Finally freed from the tyrant's grasp, Zycor and Aisha found the two of them had arrived in the shopping district. True to her word, Aisha ate her heart out all on Zycors dime. Being a wolf demi-human, her appetite was far larger than other girls her age. She may not have been able to beat Zycor in battle, but she knew how to win the war. Although it stopped being about revenge at some point, and the two of them ended up just enjoying their little excursion.
While they walked around, Zycor overheard some of the conversation a passing pair of strangers were having, “Did you hear about the village raids in Velathria? I heard they are only getting worse,” the first man said.
The second man followed up with, “'I hear the king has done nothing to stop those bandits, it’s a really terrible situation.”
Zycor stopped, and the feeling of joy he had moments ago now felt as if it was never there. Replaced with feelings of anger, disgust, and sadness, he remembered what happened to his family. Noticing Zycor’s change in demeanor, she asked worriedly, “Hey, are you ok? You don’t look so good?”
“I-I’m fine,” Zycor stuttered, “I-I think I am going to head back to the guild hall now… Have a great rest of the night, Aisha.”
And with that, Zycor disappeared into the crowd before Aisha had a chance to try and stop him.
She sighed, annoyed, “Ugh! Why is he being difficult?! Anyways, I refuse to be caught out here alone again.” Aisha began her trek back to the guild at a much greater than normal pace.
When Aisha returned to the guild hall and went inside, she was greeted by Adria. “Welcome back Aisha,” Adria began, “How did it go? And…” Adria noticed Zycor was not with her, and asked, “Where is Zycor? Is he not with you?”
Aisha, confused and beginning to panic, responded, “H-he didn’t come back here?”
Adria shook her head. Realizing, shockingly, Zycor lied to her. Unfortunately for the hiding Zycor, he had confided in Aisha where he goes when he has something on his mind. Aisha ran out of the guild hall saying, “I’ll get him, I think I know where he is.”
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As Aisha sprinted out of the guild, she headed into the wastelands. Whenever something got Zycor down, he would head into the mountains across the wastelands, and head to the peak of the tallest one. As she was running, she noticed how low the sun was getting and how far she still had to go. Unfortunately for her, focusing solely on magic seems to have been a hindrance at present. Suddenly, she was picked up from behind and a female voice said, “Need a lift?”
Aisha looked up and saw it was Aislin. “What are you doing? I said I got it!” Aisha exclaimed.
“Pipe down, you’re way too loud,” Aislin complained, “Listen, I’ve known the kid for a while as well and thanks to… ‘watching’ him on Adria’s orders, I know where he is as well. I can take you there, but it will be up to you to resolve the situation, whatever it may be.”
Aisha, in a quieter manner, responded, “Well, thanks for the lift I suppose.”
Laughing, Aislin stated with an almost maniacal smile, “HA, well hold on tight and… TRY NOT TO DIE HAHA!”
As she finished her statement, Aislin took one, massive step that fractured a small area around the impact. Fire began to condense beneath her feet, and as she fell forward, the fire was released from the ground and she blasted herself forward. In order to sustain a constant speed, she made sure to leave room from the ground between each step. This allowed her enough time to gather the mana necessary for when her next foot touched the ground, which would allow her to sustain the momentum. Even though they were traveling vastly faster now, they would still not be able to make it to Zycor and back by the time the sun went down. Aislin, realizing this herself, in a serious tone said to Aisha, “Hey Ai, I know you have a fire affinity as well, so I need to say this as a warning, do not try what I am about to do, you are not ready for this yet.”
Aisha, confused, went to inquire further, but was cut off when Aislin uttered, “Ignition.”
After she uttered that word, mana from the air began to flood the flames on her feet, causing the flames to dull for a moment before they burst to life with ferocious intensity and turned blue. When this happened, Aislin and Aisha accelerated at a speed far greater than before. A distance that would have taken them over two hours to travel, was completed in only an hour.
As they arrived about halfway up the mountain, Aislin put Aisha down. “Alright Ai, it's up to you from here on out, I am going to chill here. That stunt drained me quite a bit.”
Aislin said as she sat down on one of the rocks. Aisha, annoyed at where they stopped, asked, “You couldn’t have brought me all the way?”
“Well,” Aislin began, “I could have, but then this upcoming moment wouldn’t have had the same impact as if I had stopped here. Now shoo, shoo, Daylight’s a burnin’.”
Aislin made a ‘shooing’ motion with her hands. Aisha sighed and left to complete the trip.