The blazing fire devouring the trees pushed the group of fairies upward as they glided toward the ground beneath them.

  Fighting both the upward wind and the fatigue of rapidly losing their magics, they approached the land of fire, scorching their skin as they came lower.

  "Such heat... it's not normal."

  Karteira frowned as the hot air reminded her of the steamy nature of her power as a fairy.

  "There's nothing we can do. We need to get down."

  "Sis, can we even land somewhere safe?"

  Mia wiped her sweaty forehead while looking around.

  "There."

  Pointing out toward what appeared to be an opening into the ground, she turned to Titania.

  "This appears to be our only hope at this moment. It is also large enough for Lucensia to go through."

  Like the gaping mouth of a massive burrowing creature, it was the only place they could protect themselves from the smoldering heat of the forest.

  "If Amelia was here, she would call this place the 'Forest of Cinder' or something similar."

  Thinking of her best friend, whom she believed had been thrown somewhere on these lands, she smiled to ease her anxiety.

  "At least, I'm not alone."

  Speaking out loud, her voice carried to the twins, who glanced over their shoulders with a crooked smile.

  What she was feeling wasn't hers alone. They also were glad not to have been separated and secluded in some unknown place, unable to contact anyone.

  Even if Orion wasn't here, they had each other. This was, by itself, a considerable relief.

  As they dropped into the earthy gap, the heat washed over them one last time before a cool breeze replaced the choking air.

  The tunnel continued on for who knows how long before a familiar voice called out to them.

  Another group ended up in a similar situation to Amelia's.

  But the number of people who were released was unusual.

  All the maids who worked under Olivia and who weren't in the other groups simply fell to the floor.

  They picked themselves up rapidly and stood in a line as their master popped out of the breach while flapping her demonic wings.

  Expelled violently from the breach, Keleanos tripped and fell next to her, grunting from the pain.

  "Where are they!?"

  Standing up rapidly, he looked for Kelsea and Chelsea, whom he followed right after they were swallowed by the singularity.

  Seeing the breach ripple larger and larger, Olivia pointed in another direction for her maids.

  Without taking the instant to ponder her order, they moved out of the way and awaited her next order.

  "..."

  She stared at Keleanos without any ill intent, pondering what to do.

  'If I let him stay right there, I believe looking for his crushes will be the last of his problems.'

  She flew over him, landed behind his back, and grabbed his clothes from the back.

  "What are you-"

  "Close your mouth, or you'll bite your tongue off."

  He braced himself, feeling his feet leave the ground and rapidly flying in another direction.

  Olivia dropped him in front of her maid squad and watched the rift as a massive black dragon slid across the land.

  The ground rumbled violently as the large beast fell head first into the ground, sending a thin orange and brown powder flying into the air.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "Ah..."

  Realizing that Olivia had saved him from being crushed, his panic subsided rapidly.

  "It's closing."

  A hint of sadness could be heard from Olivia's voice as she stared at the rift closing down, leaving no traces of somebody else crossing to their side.

  "Again, we're without Orion. This is starting to tick me off."

  Her worry turned into anger, then to neutrality.

  "I suppose we'll have to look for everyone."

  Glancing toward Keleanos, who was kneeling next to her, she asked.

  "Are you good to move?"

  With a slow movement of his head, he looked at her before nodding.

  "I am fine, thanks to you. Thank you."

  Lifting himself off the ground, he wiped his dirty knees.

  "Tenebrisis! How are you doing?!"

  Shouting so that the dragon could hear her, she waited.

  "Grrrrrr..."

  Hearing the discontent growl of the dragon, she knew he was fine. Right after complaining about his abrupt entrance, his legs began to push his large body straight.

  Spitting the sand in his mouth, Tenebrisis appeared irritated.

  "Good. We promised nothing would happen to you, so I have to be responsible for you."

  "Even if you don't want to, I would like that you follow my orders. It's temporary, so you don't have to worry."

  The large dragon stared at her with an irritated look. Seeing that, Olivia flapped her wings and flew in his direction.

  Watching her movement closely, Tenebrisis turned his head toward her as she stopped in front of his nose.

  "I don't know what you are thinking, but we both want to find him. Can you suffer through this with us?"

  "We need your help."

  Tenebrisis followed her gaze, who fell on the twenty-five maids waiting for their next order.

  Far from being dumb, the dragon understood that their survival depended solely on him. Even so, he was still angry.

  Olivia extended her hand toward him and placed her hand on his scales.

  With both being masters of the dark element, a link formed between them.

  "..."

  The eyes of the dragon contracted, its pupils dilating. As if finding a reason for its existence, the emotions it was feeling eased.

  "Everyone, climb on his back."

  Ordering the maids to get on Tenebrisis' back, she returned to Keleanos to bring him up.

  The maids skillfully jumped forward and moved on top of the dragon as Olivia dropped in front of the Remnant.

  "Let's move. We need to find the others."

  "You also want to find those you were trying to protect, right?"

  His shoulders twitched as a fire lit in his eyes. Clasping the air with his right hand in front of his chest, he firmly nodded.

  "You're right. There's no time to waste."

  Glancing toward the path available to him, Keleanos stared at the massively uneven terrain.

  Thrown into badlands, where red sand and arid air constantly battered the environment, the group kept their heads high.

  As Olivia brought Keleanos on top of Tenebrisis and the giant dragon started making his way through the carved path between large mudrock formations, Orion's voice echoed in their heads.

  —

  The very last group escaped the rift astonishingly softly.

  "Where are we?"

  Stepping out of the breach, Stella observed her surroundings while pushing her long air behind her back.

  Her white coat followed behind her as her high heels walked on a soft texture of the same white color.

  "Oh... no."

  Crouching, she picked up a piece of wood she recognized.

  "This is the crate I threw into the anomaly."

  Reading the broken sentence, she confirmed it was hers.

  "Where's the content?"

  Looking to find what was inside, all she saw was a long tail and two feet coming closer to her.

  "Deveralna and May?"

  "Disappointed?"

  The redhead asked her with a crooked smile.

  "Was I looking disappointed?"

  "No, but we are."

  Deveralna shrugged with a similar expression.

  "No Orion. And the entrance has closed behind us. We're past unlucky at this point."

  "As usual. It was always like this."

  The two began to reflect on their past troubles while Stella pushed on her thighs to get up.

  "We'll find him eventually. Knowing him, dad might have a way to contact us. It's most likely a one-way interaction, but it will be better than nothing."

  Surprised, they stopped talking and listened to Stella.

  "Really? Are you sure?"

  She nodded.

  "I heard him whisper something about 'worse case scenarios' and such."

  "There's no way he came entirely unprepared."

  The expressions on their faces slowly melted into a smile, way different from the defeated look they had.

  "You're actually right. I was worried about nothing."

  "Me too. I'm glad you're with us, Stella. We were about to give up already."

  Taking a deep breath, both closed their eyes before exhaling everything. They did that a few times before opening their eyes again.

  "Alright. We're good?"

  "We're good."

  Deveralna and May nodded at each other with conviction. There were no more traces of hesitation in their gazes.

  Subsequently, they finally turned their minds to the place they were standing at.

  "By the way..."

  May pointed at the ground.

  "Are we actually on clouds? Physical, solid clouds?"

  "It seems like it. From picking up a sample, I can confirm it to be similar to cotton. It is fibrous, but still strong."

  Stella's expression darkened.

  "You shouldn't have to worry about falling through..."

  Her hand holding the piece of cloud moved to her left before she let go of it.

  The piece fell down like a feather before falling into a barely visible hole.

  "But be careful where you place your feet. Do not fall, May. You and I can't fly."

  Surprised, the former commander took a step back while carefully looking around where she stood.

  "Don't worry, if you were to fall, I would-"

  A veil of doubt crossed her mind instantly.

  "Ophion."

  She immediately called her pet and partner, who remained unresponsive, which was unusual.

  "I felt that too."

  Putting a hand to her chest, Stella frowned.

  "Both of you also felt that? I thought it was only me."

  "No. We're losing our powers rapidly."

  "In a few minutes, we'll be as defenseless and frail as humans."

  "Shit..."

  Deveralna cursed, which proved how stressful this reveal was.

  *Shhhhk*

  Suddenly, Stella perked her ears as she received a wave of energy before everyone else.

  "There it is! I was right!"

  The other two also heard it right after.

  'Can everyone hear me?'

  Reflexively, all three exclaimed.

  "Yes!"

  "Yes, we can!"

  "Orion!"

  But their voices never reached him.

  'I want you to remain calm in all circumstances.'

  'But to achieve that, you have to hear me.'

  'We've been separated. I don't know exactly who is who, but I can feel everyone's presence on this planet.'

  'Everyone is safe, at least for now.'

  'There's another problem, which I'm going to solve rapidly.'

  'If you've noticed your power dwindling, don't panic.'

  Similarly to a glass being filled, each person who came to this place felt their magic replenished.

  'Through me, you will possess a nearly infinite amount of energy to use. As our path to Horizon has been cut off, so has your energy source.'

  'I can substitute that, but it will only amount to a slight decrease in efficiency as I have to share it with numerous people.'

  '...'

  A short silence replaced his voice, but everyone knew he wasn't done.

  'Amelia, hang in there. I know how you feel, so keep fighting. We all share the same pain.'

  'Karteira, don't worry. You'll be fine. You have enough strength to break through all obstacles on your path to me.'

  'Olivia, I have Marie safely guarded next to me. But you have to return. Only then will we be relieved. Don't be too hard on yourself, either.'

  'Mia and Nia, both of you are strong together. I have the feeling you've ended up together, but if you really need more strength, think of me. I'll be your pillar.'

  'Deveralna, you can go all out. If it's to find me, you can release everything. Destroy this world even if you have to. That way, we'll find you. Be our beacon, please.'

  'Senia, I hope I'm not too late. I know you depend on your magic to survive. I hope you will push through and support others until we meet.'

  'May, I'm counting on you to lead your group and safely get back to me. I won't accept pessimism at this point because I know what you can do. Bring your best to me.'

  'And Stella. My daughter. Keep growing through this experience, and come back safely to me. We'll go back home together. I promise you.'

  'To everyone else.'

  'Keep fighting.'

  'And bring me those monsters' souls if you can.'

  *Shhhhk*

  His message cut off abruptly.

  Filled with concern for his family, but most of all, full of hope and love, Orion's thoughts reached those who needed it.

  Some cried, and some smiled. Ultimately, there was only one thing they had to do.

  Make their way back to him, but not before facing off their enemies.