"ɨ աɨʟʟ ɮʊʀռ ɨȶ ɖօառ."

Péle rolled her eyes to his misunderstood questions about Vulcao… she was about to explain before his hasty explanation and question followed soon after.

“ There are many monoliths of Ixtal , one dedicated for each element that Ixtali pray before to attune themselves to the respective element. It is the reason why Ixaocan looks to annex my lands, the monolith of fire exists there, ” she elaborated on a custom, but perhaps not the Monolith he was referring to.

Many monoliths!? This was the first Khahiri had ever heard of such a thing. Needless to say, it left him reeling a bit. “I… I was only aware of one Monolith in Ixtal.” A great weapon capable of commanding the full might of all the elements against the Void… Now there were multiple?

“ she is upset… Vulcao, she plumed ash and soot skywards when she felt my presense in danger, my emotion and my anger, ” Péle would explain, the clouds rolling upwards from the treeline, but just beyond it was funnel from the Volcano near her village.

“ speaking of Ixaocan often makes me feel a certain way… so let us get you to where you wish to be so I may continue my life’s work. ”

Kahiri blinked in confusion. “Wait, are you trying to tell me… That mountain is alive?” He turned his attention back to Vulcao, staring at it uncertainly. What she proposed seemed absurd, but then, there were more absurd things in the past and future. Speaking of which…

Péle had to find some calmness in that response , she never once thought anyone in Ixaocan was innocent… only thinking about the tyrants, the empress, the weaponized elements… “ mercy was not shown for my people… this jungle gives, this jungle takes. They are free to leave Ixaocan, find or build their own homes. Otherwise… ” she glances over her shoulder at him, a slight fire in her eyes… there was no question about it, her devotion lacked sympathy, this was the way things needed to be. In the mind of Péle, Ixaocan must fall.

Immediately following her words, a thunderous rumble echoed through the forest, it could have been the darkening sky or the volcano closer to her village.

By this point, Khahiri was starting to think that his arrival in this time hadn’t been a mere accident. He meant to go back much further, but instead he seemed to be in an era long after the Monolith was constructed. However, if this Péle woman was planning on causing another tragedy, then she had to be stopped! Before Khahiri could say as much, however, the air itself seemed to shake as the sky grew dark.

“ Yes, I do. ”

Her voice sounded so assured, her confidence gleamed and her sadistic smirk fueled by the very thoughts of violence in her head. She turned her gaze to him while walking –

“ I will free my people from Ixaocan… and then I will BURN that place to ashes. ”

A slight scoff in her tone sounded off , she didn’t want to admit he was right about something, but she didn’t hold hope very high… she held resentment instead. “ And it will change for the better when I destroy Ixaocan… that pathetic empress, and their entire home. They will know what it is like to lose everything, ” her voice was so certain, so clear… revenge was all Péle wished for.

“And then what?” Khahiri kept an even stride, although he kept a slight distance between them, just in case Péle decided to lash out again. “You’ll just create more ruins. Who will help you rebuild then?” Khahiri forced himself to calm down and took a deep breath.

Her voice sounded so assured, her confidence gleamed and her sadistic smirk fueled by the very thoughts of violence in her head. She turned her gaze to him while walking --

“ save it ? once a place is conquered it will never be the same again, that is why my home remains under my care, and that is why I do not allow outsiders, such as yourself, ” her pathing took a turn, now starting to curve around the outside of her village… or what was left anyways. tall but narrow building crafted from frawn rooves and stone walls could be seen beyond a wall of towering wooden spikes jutting from the ground around them, hidden between the trees as they walked.

It was sad. What she was saying sounded so hopeless… But there was something strange about that, he thought. “That’s not true.” Despite not wanting to provoke her again, Khahiri couldn’t help but speak his mind. “Maybe it can’t be the same as before, but there’s no reason it can’t change for the better. My master always says that the future set in stone in is the one we choose to write.” Though maybe that sounded more convincing coming from a man who COULD see the future…

his distance was wisely chosen, the heat raised from her hands could be felt if too close, palms tightly closed so much so that it could shape coal to diamond… “ they were taken, some killed and some captured, by Ixaocan, ” she spat that horrid name… such a terrible place.

“ they came, my people fought, my people lost, and they left one little girl out here in the jungle alone. they think she died to the elements, ” a half witted chuckle, a shake of her head as fiery locks flowed, “ they looked to take our elemental control over what Vulcao has given us, to grasp fire with their weapons, but they failed. Now I stand as the last of my people to protect these lands from those cobardes. ”

Hearing her story, Khahiri couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu. The grip on his staff tightened as he mulled over what to say, his gaze facing downward. “My home was conquered too, you know. A long time ago, by the Shuriman empire.” Though he’d never known the tyranny of Shurima himself, Khahiri had seen glimpses of the wars through chronomancy.

her eyes narrowed… she felt as if she were making a mistake trusting anyone who was not only an outsider, but someone who knew little about Ixtal. not simply the land or it’s people, but it’s history and culture… the truth behind it all.

“ i suppose it is fair… I am Péle, chieftess of the Vulcaon tribe, and it’s last survivor, ” she would inform him, before turning her back to him and beginning to walk onward, the long path, but with some length in her strides.

she would watch the creatures of hellspawn disappear, her eyes glancing around to be sure they were all gone, then her attention glared forward, approaching him before giving his chest a form palm strike, knocking him over onto his rear.

“ do not assume you have earned the right to traverse my home – ” her finger pointed down, before withdrawing her hand and stepping back, “ … but you may pass around my lands. I will guide to through. But you may NOT enter my village. ”

🔥 || The audacity-- this strange Vastayan walks upon her homeland, through her village, and marches up to her being, just to ask a question that SHE should be asking instead?!

his words meant little to her, but for the better of her home and lands she would trust he knew what he was doing– the strange man did speak much about void creatures, where Péle did not fear them, she did not wish to risk any escaping.

she takes a step in front of him, back to his spell as she kicks a wall of fire forward, flipping herself backwards over his head and landing on her feet, backing away a few steps to bear witness–

As soon as Péle was at a safe distance, Kahiri unleashed his spell. A wave of temporal energy rushed forward, enveloping the Void beasts in strange green glow. Their forms shifted and twitched before suddenly vanishing entirely. It was a temporal displacement spell, literally trapping them between two moments in time. Though not dead, they were effectively no longer a threat to anyone.