Mysterious Disappearances

The chase was on. Kaito and his friends ran around the Nekana Tree as they tried to find the supposed entrance to the dungeon underneath the tree. The catfolk army was hot on the chase, not wanting to let them venture any further.

“Evona, where exactly is the entrance supposed to be again?” Kaito asked as the group hid by the tree’s roots.

“About that…” Evona began explaining. “I only know of the Tree’s location and not anything about a dungeon.”

“Then how are we supposed to get in the dungeon!?” Kaito started worrying, “I don’t want to go to jail.”

“This is why I’m always telling you to form a plan before you act,” Rina scolded Kaito.

“Calm down, guys, we’re going to get caught,” Khrom said, aiming to keep the group quiet.

The Nekana Tree was massive, and with the large roots surrounding the area of the tree, exploration was difficult. The group had seemingly circled the tree a few times, but nobody could notice any entrance, let alone where they were.

“That’s it, I’ve had enough!” Kaito yelled in complaint. “I’ll just find the dungeon in my way!”

Kaito, getting fed up with getting nowhere all day, enacted another one of his rash plans. He took out his dagger and slashed at the tree and its roots to try to dig his way into it.

“Kaito, stop. Why would that ever work?” Rina began demanding of Kaito, but they were interrupted.

“THERE THEY ARE!”

The catfolk army had pinned down their location once again and jumped towards them for an attack.

“Khrom!” Rina yelled out to signal Khrom.

“I’m on it!” Khrom responded quickly.

Khrom swiftly activated his Bastion skill, which creates a barrier around him and the surrounding area, protecting the group from the catfolk army. Khrom then proceeded to disperse his skill, expanding the barrier and propelling the catfolk army away from them.

“Let’s move!” Rina signalled the group to start running away again.

The group, having gotten some distance from the catfolk army, took a moment to catch their breath.

“Maybe we should just retreat for now,” Khrom suggested to the group.

“No, we’ll be fine,” Rina rejected Khrom’s idea. “We just need to form a better plan instead of winging it like… Kaito?”

Kaito was no longer to be found. At some point, he had been separated from the group.

“Where did he go this time!?” Rina complained, worrying about Kaito’s well-being.

“AhHhHH, it’s just like what happened in the past,” Evona started to panic. “The Nekana Tree is taking people!”

As Khrom attempted to calm Evona down, Rina looked around for Kaito.

Logically thinking, Rina suggested, “Don’t be silly, he’s probably just lagging behind—”

“YAAHHH!!”

As Rina looked around a root they just passed, a catfolk guard tried to strike Rina, but she reacted and deflected the attack with her sword. Being caught off guard, Rina quickly retaliated by using her Air Cutter skill. This repelled the catfolk guard and blocked the path they approached from with cut roots.

“We gotta move,” Rina informed the group as they started running again, but as Rina turned around to run, she collided with an object.

____________________________________________________________________________

Khrom was now running alone, as both Evona and Rina had gone missing.

“How did this happen?” Khrom started thinking to himself. “I lost Evona after she ran too far ahead of me, and now Rina’s gone.”

While Khrom was running, Chief Lyan jumped down from above, halting Khrom in his tracks.

“Finally found you,” Lyan announced. “The rest of your allies were taken, weren’t they?”

Khrom, while putting up his guard, demanded an explanation, “What do you know? Where was everyone taken?”

“I gave you your one warning. You’re just getting what you all deserved,” Lyan responded.

Before Khrom could even retaliate, Lyan pounced, attacking Khrom to knock him out, but his shield blocked the attack. As a result, Khrom was sent flying into a bunch of foliage.

Chief Lyan jumped up onto an upper root to see what had become of the launched Khrom, but as the dust settled from Khrom’s crash, he was nowhere to be found.

“Tch, they all caught caught,” Lyan said, kissing his teeth. “This is why I told them not to come here.”