Zalia jumped forward, inspecting Matthias with a discerning eye. Apart from the sword in his gut, he seemed to be in good health. She crouched down, met his eyes and once acknowledged, pulled the sword out, throwing it with a clatter behind.

The double layered healing of her Grove and Healing Presence grew new skin over the wound in moments.

“Matthias!? Where have you been?”

He looked up, exhaustion obvious.

“Zalia?”

She nodded.

Matthias had vanished long ago after the huge ritual had brought demons to Endaria. He had once been one of three leaders of the Morning’s Shade and also happened to be Gold rank, specialising in sand manipulation magic.

“What has happened to Et’s Way?” he asked.

She started, hearing the name of the town that she had replaced so long ago.

“This is Nature’s Reclaim now and I’m the appointed Lady of the town. A lot has changed since you disappeared.”

He started getting to his feet and she helped him up. Ember shooed the curious townspeople away, though they still waited around at a distance.

Matthias' eyes went distant.

“I feel like I’ve been in a dream,” he whispered.

Zalia thought she knew what had happened.

“The Astar had you?”

His eyes focused back on her.

“Yes, you know about that?”

She looked at the other people who had apparently arrived with him, similarly exhausted. They all wore the same simple clothes that the Astar gave to their mindless slaves.

“Yeah, me and my family were the ones that freed you and the others from them.”

“That was you!? In the sky, summoning lightning?”

Zalia nodded.

Then, strangely, the man teared up and gave her a hug.

How odd.

She returned the hug, patting him on the back a bit awkwardly.

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you out with the others, we didn’t have time to wait any longer.”

He shook his head, breaking the hug.

“I understand, how many did you save?”

“Around one-hundred and thirty. Would have been more if the Astar hadn’t chased us the whole way.”

Matthias shuddered.

“We were thirty, originally. They just wouldn’t let us go.”

Zalia looked around at the six remaining, including Matthias. It must have been a tortuous journey. They wouldn’t have had anti-teleportation and had apparently not had any craftsmen amongst their number. She knew that they hadn’t gotten all of the slaves out, she just hadn’t imagined that Matthias had been amongst that group.

“It’s good to see you alive, Matthias. We’re in need of you now more than ever.”

He looked at her.

“In need? Why?”

She shook her head.

“A lot has changed since you left, come, you and yours are welcome in Nature’s Reclaim. We’ll see you looked after and we can talk once you’ve slept. You all look exhausted.”

Matthias turned to the other members of his group who all looked just as exhausted and dirty as he did.

“That sounds good.”

She saw a tension leave his body. They had spent the past weeks hunted and on the run, she knew how that felt.

Zalia gestured to the few guards nearby and pointed at the body.

“Burn that please, I’d rather not have even a dead Astar here.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

They moved to do as she asked while she led Matthias away from the gates and towards her home. She had a feeling that he would be surprised to find Hildebrandt there and even more so to learn of the state that she was in.

A lot had changed in the past four odd years, which was about the time he had been enslaved for. He probably didn’t even know about the war, perhaps even the invasion depending on how early he had been taken.

When they arrived, Zalia showed Matthias to Hildebrandt’s room, where he rushed over to check on her. Zalia had told him the short story, enough that he wouldn’t be surprised to find her there.

While he did that, Zalia pulled out the heirloom items that had dropped from the dome with Hildebrandt. They were hers by right, to do with as she wished.

Twin Daggers, Starfire and Void (Heirloom) - Emerald rank.

Phasing Amulet (Heirloom) - Emerald rank.

Warrior’s Greatsword, That Which Cleaves (Heirloom) - Emerald rank.

She wasn’t particularly surprised to find that the daggers were technically one heirloom and personally didn’t have much use for them. The Phasing Amulet might have been something she was interested in though.

Matthias shook Hildebrandt’s shoulders gently.

“She won’t wake, we’ve tried various types of healing she just… won’t wake. I think it was this dagger that stabbed her.”

Zalia held the dagger Starfire out to him and he took it, inspecting the weapon.

Then, she began to tell him of everything he had missed.

She started with the invasion, describing the horrors she witnessed and what they had to do to clean out the demons. Then came the few years of peace, the small discoveries she made about the Astar during and after the invasion that led to the realisation that the Astar were stealing people, something he knew intimately of. Finally, she got to the more recent events which she went into with more detail. What she had done to free the slaves, himself included, how the council of Endaria had reacted and their current official state at war with the Astar.

He took it all in stride, still holding the dagger carefully so as to not scratch himself with it.

“So much lost time…”

Zalia waited, unsure what to say.

“Is there nothing you can do for Hildebrandt?”

Zalia shook her head slowly.

“No, not that we know of. For now it’s up to her to fight it off, though Aylie and I will continue to do what we can.”

Then she realised that she hadn’t really gone over why Hidey was imprisoned or what the purpose of the fight with the Emerald Astar had been. That was fine, Hidey could explain what had happened to him now.

“Hidey is here too.”

She saw a faint smile on his face at the nickname and it occurred to her that this was a very different man to the one she had met previously. That man had been stern and intrinsically disappointed in everything and everyone around him. This Matthias seemed… normal.

“Can I see him?” Matthias asked.

“Sure, yeah.”

They left Hildebrandt there and Zalia quickly checked in on Heston on the way out of the house. He was fast asleep, loud snores muffled by the vine-leaf coated walls.

It didn’t take long to reach the place that the Ancient of Wisdom had given to the soldiers temporarily; a house large enough for them all to sleep comfortably for the time being. She went inside to find most of them asleep or nearing sleep, with Faian nowhere to be found.

Zalia gently prodded one of the awake soldiers and got directions to Faian. She was out the back of the house in a small fenced garden, holding Hidey’s cube.

The conversation Faian and Hidey were having fell to silence as Zalia and Matthias pushed out into the backyard.

Matthias stormed forward and grabbed the cube from Faian.

“How could you,’ he hissed at it.

Zalia raised a hand.

“He wasn’t actu-”

“We trusted you, we relied on you. And you betrayed us.”

Matthias dropped the cube to the ground, then stomped away.

Zalia stood there as he pushed past her, dumbfounded. He had seemed like he wanted to see Hidey because he missed him, not because he wanted to yell at him.

“So he made it back then, I see,” Faian commented.

Zalia barely registered the words. She had mentioned that Hidey was being controlled to Matthias, though she hadn’t said by whom. Couldn’t he see that it wasn’t Hidey’s fault?

“Can you let him out yet?”

Faian smiled, leaning down to pick the cube Hidey was stuck in back up.

“I was actually just about to do just that.”

Zalia felt a spike of excitement. Hidey would be free at last!

She knew it hadn't been easy on the shade, spending years trapped in the tiny cube. In a way it was similar to what Matthias had been through, yet quite the opposite. Where Matthias had his mind dulled and trapped while his body remained free, Hidey had his body trapped while his mind remained free. Two similar yet somehow so different experiences.

Faian held the cube up near to get mouth and whispered something into it. A sharp crack resounded from the cube and smoke began to leak from it. The smoke slowly took form, growing in size until Hidey stood before them, whole once more.

Zalia moved forward and dragged him into a hug.

“Welcome back.”

He let out a long sigh of relief, hugging her back before stretching luxuriously. His hands pulled open and closed over and over, almost of their own accord.

“It feels so good to be free once more, not just of body but of mind.”

And Zalia realised she had been wrong in her thoughts. Hidey had indeed been mentally imprisoned as well, in a different way, yet at the hands of the Astar as well.

Hidey looked over her shoulder towards where Matthias had stormed off.

“I should speak to him.”

Zalia shook her head.

“Eventually, but first you should see Hildebrandt. She went through and is still going through a lot to get you out of that cube. It wouldn't have been possible without her.”

“You're right, of course. Will you show me the way?”

“Of course.”

She did, however, meet Faian’s eyes, receiving a nod of approval. There was a warning there though, a silent message to be careful still. They were ninety-nine percent sure Hidey was free, yet it would be best to remain wary for now.

Still, it was hard to feel down as she watched Hidey take a single step, smiling all the while.