"The storm is too strong!"

"Are you suggesting that we're going to die here?!"

-Conor-
-Last Night-

"Yes, i'll need you to do something," Devin said, his voice grim. He looked tired and weary, his hair was messy and his eyes had a hint of pain.

"Wait, are you okay?" Conor asked, a little concerned.

He sighed, "Zerif found out. Or well, Gerathon found out." He winced.

Conor froze, terror coursing through him. They couldn't have found out.

"He found out we were spying for the Redcloaks," Devin went on and Conor immediately relaxed only to tense up again.

"Well, are you here to punish me?" Conor asked weakly.

Devin shook his head, "Gerathon wants me to keep on acting as their secret inside source. The Conquerors are planning on attacking the militia, and Zerif's planning on killing the Prime Minister. I already sent the Redcloaks the letter."

"He can't be serious," Conor exclaimed, "You can't just do that!"

"Well, apparently he and the Prime Minister had some history," Devin shrugged, "I don't know the details, I don't care. We found Grif, summoner of Arax. Zerif already paid him to get out of the prison."

"So you guys have-"

"That doesn't matter," Devin snapped, growing impatient, "The point is, your job is this." He pulled something out of his cloak and handed it to Conor. It was a syringe filled with some black liquid.

"Is it the Bile?" Conor asked.

"No, it's some sleeping thingy that instantly lets you sleep," Devin explained, "You are to inject this into one of the Great Beasts-"

"Wait what?" Conor exclaimed, "Me?"

"Who else am I talking to?" He snapped again, "That rat? Wait, there's no difference."

"Ha. Ha."

"Look I can feel Gerathon getting antsy up here so just inject one of the Great Beasts," Devin said hurriedly, "Make sure not one of your 'friends' catch you and if you fail, you have to wait for the next Conqueror attack. We can't risk them finding out."

"Wait, wait, slow down," Conor said, "What if the Great Beast goes into passive?"

"It won't," Devin insisted, "The poison spreads quickly, too powerful to resist."

"But-"

"I gotta go," Devin said, turning around and hurrying away, "Don't fail! And no pressure!"

Conor sighed and glanced down at his syringe.

-Meilin-

"Meilin, wake up," my eyes shot open to find Abeke, "It's time."

I didn't question as I quickly stood up. Grabbing my things, I followed her out the inn and saw that the others were already out. Anda and Conor looked nervous, Conor's gaze darting around as if an enemy was going to jump out. Tarik looked calm and composed while Stead the Redcloak was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Stead?" I asked.

"He went to grab some reinforcements from a few Redcloaks in the city," Tarik answered.

"Do we have a plan?"

He shifted, the slightest hint that he was also nervous, "An inside spy in the Conquerors, the supposed secret source in Eura, had reported a betrayal. They were going to go against the Prime Minister in the day of the execution. No doubt they want Roll alive as well."

"So we've got the militia and the Conquerors to worry about," Abeke mumbled.

"Our best hope is that the two armies would be too distracted to attack us," Tarik said as Stead approached.

"There's a ship waiting at the docks that's called Zope," Stead explained.

"Zope?" Anda repaeated in confusion.

"Well, that's what it's called in big letters on the side," Stead shrugged, "Anyways, it's a five-minute walk from here but if you run fast enough, you'll get there faster. Conqueror armies will be swarming the city right after they launch the attack."

"Wouldn't the Conquerors be arriving by ship too?" I pointed out.

"There's a small passage you could take that will lead you south, away from the city before leading you back into the ocean," Stead said, "Plus, you have to get to Nilo. Just head south and follow the coast, you'll find it."

"Wait, what about the other Great Beast in Amaya?" Abeke questioned, "The ram?"

Stead sighed, "The inside source had said that they already got him and his summoner. We can only save Roll or that will be another two Great Beast in the other side."

"Well, let's get going then," Conor said, smiling weakly.

And we did as we began walking towards the infamous thief's execution.

- - -

Okay, so we sneaked into the audience and waited till there was a huge loud boom. Conquerors flooded into the place, people screaming as they fled, the militia surging forward to meet them, while we just ran towards Roll.

It was complete chaos!

Once i've saved the guy's butt, he was so shocked that he stumbled. We were already wasting time so without thinking, I grabbed his face and said, "Hey, I need you here. We both need rescuing and this time, both of us are getting out of here."

So now that you're all caught up, let's move on.

Roll finally nodded, "Y-Yeah." Before quickly scrambling back up.

"Meilin," I looked towards Conor who was waving for us, "Tarik and Abeke are at the exit!"

"Where's Anda?" I yelled through the noise.

"He's there too," I noticed the slight hesitation in his voice but I didn't have time to think about that when a soldier from the militia attacked.

That peaceful bubble formed around me once more, time slowing slightly as Jhi's power washed through me. I easily caught the man sword with my staff before I twirled it out from his grip. I quickly spun a 360 as the other side of my staff crashed into his face.

Roll glanced at me as if to be saying, 'How are you so fast all of a sudden?'

Grabbing his arm, I literally dragged him with me towards the exit, glancing back just to check if Jhi was following. I couldn't see Conor through the chaos but I only hoped he was following. Every time one of the militia soldiers attacked, Jhi's powers would wash over me, making things easier for me to fight back.

"Wait, Meilin," Roll suddenly spoke, "Did you notice that-"

"We're trying to get out of here alive?" I interrupted, "Yep, I noticed."

"No that's not-"

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted with another loud boom, blowing up someone's house nearby. I hated it. I hated destruction. But there was nothing I could do about it which I hated even more.

We were just a few meters away from Abeke and Tarik when Abeke's eyes suddenly widened, a gasp escaping from her mouth as she looked at something behind us. I turned around and saw why she'd gasped.

There was Anda on top of Tellun's back. The problem was that Tellun had stopped. No, the elk was stumbling, until it suddenly collapsed, bringing Anda down with him. Conquerors suddenly surrounded them and I couldn't see them anymore.

We were frozen in shock, still trying to process what had happened when Conor suddenly appeared in front of us, "Snap out of it. We have to go!" There was an emotion in his eyes... guilt?

But he was right, we were running out of time. So, we reached Tarik and Abeke, and together, we ran towards the ship.

-Rollan-

Miss me? Anyways...

We were running through the streets which was hard since it was filled with screaming and panicking people who were doing the same thing.

Seeing a familiar alleyway, I veered towards it and yelled at the others, taking the lead, "This way!"

They all followed cause I knew this city better then them. It was less crowded, making it faster for us to run.

"Where are we supposed to go?" I quickly asked the person beside me which happened to be Meilin.

"The docks," she quickly answered, "There's supposed to be this ship called Zope."

"Zope?"

"Don't ask me."

I began leading the way towards the docks and we soon came out the alleyways, the ships right in front of us. I heard Essix's falcon cry (which I really missed) and my vision sharpened when I saw something in the distance.

"W-Wait, there's huge battleships coming this way," I yelled.

"Where?" Conor asked.

"They're probably the Conquerors," Tarik said, beginning to run to the ships as he began searching for the one named 'Zope.'

"Wait, Conqueror ships?" I exclaimed, "Why are they here?"

"They're going to conquer Anaya," Meilin was the one to reply.

"What-"

"Listen," she snapped, whirling around to face me with a glare, "I don't like this anymore than you do but there's nothing we can do! So stop asking and just help!"

I clamped my mouth shut. It was then that I remembered that she'd seen her own home destroyed and conquered by the Conquerors. It hadn't happened to Concorba yet...but it doesn't make me feel better that I knew what was going to happen.

"Found it," Abeke yelled from somewhere up ahead.

Without another word, we sprinted towards it, seeing the big bright letters of 'Zope' across the side of the medium-sized boat. We quickly climbed in as Tarik began undoing the sails, "Pull up the anchors!"

Along with Conor, we went to the side and began pulling up the heavy anchor by the rope as Meilin began cutting the ropes that tied the ship to the dock. Abeke had her bow out, shooting at the militia who had just spotted them. Once the sails were opened, Tarik rushed to the wheel as Meilin jumped aboard the ship. We began turning the ship around as Tarik pulled out a compass.

I looked towards the ocean and saw the Conqueror ships nearing the land. I looked back towards the city which I once called my home. It felt as if it was the last time i'll be seeing it before the Conquerors took another one of our homes.

"Is everyone alright?" Tarik asked us remaining four.

"I'm good," Abeke said and Meilin and I nodded. Conor stayed silent, his head down.

"Conor?" Tarik said.

"We lost Anda," he blurted out.

Tarik sighed, "I know, which is unfortunate but there was nothing that could be done. At least we managed to rescue Roll-"

"But we got no one from Amaya," Meilin cut in, "The Conquerors have Anda and the summoner of the ram."

"Grif," I said, "his name is Grif. He was my cellmate."

Another silence.

I took a deep breath, "Anyways, I noticed something odd. While I was watching Meilin fight, it was mostly the militia. None of the Conquerors came to attack us."

Abeke nodded, "I noticed this too. It was quite odd."

"What matters is we're safe now," Tarik said before turning his attention back to the wheel as he turned it into a small river going inland.

I was too tired to even ask why and decided to walk over to the railings where Meilin was, "Hey."

In return, I get a cold look, "What?"

"Woah calm down," I said, raising my hands in defense, "I was just going to ask how you were moving so fast."

For a moment, she didn't speak before she sighed, her shoulders sagging slightly, "Jhi helped me."

I choked, "Pandas make you fast?"

She shot me an irritated glance, "It's not that. Everything else was just moving slow."

"How did that happen?"

"Why don't you ask Jhi?"

"Well...i'd like to say," I hesitated before sighing, "Thanks. For, coming back and almost chopping my head off."

"No problem...Roll."

It was silent between us for a while before I broke it, "Rollan."

Her gaze snapped to me, "What?"

"My name's Rollan," I repeated, meeting her gaze.

I didn't need Essix's help to see the surprise and confusion written all over her face, "But why-"

"I only tell my name to those I trust," I said, "and I think...I owe you for saving my life."

-Zerif-

"W-What have you done to him?" The pathetic boy cried as he tried to pull against his chains just to reach his unconscious elk.

I scoffed, standing above it, "Tellun was once the leader of all the Great Beasts. Did you know that?"

"Y-You're Zerif," the boy, Anda stammered. The boy was scared.

"It took you that long to guess?" I shook my head, "Look, boy, I need something that you have. I need your talisman. That amulet that you wear around your neck, I need it."

"Never," he tried to sound brave but it came out like a squeak.

"I can assure you that your spirit animal has only fallen into a deep sleep," I told him coldly, stepping towards him, "But I can make it permanent if you do not cooperate."

His face paled. I grinned in satisfaction at his fear.

"Let go of me at once you filthy traitors!" I turned around as my soldiers dragged a man, the Prime Minister, out the building and towards me. He was then shoved on the ground, right in front of me.

The Prime Minister of Amaya glared up at me, "You betrayed me. I thought we had a deal!"

"And you were stupid enough to trust me," I chuckled darkly, "Sorry Prime Minister but Amaya needs a better ruler...one that's not broke."

"Why you-"

"Bring him to the guillotine," I barked at my soldiers who quickly hoisted him to his feet and began dragging him to the stage, "There'll be an execution after all."

They placed his head and hands into the holes before putting the piece of wood on top.

I stood in front of the Prime Minister, looking down at him coldly, "This is to pay for what you did to my son."

A distant rumble. An upcoming storm. Perfect.

- - -

Yes, Zope is an actual ship, as in ship name not boat ship. Can you guess who's?

Hint: One of my stories