Aurora's POV:

"I don't know" replied Shade calmly, after listening to yet another one of my theories.

We walked across the scorching lands with the hoods of our cloaks pulled up to protect our heads from the sun rays that continued to burn down on us.

"It's obviously a trap" I mumbled more to myself.

"Yeah, we've known that since Emrick paid you a little visit" added Shade.

I nodded my head and turned around, walking backwards to see his face.

"But why is Emrick even helping, isn't he Lucifer's son?" I questioned, becoming even more confused.

Shade's face morphed into one of confusion as he searched for an answer to my question. I let out a small sigh and began to walk forwards again, scanning the area for any signs of water.

"I don't know, but to convince him to work to release the man who killed his father he must have been offered something big" he replied after a minute of silence.

"There!" I exclaimed, pointing to some trees in the distance "do you think that there will be water there?" I questioned, hoping that I wasn't hallucinating.

Shade looked at me slightly startled by my outburst before he averted his attention to the trees.

"I don't know, but it will probably be our last chance to collect some before we arrive at the river," he said logically.

We headed straight for the trees at a brisk pace, and after at least half an hour of endless walking we finally arrived. The trees that grew here were greener than the ones that stood tall in the dead forest that we had previously travelled in, it was actually really weird to see so much lush green plant life in the middle of a barren land.

"Do you think that this is some kind of trap?" asked Shade as he looked around the greenery.

"I don't see why, they want us to come to them," I said knowing that we were doing exactly what Emrick wanted, so his demons had no reason to attack us.

Shade nodded his head but drew his daggers anyway.

"Not all demons follow Sebastian," he said intelligently.

I drew my own daggers and stayed alert as we pushed through the plant barrier that revealed a large oasis surrounded by all sorts of plants and rocks. The water that it held was an alluring royal blue colour which shone brightly as it reflected the suns brilliant rays. Resisting the temptation to dive into the waters unknown depths, I walked carefully around the area to scan for any sort of life.

I was looking down at the lake's peaceful surface in concentration when water jumped from the lake and sprayed into the air causing me to jump backwards, falling over in the process. I scrambled back away from the water as quickly as I could and scanning the area in sudden panic. That was... until my eyes landed on Shade.

He stood by the waters edge with a variety of rocks scooped up in his arms and had a huge smirk on his face that he tried to hide with an apologetic look.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I gasped, clutching my chest to feel my heart pounding against my rib cage.

"Calm down Princess, I was only testing to see if the water's safe" he replied no longer fighting to hide his grin.

"By giving me a heart attack?" I asked while getting to my feet.

"Nope, that was a bonus" he laughed, irritating me further.

I dusted myself off and watched as he threw most of the remaining rocks into the water, before crouching down to dip his hand into it.

"Seems safe enough," he confirmed, skimming a small rock across the waters gleaming surface.

I rolled my eyes and bent down to pick up my daggers but was immediately lifted off the ground by Shade, I screamed out in surprise and clung on to his shirt as he threw me easily over his shoulder and ran full speed towards the lake.

"Don't you dare!" I screamed threateningly, but it was too late.

He leapt off the rocky ledge without hesitation, causing us to both plummet into the cold water. I instinctively moved my arms to swim to the water's surface but became tangled with Shade since the idiot had forgotten to throw me off him before we pierced the water.

After pushing him off me I burst through the water's surface and took in a big gulp of air, coming face to face with an annoyingly smug Shade.

"Idiot!" I shouted, sending a huge splash of water in his direction to consume him.

He dodged its blast and shook his head at me innocently as his smirk grew. I laughed lightly and swam quickly towards him, throwing myself on top of him in order to dunk him under the water, we crashed under the surface and separated before we both re-emerged in a fit of laughter.

"Mission accomplished" laughed Shade triumphantly.

"What?" I questioned, pushing a strand of my drenched hair from my face.

"You're smiling" he chuckled gleefully.

I splashed him in the face again before I swam to the edge of the lake where I could stand, it was surprisingly hard to swim fully clothed and in boots.

"Well, as much as I would love to stay here," I started while pulling myself out of the lake "let's get some water and go" I finished, feeling slightly guilty for enjoying myself when Chase was suffering.

Shade reluctantly followed me out of the lake and watched as I removed my cloak and wrung it dry, he watched what I was doing in entertainment, letting out small chuckles now and again as I struggled to dry my clothes.

"Is something funny?" I asked, turning to look at his amused face.

"You do realise that we have basic control over the elements right?" he questioned while shaking his head.

"So...?" I replied cluelessly.

He muttered something under his breath and took my cloak from me, he laid it out in front of him and sat with his hands hovering over it.

"Watch and learn" he mocked, winking at me before closing his eyes.

I moved closer to him and watched in amazement as small droplets of water started lifting from the material to form a long chain of water that circled Shade, growing in length as more water was extracted. He moved his right hand towards the lake and directed his palm at the waters, causing the chain to flow back into the oasis.

"Try it with me," said Shade as he got to his feet "like the darkness, just picture what you want the water to do" he explained, closing his eyes to regain his focus.

I held my hands out and concentrated on making the water move, the water instantly obeyed my instruction and flowed out of my clothes, making a bigger chain that flowed around both me and Shade.

"Good" praised Shade as he directed the water back into the lake.

I grabbed my cloak off the floor and wrapped it around my now dry body.

"I'm surprised that you were never taught how to do that," said Shade "most people are taught as children" he added.

"I was only taught how to control my werewolf side because I grew up in a pack" I reminded him.

"Well if we survive this, I will teach you everything that I know" stated Shade with a warm smile.

I returned the smile and walked over to my daggers that were still laying on the floor. I picked them up and turned to face him.

"We better survive then" I laughed, allowing myself to be optimistic.

We collected some water and left the joy infused air surrounding the oasis to continued our ill-fated journey to Regnum Flammae, it was then that I vowed to myself that once we knew that Chase was safe, we had to use all of our strength to destroy Sebastian for good.