In the morning, I got up and walked outside and Manny was back on his feet. Mai and he were laughing about something inaudible. I just stared at the two of them and eventually, they noticed me and called me over. Mai and Manny asked me if I wanted to tag along to wash off at the waterfall. After all that happened, I needed a wash and a change of clothing. At that facility, they only gave me ripped-up pants. I agreed and we were on our way to the river.
As we walked, Mai asked Manny questions like, how old are you or what's your favorite color? She was trying to get to know him. I guess that was normal, but it felt kind of awkward. Manny made the conversation more awkward by saying that I was the same age as Mai. He implied that she and I could probably be boyfriend and girlfriend. My face turned red and I was slightly angry, so I punched him into a tree.
After that, we finally approached the river and the sun was nearly visible through the tall trees. Mai told us that she would be downstream in the women's section. Manny and I stayed where we were and bathed there. I remained somewhat submerged with my nose up sticking out of the water. Manny began talking to me as he washed himself off. He started telling me how he got away from the E.T.U. "When I was captured, I was almost killed on sight but the leader wanted me to be put down correctly." He also told me that he was in containment for a few days before the actual execution began. And as he was about to be executed, a riot happened and it bought him time to escape the facility.
Manny didn't go directly into detail, but he mentioned that he heard the news about Amoi from another enhanced civilian. He promised that he would make the ones responsible pay for letting him die. I was unresponsive due to the gravity of the conversation. Manny splashed water on my face and told me to cheer up. Underneath the water, I closed my fist and rotated my fist and water rose and splashed on his head. He became vibrant and punched the water, creating a tidal wave that knocked me underwater. I closed my hand together and spun my whole body underwater before I made a small whirlpool.
The river dragged us to the bottom of the waterfall and dropped us into the lake. Eventually, it came to an end. Manny and I remained sitting in the water, talking a little more. He said that he was feeling better than he was yesterday and that he felt re-energized. He made a demonstration by jumping out of the water and punching the backside of the waterfall. This created a small crater on the backside of the waterfall and changed the way the water hit the lake.
I laughed at him doing it and I waved my hand, then stopped the water from dropping and shot it around the area. Manny fell back into the lake and walked back to me. He thought it was time to get back to the village, so we got dressed and met up with Mai. Once we reached the top of the waterfall, I began to notice that we hadn't seen Mai's brothers. Conveniently, Mai mentioned what happened to them. She said that they were sick and were inside a hut right now. I asked her why she didn't tell me. I could've cured them.
She told me that she didn't know I could do that. She doesn't know all of my abilities. She walked us back to the village and brought me to her brothers. When I walked in, her youngest brother Xain's eyes were closed and he was groaning. As for the older ones, they were sweating and were unconscious. I looked at Mai and asked her how long they had been like that, and she said since I left them the last time.
I shrugged it off and began healing them. Manny stood in the doorway alongside Mai's father. I lifted my hand and charged energy into my palm. A white aura surrounded my entire arm and branched off into each of them. I closed my fist and the aura dragged out their sickness and vanquished it. Once that happened, they seemed more relaxed and healthier. Mai was relieved and wrapped her arms around me. Mai's father thanked me and Manny told me to not overuse my prowess. I dropped my hand and said that they would be fine from now on.
After that, we left the hut so they could rest the energy they wasted when they were sick. The rest of us sat at the campfire and talked about the war. Mai's father started talking about his knowledge of the land of Pansen. He said that the entire landmass was under siege over the YinYang spirits. He added that most people are fighting to lower the number of barriers that stand in their way of getting them. Mai said that, to her knowledge, she knew that many people knew that we were in this general area within Pansen.
Manny only said that nothing was going to stop him from getting revenge on the E.T.U. Mai and her father were confused because they didn't understand him. We shortly clarified what he was talking about and told them about Amoi and what happened to him. They did the typical "I'm sorry." thing that all people do, but I can't blame them. My feelings were coming out, so I stood up and walked into the woods alone. As I walked, Manny called my name, but I ignored him and proceeded forward.
As I walked throughout the forest, the nature around me felt ominous, like something big was happening. I thought the forest knew of the war and was giving me its thoughts. I placed my hand on my face and said, "What a world." I turned back around and walked back to the village. As I stepped back into the meadow, the sky turned grey and the clouds began spiraling. This instantly caught my attention because it was out of the normal.
When I walked back into the village, they remained at the campfire, and as I walked up to the group, I asked them about the weather. They had no clue what was happening, but Eqihr did. He walked out of nowhere and said that someone had combined two scaled swords. He told us to heed his warning and said that the person responsible is armed and dangerous. This was unbelievable. Why would someone want to steal the spirits?
Eqihr added that this person was not only capable of destruction but was also capable of spreading carnage throughout Pansen. The mood became tense and everyone was quiet. The sound of a dragon and a pangolin scorched throughout the sky. "One of Nazo's allies did this," Eqihr said as he sat on a log near the fire.
That ominous feeling reached me once again and I realized what was happening. The plants were telling me that someone was fighting a large battle and killing a multitude of people. I told the others what was happening and they were worried. Eqihr then said, "The real war is now beginning."
*End Of Chapter 15*