"Skirk," he said, his voice tinged with confusion. "Are you sure that guy Surtr is in town right now?"
Skirk sounded a little uncertain now as well. "When I left, I was sure Master had already arrived."
"But," Dain interrupted her, his gaze strange as he looked toward a certain direction in the distance, "I don't sense his presence here at all."
Skirk's voice cut off abruptly.
She stared blankly at Dain, then seemed to remember something and suddenly closed her eyes, calling up her own perception.
Empty.
Nothing.
Not a single inch of Naxia Town, not a single street, not a single house held that terrifying aura so familiar it kept her awake at night.
Her master, Surtr—that being who could make heaven and earth change color at the slightest move—had vanished as if into thin air.
"That's not right..." Skirk opened her eyes, her gaze filled with confusion. "Where did my huge master go?"
Dain did not answer. His gaze passed over Skirk and landed beneath an eave at the end of the street.
There, between the cracks in the ground, were several extremely unnatural fissures.
It looked as if something had suddenly exerted force from here, leaving spiderweb-like patterns across the ground.
Farther away, the walls of Naxia Town—
Dain's pupils shrank slightly.
In the city wall was a huge Hollow that had pierced through the entire structure.
Its edges were smooth, as though it had been punched straight through by some utterly terrifying force.
"Skirk." He raised a hand and pointed in that direction. "When you left, was that hole there?"
Skirk followed his finger and looked over, then froze completely.
"No... no, it wasn't." Her voice was dry. "When we came, the city wall was still intact."
The two looked at each other, and both