Well, that three-day break didn’t go as I planned. We had made it past the two-day mark before we got a distress signal from a woman named Faye. Mom had let out a gasp when she had heard the name and that was all I needed to hear before I knew that it was a trap. I have no doubt in my mind that whoever did this knew that we had saved the queen. And whoever knew that we saved mom also knew that mom’s twin flame had been encaptured. As a matter of fact the people are probably one in the same.

The worst part is that they may really have my other mom in captivity. Or worse they really did let her go just to hunt her down and keep watch over her using her as bait for us. But I couldn’t really let all those thoughts pass through my mind as mom had become hysterical. She began crying and begging for us to help her. Begging me to help her. And I would never reject something mom wishes so sincerely for.

There wasn’t much I could really do, or I assumed so before Natalia told her we’d help her. I was shocked at her actually agreeing to help knowing that she thought it was possibly a trap too. She only responded by saying that she wanted me to have the family that I’ve always wanted.

Truly it only strengthened the feelings I had for her. Her compassion, even when she’s trying to hide it makes me smile. She makes me feel happy even when she isn’t trying and I know that even when he acts difficult and isolated she would come to me if I needed help.

So, here we are now, talking to the headmaster about possibly leaving and going to check out the area where the signal was sent from. The signal had been sent magically so it had left a magic signature that could help us track where it came from.

I could see it in the headmaster’s eyes that she didn’t want us to go but I have a feeling that she knew wed go anyways if she didn’t give us permission. I’m sure that she wanted ti come with us but she has a job to uphold as the headmaster of this school. Plus, I’m not going to lie I thought it was a bit funny the way Natalia and the headmaster had a staredown before she had finally agreed to let us go. Of course she had stipulations for us first though, one of them being to bring at least one other person with us.

We were going to do so anyways, seeing as we’re not stupid eough to think we could win on our own but we weren’t going to tell her that. It would’ve only prolonged our stay in her office and I don’t think neither I or Natalia wanted that.

And so, with explicit permission from mom and Natalia, I chose out of the group of Umbra that was with us in the castle. The person I chose was named Vivian and she is an elf. I chose her for a multitude of reasons one being that she has healing abilities which would be a big advantage in any battle. Another is that she’s very strong. Everyone in this school has been trained a lot, probably since their youth but when I saw her fighting prowess outside of the school I realized just how powerful she is.

Training for a fight is nothing if you don’t have actual combat experience. Even sparring isn’t the same as an actual fight and it can’t stimulate the adrenalin that you’d feel in a life or death situation. With Vivian though, her fighting capabilities were as good if not better than when she’s sparring.

Her healing capabilities along with her skills on the battlefield are not to be trifled with. So after we found her and informed her of the situation she agreed and we all began packing for the trip. Natalia and I were in agreement that we should pack normal clothes as well as our armor so that we’ll be comfortable on the trip. And seeing as I don’t have to pack a weapon because mine becomes a bracelet I had a sort of advantage.

Or that was what I thought until I remembered that whilst they were training they also had to learn hand-to-hand combat. So even though I’m able to have my weapon on me at all times they are still able to protect themselves because of how well versed they are in hand-to-hand combat. And of course we can’t forget about Kano.

With his ability to shift from his human form to his dragon form he’s a great addition to the team. Well, that and the fact that we’ve sort of bonded in some way so he usually tries to stay around me in some form. To be completely honest I prefer him in his dragon form although I honestly don’t care as long as he’s happy with his choice. Of course his princely face and figure make him easy on the eyes so to speak but generally, I feel more comfortable around him in his original form.

I think to some extent he appreciates that too because I can see the relief in his eyes when he gets to shift back to his dragon form. Maybe he’s uncomfortable in his human form or doesn’t like that he has to partake in human customs and communicate with others. After all, he hadn’t chosen to speak to anyone in hundreds of years and he certainly didn’t want to start now. The bond we forged wasn’t really one of his choosing at first although I can tell that he’s quickly warming up to me.

Kano had decided that he wanted to travel in dragon form which me and the others accepted so he didn’t really need to pack or bring anything along. So once we all had everything packed we slept for the night at the castle and met up in front of the school at the field in the morning. Adira still hadn’t talked to me much since she had first been freed from the chains so I could feel an emptiness in my heart but I promised not to let that distract me. Besides she deserved some time to herself, to think and also to get her emotions in check. I owe her at least that much.

Natalia had summoned Daenerys so that we could ride on horseback for the first few hours of the trip and Vivian summoned a black horse of her own named Alessia which apparently means defending warrior. It honestly fits her though. A powerful name for a powerful and mysterious-looking horse.

Kano had decided not to fly just yet and stay out of sight as much as he can. It’s not much because of how big his form is but I guess it’s better than being easily spotted in the air.

As for my mom well, she apparently had a bonded creature too. Except hers was a tad bit more unique than flying horses. She has a phoenix. His name is Magnus. Interestingly enough apparently phoenix’s don’t just burn all of the time and can choose if they want to be on fire or not. Why mom hadn’t mentioned him before I have no idea, but then again I don’t think I ever brought anything like that up in the first place.

As the horses and Kano began running and Magnus took off into the air with mom I again took the chance to watch the scenery as it goes by. One of my many lifelong goals had been to travel the world. And while this definitely isn’t that, this realm makes for a beautiful sight especially since I’ve lived in the city my whole life. I never would’ve imagined that I would get to see the things that I’m beholding now.

We ride for about 10 minutes before we stop at the town near the castle to get some breakfast as well as some food that should last us for at least a few days. The best choices for food were things that we could take on the road and not have to worry about spoiling. After we had gotten the most delicious breakfast that we could find before really hitting the road we took the horses out to drink some water.

Finally, we had gotten back on our horses and mom back on Magnus before we began traveling. Kano had decided that he wanted to fly after all after having seen Magnus flying around without people acting like it was a spectacle. For the most part, nobody even bothered looking around in the sky having been used to different creatures flying around.

The direction of the magic signature had pointed north so that’s where we were headed. We decided to travel through the woods and unused trails to avoid drawing attention to ourselves and the creatures we’re traveling with. Although bonded creatures were somewhat normal it was still quite the novelty to see.

And travel along the backroad we did. For five days and four nights only stopping to let our bonded creatures and Kano get some food and water as well as taking breaks to eat for ourselves. We made good time traveling down the back trails which were a bit shoddy but also supposedly the quickest way we could travel.

A while back both Natalia and mom had said that they were beginning to recognize the way we were going as one of the back routes to get to one of the Fernweh. It was interesting though, as they both began to tense when we got closer and closer to our goal. Things were made a lot worse when we had finally gotten to the Fernweh and one of the guards in Venandi uniforms claimed that someone had left a note for us.

The contents of the note read: Awww too little too late, looks like your little group will have to take a trip into my territory. I do hope you guys decide to come, after all, I love games. Of course, if you decide that you don’t want to come that’s fine too, as long as you’re okay with permanently losing your twin soul and mother of course.

Whoever had written this note had a sick sense of humor and I almost lost it at the thoughts of what they had been doing to my mother this whole time that she was taken. It was obvious that this whole ting had been set up from the beginning an that whoever took my mom had been planning this for a long time. They waited for 20 long years to finally put they're plan into motion.

Not only that but they had used the king and his abuse of my mother to do it. The king would’ve never been able to overpower my mom, especially with how weak he was. So maybe he called in somebody for help. And when this help of his knew what he was up to, they decided to use it to their own advantage.

“Who left this note.” I ask the guards grimly.

“Honestly, we don’t know. They wore a hood and hid their magical aura. The only reason we let them go back into the portal after they left the note was because this is the portal to the dark realm. We didn’t know if they just wore the hood because they were reclusive or not. There was no probable cause to stop him.” The second guard explained, Vivian and mom nodding their heads in understanding.

I mumbled out my grievances annoyed that leaving a suspicious note before traveling through a portal wasn’t enough probable cause. They could’ve at least skimmed the note over before the person left. And they hadn’t even seen the persons face which s suspicious enough to me. They came over to this side of the portal with they're face covered so you couldn’t identify them. They gave you a note for some people that were coming to the portal and then they left.

If that’s not suspicious enough then I don’t know what is. Besides, I thought probable cause was only a U.S thing not an other realm thing. There should be different methods of catching criminals dor different situations and I certainly think magic is a lot different than whatever criminals in the earth realm do.

Vivian looked thoughtful, glancing at me and then the rest of the group before coming to a decision. “I think we should just go for it.” She said with conviction.

Me, Natalia, and mom all looked at her in confusion and Kano tilted his huge head to the side like a giant puppy dog. “I mean think about it, if we go back to school we’re just wasting time and I can tell that this is important to you. I say we just jump through the portal and once we’re already there send a message to the headmaster. If she thinks we need help she’ll send in reinforcements so it’s not that big of a deal anyways.” Mom glances at the rest of us before agreeing to the plan.

Kano shifts into his human form to give us his sentiments on the plan. He also agrees saying that there’s no time like the present, especially when it’s about something so near and dear to our hearts. And that leaves it down to me and Natalia. We both glance at each other, her giving me a look that I can’t decipher before she agrees to the plan. And since everyone else agrees I may as well just go along with it.

Both guards step aside to let us pass, having been listening to our whole conversation. I’m almost certain that there are procedures you have to get through before going through the portals but I’m sure they were able to recognize mom as the queen. Huh, influence and power is a good thing to have sometimes.

The first one to step through the portal was Kano, who wanted to check and make sure that there was no immediate danger waiting on the other side. Mom went next, after Kano had given us the all-clear. It was me next, Vivian and Natalia saying that as the best fighters they should trail behind so no one tries a surprise attack. I doubted that it would happen but I guess that it was good to be cautious just in case.

Walking through the portal I was surprised at how much of a difference it was from Eatithra. Trees were still surrounding us but instead of your normal brown bark trees these ones were red, the same shade as blood and the leaves were a dark charcoal black. It goes to show how different each of these realms are because not once had I seen a tree like this in Eatithra in the almost month that I had been there.

“Are these trees supposed to look like this?” I ask out loud looking at the rest of the group in concern.

Natalia was the one who responded to this question. “Curiously enough they actually are supposed to look that way. I’ve traveled into this realm for work a couple of times before and each time I’ve visited the trees have looked the same.” She explained looking up at the trees.

Mom was the one to speak up next. “Let’s get moving guys. We shouldn’t stay in one place for too long. Whoever left that letter knew we would come and they’ll definitely have set people in place to block us from reaching our destination.” Vivian nodded in agreeance wincing at the sound of having to fight people who were blocking our path.

“I concur. The sender of the note even stated that they thought of this as a game. We could compare this to a game of chess. They are going to send their pawns and eventually their knights at us and we need to be prepared.” Vivian said as I sigh. Nothing is ever is easy in the realms, although I guess nothing was really easy in the earth realm either.

Knowing it was useless to disagree especially when I know Natalia will agree with them I just tell them that we should get moving. We all decide that we should stay on foot so that we could use the trees as cover should we need to. And seeing as we’re most likely being watched and tracked we’ll definitely need all the cover we can get.

This is the other teams territory so they probably know the layout well. Whoever they send after us will have the advantage because it’s their home terf. And if they plan on using that to their advantage, which they probably will, then we need to keep a close eye on our surroundings.

And just like that after about 20 minutes of walking a wild pokemon appeared. Three people in black and red form fitting one piece suits jumped out of the shadows of the trees and landed in a triangular formation in front of us. To be completely honest they looked like idiots. I would be embarrassed if I had to jump out like that. And although they were in a triangular formation each person had landed in their own peculiar pose which made them look even more ridiculous.

“Prepare for battle, it is time to dance!” The woman in the front of the triangle shouted. I roll my eyes in annoyance. This has to be a joke. Maybe this is a trap and they're trying to distract us because if not I think I’ll flip out. There is no way in the world that these people are serious and I can tell that the others aren’t taking them seriously either when I hear snickers coming from both Kano and Vivian's direction. I look over and see both of their shoulders shaking, trying to hold in their laughter but you can see the mirth in their eyes.

“What are you laughing at!” One of the men at the back of the triangle yelled. “You should be trembling in fear, prepare to face our wrath!” The man beside him yelled only influencing Kano and Vivian to burst out laughing not being able to hold back their giggles anymore. I shake my head in disappointment at their immaturity before checking for my mom and Natalia’s reaction.

Natalia still held a straight face but her eyes were shining with merriment while Mom’s shoulders were shaking as well, she was just doing a better job at hiding her laughter than the others. I cannot believe this. For some reason, I’m the only one being mature about this here. I mean granted, it’s a bit embarrassing of them to do this but are we just gonna forget about the fact that they’re trying to attack us.

And why the heck did they jump out in front of us instead of surprising us with an attack? Not only did they lose their advantage but they humiliated themselves in the process.

“So are we going to ignore the fact that they’re wearing earth realm ninja costumes which real umbra don’t even wear? They’re literally dressed up like it’s halloween. Do they think we have candy or something?” Vivian laughs out clutching her stomach. Kano laughs even louder falling over and rolling around on the ground. Out of everyone in the group, Kano is the last one I would expect to be so immature.

He’s quite literally the oldest out of all of us having lived for hundreds of years. I can’t even imagine being so immature at his age. Then again, maybe for dragons a couple of hundred years is young. Maybe in dragon terms he’s still just a kid. I have no idea.

“Okay guys seriously, can we just fight them and get this over with?” I ask them displeased with how much time we’ve wasted here. At least it provided some sort of comedic relief. We’ve had such a somber atmosphere during the walk through the dark forest. Kano stops rolling around to look at me for a second seemingly watching my expression before standing up, dusting himself off, and clearing his throat.

“Sorry about that, it’s just that I’ve been in my other form for so long that I haven’t had the chance to go out and experience things like this.” Kano says looking away abashedly.

“It’s okay Kano I get it, I’ve been locked up my whole life. But this is a serious situation and it’s incredibly time-sensitive. That goes for you as well Vivian, I get it, it was probably a way to let go of the tense atmosphere that we’ve been surrounded in but we’ve got things to do.” Kano sighs and Vivian nods while the three idiots stand there watching us as we talk.

Seriously they haven’t even taken the chance to use our distracted nature against us. They’ve just stood there in that same stupid position. When the author of the note said this was a game I didn’t think they meant it so literally. It honestly feels like they’re undermining our abilities with the people they’ve sent after us.

I look over at Natalia and mom before looking back at Kano and Vivian. They all take glances at each other as well before we all nod at the same time. Running towards our adversaries everyone picks one to fight beside me. Despite how ridiculous they look they do hold some skill. Not close enough to beat even one of us but still you could tell they had training. And while my team toyed around with them I jumped in to double team each opponent to take them out while they were distracted.

It was such a simple tactic and one that could’ve easily been avoided but we finished them off too quickly to stand a chance. I almost felt bad for those poor idiots. They must’ve just gotten caught up or taken in by the wrong people. Anyhow it didn’t matter much since they were dead now.

It’s still a sad thing having to kill people but they may have just come after us again if we left them alive. Not to mention that they could’ve reported back to their boss about any strengths or weaknesses that they noticed.

So yes, death is a sad thing but it was an unfortunately necessary evil. Knowing that it’s necessary doesn’t make it any easier emotionally though. Mom walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder trying to comfort me as I stare at their dead bodies.

“There’s not much we can do but end this war Natalia So that no more people have to be put on the frontline and die. On both sides.” She says comfortingly looking back before walking up to Vivian and Kano.

Just as mom walks away Natalia walks up beside me looking at me before looking at their bodies.

“Trust me, I understand the emotional dilemma you’re going through. For the longest time, I wondered why all these people had to die and why I had to be a part of this battle. But now I realize that the best thing I can do for these people is help lay their souls to rest by ending this battle. So that their families and future generations won’t have to go through this too.” I look at her, noticing the downtrodden expression on her face before she looks up at me and smiles, trying to mask her pain.

But she couldn’t mask it. Because I had already seen it. And for the first time, I recognize how alike we truly are. Of course, I’ve noticed how guarded she was with her emotions but that could’ve been for a multitude of reasons. But now that I’ve seen this side of her I can’t help but think that maybe she’s just as lonely as I am.

I reach out and silently link my pinky finger with hers trying to show comfort in a subtle way. I want her to know that if no one else will be, I’ll always stand by her side.