Crystal Seal

Chapter 12 - Farewell

Kai flinched after he heard what Nalia reported to him. Is he dreaming? Is it real? "Glitch?" He repeated, unsure about what Nalia said. Nalia nodded her head, "According to what my cousin and I read about extinction, usually any kind of mythical creature would glitch. They went extinct so quickly and caused the Earth to tremble so badly, just like Earthquake though," She described her knowledge to Kai, who tends to get up after he finished his healing.

Kai was shook when he heard the word tremble, how did he don't feel anything about this 'Earthquake'? "How could I not feel it?" Kai suddenly asked. "Silly Stane. I cast a spell on you so that you would not wake up in shock, making you immune to those vibrations the Earth gave us," Nalia answered him, strolling towards the den entrance. "Let's catch up with the others," She murmured, heading out before Kai.

Kai went after Nalia, he did recognize that his mask and his blades went missing. Kai was frightened by this as he walked beside Nalia. He can't believe he lost his mask that his mentor gave him on their farewell, thinking that his mask was brought away by the river currents. Nalia gave him a nudge at his arm, "Stane, you shouldn't be worried about your mask, the most important is that you are safe," she said, commanding her cubes to search around the area.

"I know, but that mask is important to me. My mentor gave it when the downfall happened," Kai nervously told her. "I know losing something important hurts, just accept it and move on. I know it's just an object, at least it will always remain in your memory rather than forget about it," Nalia advised. Kai felt offended though he knew he must accept it. Passing the rocks is an easy task for Nalia. Instead of leaping over it, Nalia would just use her magic and place it away from their tracks, Kai thought that it was lazy nonetheless it is faster and easier.

Kai just noticed that they are at the Riverine Forest, heading towards Mount Hokrabi. Kai felt that they were still far from the mountain, guess the river must have brought him all the way back to Riverine. This time Kai decided to question her, "Hey Lia. May I ask?" He began. "Better be important, Stane," Nalia responded as she removed some branches up ahead of them using her magic. "How did I survive from drowning? I mean how did you know that I was under the water, even if I didn't keep my head up, I fainted inside it," Kai questioned. "Leonard smelled your scent randomly and growled just as Brooklyn successfully lure the Likowns with her phoenix. Leonard informed us that he caught your scents, he realized your mask was floating. Brooklyn just ordered Leonard to swim and find you. In the end, Leonard successfully saved you from drowning. Ya know, Leonard does have a strong sense of smell just like dogs, though his sense is way more powerful. After rescuing you, my cousin used her powers to heal you and decided to check on Zenil as Brooklyn got anxious about him. Both of them flew with Leonard to the cave, leaving me in charge of you," Nalia answered him. "I brought you to a small den as a shelter. Thankfully, no creatures lived there. Making sure that you are safe, I sat on the entrance, patiently waiting for my cousin to return. Not long after, I felt the ground shook aggressively, heart pounding so fast with fear. I looked back to you and cast you a spell as I panicked. Casting an immune spell and shielding us with my powers," Nalia added gravely.

Kai stopped to think that even a stubborn and fearless mage like her could feel empathy. Nalia is known to be rude by the eyes of Kai, she is quite hot headed and would do anything independently, feeling that the only person Nalia cared about is her cousin. He was wrong, she did care for his safety. "Thankfully, my shield was strong enough to hold those falling rocks. Not just that, one of the Likowns almost attacked us just as they growled at the entrance of the den. I was ready with my magic as they were going to leap on the shield. Just before they reach us, they glitches and suddenly disappear so randomly. All of them, with my very own eyes, seeing them glitching so bad, at the same time, the ground stopped trembling," Nalia added.