Colson and Zoe kept a lookout while Ivy patted the ground, trying to find the concealed hatch. There was not a soul around; the only thing Zoe saw was a yellow bird that slowly circled in the sky.
"Have you found it yet?" Colson asked, not worried about the volume of his voice over the roar of the nearby waterfall.
Ivy's hand caught the edge of the heavy hatch. "Yea!" she yelled quietly.
Zoe gave one more cautionary scan of the area, still seeing nothing of interest. He gave the 'okay' to open the grassy doorway.
When they reached the bottom of the ladder, they took a minute to look around. Colson suggested that Ivy looks right, Zoe looks left, and he'll look in the center of the temple.
Zoe's eyes fell on a life-size Romanized depiction of an angel. 'It can't be that easy, can it?' Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she walked over to the statue, looking it up and down before her eyes settled on its hands. Several rings were on each hand; studying each item, she concluded they weren't anything special. There was a slightly different one; a faded silver ring with two humanoid designs with snake faces, wrapped around the center. A heavy white gem was placed in the center of the ring.
"Hey, Ivy, I think this is it," she called out.
Ivy took the ring out of her hands; her eyes lit up when she studied it. She slipped the loop onto her ring finger, "fits perfectly," She smiled, her unblinking eyes never leaving the gem.
Colson gave her a disapproving look, "Well, you saw it. Was that all we came down here for?"
"Do you guys think that if someone wore this, it could save them? Like, in the middle of a fight, you think?"
Zoe shrugged, "I guess it would depend on how fast it heals."
Jashin and Idris walked down the side of the river. They had reconvened after splitting up to find and kill some stragglers.
Idris noticed Jashin staring into the distance toward a row of homes. Behind them was the spire on top of the library's roof.
"Within the next day or so, we'll have Cassius cleaned up. Verne, the kids, and non-cowardly villagers, they won't be able-"
Idris was cut off by the sound of flapping wings right above them; a black eagle slowly lowered itself in front of their path. Both noticed a white slip of paper held tightly in its grasp. It picked at ants through a crack in the cobblestone road.
They looked at each other and stared at the eagle, which tilted its head at them, its golden eyes staring at them patiently.
Idris walked forward and cautiously unwrapped the piece of paper from the bird's foot. The eagle flapped its wings, soaring off into the sky.
Unraveling the paper and reading, "Thirty minutes, town square. The bald one will come alone. If he refuses to show up, or if he is not the only one, it will be seen as a declaration of war. We are here to come to a compromise; we will be unarmed."
He handed the slip to Jashin, who read it over several times.
"Interesting," Jashin said.
"It seems like quite the obvious trap, but…."
"But?"
"I'm not sure. I feel like there's a sincerity to the note. I don't think being unarmed means much, but...This is quite tricky."
"A declaration of war? Potentially damned if I do appear, and absolutely damned if I don't."
Jashin stood tall. His breathing was low and controlled. Trying to not make it evident that he was nervous. He casually looked around the town square, leaning against a splintered wooden pole and crossing his arms.
The giant stone statue of a stereotypical-looking farmer and his son holding a pitchfork. Both grinning and covering their eyes from the imaginary sun. It was placed right in the middle of the circular cobblestone area; all paths and roads led here.
Large farmhouses made a circular formation around the center of town. Usually, this place would bustle with kids, villagers, and farmers running back and forth.
"Too quiet," he said to himself. His eyes quickly flashed to the roof of a faraway building, then to the house right behind him. Its small circular attic window was slightly ajar. If someone were inside, they would be able to listen to every word in the echoing square.
He glanced around again, feeling several pairs of eyes on him; not sure if the eyes belonged to the gang or the villagers in the nearby houses.
Seeming to materialize from the shadows of the statue, three figures stepped out into Cassius' village center.
The one in the middle—a tall man with tired green eyes and an oversized black down coat. To his left was a blonde man, his skin constantly dripping as if every pore in his body was producing sweat. A shorter teenager wearing all camo with dyed green hair and two eagles by his side.
Kiari walked forward. Both Geier and Marlin hung back. He looked down at his hands and picked flecks of dried blood and soot from under his nails. Kiari stopped a few feet away from Jashin. He was so silent and unmoving that he could have been a statue, just like the farmer and son.
"So. You want to compromise?"
Kiari nodded and cocked his head to one side, listening for something, "We want access to the temple inside that waterfall over there."
"If you know it's behind the waterfall, why not get it yourself?"
"Tell us how to enter it."
Jashin closed his eyes and thought back to a few minutes ago, both him and Idris bringing up the idea to the three kids.
"Ivy, Colson, Zoe. We want to discuss something with you." Idris said.
"We both decided it would be better for all of us to work together—for now—" Jashin said.
"Finally! More action!" Ivy yelled. "Where are they-"
"Listen!" Idris interrupted. "We may have to confront their whole group, but we can't seem to find any of the other villagers, so at the moment, our fighting ability in terms of quantity is quite short. Do you still want to come with us?"
They all nodded.
Jashin spoke up, "You may only show yourself if I tell you to come out, okay? You will stay hidden unless I tell you otherwise."
Jashin opened his eyes, staring at the blank, slightly fidgety face of Kiari.
"This is a compromise, after all. What will I get?"
Kiari's eyes never left his. "We will leave, and everyone will keep their lives. In return, you give us access to the Angel's ring. That's all there is to it."
Marlin spoke up from behind Kiari, "If you think you can take us in a fight, that would be interesting too. I'll take my time in making you tell us."
Kiari held up his hand to silence Marlin.
"Verne, Caleb, Carter, Travis, Anson, Margaret," Kiari listed.
Jashin's calm demeanor crumbled for a brief second, "Wh-What? How do you know those names?"
"Mishu, Alison, Caitlyn, Warren, John...I could go on. But those are all members of your little group, right?"
Jashin's eyes grew wide. He couldn't respond. A dark feeling materialized in his stomach. A heavy sense of dread.
Kiari pointed to the house behind Jashin, "Tell those kids in there to check the basement. You'll see they're no longer in Cassius or on this planet."
Jashin stumbled back, "What?" He turned and ran to the side of the house, ripping the locked doors off the hinges that lead to the basement. He took a deep breath and walked down the basement stairs.
"I'll wait," He heard Kiari's voice trailing behind him.
When he reached the basement, he flicked on the light. It looked like a bomb had gone off. Black soot and blood stained the walls. Bodies were strewn across the floor. The turning of a doorknob drowned out the buzzing of the flies.
"Don't try to open the door!" Jashin coughed, putting his shirt over his mouth, trying to not breathe anything in. "Don't look! Please, don't look!"
"Is it true?" Colson's voice yelled back. There was a long silence.
"Yes."
Jashin walked back outside, glaring at the three. Marlin had a smug look on his face. Geier looked down at his own feet.
"Doesn't feel too good having your friends die, huh?" Marlin snarked.
The house's front door exploded open; Ivy stood there, a dark fire in her eyes. "Kiari!" She screamed.
"Hm?" Kiari blinked, genuinely surprised, "Which kid are you?"
"I'm Ivy! You said you wanted to fight. Then let's do it! You'll end up just like Kurt-Adam!"
"You dumbass!" Colson yelled from behind her. Quickly, putting his hand over her mouth and tried to drag her back inside. She wiggled free from his grasp.
Marlin glared at Ivy, a dark blue aura surrounding his body. He took a step forward, forcefully shoving Geier out of the way. His hand shot out toward Ivy, a cruel smile crossing his face. "Drown," he said calmly as he slowly closed his fist.
The air around Ivy felt cold and damp. Her skin glistened with condensation. Behind her, Zoe squinted, 'It's as if a cloud is forming around her.' The air became heavier and heavier; Ivy breathed in, and her lungs rejected the oxygen. A mist quickly formed around her head, becoming thicker and quickly liquifying.
"Marlin!" Kiari snapped, his eyes wide, looking back at him. 'I need to do something now! But we don't have much time left! This is too far!' He steeled himself, looking back to Ivy. The cloud dissipated, and the water splashed down on and around her. The whole exchange between Ivy and Marlin happened under one second between his fist closing and the ability activating. "We won't need to fight weak children like yourself. Run along before you get hurt."
"Kiari, you said that-"
"Not. Now."
Ivy gritted her teeth, feeling around for the knuckle dusters in her pocket. She closed her eyes, getting into the stance that Jashin had shown her earlier. Imagining his remaining energy still inside her. The blood flow throughout her body. Every molecule that moved in and out through her lungs. She opened her eyes, seeing the last bit of energy escape her body.
Colson and Zoe moved quickly; they blocked her advancement and attempted to pull her back inside the house—again.
"It looks like you have broken your promise, Jashin."
"Wait, hold on," Jashin said. "Just give us more-"
"You've had enough time. We will have the ring tomorrow at this time. By force." He signaled to Geier and Marlin, and they all turned to walk off.
Idris cursed, "Side three! Not good!" He jumped off the building, landing in front of the statue, holding a massive flail mace in his hand. 'I don't think I've ever found a use for this thing.'
The three quickly scattered, disappearing between the houses. Idris tried to run after them but didn't make it very far before returning to Jashin.
"If I had gotten a better roll, like the Javelins, I would have taken at least one of them out."
"It's fine," Jashin sighed.
Zoe stepped forward, looking at the ground, "It seems like a fight with them is inevitable."
"You may be right."
"Think about it," Idris said. "They basically said that we have a whole day to get ready."
"They said they will have the ring by this time tomorrow. So it could be anytime between now and then that they attack. It's just...Whatever," Jashin sat down on the house steps, his head in his hands. "All those people, just gone. How did we not even know? Why didn't they send anyone else!"
Colson and Zoe exchanged guilty looks.
"Hey man, we can't worry about that now, alright. We have to use what we have. We're gonna save the rest of 'em."
Jashin got to his feet, "If you say so," he sighed. He looked over at Ivy, standing far back from the rest; her teeth were clenched, staring at the spot where Kiari was just moments ago.
"Ivy!" Jashin walked over to her and crouched down to be at eye-level with her. "What you just did was extremely selfish and stupid. If they had decided to listen to you and attack you right then, there's nothing anyone could have done, and you would have gotten everyone here killed. I'm still recovering from spreading my energy to all of you. You have zero energy of your own, nor enough of mine to even lift a finger against them. We saw what happened when you tried to use mine; it completely ran out before it could be used. I don't know if you guys can tell, but they aren't like Kurt-Adam. They're cunning and won't fall into the same easy mistakes he did. Ivy, if you act without thinking again, you will cost your friends their lives!"
"I-sorry. I'm sorry."
"Don't tell me that. Tell it to them. I'll leave it there," he sighed again, turning to Idris. "Well, we are out of time and manpower now. My original plan was to have the villagers take over the library while we had them distracted here..."
Idris felt a lightbulb go off in his head. "Oh! Do we still have those coins in the temple?"
"Coins?"
"For the doorways, that's what they're for, right?"
Jashin's face lit up at the realization. "Oh, yea! I know for a fact we still have two of them."
"Wait hold on," Colson said. "Why would we need coins for a doorway?"
Idris thought for a moment, "Jashin, how much time do you think we can give them? A few days?"
"Closer to two weeks, if everything goes correctly."
Zoe had a confused look, "Two weeks for what?"
"To train your energy and get strong enough to help us take these guys down," Idris smiled.
"So, do we have a few hours or a few weeks?"
"Well," Jashin said. "You should plan for a few days, but you will have at least a week."
"So, can I ask you a question, if that's alright?"
"Speak."
"What's the Angel's ring? Why can't you just give it to them?"
Jashin sighed, "Well, it was given to this place as a gift a long, long time ago from someone very, very strong. Someone who'd be pretty mad if he learned that we just gave away a gift of his. It's one of, if not the most prized possessions of Cassius. When worn, it can do wondrous things, energy boosts, keep the wearer healthy, things like that. But the issue is that they will need to be constantly wearing the Angel's ring for it to work; once they take it off, all the effects go away until they put it on again.
"So, they want it for whatever reason, and we can't just let them have it. That's why the whole village has been giving their lives to protect it. It's deeply ingrained in our culture and village history. Most of us would lay down our lives without a second thought for it, you know?"
"Oh, I see," Zoe said quietly, her eyes falling to the ground.
Sitting on top of a nearby stone house that overlooked Cassius, Marlin said, "I say we kill those idiot kids first and then go for the two that will cause us real issues."
Next to him, leafing through a book, Kiari said, "I don't think that would be a good idea. If we take the two out first, those kids would be smart enough to submit and tell us everything. Even the arrogant one."
"But I know we both sensed it. She has energy."
"I'm not so sure. Geier never saw either of those kids using energy against Kurt-Adam; I doubt they wouldn't use it in that situation. Even if they somehow had access to it now, it's nothing we couldn't handle." He wistfully looked off into the sunset. His mind kept wandering back to that girl. "Ivy, huh?"
"What?"
"Oh, it's nothing," Kiari said quickly. He thought, 'Just like Kurt-Adam in many ways. If the situation was different, maybe….'