During the brief minutes that Shani and Kei rested, the rain and winds had receded, showing the starry blanket with its one bright eye high in the sky. The surrounding vortexes and water sprouts depleted their energy for the lake to reclaim back its calm nature, leaving only the chilling crystal Shani had created to float leisurely. Planks drifted away from the wreckage where the group rode on as the alternative side of the boat sank with a trail of bubbles, blooping as they popped on the surface. On the other half, Shani sat up and leaned her back against the gunwale next to Nia and Sebastian, who were still holding onto Aiden’s unconscious body with their free hands. Camila’s back rested on a splintered seat while she strained her drenched hair.

Feeling herself regain some of her stamina, Shani sighed through her nose as she placed the swords back into the sheaths, “A-Alright -” Unsure of how to start, her eyes darted around, trying to come up with an explanation.

“You said I was right, so I’m guessing you mean about the book?” Nia shifted in her place to get a better grip on Aiden with one of her eyebrows raised.

“Yeah… it’s not an easy thing to explain for m-me and before I do, you all need to promise me that you will tell nobody about this. From what I have seen, the people of Nuria don’t know about this and it could be dangerous information in the w-wrong hands, okay?” With Shani petting Kei’s head, she glanced at the three who were staring at her intently and nodded in unison, “Alright, well to begin with; what you read is true, Nia, and it has a name; Flow. Flow d-depends on Obliriumite to work since the energy flows from the stone through your body. As the book said, you need to have a great deal of knowledge on elements, but also runes, otherwise, i-it doesn’t work.” Shani pulled her hand up with the bracelet still tied to her to show them, “Flow depletes the stones similar to buildings, so once its power is gone, it turns to dust just like normal. The bigger the Flow, the m-more energy it uses from the rock.”

True to her word, two of the large beads on her bracelet were gone, leaving six left. Nia pondered about the possibilities of what Flow could be used for with excitement, “So all I need to know for Flow is how the elements work and have Obliriumite on me?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than t-that, but that is the gist of it.” Shani lowered her hand. Slouched, she put her fingers on the bridge of her nose, “I can’t believe I let this happen.” Knowing it would not matter anymore if they saw, she raised one of her hands at the group, “Well, you already know about Flow so, let me dry us up.” In a bright flash from her bracelet, warm steam rose from their bodies, clothes, and Kei’s feathers, instantly drying everyone up, “T-There, that should help us from the cold.”

With amazement, Nia watched the steam drift away into the air, “Thank you! This feels a lot better than being drenched.”

The water swayed the wreck as Aiden’s mind came back from the realm of sleep. Nia and Sebastian helped him up so he would not fall into the lake with the rest of the debris. He let out weak grunts as he sat with a hand on his head, still feeling a bit dazed by the hit he took. A purple bump the size of a knuckle had formed on his forehead, hindering him from holding it for too long from the pain.

“Ugh, mah head, whit happened? Am ah dead?” Placing his head on the bump again, he groaned from the stinging sensation, “Nope, still alive ah suppose.”

“You got bonked on the head by a plank, -” Sebastian let go of his arm, seeing as he could sit by himself now, “- are you okay? What do you last remember?”

Recollecting his thoughts, Aiden reclined himself on the other side of Nia and Sebastian, “Ah remember th’ boat getting destroyed ‘n’ -” Upon remembering what Sebastian did, he turned to him quickly with enthusiasm, “- 'n' how ye pushed that beast back wi' a single swing! I’ve seen many things in mah life but that wis impressive! Is that katana enchanted?”

Sebastian was about to answer him, but then he realized something, “I… I don’t know.” Turning to Shani, he relayed the question to her, “Is it enchanted? I haven’t seen any runes on it.”

Scratching her cheek, Shani scrunched her eyebrows baffled, “I-I’m not sure. I’ve never seen an enchanted weapon without a rune. Maybe it’s h-hidden somewhere?”

“I’ll inspect it, but not here -” Looking at his vast aquatic surroundings, Sebastian laid back, hitting his head on the wood on purpose, “- cause I think we have a bigger problem on our hands.”

It was a while before anyone of them talked. Nia questioned about using Flow to move the shipwreck back to Northwich, but Shani informed her it would use all the Obliriumite they had and it would not get them to town. It was best to wait until another vessel found them or they landed onshore with no other option left. Knowing the lake was filled with predators, they created a rotation to keep watch as the others rested until morning. The warmth of dawn draped over them like a pleasant quilt after hours of waiting in the chilly night. Land was spotted shortly after, and with some help from Shani, the boat was pushed by a small wave that redirected them straight for it.

It felt like hours, but eventually, the group landed on a gravel-filled shore. Nia was able to pinpoint where they were with the rising sun’s help and according to her; they were somewhere west between the town of Yardinask and Moesen Marsh. There were no towns near the swamp so the decision was already made for them and with any luck, they could get a new boat for the old lady or at least find a ship to drop them off at Northwich. Kei took off into the sky as directed by Shani if they were to meet poachers who had the desire to kill or capture her.

They were left with only their feet to carry them across to the town with no mounts. It was until midmorning that they could finally see the walls of Yardinask that bore a resemblance to Northwich with their architecture choice. Since both towns were relatively close together, it made sense that Yardinask was inspired by the community with which they most traded. While passing through the farms that surrounded the town, something seemed off. Not a single farmer was to be seen cultivating their lands, nor were there gardeners left to attend to their crippling flowers. Advancing over a hill, the land morphed into a reflection of a past conflict; singed windmill sweeps lay on the ground, charred crops covered their soil, and smashed outbuildings barely remained on their foundations.

“This doesn’t look good… what could have happened here?” Sebastian ran his hand on a burnt wooden fence sitting in front of a scorched barn, grimacing at what the poor people living here could have experienced.

A thought struck Camila’s mind that made her gasp and quickly turn to Sebastian, “You don’t think that The Whisper would have come through here, do you?”

Nia’s eyebrow struck up as her question made sense, “That could explain why Sephtis was in Northwich, besides looking for Shani. If the guards we overheard were right, then two places burning up at almost the same time is no coincidence.”

Sebastian’s eyes directed to the walls of the town, remembering the devastation they endured back at their village, “We should check if there are any survivors and help them.”

Within half an hour they reached at the large fragmented gates of Yardinask that hug feebly, surrounded by splinters of the wooded entrance laying on the trampled ground. As they passed through to the other side, it became more apparent the damage that had been caused. A vast amount of the buildings had been torched, structures that continued to stand bore fractures to their walls, and scattered on the streets were corpses with gashes or stab wounds.

The moment Nia saw the lurid sight her face turned pale, petrified with a ghastly expression. Her mind stood still of all the thoughts she had running before entering the town, only being able to mutter, “N-No… I can’t go in here.”

Aiden turned to face her with a few tears on the verge of sliding down her cheeks, “Sebastian, I’m going to stay behind wi’ Nia, ah don’t think she can take another step in.”

Hearing his name, Sebastian turned to Nia whose hands had begun to shake, “Yeah, I think that’s for the best. Wait for us outside, we’ll try to be quick.” After a nod from Aiden, Sebastian walked back to Nia and put his hand on her shoulder as he blocked her sight from what was behind him, “Take it easy, okay? While you’re out there, make sure nothing follows us inside, that will help take your mind off of this.”

Nia and Aiden slowly walked back out through the gate as Aiden made sure she only kept her eyes forward. The moment they were out of earshot, Shani asked, “Is she going to be okay?”

“Yeah, just give her a while. I probably should have checked inside first before she saw.” With a deep sigh, Sebastian faced the destroyed town. “I don’t know if anyone could still be alive just by looking at how this place looks. Nia must be really disturbed.”

“You okay there, Sebastian?” Camila’s large brown eyes stared right at him. She knew he was just worried about Nia, and Camila could sense his anxiousness. “Nia can be a pain, but I know when Sebastian is truly concerned. I should try to ease up a little on him.”

Sebastian dragged his feet forward, onward into the horrid clutter before him, each step weighing heavy on his consciousness, “I’ll be fine, let’s just scout the area. Hopefully, we find a survivor that managed to hide somewhere. Let’s stick together. This place could still have enemies nearby.”

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The three of them walked through the deserted ruined streets of Yardinask, peeking their heads through broken windows to see if they could spot any sign of life. Ash, rubble, and bodies were all they could find. They passed by the docks to see if any boats were still intact, but every single one of them had been wrecked, only planks remained floating in the water. About an hour into their futile search, they arrived at the town’s church with black smoke stains on its right side where a scorched tree now stood. Its stained large windows had all been shattered aside from the one closest to the entrance which had survived the attack. The church was very much alike to the one in Northwich, but its peaked roofs were split into two spikes at the top like a “V”.

“Nothing… just destruction and corpses.” Sebastian leaned his side against the untainted concrete of the church, feeling his chest constrict onto itself, “Maybe the same thing already happened to our family and friends…”

Camila softly slapped Sebastian on the cheek, her stern look facing him as she held back tears, “Don’t say that and don’t give up. I know that it’s too late for my family, but for yours, there’s still hope. Your mom, dad, and sister are waiting for you to save them, so don’t let whatever they are suffering be in vain.”

“S-She’s right -” Shani’s soft stutter came from behind Camila, “- you shouldn’t give up just because you see despair right now. If they would have wanted to kill everyone, they would have done so instead of taking them.”

Confused, Camila turned to her, “What do you mean?”

“What I m-mean is, there has to be a reason why they were taken.”

What Shani said made sense, “Why would so many people be taken if not for a reason?” The question rolled around in Sebastian’s head, giving him a slight bit of hope, “You’re right, I-”

The sound of a door opening inside the church echoed within its walls. A pair of footsteps clacked as they stepped on what could only be marble flooring. The moment Sebastian heard the door, he quickly stepped beside a shattered window near them to peek inside. Two men wearing long white cassocks with black cloths wrapped around their waists appeared within Sebastian’s vision. Each piece of cloth hanging from their waist was decorated with a golden square near the bottom, matching their gold button placket. The younger of the two held a large staff that seemed to have been made by a large branch, twisted around itself and enveloping an enormous Obliriumite stone the size of a fist at the top between its wooden limbs. His bald head reflected the sunlight that streamed through the broken glass as his skinny frame held him up with difficulty. With every step he took, his long black beard swayed side to side under his long pointy nose.

Both men stopped at the devastated altar with the man holding the staff turning to the other behind him. His slow deep brass accent reverberated through the room, “Again, I am thankful for you to have come all this way from Northwich. Your contributions to us have been most helpful.”

“Nothing brings me more joy than to support the cause, Reberendo Padre Gustavo Cortez.” Wrinkled like a raisin, the other man dusted off the remains of the altar, “If I may ask Padre, how are Necrotics coming along?”

A slight grin formed on Gustavo’s face, “Oh, they are doing just fine. Your offerings will accelerate our research greatly. Within time, we will have our first batch ready to test after Gran Sacerdote Gattas Magnus gives the go-ahead.” Switching his sight to outside through a small window frame above the altar, Gustavo stroked his beard, “Speaking of monstrosities, be sure to communicate with The Whisper members in Northwich. The sounds from last night could mean someone has taken or attempted to steal the weapons at the heart of the lake.”

“Very well, Padre. Will you be reinforcing the other one?”

“At the moment, no. If we send out reinforcements to the other one without knowing the location of the Tsunami Blades, the people will suspect us.” Cortez punted a small piece of rubble on the floor, “We must not radically diverge from our main goal that will cause other problems on our hands.”

Sebastian moved back to where the other two were and saw Camila’s jaw clenched. With the information he just overheard, he whispered, “We need to return to the others. They need to know about this.”

“They are aligned with those thieving bastards, I say we kill them now.” As Camila shifted herself to move forward, Sebastian’s hand caught her by the shoulder, “What? Do you think we can’t take them?”

“It’s not that -” Peeking back inside, he looked at the bald man with the staff, “- something doesn’t seem right about that man. Also, that staff must have a big enchantment on it, the Obliriumite stone is massive!”

Rolling her eyes, Camila settled down, “Fine, but we need to do something then.” As she tried to imagine a plan, the light bulb inside of her head lit up, “Shani, do you think you can make the ceiling fall on them?”

Shani glanced inside at the top of the room; cracks had indeed formed from what she presumed the raid and using Flow would make it seem like an accident, “I-I think I may be able to, but we have to get away from here so we don’t get hurt.”

Camila, Sebastian, and Shani moved away until they reached a crumbled building across the street. Shani raised her hand and pointed her palm at the roof of the church. Her bracelet sparked to life as she focused, staring intently without blinking. With a smooth motion, Shani’s hand bent downward. The very moment she did, the roof trembled and collapsed into the structure. Bricks crashed onto the ground, vibrating the floor with every impact they made as a cloud of dust lifted into the air. Not wanting to stick around, the trio dashed back to the gate where Nia and Aiden were waiting for them. They were a street away from reaching them when a loud explosion of air erupted from where the church was located, sending slabs of stones crashing into the destroyed houses.

Shani stopped with a jerk to look back. Her eyes widened, filled with horror as she saw the puff of dust rise behind the streets of houses, “T-That’s not possible…”

Sebastian and Camila paused to check on Shani, who was just standing in one place. Sebastian ran back to her, grabbed her arm, and pulled it back to him, “Come on, we can’t stay!”

Reaching the entrance to Yardinask in a rush, they saw Nia and Aiden behind the walls, baffled about the sound and why they were running. Not wanting to waste time, Sebastian only told them to run. As the group sprinted past the farms, they heard another blast behind them, but this time much louder joined with an enormous flash. They all stopped to look over their shoulders to only see smoke and fire rising from behind the walls. Sebastian reacted first, yanking everyone by their shoulders to keep moving and not look back. It was not until they reached the halfway point to their wrecked boat that they finally stopped to take a much-deserved rest.

Panting, Sebastian sat on the grass floor, his hair drenched in sweat that was now dripping down his neck, “I think… we are safe.”

“That did not go according to plan… at all.” Camila wiped her forehead as she tumbled onto the soft green ground.

Feeling the aches all around her body, Shani fell on her knees with her hands holding herself up, “W-Who were those people?” Droplets slid down from her nose and crashed onto the terrain, “They shouldn’t have b-been able to do that.”

Aiden stretched his back where he stood as sweat seeped through his shirt, “Kin someone please explain to me what is going on? What was that just noo?”

The pale face Nia had before had vanished and was red from the amount of running she just had to do, “And what did you try to accomplish? What did you find inside?”

Sebastian, Camila, and Shani explained to both Nia and Aiden what they saw inside of Yardinask. Aiden was a little confused by what they meant about using Flow, so Shani explained quickly to him what it was. The topic led to the explosion which Shani clarified that no one in Nuria should know how to use it as she had said before. Sebastian asked Nia if she had any idea what a Necrotic could be or if Shani had ever come across one in her travels. Both of them shook their heads, puzzled as to what they could be. He also brought up if anyone knew the names Gustavo Cortez or Gattas Magnus, but was met with the same answer as before.

Groaning, Sebastian lay flat on the ground. A light breeze hitting the side of his face, cooling him off, “How are we going to get back to Northwich now? All the boats we saw had been destroyed.”

“I g-guess the best option is to use the wreck again and see how far that takes us.” Shani pulled up her wrist to see the beaded bracelet still had six orbs left, “I might be able to push us w-with small waves like I did when arriving, but that’s it.”

Cleaning his face off from the moisture, Sebastian sat back up, “Well, it’s the best we got for now. We should be arriving soon anyway, so let's keep on going.”

The small wreckage soon appeared to them in the still lake. Once everyone was seated the best they could, Aiden pushed the floating remains into deeper water. After Aiden had jumped on, Shani created a small wave to push them north-east to where they hoped Northwich was. Hovering above the clouds, Kei followed them from above as she let her wings stretch and picked up food for herself. Hours passed with Shani spawning small waves to direct them in the right path. The amount of Flow she was sparingly using had dwindled her bead count from six to five, only using them when she noticed they were heading the wrong way. Early afternoon had come with no sign of the town anywhere.

“I regret choosing this option. We should have just walked.” Sebastian flipped onto his stomach, trying to hide his front from the sun.

“Look at it this way -” Nia shifted her position so she was sitting upward and picked up a broken plank to use for shading herself, “- at least no one is seasick.”

Shaking her head with one hand on her stomach, Camila covered her eyes from the light using her arm, “Please… just shut up. I don’t wanna hear the word sick right now."

Small sounds of popping emerged from next to the broken craft. Aiden peered over the rim to see two shadows moving upward to the surface. On guard, he pulled out his war hammer in case it was some sort of enemy they would have to deal with. The rest of the group stood up, grasping at their weapons and ready to attack. A second later, two colorful horse-like creatures popped their heads from underwater and looked up at him with their beautiful eyes. Seeing that one of them was still injured, it surprised him it was the two Hippocampi they had saved the day before. Ecstatic, he put his hammer away and petted the two on the head with a big grin on his face.

“It’s so nice to see you twa! I’m glad yer friend is doin’ fine.” As Aiden places his hand on their heads, he could sense that they too were excited to see him.

Sheathing their weapons, the three came near to say hello to their large aquatic friends. From what they saw, the one that had been attacked had seen better days, but it was doing just fine. If anything, Nia commented that since there was no more blood trickling down, no large vein had been damaged. As the group patted the Hippocampi, they neighed in content, pushing up at their hands with their long ears facing forward. The healthy creature managed to lick Aiden spontaneously, leaving a slimy mess on his cheek while he laughed and wiped it off.

Nia scratched the underside of the hurt Hippocampus when she thought of an idea, “Aiden, do you think they would help us?”

Thinking about the question to himself for a moment, Sebastian’s along with Camila and Shani’s eyebrows shot up the moment they figured it out with Sebastian exclaiming, “Nia, you're brilliant!”

Aiden glimpsed at Nia who was now pointing at him in enthusiasm, “That’s a guid idea!” He turned back to the Hippocampi who were inches away from him, “Would ye hulp us get back to town? Our boat was destroyed ‘n’ we are stranded ‘ere.” The two Hippocampi looked at each other for a moment as if they were talking to each other and nodded. Aiden clapped with joy, “They said they’ll do it!”

Using the remaining parts of the boat, Aiden grabbed one of the longest ropes that were still attached and tied it on the other border of the craft where one of the oars used to be. This allowed the Hippocampi to have enough room for both of them to grab the rope with their mouths like bits on a horse's saddle. Once both Hippocampi were in place, the two of them swam with the broken boat being pulled behind them. With the wind hitting their faces faster than any land horse could go, it would be a matter of time before the town of Northwich could be seen.