It was over.

Or at least, I thought it was.

The tremoring that shook my feet vibrated the air, too, and the violet mist swirled around me defensively, waiting for the threat to reveal itself.

Cry!

The shrill voice of a crow shattered the peace I had garnered as my sword sliced through Gou Jia’s neck. The sky above me opened, and light that I hadn’t seen in days, maybe months, attacked my eyes.

When my eyes adjusted again, I saw the blood moon awaiting in the sky.

“…Did they split the mountain apart?” I mumbled in shock.

I watched with open eyes as silhouettes danced in the night sky: A girl wrapping herself with water and a boy with dwindling fire wings being dragged inside with her.

Instinctively, I knew; it was Abby and Arden. They had survived this whole time. Lyfe told me they had survived, but seeing them, even for a glimpse as they disappeared behind the mountain, was enough to breathe relief into my body.

Suddenly, the wind ruffled my robes and lifted me. A robust upward draft spiralled my body upwards, and only through manipulating the violet mist was I able to remain steady in the air.

I was nearly steady when a slamming root impacted my side, sending me spiralling down to the ground. My body tumbled, almost losing my grip on the sword, and I landed from an impact with a nearby boulder. I swayed back to my feet as the violet mist healed my broken arm and loose ribs, but it took a valuable second that I needed.

“Idiot! Pay attention, and run! You need to escape, now!”

Gou Jing’s voice screamed at me in a panicked tone. And, when I focused back on the attacking root, I realized why she was so panicked.

The Matron Seed was free.

The previously crushing weight of a mountain was lifted as it split in two, releasing the pressure that had lasted centuries. With the pressure lifted, the seed was no longer in the compressed state it was before, and a small root poked out of the gap in the top of the seed, followed by hundreds of others as they rushed out of the source and dug into the ground.

A stray root snaked out, seeking sustenance or, perhaps, revenge for my earlier attacks on The Matron Seed. Slices littered the root, separating it from the main root but resulting in two more sprouting out like a hydra.

“Run!!”

Gou Jing shouted at me, but I ignored her as my brain whirled at high speeds. My senses expanded with the help of the violet mist proliferating the area, even as it was defended against the storm of crimson particles released by The Matron Seed.

“Shit!” I cursed, noticing numerous people crashing into The Pit or getting smashed under the falling rocks from the mountain, which had started its downward crash after an initial uplifting break.

“What are you doing? Leave them!”

I could leave them. I could run away now and not look back. If Gou Jing was screaming at me, then the opponent was something she thought I couldn’t face. My sense of danger was telling me the same thing: to run.

But when would I stop running?

What would happen if I ran here?

“No! I won’t do it!” I shouted back at Gou Jing and planted the Mountain Sealing Sword into the ground, resisting the attack of a giant root battering against me.

“I won’t run!”

The Mountain Sealing Sword slashed, cutting apart a dozen roots but causing more to well up from all around. A root lashed against me from the side, sending me flying away into another boulder.

My earthen armour consumed the boulder pieces and hardened as the violet mist in the area flew around me, fusing into it and causing it to become a higher level of defence.

Endure.

I could practically hear Mrs. Collins again, telling me I had to endure like when we were captured. But this time, I couldn’t bear it passively.

My eyes shifted around, noticing the way the roots dug into the ground, and if I knew plants, which I did, then that meant that they were seeking nutrients. The Matron Seed was a seed, after all; it needed time and the right conditions to grow into something I didn't dare fathom.

I couldn’t let time pass for it to grow stronger.

I needed to endure actively, to face the monstrous being before me without giving in.

I needed to take striding steps toward the fear that gripped my heart and made my breath shallow.

My foot stepped forward.

The Mountain Sealing Sword responded to me, dragging along the violet mist as the form of a giant violet sword took shape in the air. With a crashing slash, dozens of roots met their end, sizzling at the ends as the violet mist battled against their regenerative properties.

I took another step forward.

“If I can’t plant one flower, I’ll plant two.” I repeated one of Grandma Sylvie’s favourite phrases.

The Mountain Sealing Sword hummed in response, and the violet mist flooded the area and flocked towards it, towards me. The sword slashed at roots, embedding into the ground as the earthen armour around me sharpened at the corners.

Stomp!

My foot embedded into the ground, causing vibrations to echo through the violet earth. It echoed in response, sending the vibrations farther to the edges of The Pit.

“Come!” I beckoned and felt as the violet earth core in my dantian pulsated within me. It called to the violet mist in the air, the ground, and within me.

I was commanding the violet mist.

Tremor. Tremor! Tremor! TREMOR!

The Matron Seed let out a cry as it noticed the events unfolding around her, and the roots began flocking towards me, growing in size and number as they all tried to crush me.

It was too late.

I threw the Mountain Sealing Sword high into the air. My other foot stomped, causing the earth below me to well up in a spire that launched me upwards. The violet mist in the soil escaped as I flew, joining the ambient violet mist surging toward me. From below, roots spiralled around the spire, crushing the rocks and attempting to climb up to where I was.

It was too late.

A memory replayed in my mind of Lyfe balancing cosmic proportions of energies, and I did the same with extended hands.

“FORM!” I screamed, and my voice, reinforced by vibrations, shattered the air around me. The violet mist gathered to my will, forming fingertips that crunched the edges of the split mountain. Rocks fell from above, crashing into the hands but then squished in as the palms and knuckles formed.

I gazed down below, where The Matron Seed curled a defensive layer of roots.

“If a hill isn’t enough to kill you, I’ll use a mountain.”

My hands came together, latching onto the Mountain Sealing Sword as the enormous violet mist hands above me forcefully joined the split mountain back together. With the power of a mountain reinforcing my might, I surged down, slicing through giant roots as The Matron Seed screeched against me.

It was too late for futile resistance.

My sword plunged into The Matron Seed, and behind me, the mountain crashed into The Pit with a force that broke the earth.

SLAM!!!

 

*****

 

“Abby, it’s been almost an entire day; you need to rest.”

Abby reached back and brushed off her brother’s hand.

“If there’s a possibility that it was him, then I can’t stop. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I knew he was right there all this time, and I did nothing to try and save him.”

The brows scrunching up Abby’s forehead eased a bit as she manipulated the water from the soil, drawing it backwards in a clump that she flung to the outside of the deep crater she kneeled in.

“I—”

“No. If you want me to stop, then start digging already. Or get someone else to come help me.” Abby looked towards her brother, with barely contained tears that she sniffled away.

Abby turned away from her brother’s worried look and went to control the water contained in the dirt when a faint vibration travelled to her knees. The vibration grew, causing Abby to get up from her seat.

Like a scene out of a horror film, a dried, bloodied hand poked out from the ground and grasped for something in the air. There was a surprised scream, and Abby watched her brother fall to the ground, unconscious from the surprise.

“Did he really…?” Abby questioned but flung it to the back of her mind when a muffled voice travelled through the dirt. She hurriedly dug around the hand using her Qi to scrape away the rocks and soil, revealing a dirty face that smiled when they saw her.

“Hey, Abby. Mind giving me a hand here?”

“Out of all the things to say—” Abby started but couldn’t finish as tears clouded her vision. She hurriedly dug out Louie, wrapping her arms around him and tightly hugging him.

“Easy now, you’re going to squeeze all the life left in me. I’ve already run out of Qi, you know?”

“You don’t get to complain.” Abby proclaimed, and she felt Louie’s face move in a cheeky grin. She was about to say more when Louie’s hands dug into her back, and his head nestled in a bit more.

“Sorry.” Louie apologized.

Abby closed her eyes, and a smile crept up on her face too. The tension that took over her body relaxed all at once, and like a kid on a car ride, she slackened in Louie’s arms, falling deep asleep.

The last thing she heard was Louie’s bewildered voice.

“Why are you both like this? I’ll have to carry you both back now.”

Abby smiled.