her hand to shield her eyes from the brightness. It took a while but Neveah’s eyes eventually adjusted to the sunlight.

Neveah got up to be her feet and glanced around her environment,

The lush greenery and the densely packed trees up ahead made it clear to Neveah that she was in a forest of some kind, but what forest and in what part of the world exactly?

A sigh of frustration escaped Neveah as her hand rose up to rub her temple, a futile attempt to ease the terrible ache in her head that had begun sometime during her long walk out of the tunnel.

It was in situations like this Neveah had to recognize the importance of this mental communication link werewolves and dragons were blessed with,

Though Neveah had never been so privileged to explore it with much else than her wolf.

"Menarx had said I would be able to convey my thoughts to him sometime during the three mergings, it would have been so convenient to have now." Neveah lamented as she walked around aimlessly.

"I have no idea where I am or what I am to do now? All I can say for sure is a few days have definitely passed and everyone must have realized I’m gone."

"Menarx must be loosing his mind." Neveah worried, still pacing about.

"And if the dragon king has caught wind also...his order was not to leave academy grounds till his return."

"I did not leave of my own accord but would they even know that? I do not reckon Davina would leave behind traces of her crime." Neveah continued.

"I do not want to even begin contemplating what that dragon king must think of me right now..." Neveah trailed off, shuddering visibly as she pictured his chilling cold glare.

"What if we get lost out in the stronghold and never find our way back to the Citadel? From the maps I have seen, the stronghold is endless lands..."

"Calm yourself Neveah! Do you not see how unlike you this is?" Neveah’s wolf hissed in annoyance at Neveah’s fretting.

Neveah stopped pacing, running a hand through her hair with a sigh.

"I... I need a moment." Neveah murmured to herself as she headed over to a rock and took a seat.

Neveah sucked in a deep breath, mentally lecturing herself to approach the situation with calm.

However Neveah’s mental lecture was cut off when she heard a twig snap in the distance.

Neveah was up on her feet that very instant.

Slowly, she headed towards the forest line where she knew the sound had originated from.

Neveah kept her footsteps quiet, lifting her hood back over her head as she crossed the forest line and headed fully into the forest.

The large canopy of the branches and leaves made this part of the forest not as bright as where Neveah had just been.

But it was not nearly as dark as the tunnel and so Neveah could see just fine.

There was no one in sight for as far as Neveah could see but Neveah was certain someone had just been out here.

Neveah was not sure how she knew, her senses just alerted her to a presence and Neveah could swear, there was even a strange stench lingering in the air.

"Ok... who’s out there?" Neveah demanded after a moment of just inspecting her surroundings.

Of course, there was no response and Neveah took a few steps further before she stopped again, her instincts tugging at her.

Neveah understood the message immediately and slowly turned around, not surprised to find a young man standing right where she had just walked past, his gaze fixed on her.