It was a throbbing pain in his chest that woke Micro from his uncomfortable nap in the alley. The moon was no longer shining above, but stars still hung in the sky. He looked around as he sat up, and he quickly took note of the red-eyed Lily, still unconscious on the ground with her back against the dirty stone wall of the building.

  “He could be anywhere!” a powerful voice echoed. Micro looked down the alley to the street where the light of torches passing by caused his eye to ache. “Find him!”

  “I saw him leaving!” another voice shouted.

  “The little rat left with some mundane wench!”

  “He could attack us again at any moment!”

  “Don’t let him get away!”

  “Catch the hero!”

  Dozens of angry shouts poured into the alley as a furious mob holding torches and weapons ran down the dusty paths of the city.

  “I’d hate to be whoever they’re looking for…” Micro said through a yawn. “I hope traffic isn’t too—”

  “It’s you they’re after,” Blue said as she crawled out of his pocket and tumbled to the floor. She stood up and waved her hands around for a moment, then snapped her fingers several times. After waiting for a moment, she shook her head in frustration. “I swear, I may drop dead the next time I see a magician…”

  “Ugh…” Lily stirred from her sleep as the angry mob grew louder.

  “Wait, who’s this?” Blue asked as she pointed at the girl slowly waking up from a deep sleep.

  “She’s a chaos witch,” Micro replied as he stretched his own neck. “She tells magicians what to do.”

  “At least she’s not a magician—” Blue began to reply, but her eyes widened as the words sunk in. “Let’s deal with it before it wakes up, shall we?”

  “It’s okay,” Micro reassured her. “Lily’s leaving the kingdom to open a restaurant.”

  “What the—” Blue gasped. “Who cares?! Let’s just get out of here!”

  “We should find Kel and the others,” Micro said with a nod. “But they seem pretty upset out there…”

  “Well, you were getting pretty friendly with that hero’s vessel earlier while the rest of us were dying in agony,” Blue said with a sarcastic laugh. “Even if the cerulean lady doesn’t feel like tearing you apart today, those small fries would probably be more than happy to. How about we throw your lady friend in the street over there, and then we’ll run the other way?”

  “She’s right,” Lily chimed in before Micro could reply. “I’ll distract them, and you head east…”

  “What?” Micro gasped. “What about the restaurant?”

  “My family lives on. Perhaps I’ll meet them again some day,” she said with more resolve as she opened her odd-coloured eyes. “I’ll lead the cultivators away. They should be weakened enough that I can—”

  “Nope,” Micro interrupted her as he rose to his feet, scooping up Blue on his way. “I might not understand everything, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to wander into that busy street right now.”

  “Let her go!” Blue shouted. “Those weirdos sacrificed me twice now!”

  “What?” Lily frowned. “They wouldn’t sacrifice our allies…”

  “What allies?” Blue spat back. “You telling me those creeps were chasing me because they liked me?”

  “The pixies and many other races are united with us against the oppression of the cultivators,” Lily answered with a sincere look of concern. “You shouldn’t have been harmed by any ritual I know of…”

  “Well, the good news is that you honestly believe that,” Blue said with one glowing eye. “The bad news is you’re a fool among fools!”

  “Excuse me?” Lily said with a blank look.

  “Summoning this guy alone wiped out a whole bunch of us,” Blue pointed at Micro with her thumb. “They also sacrificed some vegetables though. That annoys me almost as much. How was I on the same list of ingredients as some flower roots and—”

  “That is—” Lily stuttered, but the shouts echoing down the alley became louder. “I don’t know what—”

  “Whatever.” Blue shrugged, apparently ready to move on from the unpleasant topic. “Let’s get going before we get dead.”

  “Let’s just go find Kel,” Micro suggested to Lily with a wide smile. “He knows a really good cook!”

  “You won’t be able to rejoin the cultivators you were moving with before,” Lily said with a frown. “They won’t be able to shield you from the residents of this wretched place.”

  “Then we should find somewhere quieter to park,” Micro replied with resolve in his voice. “When the bikers were getting rowdy outside the mall, the old man used to park me in the convenience store across the street.”

  “Excuse me?” Lily tilted her head.

  “Sorry, it’s nothing…” Micro sighed. “Let’s just go. We’ll think of something.”

  “But the streets are filled with enemies!” Lily protested. “They are weakened, but they are many!”

  “You sure we can’t ditch the witch?” Blue asked with a disappointed glare.

  “I’m sure.”

  “I figured that…” Blue rolled her eyes. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Where are you going?” Micro asked as she suddenly jumped to the ground and stretched her wings.

  “I think a distraction is the way to go,” she answered with a yawn.

  “Okay,” Micro replied.

  “Actually, you come too,” Blue called out to Trill before flying down to the pocket where he was resting and giving it a solid kick. “Let’s relive the good old days, shall we?”

  “Fine…” Trill crawled out of Micro’s pocket and fell to the floor like a stone, landing on his face. He looked up at Blue with tired eyes. “What’s the order?”

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  “Your core is totalled too, eh?” Blue said, then clicked her tongue. “No matter. We’ll figure it out.”

  “What are you planning to do with just the two of you?” Micro asked with a worried tone. “Don’t you need help? What can I do?”

  “You think I can’t have a bit of fun with those losers?” Blue shot back with a defensive tone. “A bunch of half wits full of hot air won’t be an issue.”

  “I don’t want anyone to get hurt…” Micro felt slightly uncomfortable as a new expression appeared on Blue’s face. Though she was smiling, it was also unsettling.

  “This isn’t playtime, buddy,” she said with an air of authority. “It’s war.”

  Trill’s tiny ears twitched at the last word Blue said, and he stood up quickly to brush the dust off his face. He nodded as a similar grin formed on his glowing, yellow face, then the two pixies started running up the side of the building Lily was still leaning against. Micro could only watch in surprise as they disappeared over the top of the building.

  “Have they not just abandoned us?” Lily gasped.

  “Abandoned us?” Micro repeated with his head tilted. “They’re good friends. They’ll be back soon.”

  “You built a network among the cultivators and the pixies in such a short time,” Lily said with wide eyes. “I can see why fate placed you on this path of ours.”

  “Fate?” Micro replied with some frustration in his voice. “Today’s summoning was probably Nora’s fault. I don’t know about fate…”

  “Nora’s will is absolute, it’s true,” Lily answered humbly. “Though we must have done something wrong, for things to have come to this…”

  “I don’t think you’re the problem, Lily,” Micro said, sitting down next to her. “This whole world, or at least what I’ve seen of it…”

  “Yes…?”

  “I might be new to thinking, but I can’t figure it out,” he said with a frown that made his forehead sore. “If Nora wants to help, why does she take most of the energy you steal? How come she gives you stolen souls in return? Why don’t you ask Nora for something more useful, like a core, or gold, or roads…?”

  “You mistake me for a prophet. I cannot speak of Nora’s great plans,” Lily said with a bitter expression. “Nora only responds to the prayers of the worthy. We place our trust in those who inherit Nora’s will.”

  “Who said they were worthy?” Micro asked. “Nora doesn’t seem worried about who she works with.”

  “The prophets are bred among nobility…” Lily said quietly, her weary face revealing a hint of anger as she spoke.

  “We answer to their call, even if their will remains a mystery to us.”

  “So you summon heroes because prophets tell you to?” Micro asked, his brain starting to ache. “Do they pay well? What do you get out of that deal?”

  “Messenger…” Lily whispered, then looked over her shoulder before continuing in a hushed voice. “The words of the prophets are absolute. Even the heroes cannot question them.”

  “I certainly have some questions for them.”

  “You are unique among the heroes I have seen,” Lily said with a sympathetic smile. “But you will also come to know… When possible, running away is the better option.”

  “Well, running does sound like a good idea,” Micro acknowledged with a nod. “But I’m running on fumes right now. Are you hungry? We should find a grocery store on our way out of town.”

  “You really aren’t the usual hero…” Lily continued, stifling a short laugh. “But as I said, I will not waste the chance you gave my family to escape this fate.”

  “Magicians, cultivators, witches, now prophets…” Micro brought his hand to his head as his voice grew strained. “And still no roads!”

  “Are you alright, messenger?”

  “No, it’s nothing…” Micro shook his head. “Good luck with your restaurant.”

  “It is thanks to you that we were able to hire an escort. They’re to leave at dawn if I don’t make it in time.” Lily smiled brightly as she spoke. “Even without me, my family is sure to find a better life to the east.”

  “What’s out east?” Micro asked, happy to be distracted from the confusing conflicts of the world.

  “The Rameer Kingdom is said to be a mortal paradise, a place beyond the mountains where everyone lives in comfort, regardless of their power or their name!” She explained excitedly. “I know it may not be as perfect as they say, but it is beyond the temple’s reach, so…”

  “Why doesn’t everybody go there?”

  “How would we all get there?”

  “Ah…” Micro sighed. “No roads…”

  “Who else but a hero from across the stars would be able to imagine a road connecting two kingdoms?” Lily chuckled brightly. “I suppose nothing is impossible for you…”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Micro replied, shaking his head. “Without roads, I’m not very useful either—”

  BANG

  Micro and Lily were startled by the sound of a large explosion several blocks away. The angry shouts of weakened cultivators suddenly turned to screams of fear, and Micro rushed to the corner of the alley to peer down the road.

  BOOM

  “I wonder what that—”

  CRASH

  Two more explosions consumed two buildings across the street from the alley where Micro and Lily were still hiding. Dark smoke quickly obscured the starry sky, while sparks and ash began to fall on every surface of the city.

  “That should do it,” Blue’s voice then echoed in the alley behind Micro.

  “What happened?!” he asked as he turned around to see her standing proudly next to Trill, who was covered in soot and ash.

  “That’s called a distraction. More importantly, look at these!” Blue suddenly revealed two identical Core Cards which she’d been hiding behind her back. She lifted them in the air proudly, one in each hand. “Some girl gave us these!”

  “Someone gave you Core Cards?” Micro asked suspiciously.

  “Well, she dropped them in a generous sort of way. Same thing, really. I think you’ll like this one.” Blue shrugged, then tossed one of the cards to Micro. With a proud look, she then addressed Trill. “You can go back to sleep now.”

  “Yes, your ma—” Trill cleared his throat as her glare intensified abruptly. He ran toward Micro so quickly that most of the dust coating him was left behind in a small cloud. “Of course, Blue.”

  “Did you make all those fires?” Micro asked as he watched the panicking cultivators scramble around the city streets trying to put out the fires. He bent down to pick up Trill and the Core Card Blue had thrown to him, then placed the pixie in his pocket. He tried to place the Core Card in his dimensional storage, but was unable to open it without access to internal energy. “I miss my core…”

  “I’m glad not to be a pixie’s enemy,” Lily whispered under her breath as she looked around the corner at the fires burning along the street.

  “You’re not exactly a friend,” Blue scoffed. “We’ll call it even though. Your house is on fire too.”

  “It was no home of mine,” Lily replied with a heavy tone. “A cultivator owned it. We only worked—”

  “Save the sad stories for later,” Blue cut her off. “Fires don’t burn forever.”

  “Setting fires isn’t very nice, Blue,” Micro said with a stern tone.

  “It’s nicer than that angry mob would be if they caught us,” she replied as two more explosions echoed in the city.

  “How did you do that without your powers…?” Micro marvelled. He watched in awe as plumes of smoke continued to rise into the air like sprouting flowers.

  “Who needs powers? You can start a fire with just about anything in a human house, and everybody was already running away anyway,” Blue said, then climbed up Micro’s dusty green robes and into his free pocket, taking the two Core Cards with her. “Now let’s get out of here.”

  “What about Kel?” Micro asked as he helped Lily to her feet.

  “What about the turtle boy?” she spat with an eyebrow raised. “He was alive when we left, wasn’t he? He’ll be fine, probably.”

  “Okay…” Micro answered tentatively. “What about Lena? I promised I’d help her find Feng after the tournament.”

  “Who is to say when exactly ‘after the tournament’ could be?” Blue winked. “Tomorrow morning? After the leaves fall? After the snow melts?”

  “That’s true…” Micro frowned.

  “Let’s get our cores fixed up first, at the very least,” Blue continued, having to raise her voice over the sound of yet another explosion.

  “That’s a good idea,” Micro agreed, though he regretted having to prolong his trip to Feng’s house. “Shall we go, Lily?”

  “Yes, this way,” Lily replied, staring at Micro’s pockets with wide eyes. “You and your… passengers, follow me.”

  “Thanks—”

  BOOM

  “Oh!” Blue shouted with glee. “I was waiting for that one!”

  “Blue…” Micro shook his head as he glanced down at his pocket. The explosion which had interrupted him was the loudest so far, having cleared away half a block of old buildings.

  “What?” she replied with a yawn. “War is war.”