“We’re just waiting to die here, hiding behind this rock, there must be something we can do.”

“Why don’t you use that weapon of yours, it worked well for us the first time.” Pyro replied.

“I would, but I would need to get close enough for it to be effective enough to kill them.”

“Then it seems we have no choice to fight them head on.”

“No, there must be some other way to fight them…” 

“Then perhaps we can come up with something together!” A voice came calling.

I looked over to see a few familiar faces hidden behind a set of rocks nearby. “Heh, glad to see you’re doing well.” I smirked.

“Hardly, after all it would appear the safety of the mission and this oasis has changed, and not at all for the better.” Inca called out, Jaro in tow.

    “Where have you two been?” Pyro questioned.

“I was observing from a distance, keen on getting to know the enemy better. And it seems that they have finally revealed what they are truly capable of.”

“You were nearby and witnessed our battle, dozens of lives lost fighting against the enemy, yet you refused to aid us in our struggle?” Pyro shouted.

“As I said, I was keen on observing, it’s best not to go into battle without coming up with a plan based on exploiting your enemies weaknesses. However you misread me, I did intend to help however I was preoccupied with finding Jaro who had been hiding himself behind some rocks. After all, we would stand a better chance if all of us were here.”

“I was not hiding! I ain’t no coward, I was just biding my time is all!” Jaro rebuked.

“Despite our clashes, I’m glad you came. You just might be able to help us, Jaro.” I relented.

“Hah? You need my help? You must be joking, why the fuck would I ever help you assholes!”

“Because if we don’t work together, we’ll all likely die together.”

“No way am I gonna die, you guys can fight if you want, I’ll wait till the guards get this sorted.”

“Then you’ll be dead by the time that happens, the magistrate left us to fight for ourselves, anybody who tries to leave will only be killed.”

“That fat bastard, shit… fine, fuck it! If it gets me out of this mess, let’s kill those fuckers already.”

“Glad to hear it, now I’ve seen what you can do in the desert, can’t you put your song to use here?”

“Nah, no way.”

“What-Why?! You just said you would help us.” I shouted.

“Yeah but look here, ‘friend’, the ground and soil here is too tough, not saying I’m weak or anything, but even the best of the lowkin here wouldn’t be able to till the soil here.” Jaro projected.

“You gotta be kidding me…” I sighed.

“Seems you were all talk after all.” Pyro spat.

“Oh yeah? Well… fuck you too, ‘comrade’.”

“Damn, well what about you Inca? You’ve had the time to watch our enemy and think things over, have you thought of a way to help us fight against these damn creatures?”

“Not quite, that would require a little more analysis. But perhaps-”

Before Inca could finish what he was saying, we were introduced to a most unwelcome surprise. Whilst we were occupied discussing our plans, one of the creatures came rolling in to interrupt our discussion. Uncoiling itself, it stood to confront us head on as it aimed to use its tusk-like claws to finish us off as it had done to many other lowkin. 

“Shit!” Jaro cried, before running off.

“Where are you going, come back here!” 

“Leave him be, we’ve got other things to worry about.” I shouted. “Besides, the creature has presented us with a great opportunity. Pyro, I need you to distract it, I’m gonna need some time to wind up my weapon.”

“I’ve got you, friend.” Pyro reassured, pulling out a rather peculiar bottle and threw it at the creature. “I was planning on saving it for later” The bottle smashed over it’s carapace, it’s contents dripping down onto its leathery body. Pyro breathed, letting out a small spark of fire from his palm, the liquid began to ignite as the creature squealed out in pain. “That should buy you enough time.”

“More than enough.” I aimed my Vykin cannon at the creature. “Getting close to us was your first mistake.” I blasted the creature out into the water, extinguishing the flames.

“Impressive, I had no idea you had that kind of weaponry in your arsenal.” Inca commented.

“The situation called for it, though I’d prefer not to use it otherwise.” I explained.

“Is that right…”

“No time for talk, we’ve got more headed our way!” Pyro yelled. Two more of those creatures were rolling their way towards us. It seemed one was headed for Pyro and I, the other for Inca.

“I certainly enjoy the company, but handling this on my own will be a bit of a chore. I’ll lure this one away from here, I pray you two will be alright handling the other one by yourselves.” Inca called out, running off to separate the other creature from us.

“Try not to get yourself killed, we’ll try to help you out as soon as we can!” I yelled.

“Grit, on your left!” It was still at a distance, enough time for me to wind up my weapon. Ready to fire, I released the trigger only for the creature to suddenly change its direction. 

“Shit.” The creature was nowhere to be seen, then I looked over to Pyro only to see the creature rolling up behind him, uncoiling itself. “Watch out!” 

There was no time for me to do anything, I was left stunned as I looked over to Pyro in desperation. Pyro turned around, as he came face to face with imminent death, it readied its tusk-like claw and struck deep into pyro. The creature let out a wailing squeal, seemingly enraged, it lifted him up with its claw still lodged inside and then tossed his body aside. I looked over to his body laying there as blood began to pool on the ground, dripping down the rocks into the streams nearby. I was left speechless and stunned, unable to process what had just happened as the creature began to steadily approach me. It was then something familiar came flying down toward the creature, taking small pecks at its leathery face and beady eyes. 

“Edith… hey get away from there!” I called out to her. She screeched out in response, refusing to listen to me. 

    In that moment I was reminded of my past, I wasn't going to let someone die on my watch, not again, I will not let my past get the better of me. This was no time for me to waiver, there was still a chance for me to do something, a chance that Pyro was still alive, a chance for me to save him, I wasn’t about to let it end here. Edith was risking her life for me, perhaps she really does care for me… heh, she’s certainly a strange one. She had given me an opportunity, there was no time to waste. I rushed on over to where Pyro was, kneeling down, I examined his condition and sighed in relief. It seemed that he had been punctured near the left side of his ribs. Without hestitation, I cut myself and poured some of my blood into the open wound. The flesh inside began to contract in response as it began to slowly stitch the wound closed. All I could do now was wait… 

“So this is where she’s flown off to.” A voice called out.

I looked up to see a few familiar faces. “Barnabus… am I glad to see you…” I sighed.

“Greetings, friend. It seems your little fylgja led us straight to you, a most prominent sign of fate, wouldn’t you agree?” He smiled.

“Yes, I should have paid more attention to what she was trying to convey....”

“Oh? To think she’s returned to the scene despite the omen that befell us, how peculiar… Hm? Is that Pyro, he doesn’t seem to be wounded, is he alright?”

“Yes, thankfully… He just suffered a hard blow is all…” 

“Is that right? That is good to hear. Ah, yes, I brought our friend along as well.”

A lone figure appeared before us unannounced. “Really now, you’re too careless.” The man stated. 

“You’re…” 

The man looked over to where the creature and Edith were. “To think we’d encounter Ardow here.” He stated, seemingly approaching to intervene in their little bout.

“Hey… wait… what do you think you’re doing?! If you fight it head on you’re going to get yourself killed!” I shouted, yet he kept moving forward. “Nicolas, stop!”

Having approached the two, he focused his attention on Edith. “Your bird is in the way.”

“Ah, Edith come here!” I shouted, yet Edith persisted in her distraction, refusing to listen to my commands.

“Seems you’ve yet to fully commit to your bond.” Nicolas breathed, the water in the streams nearby began to spring up and catch Edith in its grasp, only for it to whip itself in our direction, Edith was tossed at my side, her feathers drenched.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing!?” I yelled furiously.

“She was in the way.” He stated.

“That doesn’t give you an excuse to drown her!” I shouted.

With haste, I examined Edith only to find her somewhat unresponsive, having been engulfed in the water must have caused her a great deal of shock. I had to make sure she was going to be alright, however the water dripping from her nostrils had me worried. I have no idea what to do, I can only hope it’s alright if I apply some pressure by gently pressing down on her chest to help get the water out. Her legs twitching in response, I could see her beak open up enough for water to start coming out, it was working, and before long she let out a weak chirp. It seems she was going to be alright for now, I quickly scooped Edith up and nestled her within my cloak, hoping to keep her warm so that she could recover from her current condition. However, my current concern now shifted to the creature that was no longer distracted, now seemingly prepared to launch an attack, it began aiming its hose-like appendage at the both of us for one concentrated attack.

“They are frightened, having had strangers show up in their home and force them out, and then seemingly pushed into a corner. Feeling threatened by our sudden appearance, it is only natural for them to want to fight back.”

“What? Have you fought these things before?”

“You’ve a lot to learn. Stay there and take care of Pyro, and keep that bird of yours still. I’ll lead this one away toward the rock shelter.”

“Hey, you can’t fight those things by yourself, and what are you thinking, you’re just giving them more power if you fight them near the water.” Nicolas continued onward, ignoring my advice. “Hey, listen to me!”

The lone ‘Ardow’ began to drain the water from the stream, fueling its ability to easily kill us off from a distance. It was then that Nicolas began to breathe, manipulating the water surrounding his target in an odd manner, he was seemingly pumping more water into their appendage.

    “Hey, what do you think you’re doing!?”

    He didn’t respond. It was then that Nicolas called out to another lowkin in response. The water being pumped into the Ardow was now beginning to freeze over. It was beginning to make sense, the Ardow seemed just as surprised as it began to squeal in a painful manner. It dared not to move in fear of damaging its tubular organ which was now frozen from the inside, as its tip kissed the frozen stream beneath it. 

    “Now’s your chance, hurry!” Nicolas called out to another lowkin on standby.

    “Right.” They replied.

    The man held what looked like a large hammer in both hands, wielding it with all his might, he approached the disabled Ardow from behind. With no time to waste, his muscles enlarged as he struck down on the carapace with great power. The pressure of his attack was enough to push the Ardow down onto its stomach, forcing the sharp icicle further inside and shattering the frozen water that had formed within, impaling it from the inside. I couldn’t help but be impressed that their attack had worked let alone their impeccable teamwork, Nicolas had seemingly planned it all out. In the face of such an imposing enemy, he showed no fear, just how much experience did he have… just who was this guy?

“Grit, look, it seems our friend is coming to his senses.” Barnabus spoke to me.

Pyro was beginning to recover from the wound inflicted upon him, his eyes flickering open. “Pyro… I’m glad to see you’re alright… You took a helluva hit back there.” 

“Ough, I feel like shit…”

“I bet…” I related, thinking back on my small bodily donation. “But are you going to be alright, or are you gonna sit on your ass all day?” I smirked.

“Bah, I can still fight… yet I have no idea how that creature got the better of me… though I won’t take the pain sitting down nor hiding amongst the rocks, let us kill these bastards, friend.” He coughed a smile.

“Now that you two are on your feet, let’s finish this up. We’ve got places to be.” Nicolas called out to us. We looked at him, then looked at each other, I clasped Pyro’s hand and helped him on his feet.

“Let’s get this done.”