Gorgi woke up in the middle of that chaos that ensued when all those people started waking up.

However, Gabriel had already his mind full of trying to keep them at bay so that he could wake them all up before starting his explanation. Not all waited for him, especially Harper, Jackson, and William Reevers.

It seemed that they had been leading the attack on Large Leaf Dungeon when all hell broke loose.

Gabriel required all that help he could get to free the people in the cocoon and wake them up.

They were less than a hundred. Still, they were all elites.

Exactly the push they needed to, maybe, make the difference on the battlefield.

There was utter chaos when Gabriel started screaming.

"Everybody shut up and listen! This is what's going on!"

He didn't even have time to talk when one of the escapees got back and shouted.

"A coalition of Wind Dancers and Priests is attacking Yggdrasil!"

"Yeah… that's pretty much what I wanted to say."

Jackson Reevers, the pot-bellied man in armor, took control right away.

"Everyone remain calm! And get in line. Tier six on the front line with me! Tier five, form a line behind us, Tier four do the same, and so on! Fast! You included Herald, what are you waiting for!?

As they did, and he did too, Gabriel could see the confused Gorgi moving about in the line ahead of him.

"Gabe, Gabel!" Called Prisha.

"Prisha!" Gabriel called. Fred was standing near her.

"How are the others? Have you seen Greta? And Sato?"

"No," Gabriel answered. "I was elsewhere when it all started. But," Gabriel got closer to her, "Don't get too far from me. There are things we need to talk about."

Gabe knew he would have to put himself in line for the moment, but he could abandon by the time they departed; at least he was free compared to the other Druids that could not abandon; they had to obey their commander.

When they started marching after Jackson organized the various party, Gabriel plucked Gorgi that was being left behind from the group, and Fred and Prisha slowed down until they abandoned the raid.

"Listen, Gabe; what we're doing now can have heavy consequences; you better have something very important to say," said Fred.

"I don't know, Fred…" Interjected Prisha, "After what we've been through, I don't think I'm willing to join any sort of war… I feel I need time. Time to figure out what is going on."

"But Greta, and Sato!"

"We will talk with them, of course, I just hope they support me, maybe, support us, what do you think?" She said.

Fred seemed uncertain, but something behind that tired face seemed to adhere to what Prisha was feeling.

"I thought I died…" Prisha said, "however, now that Fronkie is back with me, I feel fine. And that new Perk, it feels like it has found an equilibrium."

"Yes, they finally gave them back. I don't know why, but Fort doesn't want to come out; she says it doesn't feel right to walk in his father's dead body…"

What the…? He said he made sure they changed; it seems to me he brainwashed them at this point, Gabriel, though.

However, Liz didn't seem to share that line of thought. She rejected it.

Mind explaining yourself? Liz, currently the only Spirit that dared walk outside of her owner, shrugged.

You don't know how? Are you sure you're not hiding something from me? Although I would feel it…

Liz seemed offended.

Oh, whatever.

"Gabriel Walker… just why did you take me out of my study, of my shop, of my house? What about my things? My ingredients, my hard-earned formulas?"

"Gorgi," Gabriel answered, getting pulled back into reality. "I could not let you die in vain. I've got all that I could feet into your many Dimensional-Bags, then I put those into my won. Your shop is practically empty."

A figure of speech… he said to himself and did not dare repeat out loud.

However, Gorgi trembled; it was something halfway between scared, angry, and abandoned.

Gabe could not decipher it.

Thankfully, Gorgi did not reply. Instead, Phreviel joined the group, making all the others mute.

"What are you doing here!" Shouted both Prisha and Fred in unison.

"Oh, the gifted, and the lion," he said.

Fred was about to jump him, but Gabriel stopped him by gripping his arm strongly.

His strength was inferior to Fred's, but the sentiment could be strongly felt.

"Stop there. I've made him a promise. There are things that you might not know; suffice to say that these people have suffered enough. They need salvation."

Gabriel was firm.

"I will take them to the same place where I'm going to bring you. I know for certain that we are going to lose this war… well, almost for certain, and I'm bringing anyone who wishes to run away to a safe place. Let those that want to fight, fight, but if I can save those to whom the fight doesn't belong, I'll gladly do so. These Yggdrasilians need to be given a second chance," Gabriel's eyes went from Fred to Prisha, back and forth. "If you wish to fight, you are free to do so but know that you are precious now. The Reverse Tree said that you belong to a new human species and that you will most probably be in danger given your… new abilities."

"Gabriel, what are you talking about, really? Who would want to hunt us down?" Asked Fred.

However, Prisha seemed to have understood something. She had grown silent.

"I… felt something from the tree when we were segregated in those cocoons. Memories, of ages past, tormenting memories," she massaged her shoulders.

"The tree's memory showed people, absurdly powerful people that trapped them in the Dungeon with a Singularity, the same Singularity that lay here and there around the world," she said.

Gabriel nodded, "What you saw is true. I've seen it myself. In ages long past, something called the Empire slaughtered and then trapped races they did not fit their standards or which they feared, inside of Dungeons. They used the singularities to do it, sadly, I don't know more than that, but I bet there is someone that might know. The Seer might."

Fred seemed incredulous, while Gabriel couldn't help but be surprised by how much Prisha knew.

"I guess I'll have to give you time to figure out what you want to do, in the meanwhile, follow me if you wish. Our destination is the Traveling Hearth."

***

"That's insane…" said Bartholomew.

Varcivald followed the little boy with his eyes, although he was putting all of himself on keeping the shield up.

They had received quite a few nasty attacks that threatened to destroy the shield he had erected and fed on the Mana of all the people inside the inn.

Of course, the more left the portal, the weaker the shield became.

"What's happening out there?" Varcivald asked.

Bartholomew couldn't help but attach himself like a sucker to the glass of a window.

"Shaman, the-one-that-dance… the-one-that-dances-together… no, the-one-that-dances-with-the-hurri… oh, whatever he's called! He's so powerful… I can't believe how powerful he is. I bet he's stronger than our Guardian."

"How is the Elder faring?" Varcivald asked since they were on topic.

"Not that good, actually. The Mana keeps being moved about; it does not reach close enough to the Shaman to poison him; he controls the wind and sends it splashing around. Their battle seems to be more dangerous for the people around them than to each other."

"And the Princess? What about Gaia Waterfront," asked the Elf.

"I don't know, last time I saw her, she was heading outside, but she looked exhausted," answered the boy.

Too many variables.

The battlefield was far too big to gauge correctly. The war was taking place inside The Cradle, inside Wallcity, on the Outpost, and outside the tree.

After the start of the chaos, the refugees that entered the inn said that the Priests came from the inside of the middle-tree; they had been seen them descend from the Veins, which meant that the place had most probably been devastated.

Varcivald's gaze fell over the mass of people still in line to be jumped out; many were still unsure if to jump or not.

Commodo had done something incredible with that machine. Since the start, he had found a way to immensely speed up the Mana charging progress. Now the time that took from one jump to the other had considerably lessened.

I guess that need makes a Dwarf fly, thought Varcivald.

From what Commodo had said himself, the device initially needed hours to replenish the Ambient Mana for the transportation; however, what he had done to satisfy that requirement, had been a brilliant choice.

The portal led to the Singularity to that in Kanceldom that lay in The Core.

The Ambient Mana that the Hearth could suck any time it opened a portal was enormous, and so doing it replenished its needs. Shortening, thus, the recharge rate to just a couple of minutes, but in the end, that too was not enough.

So the Dwarf had left a series of urgent messages with the first people leaving, and the messages were addressed to the Dwarves and people from The Core that governed the Singularity spewing Ambient Mana like a fountain.

They would have to release even more.

It was dangerous for the bystanders, but as long as those on the other side got away from their Pearl-Harness, and the people jumping from the inn quickly left the premises of the Harness, they would be fine.

Nobody wanted to catch Mana Poisoning, so everyone ran away as fast as they could once they crossed over to the other side.

The recharge time was now a few seconds short of thirty seconds, but still. Only one person at a time could use it.

The escapees' arrival was the city of Grigandoom, the last surviving bastion of Dwarven kind. Symbol of their presence of spirit and their never-wavering will even in the face of a curse that promised to make their lands a living nightmare.

What had first come in Commodo's aide had been the Dwarf that governed the Pearl-Harness, his father, Leador.

Varcivald could not guess much more than that, he had to hold the barrier, and everyone was too busy or too tense to chat with him.

"What is that!?" Said Bart.

"What is what?" Varcivald asked.

"A new force, someone is joining in the fight in the Cradle!" he said.

"Maybe they've won the battle outside and are coming back to help!" The boy shouted.

He got everyone's attention at that point.

People left the line to gawk, and the murmur started, some shouted excited, some dared thank the heavens, some others cried or embraced their families, and as many as they could, plastered their faces on the windows.

"Those are the Reevers!" One said.

"Where were they?"

"It's the Captain!"

"And the Sniper!"

At that point, Varcivald felt the elephants in the room move to go see.

The two Giants were interested too in seeing what was going on.

When they did, they chattered, surprised.

"Marcle!" Shouted Varcivald. "What's going on?"

When Marcle got closer, taking Dustille by the hand with him, Varcivald asked.

"Why is your wife, the apprentice Seer, surprised?"

Dustille answered for herself, "I could not see it. This development, I had not foretold. When I'm too far away from the Temple is hard, having visions. However, I share those of the Seer. We are connected so that I can see what she sees, but neither she nor I did foresee this. It comes very unexpectedly. I just hope it's going to come our way."

"If only we could… contact the Giants," Varcivald suggested, "Maybe they could come at our aide."

"Why don't you do it with that machine of yours?" Marcle asked.

"That's out of the question; if Commodo gets it wrong, the portal won't open for hours. It's a chance we simply can't take. It's better to be stuck in The Core than to die for sending a message that might as well take effect too late. I doubt that this battle will go on for much longer.,"

Varcivald's explanation made sense. But the Giants had a heart for battle. They did not understand the concept of running away. If it had been their lands, they would have laid their life on the line already, he knew.

"Maybe we might really take that chance," suggested Marcle, and yet, his wife didn't proffer any more words; her scrying sight went back to the window, and the fight about to take place in the not so far distance.

With her mighty senses, she could see a devil on fire, his face was shaped like a skull, it had two huge horns on its head and a long devilish tail. Whatever it was, that thing was going to intercept the returning Reevers, together with many other Priest that had freed themselves from the fight.

***

"We are lucky," said the Seer, she was holed up in her chambers, atop the Temple of Life.

Her last line of defense had been breached, now only a handful of Druids, but led by Clast, remained in her protection.

She directed the battlefield thanks to a couple of Mediums that issued her orders to the battle's key points.

"How so?" Shouted Clast as he descended in an arc, spewing thunderstorms from his body over the attacking enemies.

The forest around the Temple of Life had partially caught on fire; it really was inevitable. However, Yggdrasil quelled the smoke by transforming it into clean air for all to breathe.

She did not answer, so Clast left the attack and returned back to her side; he had stopped enough for the moment that he could take a couple of minutes to personally hear what his wife had to say.

Lena turned toward him, "The Reevers are still alive; it seems that exploding the Dungeon had unpredictable consequences, some of those led to Large Leaf's Dungeon Boss protecting the Reevers from the descending of the Layroad."

"That's fantastic news!" Said Clast.

Lena smiled. For the first time since the start of the invasion, she felt there was hope.

"Clast," she called.

She knew that Clast would recognize that tone.

Clast closed his eyes but managed to smile.

"I need to stop Tom, don't I?" he added with a sigh.

"Yes. You are the only one that's not weak to his idiotic fire; the Reevers's shadows can't deal with that."

"I know," he added, "I'll be sure to kill him this time."

"Just try and not die, will you? Because Zane and a few more arch-bishop are still in top form. They will indeed help him."

When Clast didn't answer, Lena continued.

"Clast. I need you here with me," she said, "You can't go die because of your principles. Just use that when you need to."

But the fairy did not answer. He turned around to leave.

"If I return," he said, still giving her his back but turning his face just slightly, "we're going to have another child."

Lena gasped. A vision struck her.

With a Spirit by his side, a little human soared the skies with his father; it did not only have a Spirit though; it had the wings of a fairy. Something that had not been seen before. A newborn fairy that sprouted wings.

"Clast… If you come back. If we have a child… the fairy will return to this world. Ours will be the first of a new species of complete fairies with Spirits by their side…" she said, shocked.

Clast opened and close his mouth in disbelief.

"Warm the bed," he said after leaving.

Lena, now left alone, with only a line of defense made of a few Tier 5, 4, and 3 Druids, shed a couple of tears as she chuckled.

"I will."