It only took a few days for the people Remus organised to arrive. The large caravan contains many unfamiliar species. Plenty of Dohrni — which is what Remus’ race is apparently called — as well as creatures with strange bone like extensions make most of the group, with albanic only taking a small percentage.

I’m surprised Remus put this much effort into supporting a bunch of kids he doesn’t know, even if it is for a deal with me. Really, I wouldn’t have been opposed to work with him even if he didn’t help. Once my friends are safe, I’ll need a way to improve myself. Strengthen myself. Remus has already made it clear we will find ourselves in positions to grow. Dangerous as they may be, these opportunities could be invaluable.

My fight with the General and Remus has shown me I can never truly be free to do what I want unless I have the strength to back it up. If Remus will bring me to places where I can consume creatures to enhance my strength, then I’ll jump at the chance.

It’s a bonus that he’s willing to go this far to bring me in.

Of course, I’ve experienced the despicable side of too many beings to trust outright. I’ll be careful and keep my eyes open, but I won’t assume he has bad intentions from the start. My friends have taught me the error of that line of thought; paranoia isn’t helpful.

“So, what is this ritual you need me for?” I ask Remus now that we are on our way out of Joiak. He was in a hurry to leave and planned to have the kids move with the people he organised rather than with us, but I am adamant about staying with my friends until I know they are safe. So now, the eight of us move away from the other kids. I’ll check in to make sure they reach somewhere safe later, but for now, I think it’s fine to leave them.

“Oh! Hmm, have you ever met an enhanced? People like myself with greater strength than their bodies should normally be capable of. Remember how your flames struggle to burn my body? Well, that’s a good indicator for someone with a body pushing the limits.”

I nod. The General must have been one of these enhanced and so must be that ursu giant.

“The ritual is the only way those not with an extremely high connection with an element can enhance their bodies beyond limits. Áed and áinfean can directly consume the dead, making the ritual unnecessary. Technically, us fleshy creatures can take on the strength of the creatures we eat, but I’d love to meet the person able to scoff down the immense bodies of some of the beasts we fight.”

“Is that what Henosis and New Vetus do? Fight monsters to get stronger?” I ask.

Remus’ eyes shrink at my words. “No. I don’t think the ursu have worried about enhancing themselves for over a century. There is a reason they are losing the war. Henosis, on the other hand, doesn’t have strong enough creatures in their peripheral to power their strength. They power their conquests with something far more despicable.”

More despicable? Oh. I guess it isn’t a huge leap to use the corpses of your enemies to empower yourself.

Should I avoid telling Remus I ate the dead albanic soldiers?

“New Vetus isn’t losing the war anymore,” I say.

“Huh?” both Remus and Jav on his head turn to me. I guess they didn’t know.

“Some giant ursu slaughtered the entire army. I wouldn’t be surprised if the remnants are fleeing back to the Empire right now. Assuming they escaped his wrath.”

“Fu… damn. Hund is still alive then. And I’d thought the old fella finally croaked after not appearing in a century.”

“You fought him?” I can feel my eyes widening.

Remus laughs at my question. “Fought Hund? I’m still alive and well, which is not something anyone who Hund has lain his eyes on can say. I’ve seen that ursu fight though, and he felt more like a titan hiding in ursu fur than anything else I’ve seen. I still have nightmares from that day.”

Jav stares at me. “You saw him, didn’t you?”

“Yeah.” I look over at my friends listening in as they stuck together. I’ve noticed they’ve been a bit withheld around Remus and Jav, I’ll have to make some time for us to talk alone soon. “Some Henosis soldiers were fighting amongst themselves and he showed up. The soldiers didn’t last long.”

“Wait, how long ago was this?” Jav asks.

“A bit over a week ago. Why?”

“You made it all the way here in a week? How?”

Oh, right, they don’t know yet. A grin grows over my face and I glance at my friends. The curiosity in their eyes makes my smirk widen. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”

I laugh at the dissatisfied expressions that take place.

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Remus is looking at me with his wide eyes I can just tell are smirking. He doesn’t know, does he? He hasn’t seen me do any more than grow some talons, that wouldn’t be enough for him right?

“Hey, you’ve met other áed before, right? Not many know about us this far from the wasteland.” Maybe some have pushed out from the wasteland before me. It’d be nice if I could meet some in the northern states.

“Yeah, I have,” Remus says. “But it was fifty years ago when I travelled into the wasteland. I’ll tell ya, that place really ain’t friendly to anyone but you áed. If you don’t take a water mage with you, you’re done. Any liquid disappears from your bottles no matter how tight they are.”

“So you’ve never seen any áed in the northern states?”

“Nope. Honestly, I’m surprised to see you up here in pact territory. You lot stick to your own far more than most.”

“Pact territory?” I ask.

“Yeah, what you call the northern states. Most of the nations amongst the pact lie next to the titan alps, which regularly has powerful creatures descend. The pact is an agreement between these countries to share military strength; the mercenary order. Which is what you’ll be joining once we introduce you to the rest of the team. The politics of sharing the mercenary force between so many nations creates problems, which —”

“Which is not something she should worry about.” Jav rises to his feet on Remus’ head and glares down. “The only thing we should worry about is getting these kids somewhere safe before we take their friend out to climb the alps. Don’t forget how young she is, Remus.”

Okay, that irks me. With everything I’ve gone through, being treated like a child again is not something I’m happy about. Just as I’m about to protest, Jav speaks again.

“I’ve had enough of this chat for a bit. Remus, launch me.” Jav stretches his small arms and tail as one of Remus’ limbs wrap around his torso.

In a moment, the air cracks as Remus’ tentacle whips through the air. Jav nowhere to be seen.

Did… did he just throw Jav?

I try to look through the air for the little rodent, but it’s as if he’s vanished.

“I wouldn’t bother looking, you’ll never find him,” Remus says.

“Did you just throw him?” I’m incredulous. Why would he do that?

“Of course.” Remus looks at me oddly. “How else would a Volan get the air they need to fly? They’re not birds, you know.”

“Volan?”

“Yeah. You know; Jav’s race. Despite not naturally having wings, they love flying.”

I’d seen the guy glide before with that suit of his, but the idea that he would use it to actually fly is baffling.

“How far did you throw him?”

“Hmm…” Remus raises one of his limbs before his face in a thinking pose. “We’ve never measured it, but Jav complains about how hard it is to breathe when I throw him too high, so I usually hold back a bit. So… maybe two or three leagues?”

Eh? He’s joking right? But as much as I try to find the humour in his eyes, it’s not there.

This enhancement is quite something. I don’t have any other answer to how Jav could survive being flung like that.

I slow my pace to let Remus walk ahead, and I rejoin my friends.

“Solvei, what kind of weirdos do you have us travelling with?” Leslie asks. It’s good to see her spring back to her old self. The state she’d been left in when I found her was horrible and I hope she never has to experience something like that again. I hope none of them do.

“Are you going to be okay with them? It feels wrong that you’re the only one that needs to pay for our safety,” Ash says.

“It’s hardly paying. I get to know you’re safe and, well…” I lower my voice so Remus can’t overhear. “I see this as an opportunity to grow, to gain strength for myself.”

Ash watches me close as we follow a good distance behind the Dohrni. “You still need to tell us what happened after we lost you.”

“Yeah, you mentioned it only took you a week to get here. What were you doing in all that time? How did you get here so quick?” Kerry asks.

I scratch at my arm, not sure where to start. “I couldn’t outrun the fog and got trapped inside for a while. Eventually, I got out only for the Henosis to catch me.”

“Wait, the Void Fog didn’t kill you?” Kerry gapes.

“No. It’s an indescribable place, but nothing it passes is destroyed, simply taken somewhere else,” I say. “Anyway, I was imprisoned by the Empire for most of the time I was gone before this giant ursu went and killed them all. He was huge, like six of me tall.”

“He’s the one you and Remus were talking about before, right? Hund?”

“Yeah. I didn’t know his name was Hund, but it was terrifying just being near him.”

“So how did you get back as quick as you did?” Leslie asks and, upon seeing my growing smirk, she groans. “C’mon, you can hardly keep us in suspense forever.”

“Hmm, fine. But it’ll take a while to show you, so no peeking until I’m done.” There’s nothing worrying around us, so it should be fine to change while we walk.

I want to keep it a surprise until I’m done, so I create a wall of my flame to cover me as I start the transformation. The time I take to transform has lowered a lot, but I still can’t manage much faster than fifteen minutes for a full body change. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to change on the spot?

When I’m finally done, I compress my flames into myself, but stop before the outline of my form becomes visible to any outside observers. I can be a bit more creative with this, right? I might as well put on a show for my viewers.

I twist the flames around me, hopefully dragging the eyes of any not already paying attention. The vortex of flames spins around me so fast it roars in my ears. With a flick of mental control, I explode the flame in all directions. I fly hidden within a flare as it shoots out from the eruption of spinning fire, leaving the space I was just standing empty.

I fly high enough that I can use the sun to hide my body from my audience below. Below, the faces of my friends are shocked. I laugh a little as they search around for me as the remnant flames disperse.

My amusement halts as my attention turns to Remus. His humoured eyes are locked on mine. Was he able to see through my display? I can’t help but groan. At least I still have my friends to surprise.

I control my flames so they won’t burn and be careful of my talons as I glide down to land on Leslie’s shoulder. “Hey,” I say as I touch down.

She screams and stumbles away, leaving me to flap to regain my balance and land safely on the ground. I laugh at her reaction, my giggles dragging the attention of the others.

“Solvei?”

“You like?” I spread my wings wide to show them off. “Some things happened, now my binding is far higher than before.”

“Binding?” Ash asks, but Leslie interrupts.

“That’s so cool. Damn áed get the best abilities.”

“This isn’t a normal thing for áed. Well, at least not for any of the ones I’ve met,” Remus says as he approaches me. “I’d say you’re closer to the threshold than anyone I’ve met. I don’t know how you managed it, but I can’t wait to see what happens when you increase your connection more than you already have.” His eyes grin wide. “I’m sure it’ll be spectacular.”