Mislins pale head rose from the water.
The night sky looked different then that of the eastern waters were Usejas blessings ran deep.
"Where are the children"? Hoshins voice was alert, his chin barely left the still water.
"This is the first time, they usually sl-" she was interrupted by other figures rising in the oasis.
"Where are the mixed-bloods"? Asked a silver haired Sylph name Ucha.
Mislin scowled but said nothing, she pointed and began to run on the waters surface towards an energy tendril.
They ran for a short while before diving into the foliage one after the other.
The five white cloaked figures didn't leave as much as a drop of water as they ran.
Once they reached an open area where a small cottage was built with palm trees they went through the door less opening and walked directly inside.
They found An Olim boy laying on a blanket with heavy sweats and bleeding bandage around his midsection.
Two mixed race brown men sat next to him one sending pulses of energy through the body and the other syphoning small mana crystals and guiding the energy into the young boys open mouth.
"Ba'ba" Hoshin muttered while rushing forward.
"Talk, what happened here" Ucha the silver haired pale woman said her voice betraying a hint of fear.
"I don't even know how to explain this" the deep voiced man said while rubbing his shoulder.
Hoshin had taken over for him, guiding the energy with pulses and doing a better job then he ever could.
"Odo'ha signaled an intruder, I was with the children so I sent them into hiding and went after him".
"Where is he"? Hoshin asked, a wrinkle between his nose getting deeper.
If a human was to see this they would think he smelled something disgusting.
"He got away" the baritone voice sounded exhausted, "I just want to sleep..." he sighed.
He began to explain what happened but this time with no interruptions.
Most everyone was skeptic, Hoshin and Mislin are the exception.
"You expect us to bel-" Mislin cut the speaker off quickly "Where is Odo'ha"?
"She gave chase southeast from here, but that was five full moons ago".
"Atla check on Ookie, Ilmomo come with me".
"You don't expect me to go into that forsaken land, do you".
Ilmomo the shortest of the white robed figures looked offended.
All she was met with was silence as Mislin was already out the door.
***
'Why is she coming after you' Ava asked. 'Probably has her reasons, why do you think'?
It wasn't a rhetorical question I really wanted to know her train of thought.
When all I got was silence I asked her another question, 'If it was you, what circumstances would lead you to chasing me'.
Further silence and I focused on flying, the first night I didn't get far due to high winds, but I trudged along on foot until daybreak and continued flying.
I was going the opposite direction hoping to double back and lose the two I thought where following me.
It turned out to only be one person, I couldn't tell for sure because of the distance but my paranoia wouldn't allow me to stop running.
I turned north and found that the flickering light kept getting bigger.
'Fast' I thought as the sun was rising.
I stopped on a flat cracked area of the desert in between the horseshoe dunes and began to breath long deep breaths.
Mana wouldn't get sucked in when I breath in but when I breathed out.
It's very nature confused me because it didn't follow the laws of physics, one could say it's the polar opposite of matter itself.
'I would chase you if I needed mana stones and you had them... but I wouldn't hurt you' Ava said after some time.
I shared the sunrise with her, 'Just apply that same logic to all of them, you will find we are not that different'.
'You have something they need'?
I looked up at the figure flying directly towards me, low and fast just like I would have done.
'Well you could say I know something they can't allow me to know' it was complicated and I wasn't going to go over it with her right now.
She was at her end as well, sending smaller ripples out and her mana core with mana vision looked dimmer.
I stood and charged forward gaining speed with every step.
I had worked out the amount of tendrils needed to keep Ava out of my mind, it was seven one for each sense and another to keep her out of my other thoughts.
But right now things shifted and she was left in the dark as I made contact with the blazing white flame.
I condensed all of my energy along the path of least resistance in my body stabbing straight while my foot made contact with the ground.
I positioned myself lower than her so that both our energies could disperse on contact and launch her upwards, leaving me to deliver the killing blow.
Alas man proposes and luck disposes.
I succeeded in dissipating the energy around the shining figure only to find that a spear was actually in the center of the white clump of energy and the wielder held it by it's base.
I succeeded in missing the spear but all my energy went into pushing it upwards not it's wielder.
The pole only took up half the spear the rest a shimmering blade.
'That's steel' I thought, my next thought was to duck but I followed my instincts instead and pulled back.
Time seemed to slow as we both went for large motions.
She twisted in the air using the momentum from my lunge to bring the spear around in a full swing, trying to cleave me in half.
As she turned she grabbed the head of the pole end with the opposing arm and jerked it making the swing even faster.
I only had time to raise my arm placing the short sword in it's path while bringing my head back.
The swing missed me by the skin of my teeth but my sword wasn't so lucky and broke in two, I was bleeding from the webs of my hand.
Since she held the pole by the head she was able to change trajectory quickly and swipe in the opposite direction.
I rolled my head but my neck and cheek get scratched when she begins to stab at my head.
I retreat but she doesn't let me gain the distance, I could feel condensed energy whipping past my face with each lunge.
She is as tired as I am.
I made her fly for over two days the only leverage I have is the amount of energy in my tank, but hers was purer.
Her control was amazing with thin tendrils trying to trip me up or hold my head still.
I suspect why she wanted me dead so bad, her existence is probably hated by both Sylph and humans alike.
The fact that I found there home means that they have been exposed, if anyone finds out about them word is sure to spread.
I had to make it so that I wasn't worth killing and strength was the only way.
Instead of trying to gain distance I tossed the broken blade at the blonde blocking her vision while sending a few pulses of mana allowing me to deceive her for a moment.
I close in and draw blood from her arm on the head of the spear with my other blade.
It looks like she can't use any pain blocking techniques because she changed her stance and took two large leaps back.
I played with the weapon in my hand tossing the short sword between my right and left hand.
'She has better quality steel, longer reach and better quality energy making her control way better than mine'.
'Even without the spear she would still have an advantage of age and muscle strength, and I can't catch her with a surprise explosion I barely have enough mana to keep my body moving fast enough'.
I kept using fast thinking not daring to stop and get caught off guard, she was fast and strong and by the look on her face she was going to take my head.
I think of a risky plan but before I could launch forward and take action she closed her fist repeatedly and the blood began to form a red array in front of her.