*
The morning seemed to arrive way too early. Waking up went slowly, due to various back- and headaches from the cold and uncomfortable rock floor.
Breakfast consisted out of some fruit they’d received from the Queen before they’d left, while they prepared to continue travelling up the mountain.
But as soon as they set foot outside, they discovered that the blizzard had become worse.
“How are we supposed to see through this?” Samira shouted, while she and the others put on their hoods.
Thomas shook his head. “I have absolutely no idea,” he replied.
The others didn’t know either. But they had to move on, or else they’d freeze to death without ever reaching their destination. If they kept moving, they could have a chance of moving past the blizzard and being able to begin to ascend the mountain by sunset.
The blizzard didn’t make travelling anything easier, though, since they had no clue of where they were going, they had to stop regularly to make sure they were still going the right way and were all still together.
The pack of snow on the ground became deeper and heavier to walk through, which slowed them down in their tracks.
“W-wonder if there’s a creature causing this blizzard that we can stop?” James shouted, while they were dragging themselves through the bad weather. His teeth were chattering.
“What do you mean?” Antonio shouted back.
“Creatures creating immense blizzards? You mean – like some entire creature made of ice? An ice troll?”
“No, an ice cream truck with its doors open, Antonio!” James replied sarcastically. ”Of course I mean a creature with ice powers! Some kind of snowman or something!”
Antonio snorted. “Hah, kid! I know we’ve been through some wacky times ‘round here, but what you just said was literally the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” he shouted mockingly.
“You never know what you’re up against in this world!” James shouted back.
“Hey, guys! Take a look at this!” Thomas shouted.
The other four reacted immediately, causing James and Antonio to cancel their discussion, and simply exchange a couple of dark looks while they were running towards Thomas – or at least they walked as fast as the wind and snow would allow them to go.
“What have you found, Thomas?” James asked when they stood around him. Thomas pointed toward his feet – or the ground he was standing on.
“It’s like- some kind of glass plate made of ice,” he said.
“Thomas – wait – hold up,” James said. “I can’t bare this. Thomas – it can’t be a glass plate when it’s made of ice,” James said. “Then it’s just an ice plate!”
“Yeah, uh, sorry,” Thomas mumbled. “But look at the detail! And I’m pretty sure it’s strong material, too,” he said. “If I can stand on it...” He stumped with his feet on the ice.
But he wished he hadn’t.
Right after he had stumped his feet, the ice caved in beneath him, causing Thomas to fall down a deep hole.
“THOMAS!” James shouted, and dove after the Brit.
“What are you waiting for? We can’t just stay here; we’ve got to go after them!” Samira shouted, and ducked down into the hole, to get her best friends back.
Bella followed her without hesitation, yanking Antonio along with her.
And off they went yet again, into another mystery, another adventure, without knowing what was coming.
Fiyara Neiva
The hole the Bond had fallen into, seemed to be a long slide made of ice, which caused them to remain pretty much unharmed by the time they arrived at the end.
The five teenagers slid forward across the ice, until they ended up on rock floor covered in snow.
“So far not so good,” Bella mumbled, while he and the others got up. “Where did we end up this time?”
“I don’t know,” James replied. He looked around, while scanning the area for any signs of life forms. “I honestly didn’t know... Couldn’t possibly imagine... That someone could have a secret hideout hidden in these mountains.”
“What are you jabbering about? There’s absolutely no chance that anyone would want to live here in this freezing weather!” Antonio grunted.
“Let’s stop this endless discussion, and just continue walking to find a way out of here,
guys,” Thomas said.
Antonio and James exchanged looks with each other and shrugged. The hidden cave within the mountains had something special to it. The ceiling was made of a thin layer of ice, and any footsteps were muffled by the crackling of snow.
“But still, I’m highly convinced that-”
“Put a sock in it, Antonio,” Samira groaned, not up for another pointless argument with Antonio.
“Sorry, Sam.”
The five teenagers kept on walking through the cave; it was as if there simply came no end to the endless rows of rock. The walls looked exactly the same everywhere they’d look, and there was nothing which revealed there was an exit anywhere near.
“Are you sure we’re going the right way, James?” Samira asked. James shrugged in response.
“Honestly, I have no idea where we are right now.”
Neither he would have known where they would have been if they still would’ve been climbing the mountain, but that wasn’t the case. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, though. Literally. A few minutes later, the teenagers ran into small, flying creatures.
They were much smaller than pixies, and had smooth skin that seemed to be made of millions of tiny ice crystals. Their eyes were a shade of blue which was so bright, that they seemed to glow in the weak blue light the ice ceiling let through.
They chattered and floated about. The teenagers passing them didn’t seem to bother
them.
“They appear to be such happy and pretty creatures,” Samira said with a smile. “Wonder what kind of creatures they are?”
“Well... I think they are ice sprites,” James replied, while watching the winged creatures closely. “They... Look just stunning.”
“They sure do,” Bella said. “Guess you were right after all, James!” He grinned at Antonio, who glared back at him.
“Who cares, Jingle Bells? Who cares for some drab Ice sprites? It’s not like they’re going to get us out of this situation,” he grunted.
Antonio heard James snickering, and sighed. “All right. But I’ll admit defeat,” he mumbled. “Jiminy Cricket?”
“I feel satisfied,” James replied with a smirk. “So I’ll mark that as “Happy” for you.”
“James: one. Antonio: zero,” Thomas mumbled from a distance, clearly amused.
Antonio grunted even louder. “Sure, treat me like I’m just here for your everyday entertainment.”
“Come on, Tony! You know that’s not true,” Samira said.
“I know; I just was in the mood for a joke,” Antonio replied. “I’m here for your everyday entertainment, remember?”
Samira snickered. “Oh, you-!” she shouted, and pretended to attack him.
They just kept walking, the Ice Sprites still floating around them. But as they walked further, a cold wind started to blow in their faces, seemingly becoming stronger with every step they took.
But the weirdest about the cold wind was that as they moved nearer to the source, tiny little snowflakes started to appear around them.
More strange things happened along the way. The walls and floors started to freeze slowly, and got covered by a layer of shimmering ice. The wind got stronger, and the air became colder and colder.
“Shouldn’t we be getting out of here? It’s starting to get freezing!” Bella shouted.
“We’ve got to get out of here as quick as we can, or else we’ll freeze to death!” Thomas ordered. The others followed his orders and started to run through the blizzard, as the walls and floors continued to freeze behind them.
“I can’t see where we’re going! But there’s s
omething I do know: this is going to get us into a lot of trouble for sure!” James shouted, protecting his eyes from the falling hail with his arms.
While staying close together, James, Thomas, Samira, Bella and Antonio ran through the cave, without knowing where it would take them.
Somehow, nothing seemed to be going the way they’d planned it. One moment, they were just walking on top of a mountain, and another moment, they are trying to flee a terrible blizzard blowing inside a cave on the inside of the mountain, without having any kind of knowledge on a possible source.
The temperature of the cave decreased with every second passing, and the wind blew stronger and stronger, making it nearly impossible to even move.
This all had come completely unexpected, and made the cave nearly look like some kind of ambush. The only thing that reassured the teenagers that it wasn’t was the fact that the Master and his minions could only control the dark, and not ice and snow.
But they did certainly not leave out the other Lunariae... Something was definitely living hidden inside of the mountain, and it was not happy to have visitors. At all.
And so it was trying to shoo the visitors away with some kind of bizarre snowstorm. Or was it actually trying to kill them off instead? Suddenly, the cave took a sharp corner.
And there it was.
James opened his eyes a little, and looked for a sign of an exit through his eyelashes His eyes soon widened in amazement.
They were standing right in front of the most amazing building he had ever seen... An ice palace like you’d expect to see them in fairy tales. An absolutely stunning building.
It was small, because it had to fit inside the mountain. But it was built in height. And the blizzard appeared to be circling around its roof, and dissolved from there into the blasts of cold air that had been “attacking” the Guardians.
“Guys... Check it out,” James mumbled; his friends showed similar reactions as they opened their eyes. “I hope there’s someone inside there who can help us.”
The Bond of Light ran up the steps of the ice stairs, careful not to trip, and started to bang the door.
“Please, let us in! We’re freezing out here!” Samira shouted.
It didn’t take long before the massive doors opened on their own, inviting the teenagers in.
A figure appeared in front of them, hovering a few centimetres above the floor, looking worried and rushed.
It was a fixie, with beautiful white hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was white as snow, with blue ice crystals scattered over her entire body.
“Oh, please forgive me; I caused the blizzard!” she mumbled embarrassedly. “I thought you were those awful Shadow Creatures again! I- I should apologize.” She paused. “There are dark creatures on the mountain – I don’t think they’ve found my hideout yet, but if they do, they’ll kill me for sure.”
“We’ve met some of the creatures you’re mentioning,” James said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m James Riverdale, and these are my friends.”
The others mumbled small greetings and waved at her. The fixie’s eyes grew wide in amazement.
“Oh, why of course! Why didn’t I notice it before?” she said and made a curtsy toward the teenagers. “I am Fiyara Neiva Christella, Princess of Snow. But you can call me Fiyara. It’s a true honour to meet the Last Generation of Hope.”
“Is everyone we’ll meet going to be like this?” Antonio mumbled to Bella, receiving an elbow from the teenager in his stomach as a response. “Ouch!” he grunted.
“I’m sorry if I’ve hurt any of you by letting out that blizzard,” Fiyara said. “I- I’m just not used to seeing any decent creatures around here since the Dark Days. I was afraid you were one of them.”
The fixie looked at her feet, clearly feeling embarrassed of herself. She sighed. “I usually do more harm than good...”
“Why do you think that?” Bella asked. “I’m sure it’s not true.”
Fiyara looked up at her and sighed. “Oh, but it is,” she said. “The fact that the Shadow Creatures are on these mountains are my fault.” She became more embarrassed thinking about it. “And that’s only just the beginning...
“The Spirits of Light created me out of ice and snow. I was born while a heavy blizzard was blowing over these mountains. To continue this was my task, to watch over the mountain and protect it. I was responsible for snowfall, so other creatures could enjoy the snow if they wanted to. I created the Ice Sprites. They were my best friends, and I did my best to protect them. Until the Master took them all away.”
“Seems like the same happened here as what happened to Violina...” Antonio mumbled. “Keepers take their task very seriously. If they fail, they blame and sometimes punish themselves,” Fiyara said. “The Master wanted control over me too, so he turned the Ice Sprites against me, to capture me – I was forced to watch while my friends were transformed into terrible monsters. I had no choice to fight them, and hide myself down here... I haven’t been above the ground in a thousand years...”
“Oh, Fiyara, I’m so sorry to hear what happened to your friends,” Samira said, sounding genuinely touched by the fixie’s story. “But we’ll save them, together with the rest of Lunaria.”
“Thank you...” Fiyara said and smiled. She started to feel a little more comfortable around the five teenagers now she knew they meant no harm.
“I’d be so happy to be able to go above ground again! Guardians, as long as you are on this mountain, I’ll fight with you. For my friends,” Fiyara said. She smiled. “I shall show you the quickest way out of here.
Come along, just follow me.”
And follow her they did.
“So, where are you taking us, Fiyara?” James asked. He wanted to know, so he could recognize the place if they ever had to flee from something again – while they were still on the mountain at least, of course.
“It’s one of the two secret entrances I’ve made to get in- and out of this cave safely in case I’m ever discovered,” Fiyara replied. “And you lot found one of them.”
“Sorry for kind of busting your door,” Thomas chuckled. “Didn’t mean to.”
“Oh, no, it’s all right, you silly boy,” Fiyara said. “You didn’t know I lived here, let alone there was a cave underneath the mountains.”
Fiyara took the Bond of Light through her palace, to the back exit. From there, they had to climb a large staircase that had been carved out of the stone walls of the cave.
“So we’ll have to climb all the way up there?” James asked. “I’m pretty positive that that is one of the easiest tasks they’ve given us yet.”
“If that is, then I don’t think you’ll be surprised when I tell you that it’s only going to get way worse from here,” Fiyara said.
“No, I’m not,” James replied. “I’m just worried for what’s about to come next.” He nearly slipped on the slippery frosted steps, but luckily for him, Thomas was able to grab his arm in a quick reflex and held him back.
James looked at him, and Thomas stared back, but quickly looked away before James could say anything or even thank him.
Neither of the two boys could’ve ever imagined that what was happening to them at that moment could’ve ever become any kind of reality.
If it would’ve been a story someone at their school would’ve told them, they certainly wouldn’t have believed it.
But now they were there themselves, with their friends, in real life.
They had no choice but to believe it.
It was about time they started to realise how serious this situation was, too. If the teenagers wouldn’t become more cautious and aware of their actions very quickly, it could mean the end for them.
After crossing and ascending the mountains, they couldn’t rely on meeting any new allies.
They’d be on their own.
The past month had been training, a preparation for the actual quest. It all started here and now.
“Fiyara... How high are t
hese stairs?” Samira asked; she was right to ask, because they’d been walking up the stairs for just about a minute straight now, and it still seemed as if there would never be an end to the grey steps.
“Don’t worry, we’re nearly there,” Fiyara said, without looking back. “It just seems to be so far away because it’s probably either evening or night outside, so there won’t be any light coming through the exit.”
And Fiyara was right. When they’d finally reached the top of the stairs, it was still as dark as it had been before.
“Watch your step and be quiet,” Fiyara said. “These monsters can’t see very well in the dark, but if you make noise or step on them... They get very active during the night. They mostly hunt on the smell of... well, fear.”
“Sounds like nothing to be afraid of,” Antonio said sarcastically.
Fiyara glared at him. “Don’t joke around, Guardian,” she said. “If these monsters catch you, they summon Warlock Spirits to capture you and take you to the Master. Niveluae, or you could just call them Snow beasts, are not like Shadow Walkers. They are much more powerful. The Dark Fairies in the Fairy Forest could’ve summoned a similar beast, but they are way too selfish. They like to take all credit for themselves.”
“They did send the Warlock Spirits after us, though,” Bella said.
“Probably because you were too far away from them,” Fiyara said. “They can’t reach outside their forest.”
Bella shrugged. “Most likely,” she replied. “We went through a secret entrance to the Twilight Forest.”
James turned around. “They must’ve seen us leave through the magical barrier, while we couldn’t see them,” he said, while walking backwards. “That’s the only proper explanation I could think of.”
“James, it’s very dark, please watch where you’re going,” Fiyara said. But by the time she’d opened her mouth, the damage had already been done.
James tripped over a rock that had been lying hidden underneath the snow, causing him to get out of balance and fall backward... against something that seemed to be a heap of snow.
...A living heap of snow, that is.
The “snow heap” started to rise from the ground, with James still lying on its back. Luckily, not for long, because as soon as the monster straightened its back, James fell off.
Massive icicles grew out of the arms, legs, back and head of the Nivelua as it turned around.
“WHAT THE-!?” Antonio exclaimed. ”JAMES, GET AWAY FROM THERE!”
James quickly got on all fours and started to crawl forward while getting up.
Just in time for the monster to fully rise and let out a loud roar, which seemed to cause the mountain to shake.
But the shaking wasn’t caused by that single roar, but by other Niveluae rising up from their hideouts.
“What are those things!?” Samira shouted.
“Those are the Niveluae I warned you about,” Fiyara replied. “Their names are... a play on the Latin words Nive and Belua. The singular form would be Nivelua, I believe.”
“Ah, our typical kind of bad luck,” Antonio said, while reaching for his glaive.
“No, wait! Normal weapons won’t harm them,” Fiyara said. She made a certain movement with her arms, and icicles appeared out of thin air, shooting toward the monsters. The icicles didn’t have much effect, but it seemed like the monsters were brought out of balance and got confused by them.
“But if we can’t destroy them, how do we defeat them?” Thomas shouted, while barely dodging a huge fist trying to crush him. The others found themselves dodging and barely escaping various attacks from the monsters as well.
“Well, since I have limited power and energy like you lot, I could protect you guys while you run for it,” Fiyara shouted back, while firing ice and snow like blades toward the monsters.
“But Fiyara, what about you?” Samira shouted. Fiyara shook her head.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry! I was made to do this!”
“Thank you! We won’t forget you!” James shouted, as he and the others ran off, between the Nivuelae that were charging at them.
It was still pitch black out, and the teenagers could barely see a thing. The only lights they always had relied on in the dark were James’s and Thomas’s glowing clothing, and those were either stuffed away underneath the snow coats or in Thomas’s shoulder bag.
Once again they had found themselves in serious trouble, and once again they needed someone else to take control and take care of the situation.
All the people they had met thus far, had been extremely brave.
They were the actual heroes, while the Bond of Light were the people they all looked up to.
But they weren’t the heroes. They were just five teenagers, who were assumed to be able to put an end to a thousand-year lasting war.
Why did the creatures and people in this world not realise how strong they were? What they could do? Why did they see a bunch of teenagers as their saviours? Sure, there had been older Guardians. Way older. But they were chosen as the Tenth Generation, the Last Generation of Hope.
Would people lose hope if they failed?
Would there be no more Generations? Would it all just end, and would the Master have finally won? It was unimaginable, but most likely possible. These people were the image of courage and faith, even though they didn’t know it themselves.
And that’s why James respected them so much.
They were too humble and kind to realise that even they could make a difference if they united as one.
If they only united as one. All realms together against the Land of Void. Against the Master.
They could do it.
They could do it, for sure. They didn’t specifically need James and his friends to do it.
Or did they?
Everyone they had met thus far, had spoken of a certain prophecy. Involving them. And them specifically.
It was weird, though. If the Spirits had foretold this would’ve happened, why didn’t they try to stop it? Or was it beyond their power?
Fate?
Did it just have to happen this way?
It was unthinkable though, that their belief in Magic was the only thing that made James and his friends stand out.
James was the only one who truly believed. Antonio even laughed at him for doing so at certain times. Thomas was just being plain skeptic about it. Bella would either be calling it “science,” or complaining how Magic’s rules would interfere with scientifically proved facts.
Samira believed some of it, though, but that was mostly back when they were little. Unicorns. Fairies. All the things little girls would believe in. Nothing special.
James suddenly snapped out of his thoughts when everything went pitch black before his eyes. Even darker than before.
His friends screamed in fear, and James yelled out for his sister. ”SAMIRA! GUYS! Are you okay!?” he yelled. He heard a noise of which he thought it was his sister’s voice, but before he could be sure, something hurled him through the air and threw him on his back in the snow.
James felt he had fallen between two people. He recognized the moaning to the left as Thomas’s, and the rattling of arrows in a quiver to his left as Samira.
James looked up, and eight red dots in the dark betrayed that they had visitors.
Warlock Spirits.
“Oh, please, not again,” Antonio groaned.
“Guardians,” one of the four Warlock Spirits growled. “Surrender and give us the Guardian of Soul.”
“No, thank you, option not available,” Thomas said. “Please select a different option.”
The Warlock Spirit growled viciously. “Guardian, please,” he growled. “You should know better than to mess with us.”
“What if I did?” Thomas asked the Warlock Spirit. “Would that matter in this situation? You’d try to seize me, anyway.”
While talking to the Warlock Spirit and at the same time distracting him from his friends, Thomas m
ade a small and cautious gesture toward James that he had to crawl backwards.
James copied the gesture to the others, and did what Thomas asked him to do. He started to crawl backward, and was shortly followed by Samira, Antonio and Bella. They had to move slowly, though, so the Warlocks wouldn’t notice while their attention was almost completely directed toward Thomas.
The Warlocks didn’t really seem to like him, though. Their growls became more vicious and angry with every word Thomas spoke.
“You know, why are you following the Master’s orders, anyway? Who told you to do so? What’s the reason?” Thomas asked, and started to crawl backward too.
“ENOUGH!” one of the Warlock Spirits snapped.
“I’ve had enough of this nonsense! We’ve been listening to this gibbering child long enough now! I don’t care if Asura wants him alive!”
The other Warlocks tried to keep their “friend,” or more correctly said “co-worker,” since it wasn’t very likely that creatures that can carry so much hate inside of them would have anything like friends, from attacking and killing Thomas, giving Thomas enough time to get on all fours and shout at his friends:
“RUN! NOW!”
The five teenagers didn’t think twice before getting on all fours and starting to run, in the same direction as where they’d come from.
But, of course, it didn’t take too long before the Warlock Spirits noticed and ordered each other to go after them. “Get them! Don’t let them escape!”
And so the hunt was on.
They were running again, like they had been doing all week, ever since they came here. It hadn’t mattered; they had to run due to their own actions, creatures trying to kill them or other people telling them to do so.
All they had been doing in the past week was running. Especially when speaking of running away from the truth.
In fact, everything they had been running from was the truth. Reality.
“Everyone okay?” James panted. He was quite a sporty guy, but he wasn’t an athlete. He wasn’t prepared for running this much, every day over and over again. He felt like he was about to have a burn-out, and would just break down to the ground.
But apart from that, he didn’t understand what the Warlock Spirits wanted. They had obviously been summoned by the Niveluae. But still...
A couple of days ago, they wanted James to turn himself in, which he didn’t do, of course.
And now, all of the sudden, they were after Thomas. Were they trying to figure out who was the leader? What made them so special that the Master wanted them specifically?
He didn’t get too much time to think about it, nor did he allow himself. He had to stay concentrated, or else he or his friends would get in trouble.
More trouble.
“Make sure to stay close to each other, guys,” he heard Thomas say right next to him. “Make sure we don’t get separated.”
His friends followed his orders. In fact, Samira grabbed James’ wrist to “make sure her little brother wouldn’t get lost.”
Still, it was as if Thomas had barely spoken the words before it all went terribly wrong.
One of the Warlocks pulled out something which looked like a sceptre, with a bright red glowing orb at its end.
He pointed it toward Thomas, and a red beam of light shot out of it. Unfortunately enough, James noticed the beam of light before Thomas did.
“THOMAS!” James shouted. He let go of Samira’s hand, and ran toward Thomas, to get between him and the red light.
Black shadows with a deep red glow wrapped themselves around the redhead’s middle, and pulled him toward the Warlock like a tractor beam.
“JAMES!” Thomas yelled. But when he tried to run after James, another Warlock did the same to him, and both boys were forcefully pulled toward the four Warlock Spirits.
“Two birds in one stone,” one of the Warlock Spirits said. “This is just too easy.”
James struggled all he could, and even tried to escape using his Magic, but couldn’t. All he could do was shout at the others: “RUN, GUYS! RUN! BEFORE THEY GET YOU TOO! RUN!”
Samira and Bella just stood there in shock, frozen in place. But eventually, Antonio yanked them along.
“Haven’t you heard the guy? Run!” he shouted.
“But we can’t just leave them behind!” Samira protested.
“There’s nothing you can do when you’re captured, Samira! We must find Fiyara and figure out how to save them! But right now, all we can do is do what they told us to do: and that is run! Run back to Fiyara as fast as we can! She knows everything about these mountains, so she might as well be the only person that could possibly help us now!”
Samira looked back, and saw how the two boys still struggled to get away from the Warlocks.
Thomas’s hands and feet had been tied together by the shadows, but was also being dragged forward at his middle.
James’ torso was completely covered in the dark stuff; he tried to dig his feet into the ground, but failed to do so, since all there was to dig in was powder snow.
“Please be strong, guys...” she whispered. “Please find a way to escape. Like you’d always do.”
It didn’t last long before Bella, Samira and Antonio ran into Fiyara again.
Fiyara reacted shocked upon seeing the fear in the eyes of the three teenagers who were standing in front of her, while panting loudly.
All around them lay massive heaps of snow, and – strangely enough, considering the temperature was beneath zero degrees Celsius on the top of the mountains – melting icicles; the remains of the Niveluae Fiyara had managed to defeat.
“Guardians!” Fiyara shouted. “What happened? Where are the your friends?”
“James and Thomas- they were captured... By Warlock Spirits,” Samira panted, still in shock. “They told us- to run, so we did- and we decided- to come to you, hoping you- could help us or at least tell us- about the Shadow Creatures’ ways...”
Fiyara sighed. “I tried everything I could to stop them. I really did.
But one of them managed to get away and summoned your friends’ captors.” She lowered her head, staring at the floor.
“I’m terribly sorry. This is my fault.”
“Of course it isn’t, Fiyara,” Bella said. “Those monsters were immensely huge. It’s not your fault. We couldn’t have stopped them either and we were with five.”
Fiyara looked up at the sixteen-year-old and offered him a weak smile.
“I appreciate you saying that, Guardian, I really do. But part of this is my responsibility, and I am willing to accept the consequences. I shall do whatever I can do to help you rescue your friends.” She turned around, and looked at the night sky. “I might as well know something which could help us track them down before they leave the mountain...”
“What do you mean?” Antonio asked. He walked a few steps forward. “Since you’ve got me quite curious right here...” He kicked some of the fluffy snow up, causing his reddish leather booths to be covered in white specks.
Antonio looked very careless and nonchalant at first sight, with his hands in the pockets of the furry beige XL snow coat, kicking up the snow as if nothing mattered.
But when you looked closer, you could notice the worry in his eyes. James and Thomas were smart guys, but they had never actually dealt with anything like this.
These guys truly implied on killing them. Plus, they had way more dangerous weapons. And Dark Magic.
Especially the Dark Magic part was horrifying. They had nothing to defend themselves with if it came to that part. Even Samira couldn’t heal wounds or anything caused by Dark Magic...
So if anything happened to James and Thomas that would involve Dark Magic, it would mean serious bad news.
Treacherous Ally
A soft wind blew across the mountain, causing Fiyara’s dress to glitter in the moonlight. She threw her long, white hair back over her shoulders and crossed her arms.
“I know what the Warlock Spi
rits do when they take captives on the Mountains of Pruina, since I’ve seen it happening before,” she said. “I know what route they take. All we need is to track them down and catch them somehow.”
She turned around, floating above the ground. “Could you show me where they were caught?”
Samira nodded. “Of course, just follow us. Our footsteps will lead us straight there...” Suddenly, the teenage girl gasped in surprise.
“What?” Antonio asked.
“That’s it! Footprints! We can just simply follow the footprints of the Warlock Spirits!”
“Samira! What a marvellous idea!” Bella cheered. “You’re absolutely brilliant!”
“No need to remind me,” Samira said teasingly, and flipped back her hair, that was still tied up in the same braid as how she’d done it back at Queen Eloine’s palace.
Fiyara smiled sadly. “Samira, I am terribly sorry,” she said. “But... Warlock Spirits don’t have any footprints...”
Worry struck the eighteen-year-old’s blue eyes. “What!?” Samira shouted. “But- how are we supposed to track them, then?”
“Don’t worry, dear, we will find them,” Fiyara replied. “Just leave it to me.”