When we appeared inside the swamp shack, there was already a warm cup of tea for each of us, streaming and ready to drink. I took a seat at the wooden table and allowed myself to relax, just a bit. My throat was parched from riding all day, but the tea was the last thing on my mind.
“I need answers, Evanor. Now.”
“Yes, of course. Where to start?” Evanor grumbled. “The Yunai are back. Always back. They’re after you and me, and anyone else that shouldn’t be here.”
“Noaath saw this coming,” Evanor continued. “He has worked behind the scenes for years now, preparing a plan that might help us prevent the timeline from collapsing, but time is running out and now some thing appears to be undoing this work.”
That information was new. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, about four years ago—”
“I know about Noaath’s plan,” I said, cutting her off. “I was put to use by him years ago. I’m not apprised on the other part, the some other Yunai that is undoing our work.”
“I see.”
“How did you learn about Noaath’s plan?” I pressed.
Evanor frowned. “Same as you, Sepher. I should have died. Noaath stepped in to prevent it. He pulled me from the flow of time and told me my story was not meant to end yet. He said I had to survive, not just for myself, but for the future yet unseen.”
“Okay. Fine. So what about the plot twist?”
“We’re not sure why, but a Yunai has figured out Noaath’s plan. It seems to be working to undo his efforts by hunting us down. It’s going after anyone that was either saved directly by Noaath, or saved by those saved by Noaath. It seems to want to erase his work.”
“That’s potentially thousands of people!”
“None of whom are truly meant to be alive,” she added. “This Yunai… it seems to be correcting Noaath’s work. To what extent I cannot say, but there are people that need help, and I have been looking for a solution. You helped me find it.”
“What solution?”
“It seems that this Yunai, cannot reach your World Ship. If we could round up the others like ourselves, we could see refuge there. We could escape this creature until we can figure out how to deal with it.”
“Can’t we fight against it?” I asked.
“We can, and I have done so numerous time,” Evanor replied. “Kaellax too. Most of the time it possesses living beings. In any case, if we defeat it, the entity simply retreats and assaults us again later. We can’t keep up our guard all of the time.”
“Okay,” I said, slapping my hand on the table. “I’ll help. Between the two of us I’m confident we can scrounge up enough energy to open a portal back to the other World Ship. How do we find and gather up the others like us?”
“I don’t know,” Evanor said with a shrug.
“I know someone who does,” Kaellax spoke up. “He’s big. He’s a Yunai…”
I nodded in agreement. “It’s time we pay our old friend a visit.”
“Uh,” the young paladin said, leaning in to the others. “Where are we going, exactly?”
“The Yunai realm,” I said, my voice firm. “To speak with Noaath.”
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