Shattering Reality - COLLAB WITH @AtomicDaDragon

Chapter 15

Atomic's Perspective

  Well, that happened.

  Serafina is Elyssia's hostage, we are camped out at the Chernobyl Radioactive Disaster Site (my request), our magic is still distilled, and, well, it's pretty bad, okay? Okay.

  The radioactive material doesn't bother any of us, but it feels good to me. My name's Atomic, right?

  Random Fact: The most dangerous parking lot in the world is located in these woods. All the vehicles close to the explosion were evacuated into the woods, because the humans would die if they were left out and about. Sorry. When it comes to dangerous things, I get nerdy.

  Ted is sleeping. I asked him why there were chains on his ankles. He just said the road was hard. I presses him for more information, but no. He kept his secrets.

  I slowly fall asleep too, in the most dangerous woods on earth.

  **********

  In the morning, Alex wakes us all up. ''Bad news,'' she says. I shudder, because it must be bad, if she's telling us.

  Ella and I look at each other. What is going on?

  ''The bad news is,'' Alex starts. ''We never made it to the stronghold. Elyssia never lead the Riders. We were, I don't know, brainwashed?''

  ''WHAT?'' I scream at the sky. ''WHY!'' I'm angry. It's kinda a ''Come on, man,'' moment. Seriously?

  ''From the moment we thought we saw the city, and the mountains, it was a lie. Why were we in that building, her prison? She put us in a simulation. Tried to gain information from our heads. I think the reason she kept Sera is because she didn't get anything from her. She's angry at her.''

  As she says all this, I feel a tingle in the back of my head. I remember.

  We exited the forest, and I fell asleep. The battle never happened. Laza Bane never existed. The safe land for dragons was a lie. Ella gets this flash too, because she lets out a cry of despair.

  The Dragon Riders live in the De'lor mountains, not outside them. The elves would never be so stupid.

  Their city has no name, so none can ambush it. How do you plan an attack on a city that you can't name?

  Their alliance with the dwarves is there, but it's not strong enough to get them to leave the mountains.

  Their city, for one, isn't even on earth. It's in a different dimension...

  ''Wait, different dimension,'' I ask Alex. She nods.

  ''The dragon world.''

  ''We need to get all the dragons there,'' I shout. We need to get all the magical creature there! It could end the war-''

  ''Good point, Ella, but Elyssia has the portal,'' says Alex. ''The portal between all worlds.''

  ''Lost in time,'' I say, remembering Elyssia's words. ''To travel between worlds, you'd theoretically have to travel in time, which means the prophecy...,'' I say out loud. ''The prophecy is in a different world! Elyssia is trying to portal hop, to find the prophecy, destroy it, and kill us!''

  ''What prophecy,'' asks Ted, who has been silent this whole time.

  I tell them. ''Oh no,'' Alex says, which reminds me, no matter how much we call ourselves friends, we keep many secrets.

  ''What's 'oh no','' I ask.

  ''To do that, she needs the portal stone,'' says Alex. ''It's like a key to open the portal. The Riders have the stone.'' I sigh with relief.

  ''We're safe,'' Ella asks.

  ''Until she decides to bargain Sera to us somehow,'' I shout. ''She'll probably say; ''I'll give you Sera, but you give me the stone', and Sera will tell us not to agree, but we will, because it's Sera, and the world is doomed.''

  ''Good point,'' Ted whispers. ''My girlfriend is smarter than me.''

  ''Yes, I am. Anyways, we need to go and warn the Riders. Like, now,'' I say.

  ''What if they already know,'' says Ella. ''What happens then?

  ''They may. So?''

  ''Wait, people, I have magic again,'' I yell. I fly into the air, whooping and shooting jets of green fire into the sky.

  ''What was that,'' Ella asks when I land.

  ''Try your magic,'' I tell her. She looks at a leaf, and it turns into a diamond. ''Yay,'' she shouts. I smile. I actually smile. Wow.

  ''What's with you,'' Ted asks.

''Oh, you know. Birds chirping.''

  He looks at me as if to say, All the animals are dead, remember? Chernobyl?

  ''Magic!,'' I say happily. ''Oh,'' she says, just now getting it.

''One more thing,'' says Alexandra.

''What?''

  ''I didn't want to tell you, because it's dangerous, but the leader of the Riders? The real leader? It's me.''

 I then get up and soar away, angry at the world.

***********

  I fly over to a abandoned playground. The swings creak. It looks like a horror movie. I sit down on the top of the monkey bars. ''I miss this,' I think, reminiscing. In front of me, a little, skinny girl with green hair runs around, laughing sweetly. I shake the memories away. I never played here, but it's still a playground.

   Why did I have to be forced to grow up? I want to go home. But home is just a memory, like the little, innocent, naïve girl on the playground.

  Then, Ted pads up to me. I smile, flapping down.

  ''Who are you,'' I whisper.

  ''Who are you,'' he whispers back.

I am scared. There is a crazy elf after us, my friend is kidnapped, and deadly information was just sucked from my head. I don't like the thought of being so weak. Ted looks at me with literal puppy eyes, and whines. He wants me to laugh. But I don't.

''How can I be happy when so much is bad,'' I ask him. He shrugs as best he can. The wind blows my greed hair into my face, cutting my vision into strips. I leave it there. ''I don't know,'' I say, echoing his shrug.

  ''Don't be sad, Atomic. We'll make it through.''

  ''I don't want to be cliché, but one of us may not make it back alive.'' He looks sadly at me.

  ''Someone has nostalgia,'' he says in a singsong voice.

  ''Yes, someone does,'' I say. ''Why did everything come so fast,'' I ask. ''Why did my childhood slip through my fingers? I tried to hide who I was, but it's like hiding under a see-through sheet. I'm just weak and lonely and insane.''

  He shakes his head. ''That's where you're wrong,'' he says. ''You are strong, and awesome and brave. It's amazing.'' I can't help but blush at his praise.

  ''No one has to accept you but yourself,'' he says. ''Just believe you are strong, and you will be.''

  ''You always know just what to say.''

  ''I excel at that.''

  That makes me smile. I lay my head on his shoulder, and neither one of us moves until the last rays of the sun slip away under the horizon, cloaking our silhouettes in shadow.