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Kya’s Notes:
There are twelve primary classes, divided into three groups. The four elements: Water, Earth, Fire, Air. The four ethereals: Life, Death, Time, Space. The four enlightens: Knowledge, Emotion, War, Peace. You can combine two of the primary classes when attaining a subclass to create of the over a hundred unique combinations (Fire and Earth - Molten Magma, Knowledge and Life - Scholar of Vita, Space and Death - Astral Calamity).
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“Hey… hey… Kya… it's time to wake up… we have to start your training now… Kya…” The sing-song voice of Alder came softly in the near pitch black darkness of the dorm room.
Kya, for her part, inhaled a slow deep breath and muttered out something incoherent along the lines of “hmm, elev… teen… minutes…”
“Last chance Kya, otherwise, Wade is going to-”
He didn’t get to finish, as Wade stepped past him suddenly and threw a splash of icy water directly onto Kya, before bringing out a radiant yellow glowstone to light up the room.
Gasping and spluttering, Kya shot up in bed and screamed out “What!? What the hell, what time is it?”
Wade laughed, and Alder joined her before saying “It’s time to work. Come on, get dressed, we have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it.”
Kya, still trying to control her breathing and her heart, looked from Alder to Wade and back again. “I saw you like, five hours ago, if that. Why are the two of you all bruised and Wade, where did you get that cut on your forehead?”
Alder beamed even brighter and said in a tone dripping with condescension “Well, after you left, we had a little spar ourselves. While her training is of the highest quality, it simply couldn’t stack up to the raw power, sheer charisma, and pure- eugh!”
Wade, stopping the short tirade with a jab to the stomach, said “He won six of the eight, don’t let him convince you otherwise. I’ll match him in time if he isn’t careful though.”
Shaking her head, Kya stretched and rose out of bed. With a wave of her hand, her tattered sweatpants and shirt were replaced with her black combat clothes, enchanted boots, and cloak. “Give me five minutes to wash up, and I’ll be ready. What are we going to be doing?”
The pair shared a look, and then said in unison, one with a passive look and the other with a residual grin on his face “Running.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Carcello had a white-knuckled grip on the haft of his Warhammer in one hand, while desperately clinging to the railing of the ship with the other.
The waves beating against the hull of their ship were like concussive blasts, and it was all Carcello could do not to fall to the deck, or worse fall overboard.
There, far ahead of their ship, was the towering form of a demonic 4-Star Leviathan Squirrel. Even at such a vast distance as this, Carcello could easily make out the disgusting details covering its body. There were hundreds and hundreds of smaller sea squirrels running up and down its glistening fur, making the entire thing look like it was writhing and churning just as much as the ocean around it. If the 1-Star squirrels were kind of cute, with the 2-Stars being kind of ugly as their proportions got magnified up, then this 4-Star was just… wrong in every way. Its massive eyes seemed to swallow the light around them like pits of tar, except for their very center which gave off the faintest glow of sapphire. It had four massive arms that seemed to have too many joints, bending in unnatural ways and swinging wildly as the beast slowly progressed towards their fleet. But all of that, all of that was nothing. It was a giant monster, sure. Carcello hadn’t ever seen a 4-star monster with his own eyes before, but the sea squirrels weren’t that ferocious from the start. No, there were two things that really made it stand out, made Carcello almost unable to even move his body apart from simply hanging on to the rail and to his weapon.
The creature had an aura of… of the sea. It was vast, and wild, and ever changing. One second Carcello felt nothing at all, maybe even uplifted and emboldened. The next he felt an oppressive cold, a weight like he had never felt before. The power behind its aura was only one aspect though. The other was the malevolent intelligence Carcello could see in the titanic being. This wasn’t some beast. This wasn’t some base creature or fodder for soldiers to kill en-masse. This was a peak existence. A ruler of the depths. This was an old, powerful, crafty being that could crush his life with a casual wave of its claw.
And it wasn’t doing anything yet but walking towards them.
Suddenly, from one of the ships off his port side, Carcello felt a towering aura blast out and encompass him like a warm blanket. It wasn’t nearly the match of the 4-Star leviathan, but neither did it need to be. The simple reprieve was all Carcello needed to regain his composure and rise from where he had been crouching against the railing. He finally had the bright idea to stow his Warhammer instead of trying to hang on to it, allowing him to grab the railing with both hands and gaze out at the unfolding events with awe.
The first aura was from one of the 3-Star captains on the expedition. Carcello could see him standing in deep amber armor, with a radiant golden spear resting easily on both shoulders. In the dark of the night, with the waves and the monsters, the simple sight of that man and his glowing weapon and aura was… was nothing compared to the next aura overlapping his. And then the next and the next. Finally, from all around the fleet, five brilliant, wondrous aura’s emboldened and enlivened the fleet, completely dispelling the effects of the 4-star beast. Individually, none of them were as potent as the monster, but all together, they were more than a match.
Then they started to move. Carcello knew it was an exponential leap from one rank to the next. He knew that a 2-Star was a world away from his 1, and that a 3-Star had to be a world beyond even that. But knowing it and seeing it were two very different things. The 3-Star closest to Carcello, the one with the golden spear, crouched down and leapt forwards at the massive creature, spear out stretched like it was dragging him forwards with pure streams of radiant energy trailing from its blade. Carcello could hardly believe the speed of him, but a moment later he was joined by two other 3-Stars all launching themselves at terrifying velocities.
The leviathan bellowed out, not quite with the same percussive force as it had before, but it still sent the sea shuddering and roiling like a pot of water over a roaring flame. Then, with a speed that belied it’s gargantuan size, it dove forwards under the tumultuous waves and without warning leapt up at the spear wielder from below, massive gaping maw ready to swallow him whole. And then… then Carcello wasn’t quite sure what happened.
In a singular brief moment of time, a single instant that lasted both too long and went by too quickly, the spear wielder seemed to move at just the right time and in just the right way to avoid the snapping jaws of the leviathan squirrel, and then glided along its body cutting into its flesh like scissors to paper before finally he kicked off and stood atop the apocalyptic waves without a scratch on him. The wound he’d inflicted was minor compared to the creature's titanic size, but from the way it howled and bellowed, it must if nothing else, thoroughly pissed it off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kya had always considered herself as someone who enjoyed running. Ever since she was young, she had found a simple kind of pleasure in running fast. She’d gotten kind of sick of it later in life, but since gaining what basically amounted to super-strength from her awakening, that love for running had been thoroughly rekindled.
But love has always been a fickle thing. And maybe, just maybe, she had been too quick to fall back in love.
The sky was gaining a dusky green and purple hue. Neither of the suns had risen yet, but the light from the smaller blue one was trying its best to race ahead and illuminate the world. Kya was trying her best to focus on the sky, on the dark silhouettes of trees and buildings against the slowly brightening sky, on anything really other than the pounding of her feet on the pavement. The jarring shock that ran up her legs and into her skull with every step. The sound of her own breathing in her ears. They had been running for just… so long.
The city was huge, with canals and bridges and roads and lights and shops and dorms and everything Kya could imagine, and several things she never couldn’t have imagined. But at this point it felt like she’d seen it all, the entire place.
A few feet ahead of her, Wade and Alder both ran at a pace that would have put Olympians to shame, and what’s worse, is they were having a casual conversation all the while. Neither of them even looked sweaty or tired in the least.
Kya could take the grueling run. She could do it. That was no problem, as painful and miserable as it might have been. She didn’t even mind the breakneck pace they were keeping. Her muscles felt weak, and her lungs felt like they were breathing sulfur, but ultimately again, she could keep this pace. If she were on her own, she probably would have stopped long ago.
But she wasn’t alone. She was watching as these two in front of her discussed the weather and a new restaurant that had opened up and so on.
Gritting her teeth as her muscles groaned in protest, Kya poured on as much speed as she could manage and came up even with the other two.
“... apparently they’re making moves in the capitol to-” Alder had been saying in a low voice but cut off when she drew close. “Hey hey, look at this, you’re doing great! Actually though, we’re approaching the first threshold. Basically, don’t waste all your strength now. You’re going to need it.” He finished with a smirk and gestured into the distance.
Kya’s stomach, already clenched in a knot from the run, dropped to somewhere around her knees. They were approaching a massive hill. A massive hill, with a staircase. A massive hill with a massive staircase holding no fewer than three hundred individual steps.
“We’re going to do at least ten reps!” Wade said with evident relish, then thought for a moment and added on “or until our legs give out. Whichever comes first, I guess.”
“I’ve never been a fan of stairs, personally. But it is undeniably a great way to train” Alder sighed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ethereal crimson arrows larger than Carcello's body rained down from above onto the leviathan in an unceasing maelstrom from one of the 3-Stars that hadn’t approached.
The fleet had come to a full stop, keeping their distance as their captains stood up and fought against the 4-Star. It had been going on now for long enough that Blue’s first light was peaking over the horizon. In that time, one of its four arms had been cut off just above its first joint. While this had been a crippling wound for the sea squirrel, it had swatted at the 3-Star who had delivered the blow with one of his remaining clawed hands and sent him shooting away faster than Carcello could even process. The water erupting to either side of his path after he passed it was the only indication of where he’d gone, as well as the large geyser of water that stretched several stories into the air with a concussive soundwave where he finally landed. The fifth and final captain of the fleet, a medical officer, dashed over atop the water covered in a warm emerald light before diving into the sea after him.
This left only three to battle the leviathan and Carcello could tell, even from a distance and even with his limited grasp of the higher powers that clashed, it was a struggle. The golden spear wielder that had gone out initially had been joined by the archer firing crimson arrows and an ax wielder drenched in the bloodiest aura of them all. This was the only one Carcello knew of already, Captain Trevor Ramorin. He was a middle-aged 3-Star who’d made a large impact some forty years ago by defeating someone a full rank above himself in the colosseum and breaking through to 3-Star right there in front of the crowd. However, he’d apparently faced a roadblock on his path that was stalling him out and keeping him confined to 3-Star.
Nevertheless, having fought for the last several decades, he was clearly experienced and accomplished in a way the others simply weren’t.
Looking on, Carcello was utterly mesmerized. It wasn’t really that the spear wielder or the archer were worse than Ramorin, they were dealing just as much damage and dodging just as nimbly as he. But the way he moved, the way his ax came down with an inexorability and a weight to it, it was… perfect.
But it wasn’t just his martial ability that was extraordinary. Each of the three displayed powerful abilities on another paradigm than anything Carcello could even attempt at his level. The arrows from the archer seemed to grow larger and deadlier the farther they flew, so when he fired them almost straight up into the clouds as little pinpricks of red light, they were monstrous by the time they made their way back down to the monster. It was harder for Carcello to see the delicate movements of the spear wielder from hundreds of meters away, but he would, at times, almost seem to teleport from one side of the creature to the other, before a line of purest gold would appear for just a split second, then a spray of hot blood would gush out connecting the two points from where he had been to where he was now.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
He only did this sparingly, but it was to devastating effect each time. Carcello couldn’t be sure, but he knew the man to be an earth user like himself. Which meant he was likely also debilitated in his abilities while they were out at sea, so far from land.
Still though, for each ability the other two displayed, they were nothing compared to Trevor Ramorin, he was an absolute menace to this creature. Each swing of his ax meant blood and injury to the beast. Each apocalyptic swing carried with it the weight of a god behind it, as though the strike couldn’t be blocked, couldn’t be avoided, just accepted. But more than any one of them, it was the concert of all three that made for such an inspiring scene. Anytime the leviathan was about to strike either of the two close combat fighters, an arrow came directly at the clawed hand and gave them enough time to get away. Anytime the spear wielder overextended and risked injury, there came the catechism that was the all-consuming ax of Trevor Ramorin. They were a perfect trio, but as with the fourth man who’d been swatted away, Carcello knew it could only last for so long.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I’m so tired of this shit!” screamed Trevor as he once more used his ability to cleave down on the sea squirrel with more power and weight than he ever could have produced on his own. “And ‘sea squirrel’ is a dumb name, by the way. This entire situation is just dumb. This is why I became a teacher. I don’t want to be out here drenched in sea water and covered in rotting damned squirrel entrails!”
Mercer laughed, a tired wheezing sound, then shouted back at the same time he used his spear to vault off the incoming claws of the squirrel to begin running up its arm “just shut up and finish this thing, poor Mercy over there is draining a lot of mana to slow it down with all these arrows. Better not waste the opportunity or she’ll skin you alive!”
Trevor shuddered at that. “Between Cain not taking action and Mercy taking action, I’m not sure which is worse.” Trevor grumbled under his breath as he once more leapt at the monster.
He knew he couldn’t get sloppy, but he could feel the aura of the sea squirrel and knew it wouldn’t be long now. 4-Star’s had prodigious abilities to survive and keep themselves alive, but with Mercy sealing its abilities and Mercer layering on afflictions, all Trevor had to do was keep its attention and land debilitating blow after debilitating blow. Right in the middle of it all. While several ships full of gawkers all looked on. Where he risked death at the first slip up.
“I’m definitely going to retire after this. I don’t care if the world is ending, I’m either going to teach, or cook, or both, monsters be damned.” But his words went unheard as his ax whistled through the air with a scream of bloodlust before impacting with a reverberating explosion of force.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Atop the stone walls of Lyra, Alder and Wade sat on the stone crenulations looking at the sparkling sea and the gradually lightening sky now that blue’s first light had finally peaked out over the horizon. Both turned their heads as Kya came trodding up to them.
“Only three and a half minutes behind, not too bad” Alder whispered.
“Not too good either” Wade whispered back.
Alder gave her a look “Oh stop, you’re too harsh, she did fine for her first day.” then hopped down and walked over. “Alright! Now you can take a rest while we explain this next part.” Alder said, before laughing as Kya sat down with a thud before the last word had even left his lips.
“I know this has been challenging for you, but that’s entirely the point Kya. We know-” he used his thumb and pinky to gesture at both Wade and himself “you’ve had some experience with combatives and physical training and the like, but that was at best when you were just a mortal. Now that you’ve awakened, you need to both train your body and mind to get accustomed to that change. Plus, you’re not that great at combatives in the first place.” He finished with a slight smirk.
Kya just glared at him, but didn’t correct him both because her simply being out of breath was proof enough that this had been hard. Brutal even. They had run for the better part of two hours, stopping only to explain how the stair repeats were going to work or that they would do the next stretch backwards or side shuffle, or on their hands instead of feet.
“Part of me had really hoped that awakening these abilities would sort of eliminate the need for training, to be honest. Like…” Kya waved her hand in the air, both searching for the right word and catching her breath from the exertion of talking “magic me into a competent user and all that, I guess.”
Wade and Alder both just laughed after sharing a look. Wade was the one to reply this time, saying “Oh… Oh no, not at all. If anything, it’s the opposite. Your body has fundamentally changed, so now your mind has to catch up. This run we just did, we’re going to do at a minimum half that each morning for the next week until we head out on our missions.”
Before Kya could muster up anything to say to the absolute insanity Wade had just told her, she continued right now, we’re going to begin your first combatives training. We’ll do an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon each day. You’ll swap between myself and Alder to give you a well balanced approach. If you spend too much time sparring against just one of us, you might develop some weird habits.”
Kya nodded her head, “Alright, abilities or no?”
Wade started to speak, but Alder cut her off “No, no abilities. You need to learn how to use your body before you start throwing in your abilities as well. At least for this week, we’ll focus purely on martial techniques. After we head out and we’re away from people, then we can start to use your abilities.”
“Fair enough” Kya said, before straining to rise to her feet. “So then, who’s first?”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
One final bellow echoed out all around them as Trevor Ramorin’s ax came down one final time, cleaving through most of the sea squirrel leviathan's skull from top to bottom.
“Be ready!” called an enhanced voice from somewhere on Carcello’s ship. “For those who’ve never seen the lights of a 4-Star before, you may want to shield your eyes!”
Though it was barely past dawn in the earliest part of the sunsrise, almost every soldier was awake and crowding the railings of each ship. When word had spread to the cabins below deck what was happening, well, one would have to be crazy to miss a battle between their leaders and a leviathan.
But now that the killing blow had finally been delivered, many of the younger soldiers looked away or at least looked on through their fingers. Carcello had personally slayed 1-Stars, and had assisted a group in killing a couple 2-Stars. Their lights were nothing impressive, staying for hardly a matter of seconds, maybe a minute at most, and only being the size of his fist. He’d heard that the lights of 3-Stars could get to the size of a small building though, and could stay for almost ten minutes for the more powerful ones. A 4-Star then… Carcello didn’t shield his eyes, he couldn’t look away. Couldn’t even fathom holding up his hands and obscuring his view. He’d already gained so much inspiration just from watching the fight, there was no way he would miss this. He tried to temper his expectations. The Sea Squirrels were on the weaker side of each grade, no matter if it was 1-Star or 4-Star, so this one shouldn’t-
There it was. Oh gods above, there it was.
He wasn’t sure which of the captains had a looting ability, but one of them clearly did. The entire gargantuan form of the leviathan was swallowed in the void of shadows as they clawed their way up and around its entire form like insects over food. Then all at once, their world had a third sun.
The light exploded out in waves of deepest blue and brightest white. They seemed to almost dance and twirl as they reached up towards the sky, and out towards their ships. The flame itself was enormous, larger than a two story home, larger than the ships they rode on. But that… that was too much. Carcello could only look at it for a moment before a searing pain ran through his eyes, down his spine, into his whole body. He felt like his very soul would burn if he lingered too long on that flame. So he contented himself with the bands of incredible light that weaved through the air all around it instead.
He went over the details of the fight again and again in his mind. He didn’t care much for the archer or the spear wielder. They weren’t connected to him at all, but the way captain Ramorin’s ax moved, the impact it had… it resonated with Carcello, with his path, with his soul.
He wasn’t sure if it was just the light of the creature, or the power contained in every swing of the ax he saw in his mind, but he sat down and closed his eyes right there on the deck of the ship.
His path was that of earth. The soil, stone, and bedrock. The mountains and canyons. They were slow to move, but when they did nothing could stand in their way. Nothing. They were undeniable, intractable, inexorable and inexhaustible. He saw the swings of the ax again and again in his mind. Again and again. That word kept coming back, inexorable.
Carcello was eventually shaken awake by Hjaldin, grinning like a fool and laughing. Carcello wasn’t sure how long it had been, but he knew it couldn’t have been that long, the lights were still dancing in the sky, though they seemed distant now. Still bright, but just far off.
“Wha…” He started to say before trailing off. After turning around and putting his back to the lights, he saw far in the opposite direction, a lighthouse on a wave battered piece of rock. Past that, the barely discernible walls of Lyra.
“You were sitting there for the better part of an hour!” Hjaldin bellowed, still shaking Carcello’s shoulder “I thought it would be best to just leave you be, but now that we can see the city,” he shrugged “It seems like a good time to wake.”
Carcello stood, legs twinging from being cramped for much longer than he expected, yet at the same time, he felt… good. Really good. A sense of newfound vigor flooded through his veins and he grinned at Hjaldin, whose own smile had begun to wane.
“What, did you gain something from the fight? It seems a few others have had epiphanies of their own.”
“I think,” Carcello said, smile threatening to split his face in two, “I need to get off this ship as soon as possible. I have something I want to try out.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Alder grabbed Kya’s wrist just as her jab was about to make contact with his rib cage, and pulled her arm past him to throw her off balance.
She stumbled forwards, and tied to recover as quickly as she could, but by the time she whipped her head around to once more lay her eyes on him, his kick swept her legs out from under her, and before she knew what was happening, he sat on top of her, legs crossed and eyes twinkling.
“That was much better than the third bout,” he said casually “you lasted at least seven seconds longer.”
“Ugh, get off me,” Kya grumbled, grateful at least that she didn’t have any new bruises from this one.
In the third bout, she’d actually managed to block one of Alder’s strikes, and been so excited by the accomplishment, she hadn’t noticed the follow up from his other hand that sent her sprawling and spluttering to the ground, feeling like she’d never breathe again.
“Let’s pause here for breakfast.” Wade said, rising from where she’d been watching the fight, back to the sea.
She pulled out six bottles of some amber liquid, plus a tray of pastries with a small container of pinkish brown… butter? Kya wasn’t sure, but didn’t really care as it smelled like heaven.
Kya waited until Wade and Alder had both grabbed a pastry for themselves, before she finally and eagerly grabbed two, putting a dollop of the cream/butter/whatever it was on both and taking a massive bite. The flakey pastry almost seemed to melt in her mouth, and the soft warm inside made her feel fresh and rejuvenated, like she hadn’t been working out nonstop for the past four hours.
She was so enthused by the delicious food, that she almost missed the silent conversation of looks that passed between Alder and Wade. Swallowing, Kya asked before taking another massive bite “What, is something up?”
Alder sighed, apparently losing the staring contest and asked “Kya, I know- we know you’ve been reluctant to talk about your past and your history, to the point of refusing to see the guild master even. But there are things happening and we can’t just be in the dark if we’re going to be helping you with all of this. We need to know what’s happening. Who are you, what’s a founder, how did you even awaken Space, you need to give us something.”
The bite of food in her mouth seemed to turn to mush all at once, and she had to try twice to swallow it. She sat for a long time, conflicted and hesitant about what to say, if anything. But finally, she looked up and met both of them in the eyes.
“I don’t… don’t know everything. A lot of this is as confusing to me as it is to you, if not more so. I come from a place without any magic or classes or Users, any of it. About-”
“Okay, hold on.” Alder cut in, both delighted to finally get some answers, but also obvious confusion on his face. “The gods have traveled the world, Users have traveled the world, there’s nowhere I know of that doesn’t have magic. There are certainly area’s with weak ambient magic, but they still have Users. I guess I just don’t…” He trailed off, looking at Wade and then back to Kya.
“I, uh…” She took a deep breath “I’m not from this world. I awoke here about five days before you all found me in the forest fighting that tiger.”
Both Wade and Alder just looked at her for a moment, caught somewhere between incomprehension and disbelief.
“I don’t…” Wade said, but didn’t finish the thought. She stood and began pacing, as Alder looked up at the sky, mouth hanging open.
“What do you mean? I think, we don’t, what other world? Is that what founders are, people from other worlds?” Alder finally asked.
“Uh, okay so you know your world?”
“Yeah.”
“Now imagine… another one. Another planet. Somewhere else. Different oceans, continents, people, nations. A different world.”
“I don’t understand.”
Kya actually smiled, then laughed a little. It felt wonderful to finally be able to share this with someone, to see her own mixed emotions and confusion from those first hours on someone else.
Wade suddenly wheeled around and said “Maggie told us that founders had suddenly appeared in our world nearly two millennia ago, and brought with them a storm of chaos and magic unlike that which had been seen before. But, other than your class being attained without a ritual, you don’t seem that… ‘chaotic’ to me”
“I’ll be honest, I do have some other abilities that-”
“Wait a second.” Alder cut in, still staring up at the sky, but now angling his head out towards the sea.
Kya just laughed again, “I know it’s a lot to take in, imagine how I feel.”
“No, Wade, look at that.” Alder said, his tone startlingly serious.
Together, the three of them walked over to the edge of the wall and looked out at the sky. It was hard to see in the brightening sky of dawn, with the second sun starting to poke out from the horizon as well, but it almost looked to Kya like faint whisps of the northern lights hung in the air just barely in view.
“How far north are we? It seems much too temperate for that to be there.” Kya asked, looking and seeing utter incomprehension on the faces of the others.
Shaking his head, Alder said “I don’t- nope, not right now. The lights are one thing, but look just there on the horizon.” He said and pointed towards the water.
Kya squinted, wondering if their eyesight was better at higher ranks, but she could still just barely make out a line of small black smudges that could have possibly been ships? She turned to ask what they were, but saw all color had drained from both of their faces.
“What, what are they, what’s the problem?”
But they didn’t hear or didn’t answer. “What are they doing?” Wade hissed. “This was a huge move.”
“It must have been Sayrin. His report would have been enough to spur on immediate action.”
“Then what do we do? If they find us- if they find her.”
Alder nodded quickly several times, before looking at Kya. “Alright, change of plans. We’re leaving for the missions now. Right now. Go back to your dorm, get anything you’ll need for a week or two on the move, and meet us back at the western city gate in fifteen minutes. I’ll scrounge up some temporary daggers for you, and Wade-”
She nodded, “Provisions won’t be a problem.”
“Good, go.” And she bounded off the wall, landing feet first three stories below before dashing off.
“Alder, what the hell is happening?!” Kya demanded “Who are they, what are we doing?”
“That is the Loterran military. Very likely here to search for you, and any other founders that might pop up in the city.”
Taking that in, and combining it with everything she’d already learned, Kya didn’t hesitate any more. “Fifteen minutes?”
“Less, if you can manage it.”
Kya turned and was about to dash away as well, before Alder called “And by the way, that conversation isn’t done! A different world… This is all crazy!”
“I know!” Kya called back, before running as quickly as her tired legs would carry her.