The sound of the footsteps grew closer, and the slight tremble of the ground indicated the large number of vampires rushing towards the scene where their fellow vampires lay motionless, and two alive, but still, bodies beside them.
Arzoth was shortly aware of the danger approaching, yet moving and breathing felt like a terrible idea. His limbs felt painfully weak, like a thousand draggers buried in them. He felt his senses fading, his mind went blank, and his brain throbbed as the oxygen had stopped gracing it.
*******
The dragon in its partial form soared over Vyrmire's forest. With wings flapping, he narrowed his eyes in focus, scanning the forest below for any indication of the prince or the demon princess, all while maintaining a composed deanor. While one might experience panic, worry, or anxiety in such situations, Skor remained unaffected. His expression mirrored the stillness of his mind.
The blue aura radiating from the center of the forest didn't fail to catch his eye. He lowered himself onto the spot where the blue energy had illuminated the land. Halfway through the air, the blue aura faded, leaving nothing more than the chilly air clinging to him like a second skin.
His feet touched the dry ground with a gentle thud, kicking the dust aside. His wings transford themselves back into their human form. He gazed around only to find Arisa and Arzoth unconscious on the surface. He let out a sigh, he knew it would end up like this. His ears picked up the faint noises of halted footsteps, he recognized the pattern of their steps like the back of his head.
Skor didn't turn around to acknowledge the lurking presence of the vampires, who were eyeing him with alard gazes. The dragon's attention was solely kept occupied by the two unconscious forms before him.
"Kindly leave," Skor said.
The Vampires stayed still for a brief mont before they stepped back, vanishing in the darkness of the forest.
Skor knew that vampires would never go against any dragon or demon, especially a high-ranking dragon like himself. Vampires, demons, and dragons have an understanding among each other as they share this piece of land, separating from the human realm.
Skor glanced at Arisa's body as her eyes stirred. She deliberately sat up straight, her eyes jolting awake before she scanned around, only for it to fix on Skor standing at a distance. Getting up on her feet, she brushed herself coldly. Her brows furrowed as the mories of her arrival in this strange forest flashed in her mind. Her head felt heavy; the forced mana extraction left a faint impact on her.
"Your mana will get restored eventually," Skor said.
Arisa took a few steps towards the dragon but halted as she felt a third presence. She looked at her side and saw the prince still in his unconscious state.
"What happened to him?" She asked with a hint of cold indifference in her voice that made Skor raise his brow.
"From what I can see, he is out of mana..."
"That ans he will die..." She asked with a hint of cold indifference in her voice that made Skor raise his brow.
"Not really, he is unconscious, so he is restoring his mana at the mont. He'll be fine."
"Typical type C systems, I assu." Arisa mocked.
Suspicion entered the dragon's brain. He didn't expect Arisa to know about the system types so early. Yet nothing about her was normal.
"So? Do we wake him up or sothing?"
"No," Skor replied, leaning his shoulder on the dry tree near him, "We wait."
Arisa furrowed, "For what? Vampires to attack again?"
"For Arzoth to wake up. As for the vampires, I doubt they will co again."
The demon princess's confusion deepened; her fist clenched at her sides. "I don't understand. Why?" Her voice was urgent, desperate to know why the wise dragon had made such a ridiculous decision to wait until the prince woke up.
Skor chuckled, filling the air with richness even in the dark, enormous atmosphere.
"At last, you don't seem to know sothing." He paused, his gaze flickering to Arzoth before he looked at Arisa with a smile that rarely leaves his face. "It's because, Arisa, the ti in Vyrmire's forest works differently than the rest of the world. One hour of the human realm equates to one minute in the forest." He explained.
Arisa's eyes widen in realization, her jaw falling open slightly. "Do you want him to..."
Skor's smile widened at Arisa's quick understanding. "That's right. We wait for Arzoth to wake up. The more ti he takes, the better."
Arisa felt a sudden sting in her fists as they grew colder. Her mana energy slipped through her fingertips. In re fractions of a second, her whole body was enveloped in a familiar globe of mana that she had faced multiple tis, but never had it evolved this quickly.
Her breathing heaved, and she felt her skin stretching itself. It didn't pain or rather, she grew tolerant of it. Soon she was invisible, hidden inside the globe her mana made around her like a cocoon.
"Ti moves fast here..." Skor muttered to himself.
While the ti in Vyrmire's forest was benefiting Arzoth, for Arisa, it was equally bad. Every second spent in this forest increased Arisa's growth even more rapidly than it did in the human realm.
"If this keeps on, she will grow even older than ..." He sighed. "Maybe it's finally ti I did sothing about it."
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