Back in Satori, Senuo was fighting off Kabu and his bandits with Rashi’s support, while Xianchi struggles against Kyoki with his blades pushing against her sword making her nearly falter.

.   .

From afar, Oma sees the two in danger and decides it is time for her to intervene. She snaps her fingers, signaling her soldiers to prepare themselves, then raises her left hand to summon her weapon, a rapier. With the rapier, she makes a triangular portal out of water.

“Nix!”

Oma summons an aqua blue nymph with long hair flowing like water, white-green scales covering her from her chest to her feet which resembled a fishtail. Nix forms a barrier around Oma and her soldiers as Oma points her weapon at the temple.

“ONWARD!” She shouts.

Oma leads the charge as she begins to glide down with a trail of water beneath her and her soldiers.

.   .

With Senuo reaching a stalemate and Xianchi struggling against Kyoki with his blades inching closer to her chest, Senuo stops time freezing Kabu, Kyoki, and the bandits in their tracks to save Xianchi and their soldiers. Xianchi moves out of Kyoki’s path and looks at Senuo.

“Senuo,” She speaks. “Get in the temple before the fluctuation hits you again!”

Senuo nods and runs towards the temple’s doors, passing Kabu and Kyoki. Before he could touch the doors, his hand begins to shake uncontrollably along with his body starting to twitch. The fluctuation also caused Senuo’s power to slowly wane off Kabu, Kyoki, and their bandits. Xianchi decides to run to the doors and help pull open the of the doors for Senuo and pushes him inside.

“Hurry and go downstairs!” She tells him. “We’ll take care of everything up here!”

She closes the door and turns to see Kabu in place, but she could not find Kyoki. She looked at her nearby soldiers who were also looking around.

“Where did he go?!” She shouts.

“We don’t know, ma’am!” One of the soldiers answers. “We thought he was frozen there with--”

Before the soldier could finish his sentence, he collapsed to the ground. Moments later, a few more of her soldiers drop one by one as a blur flies past them. Xianchi sees the blur dash towards her, but she was able to block the attack; the blur was Kyoki. Xianchi was back in a deadlock with Kyoki and was bewildered on how he was able to free himself from Senuo’s power while Kabu was slowly coming out of its effect.

“How?!” Xianchi exclaims.

“Thank the sweet blessing of Omakotaku for that.” He replies smirking. “I am a force to be reckoned with.”

Xianchi scoffs. “If you were, you wouldn’t be wasting your time with me!”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll let Kabu take care of Senuo.”

Kyoki snaps his fingers making Kabu vanish from where he stood.

“Damn it!” Xianchi exclaims.

.   .   .

Inside the temple, Senuo runs to the back of the temple and makes it down the stairs to reach the antechamber. Moments later, he hears faint footsteps sprinting which made him realize Kabu is coming after him. Senuo reaches the end of the stairs to the antechamber door. He extends his hands, walks towards the stone door with his hands glowing a light purple hue.

“Sati… I’m here. I’ve come back to reclaim what is ours. So please, for me, open your door so I can set time to where it should be.”

During his plea, he touches the stone door making the carvings on it shine and slowly open. Senuo makes it through the opening and turns back to close the door before Kabu can reach him, but he feels the door get forcefully pushed against him as he sees a hand; it was Kabu’s.

“What do you think you’re doing, Senuo?!” He exclaims.

Senuo struggles to close the door against Kabu and losing ground. Kabu chuckles sinisterly as he slowly forces the door open.

“Like I said before, you abandoned your role, and it should no longer be yours! Give up and give me the heart of Satori so I can be the true Safekeep of Time!”

.   .   .

Xianchi continued to struggle against Kyoki and was faltering. Before Kyoki could overwhelm her, a wall of water rushes him, forcefully pushing him away while Xianchi collapses from exhaustion. Oma and her soldiers arrive to help fight against Kyoki and the bandits as she helps Xianchi to her feet.

“Thanks for the help.” Xianchi praises Oma.

“No problem.” Oma replies. “Even though my position was farther than I thought. Where’s Kabu?”

“Inside the temple. Kyoki teleported him in.”

Before they could finish their conversation, they see Kyoki recover and hover with a green aura surrounding him as he holds his dual blades. Xianchi and Oma ready themselves with their weapons in hand and their beasts ready along with them.

.   .   .   .   .

Back in Koko at Eris, Noah, and Marianna’s home, they and Kai were cleaning up a few areas in the house that were messed up. Noah was in his room resetting his bed frame and his mattress back. Marianna was in her room putting her clothes back in her dresser and her closet, also putting picture frames that were on the floor back on her desk. Eris was in her room putting picture frames back on her windowsill and other items on her shelf. Kai finishes cleaning up the living room and walks into Eris’ room standing in her doorway and catching her attention.

“What’s wrong, Kai? Need anything?” Eris asks.

“Just to let you know, I’m done with your living room.” He informs.

“Oh. Thanks.”

“No problem. Is there anything else you need me to do?”

Eris looks at her desk that was flipped over and too heavy for her to move, and turns back to Kai. “Could you help me with my desk?”

“Sure.”

Kai walks past Eris to set the desk back. As he did, a picture fell out of the desk’s drawer. Eris picks it up and sees it was a picture of her, Noah, and Marianna along with their parents. Seeing it made Eris feel depressed as she remembers the day the photo was taken. Kai looks at the picture with her.

“Your parents?” He asks.

“Yeah. The other two are Noah’s mother and Marianna’s father.”

“What happened to them?”

“…They were killed… in front of the house… Yenish ordered them to be killed.”

Kai looks at the picture closely which triggers something within him, making him feel nervous. “Two years ago? Fifteen bandits…?”

Eris looks at him in shock. “…How do you know that…?”

Kai feels uneasy as he looks at Eris. “…I… was here. I… was a part of it…”

Kai starts having flashbacks as he stops talking to Eris.

“That day… You were here?” Eris asks trembling. “In front of the house?!”

Hearing her question makes Kai start to sweat.

“I… couldn’t control myself…: He answers. “I watched over… the execution… under Yenish’s command…”

The more Kai talks about it makes his eye glow along with feeling overwhelming anger and guilt. Eris goes to touch his arm, but Kai pushes her hand away and leaves out of her room and to the front door. Noah and Marianna overhear the conversation and go out of their rooms seeing Eris go after Kai in which they followed.

.   .

Outside, Kai starts holding his head in pain, having flashbacks of that day. Eris comes outside, catching up to Kai with his back turned.

“Kai… please. Answer me.” She speaks calmly.

“Why did she ask me to become your guard?” He mumbles. “Why did I even agree?!”

“What did you say, Kai? I can’t hear you.”

Kai turns to face Eris. “Listen. I’m not the one to question my sister’s decisions, but I don’t know why she chose me to be your guard; especially after what I’ve done and what I’ve been through. I’ve committed so many crimes and have committed too many sins. I should be locked up, or better yet… dead. Your parents’ blood, Marianna’s father, Noah’s mother, along with many others… are on my hands.”

Kai looks down at his hands and balls them into fists. Eris slowly walks toward Kai and goes to touch his arm.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” Kai snaps.

He moves away from Eris to where an uncomfortable silence comes between them as Noah and Marianna make it outside to see them.

“…Did you intend to kill them?” Eris asks.

Kai was bewildered by Eris’ question as he looked at her serious face.

“Did you intend to kill our parents?” She asks. “Answer me!”

“NO!” Kai shouts. “Of course not! I told you; I was under Hanchia’s potion!”

As angry as Kai was, he had to calm down a little, because Eris was not his issue.

“… But that isn’t an excuse.” He continues. “I’m still responsible. And like I said, I should be locked away… or dead… I was weak. I was too easily controlled by that bitch and the harlot she serves…”

Kai’s hands were still balled in fists as he visualized the faces of Hanchia, Yenish, and the others in the regime. He was caught off guard by feeling Eris’ hand on his and made eye contact with her.

“Then promise me.” She speaks. “Promise me that we’ll end this mess she has caused. She’s done wrong to all of us. So, let’s make sure she pays for it, along with her followers. Promise that you’ll do it with me.”

Kai sees the seriousness in her eyes and decides to hold her hand in assurance. “I promise you.”

“Thank you. Now is not the time to blame, nor be divided. We’ll deal with it later. We have to work together in order to liberate Elem.”

Eris’ statement struck slight confidence back into Kai making him smirk. Noah and Marianna walk towards them.

“Kai. Just so you know, we don’t trully blame you.” Noah states.

“We think that you deserve a second chance.” Marianna adds.

Kai looks at both of them and nods in gratitude, even though he still felt that he did not deserve their forgiveness. He decides to change the conversation.

“If we’re done here,” He speaks. “Shall we make our way to Kyona so we can come back to the sanctuary?”

“We’re not done yet.” Marianna replies. “We need to get our schoolwork.”

“Alright. You three get that so we can leave.”

The trio walk back into the house to grab their work. As they did, all four of them began to twitch in parts of their bodies. Kai’s green eye begins to twitch as he looks to the sky and holds it.

“Damn it, Senuo!” He exclaims. “Hurry before it gets worse!”

.   .   .   .   .

In Satori down in the temple’s antechamber, a flux hits Senuo and Kabu, giving Senuo enough strength to close the door on Kabu’s hand and crushing it. Kabu screams in pain as he pulls his hand out of the door showing it broken and bloody.

“DAMN YOU, SENUO!!” Kabu curses angrily.

Senuo pants and sighs in relief on the other side of the door. “Thank Alpha. Thank you, Sati.”

He then straightens himself up and begins to steadily walk toward the hourglass with the grains of sand forming around his feet as he walks and twitches. He places his hands on the hourglass.

“Sati. I, Senuo Mika, Safekeep of Elem’s Time, and native of Satori, come before you as the true protector for the sake of our land. I reclaim you and give you my oath to reset time where it should be. Under the true matriarch, Queen Furia Nyle, flow through me for her sake… and for all of our people’s sake.”

With Senuo’s words, the hourglass flips causing the sand to flow and the fluctuations to cease along with Senuo’s twitching which made him feel relief.

.   .   .

Outside, Oma and Xianchi were in a lock with Kyoki until he felt a disturbance with made him falter. Oma and Xianchi push him away then look up to see the sun higher in the sky than where it was prior.

“He did it. Senuo did it!” Xianchi exclaims happily.

“Thank Alpha.” Oma comments.

Kyoki recovers and sees the sun in the sky, making him growl with fraustration. “You failed Mother, Kabu. You have to answer her today.”

He then snaps his fingers making Kabu reappear next to him as he glares intensely. “We. Are. Leaving!”

He snaps his fingers again teleporting him, Kabu, and the remainder of the bandits from Satori.

Moments later, Oma and Xianchi see the Satorian residents come out from their homes and into the courtyard realizing that they witnessed Satori’s liberation to where they started to cheer. Senuo comes out seconds later with the male captive from one day prior. A woman from the crowd runs up to Senuo and hugs him and the man.

“You saved my husband.” The woman weeps. “Thank you so much, Senuo. Thank Alpha for you.”

Senuo nods to her and gives the male captive to the woman then walks toward Oma and Xianchi as the crowd cheers. In the crowd, Senuo sees two familiar faces walking out of the crowd. “Seiko! Xandra!”

Senuo runs up to his brother, Seiko, who was a couple feet taller, and his sister-in-law, Xandra, who was a foot and half taller, and embraces them in a hug. “Glad to see you both again.”

“Thank Alpha you came back, Sen.” Seiko replies.

“I hoped you both were alright.”

“We’re alright.” Xandra answers. “We weren’t harmed, but there were some of our people who weren’t so lucky.”

“Yes… I know…” Senuo responds with reluctance. “But I’m here, now. Things will come back the way they were, and this time, I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

.   .   .   .   .

Now late in the afternoon, Eris, Kai, Noah, and Marianna were on the Bura-Kyoka line and close to reaching the orphanage in Kyona. They stop and look to the sky and sense a change in the air, also noticing they were no longer twitching every couple of minutes.

“Hey! Do you guys… feel that?” Noah asks.

“Yes. It feels… calm.” Marianna replies.

“And relieving.” Eris adds.

“Good. Senuo took Satori back.” Kai comments.

The four make it across the Bura-Kyona line and Kai sees the orphanage from a mile away, making him pick up the pace with Eris, Marianna, and Noah following him. They reach the building moments later. Kai knocks on the door prompting an elderly woman to open the door seconds later.

“Hello. Can I help you?” The woman asks.