Marnaya looked in awe around her; the Nourasian village was beautiful with all its local decorations. Made all the more fragile when the giant Nourasian beetles attacked.
Matsye was on a large beetle himself, except it wasn't attacking them. Marnaya decided to join in the fun. Hopping onto Matsye's mount, she startled the young prince when she grabbed his shoulder.
"Marnaya?" he exclaimed in panic. "What're you doing?"
"I'm helping." Seeing a large beetle was flying straight towards them, Marnaya picked up one of the sacks she'd seen the other Knights throw at them. Matsye was impressed when it hit the giant insect on its tiny head, knocking it unconscious; the girl had good aim.
Marnaya grinned at him with confidence, but suddenly a loud yell was heard. Marnaya and Matsye looked for the source of the sound until they saw an older human man with white streaks in his black hair. He looked at his surroundings in terror.
"Grandfather?" Matsye called. He picked up a sack and launched it at the bug cornering the man. When it was knocked out, Matsye jumped off and ran toward him with Marnaya following.
"Grandfather." Matsye said when he'd reached the human. Taking off his Nourasian knight mask, he asked, "Are you alright?"
"All I come to do is to visit my daughter..." Matsye's grandfather mumbled. "And a bunch of mutant insects decide to attack."
Matsye chuckled at his grandfather. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, my boy."
Marnaya stood back rather patiently before Matsye remembered her. "Oh, Grandfather! I almost forgot. This is Marnaya!"
The old man looked at Marnaya before his eyes grew wide. "MY GOD!" he exclaimed.
"What?" Marnaya asked self-consciously.
"That girl looks just like my daughter's old gunner." he told his grandson.
The old man decided to compose himself, despite having his nerves shot from the giant beetle cornered him.
"Well, young lady. I'm Don Wei." he said in a professional tone. He held out his hand and Marnaya shook it.
Matsye turned to Marnaya. "I ask you to keep him company while I assist the other Knights." He took off before Marnaya could protest.
She was a little disappointed that she wasn't going to help the Knights again, but politely turned to Don Wei. "How're you, sir?"
"I'm fine, young lady. And you?"
"Great."
The man suddenly asked, "Are you related to anyone named Wilde?"
Marnaya looked surprised. "Umm..."
Before Marnaya could answer him, Eva came running up to him. "DAD!" she cried happily. "It's so good to see you!"
"You too, Eva." the father replied.
Seeing the two of them, Marnaya felt longing and guilt. Her dad must've seen her absence by now. He must be so worried...and Kezi, too! Kezi was like a mother to her...
"I can tell you've met Marnaya."
"Oh, yes. She...reminds me of your old gunner."
"Uh-huh." was all she said before she led her father through the Nourasian village.
Meanwhile, far away on Epsilon, the Avatar and assistant were distressed. Keni was trying to calm them down.
"I'm sure that Marnaya is fine." he said. "She wouldn't leave without a reason. You know that."
Though this didn't make either Jordan or Kezi feel any less worried, it calmed their hysterics some. Kezi looked up to Jordan. "Why do you think she left? Did we do something, Jordan?"
"I don't know, Kez." Jordan said, lost in thought. "Hmmmm. Maybe she thought to start her quest that the Creators gave her. That's my only guess."
Kezi put her head in her hands. She'd cried so much from worry.
'Marnaya, where ARE you?' she thought to herself. Then she heard Jordan suck in his breath suddenly.
"I know why she left." he said. "She left to find her mother."
Kezi just stared at him, confused for a moment. Then her eyes were filled with understanding.
"Of course..." she replied quietly. "That's...exactly why."
"The Creators said all her questions would be answered by the end. Some of them you'll be able to answer yourself, Kez."
"Yeah. Thanks to Hunta sealing some of my mogur in with the Wolf. At least, if it's unsealed, I can help her redo it."
Keni stood up to leave the room. "I'd better wake Max up." he laughed. "That boy could sleep through the end of the world."
After he was gone, Jordan walked over to Kezi. He took her hands in his.
"Hey." he said to Kezi. She looked up at him as he continued. "Marnaya is going to be fine. She can take care of herself. You've stressed that when she dressed up as the Blue Flash for the first time. And as for the seal, we've helped her control her anger. There shouldn't be any reason for the Wolf to emerge."
"But Jordan..." Kezi started. "I held in my anger for so long. But Marnaya doesn't do that. She has a short temper. If someone were to make her angry enough..."
Keni came back into the room with an annoyed expression. Kezi and Jordan looked at him, waiting for him to speak.
"He followed her." Keni said. "Max."
"Oh, Keni." Kezi said.
"It's alright." he replied. "I chipped his book bag. And he always carries it with him."
Jordan had to let that absorb for a minute. "You mean-?"
"Yep. We can go looking for them."
Marnaya sat in the room she'd been provided with in boredom. She really didn't want to impose on the queen and her father's visit. Matsye was enjoying it as well. But returning to the room left drawbacks; nothing to do.
A sudden sound startled her. Coming from outside the window. Marnaya slowly stood up and grabbed a pot. Ready to swing at a moment's notice, she hesitantly walked to the window. It was quiet for a moment before...
"HEY! I FOUND YOU!" a voice yelled in triumph.
"AHHH!" Marnaya shrieked and swung.
"WHOA!" the owner of the voice threw himself into the room. As he flew by her, she recognized the sandy hair, the backpack,...
She turned around to see Max standing there with a huge smirk on his face.
"WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE?!" she yelled. Max just smirked wider.
"I came to help the Blue Flash. Duh." he replied.
"Max...what about your dad?"
"Dad won't care. He's probably figure out already. As long as I'm aiding in defending the weak, he'll back me up."
"Do Jordan and Kezi know where I am?"
"How could they? I didn't know where you were going until I got here. So if you think I ratted your location out to them, you're wrong."
Marnaya exhaled in relief; the last thing she needed was to drag her father and Kezi into this.
Max started chattering again. "Sooooo...why Nourasia?"
"Huh?"
"Why are we on Nourasia?"
"Oh. You see, the Prince came to retrieve the Blue Flash. He begged and bribed me to come and help. For what, I don't know."
Max's face grew serious. "Should we investigate?"
Marnaya pondered that for a moment. "Yeah. But let's carry our disguises in a bag. The Blue Flash is too recognizable."
The two cousins walked silently out of the palace and began to walk the paths of the market. Marnaya and Max observed carefully, but after a couple of hours of exploring, they hadn't spotted one wrong doing. Marnaya was amazed at how peaceful it was, and she shared her thoughts with Max.
"I've never seen such a peaceful planet. What's Matsye so worried for?"
"A little TOO peaceful if you ask me." Max replied. Marnaya looked at him.
"Come on, Marnaya." he continued. "Is this even natural?"
Marnaya thought about it. "Well, no. But I did have a little adventure before you found me. Matsye and a few Nourasian knights took on some giant beetles when they started attacking a village."
"Maybe that's the problem." Max mused. "Maybe he wants to figure out why the beetle's are doing that."
"Perhaps. Unlikely though, in my opinion. I feel...like it's much larger than even Nourasia."
A sudden squeal sent Marnaya and Max into their disguises and dashing toward the trouble. The sound had been produced in a different Nourasian village. When Max and Marnaya reached it, they saw that it was on fire. Every building had been ignited.
"Get something to put it out!" she ordered to Max though it had spread so bad, she knew there'd be no hope. Max ran toward the small river that flowed beside the village; several Nourasian men came and joined him. Meanwhile, Marnaya went from building to building, looking for any trapped people. She found a little girl holding her baby brother, surrounded by collapsed wood and fire. "Help!" she yelled.
Marnaya came to the doorway and used her large sword to cut what wood had blocked the child's way out. She was too terrified to move so Marnaya came in after her.
"It's okay, little one." Marnaya tried to soothe the crying Nourasian girl. "You're going to be fine. Where's your mother?" The little girl pointed to the other side. Marnaya turned to look. She saw the mother lying on the floor, motionless. Marnaya went over to her quickly and checked her pulse. It was fine. By the way the Nourasian woman laid and the position of a fallen board, she assumed the mother had been knocked out. She went back over to the little girl.
"Listen to me." Marnaya said. The little girl looked up in fear. "I need you to go with my partner when he gets here, okay?" The girl nodded.
Marnaya yelled out to Max. He came quickly and fetched the girl and the baby as Marnaya tried to arouse the mother.
When Max had gotten the children out, he turned around to see burning wood fixing to fall in front of door, blocking the door.
"FLASH!" he yelled, but the brush fell any way; it blocked Marnaya's way out.
Marnaya had heard Max's yell and turned just in time to see the wood fall.
"Damn." Marnaya hissed. "We're trapped."
Around that time, the Nourasian woman came to. She took in her surroundings and grew terrified. Marnaya went over to her.
"Your children are safe." Marnaya said in her Blue Flash male voice. "And so will you."
Marnaya picked her sword back up and began swinging at the burning brush. It didn't do very well, but she couldn't think of any other plan. From outside, she could hear Max and other Nourasians try to put the flame out. Then Marnaya thought about what could've started the fire. Water should've been working...
Marnaya shook herself. 'You can investigate the cause later! Just get this woman out now!'
Marnaya took off her cape and handed it to the woman so that she protect herself from the flames for a little bit. Marnaya quickly decided to try to get rid of the fire around the window long enough for the woman to escape. Marnaya tried to smother it with a nearby blanket. While the blanket appeared to smother the flames, Marnaya helped the woman out. However before Marnaya could get out, the flames broke through the blanket. They severely burned one of her hands, covering the palm of her left hand with the smell of burnt flesh. Marnaya hissed in pain and desperately looked for another way out.
There weren't anymore blankets to attempt to smother the fire, and even if there were, she couldn't avoid getting burned. Then she noticed that the window was fixing to collapse. She really didn't have a choice now...
Marnaya darted to the window and started to climb out. She resisted the impulse to let go even though fire burned her hands again. If she let go, she'd fall back inside the house. She managed to jump out before it could collapse. She could feel a horrible burn on her thigh from where she'd pressed it against flaming wood.
Marnaya fell to the ground and immediately rolled in order to kill the flames burning her. Afterwards, her hands flew to her face. Her mask and wig were still in place. She was relieved; she didn't want her identity revealed yet. She looked up to see the woman she'd just saved approaching her. Marnaya gasped when she tried to get up as she felt her burned thigh. Her lungs burned from the toxic gases, and she passed out from the lack of oxygen.