That night, a ceremony was held. All the people of the village stood in a large circle around the center of the village. A fire was burning in the very center of the circle. The chief and the shaman stood at the northern part of the circle. Alissa, and Hans sat at the southern part of the circle, Tiara, Stephen, and Aenea with Auri sat at the western area, and Dorchav, Celestra, and Kale all sat at the eastern area. The shaman came around to all of them giving each of them one talisman and placing them around their necks. He looked at Alissa’s arm, which was bandaged up around her part of her biceps and forearm, and grinned to assure her that it would heal in time. Once he went back to where he was standing, all of them stood up. The chief and shaman began a chant and all nine of them began to glow.

As they continued their chant, Dorchav, now seeing his chance, wandered over to where Alissa was and took out his sword. She had her eyes closed, deep in thought, and could not see that he was coming near her. And Hans, who had his attention on the shaman, stood closer to the western side and could not see Dorchav approaching. But Kale did and quickly took out his sword and blocked his attack as he swung his sword at Alissa. Dorchav looked at him, his eyes flashing with anger. He decided to delay his fight with Alissa and concentrated on the one who interferred.
The sound of the clashing of swords broke Alissa out of deep though and she opened her eyes, seeing the two young men now fighting. She almost gasped. What the..?
Celestra yelled. “Stop it you two!!! Their almost done with the chant!!”
“Like I would care, Cele! I’m finishing this guy! He won’t interfere with my job! I won’t allow it!”
“I’m not going to allow you to kill her!!” Kale shouted.
“Then I’ll have to do it without your permission.” The two continued fighting.
As Alissa watched, she unknowingly turned her body a bit and held on to Hans. He then turned his attention from the shaman and saw the two young men fighting. He put an arm around his friend and held her protectively. Tiara, Aenea, and Stephen watched through the flame in shock as they could not do anything from where they stood to stop the two from fighting.
The nine of them were now glowing at their brightest. The shaman was coming dangerously close to finishing the chant while Kale and Dorchav continued to fight. Hans yelled at them to finish their battle another time, but they refused to listen. Kale took one final slash at Dorchav’s neck, but purposely missed. And moment’s later, Alissa, Hans, Celestra, Kale, Tiara, Aenea, Stephen, and Auri all disappeared with a blue misty light shooting up into the air.
Dorchav stood bewildered. Everyone but him had gone back. He looked all around for a possible answer. It was then he realized what Kale had done. He looked down at the ground to see the talisman he wore. The roots that held it around his neck had been slashed off in two places, making it impossible for him to tie it around his neck. He fell to his knees and hands. Then he looked to the sky and shouted as if expecting them to hear. “CURSE YOU DECWYN!!! CURSE YOU AND YOUR MOUSE AND YOUR PROTECTOR!!! MAY YOU ROT IN HADES!!!”

* * * * * * * * * *

The group had arrived back in Xiatriz where they had first disappeared. All of them fell to the ground with exaustion. It was now evening and the streets were empty. Everyone in the town was either home or at the tavern. Alissa slowly got up, holding her injured arm, and looked around. They all were still familiarizing themselves with the area.

“Is..... is this Xiatriz?” she said to herself.
Then they all heard a shout. “Alissa!! Hans!!”
They both looked down the street to see a familiar figure waving to them. They both took a breath of relief. “Ria. Oh thank goodness!”
“Alissa! Hans! You two had me worried to death! Are all of you...” Her voice trailed off as she looked wide eyed at Celestra and Kale. “Oh dear...... what are you doing here?”
“I’m not in the mood for this right now,” said Celestra to her in a very low voice. She got us weakly, then helped Kale up. “I’ll kill you another time, Decwyn. For now, I’m going to sleep. Let’s go Kale.”
He nodded and followed as she began to walk towards the inn. But after a few steps, Kale stopped and turned to Alissa. He looked at her for a few moments, then smirked at her. Then he turned back and kept on walking to the inn.
Alissa stood emotionlessly as she watched the two go in. She sighed.
“Not even going to ask what happened. Come on! Back to my house! You all need a good scrubbing!” She led everyone back to her home, but Alissa still stood staring at the inn. When Ria managed to get her attention, she grinned and followed her back to her house with the others.

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