The gods and goddesses, however, were on my side, they supported my efforts! For this goldhand had just sent us crashing towards this giant clock instead! And soon, I was thrashing him about like a doll. And like a doll I did not want anymore, I threw him away, listening to his screams as I secured my footing.
"How am I meant to get back up now...?" I asked myself from the top of the clock while I stared down at what I could see of the front wall. The occasional flash of magic highlighted where Einervaene was likely at. And she was a messy fighter by the looks of it as now this city was choking. Black smoke and fires filled its streets.
Something that reminded me of how important it was to get the others out of here. If I took too long then they'd all burn alive in the inferno we caused. Or, perhaps, this was all as a result of their own guns... I hope it wasn't, I wanted the damage to originate from me!
Just like just now when I leapt towards a tower and blew apart that annoying clock. Sending what little remained plummeting down below while I crashed through another wall. Growling once more before I charged up several floors again. Going and going until I arrived back at that prior point...
"Conquei...? Where are you!? CONQUEI!?" I let out as I started panicking. Only to then hear something go off.
"Vadei... Help me..." my sister cried through a speaker as it was clear she was getting roughed up.
"You little bastards... Undwote will never find you!" I cursed them with before I carefully sniffed the air. Gently moving in the direction of the smell until I reached a prepared line of soldiers. Each of them just as quickly unleashed their munitions against me. And, like last time, I hid behind a wall.
Steadying my breathing before I went out and cut them down. Stabbing them and tearing them apart with my claws and teeth until I was practically bathing in it. And even through the smell of blood, I could smell her and some others. And I could see them once I tore off the door.
Then, I saw him again, the man who I injured before. The one whose injuries led to me meeting Nin. Who in turn led me back here on a journey we pushed through with our fury alone. And, now?
I was ready to kill him because once again he had his hands on my sister... Fear had consumed him and the others who were here. Be they guards, workers or just the well-dressed. Many in gold paid for by selling off others...
"It's okay, Conquei, they won't hurt you." I told her as I began to focus some magic into my senses. And as the world slowed down and certain actions became highlighted. I began to move forward. Cutting down some while moving others out the way.
And, like that, I had my sister in my arms again, her precious tears soaking my arms as everyone ran away. They had no chance of standing against us and they knew it now. Then, in just a few moments, it went from the sounds of battle to the sounds of cheering. I had done it, I had finally done it.
"Come on, you lot, let's get you home." I told them as I picked up my sister and let her ride on my back. Compared to the others down below, these lot were a lot healthier. Possibly because all this gold was magical... Or, maybe, they were just looked after better.
Their outfits seemed to suggest they were up here for more than just display. They just better hope they did not go too far with my sister at the very least. I might be able to ignore the plights of the others just barely. But my sister was the tipping point, hurt her and I would kill them!
"W-Was this all you?" one of those I had just saved asked as we began to speed down a tower.
"Somewhat." I answered as we went past several holes and cracks. Some of it was from my magic, possibly, but this was a different tower. So it might be but it also might not be. And as we got to the lower floors, it began to get far noisier.
"What's going on? Did you bring an army or something!?" my sister asked in fearful amazement as her grip tightened.
"No, I brought a storm-in-a-woman." I joked to her in an effort to soothe her while I kept an ear open. Einervaene was causing quite a scene but if she kept it at the entrance then we would not be able to get out.
"H-Hey! Where are you going?" Conquei demanded to know when I suddenly put her down. Zipping out into the burning streets littered with corpses and moving on to the battle. Quickly joining up with Einervaene who was slowly making her way through everything.
"Hurry up, Einervaene! I found them!" I told her as she gets finished gently tossing about a vehicle.
"Oh, hello, Vadei." she greets in a calm manner before delicately flipping a tank over. Cutting down a few soldiers in the meantime before I just let myself get shot at.
"As I said, hurry up!" I urged her as I also shoved her slightly.
"Hey! You said to be careful with the city!" she countered with as she moved into my face. Guns still firing around us as she did so. With her body barely reacting to the bullets she was peppered with.
"You're causing more harm by letting these guns keep firing!" I pointed out before then violently pointing at the inferno beside us.
"Oh... Give me a few more moments then!" she tells me as she begins to rush about and deal with whoever she could see. At least, until they all just gave up and ran away. It seems like we had also established ourselves as being immune to their attacks as no more bullets were fired.
"CONQUEI! OUT HERE, NOW!" I called out to my sister and the others as I briefly jogged over to them. Staying behind as they began to file out into the streets and out into the destroyed farmland. So destroyed was it you might not even be able to call it farmland anymore. Not that it mattered I guess, we were back in the endless wastes again soon.
"W-Who's this?" Conquei asked as she huddled up next to me, seeking my protection once again. A smile came to my face and it refused to leave as we walked.
"This here is my subordinate, she's new at this." I joked as I kept a tight grip on my sister.
"Subordinate!?" Einervaene repeated with an agitated pout as she clutched her boots tightly.
"Why are you helping us?" she was then asked by another.
"I'm helping my boss..." she sarcastically answered before glaring at me.
"She's helping a friend out." I clarified while I let my smile give her one too.
"Where are we going then...? This is just wasteland!" we were asked as we walked along Larishazza's destruction. And as we did so, I kept my eyes facing upwards so I could see if the airship was close enough... Maybe a certain duo would be willing to bring it down for us...?
"Gods damn you Larishazza...!" I then swore under my breath as I remember what that blue-haired ball of excitement did. Dragging me down into this wasteland before I had been given a moment to lower the damn airship... Now, if we did find it, it was beyond my reach!
And I was the only one who could pilot it decently!
"An airship!? The wind-people are helping you!?" someone exclaimed to Einervaene as she had clearly answered them while I was muttering. And, she looked at me awkwardly.
"No... We, uh, stole it." I told them which didn't bother them all that much.
"Oh, alright." one of them said before he began to speak to some others.
Then, I stopped all of a sudden and looked back at Tobaballe which was still close, "This is everyone, right?" I asked them while putting a lot of emphasis on that one word.
"If you have already saved those who were in the farms, then, yes?" Conquei answered slowly as she looked back as well. Uncertainty clearly in both of our minds as we did so.
"What about Larishazza as well? You got done with this a lot quicker than expected." Einervaene pointed out as she came closer to us. I then let go of my sister and faced the city. Sniffing the air a little as if to argue to myself how helpful I would be.
"Uh..." I began to let out as I looked at her, "Are you able to get us back to the airship? I can bring it down and get these lot on it before we then go and have a look."
Einervaene frowns at the distant clouds, "I can try." she admits with a shrug.
"Alright, let's put some distance between us and them, first." I say as I began to move away from my sister who was following me somewhat.
"Where are you going!?" one of the others asked in shock while I had my arms raised up at them.
"Don't worry, we aren't abandoning you, we are just getting the airship back down." I told them before I ran over to Einervaene who had already moved away. Nodding to her slowly while gently nudging her further and further away from the others. Then, just like that, we were not ourselves anymore and were soaring up like a struggling drowner.
"Are you alright?" Einervaene then asked me once we finally got on board once again. Much to the surprise of those locked within the airship.
"I... Hold on..." I began to say before I held my mouth over the railing. Breathing over it for a few minutes before fully recovering. Slowly walking away from the railing while holding my stomach until I got to my chair again. Yet, despite my slowness of body, I did not let it slow me down as now the airship went down too.
And in what was likely not that long a time, we were back on the ground near the others. We made sure they were all on and then I had the airship go back up without me. Because now I wanted to make sure my Mom knew about this. I wanted her to see both her daughters at once!
"Mom!? MOM!?" I called out loudly with the aid of the airship's speaker system. Initially dashing about the bridge until she came rushing in.
"Oh, you're back, Va, does that mean...?" she asked hopefully while I smiled brightly. Nodding so fast my head blurred until she stopped it.
"Come on!" I then told her as I began to drag her through the airship. Letting her nose grow wider and wider with every sniff until her tail became furious. And as we pushed our way through the other passengers, we heard her.
"Vadei!? Where are you!?" she called out amongst the noise of all the other families finding their loved ones. And when I could, I snatched her up by the arm and was drawn into a Mom-dominated hug.
"CONQUEI!" she practically screamed as she began to drown my sister in kisses. Choking both of us out with her arms while our tails met in the middle.
"Mom!" my sister cried out as she snuggled against Mom's tail. Only for her to then break it, her eyes going all over the place as she tried to smell for something. Then, Conquei ran off, but, we weren't confused as to why.
"We best go make sure he is alright too, don't want her crushing him, now, do we?" Mom joked through some tears before she gave me another hug.
"S-Stop it!" I happily complained as I returned the hug. Feeling as she steadily broke down into more hysterical crying as we walked.
"I-I'm s-sorry..." Mom said as she wiped her eyes with her tail on the way to the medical bay. And, once more, she leapt at her other daughter and hugged her while Dad looked at both. He smiled with what strength he could and he held out his palm. And roughly, it pointed at me.
"I... I am proud of you, Va..." he croaked out before going into a fit of violent coughs. Something that had me worried until he stopped to weakly smile.
"It was n-nothing..." I chuckled out as I rubbed my embarrassed head while trying to act as if I wasn't. Getting roped into another hug because of it and laughing away as the women kept on hugging. But, I left the hug once more to focus on Dad who was still in a serious state.
"L-Li... Little Va all strong now..." Dad barely got out through his equipped healing systems. Stroking him quiet while I held his hand. Watching as Mom and Conquei both kept going at it until they also calmed down.
"What now, Vadei?" Mom then asked as I stood up and started moving away. Much to my disappointment as I wanted to spend more time here.
"I need to find my friends. Don't worry, I'll be back!" I told them before I disappeared, "Love you!" I then added on before properly leaving.
"Love you too, Little Va!"
"Good luck!"
"..."
I heard them all say as I went back through the airship, meeting up with Einervaene once more, "Do we go back?" she asked me while I walked by.
"Of course, we get in differently this time, though. We both know how last time went." I tell her as I take ahold of her gloved hand. Smiling a little at the fact she now had her boots on again.
"How differently?"
"I'll ex-" I began to say before she interrupted me by just yoinking me overboard. And, like when Larishazza did it, I was screaming until I went off on one when we landed.
"Please, you were a lightning bolt for most of it." Einervaene told me with a smirk as I complained loudly about what she just did.
"That's not the point!" I told her while jabbing a claw at her.
"Looks pointy to me." she joked while staring at the tip of my claw. Something that made me snort in amusement despite my mild anger.
"Well, anyway, moving on. Tobaballe, we aren't going through it this time." I tell her while pointing at the distant smoke clouds.
"How do we get beyond the mountains then?"
"Take us up then just hit us into one, I can't care less." I tell her with a wave of my hand before I clutched my stomach. Frowning at the way it rumbled before I took Einervaene's hand again. Appearing once more in another location and this time actually letting my stomach out.
"Hope you plan on cleaning that up." she says as I spit out what bile remained in my mouth.
"The gods and goddesses can clean it up." I tell her dismissively with a wave of my hand before I began to sniff the open air. Frowning into the distance once I saw how many of Tobaballe's people had been scared into the countryside. It was a field of people, not crops or grass... Just a mass of people that kept growing.
"What are we going to do now? You can see the trail Larishazza has left even from here!" Einervaene points out as her finger guides my eyes. From the walls of this city and all the way to a river, there was destruction. Craters and small fires dotted the path she probably took.
"We climb down and avoid all those people is what we do. Then we just try and catch up to Larishazza, wherever she has gone..." I mumble whilst keeping my eyes on all that destruction. Even while trying to keep it under control, she had still done all this... We needed to get out of this land and maybe all this damage would convince Nin too...
And, possibly, it would do a better job than I when I was stuck with him. I do not think I got through to him at all during our final moments together. Before he leapt off and flushed out all his magic... Now, I could only hope he was close to Tobaballe as this land was truly vast...
It could potentially take us days or weeks to cover all this land even with our magic! I mean, it was probably tiny compared to the distance we had already travelled back in Jherikra... But still... This needed to be a quick affair and we were likely going to take a very long while.
Time neither of us had...
"Should we head to that river?" I was asked by my friend as I walked up a boulder jutting out from this mountain.
"Why?" I asked as I turned towards her.
"Can you make it out, the destruction?" she clarified while I faced the direction she was looking. Placing a palm over my brow while trying to catch sight of it. Nodding very slowly once I saw black clouds in the distance. Ones that weren't blowing in from the city behind us, that is.
"Do you think she might have gotten a lead as well? That goes on for quite a while." I rather pointlessly ask as Einervaene had no way of knowing if it was the case.
"Maybe she let it help her magic? She does use water magic." she offers as an answer which satisfied me enough for now. We can ask for further clarification when we catch up with her. But, given the path of ruin we can see, we might take a while. Avoiding more battles was a must for us right now, surely?
"We best get moving, either way, try and find a way to follow her while also catching up with her at a reasonable rate." I say as I hop down from my boulder in order to travel down the mountain again. And I paid an odd amount of attention to the fact the mountains had no snow on them. They were just stone from what I could see with the odd plant lower down.
"What about if we find Nin before her, do we try and talk to him or do we get Larishazza to him?"
"Unless we plan on restraining Nin if we find him, it is probably better to let Larishazza in on it if we can also find her."
"I'd rather just have him sit down so we can talk..." Einervaene commented sadly before she looked down at the ground.
"Nin isn't in a particularly good state right now... I don't think he will listen unless Larishazza is there."
"Unfortunately..." Einervaene says with notable annoyance.
"Now, come on nose, get us to either of them." I tried to joke in order to bring back the happiness I felt prior. To go from this and that to my current state was something. One moment I was ecstatic about my sister and crying with my Mom. Now, I was somewhat moody again as we looked for the other two.
And, while I hated the idea of it, I did wish a little that we just came up here with those two at first. Let Nin get it all off his chest before we departed for my homeland so I could be on my way. Instead, we were now wandering to a moving destination that could go anywhere at a moments notice. To say nothing of the anxiety I had built up due to Dad's state...
We needed a better supply of magic and all this time we wasted just spent more time endangering him. He might have lived so far, but I did not want to see him another day like this. It made me enraged that he was like that. It infuriated me that so much time was being lost over things outside of my control.
All I could really do at this point was pray and damn. Damn Nin for his stupidity and Dad for his protection of that baby. Yet, I would also pray that I found Nin quickly and got Dad the magic he needed to survive. For a few more years until he died of other causes at the very least!
I didn't want this to be for nothing...