He was in wolf form now, sprinting full stride with the sheath and scabbard in his mouth. A thick layer of smoke hung below the canopy of the forest, obscuring his vision, and clogging the air with it's smell. This forced him to rely on his experience in the forest, but that didn't slow him down. There was a series of crackling noises as a tree came crashing down a short distance before him. Voices could eventually be recognized as he neared the Spirit Tree. Finally, the scene came into view.<br/><br/>Flames maliciously licked the sky, like serpents flicking out their tongues for a taste of air. The Spirit Tree, where the Spring of Awakening resides, the center of their tribe's ritual, hadn't escaped the clutches of the fire; its massive body only adding to the blaze rapidly devouring the land. Wolves and humans ran amok, putting all their effort in protecting the sacred tree. They were splashing water anywhere they could reach on the tree, with whatever they could find. A few people were up on some of the lower branches, in an attempt to prevent the fire from spreading downwards. A branch, completely engulfed in flames, fell from about midway up the tree. It tumbled down, taking some others with it before breaking in half on a lower branch. People were leaping, or falling, from the tree now as the fire spread to the lower section. He ran towards the pile of flaming debris, and as he came near, he took notice of a deep buzzing sound that emanated from the Spirit Tree. "Keirus! Quick, help me pull him out!" He recognized the voice, it was Luen, the chief of the tribe. Keirus leaned forward, his body contorting oddly until it formed a man. He ran over to Luen, strapping on his scabbard and sheath as he went. The sound steadily escalated in volume. Keirus knelt down beside the man, and together, he and Luen starting pulling. It was no use, the debris were pinning him down. After a few moments, Keirus began to feel the reverberations of the deep buzz. "Keep pulling, I'll try to take some weight off him," yelled Keirus. With the crackling of the fire, and the ominous droning from the tree, he had to yell. Grabbing onto a branch that stuck out of the debris, Keirus lifted it up slightly, freeing up some of the weight pinning the man down. The sound was rapidly escalating, and burning branches were falling all around them. With a grunt, Luen managed to pull the man out. His leg had been badly injured, and he couldn't walk. Keirus picked the man's legs up, with Luen still holding his upper half. They were in the middle of carrying him away when it happened. There was a series of resounding<span style="font-style: italic">cracks!</span>The trunk of the tree split open in several places, emitting a light blue glow that rapidly increased, then<span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">BOOM!</span></span>