Up ahead, the three humans talked amongst themselves.

"Fucking hell, did these things always talk so fucking much?" One of them asked, sharpening a knife on a rock.

"I don't think so," another one replied. "Damn thing wouldn't stop crying either. Who knew monsters could be this annoying?"

Hearing that, Rin glanced over and saw that they'd gone as far as to gag Vortell.

[Seriously?] She asked in her thoughts. [You heard her talk and you still haven't put two and two together that maybe she's not a mindless animal?]

With anger simmering under her skin, Xhez's voice then brought her back to the matter at hand.

"What?" Xhez asked, taking Rin's attention.

"Trust me," Rin stated again quietly, with a smile. "I have an idea."

"B-But, what is it?"

As Xhez's big blue eyes looked up at her, Rin glanced behind the sprite over at the enemies up ahead.

"I'm going to distract them. Once they're out of the way, you go up and save your mom."

"How are you going to do that?" Xhez asked, still whispering.

Still, she was just slightly too loud. One of those humans was alerted. A woman with a rather large axe on her back and short brown hair turned her head in their direction, narrowing her eyes. Rin pulled Xhez closer, hoping they hadn't been spotted.

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" The woman asked.

"Nah, I didn't hear nothin'," a man responded.

"Eh... Hold on a moment, I'll check it out."

With that being said, the woman stood up and slowly began walking toward them.

Inhaling sharply, Rin quickly muttered:

"No time to explain. Wish me luck!"

Finally, Rin put her plan into action as she stepped away from Xhez, taking on a calm expression, and walking into the enemies' view.

The woman who had heard her and Xhez's whispers tilted her head, her brows pulling close as she moved closer.

It came to Rin then that this might also prove to be a good chance to figure out why these people were out here, based on their fighting prowess.

[If they are adventurers they shouldn't be too good at fighting a human unless they've been doing a lot of bounty hunting.]

"Huh? What the- who are you?" She asked.

Rin remained silent. As the other two with the woman noticed Rin as well, they stood up and cautiously moved toward her.

"Are you a traveler or something?" One of them asked. "Injured? Need any help?"

A silence stretched out as Rin looked from one curious face to another. It was hard to gauge their intentions, but the way this woman's hand hovered over her ax let Rin know that their guard was certainly up.

Not wanting to stall any longer, Rin nodded to herself.

[Okay... let's do this.]

As quickly as she could, Rin pushed Essence up to her right hand and drew an upwards arrow, releasing a [Fireball] that caught the woman's left shoulder.

"Agh!"

She seemed more annoyed than hurt, as she glared hard at Rin.

"What the fuck?" She asked with a bitter tone

"Bandit?" One of the men asked.

"Doesn't matter, she's dead!"

[Well, that did the trick.]

Just like that, the three of them began running after her. Rin turned and began sprinting away, sparing one last look at Xhez's location before she left the area, with these enemies practically on top of her.

---

{Xhez}

The sprite watched as her friend ran away, pulling the humans with her. She was worried, but once she understood Rin's intentions, she knew that she needed to make use of the time she'd been given.

As she raced to her mother's position, Vortell's eyes widened as they found her daughter running toward her. The sounds of those humans yelling and running after Rin became quieter. Xhez reached her mother and began inspecting her bindings.

"Mmm! Mm!" Vortell struggled to speak due to the cloth stuffed in her mouth.

"Do not worry," Xhez reassured her, hugging her mother as best as she could while she was tied down like that. "I am here. I..."

She pulled away and froze as she got a good look at Vortell's body.

It was covered in cuts and recent wounds, with dried-up, watery blood on her skin.

That anger she'd been feeling ever since she looked through that cult member's memories resurfaced. It took a hefty amount of eager humming coming from Vortell to knock her out of the brief trance she went into.

"... Right, right. I apologize for losing focus. How do I get you out?"

Nodding aggressively, Vortell gestured at something to the left.

"Huh?"

Xhez looked for whatever it was that her mother was trying to get her to see and found a bag tossed aside behind a wooden log. Quickly, she searched through it and found a knife. Likely the one that had been used to inflict at least a few of those cuts on Vortell's body.

Taking it out, she went to work, beginning to cut through the ropes. She took off Vortell's gag, but the woman did not say anything. All it did was let Xhez know just how strained her breathing was.

Xhez looked around, hoping Rin was doing well enough to buy them more time. She cursed her own lack of physical strength as the moment dragged on, and on, until, eventually, Vortell fell on top of her once she was fully loose.

"I have got you!" Xhez said as she caught her mother, wrapping her arms around her thin body. "I... You are alright."

Relief washed over her. Vortell struggled to remain on her feet as Xhez tried to get her to stand, but she'd have to try. Now that she was free, they'd need to get away from here before those humans returned.

If they returned, rather. Xhez hoped they wouldn't. Xhez genuinely hoped Rin would destroy all of them.

And, if she wouldn't, then...

[No,] Xhez told herself. [Focus. Get your mother to safety. Focus.]