I was rudely awakened by a loud sound outside. I lifted the cloth and glanced out. We were riding over very bumpy terrain. Then, I saw the source of the sound. An embryte was outside. They had deadly claws that were poisonous with numbing poison, knife-sharp teeth, a long tail that could suffocate you, a fire breath, and the ability to freeze you alive. They also could randomly summon explosives. They rarely appeared, and when they did, they appeared in the Desert of Rima, which was located near the City of Krehull. Every known encounter with embrytes had ended with at least 200 casualties.

“Men, to arms!” Captain Fovos shouted. Everyone was panicking.

Suddenly, the embryte revealed something. “I am Gino the Embryte! Why are you trespassing on my territory!” Gino growled. This was rare, only the most powerful embrytes could speak, and even then it was normally hard to make out. Gino was able to clearly talk, indicating that he was very powerful indeed.

“I am Captain Fovos, a captain in the great shade army under the rule of the great Thazzamos! You have three options: join us, run, or fight us. I do not recommend you choose the third option!” Captain Fovos retorted fearlessly.

“Very well. Death for you it is. I’ve given you plenty of time to run, yet you still stand defiant. You will pay for this, dearly! I do not stand for trespassers on my territory!” Gino cut off. I peeked out again to see explosives forming around the shade army. However, the shades did not seem to notice.

“So, you stand and fight? Hah! As if you stand a chance! You will rue the day that you were born!” Captain Fovos. “CHARGE!” Then, a bunch of explosions rocked the vehicle as well as the army. Somehow, they broke my cage. A small bit of shrapnel flew into my shoulder. I screamed in agony. I then realized my spells were working again.

I quickly yanked the shrapnel out and chain-cast Healing Discharge on myself. Then, I cast Dragon’s Blessing and ran. Irutt noticed and abandoned the fight against the embryte to rush after me.

“How dare you! You have tested my patience far too long, little human!” Irutt pulled out a dark weapon that looked similar to Amartia’s shadowblades.

“If you come after me, I’m going to cast Chaos!” I bluffed, hoping that he thought I had enough EP to cast Chaos on them.

“Wait-Chaos? I-I thought that spell was lost to the wind!” The confidence seemed to drain out of Irutt. Then, he steeled himself, and retorted, “No! You do not have the spell Chaos! And even if you have it, you won't be able to cast it! It exhausts way too much energy; you don’t have that much!”

I whirled around and threw a Giant Raindrop on him. The ball of water slammed into him, catapulting him backward and right into the path of the embryte. The embryte instantly gobbled him up and continued attacking the shades.

I smirked in self-satisfaction. Then, the embryte turned to me. I gulped. I made a portal that would only allow me to go through. I made it through but not before the embryte bit me on my leg and scratched my arms with its poisonous claws.

I materialized right outside of my and Khel’s room. “Yay, portal technology didn’t fail me!” I sighed in relief. Just as Khel was coming out, I collapsed face-down on the floor.