"I don't understand." Nofa said while sitting on a fallen tree by the lake and holding her book open.
"Are they that hard to learn?" Varma asked while sitting next to her on the same log.
"No, not what I meant." Nofa said and sighed.
"Oh. Sorry."
"I just don't understand what is up with him today." Nofa complained.
"Oh. Now I understand." Varma said.
"We were getting along so great but now he won't have a talk with me even. Just brushes me aside."
"Did you do something to upset him?"
"I don't know! Should I have stood up to Venamo more than I did? I could have asked about it but he doesn't want to have a talk!"
"Should I ask him why he won't talk to you?" Varma suggested.
"He'd figure out that I told you to ask. And this is a matter between him and me. I'd prefer to talk it out with him. If only he would agree."
"I don't know how to help here. Sorry." Varma said.
"That's alright. I wouldn't expect you to worry yourself with my problems." Nofa assured.
"I just don't like seeing you feeling down. I like you." Varma said.
"Oh, that means a lot to me. I think we're become good friends, don't you?" Nofa said, feeling slightly better.
"And anyone who doesn't want anything to do with you, is just losing a great girl." Varma said cheekily.
"Ha. Damn right... I guess." Nofa said and focused on her book.
Varma looked into the lake while Nofa searched for useful spells to memorise in the book. While going through the book, Nofa noticed something that she found worth pointing out.
"The blank pages from the end of the book are torn off! That's where I intended to write notes! Ugh. I'll have to go check the sack if they're somewhere in there." Nofa complained.
"I... may have stolen a page because I wanted to write poems." Varma admitted and felt embarrassed.
"Well, I guess that's alright but you should have asked. Where did the other page go? I can tell that two have been torn out." Nofa wondered.
"I dunno. I may have accidentally ripped off two when I only wanted one. And I also borrowed your quill and black ink. Sorry for that too." Varma admitted.
"Well, at least now you know to ask. I'm not angry. And I appreciate that you at least cleaned the quill instead of putting it back in the sack all covered in ink." Nofa said.
"After writing I always wipe the quill on the inside of my clothes. A habit I picked up from Vena."
"I see. A good habit. So. What did you write then?" Nofa asked.
"It's not finished. I'll let you know once I've written it through." Varma replied.
"Well, alright. Just remember that any day might be our last." Nofa reminded her.
Varma went quiet and really thought about what Nofa said.
"I guess you're right." Varma admitted.
"So you want to share what you wrote now?" Nofa asked.
"N-no. It needs to be read with passion and righteous anger. I need to be in the right mindset to read it. I'm not in the right mindset right now." Varma explained.
"Ha. How might we get you in a mindset of righteous anger then?" Nofa asked.
"I don't know. But I might know how you can make the boys angry." Varma replied.
"Oh! What did you think of?" Nofa asked eagerly.
"Alright. Hear me out here. So Vena wants to go look for the brass staff in the desert because that's where it may have disappeared into. But what if... it actually flew into the lake? What if we find it from the lake with the attractistone and then brag about how we thought of something that they couldn't?" Varma suggested.
"That's not a bad idea at all! We don't lose anything for trying. We can just tie that ingot into the stretchy rope and you can fly to the middle of the lake and get fishing." Nofa added.
"Yeah! We may as well." Varma said.
"Blueberry, my love. Could you fetch me my sack, please?" Nofa said to the butterfly on her shoulder.
Soon enough the sack arrived and Nofa dug the attractistone from there. Varma untied the stretchy rope from her waist and from her metal arrow and tied it firmly into the attractistone to make surer than sure that it won't come off.
"Well, let's give it a go! Ready?" Nofa said to Varma.
Varma took off her feathery robe and sprinted towards the water. She jumped before her shoes got wet and flew above the surface of the lake. She flew quite far away from the shore and dropped the attractistone into the water where it sank. She flew in place above the spot where she dropped it and hoped for the best. She knew that she couldn't fly in place for long times or her wings would tire out. She still gave it her all, and even flew further away from the shore to better her chances.
"If these wings tire out, I'll have to swim all the way back. Screw that. I'm going back." She thought to herself.
But right then, she felt the stretchy rope in her hand vibrate. She knew that something must have either grabbed the rope or collided with the attractistone. She knew that she couldn't go retrieve it herself from under the water without making the object sink to the bottom, so she just flew to the shore. At the shore Nofa was waiting curiously and Varma had a confident feeling as she was still holding the rope that had stretched all the way from where she flew from all the way to the shore.
"Did you get anything?" Nofa asked while almost hopping in place.
"Something made the rope shake. We should find it at the end of the rope."
"So now we know where it is! Let's get a boat so I can go dive it down from where you found it!" Nofa suggested.
"I can go get it." Bloodmist said and frightened Nofa.
"How long where you watching us?" Nofa asked.
"Hard to know when Bloodmist is watching." Varma added.
"I'd rather watch whatever this is than the sloppy training that the boys are doing." Bloodmist said dismissively.
"Nooooo, I bet you were hoping to join and be friends with us." Nofa suggested cheekily.
Bloodmist only let out a dismissive grunt.
But wait, are you even a good diver? No offence, of course. I just figured because of your aversion to rain." Nofa said to Bloodmist.
"I'm in good shape. I can do it, even if I can't turn when I'm under water." Bloodmist said.
"Hmm. Well, Varma did fly quite far. Rowing there would take a long time. Are you able to hold solid objects when you turn to mist?" Nofa asked.
"Everything I hold or wear also turns to mist. Except other people." Bloodmist answered.
"So the entire rope would turn into mist. That'd be no good." Nofa said.
"I'll fly with you and hold the rope." Varma said to Bloodmist.
"Do that." Bloodmist said.
"Alright. Try to keep up." Varma said and once again flew to the lake.
The wait for Varma and Bloodmist to return was exciting and felt long, but it did make Nofa forget about her worries. While waiting, she heard the sounds of steel and wood colliding the other way. She purposefully and consciously didn't look that way. After patiently waiting for a good while she saw her friends flying back from the lake and squinted her eyes to see what Varma was carrying. When Varma touched the sand of the shore and Bloodmist turned into flesh form, Nofa looked disappointed at what Varma had in her hands.
"It's a short rod. Not quite the staff that we were hoping to find. But you sure look excited." Nofa said to Varma.
"Look at it. It's brass. And the end of it looks like it's been snapped off something longer. I bet this is one half of the mythic staff!" Varma answered.
"It wasn't easy diving down to retrieve it. In exchange for that favour you better tell me what is that stone that attracts metal and where to get it." Bloodmist requested.
"Oh, it's a common type attractistone. Not even the rare kind. I bought it from the peculiar inventor sisters in Laukiv. The locals will know who you mean if you ask about them." Nofa answered very casually.
Nofa then took a proper gander at the snapped rod in Varma's hands.
"Well how about this? But if this is part of that staff, where's the other half?" Nofa wondered.
Varma placed the piece of brass on the ground and sat cross legged next to it, Nofa knelt by it and Bloodmist crouched by it.
"Should we show it to Yia and Vena?" Varma asked.
"Hmm. Not yet. I bet we can find the other half also in the lake." Nofa replied.
And right then, to the surprise of everyone, a lightning struck from the clear sky and hit the brass rod. Everyone around the rod were sent back in sudden fright and they looked on as the electrical current remained in the rod. Venamo and Yilka ran to the scene to check what the sound was, and then saw what the ladies saw as well. Varma got the idea to look up to the sky where she saw a white cloud above them. The others then looked up as well and felt baffled at the rumbling sounds coming from the white cloud. Another lightning came down from the cloud but didn't hit anywhere near the ground. Instead, after the lightning had struck, in the sky appeared an inhumanely tall, gray-skinned woman with long horns on her head and lightning bouncing off her skin and dark armour.
"At last. It is found." Her voice echoed in the skies as the tower-sized lady spoke in the language of the Holy people.
"What is she saying?" Varma asked.
"She just spoke in the Holy people's language. Let me listen." Venamo said.
"All this time I'd searched for the second half. No more shall anyone ever again steal from me. The staff shall now be mine." The lady in the sky said.
Venamo stood straight and looked at the lady in the sky. He then cleared his throat and took a deep breath.
"Are you the Stormress?" He shouted into the sky in the Holy people's language.
The lady in the sky graced Venamo with a look his way.
"I am. Were you looking to steal my lightning?" The Stormress answered.
"We have no such intention! There are people who want to lure you out of your domain by stealing a lightning, and then kill you! We wanted to summon you out of there first before they could!" Venamo shouted.
"I do not come out of my domain often. Once I have the staff of the thief, I will return to my domain and I will not return for a long time again." The Stormess said and sent thunder down to the rod near Venamo's feet.
A line of thunder now came from the rod and led to the desert.
"I thank you, flawed one. I already know where the second part is. You may go now." The Stormess said as the rod by Venamo's feet started rising up towards her.
But before it could reach her, a big stone flew at her and hit her in the forehead. The rod fell to the ground and the Stormress fell back first into the lake. A cheer came from the city as guards and townsfolk alike had gathered around a trebuchet on the roof of a house. The entire lake was now electric and glowing bright as the Stormress laid there. Arrows rained from the sky on the Stormress who was floating on her back, and the travellers turned their attention to where the stone and arrows came from.
"The city guards and the townsfolk are working together to kill the Stormress!" Varma exclaimed.
"Damned be! And whoever gets the killing blow gets her powers." Venamo added and ran to his mount.
However, his mount was not very cooperative. It was so frightened by the sparks and lights and noises coming from the lake that it was jumping and bucking wildly, making itself impossible to mount. Venamo then started running on foot towards the town.
"Damn it. He's going to fight them all on his own?" Yilka said and started running after Venamo.
"Well, I think we should help them." Varma said and flew up high.
Instead of following the others. Nofa remained at the shore and looked at the Stormress being showered in arrows and slowly sinking into the electric lake.
"I don't think she'll survive this." Nofa said to Bloodmist.
"She won't. And as Venamo said, whoever gets the killing blow, gets her powers. It shouldn't be any of those bastards." Bloodmist said and turned into mist form.
She flew over to the Stormess, turned into flesh form midair, threw her dagger straight into the throat of the stromress and another through her forehead. She then turned back into mist form and flew away as the Stormress stopped being electric and so did the lake. The lifeless body of the Stormress sank under the surface of the lake and one last lightning shot up from her body into the sky.
Cheering came from the town, and Venamo and Yilka had just reached the trebuchet at the edge of town when they heard the lightning. Both brothers were now thinking that the battle was lost, and that they couldn't possibly know who in the town got the killing blow, so fighting them was pointless.
"The tyrant in the clouds is dead!" A civilian shouted in the Kyranaipa language as the folk around cheered.
But the cheering soon died down as the folk looked up to the sky. An enormous thick red cloud hovered above the town. The cloud stayed above the city for a moment, allowing everyone to take a good look at it. When everyone's eyes were pointed to the red cloud, a lightning struck down into the crowd, instantly frying several people and terrifying everyone who saw. Some shot arrows at the cloud, but most ran away into their homes. Seeking shelter indoors was the wiser choice, since more lightning came down from the red cloud and fried anyone who stayed behind to fight or who were too slow to get indoors. No armour could protect the wearer from the power of thunder, and no arrow could harm a cloud. It was not even a battle. It was a short moment of chaos that ended as a massacre, leaving behind only burned flesh and scale. During the chaos Venamo and Yilka ran back to the shore and took shelter under the leaves of the first tree that they could find and soon enough Nofa also joined them, as did Varma. Even from there they could see scorched corpses on the ground as the red cloud stayed above the city. The red cloud then turned into a smaller one and flew to where the travellers were staying. The smaller red cloud turned into Bloodmist who stood face to face with Venamo.
"What in the damned did you just do? They were civilians!" Venamo shouted at her furiously.
"They were working together with the bastards. No better than the bastards themselves. That'll teach the survivors a lesson." Bloodmist said.
"How did you even get that power? Did you land the killing blow on the Stormress?" Venamo asked seriously.
"I did. And I will use her power to destroy the Kingdom of Greater Vastusar." Bloodmist swore.
"No you will not if this is how you want to go about it." Venamo ordered.
"By thunderbombing the capital city for long enough, I can make everyone too scared to leave their home, or enter the city. Pushkrilleri would starve to death in his own palace, and your tribe would be free." Bloodmist argued.
"And innocent townsfolk in the capital city would die with him. No. That is not the way." Venamo argued.
"We finally have a weapon that they can't fight against and you don't want to use it?" Bloodmist asked seriously.
"If you want to use this power for something good, I have a suggestion for you." Venamo said.
"Tell me your suggestion then, chief." Bloodmist said sarcastically.
"I don't know if I should trust you with this but here it is. Go to the lake of Kemioe. Strike thunder in the sky to make it clear to everyone around the enormous lake that it is not safe to be at the lake. Once you know for certain that nobody is at the lake, rain thunder on the lake so that every living thing under its surface dies." Venamo suggested.
"And this accomplishes what?" Bloodmist asked.
"The fish of the lake killed the Father of waters at the command of the Crown's forces, and inherited his power. If you kill the current holder of the power, which is the fish of the lake, you will have the power over the waters of the world as well. And despite what you just did there, I trust you with that power more than I trust the Crown." Venamo explained.
"And once I have those powers, I can rain on the capital city until it's flooded, and when Pushkrilleri escapes, I will strike thunder down on him and his fleet." Bloodmist suggested.
"And destroy the homes of everyone in the city? If the common folk see the Grand Beasts turning against them, they'll side with whoever seeks to kill the Grand Beasts. They may even see the red colour of your cloud and blame the Wicked people for it, giving them a good reason to charge into Rarhea with a total purge in mind." Venamo argued.
Bloodmist quietly thought about what Venamo just said for a moment.
"Hmm. What's the good in having the means to cause massive damage, if I can't do anything with it without risking the future of my people?" Bloodmist wondered.
"That's why I suggest you do what I just said. Kill the fish of Kemioe, and seize the power of waters. But do not use that power for vengeance. Don't deprive rain from any area and don't flood any area where harmless people live." Venamo pleaded.
"What a good idea you just gave me. I could dry out any place that deserves it and I'd get away with it too if I can control rain from afar." Bloodmist said.
Nofa then stood next to her and looked at her in the eyes.
"Please. Don't make anyone suffer who doesn't deserve it." Nofa said to Bloodmist in the Wicked people's language.
"Even if they're commoners, they're not innocent if they allow the Crown to exist without fighting it." Bloodmist argued back in the language that only she and Nofa understood.
Before Nofa could say anything in return, Venamo hit Bloodmist in the back of the head with the handle of his sword, knocking the woman unconscious.
"What are you doing?" Nofa screamed at him.
"If she's so willing to harm innocents, we can't allow her to live. Her power is so destructive, that no one can be trusted with it. Not even me." Venamo said and picked up the unconscious woman from the ground.
He dragged her over to the lake and chucked her into the water.
"What are you doing now?" Nofa screamed and started dragging Bloodmist by the foot out of the water.
Venamo pointed his sword at Nofa and glared at her.
"She is not worth saving. Nobody must have her power. Therefore she should die without a killer, and nobody must be near her when she dies. We will all get out of here now! Understood?" Venamo said to everyobody.
"She massacred common townsfolk. This is the right thing to do." Yilka seconded.
"I believe in second chances!" Nofa argued.
"Giving second chances only gets you stabbed twice. Now move along." Venamo said and poked his sword towards Nofa.
Yilka looked like he didn't quite agree with the last point that Venamo made, but he didn't dare speak against Venamo either. He walked away from the lake first.
Varma then walked away as well, seeing fully well what Bloodmist did.
"And you now." Venamo said to Nofa who eventually walked away from the lake as well.
Venamo walked away from the lake the last and sheathed his sword before returning to his still nervous mount.
"We have some bad news for Vakevata. All because the damn Rarhean chose to make her own choices. Those wicked wretches can't be trusted." He murmured to himself as he calmed down his mount.
Once he was mounted, he went to where Nofa was standing and contemplating everything that happened. She was looking into the direction of the town, but didn't dare walk closer to it to see the true damage.
"You thought Bloodmist was worth saving? Go have a look at what she did." Venamo said from up where he was.
"No. I get what you're getting at." Nofa replied without looking at Venamo.
"Go look at them. See it! Now!" Venamo demanded and rattled the sword on his back.
"I know what she did!" Nofa replied angrily.
"And yet you still tried to drag her out of the lake. What does that say about you? I won't ask again. Go have a look at what she did." Venamo told Nofa once again.
Nofa took a deep breath and began walking forward.
"You two as well! Come see it again!" Venamo shouted to Yilka and Varma who were standing around elsewhere.
Yilka didn't argue back at all, but just walked over to Venamo with dead eyes. Varma was a bit more reluctant, but when Yilka began walking, she followed anyway. The travellers walked over to the edge of the now quiet town where black ashy piles and burned bodies of the local Venomfolk layed. Some in piles, some separate from the others. Nofa kept her eyes on the ground, not wanting to look at any of it. Yilka looked at the damage with partial guilt, and Varma looked at it out of morbid curiosity.
"Take a look at it! This is what your so called sister did with ease and with no remorse. And she was willing to do it again. Look at it, witch!" Venamo shouted at Nofa.
"We took her in." Yilka quietly said.
"Pardon?" Venamo said to Yilka.
"We took her in and led her here. If it wasn't for us, she would have never gotten the Stormress' power and done this. Some of this blood is in our hands." Yilka spoke somberly while looking at the burnt corpses.
Nofa finally raised her head and looked at what everyone else saw. She coughed a little when she saw it all, and when she saw it, she couldn't look away.
"Listen, Yilka. Do not blame yourself for this. It was the Road of Blood and Vakevata who told us to get Bloodmist. And if the Crown's forces had gotten the Stormress' powers, they would have done something worse than this. What happened here was a mistake, but we learned from it." Venamo reassured.
"What did we learn? To not trust outsiders anymore? If we had just gone straight to the capital and killed the King ourselves, this would be over and done with! This didn't need to happen! It wouldn't have mattered if the Crown's forces got the powers of the Grand Beasts, if they had no one whose orders to follow!" Yilka vented out.
"We just saw what happens if the power of a Grand Beast falls to the wrong hands! We can't let that happen again! We have to save the last remaining one!" Venamo insisted.
"What are we even still doing?" Nofa asked herself..
"Now we return to the ship and sail to the Lehrean islands. The Crownmother is the only remaining Grand Beast, and the Crown knows that too." Venamo told everyone.
"If we had made our way to the capital to kill the King ourselves, we wouldn't have wasted time here." Yilka said to himself.
"How many times does it have to be made clear that without an army we can't just barge into the capital city? Bloodmist could have snuck in but that's not an option anymore either!" Venamo argued back.
"How much time did we waste here? And what did it get us?" Yilka asked.
"Yilka is right." Varma seconded and continued:20Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3IOUTioa2
"What was this all for? To save the Grand Beasts? We sure did great at that! Now nobody has the power of the Stormress and the forces of thunder are controlled by... chaos, I guess. Even if the Crown got it, it wouldn't matter since the King could be dead!" Varma said.
"The power of the Grand beasts would still be in somebody's hands! Even if they have no king to follow. If we let the Grand Beasts be killed and then get rid of the King, we won't know who has the power of the Grand Beasts! Whoever has them would just make themselves the new king! The power of the Father of waters now belongs to the fish of Kemioe, but who controls the fish from afar? We don't know that. I doubt that King Pushkrilleri does it himself. The King isn't personally out there hunting the Grand Beasts, so when his forces kill one, the power just goes to a lucky someone. If we save the Grand Beasts, or even kill them ourselves if we have to, then we at least know our enemy. We will sail to Lehrea, and from there we can sail north and then west and reach Haimana where we can find Lapis, the other person that Vakevata wanted." Venamo told everyone.
"Great. Do you know how to sail there?" Varma asked sarcastically.
"Well, no. But we can get a map from any town where we stop. If the winds favour us, we can reach Haimana faster by sea than by land, and our ship already belongs to the Crown, and that might help us get to places where other ships wouldn't get. Trust me. This is the best way to go." Venamo assured everyone.
"Vena is right. We can't let anyone have the power of a Grand Beast if they'd do something like this with it." Yilka admitted
"At last! You understand! The Crownmother is the ruler of all fertility in the soil, the plants, animals and people. If the Kingdom of Vastusar has that power, what do you think they'd do? They'd defertilise the land of any place that is hostile to them. They'd defertilise all women of tribes that they don't care about. They can't be allowed to have that power in their hands! Nobody should!" Venamo said.
"That does sound serious." Varma admitted.
"You're right." Yilka also admitted.
"Venamo was right about Bloodmist." Nofa admitted once she stopped looking at the burned corpses.
"That I was. Never should have trusted a Wicked. And I'm right about this too. So follow me if you're still with me, because I'm heading back to our ship." Venamo said and rode east.
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