Yugo walked through the portal into a white marble palace. A thumping sound could be heard throughout the hallway.
He noticed how the walls were engraved with various depictions of creatures and warriors, and how Wakfu seemed to be abundant in every aspect of the palace. To his right was a doorway with various plant limbs hanging out in the hallway. To the left was a door way with a strange red-ish orange glow emitting from the darkness.
Further down the hallway were more doorways, where bleating could be heard and odd scents could be smelled even from the great distance that they were from the doorways. At the very end of the hallway was a doorway that seemed to be an empty tiled room.
But the thing that shocked Yugo the most was the proportions. The Door and hallways were big enough to accommodate Rushu. This must be what it felt like to be an ant on Alibert's floor.
Yugo even forgot the pain he was in. He felt tiny, in an endless void of nothingness. Yugo looked at Asis, who nodded to himself in approval, "Yep, they gave me everything I asked for."
"They?" Yugo asked.
"The gods of this universe. They were very accommodating." Asis said before looking at Yugo, "Uh, forgive my manners. You can't train in that state."
Yugo suddenly remembers the pain he was in, the bloodied nose that was leaking, the bruises on his chest and arms.
Asis placed a hand on Yugo, and they were suddenly in a forest…wait… He saw walls, they were in a room of sorts.
Asis gestured in front of him. What Yugo saw was a giant grey stone bowl, big enough to store a wagon. It seemed to be hand-chisseled, with various smooth edges around in the inside. To the left and right were white marbled people with eagle wings on their backs, holding up bowls of fruit to the sky.
"Climb in." Asis commanded. Yugo looked at him, before carefully placing a toe down on the-
As his toe went below the edge of the bowl, a cold sensation filled it, and the ripples gave away the fact that water was present. Yugo jolted back, to which Asis said, "Come on, we don't have all day. That's a joke."
"What!" Yugo asked, " What do you mean?"
"Time moves funny here. I can spend a week in here, and only a day has passed in the real world, or I can spend a minute in here, and ten thousand years have passed. I can stabilize it for the most part, but I can train you for…. three…four months, maybe a year."
"Seriously!" Yugo practically, shouted.
"Yes, now get in." Asis said, gesturing to the bowl.
Yugo climbed into the large bowl, and the cold water seemed to get warm rapidly. He completely forgot his pain, and felt his muscles relax. Yugo finally gave way to the sigh of relaxation, before allowing himself to be submerged underwater. All his pain was gone, and the oils from his hair, the sweat from his arm pits. Yugo's whole body felt cleaner than it ever had before. He surfaced happily, "That felt amazing."
"It's a spring of life. It'll heal your wounds, clean you of any waste on your body, and cure any poison in your blood." Asis stated, "But you should get out, it only works so well, and it can backfire if you use it when you aren't injured."
Yugo's eyes widened, "What do you mean, backfire?" He quickly scrambled out of the water.
"Well, it can stop your natural healing ability, and make you reliant of it to survive any wound." Asis Stated, stretching out his hand Yugo took it, before they appeared in a different room, with white marble tiles as far as the eye could see. At the center of the room was a desk, above it, were massive books that seemed to stretch on endlessly into the sky.
But the biggest thing that caught his attention, was the Eliatrope at the center, standing next to a weird horned monster, both of which seemed equally surprised to see him.
The Eliatrope had pink hair, a burgundy cap, and a short dress. Instead of ear tuffs, she had stout horn-like ears shooting up the side of her cap. Her skin was darker than Yugo or Chibi's.
The Horned Beast have two bony horns stretching out of the back of its head, smaller horns descended down its back, to the pelvis where a tail existed. The beast walked as a biped, but had no wakfu.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"I'm Yugo." He stated, before asking, "Who are you?"
"I'm Nora." She stated, brushing her pink hair out of her eyes.
The two stood in silence.
It felt really awkward, and only Asis seemed to find the amusement from the scenario, "Well I figured the two Eliatropes in the world would be able to deal with the Faceless."
They weren't listening, Yugo and Nora were busy examining the other.
Yugo finally asked, "Are you the Nora from the council of twelve?"
Nora nodded, "That's what I was told. Are you Yugo from the Council of twelve?"
Yugo nodded, "I guess, 'so I've told' is the best answer I have."
Nora nodded cautiously.
Asis cleared his throat, "Training begins now!"
The Horned Beast stretched out it's arm in the most unnatural, gelatinous way, grabbing Yugo and tossing him into the air.
Yugo scrambled to recover, wondering why Asis would rush things and hit him while he was recovering from the shock. He threw a portal under his body and threw another portal by Nora.
"What was that." Yugo asked, still partially recovering.
"He is an interesting one." Nora said, balling her fists and lunging at the beast.
The Horned best seemed to split in half before Nora's fist connected, re merging behind her with it's arms outstretched.
"Behind you!" Yugo shouted, firing a Wakfu beam at the beast.
It seemed to turn incautiously, and split itself in half again. Where did it go, Yugo was looking all over the room.
He dropped to the floor as two fists tried to meet where his head was. The Horned beast growled as Yugo couldn't even find the balance to stand. Wait, it wasn't growling…it was laughing.
Nora lunged at the beast again, only to find a fist in her stomach, and she also dropped to the ground.
The Beast raised its foot over Nora's head.
Yugo forced himself to his feet, and fired another beam, anything to get it away from Nora."
The Beast opened a hand, and a portal opened in front of Yugo's beam, absorbing it.
Suddenly, Yugo felt a Wakfu blast strike his back as he went flying into the Beast's fist, getting knocked out cold.
Yugo walked into the council chamber, spotting three hats and four dragons behind the stone seats. Four hats, none of Glib's incarnations had ever grown beyond half of the normal height for an Eliatrope, or so He'd been told by Quilby.
Speaking of which, Quilby was the first to stand up, "Why did you wait so long to come. Is there something more important than Governing our people?"
"Chibi governs the people, I just did see the point in coming to hear another one of his decision's that Mina always agrees with." Yugo said, making his implications very clear.
Before Mina had the chance to speak Chibi raised his hand, still wincing from the insult Yugo had sent his way. Yugo felt bad, he and Chibi had been close friends ever since they were little, but Yugo needed a cover.
What was he supposed to tell them, "Oh guys, sorry I'm late, three meteor's almost wiped out all on the planet, but I destroyed them using most of my wakfu. What don't worry about any world ending threats, as long as they happen when I'm alive, I can save us." No, better to let them think he was an asshole rather than to be in a constant state of panic.
Chibi spoke with a calm and collected voice, "I called you here because we have a bit of a problem."
"Did Quilby freakish experiment explode again, I'm not cleaning hi-" Yugo started.
"I can't stand her anymore!" Glib shouted huffing.
Yugo dropped the façade, "Who?"
"Nora, she hatched a while ago, and I thought her energy could be put to good learning, but all she cares about is flowers and Efrim!"
"Is that right?" Yugo asked. Yeah Glib was smart, but he had single, boring way of teaching
Mina stood, "Yugo, If I recall right, you also had difficulties learning-"
"Impossible to teach was more like it." Quilby muttered under his breath.
"- and after consulting the council, We think it would be best if you taught her." Mina finished, ignoring the loud muttering.
Yugo groaned, "Why do I get Glib's job."
"She's a stupid child, I think it'd be best if she just stayed in her little paradise, free from the problems of the world, save us all some trouble." Glib growled, his frustration tangible.
Yugo clenched at Glib's words. Yugo had endured those words directly from Glib. Of course now Glib was nothing in the way of Wakfu compared to Yugo.
"I'll do what I can." Yugo stated, glaring at the short Elaitrope.
"That's all I ask of you, as a friend. Just teach Nora how to use Wakfu and make portals. She doesn't need to know anything else." Chibi pleaded.
Yugo felt his jaw tighten. They weren't quite friends so much as acquaintances. After all, Chibi had to dedicate time to that secret love life of his.
Yugo turned around, and walked through the portal.
Yugo awoke as water roared around him.
Asis lifted him out of the Spring of life, "We are going to be a here a while."
/*-*/
Amalia couldn't help but be shocked at the Sadida sprawled out before them. He was begging for help.
"I tell you, your majest, He had claws like an eagle! He butchered our village, even our soldier were helpless. His minions slaughtered and ate our cattle."
King Sharam Shar, Amalia's father, looked tired, "We will send out guards to apprehend this fugitive at once."
The Sadida cried out, "No! We need the Brother Hood of the Tofu. This monster butchered our soldiers and slaughtered our best magicians. We need Professionals-"
Armond stood, "Absolutely not, they've endangered the kingdom far too much as it is. I won't them in ou-"
"ARMOND!" King Sharam Shar shouted, before coughing. His coughs were becoming more violent and strenuous, so much so that Armond sat down looking concerned at his father.
Armond turned to the Sadida, "Leave us!"
"But my village!" The Sadida cried.
"LEAVE US!" The Sadida looking terrified as the guards came, wrapping their arms around him.
Amalia stood up as the guards were dragging the Sadida out, "Wait!" She walked down and clasped the Sadida's hands in hers, "We will consider your request." She gave her best comforting smile.
The Sadida nodded sadly, before walking with the guards away.
Sharam Shar looked at his son, "Leave me and your sister for a moment."
Armond frowned, "Father, I simply must in-"
Sharam Shar did not raise his voice, and Armond knew that forcing him to would be far too taxing on his father's body. He bowed and left for the hallway, fully aware of what would come next.
Sharam Shar smiled, "You would have been a fine queen, if only your mother had you first."
"Hey dad, don't talk like that." Amalia said, she could feel tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. Her father's health had been deteriorating ever since the Ogrest crisis. Some thought the tree of life had been damaged, and that his name had been damaged. She wasn't sure as the tree's names were anonymous.
It pained Amalia to see her father suffer, but it hurt her far more that she was helpless through that suffering. She couldn't make medicine to heal him, she couldn't find a way to ease the pain. She could only watch as he put on a brave face every day, for shorter periods of time every time he woke up.
Her dad finally spoke, "Call them, help our people."