Tara, Bethany, and the others were going over what they had received from the event with each other when the ground shook and they all looked over to the erupting volcano. All of them knew that it was Eli who had destroyed it and set off the eruption, and as they watched it, they wondered what they were supposed to do about it. The ash in the sky was heading right for them and would cover this whole area in a thick layer as it blocked out the sun and fell like snow for days. Tara could feel the seed of doubt and panic growing in her heart, was Eli going to keep destroying things and more importantly could she trust him after this, she thought to herself.
Then the messages came to all of them from Eli, the first few were just saying he was going to contain the eruption and would be gone for several days. Then they each got individual instructions from him for what he wanted them to do while he was away. Tara was still uneasy with all this, to her it felt like Eli was unravelling into a hurricane of chaos that could destroy everything and everyone around him. She wanted to trust him but she was having trouble reconciling the man she fell in love with and the man Eli was becoming. Maybe she just needed time to adjust to everything that was changing.
Tara shook her head as if her undesired thoughts would fall out, and re-read her instructions again. Her independent side bristled at being given instructions like this and not consulted first, but she looked back to where the volcano was going crazy and decided to give Eli the benefit of the doubt on this one. If he was running full speed into that, she could swallow her pride for now and follow instructions, at least until he got back and she could argue with him face to face. Her instructions were to stay near base to protect it and hunt monsters and the surrounding area for crafting materials. Again, she bristled at this, she wanted to fight by his side, not do fetch quests at home by herself.
As much as she did not like this, after some deep breathing and giving it some thought, she decided that she would do what she was asked, but she would do it her way. Despite everything that was changing, the world, society, Eli, and herself, she knew that Eli did not want to restrict her in any way. His instructions had to do with his plans for their group, and the others were probably given instructions to further his goals for the group as well. She wished they had all shared what their plans were but, after reading, Bethany and Audrey left for the safe zone, along with the new girl, Cory and Stevens left for the nearest safe zone to gather intelligence.
First things first, she wanted a nap, however the ash would be at their home soon and she wanted to see how it affected the plants and buildings before she rested or left the area. Tara sat next to the fountain and focused on relaxing her magic. She had been in turmoil ever since Eli made a village out of nothing and if she was being honest with herself since he gave her the scars. And he had not just made any village, but a beautiful and magical one, especially compared to the bland buildings and towns that are located in the safezone. The problem was she separated him from what he has done and can do, like the person she loved was a different person than the one who made the crater and crater village along with causing a volcano to explode.
As much as she felt like a good 3 hour nap and a couple days of hunting and gathering would help her mind settle, the ash was coming closer to the village. She stood and watched as it seemed to be about to cover the safe zone area in darkness, however, it changed direction. It had been passing over like a cloud, but now it was no longer traveling across the sky, instead it was coming down toward the ground like a tornado. She barely had time to brace herself before it crashed into her, except, nothing happened, 40 feet off the ground the ash turned to motes of magic. Those motes were red, brown, and black, and soaked right into the plants walls and ground of their little village, nothing was damaged.
It was a strange site, a volcano erupting, the ash cloud going through the air, then back down into the ground casting their village in shadow like it was a cloudy day. Tara just stood there watching all of this happen, not really being able to figure it out, or even what emotion she was supposed to be feeling. The amount of magic that the crater was pulling in was staggering, the plants were already growing more leaves and becoming a deeper shade of green. The stone for the buildings was going almost crystalline and the ring of bushes around the perimeter grew taller and thicker. Tara couldn't really sense magic, but if she had to guess she would say that the perimeter defense bushes would have been able to do the first wave of monster horde event that they had just finished. The changes were slow, but not so slow that she couldn't see them happening.
With nothing else to do, she sat near the fountain and relaxed her magic, maybe she could get something out of this as she slipped into a half sleep trance that helped her mind relax and magic circulate. Tara dug around her mind to see if she could figure out what she should be feeling and how to deal with it, but she was not successful. There was a cloud of fear making any other emotions difficult or impossible to suss out. Ever since the tutorial, she had been dealing with this fear, but thoughts of Eli always made her feel safe and the fear would become manageable. What she wasn't willing to face or admit to herself was that Eli might be the cause of some of the fear, and not the solution.
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Bethany, Audrey, and Arinya were walking toward one of the small towns in the safe zone, the two were filling Arinya in on some basics of getting stronger and being useful to the group. After they walked for a while Arinya stopped mid step and looked scared.
"What is it?" Bethany asked
"Three people coming, very quickly, straight toward us."
"Which direction?" Bethany asked as she got her spear out.
"That way," Arinya pointed in a direction almost directly in line with the way they were walking.
Bethany stood perfectly still for a moment, then hurled her spear so fast that Arinya didn't even see it leave her hand. One second she was holding a spear, then the spear was gone and Bethany was at the end of a throwing pose. Bethany took out a second spear and stood with a relaxed posture and with the butt of the spear on the ground and waited. Suddenly, Arinya realized that Audrey wasn't with them anymore, she hadn't even noticed her leave.
"Where's Audrey?" Arinya asked her quietly.
"Who?"
"They are still coming, just much slower now, and I think one of them is limping." Arinya said while giving Bethany a confusing look.
"They are weak, don't show any of your strength." Audrey said as she was now standing behind them. Arinya jumped in surprise, looked at Bethany who didn't react, then she looked back to where Audrey had been standing, and she was gone again.
After waiting for a few minutes, the three could be seen walking towards them, well two of them were walking and the third was limping slightly, favoring his left leg. Neither group spoke as the women stood still and the three men walked up to them. One of the men was holding Bethany's spear that she had thrown and as they got within twenty feet, he threw the spear softly so it hit the ground in front of Bethany's feet. The one in her hand disappeared just as she kicked the one on the ground up and caught it resuming her previous relaxed posture.
"What do you want?" Bethany asked.
"We are on our way to see Lord Ash, the volcano's ash cloud is headed this way and we want to see if he can prevent it from blacking out the sky and covering our safezone." The middle of the three said.
"He's not available, and don't worry about the ash, so you can go home now."
"Forgive me, I am Lopez and these are my friends, are you associated with Lord Ash?"
"Oh, where are my manners, my name Q, like the letter, but everyone just calls me by my first name, Fa." Bethany said with a wicked smile. She really did enjoy being associated with the most powerful man in the area, it gave her such a rush to not have to worry about politeness or being formal with anyone. Everyone couldn't see it, but Audrey face-palmed at Bethany's joke, she knew Bethany has a rough personality, but she was warm and kind to their group so everyone, including Eli, let her have whatever attitude she wanted with outsiders.
The man in the middle frowned but didn't seem offended, he was more confused than anything else. It was obvious to Audrey that he had been given specific instructions not to antagonize Eli or his people, and he wasn't expecting someone to be so difficult for no reason. Audrey also knew that Bethany was laughing her ass off in her head, hopefully Arinya will figure out that she is supposed to be the civil one and calm things down. However, when Audrey looked at Arinya, she had both hands over her mouth and was making every effort to not laugh out loud, which made Audrey face-palm again. She wasn't going to step in, this was one of those moments where Bethany would have to dig herself out of whatever mess she got herself into.
"Ok then, can you tell us what the plan is to stop the ash at least, that way we can go back and reassure Lord Ghost that there is nothing to be worried about."
"What makes you think we know anything?" Bethany said she then turned her back on them and started whispering nonsense to Arinya about random irrelevant things like food.
The man in the middle didn't miss the blatant disrespect, but was not taking the bait.
"We will just go find him ourselves then, this ash cloud is a serious concern, even if you don't want to treat it like one."
Out of the corner of her eye Bethany could see the ash cloud stopping and gathering over where the crater is and she smiled.
Bethany faced him and pointed to the cloud, "What concern is it of yours what happens outside the safezone?"
The three men all faced where she was pointing, looked up at the cloud and their jaws fell open. They looked like bad extras from a Godzilla movie, their minds just couldn't understand what they were seeing. The ash cloud turned into a tornado and was funneled down into the ground before it even reached the barrier. Bethany looked at Arinya and motioned for her to follow, then they started walking away, headed in the same direction that they were originally going. She put her spear back in her inventory and started whistling as she left them there and they moved on with their day.
Once they were far enough away, Arinya spoke up, "Why were you trying to piss them off? I mean it was funny and all, but it didn't seem necessary."
"First, it was fun, second, they were weak but I needed to see if they could be provoked. Tara is alone back in Crater town and I wanted to see how hostile they were. If they played nice then Tara could handle them."
"But if they got aggressive, would you have fought them?" Arinya attempted to finish her thought.
"I would have killed them."
"But, you can't kill people in a safezone."
"True, but you can throw them so hard that they land outside the safezone."
"I suppose that is true."
"Rules only apply to those who can't get around their enforcer. The monster hordes have kept everyone busy, but now with more time for people to be left to their devices, you will find that the rules that apply now are ones that you have the power to enforce." Bethany said with a predator-like smile. "The only rules I have to obey are those placed upon me by Lord Ash. In exchange for me submitting myself to his rules, I get to borrow his name to get away with the things I want to do, like being really rude to people for no reason."
"What rules does he have? I don't want to get off to a bad start with him."
"He hasn't ever stated anything, so just don't hurt the group with your actions. Anything else is up to your judgement."