Alexander and Thomas left Kalas the next morning after an extended goodbye to everyone in the outskirts. They had reorganized their packs and sold off any unnecessary gifts so that Alexander could fit Pengu inside his backpack.

After they finished speaking with Rebecca last night, the attendants had finally released the penguin chick Alexander had bought. With it came a certificate indicating the penguin was female and currently mortal tier. She had no dietary restrictions although seafood was preferred and was currently 6 months old. The small fluff of brown down feathers was currently laying in the backpack wearing a straw hat to block out the sun. She had been noticeably quiet for the first hour of the hike, but this was to be expected as her life had turned on its head.

Alexander shifted his back to have Pengu on his front and began speaking to her. “We haven’t really had a chance to meet yet with all the running around we did this morning, have we? My name is Alexander and that guy over there is Uncle Thomas. Say hi, Thomas.”

Stopping the canoe, Thomas shot Alexander a venomous stare before hissing back, “I am not complaining about you not paddling at all so how about you don’t involve me with this bonding experience. I will not waste my time talking with something that can’t even understand me. It’s a chick, Alexander.”

Smiling away while ignoring Thomas, Alexander began to stroke Pengu’s head. “Don’t you listen to that grouchy guy. He acts all tough, but he’s a softie on the inside. Uncle Thomas is the one that bought you the hat!”

Thomas began to paddle again as a soft red hue covered his cheeks. The now trio found themselves crossing through the Serto River. Based on their map, using the river could save them 3 days from the regular ten-day journey to Port Talan. However, the current slowed down half a mile downstream from the storm flamingoes. Nevertheless, Thomas, eager to push forward, had opted to carry a canoe for over 2 miles in order to skip the storm flamingo territory and use the river anyway. Afterwards, the two had decided it was better to row than to use Thomas’ mana since they still had no way to replenish his reserves other than passive ambient mana absorption.

Thomas took a long swig from his water bottle as a sheen of sweat covered his body. His white t-shirt had become see through as the sweat glued it to his skin. They had been intermittently paddling for 3 hours, and he was already reconsidering saving their mana. “Hey, dude. Do you really think I shouldn’t just use a little bit of my mana? I could speed up the current, and we wouldn’t have to paddle anymore.”

“We have a baby on board! You can’t just go using your mana with no thought. We need to-”

*Thump* A loud sound coming from the desert interrupted Alexander. Both of them looked towards the desert before Alexander spoke up. “Umm, did you hear that just now?”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure what it was. Maybe it’s just a large beast moving through the desert.”

The two continued to paddle while Pengu let out some light squawks as she had been awakened by the disturbance. The thumps continued to echo through the desert in a repeating pattern. Before long, they were able to see the cause of the noise.

“Is that a boat… in the sand?” Alexander rubbed his eyes to make sure he had seen that correctly.

“I think it’s a land vehicle. My father mentioned the Sabians had been developing cheaper alternatives to their flying ships; although, this one looks very unique.”

Heading towards them, a medium sized boat on what appeared to be two sled blades with an open deck was using two semi-automated hooks to move itself across the sand. A large sail occupied the center of the deck with a rolled-up flag at its top. The crew of about a dozen people riding the strange vehicle would aim the hooks and reload them once the vehicle had been dragged forward. The process was clunky, but it covered distance surprisingly fast. Before long, the machine reached the riverside, and one of the men riding on it called out.

“Thank you for crossing through the Green Mamba’s river. That’ll be 50 Presots per person to continue on your merry way.” A shirtless man wearing only a bandana called out to them. As he spoke, the rest of the crew unfurled a banner from the sail depicting two green snakes intersecting like two c’s.

Thomas and Alexander shared a look before Thomas yelled back at the pirates. “We’ll just go ahead and put the tax into a bag and toss it over.” During their time in Kalas, they had both come to learn Kedra was a pirate island whose southern half had been unified under the Green Mamba pirates. The crew focused on warring against two other pirate crews located in the north of the island but still made rounds through the Tecon Desert and the southern cities, collecting taxes from the citizens. Not wanting to waste time, they had previously decided to just pay the tax if they encountered any pirates.

Before Thomas could throw the money to the sled. A henchman approached the man who had been speaking and whispered something. Sudden movements along the boat alarmed the two, as Alexander’s eyes widened. He screamed, “Thomas, they’re aiming their hook at us!”

The hook tore through the air making a whistling sound. A second before impact, a large hand formed from water grasped Alexander and Pengu as it dragged them to the opposite shore while Thomas leapt into the air to meet the incoming projectile, capsizing their canoe. A wave of water rose with Thomas, crystallizing around him into an orange-tinted ice armor, spear, and shield as he activated his orange color. Thrusting his spear upwards, the projectile froze over before shattering.

Thomas landed unto the deck of vehicle as a splash of yellow-tinted water spread around the surfaces. The dozens of pirates on board reacted by summoning their own crystallized lightning weapons while the wooden floorboards of the deck and metal hull began to creak and bend as if under an immense weight. “Now, why would you go and shoot at our boat. I was being exceptionally complaint.” He cracked his neck as his spear began to glow with a yellow light.

“Nothing personal, boy, but the Green Mamba has decided this is the end of the line for you.” The boss shot forward surrounded by blue lightning as he punched out at Thomas.

A wall of water rose to protect Thomas as an array of lightning ammunition rained down on him from all sides: a few of the pirate crew had crystallized lightning bows and arrows while several others were simply shooting out beams of red-tinted lightning. Deftly dodging the lead man’s uppercut, Thomas bashed him with his now yellow shield, and the man propelled backwards like a cannonball.

Raised 20-feet by a tower of water, Thomas concentrated a blinding amount of yellow light into the tip of his spear before crashing down into the boat. Like a meteor hitting the planet, he obliterated everything on his way down until he met the desert floor, leaving a mess of scraps and debris. Only one pirate survived the collapse of the sand boat, and he anxiously shot a red lightning bolt into the sky that exploded like a firework. “Hehe, let the hunt commence.” The surviving pirate spat out before being frozen by Thomas’ spear.

Thomas stabbed his spear into the ground and drew a long breath. “Why did they decide to attack us all of a sudden, and what was that about a hunt?”

A reverberation of thumps resounded across the desert as five more sand boats appeared over the horizon from different directions. Well, I guess that answers that. Thomas sprinted towards the furthest boat before sending his yellow-clad spear hurtling. Not waiting to see the outcome, he formed a wave of water to carry him towards three fast approaching boats. About 15 feet away from the boats, Thomas slammed his fist down, sending a tidal wave to meet the pirates. At the moment of impact, the wave glowed yellow and gained a sudden pressure. All three boats shattered immediately, leaving no survivors to seek Thomas’ head.

An angry group of pirates disembarked from the fifth boat which had managed to reach Thomas intact. One of them stepped forward and screamed. “You’ll pay for this, you Tlaloc scum! All the pain you cause will be inflicted tenfold on your brother and father.” Weapons drawn, the pirates shot out the lightning signal into the sky before engaging with Thomas.

Do they know who I am? Thomas expertly weaved through the crowd, deflecting lightning strikes with his shield and skewering the pirates with his spear. Not wasting any time, he continued channeling his mana to gather another wave of water around him before releasing it as a second, smaller tidal wave that crushed any still standing pirates. Out in the distance, his spear finally reached the last manned boat causing an explosion of ice. The sand boat froze over before breaking apart in a hail of splintered wood- none of the crew survived the attack. Hmm, I definitely overdid it with the yellow color. There are no survivors for me to question.

Intent on finding out why the pirates had decided to lay their lives down, Thomas boarded the only remaining sand boat hoping to find a clue. He didn’t have to look long before he found something he had dreaded from the moment he landed in the Tecon Desert. Hung on one of the walls of the deck was a bounty poster for him: Thomas Hansen wanted dead or alive… reward 1,000,000 Presots. Well, shit.

Back in the riverside, Alexander was lying prone in the bushes adjacent to the river, hugging Pengu tightly beside him. The water claw had thrown him and Pengu away too quickly and only managed to get them near the shore, leaving him completely disoriented. By the time Alexander had swum them out of the river, the initial sand boat was left in tatters. He saw a red lightning bolt streak across the skies before 5 more sand boats showed up, but they were crushed in seconds. Alexander was struggling to understand what was happening. Is this Thomas’ doing? I can’t believe a Grandmaster is already this strong.

Before long, he saw a comet of water fast approaching them. Thomas landed beside him and spoke quickly. “They set off their signal before I could deal with them. We have to get going.” Grabbing Alexander and Pengu, each in one arm, Thomas jumped into the river as a wave rose to catch him. The peak of it froze into an icy platform for them to stand on as they sped away following the river downstream.

Laying in a cave, Alexander meticulously dried Pengu with a towel next to a sleeping Thomas. After defeating the pirate mobs, Thomas had sped off at breakneck speed down the river in an effort to shake off any pursuers. Once the river turned north, he emptied his mana reserves in the herculean task of raising their wave into the air as they continued on the path towards Port Talan. When the water wave finally collapsed, Alexander had half-carried the exhausted Thomas with Pengu once again in his pack until he found a cave to rest at.

As soon as Pengu was sufficiently dry, Alexander turned to analyze the wanted poster lying on the floor. Thomas had not spoken a word during the two hours spent in their escape. The only action he had taken apart from controlling the water was handing Alexander a furled-up parchment containing the poster. It had an artist’s rendition of Thomas wearing a blue tunic with an ice dragon patch in the center. Well, this is quite the development. Pirates are hunting us now because they want Thomas? They must have quite the reason for it since they’re willing to part with so much money for the trouble.

While Alexander studied the wanted poster, Thomas slowly regained consciousness. He groaned loudly as he clutched his head with one arm and sat up. “Ugh, I had forgotten the terrible headache that comes with depleting your mana entirely.” He took a long drink from his water canteen.

Tossing the poster to Thomas’ feet, Alexander crossed his arms. “We have a lot to talk about.”

A lonely sigh escaped Thomas as his head hung low. “I-I didn’t mean for this to get so out of hand. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, and I wanted to continue enjoying the normalcy. We were at Kalas for half a month, and no one tried to come after me. I figured it would be okay to continue pretending everything was okay, but I realize I endangered you and Pengu.”

“Your real name is Thomas Hansen? Are you an idiot? No wonder they caught scent of your trail, even a child would have found something suspicious from the alias Thomas Sen. And you didn’t even think to wear a mask?”

“Wait, that’s what you’re mad about?” Thomas was confused by Alexander’s reaction to the wanted poster.

“Yes, bro! I figured you were probably someone important and being near you would involve some level of damage like two seconds after I met you. Thomas, you’re 21 years old and freakishly strong. You also have all these rich tendencies and zero common sense. Of course I was on to you, but I didn’t expect you to be so bad at hiding.”

A sheepish grin made its way to Thomas’ face. “I figured my first name was pretty common and changing my last name would throw everyone off.”

“Well, you figured wrong. That is just so incredibly wrong, but that’s not important right now. Let bygones be bygones. Since I’m in this now, what’s your full story?”

“Everything I’ve told you about my life was true. I merely left out one tiny detail.” Thomas scratched the back of his head with a slight nervousness.

Circling his hand in the air, Alexander hurried Thomas along. “I’m listening.”

“My rich dad with difficulty sharing his love between me and my brother, he’s the king of Tlaloc and Mesto.”

A short silence followed before Alexander rubbed his chin. “Hmm, I suppose that’s within the realm of possibilities. You are quite princely.”

“That’s all you have to say to that bombshell of a reveal?!”

“I guess I do have more to add. On the topic of honesty, there’s a remote but not implausible possibility that Agni will hunt me if they ever find out where I am.”

“Excuse me?”

“I am kind of one of the only commoners to have been chosen by the 9-colored flame, but somehow, I ended up only understanding the white flame. One thing led to another, and I deserted Agni. Ended up here after my teacher messed with the gateway. According to our plan, they shouldn’t be able to trace me, but if we ever bump into them, I’m probably a wanted man. So if anything, we’ll have pirates AND crazy fire Elementalists after us.”

Thomas rubbed his forehead as his headache increased tenfold. “You’re a freak. I’m not gonna comment about your weird relationship with the fire element, but you should know the people hunting us aren’t regular pirates. They are a legion of the Jupiter clan that was sent here to conquer Kedra island. Their leader is unorthodox and made them into pirates, but at their core, they are still members of a noble clan. Today, I faced the lowest tier of their henchmen; whoever finds us next will definitely be more powerful.”

“Ahh, another noble clan becomes our enemy. They say bad luck follows those with great futures. We should piss of the Geb clan to make our futures even grander.”

The silliness of what Alexander was proposing broke the tension, and Thomas let out a laugh. “You are the biggest idiot I’ve ever met.”

“Excellence only comes to those who work hard, Thomas. Anyway, now that everything is out in the open, why are we trying to find some fabled ruins?”

Thomas nodded his head as he figured it was okay for Alexander to know. After all, he had made no move to leave even after realizing traveling with Thomas meant opposing the Jupiter clan. “We are going to meet a dragon.”

“Squawk!” A rousing Pengu yelled as if shocked by the revelation.

“Pengu’s right! I’ve always wanted to be mauled by a dragon.” Alexander’s laugh rang through the cave.