The group of five continued moving away from the border towns after picking up Tonya, and thanks to the help of Ver’s Whirlpool purple, their journey became impossible for anyone without an aerial view to track down.

With another handful of cacti in hand, the group sat around a newly lit campfire while Tonya rested her eyes. After days of intense usage to simply keep the villagers at bay, her vision had only been deteriorating through time. And though she does not verbalize her worry about losing sight, Augen can tell from the periodic flow of the Wave within her body towards it.

The group eventually stopped by at the bottom of a sand dune before Ver helped dug out a small bubble for them to stay in as the dessert winds started to pick up in the night.

“So…” Wu was the first one to break the silence, “What would you like to do now?”

“I…I know this is crazy talk right now, but ever since I left the capital back then, I was planning to return to it one day.” Tonya said while she was holding onto a cup filled with warm cactus juice. She glanced at the green concoction and tried to make out the outlines of her reflection, “This kingdom belonged to…no…my family served the Kingdom of Necrovia, and it’s now my duty to protect it…”

Augen listened to her as she finally put the cup down and crossed her fingers.

“I…I can’t pretend to know whether the reigns of my parents were truly the purest good for the kingdom, but…I had to know what is happening now. Whether the future of Necrovia is in good hands or not, I have a duty to know.” Tonya continued, "Augen...thank you for helping me out so far, but...it may seem that I am throwing my life away just as quickly..."

She looked around the group with Wu and Lera sitting next to each other and their backs pressed together, Ver sitting cross-legged with the Kraken’s tendril trying to steal her food, and lastly Augen who accompanied her for the longest time and looked the most animated of all of them.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

“I don’t want this selfish pursuit for me to drag you all into a battle you shouldn’t be in.” Tonya said firmly as she planted her finger into the sand, “This, at the end of the day, was a conflict between the different families of Necrovia.”

“Yeah...about that…there’s the other thing…” Augen said, turning to the void that he believed Wu to be sitting in before facing Tonya again, “PORA, or Prime Order Revolutionary Army…they make this a lot more complicated of an issue than before. If this Mila is who we thought she is, then the going-ons of Necrovia wiill not be limited to just those from the Kingdom.”

Tonya listened closely, and her expression held still before she let out a sigh.

“If I continue to tell you what I know, there may be no backing out from all of you.” She started, “I am not supposed to know this, either, but…we were kids back then, so our lips were a lot looser than they should have been…”

“Augen?” Wu looked toward his old friend, “You backing out?”

“Not if PORA’s involved.” Augen shook his head, and Wu gave him a thumbs up that he didn’t see.

“Then I guess it’s settled?” Wu looked at Ver and Lera, who shrugged at the same time, “Very well. I too am ready for some royal gossip.”

“Mila’s family were from Basha.” Tonya started, and Augen was immediately flipped off.

“WHAT?!”

“Yeah.”

“But…how?! Who even allowed this to happen?” Augen pursued, “I thought…Basha and Necrovia had always been hostile with one another!”

“We were at war for as long as we've been around.” Tonya said, “In every history book in Necrovia, Basha had always been our enemy…The rich soils of Basha were to be our rightful lands.”

Wu looked at Lera, who listened with intrigue. She looked back him with a look of confusion, and he didn’t really say a word. The manipulation of history isn’t exactly a new technique in propaganda, nor was he judging whether Necrovian books were telling the truth. If anything, whatever’s going on in Various was far more unexpected than what countries like Talonia or Necrovia were doing all along.

“When I was in Basha, the opposite seemed to be the case…” Augen said honestly, and he wondered if that was going to offend someone like Tonya. However, she simply nodded and shrugged before continuing on.

“That rich soil of Basha we were talking about, we are already sitting on.” Tonya forced a smile before she drew out the rough outlines of Necrovia on a map and pointed towards the western side, “The Necrovian people originally lived on the Southwestern corner of the Western continent, before we started to move out after the end of the Third War. The Bashans were those living on the middle eastern corner, and their waves of expansion came just slightly after ours…”

“What happened after…” Wu murmured, thinking back to all that he had already learned about the Third War so far.

“After the third war, all of us had plenty of weapons. Too many, in fact, too many…” Tonya said.

“That’s true.” Augen agreed, “Nowhere else in time, were we as armed and ready to battle as towards the end of the third war…Iit was said that the world was unrecognizable to what it is today, and what it once was before…”

“Long story short.” Tonya grabbed hold onto a handful of sand before releasing it in a stream from her hands, “What was once our promised land filled to the brim with unthinkable riches transformed into nothing but an endless ocean of sand.”

“But…don’t you still have those underground rivers?” Wu asked, “We’ve been down there, and it’s like nothing I’ve seen before.”

Tonya’s eyes widened, and she pressed her lips together and lowered her head. Then, with her face hidden in the shadows, she finally spoke again, “How did you know?”

“We sensed it.” Lera said, “It’s buried deep, and way out of the ranges of any regular person on the surface, and yet it’s also clearly used by the Necrovian forces. Whatever Wave that was lacking on the surface, it felt almost as if an equal amount was hidden down there.”

“You…are not supposed to know that.” Tonya bit onto her nails when suddenly, Augen sensed a massive turmoil within her.

“I can imagine why.” Wu said, “What’s hidden down there is essentially the greatest raw Wave resource out there...not just within Necrovia, but within the Western continent, or even...the entire world... The possibilities here will change the way the world operates from the moment they were realized. Any government that liked to consolidate power will keep it all to themselves.”

“It’s…not just that…” Tonya shook her head, “Those that know, refer to it as the blood of Necrovia. However, we only found those at the deepest depths of the natural caves on the outskirts of our capital. We eventually learned how to ride to and from it, but it's...”

“You know it can do so much more for the people all around your country?” Wu asked, “A high speed transportation network like that. It will change everything.”

“The natural caves had been showing signs of decay and damage over the years.” Tonya said with her fist clenched, “We…we don’t know how long the caves will stay opened despite our added support, and if something that was offered to the people can be taken away at any moment, it will cause nothing but chaos here, and that's not to mention attempts of sabotage and monopoly.”

"It is a monopoly now." Augen said.

"But it's not because we can horde wealth!" Tonya protested, "We...the only things we have used it for is the transfer fo people and few goods!"

“I…can understand all of your hesitations.” Wu said, shifting forward, “But I can help you. We can figure something out together.”

“The branches all take us back to the capital.” Tonya said, standing up as the rest of the group looked up at her, “We will be able to check on the status of the city and the rivers together.”

“Let us depart then.” Lera said, constructing her chariot Cast as the Kraken’s tendril relaxed before retracting back into Ver’s body, “car.”

As the group rattled off along the dessert with the night skies above covered their tracks, Lera and Wu shared their seat at the front with Augen and Tonya sitting at the back. Ver and the Kraken then went back into their own domain to sleep, with Ver leaving behind a shell to teleport back to.

“I am surprised you paid so much attention to the underground river,” Lera said quietly as her shoulders lightly rubbed against Wu’s as the chariot flew silently overground.

“It’s true. A natural resource like that, combined with some basic Wave technology, can absolutely transform a kingdom like this.” Wu said, looking up into the stars, “On my world, that magical resource is called oil. Not the ones you cook with, but something you can burn and power an entire world’s economy, military, and civilization with.”

“Like the Wave?”

“In a way, yes.” Wu lightened his voice, “Wars had been fought over it countless times, and each time, a different excuse was used despite the intentions being exactly the same as before.”

“And what do you think the excuse this time was?” Lera asked, and she turned to look at Wu when Augen and Tonya joined them in the conversation.

“Revenge.” Tonya said, “I never did finish talking about what happened between Basha and Necrovia, but Mila’s family was married over as a gesture of peace, and we grew up together, not realizing the politics surrounding our circumstances. Everything was fine, until the revolt attempt which lead the Nekova family to be banished from the kingdom years ago.”

“Isn’t it bad that someone who was married here for the sake of peace was the one revolting?” Augen asked, “Was nobody talking about it…?”

“I'd wager it was brushed under the rug.” Wu said, turning around to face Tonya who nodded, “Ah…this has turned out to be a rather messy situation, before we even get into the whole deal with PORA and the underground rivers…”

“Sounds like a perfect time for the band to come back together then.” Augen said, hugging Lera and Wu over the shoulders, “For real though, I've missed you guys.”