"How long have they been gone?" Aulder asked sounding irritated.

"A while. You do know you don't have to stay," Hin felt just as irritated.

"I can't leave you here alone," Aulder said.

"Sure you can. I have spent time in a forest by myself before," Hin rolled her eyes.

"You don't understand," Aulder let some flame go with his words.

"Everyone keeps telling me that then refuse to alleviate the problem," Hin yelled in frustration.

Aulder sighed in what Hin thought was a condescending manner. So she got up and walked away from the pile of wood. She needed a break from his company. She was admiring the colors of the dying sunset when something seemed to split the air and set the sky on fire. She watched it go by and then ran back to Aulder.

"Get down in the water!" She yelled. Aulder gave her a crazy look as she jumped into the water and hugged the side of the bank.

Then a wind like a wave flew past them knocking down trees and Aulder. Aulder then got back to their feet and shot her a dirty look.

"Not my fault, I told you to get in the water," Hin said angrily. She climbed back out of the water and took out her foil blanket and her flint from her pack.

Hin arranged the wood and put some of the smaller twigs under for kindling. She struck the flint a couple of times and then blew gently on the wood. The fire started, and she poked it to make it go higher. Aulder looked on, a bit sullen.

"As soon as I dry up a bit, I want to see if we can find whatever that was," She said feeling a bit excited.

"Fine," Aulder snapped at her. Hin felt like making a face at him but restrained herself.

After her pants were partly dry, she started putting things away and then tried several times to cup her hands and get water to put out the fire, finally she succeeded. Then she kicked the ashes around and made sure no embers were left. She piled the remaining wood against a leaning tree. She then took out her little flashlight from her pack and offered it to Aulder.

"I'm a dragon I see in the dark," Aulder sneered at her. Hin just shrugged and turned on the light and started forward the way the flaming object went.

They had walked a while without seeing anything. Just more trees that had suffered from the impact. Hin was starting to get really tired now. She started thinking that maybe the actual impact crater was either farther or smaller than she thought. She took a closer look around her and saw that some of the trees still stood.

"How are these trees still standing?" she asked aloud.

"Those are dryad trees," Aulder said.

"Oh," Hin didn't really know what to do with the information, "I don't think we are going to find anything."

"We have come this far. If you put out that silly light I would be able to see better," Aulder huffed.

"Then how will I see?" Hin was aggravated. Aulder made some muffled noise and then Hin felt them put a hand on her eyes and then mutter a few words.

"That's how you'll see." Aulder huffed again.

The light she was holding hurt her eyes. She clicked it off and then watched as the world came into view. She knew it was dark, however, the world appeared crisp and she could discern details.

"Wow," Hin was shocked at how clear her vision was in the dark, "Is this how you see all the time?"

"No," Aulder said as they started walking again.

Hin hurried to catch up because Aulder had accelerated the pace. Aulder stopped suddenly. She barely stopped herself and bumped Aulder from behind.

"What we seek is near. The Dryads tell me it is just past the next rise. Something hides from us," Aulder whispered.

Hin felt a drop on her head. Then another drop on her arm. Then it started to rain.

"Well, it would figure," Hin said loudly.

"Shhh! You will alert it to our presence." Aulder said in an alarmed tone.

Aulder started moving forward again without making a single sound. Hin tried to move as stealthily but the detritus was against her.

"I see the crater!" Hin was excited.

She ran to the edge of the crater. She looked in and it looked like a wrecked vehicle of some sort.

"Wow," Hin sighed at the sight.

"Both of you put your hands in the air!" A Voice boomed from somewhere behind her.

She felt dizzy and her head was buzzing. She put her hands up and slowly turned around. An extremely tall broad figure stepped out from behind the shadows holding a gun of some type. He was blue and kept shaking his head as though there was something wrong.

"Are you ok?" Hin asked.

The giant blue man motioned with the gun and yelled, "You both need to put your hands up!"

"Aulder, please put your hands up," Hin begged.

"Don't worry, technology does not work after coming to Kalestra," Aulder looked confident.

"But my phone worked," Hin was desperate. She did not want to die here.

Then there was a strange sound and a bolt of invisible energy seemed to explode between them near their feet. Hin let out an awful noise of shock. She elbowed Aulder in a panic until they relented and put their hands in the air.