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Valik didn't say anything, just kept his head low. He glimpsed back at Selia's mother, but she was already out of sight from the foliage.
Boothe let out a breath and smiled lightly. "As I did with her." he said, almost to a whisper. Boothe rubbed at his bruised stomach where Sebastian had kicked him earlier.

Valik blinked hard and barely tilted his head towards Ryan. He just shrugged and shook his head lightly. He felt his rags of clothes, wishing for new ones. But, now, he understood life would be much more difficult than it was before. Valik let out a quick breath and began to pray again.

Sebastian studied Valik in the corner of his eyes and frowned. "You and I can pray tonight, Valik. Before we rest." he offered. He looked at Valik, though Valik ignored him and kept praying. Boothe sucked in his lips.
"I'll pray with you two," Boothe said quietly. Sebastian nodded but didn't say anymore.
For the next hour the ride was quiet. By now they were on the hills of the forest. Sebastian let out a breath and pulled back on the reins, forcing the horse to stop. He covered his mouth, in terrible shock of what he was seeing. Hot tears welted in his green eyes as he looked at the rest of the forest. It was all down in ashes. Valik fell to his knees. Boothe only sat in shock. "No. No, no!" Sebastian sobbed. Some trees still sat in flames, along with the animals that had rested in them.

The forest was completely ruined. Not just in one area, but all in front of them and then spreads around. "The next village is untouched." Boothe informed through his teeth. Sebastian gasped for air, causing him to let out a harsh cough, making his throat soar. Sebastian and Boothe cracked at the reins, and the horses began sprinting through the ashes. This is what the elves of Sebastian's culture did to let out anger, for they didn't believe in violence, but using nature to benefit them, yet not harming their surroundings. Valik was running with the horses as a were. Sebastian yelled as the horse sprinted faster. He grabbed for Selia's arm to swing her up with him. He wanted to get to the village. Now. The depression had been replaced with pure rage. Sebastian could hear Valik snarling and breathing from his flared nostrils. Sebastian continued to cough as they sprinted through the forest, losing his breath.

The horses and Valik slid in the mud to a halt. Valik let out a giant roar and showed his fangs. There, in the village, stomped about ten nekos. Without hesitating, Valik dashed off to the nearest neko-machine and attacked it viciously. He was like a demon.
Boothe's breath quickened. "Jesus, Valik." he breathed out as he hopped off the horse, took his bolster sword from the horse's pouch in the saddle, and ran to them. Sebastian looked back to Selia and Ryan, and slid off the horse. One of the nekos had a girl, about Sebastian's age, in his grip. The neko held the girl in the air by her short black and blonde hair. The girl screamed in pain, but then spit in it's face. She tried to reach for her daggers in her belt, but the neko tugged at her. Just as the machine raised it's claws to strike, a dagger pierced it between the eyes. The neko dropped the girl and fell to the mud. Sebastian ran to her, but stopped quickly in front of her. His mouth gaped open.
The girl looked up at him. "Sebastian?" she breathed out.

Valik bit into a neko's jugular, leaving it to bleed out. He roared at it, but the neko only lay on the ground whimpering. He then leaped to the neko on top of Selia. He landed on it's back and the two began rolling about in the mud. Valik let out vicious snarls that yearned for blood. The two scratched at each other, then, the neko sank it's teeth into Valik's right ear, just missing his skull. Valik yelped then pressed all fours against it's chest, and thrusted it into the air. He then pinned the giant beast down and without hesitating, opened his jaw and forced his teeth into the neko's thick, vein bursting throat. It was an immediate death this time. Valik slowly got off of it. He ran to Selia, breathing heavily. Blood trickled down his snout and seeped into his fur. Teasingly, he licked her face where her wounds were. With a wink, he bolted off for a few more kills. When killing the last with Boothe, he tore a limb off of the beast and dragged it behind ruins to eat.

Sebastian shook his head in disbelief at the girl. She slowly stood, now standing just a few inches apart from him. Her eyes sparkled at him. She let out a gasp as she quickly pulled him into a tight hug around his neck, resting her head on his shoulders. "I can't believe it's you," she breathed. "I thought you were dead." a hot tear streamed down her soft cheeks.

Valik walked to the group, in man form. He wiped his mouth with his forearm and sat down by Selia. He raised an eyebrow at the girl, who seemed familiar to him. Boothe observed the girl. "It looks kind of like Crystal. Wow has she changed." he observed. "She's Sebastian's ex-fiance," he added, "Actually, I don't know if they ever officially broke up. Her father didn't allow them to be together, so she was forced to move to the village that once stood here. That was a few years back." Valik looked over at Selia with a blank face. What would she think?

Sebastian hesitantly wrapped his arms around her waist. Once they released each other, they stared a bit more. "You look so different." he said, almost to a whisper. She nodded with a smile. Her eyes continued to glisten at Sebastian's gaze. "Come with us." he said suddenly. Crystal was caught off guard.
"You want me to?" she asked, getting closer to him.
"Well," he started, "yes. You can't go out on your own anymore." he said quickly.

Then Sebastian and Crystal were with the others. "She'll be joining us." he announced, looking between the four. Boothe looked at the others, then back to Sebastian and Crystal, unsure of the idea.

Crystal smiled genuinely at Selia. When she left with Valik, she looked at the others, biting her lip because of how nervous she was. Sebastian was too overjoyed to notice anything odd about Selia. He raised his eyebrow at Boothe with a smirk. "Well, Boothe?" he said happily.
Boothe dropped his shoulders. How could he say no? "Of course. Crystal was always a great hunter, I'm sure nothing has changed." he smiled at Crystal.
Crystal wrapped her arms around Boothe. "It's so good to see you again, big guy." she kissed his cheek and stepped back with Sebastian. Boothe chuckled and smiled. It was good to see her.
Sebastian motioned his hand at Ryan. "This is Ryan." he introduced.
Crystal gulped quickly and smiled warmly. "I'm Crystal." she said as she fidgeted with her fingers nervously. She looked where Valik and Selia had headed, but they were unseen.

Valik followed without hesitating. He picked up a thick fallen branch and cradled it in his arm. Her wounds had practically healed. How did I do that? he thought, astonished. Must have been apart of the transformation, he decided.