Black velvet stone

Part 3

When the group woke up they were welcomed by screaming people, unmistakable sound of someone who's about to die, that last struggle a person put up to fight and it's losing.

Nova didn't process anything around that he knew he had to rush there and see for himself.

"It's not safe." Lu grabbed his paw, dragging him back inside that small house they all spawned from. "You can't rush anywhere alone."

"Then let's go!" He insisted. "I can smell it... this is blood, people are dying and I can't-"

"Alright, listen to me." The hare pulled him towards him and looked straight into his eyes dead serious. "We are five people against an army of wizards. If you wanna go and play the hero do it alone, have a worthless death while we go to the chamber and kill the real source."

The panda gritted his teeth. He was right. It hurt to admit but it wasn't the worst thing he had to face recently. It was twice as irritating because doing what Lu said meant that the tiger was right. They were going to let some people die, protect others and prevent a disaster.

"We all know how you feel Nova." Skylar patted his shoulder. "I... I really hate this. I don't know what's going on and why they're doing this to their own companions but the only thing I know is that I wanna kill whoever is making them suffer."

"Fuck..." Reese peeked out, trying to see for himself. "Are we in the middle of a civil war? That's, like, terrifying."

Asumi bumped the dog's head with her broom. "We can't let our emotions control us. This is serious now. We need to focus."

"Coming from you sounds like a joke..." He muttered to himself.

Lu, in the meantime, scouted the area with his stealth ability and popped out of nowhere at the entrance very close to Reese which fell on his butt for the surprise. "I gave a look around. Adventurers, wizards and civilians are all fighting each other but it looks like a pointless resistance. I've seen them throwing corpses off the edge. The worst is that there is no restriction. If a wizard dies fighting they will be food for the stone as well."

Skylar was disgusted. "They have no shame... no one truly matters here."

Lu wondered about their strategy and why bribing the adventurers with large rewards if they planned to get rid of them. "Something doesn't fit..."

Nova's ears twitched, hearing footsteps coming their way. "Someone's coming. We need to go. Now."

The hare nodded, lowering his voice. "Our target is most likely to be hiding at the Wizard's council building in the middle of the city. It's north from here, in case we lose someone on the way we will meet there again."

Lu disappeared first and, after a few seconds, the footsteps stopped meaning he knocked whoever was going towards them.

"Ok... what's the plan?" Skylar asked. "Anyone got invisibility spells or something?"

"I do but it works only on me and things wrapped around me." Nova explained, taking Reese like a small pet and putting him inside his clothes.

"If you were a girl I wouldn't mind but-" He struggled. "It's true we're close friends but there's a line ok?! This is too intimate!"

"Stop yelling or someone else will hear us dammit..."

Skylar thought about joining him but she preferred death rather than staying close to that thing. "Asumi...?"

The pink dog blushed, making his cheeks even brighter. "I... just wanted to fly there on my broom. Isn't that enough?"

"No it's not!" The boys replied together.