They were so close to the fortress that was high at the top of the giant tree that some of them wanted to climb up without the others and see what was up there at that very moment. But Ray had made it clear that it wasn't going to be an option.

  They either all went up together, or not at all. It was clear that Monk and his party had reached the fortress before them. Originally, for losing the duel, if they had agreed to the terms they would have had three extra days to investigate. Due to their quick pace and the nights rest they would be taking tonight, they would only be a single day behind their group.

  Keeping watch for most of the night was Noir. Ray trusted her a lot more than he did the others, and she would always come to him at the speed of light when there was trouble. Due to Noir being placed in the system most of the time she was well rested, so staying up all day and night would be easy work for her.

  If there was one person he could rely on to not be swayed or influenced by the shadow it would be her.

  Early in the morning when the sun still hadn't fully risen and the trees were still blocking out most of what little sun they did have, the group were wide awake. They all knew how important the task ahead was.

  "Everyone is ready to move." Martha said.

  Even if some of them were still drained and wanted to yawn they held it in out of respect. They had seen how caring Ray had been recently and didn't want to delay the trip any further. This trip had just made them all more loyal to him than before.

  Using the great vines that would hang off from the large trees, they would walk up the path while pulling on the vines. It acted like a handrail on a staircase, and due to how steep and uneven the floor was it helped them travel across with more ease.

  "Who thought it was a good idea to build a fortress on top of a giant tree!" Flynn complained as he yanked on the vine and pulled himself forward.

  "If you trained your forearms and shoulders more it would be an easier climb." Wendy replied, as she wasn't struggling anywhere near as much as Flynn was. All those years of archery had made her have incredibly strong arms and hands.

  Flynn then started to look towards Claire and Dale, who were climbing up without even using the vines. Instead they had partially transformed their arms and hands, digging their wolf-like claws into the tree itself.

  Jack, who was up ahead, wasn't doing the same. He still didn't have great control when it came to his transformation skills.

  "Man, you guys must have it nice." Flynn said. Soon after Wendy had given him a nudge in the ribs, as it was quite the rude thing to say.

  The two kids being werewolves meant that they got discriminated against a lot back in the city. Not as much as they would have if they joined any other city, and of course there were many that were supportive, especially due to Jack, but that didn't stop the few that were against the idea of living near werewolves to keep their feelings hidden in.

  Remembering this, Flynn felt a little bad but didn't know what to say.

  "It is kinda cool." Dale said, looking at his claw hand as he smiled back at Flynn.

  "You kids should be on the lookout and prepared for anything." Lenny started to lecture them. "There is a reason why building a fortress high in the trees has its advantages. For one, it is quite hidden. Unless one knew about it beforehand they would find it hard to find such a place. And secondly, it makes it perfect for defending.

  "See how we are struggling to reach the top, they have the high ground and they could easily strike us from up here, sending us tumbling down."

  The tree was going up in spirals, there would be flatter areas where there was no use of vines, but the kids looked over the edge of the giant tree, where they could see the snowy cliff drop and fields. They gulped as they imagined defending themselves from an attack and falling down there possibly to their death.

  At that moment, Martha, who had been flying through the sky above everyone and doing surveillance, came swooping down.

  "Prepare for battle. Beasts, beasts are coming!" She shouted.

  The group could see a flat part of the spiralling giant tree up ahead and made their way to it. They ran with all their power but still couldn't see the beasts. While running, fumbling around in his pouch Van had pulled out the white crystal.

  Finally the group had reached their destination and were waiting patiently for the beasts to come. The sound of hundreds and hundreds of small light footsteps were heard but they still couldn't see anything.

  Then, the first one to attack was Martha, letting out an arrow of wind.

  "They're here!" She shouted.

  The arrow left her bow and at the same time, around from the underside of the truck of the tree, a giant centipede-like creature could be seen crawling to the top. The centipede had a brown underbelly and a black hardened top, as for its hundreds of legs, each one was deathly sharp like little blades.

  The first beast was killed easily by Martha as the arrow went through it's head with no resistance. The problem was that there seemed to be hundreds of them coming towards the group, and not everyone had a king tier weapon like Martha did.

  "Do you think this was set up by Monk?" Flynn asked.

  "I don't think we should be worrying about that right now." Wendy replied. "Even if those centipedes are weak, all they need to do is barge into us, to chuck us off and we will be falling to our deaths."

  As always though, there was a simple solution that they could use that had managed to get them out of tough situations so far, and that was Van. Naturally they all turned their head towards Van, who was at the back of the group. He reached into his pouch and pulled out the crystal.

  It started to glow, but then quickly faded, and sweat was running down his face. Everyone by now knew Van's personality, the more pressure that was put on him, the harder it would be for him to activate the white crystals power.

  They could only imagine now, and with everyone looking at him it would be difficult so they turned their heads away, but deep down they were relying on him again.

  'Come on, you have to do it, you have to do it.' Van thought to himself, but it was only making it worse as the crystal started to fade again.

  "If I used my magical powers there is a chance it could damage the tree." Ray said, so I will have to use my fists, this is not a problem." Ray was ready to create multiple clones of himself and fight the beasts off.

  Small spells and such while fighting barehanded would do the trick. While the others were panicking he was clam, however something else happened before ray could even act.

  Seeing how much Van was struggling with activating the crystal's power, Harry grew frustrated watching him.

  "Just give it here, I can do it!" Harry said, as he attempted to snatch the crystal away. They now were both holding onto the crystal but Van refused to let go.

  "What are you doing, you know this reacts to my powers the best! We don't even know if you can control it!" Van started to shout back.

  "The crystal reacted to me before, which means I can do something and right now you're useless so we might as well give it a try!" Harry shouted back.

  Suddenly there was a struggle between the two, and fueled with both of their powers the crystal was reacting. Eventually, the crystal was snatched out of Van's hand, and had activated a single beam of white energy.

  It started to shoot out from the crystal, but it was going in the wrong direction. Instead of towards the beasts, it was beaming out to their own people. Luckily the white beam was harmless to the Redwing members, all except one that was.

  The beam of white energy was too fast for Ray to act, and the beam ended up hitting him. He crossed his arms and felt a burning sensation and he suddenly felt weak, as if his mana and powers were being drained from his body.

  Not having the strength to push back, the beam continued to push him and he screamed in pain, until eventually the beam had pushed him off the trunk of the tree. Ray had fallen, he was hurt and falling to the snowy deep cliffside.

  ****

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