Author's Notes: When I did not consult my beta reader, a.k.a. My youngest brother, before I published the previous chapter, that was a bad idea. He gave me some good points of where I needed to improve on chapter 8, so I've made a few edits to that on June 29th, 2019. I just had to add more action to chapter 8. The only thing I basically added was Essix almost getting struck by a lightning bolt. Also, note that I will also have to raise the rating from K+ to a T due to the fact that death is not suitable for children, nor is the beginning of romance. Meanwhile, trust me on this: The next few chapters will definitely be a lot better, since I've been planning them for months! So enjoy the story— and the cliffhangers! :3

Essix's view was blurry as she opened her eyes. She blinked once, then twice, before she aroused with a startle. She half-expected to be swinging in a metal cage again that dangled on a chain attached to a rooftop as mocking Conquerors laughed at her.

She breathed with relief though, when she saw Jhi sitting up, and next to Jools, the brown bear. Jools nudged Essix with concern. Essix winced a bit where her she had been nudged. Apparently, that was where her sore beak had been smacked at when she was in the storm.

Essix took in her surroundings; she was back in the stone cave. The light of the fire was still here, and it was no longer being throttled harshly by the wind. The rain still pitter-pattered outside, but it no longer roared like a waterfall. She was astonished to find Meilin and Rollan no longer bickering. Rather, they were sleeping with peaceful expressions on their faces.

Meilin mumbled a bit as she exhaled a small puff of air gently in her sleep. She rolled onto one side now, facing Essix, and her dark strands of hair cascaded down her face as her some strands were gently rocked by the wind.

A short distance away, Rollan snorted a bit in his sleep as beads of sweat dripped down his face. He was sleeping way too close to the fire, and the flames were overheating him in his metal suit.

Essix expected that Rollan was about to wake up any second now from being coming so hot. The drops of sweat became streams, and she had no clue currently of how Rollan even managed to sleep in a suit of metal armor!

"Either he's not afraid to get supercharged by the lightning outside, or he wants to bake himself like a potato in tin foil!" concluded Essix.

Abruptly, Rollan turned in his sleep and landed belly-flat onto their campfire, sending charred sticks rolling and being crushed into smears of ashes. Jools bellowed in terror and leapt away as a flaming stick chased him, while Jhi just continued sitting still in her place. Essix flapped her wings and squawked in terror, diving immediately at Rollan, as he was still asleep. Rollan, meanwhile, showed no sign of reacting to pain as he did not stir, but only continued mumbling in his sleep.

Essix cawed in panic as she saw red marks appearing on Rollan's armor as she dug for his shirt collar. The tips of her talons finally found what she was looking for, and she drew out the collar, torn from earlier. Essix began to drag the boy off of the flames, but the longer she did so, she felt the requirement, of needing more might, wearing at her even more with every tug. She heard the skittering and the snapping of sticks as she could feel her breath shortening, as her pace slowed from this heavy weight. Sure, Rollan was a malnourished orphan in Amaya, but would his lighter weight save his life? Essix doubted it. At the thought of defeat, Essix tugged even harder at the collar. To her dismay though, this caused Rollan's shirt collar to snap, sending her flying to the ground. Essix bowed in defeat as her sore beak kept continuously pounding rhythms. She had to keep trying, but suddenly, Jhi groaned and put her paw out, signalling Essix to stop. Jhi then lumbered over to a red-hot Rollan, and began rolling him towards the mouth of the cave.

"Couldn't you have done that earlier?" mumbled Essix, keeping herself flat on the floor in her agony. Before she could get up and dust herself off, Jhi rolled Rollan over Essix, and flattened Essix underneath. Essix squabbled in terror, before she gasped for air when she was done being flattened under Rollan. The pour of rain out there immediately cooled down Rollan's armor and drenched him. The red, hot marks turned to black, charred prints as Essix watched. To her disbelief though, Rollan still had not awakened yet after he had practically been baked, on fire, and drenched! The color still remained in his cheeks though, so he was clearly alive, but something now clicked into Essix's mind. She squawked in accusation, "What is the meaning of this, Jhi?! You did this, now didn't you? It was you who dragged me back to the cave after you knocked me out! It was you who put these two into an abnormal sleep now didn't you? Both of these kids are pretty stubborn, so without your powers, there is no way that they could've suddenly ceased!"

Jhi raised her head to face Essix when she had finished rolling Rollan back inside. Pebbles left their imprints on Rollan's face, as a dazed look was frozen on his face. Essix picked bits of dirt and grass out of his hair as she faced Jhi reproachfully. Jhi's silver eyes hinted a bit of anguish in them, but the peaceful sounds of her voice translated to, "Careful where your sole, torch's flame goes, Essix. You seem pained, but if you calm down for a moment, then someday, you may discover that we both can feel the same way. Bonded to our partners, hurting inside, yet accidentally hurting them too sometimes. Each other's lives at stake forever. Jools carries the guilt just as we may if we do not save who we care about most. I did not hurt any of you because we are on different sides. We are on the same side after all. You will know how I feel, Essix, though I won't share the specifics with you currently."

Essix squawked in confusion at her thoughts about it, "Not sharing ideas?! But we were on the same side in the last, Devourer War! Know how you feel, but won't tell me now? What do you mean?!" Essix's head spun as her beak ached. She gritted her teeth, no, her beak, as she felt contempt for Jhi, who had created this injury.

Suddenly, she saw Jhi twitching, and slowly, Jhi heaved herself to take heavy steps as Jools whimpered in panic, but with a quick touch of her paw, Jools collapsed into a deep sleep, before Essix met the same fate. With a swipe of Jhi's paw, Essix felt the confusion vanish from her mind, before her mind felt heavy. Essix squawked in agony as she refused to fall into a forced sleep. Her heart felt as if was torn into pieces as what her former friend and battle teammate had practically turned against her. With a thump, her head landed onto the cavern's floor and she spun into what was supposed to be a peaceful nap.

[Later…]

Essix awoke with a startle… again! Except this time, she didn't get to shake herself awake— Rollan was already doing that for her.

Rollan took Essix by the wing joints and shook her, "Hey! Hey, Essix! Wake up."

Essix cawed with fatigue after she had almost been struck by a lightning bolt back in the storm. Her stomach grumbled as it did back at her meeting with Jhi. She cawed, "Let me go back to sleep," as she rubbed her sore head. She was seriously going to lose her mind if she got smacked in the head one more time. Essix was about to lie back down, before Rollan shook her one more time, "C'mon. Essix, please don't go back to sleep with those crazy dreams, or flashbacks, or whatever… I felt as if I was there though, while I was asleep! I- I was in something like a ghostly form when I saw a piece of Meilin's memory. Her- her Nectar Ceremony had gotten attacked, as we… I can't believe it! The Conquerors are supposed to end the monopoly of Nectar, but they crossed the line and burnt her home to the ground! Jhi was right, every side had done some cruelty to each others. Jhi only put us both to sleep when Meilin and I were actually trying to convince each others to join each other's side. I guess she has a reason why she wouldn't join the Conquerors, just as I refused to join the Greencloaks.

Rollan's eyes gazed down at the stone floor sorrowfully. Essix could see that he was haunted by something else he saw. She sensed his thoughts and found that he still had a clear memory of one of Meilin's maids being killed. Apparently, the maid had attempted to dive for safety, but was brutally slain by an arrow that got twisted into her neck. That wasn't just the only piece of abominable brutality there was. "Oh, well," thought Essix, "I guess this is why you don't join the Conquerors."

Rollan whispered to himself, as he had his head down, "I can't believe how Meilin could take this all within one day!"

Essix murmured, "Yes, yes, Rollan. At least your nightmares are over now." Essix knew that it actually wasn't a nightmare though; she could now truly confirm that Jhi's memory-sharing powers had taken a toll on all of them.

Rollan cried, "Wait, no, Essix! Okay, my point is that Meilin is in danger! Not just in my dream, but right now too. She's gone, Essix, and so is Jhi."

"Wait, what?!" squawked Essix, as she sat up quickly, eyes open and alert. Rollan was right; both Hi and Meilin were gone. "This isn't good," squawked Essix, transmitting messages to Rollan's mind now, "what if she went to get an army of Greencloaks on us?" Rollan shook his head, "No, I trust her. Besides, she wouldn't need an army to kick my butt."

"Oooh! Ya, right. You just trust her because she's hot, now isn't she?" snickered Essix.

"No," Rollan said solidly, "... okay she is honestly hot, but Essix, I trust her because she does have a heart somewhere. She just needs a bit of care, since she's been moved away from her parent, just as I have been."

Essix couldn't argue with that, since Rollan had lost his mother at a young age. In her head, she tittered though, "Ya, cross the word, 'care,' out of that sentence and replace it with, 'love'. So it's 'She just needs a bit of love from you!' Hahahaha hah!"

Jools suddenly called to them out of the corner. Essix hadn't noticed him earlier, but he definitely hadn't been outside, since he wasn't soaking wet or matted in mud.

Jools frantically dashed to the front of the cave, and signalled them to come along with him too.

"C'mon!" ordered Rollan, "Let's go!"

Essix felt a sudden urge tug at her, and she practically levitated off the ground without even flapping her wings! She hovered towards Rollan with a ridiculous look on her face, before she finally began to get her wings to move.

The next thing that Essix knew, they were following Jools through a filthy forest. The enormous storm had gone away, but its messy trail was left behind. Rollan had already sunk into muddy puddles twice, that were waist-deep. Without Jools, Essix doubted that she would've ever been able to get Rollan out of this mess all by herself. Rollan was caked in so much mud though, that Essix thought that he looked like he had tried to bake a cake, and frosted himself with chocolate icing!

Rollan had practically become a mud pie at this point, as only hints of his metal armor were showing, and his face. He could feel the sticks that were stuck to him in his hair, and more leaves drifting down in the air, and sticking to him. Rollan groaned as Jools seemed to know the way, as he sniffed the air, that was clogged with falling leaves.

Jools led them on with a few gestures of his paw, or with a swing of his head.

Suddenly, through a clearing in the darkness of the night, they saw...

"Meilin!" Rollan cried panic-strickenly. Rollan ran towards the damsel in distress, but he slipped in the unusually wet environment. Rollan slid on his bottom, but stopped just in time by pressing his legs against the muddy ground. "Whoa!" he gasped, when he was finished with skidding on the ground. Pebbles bounced off in front of them, and Rollan could hear their echoes as they hit what looked like eternal darkness. This darkness below his feet was darker than the night's darkness. The gorgeous, night sky was dimly lit by twinkling stars, but the darkness below his feet gave off an ominous feeling of danger.

This was a tragic fall of thousands of feet, and Meilin was right on the edge of walking off the rocky crag!

Meilin was clearly sleepwalking, as her hands were outstretched, making a 'T' shape, and she was walking with her legs straight. Jhi was in front of her, trying to stop Meilin from walking off by blocking her pathway. Meilin just kept on walking around Jhi though, and heading towards imminent danger

"Meilin, stop!" yelled Rollan, his hand outstretched. Jhi couldn't stop Meilin in time, so Rollan got up from the slick mud, and dived towards her, but his body suddenly froze in midair, crunched up, and collapsed! Rollan dropped into a puddle, filling his mouth with mud as Essix also tried approaching Meilin. Hi, Essix, and Rollan all froze though, suddenly unable to move as they were all trying their hardest to move. They threw threw heads around, trying to arouse their brain and muscles, but it was useless.

Desperate to fight his sudden paralysis, Rollan threw his own body around as he watched the stars spin around him. Out of the bottom edge of his eye, he saw Meilin tip over the edge of the crag...