A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

About half a day after escaping from Djibouti city, Erik's allies were rushing through the jungles of Ethiopia. Among them, all the shapeshifters were transformed, while Emma and Emily were being carried by Seraphina and Astrid, respectively.

Meanwhile, Runa remained in Elora's arms. Although the fairy couldn't run as fast as the vampires or shapeshifters, her wings allowed her to keep up by flying low to the ground. Finally, Erik actually wasn't running at all. Instead, he was lying motionless on top of Emma's golden flying disc. Your next chapter is on empire

"How much longer, Naeku?" Elora asked the werepanther running in front of them while panning a worried gaze at the unconscious Erik. "His Runebound body and Eira's sigils are keeping him stable for now, but we need to find a quiet place to start healing him seriously!"

Emma, who was currently being carried by Seraphina, suddenly looked a little down. There was a time where she wanted nothing more than an offensive spell so that she could fight with Erik and Emily, but now she'd do anything to improve her healing spell instead.

But she quickly shook herself from those thoughts, and, with a focused frown, returned to what she was doing: improving her healing spell.

Since she didn't have to run herself, and only had to spend a small amount of attention at making sure Erik didn't fall of the golden disc, she was using this time to explore her first glyph.

Most people generally waited a little longer before they began trying to improve their basic spells, because it didn't help with advancing to the next rank, but Emma was hoping she could make it do a little more than simply improve a body's natural healing.

She wanted to help her husband, now and in the future.

"It's not far now!" Naeku quickly responded as they continued through the dense jungle. They were moving beneath massive trees, while pushing their way through thick undergrowth that even caused their second ranked bodies to slow down a little.

Such was the effect of aetherium on plant life. During the current phase of awakening, aetherium was seeping through the many unstable connections that had been created between this world and others, and it was slowly becoming an integral part of the ecosystem.

Now, a previously already dense jungle had become even thicker and tougher. So much, in fact, that they could barely see more than a few tens of steps in front of them.

Suddenly, not long after Naeku promised they were almost there, a shout originated from somewhere in front of them. "P— Princess Naeku?!"

Instantly, Elora dropped to her feet and made her wings disappear. No reason to advertise her fairy nature, after all.

Instantly, several forms jumped down from some trees a little distance in front of them. Their weapons were drawn and the shapeshifters among them were in their beastly forms—clearly, they'd noticed their approach before and had been ready to intercept.

At their front was a young woman with the red eyes and pale skin of a vampire, whose dark hair was styled in short dreadlocks. The power of a second ranker thrummed around her, and in her hands, she held a shield and spear, much like Naeku did. Her eyes went from confusion when looking at Naeku, to suspicion when looking at everyone else.

"Aster!" Naeku exclaimed with a tired smile. "You're a sight for sore eyes…" Then she shook her head, "But I have no time to talk right now, we need to get to Enkare Nkai as soon as possible."

"I—" Aster began with some hesitation as she continued to look suspiciously at her princess's strange travel companions.

Earlier, she'd been sure that the woman in the middle was flying with the use of wings on her back, but now she looked like any other human. She wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

But that wasn't all, because her main problem with this woman now was that she couldn't feel anything from her. Aster couldn't even tell what rank she was, or whether she was an actual human, or an untransformed shapeshifter. But, if she was a human without wings, how could she keep up with these Runebound?

Then there was the armoured werewolf who seemed to be sleeping in bloody armour on top of an arcanist spell, the unconscious, ragged looking werewolf being carried by the suspicious woman in the middle, and the strange clothing some of them wore.

Finally, a large group of second rankers was suspicious in and off itself, or at least deserved plenty of caution.

Of course, she'd heard about the battle that took place and Naeku's decision to leave with those that saved them, but that didn't absolve these people of suspicion.

Yet, Naeku quickly cut through the vampire's hesitation with a serious frown, "I appreciate the caution, Aster, but please don't make me pull rank on you. You are my friend! Do you really think I would put our people in danger?"

The people that came with Aster instantly became uncomfortable, and Aster sighed in resignation, "You're right, of course."

Then she turned to those behind her with a stern expression, "Return to your posts, everyone! I will escort the princess to the city. Remember! We are at war! Do not drop your guard!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" everyone quickly exclaimed, relieved they weren't blocking their beloved princess from entry anymore, before disappearing back into the jungle's greenery.

She turned back to the group behind her and gave a light bow, "Please follow me, everyone."

They were once again on the move, with Elora once again sprouting wings as soon as her omnisense told her they were no more eyes on them. Since Aster was now ahead of them, even she couldn't see it.

No more than a few minutes later, they reached their destination.

As if walking through a curtain and into a room, they suddenly left the jungle and found themselves at the edge of a massive clearing. A clearing that was almost entirely dominated by an equally massive, grey stone wall, radiating a solemn, ancient feeling.

"Wh— What the hell?!" many of them exclaimed at the same time. Right now, all they could see was a wall that began about a hundred meters (328 feet) in front of them and disappeared in both directions. At first glance, they estimated this wall encircled a space no smaller than the entire surface of London.

But that wasn't all, because while they couldn't see over the wall, which was at least as tall as two of their body lengths, they could see various tall spires challenging the sky's supremacy.

Elora looked at it with curiosity, and Emma with awe, but the others were shocked.

"What's wrong, big Em?" Emma asked curiously. "I agree it looks impressive, but you seem like you've seen a ghost!"

"T— That's because this definitely shouldn't be here, Em!" Emily stammered in response. "I'm pretty sure something like this would have come up in school at some point!"

"Hehehe, that's right!" Naeku chuckled proudly. "Welcome to Enkare Nkai! The gift my people received on the day of awakening!"