Riku opened his mouth and spat out a fireball. His eyes widened slightly when a geyser of water shot out and extinguished his fireball. A snarl died in his mouth when he noticed that the column of water changed direction and headed towards him. He rolled to his right and diverted the incoming wall of water with mini tornados that occurred when he flapped his wings.

Crash!

The geyser of water slammed into the wall and caused the tunnel that Riku had walked through to collapse. Riku’s eyes widened as he observed how much damage the attack did.

“Heh, your master has some skill in this form. You sure you don’t want him to stay like this forever?” the voice said.

“Yes. I don’t appreciate being thrown around.”

“Haha! I will end this in one move then.”

Cracks appeared in the space around Riku. Frantic, he flew towards the opening in the cavern wall, only to stop with the appearance of more fractures in front of him.

Sensing his impending doom, Riku opened his mouth and a large fireball appeared. He bunched his hands into fists and made to charge straight through one of the cracks around him, in an attempt to break through.

“Boy, don’t do anything rash!” Dragic cried.

“Goddammit! You’re right. If we keep your master in this state, he’s going to kill himself.”

Boom!

Time stopped as Riku froze, and watched helplessly as a fist appeared from a fallen rock and punched him sending him flying across the room with blood spraying from his mouth. He crashed against the wall, his chest caved-in, and his head lolled to the side. Slowly, the wall crumbled in on itself and Riku fell to the ground—face first—with a thud. He lay there motionless.

"Shit, did I use too much strength? I only wanted to snap him out of his transformation before he lost hims---,” the voice said before breaking off.

"Ugh. What happened, Dragic? Am I dead?” Riku asked as he lifted himself up to a sitting position. “Why was I lying face down on the floor?”

“Boy, I’ll never make you mad again?”

“Why? What happened?”

“When you got extremely angry, you transformed. One roar from you shattered the bubble.”

"Quick boy, thank the hidden expert who snapped you out of the trance and while you are at it, apologize for flinging me at him.”

Groaning, Riku got onto one knee, cupped his hands together, and said, “Thank you for sparing my life, sir.”

“It wasn’t troublesome,” a voice boomed. “Now come, walk into my room. Let me take a look at you.”

Riku gingerly stood up, limped to the cavern wall, and walked through. He stopped in his tracks as he took in the contents of the room. Scrolls of different martial art techniques decorated the surrounding walls. Weapons of different shapes and sizes were placed on racks aligning the walls. Chests containing gold, pills, and even more scrolls littered the floor. Riku directed his gaze towards the center of the room, where an open coffin laid. Dragic was propped up next to the coffin.

“Sir, thank you once again for sparing my life,” Riku said reverently.

"Come closer. Pick up your sword while you are at it.”

Riku walked up to the coffin and picked up Dragic.

"Sir, can I ask why you insisted on my companions and me going in separate directions?”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Sylvia and the spirits made it out of the tunnel and laid in wait for Riku.

“Elfling, it has been three days. The human said to leave a note for him and head to the city.”

“But…”

“Elfling, the human chose his own path. He might’ve known something we didn’t.”

“No! Riku said he would be back in three days. Let’s wait a bit longer for him.”

“With every passing second, the danger of being discovered by enemies increases. Even Riku would not want us to risk our lives to wait for him.”

“You’re right, but…”

"If you are so concerned, leave a note for him. When he comes out and finds us not here, he will naturally know we went to the city.”

“Okay…”