Incline 24: Einervaene

"Vadei..." I would mutter as I quickly turned around and went into the skies once again. Hopping over to where she was likely to be and crashing down next to them. Staring up at her with fear in my eyes while she looked confused.

"What happened...? Did you beat it?" Vadei asked as she looked down at me. This Liadanann would do the same but she seemed to be looking out for Nin.

"I... I don't know! But... Nin... We failed to stop it..." I began to say before I began to choke on my words. Tears soon began to appear around my eyes and I would start crying uncontrollably. But I had no clue as to why. Was I blaming myself for the loss of Nin's home...?

Was I enthralled with the idea that Nin would hate me because of this...?

"You mean?" Vadei muttered as she looked off in the direction of what seemed to be a road. I would nod, but I don't know if she properly got it.

"Where is Nin, then? I want to see him again." Liadanann then asked as she brought me back to my feet. Her firm grip on my arms was more than enough for me to focus on her instead of my thoughts.

"H-He's out in the wastes somewhere... He chased the wyvern out to those parts." I told them as I calmed down and stood on my own. Keeping my eyes on Vadei until she gestured for me to get us over there. And that is what I did, I took her hand and Liadanann's and I sent us flying over to the ruins of Tobaballe. Just in time to find Larishazza who was wandering in confusion.

"Where's the city?" she asked while looking about at all the destruction we had caused. And I would point to the molten gap between the mountains. Where only a few charred corpses were at the edge of it all.

"It was there." I tell her with a sniffle as Liadanann groans as she gets up again.

"Can someone help me get these off?" she then asked as she bashed the weapons against each other. Larishazza would move to help her and her water magic would pry it apart. With some of it being used as a means to heal her injuries until she interfered with it.

"No! I want Nin to handle this..." she mumbled while backing away with her free hands. Vadei, meanwhile, would pick some of the gold up before she offered it to me.

"What is this stuff anyway?" I asked as I felt my magic react to it oddly. As if it was rejecting it somehow.

"Thunder-gold, the humans used it in nearly everything." Liadanann answered.

"This isn't thunder-gold." I told her with a frown, somehow knowing this from just magic reaction alone.

"Yes it is, it has magic in it and it is gold, this is the work of the Great Thunderous Destroyer!" she said as she spat at the weapons before rubbing her hands and tail.

"Destroyer...?" I would repeat in confusion before our attention went to the city again.

"I think it is about time we went back to Suhurlodst now." Vadei then said as she began to walk off. An uncertain smile on her face as she passed by the signs of destruction.

"Why're you smiling?" Larishazza would ask her and Liadanann as both of them seemed to take joy in this sight.

"This was Nin's home!" I would add on, something that got both of them to take off their smiles. An angered expression, however, would take over Vadei's features.

"This was also the place where I was enslaved."

"These people tortured me..." Liadanann quietly added on as she touched her injuries slowly. Twitching in pain as she brought her claws away from the holes in her chest.

"Nin is your friend! Don't take joy in his loss! Especially not one such as this!" I told them, nearly enraged by this lack of empathy. This got them both to keep quiet, albeit, they initially snorted but they became quiet.

"What do we do?" Larishazza then asked me as we walked through the ash and rubble. A frown on each of our faces as we did so. I tried to keep my eyes off it all but this was a city after all... There was so much destruction we had to go past.

"We make sure he is okay..." I tell her while looking off into the distance. On the ground was a large display of magic that was quickly getting weaker.

"Alright, get us over there." Vadei said impatiently as she grabbed onto me. Larishazza would too, but Liadanann would be very slow to do so. And then, once I had regained my focus, I shot us over to where the magic was. We landed with a grand explosion of magic and saw firsthand what the area was like.

The wyvern had been torn apart and the landscape was completely destroyed. And, in the middle of it all, a very, very quiet Nin who was just staring at the ground. He said nothing and he did nothing. Not even reacting to when we came over to him.

"Ninno?" Larishazza would say as she put a hand on him. Something that seemed to stir a response from him. But all he did was grab my leg and just sort of wait.

"Airship? Do you want to go back to it...?" I asked him before I just assumed an answer on his behalf as he said nothing. Yet, when I tried to get us near the airship, its shields would flare up and send us away. And when we were able to safely get back to the ground...

"Why are the shields active!?" Vadei suddenly asked as the rest of us recovered from the fall it brought us into. She would repeat this question over and over with growing anger until she began to lash out.

"Vadei!" I would say as she began to claw at Nin. Each slash she took carved yellow lines into his magic deprived body. Something that would not stop until me and Larishazza gave him some of our magic. This would keep him safe from Vadei's rage and Liadanann was kind enough to grab her.

Her vastly greater size and strength easily kept Vadei struggling yet still for the most part, "WHY ARE THE SHIELDS ACTIVATED!?" she snapped out at Nin as the airship suddenly began to descend until it was close enough for us to jump on.

"Keep her still, I'll get him up there and come back." Larishazza said before she took Nin onto the airship with a single leap. Her magic caused Liadanann some stress as it sent many bits of gravel at her. I then tried to heal her up, but she reacted the same way as last time.

"No, Nin can handle that." she repeated to me while heaving her chest up and down in pain. She would keep twitching in pain and Vadei took advantage of that. She would put her hairs into the wounds and make the stinging force Liadanann off of her. And then, she went onto the airship, leaving me down here with Liadanann.

"Where is your home?" I then asked as I did not like the quiet right now. It also helped that I had never seen or heard of anything like her before. Yet, for some reason, I felt like I did know what she was.

"Deep underground, I... I am fine with coming with you lot, though..." she answered meekly with a lot of nervous behaviour until I calmed her down. Holding my hand out for her and smiling until she took it. Bringing us up one last time just before Larishazza was about to come down again.

"Can I have some help!?" Larishazza then asked me as she took me by the hand and dragged me to the bridge. A scared and angry mob on one end while an unreactive Nin was on the other. The slavers just by him at the various computers.

"Whaaat haaappend?" Heiya asked us as she nervously looked up at Nin. Her father was even moving over to her to protectively hold her while the mob of Vadei's people yelled and yelled.

"WHY'S THERE AN OSIBINDAH HERE!?"

"KILL THAT THING!"

"GET RID OF IT NOW!"

They would say as I moved over to him in a protective manner. Not wanting to have a repeat of how it went down at first when we got to Suhurlodst. I would try easing his worries by rubbing his head, but he still did not move. And really, all I was doing was easing my own nervousness.

But then, all of a sudden, Vadei came charging down into the bridge with her claws alight with magic. And she went at Nin in a crazed frenzy until I managed to stop her as she barked over and over. Tears in her eyes while all of her face twitched in rage. It wasn't difficult keeping her away from him, but what had caused this...?

"MURDERER!" she would then scream past me before she broke down crying. Her body fell down before Nin as she tried to pathetically claw at his closest foot. And all she could say was that one word over and over again. All before she then curled up and cried into her tail.

Nin would then sigh before he straightened himself out, he would then walk away. With the mob suddenly going quiet and parting before him as he went past them. And the few that did not shirk away were knocked aside with so little effort. It was almost like they were never there.

I and Larishazza were split between who we should focus on, Vadei or Nin. But, all of a sudden, Liadanann would get involved. Blocking us off completely from the mob before she turned to the two slavers. She would growl at them but otherwise did nothing until they left for the decking. I would watch her, at first, but then Vadei pulled up a screen and cried more.

"Is he...?" I would find myself asking as I recognised who was on the screen. If only because Vadei had spent so long watching it on our way here. It was her father, and all of the displays were saying the same thing. The number zero or nothing at all.

Vadei would then nod before she started crying once again, "What did Nin do?" Larishazza asked. But all we got was an indecipherable technical document.

"When the beast and Nin collided with the airship, it set off the shields and the sudden magic caused a reaction in that one in the bed?" Liadanann questioned with certainty as it became apparent she could somehow read this. Vadei would nod slowly whilst continuing to sob.

"It gave him a heart attack and as no one was able to help him due to the panic... He died..." she barely got out before she cried once again. And soon, blood was coming from her tail as both her claws and teeth went past the fur and towards its fleshy part.

"You... You can't blame Nin like this." I would say at first until she suddenly jerked up.

"HE COULD HAVE GONE ANYWHERE IN THAT FIGHT AND HE BROUGHT IT HERE!" she screamed in my face before she ran off. Leaving me with just Larishazza and Liadanann who were both quiet.