Saffron waltzed through the forest behind Shiso while loudly singing at the top of her lungs. Shiso had been hearing the same song for six hours, and he wasn’t thrilled to hear it for another one. Unfortunately, Saffron just wanted Shiso to sing as well.

“Dynamite with a laser beam; guaranteed to blow your mind, anytime! Come on Shiso, join in!” she said enthusiastically. Shiso fired three shots into the air, which made Saffron jump and become silent.

“No music. Let’s talk about something. Anything will do.” Shiso said, rubbing his temples.

“Alright, where are we going?”

“Towards Eden.”

“Okay, but how do you know this way is Eden?” Shiso rubbed his chin and looked up.

“It’s, um… over in… around the area of…”

“You get there by walking this way, but you can’t get there by just walking. You get it?” Saffron shook her head.

“That made like zero sense.”

“It’s more something you just find than something you can locate. Trust me, it’s a backwards concept but it applies logically when you can wrap your head around it, but you can’t really wrap your head around it.” Saffron still didn’t quite get it, but just nodded. They kept walking until the forest very suddenly ended. Where the forest had stopped, a desolate plain of rock stretched out for miles. It was populated by stone pillars that stretched up beyond the clouds. Ruins of what looked like houses made out of the same bleak stone littered the plain as well.

“Is this part of that path?” Saffron asked. Shiso nodded.

“We’ve reached another circle of the path to Eden.”

“Well, this sure isn’t as pretty as the forest.” she said, kicking a rock. Shiso shrugged his shoulders and started walking.

“Fine then, you can stay in the forest while I relax in Eden then. I’ll even call you when I get there.” Saffron rolled her eyes and chased after him.

“Like you could make it to Eden on your-” Saffron stopped talking as she heard movement. Something was shuffling to her left, right behind a rock. She signaled Shiso to stop and gestured to the rock, hoping to sneak up on whatever it was. Shiso nodded and suddenly whipped out his gun. He shot a rock and made the bullets bounce to hit the creature. The creature died out with an abnormal shriek; Shiso gave a thumbs up.

“I got ‘em.” said Shiso, still giving his goofy thumbs-up. Saffron grumbled, gave a sigh, and advanced on the remains of whatever was behind the rock.

“Congratulations Shiso, you killed a robot.” said Saffron, sarcastically. It appeared to be a robot with a slot to shoot something out of. Something about the robot tickled the back of Saffron’s head; she had seen the design before somewhere. On the back of the robot, there was a tiny symbol etched into it of a wrench going though big “H”.

“Well, if it’s a robot, then it was just target practice.” Shiso said. Saffron just rolled her eyes again.

“Stop trying to be cool, it’s not working.”

“Whatever…” Shiso mumbled. He kicked the robot just out of spite, which caused it to shudder and shriek. It fired a red laser, which started to bounce all around the pillars and ruins. Saffron and Shiso ducked, trying to not get hit.

“Dammit Shiso; what’d you do that for?!” Saffron yelled.

“How was I supposed to know that would happen?” Shiso said defensively.

“What do you think would happen?” she angrily criticized.

“I don’t know!” The laser bounced until it hit finally something, which gave a loud yelp. Saffron carefully looked out and saw a wisp in the air. It seemed to be a ghostlike figure that was now crying.

“Don’t shoot this time.” whispered Saffron angrily.

“Well, if it attacks, I shoot. Deal?” Shiso seemed to be annoyed at Saffron’s anger. She carefully approached the spirit, ready to console it.

“Hey little guy, are you lost?” The spirit looked up at Saffron and cried even louder. Saffron attempted to pat its head, but her hand passed right through.

“Calm it down already.” said Shiso from behind the rock. Saffron stomped her foot.

“This isn’t as easy as it looks!” She turned back to the ghost. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?” The ghost’s crying died down to sniffling and looked up at Saffron.

“You hurt me…” Saffron looked surprised.

“No, we’d- I’d never hurt you.”

“You’re lying. You both hurt me!” The ghost ran away, outrunning any speed Saffron could have gone. Saffron stood there, wishing the ghost would come back.

“Come on then,” Shiso said. “It’s gone, so we’d better move on.”

“How could you be so heartless?!” exclaimed Saffron. “The little guy was crying, and all you wanted to do was either shoot it or leave it!” Shiso sighed.

“Listen, I just want-” Shiso’s words were silenced by a piercing howl. In the distance, a pack of what looked like wolves ran their way; they didn’t quite look normal though. They had teeth far sharper than normal ones, and they had multiple visible gashes on them. There were also red collars on all of them, with rope that looked like it was forcefully torn off.

“Shiso, can we outrun those guys?” Saffron asked nervously.

“Um… no.” Shiso said bluntly. Soon the wolves were upon them and they had to fight. Saffron took aim with her Field Bracer and shot at the wolves, but they seemed to be shaking it off pretty easily. Beside her, Shiso was shooting, but the wolves weren’t flinching at all. He brought a set of tiny knives from his coat and threw it, but it only made the wolf angrier.

“Do you have anything that packs a bit more of a punch?” asked Shiso.

“I mean…” said Saffron, hesitantly. “I have some more powerful magic, but I don’t know what that’ll leave me like.” Shiso looked around them; they were completely encircled.

“Hate to tell you kid, but we’re going to be in six feet under in a minute if we can’t pull something off.” Saffron took a deep breath and held her hand out to Shiso.

“Your guns, I need them,” Shiso reluctantly turned over his guns. Saffron then took out a spell, cast it, and went to work. Saffron’s irises turned a dark red and so did the guns. She held them confidently as she pointed to the wolves.

“Heh, nice guns Shiso.” she said in a deep and echoey voice. She twirled the revolvers around. “Time to go to work, guys.” She fired two fast shots at a wolf, which past right through it and made it run away in pain. She went around the circle, doing the same to all the wolves, who all howled in pain. She took aim at the last one.

“Hey kid, watch out!” shouted Shiso. A flash of green had jumped down from one of the stone pillars and crashed down, kicking up a huge cloud of dust in front of Saffron’s line of fire. Saffron shot through the dust, but the bullets ricocheted and flew off of something. The red tint drained away from Saffron’s eyes and the guns as she started to rapidly blink hard and feel light-headed; she tossed Shiso his guns.

“Oh man, that felt weird.” she said. As the dust settled, they could make out the figure that had deflected the bullets.

“Leave, right now.” The figure warned. The first thing Saffron and Shiso could see was the green suit of armor and the giant shield she held. She had white armor and green clothing underneath, and a mostly green shield. Her shield had a giant design on it, and her armor had a sort of insignia on it. Saffron thought she looked like some kind of royal guard. The woman also had very light green hair.

“Are we in violation of some rule here?” asked Shiso. The woman nodded her head.

“I can’t let you pass after hurting my people.” she said.

“Who are your people?” Shiso asked, puzzled. He gestured around. “We haven’t hurt a single person here. Well, not yet.” The woman pointed at the wolves.

“They are my people. Or at least, they were. Just because they look different doesn’t mean that they aren’t there though!” Shiso shook his head.

“Listen, I think you’re confus -” The woman pounded her shield on the ground.

“I am Reva, defender of the people! You have trespassed and hurt; prepare for justice! You cannot escape!” Reva charged forward. Luckily, her armor weighed her down, so Shiso and Saffron could split up easily.

“Kid, she looks pretty unhinged.” said Shiso over Saffron’s earpiece.

“Yeah, I know. She’s pretty deranged to think of those wolves as family.”

“Cover me kid, I’m gonna go in.” Saffron shot at Reva with her Bracer, drawing her attention. Her shots just seemed to effortlessly bounce off of Reva’s shield and armor.

“My shield, Eschaton, deflects all unrighteous attacks!” Reva shouted. “I won’t let you hurt my family!” Reva stood firm with tears streaming down her face. A wolf was aggressively chewing on her bloody ankle, but she wouldn’t even flinch. Blood ran red down to the bottom of her foot. Saffron lowered her Bracer and felt sorry for her.

Shiso ran up from behind and threw a flurry of knives. Somehow, Reva quickly pivoted around and blocked the knives with her shield and caused some of them to shatter.

“Kid, she’s scarily strong, but I think we can probably pull something on her.”

“Got anything in mind?” asked Saffron.

“That’s what I was about to ask you.” said Shiso. “You got any more spells up your sleeve?” Saffron fiddled with her Bracer.

“I have one that can take her out for sure, but I’m going to need some time.”

“Don’t worry, I know how to keep someone company.” Saffron rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Go get her.”

Shiso jumped from behind the rock and ran toward Reva with more knives. He realized that throwing and shooting any more would be foolish, so his only option was hand-to-hand. Reva braced herself for the attack, although she really didn’t need to. Shiso ran forward and slashed at the shield, which shattered the knife in one hit. Shiso and Reva awkwardly stared at each other before Shiso ran for it.

“Kid, I don’t think I’m going to hurt her anytime soon! I’m sending her on one hell of a goose-chase though.” Shiso was running fast, but Reva gave chase with surprising agility.

“Get back here, so I can serve justice! I won’t forgive you!” shouted Reva. Shiso bounded up a tall pillar and hung on to the side of it. It didn’t stop Reva though, as she started to pound away at the pillar using her shield.

“Kid, I can’t really-” Shiso’s message was interrupted by the pillar tumbling to the ground. Shiso laid on the ground, unable to get up.

“Do you really think you can defeat me?” Reva asked. Shiso smiled.

“Not really.” the man coughed. “I know she has something to say about it though.” Shiso pointed behind Reva, where Saffron stood in the distance with glowing white hair and eyes.

“O Great Winter, Fimbulveter; make my enemies your ice sculptures!” Saffron shouted. A cold breeze blew from behind Saffron, and dark clouds gathered overhead.

“I knew you’d come through, kid!” said Shiso. A wave of ice and snow rushed towards Reva’s direction. She raised her shield to block, but it couldn’t do much as her body became completely encased in ice. Unfortunately, it also froze Shiso, who was pointing and laughing at Reva. Saffron fell out of her trance, yawned, then fell unconscious to the ground.