They reached the river, and Oz kept his eyes trained to the sky.<br/>"Celris.we need to run the rest of the way."<br/>"What's wrong?"<br/>"Something horrible is happening. Mother..." Oz didn't know how to describe it. He knew she was rising, but he was almost overwhelmed by it, he couldn't perceive the threat, he only knew they needed to stop it...NOW.<br/>Osbourne heard an unusual silence, a specific lack of the word, 'why', and turned his attention from the heavens to regard his traveling companion...who was currently sprinting ahead, 100 meters away and counting.<br/>Oz started running after her, his gears whirring and letting out a slow hum as his machinery warmed up.<br/>Even at his comfortable pace, Celris was faster, but Oz didn't race her, as she kept on insisting, between pants and whooping laughter.<br/><span style="font-style: italic">She can't last at that pace. Exhaustion will take her soon.</span><br/>Ironically, exhaustion was the very thing Celris refused to give in to.<br/>As they covered the miles, the surroundings becoming more and more dilapidated, Celris' steps faltered, but every time it happened, she charged ahead, seemingly stronger than ever.<br/>Oz followed her far past the point he'd expected her to collapse, and as the miles past he thought he heard her chanting, using her exhalations to repeat a mantra over and over.<br/>He could not, for the life of him, decipher it. At first it seemed like the same phrase, but then the words changed. Her tone, though she used no voice, wavered, yet seemed to possess it's own pattern.<br/>Her breaths gradually sharpened, and became painful, but she pressed on, desperate to defeat her longer legged companion, even though he need not breath or rest.<br/>When Celris started coughing, and even her odd mantra faltered, Oz slowed, and she followed his lead, reluctantly.<br/>"What's...wrong...tired?"<br/>Oz pointed to her, indicating her heaving chest and uneven breathe. "If we fight the HighBreed and associated enemies, you will be in poor shape."<br/>Celris snorted, "I'm...fine...legs...can...keep...going."<br/>Oz recognized that stubborn set in her jaw. "Look, we're almost there, just rest while we<span style="font-style: italic">walk</span>the rest, okay? See? There's Hephaestus, it's beyond that."<br/>He was met with a suspicious look, but she relented.<br/>"What were you reciting?"<br/>"An epic."<br/>"About what?"<br/>"Vengeance. A man and his son murder an entire generation of usurpers from their home, leaving not one guilty soul alive."<br/>Oz stared at her face, so serious, where before had been happiness. Emotions were tumultuous things, it seems, "Don't act recklessly,Celris. The dead are dead."<br/>She smiled, so cheery,even though her legs were shaking from exhaustion, and coughs racked her frame as the oxygen deficit took it's toll on her muscles and lungs, "I am aware. That epic is a rather famous one, and I unfortunately could not remember one of equal fame that preached about peace and karma."<br/>The HighBreed could not decipher her tone, whether it was scorn or regret that made her words bitter, he was starting to realize how often she smiled, and how often he took that as meaning everything was okay, all better, forgotten.