The renewed fire in the First Fire Pit burned brightly. It purified the immediate area of the toxic air, and the children slept blissfully in its shadow. Mother Anorea had disappeared by now. However, her presence still lingered, ensuring the safety of the sleeping children, for none could ever dare to hurt the ones under the Eternal Mother’s protection. Time passed and Ragonia zoomed through the cosmos while the children remained asleep.

  Ethan was the first one to open his eyes. It took a minute for him to remember where he was and what happened. He sprang to his feet as soon as he recalled their life being in danger. However, he breathed easily once he saw Lore, Desdemona, and Leo slumbering peacefully. Leo was snoring loudly, Lore was sucking her thumb, and Desdemona lay flat on her back. The last sound Ethan remembered before losing consciousness was that of a large explosion, coming from her direction. So, he checked to see if she was breathing. She was alive and well! All of them were alive and well! Not even a scratch remained on any of them!

  It was almost as if nothing bad had happened. However, the terrain around them told a different story. Signs of a fierce battle were all around them. Scattered bones, clothes, and pieces of armor belonging to the dead were everywhere. However, it wasn’t this recent battle that Ethan was thinking of. He was thinking of the Battle of Behemoth, where the Anons destroyed Ragonia.

  My family was responsible for all this pain and suffering—all this death and destruction! We just relit one firepit, but what of the others? What of the people who died huddled around them hoping the dying embers would save them? What of the uncountable dead lifeforms of Ragonia? We killed everything! What have we done? thought Ethan as he gazed upon the destroyed world around them. His legs gave in under the sins of his father. Ethan fell to his knees repeating, “What have we done?”

  Ethan’s ramblings woke Leo. He was just as dazed as Ethan when he first woke up. However, after a while, Leo surmised that they had accomplished their goal and all was well. So, he couldn’t figure out why Ethan was so destitute.

  “Hey, Ethan. We succeeded! See, the toxic environment has been dispelled around here after the fire was relit. Soon, the whole planet will be healed. So, what are you so down about?” asked Leo as he approached Ethan.

  Leo put his hand on Ethan’s shoulder, only to have Ethan drag him down. “We’ll never recover from what we have done. We destroyed a whole world! What have we done?”

  “Ethan, it wasn’t you. It was your father. You helped us set it right, and I hope you continue to do that. You need to get a hold of yourself first though. We aren’t fixing anything with you like this. Are you listening to me? Please, I need you to calm down.”

  Leo comforted Ethan until he came back to his senses. Then they sat silently side by side for a long time until Ethan asked, “You will still go to Kracten next?”

  “Of course! It is the only way to save Areliam. What we see here is just one example of Anon atrocities. They are destroying the rest of Areliam with their Amassings as well. So we need to stop them.”

  “And going to Kracten will help us how?”

  “Ah, there is the good old naysayer Ethan. Couldn’t hide for long, now could you?” jested Leo.

  “Shut up and answer the question.”

  “Those are two contrary things you want me to do at the same time.”

  “Keep talking, Hearth-Bringer, but remember: I’m out if you can’t come up with a viable plan even after going to Kracten.”

  “Oh, you must be serious about this. You know, since you are using my last name and all.” In response to Leo’s quip, Ethan gave him the evil eye, which made Leo chuckle. “Look, the plan is to meet Ivan Renegader, my great-grandfather, who will help us get back at the Anons.”

  “What? You are counting on getting help from that geezer? He and his band of pacifists went into seclusion after your great grandmother dumped him!”

  “The ancestors never told me this!”

  “Of course, they didn’t. It’s because they have done nothing but add to all the problems.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “What do you mean?” asked Leo. However, Ethan didn’t get to answer, as both of them were shocked when suddenly daylight brightened the night. One moment Ragonia was undergoing the darkest of nights, the next it was experiencing a bright and shiny day.

  “What in the world!” exclaimed Desdemona, who had finally woken up.

  “Des! Des, are you alright?” asked Ethan.

  “How did you survive the explosion?” asked Leo.

  “Wow! The green sky is so beautiful. I never thought I would see it. Wait, what explosion?” asked Desdemona, having no memory of what transpired after she jumped inside the pit.

  “There was a huge explosion when you leaped into the pit earlier. I think that is how you relit it,” said Leo.

  “I heard it too while losing consciousness, but then how did you survive?” asked Ethan.

  “Don’t know. Maybe the Creation Flames inside me saved me from the explosion. By the way, that blue star is not Blontzar. Blontzar is a little red star, not a big blue one,” remarked Des.

  “That means Ragonia’s cosmos traveling ability must have activated after the fire was relit. So, it brought us somewhere new,” deduced Ethan.

  “Ok, but where and why?” asked Des.

  “We are near Kracten. I can feel it,” said Leo, sensing his destination was near.

  “Really?” asked Des.

  “Yes, it’s almost like all of Areliam is telling us to go to Kracten. The question is, do we listen to it or not?” asked Leo while eyeing Ethan.

  Ethan didn’t answer Leo’s question right away. Instead, he walked to a small pile of ashes a little farther away. The pile of ashes was Diandra’s, evident from the upper part of her armor and bracelet. Ethan looked around everywhere to find the lower part of the armor. Once he found it, he returned the whole armor and bracelet to Des. Then he picked up Lore, who was still sleeping, and said, “Now we are ready to go visit Kracten.”

  ***

  Kracten was a jungle world with a red sky. Half of its surface was covered in dense forests; the other half was occupied by a turbulent ocean. Due to its high humidity levels, frequent violent thunderstorms drenched the planet. The high humidity led to reoccurring hurricanes ravaging the coastline. Luckily, the children didn’t land in the middle of a thunderstorm or hurricane upon their first visit to the planet. Unfortunately, though, they landed near one of Kracten’s more inhospitable inhabitants—a giant scorpion the size of a big house.

  “Hearth-Bringer! Portal us out of here already,” yelled Ethan as he avoided the scorpion’s stinger while running for his life.

  “Yeah about that… I’m very new at using my powers, so I don’t know how to teleport moving objects or people yet. I can only teleport us when we stand still,” said Leo while running for his life too.

  “You are absolutely useless!” replied Ethan.

  “Come now, friend! No need to be unnecessarily harsh!” said a hurt Leo.

  “I am not your friend!” said Ethan.

  “Meanie,” mumbled Leo.

  “Guys, focus! We have to bring it down if we want to live!” said Desdemona as she ran alongside them. Lore was sleeping soundly on Ethan’s back, still tired from the ordeals of the night before.

  “Fine,” said Ethan as he stopped running and turned around to face the scorpion.

  Ethan used his earth Anon powers to cause a landslide to stop the scorpion from moving. At the same time, Desdemona used her Destruction Elemental powers to drain the scorpion of its energy. However, the scorpion was too fast to get caught up in the landslide. It quickly moved away from the area affected by the landslide. Although slowed down by Desdemona, it still rebounded right away and came after the children swiftly.

  Ethan raised columns of the earth as roadblocks while Desdemona concentrated on draining energy from its legs. The scorpion’s legs wobbled as it struggled to stay up. So, it used its stinger instead. It swung its stinger around to raze the earth columns into dirt again then sprayed venom towards the children.

  Ethan protected Lore and himself by creating a wall of earth in front of him. However, Desdemona and Leo were still left unprotected. The venom spewing out was acidic, burning everything it touched. No rock, tree, or bush was safe from it. Part of the venom hit Des. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

  “Des!” shouted Ethan from behind his earth wall, which was deteriorating each moment by the scorpion’s acid.

  “I got her!” yelled Leo as he ran towards the stationary Des to teleport her away to safety. He got to her just before another bout of poison shower hit her. Leo shielded Des from the venom as much he could while teleporting away. However, he was burnt in the process, so he couldn’t teleport them far. His Hearth-Bringer power kicked in to heal his burnt skin, causing him trouble in using Pathfinder teleportation power.

  Wounded Leo and Des landed just outside of the venom ejection zone, but not too far for the scorpion to catch up to them by foot. “Ethan, hold it off until I can teleport again!” said Leo while concentrating on healing himself before teleporting again.

  “How is Desdemona?” asked Ethan.

  “Heavily burnt and passed out, but she’ll live!” replied Leo.

  Without Desdemona, the scorpion regained its power and charged straight towards the now immobile Leo and Des. Easier targets than Ethan and Lore, as its venom couldn’t penetrate Ethan’s continuously regenerating earth wall. “Ethan, help!” called out Leo in desperation, but it was too late. The scorpion had already reached them.

  The scorpion moved its sting to strike Leo at lightning speed. It was intercepted at the last moment, though, by a tall, muscular black man in black clothing with long dreadlocks. He shattered the scorpion’s stinger with one punch, then proceeded to lift it by one of its legs and fling it far away. Only to run after it and jump on its head with enough force to crush it, killing it on the spot.