Quite some time has passed since the animals first broke free, and yet the situation still hasn't been resolved.
Cyril and Rose talked plenty about the possible reasons for the holdup, but they couldn't come to a conclusion.
Not that they were complaining. The fact that this was prolonged only worked in their favor.
They had more time to interact with the magic creatures. They felt like kids at an amusement park.
Whenever they got hungry, they simply visited the deserted stalls and grabbed something without any issue.
So they were walking in the direction of the lake, eating some popcorn, when someone called out to them.
"Cyril! Rose! I've finally found you!" It was Myra, yelling in relief as she approached.
Her clothes looked a bit more disheveled than before, and there was blood on her hands, but it clearly wasn't hers.
"All the civilians we could find were evacuated already, so I wanted to find you. Where have you been?" She said while catching her breath.
While doing so, she noticed their relaxed demeanor and popcorn in their hands, and her expression soon changed to one of confusion.
"We've... been investigating around, saved a few staff members, nothing special," Cyril said with an awkward face.
"Alright then..."
"What about you?" Rose quickly changed the topic.
"Well, we've recaptured whatever beast we could, but the park's restraint spell doesn't seem to work at all. The zoo had no choice but to let the creatures free for now." Myra said with a complicated expression.
She then added, "The spell draws power from the mana vein linked to the tower at the park's center. I was actually planning to investigate it while searching for you."
"That's perfect then. The lake is in the same direction" Cyril said with a nod.
"The lake? What about it?" Myra asked, puzzled.
"We haven't searched there yet; maybe some visitors need our help there!" Rose quickly explained.
"I've been told that place was checked already, but it's good to be careful, I guess. Let's go!" Myra said, convinced.
Rose and Myra exchanged glances and started walking now with Myra joining them.
Myra talked about her experience before meeting them.
Turns out she fought with the horse from before and a few other magic creatures.
Cyril and Rose kept asking her questions about the fight, trying to find out as much as possible.
"Tigris is getting closer!" Rhamn suddenly appeared in front of Cyril.
What? Where? Cyril stopped in his tracks, confusing his two companions.
"He is about to arrive... from there!" Rhamn pointed to the side.
Cyril stared in that direction, waiting.
The others warily looked there as well, expecting trouble.
However, after a short wait, Anna appeared out of the woods; in her hands was a struggling tiger cub.
Anna ran up in quick steps and put Tigris on the ground. "There! Don't be sad."
The cub ran up to Cyril and started pawing at his leg while meowing.
Cyril picked him up and started slowly petting his fur, which made Tigris narrow his eyes in satisfaction.
"Why did you bring him?" asked Cyril with confusion.
He realized that Tigris would probably miss him a lot, but that was no excuse to bring him here.
While it wasn't as dangerous as it first appeared, they never knew what kind of creature they would encounter next.
Anna made a guilty expression and rolled back her torn sleeve, revealing a small cut made by claws.
It was a tiny wound, but blood was still slowly flowing from it, seemingly unending.
"I didn't want to, but he raised a little tantrum back in the shelter and accidentally cut my arm." She said while caressing her wound.
"The wound just refuses to close for some reason. I didn't know what to do, so I had to follow the kitten's directions, hoping you would help," Anna said without any blame in her voice.
Hearing her story, Cyril held out Tigris and looked him right in the eyes.
So that's his other ability?
The kitten was completely guilt-free, meowing happily, asking why he stopped petting.
"It's not anything serious, don't worry about it. Tigris just missed us too much. " Rhamn said with a warm tone.
Cyril disagreed with her.
He felt that if Tigris's education were left to her, he would grow up quite spoiled.
"He would be happy." She tried defending herself.
"Do not do anything like that ever again." Cyril said in a cold voice while staring Tigris in the eyes.
The kitten got quite a scare from this treatment.
He had never seen Cyril in a bad mood like this before.
Cyril put him on the ground and motioned with his head towards Anna: "Apologize and stop the bleeding."
Tigris, in a hurry, bowed with his whole body towards Anna.
"I forgive you, don't worry," Anna said with a smile and looked towards the wound.
The blood actually stopped bleeding.
It looks like Tigris was able to stop the bleeding at any time but refused to do so until now.
What a headache... Thought Cyril while staring at the kitten.
Tigris avoided his sight, trying to appear small.
Thanks to their connection Cyril could feel that Tigris wasn't apologetic at all.
He decided to think about this later.
"Let's continue, then," Cyril said after a sigh and turned towards Anna. "Can you get back to shelter?"
"Actually... I wanted to ask for something," Anna sheepishly said.
"It's been so long, but I still haven't seen Cedric. Could you help me find him? I worry he got into some trouble; that would be very much like him." She bowed after saying this.
Cyril wasn't too keen on interrupting his zoo experience to find a person, especially for Cedric; he should be able to take care of himself.
But considering the mess Tigris made, Cyril decided to agree.
"Sure, give me something he had on him," he said with a nod.
Morpho already knew Cedric, but she still needed to pick up the magic scent again.
Anna took out a bracelet from her pocket and gave it to Cyril.
Morpho carefully felt it out and stayed still for a couple of seconds.
Then she flew up from Cyril's shoulder and started leading the way.
"Oh, well. It was good while it lasted," Rose quietly mumbled with disappointment.
Sorry for that.
...
The group walked mostly in silence, following after Morpho.
At least it wasn't too out of the way. The lake was close to where they were going.
Eventually they've reached an empty area.
The butterfly landed on the ground and flapped her wings, signalling they've arrived.
"Here?" Cyril looked around with a frown, but nothing was around. It was just a grass field.
"Could it be below?" Myra said while staring at the place Morpho was.
The group stared below their feet in silence, not sure what to do now.
"Do you know any relevant spells?" Cyril asked Rose and Myra.
Rose shook her head immediately. She never considered digging to be a necessity in the future.
Myra, however, had a thoughtful look on her face, considering something.
Everyone watched her until she finally moved to the right spot and crouched.
After a few seconds she raised her body and moved back to the others.
On the ground there was now a shining magic circle, slowly pulsating.
"Stay away from there," Myra warned.
The magic circle was pulsating faster and faster.
And with a bright flash, an explosion rang out in the park, scaring some birds in the air.
When the smoke was gone, in that place was a sizable hole, leading somewhere in the dark.
The group approached it from all directions and looked inside; there was a peculiar sight.
Lying on the ground with hands and feet spread out, looking at the ceiling with a dumbfounded expression, was Cedric.
"Anna? And Cyril? Good to see you..." He said somewhat weakly but optimistically.
"Can you help me get up?" Cedric said and slowly raised his body.
Anna quickly cast a spell, and a vine soon started growing from the grass around them.
The vine kept growing down in the hole, reaching all the way to Cedric.
"Thanks!" exclaimed Cedric and climbed up.
He reached the surface, took a deep breath, and fell on the grass face down.
Now that he was up close, the group noticed that his body was in pretty bad shape.
Torn clothes, dried-up blood, bruises everywhere. He clearly took a good beating.
"What happened to you?" asked Anna while applying a healing spell.
Her voice didn't sound as concerned as it did tired. This was not the first time something like this happened.
"I saw some sketchy-looking people going underground and followed them in. But I underestimated their strength..." Cedric said while turning to lie on his back.
"At least I found out something interesting!" His voice quickly turned optimistic again.
Cedric made a pause, waiting until everyone paid more attention, before smiling mysteriously.
"This whole situation happened because of vampires!" he said in a dramatic fashion.
Cedric continued, "A whole clan of them attacked this zoo because the owner has caught their princess. We actually saw her at the show."
"I found out about this when a vampire fought me. Just before delivering the killing blow, he vanished, saying 'Our princess has escaped' all ominously. I got lucky, haha!" He smiled and rested his head on the grass.
"She was a vampire princess!?" Exclaimed Rose with alarm.
"Wasn't she a bit too weak to be one?" Rhamn said with ridicule.
Thinking back about the vampire's vow of revenge. Perhaps they weren't just empty words.
Maybe I should find out some more about vampires, just to be ready... Cyril's face became a bit darker as well.