Lahar looks down at the pile of rubble that used to be the creature's head, and then she looks up to see that Arena's eyes are no longer blue but have been flushed with a burning red. She can also see that his breathing has already become heavy as a bead of sweat falls from his forehead.

"Well, that was impressive. How will you handle the others, though?" Void asks confidently.

Above them, darks clouds form and cluster together. The crackle of lightning dancing in the clouds can be seen, while Arena whispers words unheard of.

"I have my ways," Arena says with a confident smile. A shark launches at him, yet before it can get close, the booming sound of thunder echoes in the cave as lightning strikes the shark. The only thing that makes contact are the pebbles on Arena's shoes.

"This is interesting," Void says as an army of the sharks flies off the wall toward them. A lucky few are struck by lightning before they can touch the island. Those few unfortunate ones that make it have a raging canine of fire waiting for them.

Lahar's eyes can't keep up with the high-speed movements of Pie. The golden flames remind Lahar of a comet scorching through space. Pie crushes the sharks in a variety of ways: with his massive paws, their heads between his teeth or the fire he spouts with every bark. He leaves a trail of glass wherever he goes.

One shark is able to get past both defenses and heads for Lahar. Nausea hits as her hands shake, causing her aim to be unsteady. "I can do this," she repeats to herself in hopes that it is true. The natural instinct of flight or fight kicks in. She knows she isn't strong enough or capable enough to handle this. She wants to choose flight, but that isn't an option yet.

She exhales and squeezes the trigger twice and fires two shots. The recoil sends her stumbling back. The only thing her shots accomplish is sending grains of sand and shards of glass flying in the air as they miss her intended target. The shark's jaws are open as it jumps toward her. She fires one more shot. The water misses the head and hits the lower part of the body. It shifts the shark midair and causes it to miss her. The shark is slowed yet still alive. Lahar looks down the shaking barrel as she tries to control her rapid breathing.

Before she can fire, lightning strikes and finishes the job. Lahar still holds the water gun up, not ready to put it down. Arena charges toward Void. Streams of sand rise from the ground and fire at Arena. He doesn't avoid them; instead, he charges toward them. They pass through him as before.

Arena's golden gauntlet melts and morphs to golden chains with snake heads. The chains move as if they are alive. Void's right hand grows stone thorns through the tips of his fingers to form talons. Arena charges forward with no intention of avoiding his hand, knowing all he needs to do is make his hand pass through him. Arena's left arm hits Void, and then Arena gasps for air. He looks down to see slashes on his side and Void's hand dripping with his blood. "You weren't expecting that, were you?" Void says, sending a chill down Arena's spine.

The chains wrap around Void's body tightly as they pull him to a crystal on the edge of the island. Each chain wraps around the crystal and ends with a snake head digging its fangs into his wooden body. Arena whistles as he places his hand on his wound. Gold seeps from his arm and flows over his wounds. They cover up each with a patch of golden bandages.

Hearing the whistle, Pie rushes to Arena's side. Lahar looks over to them, and then, in a blink, they appear in front of her with Arena on Pie's back. "Get on now! We're leaving!" Arena yells as more sharks sliver their way on the glass ground.

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"But the fire will—"

"Don't think; just get on!"

She quickly gets on Pie's back. He is massive, yet they still must sit closely to fit on his back. The fire wraps around their legs and waists like seatbelts, safely securing them in place. The fire doesn't burn; instead, Pie gives off a comforting warmth. Lahar turns back to see Void struggling to free himself. She aims the barrel of the water gun at Void, her finger close to the trigger. Then she freezes.

Her eyes meet Void's. The white flames flicker as the room goes colder. To her, there is nothing else in the room but them. No one speaks; it's silent. She is petrified by fear.

"Let's go, boy!" she hears. Arena's words bring her back to reality as Void breaks out of the chains.

Pie bursts into a full sprint off the island, onto the bridge, and out of the cavern. Void lifts off the ground and flies toward them, with the sharks behind him. "Now, how is that fair!" Arena shouts. Lahar looks forward to see the exit is close, yet the gap between them and Void shrinks every second. She looks back and sees his eyes staring at her. She holds the water gun aimed at him but can't pull the trigger. Instead she aims the water gun upward and fires three shots at the ceiling. A cave-in begins as the ceiling crumbles and creates a wall of rubble separating them from Void.

His words echo in their heads. "I'll see you two soon."

Ignoring his words, they make it out into the warm sunshine and the lush fields.

"Stop!" Arena shouts. Pie stops a few feet from the entrance. Arena turns his head and raises his arm. His eyes glow red as he chants words Lahar cannot understand. Enormous streams of dirt in the shape of squid tentacles emerge from the ground. They pile onto the entrance. The tentacles clump together and harden to form a stone boulder over the entrance. A light coming from the boulder rushes through the field.

"All right, let's go home, bud," Arena says to Pie who goes into a full sprint back the way they came. What takes hours is being done in minutes.

Lahar keeps seeing images of Void in her head, the dagger teeth of the shark closing in on her. "I was useless," she mumbles to herself.

Soon they are in front of a small white house in the field just a few yards from the clearest beach Lahar has ever seen.

"Thank you for the rescue," Arena says, petting Pie's head.

While they get off Pie's back, Arena holds his side where Void made his mark. As he walks to the house, he notices Lahar hasn't moved but is instead petting Pie's head. He tries to think of a way to approach the subject. As he is about to speak, Lahar says, "I'm sorry for bringing this to you. I should never have asked for your help. You got hurt because of me."

"Don't worry about this. I'll be fine," he says as he steps closer to them. "I'm glad you asked me. Imagine if Pie and I had not been there. You would have been..." He stops speaking.

Lahar looks up at him. "I know we escaped, and we're alive, but I don't think this was a victory for us. It feels like we lost."

"We did lose, and that doesn't matter. The fact we are both alive is what matters. This doesn't mean I am going to stop helping you find a way back home," he says with a grin on his face.

Useless—that is how she feels. Nothing more than a hindrance to them, a feeling she hates. "You won't do that alone," she says. "I want you to teach me. I want you to teach me what you know," she says with conviction.

Arena's face becomes serious as he takes a moment to think. Then he asks, "You sure? This isn't something easily done. I won't teach anyone who lacks the heart. The second you give up once, that will be the end."

She remembers standing behind him in the cave, peering over his shoulder to look at Void. She doesn't want that; she wants to be the kind of person who can stand beside Arena, not behind. "I won't quit," she says, staring into his eyes. "I want to be able to take you down with one spell with only three words."

He stares at the ground below. He twists his hair with a finger and then looks back at her. A smile appears on his face. "Okay, okay, okay. While I try to find you a way home, I will teach you what I know. So be prepared for what comes."

Lahar nods, naïve as to what awaits her.