Chapter 102

Vern and Vera knew what they were doing and obscured or forced nothing. They handled it like a bowl, put on a lid, and some power that the girl called magic was looting her glory. There were no monsters around yet, but she was sure they were coming because these people were restless and alive. Or was it about her that made this safe? What did not?

Hound was sniffing and its tail wriggled nothing because it made a big hole behind it.

That woman whom she nicknamed hag was also around, observing the siblings and looking around for any potential problems. She considered her clever and stupid because there was no way questioning flame's heat was fine. It was bound to its laws.

It was curious what that crystal meant to her, yet it was also... stealing. The girl remembered that old fool who wanted to kill her because of it. He stunk off that, yet she didn't kill him. She just did not! Why and how? She was never convinced what it meant, or why he wanted to kill her or looked at her like some... beast.

She just knew he died in a flash and under a strange light and change. Then, the voices. He lost his head afterward, face included, and not even that water helped. It was truly an unfortunate and strange incident in her young life.

Now, looking at yet another man more than thrice her age, she wondered if this one would soon die like the others, or if she would kill him personally.

At least he survived and crashed this land, including the Jailer, or those mountains some might call prison, paradise, or Holy Land. Wouldn't their destruction bite him later? It was entirely possible and something she took with fear and not very deep hatred. She will see the rest and watch any outcome while hoping for the rest.

Reluctantly, she crouched and hugged her arm, looking around at the destruction and those storming energies. The horizon was flat, not good because of the decreased elevation. There were some small ridges of debris, though Dreadus gave this location far too good of a spanking for them to matter.

It was strange. Someone or anything would happen and come. Time wouldn't proceed like this forever.

The girl didn't know a lot of things. She felt them instead and heard them from time to time as well. Whispers of change. Whispers of demons. She wondered if she should ask and the voice would speak back. It hardly did. Perhaps today should've been different since so many things changed behind her back and right in front of her. Emotions were close to the borders between insanity and cold bloody murder hunts, but they were one of a couple of examples of her lacking humanity. Second to the common sense and the thing called conscience.

“Don't look at us like that,” Dreadus said, convincing himself more than her, and crouched down to see her face better. “We do what we can, and this shiny treasure has been on our radar for years, maybe even decades if some folks are concerned. We didn't know it even existed, or how... to think about it. Now, we do, and you've been around it for a while. So, do you know if it does something else besides that... odd thing? It isn't really about healing, is it? Where did it come from?”

She was judging his face with silence. Nervous body language was understandable, coming from her shifting legs and jerking hands, and her eyes were still glancing back and forth between those siblings and a floating blob of bliss.

“Alright. You get something, girl. Here are my guesses. It creates a safe zone under specific circumstances, and also a hideous magnet for Darks outside of it. Why? Arcana might be close to an answer, or it might be different like excuse, smell, treat, or density. It isn't seen though... so... Ah, I am lost.” Dreadus lost his train of thought.

She stared at him, unsure of what to tell. Followed by a curious gaze as if she wanted to hear him more, Dreadus figured he might speak today more than usual.

“You wonder why, or what it means, right? It was yours, or close to you all your life. I do want some answers, as well as security. It doesn't matter to question it too far. I can promise you that people outside of this hell are numerous and encouraging. Change comes with choices, and a lot of people and acts have to be decisive if they have to matter. For example, there are people like you; young and with Emblems and... well, these shining things.” Dreadus pointed to her hugging right arm. “You might be one and the only one around here, but the world is vast. Don't you want to see it?”

She glanced away yet still nodded. It was either caused by her unwilling and enduring acceptance, this brave man, or she made this choice herself.

She didn't know which was better than the other, let alone the best. Should she feel remorseful, angry, or glad for his ideas? There was no way. For now, she felt as usual: uncertain and wondering what the next day would be like, or what the starry sky would look like, or if she should hunt for a day, or try to be fearless.

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Seeing her like this, Dreadus felt even worse. He had no remorse over what he had done, or about her silence. The issue was somewhere else; he wasn't even sure how to close their gap and help her. His usual personality didn't help, nor did his voice or acts. He was a very open-minded and free individual. It was a miracle considering he was part of the military since he was young, despite the fact Walker's military was different from the normal kind.

Reaz behind him was the same, if not worse than him. She let the girl be alone and took care of what mattered. Including the Walkers, there came the rest of the team. There was Esten, an older man wearing a tattered uniform that met some action in the past few hours, and Maria, another Elementalist on this team. Their previous helicopters were long gone, yet not everyone ended up dead in a sudden ambush. All in all, five regular soldiers came with them, injured but alive.

Reaz barked orders when everyone was back—even if they were still in the Holy Land—pivoting the siblings to do diligent work as they were the only ones who could handle this task. Others could never try something like this; they had other tasks on hand.

Vern and Vera were enough for this mysterious crystal and water, but the timing wasn't that great, and their stamina wouldn't allow them to be quick by foot. If they kept the crystal in one place, they wouldn't have to struggle like that. They would literally die in a matter of time.

They couldn't stay here. Right. A vehicle would be perfect to keep this crystal and water intact, while they would focus on its integrity and stability without dealing with running like idiots. Doing this crustal and water justice while running will be hard, and being carried—while maintaining the flow—was not clever because of lacking personnel.

Fortunately, contacting the backup was up to Reaz, who, if anything, was very capable of these sorts of things. Everyone took it for good news, albeit the siblings weren't happy about this prospect and blamed this on themselves. It was a matter of time to get out of Australia. A matter of no simple time. It was almost like a sentence to a run into hell itself, going deeper, and carrying insanity.

Leaving was still up for discussion because Reaz didn't say all the details about her backup plans, or communication with the outside world. The team shouldn't know all the details, but they could guess them. Basic assurance of leaving was enough to make some of them happy. Reaz knew the direction where to go, yet the rest was a bit tricky.

Getting out soon was a matter of a dozen hours. At best, unforutnely. The quickest way would be in hours if nothing bad would happen, which was false like hoping for the moon to be white. Reaz was more or less certain that their ideas about that crystal were unknown and also clear in stupidity. No answers were coming to them. It will cause some changes and she didn't know them. What she knew was Australia, and after what they had done with this Holy Land, others wouldn't let them scot-free.

For now, it was stable and in their possession, and she and everyone else planned for that to continue through blood and sweat and... well, a lot of running. As for the rest, who should get hold of this treasure was not their matter. Academy, or Federation. Those two words were solely on Reaz's mind. That could become problematic in this mission, or afterward.

One would handle it better than the other, though their whole team was part of the Federation, and this sort of choice wasn't up to them. It was a far large and unfilial idea to talk about them. Reaz was the only one willing to speak about this with Dreadus, who didn't really care about a lot of things or limits. Now, it was no different; he was too busy with that unknown girl, so Reaz took the reigns over the operation and acted like a semi-captain.

Frankly, she won't be able to decide on this crystal because they have to get it out first. Therefore, Dreadus decided to give it no further thought and Reaz agreed that her desires were uneasy, if not wrong.

It was bound to rain blood sooner or later. There was no helping it. The worst thing was, whenever she agreed with him, things might go south like the weather or flow of Fogs.

“Listen,” Dreadus said to the girl. She was watching Hound sitting right beside them. It was watching both of them in its small appearance akin to a dog with way too big a head and far too many eyes. Its tail was wriggling, cleaning dirt and dust once again after it changed its seat. Its mouth was closed, hiding many teeth and a vicious tongue and throat. Its pair of ears were regular, looking triangular and straight, not dangling down like a fearful tail.

“I want to help you out. You can speak, but you aren't good at it. I get why. This place is that. Fear. Dread. Not knowing much, but still holding onto a weird gem within your arm, you don't know much because you never got anything. Have you learned something yourself, or is it related to some people whom you knew? Were you alone for all these years, or not? That might help us a lot because this location is largely unknown and dangerous, yet we have you and we do have that and a way out.”

That was a lot of questions and words for someone who wasn't used to talking face-to-face with children. Frankly, he wanted to ask about her parents or what she was capable of doing because she understood him perfectly, which meant what? Dreadus didn't think that far, or at all.

The girl shook her head, turned to Hound, lifted him with some struggle, and hugged him tightly. She buried her face in its strange fur that was full of muscle fibers that could become like hands, flexed plates, strands, or scales, or soft like hair. Hound didn't mind her and its head shifted like its paws above the ground. Tail started hitting and massaging her back, making loud noises that she didn't find the worst.

“Children...” Dreadus sighed and turned, unwilling to take her for someone normal ever again.

“I will... go. Out. Away... if this one goes with me.” the girl said behind the spiked yet fluffy fur, pointing to Hound.

Once more, Dreadus couldn't help but sigh and nodded in agreement.