After dousing the ashes with earth the next morning, they continued their march north.

They traveled through forests and hills and finally, after over two weeks of traveling, they could spot the northern mountain range.

The northern mountain range comprised of enormous mountains and cliffsides, a jagged landscape.

Unbeknownst to the traveling party, this was an area where two tectonic plates crashed into one another.

One plate would then be submerged by the other and move deeper into the earth and magma underneath, and the other plate would go over that plate, forming jagged mountains in the landscape.

Arriving at the foot of a steep cliffside, Stella looked around.

"What do you think of this place?"

She looked over to her travel companions, Inpar and Feidi.

They in turn examined the surrounding area.

The cliff extended a few hundred meters up, after sloping and turning into a mountain at the top.

A few natural caves were at the bottom of the cliff and the treeline was about a hundred meters away from the cliff.

Inpar scratched his nose.

"Well, this seems like a good spot. We can kick out the inhabitants of those caves and convert them into temporary housing and storage. We'll have to clear some of these trees for farming, but we can use the wood in construction. The soil isn't the best, but that's the case everywhere in the surrounding region. I'd say this is as good a place as any."

Feidi silently nodded her head in agreement.

"Well then it's settled I guess. Tell the others to start to get settled, while we and a few of the hunters go out to give these beasts a rude awakening."

Half an hour later, Inpar, Feidi, Stella as well as about a dozen hunters, all armed with obsidian spears slowly crept up to one of the caves carved into the cliffside.

Outside the entrance, Inpar and Feidi dug out a small trench, into which they placed dry timber.

Then, using some of the hot coal that they brought with them, they ignited a small fire.

Due to the difficult nature of creating fire, Inpar decided that one of the things they should always carry with them was some hot coal.

This coal was wrapped in a double-layered animal hide, with the inner layer containing fine ash.

This allowed for safe transport while also retaining the necessary heat to start a new fire.

After the fire ignited, Stella used her powers, to fan the smoke into the cave entrance.

"Surround the entrance!"

Saying so, Stella fanned wave after wave of hot smoke into the cave mouth.

The hunters formed a semi-circle around the entrance, with spears at the ready to strike at anything that may appear.

After waiting nervously for about an hour, Feidi spoke.

"It seems like this cave was uninhabited."

Hearing her say so, the hunters relaxed their grips on the spears and lowered their weapons.

"Yeah seems so. Let's hope the other two caves are also unoccupied."

Saying so, Stella stopped blowing smoke and started putting out the flames.

Inpar took out some hot coals and placed them in his sack.

They moved over to the next cave and repeated the same process.

Just when it seemed like this cave was also empty, a scream rang out, coming from their temporary camp.

Feidi and Stella exchanged glances before they ran towards the noise.

Inpar and the hunters quickly followed suit.

Both Feidi and Stella were able to move quickly by levitating themselves, so they arrived first.

When they arrived at the temporary camp, they saw chaos.

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It seemed like a pack of giant lizards had attacked the camp.

These lizards had the appearance of a regular lizard, only their hide had gray spiky scales and their limbs ended in sharp hooked claws.

Their triangular faces had front-facing eyes and within their snout rows of sharp fangs could be seen.

Half a dozen of these lizards were locked in combat with the humans left at the camp.

These lizards could reach up to the waist of a regular adult but were twice as long as an adult was tall.

They used their sharp teeth and claws to gouge out the flesh of their victims, and their powerful tails were used to swat at anyone trying to approach from behind.

Already many of the humans left at the camp were injured and a few unfortunate souls had even been outright killed in the initial attack.

Now, the humans had formed a circle, with spears pointing outward at the lizards.

Within the circle, were the weak and wounded.

The lizards were prowling outside the spear perimeter and trying to break in but had limited success.

It was during such a stalemate, that Feidi and Stella arrived at the scene.

"You take these three and I take those."

Saying so, Stella rushed towards the fray.

Flying was an expensive technique, that used up a lot of energy, even so, both Feidi and Stella used it, to travel as fast as possible to the camp.

After landing, Stella used her powers, to launch the spear in her hands into the flank of one of the lizards.

With a deep thump, it impacted the lizard, making it let out a guttural groan and stumble to the side.

The other two lizards, seeing their companion get attacked, turned to Stella and screeched.

The closer lunged at her, aiming for her throat with its claw swipe.

Stella used her power on herself to quickly move to the side.

Unfortunately, the lizard curved its body mid-jump and whipped Stella in her abdomen with its tail.

Stella got winded and was launched backward, crashing into a half-set-up tent.

The sticks and twigs used to prop up the stitched together hide snapped under the pressure and Stella found herself lying on her back in a pile of broken sticks.

She was dazed but noticed the second lizard pouncing at her from the corner of her eye.

She launched the sticks upwards forming a barrier between her and the lizard.

The lizard crashed into this shield, snapping the sticks in half, but thanks to Stella's control, both halves would continue to float, blocking the lizard from advancing further.

Stella quickly got up and gathered herself.

It seemed that while the first lizard was recovering from the spear stuck in its side, the one that tail whipped her was being distracted by a group of hunters that left the circle and were engaging with it.

The last lizard finally shoved aside the last of the protective barrier that Stella had made and was about to swipe at her with its claws.

Stella launched a rock hard into its face.

She had aimed for its eye but had hit it in the nose instead.

Thankfully, it seemed like this was enough to disorient it, as it stopped in its tracks.

Stella, not one to miss out on such an opportunity, focused and began to lift the lizard into the air.

The lizard seemed to be quite frantic, as it flailed its limbs wildly in the air.

She then launched this lizard into the one that was about to bite the head off of one of the hunters distracting it.

Both lizards crashed into each other, resulting in a tangle of limbs and tails.

The hunter, whose head was almost bitten, collapsed backward, while the others took this opportunity to stab their spears at the lizards, still disoriented from the forced hug.

Four spears stabbed towards the lizards, two glanced off, one left a shallow cut while one managed to catch beneath the armpit of one of the lizards and dug deep.

This lizard let out a screech and flailed wildly with its claws and tails one of the hunters wasn't quick enough to jump back and got hit in the lower with a claw strike.

This hunter lost his balance and collapsed.

Thankfully the others reacted quickly and dragged him away before more damage could be done.

At this moment, Stella arrived and levitated all the fallen spears.

She then thrust them downwards, impaling the wounded lizard.

Its cries suddenly stopped.

The second lizard in the meantime had gotten to its legs and scurried off.

Stella was about to pursue this lizard when from the circle of hunters a warning cry came out.

Stella turned and time seemed to still.

There, only a few fists from her face, she saw an open maw flying in her direction.

It took her a second to understand that this was the lizard whom she had wounded at the beginning of the battle.

Like lightning, thoughts raced in her mind.

Could she use her powers to push the lizard away?

No, the lizard was too massive and there wasn't enough time.

Could she use her powers to move herself out of the way?

Only partially, the distance isn't enough to build up the necessary speed.

Could she block her maw with something?

Nothing was close enough to be used.

Rocks were on the ground and would take too long.

Same with sticks and spears.

What about her arm?

That would have to do.

She leaned back, while raising her arm, intending for the lizard to bite into it, but the anticipated pain never came and Stella merely fell backward unto her butt.

Out of nowhere, a second spear lodged itself into the side of the lizard, making its flight path deviate and miss Stella by a short margin.

The lizard screeched as it fell to its side, now with two spears sticking out of it.

A dozen hunters surround it and stab it to death while avoiding the frantic flailing of the lizard.

"Glad we arrived just in time."

Saying so Inpar approached from the nearby woodwork.

The dozen hunters who finished off the wounded lizard were the same hunters who went to clear out the caves.

"Took you long enough."

Saying so, she grabbed his extended hand and hoisted herself up.

"Thanks for saving me there though."

She smiled and patted herself down.

She looked over to Feidi and saw how two lizards were lying on the ground.

One was still screeching, but it seemed like it couldn't move.

It appeared as if it had been dropped from a high place, or as if it had been crushed by many heavy stones.

The other one was still, with a puddle of blood slowly forming around it.

The third was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you alright on your end?"

Stella asked as she could see blood dripping from Feidi's arm.

"Yeah the lizard scratched me lightly, but it's nothing serious. Merely a flesh wound. More importantly, we have to take care of our people first, and afterward, we need to figure out a plan."

Stella looked around the makeshift camp.

Two people had been killed in the initial attack and there were half a dozen wounded.

The camp itself was in disarray and had to be reorganized.

Stella nodded her head grimly.

"Yeah. This isn't over."