There was no way for us to remain hidden during our journey, both because of the pace we kept and Spenne’s complete disregard for subtlety. While running past thousands of mermineae we pretended not to notice, I’d once asked him why he didn’t control his electricity. He’d looked at me like I’d grown a second head. Apparently, áinfean are much like the Agni tribes in that they don’t bother controlling their bodies.

Luckily for the mermineae, they freeze whenever they notice us, clearly not knowing how visible they are to my eyes. I’ve considered burning through them as we travel, but Grímr has been adamantly against it. I’m not sure why. Their race has done nothing but cause problems for us.

It’s not like it would have been reasonable for me to go through with it, anyway. Despite only cutting away the tiniest portion of the mermineae’s army, I would tire out far too fast spreading my flames like that.

So, we run without acknowledging their presence. For three weeks.

While a far shorter duration than my last trip, the time still feels like centuries. I may have overcome the limitations on my mind, but I don’t think I could ever be comfortable underground. It doesn’t help that we’re on a timer. The longer we take, the more damage the mermineae might do.

The entire path I had originally taken is clear of its usual residents. Fortunately: making our trip easy, and unfortunately: providing the same ease for the mermineae.

It’s relieving we don’t have to deal with the monstrosities, but those very monstrosities could have wiped out a sizeable chunk of our problem.

Far ahead of us, light finally breaches through the permeating darkness. Three weeks with nothing to look at beside Spenne’s backside hasn’t been fun.

I perk up on Grímr’s back, abandoning my latest attempt at breaching the wall I’d been stuck slamming against for so long. I’m not the only one to notice. Grímr metal feather flutter beneath me and Spenne’s body involuntarily zaps the ground around him.

The air charges with static, and I don’t have to see the number of mermineae that lay ahead to know he’s preparing to attack.

I throw myself off Grímr without so much as a thought to the danger. With a risky burst of flame, I slam into the áinfean’s back and try to pull him back.

“Don’t you dare!”

He jerks his head back at me, confusion marring his face. “Why not?”

As he sprints forward, the density of mermineae grows, confirming the likely scenario of our approach on the exit.

“You think they don’t have Viisin at this exit? If you attack, you’ll bring them down on us.”

“Great! I’m feeling good and ready to take ‘em on again.”

I groan and try to tug his head back, but he doesn’t budge.

“Grímr and I need to get back to the others. Can you at least wait until we are out of the way before you try to kill yourself?”

Spenne hums in consideration. The thunder rumbles through my chest from the contact.

“Alright. But I want you to join me for another battle in the coming war.”

“Fine!” I throw myself off his back as he veers off to the side.

Grímr slows his flight and I jump on his back. With how long I’ve spent riding the large alicanto recently, I’ve had plenty of time to practice my balance. My balance isn’t the only thing I’ve been trying to improve, but it is by far the only focus that has led to growth.

The heat of my flame, my control, focus, and binding are all aspects that just don’t seem to want to improve, no matter how hard I try. Well, I don’t even know how to improve my binding in the first place, but I’m sure it’s possible.

So when I wasn’t banging my head against one of those walls, I was staving off boredom by practising my balance and spear-work. The same way Bunny first trained me. Even if it had been at my request, Spenne had been a bit too happy to throw rocks and electric arcs my way.

As we move a few leagues off the side of my path of destruction, the glow-bugs become apparent once more. There aren’t many, and they concentrate far off in the distant dark, but it is a sign that they are specifically avoiding the area where there are no more bug-traps.

If there had ever been any doubt of me being the root cause of the missing ecosystem, it is clear now. It is entirely because of my greed and hunger that an uncontested path is available to the mermineae. I’m not sure what to think about this. If I hadn’t done what I did, I wouldn’t have had the power to free my team. But having done so might have doomed our home.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

No. It’s stupid to think that; they could already make it across the Alps even with all the dangers of the caverns. At worst, I just cut the time it took them to pass.

“You think the rest of the team got through okay?” I ask Grímr. The thought has bothered me for a while now. Imiha is strong and can probably fight off however many Forvaal they face, but she can’t compete with a Viisin. Do they even know about the Viisin?

“I trust Remus enough to believe they’ll get through fine. He’s not the strongest, but he’s got more experience in situations like this than anyone else.”

“He’s got experience escaping an unthinkably massive cave system through a hundred thousand creatures that would kill on sight?” I ask with slight amusement.

Grímr chuckles, his chest vibrating beneath me. “Nothing that specific, but he has a long history of getting his teams out of dangerous situations. Also, remember that Imiha is with them. She should be able to cut her own hole to the surface.”

As we close in on the light, skirting the border of the lifeless cavern, it becomes clear the entrance is far wider than it had been when we first passed through. In retrospect, it should have been clear from the light itself. There are still many tunnels above one would need to pass through to reach the surface. The light shouldn’t reach this cavern.

Had the Viisin torn open the path on this side as well?

A thick section of the ceiling exposes the sky above. It is wider than the other side. Did the Viisin get caught in a fight here too? Is that why so much of the ceiling is simply gone? Or did they just widen it to allow the mermineae a less congested path?

Now that I think about it, if Viisin can tear through the ranked stone like this, then why did the clergy even bother to have us try to close it in the first place? As long as the traitors have even one hidden away, they can just reopen it in a moment.

Before the Viisin began chasing him, Spenne found evidence that they had been going around killing all the Beiths even while we were working with the clergy.

Which side are they on?

If the ones hunting down all the Beith mercs are a part of the traitors, then why? It is because of the Beiths that they even have a path to follow. They’ve been hunting them too long for it to be revenge for our attack.

Maybe they were trying to kill all the ones that had the capability of closing the path in the first place… but again, that makes little sense, considering the Viisin can reopen it with ease.

The clergy have proven themselves to have a decent knowledge of what is going on in the plains. They directed us to Imiha and Spenne, after all. So I find it difficult to believe that they didn’t know the traitors had their own Viisin wandering around.

Then, are they a part of the clergy? Their knowledge of each Beith’s location can be explained if they had been actively hunting them down.

But why? What reason do the clergy have to go after us? Sure, if they’d started doing so after that battle, I’d pin it on them being angry at Spenne. But again, they’d been doing this since far before that battle.

Their focus is to stop the mermineae from leaving the plains, right? Then why had their strongest been wasting their time hunting down outsiders? It was as if they didn’t care for the reasons they told me.

Does Kalma even exist?

Of course she does. The centzon spoke of her themselves and the mermineae have shown genuine fear at her mention.

Were the strongest perhaps not as terrified of the god as the rest of their kin? But that Viisin during our first attack on the tunnel seemed intent on freeing the mermineae from her grasp. He’d been clearly hateful of the clergy Viisin trying to stop him.

The whole thing was a confusing mess. What is true? How much of what the mermineae have said is fabrication?

Well, nothing changes. The mermineae remain our enemies, regardless of the details. Whether it’s the traitors or the clergy killing the Beiths, it doesn’t matter. Until we’re given a reason to think otherwise, we’ll fight both.

A deep growl rumbles through the cavern before I hear a heavy thunk. I freeze as the arachnid monstrosity’s presence washes over me. Without time to even process, the large silhouette scuttles out of the darkness and chases the light ahead of us.

“Shit! Go!” Spenne shouts as he bursts out of the monstrosity’s path with a crack of thunder. “I’ll be back to take you up on your word. Prepare for a good fight.” He laughs as he leads the giant toward the crowd of mermineae.

Grímr and I just watch as the terrifying creature chases the áinfean. A mindless animal chasing bait laid before its eyes.

“Well, I guess it’s just the two of us again,” I say. “Lets get moving in case there are more around.”

Grímr grunts his approval and directs his flight toward the massive hole in the ceiling. Hopefully, the Viisin and Forvaal will be too busy with the monstrosity Spenne is leading through their numbers to notice our escape.

I crouch, hands gripping feathers on Grímr’s neck as we fly over thousands of mermineae. Ropes made of sap and fur dangle from the ceiling, but most of them scale the ceiling ahead of us. There must be a wall further down the cavern.

There are so many of them. Even more than there were when we attacked the other entrance as a team. How exactly are we going to fight off this many? I’m certain the average strength of these mermineae is far above that of the people on our side of the Alps. Do we have enough at the strength of my team to hold them off?

I hold tight, expecting a Forvaal to burn us out of the sky, a Viisin to jump at us, or any form of opposition.

But it doesn’t come.

We fly out into open, chilly, thin air without so much as a breeze to block our way. The mountainous landscape falling away to the lands that are home to my friends. The ones I left behind so long ago.

Grímr sticks low to the earth, flying above crowds of mermineae in a dash to get as far in as short a time as possible.

I peer to the south, hoping to glance the home I’ve not been to in years. Not since my tribe died. Unfortunately, the Alps block the wasteland from sight. If I want to see it again, I’ll have to return.

But not now.

Now, I need to assure the home of my friends remains safe. I’d been too young, too powerless to stop the Henosis Empire’s invasion of New Vetus. I am neither anymore, and I will do everything I can to stop it this time.

I’ve been front and centre to what can happen to good people when strained by war. Gloria had always been a cruel manipulator, but the rest of her race had been nice to me, until war made their lives hard.

Ash, Leslie, Kerry, and the twins are immigrants to Meja. Will they face the same disdain I did back in the ursu’s country at the height of war?

I don’t want that.

Grímr and I are finally back, but we have a lot of work to do. First though, I want to head to Meja and make sure they are safe. If I meet my team on the way, then that would be perfect.