"It had been a few months after the whole 'City of Temples' accident.
The City of Temples blew up and Roby seemed very… down in the dumps for a few days after that. Luckily, after Wyldfyre reassured him that everything was going to be alright, he calmed down and went to his regular self, saying that this was "a truly fresh start for the City of Temples!" And that the Tournament of Sources would go on, even without the cup.
Roby said that the repairs would take quite a while, so, at least for a few years, there would be no Tournament of Sources. And, fun fact, the City of Temples stayed true for their traditions for so many millennia that the funds they received were just laying there the whole time! At least now they would actually be used." Arin explained everything that happened in the City of Temples to Riyu for the 100th time.
"Rauhw…" The dragon mumbled out of annoyance and put a paw on it's face.
"I know, I know, you were there and you heard that story for at least 100 times, but it was so unbelievable that I can't stop talking about it! And there are still a few things I can't understand, like, why did Lloyd's appearance change after he turned back? How did he shatter the cup? How did he survive the fall? And where is he now? Because when Ras sent us to search for Lloyd, all we found was a note carved into a tree that said "I'm OK." And no sign of him! It had been only 30 minutes after Lloyd jumped off!.. If that sign actually said the truth, then he's a very fast walker, even when injured."
"Ruahwha…" Riyu agreed, but not as enthusiastically as usual, since it was a very early morning and the dragon was really sleepy.
The boy laughed a bit at his sleepy friend and said: "Alright, I'll let you sleep." And he left the sleeping quarters in the Destiny's bounty.
The boy rested his head on the taffrail.
Arin wasn't really sure, if the Destiny's bounty was necessary, because right now their priority was finding Lloyd, at least for him, Riyu, Nya, Zane and, of course, Sora. It was like a trial, being on the same ship as her, a trial he nearly failed every day.
The others went in super cool and new vehicles, trying to hunt down that weird dragon that escaped from the mountain when it blew up, apparently the creature's name was Thunderfang.
No idea why he's so important, though.
Just an enormous dragon that, from what Arin knows, can cause chaos.
But everyone can cause chaos! What's so important?!
Maybe he'll find out later.
Just maybe…
His mind quieted for a bit.
Then he sighed and thought that maybe a walk in the village they were near would help clear his mind completely.
Arin left the Destiny's bounty and entered the Village of the Formlings. No idea why it's called that, though. All he knew was that before the merge, this village belonged to the Never Realm, a realm that the Ninja saved from someone called 'the Ice Emperor'.
"Who was the Ice Emperor?" Arin wondered.
Even though it was an early morning, the village was already swarming with people, who, for some reason, were dressed as animals.
And the people soon showed why the village name includes 'Formlings' and why they had such costumes.
It was because they could actually turn into animals that their costumes looked like.
Somehow the most memorable was a guy named Kataru that turned into a bear and his sister, Akita, that turned into a wolf.
The Formlings were really nice and welcoming, they gave Arin some tea and told the story of the Ice Emperor and how the Ninja saved them from their perspective and it was really interesting.
But turns out, that one of the few reasons that Formlings know that story was because of the two survivors – Kataru and Akita, mostly Akita, because her brother was locked up and she allied with Lloyd to save her village and Zane.
And from what he understood, Lloyd and Akita might've actually been a couple, a long time ago.
Arin wondered how would she react if she saw him now.
And he didn't have to wait for long.
Suddenly the little door that held the tiny tent flew open and Lloyd flew in with a stick under his arm pit.
Arin went into his fighting position and Akita ran to Lloyd, panicking:
"Lloyd? Lloyd! Are you OK? What- Why are you hurt? Why do you have horns?!"
It was clear, that he had been running and hasn't really had a break for a long time, but, for some reason, he just pushed her away, mouthed "Get to a safe place" then whispered something to Akita and stood up.
Akita, Arin and Kataru went to the stone-covered part of the tent and hid, barely breathing while at it. All of them were terrified, they didn't even really know why.
Lloyd went into a bit of a coughing fit, wiped his mouth, pointed at something and said:
"Even if my bones may have healed up in a very unhealthy way, they're still healed up, which means I don't have to continue running from you! You tried to hunt me down, corrupt my Conduit side and reach the Source dragons all these six months, but this ends now, Thunderfang!" Lloyd threw his stick to the other side, his eyes lit up with a mix of green and purple, then, with a smile, he said:
"Now it's your turn to run."