Tandol knew his son was out there somewhere.

He lay in a half-crouch on the ground, the tips of his fingertips barely touching it, his eyes facing straight forward, towards the cave entrance at the base of the mountain on which Unbadda was built. Ready to run, along with hundreds of other slaves. All remaining Bargolen villagers were here now.

The officer in charge shouted. The signal.

Tandol entered a sprint along the masses of other runners, all exhausted and frightened nearly to death. They all swarmed blindly into the darkness of the cavern, rushing forward. It wouldn’t be long until the forcebulls started coming out and mashing the slaves. His life depended on running faster than they could react. It’d be easier to let himself die. But he knew he couldn’t die yet.

His son was out there somewhere. Tham was alive, and he was coming. Tandol had held on to that hope every single day through the weeks he’d been imprisoned in there. He ran through the darkness, feeling the way forward with his long-trained Echosense.

Tandol sometimes thought about escaping. With his Spacebending he’d be able to do so with ease. But then he’d think about his fellow villagers. He couldn’t save them on his own, and he wasn’t about to leave them behind either. So he waited. And hoped.

He didn’t slow down his run, even with his bare feet scraping against the rock, hurting, and the belt with empty pressurized vials weighing him down. No slaves spoke as they ran, but he could hear ragged and heavy breathing all around him, breaking the absolute silence.

The rising heat soon made known to him how close he was to his goal. It was after a long while of running and avoiding obstacles that he felt the tunnel finally open up into a burning-hot cavern, clogged with steam. His eyes, used to the darkness, recognized the geysers shooting up burning air into the top of the cavern and beyond.

Unbuckling the pressurized-vial belt, Tandol reached with ragged breath the closest geyser, and stuck his hand inside. He winced as the air burned his hand even further, but one by one filled the pressurized vials nonetheless. Even closing the vials’ lids caused his hands excruciating pain, but so was his life now.

In that he was when the ground started shaking in long distanced booms. Tandol frowned. The whole mountain shook once, then stopped, then again, then stopped. What was going on?

Nevertheless, he rushed out of the geyser cavern and through the tunnels. He spotted no forcebulls on his way back up, but the distanced shaking continued.

The way back was always more exhausting –the slaves were burnt up, out of energy, and still couldn’t slack off, lest the forcebulls catch up to them. The shaking was getting stronger, closer. It made the run much harder –there was no stable ground on which to dash.

Tandol reached the cavern exit an eternity later. He could still do it. But with each run he could feel his strength fading farther away. Truth was, he wouldn’t be able to do this much longer. He just hoped it didn’t get to that.

Outside, the whole population of the slave camps seemed to be on the streets, staring at something far away through the darkness of the night. As he exhaustedly came out of the cavern with his full pressurized air vials, no imperial guard came to collect them. Chaos was rising through the imperial ranks. Something was approaching. Something big.

Could it be? Tandol allowed himself to believe. Is it you? Is it you… Tham?

– – –

Tham held on to Kaijin Base’s massive extended left hand as the gargantuan humanoid walked forward, step by step, towards Unbadda.

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“It all looks so small from here,” Hassah told him from nearby.

Tham couldn’t help but grin.

Dad, he thought. It worked.

We’re finally coming to save you, Dad.

He felt Kayden walk up to him.

“It won’t be easy,” Kayden said. “But, Tham… I believe you made the right call.”

Tham nodded as Kaijin Base picked up speed. “Let’s finish this.”

– – –

Kayden grabbed on hard to Kaijin Base as it rushed towards the mountain where Unbadda lay. Each step seemed to cover half a kilometer. And Kaijin Base had no intention of stopping.

They couldn’t destroy the Unbound air mines –they’d need the Unbound air vials. But they could definitely come close.

Kaijin Base dashed straight into the mountain, slamming into it with a boom so loud the mere blast blew the nearby campsites away. It started smashing away at the rock as its fighters jumped down into the nearest safe ledge.

“You all know the plan already!” Varokan shouted over the noise of blaring alarms and flying blasts. “Let’s go!”

Kayden got ready to dash away with the rest of the Skyguard, but Varokan grabbed his arm.

“Not you,” he said. “We’re holding off our attack until the Everbender arrives. Then we’re heading for her. We’ll keep her entertained while our people work.”

Kayden held his stare for a few seconds, then nodded.

“And,” Varokan added, “if we get the chance to kill her, we will.”

Kayden unsheathed the Mimicker and slowly nodded again.

– – –

Tham ran straight towards the camps with Hassah, Merdilen, and Haroken while the rest of the Libertatum Brotherhood wreaked havoc among the imperial soldiers. He couldn’t see, not even close. But he could feel his surroundings well enough to not trip while he sprinted.

“How’s your dad look?” Merdilen asked Tham over the sounds of battle.

“Straight chestnut-brown hair, slightly taller than me, my same eyes!” Tham replied. “You’ll know him when you see him!”

Not being able to see anything was stressing him out of his mind. If he were to cross by his dad without getting close, they’d miss each other. He just wished his dad noticed him then.

And suddenly, sensory overload.

A mass of people started running around them –in which direction, Tham couldn’t perceive. Were they slaves? They were so loud. He couldn’t sense his friends anymore. Their presences got all mixed up with the running crowd.

A big man bumped into Tham, and Tham fell. He hit his head hard against the ground, but forced himself to get back up. His Echosense was all messed up. He couldn’t focus enough to feel anything. So he started calling out.

“Tandol!” he shouted as loud as he could. “Tandol! I know you’re here somewhere. Tandol! …Dad! Dad, please!”

And then he was just like a little kid. He could remember being like this, lost in a little city but in a big crowd, unable to see his dad anywhere. Tham kept calling, shouting, but he could barely hear his own voice.

Another person bumped into him, dropping him. He got up and continued shouting blindly. His voice was raspy, his throat hurt. He continued.

“Dad! I know you’re out here somewhere, and I’m going to find you!” Tears filled his face. “Dad! I’m not… giving up… yet!”

Then a pair of arms embraced him. A body he couldn’t see hugged him hard, a head sobbing against his shoulder.

“Tham!” his dad said.

Tham breathed in sharply.

“You’re here,” his dad said with a shaky voice. “Tham. You’re here.”

“Dad…” Tham whispered, hugging his dad among the chaos and the crowd. “I once promised you I’d tell you all about my adventures when I returned from them. How would I ever give up on that?”

Tham couldn’t see his dad. He could only hear him sobbing. Even so, Tham knew one thing. His dad was smiling too.

– – –

“It’s actually working,” Kayden said, watching the Libertatum Brotherhood’s army slowly cut down on the imperial one.

But it eventually happened.

Lightning struck down from the sky, cracking the battlefield with a boom as if of thunder. The air itself started vibrating. And a figure rose up from the ensuing smoke.

“She’s here,” Varokan said in a low voice. “Let’s go, Kayden.”