The Beast and the Sword Book 2: The Changes

Page 56: A Friend Like Me

(Fifth Opening Theme: Black Clover Opening 3-Black Rover Performed By Vickelblanka)

"As...sta...! ...As...sta...! Asta, wake up!"

Asta let out a gasp as he opened his eyes, though afterwards he groaned as he could feel the intense pain from his head to the rest of his body. He found that Feodora had been the one that shook him awake, as her face had been written with worry written on her face.

"Ow..." he groaned, rubbing the side of his head which had been bandaged up by her, "... Everything hurts."

"Oh thank Mana, you're awake!" Feodora said, relieved, "And just in time too! We've got a problem!"

"Huh?" Asta said confused before he took notice of how cold the ground felt. That was when he realized the whole town had been covered in fresh snow.

"What the heck!?" Asta said shocked, "It's snowing?! It's not even the season yet!"

"I'm just as confused as you are!" Feodora said, "But that's the least of our worries!"

Asta had looked confused by this until--

"SACHIKO! SACHIKO!"

"CONOR?! CONOR ANSWER ME!"

"KIDS! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Asta looked over and noticed that Karasu and Conor had been looking for their younger siblings; Yoshi had been doing all he could to help as he sniffed the area they were looking for someone. Though it wasn't just them, he noticed several parents and guardians, including Rebecca, looking around. Carver had been helping Karasu and Avalon despite how hopeless it looked.

"Urian, where are you!?"

"Chris!"

"Hey!"

"Von is gone!"

"What---What's going on?" Asta asked.

"It's bad, Asta--" Feodora said, "--Someone took all of the children in the village!"

"What?!" He exclaimed out of shock, "How's that possible!?"

"I'm not sure!" She replied, "Karasu, Avalon Carver and I just woke up to a weird noise and found all of the kids gone! Including two of Rebecca's siblings, Sachiko and Conor! Karasu and Avalon have been trying to find them for the past hour!"

"Noise?" Asta said, confused.

In that moment he recalled the events of what happened prior and how he ended up outside in the first place. "Prism!" He exclaimed out of worry before he took Feodora's arm, "Prism! Brenin! Saoirse! Liam! There was that strange bell sound and a voice! It put them in that weird trance like before!"

"Weird trance?" Feodora asked, "You mean like when we did the scare dare in that house?! That trance?!"

Asta nodded, "They just took off! They even took Alistar and Theodore with them! I don't know where they went since Pri used Aurora's strength to knock me out!"

"GREAT!" Feodora exclaimed, "AS IF WE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT!"

Karasu, Avalon and Carver soon ran back towards them, both in a state of panic and worry. "We can't find them anywhere!" Karasu said, "I don't know where else to look!"

"I don't understand, where could they have gone at this time of night?!" Avalon asked with worry.

"They can't be far!" Carver said, "The tracks they left behind are still fresh!"

"We have another problem!" Feodora said, "Asta just told me Prism and the others just walked out of the town to who knows where!"

"It's the weird trance!" Asta clarified to Karasu, "Like back when we did that scare dare!"