Chapter 5: Reunion

They had arrived in archer's pass and approached the purple resonance door. Dust searched his satchel and pulled out a glowing stone which caused the door to open, then proceeded to climbed through the cave as fast as he could and soon reached the pipe entrance to the forge. He slid down the pipe and broke his fall with his palm. He it the floor in a crouched position, his hand taking most of the impact. Dust looked up to see Haley using the forge making a small trinket.

"We're closed" she said in a cold voice.

He stood up. "Even to your best customer?"

She stood still for a moment, frozen in shock and turned around.

"Are you okay Haley? You look like you've seen a ghost." He smiled and took off his hat.

She started to cry and ran towards him, slapped him swiftly across the face and then hugged him. "Don't do that to me!" she sobbed.

Dust's smile soon withdrew when he felt guilty "I was never good with entrances, im sorry Haley... I missed you too."

They stood there for a while before she realised the trinket was still on the forge. "Oh no!"

Haley quickly picked up the trinket with a pair of tongs and dipped it into some cold water. As the steam cleared Dust had noticed she had made a small but incredibly detailed model of him out of silver. She placed it on the table, wrapped it in a cloth and hid it from him behind her not knowing he had already seen it.

They had gone inside her house to take shelter from the rain, Dust and Haley began to talk about what happened during the war.

"Well after I had taken out their cannons I fought my way through legions of soldiers, after that I entered General Gaius' temple. He tried to convince me that I was Cassius and not Dust but Fidget made sure that I wasn't corrupted by his words. It was a long fight, I ended up trying to save him in the end. I kept him from falling into magma but..."

Dust thought for a moment about what Gaius had said to him in the end. "Cassius is gone... as is the world we once loved... cherish it." A look of sorrow appeared on Dusts face.

"What's wrong?"

Dust looked at her and smiled. "Nothing."

Lightning had struck outside, it followed with heavy rain. Haley got up and looked out of her window. "Looks like you'll have to spend the night here Dust, I'll get dinner started."

The second she said that Fidget had popped out of his bag. "What's for dinner?!"

"Be polite Fidget, we are only guests after all."

Haley looked back. "Oh its fine Dust, she looks rather hungry." Haley headed towards the kitchen. "Hope you like pike, Matti caught them this morning."

Dust looked around the room. "Where is Matti? I don't see him."

Haley came to the door. "He's upstairs sleeping because he caught a cold."

Dust looked concerned. "Will he be okay?"

"Yes im sure he will be fine" she giggled "He may not look it but he is quite tough. Anyway I'll get to cooking, you just relax."

As Dust and Fidget slowly drifted to sleep in the room, warmed up by the fire Dust had noticed Ahrah started to glow

"Dust, I sense several beings heading this way, they are near the entrance."

Dust could hear the heavy clatter of armour coming from outside, and the unmistakable sound of swords being unsheathed.