United (Magics AU - Part 1)

Chapter 16 - Shintaro

Shintaro was infuriated. There was no explaining this anger he felt toward the Dark beast and himself. He was outraged at the beast for killing so many of Ariel's citizens, but he was more angry at himself for not being able to catch the blasted thing - or even realize that it was a Dark. He had been stupid to think that all of the Darks were gone, and now he was paying for his laziness and incapability that he would have to fix. 

If the Dark creature had managed to evade him for this long, what else could it do? Shintaro could tell just by going near it that the beast carried a lot of magic, powerful magic. The last time he'd experienced the feeling of Dark Magic, he had been young - and as he grew older, he had unconsciously flushed most of his childhood memories from his mind. 

Because of his anger, Shintaro had barely been able to notice the Dark beast before it glided over the gates in a hurry above him. Shintaro had heard that Amy was going to be in pursuit of the killer that night, but he had dutifully remained where he was supposed to be - which ended up being the greater choice. Shintaro had quickly taken the beast down by wrapping a Light chain around one of its wings, causing it to crash to the forest floor. Immediately after, the Dark had knocked him back and fled, but Shintaro was apparently faster than it on foot. 

When he had anger to push him on, anyway. Though he and Amy were following the beast on foot, it seemed that it was flying with much more purpose now. They were running at a reasonable distance behind it to be safe, though Shintaro had already cast a cloaking spell over the both of them. 

Shintaro was also angry at Amy, for stopping him when he could have taken the beast down and killed it right then and there. Even if he didn't kill it at that moment, the kingdom wouldn't have to worry anymore since the beast was in their hands - though it would have been easier to kill it right away, human or not. 

He had no idea why Amy suddenly wanted to follow the creature, because her task was simply to take it down and let the authorities to the rest (Shintaro was hoping that he was one of the "authorities", so he could show the beast the proper meaning of revenge.); but she had suddenly changed her plans and decided to follow wherever the shadowy monster was heading. 

Shintaro suddenly noticed that Amy wasn't at his side anymore, and he peered over his shoulder curiously to find her jogging almost gingerly a few paces behind him, her face screwed up in an expression of annoyed pain. 

Glancing ahead of him to make sure the winged beast was still in sight, Shintaro slowed his pace until Amy was beside him, and then he quickly matched her pace. "Are you hurt?" he asked shortly, his eyes flickering over her quickly. He didn't see any wounds, but that didn't mean that she wasn't injured. 

The tracker tilted her head at him, then a thin smile spread across her face, one that looked somewhat forced. "I'm fine. It's just a bruise from where I landed awkwardly." She reached behind her and slowly rubbed her back as they jogged, grimacing a little at her own touch. 

Shintaro narrowed his eyes at her but picked up his pace again, turning his eyes again to the sky, where the beast was still flapping vigorously. The wound that Shintaro had dealt to it was keeping it from flying too quickly, it seemed - the pace of its flight was somewhat sloppy, along with a few missed wing beats.  

As the two of them followed the Dark creature, Shintaro couldn't help but get lost in his thoughts. How many more Darks had Shintaro unconsciously ignored? Although this was the only one that they knew of at the moment, there could have been many more hiding throughout any of the land - wreaking havoc that no one deserved. Were there any more Darks hiding wherever this beast was heading? 

If there really were more Darks, how had Shintaro not noticed before? 

~

About an hour later, it became evident where the winged beast was heading. The large silhouette of what looked like a walled-in fortress loomed in the distance ahead of them, the peaks of the roofs reached high into the air. There looked to be a wall surrounding the area, though what exactly it was protecting, Shintaro and Amy weren't sure of yet. The beast was flying directly toward the dark building without falter, which confirmed that was where it stayed.