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It was a few hours after the incident with Lalna that Lomadia realized the flaw in her plan to steal the medicine.

The plan required her to be able to see in the dark, but she didn't have any night vision potions or goggles.

She knew where she could possibly find them, though.

After making sure that Lalna was awake – he had no memory of the incident or what had caused it – and as well as possible, and Mr. Owl was on watch, she left again. She headed right for the remains of the castle.

Teleporting in, she found herself on the edge of the clearing. Glancing around, she didn't see anybody, so she carefully began to trek up towards the ruins.

She continuously scanned the ground, looking for the goggles. She knew that they had been attached to Lalna's helmet, which had most likely survived the explosion. Now all she had to do was find it.

Because she was scanning the ground, she didn't notice the figure standing on the remains of one of the walls until she was only meters away.

Looking up, she gasped when she saw Ridge, mainly surprised at his sudden appearance.

“Hello, Lomadia,” said Ridge calmly. He wasn't facing her, though; he was looking at the ruins, standing tall on the wall with his hands clasped behind his back. Lomadia noticed that both his hands were bandaged.

“Um, hey Ridge,” she said nervously. She, along with everyone else besides Xephos and Lalna, had always been slightly scared of the mysterious man. “W-what are you doing...?” she asked.

“Join me up here and I'll tell you,” said Ridge smoothly, still not looking back at Lomadia.

She gulped, but she didn't really have a choice. Carefully, she climbed up on the short wall and stood next to Ridge.

From this new perspective, she could see the remains of the castle foundations, scattered with burnt wood and shattered bricks and science artifacts all over the place. It looked much worse from this angle.

“I was flying over a bit earlier, and I noticed something,” explained Ridge, standing comfortably on the narrow ledge. “Lalna surrounded his reactor with water and hardened glass. Even if it had exploded, it only would have taken out the top of the tower it was on. Also, I've looked at some of the reactors he's built. He's a wonderful scientist, and he definitely knows what he's doing. There's no possible way the reactor would have exploded on its own without being sabotaged.”

“So...” said Hannah carefully, “you're saying someone sabotaged his reactor?”

Ridge glanced sidelong at her, his dark eyes showing amusement.

“It's possible,” he said, looking back out at the carnage. “But it's also possible that the reactor was destroyed along with the castle by a nuke.”

Lomadia's eyes widened a bit, but she didn't say anything.

“Now,” continued Ridge, “I know for a fact that Lalna hasn't been experimenting with high explosives for a while. I've been keeping a close eye on him to make sure he wasn't. So it wasn't one of his own explosives backfiring on him.

“Also, I know how destructive a nuke is. If the nuke that hit his castle had hit right in the center of the courtyard, then the entire castle would have been obliterated and there would have been nothing left but a smoking crater, and Lalna wouldn't have survived. The nuke either missed and hit the top tower, or it exploded in the air above the castle, which is why there wasn't an enormous crater. Because of this, we know that whoever launched the missile wasn't a professional, meaning they either didn't know how to make and launch missiles properly, or they hated science in general. Since almost everybody around here knows how to at least aim a nuke, and all but one of those who don't know have never wanted Lalna dead, this would rule out everybody except Rythian.

“That's why I told Xephos and Honeydew that it was his reactor that exploded. To keep them safe from Rythian and whatever demon is possessing him to do all of this.”

Lomadia was speechless for a moment. Ridge knew that Lalna was still alive. He knew that it was Rythian who had nuked the castle. And he knew that she had been hiding Lalna.

“I know you already know this,” said Ridge casually, “but I figured you would like to know how I figured it out.”

Lomadia found herself unable to respond. Ridge knew about everything, but he hadn't come to help her?

That was when she realized she was wrong. She saw that his eyes were glassy and he looked a bit tired. The only time he ever looked remotely tired was after using his powers.

He had been helping.

“It was you, wasn't it?” she asked quietly. “A few hours ago. You brought him back to life.”

Ridge shrugged. “It was a simple Galvanic spark, just to restart his heart. Like I said before, if I found the body I could bring him back.”

“If you knew this whole time, then why didn't you just come up and say so?” asked Lomadia. “I could have used your help.”

“Oh, I'll be there when you really need my help,” he said smoothly. “Now weren't you looking for something?”

Lomadia raised an eyebrow. “How did you know?”

Ridge didn't answer. Instead, he turned to face her, and he held something out to her.

It was the pair of night vision goggles.

“Good luck,” he said, smiling a bit before turning and disappearing into the lengthening shadows.

XXX

Night fell quickly. Lomadia stood looking out the window. She was wearing a black hoodie, her hair was in a ponytail, and she had her running shoes on. She also had a sword and a bow, which she hoped she wouldn't have to use.

With a nervous sigh, she turned and went back to her chair by the bed. Lalna's condition had gotten worse; his fever was much higher, almost to the point where it would be lethal. He was quietly muttering in his sleep, delirious from the heat.

If Lomadia didn't get the medicine, he was going to die.

She replaced the wet cloth on his neck with a new cold one, then she added more ice to the makeshift ice pack on his head. Hopefully this would keep him cool enough until she returned with the medicine.

It also helped that Ridge was standing in the corner of the room watching. He wasn't visible of course, but Lomadia had noticed how that corner of the room was darker than before.

Lomadia looked at the clock on the wall. It was two in the morning. She knew it was time.

Slowly, she stood. She leaned over and gently kissed her brother on the cheek, just in case she didn't make it back in time. Then, standing tall, she put on the goggles, pulled her hood up, and teleported.

She landed in the very outskirts of the desert, far enough away to not be detected, yet close enough to get there on foot. There was always the danger that the mobs would get her, but frankly, she was more afraid of Rythian than the Creepers.

As quietly as she could, she ran towards the village, which she could see a while away.

Ducking and weaving to avoid drawing the attention of the mobs scattered about, she ran towards the little village. After a few minutes, she made it and quickly ducked inside one of the buildings after using the heat vision addition on the goggles to make sure no one was inside.

Looking around, she saw that she was in a large room with several beds by the wall. There was another door that she assumed led to a back room.

As quietly as she could, she snuck into the back room, taking care to open the door slowly. Inside, she found loads of chests lined up against the wall.

Quickly switching back to the heat vision, she looked in the direction of Rythian's house. She could see three glowing figures; one was cold, and she assumed that was Teep; one had a normal temperature, and she could tell that was Zoeya. The last figure was Rythian. She could tell it was him because his heat signature was glowing much brighter than any normal human's would.

None of them looked awake.

Taking a deep breath, Lomadia turned back to the chests and began to carefully rifle through them. Whatever Ridge had done to the goggles, she really appreciated it, because he added an onscreen text that would read the labels on the medicine and tell her what they cured.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes of searching, she found a small glass bottle labeled “yarrow.” It was filled with a glassy purple liquid, and according to the text, it was specifically mixed to lower high fevers.

She quickly stored the bottle safely in her inventory. Then, after a very heated internal debate, she took a few syringes, knowing fully well that Lalna would throw up anything he swallowed.

After thinking for a moment, she also located a couple small bottles of disinfectant and another bottle with a powdery herb in it that, according to the text, would help with nausea.

Now that she had her stash, she was ready to haul ass back home.

She quickly switched the goggles to heat vision.

Then she realized that Rythian had moved. He was now awake, and he was close to the building she was hiding in.

Lomadia felt her blood freeze. Had he heard her, or had his inner Enderman simply sensed her? It didn't matter. What mattered was that he was coming her way.

Quickly, she held her breath and hid in the corner of the back room, just as she heard the outside door open.

Looking with her heat vision, she saw Rythian poke his head in and look around. He seemed to stay for hours, which in reality was only minutes, before slowly leaving and closing the door behind him.

Lomadia watched him as he left, not daring to breathe until he was back in his house.

Quickly, she stood up and slipped through the doors. Crouching to avoid being seen, she moved quickly through the narrow alleys between the buildings.

She was almost out when she heard a voice.

“Hey!”

“Fuck,” she muttered under her breath, whipping around to see a very pissed off Rythian at the far end of the alley, his purple eyes glowing in the darkness.

She just barely had time to duck before a blast of magic flew past her head, exploding against the wall behind her.

Shocked, she didn't have time to avoid the second blast. This one skimmed across her left arm, cutting her just below the elbow.

Gasping, she ducked behind a wall, keeping a hand over the cut, which was stinging and painful.

She could hear Rythian's footsteps. He was getting closer.

Then, for the first time in her life, she was saved by a Creeper.

She heard a hiss followed shortly by Rythian cursing and an explosion.

Taking the opportunity, she turned and ran, unable to teleport due to the fact that Rythian would be able to follow the jump scar left by the teleport, meaning he would be able to follow her.

She ran as fast as she could, and she could hear the sounds of Rythian running behind her, gaining ground.

Then she rounded another corner and was faced with a skeleton.

The skeleton fired an arrow, and she ducked out of the way, just as Rythian came around the corner behind her.

The arrow hit him in the shoulder, and he dropped, hiding back behind the wall.

Running forward, Lomadia quickly dispatched the skeleton before taking off back into the desert, knowing that Rythian was wounded and he wouldn't follow her.

Once she was far enough out, she teleported back home.

The landing was a bit rough, and she nearly fell over, but she quickly regained her balance and ran into her room.

Lalna was unconscious, and his fever was quickly killing him. He was pale and sweaty and gasping for breath.

The dark shadow from the corner of the room had manifested itself into Ridge, who was standing on the opposite side of the bed looking worried. He had his hand pressed against Lalna's forehead. His hand was glowing slightly blue.

“Hurry,” was all he said.

Quickly collapsing in the chair, Lomadia pulled the fever medicine and a syringe out of her inventory, wincing at the sight of the needle.

“10 milliliters,” said Ridge.

Lomadia nodded, not looking up, and quickly drew the dose out of the bottle and into the syringe. Then she carefully jabbed the needle into his arm and pressed down the plunger.

Pulling out the needle and quickly putting it to the side, Lomadia sat back and waited apprehensively.

It took a few minutes, but Lalna finally relaxed and started breathing a bit easier. Ridge nodded a bit, signaling that his fever was going down.

“Give him a dose every six hours until the fever is gone,” said Ridge, standing back.

Lomadia nodded and looked up at him, but he had already disappeared.

She was left with the words “thank you” waiting to be said.

XXX

Ridge didn't return to his base after leaving Lomadia and Lalna. Instead, he teleported to Rythian's home.

Drifting invisible through the rafters, he looked down curiously at the scene below him.

Rythian was lying propped up on his bed. There was an arrow sticking out of his left shoulder, and his left leg between his knee and ankle was badly burnt. Zoeya was sitting next to him, looking like she had just woken up.

“Okay, hold on,” she said as she bandaged his leg. “Just let this heal naturally. It's not bad, so don't waste your magic on it.”

Rythian didn't respond. He simply sat propped up with his eyes closed, forcing himself to breathe deeply. Ridge noticed how he was gripping the bed sheets so hard that his knuckles had turned white.

“Alright, here we go,” said Zoeya as she finished bandaging his leg. She moved to a different position and carefully took hold of the arrow shaft. Rythian grimaced when she did, but he still didn't say anything.

“Okay, this might sting a bit,” she said before pulling the arrow out.

Ridge actually winced at some of the words Rythian let fly. Some of the words he didn't even say in English.

“Oh, that's not good,” muttered Zoeya, noticing that the tip of the arrowhead hadn't come out. “I'll be right back.”

She quickly set the bloody arrow down and ran out the door.

Using the opportunity to get a bit closer, Ridge looked carefully at the Mage. He was pale, his eyes were closed, and he looked like he was going to pass out. He couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him, but also glad that he was hurt as well.

Then he noticed something.

For just a split second, he thought he saw what looked like black smoke start to leak out of the arrow wound.

However, Zoeya came running back in, and the smoke quickly disappeared. She was holding two small bottles, a syringe, and a scalpel and tweezers.

She took a small dose of one of the liquid medicines in the syringe and injected it into Rythian's arm.

“That should help with the pain,” she said. “Now just hold tight. This shouldn't hurt now, but it's not gonna be pretty.”

Ridge winced a bit when Zoeya cut a slit across the arrow wound and started digging around inside with the tweezers. Rythian didn't react much, mainly because of the medicine.

Finally, Zoeya found the missing tip and pulled it out.

“There we go,” she said, setting the tip to the side. “All better.”

She used the second bottle of medicine and poured a bit on a cloth. As she started cleaning the wound with the cloth, Rythian finally opened his eyes.

“Thanks Zoeya,” he said quietly. Zoeya nodded.

This was followed by silence for a minute, and Ridge was about to leave when Rythian started to speak again.

“Did you figure out what they took?” he asked. “The thief?”

“From the looks of it, they only took a few bottles of medicine,” said Zoeya, finishing cleaning the wound and moving on to bandage it.

“It doesn't make sense though,” said Rythian thoughtfully. “Why would they come here just to steal medicine? I mean, who would even need it at the moment?”

“Xephos needed some earlier today,” said Zoeya. “Maybe somebody else got sick and didn't have the time to trade.”

“Still...” muttered Rythian. Suddenly, he got a distant look in his eyes, and Ridge knew that he was starting to suspect the truth.

Rythian obviously didn't know it had been Lomadia, and if he did, he would have said something. But maybe he was beginning to think it was someone else.

Ridge was familiar with Rythian's abilities. He knew he could see fairly well in the dark thanks to his inner Enderman. He had probably only caught a glimpse of Lomadia's face.

Then he realized what Rythian might have seen.

Lomadia had been wearing goggles. Rythian had been paranoid about Lalna. If he had seen the blond hair and goggles, would he start to believe that it had been Lalna? Or would he realize that it had been Lomadia, and that she had been stealing the medicine for Lalna, since he would logically be the only one who needed it?

Ridge couldn't be sure, but either way, he figured Rythian would soon try and find out for himself what had happened.

And if he went snooping, he would probably find out what had really happened.

After a moment of deliberation, Ridge teleported himself back and found himself hovering over Lomadia's house.

Using an old spell called the Mist, he carefully put something of a magical shield over Lomadia's entire house. All it would do was keep Rythian from seeing Lalna by using magic to look through the walls. As long as Lalna stayed inside the house, Rythian wouldn't be able to find him.

“I swear,” muttered Ridge, feeling a bit drained from the extensive use of his powers in such a short amount of time, “this is the last time I get mixed up in something like this...”

XXX

About two hours after Lalna got the medicine, he woke up. He blinked a bit, confused at how clear his mind was. Then he noticed several glass bottles with medical labels on them, and he realized Lomadia must have somehow gotten him some medicine. He had no idea where from though.

Speaking of Lomadia, she was asleep, her head resting on the bed by his arm. He smiled a bit, and he was going to leave her be and go back to sleep, but then he noticed the cut on her arm. The area around the cut was swollen and red.

Painfully shifting a bit, he looked closer at the wound. It was small – only a few inches long – and it wasn't very deep... so why hadn't it healed yet?

Lalna gently shook her shoulder to wake her up, but she didn't stir.

Now Lalna was starting to get worried. “Lomadia?” he asked nervously. “Can you hear me?” He shook her shoulder a bit harder.

After a moment, Lomadia shifted a bit and blinked her eyes open for a second before closing them again. However, Lalna had seen that she had a dark glaze over her eyes, nearly turning them black.

It was magic that he recognized.

Ender magic.

He looked back at the cut on her arm and identified it as the source of the curse, since it radiated the most magic.

He debated for a moment. What he was about to do was something he promised himself he would never do again.

Looking around the room, he made sure that no one was watching. Then, he focused on the cut on Lomadia's arm. He gently placed his fingers around the cut, muttered something under his breath, and a minute later, his eyes started to glow purple.

What looked like dark purple liquid began to ooze out of the wound, but instead of dripping down Lomadia's arm, it floated up and hovered above the palm of Lalna's hand. Finally, all the goop was out, and Lalna pulled his hand away, taking the stuff with him. His eyes slowly began to return to their normal emerald green.

He was exhausted from using Ender magic for the first time in a while; in fact, he felt his nose start to bleed. But that didn't really matter to him. Laying back, he looked at Lomadia, who looked to be sleeping more naturally now. The cut was visibly healing, not even leaving a scar.

Relieved that it had worked, Lalna looked at the small bit of magic hovering above his hand. Reaching up, he held it suspended between both hands before carefully spreading his hands, pulling the bit of magic open so that it was laid out like a piece of paper. It was covered in ancient runes that almost nobody could read anymore. However, he did know a way.

Reluctantly, he looked down at his chest. He had been using magic to hide it and protect it this whole time, but now he needed to take it off. He carefully let the spell slip away, and a silver amulet with a glowing purple crystal appeared around his neck.

Reluctantly, he pulled the amulet off and set it down next to him on the bed.

Almost instantly, his night vision returned. His vision sharped, and his hearing and sense of smell did as well. He got the urge to go kill a pig and eat its meat, and the condensation from the ice pack on his head started to sting, so he quickly pulled it off.

He was very familiar with Ender magic. Mainly because he himself was part Enderman.

He really hoped that Hannah didn't wake up and see him at the moment, especially because he looked so different with black hair and purple eyes.

The runes on the pages instantly became readable. He saw that this particular bit of magic was a sleeping spell that would get exponentially worse as time went on. It was a good thing he had caught it and removed it when he did.

Then he saw that it was Rythian that had created the curse.

He was filled with rage at the thought of Rythian hurting his sister. In fact, he started trembling, and his claws emerged from the tips of his fingers. However, before he could do anything he would regret, he quickly put the amulet back on, and his claws, black hair, and purple eyes disappeared. He reactivated the spell, and the amulet disappeared from view. Then he quickly clasped his hands together, extinguishing the sleeping spell.

After he calmed down, though, he realized that Lomadia had stolen the medicine from Rythian, which was where she had gotten the cut. He couldn't help but be impressed that she had managed to do it.

It took a few minutes after that, but he did manage to fall back asleep.

As he drifted off, however, he found himself thinking that he was lucky nobody had seen his Ender self.

Little did he know, Ridge had been standing in the corner of the room the whole time. And for the first time in a very long time, he actually felt a bit afraid of the monster that Lalna had been hiding.

Description
It was a few hours after the incident with Lalna that Lomadia realized the flaw in her plan to steal the medicine.

The plan required her to be able to see in the dark, but she didn't have any night vision potions or goggles.

She knew where she could possibly find them, though.

After making sure that Lalna was awake – he had no memory of the incident or what had caused it – and as well as possible, and Mr. Owl was on watch, she left again. She headed right for the remains of the castle.

Teleporting in, she found herself on the edge of the clearing. Glancing around, she didn't see anybody, so she carefully began to trek up towards the ruins.

She continuously scanned the ground, looking for the goggles. She knew that they had been attached to Lalna's helmet, which had most likely survived the explosion. Now all she had to do was find it.

Because she was scanning the ground, she didn't notice the figure standing on the remains of one of the walls until she was only meters away.

Looking up, she gasped when she saw Ridge, mainly surprised at his sudden appearance.

“Hello, Lomadia,” said Ridge calmly. He wasn't facing her, though; he was looking at the ruins, standing tall on the wall with his hands clasped behind his back. Lomadia noticed that both his hands were bandaged.

“Um, hey Ridge,” she said nervously. She, along with everyone else besides Xephos and Lalna, had always been slightly scared of the mysterious man. “W-what are you doing...?” she asked.

“Join me up here and I'll tell you,” said Ridge smoothly, still not looking back at Lomadia.

She gulped, but she didn't really have a choice. Carefully, she climbed up on the short wall and stood next to Ridge.

From this new perspective, she could see the remains of the castle foundations, scattered with burnt wood and shattered bricks and science artifacts all over the place. It looked much worse from this angle.

“I was flying over a bit earlier, and I noticed something,” explained Ridge, standing comfortably on the narrow ledge. “Lalna surrounded his reactor with water and hardened glass. Even if it had exploded, it only would have taken out the top of the tower it was on. Also, I've looked at some of the reactors he's built. He's a wonderful scientist, and he definitely knows what he's doing. There's no possible way the reactor would have exploded on its own without being sabotaged.”

“So...” said Hannah carefully, “you're saying someone sabotaged his reactor?”

Ridge glanced sidelong at her, his dark eyes showing amusement.

“It's possible,” he said, looking back out at the carnage. “But it's also possible that the reactor was destroyed along with the castle by a nuke.”

Lomadia's eyes widened a bit, but she didn't say anything.

“Now,” continued Ridge, “I know for a fact that Lalna hasn't been experimenting with high explosives for a while. I've been keeping a close eye on him to make sure he wasn't. So it wasn't one of his own explosives backfiring on him.

“Also, I know how destructive a nuke is. If the nuke that hit his castle had hit right in the center of the courtyard, then the entire castle would have been obliterated and there would have been nothing left but a smoking crater, and Lalna wouldn't have survived. The nuke either missed and hit the top tower, or it exploded in the air above the castle, which is why there wasn't an enormous crater. Because of this, we know that whoever launched the missile wasn't a professional, meaning they either didn't know how to make and launch missiles properly, or they hated science in general. Since almost everybody around here knows how to at least aim a nuke, and all but one of those who don't know have never wanted Lalna dead, this would rule out everybody except Rythian.

“That's why I told Xephos and Honeydew that it was his reactor that exploded. To keep them safe from Rythian and whatever demon is possessing him to do all of this.”

Lomadia was speechless for a moment. Ridge knew that Lalna was still alive. He knew that it was Rythian who had nuked the castle. And he knew that she had been hiding Lalna.

“I know you already know this,” said Ridge casually, “but I figured you would like to know how I figured it out.”

Lomadia found herself unable to respond. Ridge knew about everything, but he hadn't come to help her?

That was when she realized she was wrong. She saw that his eyes were glassy and he looked a bit tired. The only time he ever looked remotely tired was after using his powers.

He had been helping.

“It was you, wasn't it?” she asked quietly. “A few hours ago. You brought him back to life.”

Ridge shrugged. “It was a simple Galvanic spark, just to restart his heart. Like I said before, if I found the body I could bring him back.”

“If you knew this whole time, then why didn't you just come up and say so?” asked Lomadia. “I could have used your help.”

“Oh, I'll be there when you really need my help,” he said smoothly. “Now weren't you looking for something?”

Lomadia raised an eyebrow. “How did you know?”

Ridge didn't answer. Instead, he turned to face her, and he held something out to her.

It was the pair of night vision goggles.

“Good luck,” he said, smiling a bit before turning and disappearing into the lengthening shadows.

XXX

Night fell quickly. Lomadia stood looking out the window. She was wearing a black hoodie, her hair was in a ponytail, and she had her running shoes on. She also had a sword and a bow, which she hoped she wouldn't have to use.

With a nervous sigh, she turned and went back to her chair by the bed. Lalna's condition had gotten worse; his fever was much higher, almost to the point where it would be lethal. He was quietly muttering in his sleep, delirious from the heat.

If Lomadia didn't get the medicine, he was going to die.

She replaced the wet cloth on his neck with a new cold one, then she added more ice to the makeshift ice pack on his head. Hopefully this would keep him cool enough until she returned with the medicine.

It also helped that Ridge was standing in the corner of the room watching. He wasn't visible of course, but Lomadia had noticed how that corner of the room was darker than before.

Lomadia looked at the clock on the wall. It was two in the morning. She knew it was time.

Slowly, she stood. She leaned over and gently kissed her brother on the cheek, just in case she didn't make it back in time. Then, standing tall, she put on the goggles, pulled her hood up, and teleported.

She landed in the very outskirts of the desert, far enough away to not be detected, yet close enough to get there on foot. There was always the danger that the mobs would get her, but frankly, she was more afraid of Rythian than the Creepers.

As quietly as she could, she ran towards the village, which she could see a while away.

Ducking and weaving to avoid drawing the attention of the mobs scattered about, she ran towards the little village. After a few minutes, she made it and quickly ducked inside one of the buildings after using the heat vision addition on the goggles to make sure no one was inside.

Looking around, she saw that she was in a large room with several beds by the wall. There was another door that she assumed led to a back room.

As quietly as she could, she snuck into the back room, taking care to open the door slowly. Inside, she found loads of chests lined up against the wall.

Quickly switching back to the heat vision, she looked in the direction of Rythian's house. She could see three glowing figures; one was cold, and she assumed that was Teep; one had a normal temperature, and she could tell that was Zoeya. The last figure was Rythian. She could tell it was him because his heat signature was glowing much brighter than any normal human's would.

None of them looked awake.

Taking a deep breath, Lomadia turned back to the chests and began to carefully rifle through them. Whatever Ridge had done to the goggles, she really appreciated it, because he added an onscreen text that would read the labels on the medicine and tell her what they cured.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes of searching, she found a small glass bottle labeled “yarrow.” It was filled with a glassy purple liquid, and according to the text, it was specifically mixed to lower high fevers.

She quickly stored the bottle safely in her inventory. Then, after a very heated internal debate, she took a few syringes, knowing fully well that Lalna would throw up anything he swallowed.

After thinking for a moment, she also located a couple small bottles of disinfectant and another bottle with a powdery herb in it that, according to the text, would help with nausea.

Now that she had her stash, she was ready to haul ass back home.

She quickly switched the goggles to heat vision.

Then she realized that Rythian had moved. He was now awake, and he was close to the building she was hiding in.

Lomadia felt her blood freeze. Had he heard her, or had his inner Enderman simply sensed her? It didn't matter. What mattered was that he was coming her way.

Quickly, she held her breath and hid in the corner of the back room, just as she heard the outside door open.

Looking with her heat vision, she saw Rythian poke his head in and look around. He seemed to stay for hours, which in reality was only minutes, before slowly leaving and closing the door behind him.

Lomadia watched him as he left, not daring to breathe until he was back in his house.

Quickly, she stood up and slipped through the doors. Crouching to avoid being seen, she moved quickly through the narrow alleys between the buildings.

She was almost out when she heard a voice.

“Hey!”

“Fuck,” she muttered under her breath, whipping around to see a very pissed off Rythian at the far end of the alley, his purple eyes glowing in the darkness.

She just barely had time to duck before a blast of magic flew past her head, exploding against the wall behind her.

Shocked, she didn't have time to avoid the second blast. This one skimmed across her left arm, cutting her just below the elbow.

Gasping, she ducked behind a wall, keeping a hand over the cut, which was stinging and painful.

She could hear Rythian's footsteps. He was getting closer.

Then, for the first time in her life, she was saved by a Creeper.

She heard a hiss followed shortly by Rythian cursing and an explosion.

Taking the opportunity, she turned and ran, unable to teleport due to the fact that Rythian would be able to follow the jump scar left by the teleport, meaning he would be able to follow her.

She ran as fast as she could, and she could hear the sounds of Rythian running behind her, gaining ground.

Then she rounded another corner and was faced with a skeleton.

The skeleton fired an arrow, and she ducked out of the way, just as Rythian came around the corner behind her.

The arrow hit him in the shoulder, and he dropped, hiding back behind the wall.

Running forward, Lomadia quickly dispatched the skeleton before taking off back into the desert, knowing that Rythian was wounded and he wouldn't follow her.

Once she was far enough out, she teleported back home.

The landing was a bit rough, and she nearly fell over, but she quickly regained her balance and ran into her room.

Lalna was unconscious, and his fever was quickly killing him. He was pale and sweaty and gasping for breath.

The dark shadow from the corner of the room had manifested itself into Ridge, who was standing on the opposite side of the bed looking worried. He had his hand pressed against Lalna's forehead. His hand was glowing slightly blue.

“Hurry,” was all he said.

Quickly collapsing in the chair, Lomadia pulled the fever medicine and a syringe out of her inventory, wincing at the sight of the needle.

“10 milliliters,” said Ridge.

Lomadia nodded, not looking up, and quickly drew the dose out of the bottle and into the syringe. Then she carefully jabbed the needle into his arm and pressed down the plunger.

Pulling out the needle and quickly putting it to the side, Lomadia sat back and waited apprehensively.

It took a few minutes, but Lalna finally relaxed and started breathing a bit easier. Ridge nodded a bit, signaling that his fever was going down.

“Give him a dose every six hours until the fever is gone,” said Ridge, standing back.

Lomadia nodded and looked up at him, but he had already disappeared.

She was left with the words “thank you” waiting to be said.

XXX

Ridge didn't return to his base after leaving Lomadia and Lalna. Instead, he teleported to Rythian's home.

Drifting invisible through the rafters, he looked down curiously at the scene below him.

Rythian was lying propped up on his bed. There was an arrow sticking out of his left shoulder, and his left leg between his knee and ankle was badly burnt. Zoeya was sitting next to him, looking like she had just woken up.

“Okay, hold on,” she said as she bandaged his leg. “Just let this heal naturally. It's not bad, so don't waste your magic on it.”

Rythian didn't respond. He simply sat propped up with his eyes closed, forcing himself to breathe deeply. Ridge noticed how he was gripping the bed sheets so hard that his knuckles had turned white.

“Alright, here we go,” said Zoeya as she finished bandaging his leg. She moved to a different position and carefully took hold of the arrow shaft. Rythian grimaced when she did, but he still didn't say anything.

“Okay, this might sting a bit,” she said before pulling the arrow out.

Ridge actually winced at some of the words Rythian let fly. Some of the words he didn't even say in English.

“Oh, that's not good,” muttered Zoeya, noticing that the tip of the arrowhead hadn't come out. “I'll be right back.”

She quickly set the bloody arrow down and ran out the door.

Using the opportunity to get a bit closer, Ridge looked carefully at the Mage. He was pale, his eyes were closed, and he looked like he was going to pass out. He couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him, but also glad that he was hurt as well.

Then he noticed something.

For just a split second, he thought he saw what looked like black smoke start to leak out of the arrow wound.

However, Zoeya came running back in, and the smoke quickly disappeared. She was holding two small bottles, a syringe, and a scalpel and tweezers.

She took a small dose of one of the liquid medicines in the syringe and injected it into Rythian's arm.

“That should help with the pain,” she said. “Now just hold tight. This shouldn't hurt now, but it's not gonna be pretty.”

Ridge winced a bit when Zoeya cut a slit across the arrow wound and started digging around inside with the tweezers. Rythian didn't react much, mainly because of the medicine.

Finally, Zoeya found the missing tip and pulled it out.

“There we go,” she said, setting the tip to the side. “All better.”

She used the second bottle of medicine and poured a bit on a cloth. As she started cleaning the wound with the cloth, Rythian finally opened his eyes.

“Thanks Zoeya,” he said quietly. Zoeya nodded.

This was followed by silence for a minute, and Ridge was about to leave when Rythian started to speak again.

“Did you figure out what they took?” he asked. “The thief?”

“From the looks of it, they only took a few bottles of medicine,” said Zoeya, finishing cleaning the wound and moving on to bandage it.

“It doesn't make sense though,” said Rythian thoughtfully. “Why would they come here just to steal medicine? I mean, who would even need it at the moment?”

“Xephos needed some earlier today,” said Zoeya. “Maybe somebody else got sick and didn't have the time to trade.”

“Still...” muttered Rythian. Suddenly, he got a distant look in his eyes, and Ridge knew that he was starting to suspect the truth.

Rythian obviously didn't know it had been Lomadia, and if he did, he would have said something. But maybe he was beginning to think it was someone else.

Ridge was familiar with Rythian's abilities. He knew he could see fairly well in the dark thanks to his inner Enderman. He had probably only caught a glimpse of Lomadia's face.

Then he realized what Rythian might have seen.

Lomadia had been wearing goggles. Rythian had been paranoid about Lalna. If he had seen the blond hair and goggles, would he start to believe that it had been Lalna? Or would he realize that it had been Lomadia, and that she had been stealing the medicine for Lalna, since he would logically be the only one who needed it?

Ridge couldn't be sure, but either way, he figured Rythian would soon try and find out for himself what had happened.

And if he went snooping, he would probably find out what had really happened.

After a moment of deliberation, Ridge teleported himself back and found himself hovering over Lomadia's house.

Using an old spell called the Mist, he carefully put something of a magical shield over Lomadia's entire house. All it would do was keep Rythian from seeing Lalna by using magic to look through the walls. As long as Lalna stayed inside the house, Rythian wouldn't be able to find him.

“I swear,” muttered Ridge, feeling a bit drained from the extensive use of his powers in such a short amount of time, “this is the last time I get mixed up in something like this...”

XXX

About two hours after Lalna got the medicine, he woke up. He blinked a bit, confused at how clear his mind was. Then he noticed several glass bottles with medical labels on them, and he realized Lomadia must have somehow gotten him some medicine. He had no idea where from though.

Speaking of Lomadia, she was asleep, her head resting on the bed by his arm. He smiled a bit, and he was going to leave her be and go back to sleep, but then he noticed the cut on her arm. The area around the cut was swollen and red.

Painfully shifting a bit, he looked closer at the wound. It was small – only a few inches long – and it wasn't very deep... so why hadn't it healed yet?

Lalna gently shook her shoulder to wake her up, but she didn't stir.

Now Lalna was starting to get worried. “Lomadia?” he asked nervously. “Can you hear me?” He shook her shoulder a bit harder.

After a moment, Lomadia shifted a bit and blinked her eyes open for a second before closing them again. However, Lalna had seen that she had a dark glaze over her eyes, nearly turning them black.

It was magic that he recognized.

Ender magic.

He looked back at the cut on her arm and identified it as the source of the curse, since it radiated the most magic.

He debated for a moment. What he was about to do was something he promised himself he would never do again.

Looking around the room, he made sure that no one was watching. Then, he focused on the cut on Lomadia's arm. He gently placed his fingers around the cut, muttered something under his breath, and a minute later, his eyes started to glow purple.

What looked like dark purple liquid began to ooze out of the wound, but instead of dripping down Lomadia's arm, it floated up and hovered above the palm of Lalna's hand. Finally, all the goop was out, and Lalna pulled his hand away, taking the stuff with him. His eyes slowly began to return to their normal emerald green.

He was exhausted from using Ender magic for the first time in a while; in fact, he felt his nose start to bleed. But that didn't really matter to him. Laying back, he looked at Lomadia, who looked to be sleeping more naturally now. The cut was visibly healing, not even leaving a scar.

Relieved that it had worked, Lalna looked at the small bit of magic hovering above his hand. Reaching up, he held it suspended between both hands before carefully spreading his hands, pulling the bit of magic open so that it was laid out like a piece of paper. It was covered in ancient runes that almost nobody could read anymore. However, he did know a way.

Reluctantly, he looked down at his chest. He had been using magic to hide it and protect it this whole time, but now he needed to take it off. He carefully let the spell slip away, and a silver amulet with a glowing purple crystal appeared around his neck.

Reluctantly, he pulled the amulet off and set it down next to him on the bed.

Almost instantly, his night vision returned. His vision sharped, and his hearing and sense of smell did as well. He got the urge to go kill a pig and eat its meat, and the condensation from the ice pack on his head started to sting, so he quickly pulled it off.

He was very familiar with Ender magic. Mainly because he himself was part Enderman.

He really hoped that Hannah didn't wake up and see him at the moment, especially because he looked so different with black hair and purple eyes.

The runes on the pages instantly became readable. He saw that this particular bit of magic was a sleeping spell that would get exponentially worse as time went on. It was a good thing he had caught it and removed it when he did.

Then he saw that it was Rythian that had created the curse.

He was filled with rage at the thought of Rythian hurting his sister. In fact, he started trembling, and his claws emerged from the tips of his fingers. However, before he could do anything he would regret, he quickly put the amulet back on, and his claws, black hair, and purple eyes disappeared. He reactivated the spell, and the amulet disappeared from view. Then he quickly clasped his hands together, extinguishing the sleeping spell.

After he calmed down, though, he realized that Lomadia had stolen the medicine from Rythian, which was where she had gotten the cut. He couldn't help but be impressed that she had managed to do it.

It took a few minutes after that, but he did manage to fall back asleep.

As he drifted off, however, he found himself thinking that he was lucky nobody had seen his Ender self.

Little did he know, Ridge had been standing in the corner of the room the whole time. And for the first time in a very long time, he actually felt a bit afraid of the monster that Lalna had been hiding.