Zalia let out a deep breath as Aylie reappeared, looking unharmed and grinning like a maniac.

“Aylie! That was amazing!”

All of them had seen what Aylie had done, calling the star from the sky to obliterate a power that should have been so much stronger than her.

“And stupidly risky,” Ember added, relief and anger battling on her face.

Aylie stood her ground, making eye contact with Ember.

“I’m a higher rank than either of you were when you first started adventuring with the Morning’s Shade. I’ve also had much more training from the both of you in that time and you both did risky things. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you both fought a Gold ranked elemental.”

Zalia definitely couldn’t argue the point, but Ember tried anyway.

“And we were also both much older, with higher ranked back up and teams around us.”

Relief finally won out on Ember’s face as Aylie had the sense to look just a tad sheepish.

“I’m glad you’re safe though.”

Ember hugged her tightly as Zalia turned to Hildebrandt.

“How are you doing?”

Hildebrandt was shivering, as if cold despite the fact that she shouldn’t be able to be.

“I’m… I’ll be alright.”

Zalia helped her sit up against the wall, a thick blanket of soft leaves growing up and over to help warm her.

“I won’t scold you as I’m not your mother, but it was a risky thing you did to kill those Astar.”

Hildebrandt shrugged with a rustle of leaves.

“It had to be done. I wasn’t going to beat them otherwise.”

Zalia nodded. She knew better than most that sometimes sacrifices had to be made. Despite that, she never wanted it to be others that made those sacrifices.

“Well, as it is, you killed them and we were able to free Hidey. You’ve also got three new heirlooms.”

She looked over to where the heirlooms were resting on a side table and Hidlebrandt followed her gaze. frowning.

“I don’t really need any more than I have.”

Zalia gave her a pat on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about that now. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to get you focussed on something else.”

Zalia began talking, leading Hildebrandt through the events over the days she had been in the coma. Matthias’ return brought joy to her face, while the meeting with the Astar rebel Het’jel brought concern and suspicion. Boreal walked in to see what all the fuss was about as Zalia spoke, sitting far from where Ember and Aylie were still talking and staring at Hildebrandt.

When she got to describing the plan, Hildebrandt’s expression grew more concerned.

“That’s a big risk for someone who just basically told me off for my previous one. I’m not sure I can fight something like that.”

Zalia held up a hand.

“In my defence, I brought it back to Faian for approval and she and the council will talk it over before anything is decided. She’ll also be meeting with Het’jel to get a feeling for them. Also, since you won’t be the one doing damage to the Monarch, you won’t have to use Mutual Destruction again. The danger to you personally will probably be less than what you’ve just been through.”

That got Hildebrandt looking thoughtful.

“True enough, though the abilities of a Mythic ranked enemy who has an Ascendant ally should not be underestimated.”

Zalia didn’t argue the point, turning as Boreal spoke.

“There is one more we can bring to the fight.”

Zalia raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, you have some mysterious ally that I don’t know about?”

Boreal looked down and licked her paw in an innocent manner.

“Maybe.”

Zalia looked back up at Hildebrandt, giving her a long-suffering expression and exhaling deeply.

“Alright then, who is it?”

Boreal stopped and looked back up.

“The one who gave me my crown.”

Zalia frowned.

“You know you never told us where you got that, right?”

Boreal was silent for a while before finally replying.

“I’ll take you to meet them, only you. I made a promise not to reveal them to you until the time was right.”

Zalia put a hand on her hip, looking Boreal up and down.

“You’re keeping secrets from me? Where did you go for those couple months?”

Despite being unable to form human expressions, Zalia swore she could see smugness on Boreal’s face. Maybe it was just exuded by her aura.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Let’s go.”

Boreal started to walk out the door.

“Wait just a damn minute, go where?”

“To the north!”

Zalia rolled her eyes.

“Boreal we can’t just walk out and go to the north without saying anything to anyone!”

That finally got Ember and Aylie’s attention.

“What? Why are we going to the north?”

Zalia turned an exasperated look to them.

“Boreal apparently has some mysterious friend who can help us fight the Monarch and only I’m allowed to go meet them.”

Ember gave Boreal a look identical to the one Zalia had just given moments earlier.

“Boreal, are you keeping secrets from us?”

Zalia pointed at Boreal a she tried to inch her way out of the door.

“You stay there!” she turned back to Ember, “That’s what I said! If Boreal has a secret Emerald or Diamond rank friend hidden in her paws I swear.”

Everyone in the room was focussed on Boreal now, her ears pointing backwards as if in an attempt to make herself more streamlined for a dash to safety.

It was Aylie who spoke up first.

“You are keeping something from us, I can see it in your thoughts. Why didn’t you tell me about this, you share all your secrets with me”

Like swivels on a queue, Ember and Zalia’s heads both turned to Aylie.

“All her secrets?” Zalia asked.

Aylie paled.

“Yeahhhhh.”

She extricated herself from Ember and looked like she was about to explain, then disappeared.

Zalia looked at Ember.

“I’m going to go with Boreal up north to find this powerful friend of hers. In all seriousness, if they’re real and willing to help, I wouldn’t say no.”

Ember nodded.

“Good, we have a bit of time before Hildebrandt is in a state to be fighting again so we’ve got the time. Aylie and I are gonna have a nice long chat while you’re gone.”

Hildebrandt, who had been silently watching the entire ordeal, spoke up.

“You’re all crazy.”

Ember turned to her.

“You have no idea. It’s Boreal’s fault, she was the one that turned insanity into normalcy for all of us.”

Zalia nodded her agreement as she left the room.

“Yep, allllll Boreal.”

She put a hand on Boreal’s back as she said so, the feline still frozen in the doorway.

“Let’s go meet your friend, shall we?”

A journey to the north of Endaria from their relatively central home of Nature’s Reclaim used to take quite some time to complete. That had been back in the days of low ranked travel, however. Now at Silver rank with plenty of abilities that assisted in mobility, such as the Mobility and Flight passives as well as Zalia’s many rituals to enhance speed, the journey wouldn’t take long at all. It would be even further cut short by her ability to step back through the vault created by her gauntlet and back to either of her Druid Grove’s instantly.

They decided against bringing Boreal’s children as they would slow travel down considerably, with both Boreal and Zalia being able to go almost indefinitely without sleep due to Zalia’s Survivalist passive, the ability shared with Boreal through their bond.

Excited at the sudden and unknown nature of their journey, Zalia applied the ritual of flight to Boreal as they left the house and took to the sky. It reminded her of her early days in Endaria, going wherever at a whim, without responsibility or any purpose other than survival.

Hours turned to days as the distant rolling hills and forests of Endaria flashed by beneath them. Zalia didn’t manage to get any more information out of Boreal other than the promise that her friend was indeed real and very capable of helping in their fight against the Monarch.

She had no idea where or how Boreal had found a high ranked ally and befriended them enough within the short span of a couple months to the point that they’d fight a Mythic ranked enemy but she was absolutely going to get the story out of her when they got back to Nature’s Reclaim. Neither she nor Ember had pushed Boreal to tell them about her months away but it was apparently about time they did.

The grass and green trees of Endaria turned to the snow laden mountains of the north before long. Directed by Boreal, they flew past the mountain that contained Glemp and his people. Further and further they went, flying at speed for more than a day past the mountain. Zalia began to wonder just how far north Boreal had gone to find whatever ally this was, and what this ally was, before a mountain came into sight between two others. Boreal pointed it out and they made their way towards it.

It was large, taller even than Glemp’s mountain home. From their low vantage point, Zalia could tell that it ended not in a point but was either flat or caved in on top.

She started to fly up towards it but Boreal interrupted her.

“We land and walk from here.”

Zalia frowned.

“What, why?”

Boreal didn’t answer to Zalia’s frustration, flying down to land.

She followed, her curiosity growing by the moment.

They landed amidst the thick powder of snow covering the ground, neither of them bothered by it or the cold it put off. Pushing through with ease, they made their way up the base of the mountain as it grew steeper and steeper. They needed to clamber up amongst boulders and even climb rock faces at points, but Boreal insisted that they made the journey on foot. Up and up they went until they finally reached the top, the air thin to the point that were they not both capable of surviving with very little air, it might have been a problem.

Atop the mountain was a deep caldera inside which the snow had fell and then melted. The water made by that snow was rising up into the sky as steam, though the small amount of steam quickly dissipated into the air.

The cause of the melting snow was a massive, scaled form. With each breath of the giant winged creature, sparks of lightning jumped to the ground around it, stone shattering and chips flying at its impact. The lightning wasn’t what was causing the snow to melt, however. That was caused by the sheer heat coming off of the creature.

Seemingly without a second thought, Boreal stepped over the ledge and would have walked right down towards the creature had Zalia not grabbed her by the tail and dragged her back.

“Boreal!” she hissed.

Boreal spun as Zalia pulled her back over the ledge, taking her tail out of reach.

“What?”

Zalia poked her head over the edge, then ducked back as the massive creature let out another deep, rumbling breath.

“What the fuck is that!?”

Her voice was still a whisper, though she switched to telepathy to ensure she didn’t wake the beast.

“My ally! This is Rozestrazix, Storm of the North.”

Zalia blinked at Boreal, shocked. She didn’t know what she had been expecting but it hadn’t been what looked to be an entire damn dragon.

They both heard the cracking of stone and Zalia felt a bolt of fear run through her, the feeling deep and primal in a way she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

“Reveal yourselves,” a deep, thunderous voice commanded.

Boreal hopped over the ledge without further consideration, while Zalia stood, trembling.

“Ahh, young Boreal, it is good to see you again.”

Zalia stared at Boreal, then the dragon, as it lowered its head to allow Boreal to bump her head against it.

“What the-”