Kloe sat with her bag in front of herself fidgeting with the flap on the front, opening and shutting her pack over and over again.

“That bored, Misia?” Elei sat a ways off making small droplets of water flow from his left hand onto the stone below.

“I’m always bored when Talis leaves without me.” Kloe responded. “How long would you say they’ve been gone?”

Elei changed the temperature of the water and small pebbles of hail fell from his fingertips. “I stopped feeling Misia Talis’s inspirations about ten minutes ago. I’m not sure how large her radius is when she’s not completely focused, but I’m guessing it’s been a little bit longer than that.”

“You’ve got some control over there.” Kloe scooted closer Elei to watch his water dancing.

“Thanks, Misia. I’ve had the Tatu since I was fourteen and used to use it to create rainfall back on Matao. My sister is a nature user and she helps grow the crops, so I learned how to slow the ice down enough for it to heat up a bit in my hand before releasing it so that it would turn into rain rather than ice.”

“That’s brilliant.”

Elei blushed at Kloe’s words. “It’s nothing, Misia. I’m not a powerful warrior like you.”

“You don’t need to be a warrior to be powerful. You’ve got great power over what you’re doing right now, plus I saw you in that fight spraying out shards of icicles about at that Baterns. You’re pretty good in a fight, Maetha.” Kloe elbowed him playfully.

“I appreciate that, but it’s not like I have full control over my Tatu. I was listening to your conversation with Maesa Sida. You have a great ability to help others learn to manipulate their magics.”

“Ah, there’s the problem.”

What’s that?” Elei asked as he stopped making hail stones.

“You think of it as magic.”

“It’s not?”

Kloe stood up and create a spear in her right hand made of pure ethereal blue energy. “This, Maetha, is not magic, it is an extension of the soul. You call me a warrior, and that’s true, for my soul is a warrior.”

Kloe lifted up her left hand and a bracer appeared on her forearm.

“My soul has been hardened by the Forgotten God. Forged in the fires of His eternity and brought to Erridium to protect those who would seek to destroy the Netsu and…” She trailed off and burst into a laugh.

Despite himself Elei found himself chuckling along with her as she extinguished her weapons.

“What was that?” Elei asked, wiping away his tears from the laughter.

“It’s from a play! I saw it a couple years ago with my husband and daughter. My daughter and I quote it to each other from time to time and laugh. There’s more, but I couldn’t get through it.”

“It did sound familiar, Misia.” Elei opened his canteen and took a drink.

“There’s still some truth to it though, as far as I can see it. The Tatu is on the soul, not the flesh. It is a pathway for our souls to emerge and do more than the mortal body is capable of on its own.”

“That’s a nice thought, Misia.” Elei wiped the water away from his face and closed the canteen’s cap.

“You brought up how I was teaching Sida, but I still don’t know what it is that you want, Elei. Why did you wish to join this walk?”

“I hope you don’t mind me saying, Misia, but I joined because I wanted to work with you and Misia Talis.”

“Because it’s her hundredth walk?”

“I didn’t know about that number until just a few hours ago when Sida brought it up after we volunteered back at the barracks. I’ve wanted to be a Portal Walker since I was a child, but my parents wanted me to stay on Matao and help grow crops. It’s hard work, it serves a purpose, but it doesn’t solve our problems, not like Walking.

“I’d heard stories about you and Talis and your adventures long before I was accepted into the academy and I’ve wanted to join your crew for a long time. I’m glad for the opportunity, and I won’t squander it.”

Kloe smiled at him and extended her arm to help him stand. “I’m glad to have you on the team, Elei.”

He grabbed her by the forearm, grasping her Tatu of strength and felt himself lighter as he did so, the Tatu glowing as she helped him to his feet.

“I’m tired of waiting. You feel like catching up with the our fearless leader and the dark walker?”

Elei nodded.

Kloe brought out her weapons while Elei’s left hand glowed a light blue, ice dripping from his finger tips. She jerked her head to the left and indicated for him to follow as they made their way down the slightly illuminated corridor.

“Do you think we’re close?” Sida asked in a whisper.

Talis looked ahead, noticing the light was still glowing up ahead and above them.

“I haven’t heard the creature in some time now, but the path has been straight. What do you make of these lights above us?” Talis pointed up indicating the small glowing objects that lit the path down the narrow passageway.

“At first I thought they could be some sort of bioluminescent insects.” Sida said.

“Like fireflies or something?”

“Right, though…”

“The color is wrong.” Talis finished Sida’s thought.

“Precisely. I am curious, now that you mention it.” Sida trailed off not finishing the thought.

Talis looked to her companion who seemed to become almost imperceptible.

She’s using her Dark Tatu. What’s she trying to do?

Almost as though responded to Talis’s thoughts, Sida pushed a creeping flood of darkness from her fingertips toward one of the glowing blue lights, the darkness surrounded the light which faded under the miasma. Talis watched as Sida seemed to fade away into the darkness before reappearing suddenly and gasping for air.

“What did you do?” Talis reached forward with both hands, grasping her teammate and steadying the younger girl as she seemed to struggle to breathe.

“I…” Sida started. She was bending forward, her hands on her knees. She straightened up and produced a small blue rock in her hand which glowed an incandescent blue light. “I reached.”

“That was amazing, Sida! Well done!” Talis smiled and released Sida. “May I?”

Sida handed the stone to Talis who looked it over. It was small, able to fit inside the young woman’s palm easily. “There doesn’t seem to be anything remarkable about it.”

“Other than the glowing.” Sida noted.

“Yes, there is that.”

“Misia, have you seen something like this before?”

Talis thought back to her previous ninety nine walks. “Not this, specifically, though it reminds me of something.”

“What’s that?”

“The squids in the oceans where we get our ink.”

“You’ve seen one of the Tatuni?” Sida looked up in amazement.

“Only once, when I was younger. They glow with this color when they are deep in the oceans. My mother was a diver who would traverse the depths looking for Tatuni. The rocks color reminds me of the squids.”

“But this is a cave, not an ocean. So how could these have… Misia, there’s something here.” Sida pointed to the wall of the cavern.

Talis took the small stone and held it up to where she was pointing. The wall of the corridor was covered in small etchings like drawings and words.

“In my bag, you should find some paper and a rubbing stick. Grab them for me, will you?” Talis asked as she illuminated the different carvings along the wall.

Sida lifted the flap of the bag and produced two vellum sheets as well as a small piece of charcoal. She placed the vellum against the wall directly where Talis was shining the light of the blue stone.

“That was impressive, you know.” Talis stated.

Sida looked up while continuing to rub the drawing in front of herself. “What’s that?”

“What you did with your Tatu. Enveloping the light with the darkness. Very unique. I’ve never seen anyone do that before.”

Sida blushed. “Thank you, Misia.”

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“Where did you learn that?”

“My older brother was a dark walker.”

“Really? What’s his name?”

“Lagi.”

“Oh…” Talis recalled Lagi, a soft spoken dark walker who used to be on Rewi’s crew. “I’m sorry about your loss.”

“Thank you, Misia. It was a hard blow to my family. Did you know Lagi well?”

“In a way. I knew him through Rewi.”

“The lead dark walker?”

“Yes.” Talis bit her tongue, trying to find the right words to say. “We were engaged, he and I.”

“You and Rewi? That’s quite a match, Misia.” Sida rolled up the first sheet of vellum. They continued down the corridor and she unfurled the second, using the rest of the charcoal.

“It was.” Talis said. “Though more for him than for me.”

“Why’s that? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“It’s alright. Rewi is a strong man, a powerful leader and teacher, though those qualities are not always what one looks for in a partner. Worst of all though was his dedication toward his goals.”

“I’d think that would be a good thing.”

“It should have been, though not when it gets someone killed.”

“Oh.” Sida said with understanding. “You’re talking about Lagi’s last mission?”

Talis swallowed. “I wasn’t there, mind you. I don’t know all the details, but I know that when left there was a team of six, and when he returned there were only two. The other, Chion left to join the church of On and didn’t give a full report, though the rumors spread. Rewi found a cache of precious metals; steel, iron, bronze and even gold on the world he walked. He asked me to go with him to scout the plane on a second walk.

“We traveled with a hundred walkers and were led right to a series a mines where we found the metals and began to excavate immediately, though there was one he said we couldn’t go to. I knew it was where Lagi disappeared, though I didn’t know how. That first expedition, a second team went in and brought out Lagi’s body as well as the body of the others who died. I’m sorry, I can stop.”

Sida did her best not to let the tears fall. “I wasn’t allowed to see him. My mama said I was too young and wouldn’t be able to bear it. Do you know, Misia, how he died?”

Talis took a deep breath. “There were creatures there that we called the Abatan. Large wormlike creatures that left us alone. Rewi told us that when he first arrived, however, that the creatures were hostile and overwhelmed the walkers. He and Chion just barely escaped with their lives. He told me that the rest fell to the Abatan. We were instructed to destroy the beasts on sight. The portal was closed before we could get establish a permanent expedition. It was deemed too dangerous.”

Sida finished the last of the vellum and stood up, rolling up the sheet and placing it back in Talis’s pack. “Thank you for telling me, Misia.”

Hrrr…

Both women turned to the right as the sound echoed down the long corridor. Sida instinctively triggered her Dark Tatu and shaded the two of them, placing her hand on Talis’s shoulder to extend the shadow.

“Shh… It’s close.” Sida whispered.

From down the hallway of the cavern a light like a lantern illuminated the walls from right to left, right to left, as though it was swinging on the end of a large stick until finally something came into view. The creature was roughly the width of the tunnel with a large fur covered torso. Its face lit up sporadically as the light, like a third eye stalk swung back and forth on the top of its head. The face was that of a wolf with a long snout and snarling fangs, though the eyes looked too big for the head. It stopped just a few body lengths away from Sida and Talis and lifted its massive head into the air.

The beast made a loud sniffing sound as though attempting to discover a scent belonging to an object it could not see. Sida stifled a whimper as she continued to compel the darkness to surround she and her companion. The creature lifted its front legs off the ground and roared an extraterrestrial guttural noise that resonated the length of the chamber. Talis’s face glowed a slight red as she summoned a courage for herself and Sida that she could barely feel herself.

The beast landed hard back onto its front legs and a tremor reverberated from the floor and against the walls which shook with a violent force. For just a moment the shadow covering the two women extinguished, and a moment was all it took. The creature snorted as mucus splatted onto the ground from its nostrils and it bared its teeth at the now visible Netsu.

“Lapo.” Talis cursed.

The beast lifted up onto its hind legs and opened its maw wide, ready to bite. Talis pushed with her left hand flared her air Tatu, creating a forcefield of wind, stopping the beast in mid lunge.

Sida screamed as she tried to create a flame which spurted out it small bursts.

“Sida, burn it!” Talis shouted.

“I’m trying!”

The beast clawed at the wind and pushed hard against the gale force. It managed to get an arm through the barrier and scratched at Sida cutting a large gash into her left arm and across her flame Tatu. Sida cried out in pain as her flame extinguished. Talis continued pushing hard, her Tatu now glowing a bright yellow, her forehead beaded with sweat which dripped into her eyes.

I’m going to die. One hundred portals and now I’m going to die.

A thought came to Talis and she pursued it. Talis grabbed Sida and pushed the girl to the left, extinguishing the pulse of her Tatu. The beast fell forward, digging its claws into the wall, scratching against the carvings made into the stone.

“Sida, run!” Talis ordered as she placed the glowing rock in the girl’s hand and pushed her forward in a burst of wind.

Sida felt herself lifted off the ground and stumbled, trying to find her footing as the force of Talis’s air burst propelled her forward, back to the previous chamber and away from the creature. She ran as fast as she could, refusing to look back as tears streaked her eyes.

The creature spun on Talis who lay prone on the cavern floor. It snarled, saliva dripping from its fanged mouth. It lifted up off the ground ready to strike.

Now or never. Talis thought as she flared her Inspire Tatu.

I just let her die. I just let Talis die!

Sida screamed inside her own head. She still felt a slight push from the winds provided by Talis aiding her as she rushed down the corridor. She grasped her injured arm with her right hand and put pressure on the seeping wound. A trail of blood followed her as she continued to run.

Gotta keep going, gotta find help.

Sida tried again to burn her flame Tatu, but instead was met once more with an intense pain from the gashes left by the wolf like creature. She held up the small glowing rock in front of herself as ran, but the pain was growing too intense. She felt the last of Talis’s air propelling her forward and fell onto the cavern floor landing hard on her injured arm.

“Help…” She could barely squeak out the words.

Gotta stop the bleeding, gotta find help.

She grasped the wound and felt the warm liquid continue to flow. She reached forward with her still functional Tatu as dark tendrils spouted from her chest, grasping at the air in all directions. Sida willed the miasma toward her injured arm and watched as the darkness enveloped her arm creating a cover that wrapped around her arm and stopped the bleeding.

Bolstering what courage she could find, Sida crawled forward on the ground.

“Help…” She managed to get out just a bit stronger than before.

Concentrate. Focus on the path, not the wound.

Sida willed herself forward, her right arm thrust in front of herself propelling her forward. For Sida, the darkness had always been a friend. She had received her dark Tatu just two days before her brother passed. When she heard the news she hid in the shadows of her barracks tent for three days. It was then that she had discovered all that she could do with the darkness.

It wasn’t just that she could use it to protect herself and others from another’s vision, Sida found that she could use the darkness to help her extinguish light, grab objects, or whatever she willed it to do. It was an extension of herself. Now on the floor of the cavern crawling along the ground she felt the darkness, for the first time failing her as it clouded her vision.

Gotta keep going. Gotta find… Gotta find…

She held her right hand forward holding the glowing rock within her palm. She willed the light to grow stronger but felt only the darkness growing around herself like a cocoon protecting her like it did those years ago. She tried to extinguish the darkness but couldn’t find the strength as she collapsed on the ground.

Before Sida could open her eyes she felt a soothing feeling coursing through her body. When she finally was able to see again she saw two personages standing over her. One of them mouthed something that Sida couldn’t quite hear.

“I… can’t…” Sida whimpered.

One of the two reached for her and Sida winced in anticipation. The soothing sensation came again and she felt her senses returning. Sida looked up and saw Kloe standing tall in the corridor while Elei was bent over with his hands on her left arm, sending his healing energy from his Tatu.

“You need to stop, Elei. You’ll only wind up incapacitating yourself if you continue.” Kloe said.

“I’m fine.” Elei groaned.

Sida looked up and saw his face growing white as he transferred life essence to her. She placed her hand on his and looked him in the eye.

“Elei, it’s okay. You can stop now.” Sida’s voice came out like a croak.

“Sida, can you hear me?” Kloe bent over to speak.

Sida nodded.

“I need you to tell me what happened to Talis. Where is she?” Kloe pulled Elei off. “Elei, get some food.”

The young man shuffled away, barely able to move. He opened his bag and took out a small bag full of dried fruit.

“Sida?” Kloe grasped Sida by the arm, getting her attention.

“Talis… the beast, she…” Sida mustered her strength. The shadows swirled about her in tendrils of darkness as though an extension of her will.

Kloe grimaced, stepping away from the young girl. “Elei, get your strength back fast. Sida is fading and we need to get her out of here.”

Elei chewed fast on the dried fruit, some color returning to his pale face.

Hrr…

“Oh, Mala.” Kloe cursed.

Thudding footsteps came from down the corridor and Sida willed the darkness around her to push her upright. She managed to get onto her back as she saw the beast come stomping through the corridor.

Sida screamed while Elei readied an icicle in his left hand. Kloe summoned her shield up as the creature came into focus. It roared, extending itself upward and bearing its claws. The beast landed hard into the ground and Sida noticed something strange about the creature as it looked as though, perched atop was…

“Talis!” Kloe exclaimed. The larger woman ran to her friend, the creature letting out a small grunt as she approached.

Talis pressed her hand against the beast’s head and its emotions soothed under the pressure of her influence. “Kloe, meet Hansu.” Talis grinned from ear to ear. “I named him after our old commander.”

“I can see why.” Kloe examined the beast, pausing to stare at the third eye that shone a beacon of light throughout the chamber. “How are you controlling it?”

“I can soothe its emotions using my Tatu.” Talis swept one leg over the side and hopped off, patting the beast on the head. It purred under her hand.

“That’s incredible! Talo, Hansu.” Kloe made an exaggerated bow to the creature which lowered its head in response. Kloe straightened up and met Talis’s gaze. “We need to leave, Sida is hurt.”

“Hansu did it.”

“I figured. I don’t think we’ve explored enough here, however. They must be more to see than this cave.”

“I think I spied a way out on the other side of this pathway. Let’s go back to Erridium and get Sida some care then figure out a plan to come back.” Talis said as she grasped Sida and pulled her up from the ground.

Sida grunted in pain as she was hoisted on the back of Hansu. She grasped at the fur of the beast and held on, using her tendrils of darkness to secure herself onto its hide.

“I’ll ride ahead with Hansu and Sida. You two,” Talis hoisted her bag off her shoulders and pulled out the vellum pages. She tossed them to Kloe who caught them easily. “Take these, and the stone there on the floor. It can illuminate the path back more easily.”

Talis put her hand on Hansu’s head and the beast lowered itself down for Talis to climb. Sida felt the darkness once again filling her vision as the beast ran off down the hallway and back to the portal.

“Thank you, Misia.” Sida mewled.

Talis patted the girl on the shoulder as they sped off back to their home.