"What? Are you feeling alright?" Danna asked.
Sven rushed toward her and pulled her into a tight, desperate embrace. Danna's face turned bright red.
"You big idiot! Let me go!" she stammered.
Seeing that Sven was oblivious to her protests, she finally gave in. When Sven finally released her, she looked up at him.
"What has gotten into you?"
"I just... I saw a terrifying vision," Sven said.
"Scared of a few dreams like a little kid... was it really that bad?" Danna asked.
"Yeah. Very."
"Well, don't be scared. I'll save you," Danna said softly, reaching up to stroke Sven's hair.
"Come over to my place," Sven suggested.
Danna started to smile, but then her expression soured. "Your father is at your house," she reminded him.
"Oh. Then... I guess we head home?"
A flash of sadness crossed Danna's eyes. "Yeah. Home it is."
Danna turned to leave, constantly looking back over her shoulder. she waved one last goodbye before disappearing through the old, rusted gate made of scrap metal.
Sven took a deep breath and walked toward Room 005. He exhaled heavily before the door and pushed it open. The room inside was tiny. To the left hung kitchen cabinets above a gas stove. To the right stood a small refrigerator and a table. Straight ahead was a doorway covered only by a hanging curtain instead of a door.
As Sven stepped inside, a foul stench hit him from the left the smell of rotting food on unwashed plates. He walked to the curtain and peeled it back slightly to see what lay beyond.
He saw nothing but a thick, swirling black smoke. The smoke suddenly surged forward, devouring the artifact amulet around Sven's neck. In an instant, the world fell away beneath his feet.
Sven was back in the forest. To his horror, only a few seconds had passed since he was hypnotized. Bo-Woo and Sarra were still collapsed on the ground, but Sven felt a searing, white hot pain on the right side of his torso.
The heron had struck. Sven was sent flying several meters. The creature closed in, its talons shredding into him. Sven could do nothing but curl into a ball, desperately shielding his face and chest.
He couldn't help but howl in pain. His back was already screaming from the initial attack, and now the heron was flaying him from his chest down to his legs. As his consciousness began to flicker from the agony, a sudden light pierced the darkness a brilliant, golden light.
"Ninth Kata: One in a Million," the voice of Arthur Laocard thundered.
Sven's father unleashed a slash. The horizontal shockwave of air didn't just decapitate the heron; it leveled a swath of the forest behind it.
Immediately, the head of the Black Hound clan a pale man in square-framed glasses appeared at Sven's side. He moved with impossible speed, binding Sven in black ribbons. Sven's body went numb as the ribbons forced him into a state of magical stasis.