Herah and Owen had entered another wrecked clearing about a hundred yards away from the one with the Donneur de Frêne before stopping. It was destroyed recently by the feel of the place to Herah.

The tracks in the area were still fresh and headed off to where Norwe had placed their beacon. The uprooted soil felt soft and moist under her feet, another clear indication of the recent destruction of the clearing. Herah hadn’t used Réunir on her nose yet, so the youngling was incapable of knowing the smell, but assumed the clearing smelled much better than the ones before due to its lack of dead plants. The tree that had clearly been the target of the Oni was decimated, the only thing remaining of the plant being parts of its trunk. One of which Owen sat on, leaving Herah standing.

“What’s up with you and Alex? That’s the twin you were arguing with, right?” Owen said his voice still childlike but filled with what Herah thought to be a surprisingly confident tone.

“Before I answer that, what happened to that shyness from earlier?”

“Oh that,” Owen waved his hand in a dismissive manner, “That was just an act, as a gnome I’m constantly surrounded by beings a lot more physically capable than myself. So from birth, my people are taught to act shy and fidgety around potential threats, it usually causes them to empathize or underestimate us.”

“So you were faking, huh?” Herah growled out, her eye giving an unconscious tic as the youngling barely restrained herself from punting Owen into a star.

Owen, noticing Herah’s anger, held up his arms as if attempting to get the youngling to settle down and spoke before Herah could act on any unsavory thoughts in her mind.

“I guessed that would make you angry. That’s why I dropped the act, you seem like someone who expects that if working with another they be upfront. I find that’s a good idea and helps to build trust.”

Herah’s nostrils flared causing several puffs of smoke to fly from her nostrils. The youngling regained a bit of her calmness with each puff released. After a few more puffs, Herah began to speak to Owen again.

“So if you’re not a nervous and shy little shit, what are you?”

Owen gave Herah a wide childlike smile as they stood from the trunk they sat upon and did a little bow, their clothing creating a distinct chink noise as they brushed against the trunk.

“I am Owen Vulcan, a gnome prodigy and master blacksmith.”

Herah perked up at those words, still a bit angry but now very interested in the gnome.

“You’re a blacksmith? Wow, I never thought someone so young could possibly have already completed all the training and work needed to become a smith.” Herah said with surprise and a tiny bit of admiration. After finishing speaking, Herah noticed that Owen was now blushing.

‘Hmm. I guess that reaction wasn’t faked.’

“You also seem easily flustered.”

Owen smiled while rubbing his head in embarrassment before replying,

“I’ve never been good at taking compliments.” Owen lowered his hand and tilted his head, “I heard that admiration for the art of smithing, what’s up with that?”

Herah looked away from Owen, her anger at the gnome from earlier now gone and replaced with a fiery passion towards their current subject. The youngling began to smile maniacally, throwing both of her hands into the air as her answer flew from her mouth.

“Blacksmiths are the primary source of weaponry for the Nettoyant!” Herah then brought both her hands to her chest, her hands curling into a fist, “And I hope to one day forge the weapons that a Nettoyant might use to subjugate our enemies!¨

Owen gave a hearty laugh, probably entertained by what Herah knew to be her fanatic ramblings. After a few minutes of Owen laughing, the gnome wiped tears from his eyes. Owen then asked,

“What exactly is a Nettoyant?’”

Herah’s already wide smile got even wider, her giddiness at talking about her people taking center stage in her head.

“Nettoyants were those handpicked by La Flamme to spread her will throughout our universe, as the best of the best,” Herah said, her voice filled with a terrifyingly high amount of joy.

“How do they do that?” Owen said, the caution in his voice somewhat registering with Herah.

“By conquering neighboring planets and subjugating them to our rule.” Herah stated blankly.

“Oh.” Owen began, the surprise in his voice easily read. “They, they do that now.” Owen shook his head slowly while replying with carefully thought out words, “Your people must really love your goddess if they’re willing to war with other planets just to spread her will.”

Herah shook her head, before continuing.

“It’s quite the opposite really.” Herah’s tone suddenly lost much of its joy and cheer, the youngling visibly deflating.

“What do you mean?” Owen asked, the gnome making no visible notice of Herah’s decline in attitude.

Herah shook her head again before turning away from Owen to look towards the purple beacon. After a bit of silence, Herah turned back to Owen and asked a question.

“Why don’t you tell me a bit about your people?”

Owen clearly noticed the change in subject, but decided not to comment on it. Instead, the gnome responded to Herah's question.

“Gnomes are greatly varied and different when compared to each other, as any race should be, but we do tend to have a few things in common. Like the fact that no gnome ever gets any taller than 3′3, or that we all have an affinity with minerals and metals.”

Owen said nothing else after this, causing an awkward silence to fall over the two.

“Is that all?” Herah asked, a bit confused at the lack of information.

“You said a bit,” Owen replied with a cheeky smile.

This caused the youngling to giggle before saying,

“You’re a smartass aren’t you?”

Owen shrugged his shoulders while saying,

“That’s what father tells me all the time.”

It started off as a small snort of amusement from Herah, which Owen followed up with his own. Then the two both chuckled lightly and after a few more transitions the pair eventually devolved into body-racking laughter. The Cendreux and gnome continued laughing, only stopping when they both ran short on breath.

Hera, back at full height, smiled at Owen while scratching her abbs, an itch having started on her shirtless torso.

“Owen, I haven’t had a friend in years, and though I might’ve started something with Max, her brother will probably destroy any foundation I build. I say this so that I can extend the same offer I extended to Max and, to a lesser degree, Alex.”

Herah then commenced with Ash va s’installer, Owen giving the rings of fire a curious stare as they floated towards him and dispersed. Herah gave Owen a deep bow and said,

“Through the act of Ash va s’installer and prior experience I recognize you as an equal and potential friend.”

Herah rose from her bow and offered her hand to Owen. Owen took Herah’s hand with a pleasant smile.

“I hope to be good friends Herah,” Owen let go of Herah’s hand and returned to his seat atop of the tree trunk.

“Now back to you and Alex, wha-”

WHOOSH!

Herah’s right hand intercepted an arrow that had been aimed at the side of her head. Herah turned her head to look towards the direction the arrow had come from, but before the youngling could begin to search, the arrowhead exploded.

BOOM!

The clearing was engulfed in an explosion that could be heard throughout the forest. After the smoke had cleared, Herah stood in the epicenter of a crater, unharmed, blind, numb around her entire torso, and pissed. The youngling immediately used Rèunir to get back her sense of smell.

Immediately, the smell of grass, soil, and wood greeted Herah, but the youngling found her mind focused on four distinct smells that all shared a common factor: rot. One was to Herah’s right, right beneath where the now destroyed trunk Owen had originally sat on used to be. This scent by the sounds Herah was hearing was digging itself out of the ground. Another was in the tree 12 feet behind her, and the final two were 100 feet away in front of Herah.

With this information in her mind, Herah quite literally leaped into action. The youngling, with a backflip, leaped out of her crater and towards the tree behind her before landing in front it. The youngling then, with the length of her arm, severed part of the tree from its trunk.

1

Herah leaped over to the other scent and heard two limbs fly towards her before her feet could touch the ground.

2

Herah caught both limbs, the feeling of tough skin and large muscles spreading throughout her hands. Herah kneed the creature in the face, the sound of something breaking and a wail of agony greeting her in return.

3

Herah landed and, with the creature’s arms still in her hands, brought them towards her until its throat was at her mouth. The youngling then tore into it, a small gurgle replacing the wailing.

4

Herah disregards the taste and spray of her assailant’s blood and their corpse, just in time to catch two arrows aimed at her head. One with her fist closed over the arrowhead, and the other by its shaft. Herah threw one of the arrows back towards her assailants.

5

The sound of two explosions; one muffled by her hand, the other with no filter signifying the deaths of two of the three remaining assailants.

6

BOOM!

The last scent was now immobile.

Walking in the direction of the fallen tree, Herah shed the skin that had covered her eyes. Herah found her assailant pinned down between two other trees with Owen peering down at them with a scrying stare from atop of the trunk.

The gnome’s hat was gone, allowing his neat and orderly brown hair to be seen. The blue tunic Owen wore had a few rips and tears in it, revealing the iron plating underneath it. Owen also had a scratch on his head, a bit of blood dripping down the side of his face.

“Owen!” Herah shouted, smiling at them gnome while mentally kicking herself for forgetting about her new potential friend.

“Herah! And- Oh.” Owen said surprised before hastily turned away from Herah, a blush upon his cheeks.

Herah looked around confused for a second before turning her attention to herself.

“Flamme dammit!”

Herah was in her birthday suit, her bra and pants having been blown away by the first exploding arrow, leaving her scaly legs and scaleless torso revealed for all to see. Before Herah could make any more comments on her lack of clothing, her attention was caught by the sound of the two twins approaching. Alex, his clothing now fixed up, entered the area first.

“It took you twenty minutes to get into some shit, please don’t let this be a tren-” Getting a good look at Herah, Alex paused.

The human the pointed at the youngling and said, “What the fuck happened to you?” Alex turned to Owen and said the same thing.

Herah opened her mouth to speak once again, but found herself interrupted by Max.

“We came as soon as we heard the noise, what’s going-” Max got a good look at Herah, then the fallen tree, then Owen. After cycling through these three things, two more times Max asked, “Were you two doing something, and this tree just fell or...”

Herah gave Max a deadpan stare and aswered,

“No. We were attacked.”

Max did a fist pump motion, a barely audible yes exiting her lips. Ignoring Max’s amusing behavior, Herah walked over to where her final assailant lay. Max and Alex joined her and Owen to get a good look at them as well.

Herah’s assailant had green skin and looked rather burly. Their height was hard to decipher, but Herah thought the assailant had to be around her own height. They wore a shirt that smelled partly like bark but had green moss growing over it, Herah was unable to see if they were pants. Their most defining feature was their face, well more the mask that covered it. The mask was white with black eyes and a gaping maw. Within its mouth were a small set of teeth, with two enlarged fangs framing their teeth and hanging from the roof of its mouth and the bottom.

“Are they dead?” Max asked.

“Nope, I hear breathing coming from the opening in their mask,” Herah answered.

“How the hell can you hear that?” This question came from Alex.

“All of my senses are enhanced bitch, I’m guessing yours aren’t.”

“Including your nose?” Alex asked, a small edge of curiosity to his question,

“Definitely my nose, when sight fails me, it’s always my handy second,” Herah smirked at Alex, pettiness just rolling off of her. “Your inferior version has nothing on mines.”

“Be glad I need you alive,” Alex replied, his tone monotonous.

Herah disregarded him and lowered her face so that it was inches from the Oni’s.

“Who are you?”

“GRRWW!”

Herah raised her head, cursing at her luck under her breathe before letting out a yelp as Alex shoved her out of the way. Stumbling towards Max, Herah righted herself and tried to stomp over to Alex, intending to give the human a piece of her mind. Max stopped her however by grabbing Herah by the arm, which caused the youngling to turn towards her, and then giving her another one of smiles. Herah’s anger rapidly bled away until the Cendreux was just slightly pissed. Max then moved the two away from Alex, Owen following.

“Don’t worry, bro got this.” Max inclined her head towards her brother.

Herah turned back to Alex, the human now in the same position Herah had been in earlier when trying to speak to the Oni.

“Who are you?”

“GRRWW!”

“Your brother seems to be getting the same exact result as me.”

“Patience beautiful.”

Herah looked at Max and got a wink in turn. After smirking back in response, Herah redirected her attention to Alex and saw that the human was tapping his nose before suddenly snapping his fingers.

“GRRWW!” Alex said, perfectly copying the sound the Oni had made earlier.

“GRR?” The Oni responded, confusion easy to read.

"I know Onish.” Alex answered his voice becoming melodic and angelic like before, before making a completely different sounding growl towards the Oni. The Oni responded in kind and the two began to have an animated discussion, at least that’s what Herah thought they were doing.

“How the ash did your brother learn their language that quickly?!”

“Well Herah, that’s what my bro’s gift, allows for him to do.”

Herah turned back to Max, still quite confused and said,

" Enlightenment, that’s what you called it right,” Max nodded yes, causing Herah to point back at Alex and say, “Allows for him to learn languages instantly?”

Max giggled in response, shaking her head while saying,

“No. It allows for him to tell the universe the truth, well what he believes to be true.”

Herah turned back to Alex, now studying the human with all the more confused. Owen then butted into the conversation,

“But your brother doesn’t really know Onish, does he?”

Max rubbed her chin, her expression not really sure. Then Max just shrugged her shoulders and said,

“He knows Onish for the next eight minutes in our time.”

Herah raised a brow.

“Your time?”

Max looked back at Herah, her expression becoming confused before the human smacked her head and answered,

“You know how Norwe said time didn’t necessarily run the same in every universe-”

“I never said that.” a calm, and gentle voice interrupted Max.

“Holy fuck!”

“Shit!”

“By the five!”

Norwe the Sloth had appeared between the group, a lazy expression on their face lazy face. The Maker Sloth took the time to look at the gathered group before beginning to crawl up Herah’s leg, the youngling giving the Maker Sloth a strange look before completely disregarding their actions as some other weird shit Norwe did.

“I said “What makes you think that every universe conforms to your ideas of time”, in all actuality, a second is a second in all of my universes. Of course, a second in one universe might equal a year in another.” Norwe the Sloth stopped their climb briefly to pat Herah on her bareback, “That’s why my Artist is as exhausted as she is in comparison to you three, it has been a long day for her.”

“Fuck off.”

The other two listening turned to face Herah with concerned looks on their faces.

“You don’t look exhausted,” Owen said before quickly turning away with a blush.

Norwe the Sloth, having finished their climb up Herah and now sitting on the youngling’s shoulders responded,

“My Artist isn’t physically exhausted or mentally, no she,” Herah let out a low growl, “Has a little flame right next to her heart that slowly burns away throughout the day.”

Norwe the Sloth lowered one of their arms so that it’s claw could tap Herah’s left bare breast, causing Herah’s already red skin to darken in intensity around the area of contact.

“Don’t do that. Just because I can’t feel them that doesn’t mean they can’t react.” The youngling said, the annoyance clear in her words.

Norwe the Sloth ignored Herah and continued speaking,

“To my Artist, it had been 18 hours since any form of substantial sustenance has been applied to this flame, combine this with her little fire show before and after I arrived in the pocket dimension with you three inside and you get someone who’ll crash within the next hour or so.”

As much as Herah hated to admit it, Norwe the Sloth was right. When the youngling felt for her flame it was much dimmer than optimal. Herah probably would’ve been able to go on longer if nor for her attempt to kill the twins. To attempt to use indigo flames always left Herah exhausted afterward, even if not released at max power. The fire was what allowed her to live after all, even if Herah lost her heart or brain, as long as that fire burned Herah would heal from it all. But the second that flame was gone, Herah would be a goner.

“Speaking of your sensitivity,” Norwe caught Herah’s attention once again, “Wouldn’t it be a good idea for you to put some clothes on? As you are now, once your nerves reconnect life is going to be hell, sorry I meant ash, for you.”

Herah let out a snort of flames, before answering Norwe the Sloth’s question,

“I’ll be fine once Jeffery gets here, until then,” Herah did a little spin throwing her arms into the air as her wings unfurled from her back and began to flap them methodically. This left Herah floating a few feet above the ground. “I’ll let my wonderful body get a bit of air, I always hated the feeling of clothing.”

“I second that thought,” Max said, raising one of her arms as if voting.

Norwe the Sloth rolled their eyes and fell off of Herah, landing on their back.

“Do what you must, and eat one of those fruits from the tree already. I’d be sad if one of my gifted met their end due to pride.” With those words, Norwe the Sloth disappeared, leaving a naked, still mostly numb Cendruex, a weird human and a blushing gnome all alone.

After a few seconds, Owen said something about being right back before scurrying away. The gnome returned a few minutes later with his hat and what Herah presumed to be the fruit that was in her hands earlier. Owen handed it over to her, still refusing to look her in the eye. Herah said a quick thanks before biting down into the fruit.

CRUNCH!

The sound of wood crunching and metal being shredded rung throughout the hearing, causing Alex to tell them to quiet before returning to his conversation with the fallen Oni. Ignoring her twin, Max asked Herah a question,

“What’s in that fruit exactly?”

Herah raised a finger, chewing a bit more before swallowing.

“These fruits always have an extremely heavy amount of metal in them. This one, in particular, is very heavy in silver.”

“What! No way!” Owen shouted.

“You eat silver!?” Max added in.

“DON’T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE!”

This caused Max and Owen to apologize before redirecting their attention to Herah. Max gestured for the three to huddle together, Herah being forced to lean over a bit while Owen had to jump up and use the twos arms as supports. With the three now huddled up, Max began to whisper.

“Why do you eat metal, and is that blood on your face?” Max said, her attention suddenly on Herah’s blood covered face.

“In order, a Cendreux body is capable of taking any and all metals in order to strengthen our bones, and yes this is blood.” Herah gave Max an amused stare, “What the ash did you think was covering my face?”

“I thought you were blushing,” Max answered meekly.

“Same,” Owen said, sounding sick.

Herah looked at the gnome and found his face completely white. Owen looked at the blood and began to heave, falling to the ground and landing on his butt.

“Yo- you killed someone.” The gnome stuttered out, seemingly out of it.

“What’s up with you?” Herah asked peering down at the gnome her tone becoming slightly worried.

Though they had only met recently, Herah had made a quick friend of Owen, even if not directly stated. This was someone who wasn’t her father, mother, or Jeffery and would hate to lose it so quickly. Of course, Herah had spent most of her life without friends sans one a long while back, so the loss of one so quickly after gaining them wouldn’t hurt her.

Too much.

“I have hemophobia and thanatophobia, both death and blood scare the hell out of me. Its why I’m a blacksmith and not an actual fighter, I freeze up at the sight of both.” Owen replied, bits of color returning to his face as his statement was spoken.

“Well, hate to break it to you,” Herah began, her tone and stare now very gentle, “But by the sounds of it, there is going to be a lot of blood loss and death during Recompense.” Herah then lost her gentleness and said, “So you’re going to have to find a way to manage them.”

Owen shook his head nervously in response, all of the color having returned to his face but his expression still shocked.

“As much as I hate to agree with ashbrain-”

“The fuck you just call me?”

“You’re going to be useless to us if you are constantly bothered by the dead we will most definitely leave in our wake.” Alex finished, now coming towards the trio. Herah, Max, and Owen turned to face the approaching human.

Once Alex reached the group of three, the twin began to speak once again.

“By the way,” His attention now on Herah, “You sounded like a mother for half a second there, what happened to all of that “badassery” that we usually hear coming from you?”

Herah glared at Alex before replying with her own snarky response,

“It’s right here,” Herah flipped Alex off, “I’ll shove it up your ass if you want to keep track of it.”

“Sorry, but I actually understand the concept of decency.”

“Guys,” Max looked between the two a tired look on her face, “Can you stop with the verbal sparring for a minute, please?”

Both Herah and Alex stopped, the two now looking at Max expectantly. Seeing this Max shook her head happily before pointing at her brother.

“So what did you get out of the Oni?”

Seeing that Alex was about to speak, Herah began to walk away. Max noticed this and said,

“Where are you going?”

“Away, listening to information provided by your brother is working with him and I made clear that wasn’t happening.”

Herah then continued to walk away.

“Wait!”

Herah paused once again to face Max. The human was running her hand through her dark brown hair, clearly trying to figure out a way for the youngling to stay.

“I have an idea.”

Everyone turned to face Owen, the gnome being the one who had spoken. Seeing that everyone was waiting for him to speak Owen continued,

“What if me and Max work as emissaries between our two groups. This would mean any information gathered or ideas thought would go through either of us.”

“That would still be us working together.” Herah and Alex said together, causing the two to glare at one another again.

“Come on, don’t either you have any way to resolve this?” Max begged the two.

This caused Herah to think back to what had just happened this very morning.

“Well my people do have one way we can resolve this,” Herah shrugged her shoulders, “It’s essentially trial by combat.”

Max immediately began to shake her head,

“Ok, anything but that.”

Herah briefly ignored Max, directing her attention towards Alex, who was tapping to his nose. After a minute or two, Alex snapped his finger, Herah knowing this signified that a decision was reached.

“I’ll take that option.” Alex held up a single finger, “Under one condition, I can choose the location.”

Herah just shrugged yes, causing Alex to gesture for everyone to join him walking out of the clearing. After a brief walk past the tree, they were to be protecting, the group found themselves in a clearing full of dirt and surrounded by a circle of the large red trees that filled the forest.

Giving the clearing an overlook, Herah figured it to have a diameter of at most 200 feet. Just large enough that if any of the thirteen trees that surrounded the place were to fall they would fit into the clearing.

“How did you know about this clearing?”

“Max and I found it after the four of us splintered off.”

“Speaking of me,” Max interjected, causing the two soon-to-be combatants to look at her. “Do you really have to do this?”

Herah nodded yes before saying,

“Your brother has failed in his show of will, so I’ll test his capabilities,” Herah nodded her head towards Alex, ” If Alex is capable of taking me down without me being surprised and tired, I’ll follow his lead.”

“But do you have to do this through violence?” Owen asked, his tone now clearly worried.

“Don’t worry Owen,” Herah said, cockiness shining through, “This’ll be over quick.”

“That we can agree on,” Alex added.

Herah walked to one end while Alex remained at the end the group had entered through, cutting a small gash into the tree at the same height as his chest. Alex then walked to the side of the tree and carved something else into it. After adding his final mark, Alex began to lean on the front of the tree. Max and Owen had both moved so that they were near the center of the clearing, right next to another of the large trees that worked as the edge of the what was to be Herah’s and Alex’s battlefield.

With everyone now in position, Alex asked a question.

“So how does this go?”

“It’s simple really,” Herah pointed at herself then at Alex, “You and I will fight until one of us is unconscious or submits.

“So the winner is captain?” Alex asked.

Herah rolled her eyes and said

“Yes, the winner is captain.”

Alex nodded yes to the conditions before standing from his tree and pulling out his kris from his newly repaired jacket. This caused Herah to finally make note of his fixed clothing.

“When the ash did your clothing get fixed?” Herah asked.

Alex looked at himself before shrugging his shoulders and saying,

“Oh this, Norwe dropped by not too long after you left and fixed my clothing up.”

“Oh, so they visited you earlier as well,” Herah said, causing Alex to give her a confused stare.

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“Norwe the Sloth dropped by while you were interrogating the Oni, you didn’t hear them?”

Alex just shook his head, before taking his windbreaker off and wrapping it around his head, allowing just his eyes to be uncovered. Alex followed this up by crouching down, just below his gash in the tree and using his right arm to point towards the youngling. Alex then used his kris holding hand to make a come-at-me motion.

In response to Alex’s taunt, Herah got into the same exact position as earlier, when the two had attempted to fight the first time. With her nude body nearly parallel to the ground, most of her weight placed on her toes and her right arm in front of her to fling herself forward, Herah unfurled her wings. After a flexing her wings a few times, Herah used her leading arm to fling herself towards Alex, releasing one single powerful flap to boost her speed.

‘This is going to be easy.’ the youngling thought to herself.

Alex, evidently seeking to prove Herah’s thoughts wrong, eye smiled and said, the jacket not at all muffling his voice,

"I cut through this tree." The tree behind him began to fall towards the two, but Herah paid little mind to it, knowing that it would take the tree longer to reach the ground than it would take for Herah to reach Alex.

Alex seemed to know this as well because the human added a comment to his statement.

"This tree is accelerating."

The tree began to fall even faster, causing Herah to dart to her left in order to avoid being crushed, while Alex used his crouching stance to role to Herah’s right.

BOOM!

"There is dirt floating in the air.”

Herah flew into the air to avoid the cloud of dirt generated by the tree striking the ground. Floating above the cloud covered clearing, Herah noticed that the dirt wasn’t falling towards the ground or dispersing. Cursing Alex’s ability, Herah gave a powerful flap of her wings. This caused the cloud of dirt to disperse, revealing just the fallen tree and no Alex in the clearing.

But before Herah could attempt to sniff Alex out, twelve orbs of light suddenly appeared around her, and all simultaneously detonated, bathing Herah in a gigantic flash of light. This flash of light left Herah blind, stunned, and with some words that Alex had most likely spoken.

"You don’t know where I am."

Herah, after a few moments, attempted to sniff out Alex, only to find no success.

“What the hell? How did you erase your scent?!”

“Hey Herah,” Alex began, his voice seemingly coming from everywhere at once to Herah, “Random thought, you know, while I didn’t hear you talking to Norwe, I did here you talking to Max and Owen about the fruit.”

Herah ignored the human frantically searching for any indication of where Alex could be.

“From what I heard, you eat a lot of metals to strengthen your bones, right?”

Herah continued to ignore Alex, an idea coming to her mind.

‘I’ll just burn the entire clearing, a soft orange flame should do enough harm to make him show himself without killing him.’

Herah began to take a deep breath, the flame in her chest changing to orange as fire built up in her throat. But before Herah could accumulate enough flames, Alex finished his thought.

“So from my understanding,” Herah felt a sense of dread come over her, “That means Your bones are heavy." And with those words, Herah shot down towards the ground her bones suddenly a lot heavier than before. As Herah fell, the youngling wrapped her body with her wings, in the hope that their strong scales could take the brunt of the fall damage that her body would undoubtedly suffer.

BOOM!

Another dirt cloud was created as Herah smashed into the ground, which also caused for her to Réunir.

“FUUUCK!” Herah screamed, the pain from earlier and the flying nearly causing her to blackout, as her wings unwrapped her body.

"This dirt will disperse soon.”

Tears of pain welled up in Herah’s eyes as the dirt cloud disappeared and her ears caught the sound of someone approaching.

Only after their shadow hung over her unclothed body, did Herah realize who it had been approaching her. Right before the youngling passed out, Alex, with his jacket now off his head and his entire body covered in dirt, brought his face down to meet Herah’s. With a huge smile covering his face, the human left Herah with these parting words.

“Look at me ashbrain,” Alex’s expression transformed into an all-knowing smirk, the human bringing up his left thumb to point towards himself.

“I’m the captain now.”