When Elaina arrived at the tundra she was relieved to find that the behemoth beasts had remained in place overnight and seemed to be waiting for her and her friends. Stepping forward she made her way to the closest one that seemed to be their leader.
"Are you willing to help us?" She murmured rubbing the creatures nose.
Huffing the creature nudged its snout closer to Elaina's hand as if indicating that it was agreeing with her.
"Now, how do we get you back to camp?" Elaina wondered to herself turning so that she could face her comrades. "Anyone have any ideas?"
Samantha shook her head slowly but seemed to be deep in thought.
"If I remember correctly there are multiple lands in Ezra's realm, but exactly which direction to go is lost to me." Oliver said rubbing his chin.
"What about the rat?" Charisse asked.
"I haven't seen him since we arrived here." Elaina responded frowning.
"Did it bring us here and abandon us?" C
The acid rain lasted about an hour before finally letting up allowing Elaina and her friends to go out in search of the behemoth beasts that they had let run free.It didn't take long for them to find the beasts huddled together in another cave just on the outskirts of the deadlands resting. Despite the danger that they had just been in the beasts seemed oddly at ease."Sturdy beasts aren't they." Oliver muttered looking impressed."Or they're just dumb." Charisse offered squinting at the beasts that were watching her with narrowing eyes."I think they understand what you said." Elaina said with a laugh. "Better be careful they don't turn on you.""Shut up." Charisse snapped bristling."We don't have time for this we need to get through the deadlands before more acid rain comes." Samantha pointed out."Right." Elaina agreed with Samantha they needed to get going. Not so much because of the rain, but inste
Instead of sleeping that night Elaina decided to take it upon herself to stay up and keep watch. Something had her feeling on edge and she couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding that was trying its best to overwhelm her. When the sun rose the next day she couldn't help feeling thankful.Standing up from her lookout point she stretched allowing her sore muscles to expand only to have to stop when her whip marks tugged painfully. Wincing she ignored their screams of protest and went to wake up the others so they could get a move on."Wake up." Elaina murmured first kneeling beside Chase who was sleeping soundly."Mmmmmmm" Chase murmured rolling over and grabbing Elaina's hand. "Five more minutes.""No can do." Elaina said pulling her hand away. "We've got to get moving and I still need to wake the others.""No fair." Chase grumbled opening his eyes and locking them with Elaina's. "Good morning." He said flashing
"What happened." Elaina gasped looking around the cave.The area around her was singed and small flames were still burning within a few feet of her, the wall before her had burn marks and had been shattered allowing Elaina to see the rock below."Guys." Elaina called as realization began to take over.Something was very off about this cave and it had managed to trap them.Standing Elaina tried to locate her friends who were most likely stuck in the same world that she had been.It didn't take long for her to find them staring blankly into the walls of the caves their faces contorted into looks of fear or loathing.Grabbing Charisse's shoulder Elaina first tried to break her free of the walls hold. Charisse didn't move no matter how hard Elaina shook, instead she remained transfixed to the wall ahead.Cursing Elaina moved onto Chase trying to rouse him.A pained moan escaped Chase's mouth as tears began t
Elaina tried her best to bust through the cave wall that was now in place of the portal her friends had gone through, but ended up with nothing more than ripped and bleeding hands."No matter how much you do that you won't get anywhere." Rathial laughed beginning to move forward.Whirling around Elaina prepared for a fight, she was not about to go down easily.As Rathial approached Elaina lunged towards him pulling her hidden dagger from her shoulder and slashing it towards him. He jumped back allowing Elaina to advance as she flicked the dagger towards Rathial's chest. Dodging he extended his wings as his smile turned into a frown."You really are going to be defiant to the very end aren't you?" He asked snapping his fingers.The two dark warriors that had arrived with Rathial began to advance on Elaina. Moving she flipped over the first one and wrapped an arm around his throat.Growling she began squeezing. Th
Elaina tried her best to bust through the cave wall that was now in place of the portal her friends had gone through, but ended up with nothing more than ripped and bleeding hands."No matter how much you do that you won't get anywhere." Rathial laughed beginning to move forward.Whirling around Elaina prepared for a fight, she was not about to go down easily.As Rathial approached Elaina lunged towards him pulling her hidden dagger from her shoulder and slashing it towards him. He jumped back allowing Elaina to advance as she flicked the dagger towards Rathial's chest. Dodging he extended his wings as his smile turned into a frown."You really are going to be defiant to the very end aren't you?" He asked snapping his fingers.The two dark warriors that had arrived with Rathial began to advance on Elaina. Moving she flipped over the first one and wrapped an arm around his throat.Growling she began squeezing. Th
Elaina tumbled out of the air landing hard on her injured back. The sky above was full of clouds and thunder had begun to rumble as lightening streaked across the sky.Gasping Elaina remained in place staring straight ahead as the vision of her parents continued to dancing around in her mind.Closing her eyes she could feel tears threatening to form. She had promised herself and Chase that she absolutely would not cry again and she intended to keep it that way. Forcing them back she tried to think of something else."Elaina!" Chase's voice travelled to her over the sound of thunder as the ground vibrated while footsteps sounded. "Is it really you?"Rolling over Elaina fixed her gaze on the man that was running towards her. "How long this time?" She asked steeling herself for the answer."Only a month." Chase confirmed bending down to help Elaina to her feet."Careful." Elaina hissed as her back screamed in
"CHARISSE!" Elaina screamed as her friend remained motionless and devoid of all color on the ground in front of her. "No, Charisse you can't go. No."Tears were beginning to pour down Elaina's cheeks. Fire balls were still falling from the sky, but she didn't care in the slightest. If they wanted to hit her and kill her they could.Grabbing hold of Charisse Elaina continued to try to shake her awake even though she was beginning to turn cold."Charisse, please stop playing, please. I won't make fun of you ever again, just please wake up." Elaina sobbed pulling Charisse into a hug. "Please.""Elaina!" Came Chase's voice from behind her."GET BACK!" Elaina screamed holding Charisse protectively. "STAY AWAY!"She could feel the odd sensation of being pushed away from her body once more as something within her woke up. The feeling was similar to what happened in the crystal cave.
Elaina didn't know how long she remained in Chase's embrace as she sobbed and mourned the loss of her friend. Samantha and Oliver had already gone out and collected Charisse's body, at least what remained of it and brought it into the bunkard to clean and prepare for a proper send off.The fireball's had stopped falling from the sky leaving behind a hellish glow that blocked out the blue from above. The look of it had reminded Elaina of the sky within her prophethetic dream. It seemed that the end was drawing near and they needed to make a move before it was too late."Sends a chill up your spine doesn't it." Said Chase as he stepped fully out of the bunkard after Elaina.Needing to be active Elaina had decided to go outside and check out all the damage. Many craters had been left in the ground and some of them had pieces of bodies scattered within them. The blood of those killed stained the green grass red making the whole scene lo