Episode One, Part 1:
P r o p h e c y

Is the man inside alive and unchained? 
Are you home? Are you home?

Bas dodged another one of Dreea's attempts to nip his skin, hitting her sword away from him. So far, he had escaped almost every one of her pursuits, and barely had a scratch to show that he had been training with her. 

"I think you've taught me too well." Bas chuffed, pleased with himself. "Even you're struggling to keep up. I've outgrown your teaching." 

Dreea kept a neutral expression in the face of his confidence, Bas laughing at the joke he had made, and she found that when he let his guard down, she was able to raise her sword and graze the skin along his arm. 

As Bas looked down in realization of what had just happened, a smirk crept onto Dreea's lips as she tucked her sword into her waistband, signalling the end of training. 

"You're right about one thing: I have taught you well." She began, chucking her towel over at Bas so he could wipe away the sweat from his forehead. "But I haven't taught you everything..." She contemplated. "Correction: I won't teach you everything." 

"Two people up ahead." An unknown voice interrupted their conversation. 

Bas and Dreea looked around, trying to distinguish who the voice came from. They had their weapons at the ready and suddenly, all of Bas' former confidence melted away, as if he had idea how to defend them against the unknown. 

"Stay where you are!" The voice announced, sounding closer this time. 

"You don't tell me what to do." Dreea muttered under her breath, squinting her eyes as she tried to focus on her surroundings. After a moment of searching, she looked over at Bas, getting his attention. 

"Come on. Let's go." 

Bas didn't have time to argue, barely registering what she had said before he was running after her into the forest, scouting for a place to hide. Dreea had perched herself up high up by the beginning of the woods - where it sloped up slightly and offered whoever was there a chance to overlook whatever was close by. 

Bas joined her on the edge, trying to hold in his heavy breathing until they passed. 

"Who are they?" He whispered, not daring to take his eyes away from the strangers below. 

"I don't know." Dreea admitted. "But they're not from Riders, and they're sure as hell not Basilisk." 

As Bas watched on carefully, counting the people as they walked past, there was something that caught his eyes - a vision he couldn't shake from his mind. He tried to stand up, moving away from Dreea to get a closer look, but was refrained by her hold on the hood of his jumper. 

"What do you think you're doing?" The anger in her voice was loud, despite her whisper. 

But Bas couldn't find the words to answer, instead, only managing to creep further along the edge until the man he was looking at disappeared from sight. 

"Bas-" Dreea demanded his attention, cutting herself short by the frozen look of perplexity on his face. "What is it?" 

"It's Kane." He answered without a beat. "Ares, Wynn, Quill and Elara's dad... He's alive." 

//

Sol leaned back against the table with her arms folded, trying to figure out what the news meant. If Kane was alive all this time, where had he been? And who were the people that Bas and Dreea had seem him with? There were so many questions that she wanted answers to, answers she knew Wynn would need when he found out. 

As Bas continued to explain everything to Joren - who had joined Sol at Dreea's request, the door opened to the Sovereign's Quarters, and Wynn, Ares, Quill and Elara hurried inside behind Kodiak. 

Sol looked over at Bas, a warning glare sent his way. 'I told you not to tell them,' she wanted to get across to him. 'Not until we know everything.' 

But any guilt Bas might have felt was dissolved by the look on his friends' faces as they entered the room. 

"Is it true?" Quill asked, moving over to Bas instantly. 

"Are you sure it's him?" Elara pitched in, careful to get her hopes up. 

Wynn and Ares looked over at Sol who had been carefully avoiding their eyes until this moment. She knew that anything she could tell them would make them want to run straight out of the gates, and keep running until they found him. 

"Sol," Wynnlow asked, waiting for her to speak. 

She shifted uncomfortably, tweaking her neck in discomfort. A quick glance beside her to Joren - as if a last moment's plea for help, but he was just as indecisive as her. 

"If Bas says he saw him..." She began, unable to confirm for herself.  

The relief on the boys' face for some reason made everything twice as hard to handle. She couldn't shake the eerie feeling away from her. The feeling that something dark would spiral out of his appearance. 

"We need to find him." Elara beamed, looking around the room, expecting nods from everyone. 

Kodiak sighed, his gaze drifting between the young girl and Sol, finding himself caught in the middle of both perspectives. 

"You can't just leave." The Nobel announced. "We don't who these people were that were with him." 

"People?" Ares looked over to Bas. 

"There was a group with him. I didn't recognize any of them. Dreea said they weren't from Riders, either." 

Attention drifted back to Sol, everyone trying to predict her next move. 

"We send a couple people out first, to assess the situation. For all we know, these people that are with him could be dangerous. They could be trying to harm him, or us." 

Elara breathed out, her lips trembling a little as she tucked her fear deep into her chest. 

"Or they might just be trying to help him find his way home?" Kodiak suggested, trying to raise Elara's spirits a little. 

"Kodiak!" Sol warned. She widened her eyes and shook her head at him, frustrated that he would say the complete opposite to her. 

He dropped his head acknowledging how he spoke against her, and back up a little, seemingly retreating from the conversation. 

"Well, once you know who they are, we want to see him." Elara informed her. "He's our dad, after all." 

The words singed at Sol's heart, re-opening a wound that she disguised away every morning. Quill and Ares followed Elara out of the room; Bas, Dreea and everyone else departing, too. All except Wynn who knew as soon as they came out of Elara's mouth that her words would hurt Sol, as if he knew her better than himself these days. 

"I'm fine." Sol announced when they were alone, turning around to face the desk behind her. 

"Okay." Wynnlow said, not wanting to pressure her. He knew exactly what it felt like to lose a parent, so much that he still couldn't think about his mum without feeling the tightness in his chest, or the burning of holding back tears in his eyes. 

"Just as long as you know you don't have to be all the time. Not around me." 

She let out a breath, then willed herself to face him again, trying not to be ashamed of the emotion drizzling down her cheeks. 

"Sol-" 

"I don't want pity, Wynn. I just..." She exhaled deeply. "You have to understand why I won't just let your family outside. And that I'm doing it because-" 

"Because we're your people. I know." Wynn answered, smiling a little. "You gotta protect your people." 

"You're not angry?" 

Wynn shook his head. "To be honest, I would be if you did let them go find him. If there is any chance of my dad being in danger with these people, the last thing I'd need is for someone else to get caught up in all." 

He drifted the door slowly, grabbing onto the frame and holding himself back at the last second. He knocked on the tin wall nervously, biting on his lips as longed for the right words. 

"I did mean it, by the way." He said. "And I think you're strong regardless if you're fine or not." 

One // Part One

22/11/19

Wish I could bring myself to edit as easily as I do to write. I should probably edit S1+2 before writing S3. Oh well.

I think you're strong.

Bas is low-key one of my favourites.