"Here she comes!"

Aatish's agony burned further as her eyes wandered across the entire plain where Amawas had been. She landed in a shockwave of immolating heat, melting the entire structure again.

"Aapi!" she shouted, hovering past the bodies of executioners slowly being consumed by lava.

There was no response.

She commanded the fire to spit out Amawas's body if it had greedily devoured it, but the fire remained silent, flowing, stretching further and further away like an all-consuming entity following her deep primal rage and worry.

Aatish landed on a rock, bent down, her core pulsating within, her eyes glowing hotter and hotter, and just before something inexplicable could happen, a calm voice like gentle falling snow soothed her entire being.

She looked to the corner from where it came from and saw Shahrukh tending to Amawas's wound, shrouding her completely with his shawl.

Her rage and anxiety had somehow blinded her from seeing them sitting just a few meters away.

She shied and slowly hovered to them, commanding the fire to return to her.

She looked at Shahrukh, who had Amawas's stone head in his lap, his blue frosty eyes as calm as ever despite the gravity of the situation.

Aatish sighed.

"Come here, Aatish," he said.

She went closer to him.

He then proceeded to whisper something in her ear that left her eyes filled with tears, then handed her an object and calmly said, "You're needed somewhere else, Aatish," Shahrukh said, frost flowing like condensed blue liquid into Amawas's body.

"I know," she said, then touched Amawas's stone cheeks with her paws and stood up, looked at her Bhaijaan. She knew Amawas aapi was in far better hands than she could ever hope to be.

And flew away.

Aatish soared through the air like a comet, racing towards the girls with a purpose that painted the wind a beautiful streak of sparkly orange. She flew at a phenomenal speed, leaving a trail of fire that tore through the remaining creatures of various natures.

The once formidable army had been mysteriously obliterated, and those few who remained combusted in mid-air as Aatish effortlessly passed through them.

She reached the third checkpoint and saw it covered in a huge blanket of snow and ice, there were thousands of broken shards dug deep into the earth; on the outer edge, she saw Khadija's bow protruding outwards.

Aatish landed in the middle, creating such a shockwave that all the creatures thawed and fell lifelessly on the land. The snow cleared as huge curtains of mist flew up to the sky.

She saw #212 fallen, his blood frozen and his wings protruded outwards. She walked and lifted it up and saw Khadija shimmering, barely breathing. Aatish warmed her up, Isra laid by her side, her entire face covered with deep frost.

She placed her hand over #212 and warmed his entire body, the heat rushed through, defrosting him from deep within; her eyes filled with tears as she felt a faint heartbeat.

Aatish then burned his wound, closing it at the seams. He had already started recovering, and this would help him further.

After rescuing the team, barely inches away from death. She sat alongside and breathed out; her body had been wounded and battered at countless spots. She closed her eyes, put her arm over Khadija and pulled her in a side hug without saying anything.

The team had finally made it out, but they needed to get away from here as soon as possible.

Shahrukh appeared, materializing before her without any warning. She didn't flinch or feel surprised. She knew what her brother was, and now that he was back, she had started feeling deep relaxation and reliance.

Shahrukh placed Amawas on the floor; her left eye was unpetrified, it moved and looked at the girls, then looked at #212 and Aatish, then looked up at the sky.

Shahrukh smiled and then punched Aatish as the sky above them lit up in brilliant white light. Amawas then saw him lifting his little sister up by her neck, her flames completely useless and extinguishing.

The white light subsided, and a figure trailing a long lining of clothes behind it descended on the battered team, only Khadija was left standing.

************

The arrow flipped at the last moment and slithered upward like a snake, streaking straight at Roop, following Amawas's gaze.

Roop brushed it aside with her fabric, and in the next moment, she was down upon Amawas, her knee pressed against Amawas's stone throat. She smiled.

"Still cunning and pathetic even in your last moments, you are a pathetic scum, aren't you?" Fabrics unfurling from her face slowly as she leaned in closer and closer to Amawas's face.

Shahrukh hissed at her.

"Here She comes, GET BACK!" he said, as his entire left side shattered in the next second by a gale of wind, blood seeping out.

Roop frantically tried to fly up but the wind didn't quite give her permission to do so; she tried jumping but stayed on the ground, her eyes widening.

"LET'S RETREAT ROOP," Shahrukh shouted, dropping Aatish and crawling away, as the left side of his body formed slowly.

Between them and the battered group,

A figure of a Simorgh bird materialized out of thin air,

Their worst nightmare had come true; Queen Golden had arrived.