"My love, all of them are gone." Rose told me as she came back from circling the room after that strange series of shudders and bangs.
"So that one is the only one left?" I rather pointlessly asked given what she just told me.
"It would seem so..." she answered. Thankfully, without any of the snark or snappiness that I might've given if asked the same.
"Bask in this a little longer, then." I say with a shrug as I kick up my feet and relax against the large healing crystal. Only for it to suddenly flicker quiet, leaving us both in the dark. Until Rose turned on her light-bulbs, that is.
"Nin!" she suddenly snaps with unwarranted aggression.
"What?" I asked before her expression turned even more sour.
"Why aren't you listening to me!?"
"You haven't been saying anything!" I point out with an uncertain tone. Had this room suddenly changed what it could do...?
"Oh, right, sorry..." Rose let out with embarrassment while making sure I could see her smile.
"Yeah, you speak with those, don't you?" I ask her before I bring a claw near one which she takes hold off so it does not go near it.
"Yes, sorry..." she repeats before we start to walk down the only available doorway.
And she quite happily takes ahold of my arm in the process, "Taking bets now."
"There's only one thing I can offer if that is the case." she sultrily answers as her hand rubs a thankfully sealed away friend.
"Taking no bets." I correct myself with before we start to come across drifting smoke.
"What's happening in there?" Rose then asks me when we get close enough to look inside the next room. And, I felt a sense of dread build up inside of me. Memories were flashing through my mind and I quickly backpedalled away from the exit.
"Whatever it is, I want no part! NO PART!" I nervously start off with before I yell in terror as dreadful thoughts start to plague me. Inside that place were burning cities and towns or something. And I had no intention of ever walking in a place like that again!
Not after I failed to... Not after I...
"Nin!?" Rose lets out in worry before I start to hear the quiet sounds of dripping water. Or, rather, tears.
"No..." I say with a trembling voice before the exit suddenly exploded with violent force. An aggressive predator on the other side until it became clear who it was.
"Get out here, bug!" Vapooliar orders as she tries to break down the invisible force keeping us separated. Yet, there was nothing she could do that would make me go out there. I just could not stand to see such a landscape again...
The worst part wasn't even the fire or the ruins, it was the quiet... Just like my home in the immediate aftermath of that beast's actions... It was all so quiet. All of them were just gone, and this place was just like it!
"Valkinvar, stand down!" Rose barks at her without much displayed fear. Her tail meanwhile couldn't stop moving and it sought safety behind someone as weak as me...
"Bring it." Vapooliar growled, albeit, not in challenge... She was referring to me when she said 'it.'
"OKAY!" the lightning bolt that suddenly crashed down roared before Vapooliar suddenly disappeared from our sight.
"I need to get away from here..." I barely get out as I scramble to my feet. Only to run straight into a defiant Rose who had preemptively got in my way. Yet, my fear of the sight behind me made me forget my strength. And she pushed me against the wall with a glare.
"Have I not spoken to you about this before!?" she asks me aggressively as her bulbs nearly blind me.
"WE HAVE NEVER SPOKEN ABOUT THAT! NEVER!" I roar at her as I start to break down and hear a different kind of roar.
"It's okay, my love... You know you can tell me." Rose asks as I slowly slip down the wall before I fall to my rear. My tearful eyes were then quickly hidden behind my claws as it all just starts to flash before my eyes. Why here and why now!?
"I..."
"Nin, it's okay." Rose soothingly whispers before her soft lips touch my snout.
"I failed to protect my home..." I then eventually sobbed out as the tears come out in force. And, despite what she tried to do, I heard that gasp of hers. I heard that disappointment and disgust...
How could she have thought that just because I...
"No, you didn't." Rose tells me as her lips move away from mine. A smile on her face while I continued to show her my most pathetic side.
"YES, I DID! IT BURNED JUST LIKE THE ONE OUT THERE! ALL BECAUSE OF ME!" I roared in her face. Making sure she could see each little needle tooth I had in the hopes it would scare her off.
"I haven't been scared of you in a while." was all she had to say before she snuggled up against me and nuzzled my neck.
"L-Leave m-me alone..." I struggle to get out as the trembles in my body get worse.
"I have no intention of ever doing that again." she reminds me as she clearly tries to reaffirm me by reminding me of a petty victory...
"I'm not going out there, so go!" I snap so very close to her ear. Yet, she held her ground and kept on giving me affection.
"Why? Your home never burned in fire, Nin. Your home is with me and all the others trying to steal you from me." she confidently tells me with a smile that somehow made me stop crying.
"Wh-What...?"
"Your home, it is with me and everyone else." she repeats before I suddenly scramble to my feet.
"My home is with you and the others...?" I ask her as my body struggles to stay frozen. I don't know what was going on. But, whatever she was doing, it seemed to be working.
"It always has been since the day we met, my love." she whispers into my ear as she comes up behind me. And, when those words were spoken, I saw the distant flash of familiar magic.
Lightning and water...
"My home..." I mutter nervously before I slowly start to move forward. Then, I stopped all of a sudden before I looked back at her. Was I understanding this properly...?
"Your home is in danger, my love." she says when she notices my hesitation. And, I don't know how to describe it, but, I lunged out into the burning landscape and ran. Panting intensely while closing the gap between me and the booming power. However, I could not just run there.
I had to avoid spells that had missed and breakthrough shockwaves. Whatever was going on beyond the fires I had to brave, it was terrifying. I have seen first-hand how powerful Vapooliar was. Yet, that was when she was terribly injured...
Now, she no longer had those wounds. She was not being held back by anything but herself.
"AH!" I heard Einervaene screech before lightning shot up into the sky once again. A flash of blue that was accompanied by the sound of something shattering.
"Hold on..." I muttered under my breath when I finally came upon a canyon of sorts before the land they were fighting on. Then, I took a few steps back before I shot myself over to the other side. A leap that was quickly interrupted by something latching onto my neck. And I soon felt the ground again.
"I have you now!" Vapooliar growled as she tightly clenched my neck while pushing me into the ground.
"NO!" I roared in her face. And, it seemed to have triggered her fears. For I was able to shove her off. Then, before she had a moment to calm herself I struck her in the chest. Roaring in defiance as she soared away.
Einervaene then came down and crashed into her with a whole storm! And as she backed off with a quick transformation. Larishazza and her sister trapped her in water that attracted further bolts of lightning. Yet, I wasn't content to just stand around as they desperately tried to fight Vapooliar.
But, what could I do...?
"Hello, Nin!" Larishazza waved without a care in the world before she fell to the ground in pain.
"Get out of here!" I urged her before her water exploded. A sudden force having struck me away from her.
"SHE'S FOCUSING ON HIM!" someone pointed out before I was shoved against and through a ruined building. I did not even get a chance to recover before I was slammed to the ground.
Yet, same as last time, my roar broke Vapooliar's resolve and she backed away. And as much as I regretted targetting her fears like this. Them being so close to my own. It was the only way I could stand against her.
It was the only way I could soften her incredible blows and impossible speed. Even now, as I slugged it out with her. I felt my body tremble and crack as her clearly sloppy blow hit me. Yet, even as she grew enraged before me, her fears kept her blows soft.
"OUT THERE!" I roared in her face just before I sent her into the sky. With it quickly lighting up with thunderbolts. But, their creator would soon fall from the sky without even being struck back.
And I quickly moved to catch her, "Nin..." she let out in thanks before she clenched her bleeding arm.
"We need to get you..." I began to say as I quickly remembered the room from which I came from. It might be back on now! I could only hope so...
"LOOK OUT!" she then screamed in my face before we suddenly rematerialised elsewhere. Our distant view is dominated by explosions and massive bursts of water and ice magic.
"You are in no shape to fight!" I tell her before I forced to suddenly react to my hunter. And I was wrestling with her in the sky before I punched her away. Thankfully, Larishazza was just able to make a construct for me. And I whipped side to side until I was rolling along the dirt.
What was immediately before me soon exploded as well. And I dug my heels in with the help of my magic. Groaning in excrutiating pain when I caught Vapooliar as she tried to tackle me. A lot of that pain was focused on my legs too.
Very soon, the ground even started to give way and I was slowly ploughing the earth. Yet, help arrived soon after and I was just as quickly spat out of a cloud of smoke. Then, I just tried to get my bearings again. What Einervaene had just done was an experience alright.
"Don't worry, I'm here!" Liadanann let out with hurried panic before she collapsed from exhaustion in front of me.
"Why is everyone trying to fight Vapooliar like this!?" I asked her as I clutched her shattered and broken armour. Something she had made so skillfully was a complete mess now...
"Because unlike you, we have had to fight!" Vadei presumptuously snaps as she comes to a stop a respectable distance away from us.
"I've fought too!" I angrily tell her as I most certainly did not dream my prior fight.
"Get us out of here!" Vadei then snapped, her fears made her cut to the chase alright.
"There's no way Vapooliar will just let us g-" I start to tell her before a green barrier erupts around us just in time.
"GET OUT HERE!" Vapooliar viciously screams as she slams harmlessly against my friend's power.
"Keep that up..." I sigh in relief to a smiling Liadanann. Yet, it did not take long for me to notice a draft under this shield.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Vapooliar screamed in my face before she suddenly turned that shield against me.
"I DO NOT INTEND TO DIE AGAIN!" I inform her as I struggle to find a grip on this barrier. Not that it mattered, because Liadanann got rid of it just now. So I was now flying into the sky instead.
Thankfully, lightning came by to save me and I was once again spat out. Yet, I was struggling to move about now. The problem Einervaene's magic normally caused was still there. But, I needed it not to be.
I could not hold my own and protect the others if I was on the ground clutching my gut!