A Winter's War

Chapter Four

Later that evening— Fay and I are preparing two small bags for our journey to Dašiné. As we are packing, neither one of us talks about the upcoming event that's about to unfold. But I could tell that we were both anxious about meeting Zaska and finding out what she was going to tell us or where she might take us. As we are finishing up packing the bags I finally break the silence, "Do you think we'll ever come back home after we save Alyjra's world?"

Fay sets his bag down on the bed and calmly walks closer towards me, "There's no reason to fear Keon. I'm sure after Winter Solstice, we'll be home and celebrating Christmas with mom and dad. So just keep this in mind as we set forth on this journey into an unknown place and meet new people."

I chuckle lightly, "You're right as always. I shouldn't be worrying about the future and what it holds. I just need to think about the final results and what may happen after all this adventure stuff is over with."

"I know I'm right. Now if you keep trusting me like you used to, then we'll make it out alive and be able to save both worlds as dad said we could."

I nod my head in approval "I shall keep trusting you. I always have and always will. Now shall we get going to the party, I'm ready to start this journey of ours."

"Of course brother, let's go to this party and meet with Zaska and see what she's got to say."

A few minutes later our mom calls up at us, "Boys are you two ready for supper?"

"Yeah, we'll be right down mom," I holler back. Then to Fay, I question "Are you ready?"

He smiles nervously "Yeah, I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Let's get going shall we?" I nod my head in agreement then we both headed downstairs to eat supper.

(#)
As we pulled into a spot alongside the other cars, off in the distance I could hear loud upbeat music playing and people singing along with the music. Mom turns off the car and says to Fay and me "You two have fun and stay safe, ok."

"We will mom," says Fay "and we should probably get going. Hank is probably waiting for us and it'll take us a little bit to get to the lighthouse."

"Ok, and just make sure that one of you two call me around midnight and just let me know you're alright."

"Will do. Now let's get going, Keon."

"Right." Then we began to walk away but as we got a few feet away, I suddenly turned around and ran back to my mom and embraced her in a huge hug "I love you very much, mom!" I whisper into her ear.

"I love you son. You and your brother have been the best thing that's ever happened to me. Come back home to me, safe and sound."

"I will. Now I gotta get going. Fay is waiting for me."

"Ok, get going and have fun." She gave me another hug and I went running back to Fay.

"You ok?" asks Fay as I walk up to him.

"Yeah, I've never been better."

"That's good to hear. Now let's get going, we only have about an hour to get to the lighthouse."

"Right." I agree. Then on that note, our journey begins as we make our way along the darkened shoreline towards the lighthouse. As we were walking I couldn't help but wonder if mom knew that we weren't coming back home tonight. The way she said her goodbyes made me think that she already figured out about our meeting with Zaska and going to save Alyjra's world. But I probably would never figure out if she truly knew about our mission. Just then a loud explosion snapped me out of my trance. I glance up towards the sky and I see a flash of colors bursting through the air. 'It has started,' I mutter to myself. "What time is it?"