A thumping in my head as I heard the sounds of someone shouting orders, footsteps spreading throughout the room, then I was being held by someone, feeling so relaxed as I felt a light spread over me. I recognised this light; it was similar to my own.

I opened my eyes to see a blurred image of dad which soon cleared after blinking multiple times. He gazed at me with a smile.

“Dad, what are you doing here?” Was my first question.

“Your mother saw you needed some help, so I came,” answered dad. “Good job, against such a wicked opponent, let us finish up here.”

“Us?” I soon realised that the other members of our clan were also here and there was no sign of the darkness left by Hashana. “How are you all in here, I thought…” I paused remembering what Fang said about our clan.

“Asked permission before entering but he did not respond.” He glanced over at the dragon, who was snarling at the others who were trying to help heal him. “Realised as soon as we arrived, he was too weak to keep out those he did not want here.”

“Wait, how are the Smilodon?” I asked.

“All being treated for their exposure of the dark energy, you protected them from the harshest of it, but it will take some time for them to fully recover,” answered dad.” How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” I replied.

“Chief, we are ready to move the Smilodon’s out of here and return them to the village.” A Fang came over.

“Good, need one more stretcher for Alex,” said dad.

“I’m fine.” I tried to move, but dad stopped me.

“No.” Dad gave me a stern look. “From what I can see you’ve fought a tough battle, one that has even caused the winged lions to return to their sword form.” Now that he mentioned it, I did not see Raziel or Arata. “All of you need rest.” I just nodded I wasn’t going to argue with dad, the lion’s must have used quite a lot of their strength and power to help me the way they did.

Dad and another Fang carried the stretcher I was on, I held tight to the lion swords, sensing their weakened strength, if only I had been stronger to wield their power, they would not have needed to use their own, which seemed to be something they only did as a last resort.

I was taken to the Smilodon village where Beck was reunited with Gina and Furina. All the Smilodon who had survived against the darkness had been put together in one of the huts where a number of my clan spent time every day in what they called a cleansing to cure them of their long exposure to the darkness. When I saw the hut it glowed with light energy, it felt amazing.

Dad kept everyone in line, even having those not doing the cleansing help to rebuild the damage to the village and even dealing with any more of the dark crystals I missed within the Jagged Mountains, it was amazing to see so many at work, when I had dealt with things on my own.

Resting for two days, seeing the Smilodon village coming back to life as one by one the inflicted Smilodon fully recovered. Dad had been helping me recover from the inner damage caused by whatever Hashana had done. I chatted to dad telling him everything about what happened during my fight with Hashana.

“Considering that they are reincarnation of the eternal dragon’s original servants, I am unsurprised by how much power they do possess. In future it would be best if you did not fight alone, I never did I always had Alton, Gual and Lance to back me up, even if it means bringing Tigra along.” Dad grinned. “I think you often forget in your will to protect her that she is a capable warrior herself.”

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“Dad, will my battles ever end?” I wondered.

“I do not have the answer for that, just take each challenge as it comes, and know I am here if you need my help, you’re almost there to be able to destroy Dumah,” said dad. “Your connection with the lion’s true power is almost at your fingertips.” And with the mention of the lions Raziel finally made an appearance.

“Master.” He bowed. “You did well to handle a much larger amount of our power.”

“Not bad, I suppose,” said Arata manifesting too.

“It’s made me realise that I am the one who has been holding you back.” I let out a sigh. “The magnitude of your power is amazing I felt it, but that was not all of it. I know it will also strengthen Larana and Mila too.” I gazed over at dad. “And you too dad, more power within you than I have ever seen, but your purification ability stops you from doing more.”

“Even from the start Dumah’s dark energy was far too much for me to purify once he was destroyed,” said dad. “But Fang reassured me that you would be strong enough to do the job I could not.” Dad smirked. “Good to see you are doing much better, we’ll return home soon, after the cleansing of the last Smilodon is finished.”

“Who are left?” I asked.

“Gina, Furina and the two who were in the main chamber, all four are recovering great, even the dragon, but the village will still need to be kept an eye on for some time after just to make sure everyone fully recovers, and the necessary resources are returned to how this place functioned before.” Dad sighed. “Unfortunately, it will take some time before the crystal cave returns to normal as the majority of the energy within and crystals were taken away, but with the improved health of the dragon and maintaining of the crystals, it should return to normal in about a year.”

“You’ve figured that all out already.” I was surprised at how much dad had done and calculated everything.

“Please let me in.” A Smilodon barged in. “Fang.” He smiled. Dash had a hold of his arm, on guard.

“Beck.” I wasn’t expecting to see him. “It’s alright Dash.”

“Okay.” Dash nodded releasing him, then went back to standing outside, a bit quieter than usual, perhaps because he couldn’t help me during my struggles against Hashana.

He was suddenly on his knees. “Thank you, so much for saving Gina and Furina, just like you said you would. I am indebted to you.”

“Please stand Beck.” I shook my head. I already had a loyal orientated Link; I didn’t need another one. “You are now the leader of the Smilodon’s here, they need you.” I smiled. “All I ask you is that no matter what happens, you continue to have ties with Cathopia.”

“No matter what?” he seemed confused as he raised to his feet.

“If things should go differently with battling the darkness, they might demand the impossible, or…” I wasn’t sure why I had even mentioned that. “Just trust me, one day Cathopia might need us all to save it from the darkness.”

“I don’t quite follow, but you saved my best friend and her sister, so I will remember all your words and I say thank you and your clan for coming to our aid.”

“Now off you go, he still needs his rest before we return to Cathopia,” said dad.

“Understood.” Beck bowed before leaving the hut.

I glanced at dad. “How much longer do we have to stay?”

“Another day,” answered dad. “Their connection to manifest has only just come back, be patient.”

“Alright,” I nodded, not going to argue with him.

-

The day we were leaving the village everyone came to see us off. I could finally see all the Fang members dad had brought with him, at least half of the lot from the city, might be small but together we still held power.

“Thank you,” said Gina. “You did what you promised and saved my little sister.” Furina was huddled to Gina, gazing happily at me.

“Thank you.” Came her little voice.

“You’re welcome,” I responded.

“We’ll keep returning to make sure that no residue of darkness remains within the crystal caves and your health. The restoration of your village is important, we’ll also be tracking down the bigger lightning crystals to return to the guardian, which in turn will assist in his healing too.”

“There are no words that can express our gratitude, we will do our best to assist you in the future,” said Beck bowing and the other Smilodon followed.

We left them and headed for home, I couldn’t wait to return home to Tigra, I would have to think of something to treat her to, to apologise for the times that we had to spend apart. I wondered if dad knew anywhere, would have to ask him on the way home.