Sweet Nectar

"WHAT?!" Jewel yells at the top of her lungs.

She takes the spoon she used to cook dinner with and smacks it on the head.

"You mean to tell me you met God!" She says, pointing at Zenzo. "And you FOUGHT him?!" She finishes pointing at Xander.

Zenzo rubs his forehead.

"It's been an eventful day, Joy," Zenzo replies.

"If you can call it a fight. I lost so badly that I died over a million times. I stopped counting after a million."

Jewel places her hands on her hips.

"Sit down."

Zenzo and Xander do as she says. Her lips quiver, and her eyes water. Her hands ball up and drop down to her side as she leans forward.

"You guys always do the fun stuff without me! I wanna do fun stuff, too!"

Zenzo and Xander look at each other as if she just said she was pregnant. Zenzo looks at her and says, "I don't think Xan dying a million times constitutes as fun..."

"He deserved it." Xander shrugs and nods in agreement, "But you got to see the world, and space, and meet God! That is fun on a level I can't even fathom! I'm fun, too!" She finishes sitting in her chair.

Zenzo chuckles, looking at the desperation on her face.

"You'll be with us every step of the way from here on out. We have a long journey ahead."

Jewel sits back in her seat, folding her arms.

"I'd better, or this journey will get a whole lot longer!"

"What's for dinner, Joy?" Xander asks.

"Call me Jewel. You can't un-hear it or un-know it now."

"Feels weird calling you anything other than Joy," Xander replies.

"I agree," Zenzo adds.

Her eyes wander as she says, "Well, maybe we need to get a little closer. Perhaps I have been more distant than I realized." She looks at them. "So from now on, call me Jewel or Yono, and that will be reserved for you two." She finishes with a smile. "Anywho, mushy stuff aside. I made Giant Trekketon Bull Ribs!"

THUNK!

Zenzo and Xander's jaws hit the table, salivating at the thought of the succulent, melt-in-your-mouth, fall-off-the-bone goodness. Xander gets up, takes off his clothes, and starts shaking his butt everywhere. Zenzo starts praying, thanking the lord for the bountiful meal he is about to receive. Jewel disappears from her seat, returning with the massive plate of ribs, and drops it on the table.

THUD!

Zenzo and Xander pant like dogs and howl, looking at the juices drip off the well-seasoned ribs.

"Now. Is this enough to make sure you guys include me on future adventures?!"

The two of them bark like dogs.

"Alright. Let me get the sauce."

She pulls a cauldron off the fireplace and uses a scoop to pour her homemade sauce on the ribs. Zenzo and Xander's eyes roll to the back of their heads. The sauce infuses with the ribs the moment it comes in contact. When she puts the scoop down, she says, "Dig in, boys!"

They lose their minds, pulling on pieces of the ribs and seeing the bone come right out. Xander uses his power of Acceleration to run to get a fork, but Jewel already has one ready. He kisses her cheek and runs to his seat to devour the ribs.

Bones fly everywhere as the two put down a fourth of the ten-pound, thirty-inch rack of meat in a matter of minutes. The bones that fly away are eaten by Jimba, who catches them immediately. Jewel prays for the food and raises a fork and knife with a menacing smile. She drops them both and tears into the meat with her hands, laughing maniacally. The three of them devour three-fourths of the meat before they finally have their fill. Xander, with his stomach protruding, wobbles over to the cabinet and pulls out his Hiragahni Rum. He pours Jewel a glass and hands it to her.

"Thanks, Xan." She says, sipping her rum.

"No, thank you! Those ribs are almost as rare as this rum. Every time you cook, it's a treat!"

"Oh, stop, Xan." She says, gently tapping his hand.

She flashes back to him and Chinami in the bedroom. Her eyes drop as low as her heart at the thought, and she takes another sip of her rum.

"Aaaaaaand for the main man! The host with the most! The future hero of Infrangilmundo! A glass of rum!" He says, filling Zenzo's cup to the brim without spilling a drop. "Drink up, Bud!"

Zenzo cheeses, looking at the rum.

"Thanks! You two are the best!"

He leans forward to sip the rum to ensure it doesn't spill before picking it up to drink more.

"Ah! That is so refreshing!" He says with his mouth wide open.

"We'll have to get more for the road!" Xander declares.

"For the road?"

"Yep! We have places to go! Kings to slay! Destinies to reach! All that nonsense!"

"But I still have to face my fears first."

"Or we can do that on the way! My Queen said that no matter what we do, your destiny stays the same! We might as well be proactive!"

Zenzo nods in agreement.

"I see your point. But we need people to tend to the house while we're gone. You know, the livestock, crops, gardens."

Xander rubs Zenzo's messy hair.

"Don't you worry about that! I'll go into town and take care of it!"

"How?!" Zenzo asks, looking up at him.

"I'll get some of the girls to look after it for us!"

Zenzo and Xander laugh at the idea. Jewel crushes the glass in her hand. They get quiet, looking at her to see what's wrong.

"I'm going to bed." She says, getting up to leave the room.

"Did I do something wrong?" Zenzo asks.

"No. I'm sure it's me. It's always me."

"Oh. Is Jewel going to be okay?"

"Yeah. I'll go talk to Jewel."

"Good, I'll clean up here."

Xander leaves the room, and Zenzo picks up the plates with bones on them and gives them to Jimba, who devours them in a few bites. He purrs when Zenzo rubs his head, placing his forehead against his.

"You rock, Jimba. I'll be relying on you."

Jimba gives a proud purr that says, You can count on me.

Zenzo grabs the dishes and washes them in a tub before rinsing them with a bucket of water. When he finishes, he dries his hands on a cloth.

"Jimba, let's go for a walk."

Jimba lets out a quick roar of approval.

While Zenzo goes for a walk, Xander knocks on Jewel's door. She sees Zenzo and Jimba walking down the road.

"What, Xan?"

"Can we talk?"

"For what?"

"Because you said you wanted to get closer, and talking is how to do it!"

He hears her exhale on the other side of the door.

"Come in, but I'm not decent."

"My eyes are closed!"

Xander turns the doorknob and walks into the room with his eyes tightly shut. Jewel is lying in bed with no clothes on. He feels around the room, stumbling until he reaches the wooden chair. He turns it facing the wall before opening his eyes.

"What's wrong, Jewel?"

"I could've sworn I expressed my discomfort with bringing women here, and that's the first thing you decide to do!"

"You did. These are women I know, people I trust. The issue is we don't know how long we'll be gone. We want to come to a warm, welcoming, and maintained home, right?"

"We do."

"Then am I wrong?"

"I want to feel heard and included. You made this decision without asking me. I've been thinking a lot since we visited Chinami. You are very intelligent, and I know you can figure most things out. But I want to make sure that I'm being included in the big decisions."

"Jewel."

"Yes?"

"That's all you had to say. It's okay to talk to me about things other than me being an idiot or being with women."

"I know. I'm being weird. I think it's the rum."

Xander stands up and closes his eyes. Turning around, he feels around the air until he falls onto the bed on top of her and hugs her.

"It's okay to open up a little, Jewel. That's not being weird— it's being normal."

Her eyes look out the window at the moon. She looks down at his toned arms.

"Hugging me while I'm naked is kind of weird, though."

"Sorry! But you smell so good! Like strawberries! I'm heading out!" He says, jumping out of bed with his eyes closed.

He falls face-first into the wall. Jewel giggles as he turns to find his way out of the room.

"That's the laugh I like to hear!"

She giggles again. "Goodnight, Xan."

"Goodnight, Jewel!" He says, finally finding his way to the door and closing it.

Xan's a good person. He may be rough around the edges, but he's a good guy. I wonder if he'll ever tell us why he fought God. Maybe. I have to open up more if I want them to.

She places her hand between her legs with a moan.

I'm tired of sleeping alone. I hope I can have sweet dreams tonight. Fuck these nightmares.

Xander closes the door and taps his head with his fist a few times.

I hope she can open up a little more. I want to do better, but I won't know how if she doesn't talk to me. Alright. Time for step one.

Xander walks to his room and closes the door. He slumps in his armchair by the window and stares at the moon.

"I still haven't forgotten, my Queen. Come to me."

He closes his eyes, and Chinami appears in his lap. She kisses him on the lips.

"You called? My King."

"I told you I wouldn't forget."

Her fingers caress his cheek.

"That's why I'm here."

"I have a request to ask."

She rubs her hand on his chest.

"Oh really? Ask away."

"I'm going to have some friends over while we are on our journey. Can you watch over them at night when we're away?"

Chinami runs her tongue up his neck.

"I don't know. It's going to cost you."

"What's the price?"

"Another night."

Xander grins.

"You were going to get that regardless. But if it's payment." He says, picking her up and placing her against the wall. "I aim to please." He finishes, kissing her on the lips.

Zenzo and Jimba wander around town. He sings a song he came up with while inebriated.

"This is the life of a coward,

Who gained a bunch of power,

Met a girl named Howard,

Wait who named her Howard?

Who cares, he talked to her for hours,

About superpowers, then bought her flowers

No deflower, he's a gentleman coward."

He sees an elderly woman carrying something heavy, and he goes to help her.

"Let me get that for you!"

He takes the barrel from her.

"Thank you, young man."

"No problem! Lead the way!"

He helps carry the barrel home for her nearly half a mile away. When he arrives, she offers him some coin, but he politely declines.

"No thanks needed. I can't believe you were going to carry that so far!"

"I do what I have to, dear. People won't always be around to help me."

"Well, I'll help when I can. Have a good night!"

"You as well! And you, too, snufflebottoms." She says, petting Jimba.

Zenzo verifies she gets inside safely and returns singing as he walks with Jimba down the street.

"Snufflebottom, almost caught 'em,

Should've taught 'em, chase 'em until they turn blue!

He bit his hand, it was the plan, he needs a tan,

cause his heart is cold like an Igloo!"

Zenzo stops when he sees a woman with a sprained ankle.

Looks like she could use some help.

He goes over to check on her.

"Hey, do you need some help?"

She looks up, holding her ankle.

"Huh? Oh, hey, Zen! And yes!"

Zenzo picks her up in his arms.

"Where are we headed?"

"Home."

"Isn't that on the other side of town?"

"Yes. Is that too far?"

"Nope!"

"You're the best, Zen."

"Don't mention it, Howard." He says as he starts walking. Jimba walks beside them.

"What did you call me?"

"I have no idea!"

"How did you know that was my name?"

"I don't know! But why is that your name?" He asks, looking down at her.

Howard's eyes look at the ground, "It's not a big story behind it... Dad wanted a boy."

"Ah! Well, I think it's unique!"

"Really?" She says, looking up at him.

"Yeah! I've never met a girl named Howard before!"

"I still don't know how you heard that name. I go by Fairee."

"I have superpowers, and they do all types of weird things! I'm feeling really good and drunk, so I can probably make your ankle better!"

She laughs, tapping his chin.

"I don't believe you."

"I don't believe me either! I will probably mess up and turn you into a monster or something!"

"Let's not do that. But if you succeed, I'll do something for you!"

"Sweet! Let's do it!"

He runs to her home and places her down on the steps. Taking her shoe off, he comments, "You have pretty feet."

She chuckles, licking her lips, "Thanks."

Zenzo places his hand on her ankle and says, "Opposite."

Instead of his aura spreading through the town, it only goes to his hand. There is a bright purple light, and then. Her ankle heals. Howard moves her ankle around.

"You did it! You're amazing, Zen!" She says, kissing him.

"I did it! Yay!"

She stands up and dances like a ballerina. Zenzo stands and claps for her. Howard's lips find their way to his once more.

"You know...I've always liked you. Why don't you come inside, and I can show you some neat things you can do with ankles..."

"Okay! Sounds fun!"

Jimba purrs as he lies down on the porch. They enter the house and head to her room. When he enters, he sees a bunch of paintings on the wall.

"Hey! I painted these!"

"I know. You are an amazing painter."

"You think so?" He says, looking at her. "Oh. Wow." He says, realizing she's naked.

"Want to paint me? I'd love to add another to the wall."

"I don't, uh. Have any supplies."

She walks over to him.

"I have plenty."

"Okay, I'll do my best, but I'm drunk."

"That's exactly what I want," She says, turning to lie in the bed and making an interesting pose, "Do you think you can paint me from this side?"

Zenzo's eyelids flap rapidly.

"I, uh. I. I'll do my best."

Zenzo sits down at the art station she provided for him and paints her in the pose while they talk. Hours pass as they reminisce about the past, and present, before they get to the future. He puts the finishing touches on the painting and smiles. When she sees his smile, she jumps out of bed and runs over to see it. She screams, seeing the work of art.

"Oh my god. It's perfect!"

She hugs him and kisses him on the lips. Her mouth moves to his ear as she asks, "You ready for your reward?"

"What is it?!"

She pulls down his pants and sits in his lap.

"Can you guess?"

"I should go."

"What?"

"I think there's been a misunderstanding."

"How? What's there to misunderstand?"

"I. I don't want to do that."

"Is it me? Did I do something wrong?"

"No. It's me."

"Is it my name? You can call me Fairee like everyone else!"

"No, it's none of those things. I just. I can't say."

"...Are you scared...? Is this your first time?"

Zenzo's lips curl up, pounding his lips shut to not answer that question.

"There's nothing to be afraid of. I can teach you."

"No. I should go."

"Oh...Sorry, for. Putting you in this position... This is so embarrassing." She says, getting off him and placing her face in her hands.

"You can keep the painting. And keep dancing! It's beautiful."

She sniffs, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Thanks, Zen. Have a good night."

"You too, Howard."

He leaves her room, closing the door behind him.

I should buy her some flowers to apologize. She's awesome, but I'm just...scared of doing that.

He heads outside and sighs. Jimba gets up, and Zenzo climbs on his back before heading home.

I can't believe she collects my paintings. That's so amazing. She's like a fan of mine. Xan usually has all the fans, but she's like one to me. Well, she was. I'm sure she won't talk to me anymore after tonight. I wish I weren't scared of most things. I want to be more like Xan.

Ten minutes later, he arrived home to see Jewel sitting outside in her robe. He gets off Jimba and walks to the porch.

"Can't sleep?"

"No. Xan has company. You? Hot date?"

"Uh. It would've been." He says with his eyes hitting the ground.

"What happened? Did she hurt you? You looked happy carrying her home."

"No...it was me. I just...I'm an adult now, but my fear makes me feel like a child. It's shackling. If that makes sense."

"It does. I can tell. Seeing the other you come out made me realize you are shackled. We just have to break those shackles and you'll be free...to be like Xan..."

He looks at her.

"Like Xan?"

"Nothing." She says, shaking her head the way you do when you know it wouldn't matter.

He sits down beside her.

"You sure?"

Jimba licks her cheek, causing her to laugh.

"Yes. Thanks, guys."

"Yep!"

Zenzo looks up at the moon while Jimba lies down beside Jewel. His heart rate rises as he asks, "Do you think people catch diseases from others often?"

Her mouth makes an O shape as her eyebrows raise.

"I don't know. Xan makes it hard to tell. You would think if anyone, it would've been him, but for some reason, he's fine."

"So you think the chance is low?"

She places her hand on his.

"I think so. If you want, we can-"

Zenzo hops up and slaps Jimba on the butt.

"Come on, Jimba! We have a job to do!"

"......" Jewel stares at Zenzo. "Are you heading back to Fairee's?"

Zenzo smiles as he looks at her. Jimba takes off running, so he doesn't have to answer that question. Jewel sits there, staring at Jimba as they disappear into town.

"Fuck this. I'm going for a walk. AWAY from this fucking town."

She gets up and starts walking barefoot out of the town. She walks miles away, frustrated, before she finally stops.

"It's bullshit. They go out and do whatever they want with whoever they want, and I'm stuck here alone." She says, sitting against a tree. "It's my own fault. When you put up a wall for five years, people tend to move on, I guess. I want to let people in, but I can't let them get too close. It's dangerous."

A voice she's never heard before says, "You can start by letting us in."

Men in large numbers approach her from all angles. "We'll be wonderful guests."

She places her hand on her forehead, closing her eyes.

"Walk away, boys. I am not in the mood."

The men move closer.

"You sure sounded like you were in the mood. But just not for us."

"You guessed it. So move along. Or I will kill you."

"I don't mean no harm...but it's one of you and twenty of us."

"That's twenty families that will be missing a member."

A man moves closer to grab her, and his hand falls to the ground.

"What?"

"I warned you. Accumulation: Death."

Each of the twenty men was split in half and died. This particular power kills based on her emotions at the moment. In this case, she wanted to cut the conversation off; in turn, it cut them in half. She gets up and walks away before the blood pool can reach her feet. The forest is dark, and the only light is the moon, which shines bright in its full glory.

"It'd be nice if someone out there would listen to me. The only one who will listen to me is Hippo...and Betsy...and Jimba...All of which are not people. I want to tell people about myself. Get closer. But if I do. I put myself and my family in danger. But being lonely...isn't that dangerous, too? My mental state isn't improving by being lonely either. It's making me angry, frustrated, and jealous. Fuck. What do I do?"

She continues to wander and think to herself throughout the night. The next morning, she wakes up in Zenzo's bed. She looks around, seeing paintings on the wall.

Maybe I should put things like this in my room. Wait. How did I get here?! There's no way I came in here on my own.

Zenzo comes in with his shirt off, a smile, and some bread.

"Morning, Jewel. You sleep well?"

"Did we?"

"Did we what?"

"Nothing. It was dumb to ask."

"You sure?"

"Yes. You get any sleep?"

Zenzo's eyes roll as he smiles one of those smiles when you don't want to admit something.

"Define sleep."

Jewel exhales and gets out of his bed to leave the room.

"I feel like this is my fault this time. I'll let Xan know so he doesn't think it's him!"

Zenzo heads to Xander's room to knock on the door.

"Come in carefully." He says in a tired voice.

When he opens the door, he sees lit candles and the windows are covered, allowing zero light to peek in.

"This is new." He says, observing the room."

Xander sits up.

"What's up, Zen?" Wiping his eyes.

Zenzo looks at the bed and notices he has company.

"Oh, nothing. You got company?"

Xander looks down, surprised.

"It looks like I do."

"You didn't know?"

Chinami responds, "He didn't think I'd still be here." She says, taking a deep breath. "I didn't either, for that matter."

Zenzo grins.

"I can come back."

"No, you're here now. Go ahead and talk. Anything you say will be forgotten in time..." She says dozing off.

"I wanted to say if you see Jewel and she looks angry, it's my fault this time."

"Really? You never make her angry. What could you have done?"

"I don't know. She asked me if I slept last night, and when I said, "Define sleep," she left my room."

Xander, eyes wide, jumps out of bed and rolls to land on one knee.

"My little Zenzo...IS A MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" He says, raising his fist in the air on one knee.

Chinami cheers in her sleep.

"Woohoooooooo!"

"How do you feel?! Do you feel confident now?!"

Zenzo's eyes shift while he thinks.

"Crazy enough, I do!"

"BRILLIANT!" Xander says, jumping up with his arms and legs wide. "Today we're going to face one of those fears!"

"Wait, what?"

"Yep! I'm going to go into town and get the girls to watch the house, and then we'll spend our last day training and relaxing."

"Okay. Will she be okay here alone?"

"You mean the woman who's been around for thousands of years?"

"Point taken."

Xander winks and jumps back in bed. Zenzo chuckles, closing the door.

Do I check on Jewel? Or do I give her space? I'll leave her alone.

He walks past her room but turns around to knock on the door.

"Jewel."

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Why don't we do something relaxing today?"

"No thank you. You need to train."

"Oh. I was going to do that first. I wanted to do something relaxing after." He says, gently tapping the door.

"You have people to do relaxing stuff with. Please leave me alone."

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No. You told us to call you by your name because you want us to get closer. You can't say that and then push us away!"

Jewel swings the door open.

"How close do you really want to be? You and Xan sure get close to everyone else but me!"

"You never wanted to get close before, so we have to get used to it."

"JUST FUCK ALREADY!" Chinami yells from down the hall.

"I second this!" Xander adds.

Jewel and Zenzo freeze.

"Yeah, let's go do something relaxing." She says, pulling his hand.

When they are outside, Zenzo asks, "What did she mean by that?"

"I have no clue. I don't even know why she's still here. I could've sworn she rejected Xan."

"People do weird things when they're in love."

Jewel tightens her robe, looking at him.

"You think it's love?"

"She's risking death by being here during the day. Thousands of years for someone she's just met. That kind of sounds like love to me."

Jewel folds her arms and rubs one.

"Maybe. You're probably right. He's said he loves her, so maybe it's not far-fetched to believe she loves him. They were pretty steamy when they met. And have been steamy ever since..."

"Yep. Do you want to...get steamy with someone, Jewel?"

She walks off to the barn.

"Hey! I asked you a question!" He said, chasing after her.

"I'm going to make some origami! We'll talk later!"

He catches up to her, walking beside her.

"I'll paint while you craft!"

"Okay." He opens the bar door for her, and they head to their art section with all their supplies.

"You know you can't avoid questions like these forever. When my power gets stronger, I can make you talk to me."

"If you do Zen. I might hurt you." She says giving him that I wish you would look.

"Okay, never mind!"

"Good boy."

She grabs the parchment paper, hands one to Zenzo, and a few for herself.

"When Xan gets up, we'll get to training."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

They spend an hour completing their arts and crafts. Zenzo occasionally looks over and sees a smile on Jewel's face, which allows him to smile. When they finish, Jewel comes to him and shows him what she has made. Zenzo smiles like he won the lottery. Jewel made origami figures of all of them. Each has moving parts that function like action figures.

"You did this with parchment?!"

"Yep!"

"Jewel, you're incredible!"

"Not as good as your paintings. I was wondering. Do you want to paint them later when you have time?"

Zenzo's teeth escape from his lips.

"I would love to! I've wanted to paint your origami for years!"

"Seriously?!"

"Yes! But I thought it'd be rude to ask. I also didn't want to risk ruining them."

"You can be thoughtful at times, Zen."

"I try to be."

They stare at each other for a moment. Jewel notices this and turns her eyes.

"So, what did you paint?"

"I have no idea."

"Really? Let me see."

Jewel walks around and looks at the painting. Her heart stops. She wants to scream, but she's too petrified to move. Zenzo pinches himself.

"Do you know what this is?"

She opens her mouth, but no words come out. When she tries again, she says, "That's the thing I see in my nightmares. I don't think we have time to mess around anymore. We need to train now."

"Okay. Come on."

Ten minutes later, they take Zenzo into the forest. Xander walks forward in front while Jewel pushes Zenzo from behind, forcing him to move.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I changed my mind! I don't want to be brave anymore! This is insane!"

Jewel, who is pushing him, says, "Come on or I'll drag you!"

"You're going to have to kill me! I'm not doing this! You guys are insane! We finally had a day of peace, and you two go back to the insane!"

Xander laughs.

"We'll protect you, so what's the problem?"

"EVERYTHING! THIS IS MADNESS!"

"Okay, I'm done," Jewel says, grabbing him by his shirt, picking him up like a carry-on bag at the airport. "Come on."

Jewel carries him through the forest. Zenzo cries as he tries to think of ways to escape.

"I don't want to do this! Lord help me! They're going to kill me!"

"Zen. Stop being a coward."

"Jewel. Stop being a bi-"

He holds his tongue, realizing if he finishes that statement, it might be his last. Little did he know Jewel had a knife at his throat.

Xander chortles.

"Good choice, Zen."

"No horrible choice! I think I'd rather die by her!"

"Yeah, yeah. We'll see."

They continue through the forest for a couple of miles. They left their pets at home to guarantee that Zenzo couldn't hop on them and run away. This way, if he does run, he has to use his own feet. The forest is dark, and the trees are thick and extend up to the clouds. Zenzo stops crying and carefully maps out his escape route. The vines hanging off the branches resemble human-sized spaghetti noodles. As they approach their destination, they begin to see fewer and fewer animals and more and more insects. The plants are large, and some are carnivorous, but they each have a vibrant green color despite the poor lighting. Xander raises his hand, signaling for them to stop.

Jewel halts at the signal. There is endless buzzing coming from Xander's direction. With his glaive in one hand, he beckons with the other. He tips his toes with a mischievous smile that says even he knew this was crazy. The buzzing sound stops when Xander stops moving. The quiet is eerie and puts them on alert. Xander stops and kicks the living hell out of a hill, knocking it into a tree. You can hear the remaining animals in the area flee at the sound of the commotion. The tree falls over and slams against the ground, causing the forest to shake.

Birds fly from the trees, and even the approaching wolves tuck their tails and run. The quietness returns. Deafening buzzing fills the forest as thousands of wasps fly from the trees, the hills, the nest, and the sky.

Xander points at Zenzo.

"Do it!"

"NO! YOU'LL DIE!"

"Believe in us, Zen!"

Jewel places him down, and Zenzo takes off running the second his feet hit the ground. The wasps cut him off, and he changed his direction to the left to keep moving. Xander slices waves of wasps with ease; however, Jewel is having trouble fighting them. Xander sees this and walks backward to reach her.

"ZEN! JEWEL NEEDS YOU!"

"No, I don't!"

"Who are you fooling? You brought those fans because you believed he would use his power! And he isn't! You should've brought your normal weapon!"

"No! I'm choosing to believe in him! Besides, I can use my natural speed and strength to hold them off, and aura if I have to."

"I hope so. I have to keep you safe, too, Jewel."

Jewel flashes back to him with Chinami, and the second she does, she's stung six times in the arm.

"SHIT!" She yells.

Xander turns and cuts all of them in half in a single swing.

"We might have to use our powers. This is way more than I anticipated."

"Do you think a queen is nearby?"

"There has to be."

"Shit. I hope Zen comes back soon."

Xander's body glows golden.

"Effect Stacking: Number 2; Eternal Flame."

His body is engulfed in flames, enhancing his attacks with fire. He swings once and burns hundreds of wasps in half a second. Jewel looks at her arm, which is swollen because the wasps here are poisonous and can kill you from a single sting.

"Accumulation: Poison Resistance."

Jewel's power is Accumulation. It grants her the power to accumulate anything she pleases. In this situation, she's using it to accumulate a vaccine based on the stings she's received. This, in turn, allows her to slow the poison's movement up to her brain— for if it reaches the brain, she dies.

Xander spins his glaive vertically in front of him, creating a vacuum effect pulling in thousands of wasps at a time.

"Jewe, I need you to watch my back! Go on the offensive!"

"Got it!"

"Accumulation: Speed."

Jewel vanishes from her spot. A wasp comes to attack Xander from behind, but Jewe, who is on a tree branch, dashes at the speed of sound and decapitates it before it can reach him. She dashes to another tree, killing another swarm along the way. Her eyes laser focus on all threats targeting Xander from his blind spot, and she systematically eliminates every target that tries to harm him, dashing from tree to tree in between attacks.

At the same time, Zenzo runs through the forest. He ducks and dodges the attacks from wasps. A wasp comes from an angle he can't see and attacks his blind spot. Instinctively, he raises his kite shield, and it flies head-first into it, dying. He looks at the stripes on the wasp and notices they are red and black. His heart skips a beat, realizing these aren't the normal wasps they usually bring him to. These wasps are deadly.

"SHIT! THEY NEED ME!"

The wasp behind him attacks, and he turns to swing his mace, hitting a hundred in a single swing. The force from the swing splits a tree down the middle. He takes off running as fast as he can back to his comrades, raising his shield to ram through the wasp attacking him. The speed he runs is just enough to kill them on contact. He runs for several minutes, trying to get back to them, but still hasn't caught up.

How long did I run?! How far did I run?! Shit, please don't die. I don't want to lose you two like this. Jewel can withstand the poison, but Xan can't! And the wasps won't give him time to heal! Shit! And she has her limits on how long she can attack. I imagine they can take down a few hundred thousand, but a million will be a struggle. I have to hurry, but I don't want to use my power until I get there. Hold on, guys!