Lunae felt weird coming through the portal; something inside her was pressuring her to run. She still felt the presence of her ancestors, and they kept saying to hurry. Fulch was looking around, and he finally had time to put up a concealment.
“Fulch, something is wrong. We have to hurry,” Lunae said. Fulch looked at her with impatience.
“Let me finish this,” he said, bending down. Lunae came up to him and pulled him up. He looked at her with anger, and they both stood there staring at each other. Everyone around them was anxiously waiting to see what was going to happen.
“Help now!” The water said as if it were yelling. Lunae and Fulch started in a run; they knew that if the water was choosing to intervene, then something was seriously wrong. Everyone followed, but soon the injured couldn’t keep up. Fulch noticed and yelled back.
“Stay here! Get back to the portal,” he said. They reluctantly went back. It was only Lunae, Fulch, and Narutay. They were gaining ground when all of a sudden they heard yelling from in front of them. They hid behind some trees and waited for the perpetrator to reveal themselves. Frayusha came out of the trees, running and sweating. Narutay yelled out her name and came running towards her. She was scared at first, then realized it was her father. They embraced each other, and Lunae and Fulch came into sight. Quickly, Piskalians were coming out of the trees in a run, scared. They stopped when they saw Fulch and Lunae.
“What has happened?” Fulch yelled. Everyone started to talk, and Fulch couldn’t understand. Finally, Frayusha told everyone to be quiet and came up to him.
“We are fleeing both the Rhudons and my people. Linth and the warriors stayed back to lend in our escape. They will not make it. We have to hurry and get to the portals,” Frayusha said. Fulch acted quickly.
“Narutay take them back to the portals, go through the Signuck portal. We will follow after we save the others,” Fulch said. He looked over at Lunae, and they both nodded their heads before running off. The Piskalians ran towards the portal, and when Lunae and Fulch reached the end of them, they saw Verdom. They were going to run right past him, but he stopped in front of them.
“I’m coming with you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” Verdom said. Lunae smiled at him, and they all started running. Fear and anticipation were growing in them as they made their way closer. They could hear the sounds of the battle. The clanking of swords and the screams from the men. They came upon them, and Fulch immediately made a wall of water and pushed back the Rhudons. There weren’t many of the Piskal warriors left. All were injured and barely breathing. Linth looked over to see the three of them, and a sense of relief came over him as his legs collapsed underneath him. Fulch ran up to him and placed his hands on him, steadying him.
“My king,” Linth said, trying to get up. Fulch helped him up right as the hounds could be heard.
“Verdom help them to the portals. Lunae and I will take care of them,” Fulch said. Linth objected, and both Lunae and Fulch yelled for him to go. Verdom took Linth, and they made their way to the portals.
“We must conserve our strength,” Lunae said, and Fulch agreed. The hounds were charging at them. Lunae made a water blade and thrusted it into the head of one of the hounds; it came crashing down. Fulch did the same, and soon they were overrun by them. Fulch pulled out a sword and started fighting. Lunae would push a hound back and throw a water blade into it. They were so concerned about the hounds that they didn’t see the rest of the Rhudons coming back. They charged. Lunae’s back was turned to them, and a Rhudon came up behind her and slashed her back with his claws. She fell to the ground, screaming. Fulch saw this and ran his sword into him. Fulch went over to Lunae.
“Get up Lunae!” Fulch yelled. Lunae struggled, but she did. She then started pulling the closest Rhudon's waters. She then gathered her strength and shot out multiple water blades in their direction, killing them.
“Did you know we could do that?” She yelled to Fulch. He chuckled and shook his head. Next thing they knew, water was being pulled from Fulch. They looked to see Porpura priests. Lunae then started to pull water from them. They screamed while falling to the ground. Fulch was released from their grip, and he started to make another wall of water. As it was beginning to form, Brurock came crashing through it. Sword aiming towards Fulch. Fulch dodged it, and then their swords started to dance with each other. Lunae killed the priests right before several Rhudons got to her. She eluded their strikes and kept throwing water blades, but she was getting tired. She then tried to pull the water towards her, and she noticed her eyesight was beginning to blur as she fell to one knee. She immediately stopped. A Rhudon was running towards her, about to strike, when another sword blocked it. Lunae looked to see Linth and Verdom. Linth came and helped her up while Verdom was fighting the Rhudons.
“We need to leave!” Linth said. Lunae nodded and started conjuring up a water wall. She pushed it, but couldn’t get it to push them that far, and it went right over Brurock, who was slowly winning against Fulch. Verdom came to help. He struck Brurock in the back, making him roar. He then turned his blade towards Verdom. Lunae knew she needed Fulch’s help.
“Fulch, we have to push them back together!” Lunae yelled. Fulch nodded, and they both started making a wall. Brurock noticed and turned away from Verdom and ran towards Fulch, but was too late. They pushed them back. Then they turned to run.
They were almost to the portals when Lunae’s ancestors screamed in her head, resulting in her falling to the ground. It was just in the nick of time since a water blade had been shot at her head. She turned around to see Shardoe peeking out of the Porpura’s ships. Lunae screamed out his name, making everyone else stop. They all turned around, ready to fight. Next thing they knew, their waters were being taken. Shardoe was laughing. Everyone thought this was the end. Chindra then spoke to Lunae.
“Use your magic, mix it with the Piskals. Call to the sky,” she said. Lunae then yelled for Fulch while holding out her hand. Fulch struggled to get to her but managed to grab her hand.
“We must call to the sky!” Lunae said. Fulch was confused but decided to trust her. Without really understanding what they were doing, they tried to call to the sky. Then the sky turned dark, and thunder could be heard. Shardoe looked up at the sky and then glanced at Lunae.
“No!” He yelled, right before lightning struck down the ships. They all fell to the ground. Released from Shardoe’s grip, they all got up. They looked at each other and started laughing.
“We must leave,” Linth said. They started to walk towards the portals, but Verdom went to look at the wreckage. Lunae noticed and caught up to him.
“Come on Verdom. No use in looking, we still have the Rhudons on our tail,” She said. Verdom nodded and was about to turn around when he saw Shardoe throw water blades towards Lunae. He pushed her out of the way and was struck in the chest.
“No! No! Verdom!” Lunae yelled. Linth came rushing to Verdom and grabbed him. Then they heard the roars of the Rhudons.
“We have to leave!” Fulch said. Linth, carrying Verdom, ran towards the portals. They arrived at the Signuck portal and entered. Once through, Linth laid down Verdom. People were staring, some started to cry. That’s when Tanla walked up. She screamed and ran over to him. Linth gave her space.
“Verdom I’m here, I’m here,” Tanla said. Verdom, eyes glazed, looked at her.
“My love, you’re okay. I’m so happy. I’m sorry I won’t see this new world with you,” Verdom said. Tanla started to cry. She begged for someone to do something, but there was nothing anyone could do. Everyone left her to be with him; it wouldn’t be long. Hashmire took the opportunity to go to Lunae.
“You should be able to close the portal with your ring,” Hashmire said. Lunae looked at him, then the ring. She walked up to the portal and examined it. She noticed a hole where she could put the ring. She did, and the portal closed. They were safe for now.