Adei smiled. It had been a while since she had smiled. Her heart finally pumped at its normal pace. She was whole again. She never wanted to be away from her other half again. As her soul itself slowly darkened, she felt like she would cry. Yes, she would cry, because she had found her power, but with it came back this writhing itch, this call from every cell, from every atom, this one order: Seek and find, Adei. Seek and find.
Her sword in hand, she could now react in a split second. Falling, she grabbed Nomu's unconscious body. Using a nearby large glass piece, she jumped. The impulse was barely enough to reach the wall of the chasm before it was too late. She plunged her sword into the wall, sliding down for at least five more meters. She focused. The next actions would be tough.
Above her, the soldiers were dispersing. They were sure that the Incarnation was dead, but soon, they heard it. The repeated clank of the struggling warrior plunging her sword in and out of the wall. It was getting louder. It was approaching. They were all trembling. Surely that wasn't their enemy, right? Surely no one person would have the strength to get out of there…
Nomu's unconscious body slid onto the ground. Silence. The Nereians didn't dare approach. Suddenly, she emerged. Using her sword as a climbing pickaxe one final time, she flung herself above the cliff. The soldiers were guarding the only exit.
"Attack! Kill the Incarnation!"
Layers of pearly fire were sent flying toward Adei. She placed herself in front of Nomu and slashed through. It was so fast that the air current created parted the flames. She exhaled. With one hand, she made a gesture: come at me. The soldiers were mad.
The captain spoke. "Cohort! This battle is obviously skewed against us. Give your life to your nation! Use our forbidden strategies!"
Like clockwork, the soldiers held up their swords. A white glow appeared, infusing their blades. Finally, in unison, they plunged their fiery blades inside their chest. Yells were heard, echoing through the tunnel. They crumbled. Their shells became an alarming white. Their swords fell from their chest, but only the hilt remained, the monsters grew. They enlarged until their head hit the ceiling. Ten monsters now stood before Adei. Their mouths spewed white fire. Their deafening shriek pierced the air, as if they were in pain.
As they all breathed fire in unison, an inferno brewed, and the tunnel was soon filled with Vica's power. Adei grabbed Nomu and hopped off the edge into the chasm, holding herself with only her hand. As her hand was burning in flames, she focused onto the power inside of her.
"Etafazo," she called, "help me."
She held her breath. Time flowed unbelievably slowly. She pulled herself up. Her sword in front of her, she ran forwards. The air moved so slowly that it felt like running through honey. She snuck under the monster's legs as they tuned their head in slow motion. She took a right, and time flowed normally again.
"I have expended all power," declared Étafazo. "you're on your own from now on."
She kept running. Now that her time flowed faster, she felt Nomu's weight at close to full force. She passed a peculiar camp with three dead bodies, but she couldn't stop, even if her shoulders ached; the creatures who were once Nereians would soon close in. But she would escape! Yes! She could see it. The light at the end of the tunnel. It got brighter and brighter. It was so close! Wait… It was approaching.
Adei rolled in an empty cell to the side to avoid the flames hurled at her. There was one more creature, wearing the ripped clothes of the cohort captain, guarding the exit. Crap! Why did they have to be smart? She left Nomu in the cell to go confront the creature. One of her hands were unusable as it had been burned, but she had a plan. She had noticed that the fire inside of the creature was eating at their shells, making holes appear. That was their only weak point, so weak she could reach the vital points with a one-hand grip.
She dashed out of the cell, dodging from side to side to avoid the fire. When she got closer, the monster switched to melee attacks. It flung down its massive claws, the ground shook, but Adei didn't flinch. She rolled once more to avoid the attack and grabbed onto the claw, plunging her sword into a hole. The monster had lost its physical shape, but its brain was intact. He instanly slammed his claw into the wall, and Adei had to jump down, leaving her sword attached to the creature. When she fell, she noticed a familiar clank sound at her hip, and indeed, her dagger was attached.
"Oh, dagger," she thought, "you always got my back! Thanks, Nomu!"
As the creature took a second to remove its claw from the wall, Adei threw the dagger straight at its eye. It was a poor form, but it had strength, the hilt sunk in his pupil. He let out a screech. Using that opening, Adei jumped on his claw, removed the sword and jumped on his chest, attacking this time directly his organs. It wasn't immediately deadly, as the creature's heart was on its back, but as she removed her sword, liquids of all colours spewed out. It was healing fast, so she kept stabbing. It stopped moving. She took a deep breath.
After collecting her dagger, she headed to Nomu. In the distance, she could hear the heavy footsteps of the soldiers coming to murder her. Nomu was barely conscious. One last time, she picked him up on her back, her blades sheathed. She ran out of the tunnel. The corpse of the creature she had killed had almost vanished, leaving behind a small pile of ash. The light was there, and this time it was static. She burst out into the open air, and she knew the soldiers couldn't make it to her anymore.
Thankfully, it was night, and nobody would notice her as long as she didn't make too much noise. Étafazo guided her to the apartment which was given to Nomu. She tiptoed in, trying her best to conceal the rustling of her blades and the bumps of Nomu's shell onto the walls.
She entered the apartment and closed the door. She put Nomu down and crumbled onto the floor, panting. She looked at her hand. It was obviously burned, as much of the skin had peeled off, but it was slowly healing. The way the exposed tissues merged back together reminded her of the way the creature was healing. She looked at Nomu, his black spots had visibly shrunk.
Etafazo glowed. "Do not worry, he will be able to walk tomorrow. You fought well. For now, rest, I will guard you."
And almost immediately, she tumbled into slumber.
The nightmares continued. In it, there were two of her friends: Nomu and Ocy. By her side, an unknown yet familiar figure: the shadow of herself. Nomu's eyes flared up. White patches covered his skin. He consumed himself in his fire. Ocy turned white as well, he got larger, smaller, and yelled, before disappearing. Her shadow turned toward her. Time stopped.
"And you?" the shadow whispered, glowing black, "What are you?"
"I'll show you."
She grasped the shadow and it dissolved… no, she had absorbed it.
She woke up to Nomu's voice, he was standing in the middle of the room, talking to Ocy. She sprang to her feet, picked Ocy up and hugged him.
"Okay okay! I got it! I'm happy to see you too!"
She let him go.
"I'm glad you're awake, we were discussing what we should do next." informed Nomu. "…Thanks for saving me"
Ocy continued. "They didn't notice me when you guys got kidnapped, so I followed. I discovered many things, first, we need to infiltrate queen Palae's office at night."
Adei almost chuckled, but their faces were dead serious. Nomu looked at Adei's burnt hand.
"Let's take today as a rest day. We'll start moving at dusk."
The apartment was equipped with all kinds of food, and Nomu prepared meat sandwiches. From under the Nerei dome, the sun was blurred, but Étafazo knew what time it was, as if every single second elapsed like a metronome in his mind. When he instructed so, they set out. Ocy took the lead, he knew the way and he had been a scout for years.
They entered through the backdoor. It was the same throne room Nomu had seen before, but this time there was only queen Palae, working on some paperwork. Nomu came out first.
"Good afternoon, queen."
"You're not supposed to be here. Th-the desk is closed at night."
"Do not play dumb, I'm sure you know why I am here."
"To be honest, I would have expected you to have escaped the city "
Adei and Ocy came out.
"Do not worry," continued Nomu, "we are not here to assassinate you. We come here to make a promise, so do not call onto your guards, I'm sure you know what happened to the last ones…"
Palae stood. "Talk, I will listen."
Adei unsheathed Étafazo and it glowed
"So, queen, when me and my master accomplish our deed…"
I stopped listening. The things that would happen after my downfall were in no way something I should be entitled to know. It was too late to change my mind anyways.
Two hours later, they walked out of the kingdom with a map of the area, a bag full of Balan, and a smile on their faces.