Egon Wood ( E Gon )

Pet: Lion Mercury ( Mer Cur Re)

Theresa Ashdown ( Tha Ris A )

Pet: Panther Nyx ( Nics )

Rayner Moonfall ( Ray Ner )

Pet: Bear Ares ( Ar Es )

Ceridwen Vix ( Care A Dwhen )

Pet: Owl Snow ( Snow )

Mali ( Mal E )

Mace Kane ( Mace )

Pet: Horse Nilas ( Neil Ass )

Duzna ( Duz Na )

Vestomer ( Ves Tom Ear )

Adisa Rathmore ( A Dis A )

Salina Mortem ( Sa LI Na )

Lilith Calarook ( Lie Lith Cal A Rook )

Rolland ( Roll Land )

Nassar Thornton ( Nas Sar )

Cecelia Clayhem ( Ce Cil Lie A)

Synth Clayhem ( Sin Th )

Chapter Twenty-Five: Dreams of Carnage

As Nassar exploded into the camp with Theresa's bloody body, Ceridwen and Adisa raced to his side.

"What happened?" Ceridwen asked, as she helped carry Theresa into Rolland's tent.

"The Fulgur stabbed her." Nassar said as he and Ceridwen laid Theresa on top of Rolland's desk.

"I gave her some elder berries, but she need to be bandaged, and her wound needs to be cleaned." Nassar was informing Ceridwen and Adisa as Rolland entered the tent.

"Good god!" He exclaimed. "I'll get Cecelia; she usually treats everyone's wounds."

"Tell, her to grab the alcohol for disinfecting!" Nassar yelled as Rolland raced out of the tent.

Soon Lilith and Rayner long with Mace and Egon burst through the tent.

"What happened, is she ok?"

"How did she get stabbed?"

"Who's treating her?"

A Multitude of question's raided the tiny tent, as Ceridwen pushed the group outside.

"She's going to be fine, Cecelia is treating her!" As Ceridwen spoke Nassar raced out of the tent and Cecelia along with Rolland raced in. "But right now y'all need to make the potion."

Ceridwen handed Egon the pedal from the Moonclover than disappeared into the tent.

"I'll make the potion...my dad told me to..." Nassar took the Moonclover from Egon and held out his hand for the rest of the ingredient's. After Rayner passed him the queen fairy wing and Mace handed him the dragon eye, Nassar walked over to the tent across from the one Theresa was being treated in.

"Now what?" Egon asked.

"Now we wait..." Rayner said as he plopped onto the grass, the morning sun, peeking across the horizon.

Over time, the exhaustion of their mission blanked over Lilith, Rayner, Mace, and Egon, and they drifted into sleep.

***

Egon's eyes exploded open, and looming over him was Rayner, violently shaking him awake.

"You need to see this..." Egon turned and noticed, Mace and Lilith had disappeared. Rayner walked him over to the tent Nassar had vanished into hours ago. When the two entered, they caught the stares of Ceridwen, Adisa, Mace, Lilith, and Rolland, despair prominent on all of their faces.

Egon suspected Cecilia and her brother were still tending to Theresa.

"What's wro..." But Egon's words were swallowed by the air as he noticed Nassar's lifeless body of the ground.

A glowing green elixir, clutched in one hand the other covered in a coat of crimson, a blood stained knife a few inches away from his persona.

"He sacrificed himself, for all of us..." Rolland spoke up. "He drained his life source as the final ingredient."

"Tomorrow we will launched our attack on Vestomer, that mean you have barley a day to prepare..."

Everyone's heads were dropped and not meeting each other's eyes, because Nassar scarifies was so surreal, he took his life to save his species.

"Theresa's wound was not as severe as we first believed, she'll be ready to fight tomorrow...She doesn't yet know of Nassar's sacrifice and I'd like to be the one to tell her. As for our plan for tomorrow, Egon will sneak us into Magur and we will overtake the kingdom, we leave tonight so we will arrive by tomorrow."          

"Me? How am I supposed to sneak everyone in?" Egon asked.

"My boy, do you not know the full extent of your powers?" Rolland asked.

"Umm I can bend light..."

"You can do so much more than that...Light is around everyone and everything, and if you bend it just right, you can counsel us from sight."

"So you're saying I can turn things invisible?" Egon asked.

"That is exactly what I'm saying."

"But why risk sneaking in at all?" Lilith asked.

"I'm afraid it's not a choice, the potion can only open the prison from where the prison was created..." Rolland said.

"In Vestomer's bloody chambers..." Mace sighed.

"Yes my boy, sadly, but that will not stop us. We will have troops set up outside the castle, ready to attack, and once we have saved the Magic Born, the real battle for Magur begins..."

***

Egon was outside his tent focusing on a crate of apples, desperately trying to turn them invisible.

His hands were extended and luminous strands of light were flowing towards the box. They incased the crate in a glossing glow of brightness and then shimmered, flickering the visibility of the box in and out of focus.

Egon roared in outrage and throw his hands to his side. In his fit of frustration rays of searing light erupted from his body exploding the crate he was working with.

"Perfect!" He barked in anger.

"Well you'll never get it down with that attitude." Ceridwen stood behind him, arms crossed, with a smirk resting on her face.

"Easy for you to say, the lives of everyone and the outcome of the battle doesn't rest of your shoulders..." Egon dropped his head.

"And that doesn't rest on your shoulders either..."

"Yes it does! If I can't figure out how to turn us invisible by tomorrow, there is NO possibility of everyone getting past the guards..." 

Ceridwen brushed her fingers through Egon's hair. "Listen, you can do this, but the outcome of the battle is on everyone. Just focus and you'll learn it in no time."

Egon's irises began to sparkle, and he closed his eyes, leaning in to kiss Ceridwen. But before their lips could touch Ceridwen yelped.

"Egon look!"

Egon opened his eyes and pulled away in confusion, but when his gaze dropped to his hands, they weren't there. Egon, mind boggled, stumbled backwards and tripped over the debris of the shattered apple crates.

When he landed on his backside his hands were visible again. Ceridwen rushed over to help him up.

"You did it!" She extended her hands and Egon latched on.

"But how...?" Egon rubbed the bruise that was forming on his backside. Ceridwen's eyes grew dark, remembering their kiss in the forest, knowing they could never be together.

"I guess, you just needed a little persuasion..." She flashed a weak smile, and turned to walk away, not looking back.

***

Mace and Lilith sat on beds opposite from each other inside the tent. Mace bounced a ball of ice back-and-forth, from hand to hand, through the air. The oil lamp, which hung in the corner, shot rays of light into the shard of ice that magnified and turned the tent into a light show.

Mace waved his hands like windshield wipers and the ball of blue exploded, sending speckles of snow cascading to the ground.  

"I have to tell them..." He gazed into Lilith's eyes searching for her guidance.

"we've been over this, it's no goof for anyone?" Lilith asked.

"but I have been spying on them, lying to them, coning them...from the start..." Mace said dropping his head. "After Nassar's sacrifice...everyone diserves a bit of the truth 

"...If you drop that bombshell, on top of everything that has happened everyone will be skeptical, wondering if you really are on their side now, and our chance of surviving this battle with shatter in a matter of seconds." Lilith stood and walked over to Mace, placing her hand on his shoulders when she reached his side. "Wait until after the battle, we need everyone focused."

Mace quickly kissed Lilith then pulled away and said. "Thank you," He ran his fingers through her flaming hair and her crimson eyes sparkled. "for everything, I love you!"

Lilith leaned back in and kissed him again. "I love you too!" Suddenly Rayner barged in.

"Oh, sorry, but Rolland said he needs everyone back in his tent."

***

When Mace, Lilith and Rayner walked through the flaps of Rolland's tent Egon, Ceridwen, Theresa, Nassar, Adisa and two others, Mace had never seen before, were already there.

"Thank you for joining us children." Rolland stood, a stern expression glued to his face. "We will take Magur tomorrow, we will journey there tonight, and siege the palace by first light." He pointed to the two adults Mace had never seen before. "Cecelia, Synth, Mace, and Lilith will lead the ground troops. Adisa will Shadow Seep us to the castle doors, and Theresa, Egon, Rayner, Ceridwen, and I will sneak into the castle and release the other Magic Born."

"Tonight?" Theresa asked.

"Yes dear, tonight. I will need you children to summon your spirit animals. Rolland dropped his head. "I'm afraid ours are all gone, they were slaughtered on the last attempt to take the castle..." 

"You've tried to over throw Vestomer before?" Egon asked.

"Yes, we were very unprepared and outnumbered...But this time will be different! This time we will prevail!"

***

Theresa sat, drowsy, on the back of Nyx as her panther followed the lead of Rolland. Everyone had summoned their spirit animals, Egon rode on the back of Mercury, Rayner on Ares, Mace and Lilith on Nilas, and Ceridwen was mounted on Artemis with Snow perched on her shoulder.

Everyone else rode Horses. Theresa bobbed on her panther as Nassar, mounted on a brown stallion, galloped up beside her.

"Stop! We are here..."  Rolland lifted his hand and everyone stopped. "No fires tonight, we can't draw attention. Now, everyone get comfortable it is going to be a long night..." Rolland's eyes drifted to Theresa and her heart strings snapped, as she replayed the conversation they share right before the army left the outpost.

She still couldn't believe Nassar would offer up his lives to protect everyone else.

As everyone began to climb from their animals and curl up on the ground, Theresa blankly stared at the sight before her, the castle. She sat atop Nyx, on the edge of the forest, as the view before her sunk in. Tomorrow she would be there, fighting for her life, fighting for freedom. Safety would be non-existent, she would be venerable, but she would take that chance if it meant freeing all the Magic Born.

As the thoughts buzzed through her mind she found herself sliding off Nyx and huddling onto the ground. Theresa's eyes began to get heavy and they finally shut.

***

Theresa walked in a meadow, the grass swaying in the wind, turning the blades into a sea of green. She watched as vouchers circled over her head, and the scorching sun beamed down. She was overwhelmed with the sight that seared into her pupils.

The stench of death danced to her nose, and blood turned the green grass crimson. Hundreds of bodies laid before her, mauled and mangled.

A sickening, poisonous voice seeped into her ears, like a slow and faint whisper of the death, but with a toxic sting added.

"Too bad you couldn't save them...Such a pity you'll soon join them..."

Theresa whirled around to see Duzna looming over the bodies of her friends, his hands stained in their blood.

Theresa's throat was dry and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't find any words.

"You could've joined me; we could've ruled side by side. But instead you've brought your friends to young deaths...so pointless." Duzna's palms caught fire and he strolled to Theresa.

Her feet were stuck, she willed every part of her body to move but she was trapped.

Suddenly a circle of white-hot flames erupted around Theresa and chewed through the grass towards her body.

"My dear, your life could've been spared if you never came." Duzna extended his hands the fire in his palms leap from him and circled Theresa.

The blaze devoured her clothes. Steam entered her mouth and clutched her breath, she couldn't breathe. The fire melted her skin and rapidly sucked the oxygen from her lungs.

Theresa dropped on the ground and curled into a ball, as her hair caught fire. The tornado of brown soon turned to ashes. Her eyes burned in the inferno as she watched Duzna hovering over her. The conflagration was coating her body in volcanic heat as Duzna spook.

"This could've all be prevented, if you only stayed where you belong..." And her sight faded.

***

Theresa sprang upright, drenched in sweat. She frantically swiveled her head around, realizing where she was. Nyx laid beside her, fast asleep. She looked around, and everyone was alive. She sighed and closed her eyes as tears trickled down her cheek.

She covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

"I can't let him hurt them...But how will I ever protect them all...?"    

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