Apophis could feel his body resisting his attempt to keep on moving. He never felt this bad before, everything hurt. Anything in Atlas was now able to give him trouble, though he would never admit such a thing to anyone.

Which is why he was hiding himself among shadows of trees and anything tall. Would have made things easier if at least one of the hellfire members from below were alive, but since no one had come to his aid by now, that was likely hopeless.

The White Reaper was more of a threat than he first considered. When he got his second wind, he could feel something different had changed in the air around them, he ignored it, and then when the blue flames burned him alive, he didn't have time to think about it. But now, he knew, he was a mere ant, facing a tsunami wave.

Just thinking of it made his blood boil and his burned skin to stiffen up.

But then it all stopped, when he realized that he ran for so long, he was in the middle of the plains of the land. Few trees were sprinkled around, but he didn't see any resemblance that would tell him where he was.

"Of all the dumb luck, to be lost in the enemy's territory with injuries this bad. It'd be more annoying than worrisome if I didn't drain all my skills on that fight." He ranted, mostly to himself, just to hear something other than the wind and sounds of crickets.

All of sudden, he felt someone near him. Turning around, he was face to face with a hodden figure he did not recognize. He backs away, holding himself as steady as possible as to not look so weak. "Who are you!? Do not come near me again!" He barked. Fighting the pain on his throat.

The mysterious person didn't seem at all phased by him and simply responded with a raised hand of peace.

"Do not be alarmed, I am not an enemy."

"I don't know you, so of course you are. Now walk away, I shall give you mercy as I am quite too busy to eradicate you tonight." He bluffs. Putting all his energy onto his appearance.

But the man persisted and shook his head. "Sometimes, people have allies in the shadows, or in the unknown. Such as you and me, Apophis."

Hearing his name definitely gave him a jolt. It only made his posture that much important to hold. He needed to looks strong and to know more.

"And how do you know my name, who are you exactly?"

"I'm a scholar, and a traveling one at that."

Grr, that doesn't answer my question."

"No, I would think it doesn't but, I think it would getting you somewhere safe would be more important no? The White Reaper sure had done quite the number on you."

"So, you were watching." He doesn't deny it, the man didn't use any undertone when he stated it. Finally, he would drop his stance and relaxed his body more. He slopes on one knee as his leg gave way to his weight.

"Yes, I was. Didn't know it was a private matter, what with all that roaring." The man would give a slight wave of his hand and two whirlpools appeared from thin air behind him. Two other figures would walk through the whirlpool, but Apophis recognized them. It was the twins that he cast back to their base.

"Lord Apophis!" They cried and quickly ran up to him, each of them taking one of his sides and helping him up to his feet.

"You fools disobeyed my order on returning home. If I had some energy left, I would have sent you to hell myself."

"We did return home, but those portal-like things appeared and we saw you on the other side."

"What, impossible. Transportation spells have been lost with the dragos."

"I'll let you use that as my identity for now. More importantly, you all should head west. There are fewer communities on that side of the land, we can set up camp where you can heal."

"No, we must return Apophis back to the base, so he can heal."

"No, I cannot go back. Not after this failure, and especially in this condition. They would eat me alive."

"Lord Apophis?" They show their confusion.

"We already lost so many of our members to the White Reaper and the Princess. They'll devour me for the complete failure and the loss of so many. We already have less than a thousand of our race as is."

"Which is why you two should start carrying him away now."

"Why not just teleport us away again?"

"Because we won't be leaving the area, so we should learn it while we can." He explains as he starts to go on ahead of the three of them.

"Do as he says, let's go," Apophis says, finally letting his body relax more and more. The hard fatigue on his body finally getting to him, and he was letting it take over.

The twins look at one another and nod, quietly carrying him behind their hooded ally.