28 Night of the encounter II (1/2)

Part 1

”Bleeerghh....”

”That's it... Keep it going...”

””Bugh!! Bleeerghh...”

”You're doing great, just a little more...”

”Please shut u- Bleerrrghh....”

Ashley was not feeling very well. Not only did she had her whole body recreated twice in one day for the first time, she also had spent the last couple of minutes attached to Evlin's back while she kept jumping up and down trying to dodge Xadi's attacks. All of that on top of being completely terrified from her own brother constantly throwing attacks after attacks that could easily pulverize her if Evlin had failed to protect her.

”Bleeerrghhh..”

Right now she was throwing up all the fish and fruits she had eaten in the last three days as a reaction to the traumatic experience she had just endured.

”Ugh... I can't believe he actually went for the kill from the very start... I really thought he would have gone easy on me if he believed i was you...”

”He probably assumed i would have a way of defending myself...”

”And that stupid eye!! I got so scared when he mentioned his eye being blinded by your magic! I started to think he would have figured it out our trick at the very beginning and the whole plan would have gone to waste...”

”Lucky for us it took a while for him to catch on... That could have gone in a much worse direction...”

”And them he managed to turn things around and started to corner us with those stupid lightning bolts... I was honestly prepared to give myself up so you would have a chance against him... I was literally considering let myself die!!!”

”Yeah... Please don't try that again...”

”And then- ... What are you doing...?”

Ashley seemed to finally have finished releasing all the ”stress” from her body and when she turned around she found a Evlin completely paralyzed lying down on the ground.

”Huh... Not much... Just enjoying the view of the clouds a little... Trying to predict if it will rain tomorrow...”

”Huh... What...?”

”... I can't move...”

”You can't move?”

”I used more magic energy in the last half-an-hour than i ever did in my two years living in this world... My body right now is not responding to any command i give.”

”I see... You really did seem like you were doing some much bigger attacks than usual...”

”It's fine... I will probably be back to normal by tomorrow... Can you put me on top of Sphinx so he can carry me?”

”... I can carry you if you want...”

”No way...”

”Why not??”

”It's embarrassing...”

”... Emba- You carried me like a baby the whole day when we started our trip!!”

”Yeah but that was then, this is now... Hey stop it! Let me go!! Sphinx help me!!”

”Just shut up and let me take care of you, you idiot!”

Evlin's face was bright red while Ashley carried her on her back. Sphinx heard it's name being called but once it realized there was no danger it calmed down. Evlin started to complain.

”I don't like this...”

”Well too bad, i wasn't exactly having fun with you carrying me around either.”

”Ugh... Fine...”

”What do we do with him?”

”He's probably harmless right now... Just leave him be...”

The two girls stared at the unconscious Xadi who was sleeping on the ground. As if feeling that someone was talking about him he suddenly opened his eyes and leaped backwards to make distance from the Evlin and Ashley. He started to search for his staff but quickly remembered that it was destroyed by Evlin's powerful punch. Evlin herself seemed to noticed his distress.

”You're looking for your staff? Don't worry i gathered the pieces and fixed it with modeling magic. It's right there if you want to take a look.”

Xadi turned to the direction Evlin's face was pointing and indeed, his staff was right there in one piece. He didn't understand why she was so calm or why she was giving the chance to recover his weapon but that wasn't important right now. He noticed that Evlin was unable to fight anymore so this was his best chance of capturing her.

He took another look at the two girls and indeed, they did not seemed worried in the slightest. It actually looked like they were waiting, curious at what he was going to do.

”I think he didn't notice... Should we tell him?”

”Nah... He will find out eventually...”

Xadi started to run towards his staff but midway through he realized something was wrong with his legs and fell down. He looked at his lower half and realized that his legs were green for some reason. Not only that they were also shinny and rubbery. He checked the rest of his body and realized that his entire being was like that. He started to panic and didn't know what was going on. Evlin looked at him and tried to clear things up.

”Sorry Xadi, there is no way we could let someone as dangerous as you just laying around like this... But you're right, i don't have stomach enough to just kill you like this... So i tried something else. What do you think?”

Xadi tried to scream in anger but words wouldn't come out, only a strange noise would leave his mouth.

”Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!”

”I think he is trying to say something... He look upset...”

”Sorry brother, we don't speak fog language... I wish you good luck in your new life though! Bye!”

Ashley carried Xadi's staff and put it on top of Sphinx. The three then proceeded to finally enter Emerald Dawn leaving the small Xadi frog in agony behind them.

Part 2

”Hey Evie... You think that might have been too mean towards him?”

”... He tried to kill both of us multiple times and even invaded my sleep to tell me he would turn me into his dog... I say he got off easy...”

”If you say so... So what's our plan now...?”

”Marceus said his friends would wake up and the first place they would go to is a mansion somewhere around here...”

”A mansion... Wait, what does he mean by 'wake up'?”

”No idea... Maybe they are some kind of mages who specialize on sleep magic?”