Vesi heard about the fire on the outside of the Oasis and she immediately thought of Eric. The Voice from her head combined with the fire made her worry even more for her siblings, despite it possibly being a mere fluke ... Coincidentally, Vesi ran past The Dogs’ Pen Inn on her way to the fighting pit. Vesi knew she needed to talk to her mother about what the young ones were about to do. No one stopped her from entering the pit—slave or not, her mother was a master fighter after all. Vesi barged into her mother’s room without knocking.
“Mother, you must come with me now. I can’t find Eric or T’wanny and I heard there is a fire on the outskirts of town.”
“Vesi, what fire? Oh no, fire, where is Eric? Listen, love, let me put on my boots. This is Nolan. Nolan, this is Vesi.”
Nolan gave his hand to Vesi, and that was all it took. All the nerve endings on Vesi’s arms stood to attention, her hair drew static and she could feel life rising from her feet to her head. She then looked at Nolan’s eyes and she knew without doubt, he was her father. She could feel a unique connection to him and to nature. But then her body turned first hot, then cold.
“Mother, I assume this is my father and I'm happy we’re united, but I must get outside. Vesi fell to her knees with a pain in her chest and gut she couldn’t explain. “My chest feels as though it’s going to explode. Please, help me.” It was like nothing she had ever felt before. Jray caught Vesi on her way down, but didn’t know what to do next.
Nolan knew why his daughter was in pain and what was happening. He cradled her in his arms and ran, taking Vesi outside as quickly as he could, followed closely by Jray.
Not far away, at The Dogs’ Pen Inn, Seamus seemed smug, thinking he was about to claim a whole lot of coin at the end of this round of “Kill the Destroyer” he was playing. But finally, Karl noticed Seamus was cheating and how. With a roar, he punched Seamus straight through the inn’s door and into the kitchen. The cook launched himself from the kitchen yelling, not because of Seamus wrecking his kitchen, but because he had heard a group of three vardos on the outskirts of the Oasis were the cause of a great fire running rampant through the streets of the Oasis. Water-Magi were trying to put out the fire, but the fire was moving into the Oasis faster than the Water-Magi could call forth water. Seamus took this opportunity to escape, exiting the kitchen and inn at a run, looking for Gema.
Seamus ran as fast as he could to his camp on the outskirts of town. Gema’s body was wrapped in several layers of silks and all were on fire. She was badly burned, but still alive and casting spells blindly on anyone who approached her. The Oasis residents were running away from the fire monster who used magic. The Water-Magi were trying to put out the fire, but Gema in her fury was casting sleeping spells on the Water-Magi, thereby ensuring the fire spread further with no sign of abating.
June
Was it serendipity, or divine intervention, that had June and Light arriving at the Oasis through the northern entrance? June had sensed her Water-Magi Gift-Vessel had been in a turmoil of emotions for days, so June was in a hurry to get to her. As June neared the Oasis, she saw fire coming from an encampment of three vardos. The fire was consuming the stone houses, which was odd, and the little vegetation in the Oasis. Stone houses consumed by fire; this must be fire made by magic, concluded June.
June also saw a man creating demons out of shadows, sand and rocks. The man was clearly a Firecaster, not a Fire-Magi. She could tell his fire was called via unnatural magic, based on the demons he was creating. Lady Oliver had taught her well about the various types of magic.
June needed to find her Water-Magi and protect her from the evil Firecaster.
Cassandra and Gallo chased the two young people, trying to get to the sleeping woman from Seamus vardos, but Gallo saw the Blue Judge arrive and conjured a host of Rock Demons to block the way of the Judge. Gallo’s Rock Demons descended in a horde to fight the Blue Judge, but the Wolf found a path for the Blue Judge into the Oasis, along which they slowly moved, fighting past the demons. The young fire magi kept stopping for a few seconds while he directed fire at their pursuers and the Rock Demons they were creating, then continued running, while the girl was struggling to carry the sleep induced magi.
Jray
As Jray exited the Toya fighter pit, she saw the fire and townspeople, some of whom were running away, while others were standing their ground, trying unsuccessfully to put out the fire consuming the rock and wood houses with its evil magic. The fire scorched the scarce vegetation of the Oasis. But Jray ran toward the fire, trying to reach her children.
Nolan followed, running from the fighter’s pit and holding Vesi in his arms. Vesi couldn’t stop convulsing with the surge of her energy and the presence of June and her father’s power. Her seizures came from within her chest, from her heart, from her very soul. The seemingly limitless power was coming through her connection with her father, and in turn, her father’s connection with the land. As Nolan ran outside, he inadvertently neared one of the tall spires. Vesi saw a trickle of water coming out from the spire; the water called to her. She wanted more than anything to touch the water. Her chest felt ready to implode, as if a grown man were sitting on it. She could barely breathe. Nolan, feeling Vesi’s distress, was using as much of the energy as he could spare to calm his daughter, but he was so far from a forest. June on the other hand was being pulled to Vesi like a very large magnet pulls a small piece of metal.
« Speak to the water. It will cleanse the land and help your pain. »
There it was again. The Voice, the same as before, but this time it was calming and peaceful. Vesi knew what needed to be done. She spoke to the water in a clear and unfaltering voice: “Come, water, stop the fire and clean the land. Clean the streets, clean the fields and ease my pain. I want a big stream, a big wave; more water, more water, I want more,” said Vesi, not realizing the implications of her call.
Those were Vesi’s words. The more water she called, the more came out of the spires and the better she felt. Water began to pour out of all spires and she generated a small river flowing down the middle of the street. She released her pent-up emotions, good and bad. All her anger, fear, worry, sadness, love, joy, peace, even the memory of her happy giggles and soft songs in the mornings—all came out with the words which called forth the water. Her love for her mother, brother and sister emerged and stayed strong in the forefront of her thoughts, getting stronger and louder the faster the water flowed.
I must protect them, thought Vesi.
Vesi felt as though she were a bird flying over a field of soft grass surrounded by the hugs of the warm sun, like soft puffs of the morning rays of light, caressed by the hands of the owner of The Voice in her ear. The calmer Vesi got, the greater the flow of water became. So much water poured down from the spire it extinguished the fire that had been consuming the houses and shops near the fighter’s pit, but the Oasis was large, and the fire was everywhere. The water started washing away the vendor carts and as it grew, it started taking people along with it.
The other Water-Magi who had not been hit by Gema’s spells were trying to control the flow of water, but they too were being washed away by the flow of Vesi’s river. Valiant attempts were made to channel the water with barricades and other structures that could be thrown up in a hurry, but as soon as the flow was reduced on one side of the Oasis, it would increase at the other end.
As the waters rose, Eric and T’wanny escaped the Rock Demons by climbing over nearby vendor carts, dragging Dia along with them. Eric was deflecting Gallo’s attacks with bubbles of fire starting new fires as they fought. The Rock Demons were fierce fighters in forests and on barren, rocky land, but in the desert, they were easier to kill. Gallo had only shadows, desert rocks and sand to draw on for raw materials and, though fierce and horrendous in appearance, they were weaker. Vesi’s water attack kept dissolving the Rock Demons, which were swept away by the water currents.
Casandra
As Gallo called more and more Rock Demons, the waters continued to sweep them away. But Gallo’s greed saw no bounds and his determination to win over his brother was great. He drained Casandra’s energy from her Vessel to produce ever more fire to keep fighting. But apparently the young man fire-magi was trying to use his fire with care because he had set many things on fire.
Casandra was feeling her brother drawing on her energy, but she could do nothing to stop him. She climbed to the top of a house to see what her brother was doing and whom he was after. Casandra knew she was going to die by her brother’s actions.
June let loose her Thunder Blades, which she made flexible, and they better enabled June to block the spells Gallo was throwing her way. Karl had come out of the inn and was helping to put out the flames from the burning vending stalls nearby and the surrounding shops, but when he saw June, he thought her a monster and attempted to block her actions. Thinking the Blue Companion was a blue demon monster, he wanted to be the one to get the credit for killing such a prize. T used one of his small knives and succeeded in cutting June’s left cheek.
Light the wolf was fighting Rock Demons, but when he saw June injured, he ran to her side. Light knew June was weak after running so far away from the Blue Trees. June needed Light’s help.
Light pushed the large Rock Demon he’d been fighting against the other demons, knocking them all down and giving himself the space to go help June. He then ran and pounced on Karl. Karl got up again, but Light pushed Karl with such force he was thrown against an inn wall. Karl stood up, angry at the chameleon-like, ugly-looking dog. He took his daggers and threw another knife at June, but this time Nolan protected the Blue Judge. They were being surrounded by Rock Demons. Karl, Jray and Vesi were all near, so Vesi called more water to wash away the Rock Demons and shield them, saving their lives.
“Karl, stop! Please. There are rock demons fighting the people, some fires haven’t been extinguished by the fire magi or water-magi, and we must help the people from the Oasis,” said Jray.
“I came here to encounter champions in the pit. No one said anything about fighting these spoiled-brat toy demons and becoming a firefighter in the process! And what the hell kind of monster are we fighting? I have never seen a giant blue demon-woman!” Karl had no armor and the chains around his arms were making it hard for him to fight.
“I’m a Blue Companion Judge,” said June, panting.
“Yeah great, the demon speaks! I know you’re blue! But what in all hell is a Companion Judge?” asked Karl.
“She is not a demon. She’s here to protect my daughter and guide her through the journey of the eight,” said Nolan as he took out a pair of swords from his backpack and thrust them into two demons that were getting near. Nolan then parted the chains bounding Karl’s arms with one of his swords, making it easier for Karl to help fight off the demons.
Gallo saw the opportunity to kill the Blue Judge and threw a dagger at her chest. Nolan managed to deflect the dagger from hitting June, while Vesi used more water and created a wave knocking Gallo over from where he was standing. That gave them some space and time to move farther away from Gallo.
A group of Gallo’s Rock Demons came charging from the inside of the inn. Karl, now with arms freed, grabbed his own sword in one hand and, swinging the chains with his other, destroyed as many Rock Demons as he could. As they continued to fight the demons, Jray then saw a horde of them coming toward June from her blind side. Jray pushed June out of the way of the demons, but disappeared under the onslaught herself. Karl grabbed some of the wrenched Rock Demons off of Jray, destroying them with the chains he held while he threw his sword like a dagger at another one that was about to attack Nolan from behind.
Karl used his last two daggers to help defend June. Vesi urged more water to wash away the last of the Rock Demons off of June and her mother, but Karl didn’t see the great surge or water coming and was still fighting the demons attacking Jray when the water hit his back. He was caught up in the wave which raised him high and slammed him against the tallest nearby spire. Landing face forward, Karl was washed, head first, over the lip of the hole that opened down the center of the spire.
Karl had saved their lives and, as he fell, he thought, I finally became great. What he had not realized was that he always had been great, as his mother always knew.
“No! Karl!” Vesi screamed, noticing what her wave had done.
“He died like the man he always was—a fighter,” said Jray.
“Mom, it was me! My water—”
“Vesi, no! I trained you to be a fighter. You are a warrior. You proved it today. Karl was a champion and he died as a champion and a hero. Never forget that,” said Jray.
But the fight was not quite over. A group of Rock Demons leaped from the roof of the nearby store, landing near Vesi. June went berserk, hitting and punching, and pulled the Rock Demons from Vesi. June grabbed Vesi in her arms, turning her to the side and protecting her from the wave of sand and rocks the Rock Demons were throwing. Light jumped into the fray and destroyed the last of the Rock Demons.
“Vesi, are you hurt?” Jray couldn’t believe the speed at which the blue woman was moving to protect Vesi.
“My arms are hurt, but I’ll be fine. Thank you, blue lady,” said Vesi as June put her down.
“Who are you?” Jray asked June when June placed Vesi down.
“I’m the Blue Companion Judge. My name is June. I’m here to protect the Water-Magi selected for the eight.”
“Nolan, what is she talking about, selected for the eight?”
“Mom, we must get to Eric and T’wanny. The man making the Rock Demons is after them. Blue lady, I know you are hurt, but could your giant animal help?” asked Vesi.
“Yes. Light and I will help,” said June.
“Vesi, you stay here. Nolan, I must go after and save my kids.”
“Mother, all this is my water! I control it and can help.”
Vesi caused the water to flow around all of them, including her siblings, like a hedge protecting everything inside.
Light, the wolf-dog, started to glow, making the water protecting them shine and reflect his glowing light. The Rock Demons quickly backed away from the shining water. Seeing all what happened, June called on Light to continue emitting his bright light. The dog’s brilliance radiated back and forth between white and blue, to blue and white. Any remaining Rock Demons nearby started losing their power and Vesi caused the water to move in waves toward the Rock Demons, making them fall back further, into the shadows and away from Light and Vesi. By this point, Gallo could barely stand, but he drew even more energy from Casandra, not caring his actions were killing his sister.
Using magic, Gallo tried to create spears and spikes from nearby shadows. As Gallo tossed them at Vesi, he could also see Eric and Dia getting away. He could feel the last remnants of energy his sister still had left. Gallo had taken so much from her Vessel even her heart was barely beating. Gallo was going to use Casandra’s last breaths to create lightning to kill Eric. But when Gallo saw the wolf’s light, he was shocked at the sight of the glowing animal and the water. Vesi used the distraction, pushing and pulling water, making her water create fast-moving streams and directing a massive wave to flow in Gallo’s direction.
Vesi started to draw water one more time from the Father Spire in the middle of the Oasis, but this time the water had a mind of its own, hitting Gallo squarely in the back and pushing him downstream and out of the Oasis. The little group of defenders, the Blue Companion Judge, Vesi, Light, Nolan and Jray, ran to Eric and T’wanny’s side. T’wanny was still holding on to the limp body of a girl they’d been protecting.
The river washed Gallo downstream, almost drowning him. Casandra’s exhausted body was on top of one of the houses, which had collapsed sideways against the side of a spire. By the time Seamus fought through the Rock Demons, townspeople and rivers of water to reach Gema, she was nothing but an unrecognizable lump. Gema had died—burned alive. Seamus cried, sobbed and screamed bloody murder next to the remnants of Gema’s body. Gema’s vardo was nothing but ashes and a few pieces of wood and metal still standing in an odd, melted, nightmarish heap.
“Dia, you are as good as dead. And I will kill every single Fire-Magi that I encounter—of that you have my promise, my Gema,” said Seamus with all the sorrow and hate he had in his heart.