Bryes and I found that when we left the mines, the sun had risen to a point where it must have been at least mid-afternoon. As we travelled through the town, I became puzzled, looking from house to house. The streets were as empty as ever. "What's goin' on?" Bryes breathed. I could hear the deep concern in his voice, so I put my hand on his shoulder again.

"They probably just don't realize the ones missin' they're souls have been brought back to bein' normal. Give it time," I said, hoping I sounded convincing. He nodded and continued forward, but with a bit more speed in his step. I had to lengthen my stride to keep up with him. He rushed up to his house, undid the locks, and burst inside. Diggmet, Pomme, and Aydan scurried around his feet as he went over to the bed to look at Kenadie, and I quickly joined him.

"No..." he breathed. Kenadie's eyes still stared blankly up at the ceiling. Nothing had changed. She still breathed shallowly and her lids refused to blink.

"Ma?" Pomme asked, clambering up the side of the bed to sit beside her. But his face fell as he also realized that despite the Raector's death, Kenadie was still lost.

"Damn it!" Bryes yelled, suddenly throwing the huge drill he held in his hands straight into the wall. There was a loud crack as it embedded itself into the wood, making a huge hole that splintered on the edges. Bryes seethed, before taking a huge breath and looking at me. "Sorry," he apologized quickly, walking over to the opposite wall and pulling the drill free after a few strong tugs. It was then that I noticed that many places in the walls had been boarded up, and some of the windows were cleaner and newer looking than the others. Aydan ran over to him with a few boards of wood in his paws, and Diggmet carried a hammer with nails held in his mouth. Bryes thanked them as he accepted the items, and calmly put the boards into place and hammered them over the hole as Diggmet went and put the drill back on its hook.

"Wa?" Pomme whispered in my ear, having climbed on my shoulder.

"I ain't got a clue," I murmured back, watching as Bryes stood up and brushed himself off.

"Sorry," he repeated, moving over towards the table in the middle of the room and pulling out one of the wooden chairs. I came to join him, sitting across the table.

"What's wrong?" I asked carefully.

"Lemme explain," Bryes said, tapping his hand on the table. "That Raector's been plaugin' our town for a long, long while. An' we found out that anyone who was attacked had 'bout a month of bein' soulless 'fore... 'fore they died," he murmured, looking over at Kenadie. "I lost my ma to that time lim't." I felt my heart sink as I watched Bryes' frustrated expression turn to sadness. "She was the first'un attacked. That was years ago. I always did want ta be a miner, like my pa was a long time back, but I's been watchin' this minin' town slowly turn to nothin' as the years go by."

"So y'all lost yer ma and yer dream..." I murmured, frowning as I watched Bryes blink quickly to keep himself composed. "I'm sorry, Bryes."

"Ain't your fault," he said, waving off my apology.

"Sa..." Pomme sighed quietly from my shoulder.

"Here's what concerns me," Bryes said, steeling himself and looking back at me. "It's been 'bout three 'n' a half weeks since that Racetor last came on up 'n' attacked the town. We gotta figure out why killin' it didn't release all the souls 'fore this week's at it's end."

"Or all the vill'gers will die..." I finished, dread boiling in my stomach. I looked over at Kenadie, and then offered Bryes a smile that I had hoped was encouraging. "Well, ya done so much fer me, Bryes. I'm more'n willin' to go back inta that there mine and investagate witcha."

"Thanks, Kendrick," he said, a smile finally ghosting over his face once more. "Bless yer soul."

"We'll give the creatures some time ta rest and head back down after lunch."

"Alright," Bryes said, nodding in agreement. "Lemme make us somethin'." He stood up, heading over to the door. I looked over the back of my chair confusedly.

"Where ya goin'?"

"Huntin'," he responded simply. "I ain't got many more fixin's for soup. Besides, we need somethin' more substant'al. Some meat'll do everyone good. Keep an eye on the place 'til I git back." Bryes saluted me with two fingers, and then called to Aydan and Diggmet, who followed him out the door.

I knew that the Biruls didn't eat meat, so I found a bucket of the stuff he had made that morning and heated it back up for Konyu and the white Birul. I left it outside for them to share and convinced Jeke that he'd have some food too soon enough. I was so lucky he was well trained, and just patiently crossed his arms and waited, black tail whipping around behind him. I stroked his blue fur for a bit before heading back inside. Bryes returned after a while, grinning victoriously as Aydan and Diggmet carried something in between them. It was so mangled and bloody that I couldn't even tell what it was anymore, and I didn't take the time to ask. Bryes suspended it over the fire and sat in front of it in order to watch it cook. I sat next to him, observing every time he turned the meat slightly so it didn't burn on one side. Unlike last time I saw him in front of the fire, he wasn't caught up in his love of culinary arts this time. This time, his face was clouded with worry and thought. I reached out and patted his shoulder gently, and he gave him a grunt of appreciation before he turned his attention back to the food.

This time, we rode into the mines instead of walking, sure that we wouldn't be taken by surprise. I followed behind Bryes on Jeke. Bryes looked a little awkward on Konyu, and the Birul didn't seem to be thrilled either, but luckily the creature didn't throw a fit. The poor white Birul also looked out of sorts as Aydan, Diggmet, and Pomme all lounged on top of its back, especially with Pomme holding up a lit lantern. Still, neither Birul bucked, and that was all I could have asked for. Sometimes Konyu would stop to sniff something on the floor, and no tugging on the reigns by Bryes would make him stop. He wouldn't move until he was good and ready. But I didn't mind occasionally stopping, since he was well-behaved otherwise. At one particular detour, Konyu was cleaning his feathers between his flat teeth and I trotted up next to Bryes. "Never ridden anythin', then?" I laughed.

"I ain't never needed to," Bryes grunted as he tugged on the reigns.

"Guess that makes sense. Don't bother pullin', he'll come 'long 'ventually." Soon enough, I was leading the pack, and Konyu seemed more inclined to keep up with Jeke leading the way. We travelled deep into the mines, much deeper than we had to go to find the Raector. There were a few forks, but Bryes knew the place pretty well and had a pretty good idea of which paths not to take. It took a while of traveling before I said, "'Ey, Bryes?"

"Yeah?"

"What in the world are we searchin' for, anyway?"

"The Dawnpod."

"What's that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Bryes shook his head.

"I ain't got an idea what it looks like, but I heard once that it's kinda like a Raector's nest."

"Their nest?"

"Yep. It's where they keep extra soul energy. Littler Raectors ain't got one, but bigger ones'll make a Dawnpod ta hold soul energy in. They go back there ta sleep, 'n' while they sleep they get fed 'nough soul energy to live 'nother day."

"I see..." I murmured, looking ahead, into the dark mines. We were looking for the Raector's nest... It was unnerving and exciting at the same time.

"La!" Pomme squeaked, pointing down a passage we nearly passed. At the very end of the passage, a soft blue glow was reflecting against the far wall. I wouldn't have noticed if Pomme hadn't grabbed my attention. I jerked Jeke to a sudden stop and turned him down the tunnel, which Bryes observed with a curious eye.

"We didn't make this'n part," he said aloud, obviously deep in thought.

"The Raector must've dug it for 'imself!" I said excitedly, kicking Jeke into a trot. Bryes called after me, then groaned, not wanting to aggravate Konyu by trying to get him to move any faster. He came into the chamber at the end of the long tunnel a few minutes after I did, but I hadn't moved from the entrance anyway. I was too occupied with staring at the sight before me.

In the huge chamber sat a glowing blue pod. It must have been as large as a house. It was suspended off the ground, protrusions emerging from every side and sticking to the walls, holding the pod up. Each of these protrusions pulsed with energy, which flowed in towards the center, swirled about, and then was pushed into the outstretched sections only to start the cycle again. It looked like it was full of water that flowed around the pulsing mass, but this water glowed with a brilliant light. "Wow," Bryes gasped from beside me when he joined me in the chamber. "So that there's the Dawnpod."

"I'd reckon so," I responded, as Jeke walked forward to get a closer look. I hopped off his back to get up close to one of the protrusions, emerging from the Dawnpod and sticking diagonally to the ground. I touched the glowing blue surface, and suddenly felt a painful surge through my arm. I must have screamed, and I found myself on my knees a moment later.

"Kendrick?! Kendrick, are ya okay?" Bryes gasped, getting off Konyu to come and see if I was okay. I looked at my fingertips, and a black smoke was rising off of them, the same smoke that the Raectors changed into when they were destroyed. I clenched my teeth.

"Now that hurt," I murmured, forcing myself to stand up. I heard a loud whinny as Jeke had tried touching the main body of the Dawnpod, and he'd reared back as he also felt the shock. He jumped backwards on his hooves, and then turned around to trot over to the edge of the chamber, privately nursing his hand. I looked up at the Dawnpod and frowned deeply. "What kin we do if we can't even touch the thing?"

"We gotta bunch of creatures," I said, turning to look at the assembled group. "One of 'em's gotta be able ta do somethin'."

"Aydan can't do nothin' without his mineral tube..." Bryes pondered, before his eyes landed on his small dragon. "Diggmet!"

"What's 'e gonna do?"

"His horn," Bryes explained, pointing to it as Diggmet approached. "Diggmet, try 'n' touch the Dawnpod." Diggmet nodded obediently, and pressed the tip of his horn to the side of the pulsating pod. A zap of electricity ran down the spiral of the horn, but fizzled out at the bottom, and the dragon pulled back without being affected. "Alright!"

"Can 'e break into that there pod?" I asked. Diggmet looked at me, and smirked a fanged smirk. The horn on his head began to spin, suddenly becoming a drill. He pressed the tip to the side of the Dawnpod, and sparks leapt from his horn as he began to drill it in. "I didn't know 'e could do that!"

"Yep," Bryes said, smiling widely as Diggmet's horn went deeper and deeper into the glowing blue structure. "Thems kinda dragon's the one we modeled our drills after. At first, miners were only the ones that could get their hands on a dragon like 'im. But now everyone's gots the tools."

"That's intrestin', I didn't kn-" My words were cut off when Diggmet suddenly jumped backwards, and blue liquid gushed from the Dawnpod like it had sprung a leak. But when the liquid hit the ground, instead of splashing, it became gaseous, like the smoke from the hot spring, and rose up off the ground in delicate rolls. It began to fill the chamber, a light blue fog that delicately pours from the hole Diggmet had made in the Dawnpod. The fog swirled around our feet, filling the chamber until it began to waft out into the tunnel. When some of it pour into that tunnel, the fog seemed to suddenly shift, and it all began to flow in that direction, like a river. It gushed out of the Dawnpod and straight out the tunnel, and slowly, the glow began to fade from the Dawnpod as the light blue glow drifted away. "D'ya think that's... soul energy?"

"Must be," Bryes responded, watching as the Dawnpod's extremities began to shrivel up as the soul energy left the pod. The large, round structure began to collapse into itself, losing all of the energy that had been put into it. Soon, the blue glow was gone, and all that was left on the ground of the chamber was a flat crust of what used to be the Dawnpod, as the last of the soul energy wafted out of the chamber and followed in a steady, fluid march down the tunnels of the mines, heading for the surface. Bryes and I looked at the shriveled Dawnpod for a moment more before I turned to Jeke and lifted myself into the saddle.

"Well, let's go see if we done did it right this time."