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Mara's Adventures 22

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The man's face turned slightly to the left as he took a small step to the side, dodging barely. Zary's blade cut along the edge of his cheek exposing some flesh as blood trickled down and along the now retracting sword. He gritted his teeth and balled his fists while charging some magic spell that began covering his knuckles in oscillating purple and red wave-like colors. Another hand reached up toward the ceiling, and faint strings of green energy poured into his palm.

Zary slashed away again within the rock shield she had penetrated, drawing a slashing motion across his chest - but the man met the blade with the magic around his fist which opened up to become a forward energy shield of sworts, while his other hand still drew in some of those green energies.

Zary didn't have time to think, she just reacted, and moved in to grab his fist against the shield and channeling fire magic through it to slowly overwhelm him with sheer force. Her eyebrows tensed with her gritting jaw as she angrily began pouring her flames against the man. Eventually the shield broke, and Zary moved into punch the man in the jaw.

He reached up to block with his wrist, moving Zary's fist out of the way, and thrusting a punch toward Zary's gut, and she took her other hand and caught his hand before twisting it sideways, and tried to kick. Her foe's other hand freed up and he stepped to the side to move in and elbow her. Like this they continued fighting rapidly within the center of the room.

Meanwhile on the outside of the rock-sphere shield, Mara, Serona, and Naoha all stood surrounding the prisoners they were trying to free, swords drawn and blocking the endless stream of liquid that was flying around, bursting forth from the various machines he had set up in the rooms above them.

Over time they slowly shaped themselves into a serpentine shape, complete with a mouth, and little icicles sticking out of their sides. The green magic the man channeled were now pouring into them, and it took all their might to repel the seemingly endless wave.

"What are those things?"

"I dunno, but it seems he's using ley magic to augment and change them!" Mara replied and swung her sword through one of the creatures, boiling it from the inside as her sword was still red-hot with her own flames channeling through the blade.

Serona fidged a bit while she stood, taking baby steps back and forth to get into better positions to swing and fling her sword and flame. She was still wearing her armor, which easily blocked any impact from the...magic things that were flying around the room.

Overhead some more of the ceilings shattered and dropped glass down over them, which they all had to block one by one except for Zary and her foe. The shield of rocks seemed to fling the glass that hit into various trajectories. Overhead more of those ice-water serpentine forms started bursting from the machines and coming down upon them.

However, as each one of them met the blade and fire of one of them, they were slowly shrinking as their water boiled. All they could do was hold out as long as possible. There were only so many machines after all.

Back in the center, Zary was in full speed combat as she continued dueling with her opponent. He was very good, well trained, and had much knowledge in various kinds of dimensional and illusion magic, each one that seemed specific to the various races he had imprisoned within his 'base'. Zary usually overcame them with sheer force of magic and might. Her arms were now ablaze, and each time he barely dodged or blocked, a part of him would get singed. It was evident in how tattered his clothes were, and how she fought made it difficult to block, because then his hands would get burned - and she already overcame his shield, which he tried to reactivate each time he had to block.

However, he was not out of tricks yet, and so the mage continued using martial arts until he had grabbed both of Zary's wrists, and jabbed his hands forward into Zary's face and pushing her against the rock wall. She cried out in pain as her back hit the shield. She arched her back inward to avoid her wings getting sliced up, and instead received a lot of pain in her upper back above the wings, her head smacked against a rock making her dizzy. She instinctively raised a leg and thrust it out toward the man's lower body, propelling him back into the center. Zary stood up with a groan to shake it off and dove back into the fray, shoving the man back against with punches and elbows.

Both of their punches, kicks, elbows, and blocks were so fast that it was nearly impossible for Mara to keep track of while she was fighting off her own enemies to keep her family safe. The elf was standing up, backed against the wall with her knees quivering, and arms up against her chest in a futile attempt to feel like she was protecting herself. Kasairi sat in a vertically oriented fetile position on the ground, seemingly obvlious to what was going on, and Eevy was propped up against her mother, still unconscious.

Mara grew increasingly worried about them, and wanted to get them to the Shaman and Healers back 'home' quickly. She stopped her fighting altogether, turned weakly to face her mom and sister. She crouched next to them, and stroked their shoulders, hugging them both while biting her lip.

"This isn't happening...its not happening, is it? It's all just...a bad dream. My mother's really a strong, determined fairy, and my sister is really the cheerful encouraging sister I know her as. I'm not really fighting to protect them from death...I'm in my bed, a little girl with a nightmare..." She put her head against Eevy's forehead and just spoke to them softly while everyone else was in full fledged combat.

It seemed like hours, and Mara didn't even realize when it was all over until all the noises went silent at once. A tear was streaming down her cheek again, that warm salty drop which always managed to show without fail what she was feeling.

Mara turned around briefly to see the rocks hovering in place before falling to the ground. The man in the center had Zary's sword through his gut, and he was gripping it with bloodied and burned hands. His whole body looked boiled and crispy, having taken too much damage from Zary's aggressive fighting. Her armor had some scratches and dents in it, and her shoulder pad was dislodged - but she had won. The man bent over looking down at his torso, a crescent waterfall spewing forth from his mouth around the sword, and onto the platform they were fighting on in the center of the room.

Mara stood up slowly and turned around, walking toward the center of the room. Zary glanced at Mara with a grin, and retracted her sword. The man fell to the floor grasping his midsection with his hands, too weak to use magic, too weak to move. Mara walked up to him, and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him along the ground toward a wall, hoisting him up against it.

He grunted and screamed in pain, looking down at Mara. Her eyes were widened and piercing his soul with an aggressive glare, her hands trembled as she held him up against the wall, and her sword was pressed against his body. She slowly moved her blade along his inner thigh, and dragged it along the singed, dead flesh, cutting it open. She moved it up against his torso next, sliding along his skin which caused him to scream in agony again.

"Mara, just eat him already!" Zary said.

Mara didn't respond, she just had her sword up against his throat.

"No, that'd be the easy way out. Not going to eat you either...also too easy." She punched his face hard, and she could feel the crispy burns that no longer felt like skin.

"Mara, please!" Zary responded, and then walked up close behind her as Mara punched the man again...and again...and again. Each time the man's head was jerked back and forth.

"Don't do this Mara, just end it quickly!"

"He doesn't deserve a quick death, Zarynia." Mara's spoke with a deeper shaky tone than before.

"Don't give into this. Killing him out of vengeance isn't healthy." Zary couldn't say that for a person like Mara it would be. Zary pictured in her mind what would transpire after Mara realized the extent of what she was doing, how the poor girl wasn't the brutal person as her, and wouldn't be able to handle knowing what she did.

"He robbed me of my childhood! Do you hear that, you...jerk! You hear that? You robbed me of my childhood, nearly killed my family, robbed me of an additional two hundred years of searching...I could have been a normal girl celebrating my forty-fifth birthday, my coming of adulthood, and...and..." She shook her head violently, staring up into his face again.

"Mara, we know, it was terrible what he did, but it'll only make you feel worse, afteward!"

Mara punched him again.

"Hehe...you're...just like me...killing for vengeance..." He replied finally, and coughed again.

"What?" Mara asked slowly.

"My family was taken from me too...when that great city was destroyed..." He coughed again. "All I wanted was revenge...so...you're just like me..." He coughed, and Mara shook her head.

"No. I'm not like you." She shook her fist again, and punched him in the jaw.

"Not! Not! Not like you!" She punched hard, and finally a snap was heard, his head twisting hard to the side in an unnatural position, and he slumped to the floor.

"Great. You killed him, now can we get out of here please?"

Mara stood and looked over his corpse, and then just turned and walked away, grabbing her mother, hoisting her on her back, and proceeded with the others as they quickly asceded the stairs circling the room all the way to the top. Mara stared blankly at Zary's backside the whole way, her friend and teacher who didn't say a single word. Serona and Naoha were silent as well with the Elf following behind. Zary was grunting, holding her shoulder while Naoha had Eevy hoisted over her back as well.

"Zary, will you be alright?" Mara finally said as they neared the top floor, and walked through it, to the doorway on the far side. Several of the machines still had bodies in them though - large cylindrical objects with broken glass. One of them had a human sized naga who was toppled over and out of the broken glass onto the floor, and the other was another demi-chimera. The group glanced over at them, but it was obvious nothing could be done to help them. Zary walked straight through the room without looking at anything.

"I'll be fine."

"Zary, you look -"

"I'll be fine!" She said with finality, and continued walking. There were no insects, and the walls were still smooth, as if chiseled down with perfection. The floors followed the same pattern as well - which was very easy to walk on. No random stones or rocks got caught under the feet and toes as they trudged along through the dark long hallway that followed the room.

Evetually the hallway led to a closed wall, which had nothing else around or beside it.

"Stad aside." Serona commented, and moved her way through everybody toward the front. She put her palm on the door, and manipulated flames with a bit of ley magic she was able to channel.

"Seems like this place was built right under a ley line. Blowing this up'll be easy." She said, trying to break the silence, and breathed deeply to herself, followed by a loud sigh. A circle formed under her palms, and she chanted something before a large symbol appeared within the blank circle.

"Stand back." She gestured everyone to move back, and the circle and rune which were made of tendrils of fire started changing color and the wall blew open to reveal moonlight shining in from outside. It was dark out, but they had escaped.

Once outside of the cave, all of them stood in the cool night air and took a deep breath. Each of them wanted to take a break but knew that they had to keep on going anyway to get as far away from that place as possible.

Only once they gained flight and drifted off toward their home did Zary say something.

"Mara. You wanted to know why I dove in before you got here with the others?"

"Oh right!" Mara responded, nearly forgetting that she was curious about the 'real reason' that Naoha or Serona mentioned.

"Well...I lost my brother." Zary commented, and remained silent for a minute or so.

"Your brother?"

"Right. Male Crimson Fairies are still rare in our society, and...he was precious to me - teaching me how to fight with ferocity, and I always looked up to him. One day, he just...didn't return though, and instead of going out to look for him I was too scared. I thought that if something was powerful enough to overtake him, then there was no way I'd survive out there. So neglected to search - and let him down. To this day I feel ashamed of it, and it was not only a big loss for me, but for my family. I never want another family to go through that again if I can help it...and that's why I've been so eager to help you, Mara. Now you know." Zary just kept looking ahead the whole time while Mara was staring at the side of her face as she flew. Zary's cheeks were not red, her eyes were not puffy, but her eyebrows were furrowed and she stared forward with a glare, and her mouth was downturned as she thought about the situation.

"I forgive you."

"What?"

"I was mad that you went off alone, you could have been killed! But you did it for my family, and protected them until I got there. That means a lot to me Zary. Thank you."

From the side view that Mara had of Zarynia, she saw that frown flip on itself, and the corner of her mouth curled upward a bit. This was enough for Mara.


---

At the same time, Bael and Kaian were darting as fast as they can around the edge of the bushes, and had just managed to get under the mumansi on the far end of the clearing as the Echydin looked their direction and started galloping.

With a gutteral grunt, the massive lumbering herbivore turned it's head to look at the predatorial unicorn, who was looking under the creature's body to try and find Bael and Kaian.

"Hell if we're going to get eaten by that thing. It's a freakin' mage killer. I wouldn't be able to get us out."

"No kidding, now lets just move a little further so it can't see us..." Kaian replied, and moved with Bael up along the underside of the creature's belly. Hooves were heard shuffling and galloping again as the Echydin turned and went off. Having escaped death, the two of them followed under the Mumansi's body toward the mountain ahead of them for a while until the Herbivore turned off in another direction.

The human and elf duo both proceeded to walk with caution. Both of them were quite fatigued from the Echydin. The mountain was very close now, they knew it. A path was leading straight toward it, and things slowly seemed to be a little more organized. Many flowers were neatly sprouting on either side of the trail, and trees lined the pathway, instead of being right in front. When Kaian noticed this however, he grew suspicious.

"Bael we should be careful."

"What are you talking about?"

One of the flowers seemed to twitch, and Kaian stared at it intently, before grabbing Bael and running. The flowers seemed to follow him as he ran, and Bael seemed to follow out of confusion.

"Kaian, what. is. going. on?" He grunted with effort, and Kaian stopped to whisper into Bael's ear.

"Ssh, we don't want it to hear us."

"What hear us?"

Kaian merely started running quickly, not looking at any of the trees, not stopping for a single moment. Anytime there was a root in his way, he'd jump it. Bael ran after as well, breathing steadily as if he were on a morning jog. Whe they finally got to the Ascarlin Mountains, the cliff before them stretched up into the air, and right before them was a lone tree. Bael looked up at it, and stared a bit.

"A tree...I thought..." Bael commented out loud.

The tree started slowly changing, and revealed right before them a woman's torso, arms, and head but with the lower body of the tree that was there before. She waved to them both cheerfully.

"Hello you two."

Kaian put his hands over his sword, then realized how stupid it'd be to try and fight her. He had no idea what to do though - as running from a Dryad would be impossible. He hoped he was running away from her though and not running toward.

"Bael, I thought you said it'd be right here."

"Yeah it is right here Kaian, we've arrived."

"Hello." The Dryad commented again.

"Bael, unless you were hallucinating this is a Dryad, not an outpost." Kaian replied, ignoring the Dryad who was growing increasingly annoyed. She cleared her throat, and a few vines grew around their feet, hoisting them into the air. She made sure to keep them right side up as she brought them both before her.

"I'm gonna die." Kaian said flatly. Bael was finding it difficult not to laugh.

"I told you already Kaian, the outpost is guarded."

"The Dryad must have eaten your guard then."

"I am the guard." The Dryad responded calmly. It didn't seem to convince Kaian.

"How would I know that, Dryads are masters of illusion."

Bael groaned, and put his face into his hands.

"Kaian, this is Alerce. Alerce, meet my friend Kaian."

"Hello." She said for the third time.

"H-hello Alerce..." Kaian choked, then turned to Bael.

"You know a Dryad too?"

"No. I don't know Alerce that well, actually. She's friendly because of her affiliation with Thomas."

"Who?"

"You guys want to meet Tuc?"

"Yeah. That's what we came here for."

Alerce set them both down, and a door seemed to appear out of thin air against the cave wall, and a minute later the thick massive metal door sunk into the ground to reveal a cave, which had various supports up, and wires were hung up on the ceiling connected to lights. Bael and Kaian walked in, and the door rose again.

"Oh, so this is the outpost." Kaian replied energetically, not bothering to brush himself off or adjust his outfit.


"Yeah. Welcome to the outpost. As you can see, its fairly messy."

There was a door on one side, which opened to reveal a room with desks and shelves. Various foreign synthetic devices were stacked on the desks, and a metal creature "walked" out of it, with an object up against the smooth floor. Various small rocks and things embedded into the floor were forcibly removed to keep at least some part of this cave looking homey. The hallways continued, all brightly lit, some snaking off into other hallways, and quite a lot of doors were put into place, each guarding some sort of room for storage, study, sleeping, and even a cafeteria. Near the back of the outpost was another large door which opened to reveal behind it a much cleaner, more well lit hallway that had an actual floor and walls to it. There were windows as well that looked into rooms, one of them had an elevated bed anchored into the floor with some sterile white sheets, bottles full of various liquids, and cabinets that listed various medical devices on them.

"Bael...where did all this come from?"

"A ship that crashed here. Tuc - as you'll learn to call him - salvaged all that he could and set up within the cave."

A door opened on the other side of the hallway, and a man with a white coat, black pants and dress shoes appeared. He was clean shaven, had brown hair combed to one side, and brown eyes. He looked entirely normal, and Kaian just cleared his throat.

"You look different." He replied, not used to such a look as was Tom's.

"Kaian, meet Tuc, Tuc, meet Kaian." Bael spoke up, and both of them exchanged greetings.

"My name's Thomas Ulysses Coronan, but most people call me Tuc."

"Ah...was...confused about that." Kaian said, and looked into the back room. "So this is all your place? Bael told me you crashed here. I also noticed you have a Dryad out front."

"Yeah."

"How'd you manage that without her eating you?"

"I saved her life."

"Oh." Kaian nodded and decided not to ask any further questions, and looked around quizzically. "Heh, can't believe you know a Dryad too, Bael."

"I don't really know her at all, we're just acquaintances."

"Well obviously she wont eat you."

"She doesn't eat anyone else, either."

Kaian sighed in frustration, and Bael followed Tuc through the outpost. It was the only other place for him to visit these days, and figured that he'd check back once every three weeks or so. It was a rather simple meeting, except for Tuc showing Kaian around the whole place.

"Here for the same reason again, Bael?"

"Yeah. You mind if I stick around for a while again?"

"Not at all."

"Great. If you need help with anything, I'd be willing to lend a hand."

---

A few days passed by, and Mara and Company reached the Crimson Maiden's City again. They had taken Mara's family to the temple, and now she was siting outside with Zary on the steps looking down into her palms, occasionally glancing up at the children playing.

"You going to be okay Mara?"

Mara however, was beating her wings, twitching them every so often, and her lips were stretching from one cheek to the other.

"I'm happy." She replied slowly.

"You seem thoughtful. I thought you'd be more worried than ever now."

"Nope! I have my family back, for better or worse. Though...if their situation changes for the worse I'd...probably loose it again..." She looked down at her hands, and rubbed them together. "It's just...right now, because they're here...all of them...I can relax a bit more. I'm not scouring all of Felarya wondering where they are. I'm sure the healers will do their job..."

"I dunno Mara, they looked pretty...uh...hurt to me."

"Well worrying about it now can't do much good. Just having all three of them here makes me more happy than I can describe, and now...I can finally stop looking for my family. I...can do something else now, right? What do I do?"

"Well, you can relax and enjoy yourself. I think you've deserved it, Mara."

"So do I. I want to be a cheerful, happy fairy, not some dark brooding one, and I'm going to start by playing some pixie ball!" Mara stood up suddenly and looked out at the kids in the middle of the field.

Zary chuckled, and watched as Mara stood on the steps with a grin on her face, standing up herself. A fairy walked down the steps toward the duo and tried to get their attention. Mara turned around suddenly, her eyes widening, and fidgeted a bit.

"You two with Kasairi, right?"

"Yeah." Mara replied instantly. Zary had her mouth open, but got no chance to speak.

"You should come with me."

Mara stared at Zary, her eyebrows tipping upward a bit, and followed closely to the other fairy as they went into the temple and back to the room where Kandra, Eevy and Kasairi were. Kandra was currently sleeping in bed, and rolled over to the other side. She was sleeping with her hands up by her forehead, as if she were rubbing them in deep thought. Kasairi was awake, but seemed largely oblivious to what was going on around her, while Eevy was still unconscious it seemed.

"This girl here, Eevy...it's bad. I'm not going to lie to you Mara, I'm not sure if she's ever going to wake up."

"What?"

"Yeah. She was in bad shape when you got her here, and she seems to be stable now, exept..."

Mara knelt down on the stone floor, and put her hands around Eevy's left one tenderly with her face bowing toward it. Zary put her hand on Mara's back, under her wings, and rubbed tenderly.

"She'll be okay right?"

"Eventually, we think so. She's not dying, so we're hopeful."

"That's good. I'll just stay here a while longer. I think I'll play pixie ball later."

"Alright Mara. I'm going to go away for a little bit. I'll meet you back here?"

"Go ahead Zary." Mara replied, and Zary nodded before flying off deeper into the temple.

Mara turned toward the healer slowly, gripping Eevy's hand tighter. She spoke gently, asking if there was any way she can save her sister, or at least to more. She was happy they were here, and that they weren't dying, which was enough for the moment, but it was not enough for the long run.

"Sorry hun. We're not sure yet. If we can use your help, we'll send for you." She commented. Mara smiled broadly and continued to sit by her sister for a while, loosing track of time. She just sat and rubbed Eevy's hand for a while, and then got up and walked over to Kasairi, leaning down to put her fingers through her mother's black hair. She looked over at Kandra, too - who looked like she was still sleeping. The healer noticed she was looking at Kandra and went up to her again.

"Kandra is expected to make a full recovery. She's healthy physically, but she has a lot of mental damage, and has been having problems remembering words and physical tasks though."

"But she'll live right?" Mara asked.

"Yes, provided she's cared for she will live. Definitely." To which Mara breathed a sigh of relief. Kandra's always cared for her, taught her things when she was a little girl, and now was her chance to pay her back, and be the bigger sister for once.

"What about Kasairi?"

"Her condition is stable too, but she's not waking up either."

"...Oh..."

Just then Zary came back into the room, and walked up slowly behind Mara, speaking tenderly.

"Time to go home."

Mara nodded, and turned to leave, glancing back at her family as they all lay in bed in various conditions. She stood at the room's entrance, and Zary put her hands on Mara firmly to drag her out of the room.

"Come on. We can come back tomorrow."

"I want to...play pixie ball." Mara replied with a mix of eagerness, and sorrow.

"You can do that tomorrow."

"I want to forget about my worries, and let what happens, happen."

"...I understand." Zary replied, and took her all the way to her home through town. Mara walked through the door, and into her room the same as the last few days she's been here since getting back. Only coming out for meals. Mara spent her nights thinking to herself, and her mornings wandering around town, which is what she did the next morning as well. Tons of fairies were going about playing, training, learning, and flying about for various reasons. Many fairies commonly left the city to go hunting as well.

Mara, however, went to spend the morning playing pixie ball for once, and got into the game with some kids. She didn't feel awkward at all, but just curious - as she hardly played it at all in her childhood.  She was distracted during the game thinking about how after she was separated from her family all she did was learn and train to try and get them back.

Afternoon came rather quickly, and Zary came was standing near the temple steps watching as Mara was high in the air, passing the ball to a team mate. Zary looked around to see if anyone was near her, and then started yelling out cheering Mara on.

"Go Mara, give it to 'em!" She raised her fist into the air, and then flushed slightly hoping someone didn't hear her. Soon enough though the game was over, and Mara was going over to Zary happy as a clam.

"Hey nice game. Did'ja win?"

"No...I'm terrible at it!"

"Hehe, you'll get better."

"I had fun though!" She said, impulsively hugging Zary.

Later that evening after an outing with Zary, both of them had come back to look over Mara's family again.

"So how you feeling?"

"Far more optimistic than yesterday."

"That's good. No use dwelling on things that cant be solved through just hoping."

"Well if I can do anything to help, I will!"

"Easy, you've already done most of the work."

"Yeah, thanks Zary..."

"Yeah see, everything will be fine. Now, about why I went off yesterday..."

"Oh yeah! Where'd you go?"

"To see Alsherala. It took me a good couple hours of waiting to get to see her."

"She sounds busy..."

"She's also our leader, you can't just "walk in" and talk to her either."

Mara shrugged in response, and continued onward with Zary down the hallway and into the room where her family was. She took a deep breath and stared at the ground until she was standing right over the nearest bed and neeled down onto the ground, turning her head up to look at Eevy's face.

"Anyway." Zary continued, and put a hand on her shoulder firmly, stroking it with her thumb. "I spoke to Alsherala about you specifically. I want to get you some armor, but you're not a kid proving themself, you're already an adult. You cant really go on a proving because of that."

"I see." Mara nodded slowly, and rubbed Eevy's hand. With the other, she ran her fingers through her hair.

"So it came down to me giving my word to both Alsherala and to the person in charge of the provings to say that you're fierce enough a warrior to deserve your own, but even then they were still hesitant." Zary said, knowing this wasn't the best time, so she started massaging Mara's back.

"Thanks, Zary. I've been wondering and all."

"Yeah. So we'll give you the standard armor when you leave."

"Sorry I'm not too excited right now -"

"I understand. You're more worried about your family, as well you should be."

Right then, a healer walked in and started examining the patients. She went over to Kandra, who was still sleeping, and then immediately went of to Kasairi, spending a while with her hands over Mara's mother's body.

"Something wrong with my mom?"

"She's still somewhat unstable, and weak. We've done all we can for her though and now its just a matter of waiting." She got up and went over to Eevy next, her eyebrows tipping upward.

Mara got nervous, and clutched Eevy's hand really tight. She just watched the healer as she kept her hands over Eevy, moving them up and down and releasing some sort of magic into her body. She twitched her fingers and made a noise between a soft grunt and breathing sharply a couple times.

This caused Mara to stare intently at the healer and not do anything. Zary just stayed where she is and continued massaging her friend.

Eventually the healer stood up and shook her head, and met Mara's wide bubbling eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? A-about what?"

"I don't know how to tell you this, but...I don't think she's going to make it."

"But she looks just fine!"

"Her flesh may not be scarred or damaged, but that's not true for her mind." She said, with a hand oh her forehead.

"I...I..." Mara responded, and collapsed onto Eevy. Zary just bent down and hugged Mara from behind.

"I can't let this be the end!"

"I'm sorry Mara, there's nothing more I can do for her. At this rate, it'll be inevitable. I think you may want to think about how best you might say your goodbyes."

"I...I know someone though! I can take Eevy to him! He'll help me..."

"Who can help you? Your boyfriend?" Zary responded, and Mara shook her head.

"Not exactly. Eevy's not physically hurt, so I can fly her there! Can you help bring my mom and sister?"

"I cant carry them both. Where are we going, anyway?"

"Southern Tolmeshal forest, near the Ascarlin Mountains."

"Mara, that's a really long ways away!"

"We have to make it. She'd die anyway if she stays here, and that's our best bet!"

Zary sighed, and nodded. What Mara said was true, and so it wasn't a bad idea - couldn't hurt at the very least. It'd just cause Zary and whatever help she got to be far away from home.

"Alright Mara, when do you want to leave?"

"Now! As soon as possible!"

"Mara, you're here looking for your family right? What about your father?"

"I don't care about him anymore. If he wasn't here before or now, then I don't consider him my father. I want to leave now."

"Alright then. Well I'll go see if maybe Naoha would be willing to help. You stay here, and I'll be back in a half hour."

Mara nodded, and just collapsed onto her sister, chest beating hard, like raw meat, and she squeezed herself and her sister rather hard. Her lips pressed together tightly, and quivered a bit as her cheeks ran warm with tears. It felt like only a minute before Zary was back though, much to Mara's pleasant surprise. Naoha was with her, and was saying that she'd only be too glad to help.

"Thanks Naoha, you've always had a kind heart when it comes down to it."

Naoha was also carrying an extra set of armor. She had greaves and a breastplate. It was spectacular. Mara took off her circlet and gave it back to Zary, while Naoha helped Mara stumble into the the two armor pieces. Zary took it, and put it on as she had nowhere else to put it at the moment. She went over and gently lifted Eevy up as she shrank her down to carry her in her hand.

Naoha went over and did the same thing to Kasairi, and Mara went over to Kandra, and shrank her down as well. She thought about waking Kandra up to see if she could fly - but decided that might take too long. Time was precious and she didn't have any to spare. It took not more than ten minutes to be fully prepped before they started taking Mara's family out the door.

The healer turned around from far down the hallway and scoffed.

"When I said to say goodbye, that isn't what I meant!"

"Sorry. Time is precious, and I may have another way to help them. Thanks for all your hard work. It means a lot." Mara smiled, and nodded to the healer, who just hung her head, unsure of what to do.

"So you're just going to leave?"

"That's right." Zary responded for Mara. "It's her family anyway, and she's trying to help them the best way she knows how.

Knowing that for all three of them there wasn't much more she can do. It was more or less up to them. She just watched as Mara, Zary, and Naoha went off out of the temple and into the distance.

Mara's Adventures 22

A while later, Bael and Kaian were back at Tuc's outpost, walking along the lit cave's floor toward the back where the door opened up into the cleaner more pristine area. The floor was smoothed out and chisled out to be nice and flat by drones that rolled along the floor to keep things relatively clean. The walls were just as nice as always, and for the back of the outpost it was a pretty small area even if it was well kept. Tuc didn't have the resources to make a giant pristine outpost with full medical facilities after all. It was all from the downed vehicle after he first arrived in Felarya.

Soon after they arrived Bael and Kaian were in the cargo area, moving boxes around. Boxes that were full of all sorts of imported devices that he used to help his cause. Midway through their chores Tuc ran out of the room, and down the hallway which left Bael and Kaian by themselves. After they put down their boxes, they stretched briefly before walking off out of the room. They weren't sure where Tuc would want some of the boxes, and the unpacked supplies.

Bael took Kaian down a hallway, and went to see if Tuc was in any of the medical rooms within the nicely cleaned and maintained area of the outpost. It was only a few rooms, but they were important. Bael peeked into one room, turning his head side to side through the doorway while Kaian jumped suddenly behind him.

"Bael, over there in that room!"

Bael turned suddenly to face the direction that Kaian intended, and saw a an open door with insect wings sticking out. Bael ran past Kaian, pushing him aside slightly to peek his head into the room yelling "Mara!" Causing everyone to turn and look at him. Bael's face turned a bit pink.

Mara was sitting in a chair that Tuc provided with her armor down by her feet. Naoha and Zary were foreign to Bael, but left the room as Bael peeked inward to leave it far less cluttered. Opposite Mara  were three beds next to each other. Each bed seemed to be hooked up to some kind of device on a table between them. Tuc was standing on the other side of Eevy, with some tool Bael did not recognize. He shook his head slowly, then alternated between the other two patients rather quickly, and tried to figure out what's wrong, and fix it.

Slowly, Bael approached Mara from behind who had not yet moved at all. He knew it was her as if he'd just seen her yesterday. Slowly he continued, making his way up to that Fairy he'd recognize in a heartbeat from anywhere. Her beautiful hair was even longer now, cascading down her back close to her butt. When he got to the bedside he saw the fairy lying there with a discolored, pale face. He drew up a chair and sat next to his girlfriend just before she leaned to the side, collapsing over onto him.

He patted her on the back, stroking it softly as her shoulders shook up and down violently. Her soft warm chest beat into his as if she was a massive heart pumping not blood, but her emotions into him. He could feel everything from her. Her mouth was gaping open, resting on his shoulder, her eyes were closed shut, and he felt a stream of salty liquids running from her cheek onto his jaw. There were no words or sounds coming from her mouth as it hung open. He ran his fingers through her silky crimson hair, while she remained collapsed onto him with her full weight.

Finally a sound escaped her mouth, and as she breathed her face burrowed into his shoulder even more fiercely than before, sobbing quietly. Bael didn't need to ask what was wrong, and he looked over at what he knew to be Mara's family even though head not seen them. He still saw the family resemblance, and knew that she had just lost the family for which she so desperately clung to over the last two hundred years. All the emotions from her that were bottled up were now spilling out rather wetly, soaking his shoulder with two centuries worth of pain and sorrow.

"It's alright Mara. I'll always be here for you." He just spoke into her ear gently. He leaned his head over hers, and seeing her like this caused emotions to run its course through his chest as well. He clenched a free fist, and gripped the bedside, closing his eyes to let a single drop escape down his face as well.

Mara looked up at him finally after what seemed to be hours, and softly put her lips up to his, hugging him tightly in the process. She moved over onto his lap and clutched tightly drowning in the sweet warmth of his kiss. She took several deep breaths while bringing her lips up to his ear.

"Will you marry me?" She asked calmly. She had now shown him her worst, the very bottom of her heart had escaped and latched onto him. Every piece of her being seemed as if he had wrapped around it, and become an extra shield for her heart. She couldn't be happier with anyone else.
Alright, this is a big one! I tried very hard to show not tell here. I tried my best not to state what any character is feeling directly and instead described what they were doing at the time, like a shaking fist or stern silence. I think I actually failed at it to be quite honest, but it's a step in the right direction I suppose. I also tried to edit, but I'm bad at editing it myself and would appreciate if anyone would be willing to take the time and letting me know parts that are...terrible. Just try not to make your comment as long as my story, that way it'd be easier for me ^^;

Despite what you see at the end, this is only the beginning of Mara's story. I have no intention of stopping any time soon! So look forward to the next part!

As for the part with Tuc, I tried to get it across that the place despite being an outpost, and used for medical purposes, isn't all clean and sterile with advanced star-trek technology. He took what he could from his crash and used it to maintain his outpost in the cave. It's a little complex, but not totally outlandish. Also, yes, it was a big vehicle that crashed, but the outpost isn't gigantic either.

Alsherala, Crimson Wood, are thanks to randomdude
Felarya is (c) by :iconkarbo:

Mara, Bael, and Kaian belong to me

Tuc and his outpost belongs to :icontuc135:
© 2013 - 2024 AndurilWielder
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nice story cant wait for the next chapter keep up the good work ^^