Act 2 - Part 2

2 weeks pass by of Atina and Naiven traversing through grasslands; hilly terrain, wading through calm, shallow waters and steep cliffs. Everywhere they go, Atina isn’t too far behind from Naiven.

One night, they take shelter at the inner edge of a small cave with a small campfire going.  Atina is asleep on her side in a curled-up position on top of a patch of large leaves.

Naiven is sitting down opposite to her with one knee up and keeping watch.  No Blood Crows have come after them since that time in the forest.  Staring at the flames, his mind brings him back to his childhood of a burning village as it reflected in his eyes.  His eye twitches once then he lets out a couple of coughs into his hand.  Atina stirs in her sleep which causes Naiven to instinctively grab the hilt of his sword tightly. Atina talks softly as she sleeps.

“Broth-er, brother.”

It’s clear that she misses him deeply despite it not having been that long since his death.  Naiven glances at Atina, who still remains in a deep sleep. He grips the hilt of his sword with his other hand.

*******

Lyner, with Briet behind him on the same horse he is on, Vi and the rest of the Midra Knights arrive in Malojin Town. They're in the damaged area caused by Vulgan. They watch the Townsfolk carry debris and supplies, each on separate wooden wheelbarrows in various directions. A couple of the Knights dismount their horses and goes to aid those people. Briet dismounts from Lyner's horse, not to aid in the efforts, but there’s a certain spot she has to know. Lyner gets off too, hands the reins to one of his men then looks at the mess around him.. Lyner looks to Vi then nods to the Townsfolk.

"Help them out, Vi?"

Vi stares at the workers. The pendant on Vi's choker glows a light-brownish color.

"Without using that," Lyner firmly adds.

Vi lets out an exhale sigh. The glow on their pendant fades away. Vi thought their idea would make the recovery process go by a bit quicker, but what Lyner says goes. Vi dismounts from their horse.

Briet stops by Atina and Riley's house. She glances through the window that faces the kitchen of the house. Lyner comes up next to Briet and looks through the window as well. Briet switches between looking through the window and at Lyner. She hopes Lyner would jog his memory or get some sort of reaction out of him; especially at the large portrait hanging above the fireplace. It could be the sunlight refracting off the window glass making it a bit difficult to peer inside because Lyner has a straight facial expression.

Briet slumps forward.

"Of course you wouldn't know."

"Hmm? What are you implying?"

Briet tries to hold in her anger towards Lyner's 'denseness.' She turns her body to the side.

"Never you mind!"

Briet storms off. Lyner sees her approach one of the locals and has a talk with them.

*******

Atina is on her knees and takes a sip from a flowing creek using both palms of her hands. She scoops up the water again with both hands, then she splashes her face with it. Close by, Naiven leans his back against the shaded spot of a regular size tree, arms crossed. He's not paying much attention to her until he hears swooshing sounds.

He glances at the source. Atina is on her feet and swinging the dagger in arches in various directions. She continues the pattern of swinging in one direction; pauses for a few seconds before she pivots her foot and swings in a different direction. Naiven is unsure what her intentions are because all her swinging shows no sense of purpose at all. Not to mention her pausing in between swings would make her wide-open if she’s surrounded by multiple enemies. The longer he watches her, the more irritated he gets. His fingers curl on his arm.

Wind hits part of the ground like a whip next to Atina's feet. She nearly tumbles back when she sees that. Naiven has a shortsword pulled partially from its sheath. He placed it back in.

"Your form is sloppy," Naiven states in a firmly cold way.

Atina looks to the side, having felt like she got verbally insulted slightly.  

Throughout her sparring with Riley, they never once moved to using real swords.  When she asked why, Riley’s response was, “if I were to accidentally leave so much as a cut on my sweet sister’s beautiful face or body, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself. Ever.”  Atina insisted a bit more till Riley eventually gives in; but only under the condition of scoring one point against him in their sparring sessions. 

Back at the present time.  She hollers back at Naiven.

"Then teach me!"

She holds the dagger tight in front perpendicularly at center-waist level with the end pointing diagonally upward with a determined expression. He stares at her.

“Is she being serious right now?”

A few seconds tick by of Atina not moving from her stance.

Naiven straightens up then takes a couple of steps until there's a good distance between them. He places one hand on his sword hilt but doesn’t draw it. Atina stares at his sword, tilting her head and raising her eyebrows. She hasn’t forgotten that he’s a Conductor and she’s not.  So, if he were to use his wind powers, that will put her at a major disadvantage.  She keeps staring until his voice snaps her out of it.

“Hurry up before I change my mind.”

Atina lowers her head and lowers her eyes. She yells as she rushes at him then thrusts at his face. Naiven leans his body to the side with ease.  Atina swings her dagger horizontally.  Naiven bends his body backwards then swings his feet to trip Atina over.  She drops onto her behind.  She glares diagonally up at him. He has one hand on his hip and is not looking at her, almost as if he finds this to be a waste of time.

Atina groaningly stands back up then holds the dagger at the ready like before.

“Once more!”

She plants one free hand on the ground to lunge herself at him.  She thrusts the dagger at him diagonally upward.  Naiven leans his upper body away, but then he feels the sky get farther from his eyes. That’s because, when he leans his body away from that second thrust, Atina takes that moment of distraction to trip him by swinging her foot at a horizontal arch.

Before his backside hits the ground, Naiven presses one hand on the ground to launch him a few centimeters up at an arch, does a backflip and lands with one foot behind the other. Atina charge yells at him again then swings the dagger downward. Naiven instinctively unsheathes his broadsword and the two blades bounce off of each other. They stare at each other for a few seconds until Naiven nods his head outward.

Naiven runs off with Atina in tow.  Several hours pass as the 2 run side by side clanging their blades.  Eventually, the sky becomes a sunset color. The pair are near a cliff where ocean waves crash against it.  Naiven and Atina get into a blade lock position.

Exhaustion catches up to the both of them and they both drop to the ground. Atina is on her rear with her knees together at an angle. She looks up to the sky as she huffs and puffs while her eyes are closed. Naiven takes a step back, stabs his sword into the ground and huffs and puffs facing downward. He lifts his head and looks to the side. He lets out a couple of coughs while facing downward.

He turns his head to the side to see a flower field with those same dark purple rose-like flowers as the one on top of Zar’s scepter. Faint purple gas emits from those very flowers.

He stands up and walks the other way along the cliff’s edge.  Atina pants as she watches him go. She wants to continue to rest, but with Naiven on the move again, she has no say on the matter. She leans forward, sheathes her dagger, stands up and walks forward despite her already aching body.  Naiven doesn't get very far until he coughs again. This time, louder.

"Hey..." Atina says with a stammer. 

She reaches one hand out to him.  Naiven's side-steps a little too close to the cliff's edge and tries to steady his footing.  He takes out a pill from the pouch on his belt with his free hand; but the pill slips from his hand, bounces a little on the ground then it rolls off the cliff.

Part of the ground under Naiven's feet crumbles away. Due to the fatigue, he did not leap out of the way on time.  Atina runs to the cliff edge then dives after him. She reaches her hand farther at him. At the side of her eye, she notices they’re falling towards spikey rocks poking out of the waves.  Atina grits her teeth.

“Please let me get to him on time.”

Her outstretched hand grabs onto Naiven’s hand that clutches the broadsword. She wraps one arm around his torso.  She makes his sword point at the cliff face.  A blast of wind from the sword hits the cliff, propelling them forward at an arch; then they fall into the ocean waters with a large splash.

Atina resurfaces with a big gulp of air a few seconds later while she is holding Naiven with his head tilted back above water.  But now there’s another problem.  Atina hasn't thought this part of the plan through.  To add to that, she has no swimming experience, no shoreline in sight. Combine that with their low stamina and soaked clothes weighing them down, all she can do is rely on survival instinct to keep Naiven's head and her own head above water.  A few more seconds tick by and she couldn't keep herself up any longer and went under.

Kythe plunges headfirst into the water close to them. It rises back up to the surface with the duo perpendicularly on its back below the neck. Atina lifts her head up as much as she can and spats out any of the salt water she may have in her mouth. She looks at Kythe who looks back at her.

"Thank you.”

Kythe faces straight then ferries them off. The way it moves makes it look like part Loch Ness monster and part giant water snake.  Above that cliff, Vulgan has been keeping an eye on Kythe.