Axel and Fable bolted through the Red Timber Forest on the backs of their wolves; the entire forest was quickly becoming washed away by the tidal wave. Branches, leaves, and trees were effortlessly thrown about like plastic bags. Droplets of the cursed water were splashing against Axel's tunic, causing steam to rise from it; a hissing sound was heard each time the tunic was impacted by the droplets. Axel looked to his left and saw a group of Stalkers fleeing from their hiding spots, and Caudalings came slithering out of their settlements.
"The entire ecosystem is stirred up!" Fable exclaimed, her jet-black hair riding the wind. "The world is falling apart!"
The ground began to shake as rows of massive, thorny, rose-covered vines erupted from the soil and attempted to grab the fleeing White Doves, but with a series of swift movements, they escaped the eager grasp of the vines.
"It's Grassmin! He's trying to stop us!" Axel exclaimed, keeping his head low to avoid the passing branches that came dangerously close to his head. "It doesn't want us to leave!" Axel reached for one of his daggers and brandished it by the tip of the blade; then, when Grassmin attempted to grab him, he threw the dagger into the tip of his vine, causing Grassmin to retreat the vine. As Axel turned his head back around, he caught the grim glimpse of a massive tree limb coming his way. Axel ducked under the limb with just a split second to react, narrowly avoiding decapitation. Axel looked at Fable. "Something on our left is throwing things at us!"
"It can't be another tidal wave. It can't be!" Fable's eyes made contact with the end of the trail. "Hurry! The end of the trail is just this way!" Fable gave Chelly a kick to her sides, making her speed up slightly.
"White Doves!" Makki called out as he slithered after the pair. "Don't go that way! It's flooded!"
"Makki?" Axel replied, glancing down at the serpent. "What do you mean flooded?"
"That entire region is flooded! Stick to the path less traveled!" Makki would get himself caught in a Stalker's vines. Makki struggled to escape; his serpentine body was slowly shredded by the Stalker's vines. "Go to the Frosted High rise! It's the only way you'll live!"
"Frosted Highrise...." Axel glanced up at the snow-capped mountain. Axel looked at Fable. "Fable, to the mountains! Hurry!" Axel made a sharp turn to the right and zipped down the trails toward Frosted Highrise. Fable followed Axel's lead despite being at least five ranks above him.
Axel and Fable continued their mad dash toward the safety of Frosted High rise. Axel and Fable were met with trouble. A large rift had opened as a result of an earthquake. Axel looked back at Fable, then at the approaching tidal wave before driving Lobo into a sprint; then, with a few powerful strides, Lobo jumped over the enormous rift. Fable attempted to drive Chelly over the rift, but the canine refused and stopped short, as she was very fearful. The sudden stopping of the wolf would cause Fable to be flung from her seat and into an overhanging tree branch, where she dangled from her tunic. Fable's turned to Chelly.
"Go! Jump! Chelly! Jump!" Fable looked at the approaching tidal wave that screamed death. Fable looked back at Chelly, whose tail was between her legs. "Jump, Chelly! C'mon!"
Axel knew he had to do something. Axel would raise his staff.
"I teleport to you!" Axel vanished in a flash of white light before he appeared in the tree Fable was stuck in and began freeing her from her situation. Meanwhile, Lobo was howling at Chelly, trying to encourage her to jump, but she was too scared. Lobo ran to the edge of the rift and whined; his ears drooped down; even though Lobo could not speak, his emotions could still be felt. Chelly took a step closer to Lobo; her paw caused some of the ground to break, which scared Chelly and caused her to step back.
Axel would reappear on the other side of the rift. Axel looked at Lobo.
"Come, Lobo! We need to go!" Lobo didn't respond. Axel took a few steps toward Lobo. "Lobo! Make haste! Hurry!" Lobo huffed and trotted over to Axel, who climbed onto his back. Axel helped Fable get on Lobo by offering her his hand. Just as they were about to leave, a stick thrown from the tidal wave hit Chelly on the butt, which caused the wolf to jump across the chasm, but she came short and caught the lip of the rift with her paws, sinking her claws into the soil. Chelly's back feet scraped the sides of the wall as she struggled to pull herself up.
"Chelly!" Fable cried out over the furious roar of the tidal wave. Axel turned to Chelly, then looked at the wave, then back at Chelly before his eyes narrowed into slits.
"C'mon, Lobo!" Axel said, kicking Lobo's sides with his steel-plated boots, which drove the shaggy black wolf into a sprint. Lobo's ears were pinned back as the splashes of the vile, cursed water kissed his face. Lobo clamped his jaws down onto Chelly's scruff and pulled her to safety; then, with a sharp bark, he encouraged Chelly to follow him. Seconds later, the wave completely swallowed the entire chasm, the water riding their tails.
"Axel! You're insane!" Fable exclaimed. "I like that about you, though!"
"We need a little crazy in order to do good in this world!" Axel saw the bottom of Frosted Highrise. Axel instructed Lobo to jump onto a large rock, then up onto the side of the mountain. Axel looked at Chelly and whistled. "C'mon! We have no time to lose!"
Chelly hesitated for a second before she began climbing up the mountain. The tidal wave was slowly approaching the mountain. Axel showed the way by directing Lobo further up the mountain; everything began to look smaller. Axel looked off into the distance; his stomach dropped at the sight. The wave was about to crash into the mountain. Axel looked up at the large plateau above them; it was just high enough to escape the tidal wave. Axel began to drive Lobo up the side of the rocky steep, his claws burying themselves deep into its surface. Lobo began to pull himself up, his massive muscles rippling under his shaggy, black fur.
A shadow eclipsed them. Axel looked over his shoulder and saw the tidal wave looming over his head. Axel knew he had to get behind cover, or else it would spell the end for him, Fable, Lobo, and Chelly. Axel guided Lobo over to a large, overhanging piece of rock. Lobo sunk his claws into it and pulled himself up onto the rock. The moment Chelly gripped the rock, the wave crashed against the mountain, shaking it to its core. Rocks began to fall, and water flew everywhere, but they were safe since they were behind the mountain.
Axel then noticed the water starting to rise. Axel looked up and saw the peak. It was very large and covered in snow. Axe guided Lobo up the rest of the way; the higher they climbed, the thinner the air became. It was almost as if someone had put a bag over your head. As Lobo carried Axel higher, he looked down at the tiny land below him; the forest was now the ocean. It took Axel's breath away. Fable looked back at Chelly as she staggered behind them; it appeared that one of her ankles was sprained.
"Axel, once we get to the top, we need to tend to Chelly. I think she's injured." Fable then looks down at the slowly rising water. "Axel...I think everything is gone." Fable began to cry; the cold wind hitting her face made her cheeks rosy. "Our home....everything is gone."
Axel looked at Fable, then back down at the flooded forest, then sighed as he guided Lobo up to the top of the snowy mountain peak. Axel would dismount Lobo and look down at the land below. Fable joined his side, crying.
"We lost, Axel. We lost."
"No, Fable. We won. Absurdly, we won," Axel replied before placing an arm over Fable's shoulder. "Caldrufini is dead."
Fable would then look into Axel's eyes, then nod subtly. "Yea...I suppose so." Fable would then look back at Serina's body, which has fallen down onto the snowy ground. Fable approached Serina's body and knelt beside it. "Oh, Serina. What did you do?"
"She did a lot of things, but even then, I still forgive her," Axel replied, walking up behind Fable. "We should bury her up here. It's the only way we can still express our love for her, even after what she did." Axel quickly found a large rock and brushed away the snow before digging into the Earth with his staff.
"Axel? Do you wish to know the story of Xenia and Caldrufini? I mean, their origin story? You know, to pass the time," Fable asked as she began to help dig the hole.
"The origin story? Well, it's quite the long one." Fable sat down on a rock and cleared her throat. "Before the Giant Realm came to be, Xenia was just a little girl who wanted to create her own world. Xenia looked to her parents and asked them if she could create a world in her design. Given the okay from her parents, she imagined a world just like Earth; only everything is bigger; then, she began building." Fable drew some shapes in the snow. "She began with her temple. She fashioned it after some of the great castles of old; only she added a few twists."
"So, her temple is based on a real place on Earth?" Axel asked.
"Yes...sort of. Anyway," Fable replied before clearing her throat again. "Once she finished that, she wanted the people of Earth to see her creation. Xenia wanted to know how to pull people from Earth into her realm, but her parents told her she wasn't ready. Disheartened, she pouted and continued making the environment, even though she wasn't allowed to bring people into her world yet."
"What about Caldrufini?" Axel asked as he started to move Serina's body toward the hole. "How did he become enemies with Xenia?"
"Well, Caldrufini was the first White Dove to be let into the Giant Realm, so he was special to Xenia. That is until Caldrufini decided to get involved with witches and get into the dark arts, which was when she told him to get lost; those were fighting words because now those two hated one another."
"So that's how they began, enemies," Axel replied before placing Serina's body into the hole. "Help me fill this hole up, please."
Fable rose from her seat and started filling up the hole; with every scoop of dirt they threw onto Serina, they said a small prayer. Axel and Fable soon filled the hole. Axel leaned his staff against a rock before looking around for a flower to top it off.
"We need a flower or something to top that grave off," Axel said. "Do you have anything on you?"
"Well, I have my flower hairpin," Fable replied before taking the pin out of her hair. Fable placed the pin on Serina's grave, and then she looked around for a rock to use as a headstone. "We need a rock to use as a headstone."
"Already on it," Axel replied as he carried a large rock over to Serina's grave, then he put it down where Serina's head was supposed to be. Axel stood next to Fable; they shared a moment of silence before they went over to a gathering of rocks and sat down to rest. The water around them kept rising higher and higher.