“What is this?” Anith said, staring in horror at the burned houses. Lau rushed forward, every step sprouting various woodland. The rest followed after. Liza ran almost as fast as Lau, while Lin looked rooted to the spot. Azure dashed after everyone, the slight fatigue erased by what he saw ahead. AS the group rushed ahead, the scene only grew worse. There were no raging fires to put out and no people running around in panic. Any fire in the village had long since died, leaving only burning embers. As they entered the village, they found out why the fires weren’t stopped. At the village center lay a pyre covered in burned and blackened bodies. Anith wretched, the contents of her earlier meal spilling out. Lin collapsed on the ground. Azure, Liza, and Lau all stood in horror. “This was a peaceful village. How could this happen?” The words seemed to fall out of Lau’s mouth. Azure was still focused on the pyre. The bodies on it were small. Not quite childlike, closer to a human affected by dwarfism. The bodies had been charred black, and the bottom of the pyre still burned. Distantly, Azure noticed it was because of something dripping off the bodies. And then the smell hit, a combination of burnt flesh and hair. Azure collapsed on the ground, his legs giving out. Liza had a hand over her mouth and Anith retched again. Lin finally reached the others and stared. His eyes were wide and he turned to Azure. “Can. Can you do anything? You know, with magic or whatever?” His words were a whisper, as if speaking any louder would jinx it. Azure shook his head. “If, if they were alive maybe. But this atrocity has already finished. I can’t bring back the dead.” The words squeaked out of his mouth. He wanted to give them hope, he did. But fixing this was impossible. He could fix the body and maybe the mind, but the soul was gone. The bodies could create living dolls, but they wouldn’t be the villagers. Nothing he could do would make any of this better. As the group sat, chilled by the sight, a small rustling was heard. Instantly, everyone’s heads turned to the sound. Perhaps someone had survived, tucked away safe by a concerned parent. Perhaps there was a safe room and some of the village was safe. But it was only a rat, sniffing around in the remains. It found a scrap of something and scurried away with it between its teeth. The sun passed overhead and shadows grew long. Lau had started digging, placing bodies into the soil and growing a single tree on top. The rest were sitting, still unable to process everything in front of them. Eventually, Azure stood up and went to help Lau. He was terrible at digging, so instead he grabbed some of the bark he was using for spellcasting and wrote out symbols. First, he scratched out an inverted triangle with a horizontal line through it. Around that, he wrote out K = 1m*1m*1m. From there he scratched out ￫ mV. FInally He activated the spell, and a one meter square hole appeared while dirt gathered next to it. He cast it again, and again. Each time he cast his body acted as if it had dug the hole. His muscles spasmed, he didn’t care. Azure cast as many times as his body allowed, collapsing in fatigue as the last spell only halfway finished. Another rustling noise passed through the group, but everyone had long since ignored the sounds. Lau went on burying the fallen, while Azure waited to recover. The other three were still staring at the pyre. Which is why they saw the hand move first. Liza was the first to act, jumping up and practically flying over. She grabbed at the bodies around the hand and pushed them away. Lin followed behind, trying his best to do the same. Lau and Azure had startled at the others moving but when Anith cried, “Someone’s moving in there!” They dropped everything to help. As Azure, Lin, and Liza moved away bodies, Lau grabbed the hand and lifted. Following the hand was a short, blond person. Their skin was slightly greenish and their hair had been scorched in many places. The Muuki coughed and then took a breath. It looked up. “Lau?” They said weakly. “They know you?” Anith whispered. “Shh,” Lau hushed. “Rest, you’re safe.” “Lau they were an army.” The person said. They gripped at Lau’s arm. “There were so many of them. And they all wore the same thing. It was a silver tree surrounded by two lions.” Anith paled as she heard the words. “What? Are you sure?” The person coughed again. “They called us goblins Lau. They called us monsters.” “Just rest. Will keep you safe. Will make sure of it.” Lau assured the Muuki in their arms. Finally, the person slept. “What is this?” Anith gasped. “She said the army had a tree surrounded by lions. It sounds like the symbol for the Kitchonian royal family. But our symbol is a lion with two silver trees beside. I don’t understand.” “Kitch did this?” Liza accused. “I don’t know!” Anith screamed. She laid her head in her hands. “Could someone be trying to incite a war between Kitch and Ryum? But why? And if so why use an incorrect royal symbol? It doesn’t make sense!” “Okay, let’s find out.” Azure said. “What?” Anith replied. “They said it was an army right? An army leaves a trail. We could chase it. They would recognize their princess right?” Azure reasoned. “We can get there and you can ask them.” “Yes. Yes, you’re right. We must find out what’s going on!” Anith stood. “We need to collect more supplies though. Lau, where is the next town.” “Follow the road out.” Lau replied. “Anith wait. The army already burned this village, they’re probably heading towards the next.” Azure advised. “You’re right. And we’ll never reach them in time by walking.” Anith stated. Azure pondered. “I need everyone to find as many things to write on and with as they can. I might be able to do something.” Quickly everyone but Lau and his patient jumped to search for paper, tablets, or anything writable. It took a bit, but soon everyone collected every scrap they could find. By some miracle, a tin of dye and rolls of white cloth had also escaped the fire which gave Azure plenty of material for a large spell. He went to work. First, he used all the scraps and some of the dye to write out multiple transformation spells. Broken wood and stone became wheels, while even more of the material formed a wagonbed. From there Azure cut off strips of the cloth. He wrote PE, J, and W out, connecting the three together with the sign for capacitor. That would act as a power source and battery. He then connected that to ME and the Tomoe symbol. That would change the energy to mechanical and turn the wheels. He almost forgot. Between these symbols, he drew a switch connected to the symbol for mind which would let him turn the wheels on and off. Next, Azure created another set of wheels, linking these with a rod and cord that would turn them left or right depending on which direction pulled. Finally, he linked everything together. The result was a six-wheeled wagon-car that took surrounding heat, sound, and potential energy to power the wheels. “Okay, this should work,” Azure said. “Let’s get everything on.” The group loaded their supplies onboard and then jumped in themselves. Normally, Liza and Lin would be asking Azure all sorts of questions on how the car worked, but the gravity of the situation made it feel inappropriate. As the last bags were loaded, Lau turned to the four. “Will not go with you,” He reported. “Lau, we need you,” Liza said. Lau shook his head. “No. Need to make sure this one is safe, and need to finish mourning for this village. Go, try and warn other villages. Hope you are safe and come visit again.” Azure nodded. “I understand, stay safe.” Mentally, Azure activated the switch on the wagon-car and the three drove down the road. The vehicle was bumpy and since it had no brakes, Azure had to be extra careful driving. He was constantly switching the spells on the wheels on and off in order to keep the car from going too fast. He couldn’t believe he forgot to put a brake of some sort on the car. He’d have to do that when they stopped. The wind blew in everyone’s face, silent and cold. The others in the car had turned their heads away from it, giving them one last look at the burned village. Lin turned to Liza, “Liza, I’m scared.” She turned back to him. “It’ll be okay Lin. After all, we get to have superpowers now.” Liza smiled, trying to comfort her friend. “I got some crazy skills while practicing during the journey. I was practicing some softball stuff, you know like throws and hitting. At some point my status gave me something called power throw! I can pitch like those college players now! And it got me thinking, you know how Captain America throws his shield in the movies, and it always comes back? I tried doing that with my throws and I got bounce! I can throw something and have it bounce back to me!” Lin smiled at Liza’s enthusiasm. “I got something called healthy learning. It lets me discover new things a little bit quicker than normal. It doesn’t seem all that good, but I got great recall as well. So I can remember pretty much anything someone shows me.” “Nerd.” Liza joked. “Jock.” Lin joked back. Playfully she swatted his arm. Azure was glad the two had stopped staring at the village behind them. Though Anith was still staring off into space. “Hey Anith?” Azure spoke. “Is there any way for those two to practice those skills while we’re on the move?” The woman didn’t answer. “Anith?” Azure asked again. This time she looked his way. “Yes?” “Is there any way for Lin and Liza to practice the new skills they learned while we’re moving?” Azure asked again. “Oh yes. As long as you are using the abilities your divine self gains power and in turn enhances the abilities.” Anith stared out towards the village. “I should probably practice my skills as well.” She murmured. Azure drove the cart as everyone else practiced. Anith seemed to be working on etiquette while Lin and Liza were practicing their own skills. Liza had found a rock and was ricocheting it off the sides of a cart. Each time the stone would bounce right back to her as if magnetized. Lin had taken some of the dye and cloth and was recalling all the symbols he knew. He wanted to be able to cast spells like Azure. Making a makeshift car with magic was awesome! After a day’s travel, the wagon-car finally found traces of the army that attacked. During the night, Azure had added a brake onto the car, adding another mental switch to activate it. Soon, Azure and the rest caught traces of a recent camp. The army couldn’t be too far ahead. He just hoped they reached the army before they reached the next village. The group drove forward on the cart until Lin caught a glimpse of metal plate in the distance. Azure stopped the car. “Okay, we need a plan. Anith, can you tell if this is the Kitchonian Army?” Anith squinted. “I cannot tell for sure at this distance, but I can see the perverted coat of arms on their flags.” “Okay, Lin, Liza,” Azure looked at the teens. “I don’t want to get you involved in all this, so can I leave you in charge of the car? Lin, think brake or go if you need to drive it. Liza, get some rocks and use them to keep people away if someone sees you. If something happens to us just run.” “No you can’t go anywhere near them,” Anith said to Azure. “Not with the way you look. I will go alone, they would not dare attack a princess of Kitch.” “You can’t go alone. It would be safer if I came.” Azure urged. “If you come you will be shot on sight. If you are so worried about protection, let me bring the heroes.” Anith shot back. “Those ‘heroes’ are kids. You would allow kids to protect you from an army? No, they can’t go.” Azure stated. “Don’t we get a say in this?” Lin asked. “Yeah! I’m right here.” Liza chimed in. “You both almost died once. Do you really want to have to go through that again?” Azure tried to stress how dangerous this could be. “I should at least be able to make my own choice about it,” Liza replied. Lin nodded. Azure sighed and pinched his nose. He turned to Anith to try and convince her again but she wasn’t there. Panicked, he turned and saw her storming off towards the army. “Wait!” He called. Azure grabbed the rest of the cloth and dye and ran over to Anith, Lin and Liza following after. The three soon caught up to the princess and all four made their way towards the army.