*Sarah*

Nyima and I left our teams and followed Princess Marina out of the stadium where the obstacle course had taken place.

"Wait!" Xue yelled, running after us. "Can I join too?"

The princess of Mizu no Kin smiled at her. "Of course you can. The more the merrier!"

"Thank you," Xue said, bowing.

Marina sighed. "Like I told Sarah, there's no need to act so formal around me."

"Yeah, Marina is like the water," the young man who had accompanied her said. "She goes with the flow. Probably one of the most laid back people I know."

I thought of Kun and Hal.

"Sounds a bit like Iah and Lei," Nyima said, chuckling a little.

"Yeah," I said, smiling.

Nyima laughed nervously. "Ironic that I'm the one with water..."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

She bit her lip. "Well... I'm kind of uptight compared to the others."

"Well, so are we," Xue said.

I gasped. "What? I'm not..."

"Now you sound like Sy here," Marina said, laughing.

Sy averted his gaze and remained silent as we exited the stadium.

"Is he mad?" Nyima asked.

"A bit, I think," Marina whispered. "Though this is an improvement to when we were younger. Sy used to run off."

"I didn't run away!" Sy snapped. He grumbled. "I simply wanted some space. You were so overbearing back then."

Marina laughed, prompting him to blush.

"W-why are you laughing?"

"She really is like that rude kid..." Nyima said, sighing.

"And his older triplet brother," I added.

"At least you girls understand me," Sy said.

"So many tsunderes," Marina said, snickering.

"Indeed," Xue said, nodding her head.

"I am not a tsundere!" Nyima, Sy, and I yelled at in unison.

"Wow, were you three triplets in another life or something?" Marina asked.

"N-no!" we yelled as we came to a stop in the full parking lot in front of the stadium. The three of us glanced at one another and burst into laughter.

Marina giggled and continued on her way. "Sy, can you help me train these girls?"

Sy sighed. "I guess. You basically threw our plans for today out of the window."

"We interrupted something?" Nyima asked, frowning.

He shook his head. "Don't be concerned. It wasn't a date or anything like that. Just two friends hanging out."

Was that truly it? Wasn't there something else?

"Anyway, let's get going," Sy said, walking on ahead of us.

***

Xue took the lead and walked us back to the Shining River Hotel. Specifically  the west wing. This part of the hotel contained rooms which were dedicated for magical battles.

"Here we are," Xue said as a door clicked open.

The room was... empty with a white floor and white walls. It was also roughly the size of the average high school gymnasium.

"This place reminds me of the angelic dome a bit," Marina said, glancing around.

Xue swiped the air, making a holographic screen appear before her. "Not sure what that is, but this place is very useful. It has various terrains we can pick from."

She clicked on one and all of a sudden, particles of prana began to pour into the room. The scenery shifted into that of a white sandy beach.

Nyima gasped. "It looks like back home."

"This scenery is called 'Wahkanian Beach', so not surprised it does," Xue said. She smiled. "Makes me wish that I could've spent some time on the beach when we went there."

"Lady Ocarina's boyfriend was from Wahkan," Marina said, squatting at the edge of the beach.

"You mean Eri? He's her husband now. They have two sons," Nyima said.

"Really?" Marina asked. She smiled. "I want to meet them!"

"I'll have the triplets find them."

"Eri... I remember him," Sy said as he leaned against a coconut tree. He smiled as he looked around the reproduction of one of Wahkan's beaches. "He wasn't kidding when he said his home was beautiful."

"We should go to Wahkan next!" Marina said, standing up.

"We can go there for summer break... though I guess that there it would be winter."

"Wahkan has only two real seasons. One of them is 'Winter' which lasts from the fifth month up to the eleventh month. While the other is 'summer' which lasts for the other six months of the year," Nyima said. "Though the variation in temperature are mild compared to that of the continent. More so the southern portion which experiences traditional seasons."

"Interesting," Marina said. "It's like the inverse of my nation's northern reaches. Usually it remains cold all year around except for the summer in which wild flowers are given the chance to bloom."

"Sounds beautiful," Nyima said.

"It truly is! You should stop by if you're ever in Zionia."

"Wish we had done some more sight-seeing during our time there," I said.

"By the way, how did you get back to Xeleria so soon?" Nyima asked.

"Well... Kun tried to access the abyss, but we instead ended up back in Nine Petal."

Sy gasped. "The abyss?"

Nyima furrowed her brow. "Why did he try to do that? Doesn't he know that's dangerous?"

"I'm not sure..." I said, looking at the rolling waves. "But I think it has to do with his destiny."

"What destiny?"

"His destiny, huh?" Sy said, closing his eyes. "If Kun ever accomplishes it then tell me!"

"No. He won't," Nyima said, shaking her head. "As the heir of the tower of the abyss, I can't allow that. Those creatures killed many. They're waiting for the gateways to weaken before they can make another attempt. If someone goes ahead and do what that fox did then-"

"What fox?" Sy asked.

"Uh, a man who went by the name of 'Kitsune'. Kun and Hikaru fought him. He tried to kick us out of Nine Petal Academy."

"Kitsune? Nine Petal... could he be the father of that bastard?" Sy mumbled to himself. "Tsk. If that's so then the war might not be over after all... I better let my brother and the others know..."

"Well, Kitsune is no more. My brother killed him," I said. "Your brother was there too."

Sy smiled. "So that's why Hideo said he felt as if he had indirectly avenged our brother..." he whispered to himself.

"Your brother... Ahh! That's who that guy who was with Hal reminded me of! He looked just like the kid in the crystal!"

"Huh?"

"Well, not a literal crystal. It was a projection from a crystal. I saw it happen."

"You did?"

Nyima lowered her head. "Yeah... It was frightening... The darkness of the abyss... one could see it even though it was passive. Those creatures with to drag everything into that bottomless darkness." She looked up at him. "That's why I can't allow anyone to access it, even if it's to save a loved one. Too much is on the line!"

Sy nodded. "I... understand. Perhaps it is best to give up."

Marina walked up to him and gave him a tight hug. "Silas."

He put a hand over hers. "It's fine, Marina. Let's return our focus back as to why we we're here."

"O-okay," she said, slowly letting go of him.

"He's hurting," Nyima whispered to herself.

Marina cleared her throat. "Let's begin our training session!" she said, trying to smile. "It appears that Aida girl is a wood mage, so you'll need to learn how to go up against a wood user." She turned to look at Silas.

Silas stepped forward. His face was now stoic like a statue.

"Sy, I would like for you to battle these girls."

"All at once?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." She turned to look at us. "Now you three, I want you to attack Silas with all you got, but only use water magic."

"Got it!" all three of us said.

Thorny vines sprouted from the sandy ground. They swayed around like the arms of an octopus.

Silas rose one hand, prompting the vines to lurch forward. They twisted around one another, forming a giant, thorny, green drill.

Nyima smiled and took out a piece of paper from her blue fur coat and unleashed a beam of water. The beam struck the drill head on but the thorny thin cut through it with ease and spread out its tendril which moved around like the arms of a jellyfish cutting through the dark depths.

Xue dashed in front of Nyima and sliced through the thorny drill with a water sword. Though it failed to cut all the way through. The tendrils moved forward, their thorns ripped through her flesh.

"Gah," Xue said as she was thrown back. Her pale skin was dyed crimson. She quickly stood up despite the pain.

Nyima and I jumped out of the tendrils' path. We retreated to the rolling waves and pulled up the water to form a wave and sent it crashing toward Silas.

A bright green light erupted from where Silas stood. The young man was pointing a bow at us. He shot an arrow at the wave coming at him. The arrow pushed the water out of the way, forming a path through it.

"N-no way," Nyima said.

"Face the power of the third son of Hideakai Makkuroyama!" he yelled.

Nyima moved back and allowed the waves to take her. "Distract him for me," she said, closing her eyes.

"Alright," I said. Multiple water swords appeared around me. "Water Sword Dance!" My swords sliced through the air repeatedly as they waited for the arrow.

I gasped as more arrows came following it.

"Xue!" I said, looking past the arrows. She was still dealing with the plant drill.

I narrowed my eyes at the arrows and sent my swords at all of them but the arrows punctures them as if they were water balloons.

I let out a grunt and form a barrier of water in front of me using the sea water around me.

Silas grinned as the water of my barrier was pushed away just like the water of the wave.

"T-that should've slowed them down!" I yelled, jumping into the air. I had compact my magic to make the barrier stronger. I glanced down and saw that Nyima was gone. I wasn't sure how much time I could buy her.

"Didn't you say that you wanted to protect your home?" Silas asked as he walked toward the edge of the beach. "That green-haired girl who challenged you didn't seem like a push over. How can you hope to defeat her if you can't even defend off my arrows?"

He clenched my teeth together. He was right. The way I was now, I had little hope of defeating Aida. Less so of pushing back the invaders by force... I couldn't depend on Nyima or Xue to fight my battles. I needed to do it myself!

I raised as much water as I could and formed lotus flowers.

"The lotus, the beautiful flower which pushes through the dirty waters..." Silas said, snickering.

"Like the lotus my nation shall rise from these dark times, emerging as a beautiful and pure thing!"

Silas closed his eyes. "Such nationalistic vigor. Reminds me a bit of my family..."

"Hmm?"

"You have the will, but not the power!" Silas said, opening them. "Without power, you can't make your dreams come true!"

I gasped as his arrows ripped the petals off my water lotuses.

I spun around and slashed the closest arrow with a blade of water. "You're right. That's why I seek to power to make them true! I won't lose to people like Aida who only want power for the sake of it!"

Silas smiled. "Good. Now, how about you attempt to stop the others!" he yelled, slapping his hands. The arrows all lock in on me.

I smiled back. I shall rise from the mud... aiming for the light!

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :). Thoughts? Predictions for what's to come?**