The Divine Wolf...or?

The mana fluctuations were instantly brought to their attention. The air stirred gently, and a black parchment suddenly appeared hovering in the air in front of them. The parchment landed gently in Laurelia's hands and her expression turned dire after reading it. Everything on top of the parchment was written in striking blood-red colour. With the backdrop of the black parchment, it created an eerie atmosphere. The parchment itself was also enveloped in some disturbing mana.

Ark felt like he had seen a similar parchment before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. After inspecting it for a couple of seconds he realized that he would gain nothing from staring at the back of a parchment when he suddenly noticed something shocking. Laurelia wore a badge on her ċhėst, he had noticed this a while ago, but it never hit him what was actually on the badge, his mind had still been a little dull after all. Engraved on the badge was two swords, one white and one black, intertwining.

Ark looked at Laurelia. "You're a part of Torment of the Fallen?" 

This sentence brought the awkward silence that had been persisting for a while to an end. Laurelia looked at Ark inquiringly, how did this wolf know of Torment of the Fallen? Was he an enemy? Was he an ally? She didn't know, at least until Ark retrieved a similar badge from his spatial bag. He had gotten this earlier when he joined, but he had kind of forgotten about it. Wearing it in the open when he was by himself would only bring trouble after all.

Since he had shown his badge, Laurelia didn't waste any time and threw the parchment over. It was obvious that his position was way lower than hers, but he should still see the parchment, there was some pretty shocking news on it after all. Ark quickly browsed through the parchment, and what he read shocked him pretty deeply, it seemed like his peaceful days were already coming to an end, even though he just woke up today.

A stronghold of Torment of the Fallen located in Steoteya was currently being attacked by the holy church. And not just some skirmish, the holy church was hell-bent on completely massacring the people in the stronghold. The parchment was like a distress signal that was sent out to any high-ranking member in the vicinity. This was why neither Ark nor Thufrat got one, because they were just new recruits, regardless of their strength. 

They couldn't just sit around and let their own people be slaughtered right? After eating his fill, Ark was pretty much in prime condition to fight, he wasn't really sure if he had to, considering who was sitting right in front of him, but he wanted to help nonetheless. There were numerous innocent souls hiding behind the walls of that stronghold, all people who had something against the holy church. If and when the holy church forced their way into the stronghold, these people would all be deemed traitors and would suffer a miserable end.

Since wasting time would end up with people dying, Laurelia dispelled the wind barrier and got up to leave. Everyone quickly followed after her, and they soon left the establishment. In Frostfell, there was one major square, it was usually occupied, but today, it stood completely empty. Laurelia and the rest soon arrived here, but the only one who had the slightest clue as to why was Leo.

Laurelia stood in the middle of the square, and after telling everyone to back off, she started to chant. The chant was the most complex Ark had ever heard, and when she was done, the surroundings shone with a blue light. Immense amounts of mana and pressure started emitting from where Laurelia was standing. People started gathering to see what was going on, but upon feeling the pressure, most people retreated to a safe distance.

"ROOOOOAAAAAAARRRR"

In a sudden flash of blinding light, a loud roar shook the entire capital. A giant blue dragon materialised in the middle of the massive square, enveloping everyone present in its shocking aura. Thufrat didn't feel affected in the slightest, the only difference he felt was his back heating up a little. The giant blue dragon was Laurelia's contracted beast, and its might was not something which normal people could ever fathom. 

Throngs of guards started swarming toward the square to protect their city from the sudden threat. Laurelia only glanced at Ark and the rest. "We don't have a lot of time, jump on already." 

No one dared to object and they all just quietly mounted the dragon. Normally dragons would never let people mount them, but these people were far from normal. Ark was an Overlord Elemental Wolf, and Thufrat's bloodline was even fiercer than the dragon itself. 

In a flash of light, the lightning sword, Theodore appeared on the square. Staring down Laurelia and the rest, he sheathed his sword but gave them a stare that seemed even more lethal. "Stir up any more trouble and you won't live long!" After saying his part, he turned around. "Retreat!" He disappeared into thin air a second later, and the all the surrounding knights and soldiers dispersed. 

The dragon flapped its wings and took to the skies. Ark and the rest had nearly been thrown off due to the sudden flight, but they managed to stay on. After getting used to it, it was pretty easy to stay on, especially when the usual hard winds didn't appear at all, Ark was on the back of the dragon after all. 

After flying for a while, they soon left the airspace of the capital and kept going. The parchment naturally guided them via the use of mana to where they needed to go. It took almost half an hour before some smoke could be seen off in the distance. Naturally, smoke wasn't a good sign, and Laurelia urged the dragon to go even faster.

At the outskirts of a rather large forest, a big stronghold constructed mostly out of stone stood tall, or at least it used to before the holy church arrived. The sight of the crumbled walls and fires burning everywhere was hard to picture without seeing it for yourself, the mental impact it brought was not to be scoffed at after all. Wherever you looked, people dressed in pure white robes decorated by a golden sigil were destroying and causing havoc.

When Ark saw all the numerous people from the holy church slaughtering everyone in their path, his eyes started to burn with fury. Did it matter if the one they were killing was a child? No. Did it matter if the one they were killing was begging for mercy? No. Did it matter if it was a mother crying in despair? No. This wasn't a battle or a skirmish, this was a slaughter. Ark regretted that he wasn't here earlier. He regretted not arriving in time to save these innocent people. 

A little bit away from the stronghold stood another group of people in white robes. Every single one of them was armed with various weapons and they were obviously here for a single task, to protect! Ark sneered upon seeing this. He was mad, and he was going to vent his anger and regret the only way he knew how to....