Ibaeran stood before Ton’Onama with an unimpressed and annoyed look on her face as she had been watching him stretch and limber up almost as though he was getting for some kind of race.
“Are you done yet” said Ibaeran, unable to hide the annoyance in her voice as she spoke.
Ibaeran upon hearing what she said instinctively shut herself up, remembering that even if he was helping her, he was still an Uha Tamunaran and if her experience as a slave had thought her anything, it was that she needed to mind what she said around them especially since she knew next to nothing about Ton’Onama but if the little information she could find about him were true and he was related by blood to the king then he could be just like him.
The thought of being so close to a person who could be exactly like that man that was willing to slaughter countless number of people in all four nations just to push her into doing his biding frightened her right down to her core.
Ton’Onama upon hearing what she said simply cracked his neck and his fingers like someone that was preparing for a fight before turning to Ibaeran.
Ibaeran upon seeing him turned to face her feared that he him attack or lash out at her over what she said however, much to her shock Ton’Onama just gave chuckle at her.
“Sorry about that, my body was just felt a little stiff that’s all” said Ton’Onama with a playful smile on his face.
Ibaeran upon seeing the playful smile he wore on his face and the friendly way he spoke to her without an ounce of irritation or rage calmed down.
“Now then, you next lesson is simple one. All you have to do is run around the garden with me, and if you can keep up with my speed or even surpass it you pass” said Ton’Onama with a smile on his face.
Ibaeran upon hearing what he said thought back to when she had come looking for him in the garden the night before and he attacked her, remembering how fast he moved through the trees before striking her with his claws, Ton’Onama moved too fast for her to see and was able to attack her and retreat back in to the trees before she could lay a single finger on him, now he wants her and him to run around the forest with her goal being to keep up and or surpass his speed, it sounded like an impossible task to her especially after witnessing how fast he could move first hand.
“Are you seriously asking me to race you, are you forgetting what happened last night?” asked Ibaeran.
Ton’Onama just smiled and nodded his upon hearing what Ibaeran said before saying, “No, I remember every single detail of what happened last night including how you managed to catch me, grab me by the neck and throw me straight in to a tree”.
Ibaeran upon hearing what Ton’Onama said then began to remember how she had managed to briefly tap in to the power of the Su Baera to defend herself from Ton’Onama’s lightning fast attacks and also how she ended throwing him straight to a tree out of anger and annoyance upon discovering that he was the one who attacked her.
“Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to hurt you” Ibaeran spoke softly with her head bowed down out of shame and embarrassment upon remembering how she sent Ton’Onama flying straight in to a tree.
Ton’Onama upon hearing what Ibaeran said could help but chuckle lightly before saying, “No need to apologize, I was the one who brought that unfortunate fate to myself by attacking you that night”.
Ibaeran could stop herself from smiling a little upon hearing Ton’Onama said only to stop once she noticed Ton’Onama was looking at her out of fear that she might have offending him causing Ton’Onama to just smile before nodding his head.
“Anyway if you can summon the strength and power you used against me that night you should have no problem matching me in speed or maybe even surpassing me” said Ton’Onama.
Ibaeran upon hearing what Ton’Onama said remembered the power she felt flow through her entire body the night Ton’Onama attacked her, immense and strong, the power of the Su Baera, the power that give her the power and speed she needed not only to match Ton’Onama but also the strength she needed to sending him fly straight in to tree, could she really summon that power again.
Ibaeran remembered how she summoned the power moments ago to lift the massive boulder that would take at least ten able men move, lifting like it was nothing, feeling the immense weigh on the palms of her arms and comparing it to that of a feather only to lose the power in an instant and almost be crushed by the weight of the massive boulder.
She had the power in her fingers tips and just like that it was gone, her failure to sustain the power of the Su Baera made her doubt herself, fearing that she wouldn’t be able to mast her powers in time before the king decides to slaughter her people.
Ton’Onama sensing Ibaeran’s doubt placed his hand on Ibaeran’s should before saying, “Don’t tell me you still doubt yourself Su Baera. The power within you is yours to command and wield, don’t doubt or hesitate just remember who you are and how far you’ve come to reach this point. The power will come to you but only if you have faith in it and yourself”.
Ibaeran upon hearing what Ton’Onama said a little more confident in herself and the power within herself, and even though she was not entirely sure she would be able to summon and sustain the power of the Su Baera she was will to try her absolute best, there was far too much on the line for her to falter due to her doubts.
Ton’Onama smiled upon see Ibaeran’s face lit up with fierce look of determination on her face.
“Shall we start?” asked Ton’Onama.
Ibaeran simply nodded her before she and Ton’Onama went down on one knee as they prepared to race each other.
“Are you ready for this?” asked Ton’Onama.
Ibaeran then closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening her eyes back up and saying, “I am”.
Ton’Onama upon hearing what she said could help but smile a little.
“Alright then, let’s run” after Ton’Onama said those words he and Ibaeran were off, running through the forest as fast as they could with Ton’Onama wasting no time to leave Ibaeran in a thick cloud of dust behind as he ran.
Although it was clear to Ibaeran that there was massive gap in speed between her and Ton’Onama she still pushed herself to keep running, moving as fast as she could all in an attempt to reach Ton’Onama but no matter her hard she pushed herself she could never close the gap between herself and Ton’Onama.
Eventually Ibaeran began to tire with her legs aching, her lungs burning as she struggled to breath, she began to reduce in speed as her feet grew tire with ever step she took, it hurt immensely as she felt her legs began to slowly give in to fatigue but still she kept running as quick and fast as her weak aching legs would allow, enduring the pain of exhaustion and continued but as she the pain in her feet grew and grew, her lungs continued to burn with her struggling to take a single breath. It soon became too much for her and after pushing herself, running for miles on end without being able to reach Ton’Onama Ibaeran’s vision began to get blurry and unclear, feet too weak to support her weigh and finally she collapsed on the grass covered fall.
Ton’Onama upon seeing Ibaeran had collapsed immediately stopped running and went to her aid.
“Ibaeran you okay?” Ton’Onama asked with worry and concern, fearing that he might have pushed Ibaeran too hard.
But as Ibaeran lied on the unconscious she couldn’t help but thinking about everything she had been through, her struggles and how hard she had to fight to reach this point in her life and want failing would mean for her people, the lives of everyone in all four end all because she could master the power she had fought she hard to get.
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She then thought about Preyina her closest friend and how she had to watch her die in front of her eyes, she had failed to protect her from the Uha Tamunaran and she had to bear the pain of watching her die, back then she was weak and lacked the power to keep herself but right now, at that exact moment she had the strength, she had the power and even though she couldn’t protect Preyina she would use the power she now possesses to protect her people, there was no way she would allow another soul to fall in the hands of the Uha Tamunaran.
As thoughts about Preyina and how she needed to protect her people from the threat of the Uha Tamunaran raced through her mind she felt it, the power flow through her once again.
Ton’Onama , not to far from where Ibaeran’s unconscious body laid, watched with utter shock and astonishment as Ibaeran’s body began to glow with the overwhelming power of the Su Baera flowing through her.
She then slowly got up, standing on her own two feet and then opened her eyes, and as she did so a surge of power so great it shock the ground underneath her feet and forced Ton’Onama to take a few steps back, flowed out through her body.
Then in the blink of an eye, before Ton’Onama could take another step, Ibaeran was off, speeding passed Ton’Onama at unbelievable speeds.
Ton’Onama, although taken aback a bit by Ibaeran’s display of speed, couldn’t help but smile, please to see that she was making progress in mastering her powers before chasing after her.
As Ibaeran and Ton’Onama raced through the garden, their roles seemed to have reversed with Ibaeran being the one ahead while Ton’Onama was the one struggling to keep up and even eventually having to resort to running on all fours just to try to keep up with Ibaeran’s speed but try as he may no matter how fast he ran he still could not keep up with her as Ibaeran kept increasing in speed with each step she took.
Ibaeran couldn’t begin to find the words to describe what she felt at that moment, the strength and power flowing through her entire body made her feel invincible, like there was nothing in the world that could hold her back, and with each step she took she felt more power flow through her, filling her with a drive to run even faster, wanting to know how much further she push herself and see just how powerful she could become.
And as Ibaeran ran, seemly entranced by the overwhelming power flowing through her, Ibaeran did not notice the pair of silver steel wings appearing on her back and extending outward like that of a bird about to take flight.
Ton’Onama upon seeing the steel wings on Ibaeran’s back stopped running, knowing that there was no use trying to outrun her as she had reached a level that far out classed him and with a proud look on his face the Uha Tamunaran stood still with eyes glittering with hope and astonishment as he watched as Ibaeran was about to feel, for the very first time, what it was like to be a Su Baera.
The wings were now fully extended and with a simple flap from them Ibaeran’s feet left the ground and was sent, along with the rest of her, flying straight to the sky.
And upon noticing that she was no longer chained to the ground below Ibaeran couldn’t help but smile and then laugh a little, feeling a sense of bliss and peace flow through her entire body before she began to soaring through the sky, flying higher and higher until she reached a point above the clouds and the sky itself that once seemed impossible to reach.
Ibaeran, from that very height, was above all this in her world and upon looking down at flat sphere that was her world, seeing the massive ball of flames that was the sun shining brightly on one side and the dimly lit silver glowing moon on the other side, all four nations on the earth down below, the many cities within the nation and the people living there.
She then thought about how every single one of the people living down below looked up to her as their savior and the hero meant to free them from the oppressive boot of the Uha Tamunaran and upon thinking about that Ibaeran remembered what was one the line if she were to fail and upon doings the nations down being slowly began to morph and change in to something truly horrific.
The cities crumbled with its people yelling out in pain and agony as they were tortured to death by their Uha Tamunarans masters who no longer found any use for them, deeming them useless and unnecessary as such found it fit to end their lives in the most inhumane was possible and seated on his mighty throne was the king of all Uha Tamunarans, Datubo himself, watching with a wicked smiled as the four nations of man were reduced to ruins with piles upon piles of dead lifeless bodies of the people buried underneath the rumble.
Ibaeran felt her heart begin to race out of fear upon seeing the future that was waiting for her people if she was to fail and as the fear within her began to grow the power of the Su Baera shrunk down until it left her completely and as it did, she felt the force of the world below drag her back down in to it.
She began to fall, moving at twice the speed it took her to reach the height were she stood above it all and as she fell she watched as the nations began to slowly grow in size as her perspective of the world she saw when she was above changed to be how it was when she was within it.
Ibaeran knew if she were to reach the grown from the height was currently plummeting it would be the end of her so she tried desperately to summon back the power of the Su Baera, trying to force it out as best as she could but not matter how hard she tried the power refused to come
It seemed as though her fate was seal as she continued to fall straight down with no hope of being saved but as she fell she saw her entire life flash before her eyes, replaying the many roles she had played in her life, as slave girl, a friend, a student, a warrior and now the legendary Su Baera but her vision of the life she lived did not end there, she also saw deep in to the not so distant future of a world were all hope was gone, wear piles upon piles of dead lifeless bodies covered the streets and painting it red with the blood that oozed out of them, this was the grim fate that would be fall her people if she were to fail and Ibaeran upon seeing that remembered her mission and her duty as the Su Baera to her people.
She couldn’t just die like this, when her story as the Su Baera had only just began for she had fought and earned the power of the Su Baera, and she was going to allow herself fall, not after flying so high and right such a great height.
Ibaeran upon remembering that she was the only hope of a better future for her people, the one that would ensure the tragedy that befell Preyina would never befall anyone else, she, using all her might, commanded the power within to come out and it obeyed.
The steel wings reappeared; seemingly sprouting out of her back bathed in a divine light and stopped her from descending any further.
Now that she had stopped falling the fear and panic she once felt slow disappeared and as it did she was able to bear witness of the world below her, now being closer she could see more of it and it was a grim.
It was the same sorry sight she had seen more than a million times, slaves being beating to a bloody pulp for seemly minuscule offense, hungry homeless face roaming about the streets begging for simple scraps because they were deemed at being too useless by the Uha Tamunaran to be worth feeding or having a roof above their heads, the slave toiling all day for scraps and grains to little to fill their hungry bellies.
A truly sorry and horrendous sight that would bring anyone to tears, and even though Ibaeran had seen this countless times and had gotten somewhat use to it after all she had been seeing it her entire life, this she felt different, not longer seeing the horrific sight as just another norm of the day but an inhumane, barbaric and unjust act, an act she couldn’t possibly end with the power of the Su Baera.
Ibaeran then slowly raised her hand, aiming it at the nations below, pondering on how if the power flowing through could be enough to put an end to the threat the Uha Tamunaran possessed on her people and as she did so her raised hand began to glow, ready to strike down the Uha Tamunaran with the immense power of the Su Baera, that is if she wished to.
Ibaeran was tempted to strike the Uha Tamunarans, an act which she could easily accomplish with the power she now possessed, it would be so easy especially since they deserved it for the way the treated them all, slaving, tormenting and torturing them, treating them like cattle to be slaughtered and not caring that they were living breathing people, to them, they were nothing, they didn’t care about them or lives so Ibaeran had no reason to care for them as well.
But even though Ibaeran could easily reign down her fury as the Su Baera on the Uha Tamunaran and would be rightly justified to do so she couldn’t bring herself to do it, even having watched an Uha Tamunaran take the life of her people too many times, whether directly or indirectly, she couldn’t bring herself to do the same, remembering all the Uha Tamunaran she had met in the palace like Minji and Finita who were scared of her, the guard who was cursed with the ability to feel the emotions as others, Ton’Onama who offered to help her master the powers of the Su Baera, though she still had her suspicions on why he offered to help her, and finally all Uha Tamunarans she saw Kiripapaboa and he bleak and sorry state they were.
Seeing those Uha Tamunarans and how they were so similar to her and her people made her feel even less compelled to carry on with the act of using her powers as a Su Baera to make the all suffer a similar fate to as her people.
In the end Ibaeran put her hand away as she couldn't go through with the deed because, due the time she had spent with Uha Tamunarans; the way she saw them had changed, no longer seeing them as the barbaric conquers with godlike powers and more as regular people who just happen to born with unique abilities, seeing the only real difference between an Uha Tamunaran and a human being the power one side possessed and the power one side lacked.
Ibaeran just sighed thinking it was for the best she didn’t go through with the act, largely because she didn’t feel right doing it and partly because she knew such an act would enrage the king and she doubted, even with the power of the Su Baera she would be able to match him in strength and power.
Besides that, there was a better way to free her people that would require her to strike down anyone with her power, and that was to do what the king commanded, travel to Kiri Dumo and find the Dumo stone, at least that was what Ibaeran believed.