The Earth After Rebirth

The heat was becoming more pronounced. The farther they went, the more the ground looked like slightly molten rock. There were many cracks, shining with a brilliant colour of orange.

They all feared it would crumble with the slightest touch of their tired and rough steps, but no such thing happened. It was as firm as any ground they've ever stepped on.

After the seemingly endless fight with the minotaurs, they took a long, well-deserved break. From fixing their weapons and armour to replenishing their mana and strengths, when they were good to go, they journeyed forwards to the unknown vast land before them.

Unsure what awaited for them in these lands and the throne room. Danger seemed to lurk at every turn, the atmosphere being the worst of the bunch. The heat didn't damage them at all, but it still made it hard to breathe.

"Is that wormwood?" Isaac said, before he could stop himself from asking.

They all turned to look at him, then directed by his eyes to where he was looking. He had his hand on his mouth as if to silence it, he didn't intend to make small talk or try to get along with them so he was a bit upset with himself that he said anything at all.

After examining the plant from where he stood, Hiro had a confused look on his face. He slowly turned towards Isaac, not sure if he wanted to address him.

"You know about herbs?" That question escaped his lips before he could hold his tongue.

Isaac nodded curtly, "kinda have to be knowledgeable about them. Since my subclass is potion making."

"Oh, right." He replied dumbly, not having realised that awakening ones blood gave them a second class, he'd received one himself.

He walked closer to examine the wormwood, it was strange looking. It didn't have its usually green colour. Hiro thought it'd be stranger if it did, it grew from this hell after all, of course it would be a lot different.

He was more surprised that Isaac was able to spot it before he did. He wasn't angry, but that didn't sit well with him nonetheless. He tried not to show it, but his friends could see it. That's why they could be seen snickering from the safety of their hands.

Tried as they did to hide their amusement, Hiro could see it. He snorted at their immature taunts, he went to the herb, trying to figure ways to pick it. He didn't know whether to pick it like the normal plant, since it had differing properties.

"You laugh now, but we will run into another monster and I hope you can fix your own weapons." He gave them a satisfied smirk, as he worked around picking the plant.

The snickers died down immediately. Kiro was the only one who didn't care, as his staff and robe never needed tuning.

"You're so petty, I like it." Kiro continued to mock. "Need help?"

"Just be a good guard dog and make sure I don't get attacked while my back is turned." Hiro shot back.

The sets of insults continued for a very long time. Though it wasn't anything bad, it was just banter amongst really good friends. This made Isaac and Ursa, people that weren't used to their bickering, uncomfortable. Isaac half blaming himself, thinking they were actually at odds.

Then, all of a sudden, while Hiro was crouched finally getting the plant out. It was exuded much heat, so it took him a while even though he was almost impervious to flames. An arrow missed him by a hairs breadth, he could even feel the speed at was going at.

It embedded itself on the tree in front of him. Kiro turned and knew who shot it and saw that as some sort of threat, he didn't ask questions as he jumped for Ursa.

She had him pinned on the ground in less than a second. She couldn't think, she couldn't talk, she couldn't even avoid him. She was utterly at his mercy.

"What the hell are you playing at?" He asked, unable to mask his distaste for her and everything she'd ever done to him. "If I don't like your answer, you will die right here."

Ding!

[You can't just—]

"Shut your fancy computerised words." He spat, not taking his eyes or hands off Ursa.

"I was—just—helping." She managed to say in-between choked out words, clearly Kiro's grip was more hardened than he initially thought but he didn't care.

"Help? By tearing his head off?" In his anger, he didn't really see it.

"Ki!!"

"What!?" He turned and saw it.

Just before Hiro, where there was once nothing, something began to appear as if it were glitching. Until finally, it revealed its limp body. It was very short and ugly.

When he saw it, it took him a while for his grip to loosen. He was utterly wrong and embarrassed. He wondered how this thing escaped his vibrational sense. Could it be some monster's can't be detected through vibrations? It was very wrong in his eyes.

"Right." He got up and tried to dust off the soot from his robes but that didn't help.

He didn't turn to see if Ursa was alright, instead he walked forward. Wanting to examine the monster that he seemingly couldn't sense, while some archer could. He didn't look down on archers, just Ursa.

Getting closer, he noticed that the monster was an Imp. They were weak creatures but had great hiding skills, and an abundance of mana. Elves were loved by mana, so he concluded that, that was probably why Ursa could sense it.

He remembered that, these creatures, although weak, gave many players trouble. Be they elves or not.

'Maybe awakening their blood made the relationship between them and mana more pronounced, but why did Isla not sense it?' He turned to Isla with a questioning look.
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As if he expected her to read his mind, he asked the question in his head but she delivered.

"I could sense it too but I wasn't sure if it was hostile, therefore couldn't react faster. Sorry."

Kiro wanted to slap his face but held himself. 'Not hostile? Where are we?'

He didn't intend to apologise for his blunder. He never asked to be teamed up with them, he didn't trust them, it was only natural that, that was his first response considering their past deeds.

"Aren't you gonna apologise?" A voice sounded at the back, Isaac observed and asked.