Mortal

Chapter 24

"I'll see you soon, child. You and that dumb bird of yours can't defeat me. You're just a pest. I'll exterminate you soon enough."

~

My eyes shoot open. My face is covered in sweat. I've been sweating in my sleep. It's no surprise; I had to get Phareth to hypnotize me just to get to sleep. I'm terrified.

I decide that I won't be able to get myself to sleep again. I get up, and begin my morning routine. I already hear the maids in the hallway, probably making beds or something,
Once I'm done getting dressed, I leave my room, possibly for the last time. I walk to Phareth's room. I knock.

"Come in."

I go inside. He's packing two backpacks. One of them is big. The other one is a tiny black mini backpack.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

He hands the small backpack to me. I can tell he's packed it full, because it's heavy. Inside, I find a bunch of medical supplies, such as bandages. There's also a pocket knife and a few other supplies.

"I've decide that I can't let you go by yourself. I'm coming with you."

My heart drops into my stomach.

"No. No, you can't."

"Shadow, I'm letting you go. It's only fair that you allow me."

"But-But... I can't lose you, too! He'll steal your essence too! He can't steal mine, I'm a mortal. Besides, someone has to be there with Tsareth when he wakes up. Please don't go."

"This is too much to ask."

"Please."

He kneels down to let me hug him.

"I don't want Tsareth to wake up to just the nurses. I want you to be there."

He gives me the tightest hug I've ever felt.

The hug doesn't last long, though. I hear a knock on the door. Eldwinus comes in.

"I thought I'd find you in here, Shadow. Come on. Hila's got the armor. The army is almost ready. Since we can't just teleport to his planet, we'll take a space ship. We leave as soon as they finish filling it with fuel."

I let go of Phareth.

"Goodbye, Phareth."

I follow Eldwinus into the kitchen. There, Hilda is already putting armor onto Skylight. It's shiny, and made of what appears to be silver dragon steel. It fits on her much like horse armor. She even has a helmet. I see that a saddle is fitted over the armor.

Hilda hands me a silver chestplate. There is a silver helmet on the table. It has wings at sides that seem to be for decoration.

I put on the armor. It covers everything from my chest, to my arms. I fit my Messenger over the armor on my wrist. I decided not to have leg armor, because I thought it would be too heavy. Instead, I wear dragon steel boots. They seem to be designed to match my helmet, because they have wings melded onto the heels.

"She looks great. She looks ready for anything," says Eldwinus, pleased.

"I'm glad you like it, Lord Eldwinus."

"Alright, Shadow! Let's see how our army is doing."

I follow him through a teleportation ring. We end up in front of a giant space ship. It looks like a fighter jet twice the size of a normal airplane. Skylight follows close behind me while I look around.

There are about a hundred normal sized fighter jets. I start to doubt myself. What did I get myself into?

"Well, c'mon Shadow. Let's get on board. The spaceship is really fast. It'll get us there in a few hours."