Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 38 | Rescue Mission, Part Two

Arenia and Marque rode atop Barjual's back, flying to the mainland. The elf wore a blue bandanna tied around her forehead, the ends of the torn cloth flapping in the wind. Marque had a piece of cloth wrapped around his shoulder. It acted as a piece of armor and as well as a bandage to hide a bruise he had gotten after getting some supplies for the Ar'guals.

Those clothes hid themselves from Braunick—he could not search for their minds and would not detect them. It made them invisible and allowed no one except themselves access to their mind. Marque had created these forms of protection on his own with intentions of protecting the Destigems. He made one for every Destigem and was going to prepare to make some for Barjual and Paöminar when they got back.

Thad had sent them to the mainland to complete the mission that Agent 34 and Ismara had failed. The Zena was in desperate need of men, and what better way to get them than from the mainland itself?

Arenia's eyes glistened across the water. She remembered the events that had gone on over this ocean and who had ended up being killed. His body was somewhere in these waters, decaying slowly as it was being eaten by the ocean life.

Marque noticed her looking at the water. "Just—try not to think of it. It's a little cruel, but it saves a lot of tears,"

The elf looked down towards the black scales, away from the ocean. She had cried countless hours since of hearing of Agent 34's death. Arenia had lost hope in this war and was pushing Thad to try to let the Zena flee the continent and look for life outside of Renya. She didn't want to live somewhere with a tyrant ruler that was crazy enough to kill his own brother and not feel any guilt.

They lost Wímad, they lost Scar, they lost Calvin, they lost Ismara, they kind of lost Vrängr, and the worst of all, they lost Agent 34.

She broke down, not holding the tears anymore. They fell from her cheeks onto the scales, gathering into a small puddle before her.

Arenia didn't stop herself from crying in front of Marque of Barjual. She did it nearly every night now when she was locked up in her sleeping quarters of the bunker they had taken refuge in until the new Zena was built. She was sure that they could hear her tears fall and was worried they would ask her about it.

"It'll be okay," Marque tried to comfort her.

"Get your act together, Arenia," Barjual barked. "We are nearly there. Get your ice boots on, I'm letting you off on the water so I don't have to go into the storm,"

The dragon lowered down towards the ocean, tipping his tail down into the water. Arenia fumbled to slip on her enchanted boots, one of the many gifts Braunick had given her in an attempt to get her to join his side. The boots allowed her to walk upon water by instantly freezing the liquid upon touch. She could walk across the ocean if she ever so pleased.

Arenia slid down Barjual's tail, wiping her tears off quickly. Marque followed her but waited until the ice formed to climb off.

She dipped her foot down towards the waves, the ocean freezing into a small chunk of ice. Arenia let go of the dragon's tail and applied the pressure of both feet upon the ice, telling Marque to follow her.

She began to walk towards the mainland which was a little aways, the ice forming below her. The human followed behind slowly, nearly losing his balance on the slippery surface.

Barjual took off, calling down to them from above. "I'll be waiting. Send me a message when you have a few survivors,"

Marque threw up a thumbs up to him, the two going onto the mainland to search for anyone who had managed to survive the storm.

~ ~ ~

The pair reached Renya in around five minutes, black rain pouring down on them. The two pulled up their hoods and pulled the rest of their cloaks out of their armor and hit their hands in their pockets. With their skin protected from the devil's rain, the two prepared onwards towards the nearest city.

Once they reached it, and it wasn't a long walk, they saw the true damage Braunick had done to this once beautiful world.

Nearly every building had been ransacked, bodies lay scattered across the city in various places, one even dangling out of a window and was hanging onto something from the inside. Red splotches gathered on the cracked and dirtied sidewalks, some of it washed away from the black puddles gathering from the rain.

A growl was heard from up ahead, a human limping up the street. Arenia and Marque spotted it coming at them, hair in a mess, fingernails grown out of standard proportion, clothes torn and barely hanging onto its body. The rain bounced off of his body and onto the ground. None of it soaked into his skin. He was already turned.

The evil launched at Marque, howling as it went and alerting anything else in whatever city they were in. Marque threw his fist straight into the evil's head, making sure his skin was still concealed, and knocking it out of the air and back onto the ground.

Soon, more civilians which had been turned evil began to flood the city street. They all came for Arenia and Marque, their only protection was the weapons they wielded.