Ducking out of the stone cottage, Noble leaned against the wall. She scanned the street.
A mont later, the illustrious Master of the White Feather Clan erged as well.
Noble monitored the emotions of those in the surrounding area, but no one seed interested in his appearance. The emotional signature of Telle and her escort were also absent.
With a small nod, the floating woman confird that things were clear. Together, they headed out of town and into the wild.
The cursed forest that once thrived around Bastion had been burned and cut away. Noble marveled at just how vast the Fallen Titan had been. The area it had encompassed was frightening.
Eventually, the pair found the edge of the woods. Unlike the Titan, these forests consisted of a relatively harmless set of trees.
"We are far enough away now." Roan looked over his shoulder one last ti to confirm they had not been followed. "Are you ready to pick up speed?"
The corner of Noble's mouth tilted upwards. "What did you have in mind?"
A mass of sparks coalesced into a majestic griffin. He leapt onto the beautiful Echo's back with a dashing grin.
"I figured we could fly the rest of the way, if you have no objection."
Noble clicked her tongue. "You go high and I'll stay low. Don't worry about keeping up, though. I will be fine."
A second echo appeared in the clearing. His powerful muscles rippled under golden fur.
A smile blood on Roan's face.
"The famous Helios! What is his title in the Dreamscape? The Torntor! He is even more impressive in person."
"Thank you." Noble patted her echo's mane as he purred.
Everyone thought of him as a nace, but he was really just a sweet house pet at heart.
While the Master could have floated along the ground at a fast pace, she liked the idea of riding Helios better. He was the closest thing she ever had to feeling grounded, and the forr champion wanted to soak in every happy mont before being thrown into another Nightmare.
Noble scratched under the Symncus's chin before climbing on his back. 'Who's a good boy?'
Helios straightened his legs and sniffed. Why, he was, of course!
Roan coughed lightly. "I don't an to state the obvious, but if you are trying to stay under the radar, showing your very famous echo to the cohort might earn you so very difficult questions."
The Legacy was right. There might have been a few other Symncus's in the world, but the golden powerhouse was in a class of his own.
"You raise a good point. Helios?" Noble felt the echo's chest rumble.
The ferocious monster shook his mane and then the rest of his body. The gold drained from his fur, mimicking the purple in her eyes.
Roan's jaw dropped montarily before he caught himself. He scratched his nose.
"That is quite a trick."
Noble nodded. She had only discovered Helios's ability to change his coat recently.
Had he always had the talent? Or had bathing in the iridescent light of his Master's soul sea caused the strange transformation? Sothing in her told her it was the latter.
The end result was that the Symncus could either display his usual gold or match the color of her eyes.
How amazing was that?!
No one would mistake the purple creature for her beloved echo.
'And he looks gorgeous too.'
Dismissing her golden bracelets, Noble removed the last obvious tie to her real life. She had no need to hide her aura from the team. Suppressing her powerful presence would not need to co again until she was a Saint.
"I am ready. Shall we go?" The lady smiled, bringing back Roan from whatever he was considering.
"Oh, uh, yes."
Noble's hood flew back as a gust of wind caught it. Two mighty wings brought the griffin and his legacy master into the air. They took off with incredible speed.
"We can't let them get away!" Noble nudged the side of Helios with her heel.
He needed no encouragent. The agile creature burst forward through the woods without hesitation.
He was so light of foot that the roots protruding here and there from the ground whirred past in the blur. Noble could sense the branches' subtle movent, but Helios was far too fast to let anything catch him.
Even the griffin overhead seed to struggle to keep pace. More than once, Noble felt the powerful legs of the Symncus slow to allow Roan to take back the lead.
After a while, Noble relaxed into the rhythmic movent of her faithful companion. She rembered when Kosi, her friend in the last nightmare, had taken her through the city at top speed. Even though he had never been real, Noble still missed him.
Speeding through the forest on Helios made her extra nostalgic.
Shifting her attention, Noble tried to look forward instead of back.
The third Nightmare. Few had attempted it, and even fewer survived.
Was she crazy?
That answer was easy. Of course she was!
Anyone who was trying to conquer a Nightmare beyond their first had to be a little bit insane.
Noble hadn't willingly entered her second Nightmare, but in the ti since then, she had realized that the only way to protect the people she loved was to grow stronger. And if giving up a little bit of her sanity was the price to do that, then she would pay it without a second thought.
In fact, Noble had thrown herself wholeheartedly into the task. As soon as Roan revealed that the seed he wished to conquer was inside the Sword Domain, Noble had dedicated herself to studying every piece of information about Bastion and the surrounding area that she could get her hands on.
Granted, that information was sorely lacking. While there was an almost endless amount of reading on the region, Noble noticed glaring holes in even the most complete text.
The King of Swords was withholding secrets. Even Bee Two had been unable to scrape up the things that his clan had buried. Likely their were no records, at least no written ones and certainly nothing that the Andriod could hack.
So even with Noble's vast resources, she still felt the butterflies in her stomach when she considered all the unknown factors.
'Even if I had the secrets, the Spell would find a way to make it all useless,' the Master comforted herself.
She had done her best, both in studying and training.
What more could she have tried to be ready? Had she missed out on so vital detail?
Below her, Helios growled.
Noble patted him gently between strides.
"You are right," she cooed, "There is no reason to psych myself out now. Whatever happens will happen."
Helios released another low rumble.
Above them, the majestic griffin screeched. It was so loud that the Master resisted the urge to cover her ears.
Instead she went on high alert.
Extending her second sight, Noble furrowed her brow.
Helios let out a sound sothing like a bark. In response, the griffin tucked his wings slightly.
Noble didn't have to guess what the two were communicating. She already knew.
In front of them a small camp was set up among the trees.
Coming to a stop as he reached the clearing, Helios allowed his master to climb off before disappearing back into her soul sea.
Beside her, the griffin landed and then he, too, evaporated into thin air leaving its rider behind.
Roan nodded to his companion.
It was ti to et the team.
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