Still, there were hundreds of them.
Kenris continued to sling his rivals about the room, but in his concentration he took no note of Godar. Finally the older man drew his staff and swung it at Kenris.
It didn't reach. Half way along its path, it was intercepted by Reya. "No!" she said. "You have no right to hurt him! Or to keep us here!"
Godar dropped into a combat stance. "Try and stop me, then." he said.
"Fine." said Reya. And with a blinding flash and a loud noise, she once again... changed. Again, in her place was the powerful but hideous creature Kenris had seen at the edge of Aktus. It instantly leapt at Godar and wrestled the staff from his hands. It growled, and opened its mouth. From somewhere inside its mouth formed a ball of energy, which shot outwards and slammed into Godar, knocking him almost unconscious. And with that, she returned to her usual state.
The fighting had stopped now. All of the soldiers were simply staring up at Reya.
Godar stood up and dusted himself off. "That's what you can morph to?" he said. "No wonder you're not fond of it."
"It's... so hard to control it." she said. "It's like it's fighting against me... sometimes I can't even decide to change back. Sometimes I don't even decide to change. It just... happens..."
"I can help, you know." said Godar. "In exchange for your help against Andar, I can make sure that by the time we're done you have full control over yourself. And you'll have some other morphing abilities more... nice than that one."
"We don't want your help." said Kenris.
"Wait." said Reya. "You're sure that I'll be in total control of myself?"
"Yes." said Godar. "Doing this is going to involve finding out a lot about how your morphing happens, and how your ancestors have been able to control it. You will learn. You'll have to."
"Fine. But he comes with me." she said firmly, indicating Kenris.
Godar looked at Kenris. "Excess baggage. But if you insist... he can come. I guess."
"Good. What are we doing first?" asked Reya.
"Well, you are certainly the most crucial to this quest. But we also need others. We need a complete team if we are to defeat Andar."
"Who are we after now?"
"His name is Orca. He is one of the most able magic users the world has ever seen. He is in the city of Virgus."
"Err... isn't that on the South Continent?" she asked, a worried tone in her voice.
"Yes." said Godar. "We do, however, have a way in and out."
"And that is?" interjected Kenris.
"You people need to be introduced to my marvellous WorldRunner." said Godar. "Take us to Virgus!"
--==[-Nexus-]==--
The torus-shaped facility was positioned not far from the mountain-top city of Aktus. At Godar's command, the sound of engines was heard, and the entire construction sunk under the ground and quite convincingly covered its tracks. Some time later, on the South Continent, near the coast, the same facility rose up from the ground, again looking as if it had always been there...
--==[-Nexus-]==--
"We're here." said Godar.
"Not bad." said Kenris. "Where else can this take us?"
"It has several set entry points; three on each continent. It simply travels through tunnels we found underground - as far as we know, we're the only ones to find them yet."
"Right. Then let's move."
Virgus was a fairly large city - larger than Aktus. Godar had been planning to travel past the walls using some kind of underground tunnelling system one of his people had developed, but Kenris insisted on his way. In moments, the three of them were over the wall and inside.
"Where is he?" asked Kenris.
"This way." stated Godar. The group quickly made their way into the inner city and past it - all the way to the slums at the southern end.
"In this building." said Godar.
"How can you possibly tell?" asked Reya, incredulously. "Knowing from some kind of reports what part of town someone's in is one thing, but how can you pinpoint him to the exact building?"
"It's... an ability I have." said the older man. "I can detect the location and nature of magic used within a certain radius of myself."
"Wait." said Kenris. "You mean this guy's using magic right now?"
Godar stepped towards the building. "Orca... is always using magic. You'll see."
It took them some time to reach the appropriate room. The trio stepped inside. "Greetings, Orca." said Godar. "My name is Godar Havnam. We need your help."
Kenris looked over Orca. He was male, dark-haired, and around fourteen years of age.