Chapter One

Chapter One: The Path to Riverpass

Setting Out and Catching Up
The desert heat was upon them. The dryness removed the moisture from their faces as they took their beginning steps into the desert. This was it, the first steps into the journey of a lifetime. Kyra and Amane’s destiny being closer each step they took into the desert.

Kyra is an elven princess from Quadrant Two. Her full name is Kyra Ryanne Tearny. She just turned nineteen a few months ago before she met Amane, for the first time. She has long brunette hair that shines with red as the sun hits it. Her eyes are piercing and vibrant green and she has a pale complexion. She has a fit, but soft body with curves, from years of training with her uncle. Roughly she’s five feet ten inches. “Amane, what do you know about this Quadrant?” She asked.

Amane is a nineteen year old, male, with black hair, that is pulled back out of his grayish silver eyes. His body is fit with strong muscles, from training with his father, and has broad shoulders. His complexion is lighter but not pale. He grew up in the foothills of Quadrant Three’s mountains. He stands approximately six feet tall. “Nothing,”he said bluntly.

“That’s how I felt too. My uncle explained to me that there was a tavern at the bottom of the desert Quadrant. I’d love to see it and seeing places is also a part of a journey so let’s make the best of it and see as many sights as we can while traveling together. If we get separated, let's meet there.” Kyra stated.

“What’s the name of the place?” Amane asked curiously.

“The Desert town of Riverpass. It’s literally where the rivers intersect each other. It should be easy to find that way.” Kyra explained.

“So meet you at Riverpass should anything happen to us. Information to be remembered for sure. That also makes a lot of sense for the name. Let’s do this!” Amane said excitedly.

I hope you all remain safe during my travels. Kyra thought to herself as she looked back one last time. "Come on Amane, let's go claim your destiny."

The two continued their path together towards Riverpass. The journey to defeat the Sorcerer had officially begun with Kyra and Amane pulling together as a team. The Arenian swordsman and the Elven Princess Archer. As they walked towards Riverpass, Toshiro and Kitanni walked towards them. Toshiro’s anger clouded his mind , judging Amane for the past he couldn’t explain. Kitanni followed Toshiro because of her feelings for him. After days of walking and camping out in the palace area protected against the beasts who lurked there, Toshiro and Kitanni had finally made it to the edge of the desert.

“I’m coming for you Amane. You’re going down this time.” Toshiro yelled into the sky as he began his descent into the sand of Quadrant One with Kitanni at his side.

All of them being influenced or manipulated by the Sorcerer either directly or indirectly. He had a hand in all of what was going on.

A voice snickered to himself as he watched from the top of the palace. “He’s coming for me. Toshiro is coming for him. I couldn’t ask for a better game of chess. Who’ll make it out alive? The swordsman with no clan with fire or the swordsman with a clan with ice? The stage is set for an epic confrontation between these two old friends.”

Though another master mind had set them on this path again with her maneuvering of events. Ama Telesu, who waited and watched from her Cathedral in Quadrant Two, her power over time, pushed everything in a new direction to save all the quadrants and world from a force no one knew of. She continued watching them both from her cathedral,”Toshiro, you’re making a wrong move going after him but it’ll have to play it out. This could make you both stronger. This could change everything.”

Each of their paths clouded by darkness and ever masterful crafting hands.

Amane with Kyra. Toshiro with Kitanni. And new faces will be revealed as the Desert Town of Riverpass becomes the destination for all of these super powers. There was no telling what power would be released from this clash of heroes, rivals, and former and new friends. They will finally meet each other again in Riverpass, Amane versus Toshiro, Fire versus Ice. Both have nothing left to lose except a new friend...if they can make it.

The sun had gone down hours ago and the dead of night was in full capacity. The usually hot desert air had changed to coolness as the temperature rapidly dropped to below zero. A lone man walks through the desert in clothing to battle the elements of heat and keep his body warm enough during the cold but this cold wasn't expected. As tired as he was walking he couldn't just stop in the middle of the desert, he needed to find some shelter from the elements. Scanning the area quickly he noticed some mountains in the distance and began walking towards them.

As he got closer to them, he noticed that there was light coming from within one of them and went to find out what it was, he was hoping it was fire. Making his way over to the cave, he peeked inside of it and to his delight there was a large fire inside and it was warm enough to keep the cold out.

Thinking to himself, I'm glad this fire was here. I was getting kinda cold out there. He sat down next to it and warmed his hands up. As he did that his eyes caught sight of something flying towards him. He removed his katana from his side including the sheathe and blocked what was coming at him....a wine bottle.

"What are you doing here?" The figure asked from the entrance.

"I saw your fire and thought I'd use it to warm up before continuing my journey." He responded.

"Is that all you're doing here?"

"Yes. I'm not here to take anything or hurt anyone, just a bit cold." He said snickering a little.

"Then welcome to the cave." The figure responded back. "I don't usually have guests or entertain them since I got stuck here in this world."

"What do you mean by 'in this world'?

"I'll explain over some food but firstly, what's your name?" He asked, as an insignia burned itself into his arm, the Alpha symbol...this was the beginning.

"I'm Amane." He said feeling the burning on the back of his lower neck in between his shoulders. He grit his teeth as it happened.

"This is not a coincidence, my friend. I am Teoctlamazqui, the Chosen Protector of the great feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl."

Amane responds confused but interested,"That sounds like an interesting profession you have. Not that I've ever heard of Quetzalcoatl before. "

"Hmm. As I had originally thought, this is a different world." He replies.

"Do you mind if I call you 'Teoct' for short? Your name is kind of a mouthful." Amane says with a smile, trying to be friendly.

"How about Teo?" (Pronounced as Tay-oh)

"Even better. " Amane responds. "So, Teo, what's your world like?" He asks intrigued.

He thinks about it for a second before responding,"It's much like this one honestly. We have different customs and such but the weird thing is that language is the same. My people are spiritual warriors who can harness abilities for themselves internally to reuse them or collect magics into cards and allow others to use them."

Amane's eyes widened,"That's pretty amazing."

Teo becomes excited just hearing that, someone finds his people interesting and is genuinely excited about it. "I'm not familiar with that expression but I can feel the excitement coming from you. It's nice to hear someone get so excited about my people. Thank you for that."

"No, thank you for sharing. That seems like a great skill set to have. " He thinks for a moment and nods,"Let me show you something."

Amane gets up and walks outside with Teo behind him. Amane has a smirk on his face and Teo is confused about what's going on. He walks a few yards from their fire and pulls his sword off his hip. "Watch this." He holds it in front of him and it begins lighting up and pulsating with energy.

"Spiritual energy is running through your sword." He said impressed.

"Yeah that's what my father said too." Amane turned away from him and swung his blade in front of him, sending the energy off of it,"Crescent Blade!"

"You named it..and actively say it?" Teo asks, confused.

"Yeah...I named it for sure but I say it out loud for the sole purpose of letting allies know what's coming, which also isn't smart of me.” Amane says with a laugh. “Before venturing out here I was in the middle of a civil war in my clan. We've all been dishonored by it but I'm seeking redemption for myself. I'm not proud of those years of my life but I'm hoping I can make up for it. I even lost my best friend because of that war. I can't explain what happened still, I was visiting my mother only to arrive as she was dying from wounds inflicted upon her. I don’t even remember what happened after that. I came to, finally, and there were dead bodies around me and my father was holding me. Toshiro and Toshin were watching me confused. I have no idea what was going on.. After that day, he left. I'm an enemy of the clan and he's the one chasing me down." A deep sadness from recounting the events takes him over and it's hearable in his voice.

"And what are you going to do for redemption, Amane?"

"I'm going to bring down the sorcerer, Majz Ical, and let those souls he's using as power rest finally. Some of which are from my clan...that I killed." Amane states.

"Come, let's go back inside."

"Good idea." Amane agrees.

Teo and Amane return to the fire and sit down across from each other. Teo stokes the fire a little bit and throws some lizards on a stick and starts roasting them while preparing a soup in a cauldron.

"Are you okay, Teo?" Amane asks.

"I am. Just thinking about what you said." Teo responds.

"Alright.." Amane says feeling as if he said too much now.

"Nothing bad. I might be able to help you with that. It's possible you weren't yourself due to outside forces. We can look into it but we'd need to go into your memories. Unfortunately I do not have the required ingredients here and I don't know what substitutes I'd need here."

"You can actually do that and you'd be willing too?" Amane says perking back up.

“I would. If we could figure out what’s necessary for the pot to activate correctly. I’ll join you for as long as it takes to find these ingredients to help you out.” Teo reaches his hand out to Amane. “Pleasure to meet you and join your ranks.”

Amane takes his hand and shakes it,”Same to you. Welcome to the group.” He says with a smirk that immediately changes to an ‘oh shit’ expression.

“What’s wrong?” Teo asks.

“I lost track of Kyra. I hope she doesn’t get lost on her way.” Amane shakes his head.

Teo looks confused and asks his question bluntly,”What is this Kyra to you? Lover? Friend?”

“Lover? What kind of question is that?” Amane said visibly being overcome with shyness and trying to hide it. “ She saved my life back during the war. I had fought my best friend Toshiro and used a bit too much energy and got myself exhausted during a battle with some random guys. I ran into the woods and passed out behind a tree. She came to my aid.” He replied.

Teo laughed deeply from within his stomach,“I was just joking with you about the lover thing ...but your reaction to it is telling me there are some other feelings going on here for you. Might want to get that under control as it could endanger your mission or you could just go with the flow.”

“You’re probably right. I’m not really good at this emotional thing any more and I don’t want the mission to be put at risk because of it. My life isn’t my life any more as I have willingly sacrificed it to make the world a safer place. I live for them, the people, of these Quadrants.” Amane replied. As he finished his sentence he heard footsteps coming from the entrance of the cave as they had made their way into the back of it. “Do you hear that?” He whispered.

“I do.” Teo replied.

“Amane, I can hear your voice. Get your ass out here.” A female voice shouted out.

“Is that who I think it is?” Amane said getting up and darting to the front of the cave.

“Children.” Teo thought to himself.

Amane arrived at the entrance when he saw the figure before him,”KYRA! You’re okay?!”

“I am. No thanks to you, jerk.” Kyra replied.

“I didn’t know where you went. The sandstorm separated us...it wasn’t even that long ago it happened. I just stumbled across this cave like ten minutes ago.” Amane retorted.

“Good thing I saw that crescent of energy flying from this direction. Aren’t you supposed to be keeping a low profile? What is so low profile about using something like that, Amane?” She said her tone became increasingly annoyed.

He sighed deeply,”I know, I know. I get it. I’m sorry for drawing attention to myself. What else do you want from me?” He said, sighing again and hanging his head down.

“Your swords.” She replied with a smirk.

“My WHAT?” Amane said, surprised.

“You heard me. Hand them over. You’ve lost sword privilege.” She placed her hand out in front of her.

“Fine.” Amane took the swords off his hips and handed them both to her. “I won’t ask for them back unless we need them. Please be careful with this one though..” he pointed to the specific one he meant,”..it's all I have left of my father.”

“I will, Amane. You don’t have to worry about that. I understand the sentimental value.” She placed them in her quiver. “When we need them, I’ll return them.” She said with a small smile.

“I can see why you could be infatuated with this one.” Teo said sneakily to him...well as sneaky as he could be with her standing there.

Amane jumped for a moment having basically forgotten he was there with them due to the exchange he was having with her. “Man, don’t scare me like that...also shhh. Let’s not deal with that right now, please.”

“Deal with what?” Kyra asked.

“Nothing of importance. I’m Teoctlamazqui. Teo for short.” He introduced himself to her.

“I’m Kyra...just Kyra.” She said with a smile.

“Where are you both heading at this time?” Teo asked.

“Riverpass.” Amane replied. “It’s supposed to be at the edge of the Quadrant here. Two rivers intersect it which is how it got its name.”

“That makes sense..like a lot of sense.” Teo replied.

“That’s basically what I said.” Amane agreed.

“Can we get a move on already boys?” Kyra said as a searing pain in her right shoulder blade took her over. “What in the Underworld?!” She yelled out. The Zeta symbol now burned into her body.

Teo looked down seeing the new symbols revealing themselves on his arm. Alpha and Zeta united on his body. This was destiny. “I’ve changed my mind Amane. I’m coming with you until you finish your quest.”

“That’s great. As we go you can tell us about these symbols on your arms and I’m guessing what’s on us now.” Amane replied.

“One more person to help out. That’s always a plus.” Kyra stated. “Hope you can be of more use than this one.” She said motioning to Amane.

“I’m right here.” He replied.

“I know you are. Be more useful.” Kyra said playfully, sticking her tongue out at him.

Sighing, Amane dropped his head down. “I’ll try my best.”

“Come let us rest for the night.” Teo announced to them. “We’ll set out to your Riverpass in the morning. I can smell salt water so it can’t be too far from here.”

“Agreed.” Kyra added. “You sleep by the entrance.” She said pointing at Amane.

“As per usual, Princess. It’s cooler over here anyway and I burn hot...literally.” Amane retorted.

“Why do you think I said that?” Kyra laughed. “Still no swords.”

“Yes ma’am.” Amane said sarcastically watching as she laid down upon the cold cave floor.

“You should rest too, Amane.” Teo added to the conversation as he was concerned with the young man’s health.

“I'll give it a shot.” He responded as his mind was already wandering through his past as it did every night.

“May Quetzalcoatl watch over your restless mind and see you into the morning.” Teo replied. He laid down by the fire and quietly dozed off into a deep meditative sleep. His mind also wanders but in a different way entirely.

Teo’s meditative state reveals to him his homeland of Drazteca, home of the Keeper of Dragons. He sees his wife and child as it flashes forward more to his grandchildren than to a dark patch where he saw someone clad in armor of honeycombed pattern metal surrounded in a hexagonal shape by another samurai group. The scene faded from his mind as he unconsciously gave in to his sleep deprivation. Another prophecy much like the one he was a part of now…

As Kyra laid resting her head upon her quiver for comfort, she faced the cave entrance, as well as watching Amane. Her mind was still racing from this quest and excitement she had to finally be traveling outside of her home of Quadrant Two. The forest quadrant was a drastic comparison to this arid place. The desert heat was much hotter than her shaded trees on the hottest of days. The ground was shifty and hard to walk upon while she was still adjusting to it.

She wondered how her family was getting along without her and if they had found her mother. Her uncle Aylan was very patient with his duties and would scour for leads to her mother’s whereabouts, while her father, the king, was a lot more hot headed especially when it came to his family. They would have to find her...and her disgraced uncle, Akashingo.

Kyra was worried about her family but she was also worried about Amane as he always seemed to jump head first into problems whether they were his or not. She feared that would end up getting him hurt in some way down the line. He was ready to break the Elven laws just to go find her mother when she mentioned it to him. She respected his take charge attitude but he also listened to reason about letting Elves handle Elven business.

Hours later, Amane had finally gone to sleep, passing out in the cave entrance but not outside. His sword glowing in Kyra’s quiver as his hand balled up in his sleep. His mind raced as he dreamed a most vivid dream.

The world was dark and quiet. A white wolf stands near an older man with a black and mostly gray beard. The man’s aura shines silver briefly before it darkens as a black mist rises from his body. He speeds closer to the man’s face seeing black and red eyes.

The man shouts as he seemingly hears a voice,”Who’s there?”

”Amane.” He confusingly states.

“Where are you?” The man replies.

“In the desert of Quadrant One.” Amane replies.

The man mouths something he can’t make out but then speaks clearly,”Calm down. What are you doing?”

“Dreaming it seems.” Amane adds.

The man laughs,”Very interesting, but I’ve figured it out.”

“Figured out?” Amane says growing more confused.

“It’s the same soul. You’re seeing residual soul memory. The darkness is within us both. We’re Keepers of the Underworld.” The man replies saying other things that he couldn’t make out at all. “This is the end of days. It’s only me. No suppressant.” The man adds.

Amane thinks to himself,”This is weird, he seems to be having a conversation with another person.”

He just watched the man pet his black wolf. “No. I spent my life....” His voice quiets down. “Lived instead of killed. I don’t regret the time...shared.”

The man is covered in a black flame as enemies begin to surround him. The black wolf is gone as the man stands in wolf armor. “Dark protectors.”

Amane jumped awake from his dream as sweat poured down his face. He took several breaths trying to calm back down from the most intense dream he had in many years. His eyes barely open and close on their own as he slips back into sleep.

The shift in the power awakens Teo as he glances over to see what it was glancing towards Amane first and feeling the power rising then settling back down again, Interesting. He says in his inner voice as he returns to his sleep. A crimson and gold feather floats down and lands on his chest.

About two and a half hours later Amane re-awakens as six hours is his normal amount of sleep and he had gotten about four before he jumped up earlier. His body is hot as he steps outside the cave to see the last part of the sunrise. He smirked looking up at it as he made it through another night. He sits down on the sand and begins his meditation. His legs crossed over each other and his hands lightly resting upon his thighs. He breathes in and out slowly gaining a sense of peace and calmness within himself.

“I am the source of fire. The fire is a part of me. I control the flame. The flame doesn’t control me.” His morning mantra for focusing his energies and something he has done since the civil war with his family. The flame covers his body as he sits within it unscathed. The fire was wholly his power.

Finally, now with Teo in the light of the sun his body was more visible than it was at the campfire. He’s around six foot two inches with a deep tan complexion and long black hair that comes down to his mid back. He wears a headband with feathers in it. He has an athletic build and is medium in size.

Teo comes from around the side of the cave having caught two desert rabbits early in the morning and has already skinned them. He smiles but doesn’t say anything since he doesn’t want to interrupt him. Being in his mid twenties and having undergone similar meditative learning for his own abilities he knows the focus that it takes however this was the first time he had seen an entire person engulfed in flame. When mastering his harnessing abilities he was cupping the flame within his hands not using his whole body. The crimson and gold feather now rests at the back of his bandanna and shining with energy.

The fire shifts to silver with hints of green as it dies down to just being his aura. The sand around him shifts over as Amane jumps back not realizing he had displaced it unintentionally.

Teo laughs watching him jump so far backwards. “Did it get you?”

Amane exhaled deeply,”I thought something had and it turned out..it was me.” He shrugs.

“I saw that part. Come, let’s get breakfast started. I could use your flame.” Teo replies.

“Of course.” Amane agrees as they walk in together to the fire pit that was slowly dying down.

“Light it up.” Teo adds.

Amane reached his hand out and fired a small fireball into the pit making its flame bigger. He lifts up the wooden pole as Teo slides the two rabbits on it. He sets it back down and the rabbits start roasting.

“Thank you, Amane.” Teo says gratefully.

“No problem.” Amane replies.

“What will you do now?” Teo asks.

“Probably return to my training.” He says unsure. “It’s just a habit now and it’s helpful to keep my practice going.”

“Come, sit down with me.” Teo pauses,”Actually, I want you to try something.”

“What’s that?” He asks.

“Make a glass sheet.” Teo replies. “You have enough heat to create glass out of sand. Let’s see if you can pull off creating with your flame.”

“Okay, weird request but I can try.” Amane adds.

“It’s training. You still seem to need some practice with your fire abilities based on your mantra.” Teo insists that he practices more while they have a little down time before leaving.

“Alright, I’m on it.” Amane replies. He moves out of the way of the cavern so it's easier accessed without him sitting in front of it.

Teo returns inside the cavern to check on the meat. “That should give him something to focus on for a bit.” He smirks knowing this will help him get a better grasp on his abilities.

Amane takes a deep breath and begins practicing. The heat around him raises as he focuses it into his hands. The power flowing freely as he begins heating up the sand below him. The sand begins to turn into a liquid mess on the ground. Sweat begins dripping down his face as he focuses. The sand burns and turns black but Amane controls the fire from getting out of hand. He thinks to himself, This is harder than I thought it would be.

Kyra comes out from the back of the cave and can feel the heat being hotter on one side and realizes that it’s Amane. She’s curious to know what he’s doing out there as she smells the rabbits.

“What’s he doing out there?” She asks Teo, seeing him inside the cavern.

“Making glass.” Teo replies. “I’m having him make a sheet of glass to practice his abilities.”

“But why glass?” Kyra asks, confused by the idea.

“We’re surrounded by sand..” He responds. “This is a skill that requires control. It’ll help him learn patience and precision. His fire abilities could be more precise and dangerous to enemies but if he doesn’t control it it could be more dangerous to us.”

“I understand.” Kyra says, agreeing with Teo’s logic.

Amane continues to practice and is starting to get slightly aggravated with the sand. Everything keeps shifting down and sliding while he’s focusing the heat on it. The sand turns to liquid glass and begins to engulf the sand under it in a gooey substance. He sighs heavily and noticeably loud compared to their surroundings. What was he supposed to do to stop it from sliding? He looked down at his hands and had a thought.

Staring downward at the sand he ran his hands through the sand in the shape of a rectangle leaving traces of his spiritual energy within the groove. He focused hard on it and created a small barrier of silver energy to fill in the groove creating an edge it couldn’t pass. Once again he began focusing his energy into fire as his eyes shifted from gray to red and he began applying heat. The sand within began to liquefy and being unable to move stayed put where he needed them.

After half an hour of focusing on his glass sheet he thought he was finally done with it. Amane lifted the glass up and took it into the cavern to show them. “Teo look at this!”

Kyra and Teo looked from their seated position around the rabbits both looking surprised at how he figured it out. But as Teo glanced it over he saw one of the sides beginning to droop and drip down slightly.

“You’re getting closer Amane but your project is melting at the bottom.” Teo responded.

Looking down Amane watched it fall to the ground and land next to his foot. “Damn it.” He sighs again. “Still need practice.” He takes it back outside and lays it down where he picked it up from then heads back in.

“Learn anything?” Kyra asks Amane.

“That I have little patience for glass making.” Amane replies, slightly annoyed with it.

“Glass making isn’t easy at all, Amane. It takes patience and practice as do your skills with your elemental powers. You’ll master them if you keep practicing.” Teo adds, as he is confident in Amane’s abilities. With the mission Amane has, he has to be confident with them.

“I’ll keep practicing while we’re out here.” Amane adds. He wasn’t one to give up easily on a training idea. It wasn’t the easiest or hardest, he was just impatient and that was the hard part.

“Practice later after our travels to this Riverpass.” Teo motions to the rabbits roasting before them. “Go wash up and we’ll have a meal before we go. There is a small amount of flowing water towards the back of the cave where you can clean your hands off.”

Amane walks to the back and looks at his hands seeing all the sand on them. He agrees that washing his hands off would probably be a better idea than just eating and getting sand on the food and in his mouth. He found the slowly flowing water and placed his hands under it and began wiping the sand off. The process took longer than he thought but the sand was just everywhere with this much sand he might as well had built a sand castle. He wiped his hands on the sides of his pants and got the water and the rest of the sand off.

As Amane returned Teo had cut the rabbits up for them to eat and was already sitting with a bowl in his hand. Kyra was already eating as well and Amane’s bowl was sitting by the fire waiting on him and staying warm.

“Thanks.” Amane says as he sits down to eat the meat in his bowl.

Kyra glances over Amane real quick and reaches over to tap on his leg. Leaning over she gets a better look at his face and realizes something must be wrong. He was quieter than normal and seemed distant. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” He replies. “Just tired. Didn’t get any decent sleep at all. Maybe tonight will be different.”

Kyra sits up straight and continues eating. She wasn’t sure what to tell him besides what he already knew: try to sleep tonight and calm his mind beforehand. But seeing as he meditates for calmness and peace as is, that wasn’t going to help him sleep too much. Kyra was worried about him but there wasn’t much she could do to him at the moment.

Teo watched them a little closer and how they acted together to him there was definitely a connection forming though he wasn’t sure what kind of how deep it would go. They were still in the getting to know each other phase of their friendship by the looks of it.

Having finished his bowl Teo began cleaning up the campsite he had set up. He ran his bowl through the water in the back of the cavern and dried it out with a spare cloak within his bag. They were still eating when he returned and kept cleaning up, chopping the rabbits left into pieces to be carried. Using the skin of the animal he fashioned bags to store food in it. Even if it didn’t last long they could always use it as a lure if necessary. It would smell of rabbits and distract creatures, possibly after them for a few moments at least, which would be enough time to get away.

They were a seemingly quiet bunch this morning as they just sat around eating or were in other areas all together. It was a small group of people who had barely known each other. Things were definitely a little awkward.

Amane got up with his empty bowl after a few minutes of eating slowly just to take his time and offered his hand towards Kyra,”Are you finished?” He asked politely.

She nodded,”Yes, I’m done.” She handed him the bowl. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Amane said with a slight nod as he grabbed the bowl and began walking to the back to rinse them out.

Kyra sighed as she watched him walk to the back alone. He definitely didn’t seem okay in her mind, lack of sleep or not, something seemed on his mind that he was having trouble processing it and expressing himself. She would be here for him if he was ever ready to discuss it. Maybe they just needed to be one on one for him to express it to her.

She got up from her seat and grabbed her quiver with his swords and placed it around her body from her right shoulder to her left hip and the bow followed the same way. Her daggers stayed on her hips though she barely used them when her bow wasn’t useful but as an elf her bow was always useful no matter the range. She still felt weird about carrying the blades on her back with her arrows but she was trying to prove a point and would bear that burden.

Having finished rinsing the bowls out and getting the food removed from them, Amane returned to the front using his heat to dry the bowls as he walked up. The bowls stacked together in his left hand as he used his right to put out the fire in the cavern. He lifted his cloak off the cavern floor by the entrance and was trying to put it on with one hand but was failing miserably at it.

Kyra chuckled lightly to herself watching him struggle with the clothing. She walked over him and unpinned the leaf that held it together on the chest and placed it around his collar then re-hooked the leaf to it.

“Thanks, Kyra.” Amane said, in a defeated tone.

“You’re welcome.” She replied with a soft smile.”You don’t have to talk now but if you want to one on one. I’m here. I know it can be hard to open up to people especially after everything you’ve been through but I’m still here for you.”

“I appreciate it, just trying to process everything.” Amane replied to her calmly.

“Maybe when we get to Riverpass.” She smiled again. “Come on, let’s get going.”

“Yeah.” Amane agreed as he responded in a low tone.

Together they walked out to where Teo was with Amane still holding the bowls. He offered them to Teo who took them and put them in his bag with the other one. He could tell that Amane was feeling particularly talkative but they had to get to their destination still.

Teo smelled the air from where he stood and could smell two sources of water: fresh and salt. The fresh was the rivers and the salt was the ocean. Having been taught to track and use his senses he was able to distinguish the smells in the air. “We’re about a quarter of your days away from the ocean, if we leave now we should make it there right around the hottest part of the day maybe a little later.”

“Let’s go.” Amane says, just slightly more excited than he was a moment ago. He knew it was going to be a rough trip in the heat and in the wind but at least they weren’t traveling at night in the harshest time of the wind.

Agreeing with Amane, Kyra nodded her head to acknowledge them. She didn’t have anything to add to the conversation at the moment but she was eager to start traveling again.

“Then we’re off.” Teo announced.

Kyra, Teo, and Amane set off towards Riverpass and brave the harsh winds of the desert in the daytime. The scorching heat beat down upon them as they continued towards the ocean side town. The winds blew and pushed them back repeatedly but still they traveled on. Amane used his spiritual energy to try to deflect the sand around them after messing with the sand earlier it seemed like a good idea. Kyra stayed behind him as they walked to avoid the sand as much as possible. Teo blocked the sand with his arm as he gave Amane updates on location and direction as he pushed them forward for as long as he could.

Teo took over as Amane recovered his energy calling forth his Way Pakal spell that would bring forth a spiritual shield. Unfortunately sand was sand and found its way through everything, after all, it was coarse, rough, and irritating. The three of them pushed forward together and stayed close to one another so they didn’t get separated like Amane and Kyra had the previous day.