“What happened here?” Trouse asks in dismay as he looks around at blackened trees with burnt ruins of houses nestled up in their tops.

“Fire, obviously. Why are we here again?” Gole demands and Poole rolls his eyes.

“Thee needs a safe place to work with the scrap we’ve collected and Teemu wanted to come here.”

“This used to be the elf tree-town. My dog family had an elf master before we merged with the giant pack of dogs. My master was a fool, but he took good care of us. Of course, all the elves were foolish and airheaded.” Teemu says softly as she looks around, and Trouse puts a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Teemu. We never should have taken you from Nearth. We were all foolish kids back then.” He says and Teemu takes his hand as she looks at him.

“No. I am glad that I went with you. I could have convinced Gutu to free me if I pleaded hard enough, but I saw you and I thought you were different from the other doubs I had known as a small child. I still think that.”

The two stand in silence for a moment while Gutu sniffs the trees.

“They smell of ervers.” He says.

Suddenly, a black mass zips like a blur into the center of the explorers who start back in surprise. A blocky, indistinct, black shape with folds seeming to drift away from it floats in the center of the group for a quick moment before vanishing in an instant.

“What sort of beast was that?” Trouse exclaims as he quickly straps on his golden claws and steps away from Teemu, who slips on her gauntlets with long, pointed ruby fingers.

“Come and fight us, you coward!” Gole roars into the forest and Poole squeals,

“No, you foolish alterna! That was a saniin. They move faster than the speed of light, if you can comprehend that!”

Thee looks around gravely,

“We had better not flee. It might consider us enemies and kill us as we run.”

“I can conceal us with my magic.” Teemu offers and Gutu shakes his head,

“I hear paws tramping across the ground. They are too close and have probably already smelt us.”

Five canines with beautiful, silky fur ranging from dark to light brown emerge from the burnt trees nearby.

They stride towards the group on their long, powerful legs and stop abruptly in front of them.

“This is an odd combination of creatures. I have never seen such a combination before.” One of the lighter ervers remarks, tilting its head slightly.

“Something is highly unusual about this gathering. We shall wait for the rest of our companions to arrive.” The erver with fur in between light and dark decides and the five ervers stand in front of the travelers, studying them intelligently.

“We don’t want any trouble. We were just looking for a safe place to rest.” Trouse says and one of the lighter ervers cocks its head.

“No one wants trouble except for fools. Where are you travelling that you have left your homes and need to rest in the ruins of the elf tree town?”

“Listen, erver, we’ve been travelling all over Nearth since we arrived. I am not in the mood for your questions. Back off and leave us alone or I’ll throw you off.” Gole snarls and Poole pales slightly.

The ervers chuckle and exchange glances.

“Not a bad threat for an alterna kitten.” The lightest-colored erver says and turns to look behind itself into the burnt forest.

About three hundred saniin, ervers, and dwarves stand in the burnt forest behind the five ervers and Poole gapes.

“Woah! We don’t want to fight you!” He exclaims and the darkest-furred erver laughs.

“You think we would bring the entire saniin, erver, and dwarf races to fight a group of six misfit creatures?” She asks incredulously and Thee shakes his head solemnly.

“No. One saniin would suffice to wipe us out. Why are you keeping us here?” Thee asks and an old dwarf hobbles through the five ervers, who bow respectfully as he passes.

The dwarf has razor-sharp black hair quills that glint in the sun and pale, cracked skin. In some places, the skin is so badly cracked that flesh and bone are visible. Dried blood covers the dwarf’s hands as he raises them to halt the conversation as he approaches the group. He puts on a black helmet that conceals his hair-quills and then he slips on heavy black gauntlets.

He presses a black stone on his fine silk shirt and the shirt is immediately sucked into black armor that conceals all the dwarf’s skin except for his face.

“What is all this about?” He demands and a slightly darker erver laughs cheerfully,

“Straight to the point, Gonny! A saniin scout ran across this group and we were sent to check them out.”

“Well, you have checked them out! What is your decision on them?” Gonny growls gruffly and the erver with fur that’s in between light and dark tilts its head from side-to-side.

“They are odd. There are two doubs, a feisty alterna kitten, a rem, a glishen, and a dog. They seem to be travelling together.”

“Yes, I can see what they are. Are they going to help us or harm us?” Gonny huffs and Trouse steps forward.

“We want to cure the water, if we can.”

The five ervers are silent for a moment. Then the ervers laugh joyfully and the lightest furred erver says,

“Good luck there. We have heard about the last group that tried to fix the water ten years ago. It is said they are still trapped by Terror in the Strange Lands.”

 “Oh, yeah? We just came from the Strange Lands and they aren’t there!” Gole snorts and Poole pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Your memory loss combined with your temper will be the death of us, Gole!” He exclaims in exasperation and the ervers seem struck dumb.

“You are Gole of Everburning Rage! And the Rem of Three Races! You are the remnants of the Children Heroes who ventured to the Strange Lands ten years ago!” A lighter-furred erver exclaims and Gonny peers at the group with renewed interest.

“It has been said that Terror killed you all, but here you stand before me. Is it possible you never left Nearth? But if you did, how did you return?”

“Well, sir, we left in a ship that we bought from a humor in a village far to the south. We returned on a flying disc that was knocked out of the sky by those in the old glishen city. All that remains of it is what makes up Gutu’s wheel.” Poole says.

“Since you made one flying disc, why not make another? If that’s how you returned to Nearth, anyways.” Gonny sneers before he turns to the ervers.

“Let’s take them back to the old glishen city. We’ll learn if they knocked a flying disc out of the sky there.”

The ervers bow and encircle the group. They maneuver with the group trapped among them to rejoin the other dwarves, ervers and saniin. The creatures slowly trudge onwards through the dimming, burnt trees, turning sharply northeast at the call of Gonny. Gonny rides atop one of the ervers and looks down at the group.

“Just so there is no confusion, if any of you try to escape, you will not even realize you are dead, the saniin will kill you so quickly.”