Author's Note: Going forward, Thallios will be periodically switching to his female alter ego Amara.  Female pronouns will be used when he becomes Amara and male pronouns will be used when Amara reverts to Thallios.  Other than the change in eye color and voice, Amara’s physical body is still the same as Thallios’.  Leiyu will take a while to adjust to this change since it is rather abrupt for him.

“My name…is Amara.”

Amara?  Leiyu thought.  The fake name that Thallios asked me to call him when we were walking around outside the palace in Ishkhandar?

The fiery inferno before them continued to rage as the shrouded figures burned up into dust.  Amara’s hair flowed in the wind.

“They were all puppets,” she said cryptically.  “The puppet master is elsewhere.”

“How…do you know this?”

She smiled and pointed toward the sky.  Leiyu looked upward and saw a lone raven flying overhead, presumably the same one that had been following them earlier.

 “Our dear winged friend will no doubt send word back to its master,” she said.  “In any case, we should depart soon.”

The way he speaks is so different, Leiyu thought.

She waved her hand and their two horses approached as if they were summoned.  Leiyu’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What about the fire?” he asked.  “It will just keep burning through the steppes if we don’t do anything.”

She held her open palm upward for a few seconds and then quickly closed her fingers inward.  The flames immediately extinguished, leaving behind only curling smoke.

Suddenly, her head jerked backward and she began to fall.

“Thallios!”  Leiyu shouted as he rushed forward to catch her before she hit the ground.

Thallios opened his eyes, which had reverted to their usual amber color.

“Leiyu?”

His voice changed back, Leiyu thought.  “Are you all right?”

“What happened?”

“Oh…you don’t remember?”

“Hmm…vaguely, like it was a dream…there was a lot of fire…”

“Your eyes changed color again…”

“Oh…”

“And the way you spoke was very different, like you were someone else.”

Thallios looked at the curling smoke and burnt field before them.

“Did I…do all that?”

“Yes…well, I contributed some…”

Thallios looked at him in confusion.

“You asked me to generate a whirlwind and then you added your fire magic to it,” Leiyu explained.  “Everything in its path was burned down.”

Thallios’ eyes widened and he gasped.

“Your other voice said that the ones coming after us were all puppets, which seemed to be true since they were made of dirt,” Leiyu continued.

“My other voice?”

“Yes, when your eyes were golden-colored.  Your voice sounded almost like a woman’s and said that the puppet master was elsewhere, that the bird flying above us would return to its master to tell of what happened here, and that we should leave soon.”

“I…said all that?  How…strange.”

“In any case, we should get going.  If those were just puppets, there may be more coming.  Someone out there is still after you, and that person is far more dangerous than the Southern Region’s soldiers.”

Thallios shuddered and cast his eyes downward.  “I thought we were finally safe here…why’d they have to come?”

“I don’t know…but we must go now.”

He helped Thallios up and they mounted their horses.

“Where should we go though?” asked Thallios.

“Hmm…”

Thallios noticed some subtle changes in Leiyu’s expression as he contemplated in silence.

“I’m not sure if this is a good idea,” Leiyu finally said.  “But we don’t have that many options.”

“Hmm?”

Leiyu sighed.  “We’ll head southward.”

“Oh?  What’s there?”

“Eastern Region…where I came from…”