Synava2/6

= SHAROZ =

Landing
Neltor was thinking deeply and swiftly, as he had been for the past hour. At this moment though, he was deciding on which way he would secure his trap and defeat Elorn, the oars reversed, he moved his knight’s unit into Elorn’s back gate. Elorn had centralized most of his units at the front lines to keep a defensive hold at there, but left a vulnerable back door. Neltor attacked the rook, Elorn fell for the trap and finished off Neltor’s knight’s unit at the cost of Elorn’s anti-rook unit. This was only to be counter struck by the two bishop units.

The boat stopped as Nero got up and swept Elorn’s rook off the board, one of the few ways to get the twins focus at climaxes in their games. Neltor yelled in fury at Nero “I had Elorn cornered! You idiot! You ruined our game!”

Nero calmly yet hurriedly replied “We’re at Sharoz.”

Dazanra got up and told them expressionlessly, “I will be leaving now.” Dazanra weakly raised and limped away from the boat, disappearing into the fog.

The twins picked up Fikar, Elorn in the front and Neltor in the back, and followed Nero, who had an atmosphere of knowledge of Sharoz.

Sharoz was in a tropical climate zone and was covered in thousands of huge networks of water, swamps and marshes. Therefore, Sharoz was always fogy in Nez-95 to Nez-85, a season attained when Synava was facing the sun at an angle of 85 to 95 degrees. It only dried at Nez-0 to Nez-15, Nez-0 caused severe solar damage to the swamps and marshes though.

Elorn and Neltor chased after Nero as quickly as possible, but Nero was running too fast for them and they ended up taking a wrong turn, a turn into a dense mesh of tiny bungalows that were more the size of small sheds. Elorn yelled to Neltor “Wait! I think we lost Nero!,”Elorn slowly turned around to look at Neltor, both of them were in complete shock as they realized that they didn’t know what was going on, they now knew that they knew less of how the world worked, “What should we do?”

Both the twins walked in-between a bungalow and a large building to rest from anxiety. As they sat down and laid Fikar comfortably, they sighed. They were exhausted, even though they had awoken only a few hours ago, the sun had moved approximately 0.5 centimeters in all the time they were awake. Neltor pulled out a pocket sized purse, which he had crafted with zebra muscles dried skins, and asked in a daring tone “Play me?”

Elorn stared at Neltor in a perplexed manner, but finally said “Aw, what the heck! Let’s play.”

They both yelled simultaneously “I’m white!,”They both knew that Elorn had called first, as their brains could now measure time by a tenth of a second.

Later, they would fall asleep in the deep colonization of Sharoz’s most populated metropolis, darkened by the sun shield laid over the city to protect all the sleeping denizens...

"Elorn, why is this place covered in a sun shade?"

"So I heard, the locals around here can't stand the sunlight--it is like acid to them."

"So they need this protective covering every day?"

"Aye," replied Neltor.

Nero had forgotten about the two kinors and the fikos at the moment, his mind full of remembering the correct route to the clock tower’s market. His neck sore from being crooked so long, remembered that he did not require his mask. He took it off and let his neck feel straight and let the air cool the perspiration that had seeped under his neck, a rash had turned his emerald green scales to a harsh bloody red(from scales pealing and the rash), yes, he knew that this is the way he should be allowed to live. He finely reached the clock tower, remembering that soon he would be most likely be in the middle of a fight that he either caused or just had more bad luck...

The official gangs that pretended to be guilds would be coming out to claim the clock tower as their territory at the "official” time, or for them when the clock struck 90 o’clock. He stared at the beautiful 720 lines that marked each degree and semi-degree. This beauty was what he always saw, even when he was thinking on where to go, but at last he saw a vent and walked towards it. As he opened it he saw that inside was a duct leading down and a tremendous wave of heat. On the vertical wall was written:


 * If you come down here to kill me, reconsider because this is the only entrance that does not have a security lock and it leads into my light sealed furnace that is always receiving extremely flammable yet long burning fuel.

He thought for a few moments and a plan formed in his train of thought. He grabbed hold of some mud that had absorbed the moisture and packed the vent with it. He then put an energy field that blocked air from going through it over the vent, waited a few minutes and then slid down the duct. Success, as he had thought, the fire had dyed by a loss of oxygen and now he was hidden in a maze of ducts that heated the entire house. His sandals blackened by the medals heat and his body prepared to hold in all the water it could. He shot a wave of energy to counter the heat, somewhere else he heard heavy droplets echoing from far away. His blood began to expand and his heart pounded. He heard a yawn come and someone mumbling. He heard a soft liquid trickle down a pipe and more mumbling. He realized what was happening and screamed in horror "No! Don’t start a fire!”he sent a wave of powerful energy to the furnace and heard pressure being compressed as he maneuvered it to push a hole in the metal, the metal cracked and the liquid seeped out and with it went Nero’s conscious...

When Elorn awoke from his nap, he saw that their was a group of people talking to Neltor, who had an expression of gladness. Elorn got up and walked over to the group, who looked over at him and nodded. Neltor took a stride towards Elorn and with glee said, "Elorn! these people are going to help us get Fikar to a hospital!”

Elorn had to register in his mind what Neltor meant he ran over and picked up Fikar with Neltor and they followed the group, the group of people followed the path to the clock tower and went to a house with a golden bell connected to the door so that if you opened the door the bell would warn of intruders. One of the females in the group told them "The doctor is in there, we’ll defend the tower here so you’ll be safe while we defend our establishment here.”

Elorn, not understanding what they were saying looked at Neltor and he looked at Elorn, but not with confusion. Elorn commenced a soul bond and after the few moments of stabilizing the information swiftly loaded into Elorn’s brain. He learned that Neltor had been abducted and interrogated and had to prove that he was not part of a guild. When he finally proved he asked if they could help Fikar, which they had gone back to see what condition he was in as they observed the condition of Fikar they told him that there was a clinic near the clock tower. As they negotiated on payment for the bills Elorn had awoken, so they finished that they would pay if the twins defended the tower with them for awhile, they would even have a place to sleep in the tower as long as they acted like members of the guild, temporarily.

Elorn and Neltor went into the clinic with Fikar. On the outside the clinic had been a titanium box and no other descriptions could be given, but the inside was much more cozier, chairs sat in the corner to be sat on with the walls painted dark red, a gold colored grid pattern was sprawled across the red. A note was on the oak counter beside the bell, it read ‘Ring bell for service’ Neltor tapped the bell, but no response was given so he rang it repeatedly until a frazzled person came to the desk and yelled "This clinic is not open for ser-!”

Then he gazed at Fikar and opened the door in the wall that was not apparent to outsiders and said expressionlessly "bring him in here, don’t mind the other person in the room...”

Neltor handed Fikar over to the shadon and responded "We have to help the dominant guild now, they are paying...” The clinician nodded as they turned with their hearts pounding, no longer did they have control of what happened to Fikar...

Engagement
Neltor walked deeper into the density of shadons, arrows and fog, Neltor at this moment had his first glance of two guilds fighting over territory and was shocked at how different a mob verse mob battle was from a one on one battle, his mind raced for new strategies, in his perceptual vision he saw a white figure racing towards him, a bloody sword in his raised hand, the door opened, Neltor jumped away from the warrior as he lunged at him, Elorn walked into the square in a daze just like Neltor had, Neltor pounced upon the attacker, who slashed his sword at Neltor’s arm, Elorn focused on him, Neltor stole his sword, and Elorn shot a bullet of blue flame at him, Neltor ducked, just as the doomed warrior fell down, face misshapen by the surge of energy.

Elorn he began to vomit, but only began--then he forced it down, though with a lingering sense of nausea.

Inside the clinic, a mutated form stood inside and waited for his host to return, and as the clinic returned Nero saw Fikar’s feeble body, at once he stood up, ready to ask questions, but the clinician explained without being questioned though, "I think your twin kinors have just entered our politics, they are defending the tower at this very moment outside...”

Nero didn’t need to excuse himself, at once he left the building to find the twins and protect them from the enemy force, he hadn’t taught them guild verse guild combat yet, only how to be a strategist. Were they prepared for mobs?

Neltor, with his arm bleeding, raced for Elorn, as this battle was not made for a wizard. As Neltor kneeled over Elorn, pinching Elorn’s nose, a cold rush of pain rushed through his body, his body started feeling a numb warmth. He stared at a blade, thrust through his body and most likely piercing his organs, rainbows speckled across his vision and blackness began to fill his sight.

But Neltor wasn’t ready to let his conscious fly away, he got up, turned around, stared at his foe and punched him in the stomach. The victim returned the deed, and as Neltor fell over, pulled the sword out of Neltor, blood gushed out of the slit and he could no longer keep his conscious with him, it fluttered just at his finger tips but never came down into his grasp...

Nero raced out of the clinic and into the crowd, Fikar was safe in the clinic but out here the twins were on the brink of death, always.

Someone charged at him, only to be blasted away into the crowd. He looked about, but the fog was dense in the dome. Nero spouted a beam of light about the room, dismantling the fog and burning the shadons before he saw two limp twins on the ground, he flew towards them, picked them up and flew up to the clock tower’s gear room, the clinic had been locked but he knew they would be safe on a gear with a horizontal axis. Nero laid the two down, shaking Elorn awake.

"What is going on?”asked Elorn

"You used pure magic...”replied Nero

"Is Neltor safe?”

"I saved you both... He seemed to have been severely injured, after the battle we should bring him to the clinic...”

"He only had a gash on his arm when I blacked out...”

"Someone stabbed him right through his stomach...”

"...Can you explain pure magic to me?”

"Alright, it is a more refined magic, what did you generate?”

"A fire ball...”

"Those take a lot of energy, especially if you don’t use them right...You made fire with pure energy, the safe way is to take some wood or flammable material and pulse the energy into it, the energy then is sent to the target, material included with the kinetics.”

"I don’t think we helped.”

"Why did you chose to help these people?”

"They said they would pay the fees if we helped them defend the tower...”

"They’ll do that, and if the enemy gets in here we will be here to stop them, but next time don’t get into these type of politics...”

"Why is my nose bleeding?” asked Elorn.

"Your brain needed so much blood that it overflowed and drained the blood by using your nasal exits, the easiest and shortest path for the blood to drain.”

"Has that happened to you before?”

"I use magic a lot, so yes, but my mind is very advanced and it rarely happens...I would have to blast a wall of flame across this entire area. One of the times I almost killed myself was when I flared a wave of pure energy across an entire war zone, me verse an army, I won, but I laid passed out for a few days...”

"You’re a supernatural Nero...”

"Thanks, most people call people with that much power fiends...”

"I’ve only heard of people who could do that in legends, I have never met someone like you before...”

"Your social life never had a chance to flourish, Dazanra has the ability to change the air currents, he likes to summon storms to give his opponents harsh conditions...”

"You could do that”

"I suppose...”

"When did you first start using magic?”

"Once I was born.”

"Aren’t children not able to use magic?”

"Well, I never really was a child, but as you said, I’m a supernatural...”

"Ya...I never really knew much about magic until I met Fikar.”

"To think that we have only known each other for only 54 days.”

"Will Fikar be alright?”

"Fikar is in the hands of the friend I wanted to meet, the one I mentioned on the boat, he is safe with the clinician.”

Doors slammed and Nero jumped up, opened his sack, handed Elorn the dagger and unstrapped his katana from the seam.

"The offenders have broken into the tower, use the dagger to defend yourself, I’ll handle this,” Nero quickly yet politely commanded.

And off Nero went, the ring of diamond clashing against metal could be heard throughout the tower, but never once was a scale even scraped. At moments a pause could be heard but the collage of sounds continued on with an explosion and a wave of heat. The battle was against Nero in numbers, but in power was evidently bias for Nero. Soon enough reinforcements charged in, Nero retreated higher up the tower, to mend to Neltor and protect Elorn. He ran in, saw the foes who had ran farther into the tower and had found Elorn. Nero slashed the swords out of the shadons’ hands and slashed at one’s throat, the others just ran in fear of death.

"Some of them ran up the stairs to the top floor.” Elorn nervously reported to Nero.

And off Nero was again, leaping up gears and sending jolts of electricity at his foes, his katana clashing against the swords of his enemies. And he came back, leaping down the gears and guarding the runts, but none came up, for the battle was over...

Recuperation
Nero sat with Elorn in the clinic, Nero was not worried because he knew that the clinician had cured wounds much worse then Fikar’s. Elorn on the other hand knew nothing of the clinician's abilities, causing him to be very anxious.

"Neltor will be fine,” Nero reassured Elorn.

"How are you so certain?” Elorn inquired.

"Because the clinic here Is the clinician, the friend I came here to meet, and he has cured people in worse condition and studied as a doctor with a 100% average by the end of his education. He is the best doctor alive in Synava, many say he should be labeled as a god, like Tyr the alchemist.”

"Nero, what did you mean when you said ‘I never really was a child’?”

"Something I wish I hadn’t told you, I’ll tell you one day when all this is over and we will be on more friendly terms, not dependant terms.”

"Can you explain why you need me?” Elorn was surprised.

"At first it was to obey my master’s order of dominating this district, but corruption enters those with power and he stopped thinking of the people, but of his own wealth. So I quit, while being expelled, and hurried off to stop Fikar. He is my right hand, he wasn’t best suited for the job but his loyalty lies with me more than with the guild's master. So when I told him I had been expelled, he knew that he was also expelled and therefore would help me with my plan to defeat that guild. You and your brother have a very special ability, which is why I’m surprised they labeled you as runts, because you aren’t. You are gifted.”

"I thought we were weak though.”

"The definition of the word ‘runt’ is: One who is abnormal by a large extent. End of definition, so you see, because you are more powerful, you are abnormal, which makes you a runt.”

"Then am I stronger than Dazanra?”

"No, he is a powerful Lorn, but later on after some excessive training you will be.”

"And Neltor?”

"He is also powerful.”

"How did you get your katana, it looks valuable.”

"I made it myself, back when I lived on another island.”

"How did you make it that sharp?”

"Magic.”

"That must have taken a long time.”

"It took a lifetime.”

"Did you make the runes?”

"Yes.”

"Your life must be so exciting. I wish I had stories like you, I was born and sent to an island with my twin brother, the end.”

"The island must have been interesting.”

"I guess it was sometimes.”

"Besides, this is the story you can tell others now.”

"I guess. How old are you?”

"Very old.”

"But you are so healthy and nimble, mentally and physically.”

"I’ll never pass my prime.”

"How do you know that?”

"My cells only multiply into stronger cells, not weaker. They also generate at a stable rate.”

"So are you immortal?”

"Through natural death, yes.”

"Your never going to die.”

"Death is always looming above me.”

"How many times have you almost died?”

"How many times have you breathed?”

"Ever since I was born.”

"That is your answer.”

"You have been safe at one point.”

"Never have I not been at risk of dying.”

"But not once have you died.”

"Maybe I have.”

"But you are living.”

"Now.”

"How do can you enter reincarnation?”

"When you die, you brain energy lives. My energy is attracted to the Gate of Souls.”

"But wouldn’t it be dispersed?”

"Not if the energy is strongly connected.”

"So when you die you are reborn?”

"Somewhat, my short-term memory is deleted.”

"That is all?”

"The path to the top of the great mountain isn’t safe, the energy isn’t stable.”

"Who taught you how to combat like the way you do?”

"Who taught you to breathe?”

"Myself”

"There is your answer.”

"You are a good fighter.”

"That is why I was a warlord.”

"But you said it is just strategy that maters.”

"And I can do that also.”

"You’re a good chess player.”

"Just playing with my strategies”

"Did you ever lose a battle while serving that guild?”

"When the generals thought my plans were not coordinated well and they started the ambush early or they did something else that I hadn’t planned for. A few times I had ran in and improvised, whenever I reached them on time we didn’t have to retreat.”

"Did you ever retreat during a one on one battle?”

"Never, unless I died, but I wouldn’t remember that.”

"I doubt you’ve ever died.”

"I’ve died a few times.”

"How many years has it been since you last died?”

"Much longer then you’ll ever be alive for.”

Silence set into the room for a few minutes...

"Neltor is going to be in there for a few days, Fikar longer. Do you want to see Sharoz?”

"Only the exit.”

"If only you would see the greatness of Sharoz...”

"What is in this slum?”

"More then you think. But that doesn’t matter, because we are going to have another long walk through Sharoz, to their northern port.”

"Can’t we find an easier way?”

"We could take a carriage across the continent...”

"Why not? We’re rich! Fikar and Neltor will need to rest too.”

"Okay, but only if you come and look around Sharoz with me.”

"...Fine...”

"Let’s get going then.”

And the entry bells jingled as Nero and Elorn went out the door...

Exploration
The town of Shik is either seen as a wonderful colony or a violent mob of barbarians. The central square held many markets and was not a residential area, while the farther you went from the square, the more farm land you would see. Sharoz had a dome build over the entire continent to block the sun, this caused an excess amount of moisture and warmth. Everything that lived in Sharoz was nocturnal, the plants were actually one plant that grew in the center and had broken through the top of the dome. It blocked light from entering but it grew tall outside, distributing its photosynthesis with all the little offsprings, in return they gave it the water they absorbed and it uses that to grow more. If you were to hold a light to the ceiling of the dome you would see a pale green layer of leafs and moss growing on it. The dome had been build thousands of years ago and was now slowly decomposing, but the vine has already molded into the dome’s shape so when the dome has fully decomposed the dome will be a coil of vines, sheltering the nocturnal animals and collecting sun light for the little plants. The little plants weren’t very little though, on the surface they were a few centimeters long, but their roots had grown through the crust of the earth and then they began to grow up to the dome, where they would join the coils of vines. On the shore where the dome isn’t covering because of the weakness of the beach’s foundation, the vines grow on the beach and delve into the sea to generate energy with the salt, not the sun’s light. The farm lands harvested the tiny grasses in light chambers that used crystals to generate the light, the sprouts would use this light to generate energy and send it to the mother plant.

The farmers would pick a few leafs and roll them up to be sent to the markets. Because this process took a long time, the vegetation was very expensive, and the meat even more so, and so all the shadons eat are plants.

"This is nice, I think Sharoz probably could be a nice place,” Elorn told Nero while inspecting one of the sprouts.

"Are you happy you came with me?” Nero rhetorically asked, "But on other concerns, would you like a nicer and less expensive way of getting out of Sharoz?”

"Maybe, what are you thinking of?”

"Remember the mother plant I told you about?” This was another rhetorical question. "Well we could take a carriage near there, just off the restricted zone, and climb it. Once we reach the top we could slide down the dome.”

Elorn's mouth was wide open. "That climb seems like it will be long, and the slide would be rough, but okay.”

"Fikar will be in a trolley, and Neltor should do fine.”

"All right, I’ll look forward to it,” only half-heartedly.

"We should be going back, Neltor should be in some bandages by now and conscious.”

"This was a good evening, the markets are nice.”

"They are, but when you get, for Neltor’s sake, wait until tomorrow morning to talk with him.”

"Okay.”

And as the clock hands let the inner world know that outside the sun was setting, the tired workers and farmers set off to be with their families. Nero and Elorn set off down the road to the central square and only knew that it was late because Elorn was getting tired and the miniature clock towers along the road.

As they walked down the road they saw all the nice things, to Nero they had always been beautiful, to Elorn they were just starting to be noticed. As they walked they heard footsteps behind them, Nero first and he was first to look back at who was following them. It was Dazanra.

"I see you are still staying close with the runts, but where is the other runt?” Dazanra inquired.

"Dazanra, I am no longer your enemy. I have been expelled from the guild of Zovna. We will be allies later on, I am going to another island to start my own guild, will you aid us or not?” Nero calmly replied without answering the question.

"You will always be my enemy,” Dazanra responded.

"Will that be the same when we find ourselves fighting the same army?”

"Always.”

"You will never be certain of that.”

"Once we are enemies we will always be.”

"Then when Zovna comes to ambush you, I will not be there.”

"We will not be conquered.”

"They still have my plans.”

"You think you are the most important asset to them?”

"I was truly the master, I let the master feel like he was free from the strings that held him in my grip.”

"Then why are you expelled?”

"I tugged to hard and he found a pair of scissors.”

"Then you were planning on attacking us?”

"You could say that, or that we were going to make you surrender.”

"We would never.”

"Then I leave in peace." Nero and his companions went back to the clinic, leaving Dazanra to ponder on it all.

Breakfast
"Alright, get off to the spare room on the third floor and go to sleep,” Nero said with exhaustion as he also went to a spare room on the third floor.

In the morning, when everyone was up, Nero went to see Neltor. The room wasn’t black, only the patients with illnesses that needed their eyes to rest had black rooms. But Neltor’s eyes could handle a red room that had murals of the healing gods. In the room Elorn sat beside his brother, passing him his water and doing little things that helped a lot. Neltor sat in a fluffy bed with bandages that were carefully sanitized around his wound. The bandages were red, but Huetai had told him that they shouldn’t remove the bandages because blood would start rushing again and that the bandages would absorb more blood if they were new.

Neltor looked up at Nero and whispered with difficulty. "Good morning.”

Nero gazed at Neltor, his crimson hair blending with the walls.

"Rest, Neltor, you are in no condition to be giving customary greetings. On the other hand, Elorn, did you read the book Fikar gave you?”

"I’m on chapter 6: Alchemy, they’re talking about how protons and neutrons and electrons all work.”

"It is a theory that Tyr found. He wrote that chapter, he’ll explain how you can make a plant grow twice as large. It is very advanced, so you should only linger on it if you want to be an alchemist. But it is going to be breakfast now.”

At the table, the clinician brought out some boiled dark chicken eggs, which were white as the dark chicken is an albino.

"I boiled these eggs with my tonics.”Huetai proudly stated to start conversation.

Nero continued the conversation with a new topic, "They taste good, but when do you think Fikar will be healed?”

"I looked over his wounds, I think he is going to have to stay here.” Huetai responded mechanically.

"...Okay.”

"What are we going to do?” Elorn asked curiously.

"Leave when Neltor is better.”

"Why?”

The clinician answered this question for Nero, "Because Fikar is going to take months to cure.”

"Can’t we wait?” Elorn inquired provokingly.

"No, we are in a rush.” Nero answered while eating the pale yellow of an egg.

"Why are we in a rush?”

"We need to act with haste before Zovna gets back on track.”

"Explanation?”

"I’m Zovna’s ex-warlord, when a guild loses its warlord it is very unorganized. During this window of opportunity, many guilds attack the guild, who’s master must take on the warlord’s responsibility, get another warlord and still deal with his own responsibilities. I’m hoping that we can attack him during this time.

But it is almost impossible to exploit such a small area of time when we haven’t even created a guild. In any case, it will take years for Zovna to recover from their loss of me because they will have to adjust to a different person’s style of combat. Then there is the group who agree with me, and will either resign or have a lowering of moral. It is very complicated, but it all sums up to the fact that the guild is more vulnerable once the warlord is subtracted out of the formula.”

"So we should be going in a few days?”

"Neltor will be ready to go this evening, but you should leave in the morning,” the clinician answered while taking the dishes to a pile of dishes that would, by the end of the day, be washed in the town’s creek...

Interception
A few days passed, and Neltor had just a bandage tied around his waist, it was good enough for Nero. Elorn had explained to Neltor that they were going to the mother plant and everything that Neltor had missed of Sharoz, so when Nero started explaining everything, Neltor just nodded and said "I know."

Nero had arranged a carriage ride to take them out of the town, past the dominant guild’s turf and into a smaller turf. Once they were a few miles away from the mother plant, they would get off and walk.

Later that afternoon, the beating of an albino horse echoed in the distance. A door opened, out came three people and they entered the horses carriage. Off they went, down the road in silence, waiting...

Nero looked out at the few little sprouts, one of the prehistoric plants of Synava, of the planet.

Those few sprouts were the oldest organism of Sharoz. They never died--they were like Nero. They were miracles and they had only frail little snubs to prove it. But they surely absorbed a lot of water every day, sucked out crystals’ energy, took in the soils nutrition and held the Sharoz’s continental plates in place. Many said only Sharoz had these sprouts, but Nero believed that Sharoz was just the mother of these vegetables and that the other continents had the flora growing down into the bottom of their own plates. The sea around Sharoz definitely had the vines seeping down them.

The two twins talked about many different things, like what it felt like getting a sword through your stomach, what they had done in the past few months and other things to pass the time. They went on about their opinion of some of the events, but when they didn’t even want Nero to hear, they soul bonded. Nero listened to their conversations, sometimes they would let him join in, but he found they talked to unpredictably.

"Neltor, how are you doing with the encyclopedia?” Nero asked Neltor when he started changing the topic with Elorn.

"I’m on chapter 6: Archery Techniques, I don’t think I’ll need to use a bow, but Elorn says I should read it," Neltor replied.

"Yes, I guess you should listen to Elorn...”

The rider of the carriage opened the wall and ordered "Get into good posture and be quiet! We are crossing a border, only respond if the border guards ask you a question.”

"Alright, we understand,” Nero replied as the wall shut, "I’ll handle this, only talk if they ask you something, listen to what I say and go with whatever I say.” He now spoke with a tone of urgency.

"Okay,” the two twins responded simultaneously.

The road continued for awhile before the carriage stopped. A metal fence bordered the perimeter, as metal was cheaper then wood in Sharoz. Iron towers were placed at gateways, they held the guards, let travelers know where the gates were and allowed them to see people coming before they reached the gateway.

The passengers sat in silence, waiting, when they heard a yell and a person being thrown on the ground. The carriage was pulled through the gate. The door was then opened roughly, guards pulled the three out and tied their hands. He explained with a harsh voice. "We have dropped passage with the clock tower, we will verify your origins and decide if we will let you come into our territory or if we will have to execute you.”

The three prisoners, which had just been three passengers, were led into a circular room. A bench was welded into the black room, the three were sat in the bench. Nero was taken through a door that wasn’t visible in the darkness.

The guards presented Nero to the commander posted to this gate. The person was a sturdy one--he looked powerful and held a vibe of authority. Nero sat down, his eyes illuminating the room, his brain intensifying the luminance level, and waited to be interrogated.

He picked up a clipboard and began his interrogation, "What is your name?”

Nero thought for awhile, and decided that he should tell the truth only, "My name is Nero.”

"...Are you a shadon?”

"No.”

"What's a shadon?" asked Neltor, bewildered.

"You don't know what a shadon is? The majority of people on this continent Are Shadons!" replied Nero.

"Geez, well I guess I had just whizzed through this place without picking that up," replied Neltor. "I had to spend all that time secluded in the clinic..."

"And whose fault was that?" retorted Nero, playfully.

"Then that means this list of questions isn’t important,” The commander set down the clipboard, "Now then, your origins are probably out of Sharoz, but are you the Nero that was here about fifty years ago?”

"Yes.”

"Who are the two others?"

"They are twins whom I’m bringing with me.”

"You aren’t staying as long as you were before?

"No.”

"Alright, you can continue on. How long should it take you to get out of this region?”

"A day or two.”

"I’ll give you three.”

The commander handed Nero a three day safety pass, the date was sketched on the top of the slip.

"Thanks.”

Nero got up, left the room and when he was out of it he told the twins while showing them the slip, "We have three days to get out of this region, so we should get going.”

"Okay,” the twins both answered.

And they were off in a rush to get to the mother plant within three days...

The three hurried off, not stopping for any rest until nightfall, in which they laid down on the ground.

Eventually, Neltor got up, told Nero that they should just keep going and reported the news to Elorn after Nero agreed. By the morning they could see a glow, a green glow. Nero told the tired twins that it was the mother plant, so much energy was being flowed through her that she emitted a glow, along with the strings of light that had squeezed through the tiny cracks between the thick vines.

By noon they could see the whole plant, Elorn regretting to have ever thought of climbing it, Neltor hoping his stomach would be okay and Nero marveling over the greatness of the giant vines. They walked on, and a few hours later, they were at the mass overgrowth, their heads tilted back, looking at the height they planned on climbing.

Nero grabbed the two by their arms and lifted off, his bat wings flapping faster then a hummingbird, he flew on until the twins started slipping and his wings started aching with the excess weight of the twins and the altitude they were reaching. He landed vertically into the mesh of greenery, as it was becoming green at this height. He bit a vine, sucking in the sugary juice that flowed through the plant, and told the twins to do the same. When they were finished, the plant recovered from the minor dents they had put into the plant’s skin.

Nero grabbed the twins again and lifted off again. When he got tired, he repeated the process of landing into the mother plant, drinking the sweat juice and resting before blasting higher up the plant. As he was nearing the summit, the air became more and more like pure oxygen and the mist cleared. Eventually, they reached ceiling of the dome, where a hole was filled in by the vines. Nero focused before releasing a beam of dense energy, the plant was pushed aside into the ceiling, the ceiling crumbled and the three climbed up the tunnel as fast as they could while the plant moved back into its original posture.

On the roof of the dome they saw the vines had completely covered the top of the dome, Neltor dreamily remarked, "It is beautiful, Elorn.”

"I told you,” was the response Neltor received.

Nero grasped their arms and flew off, going horizontally before descending into a steep dive. His wings curled into a cone, his head a narrow tip. Thousands of kilometers they needed to travel and their speed was gradually increasing, Nero accelerated by taking advantage of gravity and aerodynamics. He scanned the surface for a landing point and decided on the swampy beach, he tilting towards the beach and when he was a few hundred kilometers near the ground he released his wings into a parachute, drifting down upon the mossy beach with vines sinking into the salty waters.

The twins stood in shock, recalling every moment they had just experienced with a soul bond. Nero, as he had done this before without carrying two people, got up and headed for the harbor nearest to this beach, the twins hurrying after him...