For thousands of years, since the dawn of humans, we have evolved to be the dominant species on our planet today. Smart. Strong. Sly. But even though our brains are one of the most complex inventions on this planet, when in danger, we revert back to our most basic animal instincts. Fight or flight. Hit or run. Strenght or speed. Created for the sole purpose of maximising our survival, that has worked for thousands of years.

So naturally, I threw every piece of evolution to the wind and screamed.

Praeses turned around. "What the f-HEY!" In her distraction, the white-haired woman took Praeses' sword and stabbed her in the shoulder, between the plates of metal. When Praeses crumpled to the ground, the woman knocked her over the head with the hilt. She fell off the slide, unconcious as she hit the sand below with a thud.

The woman laughed, thew away the sword, and that sound from earlier came back. The reverse explosion. Only this time, I saw what it did. The woman started to vanish in little pieces, just like ash. It kinda looked like when Peter Parker died in Infinity War. All "Mr. Stark I don't wanna go" style.

After standing there in shock for a few seconds, I rembered Praeses. I ran over to her, and she didn't look good. I couldn't see the wound beneath the armour, but I could see the blood. There was blood everywhere. Stuck in her dark, short, hair with clumps of sand, dripping off of where she was hit in the head, and she was laying in a red puddle.

Her brown eyes were still open. She staring emptily into nothing, like as if she was dead. "Oh God." I whispered to myself. "Oh God oh God oh God."

What are you meant to do when there's a girl bleeding to death right in front of you? Do you try to stop the bleeding? Amputate the arm? Call an ambulance?

Wait, ambulance. Yes, of course. Deep breaths now. Stay calm. I pulled my phone from my pocket, and with shaking hands, I called an ambulance. I was about to press the final digit when a slim, brown, blood covered hand grabbed my arm. Praeses was awake.

"Don't you even dare." She wiped off the blood from her face with her free arm. She grabbed my phone from me and threw it away from me into the sand a few feet away. "I am *not* going to a hospital." She got up, slowly, and started walking away. I was still sitting on the sand, blinking in confusion. I reached over to my right and grabbed my phone, got up, and followed her. She didn't get far. She was limping, and holding her left shoulder with her right hand.

I pulled her back to me. She winced in pain, but quickly her face set back to stone. I pulled her collar to bring her down to my eye level. "You are going to tell me everything that just happened, from the fact you're some old-timey knight, to telling me who the fuck that lady was. And I'm not taking no for an answer."

Praeses smirked, and pushed me off of her. "Listen, tiny. I'll tell you what happened, on one condition. You give me your coat."

"Really?"

"Yes. Its cold, its November, I'm freezing, etcetera ecetrea."

"Really."

"Well, I also need to protect my wound, don't I?"

"Ugh, fine." I took off my coat and threw it into her face. She put it on, zipped it up the full way, and pulled the hood over her face. She had it down so low you could only tell who she was if you were short, like me.

"Why are you covering your face so much?" "Duh, so no more Venti can see me." She must have seen my confusion, so she said "Venti. The wind warriors of Caeli's army. Those weirdos who are all like "Kill the tsia. Only the Savianna can live. Magic rules, normal drools." Ya know?" "No I don't know. Stop assuming I know everything about your weirdo fantasy world."

Praeses slowed down a little. She pulled up her hood a bit so she could see me. "So you don't know a single thing about Caeli, the venti, Kadita, anything from Altaya's history?" I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes in frustation. "No! And who's Altaya?"

Praeses face showed no more signs of joking. "Not who, where. Altaya is the land of magic, where the Four Goddesses reign their kingdoms. It's where I'm from, and it's where you're from too. Bella, your mother was Kadita, most ruthless killer of them all. You're a Venti."