Haki watched as Chance attempted magic with morbid fascination. He was curious about what form of magic the haft vampire would produce. While watching he felt a sudden chills run down his spine as Chance’s magic started to radiate from his hands. Suddenly a sharp pain penetrated his chest causing the griffins to panic. Diana sensed the magic from Chance and flung both of them off then caught Haki before he could fall.

“CHANCE!” Haki yelled. He broke free from Diana’s grasp and dove for the vampire. Once he was in arms reached Haki pulled chance into his grasp.

“Don’t worry I got you,” Haki said just as Diana grabbed them out of the air before setting them down on the forest floor.

---

“My magic requires me to make something called a mana zome where I can freely manipulate space. It doesn’t take much to maintain but the initial cost can be significant if the zone is large. Because the zone travels with me so does the object I manipulate,” Adrian explains.

He was about to continue when Atari suddenly dove down. They quickly reached the forest floor where Haki and chance landed. They weren’t anywhere near their destination and would slow them down severely.

“Haki...,” Adrian felt something was wrong and walked over to examine his companion. He then grabbed Haki’s hand and saw little burn marks on them. “What the fuck happened?” Adrian signed.

“Nothing,” Haki said quickly.

He waved at Nessa before walking over to chance, “are you okay?”

Chance's magic cut off suddenly at moment of Diana flinging him off. He immediately dropped the acorn as he instinctively curled himself up into a ball. He trembled and started to say his prayers to the Fae gods before he felt Haki grasp onto him and pull him close before he next felt the ground underneath his body.

He stayed curled up, as Haki walked over to check up on him he uncurled.
"I'm sorry." He started as he sat up, he looked around and his ears dropped. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to freak the Griffins, I was just trying my magic. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." He started to tremble again and swallowed his fear.

Nessa clung onto Atari as she dove down, she slipped off the back of the Griffin quietly and moved to gently pet her side. She waved back to Haki and followed after him towards Chance, moving to kneel beside the Faepire.
"Is everything okay Chance?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

Haki pulled Chance into a tight hug and quietly whispered, “Chance’s it’s not you’re fault. I’m not blaming you so there’s no need to apologize.”

He then let go of chance, looked right into his eyes, and said, “you don't need to blame your self for what happened. If anyone is to blame it's Diana but again it's not your fault."

Haki let out a long sigh then turned to the others, “lets camp here for tonight. The griffins probably have had enough excitement for one night. We can pick up in the morning. I’m sure Adrian expected something like this would happen anyway”

Adrian rolled his eyes and chuckle. He did hire someone to go ahead and scout for the man just in case something happened. He wasn’t surprised that Haki already knew but it always amused him. “Right I’ll set up camp. You take care of the boy.” With that last statement he headed off into the forest to gather supplies for a fire.

“I’ll set up some lights for us,” Haki said than claps his hand together. He summoned a fairy light and released it into the air. The glowing orb of various hue bounced around in the air before splitting itself into a dozen tiny lights that lit the entire area. He then started to unpack supplies from the griffin and got ready for the night. Normally he wouldn’t dare camp during the night because of the dangers, but the meteor shower somehow calmed the forest making it unexpectedly safe.

Chance flinched when Haki pulled him into a hug, he wasn't used to such close contact, let alone a hug. He trembled at the touch, he listened to Haki's words before he let go. He stayed silent as Haki continued to spoke to him before turning to the others.

The small male vampire stayed completely silent as he sat on the grass. He watched Adrian walk off before he looked to Nessa, who seemed to smirk.
When Haki mentioned about lights he looked over to him, watching the small fairy light flicker around and light up the area before his eyes widened.
"Oh wow..." He said quietly as his eyes widened more. He moved to stand up but stumbled, Nessa moving quickly to grab his arm with hers and held him up. "T...Thank you." He mumbled quietly.

"Not a problem kiddo." Nessa teased as she ruffled Chances hair before she went to stand beside Haki, looking at the lights before she smiled slightly. "Impressive, I like the fairy touch." She said before she looked up to the sky and closed her eyes. Her freckles glistened for a second before they faded back to their normal white colouration.

The stars in the sky around them glistened slightly, they seemed to blink in and out of view before a few constellations started to form.
"There." She said with a bigger smile, "Protection constellations."

“Impressive yourself miss Nessa,” Haki said.

Haki finished unpacking the supplies for dinner just in time for Adrian to return with a bundle of wood. He set up a makeshift campfire then let Haki got started on dinner. Adrian was never a good cook, he could cook to survive but anything beyond that was out of his skill set. Letting Haki do his thing, Adrian turned to his maps and notebook where he kept all their information. He sat down at a nearby tree and turns to his maps. They were almost haft a day off course and he feared that the man would disappear without a trace. For now, thanks to his informant and some enchanted paper, the man was still sited within the city.

“So what does everyone want for dinner, I just plan on making stew but is there anything anyone is craving,” Haki asked the group.

Adrian shook his head and returned to his work. Haki then turned to the other and waited for their answers. He then suddenly remembered about Chance and got out a glass vile of a red liquid. “Chance I have some blood if you need it. It's human blood but I also have other kinds if you prefer something else,” Haki said showing the haft vampire the vial of blood.

“Oh I also have something for…,” Haki was interrupted by echoing howls of wolves. Haki growled in the direction of the sound and turned to Adrian who already went to scout.

“Everyone brace yourself I don’t think those were normal howls,” Haki said.

Ness smiled at Haki's compliment, moving to help keep the fire up while Haki made food. She listened to him speak as he asked if anyone wanted anything.
"I'm happy with anything." She added in a moment of pause before she looked towards Chance.

Chance sat in the grass quietly, he listened to everyone speak before his ears pricked up at the mention of blood. "Blood?" His head shot up towards Haki, before he realized his actions and he dropped his head with a flush of soft red over his cheeks and nose.
As the howls echoed around he bounced up onto his feet as he let a slow snarl. "Werewolves? Timberfae? Dire Wolves?" He listed off before he felt his power well again, the grass coiling around his feet.

“Warbeasts,” Haki said with a worried expression.

Haki got up and quickly put out the fire and dispel the fairy lights. Momenta later Adrian appeared and looked at Haki with a blank expression which means that the situation isn’t good.

“Two Warbeast, three humans,” Adrian said than took a glance at Chance, “and a vampire. Red eyes, pale skin, strange aura, similar to the boy. You need to get out of here. We can't fight them. Get in the air and I’ll draw them away.” Adrian turned to leave but got immediately tackled by a strange-looking man. He wore a long back robe with a pattern that resemble roses. He had blood-red eyes, two long fangs, and long pointy ears.

“My my what a prize I’ve stumbled upon. So the rumors are true three more things for me to collect,” the man said. He slowly looked at everyone until his eyes landed on Chance. He licked his lips and moved towards the haft vampire.

Haki tried to move and grab Chance but was quickly pinned down by some large force. He looked to find two large wolf Warbeast pinning him down. “Hello brother, what are you doing so far from home?” the Warbeast said.

“Diana, Atari take…,” Haki tried to yell but a quick punch to the stomach knocked the air out of his lungs. He coiled in pain but did his best to hide the pain. In response to his stress, the forest started to become restless. The wind began to flow. Trees rocked back and forth. The sky a dark gray.

At the mention of Warbeasts Chance froze up and he started to panic. When the Vampire tackled Adrian and looked at him he let out a small squeak. Nessa quickly moved to stand in front of Chance and held her hands in a fighting stance, watching the Warbeasts and Vampire.

Nessa's freckles glistened like stars and a soft aura echoed from her skin.
"Let my friends go." Nessa stressed the last word angrily, "Leave and I won't harm you at all."

Chance took the moment while Nessa was in front of him to move towards the Warbeasts pinning Haki down, he lifted his hands up as if to fight as he let out a low, crackly growl.
"Let him go!" He snarled, his ears drooped back in fear instead of anger, "I won't hesitate to harm you!"

When Ness got angry, the stars seemed to blip in and out, the Protection constellation disappearing and warping into something else.

“Aw, cute the little vampire has some bite to him,” One of the Warbeast said.

“Don’t you—“ Haki stopped and screamed when the Warbeast sank his claws into his side. Blood poured pored from the gash as his claws dug into the ground. The Warbeast didn’t stop and cottoned to dig deeper into Haki’s flesh drawing out more blood all with a sadistic smile on his face.

Adrian disappeared from the scene before a large tree flew through the air knocking the vampire away from the group. Diana and Atari took the opportunity to grab Nessa and Chance before taking to the air. Adrian then rushed to grab Haki but was cut off by the Warbeast. He stood at a standstill with their attackers but reluctantly fled.

After a moment, he appeared on the back of Atari and guided them to the ground after flying for a distance. He slowly got off the griffin and walked to a nearby tree. His hand curled into a fist as he punched the tree hard enough to draw blood.

---

Haki watched as his friends escape. He was glad that they manage to escape and knew that Adrian would come back for him.

“Pathetic,” the vampire said, “Kullvar how is our prisoner?”

“Bleeding out but he’ll survive. Our druids are very to kill,” Kullvar, a large white wolf with battle scars all over his body, looked in Haki’s direction with a glint of remorse in his eyes.

“Well, either way. They’ll come back for our prisoner where we can catch all of them. Come let us return to camp,” the vampire said then started to walk. The Warbeast forced Haki onto his feet and to follow the vampire.

Chance felt anger bubble inside him when one of the warbeasts taunted him, moving to attack before he was suddenly grabbed and taken into the air.
He aggressively struggled against the Griffons grip as they flew away from Haki, "No we can't just leave him there I can fight them let me go you overgrown turkey you're letting him take your- our friend away!" He yelled as he struggled, he continued to yell stuff in the Fae language as they started to scale down to land.

Nessa slipped out of the Griffons grip and moved to sit on his back with a worried look towards Haki as they flew off, she pulled out a small clear crystal pendant and gripped it in her hands as she whispered prayers into it, prayers of protection for Haki and prayers of healing in case he needed them.
She opened her eyes as Chance started to yell and scream, she would have normally smiled at his tantrum-like behavior, but now wasn't the time.

When they landed she slipped off the Griffon carefully and gently pet it's neck, moving to grab Chance by the neck of his shirt as he went to run past her back the way they came.
"NO UNHAND ME." Chance yelled at Nessa as she span him around and slammed him into a tree.
"Shut up Chance." Nessa whispered in a venomous tone she barely used, the young Half-Fae slunk at her words and force. We will go back for Haki, Adrian won't leave him behind. I won't leave him behind. I'm not going to let you run off and get yourself hurt."
"I won't get hurt! The only ones who will get hurt are those fucking bastards who took Haki!" Chance squeak-yelled, struggling against Nessa's tight grip to no avail. "You can't just let this happen Nessa! Haki is the only person to take interest in me without malicious intent! He's a friend Nessa, I don't get friends that often! I'm not going to let my only friend die!"

Nessa moved her free hand to her eyebrows and gripped the bridge of her nose. She stopped pinning Chance to the tree, but moved her hand to touch her pants before touching one of the belt-loops in his, a small gold string suddenly formed between the two. Once that was done, Nessa let the scrambling boy go, watching him immediately make a run towards the treeline again, he made it at least 5 feet before he was suddenly pulled back to Nessa.

Haki watched as his friends made it to safety. He wasn’t too worried about his situation, knowing that his friends can rescue him. It was simply a matter of time.

“Pathetic,” the vampire said, “no matter. They’ll come back for this one where we can catch the rest of them. Speaking of our prisoner. How is he?”

“Bleeding out but he’ll survive. Druids are very hard to kill but Kullvar should stop digging into his stomach we don’t want to a scar” the wolf Warbeast said.

“Yeah yeah,” Kullvar said as he slowly pulled his claws out of Haki’s side. He then kicked the other side to force Haki to stand, “get up we need to move.”

The group of poachers then started walking, leaving Haki to follow them with his injuries. If it was anyone else, they would’ve died from blood loss, but after a moment the wounds started to close. He was glad that he was a Druid, but his healing powers did nothing for the pain. His inside was on fire. His head pounding. He didn’t know how much more punishment he could take from his captures.

---

Adrian collapsed onto the ground and lean against the tree. He felt like he failed for not getting Haki out of trouble. Since they were little, Haki was always the only one bail him out of trouble, but now it was his turn he failed.

After watching Chance’s tantrum, Adrian got off the ground and walked off. Atari followed him as he made his way to a nearby river. He needed some quiet to think about their next move. Haki was still in the range of his senses, but he didn’t know for long. They were outnumbered to fight the poachers in a fair fight. He didn’t see a way out and got increasingly frustrated.

Sighing in defeat, he returned to the other. He handed Nessa a ring and said, “can you tell remind the boy about the ring. I-I don’t see how we can rescue Haki so any input will help.”

Tiny paws silently followed after the poachers and Haki. Ra kept his body low as he followed, keeping down wind and out of sight. He was sending directions to Nessa mentally as he maneuvered through the trees.
"Haki." He tried to contact into Haki's mind, accidentally getting Kullvar instead.

He panicked slightly before he pushed through the fear before deepening his voice.
"Give Haki Back. The star's wish not to harm you, but they will if you do not comply."

---

Nessa looked over to Adrian as he came back, she had gotten Chance to calm down, but the boy was at her feet crying quietly.
"Thank you." She said, gently taking the ring from Adrian and moved to slip it on Chances finger. "Adrian needs our help getting Haki back. Any ideas?" She looked up towards the trees as she felt Ra's words.

Chance didn't fight Nessa putting the ring on him, looking up towards Adrian before looking again.
"If we track them down we could probably strike when morning hits, The Vampire will be less likely to travel in the sunlight. I'm not sure about the Warbeasts, but I'm sure Nessa can easily take the Vampire on, being a sunmage-"
"Starborn." Nessa corrected the younger male.
"Sorry, StarMage. And then we could attempt to take down the Warbeasts, I have... some sort of magic. I don't know what exactly it does but//"

Kullvar spun around baring his teeth. He was confused about the strange voice but quickly dismissed it and turned away. He thought it was in his head and decided not to tell the other because they would tease him for being paranoid.

Haki heard little paws following him and smiled knowing that it was Ra. He could hear the little creature though through his magic and manage to make a telepathic line to him. “Hello there little guy. are you my knight in shining armor?” Haki asked sarcastically, “either way you shouldn’t be here it’s not safe.”

---

“I cannot teach you magic in a day. I am not Haki. so we will have to rely on your vampire abilities instead. The Warbeasts are probably the most dangerous out of their group so our best bet is to separate them. And I hate to say this but we will have to let Haki get hurt or at least more injured than he is because if he is threatened the forest will respond which will hopefully give us a fighting chance,” Adrian said. He knew the risk of his plans but they had little choice. Haki’s connection to the forest was their strongest option seeing that they are in a forest.

“Now Nessa what is your experience with combat because you don't seem like a warrior,” Adrian said bluntly.

Ra's fur prickled when Kullvar turned to the trees. His ears pricked when Haki linked to him.
"I'm keeping an eye for Nessa. If I need to step in I will." He stated before he leapt through the trees to keep pace.

He weighted the risk of trying to contact the vampire mentally but chose not to. He lowered himself before he sprung across the trees to get in front of them. The stone on his chest glistened slightly as he seemed to twist shape, twisting into a bigger creature. The changing stopped when he was roughly around the size of a bear-cat.

---

Chance listened to Adrian and gave a small nod, before he looked towards Nessa as she was asked about.
While Adrian and Chance were talking and attention was off her, Nessa had glanced to the stars again and gathered her energy. She spun her hand around and a large yellow warhammer suddenly shimmered into existence. She glanced over as Adrian spoke to her.

She knew she didn't exactly look like a warrior, but the mention about it made her grin.
"My apologies, I don't mean to laugh." She started before she grinned a little, "Well I was a body-guard for a while, You could say I have some experience~"- She gave a wink and leaned against her warhammer.

Chance stared at the ground before he slowly stood up and looked at his hands with a glare. "I don't want to hurt Haki, but if you think that's how we'll take them down, then that's what we'll do."

“Interesting. Very well I am sorry that I questioned you,” Adrian said after seeing Nessa little display. Adrian than walked over to the griffins to grab a box of sandwiches that Haki had made for the road. “Since we have some time before sunrise we should rest up. Here are some sandwiches Haki made before we departed. They’re cold but a lot better than anything we could probably make."

Adrian took one from the box and handed the rest to the others. “Um I know I’m not the best at communicating but thank you for helping me. Haki means a lot to me and you guys helping is more than I can ask from complete strangers. It is much appreciated. This might be rude but why are you helping us? I mean you don't know anything about me or Haki so why even help us?”

“Since I have don’t have much to do other than not dying. I have a few questions for you. First, what are you? How are you able to change form like that? Is it hard to maintain a new form and was the small creature before even your real form?” Haki asked excitedly. He had been curious about Nessa and Ra but never found the time to ask. Now that he had some time to kill, he wanted to know more.

Nessa bowed her head as a thank you as Adrian offered a sandwich, moving to take the box and took a sandwich and offered it to Chance.
"We have a same person we're after." She started, looking to the skies with a furrowed brow. "And it's against my nature to just leave someone behind."

Chance took the box from Nessa quietly and looked at the sandwiches in silence. His ears had dropped back as he looked towards where Haki had been dragged off from. He could feel is stomach yelling at him to eat, but he couldn't pull himself to eat at the moment. He looked to the golden link between himself and Nessa and moved to tug at it, the rope burning his hands before he let go without a sound.

Ra laughed through the mental line as Haki started to ask him questions.
"I am a Fyreen, this is my proper form, but the smaller form you see me in usually is a low energy form." He said as he moved to leap up to a higher branch, pulling more energy as he continued along, "As for changing... It's almost instinctive to me, Nessa mentions something about Solar Energy and shifting through that."

Adrian kept silent while listening to Nessa. He didn’t know how to react because very few times in his life has anyone offered him genuine help. All he did was nod while finishing his food. “Well everyone rest up I can keep watch. And Chance I suggest you eat. We need everyone at their strongest for this rescue. If you don’t want food, there is blood is in one of Haki’s satchel.” With that last statement, he disappears from view to patrol the surrounding area.

---

“Interesting, your people seem to be power by the sun which I’ve ever heard of. Does that mean you get weaker in the darkness? If I summon a sun does that mean you will get stronger? I guess I will have to test that out later. Either way, I’m pretty sure the vampier is taking notice of our link so for now I will have to cut it,” ]Haki said then cut the line. He turned his attention to making plans to help out Adrian and the others. There were a few ways he could twist his pacifism rule to allow him to fight but if he went too far he might be punished for it. The goodies Gia, the mother of Druid, could see his intentions and send a storm to strike him down.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't a druid," Haki mumbled.

---

The next morning, Adrian returned to camp from one last patrol. He spent a portion of the night enchanting new rings for Chance and Nessa while also crafting runes that are imbued with his magic. He hoped to use them to separate the poachers by teleporting them away from each other.

“I hope this works.”

Nessa bowed her head gently to Adrian as he spoke before he disappeared. She looked over to Chance as he sat on the ground, she dispersed her warhammer and moved to sit beside Chance.
"He's right you know." She started, "You need to eat." She moved to walk over to the Griffons to get the blood from Haki's saddlebags, giving one of them a gentle pet before heading back to Chance and sat down again. She tossed him the blood.

Chance moved to grab the blood quickly, his ears pricking up as he held it in his hands. He looked to her in silence before he moved to open the vial of blood and went to sip it, but the hunger got the best of him and he drunk the entire thing. His pupils flexed quickly as his body took to the blood immediately.
Nessa gently smiled to the small Vampire before she moved to settle down, moving to rest against a stump of a tree and closed her eyes.

Chance looked at the now empty vial in his hands. He clenched his hands around it slightly, closing his eyes with a frown on his face. He moved to stand up and looked towards the trees. He felt anger and venom flood his body, he wanted to yell, he wanted to scream.
He paced around for an hour before settling down to meditate rather than sleep, he attempted to use his Fae side to contact the Fae gods for help.

---

When the sun raised, Nessa's eyes suddenly snapped open and her freckles had a warm glow to them. She looked towards the sky before she stood slowly. She contacted Ra, getting all of the information from him before she looked towards Chance, who was still in his meditation pose, but it was unsure if he was asleep or still meditating.

She stepped towards him, noticing the small ring of red toadstools that had sprouted around him. "Interesting." She spoke out loud before she looked towards Adrian when he came back.
"Good morning, Ra is still with Haki." She stated with a weak smile, "I'm ready for anything."

The group of poachers walked for nearly an hour before stopping. Ahead of them was a small encampment of about 6 more men. As they walked. Haki could feel all their eyes on his back reminding him of his childhood. His heart started to race. He clenched his fist as he was escorted to a nearby clearing with several cages filled people and beast alike. The Warbeast threw him in a cage and left him to the human guards.

---

Adrian turned to Nessa with a blank stare and nodded. “I’ll take Diana to scout. Get ready then head out. I’ll see you there.”

Adrian than mounted the Griffin and took off into the air. Haki was a short flight away. Before long he was in view of the encampment. Looking down, he gritted his teeth as he saw Haki being tortured by the Warbeast. There was no way they could get in without getting caught and no way they could take on two Warbeast.

He took a few more moments to survey the surrounding area and once the others were in view, he jumped off Diana and dove headfirst to the ground. He then teleported next to the Warbeast and using his runes teleported the Warbeast to a random location. within seconds the entire encampment roared alive as poachers moved to apprehend him.

Adrian looked at Haki for a moment then teleproted away. “Chance Nessa, the Warbeasts are gone, for now. I don’t know for how long. Hurry.”

Nessa nodded at Adrian's words before she resummoned her warhammer, twirling it in her hands before she moved to ready herself to a charge.
Chance slowly lifted his head as Adrian came back, and stood a moment before Adrian teleported back. The Faepire didn't hesitate on heading towards Haki, starting to run on his legs before he seemed to stumble and start on all fours.

Nessa looked over towards Adrian as Chance moved away. "Shall we?" She asked before she started in a brisk jog as she started after Chance.

---

Ra lifted his head as Adrian had teleported in, he moved quickly across the trees in his smaller form before leaping down into his larger form, his fur ruffling and glowing spines juttered up of his hackles.