Anah made her way down the tunnels of Zahar’ak in a full sprint, followed by a squadron of Amalj'aa soldiers. As she ran further, more and more of them seemed to pool out from the side rooms in an effort to completely engulf her. Eventually, she reached a barred door, and was forced to turn back to her aggressors.

A brave warrior lunged at her with a spear, landing it cleanly on her chestplate, but the spear simply phased through her. After a second of shimmering, the glamour dissipated, revealing a small but ferocious topaz carbuncle at its base. Immediately, he kicked up a small rock wall in front of him, and before the group could hear the sparking of aether around them, it was already too late.

Lightning erupted between them, rapidly bouncing from target to target, and just as it was about to subside, it surged again, bringing the Amalj'aa to their knees in pain.

“See what happens when you get a little creative?” Anah said cheerfully to you, gently elbowing your side. “You could do that too! I’m confident your light weaving is good enough.”

“I never thought of overlapping a glamour on Brick like that before!” You say excitedly. “It’s so much more effective than I ever could have imagined.” You follow up the lightning barrage with blasts of light on any survivors to clear the way forward for everyone. “Are you alright, Brick? That was a great job!” Brick runs back over to you, wagging his tail.

“I must say, your lightning is quite formidable.” Anah says to Phekda. “You made very short work of that group!”

“My lightning is strong, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a lot easier to take them down quickly when both Hana and…” Phekda froze up slightly, but after a second regained her cocky smile. “...And…the aether in the air, being so astral, is helping with the cast!” Erden nervously crossed his arms, trying to keep his attention forward.

“Haha, of course.” Anah faced forward. “Through this door should be The Bowl of Embers. Ifrit still hasn’t been summoned, but we need to exercise caution-- our presence here will no doubt have motivated them to rush forward with the ritual. Anah’to and I will travel through the surrounding caves to deal with any archers or mages who might be trying to help from afar.” She turned to the Immortal Flames troops. “This door is the only entrance that we know of to the area itself. Please keep it well-guarded, and call for us if you encounter anything you can’t handle.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The soldiers shouted in unison.

“Every second counts. Let’s move!” Phekda kicked the barred door open.

“S’anah’to, if you plan on using Mortar, summon her now.” Erden told you.

“We could use the numbers.” You say, pulling her gem out and summoning her. The added strain of maintaining two carbuncles pulls on you and makes you feel slightly drowsy, but it's nothing you can’t shake off.

“Mortar,” Erden leans down to her. “I need you to follow S’anah’to here and protect him. I’ll give you some food when we get home, okay?” He rubs her head and she flicks her tail back and forth before turning to you.

“Good to go?” S’olahr asks Erden, who draws his weapon in response.

“Alright, here goes nothing!” Erden charges through the doorway with Phekda, S’olahr, and Hana following close behind.

“Let’s get going too.” Anah said to you.

“Brick, Mortar, lead the way forward for us.” You say, and the two carbuncles run ahead. Brick carefully checks around corners before proceeding, while Mortar recklessly charges forward with sparks of flame radiating off of her body.

“...Brick and Mortar, hmm?” Anah chuckles, keeping close to the two of them with her blade at the ready.

“I named Brick first, Mortar was named by Erden.” You explain.

“Well, I suppose these carbuncles in tandem will provide a good foundation for us then.” Anah’s ears perk as she sees Mortar rush at an incoming enemy, and she runs forward to keep pace. You scarcely even have time to channel aether into a spell before the threat is vanquished. “You’ve grown in your time away, I can tell.”

“Please, I’ve hardly even done anything.” You scoff.

“When you were still in training, just seeing a monster would make you flinch.” Anah said, keeping her eyes ahead. “But your stance is steady now, and you move much more confidently.”

“It’s a bit easier when I’m not the one who has to take the hits.” You confess. “The stress of needing to be the center of attention and blocking every punch made everything feel so much more lethal.”

“Yes, but given a few more months time I’m sure you would have gotten the hang of it.” For just a moment, she turns to you with a smile. “Besides, a great paladin with a team of powerful fighters can dispose of most threats before things get messy, and you are an accomplished mage.”

“Accomplished?” You tilt your head.

“Oh! You should have seen the look on Nanamo’s face when I told her all about the spell you published, and to The Maelstrom of all places! She was SO proud of you!” Anah clasped her hands together. “My little boy, all grown up!”

“I-it was just a simple spell…” You tell her. “Even a rookie conjurer could pump out better healing.”

“But this isn’t conjury, Anah’to. It’s arcanistry! Think of the applications if we could get runes like that all over the place, the way it would help the world…” She shakes her head. “...Ah, just ahead.” A bright light shone through into the cave. “Hopefully we can see the arena from here.”

Through the exit was a plateau that overlooked the bowl of embers, where archers stood with their bows drawn with their backs turned to you. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Brick immediately stomps the ground, launching the earth beneath them forward just enough to knock them off the cliffside.

“Keep your eyes and ears sharp,” Anah instructs you, carefully looking around. “There aren’t nearly as many soldiers posted up here as I expected, which might mean more are on the way.”

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“Right.” You turn to Brick and Mortar. “Watch the tunnel we came from. If you see any trouble, let us know.” Brick nods, and both stand ready for action near the tunnel entrance.

“Look down there, Anah’to-- do you see those crates?” Anah points down into the bowl of embers. Looking below, you can see your companions fighting through a large horde of enemy soldiers. Behind their front line were several crates full of crystals, where priests are channeling magic through them. “If we don’t do something, they might just summon Ifrit before our friends can make it there.”

“We could try to join them, but it's a bit risky.” You contemplate. “How long does it take for a primal to temper someone after it's been summoned?”

“I don’t know, but fortunately we have a better option.” She draws her blade. “If we attack the crates with a strong beam of light, we can shatter them, and aspect them to umbral aether besides. It will make them useless for their ceremony.”

“Oh, just like you did when we first ran into you!” You smile wide.

“Indeed! But I’ll need some help from you to make it large enough. Grab hold of my sword with me.”

Since you’re taller, you grab the grip as close to the cross-guard as possible, while she holds the lower end close to the pommel. You can feel the blade brimming with light immediately, and begin to channel your own aether into it as well.

“I call upon the might of Curtana, blade of the true!” Your mother said aloud, and as she spoke the blade grew ever more radiant. “With divine sword and shield do we defend this realm, and protect all of Thanalan from great evils!” You both swing the sword down in unison, aimed towards the crates below. “Unleash Holyja!”

A flickering circle of light appears in a large area that’s just wide enough to contain all of the crates you’ve taken aim for. Erden and S’olahr seem to have taken notice, as the two quickly begin to back away. Striking his cane at the ground, S’olahr raises a protecting stone wall between the area and the group. After only a second of waiting, a massive column of light falls from the heavens and irradiates your target. You see crystal shrapnel burst out of the pile along with small splinters of wood, and by the time the light disappears, not even a scrap of wood remains in the circle you carved-- the earth itself even partially lost some of its color.

“And there we have it.” Your mother lets out a heavy sigh of relief, wiping her brow. “We don’t need to worry about the summoning any longer. If you’ve still the strength for it, we could even--” The reassuring smile on her face immediately fades when she looks at you, her jaw hanging agape.

“Something wrong?” You take a step towards her, but your leg instantly gives way and you tumble forward. She catches and holds you, but the panic on her face is clear. “...I…” Your muscles feel as though they are quickly freezing up. No-- that’s not quite right. Rather, they feel as though they are being forced to relax.

“Gods, oh gods.” She channels aether into your chest for a second before pulling away. “No, No! That’s not going to…bloody hells!” She turns to Brick and Mortar. “You, Mortar, I need you to give Anah’to his aether back. Now! Do you understand?!” Mortar stares back blankly.

“Mmm…” You struggle to choke out any noise at all. “...ort…ar…” Anah pulls you closer to Mortar, and your hand falls limp on the ground. Responding to your broken call, Mortar steps close enough that you can barely touch her. “...Re…” You cough weakly, spitting something up in the process. “...turn.” Mortar nods and immediately returns to her crystal. You feel a warm rush of energy wash over you, but the sensation drowns quickly into exhaustion again. An immense weight pulls on your eyelids.

“Stay with me, stay with me!” She brushes the hair out of your eyes. You can feel Anah pick you up and begin to run, but your senses begin to fade in and out. The tunnels seem so much brighter than you remember them.

You feel droplets of water pang on your cheek, and a lot of noise, then suddenly no noise at all.

You rest your eyes, just for a moment or two.

It's been a very long day.

“Erden!” Anah cries out, rushing out into The Bowl of Embers. “ERDEN!”

“A little BUSY!” He yells back, kicking an Amalj'aa as forcefully as he can in the stomach to push it backwards, which only barely works.

“Anah’to is dying!” She shouts, running towards him as fast as she can manage.

“Wh..WHAT?!” He turns back to face her, only narrowly avoiding an incoming spear strike. “...Augh, to hell with this!” He raises his claymore above his head and floods it with lightning before striking down. Electricity courses through his target and jumps to surrounding ones, leaving them stunned long enough for him to run towards Anah. “What happened!? I’m not a healer!”

“I need you to give him your aether. ASTRAL aether, got it?” She grabs his hand and places it on your chest.

“Okay, okay.” He creates as steady and stable of a flow as he can.

“That’s great, that’s great.” She trembles, reaching out to touch your cheek. “Please oh please Anah’to, I need you to wake up, okay?”

“What’s going on?” Olahr runs up to the three of you.

“I…we…” Anah struggles to pull herself together. “We’ll talk about it later! For now, please just make sure that Anah’to has plenty of space to breathe.”

“Right!” Olahr turned his attention back to the remaining Amalj’aa and ran over to continue fighting.

You don’t know exactly how long it took, but eventually you woke up. Erden’s aether energized you more and more each moment that he held you until eventually you felt well rested.

“Do you feel alright?” Anah helped you sit up on your own.

“Uh…” You rub your eyes. “I think so, yeah.” Before you knew it, Erden pulled you in for a tight hug, which helped warm you back up. Brick pawed at your foot, holding Mortar’s gem in his mouth.

“Thank Menphina…” She tries to wipe away her tears. “I-if…if something had happened to you…”

“This had to do with that lightbeam, didn’t it?” Erden leaned back to give you some more space.

“Yes…” Anah stood up. “It’s a very strong spell, even for me, but I thought that the two of us working together to cast it…” She crossed her arms. “Clearly, I was wrong. It spent nearly all of his aether and overaspected him to light at the same time. I’m so sorry, Anah’to.”

“So…if Erden hadn’t been here…” You trail off, looking at him.

“Hey, I’m just paying you back, right?” He laughed nervously. “...But please don’t ever do that again.” He helps you stand back up.

“...Thank you, Erden.” Anah places her hand on his forearm. “I will not soon forget what you’ve done today.”

“I’m just glad that Anah’to’s okay.” He says with a smile. You catch your mother’s eyes widen a little bit when she hears him say that, and she reciprocates the smile.

“It’s good to know that he’ll be in such safe hands when I’m not around.” She cups her hands.

“All the Amalj’aa are taken care of.” O’lahr runs back over with Phekda and Hana behind him. “Are you alright?”

“I’m doing much better now, yes.” You reassure them. “Sorry for causing such a panic!”

“It was a little scary!” Hana sheathed her daggers. “But things went surprisingly well. I’m glad we were able to avoid fighting a primal!”

“Let’s just get back to The Waking Sands before any Amalj’aa show up.” Phekda said, pulling a scroll out of her bag.

“Good call.” Olahr nodded. Anah called the vigilant Immortal Flames troops over to the rest of you, and once everyone was ready, Phekda broke the scroll’s seal, and you were all safely whisked back home.