"You do realize that if that storm comes crashing down, we'll have an even harder time escaping."
"Oh I'm not waiting for the rain, I'm waiting for thunder." Nithara said, sending a shiver of realization down Feywa's spine.
She pulled out a stick that instantly shot outwards and turned into a staff.
"Leave the hunters to me. You focus on getting Eruana away from here." Nithara added.
And as if sharing the same brain cell, they pounced at the first sound of thunder.
Feywa sneaked behind the house where she wouldn't be seen and started using her ability to make an underground path towards where Eruana was laying.
Nithara on the other hand, grabbed the first bolt of lightning with her staff and merged the two into her personal weapon— a scythe.
It was taller than her; Its curved blade stretched like a crescent torn from the night sky.
It glowed bright purple, matching the color of her awakened eyes.
"Looking for me?" She spoke, grabbing the attention of every hunter that was present.
Without answering, all hunters began to fire in Nitharas direction, sending laser after laser of the tranquillisation energy. But nithara swiftly avoided every single one, moving at lightning speed, while slicing through every hunter she passed.
Unlike those hunters, every single one of her attacks sliced through its target.
Amidst the fight, Feywa had emerged from the ground, exactly where Eruana was kept captive with a net.
She grasped the situation outside and quickly took Eruana in her arms and returned back underground. Letting Nithara do her part.
Soon there were eight, seven, six, then five, four, three, two, one, until there was no hunter left.
She left the most important person for last—Lameerah.
The curve of the scythe was on her neck. Her body was pressed down on the ground as Nithara stood on her back, she struggled to break free.
"Why did you do it?" Nithara asked, her grip tightening around the scythe's handle.
Lameerah laughed, "Why wouldn't I?"
Nithara pulled the scythe even closer to Lameerah's neck. A cut finally emerged as blood dripped from it.
"I've always hated her since we were kids. She's the reason our parents died!" Lammerah screamed.
"I was the one who was supposed to be taken by scientists in the orphanage, but I swapped our datas so she could take my place. I WANTED TO MAKE HER SUFFER FOR RUINING MY LIFE!"
Nithara felt nothing but disgust.
"She was so gullible to the point of insanity! I never wanted anything other than to rip that gross smile off her stupid face!"
The glow in Nithara's eyes grew brighter and brighter as her anger rose. She leaned to Lameerah's ear and spoke.
"Suffer? Well, I'm not in place to make you pay for what you did, but I'll still make you experience something much more painful than the 'suffering' you have in mind."
Without mercy, Nithara removed the scythe from Lameerah's neck, and instead penetrated Lameerah's back with it.
In that exact moment, she sent a huge amount of mana into the weapon, giving Lameerah a sweet taste of electrocution.
She made sure not to hit any vital organs to make sure Lameerah felt every bit of it without dying first.
Eyes rolling back to the back of her skull while her body shook uncontrollably, she looked like a fish out of water.
Moments later, a drizzle of rain landed on Nithara's hand. She looked up and let it touch her face.
"That's my que."
With a leap, she fled the scene and landed on an empty street.
"Shit, I forgot to ask Feywa where she built a shelter." Nithara panicked.
As she took four steps forward, she was suddenly dragged by the leg.
She immediately wielded her scythe to attack the person who messed with her, but it wasn't even a person.
It was a tree root.
Nithara mentally slapped her forehead.
"Couldn't Feywa, think of a nicer way to get me?"
The tree root dragged her into a series of lefts and rights through the alleys. She just crossed her arms in annoyance and let it happen.
Soon enough, she arrived in front of a door.
Before she could have the chance to dust herself off of the mud and dirt she collected while being dragged, the door opened and a hand came out to drag her in.
"What the heck were you thinking? The rain from that storm could've killed you—" Feywa scolded her.
"Hey, I'm fine. Nothing's missing, look. Just a little mud from being dragged by your roots." She cut off Feywa, then did a three-sixty to show that she was fine—and also to show Feywa's art.
"Besides, rain from a nyct storm doesn't affect me, unlike a regular arcanian." She added.
Feywa's eyes widened, she wanted to ask dozens of questions but Nithara covered her mouth as soon as se opened it.
"Save it for next time, I'm tired."
"How's Eruana?" Nithara asked.
"She's inside, taking a res—"
"By the way, do you have my bag? I need a change of clothes" Nithara asked.
Feywa blinked twice before answering. "We left everything at Lameerah's house."
This time, she really did slap her forehead in frustration.
"Fuck—"
"If you need some clothes, I can lend you some." A voice came from behind Feywa.
It belonged to a middle-aged lady wearing a white dress, layered with a blue apron that tightly hugged her body.
The tiny wildflowers danced along the hem of her dress in careful stitches, and the fabric—light as breath—brushed her ankles as she moved.
She wore a blue headband that perfectly matched the color of her apron, while her pale skin made her glow in the dimly lit room.
Along with her dress danced her neatly braided hair that reached her feet.
She carried a basin of herbs towards a bed where Eruana laid— still in her koala form.
"Who's that?" Nithara asked.
Feywa rolled her eyes at her and crossed her arms.
"If you didn't cut me off every time I spoke you would've known by now."
Nithara let out a soft laugh.
"That's Fatheya, we bumped into her while we were on our way to the shelter I made. She's an Emirian." Feywa explained.
"She realized we were arcanians too, so she offered to help. Also, this is her house—well, her old house. She's about to move out of here. " She added.
Now that Nithara thought about it, she didn't end up in one of Feywa's made-up shelters—she ended up in an actual house.
It was spacious, considering the fact that it didn't have much furniture probably because of the moving out thing, but it was still quite functional.
"Come here for a second, let's talk." Feywa spoke, leading Nithara into the farthest corner of the room.
"Let's not talk about what happened back there once Eruana wakes up. I've seen this happen to her countless times before, she won't remember a thing about what happened once she wakes up, so if she asks questions, leave it be, just let me do the talking."
"Well, that'll be nice cuz her sister's probably dead by now."
Feywa turned pale.
"WHAT?!"
With mixed feelings about the information, Feywa wanted to scold her, but was stopped by the koala's cry.
"She's gonna be in that state for a while, isn't she?" Nithara asked, looking at the koala laying on the bed.
Feywa didn't answer.
"I think I might be able to help." She tapped Feywa's shoulder before moving towards Fatheya, who was tending to Eruana.
She dragged a chair beside Fatheya and asked, "Can you lend me a hand?" Stretching her hand in front of her.
Fatheya hesitated for a moment but eventually reached out to take Nithara's hand.
Nithara placed Fatheya's hand on top of the tiny koala's chest while her own hand lay atop Fatheya's.
"Now, close your eyes and cast the strongest spell you've got that could cure her. Don't be scared, I won't hurt you in anyway"
Fatheya obliged and as soon as Nithara saw the green glow on Fatheya's hand, she also casted her own spell. From her forearm, a string of electricity travelled down into her hand and seeped through to reach Fatheya's hand.
With a light push, both the electricity and the green glow from Fatheya's hand traveled into Eruana's tiny body. Within seconds, Eruana's body returned to its human form.
Baffled by what she was seeing, Fatheya retreated her hand with a forceful pull from Nithara's grasp.
This concerned Nithara, so she said, "Wait— are you hurt? Shit—"
"N-No That's not it, I'm fine." Fatheya quickly answered in protest.
"How did you do that? Normally, it would have taken days or weeks for her to recover her human form. This is amazing—wait— YOU'RE AN AMETHIAN?!"
Nithara just smiled at her, as she continued to ramble.
"Oh my Astra— I've never seen one before—well they have been extinct for a long time, but I've read studies about them in text books and research studies. " She sounded like a teen girl.
"The pleasure is all mine." Nithara coyly replied.
"Anyways, I'd love to get those clothes you mentioned earlier, the mud on my clothes had dried up. It's gonna be a headache to remove." She added, giving Fatheya the most playful fake smile—which she didn't even notice in her frenzied march to another room.
Nithara let out a sigh of relief, before heading back towards Feywa, who was following her with bewildered eyes.
She sat and said, "She'll be awake in no time, you don't have to worry too much." Giving Feywa the look of pure reassurance.
"..." Feywa didn't reply, but her expression alone gave off the word 'thank you', even with doubt and confussion lingering in her mind.
Soon, Fatheya came back with a bunch of neatly folded clothes, stacked in a small laundry basket. With a big smile plastered on her face, Fatheya spoke.
"You two can pick whatever you want from this basket, the bathroom's right around that corner." She set the basket down on a table.
"I'll just be in the kitchen making dinner, you guys must be starving already." She added, skipping her way towards the kitchen.
"I'll go ahead and take a shower." Nithara said, picking up a black crop top and knee length sleeping shorts from the laundry basket.
In the bathroom, Nithara finally took off her facade. She collapsed on the ground, and hastily took off the bandages on her arms.
Just as she expected, it had spread.