Tal knelt before a certain bowl with clasped hands and closed eyes.

After moment of complete silence passed, she opened her eyes and with a bright smile, she stood up before tidying up the house even though it was pretty clean to begin with.

As she did, she heard the laughter of children who were outside.

She walked up to the window by the front door and glanced beyond the bounds of her home.

Her eyes widened a little upon seeing a handful of children playing in the cool of the cavern, atop the its Western platform which was ten meters wide. It’s left side was lined with houses and its right was left untitled, revealing the river that passed through the Cavern’s centre.

The children were able to play so freely because, even though things were politically tense, neither Emunah nor Kiynah were willing to put the lives of their people at risk just to further their own agendas.

Emunah was more than happy with Chozek who played the role of Chief diligently. His training with Pazia was also steadily making him a bit more confident and bold, something a lot of the warriors appreciated.

That said, a large chunk of the warriors openly voiced their preference for Kiynah who, in the time that had passed since the marriage, had simply fulfilled his duty to the people as advisor.

Tal didn’t know any of this since Vah wanted her to focus on developing a connection with a god she believed to have been abandoned.

A loud series of knocks on the front door frightened the six year old girl making her rush to the bedroom where Vah slept.

“Mommy, there’s someone at the door!” Tal reported waking her mother up.

“Alright. I’ll see who it is.” Vah yawned before making her way to the door which she opened slightly to see that it was Pazia on the other side.

Her interactions with him were limited since he mostly kept to himself and the only other times she saw him speak was when he was whispering something into Ayit’s ear.

“Hello.” She greeted but she squeezed her hands into fists as Pazia lowered his head to hers.

“We need to run now. A group of men is headed this way with the intent of kidnapping your daughter and using her as leverage in their bid to put Kiynah on the throne. They may even force her to marry him.”

Vah’s eyes widened.

“What are you saying? I thought he wasn’t interested in the throne.” She said while closing the door a little.

“That is true but there are people who just won’t accept the fact that Emunah is still Queen-“ Pazia said before turning his head to the right and up the street from which he came.

“They’re coming.” He said while stepping back allowing Vah, who’s eyes were flashing green, to step outside.

Her eyes then widened upon seeing a group of twenty men walking down the street. They wore dark leather clothes and had their faces concealed, although judging by the spears some of them held, a few of them were guards.

“It’s about time I return home anyway, so either you come with me and we go together or you stay here and find your own path.”

Vah frowned deeply.

“You’re going back to Hatua?” She asked as her breaths hastened.

“Yes.” Pazia smiled before offering her his hand.

“So, what is your choice?”

Vah bit her teeth as Tal stood behind her with fearful eyes.

She slapped Pazia’s hand away before picking Tal up.

“Lead the way.” She said prompting Pazia to turn walk towards the river facing edge of the street.

After seeing Vah exit the house, the group of men broke into sprints.

Without hesitation, Pazia jumped into the river which, at this point in the Cavern, was five meters below.

He then caught a now weeping Tal as Vah helped her down before jumping herself just as a spear flew past where her head once was.

Tal thrashed about in panic but Pazia grabbed both her and her mother before swimming across the cavern to the eastern platform.

He eventually made it to the other side while his pursuers followed but, after throwing Vah and Tal onto a lower part of the eastern platform, he was greeted by several guards who all pointed spears at him, Vah and Tal who now clung to her mother.

“Mister Pazia, it would be best if you didn’t get involved in this. We respect you for what you did during the war and I think Kiynah would appreciate having a capable man like you by his side when he takes the throne from that woman. So please… step aside.” One of the guards said as Pazia climbed onto the platform.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

His destination was a tunnel a few meters to the south which led into the cavern deep.

I knew this because I knew that’s where he placed a small boat for a reason I couldn’t figure out until this moment.

As Pazia digested the guard’s words, the group which had pursued him reached the eastern platform but, as they crawled onto it, Pazia knelt down to Vah before whispering in her ear.

“The choice is yours.”

Vah’s already widened eyes trembled but it took only a moment for her eyes to glow bright green and, just as the men behind her finally got onto the platform, several of them fell back in as their hearts were drained of Life Energy.

She could have killed all of them but there a limit to just how much fine control someone had over magic.

Manipulating the Life Energy of one person was already a delicate task and so trying to anymore than a handful would result in problems like not being able to properly kill someone.

Pazia nodded to himself before jumping onto his feet.

He then grabbed the arm of the guard who had spoken to him and threw him at his comrades.

Vah killed the remaining men behind her before picking Tal up and rushed to Pazia’s side as more guards rushed towards him.

Vah raised her hand, killing a few while Pazia grabbed the spear of the guard he had thrown.

He used this spear to stab several approaching guards in the head but as he did, one of them blew a horn, gathering the attention of more guards.

“What’s happening?” The fresh wave of guards asked.

“Pazia has gone mad! He wants to kidnap the princess!” The guard who blew the horn cried.

The other guards then joined the old ones in trying to kill Pazia who, along with Vah and Tal, was steadily taking steps towards the tunnel.

His long, powerful arms and quick reflexes allowed him to kill several guards without sustaining to many injuries and Vah helped by killing any guards who tried to flank him but half of her attention was also on her daughter who loudly wept while clinging to her dress.

The three eventually reached the tunnel but, at this point, almost every guard on the eastern platform was attacking them and although Pazia was strong, he couldn’t fight them all of and so, after dropping his spear, he dashed backwards and picked Vah and Tal up again before running further into the tunnel.

“Collapse the tunnel!” He barked and Vah, after raising her hands, squeezed them into fists crushing both the rock and the people within using Gravity Magic.

Pazia gave her a nod before running all the way to the tunnel’s end where a wooden boat awaited.

It sat on a small pool of water which was connected to a tunnel which was half submerged in water. Also, the boat was half filled with supplies – food, water and various other things.

“Get on!” Pazia urged and Vah complied, carrying Tal onto the boat as well.

Vah then let out a groan after seeing that the raft wasn’t going to be big enough for all three of them but before she could point this out, Pazia removed his clothes and jumped into the water where he proceeded to push the boat into the tunnel.

“Why… why are you doing this? Why are you helping us?” Vah asked while trying her best to comfort Tal who wept in her arms.

“I was gonna leave anyway. So I thought I’d let you tag along. And besides… this makes us even.” Pazia said although he muttered the last part.

Vah nodded before looking ahead, into the dark tunnel.

She then used Light Magic to make her hair glow, bathing the tunnel in light.

“If you were going to return to Hatua either way… why did you leave?”

“Well, let’s just say a curious mind does not let its body sit still.” Pazia said.

Vah nodded once more before fully turning to Tal who now softly sniffled.

She gently rubbed her back before joining her daughter in flinching as a clap of thunder shook the air, even down in the tunnels.

I knew this was because the storm had grown to its strongest and it had gotten so bad that my island was surrounded by a massive wall of water and wind.

I turned to the south, just as Heziyn, Makaa, Musa and the Ilem reached Abanafash.

The group had fled many of Ua’s hunters and had found shelter in a small abandoned shack on the beach.

Roaring winds and heavy rain swept across Hatua as well.

I could tell that the storm was slowly moving east but it was at an incredibly slow rate.

“A small raft won’t last a second out there.” Makaa said as he stood by the shack’s door.

He, like everyone else, was wet although Musa faired the worst. His small body quaked and shivered all while steams of mucous fell from his nose.

“But none of us can pilot the larger ships so our options are limited.” Heziyn said while holding the shaking boy.

The Ilem suddenly flinched and turned to the south, making Heziyn and Makaa look that way as well, although all they could see was a wall.

The Ilem’s eyes then flashed green.

“They’ve already found us?” Makaa growled while picking up a spear and shield he had looted from one of the many hunters he had killed.

“How far away are they-“ Heziyn was stopped mid sentence by an explosion which came from somewhere really close to the shack.

The group then dashed out of the shack just before a fireball struck its side, obliterating yhe rickety wooden structure.

As they stood outside, they saw fifty hunters running towards them from across the beach and the Blessed Sisters among them hurled fireballs.

Without a word, the group ran towards the city of Abanafash although Heziyn’s brows twisted as she ran.

The city was only a few more kilometres away but she kept glancing at the edge of the beach as she ran.

Keeping the many fireballs at bay was the Ilem who, using Gravity Magic, stopped them mid air but she was depending on the trace amounts of Glass ground and air unlike the hunters, some of whom carried bags of Glass.

Heziyn then suddenly turned to the left with Musa in hand prompting Makaa and the Ilem to follow.

“Where are you going?” Makaa yelled but his eyes narrowed upon seeing, docked to a rickety wooden pier, a bunch of a small fishing boats.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to use Abanafash!” Heziyn answered.

They had originally planned to sneak into the city where they would then steal a boat which would take Heziyn and Musa across the ocean while Makaa and the Ilem made their way to Kimbilio but their sudden discovery and the resulting explosions would mean that the guards in Abanafash would have their eye on the western horizon.

Makaa bit his teeth before looking back at the hunters who grew closer with each passing second.

He then returned his gaze to Heziyn and an exhausted Musa.

“So this is goodbye.” He said while coming to a stop.

Heziyn turned her head and watched as the Ilem stopped as well.

The two gave Heziyn a single nod before facing the hunters.

Heziyn thanked them with a pained smile as she and Musa ran up to one of the boats.

“Come on! Get on-“

Musa ignored her and helped her push one of the boats off the beach.

He then hopped onto it before moving aside as Heziyn did the same.

Musa then raised his hands and, using the residual Glass in the water, pushed the boat forward using Gravity Magic.

As he did, both he and Heziyn turned to the beach once more where they watched as Makaa and the Ilem, who Musa had named Kimya, fought the hunters desperately as the storm raged.