Hunter and Vis look at each other for a moment before they part, each one checking on a different party member. Vis picks Astraea up and carries her over his shoulder while Hunter helps ?elare to his feet. The man, whose house is now in ruins, emerges from behind a pile of rubble holding his child in his arms.

  “I apologise sincerely for bringing you into this. I had no idea of that monster’s intentions and I did not want any of you to get hurt,” he says with tears in his eyes.

  Vis shakes his head and replies, “We know and won't hold it against you. Who are you, anyway?”

  “My name is Divum, a follower of the Church of Air. My son is Nimbus.”

  As he talks, several people emerge from the buildings around them, many with worried looks on their faces. A woman sprints round from the other side of the tower in the centre and runs right to Divum, embracing him.

  “I'm so glad you're okay,” she says, her voice wavering. The man carefully puts his hand around her, ensuring his hold on the child is steady before replying, “Hello, Azure. These four fought off the three visitors- it turns out they were evil and used us as a trap to catch this young woman.”

  He gestures to Astraea, and the woman frowns.

  “Is she going to be fine?”

  Vis gives him a nod and points to the unconscious body he is carrying.

  “This girl can take a hit or several hundred. I'm not even sure I could kill her if I tried.”

  Divum appears satisfied by this response and turns to the woman by his side, his expression turning dark.

  “They, unfortunately, were unable to help our child, but I believe, as thanks, that you should help them descend our mountain. The Air Elemental would not want to see such good people suffer more than necessary.”

  Everyone looks to Azure, who responds, “I agree. They've proven themselves worthy, and it would be remiss of us not to assist them down our mountain.”

  Hunter speaks up.

  “I apologise for our inability to help you, but we will be able to make it ourselves; it will probably only take around five days, a week at maximum.”

  Azure shakes her head and says, “I will contact the Elemental. As the Air Priestess, I'm sure he will grant my request.”

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  This surprises the three conscious party members, but before anyone can respond, the woman jogs around the base of the tower and appears at the top mere moments later. She sits down and raises her hands in the air for around a minute before nodding to herself and gesturing for the others to follow her up.

  They finally vacate the demolished site around them, heading around the large structure and into the narrow doorway. It leads into an open chamber with no way up, being purely a hollowed-out tower. Divum presses one of the bricks into the wall, then says, “Hold on to your companions,” as he steps out with his child.

  A light draught blows through the room. It picks up slowly until it becomes a strong wind, and continues building. Despite the force, nobody loses their balance as it moves in a controlled manner. Then, everyone inside begins to float. The current carries them up swiftly, only ?elare panicking and grabbing tightly onto Hunter with his single arm. The others look upward to where they are heading, arriving at a platform that slides out underneath them, cutting off the gust. Azure nods to them and gestures to seemingly nothing. After a moment of silence, Hunter clears his throat.

  “I greet thee, O great Air Elemental. I humbly request you-”

  A sudden gust of wind blows past his ear, and he hears it carry a monotone voice of indiscernible gender.

  “Talk normally.”

  Hunter looks around frantically, his vision passing by an amused-looking Azure before he tries again.

  “We… need to get to the bottom of the mountain, but we are not in an adequate condition to do so in a reasonable time period. I'm not sure exactly what you can do to help us, but it would be greatly appreciated.”

  He is answered not with words, but with a wind similar to earlier lifting all of them, save for Azure, off the platform. Slowly, they are levitated up and over the side of the tower.

  “Goodbye. I hope to see you again one day,” Azure shouts. They are then launched at a ludicrous speed horizontally, and they hurtle through the air.

  It takes hours of high-intensity travel for them to land at the base of the mountain, right beside an especially large building in the Terras territory. Vis lost his grip on Astraea during the transportation, but each person is set gently on the ground, so nothing comes of his mistake. He looks relieved, and also surprised, as he picks Astraea up once more. An old man, notably fit for his apparent age, notices the arrival of the four through a window in the house. He makes his way to them and calls out, “The second group to arrive has returned before the first. I hope the trip was not terrible: The Air Elemental can be quite petty when transporting people deemed unworthy.”

  He glances at the boy missing an arm and the girl Vis is holding as Hunter replies, “That first group you mentioned was only there in an attempt to kidnap one of ours. While victorious, we suffered heavy injuries fighting the three of them.”

  The man frowns.

  “I apologise for assisting in leading you to such a thing, my boy. I should give you something as recompense.”

  Hunter shakes his head.

  “Don’t worry about it, sir. We made it out fine and you were entirely unaware.”

  He turns to the others and continues, “I will be remaining here for a short while to sort out some matters. ?elare, are you recovered enough to be capable?”

  ?elare nods in spite of the grimace on his face, and Hunter finishes.

  “We will see each other again shortly. I wish you all a safe journey back.”

  Goodbyes are said as Vis, still holding Astraea, and ?elare begin travelling back to the carriage station that brought them here.