Rollan clambered up the steep mountain. When his armor squeaked for the hundredth time, he wished that he hadn't chosen the metal suit instead of the leather suit. Meanwhile, Essix squawked above saying, "Lucky me, I have feathers." as Rollan staggered from a loose rock falling and tumbling down onto someone's helmet.

"Hey!" a gruff voice cried out in anguish.

"Sorry," mumbled Rollan, who then turned to Essix and said, "But unlucky you, you have a big mouth."

"Well, Rollan, you do too for goodness sake, and it's a beak, not a mouth. Go back to school, junior."

"I don't have a school."

"Exactly, this is why you would spell, school as shcool."

"Give me a break, will ya, Essix?"

"It's not recess yet."

"You're not my teacher, you're my partner."

"...hmmm… but I do have wings."

Rollan grumbled at Essix's remark as he finally reached the crest of the mountain. He looked at the scenery and gasped in awe. Emerald green leaves towered above him as trees that seemed to be centuries old, stood healthy yet large. Thickets of thorns lined some paths, making it impassable, but there was a passageway in the center that was large enough for a few to cross at a time. "Wow, how does it feel to see this from above," he thought, thinking about how Essix had seen this before they could. Then, he felt a tingling thought of what Essix was thinking in response.

Essix told him, "Well then, I'll show you then, Student. That is, if you call me, Teacher."

"Haha, that's tempting, but there's no way that I'd call you, Teacher."

"You just did, Student."

Before Rollan knew it, he felt his mind become lighter, if it was suddenly lifted by air, and the next thing he knew, he was swimming above plains of green. "Aaaaaaaahhhh!" he screamed. He was flying— no, Essix was. He could see his body down there, screaming as the other troops looked at him as if he had ants in his pants. How was he up here?

"Rollan, Rollan, Rollan," laughed Essix, "This is how it feels."

Rollan could feel Essix stretch her wings and bob in the air as the emerald green twinkled below him. Then, he saw the only part that wasn't touched by any greenery, only a dead tree that seemed to be older than the rest of all. It was a huge plateau of rock that stretched about half a mile from above. Then, just as he completed that observation, Essix set his mind back in his original place. He blinked, once, twice, and on the third time, cries erupted from in front of him, just as their army had arrived at the plateau. He looked to his left to see his partner, Shane, next to him, but Shane had already disappeared. Troops were flying in every direction from overhead. Battle cries erupted as cries of anguish cut the peaceful silence in the air.

"What is goin…" he said, but before he could finish his sentence, he saw a blur rush through a line of troops, and then, with his lingering, slightly-enhanced sight from Essix, his eyes somehow slow-motioned it, and he saw a girl rush up to him, in front of his face. Before he could marvel at her dark eyes, and gleaming, raven-black hair, he had been sent into the air like the others by a harsh kick at the chin. Then, he just watched the clouds above him sail by as he flew chest up.

"I'd rather see the forest than the sky!" cried Rollan as his head hit… air? He felt a whoosh of air rush past from above him.

"I caught you," cackled Essix, who had caught him by his shirt from inside his armor. She then set him down on a branch and used her talons to pat his hair. "Now, go. Fight! Teacher didn't raise you to stare at the worms. You gotta' rip them out like grass!"

"What's grass?" Rollan asked, for he had seen grass, but never knew what it was called.

"For goodness sakes, just go!" cawed Essix, "That is… if you can finish my lesson of climbing off this tree."

Rollan looked down and shrieked. How high did Essix put him?! He shouted at Essix, "Just, please get me down from here. This isn't a joke! There- There's a girl and she's ramming down the entire army has we speak!"

"Look on the bright side, pal," Essix only replied, "If you don't get down, then you don't have to get your butt kicked again. If you do get down though, consider this as a sign that I believe that you like her, since you worked so hard to get down."

"WHAT?! Essix, I don't! C'mon now, the Conquerors are depending on us! We need to get that talisman!"

"No, they don't need us. They need you. Only you agreed to put yourself in this situation, so you get out of it. Just like how you slipped out of every situation until they tossed you into the jail cell and then you met me! Thought you would get a rat instead, eh?"

Rollan sighed in defeat. There was no arguing against that, nor was there a point anymore. He had depended on himself before, but now he needed to gain Essix's trust— by falling, no, climbing a thousand feet. He stared into Essix's amber eyes and whispered, "You'll catch me if I fall, right?"

Essix just cocked her head to one side and sprung into the air with a burst of speed.

"Great," thought Rollan, before he began descending. "C'mon, Rollan," he told himself, "Don't look down. Whatever you do, don't look down. Besides, you've had to steal pies from the wealthy before, right?"

At the sound of another cry from a troop, Rollan's nerves seized up. It sounded just like when the militia caught him stealing and he his mind made him let go, as he would if he was on the streets. "Nnnnnooooo!" he cried, when he realized that he had let go of his grip. He tumbled past the brambles and boughs of the trees, and he could already feel his body crumple at the mere touch of the dirt below, but instead…

Fwump! Squish!

"OUCH! Get off of me, Jhi!" screeched an angry voice, "You're suffocating me!"

Jhi just groaned though, in her calm, panda speech. Then she rolled off, and was summoned back into a tattoo immediately. Thanks to that though, Rollan, who had landed on Jhi, tumbled to the rocky ground of Erdas' mountains.

"YOU!" the girl with jet-black hair shrieked, "Shush!"

"Huh? Why? I just met…" But before Rollan could finish his words, a shadow towered above them and covered the sun. It was an over-sized ram.

Its fur was a pure cream color, and his horns rose high above his bushy eyebrows and spiraled.

"Too late," mumbled the girl, her voice holding a hint of fear in it.

"So, Meilin. You have failed me," The Great Ram uttered, "You, the summoner of Jhi, failed to get rid of the enemies, and now, you, are also an enemy. You lied! As I had said, if you could prove that you were strong enough to rage through a whole army, then you have proven yourself worthy, but you have not. For this boy right here has just brought you to me."

"Wait, what?! I did?" exclaimed Rollan in both surprise and confusion.

"Wait?! I'm not done yet. He didn't bring you to me, I was just…"

"Stop trying to lie! You shall pay for all your crimes. Right here. Right now," grunted The Ram mercilessly, "You made a deal," he finished, his eyes narrowed into slits.

Rollan could've lied or admitted the truth to get him and this pretty girl out of this mess, but that huge ram permitted him with no time at all. Arax, the Great Ram, bowed down his great, furry head, aimed his horns charged.