I took a deep breath and ran my fingers through my disheveled hair. At the moment, my body was resting on a small piece of my bed that wasn't cluttered from my yesterday's, ahem, outburst. Sighing, I looked around my room in the castle. The desk was shattered into many pieces scattered chaotically on the floor along with various papers. I really should clean them up.

Now there are more important matters to attend to.

Raising my left hand, I stretched out my magic to grab the radio standing in the dark corner. Placing it next to me on the bed, I turned to my side and pressed the switch. Instantly, a familiar voice came from the other side: "Hey, hey, madman! Can you hear me? We agreed to connect half an hour ago! I'm giving you one last chance to answer. Damn, what should I say before switching modes? Over?"

With a slight hand movement, I switched the transmission mode and said: "Sorry, Abdomen. I'm not feeling very well. But now I'm ready to discuss everything. Have you found the data folder? Over."

As soon as I switched the radio mode again, an irritated snort was heard from the other side, followed by the words: "Alright, I forgive you for calling me by name. Yes, I found the folder. Over."

Nodding slightly, I moved closer to the radio and started speaking quietly: "Good, here's my plan. As soon as you hear explosions, immediately infiltrate the dungeons and free the changelings you need. During this time, all the guards will disperse in different directions to find out what's happening. Rising will take care of much of this. Any questions? Over."

A couple of moments of silence hung on the other side of the radio before a mocking question was heard: "When we meet in Griffonia, will you make me chicken in white wine? Over."

"If we meet there, I'll make a liquor factory that will work only for you!" I said, laughing loudly into the radio.

In response, I was met with several chuckles before my changeling friend finally said: "I'll remember that. Okay, let's go, I'll get ready. Out."

After these words, the radio began emitting loud and unpleasant static interference. Exhaling, I turned off the device.

There's no turning back. Time to take truly desperate measures.

Gathering my strength, I got out of bed and made my way to the window, trying not to trip over the mess in my room. My hands almost reflexively rested on the windowsill as the cold, almost wintry evening fluttered my overgrown hair. Today is the first of December. According to my information, the Pegasi will begin to send snow to the ground around midday. I suspect they will need the help of the Guardians to cover such a large area. Another factor in favour of my plan.

Adjusting my glasses, I looked ahead, trying to spot the orphanage where Cozy lives from this height. But suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a familiar, deep feminine voice: "Are you already planning to leave, young man?"

Almost instantly, I turned around to face Princess Luna. She looked over my destroyed room with a restrained gaze before returning to me and saying: "Was this reaction caused by Celestia's condition or something else?"

WHAT!?

My eyes widened and I quickly asked, taking hurried steps toward Luna: "Celestia's condition? What happened to her!?"

Luna at first seemed stunned. She probably thought I had destroyed my room because of this. Then, she averted her gaze and slightly bit her lip, as if not daring to answer. One moment passed after another until she finally couldn't hold back.

"My dear sister didn't wake up today. She's still alive, judging by her breathing and heartbeat. But her condition is clearly not the best." Luna said with a detached look. It's hard for her too.

My entire body tensed upon hearing this news. Placing a hand on my neck in an attempt to calm down, I asked: "Can you maintain the appearance that Celestia, um, took a day off for some time? I'm afraid panic among the ponies might complicate my plans."

Luna instantly nodded in response and said: "That's what I was planning to do. However, I'm really troubled by a question. Do you really think you can find anything that could help on the griffon continent?"

I put my hands on my hips and said confidently: "I read that in northern Griffonia there's something called the Dread League. If an entire state of necromancers doesn't have a way to solve our problem with Celestia's soul, then no one does. The only reason I was postponing this was the possible commotion my disappearance might cause."

"And you think they'll just hand over this knowledge?" Luna asked, raising an eyebrow.

Taking a deep breath, I said reluctantly: "If necessary, I'll remember what it's like to kill. After all, necromancers probably must have written information carriers."

They must have.

Luna sighed and came closer to me before placing a hoof on my shoulder and saying: "Just be careful, okay? I want you to return and save Celestia. Note, whole and unharmed. If the task proves too difficult, don't break yourself and just come back. It won't do anyone any good if you die along with Celestia. If you come back with nothing, at least you can spend the rest of your time with your loved ones."

Nodding slightly in response, I carefully ran my hand over Luna's mane and said firmly: "Believe in me. I'll win. If you put in enough effort, any task can be solved."

She very slowly removed her hoof before saying in a restrained manner: "You may go. Good luck."

After these words, I was about to leave. But something stopped me. A shiver ran through my entire body, like a muscle spasm. For a few moments, my body felt like gears with something stuck between them, like you were trying to move on, but you couldn't.

I really want to do this. Every cell in my body wants to do this.

In a sudden movement, I grabbed Luna with both hands, forcing her to rear up and let out a surprised gasp. Taking a brief breath, I said, putting my head on her shoulder: "I want you to know. I love you. I love you and your sister."

Swallowing, I continued as goosebumps ran across my skin: "I know there are many types of love. And I honestly can't determine exactly how I love you both. I have too little experience in all this, after all. But, I just want you and, if possible, your sister to know. I love you."

After several seconds of silence, Luna carefully stroked my back with her hoof and said gently: "When this is all over, we'll definitely discuss your feelings. But I appreciate that you think of me this way. Really appreciate it."

Time to leave them behind.

Slowly, smoothly, I broke the embrace and pulled a bag from under the debris of the desk. Casting one last glance at Luna, I exhaled and teleported forward, onto some building's roof. After this, I stopped for a moment to ask myself a question. What did Cozy ultimately think about my offer? The offer to gain power?

"And what decision do I want from her?" I muttered under my breath. But in the next moment, I shook my head. I can't delay, the plan is counted by seconds.

Taking a brief breath, I teleported further, to the orphanage building. And, surprisingly, I could sense a small pony in the sandbox. Right there where I crossed paths with Cozy Glow last time. What luck. Snorting briefly, I completed another teleportation, right in front of the sandbox.

Just as I had assumed, Cozy was there. However, much had changed since the last meeting. All the pieces were on the chessboard, the plate of food lying nearby was empty, and overall, she looked somewhat more alive.

Seeing me, she rose from her place without any doubt or fear and said, approaching me: "Eh, hi! I thought about everything very carefully."

Yes. . .

Apparently, she took my silence as permission to continue speaking. Cozy quickly nodded and said: "I want power, might. I want to take control of everything. How do I get it?"

Probably right now I must look very disgusting from the side. Just nauseating. Sighing, I slowly stretched the bag hanging on my shoulder and said: "We're going on an adventure. For various reasons, we won't be able to travel by train for some time. So, you'll have to sit in the bag for a while while I run."

Surprisingly, Cozy just quickly folded the chess pieces into the chessboard, took it under her wing, and jumped into my bag. To be honest, I wasn't sure if she would fit in completely. Blinking a couple of times, I asked: "You don't have any problems with this at all?"

"No! I hate this place anyway." Cozy answered cheerfully. There's something in her answers. . .

Cute?

M̸̰͙̒̊̓à̵̢̜̞͙̮̠̙̱͕̠̪̻̥̞͙̦̎n̷̥̲̹̞̣̦̪̹̹̟̼͓̤̩̙̱̺̏̐̅͆̍̿̾͌̕͘̕͜͝͝͝į̷̘̣̖͇͎͍̽̒̿͋̅͊̈́̈̅̈́̾͝p̵̠̣͈͙̪̹̳̮̲͑̿̀̿́̏̏́͂̅͒̈́͊̕͘ư̶̧̱̟̪̰̹͙̦͐͗͂̋̎̔̾̈́̽̈́͂̆̏̄͝ḽ̵̢̧̢̢̲̞͈͎̲̮̣͚̺̺̤̪͗̆͆̀̓͘͝a̸̧̨̝͈̦̰͎̹̝͚̠͐͊t̷̜̩̦̳͎͈͚͇͍̺̖̪̩͋̑̚i̴̠̺̮̹̣͐͒̌̈́͗͛̿̕v̵̡̭̲͙͎̼̅̀͛̂̈́̈̔̂̈́̾̈́́͗͑e̴̢͍͎͈͎̩͎͖̘͓̩̬̩̫̪̯̖͆͌̀̐̀̌́̅̍̓̃̎͑.̶̡̙̬̪̎̈́̈́̽͌͂͆͑͐͊̕

Swallowing, I said slowly: "Okay, now I'm going to move really fast, so try to hold on well in the bag, alright?"

In response, Cozy lightning-fast nodded. Exhaling, I grabbed the bag with both hands so it wouldn't sway too much during movement. And taking a breath, I took off from the spot. In a brief moment, I crossed the orphanage fence and Cozy slightly screamed: "WOW!"

She's having fun, while honestly, my head is spinning. I haven't moved at my maximum speeds for a long time. Taking another breath, I adjusted my glasses and rushed forward through the streets of Canterlot. Although they were quite lively at this time, I easily avoided this by teleporting to the roof.

However, with each second of movement, I became more nervous. I still haven't fully learned to control how long the explosion rune will hold before detonation.

Honestly, I'm not even sure that runes can hold for several days and then activate. . .

All my doubts were crushed by multiple explosions that momentarily deafened my ears. From the corner of my eye, I saw trees, earth, stones, and other things beyond Canterlot flying high into the air. Looking at this, I couldn't help but feel some satisfaction.

The road is clear. The eyes of all Equestria will be fixed on the explosions thundering across the country and the escape of changeling scouts from the dungeons. Most importantly, the fleet will also be distracted by this.

"The road to Griffonia is open. Thank you, friends." I whispered to myself before finally reaching maximum speed.

In every major city of Equestria, at least several explosions thundered. Canterlot, Manehattan, Baltimare, and many many others. Local guard units rose to alert and split into small groups to assess the consequences. The Equestrian fleet even came out to the explosions that occurred near the docks.

However, after examining the explosion sites, the guards could only shrug. Absolutely none of the explosions caused any harm. The most destructive of them, in Fillydelphia, collapsed only one bridge. And it was abandoned a long time ago and probably would have collapsed in a couple of years under its own weight. Absolutely all of Equestria's forces were looking in the wrong direction.

To make matters worse, not all the runes exploded. According to the plan, such "useless" explosions will continue throughout Equestria until tomorrow morning.

But the explosion in Ponyville will have special significance.

POV: Arthur Davis
Time: Half an hour after Daniel's escape from Canterlot
Location: Rarity's Boutique

"Thank you, Ahirata." I muttered, trying to ignore the slightly subsided but still strong pain in my nose. Daniel hit me really hard yesterday. And today I came to Rarity's boutique so that she could make holes for wings in my clothes.

"It's nothing. I have nothing to do anyway while Rarity makes my dress." Ahirata answered, smiling slightly before putting the bandages on the table. Then, she sat on the same couch where I was sitting.

"But you should have come to me right away. It's dangerous to walk around for a whole day with such a nose." Ahirata advised, making me awkwardly look away. I'd never been hit in the nose before, much less so hard. How was I supposed to know what to do?

Silence hung in the air for some time, during which I was able to immerse myself in thoughts. What did Daniel mean by all the words he said yesterday? Especially about staying away from water? And when will I manage to cross paths with him, what exactly questions do I need to ask?

And how do I find money to live on? Doesn't look like I'm a particularly popular artist among ponies. And advertising myself on the street won't work, it's already cold.

When I thought about the street, my gaze quickly darted to the window. I don't know what they expected to see there, but it definitely wasn't snow. Slightly raising my hand, I asked nervously: "How is this possible? I came here probably fifteen minutes ago and there was no snow!"

Rarity momentarily distracted from her sewing machine and said, briefly chuckling: "What do you mean? Snow always starts falling on December first."

I put my hand on my head and said, leaning back on the couch: "This is all so strange. Here I was at the beginning of autumn, poof, and it's already winter. Feels like a huge piece is missing."

Ahirata carefully rubbed my shoulder and said soothingly: "I get that a lot too. Though on a much larger scale. Don't worry, sooner or later you'll get used to it."

Another thing to get used to in this cartoon world.

I hadn't managed to express my indignation when suddenly the bell above the door rang, and I heard a vaguely familiar voice: "Hey, pony. Can you make the. . ."

Turning to the sound, I saw a pale blue dragon with diamond red eyes. Her entire body, except for her paws, was encased in golden armor. But something else bothered me. She was looking directly at me, absolutely unblinking. Feeling the tension, Rarity stopped working on the dress.

Ember. Daughter of the Dragon Lord. As soon as I remembered who this character was, I opened my mouth, but she beat me to it: "Some kind of disguise magic, human? Looks pathetic."

"What?" I managed to ask just before Ember suddenly lunged from her spot. But I, to my own surprise, managed to react and quickly get up from the couch.

Could it be that after such a long time, the situation with Torch has come back to bite me?

Looking at how she dug her claws into the couch with bared teeth, I said, raising my hands: "Hey, hey, calm down. We can talk about all this!"

"Is that what you said when you took my father's arm!?" Ember growled before opening her mouth and releasing a rasp. For a moment, I saw a glow appearing in her throat. Fire!

I quickly jumped to the side but realized a second later that it didn't make much sense. Ahirata had covered Ember's mouth with both hands and, judging by her glowing eyes, activated magic. So yeah, I fell to the floor for nothing.

Okay, need to quickly think what to do. I don't think it's possible to hold her like this forever.

Quickly getting to my feet, I started thinking about what to tell her. Obviously, Ember wants revenge for the injury done to her father. And yes, I was there. And Ahirata was there. But we weren't the ones who caused the injury, right? And anyway, judging by the phrase about disguise, she's looking for someone else.

Barely noticeably nodding to myself, I took a quick breath before calmly explaining: "You've confused me with Daniel! I assure you, my hair and eyes are natural!"

Ahirata removed her hands, however, the air around Ember seemed to shimmer slightly. Perhaps because of this, she couldn't push off from the couch and open her mouth wide. However, after a couple of seconds, Ember still hissed: "How can you prove it?"

I nervously swallowed. Indeed, how to prove that I'm not Daniel? After a few seconds, I carefully ran my hand over my wings and said: "Uh, I have these things. And Daniel doesn't."

Ember looked at me squintingly for some time and said with a brief snort: "More."

What else am I supposed to say to make you believe me!?

Giving in to my first impulse, I pointed with both hands at my bandaged nose and said irritably: "He LITERALLY almost broke my nose yesterday! And I spent half the night not sleeping trying to understand what nonsense he was talking about. So be quiet, think, and stop ACCUSING me just like that!"

At my outburst, Ember closed her mouth and seemed to be thinking. Meanwhile, Ahirata and Rarity looked at me in surprise. Finally, the only pony in the room asked uncertainly: "Um, should I leave? I feel like I'm out of place here."

"Yes," Ember instantly responded, but suddenly let out a painful sigh.

Ahirata gave her a clearly disapproving look before clearing her throat and saying: "No, Rarity, you can stay. I'm sure this conversation will end quickly and we can return to the dress."

I think this is a demand for me. To conduct dialogue skillfully. One of many tasks that I shouldn't be trusted with under any circumstances.

"Can you cancel your strange magic, strange dragon?" Ember hissed, directing a deadly gaze at Ahirata. In response, she very slowly nodded, with an impassive expression before her eyes stopped glowing red.

In an instant, the air around Ember became normal again, and she asked, turning to me, "So if you're not Daniel, but he broke your nose, do you know where he is now?"

"Uh, if he's not here then he should be in Canterlot?" I suggested, scratching the back of my head.

Suddenly, Rarity spoke up with a slight smirk: "Not always, not always. A week ago I was in Manehattan on business and guess what? I met him there! Although, I admit, I didn't dare approach and ask why he was in the city."

"So you don't know where that vile creature is?" Ember asked with a snort, releasing a small cloud of smoke.

Looks like. . .

My train of thought was interrupted when a tremor went through the ground, making me stagger. And the next moment my ears caught a distant explosion. But that wasn't even the worst part. I can definitely say where it came from.

From the direction of my house. Without thinking, I grabbed the jacket from the hanger, which Rarity had altered so it could be worn with wings, and ran outside. Damn, whatever it was, the main thing is that my house wasn't damaged! There are too many important things there.

While I ran with all my might, the snow treacherously penetrated my shoes which weren't designed for such weather at all. Even more difficulties were created by ponies wandering extremely slowly on the street. Damn, this would be much easier if I had working wings!

. . .What did I just think about?

Sharply shaking my head, I continued rushing forward through crowds of ponies. Perhaps the only good thing Daniel ever did was scare the ponies. Now they part at the sight of any human!

Snorting, I finally left the city limits and saw my house. At first glance, absolutely undamaged. And at second and third glance too. Okay, my house is fine. Can't say the same about the surrounding area.

Where just yesterday there was a strange tree that reacted to approach, now there was a small smoking crater. Putting my hand on the wall of my house, I sighed and muttered under my breath: "My house is intact, that's cool and all. But why did the tree explode in the first place?"

Correction, magical tree exploded. Eh, come to think of it, that doesn't help me at all.

Suddenly I heard quiet crunching of snow behind me and some strange sound. Turning around, I saw Ember and Ahirata. The latter looked somewhat tense. Not sure I've ever seen her frown like that.

"Any guesses about what's happening?" I asked embarrassedly, not that I expected any answer from them.

However, Ahirata quickly approached me and said, leaning to my ear: "Arthur, I can explain what this is. Can we go into your house or some other inconspicuous place?"

I cast a brief glance behind Ahirata at Ember, who was clearly interested in what we were talking about. Barely noticeably nodding, I said in a raised voice: "We're going to step aside to discuss something, and you wait here, understood?"

"What are you hiding?" Ember asked, crossing her arms. Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

"A few minutes ago you tried to beat me up and accused me of something I didn't do," I stated impassively.

Just as Ember opened her mouth, Ahirata added firmly: "You're not in a position to demand anything. Want to know about Daniel? Fine, wait here."

"I am the daughter of the Dragon Lord, after all," Ember said, looking at Ahirata with a hard gaze. However, in response, she merely grabbed my hand and led me away.

As awkward as it is, I don't want to break free from her grip at all.

Ahem, anyway, Ember snorted loudly but didn't continue the argument. In just a few moments, we walked through the front door that I hadn't closed and reached the living room. Slowly we both sat on the couch and silence hung in the air for several moments.

"I want to say that I don't have the complete picture. I only have quite well-founded suspicions. Are you ready to listen?" Ahirata asked, looking at me carefully. Without thinking, I quickly nodded.

She smiled awkwardly and asked, extending her hands toward me: "My eyes concentrate magic in one point. Not very convenient for creating visual figures. Is it okay if I use your magic?"

"Uh, okay?" I agreed embarrassedly. In response, Ahirata carefully grabbed my forearm and I felt a strange cold. As if everything below stopped belonging to my body.

W-What are you doing?

Slowly, multiple green rays emerged from my fingers without my intent. In just a few moments, they merged into an opaque two-dimensional circle. After I looked at this for a couple of seconds, Ahirata began to explain: "Let's start from afar. This is a simplified projection of your soul. Inside is your magic, and the circumference is the boundaries of the soul, which prevent it from uncontrollably breaking into the organism."

"And what happens if it breaking into?" I asked, trying not to pay attention to the strange sensation.

Ahirata slowly nodded and said: "Right question. If this shell suddenly disappeared from you, your magic would scatter throughout all the internals of the organism. All of them, except the heart, wouldn't withstand this interaction and, well, would melt."

"What's the point of all this anyway?" I said, swallowing at the picture I imagined.

Ahirata was silent for a second and asked: "Did Daniel tell you how he became obsessed with his own dark magic?"

Yes, I remember something like that.

As if sensing my thoughts, she said: "So in the course of certain events, it turned out that at one point I was forced to cooperate with obsessed Daniel. And this means showing some of my spells. The problem is that in an obsessed state, he could copy absolutely any spell he saw."

She took a quick breath before continuing: "I showed him the soul replacement spell. Its essence is to detach a piece from your soul and replace it with a piece of the target's soul. And the target was Celestia."

Suddenly the projection made from my magic began to change. First, one of the parts of the circle became thicker and seemed to protrude like a tumor. Second, a second circle appeared which, conversely, had a sunken part. Making sure I had examined both projections, Ahirata continued: "As a result, Daniel attached to himself a piece of Celestia's much more powerful soul. It produces its own magic, which sooner or later will corrode the walls of Daniel's soul."

She nodded at the new circle: "And Celestia received a piece of Daniel's weaker soul, which sooner or later won't be able to contain the magic of the princess of the sun. Her situation is even worse, correspondingly death even earlier."

"But can't everything just be returned to its place?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"The stone covering Celestia's chest doesn't allow it. We simply can't reach her soul to perform another replacement," she explained with a disappointed sigh.

This is very disturbing, I'm not arguing.

"But how is this connected to the explosions outside?" I asked with more confusion than last time.

Ahirata dispersed both projections and said, leaning toward me: "I heard that recently Twilight was offered to become an alicorn. An obvious sign that Celestia won't last long. I suppose that Daniel, due to failure, decided to go somewhere himself in search of a cure. But here's the catch, due to his reputation, he's officially forbidden from leaving Equestria. This was not a problem when he urgently needed to arrive in the Dragon Lands, which are not very far away and the border with which is almost not controlled. But it looks like he decided to go to some more distant place."

Suddenly my eyes widened with realization and I asked: "You think that Daniel caused the explosion to distract everyone?"

In response, she solemnly nodded and finally released my hands. Awkwardly rubbing them, I tried to process all this. Could it be that Daniel was trying to help Celestia all this time? Could it be that all his actions were directed at this?

Could it be that he was burning trees and selling flamethrowers to earn money for this adventure?

Shivers ran through my body. I don't even know from what exactly, from how all his actions made sense, from the fact that he still continued to deal with me all this time, or from the fact that I still feel huge dislike towards him?

Putting my hands on my knees, I asked briefly: "Why tell all this to me?"

Ahirata sighed and said, looking into my eyes: "I understand that this sounds crazy. But I'm somewhat in debt to him. It's thanks to me that I'm now sitting before you in this form. Therefore, I want to keep him from danger."

She slightly chuckled and continued: "And why did I tell all this specifically to you? Because I think you're the only one who will be ready to listen to me for so long!"

Letting out a brief giggle, Ahirata returned to a serious expression and put her hand on my shoulder before saying: "So you can tell all this to the Elements of Harmony. I'm sure you'll manage to tell all this more concisely than I did."

Tell the Mane Six? They're probably ready for such an adventure, but. . .

"Ahirata, what if I want to get answers from Daniel? And what if I don't want him to be the only hero?" I asked, lowering my gaze to the floor.

"Arthur, you're not going to go after him yourself, are you? This is an extremely dangerous adventure. Not to mention that he might simply not answer your questions," Ahirata said in a mentoring voice. And indeed, there was something to her words.

"The last time we met, he told me to stay away from water. That means he caused multiple explosions near water. Probably, he destroyed a bunch of ships to take just one and set sail somewhere!" I said, clenching my hands into fists.

"Great, you can tell these guesses. . ."

"I want to follow him. To ask questions. And get answers. I feel with every particle of my body that he knows the answer to all the questions that interest me, even those I haven't thought of yet," I said, directing a cold, determined gaze at Ahirata.

For some time, she just looked back at me. It seemed like an eternity that I was having a duel with a dragon who never blinks. And finally, she turned away from me and asked: "You understand that you're acting unreasonably?"

"Yes. But I really want to trust this intuition."

Ahirata sighed and asked tiredly: "Will you at least let me help you before you set off?"

Help? Interesting, what does she mean.

"I don't mind if you help. What do you have in mind?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Make your wings functional. I think it will be easier to travel long distances with them," she said, carefully extending her hand. Immediately my eyes widened. Of course, there's truth to her words, but who will teach me to use them right during the journey?

"Ember," slipped from my lips. She's kind of humanoid, more or less. I think it will be easier for her to teach me to fly than for someone like Rainbow Dash.

"That's the dragoness's name? In any case, that's exactly why I'm offering this," Ahirata explained quickly. Oh.

I think sooner or later I'll have to accept them anyway.

Sighing, I said reluctantly: "Okay, do it. Just, please, be quick."

"I won't drag it out," Ahirata stated before I felt a tremor in my chest area. Then, this tremor began moving backward, to the spine to the wings. As it approached the wings, the movement of the sensation slowed down. Before. . .

Flap

My wings flapped by themselves. And I felt every part of it. Every muscle that shouldn't be in a human, but which was now in me. Slowly standing up, I said, trying not to pay attention to how my wings raised: "Oh god. This is just, just incredibly strange."

"I believe you'll adapt soon," Ahirata encouraged, standing beside me and forcing out a small smile.

"Thanks," I mumbled before taking a slow step toward the exit of my house. Then another one. And another one.

"Good luck, Arthur. Take care of yourself," Ahirata said, still standing behind. In response, I just nodded.

I'll definitely take care of myself, definitely.

Leaving my house, I saw Ember who was looking at the crater left from the explosion with a bored expression. Taking a couple of steps toward her, I said: "I'm going with you after Daniel."

She turned her gaze from the crater and examined me from head to toe. Then, she snorted and said: "You look kind of weak. Maybe you should just, nicely, tell me where to look for him?"

I sighed and took a small step towards her. The most important thing to remember when talking to her is that she is not a cartoon character and I have never met her father. Sighing, I said calmly, "Look, you want to avenge the Dragon Lord, right? And Daniel hurt him, right? So he's strong enough. It's better for both of us if we go together. "

Ember looked at me again, this time taking as much time as she could. Finally she said reluctantly, "Fine. You're coming with me. The main thing for you to remember is that I want to deliver the final blow myself. Where are we going? "

For a few moments I wondered where he was going. Probably some big city that's near water. And I only know one of them from the cartoons.

" We're going to Manehattan. " I said, nodding.

God, don't let me make a mistake.

Author's Note

Yes, I'm back. I hope the wait wasn't too long. I was busy writing the commission. But now I can devote time to this story again.
It's a bit unfortunate that I couldn't make some Christmas story or chapter, but I hope you had a nice Christmas.
That's all for me, see you later!