Rep and Zalan bolted upright on their respective cots in Journey House. Covered in bruises and open cuts given to him by the rocks thrown by the Earthenbeasts, Zalan was grateful not to feel a new wound from the last hit the Boznok leader got them with. Rep looked around manically and Zalan held up the mound of dirt. The flower was still alive, but it was drooping. Zalan drew a macabre parallel between himself and the flower. The closer it drew to death, the closer he felt.

“Where is it?” Rep asked loudly, his head whipping around. His eyes were crazed.

“I have the Nightbloom right here, get the door!” Zalan said.

“No, the Boznok! We warped with it! I saw it enter the glow before we blinked out of the meadow!” Rep said urgently. Rolling out of bed, he got into a fighting stance. As he circled in place, he drew his sword and began pointing it around the guild.

“Rep! It went home! The Homeseeker takes you home! Get the door!” Zalan shouted, jumping out of bed and trying to keep the flower stable as he moved.

“Oh.” Rep deflated as he lowered his sword in embarrassment. “Right, of course.”

Sprinting to the door, Rep bashed into it, swinging the hinges open. Zalan rushed past him out of the guild, not looking to see if he followed. Running as fast as he felt was safe, he watched the flower like an infant child in his hands. He feared that even the light bob of his run was enough to hurt the fragile plant even more than the damage done from being unearthed. Even in his measured pace, the flower lost pieces of itself. Its bulb no longer had a lively sheen to it, the petals looking wrinkled and frail. Desperately, he felt the need to move faster. The flower was fading and it was difficult to tell the flower started off pink.

“Does the flower still live?” Rep asked, running alongside him.

“Barely! We’re running out of time!”

Rep ran ahead at full speed, waving his arms dramatically. “Get out of the way! Move! We need a clear path!”

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Rep urged people away from the center of the road. People rushed aside in confusion, getting a view of the commotion. They looked appalled when they saw Zalan rushing. He was bruised and bleeding from head to toe, but running away from inns and guilds on the other side of town. It was a marvel to see anyone in town running around with wounds that could be so easily healed. Many eyes followed Rep and Zalan as they ran and bled their way to the port.

They reached the alleyways toward the port and Rep took a glance at the flower. The situation looked dire. Both friends were coming to the conclusion that they might not make it, but refused to say it aloud. The consequences were too serious. Rep grew even more panicked as another petal shriveled to nothing.

“We have something for Ma! Get out of the way! This is for Ma!” Rep called, throwing small balls of flame above him to emphasize his points. In the hidden alleys, he wasn’t concerned about guards on the walls policing his Elemental use in the city. The people watching from the shadows had no intention of stopping Zalan once they heard Ma’s name invoked. To obstruct the men was to forfeit whatever safety they had on the port side of the city. Rep and Zalan were untouchable.

The flower was hunched over, the leaves at its base shriveled and small. The remaining petals were hanging on by threads. The flower had nothing left. Even in this state, Zalan wanted to get the flower to Ma. It hadn’t crumbled to nothing like the first flower they pulled. This one was still alive to some degree. There was still a chance. To get the flower to her was to be another step closer to being back home. And to quit meant accepting his fate of being stuck in this realm for that much longer. Plus the fate of having their legs broken and being thrown to the sea. He didn’t want to put himself up to the test to see if he could survive the water without the use of his legs.

They rushed by the boats, Rep screaming all the way as Zalan stared closely at the flower. With a mountain of intensity, he stared at the dying plant like he hoped his eyes alone would be enough to transfer more life force to the dying plant. Another petal fell. It barely looked like a flower anymore. They soon reached the path to Ma’s mansion. They ran up to the two guards, Rep screaming at them with his arms waving in every direction.

“Open the doors! Open them quickly!”

“On whose authority?” one of the guards challenged. Cracking his knuckles, he looked as though he was going to beat Rep for yelling at him.

“Ma’s authority!” Zalan said, holding up the wilting flower. “We have her Nightbloom! Or do you want to be the reason it dies!?”

The guard looked hesitant. The plant looked like a withered twig. The two men weren’t even sure it was a Nightbloom.

“I’ll tell her it was your fault it died! Her precious flower! The only one she couldn’t get from her loyal guards!” Zalan said in rapid succession, hopping in place urgently.

A guard opened the door, scared for his life. Rep and Zalan bolted inside, passing through the home. Oshrad came out through the double doors to Ma’s chamber and looked enraged.

“What is all that noise? Ma is annoyed by the outburst! What is going on out here!?” he demanded.

“We have it! Let us in!” Zalan said, holding up the flower.

Oshrad peered at it, baffled in surprise. He hadn’t expected them to come back at all, much less so soon. Then his face soured in disappointment.

“That flower is dead,” he declared.

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“No, we still have time! Just let me go in and put it in her vase!” Zalan begged, his feet wiggling anxiously.

“She had no need for…”

“We don’t have time to talk this out!” Zalan held up the further dying plant.

“I do not care how impatient you are…”

Rep dipped around Oshrad and threw open the doors. Oshrad pulled him back, preventing him from running within. Rep had no intention of running inside. He dove down and grabbed Oshrad’s legs tightly, trying to lock him in place.

“Go!” Rep screamed.

Zalan rushed by as Oshrad screamed, enraged. Ma looked up from her desk, a mix of intrigue and frustration as Zalan stumbled forward bruised and bloody to her vase. The guards around the room rushed him, closing in as soon as they deemed him a threat. Zalan dove forward and dropped the flower into the vase. Immediately, a hand clamped down onto his face from behind and he was dragged away. He could only muster responding with muffled screams. In a few seconds of confusion, Zalan found himself in the arms of three guards, one standing in front of him ready to deliver a blow to his gut. Or perhaps smash a hole right through him. Next to him, Rep was also gripped tightly and presented to Ma. He had the beginnings of a black eye and his face gained a new welt, growing to the size of an apple.

Rep and Zalan were trying to communicate, but had their mouths covered as they wiggled in the brutish arms of Ma’s guards. Waiting only for Ma’s direction, the guards were ready to beat the two friends to death for their offenses against Ma and her home. Ma looked over the flower with some interest.

Before she could even give it a thorough lookover, the top half fell off. The broken piece sounded like it had been roasted in an oven when it shattered apart on the table. The plant was a dry husk, no life to be found in it. She frowned at it, her mild interest dashed away in that moment, then turned to Rep and Zalan. They continued to try and protest while held down, desperate to get a single word in.

“Quiet,” she ordered.

Zalan and Rep stopped trying to scream from behind cover mouths. Her voice was angry and sent ice through their blood. The room was growing shadowy, like it was influenced by the darkness of Ma’s mood. She seethed for a second, her eyes staring into each of the young men’s souls. Then she scoffed and sat back in her chair, a look of final judgment on her face.

“You come to my home looking like absolute filth. You drag that squalidness through my halls. You attack my most trusted man. And what’s worse, you did not even bring me a Nightbloom. You bring me a dead flower and try to con me. What do you have to say for yourselves?” Ma asked.

The hands over Rep and Zalan’s mouth slid off, but they stared in fear. Rep’s mouth trembled, his face caked in sweat. Now that Zalan was asked to speak, he was totally lost for words under her aggression. Ma sighed impatiently, wrinkles forming at the top of her head.

“Allow me to clarify myself. Do you have any last words?” Ma asked, irritated.

Zalan’s eyes widened. They should have just run away from the town the first time Ma gave them a chance. It wasn’t worth trying to get the flower here. Their best efforts had led to their execution. Staring the idea of death in the face, Zalan found the words he was searching for.

“It’s Nightbloom!” Zalan said. “I can prove it!”

Ma looked at him skeptically. She looked back at the flower, an inkling of hope in her eyes. She looked back at Zalan with challenge in her narrowing gaze.

“How can you prove it?” Ma asked.

“I need to be let go,” Zalan said, struggling against the tight grip of the guards.

“No.”

The room grew even darker, like dusk had fallen over the single chamber of the mansion.

“Please. I just need to go up to the flower,” Zalan said.

Ma watched him carefully. He pulled against the guards desperately, but he couldn’t shift even an inch away from their tight grips.

“What are your names, again?” Ma asked.

“I’m Zalan, and this is my friend Rep,” Zalan said.

“Friend? Good. Let Zalan go. But if he does anything mildly questionable, then kill Rep. If he displeases me with his proof, then kill Rep. To be perfectly frank, just be prepared to kill him regardless,” Ma said flippantly.

The guards threw Zalan to the ground forcefully. Any scabs that were starting to form stretched open and his blood smeared on the clean flooring. Zalan groaned and looked back at Rep who stared with wide eyes. Judging by the tiny pupils in Rep’s eyes, it was clear he had no idea what Zalan was planning. Zalan struggled to his feet and approached the Nightbloom. Ma watched him with intense scrutiny, waiting for her chance to humiliate his last efforts. Zalan held his breath as he dug into his pocket with one last idea in mind.

He pulled out the Reversal Stone.

“Stop him! He has an Artifact!” Oshrad pointed threateningly.

Zalan had only an instant to react. Dozens of men pounced toward him. He had never asked about exactly how to use the Reversal Stone, so he squeezed it several times and touched it against the dead plant. When the slightest bit of the stone brushed against the side of the flower, Zalan was tackled to the ground, hundreds of pounds of weight on top of him. He screamed out in pain, only to have his mouth covered by a half dozen guards. He reached out fruitlessly to grab the Reversal Stone that had fallen from his hand. It was just out of reach, the edge of his finger poking at it.

“Kill him. Kill them both,” Ma ordered gravely.

“Right here?” a guard asked eagerly.

“No, not here! Are you insane? We just mopped the floors! Outside!” Ma said.

Panicking, Zalan imbued himself with as much lightning as he could muster. He shone a bright blue as he burned the people piled atop him. But his resistance was short-lived. Someone grabbed his arm and broke it, causing Zalan to be blinded by pain. He couldn’t keep up any lightning when his head swam with torment. He tried to kick his feet out, but they had pinned him powerfully between many men.

Zalan could feel the heat of Rep’s flames fill the room, then heard Rep get smacked in a similar fashion. They were completely overpowered in moments.

Ruthlessly, Zalan was flipped over to his back, his arm an explosion of agony. They dragged him like a ragdoll to Rep’s side. They could barely look at one another between the damage to both of their faces. Feet flailing and eyes shut in anguish, Rep and Zalan were dragged toward the door. As dire as the situation was, his broken arm obliterated his concentration. He couldn’t think of anything but pain and how he wanted to escape it. All the guards in the room pulled against the friends in different directions, causing further suffering to shoot up their bodies. But they didn’t go beyond the jostling. They were diligent in waiting for the moment they were out of the building in order to give them the real punishment.

“Make sure to keep the building clean. We will have to wash away all the filth they decided to dump into this place. But make an example of them. Break their toes first. One at a time. Then, we can kill them above the water. Let the monsters of the sea have their way with their corpses,” Oshrad instructed as he shoved the doors open.

Rep and Zalan watched helpless as the doors slid behind them, their view of Ma shutting gradually. The last thing Zalan could see was Ma looking over the vase where the dead flower lay.

“Wait,” Ma’s voice came at the last moment, just as the doors closed.