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“Ah!” Evetta jumps as I touch her shoulder with my left hand. I raise my right index finger in front of my lips before she spins around. She exhales softly, then nods. I point up and begin rising toward the top of the tree, glancing behind me in the process. Good, she’s following. I lead us through the meandering branches, ascending to the furthest wooden limbs. Here? I examine the branch I land on. Adequate cover and a decent view. Overall, not a bad spot to monitor the besāād. Evetta wanders over to a viewing spot and I walk up behind her. In the distance are two two besāād that are circling back to their initial location. If only they’d leave us alone.

“What are they doing?” Evetta abruptly asks.

I keep my eyes locked on the besāād and coldly answer, “Returning to their owners.”

“The enōōfen?”

I scan the horizon beneath the besāād. Still don’t see them. “Yeah, the enōōfen controlling them should be nearby.” But where? “I doubt they’re going to go too far on their own.”

“Then do we just wait here until they’re gone?” Evetta inquires.

We could try to wait them out, but that leaves us here for an unknown amount of time and if the enōōfen are camped nearby, then there’s no guarantee that the besāād will leave. Too many variables… Since I’m faster, luring them away could work, but… I glance down at Evetta. …she’ll be alone and if she leaves we could get separated. Then it’ll be risky trying to find her without alerting the enōōfen. The only risk is leaving Evetta alone, but she’s been fine by herself before… I return my gaze to the birds flying in the distant sky. Inversely, we could just leave, but there’s the possibility that there’s more than just the two besāād. If we get spotted, I’m not confident that I’ll be able to fend off more than two alone, while trying to protect Evetta. Too risky… Yeah, Evetta needs to stay here…

“Okay,” I state, “This is what we’re going to do.”

Evetta looks up at me and fearfully asks, “Are we leaving?”

“No,” I reply, shaking my head. She’s not going to like this but… “You’re going to stay here. And not draw attention to yourself.” Please.

“No,” Evetta bellows, “Me staying here means-”

“Yes,” I interject, “I’m going to-”

“No!” Evetta roars as her eyes focus on my healing ear, “What if something worse happens to you?”

Such a kind heart. I smile and softly rest my hand atop her head. “I don’t plan on dying. After all, who’s going to keep you safe if I’m gone?”

Evetta pulls my hand from her head, and complains, “I’d still prefer you to stay here too.”

I wish it was that easy too but… “We don’t know when they’ll leave, if at all,” I explain, “If we don’t do something, we could be stuck here for days, and I doubt you want to spend winter in this tree.” Not that I want that either.

“Mmmm…” Evetta grumbles, “Not really… but why do you have to-”

“If we leave together and get caught…” If it’s just the two, then maybe, but… I lower my head, “I’m not confident that I can keep you safe.”

Evetta mutters, “But if you fight them-” I quickly poke her forehead with my index finger. Silly girl.

“Who said I was going to fight them?” I state as Evetta rubs her forehead. “Remember the cliff we passed?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll lure the besāād down there and hopefully…” I look out into the forest covered mountains. “…the enōōfen will follow.” I face Evetta and continue, “Once I’ve confirmed that they’re down there, I’ll trap the besāād and enōōfen and we’ll use that opportunity to escape.”

Evetta’s warm eyes are fixed on me. She’s- “How confident are you?”

“I’m certain I can handle this,” I declare. Taking care of myself is easy. It’s you I’m worried about.

Evetta quietly stands there, anxiously breathing. “Okay, just… please come back.”

“Don’t worry,” I smile widely, “I won’t leave you alone. Nova said smiling helps to alleviate worries… Evetta hesitantly nods. …but it looks like that made it worse. I turn to the opening in the leaves, locate the besāād, and return my attention to Evetta. “Stay here…” Please. “…I’ll be back.” I place my bag on the branch, turn away from Evetta, rise into the air, and race down the wooden structure.

I glide just above the still-wet ground as I progress back toward the cliff. This distance should be good enough. I peer up at the sky. Voluminous clouds dot the blue expanse and only allow scattered light through. Even with the sun nearing its peak, the land is cool from the storm a night prior. I glance at the tree Evetta is taking refuge in. It’s times like these that I wish she could use the axioms… I refocus on the feathered monsters in the distance. Maven be with me.

I fly high into the air, rising further into the sky until I am soaring above the besāād. As I glide toward the birds, I close my eyes. Focus. My objective, draw attention to myself. I take a deep breath. Focus. My target, the besāād and enōōfen. I exhale. Focus. My purpose, protect Evetta. I open my eyes and dash forward.

I approach the besāād, shifting my attention from them, to the ground below, and back again. Still no enōōfen. Now, within a decent range to attack them, I hold out my left hand and conjure a ball of fire, which hovers just over my hand. As I continue forward, I maintain the fire and wait for the two besāād to get close to one another. Now. I point my arm in the direction of the besāād, the ball of flame staying just above my palm, and launch it at the two birds. Once released from my grasp, it expands and rapidly accelerates until it becomes several times larger than either bird.

Boom! Aaaaawk!

The fireball collides with the besāād, erupts into a sea of flames, before filling the sky with smoke. If only that solved the problem but… The two besāād emerge from the dissipating black cloud and begin racing toward me. I sigh, “Damn.” I shake my head. Stay focused. I turn around and begin to fly back toward the cliff, maintaining my altitude.

Aek. Aek.

I hear a couple of squawks from the pursuing birds at my rear. I glance back and see both of them rapidly gaining on me. Damn, I must have terrible luck. I sigh. If I was a sylph, this would be so much easier… Before the birds are within biting range, I create a dense purple fog, shrouding myself in it, and dive toward the ground.

Aek.

Peeking behind me, I see the birds still on my tail. Looks like darkness isn’t going to help much. In the distance, I see two more besāād, then chuckle. I really do have terrible luck, but I’m glad I made the right choice. As I pass the cliff edge, I lift my arms in front of me and spin them in a circular motion, creating a rotating wind force. I direct my falling form into the pocket of wind to increase my speed, and put some distance between me and the besāād. Now, how should I deal with these things? The easiest way would be to bury them underground, but making a hole large enough for them would take time. As I soar alongside the immense rock wall, I look back and see that the birds have followed me down.

Just before I reach the ground, I lean back, arching upward to maintain my speed while also avoiding a crash. I release my wind pocket and begin shooting metal wires from the nearest tree to the next, forming a metal, web-like entrapment. This should slow them down for a moment. As I keep moving, I continue setting wires throughout the area. Now where are they? I scan the region above and behind me, never stopping for more than a second. Where’d they disappear to? The surrounding wooded mountains echo with the sounds of animals, both large and small.

AAAAKRE!

A dense screech resounds around me and a moment later a besāād rockets toward me from the trees. I quickly create a barrier of light and place it between me and the bird. Its beak pierces the barrier. “Damn,” I curse as I narrowly avoid the incoming creature.

Akre. Aaaakre. Akre.

With only a moment to regain my composure, a second besāād flies toward me from a different direction. I reflexively duck beneath its approaching maw, when the third bird dives down from above me. I form several light barriers overhead to halt its advance, but each one is penetrated and shatters. Not good! As the feathered monster descends onto me, I move to the side, place my hands on its beak, and push off. I begin to race away from the three birds when, out of the corner of my vision, I notice another besāād closing in on me. Damn. I create a light barrier on my right side and try to spiral around the approaching attack. Too late!

“Tssssssk,” I inhale as a pain spreads from my back. That hurt. I look back and see part of my upper right wing is missing.

Before I can calm down, the birds continue their assault, cycling between attacking and preparing for another strike. Damn. These things aren’t giving me time to fight back. I remain within their encirclement, constantly evading. The enōōfen need to hurry up. I struggle to dodge the attacks, but manage to prevent any meaningful damage to myself. I need to get out of this and reduce their numbers, but… Slowly, I progress toward a nearby tree while trying to conserve my stamina.

Finally. I get alongside the tree and, due to it covering one side of me, the interval between the birds’ attacks increases. Almost. I dodge another cycle of their onslaught and quickly turn toward the tree. Now. I place my hand against the bark, create a hole that passes through the tree that is just big enough for me, and dart through it. As much as I hate it, these things are smarter than I’d like. Once on the opposite side, I race back toward the cliff. Well, it’ll be risky, but let’s see how they like being hunted.

As I soar through the forest, I ascend toward the canopy. Aek. The screech of a besāād resounds from behind me. I glance back and see all four birds, slowly advancing toward me. “Tch,” I click my tongue. Give me a break, would you. I arrive at the canopy, the besāād closing in, and begin to swerve around the tree tops. As I fly around each tree, I reach my hand out and, manipulating it with the nature axiom, pull it down. When the birds fly near the trees, I release my control and the tree bolts back upright. The besāād scatter as the large trunks and sporadic branches shoot up toward them, slowly adding to distance between us.

I smile. That worked better than expected. I focus on the rapidly approaching wall of rock. Now, I have to time this perfectly, otherwise… I move alongside another branch and, as I pull it down, attach a wire to the tree. I continue to fly toward the cliff, extending the wire in the process. Once I am just before the rock wall, I stop extending the wire, and begin to pull the tree down toward me. As the tension in the wire grows, I swiftly begin decelerating and, nearly at a stop, plant my back against the wall and stare at the approaching feathered monsters. Three. Two. One. Now. I release my control of the tree and, as it snaps back up, am rapidly pulled toward it. As I shoot toward the besāād, I pull a stone with me and form it into a spike. At the same time, one of the birds dives toward me, with its beak pointed at my stomach and my spike directed at its head.

Aaaaaaaaawk! “Aaaargh!” I groan, biting down on my lip as a loud screech resounds behind me. A horrible pain shoots up through my leg while I zoom through the air by my makeshift catapult-tree. As I soar past it, I look down and see that my left leg is missing from my knee down. Damn, I mistimed it. I grit my teeth and continue to fly away from the besāād. Aek. I glance back and see three birds chasing me, while the fourth is a bloody mess, impaled on the cliff. Good, one down three left. I smile. This should be easier now.

I descend back into the forest and approach my wired area from earlier. Now, what’re they going to do? I fly around in a seemingly random pattern within my wires while I watch the besāād. Not going to approach? The three birds circle the wires, staying just outside their reach while maintaining a spread out formation. Looks like they’re being more cautious now, but if you’re by yourselves… I grin. …then you’re that much easier to hunt.

I place my hands together and begin to gather energy in them, converting it into electricity. I only need a moment. As the static energy pops within my hands, I begin to separate them. Almost… Almost… Now. I force my hands together and a massive electric shockwave is discharged in every direction around me. The wave expands out, coating the wires in an electric current, and forces its way out beyond them, striking all of the besāād.

While the shockwave expands, I dash toward one of the besāād. When it is hit by the electric shock, it staggers for a single moment. “Ha!” Using the momentary gap, I land on the side of its head, gripping its feathers.

AAAAAKRE!

The creature begins to screech and I feel a wave of dizziness and pain abruptly drill into my skull. I wince slightly. Too bad. You’re too late. I create a metallic blade in my hand, increase the temperature of it until it’s glowing a searing red, and stab it into the bird’s eye.

Aaawk!

It screams in pain, ceasing its disorienting screech, and begins to dart about haphazardly. I fly off the creature, hold my hands up toward it, and create as large of a wind as I can. I throw the wind at the bird and it is violently pushed back toward my electrified wires. Goodbye. A moment later, the besāād touches the wires. Zz-Pop-Pop! The electricity flowing through the wires courses into the bird, causing it to tense up as it instantly cooks from the inside-out. Good thing their insides aren’t resistant to the elements… I stare down at the falling, roasted bird. I wonder how they taste…

Aek. Aek. Two screeches from the remaining besāād echo around me. They are approaching from opposite sides. Two left… Now what’s the best way to deal with these ones?

I descend toward the ground, away from my electrified wires, and increase my speed by forming another wind pocket in front of me. I race through the forest with the two birds following behind me. As I fly about, I scan the area for any enōōfen. Still nothing… Where in the five realms are they?

I guess it’s going to take a bit longer for the enōōfen, but if I deal with these things, then Evetta and I can ignore the enōōfen altogether, assuming they don’t have any more pets. “Hmm.” Not likely, as I’ve only ever seen four at any given time, so this should be all there is… In that case, Evetta shouldn’t be in any danger, and with the pace we’ve been flying, we’ll have to camp in the mountains so… I glance back at the two besāād that are still in hot pursuit. …I can use this time to see just how resilient these things really are. I grin. Let’s trim their numbers a bit more first.

I circle around and search for an open and flat area, free of any trees, shrubs, or boulders. I evade the besāād as they approach me for several minutes. Found it. I fly around a nearby tree, creating wooden spikes that shoot out of the trunk, forcing the birds back a bit. With a comfortable distance between us, I dive toward the center of the empty field and land on the ground, using my wings to help me balance on my single foot.

Still being cautious, huh? The two besāād slowly approach, but stay close together instead of spreading out. Worried I’ll attack them when they’re by themselves. I shake my head. These things are too smart for their own good. The birds slowly land on the ground, their eyes locked onto me. As they both open their mouths I raise my hands in front of me.

AAAAAAAKREEEE!

The horrid sound blasts my mind and I begin to feel pain throughout my body. Good they won’t move now… I endure the pain, biting down on my lip, and begin to create crystal spheres around the birds. Shut up! I close the spheres, causing the noise to diminish and the pain to subside.

Crack. A large fracture appears on one of the spheres. Crack. A smaller fracture forms on the second sphere. Looks like they want out, but unfortunately… I hold my hands out encasing the crystal spheres in yet another sphere, followed by a third. …it’s too late. I exhale.

I get down on my knee, rest my hands against the ground, and take a deep breath. Now. Move. The ground rumbles slightly until a crack forms in front of me. Steadily, the gap grows into a fissure several times larger than either besāād. I exhale. Aeth… Moving this much terra is always so draining. I lift off and float over the hole, peering down into the depths. Not bad… I glance over to the nearby trees. …Perhaps deep enough to fit a tree?

Crack. I focus on the crystal spheres and sigh. No time to rest. I quickly swing my arms in the direction of the left sphere and the ground cracks beneath it. I flatten my hands and push them down, causing the crystal sphere and the foundation it rested on to collapse and fall into the fissure. Good. I look at the final sphere and create another two layers of crystal around it, the sphere now several times its original size.

I scan the depths of the fissure. Let’s close this first, before it comes back. I land back on the ground, place my hands on the ground, and take a deep breath. Move. The area shakes as the opening in the ground steadily closes, until the two ridges collide, and the fissure disappears. Like it never existed. I smile. Now. I lock onto the remaining crystal sphere. Let’s see how long it takes to cook one of these things.

Crack. A fracture forms on the outermost layer of crystal. Any moment now. Crack. Crack. AAAEK! Chunks of crystal fall and the sphere crumbles. The besāād shakes itself, removing bits of crystal from its body.

“Welcome back,” I state. The bird looks around for a moment before its gaze stops on me. “Sorry, it’s just you and me now.” The bird flaps its wings and rises into the air. I don’t think so. I hold my hands out in front of me, creating a gust of wind that rapidly wraps around the besāād. I cup my hands, and bring them together forming a would-be sphere. In response, the wind shifts form, becoming a sphere and trapping the bird within.

I smile. Good, now for the delicate part. I keep my left hand cupped while I slowly pull my right hand away. Focus. I continue to concentrate on the wind sphere while I hold my right hand in front of me, my palm directed at the ball of wind. Slowly. I conjure a small flame in my open palm and extend it toward the wind. Steady. When the fire reaches the sphere I cup my right and join it together with my left. Then, the fire merges with the sphere and a roaring ball of flame begins to burn the besāād within. Aaawk!

Now I just sit here and wait until either you’ve had enough, or the enōōfen show up. I sit down on the ground and continue to hold the blazing sphere in place. Finally a chance to breathe without worry. I sit there for several minutes, listening to the besāād’s pained screams, scanning the area for any potential threats that could approach. Those single minutes gather into dozens, and before long well over an hour has passed. The besāād continues to cry, but its energy has drastically lowered. Shouldn’t be too long now. I look around once more.

I’m surprised the enōōfen still aren’t here. I call out to the slow-roasting bird, “Where are your handlers?” They should’ve had plenty of time to get here by now. Were they that confident in the besāād’s hunting abilities? I place my hand under my chin. Perhaps there weren’t any enōōfen nearby to begin with and these four were a reconnaissance group? No, the enōōfen wouldn’t waste four besāād for merely scouting. Did I overestimate the enōōfen’s ability to scale that cliff? I shake my head. No… What am I missing? The besāād were chasing me, so that should’ve been enough to lure the enōōfen here… Which means something happened that was more important than chasing me… My eyes widen as I quickly rise into the air.

“Evetta.”

Please no. She should’ve been fine. And after the incident back home… She wouldn’t have left the safety of the tree… But what if she did? What if something happened to her? My breathing quickens as my heart rate increases. Damn.

I release the flaming sphere and watch as the besāād flops onto the ground. The feathers covering its body are smoldering. Its legs are charred, but its head is perfectly fine. So, you tucked your head under your feathers. Too smart. The besāād looks back at me for a moment and then rises into the air. Good, lead me to the enōōfen.

I fly after the besāād, its scorched body leaving a trail of black smoke. I follow the bird back through the forest, veering through the trees. As we approach the cliff, I glance at the sea of trees with wires scattered throughout them. I’m going to have to come back and clean this up… I sigh. Sir Marth, Nova… I really hate these rules. We fly up through the woodland and ascend alongside the wall of rock.

I reach the top and see the tree I left Evetta in. Almost there. Please be there. Please. I arrive at the tree, fly into the branches, and shout, “Evetta. Are you here?” No response. Damn. I scramble up and down the wooden structure, finding both of our bags. “Evetta. This isn’t the time for games.” Damn. Damn. Damn. “EVETTA!” She’s not here.

I look out into the distant sky and locate the lone besāād flying erratically. Lady Vestele. Sir Marth. Nova. Please forgive me, for today, I may break one of the sacred laws… I put on the two bags, fly out of the tree, and chase after the fleeing bird. Please be safe. Please. If you’re not, then what will happen to me? I take a deep breath and exhale, trying to force the anxiousness out of me. I’m on my way Evetta, so please, be okay.

Damn. I’m sorry Evetta. I shouldn’t have let this happen to you. If only I was better. If I had taken better care. If only I could do more. Damn! Nova… you were right… I’m going to need help. I don’t want it, but if it means keeping Evetta safe then… Damn.

I trail the injured besāād for a couple of minutes until a clearing appears within the trees. A steady stream of smoke rises into the sky, and as I crest the tree canopy, I see a wooden cabin lying comfortably on the ground. I watch as the besāād flails down toward one side of the building. A door, likely the front. I glance to the opposite side of the building. Which means…

I begin my descent and head to the rear of the building. The wall closest to me as I approach the building has a single window, and I catch a glimpse of a couple of enōōfen. Loud yelling echoes from within the building. Sounds like they’re surprised by the state of their pet. I round the corner of the building, and find a second window on the wall, opposite the one the besāād went to. I fly over to the window and peer inside. Good, nobody’s looking over here.

I place my hands on the glass and scan the interior. I see six enōōfen, some of which are panicking. One is eating, and one is yelling loudly at the others. Damn. I see two elves, one looks similar to the elf I saved from the water a few months ago. I knew we shouldn’t have helped them… I groan. Now where is- There.

On one side of the building, up against the wall, is a table with a jar resting atop it, and within are two fairies. One, a blue-haired fairy who is curled into a ball, and the other, a white-haired fairy peering toward the door. I sigh. She’s safe. My eyes bounce from Evetta to the other fairy. An undine? Was she out here dealing with the surge last night? Well, that’s perfect. I’ll rescue them both and depending on their skills, I’ll have them help me until we get back to Kāālith.

I bring my attention to the distressed enōōfen. Now, how do I deal with them?