Chimera began moving in the direction of the pulse she made, the small package of her DNA inside Pares acting as a compass to direct her.

  Though it didn’t last long as Lysandra stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Mera, we need you here. Let them go.”

  Turning so abruptly her head did a full 180, she stared directly at Lys, not bothering to mask her emotional state.

  “That girl, the one that bastard held at knife point, just got reunited with her parents a few weeks ago. You want me to abandon her?!”

  Chimera turned fully, “you didn’t see what they did to those people down below, in that mine. Most were driven mad before I got to them, and the others…”

  The images of petrified remains, of limbs and bodies that were desiccated and broken echoed in her mind.

  Then came the words of the one called Lesrack.

  ‘The enemy is the enemy. It matters not if they hold a lance, or build a starship.’

  “He’s going to kill them, or worse if we don’t go now!”

  She turned back around, determined to find the bastard responsible for these atrocities.

  She didn’t get more than a few feet before her body locked into place, a pale shield of light surrounding her.

  “Mera, please be reasonable. I know… how you must feel.”

  “How can you?! Those people, I have to save them!” She pushed against the shield.

  It held, “Mera, we’ve been attacked. Saboteurs and spies could be hidden even now among the population, and you are the only one who can find them. If you leave, another atrocity like this one is bound to occur. Please Mera, we need you here!”

  “They needed me!” She shouted, her voice rippling with her grief, “I failed them! I need to make it right!”

  Lysandra walked in front of her, the glow of her spear still holding her in place as she faced Chimera.

  It was the first time she looked directly at the woman in question, the stoic face of a leader who had seen much. Chimera could see it, see the conflict warring in the General’s gaze.

  “Whatever comes next, Mera, I want you to know this one truth. You can’t save everyone. Especially in war.”

  Mera wanted to rage and throw her words back in her face, even though she knew there was some truth to it.

  However, Chimera wasn’t ready to give up on those people, and she did have a solution.

  “I’m not the only one, High General. Bayleaf Bristlebranch, and the Meras’ avatar can both check the populace and administer the cleansing tonic to free whoever is still indoctrinated.”

  Lysandra stared at her, “you are certain of this?”

  “One hundred percent certain, and each of them can contact me as needed. Give me the okay to leave, and I can lead our forces right to the enemy.”

  Mera looked at the ground, a few tears making her way past her blinks.

  “Please… let me go, let me do this.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  A tense moment that seemed to last forever went between the two, and while Chimera hoped that Lys would see her reasoning, the fear of being told to condemn Pares and the others loomed like a guillotine over her head, the guilt ready to slice her neck.

  Finally, Lysandra spoke, “go, take Harriers Arrose and Bargo with you, and get our people back. Only once they are certain to be safe are you to hunt down and track those Verdant Hood demons.”

  Chimera donned a grim frown, but she nodded, “thank you for this.”

  The General moved, deactivating the containment spear and walking past her, “no need, I want this too. Just… remember what I said.”

  Wasting no time, Mera shouted for Bargo and Rose to join her, the two already grabbing their gear and weapons as the people spread out around the wreckage to begin searching for survivors. Mera waited for her crew to arrive, giving them both a once over before grabbing them both and taking to the skies.

  I won’t lose another, not Meghan, nor Sarah, nor anyone else! I don’t care about war and bullshit like that! I’m going to save them.

  Her will resolved and with her heart alit with determination, Chimera raced across the sky, following the small blips of her own flesh below the soil, leading her to her destination.

  …

  Several hours passed as the hero from another world and the Imperial Harriers followed the blipping that now all of them could sense. Being that the group they were chasing after had to most likely walk, it didnt take them long before they were circling above, eyes downward as they tracked the prisoners of war.

  What was worrisome was the destination they arrived in.

  The group was underneath one of the tallest mountains Chimera had ever seen in her life, a giant of a structure that held a plateau at the peak with a strange divot in the center of the flat surface.

  The pings in question were coming from below the mountain, deeper inside the base of the structure. Seeing as before the Hoodians were able to shift through the earth in creating the opening that Chimera saw outside of Anvilage, it made a bit of sense to surround themselves with rock.

  After all, following them inside would be a death sentence to anyone who couldn’t control the rock and stone like she could.

  “So Captain, are we heading down?” Bargo spoke off to the side, his face a mask of stone.

  “I want to tear into those monsters, kidnapping children?! No hell would be good enough for this kind of butchery!” Rose on the other hand was a torrent of flame, her hand clenching her pistols with barely restrained control.

  “We are, and the both of you are getting a bit of an upgrade before we do. Sorry about this, but it’s going to hurt a bit.”

  With her DNA finally recovered with her aura transformation, Chimera called upon the sequences that allowed her adversary, Terralord, to manipulate gems and stones, and stabbed them into the base of the spinal column of her two fellow heroes.

  She descended as they both convulsed, eyes scrunched in pain but brimming with new found power that connected to their equally enhanced mana cores.

  “Woah holy mother in the fucking ground, that was a rush!” Rose smirked, her eyes brimming with a purple haze.

  Bargo’s reaction was a flex of strength, his own taciturn face giving a small smile in return.

  “Good to know we can’t be buried alive, thanks for the warning by the way, Captain.”

  “Yeah, hells that hurt.”

  Chimera shrugged as she rolled her eyes, “you get the ability to surf through rock and stone and you complain. Ungrateful as fuck.”

  The three chuckled, the tense air and grim determination easing for a moment as they touched not the ground, but the nearby trees.

  Landing on the branches, Chimera deposited her two Harriers as she reached out to feel a pulse in the earth, the tracker on Pares having stopped just a few hundred feet from their location.

  “I can feel them…” Rose spoke, her eyes closed as she concentrated, her mana channels rippling into the tree.

  “So how are we doing this, Captain?” Bargo readied his spear as he searched the soil.

  Chimera thought back to Meras, talking about how Meghan was the thinker, and how she wasn’t really one for plans.

  She couldn’t afford to fail, people’s lives were at stake.

  “Here’s how we're doing this…”

  Chimera explained, and the two Harriers nodded, their faces steeled with resolve as they all began to descend into the soil.

  It parted as if it was water, and the druidic magic Chimera used made them soundless as the earth parted away and deposited them into a massive chamber.

  A Chamber, Chimera realized, was all too familiar.

  “Let the ritual commence!” A slithering voice screamed, fervor and joyous rapture echoing into the chamber filled with collared Elfari and soulless eyes.

  …