I started walking back and forth as Umbra loomed in the air. Then I tripped over something large and lumpy. My bottom hit the hard something. I picked up a satchel--my satchel. Itched into it was Emma's signature, as she had made the satchel for me before my quest.

"Thank the Five Lands," I muttered to myself. 

I dug through the satchel, wondering how it wound up here, and pulled out the Lady Stopper. Enabling the Stopper, I could feel myself becoming invisible. Umbra turned his shadow in bewilderment. I crept right under his nose if he even had one, and reappeared right under him, unbeknownst to him. 

"You won't escape, boy," whispered the king. "Not this time. Revealo!"

A red gust of wind blew forth, illuminating everything in its path.

"Drats!" the Shadow King shouted. "Where are you?"

Holding my breath in and looking for any sign of an escape, I could slowly feel myself lifting off the ground. I looked down and saw that my feet and the rest of my body were levitating at least five feet in the air. How I was doing this, I had no idea. All that mattered was stopping Umbra before he reached the palace.

I realized I could move whilst floating--I surged ten feet forward, then ten feet up. I no longer felt drained of my energy and magic, but instead... I felt full of it.

I couldn't even explain it. How did I go from powerless to powerful?

"Hey, Umbra!" I called from right beneath him. "Take this, you flea picker!"

I lifted a large stick off the ground and chucked it at him. The branch went right through him, but it was enough to catch him off guard and make him turn around. Now all that was left to do was to lead him further and further away from the kingdom.

"Hey, you turdsmear!" I shouted again. "Get down here and face me! What, scared you can take on a whole kingdom but won't be able to defeat the Chosen One?"

"I have no use for you," the Shadow King's raspy voice echoed. I could hear his deep tone from all angles, as though it were bouncing off the walls. Except, there were no walls around us. We were in the air. "Not yet, anyway."

Yet. What does that mean? He was going to kill the royals and then kill me? What good would that do? Why not kill me now? He had to know he was stronger than me--unless he wasn't. Yet. Unless he was waiting until he reached his full power. If so... if he was waiting to unleash that utter force on me... I had to get out. But first, I had to save everyone else.

Umbra continued drifting towards the entrance doors. I started to panic, frantically searching for something--anything--that would get his attention. If I could distract him, maybe I could sneak into the castle before he did. 

"I did not think you were a weakling," I yelled. But it was no use--he kept gliding like my words were going right through him. I wouldn't be surprised if they were. "I thought you were stronger than this. The King of Shadows! Refusing to face the whom they call the most powerful of beings."

Umbra let out a low laugh. "You, the strongest of beings? I think not! You lost to Downfall's servant, Thwart, did you not? You failed to save your tacky humans from this suffering and misery, did you not? Failed to destroy all the monsters that lurk in each of the Five Lands. Failed to protect those you love most, including the princess. You are worthless, Chosen One! Hear me? Worthless!"

Worthless. Worthless. Worthless. The word echoed in my ear maybe a hundred times. And it wasn't something Umbra did to his voice. It was me drowning in his words, which, unfortunately, did not go right through me. He was right--I was worthless. I didn't save Emma. I didn't save this kingdom. I didn't save the world. Hell, I couldn't even defeat a servant, so how would I beat the master? How would I destroy the King of Shadows, let alone the King of the Crooked Realm?

No matter what, these evils were always one step ahead of me. Always. Nothing I did would ever stop that from being a pure and simple fact. I was one, they were many. They had armies, I had only myself. A brainless human with no idea how to save the world. Someone who was going nowhere...

...But I still had to try. For the shred of a chance that I might save Emma. The shred of a chance that I might save this kingdom. And for the shred of a chance that I might save the world, once and for all. 

I picked up another large stick and launched it at Umbra. Unsurprisingly, it went right through him again. He ignored me once more, continuing onward, nearly reaching the doors now. I flew right through him and was now floating in front of him. 

"If you want to seize this kingdom," I said as bravely as I could, "you'll have to take me on first."

With a whoosh of his smoky tail, he sent me flying leftwards and slamming into a large brick wall. "Ouch!" I said. 

Ignoring the blood trickling from my head, I came right back to where I was and beheld a meaner look. "I mean it, Umbra. This is my home, my kingdom! No spineless maniac such as yourself gets to barge in and ruin it."

"All but me," he said, swooshing his tail again and sending me flying to the right this time, jabbing my already bleeding face into a stick, which stabbed into my cheek and started trickling more blood. 

I produced what little light I could, being weakened and all, and tried to heal the wounds. If I could just heal them... I might be able to regain my powers.

"It's no hope, Chosen One," King Umbra said. "I would just stop trying if I were you. You're embarrassing yourself at this point.

"I'll make an embarrassment out of you, you old crook!" I started flinging my fists at him. They did nothing but pass right through him, but still, it was enough to make him back away and hiss.

"Filthy scum!" he said. "Move already!"

He sent me flying back into the walls, back and forth now, so I was repeatedly getting hit.

The doors flung open... Umbra was about to enter...

Splash! Something very wet had gotten all over me and... Umbra. His shadowiness started to fade. It was as though... the water had weakened him. 

"Take this!" called a girl's voice. "Whiplash!"

A huge tidal wave came rushing toward me and Umbra. I did the best I could to lift myself off the ground before it reached me, but it was too quick and I was too weak. I had been soaked, almost drowned, in the wave. Umbra seemed to have vanished completely.

I looked up--there stood a girl around my age. She wore a long blue dress and all kinds of indigo makeup and navy jewelry. "Hello," she said. "I'm Azulia." She held a watery hand out to me. "Oh," she swished the water away and returned a human hand. "Whoops."

She helped me up and I greeted her. "I'm Dyl--"

"Dylan Castro," she finished. "I know. We all do. Us Waterlanders must have heard a million prophecies about you. So, this is the Chosen One," she turned towards me. "You're not as handsome as I thought you'd be."

"Ouch," I said. "That stung."

She laughed. "What I meant was, stories described you as this broad-shouldered, valiant knight in shining armor. Chiseled jawline. Slick hair. Ocean eyes. You don't appear to match this description. You're, er, thinner. And not a knight. More like a--?"

"Farmer?" I said. "Yeah, I get that a lot. But hey, my jawline's not that bad. My hair is a mess, though. My eyes, however--"

"They're green," she said. "Curious..."

"What is?" I asked.

"Well, it's just... Up in the Waterlands, everyone has blue eyes. In the Airlands, they're mostly white and grey. Down here, in the Earthlands, they're brown or just... dark brown. Certain Earthlanders get different-colored eyes. That's rare, though, I believe. However, green eyes... Especially of your color... Well, it's almost unheard of. You must be an especially rare species, Dylan."

"I... guess so," I said. "So, what happened to Umbra?"

"Oh, that nutcase?" she pointed a thumb outside. "If we're lucky, he might be powerless at the moment. Needed some time to regain control of his magic. That or, he's hiding. Lurking within these very walls... He is a shadow, of course."

"But... I saw him. He was fading. It was like the water..."

"Weakened his powers. I know. Water does little effective damage to shadows."

"So, what is he? I mean, is he someone's shadow?"

"Sort of," she explained. "He was a shadow detached from its human. Meaning he did the lowest of lows, wrongest of wrongs, to reach that point. Shadows are already considered the most harmless of creatures. But to be that shunned... It is what angered Umbra. What caused him to grow an army of other shadows. Caused them to steal power, learn it, build it... Eventually, they became some of the strongest beings this world has seen in centuries. Which is why it was so important the Chosen One finally came to life."

"That's where I come into the story, yes?" I asked.

"Precisely," she said. "Nobody would've guessed our hero, our savior, would be an eighteen-year-old twig from a no-name village. I mean, it's just bizarre. But fate is like that. And whatever decides, is the way. My people were saying it sounded insane to have someone like you be our Chosen One. But it was put into a destiny that you would save the world."

"I'm not so sure of that," I said. "Out of all the prophecies made about me, I think that one has to be the most untrue."

"Untrue how?" Azulia asked. "You are a hero, Dylan. The world believes it. Believes you. You just have to show them you're worth more than a dung-filled farm. Worth more than a gem. Worth more than a prophecy--worth more than even fate itself. You are the Chosen One. So show them, Dylan! Show the world what you can do!"

"What... I... can--"

Blast. The kingdom's entrance had been destroyed. Azulia and I had been right in front of it. But, just in time, Azulia created a shield of water to block us from the debris. When the dust had cleared, beyond the shield of invisible blue, there could be seen a shadow. 

Umbra.

"Run!" cried Azulia.

I didn't need telling twice. I turned on my foot and made for the throne room. Azulia was right beyond me, producing obstacles of water left and right. She made a spiked barrel and a large ax that nearly chopped my leg off. 

"This way!" I called. We fled into the throne room and ran to the thrones. We made for the side doors. Azulia had gone through the ones on the left, I for the ones on the right. 

We met in between and continued pushing forth. I took the way I knew which led to the library, but another huge blast had knocked the both of us down. I got up and helped Azulia. From there, we split up and went down two separate corridors. We met again when we turned the corners and reached the center.

"He's getting closer!" she shouted over the noise. "I can feel it!"

The only thing we could do was run. We reached a hallway of doors. 

"This one!" I ran for one of them, trying to nudge it open. It wouldn't budge, though. We tried all the doors--they were all locked.

"In here!" Azulia called. She had found a small hole in which we could both fit and crawl our way out of this misery. 

"Keep going!" I said.

"I'm trying," she pushed faster. "It's rather difficult to see in here! What in the Five Lands?! Is that a cobweb? Oh, hell no! Abort! Abort!"

"Just--keep--going!" I yelled. "Do you want to die?"

"No, but... I have a fear of spiders!"

"Yeah, well, I have a fear of man-destructing, indestructible shadows!" 

Blast! The small tunnel which we'd been crawling had been torn open from the top. We now looked really stupid, crawling on our knees through a topless tunnel. 

"There you are!" Umbra's distorted voice echoed. I had no idea where it was coming from, but I and Azulia ran. 

Breathless and exhausted, I pushed forth. I was not about to die and accept defeat to some black smoke. 

"Go! Go! Go!" I huffed to Azulia.

"I'm trying!" she exclaimed. 

We were almost to another door--a door that seemed like an exit. 

Then Umbra tore apart the entire ceiling, knocking chandeliers down and almost hitting us.

"Want to try something?" Azulia said as we dodged the flying glass. "Something foolish and insane?"

"Why not?" I said. "Might as well go out with a bang, right?"

"Me and you--" she pointed back and forth to the two of us "--combing our magic. Then, we use whatever the hell that makes and use it on the bastard."

"Wait for a second-- combine our magic? Is that even possible?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a shot," she said pleadingly. "Let's just... try it, alright?"

"I have no magic," I said. "I'm wounded. I can't produce anything but a spark."

"Here," she pulled something from a satchel that I did not notice before. "Drink this."

She handed something that looked like a potion. It oozed blue and reminded me of uncleaned seawater. "Are you sure this is safe to drink?" I asked her.

"Just-- hurry!" she urged me.

I chugged whatever the potion-y thing was. I could feel my insides boiling and bubbling. I could feel the entirety of my magic come back to me like it had been there all along, hidden deep in my weakness.

"Let's do this," she said. "On the count of three."

"One..." I started counting. "Two..."

"Three!" we said together.

A shove of my hands and magic appeared. I combined my Light with her Water and, together, we had created something utterly unbelievable.

It was like the sea had clashed with the sun. It was bright and it was beautiful. When Umbra had finally appeared, we sent the masterpiece flying at him. He was hit with such brute force, that his shadow had crashed into another room.

"Come on!" Azulia said. "This way!"

She opened the door with her magic and bolted down the halls, turning corners so fast I could hardly see her. "Wait up!" I called. "God, why couldn't you crawl like this?"

She tore past the Exit Hall and made her way to the ten pairs of doors before us. 

She tried opening them with her magic, but none flung open. I pushed one of them with great effort, and she slipped through it. She held it with her hands, letting me out.

We did it. We had escaped. And Umbra had destroyed the entire kingdom.

"You know--what it--means when--a king attacks--another king's--land, yes?" Azulia asked me suddenly and breathlessly.

"Of course--I know--what it means," I said, out of breath.

"Good," she said. "But in case you forgot, I shall remind you. It means war, Dylan. Umbra has now begun a war with all the Lands involved. That's actually why I came here. To inform you that... all the other Lands wanted to help. We realized... there was no way a teenage boy could defeat Umbra... at least not alone. But now... Well, now, surely all the Lands can't refuse... not when a powerful king has attacked a defenseless kingdom..."

"Help?" I said. 

"My people," she explained. "The Airlanders. The Firelanders. We have all agreed to help you defeat Umbra. Obliterate him."

For once, I had no reason to argue about the dangers it might bring. It was four Lands to one. Four powerful Lands to one growing Land. We would defeat them. We would win this war.

For Emma. For the kingdom. For the world.