“Wha-where to?“ she looked me up and down. Seriously – had she already forgotten the one person who made all this possible? Such ungrateful people.
“I need to do something! Have you forgotten?”
Laila cut in. “Surely it can wait— Ms Farrell’s calling our parents— there's going to be a cele—”
“Are you serious? You’ve forgotten too?” I turned my glare on Laila. Evan held up his hands, trying – and failing – to hide his bewilderment.
Aithne eyed me warily. “What’s going on, Astra?”
Rolling my eyes, I told her, “Endra, Aithne, Endra!” Without waiting for her reply, I turned away, dashing down the stage’s stairs and fighting my way through the chaotic crowd all around us.
I shoved and elbowed anyone who stood in my way, ignoring the questions and protests being shot at me from all sides. It was unbelievable – even though they all knew about Endra, and how much she’d helped us – Aithne had made it very clear when she told our story – NO ONE, not a single person had bothered to ask about her well-being.
Outrageous.
Finally, I broke free of the throngs of students in the hall, and came into the hallway. I rushed for the nearest door, pushing it open and running out into the school garden.
When I came to an empty plot of land, I clicked my tongue and a ball of green light appeared in front of me. “Bring me to the hydra’s nest,” I commanded.
It started to float away, and I flew after it, sending a silent plea into the air that this would all work out.
The green orb led me past the castle, through a forest, to the same lush green field the hydra had been in, only now the hydra and the doors we’d come out from were gone. I touched down, and snapped my fingers, making the light disappear.
Then, I turned my gaze to the middle of the field, and my heart stopped – quite literally.
“No... NO!” I screamed, stumbling back.
The hydra’s nest... was EMPTY.
No eggs. No Endra. No chains.
Pinching myself, I rushed forwards, digging at the nest, flinging the stupid sticks and loathsome leaves away, begging that I would find the room hidden underneath, praying that Endra’s gentle smile would greet me after I pushed through the last of the sticks...
But as I pushed aside the last leaf, all I met was rock – the dull slab of rock that had somehow seemed, to the hydra, like a perfect place for a nest.
I punched it, growling, ignoring the throbbing in my knuckles.
Where could Endra be? How could the eggs have just disappeared? With a hiss of frustration, I raised my fist again, ready to hit the rock till it cracked and revealed the person I wanted to see the most...
“Astra.” I froze mid-punch. It was just one simple word, but the warmth in it nearly knocked me back a step.
A pair of arms wrapped around me, and I spun around, tears leaking from my eyes as I grabbed the person’s waist and held on tight. “Endra!”
She whispered, “Thank you so much.”
I leaned back. “How - where did the eggs go?”
“Don’t you remember? Ten years ago, on this very day, I was sentenced to prison. I thought I’d never see you again...but here I am. I almost forgot about it, but they released me at dawn, and I’ve been waiting here – for you.” she explained, smiling down at me.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier – it was chaos when we got back, and I couldn’t slip away -”
She shushed me, “It’s alright – what matters is that you came.”
“I never thought I’d have you back,” I murmured, my voice closing off. “I thought you’d abandoned me, once and for all.”
Endra ruffled my hair, “I never left you - I was right here this whole time.”
Stepping back to examine her, I frowned. “I’m going to make Mom cook all the delicacies she can – you definitely need fattening. You make me feel like I– I became shorter and stouter!”
Laughing, Endra pulled me back into her embrace. “I’m fine.”
And just like that, I had my fairytale ending. Now all I needed to do was to make sure Almoria did too.
As I pulled away from Father, Evan cheered from behind me, “She’s alive!” Turning around, I saw the two angels squatting next to Astra. Before my eyes, she stirred, rubbing her eyes and sitting upright with much effort.
“Well, looks like Sleeping Beauty’s finally awake,” Laila cracked a grin.
“What were you thinking, you fool?!” I dashed forward and wrapped my arms around her, my emotions a mix of relief, concern and pure frustration. (Probably a bad idea to hug her really tightly when she was injured and all, but hey. I missed her.) “You could have killed yourself!”
“Ow-Aithne, my bones - that beast was like rock-” Astra winced, then smiled faintly. “Yeah, yeah, I’m glad to see you too.”
“Did you think I was just gonna let you die on us?!”
Astra sighed. “Of course not.”
As I fussed and fumed over her scrapes and injuries (I insisted on tying a tourniquet, using seven sheets of gauze and I-stopped-counting-after-a-thousand Band-Aids, but of course, she said no), Evan pointed out something so obvious, I slapped myself for forgetting about it. Literally.
“Guys, shouldn’t we be getting back to Almoria High? I mean...we’ve left without informing them. Won’t they be... uh...?”
“Oh. Um,” Laila muttered, “We’re so dead.”
And as it turned out, yes, we were.
Father insisted on creating a portal to bring us back, instead of letting Astra do one of her light tricks. (“Your guardian angel friend might still be too weak, and I don’t want my little girls-and boy-to be late,” he pointed out, ignoring Astra’s soft protests of “I’m fine, I swear!”) He clapped, and a swirling, ruby-red portal shimmered, beckoning us in. Evan went first, jumping in confidently. Laila followed suit, taking a deep breath before heading in. Astra went third, still a little shaky after her encounter with the dragon. When the last of her dissolved into the vortex, I stepped forward. Placing my palm into the glowing mass, I turned back. “Thank you, Father, for all you’ve done.”
“You’re welcome, my dear child,” the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Now, see forth, and do me proud. I’ll be waiting at home.”
As I stepped out, I faced a familiar sight— Almoria High’s hall, the place I had known for four years of my life. There was just one thing-I was on the stage, the others next to me in a tight circle, and a mob of students facing us below, an identical look of glee on their faces, clearly wanting to enjoy the show as Mr. Grouchy delivered the blow.
Laila opened her mouth, but just then, Mr. Grouchy made his dramatic appearance. He poofed (is that a verb?) onstage, gesturing towards us.
“And here we have our four delinquents, ready to be expelled,” he grinned, baring his hideous fangs. (Gross. He really needed to get his fangs brushed-and flossed.)
Wait a minute-expelled?!
Evan voiced out my thoughts. “Expelled?! But Mr. Brunt, I mean, we left for a good cause! To save Almoria!”
“And why would I trust you?” he sneered. “For all I know, you may be weaving elaborate lies. Proof.” He beckoned with his hand. “If I didn’t see it, it didn’t happen,” he said in a singsong voice. Astra’s face turned even paler. Laila fidgeted with her hands behind her back, her head down and eyes shut. I looked down at the numerous pairs of eyes, all of them staring back at us. Right now, it felt like my nightmares were coming alive. But this wasn’t a dream I could just wake up and stop. I was helpless, forced to see what happened next.
“Come on, I know you have at least one shred of evidence,” he smirked. “No? Okay, then. I, Brunt Michael Everglow, hereby declare these students expe-”
“No. These young students shall not be expelled. I stand by their cause, and defend them at my own will.” Ms. Farrell stepped forward. A ripple of gasps passed through the hall. “Now, tell us, why did you have to leave the school?”
Astra stepped forward, explaining everything, with occasional inputs from me, Laila and Evan respectively. When it came to Endra, she seemed unable to speak, so I took over instead. Towards the end, Astra reached into her pocket, and pulled out the opal (thankfully without the fire), holding it up for everyone to see. “And that’s how Almoria was saved,” Evan concluded, stepping back.
“Lies! Deceit! I tell you, Farrell, these-these ruffians, they’re merely making this up-” Mr. Brunt spluttered, but Ms. Farrell held a hand up, shutting his trap instantly.
“No. I have faith in them, and know their intentions are nothing but pure.” Ms. Farrell smiled at the four of us. “I’ve been watching you, you know. I have my ways.” It did make sense, actually. Sometimes, I had noticed a lone eagle cruise through the sky. Maybe that was Mdm. Danton reporting to her...wait, did that mean she had seen me litter?! Oops.
“Instead of expelling them, I believe they should be honored,” Ms. Farrell continued. “So they will be admitted back into the school, and given the prestigious opportunity of being the first group of student leaders.” The hall exploded into cheers, welcoming us back once more, and the four of us formed a group hug, Evan included.
“Guys, I’m just so glad we did it,” Laila smiled.
“Yeah, Astra, you really kicked butt,” Evan grinned. “I didn’t know you were into that kind of thing.”
Astra didn’t reply. She seemed preoccupied with something, her gaze drifting into the air.
“Hey - you okay?” I spoke, loud enough for only Astra to hear.
Her reply was short and sharp, but enough to snap me out of my bliss. “I’m going.”
The moment Astra’s eyes closed, our purple shield flickered off. I hurried over to Astra, stumbling along the way, and reached out to shake her shoulders.
“Astra? Astra!” Aithne shouted, panic making her voice sound several pitches higher.
“She probably fainted, or something— she crashed pretty bad...” I suggested, praying with all my might that she was fine.
“Is... she...?” Evan whispered, terror flashing in his eyes.
Her skin was deadly pale, her lips a terrifying purple.
Aithne interrupted, “No! No way. Look— she's breathing.” I placed one finger just below her nose. Sure enough, she was inhaling and exhaling, but only barely.
I turned to where the dragon lay spread-eagled, with the opal lying a few meters from its left leg, where Astra had flung it. “The beast... is it really dead?”
“We should go check,” Evan stood up, and we moved cautiously towards the beast, leaving Aithne behind with Astra, wrapping a piece of cloth she’d torn off her shirt around the burns on her hand. The beast certainly looked dead – the glowing veins had disappeared, and its red eyes were shut. All that remained was an empty shell of black, with smoke billowing out from all parts of its body.
Evan plucked an arrow from the quiver slung over his back, tiptoed to the beast’s leg, and poked the dragon with the arrow.
Nothing happened, and I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
A few more arrow-pokes and kicks later, Evan finally confirmed, “Yep! Definitely dead.”
Cheering, we ran back to Aithne, who was watching us anxiously.
“It’s dead!”
Aithne let loose a sigh of relief, “Good.” The three of us high-fived each other, whooping. “Three minutes left to spare till the equinox!”
Fidgeting, Evan suddenly murmured, “Uh... I’m sorry, guys— I know I shouldn’t have teased you. I was there when you heard the story from Endra— the way you accepted your job so swiftly— no angel could ever have done that.”
“Yeah... I agree,” I said. After a moment of silence, I cleared my throat awkwardly as Aithne simply nodded.
“Guys... the opal? Are we sure its properly destroyed?” I asked, recalling about it only now.
Aithne gasped. “What if it isn’t? Don’t just stand there; go and check!”
I ran over to where it was and grabbed the arrow Evan had left on the ground. Holding my breath, I reached out, and poked the opal with the tip. Something hissed, and I jumped back, but nothing attacked me, so I bent back down, and cautiously picked it up.
It felt cold and heavy in my palm, and I rolled it over, running a thumb down the side. “I don’t think it still contains the power. It’s probably just... a normal gemstone,” I shrugged, and pocketed it, “A good souvenir, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, and these too.” Aithne deadpanned, touching the heavy chain around her neck— the chain that had allowed us to use our magic here. The three of us glanced at each other, and burst into spontaneous laughter.
At that very moment, someone cleared their throat behind me, “Ai— Aithne?” We stopped laughing abruptly, and I whipped my head around,
“Y... you...?”
Aithne’s father stood behind us, looking very disorientated, “What... Why are we here... who are these people... and what happened to her...?” His gaze dropped to Astra’s still body.
Aithne narrowed her eyes, “Shouldn’t you know, you disgusting traitor?”
He frowned, “Traitor? What do you mean?” I scanned him from head to toe. He definitely didn’t seem to be feigning ignorance. So...
“Ohhh,” I accidentally said aloud.
Evan eyed me, “Um, what?”
“The beast was manipulating your dad, Aithne. He didn’t do any of that of his own accord. Now that the beast is dead... he’s back,” I explained. It made so much sense now. Before, when he was tying us up, I’d noticed that his eyes were sort of glassy and unfocused. I should have realised then. It was a very clear sign that he was being manipulated.
She turned to stare at me, a dozen unreadable emotions flickering across her face, “Are you sure...?”
“Yeah.”
Aithne broke her gaze, and rushed over to her father, who pulled her into a hug, the two of them sobbing onto each other’s shoulders. (Who knew Aithne had a sappy side to her? I, for one, didn’t.)
A soft whimper brought me out of my daze. I turned around, heaving a huge sigh of relief as I watched Astra’s eyelids flutter open.
As the others worked to revive Laila, I backed away to somewhere far, far away from the beast, keeping my eyes trained on the fire opal on its face, and thickening the monster’s light-cage.
The beast roared and plunged into the shield, but it was thrown back with such great force that it landed inches away from the other side of the shield – and that was saying a lot, considering how HUGE I’d made that shield. Hm. Perhaps I should’ve made it less spacious.
Despite that disappointment, the beast still ran straight at the shield again, only to be slammed onto its rear end again.
And it kept the pattern going – run, crash, BANG!
“Got you,” I whispered, “you’re STUBBORN!”
And if I was right, this beast would never give up until it succeeded in doing something the exact way it was going about doing it.
A plan started to form in my head – and a slow smile spread across my face – until I realised what I had to do to execute it.
“Oh, crap.” I breathed, suddenly feeling a million times smaller.
Endra’s face – the sallow, pale face she’d worn in the chamber beneath the hydra’s egg – flickered before my eyes. And she’d rattled those massive chains and said – she'd said - “and now – this is where I remain, cursed never to see the sun rise again.”
“NO!” I bellowed, my breaths coming in short, quick gasps.
I didn’t care what it would take to get that tiny opal on its face. As long as it died – as long as my friends got out of here safely to rescue Endra – even if I... died, it would be worth it.
With that cheerful thought, I scrambled over to the others. “Get far, far away from here – carry Laila, or something. Don’t - don’t go anywhere near me – it won’t be safe. And stay AWAY from the beast. If anything happens-” my voice closed off, and I had to choke the next few words out, “ - leave without me. Just go and free Endra.”
When Aithne and Evan immediately opened their mouths to argue, I held a hand out to shush them. Grasping Aithne’s hand, I looked her straight in the eye. “Please - you know how much Endra helped us. Promise me – promise me, she’ll see the sun again. Don’t - don’t let evil steal another of our loved ones.”
Aithne froze, and I knew she was thinking about her father. I nodded, squeezing her hand tighter. “It’s horrible. But that’s just how some things are. Just please let me do this one last thing, for Endra. And – and Almoria.”
The beast gave another mighty roar, and Aithne snapped out of her daze. She pulled away, and began to scoop Laila’s head up. “We’ll take care of it. Now go... and good luck.” she paused, seeming desperate as she whispered, “Is there really nothing we can do to help?”
“Yes - help me by staying out of this, please. Only I can do this.”
I turned to Evan. “Take care of them both.” He nodded warily, slung his quiver of bows back across his back, and turned to pick Laila’s legs up. They ran off into a clearing, and I got to my feet, trying to ignore the crazy way my legs were trembling as I watched the beast get hurled back from the shield once more.
Closing my eyes – allowing myself one final, calming breath, I spun my arm around, and a shield of purple light closed around me, followed by an indigo one, then a blue one, then a green one, a yellow one, an orange one, and a final red one.
Perhaps the full spectrum would protect me enough to be able to see Endra again.
I unfolded my wings and took off into the sky, stopping when I was hovering just above the dragon’s purple shield. Putting two fingers into my mouth, I gave a sharp, piercing whistle, enough to make the beast finally look up.
I forced myself to meet its glowing red eyes, fighting to keep my mind clear as it blew a huge tongue of flame out.
“That’s right... come for me... you know you want to...” I murmured, watching as the beast’s eyes flashed between its own violet shield and the rainbow of colours I was encased in.
At last, its gaze stopped on me, and my heart seemed to stop along with it. I held my breath as it bent its scaly legs, roaring as it poised to jump. With one mighty screech that didn’t seem to match its hulking mass, it leaped up, fire burning in its eyes...
And slammed into its own shield, which threw it back onto the ground in a heap of flailing limbs.
It howled, scrambling to its feet, eyes flashing with malice as blinding, searing flames escaped from its shivering nostrils. This fire was different – it was so, so scorching that I felt like my entire body was on fire, even though I had SEVEN shields to protect me from the heat.
I screamed, thrashing in mid-air as I fought to add more shields, my skin stinging and boiling.
Then, suddenly, as quickly as it had come, the heat disappeared, leaving a cold chill in its place. I clamped my mouth shut, and spun around. I found Laila sitting up with Aithne and Evan supporting her, far away from the beast and I, and she had her hands spread out. It clicked – she must have teleported an icy gust from the Antarctic straight into my shield. Or somewhere cold – for all I knew, she might have teleported it from the fridge in her house.
Giving her a grateful thumbs-up, I turned back to the beast, whose flames had disappeared. It was eyeing me once again, and I saw the fury and obstinacy in its eyes as it spread its wings and lunged for me once more, even as the shield slammed it back onto the ground.
Steeling myself, I raised my arms, and the beast’s shield dissipated into the air.
It must have realised too, for it gave a roar of glee and thrust its body straight for me – the entire hefty mass of scales it was – and I squeezed my eyes shut, a few terrified tears leaking from them as I curled myself up into a ball.
When the beast struck my arsenal of shields, they vibrated so violently that I was sure they would crack under the strain – but then everything stilled, and the only sound was an agonized wail from the beast.
I forced my eyes open, panting as I watched the beast stumble to its feet again, and slammed into the shields again.
And again,
And again.
My shields held strong, and they shook less and less each time the beast collided with them. Clearly, the beast’s initial ability to talk – and think – had disappeared, leaving behind a savage, mindless shell.
Too bad it hadn’t lost its powers as well – with each collision, it screeched and hissed out a bunch of flames that made me insanely grateful for Laila’s cold breezes.
After the beast had crashed into the shields two more times, I finally realised, smacking myself, that we needed to get this over before the equinox. I looked down at my watch – ten minutes left.
Which meant it was time for me to complete the plan – do the one final thing that might – or might NOT – end this all.
Sucking in a shaky breath, I lifted the first shield – the purple shield – and the beast slammed its weight onto the indigo shield, which still held fast, despite losing its companion.
It felt like everything had disappeared – like I was watching everything before me as a high-resolution movie, and it was at the part right before the climax, where all the tension was building, up, and up, and up...
One by one, I let go of my trusty shields, and the beast ricocheted off the shield behind each dome of light I removed.
Until, at last, I was left with the final shield, glowing an eerie red just like the eyes of the beast.
With a menacing wail, the dragon spread its wings and took off, circling above where I hovered, the opal on its forehead glinting in the light of the fiery breath that it expelled.
Somewhere far off in the distance, I heard Aithne scream, “Don’t do it, Astra!” She must have caught on to my plan. The girl had a pretty big brain - but she’d always seemed unwilling to make good use of it.
Evan’s panicked voice pierced the night, “There must be something else – don't unravel the shield- “ he scrambled to his feet, reaching for his bow and arrows.
Before the three shadowy figures behind me could move, I snapped my fingers, and a ball of light knocked Evan back as another dome of purple light slammed into place over the three of them.
The three of them hammered against the shield, but it didn’t budge. Their pleas got louder and more desperate, but I closed my eyes, letting their voices fade to nothing more than a hum in the background. Satisfied, I turned my gaze back to the beast.
It wasn’t looking at me, however – the purple glow of Aithne, Laila and Evan’s shield had distracted it from me, and now it was focused on them.
The dragon drew itself up to its full height, and let loose a ground-shaking roar as it pivoted to face the violet dome.
“NO!” I screamed, searching frantically for something to lure its attention back.
Ignoring me, the beast started to charge towards the others.
I reached into my pocket, and plucked a petal from the lotus Aithne had given me, shoving it into my mouth. It tasted HORRIBLE – like bitter medicine plus vomit and your dear old granny’s daily vitamins. But as I choked it down, my mind seemed to take over, and it was through pure instinct that I swirled my right arm in a circle.
A dome of fire appeared, and fell into place over the beast.
The beast yowled in pain as it smashed into the fire, and rolled over, bellowing murderously when it saw its cage of flames.
Its eyes met mine, and when I took the flames away, it ignored Aithne, Laila and Evan - who were still screaming at me -, slowly turning to face me instead, clearly wanting vengeance.
“Come and get your revenge... You know you want it... I’m here...” I whispered.
Forcing myself to keep my eyes open, I watched as it spread its wings and headed for where I hovered with my red shield.
Slowly at first... then faster, and faster, and, a few meters away from me, its mouth curled into a smirk.
I clenched my fists, staring at its fiery opal of power closed in, waiting for the perfect timing to strike.
Finally, right before its gigantic head crashed into the light, I unraveled my fists, and the red light disappeared. I hurled myself onto its forehead, my eyes fixated on one thing only: the opal.
Reaching out a hand, I felt myself slam into a rock-hard, BOILING mass of scales, but I ignored the pain, my fingers grasping for the round stone. Once they found it - the icy cold surface cooling the blisters on my hand, I gripped the opal and pulled, and it snapped off the dragon’s forehead in a flurry of red sparks.
Relief coursed through me – but it was quickly replaced by shock as the opal exploded right in my palm, while at the same time the dragon collapsed to the ground with a wail that sounded like a deflating balloon.
Within milliseconds, the shimmering opal changed from a harmless little gemstone into a hissing, smoking, burning mess that scorched my hand, causing even more angry red welts to pop up.
Shrieking, I flung it away, but another huge pile of flames burst up from it before it landed on the ground, and a shock wave knocked me away from the crumbling dragon.
I crashed head-first feet away from the purple glow of Aithne, Laila and Evan’s shield, the rough gravelly surface of the ground being the last thing I felt before the screaming and hissing all around me faded to nothing but darkness.
The three of us turned around to face our new comrade. The teenage boy lowered his bow. “Don’t make me shoot again,” he warned, nocking another arrow. “I have deadly aim.”
The beast hissed and yanked the bow out of its chest, sending drops of black blood flying. (Ew.) I squinted at the newcomer. He seemed familiar. Wait a minute. Was that...
“Evan?!” Laila exclaimed. “What-how-why are you here?”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Call me snoopy,” he admitted, “but I was outside the egg when I heard everything. About how it all began. It took me quite a while to piece it together, but by then a week or so had passed. So, I decided to make my way straight to the final spirit, but without you knowing. I-I didn’t want you to think I was doing this to get all the credits and save the angels’ reputations. I just want Almoria to return to the way it was.
“I’m so sorry, Aithne and Astra, for how the others treated you. They didn’t mean it, really. But now, it’s time to fix things once and for all.” A stern look descended on his face, one that longed for revenge, and in that moment, I could almost believe he was on our side. I nodded, raising a fist in solidarity. “Now let’s finish off this beast.”
He flipped his bow (a very unadvisable move unless you’re either a pro or want to strangle yourself) and it transformed into an enchanted sword, identical to the kind the angel at the seventh challenge wielded. The emerald on its hilt glinted, reflecting the gloomy light, and he dashed forward. The beast’s gooey mass molded itself, turning itself into a shape vaguely representing a humanoid creature. It extended its ‘arm’, and an identical sword appeared, but where Evan’s weapon shone of steel, this was forged with titanium, and in the emerald’s place rested pure obsidian. At lightning speed, the beast struck. The blades clashed, sending sparks flying and Evan skidding three meters back. He soon recovered and went for another shot, his boots squelching in the mud. The beast cackled, returning his moves.
“Stop gawking!” Evan chided us, simultaneously parrying the opposition’s attack. “I’m distracting him. One of you, help me draw aggro. The other two, find a way to kill this thing!” Laila dashed forward to assist, leaving Astra and me to find a way to defeat the creature.
“Let me think...let me think...how do we defeat this...” Astra mused, pacing around. Meanwhile, I watched Laila and Evan enrage the beast, buying us precious time. (Yes, I know, very helpful of me.) Laila flew up, yelling something indistinct, while the beast arched its back and began throwing daggers of ice at her, morphing into a black dragon with shiny red scales and spikes. Holding up the blue shield Astra had given her, Laila deflected the sharp knives. Meanwhile, Evan snuck behind the spirit and stabbed it in the tail, causing it to thrash and wail in agony. (Yep. Count on the angels to annoy the heck out of a monster.)
“Got it!” Astra cheered, snapping her fingers and almost scaring me. “See that tiny fire opal on its face?” I craned my neck, trying to spot it. A small red dot in between its eyes caught my attention.
“Hello? You see it, right?” she pressed, a hint of her everyday irritation with me creeping back into her voice.
“Yes, I see it. But what does a shiny gem have to do with stopping it?”
“Let me continue,” Astra sighed. “Anyway, that’s where its power is concentrated. We have to pull that jewel off its face, and there. One dead spirit, and one safe Almoria.”
Listening to her plan, I felt confidence surge through myself. I felt like for once, we could do it without screwing up.
But then we screwed up. Again.
“Laila!” we heard Evan shout, panic rising steadily in his voice. He was kneeling over Laila, and the beast was still flailing about somewhere in the distance.
With a snap of her fingers, Astra caged the beast in a purple shield, keeping it trapped. Astra and I dashed over to find Laila on the ground, her eyes closed. Oh no. Probably not a good sign. I placed a hand on her forehead, tilting her head back to check for breathing. Thankfully, her chest rose and fell, but in shallow, unsteady movements. I cracked one of her eyes open, only to be greeted with blank eyes. No irises whatsoever, just like the fourth spirit.
Definitely not a good sign.
Evan muttered, “I... think this is a hex that can only be reversed by the power of two.”
“Astra, it’s all up to you to make the final move,” I resolved. After all, as much as I hated to admit it, she would probably be able to figure out a smarter plan to get that stupid opal. “Me and Evan will stay here and get Laila up again. It’s our only shot at saving Almoria. But before you go, here.” I unclasped a chain and pressed it in her palms. She looked at me, and I explained, “For luck. It’s helped me before. Maybe, just maybe it will help you.”
She nodded, and I could almost see Endra’s manacles flashing through her mind as she straightened, clutching the chain around her neck. “I’ll do you proud.” Turning on her heel, she dashed off, ready to defeat the spirit.
Now, to fix Laila.
“She’s probably under a hex,” Evan concluded. “To be specific, the Soulless Hex. We learnt about it in Curses and Antidotes. It causes the victim to behave as if they-”
“-Don’t have a soul, like they’re dead, yada yada. Yes, we learnt about it too. But how do we undo it?!” I panicked.
“I may or may not have spent the past two weeks learning about curses,” he grinned, waving his hands. "Now, say it with me.”
Bane of life, muse of death
Darkness in your every breath
Turn the clock back to before
And let this person live once more!”
As we chanted the last line, he raised his hands. With a sharp gasp, Laila stirred uneasily. Her hand immediately went to her head. “Who-what happened?”
“Well, now you’re okay-and very much soul-full,” I squeezed her hand and smiled. “Now, sit back and get some rest. You’ll really need it.” Laila nodded and obediently curled up into a ball, almost immediately drifting off into a deep sleep. (Wow, the Soulless Hex really did take up so much of her energy.)
While she was busy having her beauty nap, I turned to Evan. “Thank you,” I mouthed.
“No problem,” he smirked. I turned back to Laila and smiled, watching her wings beat ever so slightly as she snored.
Astra raised her arms, and our protective bubble of light disappeared.
“Yeah, it’s gone— now, it’s time for you to die!” Aithne growled, waving her arms and flinging a fireball at the beast’s face.
The beast raised a lazy black tentacle and the fireball halted mid-air, and with a flick of its tentacle, it flew straight back at us at full speed. We would have ended up as a charred mess of bones if Astra hadn’t summoned a blue wall of light to appear in front of us. The fireball smashed into it and both dissipated into the air.
Strangely, the beast didn’t retaliate— it had gone eerily quiet, and was staring at Astra with a scary intensity. She raised her arm, but froze halfway.
She turned towards us, her eyes narrowed and her face a mask of hatred and fury.
“Oh no, she’s...” Aithne’s voice trailed off. I gulped.
“Evil.” the beast finished for her, smirking. “You think your little friend’s mind is this— all-powerful thing— just because she reads books? You’re forgetting how easy it is to manipulate a mind so young. Now, let me unleash your best weapon against you. Astra, dear, would you care to do the honors?”
“My pleasure.”
She didn’t sound like herself at all. Her voice was a lot deeper, and it was laced with arrogance. What had that monster done to her?
“What have you done to the real Astra?!” Aithne spat at the demon. “Tell me!”
“Oh, you won’t need to know. Astra, take them out, will you?” The demon waved a hand at us in a shooing motion, “They’re so annoying.”
Astra raised her hands, and a glowing, double-edged battle-axe flashed in the air. Without a warning, Astra dashed forward, blade in hand. Next to me, Aithne put up a barrier of flames immediately, giving us a few seconds to think. Astra skidded to a halt, huffing with irritation.
“Laila!” Aithne urged, her face covered in a sheen of sweat. “I can only hold it for about five more minutes!”
“What... what can I do then? It’s the last spirit!” I replied anxiously. It’s like there was nothing else to help with. In typical fights, I only use my abilities to assist in running around, not fighting!
“Option A: Help me! Option B: Use one of your angel spells to knock Astra out!”
Then it clicked.
I tried to ignore the clunking noises of Astra’s battle-axe bouncing off the wall of fire and her grunts of annoyance as I told Aithne, “I have another idea, though I’m not sure if it—”
“Well, then, what is it?! We have to do everything we can!” Aithne quizzed.
I explained the whole thing to Aithne in brief, making sure to speed it up. When I was done, she nodded, the plan completely processed through her mind.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Oh, I was born ready,” The nephalem rolled up her sleeves, “Let’s do this.” As per the plan, she lifted her shield, turning it into tongues of flames that slithered in the air.
“Hey, Astra!” she screamed, flailing her arms. The guardian angel turned around. “Nyeh-nyeh nyeh-nyeh-nyeh!” Aithne stuck out her tongue. Astra howled in rage, and came forward to attack her, clearly having lost her brains along with her will. All according to plan.
Now for my turn.
I pressed my palms together tightly, fingers just below my chin, and muttered another spell. A glowing white sphere with ancient blue symbols inscribed all around formed in front of my hands. I exhaled, and the sphere flew away, floating past Astra.
“You missed!” The spirit taunted, “Did you think such a puny, harmless charm— ugh!”
The spirit began to choke. The letters turned into things that looked like vines, covering the hideous monster’s neck and choking it. Astra bent over, twitching, then stood up straight.
“Wh— what happened?” she asked, “Was I just—”
“Possessed? Yes,” Aithne cut in, “We got you out, thankfully, but... I don’t think the spirit’s very happy about it.” She was right. The spirit had shaken off the last of the tendrils and looked at us.
“Oh, wow, how amazing. I’m impressed with your parlor tricks,” it laughed, “but now it’s my turn to play.”
It raised its hands in the air, and before we could react, black roots extended from its ‘hands’. They weaved themselves into a sort of cage, and the finished trap slammed into place over us (too quickly for us to react), locking itself into the ground. Aithne slammed her arm into the bars, trying to break them with brute force, but drew her hand back with an “Ouch!”.
“Oh no, what happened to the poor wittle girls twying to fight me?” The beast mocked, “Are they perhaps... scared?”
“Oh, we’re not scared,” Astra spoke with a calm sort of confidence. She was always so composed, even in dangerous situations like this, even when she’d just been, well, POSSESSED! By a mess of darkness. Sometimes I wish I were like her.
“Aww, but you’re trapped,” the beast jeered, faking sadness, disrupting my train of thoughts.
Rolling her eyes, Astra summoned a spear of light, which dropped into her outstretched palm. She flung it straight into the cage, which flickered before collapsing to dust. The light spear, meanwhile, zipped towards the beast, stabbing the tip of a tentacle. It screeched, flinging the spear away as Astra sighed, “I don’t understand why you spirits never remember that light will always beat darkness.”
The beast roared, and swished a tentacle, dropping another cage into place over us. This time, however, it was different – it was pure darkness, a swirling, ink-black mass, and no matter how many light spears Astra flung at it, it wouldn’t dissipate.
“Give up now,” it hissed, “You’re all alone—”
Zip!
An arrow flew over and shot it straight in the neck. The beast howled, distracted and in pain, and the next spear Astra flung at the bars made our cage turn into dust once more.
“That’s where you’ve gone wrong,” a voice rang across the battlefield. “They’re not alone.”
I glanced over at Aithne. Her face was angled away from me and Laila, and she wasn’t complaining about our plight one single bit. Her silence was perhaps the most frightening thing I’d ever heard.
Laila and I exchanged wary looks, and I turned to stare into the distance. There wasn’t any sign of life in sight – it was just the same wasteland we’d arrived on, and the bright magma was still bubbling as merrily as ever, as if oblivious to the death cloaking the whole place.
“Uh... should I be shielding us?” I asked.
Aithne muttered, “Can you even do it with your hands tied?”
Frowning, I flailed my hand, trying to get it to do the same motion I always did to create shields – but I simply couldn’t perform the last twist.
Beside me, Laila was muttering some gibberish under her breath, apparently trying to cast some sort of spell. Finally, she shook her head, hard. “I don’t get it. I think this place is enchanted or something.”
“But how did Aithne’s - “ I stopped myself just in time, and changed my words to, “that man get this rope out of mid-air?”
“You would probably need some sort of amulet or bracelet or charm or – oh, whatever – to get your magic to work here,” Laila reasoned.
Come to think of it, I had seen Aithne’s dad wearing a necklace, with a garnet pendant on it.
From behind me, Aithne let out some sort of hiss-growl that made her sound like a demented angel.
“Okay. So-” I began, but Aithne interrupted me.
In a flat tone that was laced with hopelessness, she told us, “Look - it’s over. We won’t be able to fight this stupidity. Look at us – no magic. Completely useless. Think that’s going to make us overpower a crazy strong seventh spirit? That also just so happened to be a combination of all the previous spirits? Nope. SO not happening.”
I turned to her, waiting till she finally met my eyes. “Aithne, remember what you told me on that bridge?” I reminded her quietly. “We WILL get through this. This is only so little. There’s so much worse after this. We. Can. Do. This. But we won’t be able to if you don’t bring that stubborn streak of yours back.”
“Yeah, together, we’ll be better than any spirit that’s so busy—“ Laila rolled her eyes, “— that he’s late to his own fight.”
Aithne stared at us for so long, my eyes began to water.
At long last, the corners of her mouth curled up ever so slightly.
“Alright then.” she whispered, then repeated, in a louder and firmer voice, “Alright then!”
The three of us straightened our backs, and, as one, turned to face whatever lay before us, waiting for the spirit to show itself.
Right on cue, a firework of darkness, outlined by a faint trail of orange flame – it made the atmosphere so. Much. Hotter! - exploded before our very eyes.
As sweat trickled down my back, the shadow disappeared, taking the fire – and heat – with it.
I braced myself, thinking that what it would reveal would be something really horrible – I mean, what could you expect from a spirit that’s darkness, fear, arrogance, death, manipulation, ice and fire all mashed up together?
Yet nothing, nothing could have prepared me for what stood before us.
It was – it was – a swirling mass of shadows, with glowing veins running through all the darkness, some of them ice blue and some of them fiery red. That wasn’t all. It had a skull – a... charred skull – for a head, and as for eyes... Once I saw them, I averted my gaze immediately, feeling my own eyes burn. They were glowing, blinding, red spots – and the dots it had for pupils it had were black in its purest form. Yet under all that, I could still spot a glint of completely undiluted egotism.
That was, strangely, what scared me the most. How could any creature have such wholesome conceit in their body – and not be dead?
I could feel Laila and Aithne going slack beside me. To be honest, I felt like doing the same. But Endra’s chains flashed through my mind, and I kept my posture straight, staring at the beast.
“I see my servant has done exactly what he was supposed to.” the beast said. His voice was calm, almost sweet.
Laila hissed, “Don’t fall for his manipulative tricks. He can hypnotise us.”
The beast replied, “And I have super strong hearing as well.”
“You - “ Aithne unleashed a string of undignified words that wouldn’t look very good in a story.
An idea struck me. Pride. The beast would do anything for pride.
“So you’re going to kill us like this? Get your servant to tie us up – let him do all the dirty work for you? Or...” I paused, letting the words sink in, “do you think you’re not capable of defeating us if you returned us our powers and let us fight back?”
He inched closer, and growled. “I can defeat any bunch of puny teenagers who can’t even defend themselves from my accomplices.”
“I don’t believe you. Prove it. Or to me, you’ll forever just be a disgusting coward.” I said, doing my best to keep the tremble out of my voice.
Perhaps – perhaps we’d have a chance to win, if only he’d just let us use our powers... let us fight...
The beast growled, menace dripping from his voice as he leaned closer and bellowed, “NO ONE CAN CALL ME A COWARD! I’M THE MOST POWERFUL BEING IN ALMORIA!”
“Then prove it!” The three of us chorused in unison, Aithne and Laila finally catching on.
“Fine.” he spat at our feet, and sent a twisting shadow that undid our bonds and dropped heavy necklaces over our heads. The necklaces looked exactly the same as the one Aithne’s father was wearing.
I slipped mine over my head, and immediately trapped the three of us in a shield.
“Now you’re the one hiding. COWARD!” the monster cackled, the shimmering veins glowing even more with the words.
It sent a pulsating tendril of blackness into the shield, and no matter how quickly I added layers to the sphere, I simply couldn’t keep up with the speed of that stupid darkness as it ate its way through our shield.
Finally, Laila grabbed me and Aithne and teleported us away, into a clearing not very far from where the beast was. When she did, she put one arm around Aithne, who helped her stand upright. It obviously took out a lot of energy from her.
Panting, I set up another shield, and Aithne and I set to work thickening it, Aithne sending out tongues of fire (all while Laila still leaned on her) that I took the light from to add more layers to the bubble of light.
Meanwhile, Laila started murmuring something under her breath, and a huge brick wall dropped into place in front of us, separating us from the spirit, which had started charging to where we were. But Laila was faster, whispering gibberish as seven other walls appeared before she finally stopped to catch her breath.
The spirit gave a mighty roar. “YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO HIDE FOR LONG!” From the crackling sounds in the background, the glowing, spiderwebbed cracks in the stone-red brick and the instant increase in temperature, I guessed that it was using fire to burn the walls down.
We didn’t have much more time.
“Look - for the previous spirits, we could take on them one-on-one, which means that each of us can tackle the various abilities it has. Which means, Aithne battles the ice and fear, I’ll fight the darkness and look for ways to make use of its arrogance, and Laila will have to bring us back when it tries manipulation.” I told them, and Laila nodded (though hesitant).
“Uh... are you forgetting the fire?” Aithne interceded, and the paleness of her face suggested that she already knew my answer.
Hating myself for saying it, I whispered, “You’re the only one with the fire. Look - “ I waved my arms, and a blue light bubble appeared around Aithne, “ - when you need this, snap your fingers. Turning it off works the same way. It should protect you from the heat – its light reflected off the ice in Antarctica - and if you need to thicken it just snap both fingers. It will absorb light from around you and add another layer.”
Frowning, I formed a similar light bubble around Laila and myself as well. “I think it’s better for all of us to have it.”
Laila nodded. “Thanks. Oh, and if you feel him manipulating you...” she snapped her fingers, and a ring appeared on Aithne’s and my index fingers, “press the gem on that and it will teleport you far away from him. Don’t worry, you’ll still be within sight of all of us.”
Fidgeting, Aithne mumbled, “I guess I should include my own protective charm, then.” she circled a hand above Laila and my heads, and something warm seemed to form in my palm. Opening it, I saw a lotus with bright orange petals bloom, burning bright in the darkness. Looking away, Aithne said quietly, “My dad taught me how to do that. If you ever need fire, place one of its petals in your mouth. The rest of the flower will burn away— no, Laila, I do not know what it tastes like, probably not like chilli sauce— and voila, you can control fire. It lasts for around an hour only, though. I have no idea how long this battle is going to be, but hopefully it’s enough.” Nodding, I stuffed mine into my pocket.
With that, the beast let out one final grunt as the last of the brick walls crumbled into ash before us, and in a burst of the flames, he appeared, looking even more menacing than before.
Aithne muttered, “Hey, Astra, looks like your blue shield works.” True enough, I couldn’t feel the blasting heat of the flames – it was nothing more than a trickle of warmth.
The beast snarled, “Your silly charms won’t work against me, I, who have spent the last few decades perfecting myself to hold all the powers of the world!”
“Yet you left out the power of kindness and light,” I retorted.
“Oh, shut up, little girl – those are pathetic and will never work well in a full, all-out war of justice!” he roared, whipping its skull head around wildly. After a few seconds, he stopped, and fell still, ice filling the air as he whispered,
“Now, why don’t you lift that shield and let the fight begin?”
As we walked along the magical tightrope (or at least Laila and Astra walked. Me, uh, it’s safe to say I mostly tripped and fell rather ungracefully), I looked back.
Laila seemed pretty confident, striding forward with her wings out for balance. But Astra seemed troubled. Her head drooped downwards, and she absentmindedly fiddled with the feathers on her wings -something she only did when she was nervous. Clearly, something was troubling her.
And I had to get to the bottom of it.
Praying that I wouldn’t fall on my butt again, I turned backwards, inching towards Astra. Somehow, I managed to make it without toppling over. (Okay, fine, maybe I did fall once or twice. Or five times.) Slowly, I placed my hand on Astra’s shoulder. She hesitantly looked up, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes and threatening to spill over.
“What?” she snapped.
“Are you okay?” I asked, a concerned look on my face. (At least I hoped I looked concerned. And not, like, constipated or something.)
“Yeah,” she lied through her teeth, swiping at her face. Yep. Definitely something bothering her.
I raised my eyebrows. “There’s no point trying to hide it, Astra. You can trust me.”
She took a shaky breath. “Fine.” Inhaling deeply, she blurted out, “I’ve been thinking about what would happen if-if everyone found out about the Great War. About the truth.” Then it hit me like a tidal wave. Of course. Everyone would be at a loss for words, to say the least. It would completely turn Almoria upside down. Riots would break out. Rebellions would strike. The demons would want revenge for the decades of unjust. Buildings would be vandalized and cars, torched. It wouldn’t be safe to even step out of our homes. The city would be reduced to utter chaos. No wonder Astra was so...so devastated. This was her home. No, this was our home. And we would defend it with all we had.
I tried to sound soothing. “Don’t worry,” I spoke calmly. Internally, I was a wreck, but I couldn’t let that show. “It’s all going to be okay. Everything will be fine. Almoria will still remain the city it is. It’s going to take much more than a myth or two to destroy our city.” I put on a grin, even though I was trying to convince myself just as much as I was trying to calm Astra. I swallowed hard, and pushed the knot of worry downwards, where I wouldn’t have to worry about it. For now, at least.
Astra looked up once again. This time, though, her indigo eyes (yes, a unique colour, I know.) shone not with tears, but with a new spark of hope. “Really?” She sniffed. “You-you think so?”
Looking at those eyes, I thought of Endra. I thought of her current predicament, and our vow to her. This time, though, I had made a decision. We had sworn to fix this mess, and I wouldn’t stop at anything if it meant we could save our home.
“I know so.”
Wiping the last of her tears away, Astra stood straight, a new, much more confident energy radiating from her. “Then what are we waiting for? We have a final spirit to fight. Come on!”
For the next few hours, we walked on, carefully teetering on the rope. Now, it was even more dangerous, the thin wire hanging over ice-capped mountains. Beautiful view, but probably not where I wanted to die. Laila still led the way, but gradually slowed down, eventually standing still. By now, we were all sweating buckets. “We need a break,” Laila declared, panting.
“Couldn’t agree more,” Astra puffed from behind me, her head tilted down at the valleys as if she saw something I didn’t. I merely raised an extremely floppy thumb, too tired to even speak. Without bothering to explain WHY she would take away the rope and leave us to fall from the sky, the guardian angel snapped her fingers, and the rope poofed, leaving us with about half a second to react before gravity took over. (Stupid gravity.)
Bad news- I wasn’t very fast to react, and spent three seconds screaming my head off as I fell through the sky, bursting through clouds and forming large Aithne-shaped holes in them. (“Shush, Aithne!” Laila yelled.) Thankfully, a voice in my head chose that perfect time to scream at me, “YOU HAVE WINGS FOR A REASON, DUMBASS!!!!!” That caught my attention. I furiously flapped my wings, slowing my fall and preventing me from being flattened into a (completely unappetizing) pancake. A few more beats, and I touched onto solid, grassy land for the first time in five hours.
I instantly collapsed onto the soft vegetation, folding my wings up and tucking them into a sort of bowl below me. (Extremely comfortable and safe. Try it at home, kids! Oh wait – you don’t have wings. Never mind.) Astra and Laila followed, dropping onto the ground. Tiredly, I pulled out three granola bags from my rucksack. Having handed them out, I unwrapped mine, taking a bite out of the heavenly-tasting grain.
Next to me, Laila downed hers in two bites, while Astra nibbled on hers, still staring off into space. Finishing up the bar, I popped the last bite into my mouth, crumpling up the wrapper. (At least there wasn’t a Mdm. Danton here to scold me for it. Hah, take that, old hag.) I pulled my knees towards me and stared at the snowy peaks and lush vegetation, deciding to enjoy the view while it lasted.
God, only five hours to nightfall. Time really was against us.
After about ten minutes, I dusted my hands, pulling myself into a standing position. The other two followed, Astra clapping her hands. In a flash of light, the rope appeared yet again. We flew back up, took our positions and continued our journey, walking on in silence. I supposed we all had the same thoughts-the same worries bubbling and brewing in the deepest pits of our despair. But no, we were so close to saving Almoria. Just one more fight, I told myself. Only the final battle is left. You can do it.
Around one hours later, the fluffy white clouds began to grow thicker and more clustered. “We’re close,” Astra deduced. “The altocumulus is turning into stratocumulus.” I stared at her blankly, not understanding a word of what she had just said.
“Uh... in English, please?”
Astra rolled her eyes. “The clouds here are growing thicker.”
”Oh.”
Watching the clouds get darker, Laila shuddered, “Looks like somewhere Satan would love to be.” She quickly realized her mistake. Almost immediately whipping her head towards me, she sheepishly apologized, “S-sorry. Didn’t mean it that way.”
“It’s fine.” I nodded. At least she didn’t say that on purpose.
We closed in, the rope steeply curving downwards. Astra clapped once more, and the rope disappeared with a flourish, leaving us to fly down on our own.
We touched down on warm land, folding our wings up. This place looked like nothing we had seen before. Hard-black dirt lay in mounds, occasionally pulsating from some sort of seismic force. The dry, empty fields were punctuated with occasional craters that looked like ponds, only these weren’t filled with ordinary water. In fact, they weren’t even filled with water. They were filled to the brim with...lava. Hot, bright orange magma that would scald us terribly, and make us the perfect flambéed treats for any hungry monster lurking around.
And the HEAT.
Astra rolled up the sleeves of her uniform. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have worn this...” she glared at the uniform.
Laila shuddered. “Wow. This is actually scary.”
Then, just as I thought it couldn’t get worse, it got worse. Because obviously.
A flash of bright, unearthly red light drew our attention to the center of the fields. A man stepped out of the light. I squinted, almost stepping forward to get a closer look, but Astra held me back with one hand.
“Don’t!” she warned. “This could be a trap!”
The man stepped forward. “How smart, my dear.” He smiled, revealing razor-sharp fangs. His dragon’s wings flapped in the air, a red similar to mine. I looked him up and down. Those immaculately polished boots...that scarlet vest...those deep crimson horns...that ebony hair...wait a minute. It couldn’t be. Was it...
“Father?”
“Oh, well done, sweet girl, you’ve recognized me.” his lips curled into a devilish sneer, his glassy eyes staring right into mine. (Oh, I get it, devilish, ha ha. Very funny, brain.)
I backed away, narrowing my eyes at him. “How could you do this?” I spread my hands, gesturing towards the wastelands. “This isn’t you!”
He snapped his fingers, and a dusky rope wound itself around the three of us, tying us up and yanking us towards each other before we could react. I was immediately squashed against Astra and Laila. Great. The foul creature hadn’t even given us elbow room.
He stepped forward. “Let me tell you something, my dear,” he purred, stroking my hair. “It’s been so long, and times have changed. So when a powerful entity came to me and offered me powers beyond my wildest dreams, of course I accepted them, with great joy, as anyone would feel when given more liberties. But of course, there was a catch.
“I had to bring the three of you to my master. Alive, mind you. I don’t know what he plans to do, but it’s probably best you don’t argue with him.” The demon I once called my father shook his head. “He gets very cranky when he doesn’t have his way.”
“You’ll be meeting him soon. But for now, you’ll have to wait a bit. He’s...busy.” The man dragged the last word in deep thought. Then, as if he was denying something, he shook his head and wiggled his fingers in a wave, grinning diabolically. “Toodledoo! Have fun!” With one last glint of his fangs, he was gone, leaving us all alone and with no way out, with nothing to do but watch the sun sink deeper down, turning the sky a pinkish-purple.
I turned to face Astra and Laila, and two terrified pairs of eyes stared back at me. But nothing could match the pure shock pulsating through my mind.
The man who’d raised me – fed me – told me bedtime stories – had just left us helpless, victims to the last spirit.
Something slapped my face, and the sting made me jerk upright. “Ow - what – where are we?”
Aithne stood over me, grinning, a - spatula?! - in hand. “About time you woke up, sleeping beauty. I was just about to call the prince.”
“Did you just slap me with a-” I started, but Laila took over.
“I’m sorry guys– I had to knock you out because the woman was possessing you.” Laila muttered, then shuddered, “It was pretty scary.”
“And yes, I did slap you with a spatula.” Aithne grinned. “First time for everything, eh?” I decided to let that slide. After all, I wouldn’t be of much use if I was asleep forever.
“So... she’s gone? The spirit?” I asked. Laila opened her mouth, but someone cut her off.
“Yep! Sixth spirit, done and dusted. Now for the final one!” bouncing up and down, Aithne declared. She looked around, and her face fell. “But... where are we?”
We both turned to Laila, who shrank back. “No idea. I teleported us to somewhere safer to rest, and ended up here.”
“Huh.” Aithne didn’t look impressed. She smiled sweetly at me, fishing the book out from the bag. “Well, then, surely Miss Smarty-pants can bring us to the next spirit.”
“Perhaps I won’t if you continue calling me that,” I retorted, pulling the book into my lap. Flipping to the page that told us the powers of all the different spirits, I read,
“The last spirit is a deadly one – a combination of all the other spirits. Darkness, ice, arrogance, fear, manipulation, and it has an extra asset – fire. The flames it summons is nothing like what has ever been seen, burning so bright and hot you can feel the heat from a hundred metres away.”
Swallowing hard, I looked up at Aithne and Laila. The shock was clear in their eyes.
“Well... it’s a battle that all three of us need to face, then.” Aithne murmured, for once not joking.
Squirming, Laila asked in a tiny voice, “Shouldn’t we go and ask for help from the school? Get more... uh... backup?”
“No.” I was surprised at how firm my voice was when I said, “Endra told the three of us to fight those spirits. She never says anything without reason.”
“Uh, alright, but we need to get to the spirit first, don’t we?” stuffing the book into the bag, Aithne cocked her head at me. “Intuition...?”
Sighing, I stood up and walked away from the both of them, staring into the dark thicket of leaves and branches of the forest. For some reason, my brain didn’t feel like it was working right. Surely, surely, there was some instinct to be unlocked, something that would lead us to the right place, just like for the previous six spirits?
Behind me, Aithne and Laila started discussing about how they could combine their powers to battle the next spirit.
I sat down on a fallen log, closing my eyes and tuning their voices out.
Was there something Endra had told me before... anything that could help?
When I was five, Endra would always come over to our house, to play with me, help around with the household chores, and every week she’d come up with a question for me to ponder over. I loved them – I’d think about it as I did my work, completed my chores, before I went to bed. And at the end of the week, I’d come up with a carefully crafted response, and present it to Endra proudly. She would praise me, and then suggest how I could change my response and perfect it. I... can’t say how much I missed those days.
Endra was so different from the woman we’d seen in that egg. Her skin was a lot tanner, and she’d never been much on the petite side. There was always a spark of joy in her eyes, not the sadness I’d seen in her cell.
I remembered a question Endra had once asked me, “What’s the worst part of a task?”
I’d found that question strangely intriguing, for she’d never asked me such a straightforward question. My answer was that “When you’re almost there, with only that little bit left, but you just can’t finish it up.”
Instead of changing my response, she’d just smiled and told me, “Perhaps if you’d look ahead to after the task has been completed, you’d realize that after you’re done… there may be worse.”
That... made so much sense.
When I heard that, I hadn’t tried to dig deeper, for I was still young and didn’t quite understand what Endra had been trying to tell me. Besides, she’d trailed off after that, looking away, her face tight, lost in some disturbing memory of the past.
But now, when we were here, stuck and unable to move on, I finally understood what Endra meant.
This wasn’t the hardest part of our task. I imagined what would happen after we’d fought the seventh spirit. Our world would be chaos. Everyone had grown up thinking the demons were behind everything. Now, that was going to change – I could already imagine the confusion and shock that would ripple through Almoria, like a catastrophic earthquake that would uproot our entire country.
Finding the seventh spirit – and overpowering it – was only the beginning of this war.
And with that thought, something within me clicked.
I threw aside the twig I’d been fiddling with and ran back to where Aithne and Laila stood. I grabbed the book from Laila and stuffed the water bottle Aithne was holding back into the bag. “I take it this means we’re going?” Aithne said, as I tossed the bag into her hands.
“Yes.” I replied, “And don’t any of you dare to complain about the journey.”
Tossing my hands into the air, a glowing rope appeared in front of us. “I hope you aren’t too unfamiliar with tightrope walking.”
Aithne’s jaw dropped. “You’ve got to be kidding! I can’t even walk properly on groun- “
I shot a glare at her. “Unless you’d like to hang from it and move your hands instead?”
Stepping forwards, Laila hopped onto the tightrope. Once she’d made sure her feet were firmly planted, she started to move forwards slowly, keeping her wings spread out for balance. “Hey - this tightrope is enchanted!”
Silently, I hopped onto the glowing rope. “Of course. When you start to tip - “ I leaned to one side, “- you’ll be bounced back into place.” An invisible force gently bounced me back.
“Woah, really? Amazing, Astra!” Aithne clambered on, and immediately started to fall backwards. When she landed on her back, and started to roll off the rope, the invisible force pushed her back so that she lay stick – straight on the rope.
“Well, it only works if you fall sideways,” I rolled my eyes.
Pushing herself back upright, Aithne beamed. “But that’s still awesome!” she turned to face the journey ahead, and the bright smile on her face disappeared.
The tightrope led straight off a cliff, and stretched on to another cliff really, really far away. In the middle was empty space – the cliffs were so tall, you couldn’t see the bottom of them.
“Uh... couldn’t we just fly?” Aithne asked.
“Why don’t you try?” I told her. “I made this tightrope for a reason, because-”
Before I could finish, the silly girl spread her wings and her feet left the ground. She’d only risen about two feet off the ground when she collapsed back onto the rope.
“- the air here won’t let us fly anywhere above that point.” I finished, sighing, “If we tried to fly to our next destination, we’d probably lose control.”
“Oh. Oops!” Aithne pulled herself to her feet and got back onto the tightrope.
Laila shrugged. “Come on then – last spirit, guys.”
We walked on ahead, the silence only punctuated by a few of Aithne’s screams when she toppled (something that happened once every five seconds.)
The same phrase was on auto-repeat in my mind: “There’s something worse than this. There’s something worse than this.”
We were going to fix the mess those angels had created.
And while the other two are having the time of their life inside of the hallucination, I’m here, watching random things float around me. I crossed my arms as another dinosaur toy bounced across my field of vision.
“Astra, you’d ace every exam and make your parents proud— you don’t want to suffer from not living up to your family’s name anymore, do you? Aithne, you would have friends! How wonderful! Everyone accepts you! Laila could have all the fur and fluff— that’s what you want, isn’t it! Isn’t this the future you all would want?”
“Yes…” Aithne and Astra replied monotonously, as if being possessed. I shivered, then replied,
“Where in the world did you get information that I liked plush stuff? I haven’t held a single soft toy since I was five!”
The spirit concealed its surprise. “My powers never go wrong. You’re just lying,” then she continued, “Aithne, Astra, I will give you this future. But it seems that your third friend doesn’t like it. I can only do so if everyone agrees… so, what would you do? Your friend here is hard to convince. How about… some action?”
Oh no. What kind of hot soup am I in? Maybe tomato… wait, this isn’t the time to think about tomato soup.
“Kill her,” the spirit ordered.
I figured that I’d deal with possessed Aithne and possessed Astra first, then the spirit. I used Astra’s and Aithne’s powers against each other— I enraged Aithne and hid behind Astra’s shield, and Astra’s shield broke (a possessed Astra’s shield probably had way less strength than a normal Astra’s shield) when she tried to throw her fireball at me. I lured Aithne into Astra’s new shield and made them fight one another till they were knocked out. Then I pulled them under a large tree. Guilt clouded my mind, but I told myself it was for the better.
I turned around, dashed towards the spirit and punched its face. The spirit lost its balance, and so did I. Natural human instincts were what led me to stay alive. This time round, I’ll be more careful of the spirit. I quickly created an illusionary environment, which quickly gave me an advantage in the fight. While most of the thousands of toys remained on the ground, a few started floating upwards, defying the laws of physics.
I leaped onto the very dinosaur plush that annoyed me so much earlier. The spirit was following me closely, aiming a punch whenever she neared me. It’s like we were playing a game of chase.
“Stop refusing my offer! I’ve been very kind to make a whole pool of plush toys for you!”
“No! I don’t want those plush toys!”
“It’s free!”
“I’m not taking anything home!”
“You don’t have to!”
“I’m rejecting your offer!”
“I reject your rejection!”
Not long after, I reached the final toy within my sight; a big bunny plush toy.
“I reject your rejection of my rejection of your— woah!” I nearly stepped off the toy. The spirit was coming, catching up fast.
With one arm reached out for me, the spirit leaped onto the same plush toy as me. I jumped off and spread my wings, saving me from falling straight to the ground. But within this environment, it was hard to stay in one spot. On the other hand, the spirit fell straight for the ground.
I conjured up a low-level explosive, flung it towards her, and quickly landed on the ground. I was not going to risk falling on my own while flying.
“BOOM.”
I could hear the spirit shout in the smoke. So now I’ve accidentally enraged her and she’s going to want revenge. It rushed up to me and started kicking and punching me. I moved to the right, and then the left. I could feel my energy draining, so I flew upwards… only to be thrown down by some force.
“Agh!” I gritted my teeth, landing on my left shoulder and rolling away a little. I saw the spirit charging towards me.
Gathering energy in my arms, I grabbed its right foot, causing it to fall on her back. I giggled, pushing my hands off my knees, standing upright.
Suddenly, while I was still getting up, the spirit did a small leg sweep at my feet. “Ouch!” I exclaimed, falling backwards. I can bet on the lives of those unicorn plush toys that she got me back for laughing when she hit the ground.
Quickly, the spirit pinned me down on the ground. She was gathering some sort of magic in her other hand, with her other hand to my left. The situation was similar to at my first fight. Luckily, she wasn’t trapping my fingers in her hands, so I snapped my fingers to warp away.
The spirit chased after me quickly, so I continued warping. I had a crazy theory—If I can teleport myself, would I be able to do that to the objects around me?
I tested it on the dinosaur plush toy; I opened up a little portal just above its head and moved it down.
It worked! It disappeared! Though I didn’t really know where it landed.
The spirit aimed its fist at me, but I was all too quick at evading.
I tried it again on the unicorn toy, and just like I expected, it teleported to somewhere near the lollipop toy, though the position was still not exact—about one meter off from where it should have landed.
But that worked— a meter wasn’t going to be that much of a distance, not in this endless field of nothing.
Suddenly, the spirit pushed me to the ground again.
I opened a portal and warped somewhere meters away from the spirit, my face facing away from it. I could hear the spirit getting up and running to me, getting ready to pounce.
I was going to end this fight. My arms shivered a little from fatigue.
Three…
I opened my clenched fist.
Two…
Light began concentrating into a ball just above my hand.
One…
I turned around, hand stretched out, and released the energy I had been accumulating, blasting a huge beam of light straight through the spirit’s chest. In that one final attack, the spirit completely broke into pieces.
Nothing of it had remained. The plush toys disappeared one by one, leaving some very stamped-on patches of grass.
Well, that was one energy-drainer. If only I were a guardian angel! It wouldn’t have costed me so much to form the ball of pure light energy. And it would probably be much bigger and stronger. I collapsed to the ground, my legs weak and hands barely managing to keep the rest of my body sitting upright.
But for now, all three of us needed the rest.
I whirled my fingers around, and we appeared, one by one, in a lush green forest, on a piece of dry ground.
Thank god that nightmare was over. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep.
“Five down, two to go, with three days left to spare.” I grinned like, well, a Cheshire cat. “Good job, us.” Stretching out my hand, I high-fived Laila.
“Now for the sixth one,” Astra mused, pulling out the ancient book once more. Slowly waving her hand over the cover, she flipped to the page on the spirits. “Seems like...the sixth spirit is Temptation. You can only beat it by-”
“Firmly refusing whatever it offers,” I finished. “Laila, why don’t you take on this one? I know you have a stubborn streak in you.”
“Sure, why not?” she smiled and turned to Astra, “Lead the way.”
Astra, however, was busy scratching her head. “Astra...?” Laila asked again. She continued turning the book this way and that, murmuring,
“Huh, this map makes no sense...” Laila continued watching Astra ‘work her magic’.
I heaved a dramatic sigh. “Astra, intuition!” When she turned to glare at me, I tapped the side of my head. “Let those instincts fly!”
At that exact moment, a dreamy smile slowly spread across Astra’s face. “Ah.” she murmured, standing up and shoving the book into the bag. “Follow the light!”
Knew she had something in that crazy huge brain of hers.
She whipped her arms into the sky, and a beam of light appeared right in front of us, bouncing this way and that, and disappearing into the horizon. Wow... that was a long journey. But then again, it seemed to be the only way to get to the next spirit, so I shoved my complaints away and rose into the sky along with Astra and Laila.
Okay, fine, I allowed myself a small sigh.
Once I was up in the sky, however, I realized that the beam stretched so. Much. Further. Than. I. Thought. Even further than it first seemed.
“Why is this stupid beam so looooooong?!” I dragged my palms down my face and groaned. Loudly.
Laila elbowed me in the ribs. (She really needed to stop that– her elbows were SHARP. Ouch.) “Seriously, Aithne, shush and let Astra think.”
Rolling her eyes, Astra started along the path, and we followed behind her as she jumped and twisted and turned along with the light. Me and Laila followed, narrowly dodging clouds.
At one point, Laila slammed headfirst into a really fluffy cloud. Pushing her way out, she shook her head, bits of cloud flying everywhere. Looking at her face, I lost it, bursting into loud laughter.
“You- you look like Santa Claus!” I snorted, also falling back into a cloud. (Quite by accident. Definitely not because I wanted to touch one of them. You saw nothing, go away.)
As I found out the hard way, clouds do not make a good meal. Sputtering, I threw myself out of the fluffiness, only to face Laila’s remark, “Well, now you look like you lost a fight with a fifteen-foot marshmallow!”
Ten minutes and a lot of bantering later, we decided to move on. (Actually, Astra did. She literally dragged the two of us with her light-lasso-thingy. Man, she was strong. Or maybe it was the light…) We fluttered on, occasionally marveling at the clouds that frankly just looked like random blobs to me.
After a long, long time (and a lot of breaks), Astra exclaimed, “Look, the light is curving downwards! I think...we might be close!” Joyfully, I dipped my wings downwards and spiraled in a circle, following the bright streak. Oh, at last. My wings probably needed a lot of rest, and so did I. The clouds thinned and eventually faded away. Now, we were flying over empty fields, which gave me a bit of déjà vu to our third challenge. This time, though, we had our own powers to support us.
Laila slowly glided towards the ground and landed softly on her feet. Astra landed right after, slowing her wings and bouncing onto the ground. I came in last, not being able to stop in time and (very embarrassingly) planting my face into the ground, getting a mouthful of lush green grass in the process.
Well, I had an extremely delicious meal that day. Clouds and grass. Yum.
Blushing, I pulled myself up to a sitting position, spitting blades of grass out. My face was probably dusted with a pink hue, but who cared. Looking outwards, I saw a shadow swirling on the ground. “Astra, shield!” I urged. Quickly enough, she raised her hands, summoning the familiar dome of pure, enchanted light.
Just in time. Temptation was here to pay a visit.
As soon as Astra completed the shield, a beautiful woman landed on the ground. She dipped an elegant curtsey, and cocked her head at us. Her chocolate brown hair was neatly tied up in a flowing braid, with flowers woven in at regular intervals. Her storm grey eyes shimmered, but whether with joy or greed, I couldn’t tell.
She clapped twice, and a miniature phoenix flew down from the sky, perching on her shoulder and screeching. It folded up its mystical shimmering wings and narrowed its eyes at us. I took one look at its talons and decided I would not appreciate being on the receiving end of those. Smiling, the woman scratched the ethereal bird’s belly, and it cooed contentedly. (It was so cute! And deadly. Also quite deadly.)
“Welcome, girls,” she announced, spreading her arms. The phoenix squawked and flapped its wings, rising into the air behind her, its tail feathers fluttering in the wind. “I have been awaiting your arrival. Now then, shall we begin?”
The woman moved in a light, elegant and graceful manner. She had an amazing appearance in her past life. The woman even had those flowers in her hair. They were—
Wait.
Flowers? The flowers were freshly plucked; some of the flowers had fresh-green stalks, and the beautiful buds were nourished and blooming. I looked at Astra. She was watching the woman intently, but avoiding her gaze.
No reaction to the ‘pollen’, huh? So… were they fake?
“Don’t they all say that?” I asked sarcastically, trying to show that I wasn’t one to really think through the situation, but was cut off.
“Alright, we’ve arrived. So what? You said something about ‘begin’, didn’t you?” Astra asked.
“Your ‘test’. First question is to be answered by Astra,” she looked at her, “What do you think of me?”
How did she know her name?!
“A filthy, dangerous, and cunning person.” While Astra was speaking, the woman had placed her hands behind her back. I attempted to see through what she was planning. But then Astra’s voice disrupted my thoughts:
“Wha—is that… an exam paper…? With my name on it? 200...%?”
“Astra! That’s a hallucination! Astra—” I exclaimed.
But at that very moment, the world around me faded away, and the questions swirling in my mind became nothing more than an annoying hum. “Huh? Why am I back in Almoria High…? Is this...my first day at school?” The area around me was so familiar. I’d see it every day when I came to school.
“Erm… do you want to be my friend…? You look really cool!” a schoolgirl my age asked from behind. I turned around to face her, confusion taking over my senses.
I couldn’t understand why he looked so happy. The moment I’d seen him, I’d shielded Aithne and Laila, and I myself had another bubble of light around me. For protection. He definitely couldn’t hurt us...
Well, physically. Our minds were very unprotected indeed. Trivia spirit… right.
“Still trying to hide behind your shields? Don’t worry, I’m just here to show you how small a brain you have,” he said.
This spirit was different from the other spirits we’d met before. The other spirits had all looked a mess – unruly hair, disheveled clothes – shoot, some of them weren’t even human-shaped.
Yet this spirit was an elegant, immaculately dressed man, his eyes were sharp and alert, and his posture was full of confidence. He strode over to me, hands in his pockets. “I assume you’ve already figured out I’m a trivia spirit?”
“Of course,” I muttered, “the book literally tells us everything we need to know.”
“Then why are you hiding behind your shield? Are you...” he narrowed his eyes, and said gleefully, “afraid to face me?”
Looking him straight in the eye, I raised my shield. There was no way this man would frighten me.
He clapped his hands. “Right, then let’s get started! I just have an easy-peasy test for you - or, at least, it’s easy for me,” he grinned smugly.
Aithne yelled from behind the shield, “Oh, I wouldn’t try to challenge Astra when it comes to knowledge – she's read nearly all the books in Almoria High’s library.”
He sneered at me. “You think your puny brain is any match for mine? My millions-of-years old brain that contains all the knowledge and wisdom of the world? You have no experience, little girl, and you will fail my little quiz. And once you do,” he cackled, turning his gaze to Aithne and Laila, “you have a front-row seat ticket to watch me torture your friends.”
Standing as tall as I could, I replied, “Clearly, though, your wisdom is incomplete, for you don’t realize that I won’t fail your stupid tests.” Behind me, Aithne and Laila cheered, Aithne screaming “OHHHHH! YOU JUST GOT WRECKED, FOOL!”. (That girl had a concerning amount of energy.)
“Look at you, thinking you can get the better of me by talking back. That’s the kind of person I hate the most. But,” he snarled, an evil smile spreading wide across his face, “tonight you and your lowly companions will fall at my hands.”
I stalked closer and pointed a finger in his face. “You won’t. Now stop stalling and get on with your test.”
He fingered with the ruby on his ring, and purred, “You won’t even be able to answer this one. What was the specific date and time Almoria’s first,” he smirked at Aithne, “nephalem was born?”
Snorting, I told him, “16 May 1068, at 12.34 a.m., on the fifteenth second’s seventy-eighth millisecond.”
Narrowing his eyes, he seemed to shrink a little as he muttered, “Impossible...just a coincidence...”
“You can’t even stand the fact that someone else happens to have the same amount of knowledge as you?” Laila called. “That’s just pathetic.”
“NO!” he bellowed, his eyes wild as he glared at me. “You don’t have the same amount of knowledge as me. I’M BETTER THAN EVERYONE! You just happened to stumble across that little fact. And you won’t know the answer to this one!” his breathing ragged, he rasped, “Why did Helena Griffith get arrested in 1457?”
Oh no. I’d never even heard of Helena Griffith. As I searched my brain, begging my memory to dredge something up from the books I’d read over the thirteen years of my life, the man’s breathing seemed to get steadier and he straightened up. “HA!” he crowed, “I knew you were just a stupid little girl.”
Keeping my voice calm, I answered, “But if you know everything in the world, surely you would know that no one can ever have the complete knowledge you keep claiming you have. Wisdom is a circle, and a circle has no end.”
The man groaned, clutching his head. “No...no... I KNOW EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW!” he screamed, and, dragging his palm down his face, hissed, “How old is Roland Prisom?”
“Nine hundred and fifty-six!”
“What were the names of the angel and the demon who signed the treaty of peace?”
“Olivia Rendell and Sykil Froste!”
“How does one know when a Calloustere Elixir is ready?”
“When it jumps out of its bottle and burns you!” I said gleefully. Clearly, books did so much more than make someone a nerd.
“Which of the eight Sorendus siblings fought the Kirin that appeared in 1386?” (A.N. A Kirin is a mythical hooved chimerical creature said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler. Credits: Wikipedia)
“The fifth youngest girl, Irene Wistra Sorendus, who is a therianthrope, and, as of today, is seven hundred and twenty-nine years, five months and thirty days old!”
It was working. The man, in all his grandeur, clearly couldn’t bear the fact that someone other than him actually bothered to read. He was slowly shrinking and was now shorter than me.
Dragging a hand through his hair, messing up the perfectly gelled hairstyle, he screamed, “WHY DID THE GOBLINS LEAVE ALMORIA?”
“Because... I paused, letting him think I was stumped, before smiling sweetly and reciting from the 1731 Goblin Rights Speech word-for-word, “They found our laws and treaties incompetent, thought they weren’t given enough free rein, and felt that they needed more space of their own – space that wasn’t shared with the other mythical creatures of Almoria.”
“WHO...” he gasped for breath, backing away from me as he choked out the next few words, “INVENTED THE ATELIER?”
Sauntering closer, I declared, “Joyk Haren Stale Norman Zinc Darren.”
He let loose a cringe-worthy wail, and shrunk to the size of a fairy. “You... don’t... aren’t... smarter....”
“Looks like someone’s messing up his grammar.” I smirked, kicking a cloud of dust into his face.
He stumbled into a wall, shrinking even further. “No... you... won’t... get away... with... this....”
I crouched down, making sure to keep eye contact as I told him, “Oh, but I already have. In case that amazing brain of yours didn’t realize, when someone as big as me is fighting with someone as small as you, the bigger, the better.”
At long last, he finally crumbled, the last few bits of his body collapsing into nothing. I sent a spear of light into the ground where he’d disappeared into – for good measure – and the sharp end of the spear planted itself firmly into the ground. Satisfied, I turned around and raised Aithne and Laila’s shield.
Aithne whispered, “Wow, I didn’t know behind all those books, you were so toxic, Astra.”
I grinned. “Don’t ever try to beat me in an exam, then.”
“Oh, we won’t,” Laila murmured as she got up and brushed herself off.
Within a day of lazily flying, we arrived back to Almoria. During our travel back, we found that the next spirit was actually some sort of bookworm that lived in an ice cave or something, situated in the far North of the continent. Astra, with her geography skills, quickly located the exact mountain that held the ice cave.
We figured that Astra would deal with this one. But just in case, the three of us spent some time at the library reading up on facts. I mean, you never knew what kind of weird challenges or questions the fifth spirit would throw at us.
We quickly read through books on History, Sciences, Mathematics, Languages, Geography and so on. Then, a day later, we set off again. With Astra leading the way, the three of us travelled to the North via flight.
We had to fly for hours on end before finally touching down on snowy grounds near the border of the mountain range. From here onwards, we would have to walk, since there were blizzards and we probably would crash into mountains anyway. So, basically, we walked through a hailstorm with Astra shielding our way, Aithne nearly caused an avalanche on our trek up a mountain (don’t ask how), Astra kind of fell into a freezing river (Aithne had to cast a fire shield to dry her clothes), and I pretty much just got stuck in some snow. By the time we reached the foot of our spirit’s mountain, we were all freezing. (Except for Astra— the model student; she was wearing Almoria High’s uniform, and it had long sleeves and warm leggings.) I mean, at least we had frost popsicles… which were, not going to lie, the blandest food I had ever tasted in my life.
“Great. Another mountain to scale,” Aithne groaned. Astra sighed, and rubbed her arm. I, too, did some stretching to loosen my sore muscles. Wings would just get in the way when we climbed, so I folded them up neatly. “Who wants to go first?” Aithne muttered, eyeing me and Astra with a “care to lead?” expression.
“Wait! There’s no need,” I realized, holding out a hand to stop Astra, “I’ll just teleport myself up and then you guys.”
“Now that’s smart,” Astra said, glancing at Aithne.
Jshoomp!
In the blink of an eye, I warped to the mouth of the cave. There was some snow on top of the rocks nearer to the entrance. I peered into the seemingly never-ending tunnel of a cave, and then turned around, towards the bright, snowy mountains in the distance. I looked over the edge of the cave and snapped twice. Aithne appeared behind me a moment later, followed by Astra.
“That was so cool!” Aithne exclaimed.
“It’s a… unique feeling,” Astra smiled. I giggled in return.
Then, we walked into the cave silently. There was an unsettling icy atmosphere in the air, and Astra tugged on her sleeves, shivering. Even she was cold. Aithne tried to put up a flaming barrier above us, but the fire was put out immediately. She sighed.
The deeper we went, the icier the air got. Finally, Aithne pointed out a tiny flicker of light. Just like before, the light directed us to our next target.
Before we knew it, the spirit was right in front of us, hissing, but as he stretched a hand out, Astra slammed shields over us— one for me and Aithne, and one for herself.
I should have already realized that she was the stuff of nightmares, just by looking at her bloodstained dress. The white-and-red cloth of her dress fluttered in the wind as she placed each foot in front of the other. I slowly moved my gaze higher. Her hair hung down from the side of her face, thin, straight strands as black as dusk. They seemed shorn off at her waist, like someone had cut them with a sword. I didn’t speculate further.
Then I saw her eyes.
Off-white holes. No irises, no pupils, nothing. I stared into those white pits, which seemed to be boring holes like bullets in my heart. They stared back, empty, hallow, sunken, almost desperate.
“I know you fear me,” she spoke up, shattering the silence that hung in the air. “I can see it in your eyes. Deep down, you utterly, truly, are scared.”
Gulping, I tried to narrow my eyes at her. “I-I’m not,” I choked, looking away.
“Oh, really?” She seemed to be taunting me. “Well, how about now?”
She transformed, shimmering as she raised her arms. Her dress grew longer, cleaning itself up until it shone, a white brighter than the stars themselves. She snapped, and a denim jacket buttoned itself on top. Her sandals, ripped and broken, were replaced by soft yellow sandals, the strings tied up into small bows. Her entire body frame changed, from pale and skinny, to around my build, just ever so slightly taller than me. Her skin now glowed a snow white. Her face’s change was the most shocking though. Her eyes...they were amber, like mine. Her nose was hooked... mine is too. Her hair grew shorter and wavier, until it hung to her elbows, and the brown that colored her hair was similar to mine, yet again.
And then she sprouted wings. Fluffy and white, identical to Laila’s, just larger. A burst of light appeared, and a halo rested on her head, floating above her hair, glowing brightly. It was the only source of pure light in this whole darn place (maybe other than Astra’s shield and Laila’s wings).
She looked down, down at me, her almond-shaped eyes filled with tears.
“Aithne, it’s been so long since we met. Where have you been all this while? Why haven’t you come to see me?”
Wait. I recognized her.
“C-Cassiel?”
I reeled backwards, as if I had taken a slap to the face. What— how was she here? I thought she had left me and Father years ago. Gone, to live with Stepmother.
“I am not your sister.” The spirit hissed and took on its original form. “Even she had the common sense to leave you.” It felt like the spirit had taken a knife and slashed me straight in the heart, where I was weakest.
“Scared now, aren’t you? See what I can do now? My powers far outweigh yours. Now cower in fear... and kneel to me.” It leered down at me, smirking as if it had succeeded.
That was the last straw.
Yelling, I sped straight at the beast, holding my palms out. A flaming sword flashed, then fell into my palms, enchanted steel encased in flame yet again. At the last second, I jumped, my wings propelling me into the air. I aimed, grimacing and preparing for the final hit, but the apparition was quicker. It turned into a swirling black mass, a terrifying nightmare for most, and shot out a tentacle, grabbing me by the neck. Before I could even react, it pinned me to the wall, its arm shimmering and giving off wisps of black dust.
“Give up already, insolent fool,” the spirit’s red eyes flashed, reminding me of the roses that bloomed in the depths of hell, beautiful but deadly. I looked down. “You are no match for me, young one. Since the beginning of time, when night falls, I creep and lurk under all the young toddlers’ beds, bringing them sleepless nights. I form children’s nightmares, add to the burdens of teenagers’ anxiety, feed and fuel the fire of adults’ depression. I am the pure embodiment of Fear itself. I am dangerous, unescapable, inevitable, sometimes even fatal. I am stronger than anything else. And now, it is time for me to consume your soul, and to keep it with the rest. Well, at least you had the honor of meeting Fear face-to-face.” It cackled at its own joke.
Then it clicked. I knew how to defeat it.
I didn’t just have to look in its eyes. I also had to face my fears. Gah, why didn’t I remember this before? Now I’m pinned to the wall by this disgusting black creature.
Slowly, I lifted my head once more, meeting its cold, hard gaze. I inhaled deeply. “I see you,” I began, then smirked. “I see you for what you are. You’re not a monster, you’re a coward.” The monster’s grip began to loosen as it snarled, rearing back. It was working.
“You hide and strike the enemies behind their backs. You refrain from physical fights; you resort to the mind. You’re not even a tangible being, just a bunch of fluid shadows. Just like the spirit before, yet far, far weaker.” It further loosened its grip, too focused on trying to regain its strength. I stepped out, flapping my wings and rising up until we were face-to-face.
“What sorcery is this?!” it wailed. I merely glared it at, continuing my speech.
“I see you in your true form now. You aren’t even terrifying, just a lost spirit.” Almost there. Now for the final line.
“And now, having seen all this, I have decided. I’m. Not. Scared.” I emphasized on the last three words. With a final howl, the spirit started to change its form—she became a young schoolgirl in her torn, tattered pinafore. She now looked about our age, though her mental state was definitely way older than that.
“So, you’ve found out,” the spirit whispered, in a voice softer than before, “Yes, I’m just a lost spirit. I long for someone to stand up for me. You... don’t know what it’s like to be killed by the pair of hands that had bullied you for a whole decade.
“In my past life, I was a pathetic girl. Poor, weak, and timid. When I died, I had such a strong thirst for revenge that I not only survived reincarnation, but also gained the ability to instill fear into others’ souls. I wanted to make that person feel what I had endured. But I guess... I lost control of my own self...” the girl looked at her open palms, then up at the sky, “It really is time for me to go. So, let me bless you all with the last of my life force. I wish you the best of luck in your journey ahead.”
Then, the spirit began to disappear. She smiled and waved at us, before fading to black, and back to the shadows where she belonged.
I turned back towards my two friends, once again burying the lump in my throat. I smiled tiredly. I hadn’t felt like this since I was five. Since... since Cassiel left me. That spirit led the kind of life I always thought I did.
But maybe it was about time I realized that others had suffered as much as, if not more than me.
“Hey, guys,” I waved weakly, “I did it.” Astra slowly let down her shield. She dashed forward and squeezed me hard, hugging me.
“That... that was so brave, Aithne. I’m so glad you managed to take over that spirit.” I hugged her back and then pushed her away, ruffling her hair absentmindedly. Then Laila stepped forward.
“Aithne... about your sister... I’m so sorry.” She didn’t sound like she was bored, nor tired. She sounded like she had...found out about Cassiel. Had she used one of her angelic powers on me?
I quickly dismissed the thought and raised my head. Laila wasn’t the nosy type. Even if she had found out, it was probably for the better. “Stepsister,” I corrected. “And it’s fine. But we shouldn’t waste any more time dilly-dallying. Let’s get a move on! C’mon, let’s go!”
