"Hello, Wynne," Pax said.

I bow deeply before responding.

"Hello, Pax, Goddess of Time," I said respectfully.

"You have made it past your struggles; now, everything depends on whether or not you can save your mother," Pax said.

"I understand," I mutter.

Before anything else was said, everything but my clothing and cloak disappeared.

"You must use your skill and stamina to save your mother, and do it quickly; otherwise, you will lose them completely," Pax stated.

"I am well aware of this, but thank you for the warning, Pax," I said in a somewhat distressed tone.

"Good luck," Pax said before she faded away.

Pax made it seem much more difficult than I had originally thought it would be, since everything I could've used except for the cloak disappeared. I was never going to use the blades against my mother for fear of hurting them badly, but I could have chucked things at them to distract them. I only had my cloak and skill to make me win this fight. The screeches disrupted the silence again, and I wished I had something other than my hands to cover my ears. It sounded painfully similar to a human scream; it was nearly enough to make my ears bleed. I knew I was near, but I had to be able to see my mother. So I quickly ran towards the noise but ducked behind a tree when I saw my mother. It was horrific—several faces trying to escape a white sheet, four wings, two on either side, and a black mist surrounding the whole being. I assumed the faces were meant to represent that they are still somewhat human and that I could still save them. My mother thankfully had not noticed I was there, but the screeches only got more painful to hear as they sounded more like a human screaming in agony. I knew I had the leverage of surprise on my side, so I just needed the moment to be right, and I could not forget the words ‘veire u lytrio, otherwise my efforts would be in vain. I knew it was now or never, and I would either die trying or make it back safely. Actually, how did I know what would happen after I saved my mother? I had no idea. I just assumed it was going to be glory and victory, and I would happily get back to the island. But what if I did not find the island? How am I supposed to get both me and my mother back? I realized that, in being drowned in my thoughts, my mother found me. I quickly dashed out of the way, and my only thought was survival. I had to quickly jump around to avoid getting hurt, which used the cloak's energy, and I knew that I would run out of stamina sooner rather than later, so I would have to try and counter soon. As I dashed and dodged, using the skills I had learned to avoid getting hurt, I now had a solid plan. Moving around meant I got a view from all angles, so I formed a plan while getting attacked. It was not easy; however, it was the only option I had at the time. I knew it was going to be tricky, as my mother's only goal was to get me, and we could not communicate. But using skill and trickery, I might evade them and then be able to get at them and save them. I darted around a tree, and it seemed to confuse my mother for as long as I needed. I hid around the next closest tree and knew that my mother would soon find me, so I had to be quick. I threw a rock towards another tree, and my mother immediately got distracted and went over there. It gave me more time to figure out what part of my mother I had to come into contact with to save them. There was no direct thing, and I figured one of the heads had to be it, but which one was the true question? As my mother tried to figure out where I was near the area I had thrown the rock in, I looked at the heads more closely and realized that the one that was most difficult to get to was the one I needed to come into contact with. It resembled my mother the closest, so I knew that had to be the one. Suddenly, as I accidentally got lost in thought once more, my mother appeared in front of me. My shock and adrenaline saved me from a fatal blow from one of their wings, and I attempted to reach the head I needed to touch but missed and landed somewhere else. I knew that the element of surprise was not going to be on my side if I kept thinking about strategy, so I just had to go for it and pray that I survived. I decided to use the trick again, and once more, my mother fell for it. I used a tree to swing me up higher without the help of the cloak and then got into position to just lightly tap the head long enough to say what I needed. I launched myself and touched the head, but I took a hit from one of the wings, and that blew the air out of me and threw me against a tree. I groaned from pain but still managed to get on my feet. I knew I could not get hit again. Seeing this was my only chance to save my mother, I knew I had to just keep getting up or I would fail and die. I repeated the process a few more times, and only once did the wings graze me. I kept failing, but my technique kept improving. Then it happened; I managed to do it.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"VEIRE U LYTRIO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, and then I blacked out.