Reading other author's books and seeing how beautifully they write is starting to make me doubt my own capabilities of writing. I feel as if I am not as good in writing as I thought (ಥ◡ಥ)

Btw, do listen to the song posted above!

The next day had started and before one could realize, time flew by like the blink of an eye as now the evening sun shone down on the kingdom of Azmaar. It's bright rays filled the sky with colour like a canvas splashed with paint.

The sun with its yellowish orange rays and the clouds with their fluffy white masses decorated the sky and beautified it.

Walking towards the clearing where he had met Aera the day before, Jimin gave a bright smile as he inhaled the air around him.

It smelled the usual. Of dirt, water and whatever else nature smells of.

He sat on the ground and looked at the river ahead of him as he waited for Aera's arrival. He was excited and was really looking forward to see her again.

A few minutes passed and then some other but soon, Jimin started having a feeling that he was being watched. As if every movement of his was being looked upon by someone's eyes. 

He turned to look behind and then at his side but on seeing no one just shrugged it off and once again got back to looking at the river and the life buzzing around it.

But it was now, when he had let his guard fall when something slowly started approaching him.

It did not need to worry of being heard as it turns out, floating in air is a job that can be done without any noise. And so, quite effortlessly, the being approached Jimin and just as effortlessly hit him with a spell and sent him to sleep.

Pointing it's hand at Jimin, it whispered to itself, "Pairnoun morfi." As it's skin slowly began bubbling and changing shape till the point where it became a splitting image of the boy who lay unconscious.

///

"Uh, I...just be careful alright? You never know if what you are seeing is real or is just an illusion. Don't trust anything you come across because things are no longer safe here in Azmaar..."

His words, the Prince's words kept echoing in Aera's mind as she could not help but wonder as to what the Prince was trying to tell her.

"You never know if what you are seeing is real or is just an illusion."

"Real or an illusion. What could he mean by that?" Aera whispered to herself as she walked towards the castle's entrance with a basket containing sandwiches held in her hand.

"Maybe he is just being too worried. Or maybe he is trying to play a prank on me..." Aera continued to whisper as she got so busy in thinking and talking to herself that she failed to notice the blue dragon who came running towards her.

With a leap in the air, the dragon nearly landed on Aera causing the girl yelped in surprise and quickly moved away.

"Falkor!" She exclaimed as she looked at the dragon. "Oh boy, it's been so long since I last saw you!"

Moving its head as if agreeing to Aera's statement, the dragon spread its majestic wings and looked at Aera and then at its back. 

"What's the matter Falkor?" Aera asked as the dragon once again looked at her and then at its back, repeating this till the moment Aera finally understood what the beast was trying to say. "You want me to sit on your back and take you with me?"

At this the dragon shook its head and gave a soft growl. 

"No Falkor. You are not coming with me to the forest. Besides, I need to ask the Prince's permission as you are his dragon anyways." 

A frown made its way on the dragon's face as he closed his wings and looked away as if saying *Fine. You can go. I don't want to be with you*

Seeing the dragon's response, Aera gave a chuckle as walking towards it, she rubbed its scaly back affectionately. Turning her back on it, she started walking away but to her surprise Falkor stopped her and stood on her way.

Giving a confused look Aera took a turn and walked around the creature, but once again, Falkor came infront of her.

Giving an annoyed look Aera folded her arms and raised her eyebrows. "Alright Falkor, what's up with you today? Why are you not letting me go?"

The dragon stood on its path not moving an inch as Aera looked at him and then around her. "Oh look Falkor! Blue berries! So many of them!" Aera exclaimed as she pointed at a direction.

The word blue berries immediately caught the young dragon's attention as he quickly got up and ran towards the place Aera was pointing.

Snickering, Aera ran towards the castle gates as she murmured, "I guess even little pieces of information can come in handy. That dragon surely loves his blue berries!"

Now, as she stood inside the Forbidden Forest, Aera slowly made her way to the forest clearing where she and Jimin had promised to meet. Her heart thumped with excitement as she walked over the fallen leaves which gave a crunching sound every time she would step on them.

During her way to the forest clearing, Aera heard a sound come from behind, but so eager she was to meet her friend that she let it slide thinking it may be a squirrel or some other inhabitant of the forest.

Walking past a group of fairy workers and then some pixies Aera continued on till she reached the place where the gushing water of the river lay.

Her eyes scanned the place and settled on the boy who she had come to meet. "Jimin!" She called out as she walked towards him with a bright smile. "Sorry I am late. I got caught up with a bit of work."

Hearing her voice, the boy turned around as for a few seconds he stood there, completely emotionless.

Seeing his reaction, Aera stopped at her tracks and tilted her head. "Uh, Jimin?" She called out as she looked at Jimin's seemingly dead eyes, which were totally opposite to the twinkling ones she met with the previous day.

A smile slowly spread up on Jimin's lips but it still did not reach his eyes as he walked towards Aera and gave her a hug. "Good to see you..." He said.

"Oh, yeah, same here...I guess." Aera mumbled as she felt confused at this sudden quiet behaviour. 

But pushing these thoughts aside, she sat down on the flat smooth rock below her and opened the basket she held in hand. Taking out a sandwich, she handed it to him as with a smile and spoke, "Your favourite. Honey and bread. I remember how crazy we were for this back then."

Seeing the sandwich, Jimin pulled a face and dared to not bring his hand towards it. 

"Don't you want it?" Aera asked to which Jimin shook his head and rolled his eyes. Sitting next to her, he looked ahead, lost in some world, as if refusing to look at her.

"You are close friends with the Prince right?" He suddenly asked, causing Aera to nod.

"Yeah!" She said. "But why do you ask?"

"Oh well, I was just wondering, has he told you anything about some magical stone. A blue stone to be specific?" 

At this, Aera was just too confused to speak. What was going on and why was her friend suddenly interested in knowing about the Prince? 

To be honest, she did not know much about that mysterious stone but she did know, or more like she had heard that the stone had a deep connection with the Prince. His powers, she had been told, depended on it. 

So according to some, if the stone gets into the wrong hands or in hands other than the Prince's, he may loose control over his magic, leading him to loose control over his own self.

It truly was a horrible thing to think about...

"A bit, yes. That stone, is directly connected to his powers. If it is harmed, he is harmed."

"Harmed? You mean, in the sense of loosing his life?"

"Maybe, yes."

A smirk slowly tugged up the boy's lips but got quickly covered as he got up and finally looked at Aera. "Come on, I have something to show you." He said as Aera gulped, something was seriously wrong and if it was so, then she might as well be digging her own grave.

It had been five minutes since they had started walking and it seemed at if Jimin kept going deeper and deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

The trees started growing wild and unfamiliar...

Weird shadowy like creatures made their presence felt as they hung around secretly, looking at the two.

"Jimin, where are we going?" Aera asked as she could feel her voice tremble due to the fear of confusion and uncertainty forming in her heart.

"Jimin?" She called out once more as the boy suddenly stopped walking and turned to her. Giving a smirk, he pointed his finger towards the trunk of a tree.

Her eyes followed the direction he was pointing at and a gasp escaped her lips. There, lying on the ground, tied to a tree, was as unconscious boy who had his head hung low.

Walking towards him, she tried to get a better view as to who it could be, and on seeing his face, staggered back in shock. "What the heck is this!?" She shouted as she turned to the unconscious boy and then to the boy who stood infront of her.

"How-how is this possible? There are two of you? Jimin, what is going on? Who is this other boy and how is he a splitting image of you?"

A chuckle escaped Jimin's lips as to Aera's surprise, he lifted himself in the air. The skin of his body started bubbling and shifting as right infront of her own eyes, Aera saw him change shape and take the form of a black hooded creature.

"A ghoul?" She whispered as she looked at the floating figure and then at the unconscious boy.

And this was when realisation hit her and made her acknowledge the amount of danger she had fallen into. 

"The Prince, he tried to warn me about it." She whispered. "You never know if what you are seeing is real or just an illusion and you," She pointed with a trembling hand. "If you are an illusion then..."

"Yes darling, you are in big trouble." The ghoul spoke as chills ran down Aera's spine.

She knew she should have run but at the same time she knew that if she would leave the real Jimin alone tied up in the middle of no where, he would not be spared.

And so, running towards the tree where he was tied, she tried to free him but there seemed to be a magic cast on the rope as it would not budge at all.

"Oh shit..." She mumbled as she tried again and again to untie the knots but failed.

"Just give up already. If you haven't realized yet, there is a charm put on it, it won't open until the charm is removed."

But still, Aera kept trying. Sweat started forming on her forehead as the words of the Prince and Falkor's behaviour kept passing by her mind.

"No wonder Falkor tried to prevent me from going. He must have known that something was not right and tried to protect me from it. Why am I such a bullhead?"

Trying one last time, Aera gave up as she rested her hands on her knees which now were starting to terribly ache.

"Aww, tired already?" The ghoul asked in a taunting voice as it came near to Aera. Its smell was unbearable as Aera covered her nose and looked away. "Look at you, you have grown so much dear Guardian."

Guardian, a term, a title that always made Aera feel burdened deep in her heart and always caused a pit to form in her stomach.

"What do you mean?" She asked as she slowly tried to remove a pocket knife which lay hidden in the sleeve of her dress. If only she could get a good aim, she may be able to injure the ghoul.

"Don't you remember me Aera?" The ghoul whispered. "I am the one who killed your dear sweet grandma Helda. I am the one who almost killed your friend. I am the one who the Dark Lord trusts with all his life, I am Seth."

These words caused Aera's blood to run cold as she stood silent, completely frozen. 

All the memories of her grandmother, all the memories of the time she had spent with her came rushing back to her mind as slowly, this shock turned to anger and anger to action.

Rushing at the ghoul, Aera raised her arm ready to attack but suddenly, it was as if an invisible force help her back, preventing her from doing any harm to the ghoul.

"Oh dear, I see that you are very angry indeed. But anger, I have heard, is a really bad quality. I feed on anger, dear Guardian." The ghoul spoke, with a mocking tone in his voice. "I feed on your anger and make you weak. So let your anger boil and see yourself destroy." He said as Aera gave a shout of despair on being flung backwards.

Coming closer towards the girl, Seth looked at her with his hooded eyes. "Alright, so, I am thinking of killing your friend first if you don't mind. Then I will deal with you." Seth said as he circled the unconscious Jimin continuously.

"NO! DON'T!" She shouted as she tried to go closer to the ghoul but failed once again.

Seth slowly started taking position as just like before, he started forming a curse spell while all Aera could do was watch helplessly.

"No, please don't." She begged as she tried one last option left, activating her own magic.

She tried to summon that energy, she tried summon that power and make it run in her but nothing happened. She felt just as vulnerable and weak like how she had felt when her grandmother lay dying infront of her.

She tried to bring that magic in her to life, but it was as if something was preventing her from doing so. As if a particular emotion was preventing her from using magic.

She sniffled a sob as she tried again and again, hopelessly standing with her hands tightly closed into fists.

"Epodynos Thanatos." She could hear the ghoul whisper as she closed her eyes, not willing to see the death of yet another person happen infront of her.

She expected the spell to be quick, to finish its thing and then for the ghoul to attack her but nothing such happened because right at that moment, two huge wings suddenly came infront of her, blocking her and Jimin from the ghoul and protecting her like a shield.

The spell zipped in the air and hit the two blue wings as Aera heard a cry of deep agony come from the creature. "Falkor!" Aera exclaimed as she saw the huge dragon turn its blue eyes and fix them at the ghoul.

A loud roar came from him as he flapped his wings hard, causing a powerful wind to blow through Seth and push him backwards.

She saw the dragon form a blue spell, a spell much similar to the one she had seen the Prince make in the Land Of Dead.

And just like that, the spell was thrown but instead of hitting Seth, it instead flew towards the sky and formed a huge dome which protected everything inside it.

Seth hissed in anger as she saw the ghoul look at her for a minute and then go away.

Rushing towards Falkor, the dragon who was slowly loosing his energy Aera rubbed his bright blue scales. "Thank you Falkor." She said as the dragon weakly moved his head up and down.

"Do you think you can take us out of here?" She asked pointing at herself, then Jimin and then back at the dragon.

Slowly, the magnificent creature stood as it bowed its head as if agreeing to Aera's request. Looking at the tied Jimin, it threw a gentle blue light which engulfed the boy for a second and then went away.

The light had broken the imprisoning charm that had kept Jimin tied to the tree.

Mounting herself and her friend on the dragon's back, she gently rubbed Falkor's back as she whispered. "Let's go Falkor." To which dragon raised its wings and lifted them in the air.