All of them had been impaled to either the floors, or the walls of the building as Jack walked over their own freezing blood to Portia.
Skylar threatened him to stay away from her but he stretched his frost covered arm at her as she was pinned to a wall.
She was about to do something she'd regret when a roughly hexagonal block of ice grew besides him and formed over the burning feather that was launched at him.
The ice began melting as he tilted his head, then touched it and immediately, the ice spread on it and froze the flames in their stance.
He then swiped his fingers and the frozen feather was shot back at Aeric and pierced through his shoulder and he yelled in pain as Skylar yelled his name, powerless to help him.
He turned back to Portia then placed his hand on her chest then she screamed as ice began to form in her heart, then he grinned till he began to yell and fell on one knee.
He began convulsing and writhing in pain, then Portia reappeared behind him, leaving the ice behind to fall and crack on the floor.
She used her little atom rearranging experience to discover that feather hair in his brain, then used the simple water in his brain to rip it out and push it out his ear.
He lay on the floor, foaming at the mouth, when Portia removed it, then reversed time on him in the fifth dimension by a few seconds, while still holding the feather, so he'd go to the possibility where he never got the feather.
She reversed time on everyone else and they slowly got up and felt a little defensive over Jack, till Portia stated he was in the clear, then a hug between best friends occured.
Skylar placed his arm over her shoulder, watching the sight and gently kissing her forehead as he said,"Thank you."
She smiled at him then they rubbed their noses together...
***
Skylar's father had lost his connection with Jack, but he still needed both children...alive, he then took out another feather and disintegrated the whole thing, this time he was assembling an army...
They tried taking the fibre to a tracker and analysist for further examination when it immediately combusted on its own and no one knew why, but Uncle Cloud.
"He's back..."
Not long after, Kofi saw Skylar on a cliff, standing with his four wings outstretched, with his feathers displaying a rainbow of colours, changing colour in sequences.
He walked closer then asked what he was doing.
Skylar seemed surprised that someone had found him, and why not? He was thirteen kilometers from the city and went in the dead of night, only Portia knew where he was.
Skylar looked at him then said,"I'm just training."
"I've trained with my best friends for years and recently been separated from one, that isn't training, you're calling out to someone."Kofi deduced.
Skylar sighed as his wings furled back then said,"I'm calling to my dad, hoping one day he'd change and be ready to be a better person."
"That wouldn't work."
"Why not?"
"Because change isn't something people like to do and even when they do it, it's only to make life easier, not better, your dad wouldn't change this way."
"I could at least try."Skylar said.
Kofi shrugged then said,"If you help him pinpoint your location and place everyone's lives at risk, you would see a change in everything, just not the easiest for you."
Skylar knew he was most probably still stuck in the never ending abyss, but had to try.
He turned to Kofi then asked,"What did your father do?"
"I don't like talking about it."
"Okay, then I won't force you but...have you ever considered his reason for committing whatever sin he did?"
Kofi frowned then said,"He was just that terrible a person."
"But wouldn't that be a harder change to make according to your philosophy?"
"I'm leaving."
Skylar knew he had scratched a Pandora's box, so he backed off.
Kofi didn't go far before throwing a tantrum with cloud to cloud, cloud to ground, positive and ball lightning destroying the landscape, but Skylar didn't feel angry about him destroying his secret hideout, he felt sorry for him.
Despite Uncle Cloud's invitation to Kofi to stay with them, he said he'd rather live alone and everyone respected his decision as he went home with his closest friends.
At his home, Lloyd looked at him as he opened the door, then at Jack, who nodded at him, he then said,"Kofi, Jack and I have been thinking about something..."
"...does it have anything to do with what those people told you?"He asked.
Lloyd was quiet as Kofi continued,"Just because they sprout wings and burn like the sun doesn't mean they are any wiser than us, I am not visiting my father, he deserves everything he is undergoing, goodnight."
He closed the door as the two looked at each other, then left.
At school the next day, everyone wondered where Princess had disappeared to, how Portia, who had a sudden glow up a few days ago, was back to her simple, but attractive self and how there were two of Portia and yes, she didn't answer any of those questions, but realized she was going to have to train her abilities harder in order to at least stand a chance against her enemies who, till that moment, had all been much more powerful than herself.
She asked Skylar and begged Kofi to train her and the first agreed, the second needed a little persuasion, a little as in interrupting his sleep every night for three days and bothering him to train her.
They went to a large, but isolated forest far from the city.
Portia looked around then asked where they were, then in a moment, she saw the whole planet, with several lines criss crossing over a spot, then it zoomed in and showed her where she was, with a compass like cross around her, and a word came into her mind as Skylar spoke.
"This is the Iron..."
"...wood forest, known for being the home of several powerful and temperamental unbounded creatures and for having several different biomes which qualified different creatures abilities, it's the perfect training ground."She continued.
"Yes..."Skylar said,"...how did you know?"
"Just a hunch."She shrugged.
Kofi rolled his eyes as they gave each other googly eyes, the girl had burned the midnight oil researching this place and just asked him when they arrived to impress him and he couldn't see that, oh right, he was blinded by love.
Kofi began walking into the dense undergrowth and Skylar followed, Portia felt something watching her, so ran and placed her arm through Skylar's, who smiled in amusement then said,"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."
Kofi made a sphere of electricity in his hand to light up his path, while a feather in Skylar's grasp burst into bright white flames.
The three walked for several minutes till Portia asked where they were going, then a flash appeared in her mind and she saw something like bushes clearing, as if she was walking through, till she got to a Nandi bear, feeding on the crushed brains of a child.
She gasped in fear as Kofi turned to her then asked, indifferent,"Another hunch?"
She nodded with her hands over her mouth as Skylar said,"This creature has been harassing the people of the three closest villages for a while now, do you think you could handle it?"
"Of course, as long as you're with me."
He smiled as Kofi turned then continued,"Standing in the bushes, cheering you on."
"What?!"
"I'm sorry Portia but... you're going to have to face it on your own."
She frowned at him as Kofi said,"Please, don't do this now, I have a life to live and you were the one who begged us to train you in the first place."
"I actually asked Skylar..."She whispered.
He kissed her forehead then said,"You've got this."
She took a deep breath as the creature came into view, doing exactly what she saw it do in her vision.
She then slowly walked forward, which skill could she use on it?
Asking nicely?
Of course that will work!
If it was three.
Maybe blasting a strong wind at it?
Blow drying it and giving it a complete spa treatment? It would definitely eat your brain to see your recipe.
She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear Skylar yelling her name, but it was too late by the time she heard him, it had grabbed her by the neck, blood dripping down its hyena like teeth.
It roared as it slammed her into the ground but was confused as she disappeared, then felt a cool breeze blow over its back and turned to see her blasting an amateurish wind at it, it was just wasting its time.
It groaned then began walking away but Skylar kept encouraging her as Kofi burst out laughing.
"Hey Hyena - bear hybrid thingy!"She yelled.
It continued walking till it got hit in the head by a sledgehammer.
It slowly turned at her, breathed out, rolled its eyes and continued walking.
"Hey! Don't sass me off! Get back here!"
She appeared behind it and started pulling it with all her strength and Kofi actually began to see the benefits of his coming, he had never laughed this hard in his life.
He slapped Skylar's shoulder, but Skylar had an angry expression on his face, angry at Kofi.
Portia kept pulling it, till she smelled methane and almost barfed as it laughed in a low pitched tone then began sprinting away.
Portia had had enough as she screamed, then a massive pressure wave tore through the trees, ripping them off by the roots, till it hit the creature on the back and threw it into the air.
It fell hard on its back and stared at her, first in shock, then in fury, as she said,"I wasn't done yet."
By now, Skylar, who had feathers stuffed in his ears, was smiling smugly, and Kofi, writhing on the ground in pain, it was his turn to laugh.
The Nandi bear roared then charged at Portia, who swiped her arm then it was blown sideways, through several trees, by a wind great enough to move it's two tonne weight.
Before it could get to its feet, a wind carried it up, then slammed it down, then it got trapped in an invisible cage and roared in fury.
Portia went to hug Skylar and kiss him as she had beaten it, but Kofi stopped attending to his exploded ear drums, then pointed behind them, not hearing a single yell he himself made.
They looked back to see two other bears had come from the bushes and were dashing at them.
Skylar brought his wings out but Portia said she'd handle it.
She took a deep breath, then placed her hands on the floor, trying to replicate a skill she had done before, she slowly pulled her arms apart and a tremor shook the foundations of the place, as the ground began to crack, then advanced towards the creatures.
She then pried her arms apart and the ground suddenly made a ten meter wide crack, starting from far before her, and swallowing all three Hyena bears.
Skylar cheered for her then they hugged again as the crack in the ground sealed, then she looked at Kofi, who pointed at his ears, angrily, then she apologized and reversed time just on his body to before the moment she screamed.
She could have done it to just his ears, but that would make them move in a reversed action, pulling him back to the floor and up and the torture his body would feel would probably not be worth it.
Portia wanted to test her abilities to the limit but Kofi wasn't as enthusiastic, yet didn't leave, mostly because they were several hundred kilometres from their city, the two lovebirds were his only ticket back home.
There were ways he could fly, but he wasn't very efficient in them yet, so he waited.
Portia then faced a Popobawa demon.
They looked like human men, with a single eye in the middle of their heads with which they could immobilise or possess people.
They had the wings of a giant bat and smelled of sulfur, moving from town to town, they'd defile the inhabitants, female and male alike and forced the inhabitants to send a message to the next town of their coming.