Chương 15: Episode 13: Desolate

Incarceration wandered through the desolate forest, where silence reigned and the air felt haunted. Darkness coiled between the gnarled black trees, and a thin mist drifted lazily in the breeze. The wind whispered like a tired ghost, brushing past him as he walked. Distant screams echoed, twisted wails of Lunaranite spirits, and he smirked in amusement. Each step he took squelched against the soaked earth, as if the forest floor hadn't dried in a thousand years. The howls of lurking beasts hummed through the air.

Then came a loud, distorted screech, a sound that felt too evil to be natural. Incarceration's glowing red eyes snapped toward the noise, and his smirk deepened. He changed course. The deeper he walked, the worse the forest became. Tall, moss-draped grass concealed ancient Lunaranite skulls, cracked and forgotten. The foul howl came again, closer, rawer, more unhinged. He was getting warm. Then the final cry rang out. He didn't need to hear another. He was already close.

Incarceration's jagged grin gleamed in the moonlight, his sharp teeth catching the pale glow.

"Vironos… I know you're near. Out… now…" Something rustled nearby. A creature emerged from a leafless bush, slow and deliberate. A massive wolf, its body a swirling mass of black mist, stepped forward. Its eyes blazed a murderous light blue, tendrils of energy curling out from them like smoke. It stood atop a crooked wooden arch and stared Incarceration down. The wolf hissed,"So… King of Nightmares, huh? Yet you don't even got a kingdom. No throne. No people. Just your ego."

"Why are you slithering through my domain?" Incarceration sighed, irritated.

"Because, Vironos, I need a favor. Awaken your soldiers." Vironos growled, then let out a sharp bark of disbelief.

"Incarceration… You KNOW me and my crew are ILLEGAL. I-L-L-E-G-A-L."

"We're not allowed to engage the Illegals. And can't touch anything tied to that cursed prophecy." He wasn't wrong. Vironos and his legion were known as the Illegals. Forbidden for multiple reasons: They bore two beast traits simultaneously, considered unnatural and unstable. Their Elements were banned across all of Foreshade. Despite their brutal strength and combat experience, they were barred from war due to trust issues. They lied. They betrayed. They killed without reason.

Incarceration stepped forward and gently patted Vironos on the head, grinning slyly.

"These Chosen Ones? They need to die. Now. You and your army, you're the next phase. And if that descends… it won't wound to make more…" Vironos stepped back, ears twitching uneasily. He turned his gaze behind him, toward a row of enormous, ancient cocoon-like eggs. They were gray and stone-hard, sealed shut for years. He exhaled slowly.

"Awaken my forbidden…" A low crack rang out. One egg split, then another, and another, until all of them trembled with life. From the first shell burst a towering creature, an Ankylodocus hybrid, its long neck stretching above the trees, armored like a tank. Its tail ended in a massive club, ready to flatten anything in its way. Then the rest hatched. Vironos shifted into his Drake form, unleashing a roar that shook the forest.

The hybrid's metallic plating gleamed under the moonlight, shielding its body like a fortress. Next came a blood-red Kraken, slime oozing from its massive tendrils. Then an Azure Phoenix erupted from the flames of its egg, screeching with a voice like shattered glass. Electricity cracked across the sky as a Magnetic Gyrfalcon emerged, red and blue magnetic electricity dancing across its eyes.

And finally, from the trees themselves, a massive Scorpion crawled forward, its body rusted, its claws twitching like they had a thirst for blood. Incarceration raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Didn't expect the scorpion to come. But hey, I'll take her." Vironos introduced them one by one.

"Dark Olsen, the Metallicslide Ankylodocus. Dark Prince, the Magnetic Gyrfalcon. Dark Archie, the Azure Phoenix. Dark Demaurion, the Bloody Kraken. Dark Ella, the Rusty Scorpion. Or just call them… Ironz, King, Azure, Darn, and Rusty." Ironz - Metal Element Alternate Olsen 19: cold, ruthless, calculating. King - Magnet Electricity Element Alternate Prince 19: serious, deadly focused. Darn - Blood Element Alternate Demaurion 19: controlled, sinister. Azure - Azure Element Alternate Archie 19: cold, methodical chaos.

Rusty - Rust Element Alternate Ella 19: pretty dangerous if you ask me. Vironos - Glitch Element Alternate Eli 9968: glitchy, unpredictable, erratic. He turned to them all.

"It's time for the mission you've waited lifetimes for… It's murder time." If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. At Eclitsic I woke up with this weird, gnawing feeling in my gut. The kind you get when you just know something's off—like the blizzard hit again. Pretty sure that's just a Tuesday here in Eclitsic, but hey, still unnerving. And honestly, it rarely happens at night, so yay for small blessings?

I glanced over to see if Kai was awake. One of his long ears twitched while he snoozed, like a big, snowy bunny with teeth. Nope, out cold. Guess he'll be sleeping for a while. I turned back toward the cave opening— —and jumped out of my skin. ALL my friends were sitting in a tight circle around me like I was some kind of sleeping exhibit at the zoo.

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?! AND WHERE HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN?!" I shrieked, flailing like a startled cat. Angel, who was casually tinkering with some random device (probably dangerous), replied, "Oh yeah, we all found each other. Then we followed a trail of blood from your daggers after you, y'know… murdered Mysterious Loose." I blinked.

"You what now—" Then I remembered. Oh. Right. That happened. Shaking my head, I turned to look at Kai. He still hadn't met the crew. Gently, I picked him up, thankful he was still snuggled in dreamland.

"Guys, meet Kai!" I beamed, showing them the adorable snowy-white Hric like he was Simba on Pride Rock. The moment they saw him, everyone collectively lost their minds. Full-on panic mode. Screaming. Scrambling. Pure chaos in a cave the size of a walk-in closet. Archie banged his head on the wall. Jocabed tried to tunnel through the snow like she was in Minecraft.

"CALM DOWN!" I shouted over the madness.

"He's friendly! He's not like the other Hrics!" Demaurion immediately pulled out his trident and aimed it at Kai's face.

"IF THAT THING BITES ME, I'M GONNA KILL IT!" I snatched the trident out of his hands.

"No, no, no! We are not killing anyone today. Kai's different. He let me stay in his cave, protected an egg that wasn't even his, then gave it up to reunite it with its mom. He's good. Trust me." Slowly, the panic simmered down. Kai yawned and stretched, finally waking up to the circus happening around him. He blinked at everyone, scanned their faces one by one… then zoomed out of my arms and leapt onto Olsen's head like a spring-loaded squirrel. He bounced around on Olsen's noggin like it was a trampoline.

"I think he likes you," I chuckled. Emely immediately launched into a ramble, "Okay, so this little carnivorous Hric is suddenly not a threat to Elementanite-kind just because he was nice to you for five minutes and now you think we should all be okay with that and then you just decide he's basically your pet now and—" Yeah. We were all ignoring her at this point. The snow outside howled like a banshee, muffling everyone's voices.

I laid back on the cold stone floor and stared at the ceiling, letting my thoughts wander. Then a question hit me like a snowball to the face. I turned to Angel.

"Wait a sec. If you've got portal powers, why haven't you been using them to take us all over Avangard in, like, five seconds? We could be done with the prophecy already!" Angel sighed like a guy who'd heard this a million times.

"Because the prophecy doesn't allow it."

"Didn't Vigilzante make that prophecy? What did he say about it?" I pressed, staring at him. Angel pushed up his glasses dramatically.

"He said portal users cannot assist the Chosen Ones by teleporting them across Avangard. It's in an ancient scroll I read back at Insane Middle."

"Ohhh, okay, so teleporting is considered cheating. Got it." Makes sense… sort of. The girls fawned over Kai like he was a living plush toy. Meanwhile, the boys busted out a relic of the past: a game called Stellar Card. Apparently, Power used to play this way back when the galaxy was still forming. Old-school stuff. You needed at least ten players. The goal? Eliminate each other using a card-based battle system. There were five different Elemental cards, one of each per player.

A 10-sided die decided who went first. Then the fight started. Play a card. Choose your opponent. If you won, they were out. If they beat you? You were toast. Each element had strengths and weaknesses.

It went something like this: Fire < Water | > Ice, Magma, Plants, Light Lightning < Water | > Fire, Plant, Magma, Ice, Light Earth < Celestial, Time, Lunar | > basically everything else Water < Earth, Celestial, Lunar, Time | > most other Elements Magma < everything | > just Plant Plant < literally everything, lol (I should really stop before this becomes a textbook.) Also, you couldn't show your cards. Strategic mystery and all that jazz. I whipped out a Time card. A rare one. I felt unstoppable.

Then Prince, that smug lightning turkey, slammed a Lunar card on mine like he just dropped the mic.

"HOW—WHERE—WHAT?!" I shrieked. Prince smirked.

"You've never seen a Lunar card before? Limited edition. Also shiny." I narrowed my eyes.

"Oh yeah? You sure about that, boy?" I pulled out my Deluxe Celestial card and slapped it down on his dark violet Lunar like I was flipping the script of destiny. Prince's face? Pure horror.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" he wailed.

"Out you go, buddy." I grinned. Olsen facepalmed so hard I felt it in my soul.

"Nothing we have beats Celestial. UGH!"

"Yup, Don wins. I feel like that if we had a limited edition Power or a silver limited edition Lunar card—we would've won," Archie grumbled. Demaurion flipped the whole deck in fury.

"I'LL KILL YOU, DON!" I kicked back, smug as ever.

"What can I say? Celestial Champ in the house." I even busted out a little victory tail-shake dance. And that's when the ground decided to join the party by violently vibrating. I froze.

"…Does anyone else feel that?!" Ella looked up, clutching Kai.

"I hear it too—wait. I think it's an avalanche!" Oh no. The cave split open at the top, and rocks the size of soccer balls started dropping like celestial bowling balls. I threw my wings over my head.

"WHAT IN THE DISCOMBOBULATION?!" We bolted out of the cave and into the icy wilderness, the earth roaring behind us. Sure enough, a full-on avalanche was tearing down the mountain. Trees flattened like paper. Snow boulders the size of trucks rained down from above.

"RUNNNNN!" I screamed, my voice fighting through the chaos. As we darted through the trees, the forest being obliterated around us. They started falling from the top, straight at us, and more just kept coming, like a full-blown army. We all bolted, sprinting through the forest clinging to the mountain's edge as the thunderous cracks of ice shattering chased behind us. Trees around us were obliterated like twigs, and while I was running, I noticed something.

I glanced down, my feet flying, and saw it: thin fractures splitting the ground. I skidded to a stop. My eyes lifted just in time to watch the avalanche unfold. Long, jagged cracks tore through the mountain's surface from top to bottom, each one letting out a deep, earth-shaking rumble. My eyes widened in horror.

"Oh no…" I whispered. I yanked Kai into my arms, teeth gritted as I looked up, then the whole mountain exploded. It crumbled into massive chunks of ice and stone, and from the middle of the chaos, a Leviathan's neck erupted from within the mountain itself. Boulders and snow blasted into the sky, raining down like the apocalypse. Beneath us, the very ground we stood on broke free from the mountain, transforming into a massive floating platform.

We were launched into the air, all of us scattering in different directions. I finally landed hard on a snowy slope and immediately started sliding. Wind and snow whipped across my face, blinding me with cold and panic. I held Kai tight, cradling him in my arm as I skidded downhill at full speed. I slammed through branches, dodged rocks, zig-zagging left and right like a human pinball. I smashed through a boulder near a cliff's edge and flew off the ledge with Kai still in my grasp. Below?

A pit of razor-sharp icicles waiting to turn us into frozen kabobs. I summoned celestial chains, hurling them at the cliffside. They latched on just in time, jerking us to a stop midair. Dangling there, I clutched Kai tighter as he chirped in fear and buried his head into my chest.

"You'll be alright," I muttered, sweat trickling down my face. I glanced up at the glowing purple chains, holding onto hope like my life depended on it—because it did.

"We'll be okay… WE'LL BE OKAY!" I kept repeating in my head. But then I saw it. The Leviathan—the very same one that leveled the mountain—was staring down at me. Golden eyes. Snarl on its face. Its mouth opened in a roar that shattered the air, spit flying, pink tongue flailing like a monstrous whip. How is it alive?! I thought Demaurion killed this thing! Was it too strong? Did it fake its death? Leviathans are smart, after all… Before I could even finish the thought—WHAM!

One of its massive tentacles slapped my chains. They snapped like twine.

"NO!" I screamed, plummeting toward the icicle pit of doom, Kai still in my arms. This was it. Tail glowing purple, I shut my eyes tight.

"I'm scared! I'm scared! I'm scared! I'm too young to die! I'm AFRAID TO DIE!" I screamed in my mind. But then, I felt something. Someone. A sudden force yanked us back, hurling us to safety in a flash of light. And then… nothing. I blinked. Kai was still in my arms. I was standing—barely—on a sheet of glistening, slippery ice.

"What the—who did that?!" I gasped, whipping my head around in pure confusion. Footsteps. Crunching on the ice. I turned—and there, stepping out from behind a block of jagged ice, was a figure. Just a silhouette at first… but his eyes? They were glowing green. And in a voice low enough to send chills deeper than the cold, he whispered—"Hello…"