Niphru watched the man as he rose, then bowed to Amilya before leaving. He sat there for a moment before speaking up, “Well, this wasn’t how I expected things to go. I was expeg I’d have to try to warn you and flee at the same time. Hopefully his men don’t cause problems, but I’ll stay away until the swarm gets here. Do you think that the vilge hahe ants?”

  “I really don’t know. We will do all we , but there are limits to what we do. I tell you are exhausted if you had to be brought in by a guard, so you should get some rest,” Amilya replied.

  Niphru began to head towards the door, i on leaving and making a new burrow away from the warriors. But before he got even halfway there, Amilya spoke up again, “I meant here, you heard the man, he is putting aside his normal respoo you for now, so take advantage of that. I’m sure you will sleep better here than in a hole in the ground.”

  After just a moment of thought, he agreed with her, and nodded his head before heading into the spare room and hopping into the chair there. He then remembered something and hopped back down, heading bailya. He spit out the mana stone he had formed onto the ground, asking her, “Have you ever heard of a being f one of these externally? It happened when I tried to make myself able to withstand more mana.”

  Amilya looked shocked for a moment before replying, “Of course, all mages have mana stones of their own. The stoop my staff is mine. This means you are much more potent of a mage thahought. Have you succeeded at casting any spells yet?”

  Niphru looked down for a moment before responding, “No, I ’t do anything with my mana except reach out and touch things with it.”

  “Well, just keep trying, everyone has a differehod, and it ’t really be taught besides a few tips. I’m sure you figure it out. After all, you are Awakened, rather than a wild beast, and even they ma after a while,” she said.

  Niphru nodded and grabbed his mana stone again, heading back to the chair iher room. He hopped back atop it and curled up to sleep, thinking about the oning threat of the swarm. Eventually he fell into a fitful sleep.

  He awoke again in the evening to Dawn barging in. She grabbed him and hugged him as she cried, fear and worry flooding through their empathik. Amilya came in a moment ter, patting Dawn’s head as she spoke, “It’s okay, they won’t harm Niphru, at least nht now. Their leader is a reasonable man, unlike most of them.”

  A few moments ter, Dawn finally mao reply, asking, “Are you certain, Mom? You told me they hate non-humans and kill them!”

  “They do, Dawn. But a rare few of them think first, a lucky. Their leader knows the vilge would likely die without the advance warning Niphru brought us. He will do what he to keep his men under trol,” Amilya answered.

  She then sighed before tinuing, “Since you woke Niphru up, why don’t we go have dinner. It has been a long day, and we could all use some food a.”

  Amilya left to head to the kit as Daologized to Niphru, “I’m sorry I woke you up, but I was so worried! I felt you ing closer aill have those people from the Church of flict here…”

  Niphru simply nodded as Dawn put him back down, before they both headed to the main room of the house. A few moments ter, Amilya came out with three bowls of food on a tray, pg one on the ground for Niphru and the other two up oable.

  They ate in sileniphru too caught up in his worries to even notice what he was eating.

  Amilya noticed his mood and spoke up, “Don’t worry too muiphru, yht us an early warning, and even if everything goes wrong, people will survive because we at least prepare to flee. If we didn’t have advaice, we would all likely die. So you have already saved many lives.”

  Niphru simply nodded meically, mind going over his recurrent nightmare of Dawn being swarmed by the ants.

  Amilya looked down at him, frowning, but decided to remain silent.

  After they finished, Amilya took the dishes bato the kit as Dawn took Niphru back to her bed. While he would normally try to stay up and do things, he was exhausted from rag back to the vilge as quickly as he could and simply joined Dawn on the bed, curling up to sleep again.

  Niphru awoke from anhtmare of the swarm as Dawn shifted uhe covers. He could see light p in through the shuttered window, and got up, heading to the main room. Looking around, he couldn’t find Amilya anywhere in the house. Unsure if it was safe to go outside or not, he decided to stay inside and wait.

  As he waited, he tried to do magic again, this time fog on wind and trying to create a breeze. As he tried, he thought back to the forest lord and its immense windstorm breath. With a sudden thought, he tried to produce the effect from his foxfire instead of from a mana tendril or himself, and suddenly felt a gust of air blow by as his mana stone hummed in his mouth.

  Pleased with his success, he tried again with light, eventually getting his foxfire to spit out a small orb of light. A few moments ter Dawn came in, rubbing her eyes as he mao produce a few drops of water. As she saw what he was doing she squealed iement and rao hug him.

  He rested his head against her, gd she wasn’t as worried as she had been st night.

  As he sat there, he moved his foxfire bato the firepce, having decided that fire was going to be the most important thing he could do soon. With a thought, the wood exploded into fmes, then practically instantly extinguished as his magiited it and foxfire smothered it at the same time.

  As he was mentally celebrating, the door opehe red-armored man from yesterday entering alone. He panicked for a moment, before notig the man didn’t have a hand on his on and looked much more rexed thaerday.

  “Niphru,” the man began, frowning, “I spoke with both Amilya and my men earlier this m. I will do my best to treat you as a person until this is over. My men are willing to accept my orders about you, but only if you prove yourself useful. I have zero doubts on your ability after your show yesterday, but it is up to you if you want to remain or would prefer to leave.”

  Niphru nodded before speaking, “Of course I prove myself. I ’t leave my friend Dawn behind!”

  “Very good, one shouldn’t ge their will so easily, after all. If you were human you might be a good fit to join us,” the man responded.

  Dawn grabbed Niphru before speaking up, “If he is going somewhere with you, I’m going with him to make sure nothing happens to him!”

  The man looked at her for a moment before sighing, then responded, “I don’t think you should, but if that is what it takes, then so be it. Let us get going, my meside the eastern gate.”