It was shortly after the fight with the Silver rank demon and a decision was growing further into certainty in Zalia’s mind. As much as she disliked the idea of leaving her friends and family in Ostoss while she went off to get help, she disliked the idea of Ostoss being destroyed because they were too late a little bit more.

Without the others, Zalia would be quick enough that she might yet be able to get help.

The Barrier Enchanter had come out of hiding after the fight as well, lending no words to the conversation, simply inspecting the dead creature's body before leaving, back to his house.

Zalia didn’t pretend to understand the man. They were probably about as different as two people could get while still fighting for the same cause. Much like Ember and Indis, now that she thought about it.

The farmers had slowly come back to the park after the fight had ended, a little scared looking but rightfully so. Twice now they had been attacked as they tried to farm the quickly spreading crops.

“Ember.”

Ember looked up from where she sat on their bench.

“What’s up?”

Zalia tapped her finger on her leg a few times, going over the list of reasons in her head once more before finally making her decision.

“I think I should go to Endelbyrn alone to get help.”

Ember stood abruptly, looking confused.

“Why?”

“Because I don’t need to sleep much, am very stealthy and am significantly faster than any of you. I can get there in just a few days compared to a week or more of travel.”

She could see the gears turning in Ember’s head. She could see as Ember tried to come up with counterpoints or any rebuttal to her idea. She also knew that there weren’t any or she would have found them. It wasn’t a decision she made idly, as she would have actually preferred the others come with her. It just simply wasn’t possible, this time.

“Can’t you see why? You can continue giving out food to the people while I get help as well. It’s what is best for Ostoss.”

Ember stayed frozen for a few more moments.

“Damnit Zalia.”

“I know.”

“Don’t you dare get yourself killed out there.”

Zalia stepped forward and grabbed Ember in a tight embrace.

“I won’t, don’t worry. You better all stay safe here too.”

“We will.”

Zalia finally pulled away, then kissed Ember gently.

“It’ll be alright. We can do this.”

Ember nodded, a single tear running down her cheek that Zalia wiped away with her thumb.

“Leaving?” Boreal asked.

“Yes.”

Boreal started to walk towards the city gates far off in the distance but Zalia stopped her with a hand.

“Not this time. I need you to stay with Ember and Aylie.”

Boreal stopped and sat, looking at her in confusion.

“But…”

Zalia knelt down and hugged her furry friend. They had been by each other’s side ever since Zalia had found Boreal atop that snowy mountain. Neither had been separated from the other for more than a few hours at most.

“I know darling, but I need you to protect them both for me. You’re big and strong now and I need you. Can you do that for me?”

Boreal pushed her face into Zalia, almost knocking her over.

“I’ll protect them.”

Zalia nodded, finding herself crying now. She cupped Boreal’s face with both hands and gave her a kiss on the forehead before standing.

She found Aylie in the house, playing around with the walls, decorating them with her Plant Manipulation ability. Boreal and Ember crowded the doorway as Zalia stepped up and sat on the bed beside Aylie.

“I’m going to go get help on my own Aylie. Boreal and Ember will be here with you.”

Aylie looked up sharply.

“What, why?”

“Because I can get there and back much quicker than any of you. I’ll be alright, I promise.”

Aylie’s voice came out nothing but a little whisper.

“It’s not you I’m worried for.”

Zalia pulled her in close for a hug.

“I need you to stay safe for me.”

She looked up at Ember.

“If anything happens, I want you to leave the city. Don’t stay and protect it if it isn’t possible. All three of you, get as many people as you can and get out.”

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Ember nodded.

Zalia knew Ember would usually do everything she could to save people but she also knew she could trust her to protect Aylie and Boreal before anything else.

She stood up, gave Ember one last hug and looked back at Aylie’s fearful face, before turning about and leaving.

She found Tristan first, telling him that she was leaving and Ember was staying. He looked surprised but didn’t ask questions, though she was sure he would grill Ember about it later.

Then, she went to the city gates and left.

As city streets turned to empty plains, she sped up her pace until she was comfortably running quicker than most people would usually be able to achieve at a sprint, all thanks to Mobility.

She quickly left the city behind as plains turned to forest, back to plains and back to forest again. Trees flashed by in a blur as her legs pumped, driving her ever towards her westward goal, Endelbyrn.

She knew that Larel was with the army, performing some task or another at the direction of Indis and Faian. The two Gold rankers she was hoping to find however, Hildebrandt and Matthias, were most likely at Endelbyrn. She knew that the city still stood thanks to information she had received from Indis when they’d caught up. If the city still stood, she would undoubtedly find some strong people there. It had once been the home of the majority of the powerful people in Endaria, though she knew of only two Gold rankers still amongst their ranks.

If there were more, or even higher-ranked members, she had never met or heard of them. So, her hopes lay in getting both Hildebrandt and Matthias to Ostoss as quickly as possible. Perhaps they could even escort the people of Ostoss to the mountain home with Glemp and continue onwards to the war camp after that. Their chances of defeating the demons would be increased considerably with a further two Gold rankers and who knew how many other well-trained and high-ranked people in their numbers.

She could still feel both Ember and Boreal over their bonds, the concern, fears and anxiety that they felt, emotions she shared.

It felt odd being away from them, an experience she found quite strange.

When she had first come to Endaria, it had been after living on her own for many years. During that time she had grown accustomed to her own company, talking very little and socialising even less. She had been comfortable in the wilds by herself more so than she had been in cities filled with people making sounds, smells and other assaults on her senses.

Since then though, while she still didn’t like being in cities, she had become used to the company of others. She had been around Boreal so long and had been through so much with her that it felt wrong to be without her. Additionally, while her relationship with Ember was new, her friendship with her was not. She had met Ember even before Boreal, and while they had not endured Cormaine together, she had still been there for Zalia more than a few times.

So it came that as she ran through the wilds alone, she felt, well, lonely. It was an entirely new experience, one she didn’t like at all.

⪼ ⪢ ℋ 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℋ ⪡ ⪻

Three days later, Zalia was still running.

She had stopped after the second day to sleep a single hour before waking and beginning her run once more. Strangely, she didn’t feel tired or hungry on the surface whatsoever. Her body felt strong and lithe, ready to take on anything as it often did nowadays.

What she did feel though, was something deep, deep inside. An exhaustion that had nothing to do with her body. It was as if the Mobility passive had its own separate limitations to her body that would eventually rise to the surface and make itself known.

That eventuality felt far off, however, enough that she would be able to make it to Endelbyrn.

She was half expecting the glowing city to appear over every next hill or past each clump of trees. It had been a long while since she had last been to the city, though she remembered the way quite well due to her increased mental abilities and the fact that she had lived there for quite some time.

She hadn’t had to avoid any demons so far, only needing to annihilate a pack of the Tin flying demons with a few quick rituals. Other than that it had been the simple and boring task of running day in and day out. Step after step, nothing other than where her next foot would land.

After another hour of her extended running, Endelbyrn finally made itself visible over the horizon. It was much as she remembered it, tall crenelated walls made of a stone that glittered in the sunlight and a keep far within that absorbed the light, only to emit it during the night.

The big difference she first noticed though, was the huge hole in the outer wall and the light streams of smoke that drifted from the city proper into the sky above. The keep itself looked fine, thankfully.

She was a little concerned for the state of things, hoping that she hadn’t come all of this way for nothing. If it turned out that the Morning’s Shade had indeed fallen, she would have to run all the way back and come up with an entirely new plan on the way.

She approached the city and managed to convince her legs to drop into a walk, after a little bit of a stumble. She felt like she had been running forever.

The gates were wide open and she walked straight through into the city beyond, finding it… completely silent. It was an odd change to what she remembered of entering the city. Usually, it was one of the loudest places she had the misfortune of walking into but it felt dead now, without the sounds of a bustling city life.

She walked past some houses that were torn apart, smoking remains of structures and even some bodies lay in the streets. Some of them were demons and some were not.

Her path led up towards the keep, where she knew she would find the people she was looking for. Where she hoped she would find them.

The entrance was much as she remembered. A carefully cultivated garden with a path leading through it came to a large set of double doors set into the base of the central spire. All around, many other spires rose into the sky, connected to the main one and each other by walkways both ground level and between higher floors.

It was all as she remembered it, as well as the two guards that stood by the front doors.

She frowned, realising she didn’t have the little icon they had given to her when she had joined that let her enter usually. She would just have to convince them.

“Hey there, mind if I come in?”

Her attempt at sounding casual came out a little tense.

One of the guards drew their dual sabres and she recognised him with a jolt. It was one of the men who had been guarding the door the very first day she had arrived.

“Hey! You’re alive!!”

“Stay where you are!”

Zalia sighed.

“Hey, you really don’t have to be so-”

She cut off as the other guard stepped forward and grabbed her by the arm. They roughly pulled her arm up and cut into her palm

She suffered the indignity in silence, knowing what exactly they were testing for. She wondered if it would become a cultural practice to cut one's palm before entering a building after all this was over.

“Happy now?”

The guard dropped her arm and scratched at their head.

“Sorry about that.”

“Ah, no apologies needed. I understand why. Can I go in and see Hildebrandt now?”

The guard stepped out of her way but the other did not.

“You said you knew me?”

“Yeah! You were here on my first day.”

Then she frowned. The guard that had given her food when she had been imprisoned in the tower by Hidey had been the other of the two guards that had been here on her first day. She wondered idly if this guy had been in on it too.

“Hey, yeah I think I do recognise you. Zalia, right? Aren’t you meant to be dead?”

“Loooooong story. One I’d like to tell Hildebrandt and Matthias first.”

He finally stepped out of the way.

“Alright, in you go.”

Zalia smiled at him.

“Thanks.”