VOXISTALE: Novel Edition

Chapter 94

"By Orion."

Sadie looked up from her backpack as Fuku breathed out the words when they rounded the corner. As the fire monster rushed forward, Sadie froze, eyes widening at the sight. The front of Grillby's was aflame, hot fire lashing out through the broken windows and open doorway, the door itself lying on the other side of the street. "Oh my God," Sadie added, essentially repeating Fuku's response in a humanized form. She followed after Fuku- but wasn't able to go much further when the monster girl disappeared into the fire. Through the smoke and flames, she could see the lime-colored head bobbing through it, no doubt searching for anybody—dead or otherwise.

So instead, Sadie backed up from the flames and heat, which were incredibly intense. Casting a glance down either side of the street, she found nobody. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad. She'd decide that later, having a feeling that Krashna was involved in this. Seeing him earlier certainly wasn't just some coincidence. Had he been watching them all this time and only decided to strike now? She didn't know. Maybe she'd never know, but one thing was clear: somebody had found them out and there was a possibility that the others were now gone.

Gregory, she could stand to lose. Grillby, while she had no attachments to him, was Fuku's father, so obviously she cared, and Terrence had proven a good and valuable friend time after time. Being a mortal being made of flesh and bone, however, she could not investigate the immediate scene like Fuku, leaving Sadie to inspect their surroundings, plenty of light given by street lamps and the roaring fire.

Honestly, there wasn't a lot to take note of. Aside from strewn glass and an unhinged door, the street wasn't littered with anything of note—that is until she saw blood. Not much, and it was easy to miss, but she barely managed to catch it on the ground just a few feet from her. It was just a splotch. She would have used her phone for a more direct light source, but it had died yesterday and Grillby didn't have any chargers lying around. Crouching down, she narrowed her eyes at the splotch of drying blood. It wasn't completely dry, so it was clearly more recent. Sadie looked about to see if there was a trail, but she couldn't find anything.

Shaking her head, she stood back up and turned her gaze back to the bar & grill in time to see Fuku making her way out. Sadie quickly shielded her eyes when she noticed Fuku's clothing had been burned away by the inferno, though Fuku didn't seem to care in the slightest.

"They're not there. No bodies. My dad's not there, either," she informed.

"How can you tell? Don't monsters turn to dust?" Sadie asked, looking the other way.

"Not fire elementals," Fuku explained, "we get stronger in fire. What are you looking at?"

"You're uh . . . naked." Sadie replied.

Fuku glanced down at herself and shrugged. "Not really. Clothing is a social courtesy. It's not like fire has body parts."

"Oh. Well . . . okay. Sorry. Just figured you should know," Sadie replied, still clearly too embarrassed to look at Fuku, who found this pointless.

"They're either abducted or captured. I can't really tell which."

"Oh, I found some blood on the ground," Sadie stated, gesturing to the spot. "I couldn't see a trail, but maybe your brighter light can show it, if there is one." At this, Fuku moved to where the smear of blood sat, frowning down at it before she looked about.

"Yeah, but the trail leads into the fire. So I . . . don't know . . . what should we do?"

"Find them, I guess. You said it yourself, fled or captured. Krashna has a vendetta for us, so I'm willing to bet they're alive for his amusement. We just gotta figure out where they'd go to hide." Sadie paused, both girls beginning to mull it over.