Ray had set off early in the morning, leaving the Lion's mouth and heading to the nearby destroyed fortress to investigate. As promised, he had taken a small token army of around twenty five people with him. Left behind to look after the others was Katy as well as Dan.

  Dan had been called from Avrion to come by while the others were away, this was why their journey was delayed by a couple of days. The ones that were out on this journey were Lenny, Jack, Martha, Kyle, Harry, Van and the four students as well as the twenty five Redwing members.

  There was always the worry that this could have been a trap, maybe something to get a bulk of the Redwing forces away from the Lion's mouth for a surprise attack, but Ray wasn't worried. If there was any trouble, he could always teleport back and he was confident that just him would be enough.

  While travelling through the land, eventually the heavy snow they were in had disappeared and they were back on hard solid ground, with green grass and fields that went on for miles. It was a lot easier for the others to walk in and the view was nice to look at.

  "Ahh! It feels wonderful to finally be outside." Martha said. "I feel like we have been in those tunnels far too long."

  "Yeah, I hope we never have to go back to the Lion's mouth again." Kyle replied.

  "Aren't you guys worried?" Van asked. "We left while there was still an assassin about. Maybe while we are away the assassin will continue to attack the army."

  "Perhaps," Lenny replied. "But I fail to see what their true goal is in that case. All the important people of the Redwing kingdom are here. I doubt their aim was just to continue to kill our people, eventually they will leave tracks and markings behind."

  'If the killings stop, then it probably means the assassin is with us.' Kyle thought while looking in Harry's direction, who had been silent through the whole trip. He didn't care what anyone said, Harry had changed.

  Without realising it, the area around them started to change slightly, a thick grey fog started to come into sight, and it was hard for them to see the person in front of them.

  "Not again, how did we not see this coming?" Martha complained, drawing out her dagger. She knew that in the past, whenever the mist was seen, creatures from the shadow would come to attack.

  The last time she had experienced this was when they had lost Kyle.

  "Kids, make sure you protect Van and the white crystal!' Lenny ordered, and the beast unit went straight to Van's side.

  He felt a little embarrassed, having to be protected by those that were two years younger than him. Was he really that unreliable? Still, he held onto the crystal tight ready for whatever was to come.

  While everyone drew their weapons and were ready for an attack, the only one that stood there calmly was Ray. He had seen the Shadow coming and in truth he felt like he probably could have gotten rid of the mist, helping the Redwings.

  With his dragon eyes, he could see through the fog and could see the enemy. There was what looked like a pack of wild dog-like beasts. By his side, Noir was growling heavily at them, and a few of them seemed to back off.

  However, everyone else was unaware of what was happening. Placing his hand on Noir, Ray calmed her down. "Keep your aura in, don't let them feel your energy."

  Noir listened to her master and complied by staying by his side. In fact she was so calm, she decided to just lay there on the floor until the whole thing was over.

  The reason for Ray doing this and not getting involved was because he wanted the Redwings to get better. Eventually Ray would become a dragon, no longer living amongst the humans. The group of people he built up would have to defend themselves from different and new threats.

  He also couldn't watch every single one of them individually all the time.

  Focusing and hearing the sound of the beasts, the army started to swing wildly into the fog, but it wasn't helping at all. The only one that seemed to do decently was Jack, as he relied on his nose to find where the beast were.

  The rest of the army was in a panic.

  "This fog, it will be the death of us all if we don't get rid of it." Lenny thought. "Van! Van! Answer me boy where are you?"

  "Over here!" Van shouted back.

  Running in the direction of the sound, Lenny had arrived by Van's side.

  "In this fog I think using your crystal should be able to get rid of it." Lenny said.

  "But how, the crystal can only attack those infected by the Shadow."

  "Exactly, I think the mist itself is a type of beast, it's alive, moving when we move, flowing and changing direction."

  Holding the crystal, it started to light up, and the white light shot into the fog, but it did nothing. It simply went through it, temporally causing a gap for them to see, but soon would be covered once again.

  "I can't help," Van said helplessly.

  "Yes you can!" Lenny shouted back. "You need to focus, so far you have only used the crystal one way, but it's only there to help you channel your powers. You now need to focus, try to get the crystal to spread the power outward around you. Spread it thin and get rid of this whole thing."

  Hearing the sounds of screams coming from one of the soldiers, Van was determined.

  "I'll try." Van replied. He gripped the crystal and slowly the white aura this time started to light up around his whole body. He had a heavenly glow that looked like a sheet around him.

  "Good, now store up that energy, and blast it outward in all directions."

  "Damn it, it went through!' Flynn shouted.

  At that moment, one of the wild dogs had broken through past them all, and was running straight for Van. The beast was fast, too fast for Lenny to act.

  "Noir." Ray said.

  Opening its eyes and waking up from its sleep, Noir suddenly disappeared from Ray's side. The beast was seen leaping through the air and the next second it had disappeared. Lenny looked around but he couldn't see where the beast had gone, nor what happened to it.

  "Is it still here?" Lenny said.

  Inside Noir's jaws, the beast was dead and by Ray's side once again.

  "Good girl." Ray said.

  ******

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