It did with a furious wail of righteous anger coming from under some rubles.

"Ne…Nekios'….beard….me wrist!"

Devos' cry broke us out of our trance. As he was slowly trying to lift himself out of the wreckage, Sonja finally turned toward me.

"Holy shit. Holy SHIT! You ARE the Ebony Warrior!" she screamed while running toward me.

She started shaking me excitedly but I was still shocked. Did I really just do that? I wasn't feeling that sorry for a guy who'd sucker punched me a few hours earlier but I was a worrywart. I couldn't help but think about what would have happened if I had inadvertently hit Sonja earlier. I didn't even dare stop her from shaking me like a cocktail for fear of accidentally breaking her in two.

"What was that? You just yeeted Devos across…"

Her eyes suddenly widened.

"Oh shit, Devos!"

She left me and went to help the dwarf get out of the ruble.

"Are you okay?" She asked, a bit worried.

"I didn' know…humans could be this strong…" he said while groaning.

"We can't."

"Huh…" he pondered while dusting himself with his valid hand. "Maybe the Elder ain' tha' full of shit then."

"Yeah…" I whispered.

My face wasn't hurting as much as it did a few minutes before and I started to feel like my mind was getting clearer. I got up and started walking towards Devos.

"So how about we try this again, shall we? Tell me how we got here and how we can go back home."

I stopped right in front of him, standing as firm as I could. I won't lie, I wasn't sure about what happened exactly but I knew that Devos didn't either so I was hoping that my tone was threatening enough for him to start talking. The dwarf raised one of his eyebrows.

"Strong but deaf, huh? I tol' ya, lad. Neivytoa's the one who's got yer answers."

I scowled and got a bit closer to him.

"As if you didn't know anything. Sonja already told me about how your friend is a part of that weird cult and how I'm their savior or something. Seeing how I just threw your ass through this wall, you'd better start talking."

I could feel Sonja's gaze on me but I was too focused on staring at Devos to care. He was supporting his broken wrist and sweating a bit but he never broke eye contact.

"Hey, Terry? Can you calm down a bit?"

"I'm perfectly calm, Son'. I just need him to give me something. Anything. I don't believe him when he says he doesn't know shit."

He grinned.

"S'not wha' I said. But believe me, knowin' how ya got here ain' gonna help ya."

I got all up in his face, feeling bolder and bolder. One part of me really wanted to shut him up. Violently. But I really needed to know more.

"So, nothing's stopping you from talking then?"

"Jus' yer tone, lad."

I gritted my teeth. Looks like I was getting my answers once he would wake up. I started to make a fist.

"Hey! Y'all done with your pissing contest?" Sonja suddenly yelled out.

Her scream startled me so much that I backed out a little.

"The fuck's gotten into you, Mop-Head? Can't you see he's never going to talk? He's not afraid of you. So quit it."

I could feel my cheeks getting a bit hotter but I thanked god I literally couldn't turn red. Devos loudly snorted with the biggest shit-eating grin I had ever seen but Sonja quickly turned her attention to him.

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"And you. Are you stupid?"

The dwarf furrowed his brows and opened his mouth but Sonja stopped him before he could utter a sound.

"That was a rhetorical question. He's obviously never threatened anyone before and yet, you're still riling him up. He broke your wrist without even trying, dumbass, how could you be sure he wouldn't accidentally kill you trying to scare you?"

Now, it was Devos' turn to be embarrased. Sonja's verbal beatdowns were usually ruthless because she only gave them when she was entirely sure she was right. There was no possible defense and that's when she hit the hardest. I smirked almost unconsciously. Which was a mistake.

"Why are you smiling? You're not off the hook. What the fuck's wrong with you? The moment you got a bit of power, you wanted to abuse it?"

"What? No! I wasn't going to-"

"You were threatening him. You were ready to torture him just so you could get some answers, am I wrong?"

Why would she say something like that? She was taking it way too far!

"You…this…that's not fair! The guy punched me more than once! Am I supposed to just let him do it?"

Sonja opened her eyes wide and I bit my lip. I heard it the moment I had said it. That was the most childish response I could have given and I knew that was a mistake when I saw the look she was giving me. I took a big breath.

Yeah, Devos kind of scared me and he pissed me off so much that I just felt like I could get back at him, at least just a little. But growing up reading comics and mangas, I'd seen that scenario a million times, the bullied kid becoming the bully, and yet I'd been ready to throw myself into this trope the minute it reared its ugly head.

"Sorry… I…I see what you mean. Thanks, Sensei Lawrence." I said with an impish smile.

I saw her face relax and she gave me a smile back. A good Cobra Kaï reference was always a good way back into her good graces.

"Ya kind of robbed me of me fun here, but I see yer point." Devos said as he also started to relax. "I guess I wasn' that welcomin'."

"You don't say." Sonja said sarcastically." Well, now that we're all using our brains again, what do we do?"

"I'm pretty sure the first step should be to get that fixed." I said while pointing at Devos' wrist.

"Good point. I mean, I'm guessing dwarves don't have some kind of super healing factor?" Sonja asked.

"Usually, there's no need, we're a tough-skinned crowd. We gon' have ta get to the temple first." Devos explained while trying to move his fingers.

"Could you…tell us more about how we got here on the way?" I kind of timidly asked.

"No need to be coy with me, lad. Ain't got no hard feelings. S'just part of tha' job." He said with a little smile.

Okay. I didn't like him that much but it was better to try and start fresh rather than being enemies. And the air did feel a bit more cleared out, I was definitely feeling better than before.

"Alright then, Mister Macbernik, if you'd be so kind as to show us the way?" Sonja asked with an exaggerated posh accent.

"Before tha', follow me. Yer gonna need something to cover yer faces. We don' really have tha' many humans runnin' aroun' here!"

Devos led us to another room down the hallway and opened up a closet. There were tons of long hooded black robes inside. He gave us two of them, waiting for us to get dressed. I put mine on but Sonja was giving hers the stink eye. After a few seconds, she seemed to get her resolve back and put it on but she was looking pretty disgusted.

"What's going on?"

"Dude, I swear they never washed those things…"

I laughed a little and Devos started leading us out of the building we were in.

"Since ya wanted to know, we're in one of them sanctuaries fo' the Church of tha Ebony nonsense." he started to explain while going down some stairs.

"So you're really not a fan of them."

"Lad, I can smell a conman from a mile away an tha' Elder bastard just reek of tha wors' kind of em'."

"Which is?"

"Tha' ones who believe in their own bullshit. An' before ya ask, even with tha' lil' stunt ya pulled earlier, I still don' believe in any of his crap. Yer not tha' first person ta be super strong."

"But we're the first humans he's ever seen so, you know, anything is possible." Sonja said.

Devos audibly groaned and kept going.

"Why do you want that prophecy to be true?" I asked her, a bit puzzled.

"First, I don't know what this prophecy entails since, as I told you already, I only know what Devos told me about it. And second, I don't necessarily want it to be true. But I just saw you throw a grown dwarf straight into a brick wall like you were swatting a fly. So excuse me if I think there might be a sliver of truth in what this church is preaching about."

I squinted.

"...You just want to be a part of-"

"A huge isekai adventure, of fucking course! Dude, do you even understand what is happening to us?" she said with that same happy twinkle in her eyes.

I could feel the corners of my mouth rising into a smile. Her happy-go-lucky attitude about the situation was a bit infectious, I have to admit.

"The temple ain' tha' far from the town's border so the minute I'm don' with my wrist, we're leavin', alright?" Devos said while he was waiting for us by the front door.

My heart started to pound in my chest. This was it. The start of something completely new. I had no idea what was going to be on the other side of that door and, to be honest, I was scared. When anything can happen, fear just takes over. And it did, for a few seconds, I felt like the boots I was wearing were made of lead. Taking one more step just felt impossible. But then I felt Sonja's hand on my forearm. And suddenly, she squeezed it as hard as she could. Strangely, I could feel the pressure on my arm but it didn't hurt. I turned my head toward her and opened my eyes wide.

She looked just like I thought I was looking. Scared out of her mind. But that twinkle, that spark that she had when she saw something cool or interesting. It was still there. She smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Oy, did y'all hear me? We've gotta get movin'!" Devos said while finally opening the door.

Taking a big breath, Sonja and I both took our first step outside in the world of Azmos.