Darian was finally able to have peaceful dreams. As he started to open his eyes, he stretched himself; the first thought was to see Snowy, but as he looked over him, the creature was still sleeping in the same spot. It hadn't woken up during the night.
Darian, at the sight of that, didn't feel sad, but rather he did a weak smile and walked closer to grab him. "Morning, Snowy," said him as he grabbed the small fox in his hands, but the creature was still sleeping.
It was late morning. As Darian came out of the room, he immediately saw Liro running towards him. "Darian, how much did you sleep?! We are about to go to Yalemba!" shouted Liro. Darian was taken by surprise; he flinched.
Darian didn't even have time to answer before Liro spoke again as he breathed heavily. "We will wait for you… get outside whenever you're ready," said him as he was able to catch his breath. "I'll be ready in a minute," said Darian smiling as Liro went towards the exit of the building.
'I will eat something outside…' thought Darian sad as he grabbed some fruit. As his hand posed on the food, he thought one thing, 'I wanted to eat this outside…'
As he exited the building, he found all the veilguard waiting for him. "Perfect, now we're ready," said Vane after noticing Darian going out of the building.
"Did Kael already go towards Skar-Zhul?" asked Darian, noticing that Kael wasn't there. Alerya nodded. "Yes, the travel is longer for him, we can't lose time."
"We're ready. By the way, you said that it should take around 4 days to get there, but do you know something more about this city? Like about all the people there?" asked Darian as he got next to Liro and Vane; the three of them were ready to go.
"I asked about this to the seven sages, but they said that the city barely had any contact with them. They said that my dad tried to get some help from them, but the expedition didn't go really well and they weren't able to return with any ally," said Alerya as she got a bit sad talking about her dead father.
"Wait, why did they do this? They didn't want to help us?" asked Darian confused, wondering why someone would not want to give help to fight back this catastrophe.
"Do they have a group of alterids like us?" asked Vane.
"We don't know… but the reason why they don't want to fight is pretty obvious," said Alerya. Everyone looked confused except for Allocen.
"I mean, they are in such a good position… the krukins who know how to swim are just a few, and they aren't enough to damage a whole city. It's normal that they prefer to stay safe."
"We don't know how they will react to this news… they might even treat us like crazy, but we have to save that city; we have to gain allies for this war," said back Alerya.
'I hope they will not send us away…' thought Darian. Without him noticing, Vane had already started to move. "It doesn't matter, guys, we didn't have any contact with them for the past 50 years. You'll see that it will be alright," said Vane. Liro and Darian reached him too.
"Let's hope… Bye everyoneee," said Darian as he looked behind, waving towards the alterids with one hand; the other had Snowy resting on it.
Alerya, Allocen and Lara smiled warmly; the three of them waved back at the group that went away towards the exit of the cave.
"Guys, we're about to start a new adventure together… it has been so long since we went together like this," said Vane, resting his arms behind his head smiling. The group was about to take the step to exit from the city.
In the street the town had returned to live normally. Many people were still scared, but most of them felt safer knowing that the alterids had saved the whole city.
They stopped right before the entrance. Darian looked at Snowy, hoping that the creature would wake up during the travel or at least once they arrived at Yalemba. "We're ready, guys… let's go!" said Vane, leading the way. Darian and Liro followed behind.
"We have to walk fast… we have to arrive early, we don't know if the enemies will attack earlier," said Liro as he walked faster than the others. Everyone else took the pace of his steps.
Many hours passed. The first day went without any problem. None of the guys asked to stop even once; it didn't matter how much heat there was in the desert — Yalemba had to be saved.
During the night they stopped and rested. "Don't you guys think it's weird that the seven sages accepted without any problem?" asked Liro. Everyone else agreed with him.
"I thought it too… why would they want to help a city that isn't Therya? Especially after that attack…" answered Vane, wondering why the seven sages said that.
"Is it because they want more powerful allies? You know, the city has been doing really bad with the recent attacks. Has it ever happened before?" asked Darian as he put Snowy on the ground carefully, sitting next to him.
"No, never… but we actually never encountered any krukin who could speak before you arrived here. You know, it feels like with you here, things have changed," said Liro. Vane nodded in agreement.
"Yeah… before we were all scared of going outside and fighting against the krukins, before we didn't have this many expeditions, just one in a lot of months."
Darian remained silent. He looked below and his eyes stopped on Snowy. 'I don't do anything special… it's all thanks to him,' thought him as he slowly closed his eyes. Liro looked over Darian and understood that he was thinking something he shouldn't. "You know…" said Liro. Darian opened his eyes again and looked towards him.
"Thanks to you and Snowy I think that humanity will be able to win this war…" said Liro as he looked up towards the empty sky.
"I hope so," whispered Darian as he rested his head on the sand below him before falling asleep.
The following day everything returned normal again, but Darian had a question. "Guys… what happened in the days I was unconscious? Like, was the city happy that we freed them?" asked Darian, walking behind his two friends, who looked behind and nodded.
"Yes, the city was happy… also if many people couldn't stop complaining about the safety of the city," said Liro as the group kept walking towards Yalemba.
"Complained? About what?" asked Darian as he got closer to his friends.
"About the fact that the city isn't enough protected," answered Vane. "This is why I think they said that Allocen had to remain in the city… He's strong, I think he will be enough to make the citizens feel safer," added Liro.
"The citizens gave us such a hard time," said Liro as his body trembled at the thought of that.
"I thought that the whole town was happy and they had a party like the one in Skar-Zhul," said Darian.
Vane shook his head in disagreement. "The people have always been mad towards the king; they didn't even like the fact that the city is under a cave."
"But the seven sages didn't do anything to help the people with this?" asked Darian.
"The sages say that it's better for our safety… especially because it's hotter outside. At least the city will not be really warm… but with the recent attacks of the portal I have started to feel less safe," answered Liro. Everyone else agreed with him.
"I think it too, but haven't you noticed that the temperature got lower? Like, it feels colder," said Darian. Liro and Vane watched over him with fear in their eyes.
"What do you even mean? The temperature is always the same," said Liro. Darian looked at him confused.
"I swear there isn't much heat like before," whispered Darian as the group kept walking. 'Now that I think about it… when did I start to feel this much cold?' thought Darian as he stopped. Liro and Vane didn't notice him stopping, so they kept walking.
'Like as I woke up from the hospital it already felt much colder than usual… did something happen while I was outside with Vane searching for Gyardibus and Dane that my body turned like this?' Darian was completely lost in his thoughts that he just noticed that Liro and Vane didn't notice him missing.
Darian, noticing that, immediately walked again towards them. 'Maybe I should have Rusty have an eye on me… I hope it's nothing too serious,' thought Darian as he walked faster than before to reach his two friends.
Liro noticed that Darian was left behind and walked a bit slower. "Were you lost in your thoughts, Darian?" asked Liro. "Yeah… but it's nothing important, don't worry," answered back Darian.
After this the group kept walking for other 2 days, until everything around them started to change. Before they had only sand and only the desert; now they were walking on some grass. "It feels weird… there shouldn't be this much grass around here," whispered Darian confused. Liro and Vane had never been around here, so they thought it was normal.
"Do you think we are getting closer to something important?" asked Liro. As the group kept walking, more nature appeared in front of their eyes. "Yeah… maybe Yalemba isn't far… but I wonder why the hell there is this much grass." Darian kneeled in front of the plants in front of him.
"I have been there before the catastrophe… there shouldn't be any grass around here." Darian ripped off some grass and tried to understand what it was. Liro and Vane stopped near him.
"Is it weird? Like, isn't it the same grass that we found on the mainland?" asked Vane. Darian shook his head disagreeing.
"It isn't the same that we find on the mainland… I have never seen such a weird plant. It is totally different from the one I have studied before going to XERBAB-7."
"It must be something made by the people in Yalemba…" said Darian as he got up. "We have to find the truth." Liro nodded, while Vane was confused.
"Ahhh we have to do already so many things." Everyone laughed softly. As they kept walking, there wasn't anymore only grass, but even trees.
They reached a certain point where there was a small river. It looked like the ground had detached itself and the water started to flow from there.
'Is this because of the impact that Africa received after the earth crashed against that other planet?' thought Darian. The river was really small and shallow. He looked at the river that seemed like it could go on for so long; maybe it could even reach the other side of Africa.
As the group kept walking in the nature, they heard something strange. Liro and Vane were confused, but Darian recognized it almost immediately, it was the sound of a flute. "What is this, Darian? Is it something dangerous?" asked Liro, scared. Vane turned into a buffalo, ready to strike at any moment, but Darian reassured them.
"It's music… I haven't heard it for so long. Humans must be nearby," said Darian as he immediately ran towards the origin of the sound. Vane, who had just returned to normal, followed him together with Liro.
"Do you even know what music is, Liro?" asked Vane confused. Liro nodded. "I read it in some books… it looks like that thanks to some object they were able to create this type of sound that we're hearing right now," answered back Liro.
In a few seconds they reached a spot where there was a really big tree. The sound was coming from there and there was a person playing the flute. It seemed like he hadn't noticed yet the group.
"Who is he… is he someone from Yalemba?" whispered Darian. Suddenly from the person a bubble came out; this bubble was purple and had such a beautiful palette of colors. The group couldn't leave their eyes from that. "What is that…" said Vane as it looked like he was hypnotized. Darian and Liro had the same look.
The human got up and turned towards them. He had a long blond ponytail. "Now you'll tell me who you are," said the mysterious figure, leaving the flute from his mouth.