Leyra Indis stretched and, with a groan, got out of bed. It was late morning already, but with the relaxed lifestyle she lived now it didn’t really matter. She hopped down from the second story perch that held her bed and landed lithely on the floor below, then proceeded to flop into a chair as Hedion handed her a cup of tea.

“Thanks honey.”

She sipped at the boiling water, her Silver rank body completely unharmed by the temperature. The tea had a strange coldness to it that was both at odds with and mixed perfectly with the heat.

“Mmmm, that’s good. Is this a new blend?”

Hedion nodded, showing her the stem of a plant.

“Yeah, I’m trying out some of this rare plant that you found. Cold and time aspects in a plant of all things! How is it?”

Leyra took another appreciative sip.

“Strange, but nice.”

It had been more than a year since she had met Hedion in the raging storm and almost six months now that they had been together. He had finished gathering the materials for his contracts around that time and gone back to Endaria much to her disappointment. It was on his permanent return that they had finally got together, the looming thought of his return to Endaria without her no longer an issue.

Leyra felt like a different person now then she had been. She felt much more stable, healthy and at peace than she ever had been when fighting to try to save a kingdom that, in the end, didn’t really need her. It had been a hard realisation for her but after finally accepting it, she felt a freedom that hadn’t ever blessed her life before.

Now she lived in a nice house that she and Hedion had built together, drank tea in the mornings and idled away the days in peace. She thanked the strange scaled beast in the storm everyday for pushing her to take shelter with Hedion, her life had been so much better ever since.

There had been times that she had considered going to see Zen or the others back in Endaria but, each time the urge found her, she thought about her life then compared to now and it disappeared again. She did wonder how everyone was doing sometimes, whether they still disliked or even hated her for what she had done. There were days that she hated herself for what she had done too.

Those days were rare though and Hedion always got her through them.

They had moved much further north than the simple cave that she had first met Hedion in, which was another reason she avoided going down south again. The journey simply wasn’t worth it.

“I saw something strange last night,” Hedion said.

“Oh?”

She looked over at him preparing some kind of plant as she continued to sip at the tea.

“Yeah, I felt a powerful magic and then an aurora formed between two of the mountains. Thought it might be worth checking out, want to come along?”

Leyra shrugged.

“Why not? It isn’t like I have anything else to do today.”

She finished the dregs of her tea and got up, stretching luxuriously. Neither of them had any need to wear thick or warm clothes since they were both in the lower Silver rank margin. Even if they didn’t have Cold Resistance, they were high enough rank to ignore most environmental effects that weren’t magical.

Leyra wore a simple dress that was loose enough not to hinder her movement, having slowly taken to Hedion’s style of living, looking like someone headed to the beach during summer rather than someone who was trudging through the snow.

They walked together casually, their pace a slow stroll. Leyra had come to enjoy the feeling of snow passing around her legs, the strength of her rank making it no more cumbersome than walking through the air.

“How far do you think it was?”

Hedion was eating some dried meat from one of the bears he and Leyra had taken down recently. He finished chewing before he responded.

“Hmm, not long. We could get there pretty quickly if you wanted to.”

“It doesn’t particularly matter, I was just wondering.”

Hedion chewed on some more dried meat, running his hand down a nearby tree as he walked past.

“I was thinking of expanding the house a bit more, make a living room and a couch. Might use some bear pelts, they’ll definitely be better than those metal pelt rabbits.”

“Oh, you think the soft fur will be better than the hard metal pelts? Where did you come up with that?”

Hedion snorted a laugh.

“No need to be so sarcastic honey.”

“There’s always need for sarcasm. It’s a good idea though, which side do you want to expand out?”

“Northern wall would be best.”

Leyra nodded her agreement and they continued to walk on.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

It wasn’t long before she saw the aurora that Hedion was talking about, a bright and beautiful thing hanging in the air in a gorge between two mountain peaks. There was something familiar about it that Leyra couldn’t quite place.

“Wow, that is beautiful… maybe we can move over there and rebuild.”

“Hm, if it’s a nice place I don’t see why not.”

As they got closer to the aurora, some details began to gain clarity. It became obvious that it wasn’t just an aurora, having a few glowing lights amidst its other beautiful colours. There was an unnaturally tall set of trees underneath it too, which raised Leyra’s suspicion. It couldn’t be… could it?

It was another ten minutes of walking before she felt the aura that was emanating from the aurora and her suspicions were confirmed. She stopped in place, staring.

“I don’t think we should go there.”

Hedion, who could feel the aura as well, frowned.

“What? Why not?”

“I know who made that and… well, the last time we spoke it didn’t end on good terms. Do you remember Zalia? I’ve talked with you about her before.”

Realisation dawned on Hedion’s face.

“Ahhh, she wouldn’t mind us visiting, would she? It’s been a long time since you two spoke, maybe she’s forgiven you.”

Leyra could read the unspoken words in Hedion’s expression. Maybe Zalia had forgiven her, like she had forgiven herself.

She stood still for a moment, unsure as to what she should do. Eventually, she nodded.

“Alright, we can go have a look. Just be prepared, she might not let us anywhere near.”

“She wouldn’t hurt us, would she?”

Leyra shook her head.

“No, but I have a feeling she could if she wanted to.”

Zalia always had been more powerful than was normal for her rank, significantly so. Leyra had been jealous of that power once, more than just Zalia’s power if she was being honest with herself. Zalia was the type of person Leyra had wanted to be, the person who saved the kingdom, who went above and beyond for no other reason than the kingdom needed her to. Leyra’s goal had been the same, the path she chose to take to get there had just been… a little flawed.

Settling her mind and strengthening her resolve, Leyra started walking towards the aurora. The feeling of the power was so familiar to her, hauntingly so, except it was now Gold rank. If that was the case, Zalia was either already Gold rank herself or getting close to. When she had met the ferocious hunter, Leyra had been Iron rank with Zalia being Tin rank yet already quite strong. She had soon caught up to, then overtaken, Leyra in rank and it looked like she wasn’t slowing down her pace whatsoever.

Hedion kept shooting discerning glances towards Leyra, ensuring that she wasn’t panicking or stressing too much. Leyra loved him for that, though she was feeling alright. It was about time she went to see her old friends anyway.

The looming forms of the trees that formed the Grove that Zalia had created soon shadowed Leyra as they arrived. The aura of the place was even stronger now, though it was calming and warm as it had always been. What wasn’t calming was the six large cats that waited for her.

None of them were Boreal, though a few of them looked quite similar.

“Um, hello?”

The line of giant cats sat silently, staring at her.

“Are you sure this place belongs to your friend?” Hedion asked quietly, an edge of concern in his voice.

Leyra nodded and took another step forward.

“Is Zalia here? I’d love to see her again.”

One of the cats blinked.

“Lady Indis? Is that you?”

Leyra looked around for owner of the disembodied voice and soon found saw Ember stepping out from between the tall trunks of the trees.

“Ember? It’s been a long time.”

“Off you go, little rascals.”

Ember shooed the cats away and they scattered in a sudden burst of motion, vanishing into the thick growth of plants amongst the Grove.

“What are you doing here Indis?”

“It’s Leyra,” she corrected.

She registered the surprise on Ember’s face at her insistence. Leyra didn’t say anything and Ember turned to Hedion, looking him up and down with a critical air.

“And who are you?”

“Hedion, a pleasure to meet you Ember.”

“I hope to say the same. Ind- Leyra, what are you doing here?”

Leyra gestured in the direction of her home.

“Hedion and I live out here, a short distance in that direction. We saw the Aurora and wanted to come check it out. Imagine my surprise finding one of Zalia’s Groves out here.”

“You live out here? Just the two of you?”

Leyra nodded.

“Well, you better come in then, Zalia will be here soon.”

Swallowing her nervousness, Leyra followed Ember down a winding path into the Grove. There were plenty of disguised houses amongst the flora and she sometimes saw the glowing eyes of cats amongst the dark patches.

“What’s with all the cats? Did Zalia adopt more of them?”

Ember, who had been walking ahead, dropped back to walk in line.

“Oh, five of them are Boreal’s children and the sixth is the father of said children. They’re a bunch of scamps really, you remember how Boreal was. Imagine five of her, it can be a lot to deal with sometimes.”

Leyra nodded appreciatively. Zalia had dealt with Boreal’s shenanigans for the most part but Leyra had needed to deal with more than enough herself.

“How did you two meet?” Ember asked.

“Funny story. It was when I first came out north, there was a powerful storm with some kind of scaled beast inside it. I was hunkering down during the storm and Hedion found and helped me to shelter.”

“Oh, you know Rozestrazix?”

Leyra looked at Ember curiously.

“Who?”

“Nevermind. And are you two… together?”

“Yes.”

Ember didn’t comment further as they arrived at a tree of a different kind to the others in the Grove. Leyra saw the portals that were carved into it, with the image of Nature’s Reclaim through one of them.

“Are those…”

“Yeah, those are real. When was the last time you were back in Endaria?”

“A long time.”

As they spoke, a third portal opened in the tree bark, revealing Zalia in full armour with her sword in hand and bow floating next to her. Boreal was next to her, coated in armour with an icy crown and an even colder gaze, neither of which were as cold as Zalia’s tone.

“Hello Indis.”