Isiah's practice with the strength stone was slow. There wasn't much he could do with it except rip trees from their rightful place in the forest. Instead, he carried boulders with him as he walked, which felt like pebbles in his hands. Being able to hold something so big without much effort was strange, but somewhat useful. If only it had been good enough to hold the bridge up back at the Sanctum.
He and Rina were still heading east along a road so covered in snow that he was sure they'd wandered off it without knowing. The only way they would know was when they eventually reached the coast and did or didn't find Liman. For the most part, the best they could do was follow the road south and hope for the best.
They'd stopped once since meeting the group of people with the injured woman on the road and they'd slept under a tree for three hours, barely enough to keep them moving, but he no longer felt tired. He was so exhausted that he no longer felt it, somehow able to keep going for as long as he wanted.
"Gods," he muttered as he put the boulder down next to the trunk of a tree. The silence that followed made him frown. All he could think of was the one time he'd said it at the Sanctum and the way it had made him feel.
Then Askarune had died and Jonin had attacked them and everything had changed. He hadn't said it again but in the silence of the forest, it didn't make him feel the same way it had last time. Maybe it was the company he had been with, the way they had reacted to him, the laughter and the teasing. It felt normal, like there had been nothing wrong. But everything was wrong, it had been a brief moment of peace in a world of war that he couldn't get back.
The strength stone was in his bag with the flame stone, as far from him as he could get without being scared of losing them. He needed to get stronger with them so that he could recreate what he had done at Belganine's Sanctum. He'd used both stones at the same time, pulling on the separate powers.
As a result, he'd been able to hold the bridge up and launch his flames at their attackers at the same time. He hadn't been thinking when he'd done it, all he'd known was that he and Emrick were in danger and he needed to keep them safe. He hadn't even realised he'd done it until long after it had happened.
He hadn't been able to recreate at all since then, no matter how hard he tried. If he couldn't use multiple powers at once, how was he supposed to be the Beast? Using one power at a time wouldn't work and would only get him killed. It wasn't something he'd realised he needed to learn until he got down from the Sanctum. Except it wasn't working. He could hold one power but not the other, even though he could feel them both swirling around him.
He hadn't said anything about it to Rina, even though they were supposed to be working together. There wasn't much point until he could do what he wanted to do. All she knew was that he was training himself and she seemed more than happy enough with that. At least he was doing something with his powers. There had been a time where he hadn't even wanted to touch the flame stone.
Things had changed so much since then. Even though he was trying to be as peaceful as possible, he knew he had to learn how to use the deadly stones. If he mastered them, then he would know how to wield them without hurting people. He was running out of time to master his abilities. The army had to be nearing Ziya and if they took the city, then there was no chance of Isiah fulfilling his duty as the Beast.
The army's exact whereabouts were unknown to him. He didn't know whether or not they were ahead of them, but he had to hope they were. That way, they would have enough time to get to Teremtys' Sanctum and Ziya without having to worry too much. He would worry anyway, that was what he did.
If he was lucky, he would also get some time to think everything through. If Askarune was to be believed, and Isiah was sure he was, then he would have to face Ishin soon enough. Some of Emrick's first words to him swam to the forefront of his mind. Maybe he did trust too easily, even when it came to his Gods.
But he couldn't stop the feeling in his gut that Askarune was telling the truth. He hadn't seen Ishin, didn't know anything about him, but logic told him that Ishin's return couldn't be anything good. Askarune had seemed panicked, worried, meaning that Ishin had disappeared for a good reason. If he was working with Harudan, which his little theory about the crystal predicted, then Ziya and the rest of Minisia had no chance.
How would he even stop something like Ishin? Meeting Askrune for the first time, he seemed eternal, intimidating, something that could never die. The only good thing about seeing him the second time was that he knew that he could kill Ishin, which was something he didn't want to do. He'd worshipped Ishin his entire life, his name was based on his, so how could he kill him, even if he wasn't a peaceful man?
The thought of it made him sick to his stomach and he had to stop and lean against a tree to catch his breath. Rina didn't notice for a moment, taking a few more steps before she turned and looked back at him.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice laced with concern.
He shook his head. "I don't know what I'm doing," he whispered, hating how weak he sounded.
He hadn't known what he was doing from the moment he broke open the secret passage in Ishmar's throne room. Ever since then, nothing had gone as he had expected and he didn't know what he was supposed to do about it. All he'd expected was that he would find a way to stop Harudan and the realm would go back to the way it was.
"About Ishin?" Rina asked as if she had been reading his mind.
"About everything," he replied. "I still don't know how I'm supposed to defeat Harudan and keep him off the throne."
She sighed and grabbed his wrist. "We can walk and talk at the same time. We have to keep moving," she said and tugged him towards the east again. "If it comes down to it, I'll kill him for you."
"Rina..." he said and ran his other hand through his hair. It touched his neck, longer than it had ever been. "There has to be something I need to do. I'm the Beast, I'm supposed to stop this war, but I don't know how."
"Well, I don't think peace talks are going to work. You can't let Harudan keep the throne. It has to go to Nerin," she replied.
"I know!" he yelled before he could stop himself, letting out a quiet groan. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Harudan needs to go, but I can't kill him. Then there's Ishin, I can't kill him either."
Her eyes were wide with anger. "So you're going to let something like him live?" she asked, letting go of his wrist and crossing her arms over her chest. "He could destroy everything, Isiah! You can't just let him run free!"
"I can do what I want!" he yelled, hating how childish he sounded. "There has to be a peaceful solution to all of this. I will not sink to the level of violence again, Rina! I can't do it. I would rather end my own life than kill another person."
He hadn't realised how strong his feelings on the matter were until the words burst from him, silencing not just them, but the forest around them too. He took a deep breath, running his hands down his face and trying to calm his mind down. There was too much going on, too much for him to register.
"Look, Ishin is one of my Gods, one of the beings who created me. If it was Sol or Lune, would you be able to destroy a being you had worshipped your entire life? Would you know how to?" he asked, stopping and pulling Rina to look at him.
She looked torn, as if she wanted to act high and mighty and tell him what she thought, but knew that anything she said would be a lie. "No, I suppose not," she muttered and let out a loud sigh. "I hadn't even thought about it like that. How do you even kill a God? How do you sever that connection with them?"
"That's what I'm struggling with," Isiah said, glad that she was able to see his position.
They started walking again, a strange silence hanging in the air between them. Isiah wanted to break it but didn't know what to say. Things were tense, but he wasn't surprised. Both of them had different views on what needed to be done, but that wasn't going to stop either of them from working together.
"Didn't you suggest at the last Sanctum that Ishin was in the crystal at your old Sanctum?" Rina asked, bright and curious, brushing a tree branch out of the way. She had an idea, all he needed to do was go along with it.
He shrugged. "It seemed logical at the time. None of us ever knew what the crystal was. Ishin wasn't at his own Sanctum and Askarune said he didn't know where he was," he explained, trying to catch up on all the information in his head. "Harudan took that crystal when he killed my people and now Ishin is awake. It seems like a bit of a leap, but even Emrick said it was a reasonable theory."
"I remember you told me that you didn't know what it was made of, just that it emitted heat," she said. He barely remembered the conversation; it had to be when they first met at the fake Sanctum of Ishin so long ago. "I found it strange, but if Ishin was trapped inside that crystal, I suppose it would make sense that it would emit some heat and not be made of fyrite."
"Why bring it up?" he asked, wanting her to get to the point.
She frowned at the snow. "If Ishin was trapped in the crystal, then someone had to put him in there," she said, fidgeting with her hands. "What if there was a way of putting him back?"
"Making another crystal? I suppose I could, but I don't have the power to do that, Rina," he replied, a strange feeling in his stomach, a mix of hope and dread.
"Teremtys is the God of what?" she asked.
He almost laughed at his own stupidity. "Creation," he said. Teremtys was the God of Creation, meaning with his stone, Isiah might be able to create another crystal and trap Ishin inside of it. Maybe he could even trap Harudan.
Could it really be that simple? Surely the Beast needed to use all five of his powers to save the realm, not just one of them. If he could only use whatever power Teremtys gave him (surely, it was to do with creation) then he wouldn't have to worry so much. Despite the hope blooming in his heart, he was sure it would never be so simple.
He said as much to Rina, who frowned deeply. "We'll have to see what happens when we get the final stone," she said. "I suppose until then, we need to get you to master as many of the stones as we can, the healing one included."
"What do you propose?" he asked as they drifted between the trees. The forest was thick, but he could see a clearing on a hill up ahead. Hopefully, he would be able to see something that could tell them if they were going the right way.
Rina didn't say anything as she pulled her sword from her sheath. Like she had days ago, she drew it across the back of her arm, dark red blood pooling and spilling towards the crisp snow. She winced and jerked back when he reached for her, pulling the green stone from her coat pocket.
"Heal me," she ordered, tossing him the stone. He struggled to catch it, his eyes locked on the blood on Rina's arm.
Even with the healing stone in his hands, he couldn't feel the power that was supposed to be swirling from it, not like he could with the strength and flame stones. He concentrated on it, trying to remember how he felt the power of the stones originally, but the flame stone had taken control of him and the strength stone had made him pass out. He'd felt it immediately, but with the healing stone, there was nothing.
They climbed the hill together, Isiah focusing on the stone and Rina leaving a trail of dark blood in their wake. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't feel any power and Rina's arm continued to bleed. For whatever reason, he wasn't ready for the healing stone, even though he had been adamant on peace from the start. It made no sense to him and all it did was flood his veins with anger.
At the crest of the hill, he handed the stone back to Rina. "I can't feel anything, I'm sorry," he said and sighed, bending down to rest his hands on his knees. Rina took it back from him, her cut healing in a second. She was getting stronger with it, if the day before was anything to go by, but he couldn't feel a thing.
Both stones that he hadn't grabbed himself, he wasn't able to use. Somehow, the healing stone had known it wasn't for him yet and had latched itself onto the person who had first touched it. If it had been Emrick, it probably would have been his to use instead of Rina's, but he still didn't know why.
"If Teremtys is there," Rina said as she put the stone back in her pocket and cleaned her sword. "Then I'm sure they will give us an explanation."
Neither of them mentioned the fact that the place the Mother and Father told them of might not be where Teremtys was hiding. All they could do was hope that it was. There were two other places they could go, but there wasn't enough time to travel north.
"I hope so," he whispered and spun in a circle. The hill wasn't high enough for them to see much, but due to the lack of leaves on the trees, he could see a fair distance through them. For the most part, it was all forest and in the distance to the west and north were fields of white.
To the east, the forest continued, but if he squinted and looked closely, there was something else on the horizon, something roughly shaped like a wall. He pointed to it and Rina followed his gaze. "Liman?" she suggested, hope in her voice.
"Possibly," he replied. He wasn't even sure if it was a wall, but it was something different from the trees at least.
Rina let out a sigh, a chuckle escaping her lips. "Well, come on then. Not much further and then we can get some answers," she said and grabbed his wrist again, pulling him down the hill with her.
Not much further and they could stop and rest and wait from Emrick to catch up to them. They couldn't get the final stone without him. Only a few more days and he would be reunited with him. Relief flowed through him at the thought. Emrick would return, they would get the stones and possibly use it to lock Ishin away before he dealt any lasting damage. A few more days and everything could be over. Then he could concentrate on mastering the other stones.