Chapter 9

Sasha didn’t seem to be at all enthusiastic about the healer’s words and Cheyenne realized that she would like to give him her opinion, but she had realized the seriousness of the situation and apparently tried to stay reasonable. But she couldn’t resist commenting. “There are so many idiots in the world and we have you here. I’m really punished. Oh yes, if you would simply call the animals you talk about all the time by their names in our language, everyone here would have known their way around from the beginning. Without a history lesson and eternal talk that steals our time and robs me personally of my nerves. Can’t you just say ‘water tiger’ instead of some outdated name in the yin-yang language that no one here understands anyway except you? And please stop talking to Cheyenne like that, you can’t stand it, you’d better concentrate on the fight, because I think the demon is getting closer.” Glaczio winked at his protégé and looked ahead, oriented towards the sound of the opponent. He radiated an enormous calmness and took the time to give Sasha a teasing answer. “Hehe, at least you have recognized the connection, although it was said in this language that is completely unknown to you, Sasha-Mouse. If the kitten wasn’t here and my little angel hadn’t described it so excellently, you wouldn’t know what to do with the technical term ‘Aquatigeris’ anyway, hehe.” Sasha loaded her weapon and poisoned the healer back. “Argh! Just shut up your damn mouth and focus on the fight, you arrogant Frostbrain!” As soon as she had finished speaking, she fired a lightning ball at the demon.

The surroundings were lit up by a purple glow, the enemy from Umbraurore bared his teeth and leaped towards the four companions.

Glaczio seemed to have heard the dangerous movement of the demon immediately and the sounds of the swirling sand behind it, because in a flash he swung his right arm and pushed his protégé backwards with an enormous force with one of the wide, smooth sides of his ice sword.  Cheyenne staggered back a few steps, trying to find her balance, but the sand steadily yielding under her did not allow this and she fell on her back. A few meters in front of her, she now saw the healer take a step forward. He swung his sword again and swung it vigorously, holding it with both hands, upwards, where it hit the teeth and claws of the attacking demon. Glaczio’s feet gave way under the weight, but he managed to stop and summoned all his strength to push the enemy still in the air above him a little higher with his sword. The enemy’s load was thus lifted, the healer was able to perform a half turn and also turn his weapon a bit. He was no longer facing the demon, but directly below him. Now Glaczio used the recurring weight of the enemy to throw him to the ground with full force over his shoulder. The opponent from Umbraurore hit his cat-like back and stirred up vast amounts of dusty sand. Then the healer snatched his ice sword out of the monster’s mouth with a sideways movement. The sharp blade cut into the demon’s throat and black particles were released, which rose skywards. So demons don’t bleed, but the damaged part of the body probably dissolves instead? In this case, therefore, Umbraurore particles separate and Glaczio said that every single particle of the life force originates in the source of life and also returns there. This means that these Umbraurore particles make their way to the Noxastrum Vitae, which is why they rise into the air. Interesting… If this had been a real animal, it would be dead now and its jaw would have been severed to the side… Cheyenne had to swallow at the horrible thought of it and was glad that her enemy was not a real animal.

The demon lay only two meters in front of the girl and shook his mighty head. Then he stood up and blocked her view of Glaczio. The monster let loose an angry battle cry and growled. It seemed to turn back to the healer, because it was standing with its back to Cheyenne. She took advantage of the enemy’s inattention to crawl a little further back and then slowly get up. Her fall had not caused any pain, the sand allowed her to fall gently. The girl turned her gaze back to the demon and saw that he was crouching down on the ground, ready to jump. At that moment, lightning struck his shoulder and he flinched. Sasha stood a little further next to the monster and pointed the elemental pistol in its direction. Then she fired another bolt of lightning, this time it lasted and Adocaz, who was standing on the other side of the opponent, cast his fairy magic, focused his energy on a point in front of his mouth, as he had done at the laboratory in Luminastrelle, and unleashed a turquoise beam of light that also hit the demon with full force. During the attack, his antennae also began to glow turquoise. This is Adocaz’s fairy beam, an attack of fairy magic that only fairy wolves and other beings of this kind can master. However, he cannot use any other kind of magic for this, but only uses his body as an additional weapon.

The two powerful attacks caused the demon to cry out, and enormous amounts of Umbraurore particles were released and ascended into the sky. But then he made a jerky movement and both attacks stopped. Adocaz panted heavily, his attack wouldn’t have been longer anyway, but Sasha was visibly annoyed and loaded the pistol again. Before she could send off another electrifying lightning, Adocaz collected his fairy magic in his tail and it began to glow turquoise, as well as his antennae again, which automatically did exactly the same thing every time fairy magic was used. The fairy wolf ran off and jumped off directly in front of the opponent, performing a somersault in which he let the long, magic-loaded tail bounce onto the enemy’s back. The demon lost more and more Umbraurore and became visibly weaker, thinner and more blurred.

Adocaz landed on the ground again, concentrating his magic from his tail to his teeth. They began to glow in the color turquoise and he jumped towards the monster’s head. The fairy wolf bit off one of the enemy’s ears, which split into Umbraurore particles and rose. The demon shook Adocaz off and swung his clawed paw to attack. Cheyenne’s four-legged companion was exhausted and unprepared to swerve. So the powerful paw of the Aquatigeris demon hit him and hurled him with full force in Sasha’s direction. The fairy wolf crashed into the young woman and threw her to the ground. The fall of the two whirled up a lot of sand and made them cough. Maybe they had also gotten some of the fine dust in their eyes, in any case they were out of action for the time being. Cheyenne watched the situation tensely and sympathized with her companions. Oh no, hopefully the meeting of the two didn’t cause too much pain… Where is Glaczio? Does he avoid fighting and let the two do everything, or how? Such a complete idiot! 

But the girl’s thoughts were interrupted when the demon moved towards Adocaz and Sasha, growling menacingly and in a belligerent crouching posture. Cheyenne’s friend wouldn’t even be able to defend herself, because her pistol was thrown a few meters away from her hand during the fall and was now lying in the soft sand.

The enemy bared the now broken and patchy teeth and lifted a paw that was also already missing some claws. The demon is about to tear them to pieces! I have to do something to help them… maybe I can draw his attention to me? Yes!  Cheyenne raised her bow and took aim at the demon’s head. A black arrow appeared, and she drew the bow as well as she could. Then she fired the black magic and it hit the enemy in the eye with full force. The girl wanted to get him away from her companions at all costs. “Hey, you, demon! Here I am! Now I’ve attacked you, so you should take me to task first. Leave them alone!”

The demon staggered, almost fell over, but stopped and turned directly to Cheyenne. He actually seemed to be more interested in her now, a still standing, unexhausted target that had also annoyed him. But the arrow in his head was still stuck and didn’t dissipate as usual. Also, no Umbraurore particles came from the affected area. On the contrary. The black magic merged with the demon.

What?! Oh, that’s right… Glaczio told me in Saraley that these arrows were made of black magic, he also called it darkness elemental magic… He said that it consisted mostly of Umbraurore and only a very small part of the element, because it’s almost pure Umbraurore, if you sum up all your talk about it… And this demon consists of the black life force… So he takes up the Umbraurore of my arrow. But why do other elemental attacks harm him, even more than normal attacks with combat tools? After all, every magic consists of rebrewing, the respective element, which also consists of already reshaped life force, only transforms it and thus gives it a modified form… In contrast to Lumenium, Umbraurore can be changed at will, even if Glaczio wouldn’t call it that. He said that only the physical force has a structure and the life force does not. Maybe he only means that in relation to genetics. In contrast to Umbraurore, Lumenium has one, if you think logically. But they are both changeable… Well, basically, Umbraurore always stays the same, doesn’t really change, but just embodies something that is associated with ‘life’. This transformation, when the life force is used as magic or element, seems to radiate a strength and power, and this is what is causing the demon trouble. Since his own strength is almost the same as that of my black magic arrows, he can apparently easily acquire it and use it to his advantage. The normal elemental magic, such as Sasha’s lightning, seems to have a strength frequency that is not valuable to him and more complicated embodiment, the attack was probably a bit too short and the injury too big to quickly convert the frequency and make it usable for the demon. In short: He may not have had enough time, or it was too exhausting for him… He really doesn’t seem to care if he is defeated or not, probably because he knows that he will live on and return here at some point…  Well, at least this indifference is an advantage for us and I also found out another difference between the forces. Umbraurore, the life force, has different frequencies that it embodies and that can be easily transmuted through strong control of the will, touch of other frequencies that already embody elements, or it can change all by itself. Lumenium, the power of forms, has a structure, or genetics, that represents all objects and bodies in the world, everything that is tangible, and it is very difficult to transform it, usually only with the help of research, which does not seem to be advanced enough for it at the moment, unless it changes on its own, but it takes a lot of time. I think now I have understood everything about it so far. It’s always better if you can explain things to yourself. I mean, Glaczio has already explained it well, but only now have I really understood it. But that’s really complicated… If there really are gods and they created our world and the forces, they must be geniuses… Umbraurore is also much more complicated than Lumenium, so the goddess of darkness should be smarter? No, wait, according to Glaczio, the goddess created the new world on her own, but… that contradicts itself then… Why would they make Lumenium appear white? Strange… Maybe the gods are really just a superstition. The demon growled and tore Cheyenne out of her increasingly wandering thoughts. The enemy scratched his paw furiously on the sandy ground and hissed vigorously. The girl flinched, she had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she had almost forgotten what a disastrous situation she was in. However, time seemed to be her ally, because it seemed to her as if she had thought about it for quite a long time, so the demon would have had enough opportunities to attack, but was still in the same place as before. Cheyenne was glad that she now understood more about the powers, but she was a little annoyed. Now it had often happened that she sank into thoughts in the most dangerous situations and found out useful things, on her own. When she thought, time almost seemed to stand still.

The demon let out a powerful roar and would not stand still for much longer. The girl’s heart jumped in fright, stopped for a moment and then began to race. She didn’t like to admit it, but now she was actually a little scared.  Ah! Why do I always have to think in such situations, I don’t understand it. I should actually concentrate… Why do I always come up with so much?  It’s almost as if danger is boosting my thinking. If I could think about combat instead of any other things, it would really benefit me… And either I think enormously fast, or time slows down… No, that’s impossible. Argh! I have to think of what is in front of me, the demon. So… I seemed to have been able to draw his attention to me. Good. Well… at least for Adocaz and Sasha… Oh, no, now he’s coming at me… My arrows are ineffective, dodging will be very difficult, with this size and otherwise I can’t defend myself. Ah… That… was kind of a stupid idea… So much for Sasha to think more before she acts… But I had to do that, now at least they’re safe, that’s the most important thing. And I… What do I do now? I have to come up with something very quickly… Now I should come up with something as clever as before. But now that I have to think really fast, I can’t think of anything? There must be something I can do!

But Cheyenne put too much pressure on herself and became too nervous to think rationally and find a possible solution to her problem. The demon didn’t give her any more time for that, because he crouched down and then jumped directly towards the girl. She followed the monster’s movement rigidly and there was not even a way to dodge. The enemy’s paws were too big and enveloping, and the demon came too fast for her to run away. In view of these facts, it didn’t matter what she did. Cheyenne only took a step back, narrowed her eyes, gritted her teeth and gathered all her courage, then stopped and looked directly at her opponent. The only thing she could try was to somehow get so close to the head that the claws didn’t catch her and then quickly jump away so that the mouth couldn’t catch her. Ah… I have to try, but it will never go well in my life… Why can’t I just jump through him if he’s made of Umbraurore? But if that were possible, the demon would not have been able to hit Adocaz earlier and throw him away. It almost looked as if the two had not touched each other so directly or only briefly… Maybe it works the same way as with magnetism and the Umbraurore in us somehow repels the outside, as well as possibly the frequencies… Oh, I guess I can’t get out of this situation… Now I’m really scared myself…  But the others are almost never afraid… In any case, they don’t show it and Glaczio certainly doesn’t… I also want to be so brave, but I just can’t do it… Maybe that will come with time… But that will probably be over for me in a moment.

The wind played with Cheyenne’s hair and the demon’s leap seemed like an eternity. A tear flitted down her face. Maybe because she would now leave Adocaz and Xaver forever, or because she didn’t live up to the expectations of her companions Sasha and Glaczio, with everything that entailed.

The enemy was barely a meter away and was still in the air. But then, shortly before he met Cheyenne, he completely shattered into countless Umbraurore particles and three thin, enormously pointed icicles became visible, floating in the air in front of the girl. They had destroyed the demon and now apparently stopped. Behind them, a little farther away, stood Glaczio, holding his hand, the one that did not contain his sword, parallel to the ground. In the palm of his hand, focused magic shone in a light blue hue. A magic circle at the healer’s feet was also colored and his eyes also shone in this color. He uses Ice Elemental Magic… His eyes glow light blue… Usually they are not like that, that is, when you do magic, the eyes start to shine. Wow… And he saved me once again… Now I also know what saved me from this man with the double blade on the beach of light. Glaczio’s Ice Magic… I… I can’t believe it… Again, nothing happened to me, even though it looked so bad… In the meantime, I really have to speak of a miracle… But I hate these situations where I depend on others… I really have to learn to fight myself, somehow it will work, even without a sword… But for now, I’m just happy to be alive…  The healer closed his eyes and immediately afterwards the circle disappeared, the glow in his hand and the three icicles in front of Cheyenne shattered into millions of ice shards. It looked beautiful.

Glaczio lowered his hand and opened his eyes, which now looked normal again. Then he grinned mischievously at his protégé. Sasha and Adocaz had got back on their feet and the young woman knocked the sand off her. “Hey, Frostbrain… That was pretty close again, at the last second you finished summoning these icicles. But you’ve forgotten a lot… It has to be faster again, like it was back then, you know that, right? But I know how much you love these performances. Such a ‘last-second-rescue’ action just makes more of a difference, especially when it comes to impressing girls, doesn’t it? Complete idiot… But this is Cheyenne and it’s your job to protect her, not impress her! Well, at least you managed to do it at all.” Cheyenne felt a weight off her heart, everyone seemed to be doing well and the danger was averted for the time being.

Glaczio paid no further attention to Sasha and only looked at the girl. He certainly wants to hear a ‘thank you’… At least I hope so… I don’t want to give him a kiss, as he said earlier… But Sasha wouldn’t let that happen anyway, hehe. Cheyenne went to Glaczio and, keeping enough distance, stopped in front of him. “Thank you, Glaczio, you’ve saved me again.” The healer tilted his head and came closer to his protégé. “Hehe, nothing to thank, little angel… Whereby… Your brave hero has actually already earned a reward, if you’re honest… What about a little kiss on the cheek, huh? Hehe.” Cheyenne blushed and wanted to run away. She would never give him a ‘kiss’. After all, Sasha had protected her too and she didn’t want anything in return.

The healer was now so close that Cheyenne could feel his cool breath and she thought he was about to give her a kiss on the cheek instead of the other way around. He even brushed a strand of hair out of her face, but only touched her briefly with the tip of his nose and whispered the most relieving words Cheyenne had heard in a long time. “Hehe, I faked that again, didn’t I? Your facial expression was always worth it. Hehe, little angel, Sasha would kill me if I seriously demanded a kiss from you. I just tricked you.” Then he stood by her side and put his arms around her shoulders. Glaczio hugged Cheyenne and she sensed his winter-scented smell and cold body temperature. The combination had a calming effect on her, although until a second ago her heart had been beating up to her throat.

 The healer laughed amused and Sasha came up to him with a dumbfounded look and grabbed him by the earlobe. Then she pulled Glaczio away from her best friend and turned to her. “I won’t let him annoy and harass you. The complete idiot is so incredibly exhausting… Well, so I guess you’re alright and the demon didn’t get you? Good. Oh, and if the icicle does something like he just did, tell me, yes? Then he gets a kiss. From my pistol.” Cheyenne had to grin. She was amused by Sasha’s statement, relieved that everyone was fine and enormously happy that Glaczio had only been joking, although she wasn’t quite sure about it. Maybe he had just tried and when he realized that his plan wouldn’t work out and Cheyenne was hesitant, he changed his tactics. The girl would probably never find out what was going on in the healer’s head, but on closer reflection she didn’t want to. It was funny. Sometimes she thought she knew him, but in other situations, Cheyenne found him very strange.

The companions walked on, but it was clear to everyone that the demon from just now was not the only and last one they would have to fight. There were also wilder and wilder waves. Cheyenne dared to approach Glaczio again and asked him about his elemental magic. She also paid him a serious compliment, because she found his quick reactions and instincts breathtaking. “Glaczio, thank you again. If you’ll allow me, I’d like to ask you something. You used ice elemental magic earlier, didn’t you? How do you do that? Is it difficult to do magic? And how could you feel that the demon was leaping towards us when you pushed me backwards? Although you are not able to see anything at the moment, you knew exactly where it would land and intercepted it with your sword… That was really impressive… Can these quick reactions be learned, or do you just need good instincts for them? I know you don’t like it when I’m so curious, but… I would really be interested…” Cheyenne averted her gaze in embarrassment, but she could feel the healer looking at her for a moment before he played with the handle of his sword in his hand and let it rotate elegantly with skill. He turned his gaze forward again and the girl did the same shortly afterwards. In a calm and serene voice, Glaczio answered all her questions. “Hehe, little angel… I didn’t mean that with your curiosity. I told you to rein them in… if it is not appropriate. This little lesson served to teach you to think better about your behavior and to choose a suitable moment for your questions. That was all I wanted to convey to you, but of course I had to express it a little more hurtfully, as you now know. Basically, curiosity in itself is not a bad quality if you can control it. Control, doll, that’s what you still lack. You have to work on it and there are certainly many people who will help you with that. First of all, I understand your curiosity and your statement as a compliment and praise, so you deserve my thanks. I will try to answer all your questions to your satisfaction. The first was magic with ice, if my memory is correct? Now… It would be easier to explain using a… ‘normal’ example… I am a healer, as such, you can’t actually cast magic except healing spells, because we have too less Umbraurore in our bodies for this to be possible, so we can only repair physical damage and not mental damage. Our high lumenium content limits the life force to the basic functions, in example instincts, the soul, the feelings and intelligence, which can be generated by both forces. There is no room left for excess Umbraurore that can be used for magic. If I hadn’t taken part in this childhood experiment back then, I wouldn’t be able to conjure up magic and it also works differently for me than usual. While normal elemental magic is cast by Umbraurore, which you are already aware of, I use Lumenium. At least when I do magic myself, my sword uses Umbraurore, like any other elemental weapon. Now you surely want to know how it is possible to summon magic with Lumenium, the power of forms and bodies, am I right? On closer inspection, my type of magic does not fall under the mentioned category. It is much more a gift combined by, more or less, luck and chance, rather than real magic. First of all, my body has not been able to store heat since the experiment, as you know. Then my element is also ice, which means I can handle cold well from birth. In addition, I am a healer and it is possible for me to master Lumenium surprisingly well. Last but not least, I’m also incredibly intelligent. Now, when I conjure up ‘ice magic’, it’s just out of a chain reaction of these things. I get Lumenium from a healing spell, the strength of which I choose so that more or less ice, more or less powerful, or weaker, should achieve the result in the end. I concentrate and focus the summoned lumenium of the unphysical form, as usual on one place in my hand, if strength is needed in both. Then I think of the lumenium structure of ice and the shape I would like, my brain sends out the information and sends it to the focused lumenium point in my hands. The white power remains cold due to my heat-repellent body and in combination with my element and the information, it is possible to make the whole thing even colder and a shape of ice is created, such as an icicle, the simplest result. However, I can only conjure up correct forms and not hail or snowstorms, or the like. The latter is only possible with elemental magic with Umbraurore. In addition, my magic only works if I don’t touch anyone, if such a case occurred it would remain a healing spell, insofar as I can unfortunately only cast magic with my hands, in contrast to the ‘real wizards’. Now to your next question. I guess all magic is just a matter of practice and for some it is more difficult to conjure, for others it is easier. I had a lot of problems with magic when I started and it really took years before I could master the ice as I do today. As a child, I always wanted to be able to cast other magic besides healing spells, so Atropax, my parents and I came up with a possible technique and it worked. Accordingly, it is difficult for me to judge the normal situation. But healing is also a form of magic and I learned to master it faster. I would say that magic requires full concentration, also talent, an enormous amount of practice and patience. In a way, you can also answer the question yourself if you remember that your arrows come partly from your magic, even if the weapon takes over almost completely, you have to cooperate. You said it took a long time for you to master it. So you have basically already received your answer. Your last curiosity is about instincts and reactions. Hm. It’s actually just as complicated as with magic. Vast amounts of practice are your faithful friend and companion and it is also partly due to birth. How you grew up also plays a role here. However, you can train instincts, but it is a difficult process because you are fighting against your own nature in a way, for example, if you want to train yourself off a little fear. But it is possible. The same applies to reactions. Just as with magic, a basic talent is not excluded. Of course, I don’t want to say that I’m such a talented person, under no circumstances, hehe… But I have to admit, I was very flattered by your compliment and to be honest, I think that we, as the chosen ones, have a fundamental advantage over others. This means that you too could train your instincts and reactions. It will take a lot of time, I speak from experience, but you are up to it. Although… your lack of concentration in some situations could get in your way. For me it was easy to learn all this, I had the best of the best as teachers since I was little… It would be an honor for me to teach you what they taught me, if you will allow me and it is not a thorn in your sight that they belong to the other side. As long as they are good techniques, you should make use of them, exploit them and eventually beat the Light Knighthood with their own weapons… Hm. The demon was easy to see through among your detailed descriptions. I just had to concentrate and could guess what was coming. You still have so much to learn, little angel… But you have me, I’ll be happy to instruct you, after all, I’m your heroic Prince Charming, aren’t I? And Sasha-Mouse is your faithful servant, hehe. We’ll make a worthy warrior out of you, don’t worry.” Glaczio grinned at Cheyenne and she smiled back a little timidly. Sasha, who was walking behind them, came to Glaczio’s left side and gave him a pat on the arm. “Servant, pff…” The healer winked at his protégé and put on an unusually friendly look, which resulted in Adocaz, who was trotting next to Cheyenne, growling angrily at him. Oh, Adocaz… He’s not as bad as you always pretend to be… I think he’s really behind us now. If not, he’s really the best actor there is… Hm… I would love to trust him again, but it just doesn’t work yet… Maybe that’s a good thing? I don’t know… I think now that I know him well by now, but is that really the case? In some situations, Glaczio is still so inscrutable and quite alien to me. I guess he will also remain eternally unpredictable… What do I expect? That we become best friends? Pff. He is the chosen one of light, I always forget that, I have to be much more careful in the face of this fact… at least if I really should be the chosen one… Everyone is so sure, but I just refuse to believe it’s true… Hopefully we will reach this Mount Nightblade soon, so that I finally have certainty… I hate it when I don’t know where I stand… Probably Adocaz is right and I should be more careful despite everything, or maybe because of it.

Cheyenne turned away from Glaczio again and whispered words of thanks. “It would be very nice and helpful if you would let me in on the deepest secrets of martial arts, as far as possible. I don’t care where they come from, the main thing is that they work and are useful. Thank you very much.” The girl’s words now had an undertone that brought a hint of suspicion, but she hoped the healer didn’t notice. However, it did not seem to escape him. He sighed, turned back to the sandy path in front of him and just nodded. Then the four went on without exchanging a word.

The silence was depressing, but at the same time soothing. The sound of the sea sounded like a wonderful melody to Cheyenne’s ears, reminding her of the old, beautiful times when she had sat on the back of her beloved horse Falconheart every day and ridden to her favorite place with her faithful fairy wolf Adocaz at her side. The single tree on the secluded hill behind the small, cozy village of Lasepia. The rising plain fell steeply down a few meters next to the green leafy branches of the large tree, along a natural wall of colorful stone mixed with minerals and colored crystals. The wild, blue waves of the gigantic, beautiful sea whipped against it and on lonely afternoons, together with the soft, wonderful music of the wind, were a song that spread the message of tranquility and invited you to dream. Cheyenne had often looked at the vast blue and wondered how big the world was. She had wished to go on a journey one day, when she was older, and to leave the capital. She only wanted to return there in her memory. Xaver would have gone out with her to explore the world. They had somehow done minor work and given the money they received to their families so that they could also flee from Excidoma Magna. Cheyenne’s grandparents would probably have moved to Lasepia and would have been out of danger. The girl wanted to start the journey on her sixteenth birthday, but her grandmother had worried too much about it and made it clear that her granddaughter would not be allowed to leave home until she was eighteen. If the old lady had decided otherwise, she could probably still be alive. But Cheyenne would have been able to just run away, then her future, which is now already present, would certainly look different. Her life would probably still be in order. But she didn’t want to cause her grandparents unnecessary grief.

The girl had tried to suppress her memories and pain of grief, but the waves of the sea tore open old wounds again. Maybe that was not only the fact, but possibly also that with each further step her life changed more. She left the continent where she had grown up. Everything she had lost in the short time since she had to flee from the knights a few days earlier, every single memory of it was anchored in the earth of this part of the world and Cheyenne was afraid to wake up one morning and forget her past. It was very painful and it would take a lot of strength and tears to recall it every day, but anything else would be degrading for the dead. She would love to forget the terrible events, but knew that she was not allowed to do so and would never dare. When she wanted to go on a trip, she couldn’t wait for it to finally start. Now that she had to, and was already on her way into unknown territory, she would love nothing more than to turn around and turn back time with every step she took back. She wanted to change her past and thus the future as well.

But Cheyenne knew that this was impossible.

            There was no way back, at least not one that would be suitable for her and that she could make use of.

Only the path on which she walked, which pointed forward, into an uncertain future full of danger and suffering, remained for her to choose.

It was over.

I don’t really have a problem leaving Luminastrelle, if only it weren’t for all these stirring memories… I want to get away too, but I just can’t do it without being sad. Sometimes I wish I could interpret and understand my feelings better… I would give so much to sit at the kitchen table with my grandmother again and peel potatoes, even though I hated it because I always cut myself when I was younger… Just sitting in the living room with my grandfather and playing cards with him when it rains and drinking a hot cocoa at the same time… And in the evening, before falling asleep… just once more to hear a bedtime story… and then let me give me a kiss on the forehead… I would even let myself be pinched in the cheek, for my sake… But that’s all over… Forever and ever… Never again will I see the warmth in my grandmother’s eyes when she wakes me up in the morning and joyfully takes the blanket away from me, laughing because I don’t want to get up… Never again will I feel the security that flows through me when my grandfather hugs me, if I am sad… Never again will I be able to stroke Falconheart’s silky fur, or let myself be lulled to sleep on his back… Everything I had and where I thought you couldn’t take it away from me… is now gone… Irrevocable… I’d love to turn back time… But if I could… would I really be able to do it? What if it wasn’t possible for me to change something? Then everything would remain the same and the same suffering would fall on all of us again. And if I could do something different, I would never have met Sasha… But… she’s just one person… my grandparents, Falconheart and also partly Xaver are three lives more… I guess I’ll never know what would happen… But I should now take Sasha as a role model… She has also been through so much, just like me, only that she has become stronger from it… I also have to be like them… Especially if I’m really the chosen one. Then it would be selfish to sink into my past and ruin the future of the world… But I said I’m not strong enough for it… Why doesn’t anyone see that? What does everyone expect and demand from me? I’m just me… A weak, anxious, seventeen-year-old girl from a slum, without any idea of the world… I need to get stronger… and more fearless… just like Glaczio… He has to help me to become braver and more courageous, he just has to… and Sasha too… I… I’m pathetic, pff… always dependent on help… but there is probably no other way at the moment, unfortunately… Oh, if only Xaver were here… Yes… Xaver… If I can’t pull myself together on my own, then at least I have to do it for him. I’ll find him, whether I’m the chosen one or not, he’s the top priority. Glaczio also said I shouldn’t get so carried away with this whole thing, so my goal will simply be to find Xaver. Yes… If I have a precise goal in mind that I can work towards, I immediately feel better… At least a little.

Cheyenne finished her train of thought, but didn’t know if she was actually feeling better or worse. She felt only now that she had been crying, because tears rolled down her cheeks and were warm in the cold night. Adocaz pressed himself firmly against his owner and constantly nudged her hand whining. He seemed to sense that the girl was sad.

Cheyenne didn’t know if Sasha and Glaczio had noticed that she was crying, because she hadn’t sobbed. She turned her face away to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Even if her companions were still ignorant, the ice-blue glow of the elemental sword would have made the truth visible. The girl looked ahead again, but tilted her head to the ground so that her long, silky hair could cover her face.

The shallow waves flooded the sand passage at the point where the companions were at the moment. Cheyenne felt her feet get wet again and the pain return. The sound of the sea became louder and louder and suddenly the water that flooded the passage withdrew completely. The wind became stronger and for a short time the sounds of the waves almost completely stopped. On the right side of the path there was already twice as much sand as before and the girl had a bad premonition. When the water retreats so enormously… this usually means that…

Cheyenne looked into the distance and had to realize that she was right. A gigantic wave came directly towards the four companions and would swallow them all up and take them into the depths of the wide sea. The girl stopped and grabbed Glaczio by the arm, so that he also came to the stand. He turned to her and wondered about his protégé’s behavior. “Hey, little angel, have you changed your mind about the kiss, or why do you want to put down roots here?” Cheyenne looked at him for a moment, aghast and uncomprehending, then looked into the distance again and saw that the wave was approaching faster than she had thought. Glaczio followed her gaze, but then turned back to the girl. “Doll, you know I don’t see the slightest thing, so how about you tell me what attracts your attention so magically, huh?” Cheyenne sighed, she had forgotten that in her excitement. Sasha had stepped up to her side in the meantime and looked at her worriedly. The girl became nervous, began to breathe a little faster and tried to explain the situation as quickly and understandably as possible. “If you don’t see it, you should hear it! There is a huge wave coming directly at us, it is very fast and will sweep us right away!”

The healer grinned briefly and bowed his head as he turned around. He stood in front of his childhood friend, his protégé and the fairy wolf and stuck his sword in the sand. “Oh, that’s what you mean, little angel, hehe… Of course I heard that, but it sounds like we have a few seconds left, so stay calm and put the matter in the hands of the heroic rescuer. Stand behind me and don’t move from the spot… Now you see the craft of a legendary master, hehe…” Oh… If he says something like that, it will never go well in life… How can he stay so calm with such a huge wave?! He even heard it… But he doesn’t really seem that confident to me right now…  While Sasha looked ahead worriedly, Cheyenne dropped to her knees and hugged the whining, trembling Adocaz, holding him tight, so that if the wave caught her, he wouldn’t be washed away from his owner.

The wind blew through Glaczio’s hair as he pointed his hands forward, parallel to the sandy ground. Now he seemed to be calm personified again and a magic circle appeared at his feet. This was white at first, as was the magic he focused in his palms. A healing spell. But then the colorless turned into a light blue. The accumulation of energy grew larger and suddenly it swarmed out, forming a rectangular shape that was twice as high and wide as the healer was tall. The structure slowly turned to ice and thus embodied a kind of protective wall.

Not a second too soon, the spell was complete, because as soon as everything was frozen, the gigantic wave crashed against the ice wall. Vast amounts of water flowed past the side of Cheyenne and her companions, but did not touch them. The girl dared to open her eyes, which had already been closed before, and observe the situation. Apart from the danger, it was a beautiful picture. The cool water flowed past not only to their sides, but also above them. The small group was wrapped in an elongated dome of water, at the beginning of which stood a wall of ice. Colorful fish and sea plants passed by Cheyenne and revealed to her a part of the mysterious beauty of the sea.

Suddenly there was a cracking sound and the girl saw that the ice had taken a deep, long crack and Glaczio’s hands were shaking. The weight of the water pushed him back and the fine sand gave him no support. He slid further and further back.

But then nature gave way and the wave of the sea carried less and less water until it was completely silent. The ice wall shattered into thousands of sharp splinters and Glaczio breathed heavily. The danger was averted.

The healer pulled his ice sword out of the sand and turned around before inquiring about the others. “Is… everyone… okay? Hehe… This wave… was quite… unruly… but your… powerful hero could… defeat them and save you…” He was visibly exhausted and the words sounded only soft and powerless. Cheyenne and Sasha nodded, fortunately Adocaz hadn’t been harmed either. I somehow can’t imagine that magic is so energy-sapping… Maybe that’s because it’s not a real spell and he’s not actually meant to cast it… Well, but apart from that, everyone could see that the wave had an enormous power… Glaczio saved us, that’s the main thing.

The healer seemed to be slowly catching his breath again and Cheyenne expressed her thanks, because Sasha didn’t make the slightest move to do so. “Thank you very much, you have saved us again. That was really amazing…” The young woman only joined her friend with a nod, because Cheyenne knew that Sasha would never voluntarily compliment Glaczio. But the girl was of the opinion that he now deserved one. Even if she couldn’t trust him, it wasn’t a mistake to keep up the façade and be friendly.

The healer winked at his protégé with a smile, even seemed to be a little happy about the compliment. “Hehe, does the hero deserve a kiss now? Oh, angel, don’t worry, I’m just joking… Pretty practical, such protective walls, huh? Even though mine is not really ‘real’, it does much more than a protective shield of elemental magic. They can only fend off other elemental attacks, through magic or elemental weapons, but only if they don’t have the same element. My ice walls can fend off everything and even last better and longer because they are made of lumenium. Before you ask: Yes, I created this protective wall in exactly the same way as my icicles earlier, hehe. My clever little angel…” Hm, here again the frequencies are used. Interesting…

Sasha didn’t seem to like the incident with the water at all and she urged them to continue their journey. “Guys, I know we’re halfway there, but how about you save your gossip for later, when we’re finally away from this cursed sand passage? Please, thank you. If we don’t hurry, another wave will come and I bet that the icicle won’t be able to build up such a strong protective wall again without sufficient rest… By the way, that was a little too short for my taste, you oh-so-big, powerful hero! And now swing your hooves and get moving! Cheyenne, you’re going with me now, okay? Until the complete idiot learns to behave decently and no longer asks for ‘kisses’ all the time. I feel really sorry for you, how can you stand it without going crazy?” Cheyenne couldn’t help it, again she had to grin at a statement from Sasha. Her friend simply managed to make her feel better in every situation and was even able to make a little sadness disappear. There was also a little malicious joy, for the young woman always spoke so kindly and nicely to the girl, but when she spoke to Glaczio she was imperious, impetuous, and mean. The healer didn’t seem to mind on the outside, but he himself had admitted that the heartless nature of his childhood friend was getting to him from time to time. He had probably just gotten used to it. On the one hand, Cheyenne found her friend’s behavior a bit unfair, on the other hand, she was at least able to keep Glaczio in check and actually, if she was honest, he deserved it.

The small group continued, Sasha and Cheyenne with Adocaz in the lead, Glaczio followed behind. For a while everything was quiet and they made good progress. Then they encountered a seal demon from Umbraurore, which was much easier to defeat than the Aquatigeris demon they had destroyed, if Sasha and Glaczio were to be believed. Shortly afterwards they met a demon again, a giant crab consisting of life force, but even this was no challenge for the girl’s companions. Cheyenne was glad that her friend and the healer were with her, because she wouldn’t have been able to control these situations with Adocaz alone. She also watched the fights very closely to see tricks she could use one day.

The girl felt safe and was enormously happy when she could see the end of the sand passage not too far away. The path widened there and turned into a grassy plain. Individual trees and flowers were recognizable and in the distance a gigantic mountain towered towards the sky. Finally, they would all reach Halonia and leave the dangers of the sea behind. Only a few meters separated the small group from the desired continent. Yes! Finally we made it. Let’s get away from the sand passage… And there aren’t even chromasters in the sky, so we were pretty fast. I hope we’ll take a short break then, I’m completely exhausted… But hey. We did it, that’s the most important thing. Cheyenne sighed long and deep. She was relieved, because she would soon be able to walk on normal ground again and told her companions what she saw. “The sand passage finally ends up there. I see a mountain, grassland and a few trees. So we made it to Halonia right away… Luckily.” The girl could not really express her enthusiasm because she had almost no strength to speak. Her words sounded hoarse and soft, her whole body trembled with exhaustion, and her feet hurt tremendously. Sasha also seemed very relieved, but you could tell that she was at the end of her rope. “Tell me, am I dreaming or did you really just say we made it? Oh, man, I thought we’d have to walk around here forever. My legs are killing me and I could fall asleep while walking. As soon as we have solid ground under our feet again, we take a break, I’m sure no one has anything against it and if they do, I’ll give the person a little electric shock… Unconscious people can hardly mind a break, can they? But I think everyone here agrees with me… It’s even still dark, so it wouldn’t do any good to go on anyway if we don’t see anything and at least we don’t have any time pressure anymore. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see land as I am now. I could even hug the icicle right now, I’m so happy. And that’s saying something…” 

Cheyenne smiled and watched her friend stretch and yawn. But then she noticed that the light blue glow of the ice sword behind her was getting fainter and fainter and that Glaczio hadn’t given a sharp answer to Sasha’s statement. Either he was too tired and fell back, or he had stopped on purpose. Cheyenne was just turning to him when his voice rang out. “Hey, my bunnies, don’t rejoice too soon… We haven’t arrived in northern Halonia yet… You’d better turn around and say hello to our nice friend here. I don’t think he’s in the mood for a tea party today, though. Hehe, I guess he’d prefer blood.” In front of the healer stood a gigantic sea spider, with eight white legs and eyes made of lumenium and a thick, oval body made of umbraurore. The spider’s first two front legs, right and left, were equipped with blade-like claws that seemed to be sharp as a guillotine. Under the eyes there was a small mouth-shaped opening, which was also decorated with scissor-like handles made of white. On the legs you could see hair from which water beads dripped and when the spider crab lifted one of them, you could see how sharp the end was. Without much effort, the huge, disgusting creature could pierce someone’s heart with it. It had many small spines on its hind legs, which could possibly lead to poisoning death if touched. The smell surrounding the arachnid stank of decay, algae and stale water, thick saliva came out of its mouth. It was a disgusting sight that one would want to spare even one’s enemies.