Before we start I want to thank Skye-Sakamaki and TinkerAngel001 for being the first two to comment. Your support was awesome. Also the pic at chapter 1 was Zephyr all clean and stuff. Thanks again for reading.

Era's P.o.v ;)

I felt warm and comfy, my body was aching to stay in bed. My mind was silent for once, I was no longer tortured by the knowledge that I was trapped. I wiggle my toes and bury deeper into the warmth of my blanket, but just as I begin to fall back asleep something heavy hits my stomach jolting me awake. I jump up ready to fight, my heart pounding a mile a minute.
"Morning sunshine, look what I brought back from my adventure" I groan and lay back down as I hear Zephyr's voice. I hear him chuckle and stiffen as I hear his foot steps approaching me.
"Here I thought you would be ecstatic to get out of those rags and cut that matted hair" he says, I open an eye and look up at him.
"What are you talking about" I sigh and sit up rubbing my leftover dreariness from my eyes.
"While you were asleep I found a human empire and traded some of the vin I found in the fountain for the modern currency of this world" he says, I nod not fully understanding.
"Okay.... That's... Good?" I say in a questioning tone. He sighs and hands me the bag which I assume is what he threw at me earlier.
"Look inside, there's clothes, food water, hair soap, scissors to cut your hair, and these little crystals that are supposed to warm water when you drop them in" he explains, I look up astounded.
"You didn't have to do all that" I tell him, he snorts.
"I did it for myself, you look worse than I do now and smell like a rotting mouse" he says, his comment makes me look down at myself. He was right, I was covered in filth and grime, my hair was matted beyond saving and it went all the way down my back, I had scrapes and bruises and my clothes looked like they had been salvaged from a ship wreck. My cheeks redden in embarrassment, I look up and notice that Zephyr had in fact cleaned him self up. His once greasy hair was now cleaned and looked more blonde than brow, it was cut short and styled as well, instead of rags he wore a sweater and darker jeans with short boots, he also held a black coat.
"Dressed kind of warm for the desert aren't you?" I ask, he laughs.
"We're in a chaos realm, trust me once we head towards the city you'll see why I'm dressed so warm" he says, I give him a confused look but then shrug it off and stand up.
"Alright where do I get cleaned up" I ask, Zephyr motions for me to follow him and I comply. He leads me over to a stairway heading downwards. Zephyr reaches in my bag and pulls out one of those crystals that he had mentioned earlier.
"Go down there, there's a stream of water coming down from a nearby oausis, I'm going to go drop a crystal in it so the waters warm. Don't worry about being attacked, I already looked over everything and it's safe" he says, I nod in thanks and make my way downwards the stairs are cold underneath my bare feet. The stairs went down a fair bit, rubble was scattered across them and it seems like this place had been deserted for a while. I don't understand why someone would want to abandon such a beautiful temple, the marble walls and floor gave it a regal look while still retaining that sacred feeling. To see it in such disarray saddened me, this place deserved so much more. Maybe when I get my life in order I'll come back and fix this place up. I reach the bottom of the stairs and gasp. In front of me is a room filled with water, there's a streams of water coming down from cracks in the walls of the room, but what made it truly stunning were the flowers that were eminating light casting a light blue glow all around the room. I dip my toe in the water and shiver, it was freezing. I take out two of the crystals that Zephyr gave me and Chuck them into the pool, they start to glow red. I quickly grab the bar of soap and the two small bottles of "hair soap" as Zephyr called them and place them on the ledge right by the water. My hair was going to be a real issue, there was no way I could wash out the mats so I grab the scissors Zephyr bought and try to cut a straight line all around my head. I was cutting just above my shoulders to get all the mats out of my hair, and as the hair fell to the ground a great pressure was relieved from my head making me feel amazing. After cutting the matted hair off I begin to take off the rags I was wearing when I came out of the Ulmad. Without hesitation I lower myself into the water, it's now warm from the crystals and reaches just above my belly button. I sigh in relief and begin to work at scrubbing off all the grime and filth that coated my body . It feels nice to start being clean, considering I had been in the Ulmad though it doesn't make sense why I would be so dirty. It's not like I had been in there long, had I? I'm snapped out of my thoughts when I see a red glow coming from one of the streams of water. Zephyr had probably dropped in the crystal, I walk over to one of the streams and stand under it. Water pounds down on my head causing dirt to run down as it's washed away. I wad over to the bottles I left at the edge, I grab them both and proceed to wash my hair. There are so many bubbles it's unreal, my hair must have been really dirty. After a few minutes of letting it soak I submerge myself fully underwater. The soap washes out of my hair, I feel clean and relaxed and decide to take a moment to enjoy it. The water felt good against my skin, it was still warm from the crystals but I knew they would fade soon so I had to get out of here before the water returned to cold. I stand up and start making my way towards the ledge where my stuff was, my foot steps on something slick and slippery. My eyes widen, my heart quickens, a streak of panic goes through my mind, and in a very 'lady' like way I scream a loud piercing scream and run to the ledge terrified. I grab my bag and clutch it to my chest as I curl up in the far corner away from the pool. My knees are up to my chest, and the cold marble bites into my skin. Zephyr comes barrelling down the steps with his staff at hand, ready to kill something.
"What happened, are you okay?" He asks, I shake my head.
"Th-there's something i-in the pool" I stutter, he frowns and bends over to look in the pool. He starts to laugh and reaches into the water, I look at him like he's insane until he pulls out this brown fish with whiskers.
"This is the dire gulpis, they're extremely rare considering they like dark places with plenty plant life around. They can live in mud, moist ground, or their preferred home... Water." He says, I stare dumbfounded and then my face lights up red.
"Are they dangerous?" I ask, the fish stares at me with black beady eyes, it's mouth moving like it's trying to suck the filth from the air.
"No, the gulpis is not dangerous. They're cleaners, this one probably got tired of waiting for you to get out of the bath and went to enjoy his snack" Zephyr explains, I laugh a little to relieve some stress. Zephyr bends down and puts the fish back in the water, I sigh in relief and look back at the pool feeling a bit like a child.
"Hurry up and get dressed, we have to make it to the town, then find a place to bunk down for now so we can figure out what we're going to do" he says, I nod to shocked from the whole fish fiasco to be flustered. He goes up the stairs and disappears giving me time to get dressed. I breath heavily trying to calm my pounding heart, it was just a fish. Calm down you're okay, I laugh at how panicked I got and walked to the edge of the pool. Sure enough there was about ten to twelve fish all eating away at the dirt. I felt super light like a weight has been lifted, I also feel stupid though for being afraid of such a cute fish. I sigh and grab the clothes out of the bag that Zephyr got me. There is a pair of dark blue jeans, a black and white striped sweater that has plenty of room in it, red and grey socks that were soft but thick, and a pair of brown work boots. I put everything on on start to sweat, it was the desert why would anyone grab such hot uncomfortable clothing.
"Are you done yet" Zephyr calls, I sigh and start walking up the stairs. Once I make it to the top of the stairs it's a bit cooler, Zephyr looks me up and down. He nods in approval.
"Much better, now you look like a starved rat instead of a filthy starved rat" he says, I sigh at his words. It was obvious he didn't mean to offend me, but he just didn't understand that saying stuff like that was rude. Instead of lecturing him I reply with a simple 'thank you'.
"So what's with the heavy clothing, are you going to teleport us or something" I ask, he laughs.
"Of course not, I can't teleport people that's ridiculous" he says, I shake my head. Oh yeah, magic and weird ancient fish and GODS are okay but teleporting... Now that's ridiculous. I sigh and laugh, he looks at me strangely.
" So where are we going then?" I ask, he smirks.
"We're going into town, before we do though do you know what you're going for?" He asks, I stopped pulling at my sweater and stare at him. What I'm going for? I never thought about it before but he's right, I have no idea what I want right now. At first I just wanted to leave the battle but now?
" You don't have to know right now, but it's always goo-" Zephyr starts but I cut him off.
"I want to find out who put me in the Ulmad and stop them from doing it again." I say, his eyes are wide in shock. After a moment he laughs then nods.
"Alright before we do that though you need to learn about this world and how it operates. Not mention that you're going to have to prepare yourself for a fight." He says, I nod. A new sense of purpose flows through me.
"Alright, let's get started." I tell him, Zephyr nods and walks out into the sandstorm that's raging it's way around outside. He starts to grow and is now back in his giant form. He reaches his hand downwards.
"Grab the bags and climb up" he says, I grab both bags and throw them on his hand before climbing up myself. With that he stands up and starts walking. I look back and watch the temple fade away. Maybe one day I would return and fix the place up, but for now I had to say goodbye. I now look ahead and start to feel nervous, whatever the future holds I'm willing to face it.

Zephyr's P.O.V :3

If I had known then what I had known now I might have hesitated when making a deal with this girl. Currently she sat on my hand, she looked a lot better from when I first saw her. Her hair was now cut short and a silky brown instead of a ratty dark brown, her clothes fit her better too. I hope the clothes were warm enough, after all this was the chaos realm and if we wanted to be comfortable in the town we need to dress warm. I look back down at her to see she's looking at her summoning cards, she has a lot of potential to become strong. I'm brought back to last night and remember what she had told me

Flash back

"Hello Zephyr" she says, I stiffen and stare at her.
"What do you want" I say angrily, she smiles softly.
"I came to talk... About her" she says, I grip my staff tighter and move so that I'm positioned in front of Era.
"What about her" I ask. She smiles and sits where she was standing, my grip relaxes a bit.
"Zephyr, that girl is the key to ending the war. Only problem is she could make it go either way. You need to decide your loyalty now, playing neutral is not going to get you anywhere but back in that Ulmad." She says, I glare at her.
"Funny how things work out huh, the goddess of peace is telling the God of war to fight" I say, she laughs.
"Things certainly have gotten out of hand, but you and Era can change that. Wether you choose to join me or you choose to join Cior just know that your actions will have consequences" with that she stands up and leaves.
I sigh when she's gone and look down at Era.
"Thanks for the advice auntie" I say sarcastically.

End flash back

I have made up my mind but I still have to tell Era, first though she needs to learn more about this world. Already she's leaning towards peace which is fine with me, but there are two sides to every story and Era has to hear both before choosing.

Pic at the top is the glowing flowers, so pretty. I'll write you guys next week, leave a comment if you have any advice, praise, or criticism. Thanks again for reading.