Nya stretched her arms after half an hour of welding. The machinery that opened and closed the entrance to the cave was operating well, but still had a few kinks to work out. Now she was focusing on crafting her armor, reminding her of the days when she smithed weapons for her family's shop. Smiling gently at the memory, she wiped her grimy hands on her old apron and stood up. "Samurai?" She called out to their communicator, resting on the table. It instantly turned on at the sound of her voice, calling her newfound mentor.

"Nya." The disguised voice spoke, almost urgently. "Thank god. I was about to call you."

"Why?" Nya felt a knot form in her stomach as her heart beat quickly. "What's happened?"

"You need to get back to the monastery at once. There's been an attack."

A pang of guilt hit her quickly. "I'm on my way." She spoke in a voice barely above a whisper, spinning into her uniform and clicking the phone off. Soaring out on her jetpack, she was relieved to find that the entrance closed properly. But if I hadn't gone and worked on that, the monastery wouldn't have been-

Her thoughts were immediately cut off as she spotted the monastery. At least, what was left of it.

The entire building was burnt to the ground, save a few columns and the training dummies in the courtyard. She landed onto the stone pathway and clutched her stomach, the world spinning as she paced back and forth. This can't be real. This has to be a dream...

Their home was destroyed. Every last remnant, gone, and all because she went off on her stupid self-discovery journey. Nya fell to her knees, covering her face. She could have protected it, the building, their home, Sensei's legacy... instead, she threw it all away.

A flapping of wings behind her caused her to sit upright. "S-Sensei. I'm so sorry. I went out to run errands, and-"

Someone else's voice answered her instead. "Thank god you weren't in there." The familiar and unmistakably harsh tone breathed.

"Kai..." Nya whispered, slowly turning around. Her brother was riding atop a scarlet dragon, the golden Sword of Fire strung to his back. For once, he looked genuinely concerned for something... for her.

"I thought you were with the others." He spoke again, his voice quivering. "But when I saw you weren't riding on Jay's dragon, I panicked. I thought I killed you in the fire."

Nya tensed up. "So now you don't want to kill me? I seem to remember you ordering that snake to hypnotize Cole and send me plummeting to my death!"

"What...?" Kai shook his head slowly, as if she had punched him directly in the face. "Nya, I don't recall that happening..."

"Really? I nearly died, Kai!" Tears welled up in her eyes. "At least have the decency to tell me the truth!"

"Nya." He jumped down from the dragon and slowly approached her. She backed away, frightened of his mangled face and of his intentions.

"No." She growled. "Don't even try to explain yourself. If you want me dead, then you should just burn me alive right here!"

"Nya, for fuck's sake, listen to me!" He rushed up to her and grabbed her shoulders, his single dark eye piercing into her two nearly-identical ones. "Whatever that snake did was completely against my orders! I would never murder you- I, I can't even imagine..."

Nya stopped fighting and watched tears flow out of his good eye. He was suppressing sobs now, squeezing his eyes shut as he clutched onto her shoulders. "You don't understand." He whispered, his shoulders shaking. "You never will."

Nya looked upon her brother with pity, wanting to believe him. She pulled him into a tight embrace, unsure of what else to do. Leaning into his ear, she whispered softly, "Leave us alone. Go."

Kai had no place to argue. He boarded his dragon and bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Nya, about the monastery. It had to be done. Don't blame yourself."

She watched him soar away, the dragon roaring loudly, almost painfully. The poor creature, bound to a wicked master. I wish I could save you. She wanted to tell it. And everyone.
-
"SKALES!"

The booming of Kai's voice shook the cave walls and caused icicles to drop and shatter onto the floor. The Hynobrai gasped and whispered amongst themselves, terrified. Even when they had captured him in the beginning, they had never seen Kai so livid.

The general slithered towards Kai, lording his newfound height over him, his scaled chin held high. "General." He sneered, flicking his rattle. "Have I... upset you?"

"Undoubtedly." Kai snarled through clenched teeth.

Lloyd peeked out from behind Skales, running to him. "Kai? What's wrong?"

"We're leaving. Now!" Kai grabbed the boy's sleeve and tugged him to his side.

"Leaving so soon?" Skales cocked his head, his rattle slowing. "I thought we were friends."

"Friends? You nearly killed my sister!" Kai retorted, unashamed of his exposed weakness. "I wanted her turned, on our side! Not dead!"

Skales flicked his tongue. "I am surprised at you, General. I thought you were a ruthless warrior." The snake lowered his eyes, studying Kai's features. "It seems I was wrong. You have gone soft."

Kai gripped onto Lloyd's arm, pulling him away. "You're all on your own. See how lost you are without me."

Skales scoffed. "And here I was, thinking you were any different than those hideous humans. Begone with you."
-
"Everything's gone." Cole whispered, kneeling to the charred debris that was once their home. "It's all gone..."

Nya held onto Jay quietly, who was shaking and whispering her name almost frantically. "I'm so sorry..." He mumbled after a while. "I shouldn't have left you- I shouldn't have..." Tears dripped from his cheeks onto the top of her head. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, afraid to let go.

Zane scanned the area, shaking his head. "Nothing remains. Kai's dragon left nothing salvageable..."

"I'm so sorry, Sensei." Nya whispered, her voice breaking. "I could have stopped him. Now everything's gone, and the Sword is in his possession."

"Enough of this." Sensei spoke firmly, with a certain gentleness. "A home is not confined to a monastery. We will find something to call our home."

Cole glanced to the ground. "How can we, Sensei? I mean, we'd have to start from scratch..."

"And how are we supposed to train without any equipment?" Jay bit his lip, his quick inventive mind clouded for once.

Nya lifted up her head, pulling away from Jay. "Did Zane... leave?"

The others turned around, rolling their eyes. "Great." Cole sighed heavily. "Frosty's following his bird again."

"Bird?" Nya asked, confused.

"He found it last night and started following it during the scouting mission." Jay explained. "It was just some random bird, but he insisted it was speaking to him. Damn thing ended up leading us to Birchwood and we had to turn the poor guy around."

"Perhaps we should follow this bird." Sensei frowned, stroking his beard. "Zane shouldn't have gone off too far."

Cole and Jay grumbled in response, but Nya  tugged them along. "Come on, guys. There's no harm in going. There's nothing for us here anyways."

She jogged up to Wu once the others reluctantly agreed to follow. "What do you think this means? The bird?"

Sensei chuckled. "I believe it is simply a bird. It is just as you said, however. There is no harm is going and seeing what's along the way."
-
"K-Kai? Are you sure you're going the right way?" Lloyd was shivering and clutching onto Kai's coat, jumping at every shadow cast by the fog.

"The Fangpyre tomb shouldn't be much farther." Kai mumbled, studying the map of dens Lloyd had smuggled for him. "With their abilities, our forces will surely outnumber the Hynobrai. They will have no choice but to succumb to us."

"So now we're leading the snakes?" Lloyd scrunched his brows in confusion. "You don't make any sense, Kai. I thought you said we were going to-"

"Whatever I said doesn't matter now." Kai snapped, kneeling the ground to search for the latch. "The snakes will only obey one leader; their king."

"You want to be their king?" Lloyd shook his head in disbelief. "Wouldn't they only follow a snake?" He glanced at the damaged side of Kai's face and scoffed. "Unless you're a snake too, I don't see how you can do that."

Kai chuckled, pulling the latch open. "Why do you think I'm releasing the Fangpyre?"