A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

The group of five reached Frostvik's fence and quickly found the hole in the wall that Emily created.

As they climbed through the hole, Björn commented, "This looks to have been created by that creepy human with the pitch black magic. Honestly, I don't know what affinity that is, but I know touching that crap is bad for your health."

Anne nodded thoughtfully as she looked at the hole's smooth edges. "If this is what it does to a fence, then yeah, I don't want it touching me."

Their boss interrupted. "Stow the chatter and stay alert."

Quickly shutting their mouths, they slowly began to make their way through the quiet town illuminated by moonlight, snow crunched under their boots. As they moved, they stayed alert and kept a close eye on their surroundings.

Soon, they made it past the first few houses and arrived at the graveyard.

"Smell says they've been here," their leader said. "Let's check out that blue glow. Carefully."

The fresh snow muffled their footsteps as they approached the graveyard, their eyes scanning the area for any sign of movement or threat. The blue glow, now more visible, cast an ethereal light over the headstones, creating long, haunting shadows.

Björn, his eyes narrowed in concentration, whispered, "This glow, it's not natural. Never seen anything like it in all my years."

Unable to contain their curiosity, they moved closer to the source of the glow. As they navigated through the graveyard, they soon found what was spreading that strange blue light.

"It's… a flower?" Nora said in a confused voice, more as a statement than a question.

"Sure looks like it," commented Anne while scratching her head.

They were now all gathered around Leifur's grave as they looked at the strange blue flower, swaying slightly in the cold night air. Only their boss seemed to focus on the tombstone instead. "Leifur…" he mumbled.

"Did you know him, Boss?" Björn asked.

The man nodded slowly with an unreadable expression, "I did. That time feels like a lifetime ago now."

Meanwhile, drawn in by the flower's mysterious aura, Olaf got on one knee and extended his hand in an attempt to pluck it but found himself mysteriously unable to get close to it.

"What the hell?" he murmured as he pressed his hand against a strange blue forcefield that appeared to encapsulate the grave.

While the boss still looked lost in thought, the other four team members looked at Olaf's hand in wonder. "Is it… protecting the grave?" Nora wondered.

Anne couldn't help but be fascinated by it, "I don't know, but I sure would love to have a flower like that."

Hearing that, Olaf perked up his ears. He was ever ready to score some browny points with beautiful women. Quickly, fiery-red runes appeared on his skin, and a dagger made of flames materialized in his hand.

"Well then, let me get you that flower, Anne. I'd like to see it protect itself against this!" he said, stabbing at the forcefield.

But before his hand could even reach the field, a much larger hand wrapped itself around his neck and throat before yanking him into the air. Feeling his airway close off, the dagger dissipated from his hand as Olaf gurgled, sputtered, and struggled.

"Are you trying to desecrate this grave, Olaf?" the threatening voice of his leader sounded next to his ear. "I don't know what this flower is, when it appeared here, or if it's got anything to do with the people we're chasing. But setting aside that I once knew the person buried here, I won't let you disrespect any grave like that."

Done talking, the bear of a man tossed Olaf to the side and turned towards Erik's old home. "Let's move on. The scent of those humans leads to that house over there. It's time to find out what's going on here."

He began walking to Erik's old house with a complicated gaze. He definitely recognized that house, and combined with the flower on Leifur's grave, this situation suddenly got a whole lot more personal for him. 'What in the name of the ancient spirits is going on here?' he thought.

The other members of his group looked at the still-sputtering Olaf with pity but not with surprise. Olaf hadn't been with them as long, so he simply wasn't aware their boss had a deep respect for the dead.

"Gotta be careful how you handle the dead around the boss, Olaf," Björn said, a little condescendingly, likely as payback for Olaf's earlier disrespect.

Finally finding his breath but still coughing a little, Olaf scrambled to his feet and looked at the wereverine with resentment before doing the same with their boss's receding back while muttering something unkind under his breath.

But everyone just ignored this, as they quickly ran after their boss.

They now stood before Erik's old house with various expressions. Their leader frowned. "Since there is a werewolf among them, he should have already smelled our presence. Yet, he's not coming out, which means he's either asleep or waiting in ambush. But even if he's asleep, I doubt they all are, at least not without taking precautions."

Björn shrugged nonchalantly. "Does it matter? There are five of us and two of them. Assuming that the second human is not of much use in a fight. Oh, and I suppose that ghoul, though I'm not sure how much use it would actually be to them."

Their leader huffed in discontent, "Which means that, in the worst-case scenario, it's still four against five, which doesn't exactly sound like an easy win. Especially not if we're walking into an ambush."

To which the wereverine sheepishly scratched his head and chuckled, "Suppose you're right about that, Boss."

Still angry and annoyed, Olaf barked, "Well, what the hell do you want to do then?"

Ignoring the man's tone, their boss walked towards the house, "Simple. I'm going to knock and see if they'll open the door. The fact is, we do not need to fight them. At least, assuming they're willing to make a deal and that werewolf isn't being controlled somehow by one of the humans."

The others were a little surprised by their leader's somewhat low-brow method but couldn't deny the practicality of it, so they simply waited to see what would happen.

Yet, something unexpected happened when he was about to knock on the door.

A dark green light flashed, and, with a loud roar of pain, the ginger-haired man was tossed through the air, back the way he came from. In fact, the entire team was knocked up into the air under various kinds of screams.

They all landed about ten meters from the house, unwounded, and quickly scrambled to their feet in preparation for a fight, yet none seemed to come. They looked up at the house in confusion and noticed a dark green barrier of some kind now surrounding it.

"What the hell…" a few of them mumbled simultaneously.

"Who the hell are these people," their leader mumbled.

Wanting to take revenge against another barrier, Olaf once again manifested a dagger made of fire and, with a curious glint, stabbed it against the barrier. Yet, nothing happened, as the barrier barely seemed to flinch under a frustrated Olaf's gaze.

Back in Erik's soul, a mischievous little fairy couldn't help but giggle as she watched what happened outside through one of her many sigils. She thanked her foresight in teaching Emily the art of sigil crafting.

It would have taken far too long if she had had to create all those sigils on her own.

Suddenly, she waved a metaphysical finger around, and something began to change outside.

Anne poked their boss's side and pointed a little upwards, "Hey Boss, look at that!"

Frowning, everyone looked up before their jaws suddenly fell down at the sight. "Seriously, who the hell are these people?" the ginger-haired leader mumbled again.

The barrier now had some letters projected on it: "Hello, unwelcome guests! Your options are simple: either bash your heads against this barrier for a few hours until it breaks or wait obediently until we're ready for you. Either way, I'll be entertained.

Whatever you do, though, try to keep the noise down. It's late, and my master needs his beauty sleep."

She naturally wouldn't forget her bet with Erik even now.

Having never seen anything like this, all five team members had to take a few moments to recover from their surprise. Finally, Anne turned to the boss. "So, uh, what now?"

The man released an exasperated sigh. "Clearly, these people have means and abilities that are alien to us. I think the best option is to play their game for now and just wait it out."

He frowned, "But I don't want to see any of you sleeping a wink, understood? Stay alert."

While Olaf didn't look particularly happy with that decision, as he would have preferred to release some frustration on that barrier, the others simply nodded and went to find a spot to sit and wait.

As for their leader, he went to the glowing grave of Leifur and sat down beside it with a sigh, his thoughts unknown.