The beast's feet trudged up another hill of sloppy wet mud and Jano desperately clung onto the reins for dear life. The rain thundered down around them as they walked. Rain from the safety of the other side of a window was one thing, but facing it out in the open with no prospect of shelter was another. Jano had not missed the road. He muttered and shook the rain from his hair. It didn’t make much of a difference, it was soaked right through in mere moments. His clothes were heavy with water and becoming more disheveled by the moment. He had spare clothes provided in a pack by the Chaos-Shapers but he wasn’t hoping to run through them all quite so quickly. Nobody was in a good mood. Nobody apart from Robin, of the Shadow Air clan that is.

“Did you know that when the weather is like this, we can absorb the additional strength of the wind essence and store it for later use? We can even use it to power our mills and generate power to drive all sorts of things. So, rather than being annoyed by them, our people worship storms and as a result, I’m quite used to it.” She had said some version of this sentence multiple times. Perhaps it was because she misinterpreted the dull responses she received as her companions not hearing her correctly. On the other hand, Jano thought that it might be because she was convincing herself of her love for storms in the face of one.

Travelling during a storm was much different to worshipping one, he supposed. As there was no warm shelter to retreat to after the worshipping was over. He thought back to the city, for all of its faults, the weather was generally meek. It was never too nice, but it was never too bad. The worst they got was heavy rain. Of course, in the Slums, that was the least of your concerns. Though over time it would rot the simple wood buildings. He remembered the rain seeping through the flooring and running beneath the gaps in the doors. He thought of Alsace and him desperately sweeping the water away back outside. Like they were trying to bail out a sinking ship. He thought of his wife and sighed, it didn’t help his general mood whatsoever. Now he had spent some time thinking on it, his house in the Slums wasn’t much protection at all from anything.

“Shut up Robin.” Gryff snapped after she had continued proclaiming her love for the conditions once more. If Jano thought he was having a bad time, the fire prince had been sour ever since the rain had started. He hated even the small Jumps which Dariea could manage with the four of them and their mounts but he seemed to grow worse the wetter he got.

“Can’t everyone just be quiet? You two are the reason Jano and I can’t just Jump one giant leap at a time. Instead we have to ride these beasts in between much smaller Jumps.” She gestured down to the large lizards they were riding, otherwise known as Gippies. “As far as I’m concerned, no one here can complain but me.”

“Don’t you insult our Gippies now. Especially not Mannie here. He’s so incredibly cute.” Robin rubbed the neck of her giant lizard with affection and it responded with a favourable flick of the tongue. “Plus, you did manage to take us halfway without much trouble.”

“Well yes. But halfway is still a week’s ride. Even with my powers.”

For his part, Jano took the riding of the Gippies in his stride. It wasn’t any more weird than leaping through portals and ending up in a totally different place. Or what Dariea called Jumping. Other than a few choice incidents at the start of the journey, he actually found it quite comfortable. As long as he never had to see the underside of a Gippie ever again. That was downright disturbing.

They had almost been travelling the full day and he wasn’t sure where they were. Not that he had expected to. Robin had delightfully told them when they had passed the border of Molinia and the Freelands about an hour ago, so they were in yet another new place. But then everywhere was somewhere new for him.

There were no more hot springs and the river disappeared when the valleys of Molinia did. The grass looked plush and green and the ground looked more fertile but then that could have just been the pounding rain giving it that effect. Despite the rain it began to feel slightly warmer. The ground was much more flat on this side of the valley, though not entirely so and there were many more trees. In fact, trees stretched as far as the eye could see whenever Jano took his eyes off the road. He was surprised as to the effect that the swathes of forest had on him. If he wasn’t riding the massive Gippie, he would have found the urge to roam and explore them too overwhelming to pass up. It was the exact opposite of Qursa. Which had been his entire world up until a few months ago.

The road stretched out ahead and the Gippies ate up the distance with their quick shifting feet. Dareia had resisted the idea of resting overnight, but Gryff and Robin’s complaints had broken her down. They had set up the canvas tents, with thick furs stretched over to keep the heat in. The night closed in around them, and the warmth left the air and soon enough, Gryff conjured a small fire and their large lizard companions were harnessed to a series of nearby trees. They seemed docile enough, with their dried insects keeping them occupied.

Jano eyed the set up with suspicion, not of the Gippies themselves, but that the trees would ever manage to hold them. He was growing attached to his, though he hadn’t yet named it and he didn’t much like the idea of covering a week’s ride on foot. Conversation was fairly stilted that night and once food had been prepared and the pleasantries had been observed, they all went to bed. After a full day of riding, stretching out on the floor was a blessing.

As usual Jano tossed and turned. His nights were usually filled with images of his wife and the torments she usually underwent in his dreams were varied and awful. Sleeping was not an experience he looked forward to, but he desperately needed rest after the long ride. He felt the dreams begin to filter into his consciousness. They began to take him. He resisted for a moment or so, then he let sleep wash over him.

Alsace was dressed in a bright white uniform. One that shone as she gathered herself and roared a mass of people forward. The Shimmer were there, the Emperor guiding them onwards in tandem with the others. The sun shone brightly. In the distance, Alsace was staring at a treeline in the distance with rolling hills in the background. Jano couldn’t tell where they were.

Time shifted forwards. An army greater than anything he could previously imagine kneeled before Alsace. She looked different. Hardened. She seemed to stare at Jano. Or rather, where his consciousness was in the dream.

“Oh. It’s you.” She said. The words were quiet. Understated.

Jano tried to respond. He wanted to ask what was going on. His mouth was sewn shut. His tongue removed. There was a benign force holding him from speaking.

At that moment, Emperor Eradin wrapped his arms around her from behind. His head popped over her shoulder and that smile, which had haunted him from their escape, was plastered across his face.

Jano tried to speak. To lash out. The Emperor flicked his fingers towards him and Jano shot backward. He flew through mountains and trees and foreign cities.

He lay on his back struggling to breathe. The ground was different. It was dry and dusty. He tilted his head to the side trying to gather his breath, he was surrounded by bronze cliffs and desert. A huge shadow passed overhead. Two massive wings propelled the shadow onward. Then hundreds more of the shadows joined it. Jano tried to scream.

——

The sun crested the hills and lit up Jano’s skin with an infectious enthusiasm. The sky was clear and the sun was strong. Rain seemed like a terrible memory long forgotten. The warmth dispelled his dreams of the night before and contrary to everything, put him in a good mood. The kind of mood where even a full day’s travel on a Gippie seemed like an excellent prospect.

Before breakfast he decided to train his skills in the forest. He gathered the surrounding stone essence and conjured two Stone Spears; one over each shoulder. He flung them into tree trunks over and over again. Each time he tried to perfect his aim and the speed of his technique formation. He then spent a while forming a stone shield and practicing holding it in place. He was getting pretty good at keeping it whole for a while and moving with it before it started to crack and disappear. It was longer each time he practiced. Every time he conjured the shield, it felt like his spirit was pushing him to do something else with it. Something he didn’t have the knowledge for yet.

He sat and meditated, drawing the runes of the Chaos Blades in his mind. Channeling chaos essence, now that he wasn’t surrounded by it in the settlement was extremely difficult. Its presence was always there in the background, but drawing it forth was extremely taxing on his spirit. It was difficult to pin down and even harder to channel. He managed a few pithy attempts. He sighed. Perhaps he wasn’t making as much progress as he thought.

He walked back to the group, most of whom were readying themselves for the day. Robin was meditating. Gryff was complaining. Gryff had been a little more closed off to Jano than he had been during their time together in Molinia. It irked him a little, but perhaps he was just annoyed that his father had forced him to go on this journey as he had seemed more than a little upset in the meeting where Zabar had outlined the plan.

Dariea was readying their supplies when she saw him whistling. “At least someone is embracing their journey with enthusiasm.” She laughed. Jano smiled and felt his cheeks flush. “Don’t be embarrassed. Did you have fun training earlier? Keep this up and you’ll be as strong as I am before long.”

His face continued to redden a little. It was embarrassing. The two others didn’t even pay attention to their conversation but he still felt pitiful in comparison to them. “There’s nothing which will help you improve more than constant effort. Don’t ever be embarrassed about it. You have a long way to go yet.”

Jano smiled and was about to respond when he heard a churlish scream. Both he and Dariea looked to the camp. Robin slowly opened her eyes from her meditation. That only left Gryff, who appeared to be wrestling with his Gippie. The usually docile lizard had its hackles up and was thrashing violently.

Dariea rushed over, but the creature was spooked and ran straight through the camp. The other Gippies watched in alarm, but they didn’t move. Jano rushed over and grabbed Robin as he formed a stone shield to cover them both. Robin looked at him and smiled. She broke away from him and faced the creature.

She closed her eyes and she began to hum. The creature headed for her and Jano was about to run for her once more, when the sky darkened a little directly above her and a dark whirling energy surrounded her. She opened her eyes, cast her arm out and the dark mass of energy grasped the rushing creature. Robin picked up the Gippie and pushed it back to a small clearing. She held it in place as it struggled.

“Stop! Stop, I’ll take it from here.” Dariea commanded. “Don’t want the poor beast getting hurt.”

She grabbed hold of the creature and began to talk. For a few seconds, Jano thought it was going to tear through the place once more taking his master with it. Slowly, it calmed down. It rolled over and Dariea began to scratch its stomach and soon it was gargling and it’s legs were scratching at the air.

“Good job Robin. He’s barely got a scratch on him!” Dariea shouted over the odd happy squeals of the animal.

Robin walked over to Gryff and grabbed his shoulder. “Maybe, let one of us wrangle the Gippies from here on out?” She smiled but he looked sullen.

“Don’t worry about it. These things still absolutely terrify me.” Jano said, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’m not scared of them. You wouldn’t usually catch me dead on anything other than a great stallion.” He retorted.

“Well you better get used to it. Because we need to get going. I’ll take this one, as it’s likely to be a bit finicky from this point now that you got him all excited.” Dariea interjected.