XIRUS

⚫Chapter 32⚫

Nia wanted to tell Xirus how she felt about but didn't think it was the appropriate time. "Xirus?" she called out before knocking on his door.

He opened it with an irritated expression. "What is it Ellania?" he asked sounding grumpy. He had never called her Ellania before and it sounded weird coming out of his mouth. "Is everything alright? Did something happen, you know... when you went exploring?" she asked out of concern. "No... I'm just tired... that's all. We can talk later," he responded. Nia had a crazy theory but wanted to test it out before leaving.

"And how's your back? Midnight scratched you pretty deep when we were training," she said. "Oh, uh it's fully healed. Thanks," he responded. After giving her a brief smile, he shut the door. Nia ran to her room quickly. She entered and rushed over to her bed to sit down and think. There was something quite strange about Xirus. He had called her Ellania. He also said the scratch Midnight gave him during their training session had already healed, but he never got scratched. She sat there trying to recollect her thoughts. She wasn't going crazy. She knew something was wrong with him. So she ran out of her room and went to look for Sharian.

"Sharian!" she exclaimed as soon as she stepped into his room. He was currently rubbing something onto an injured elf but turned to look at Nia. "What is it?" he asked. "Uh, can I talk to you for a second..." she said. She looked at the injured Elf realizing that he couldn't understand English. "Ok one second. Let me just finish-"

"You know Xirus is back," she said.

"Uh yes, he is. I heard that he's resting, but I want to see him when he wakes up," he responded. "Do you think it's possible to make a clone?" she asked him. He looked up at her with puzzlement. "What do you mean..."

"Like is it possible for an elf to look like another elf, but not actually be that elf?" she asked. Sharian stood there trying to process her words. "Well... the only elves that are really capable of doing that are the Dark Elves, but I've never seen it before." Nia rushed out of the room and ran to the library located in the basement of the castle. When she got there, she noticed that there weren't that many elves.

She began to search for answers. She pulled out books about spells and found nothing. She then searched for books about dark magic and also found nothing. Many hours had gone by and she still hadn't found anything. "I can't give up. Not yet," she whispered to herself. She then wondered if their library had any books about Dark Elves. After asking the librarian, she directed her to the small section of books.

"Thanks," she told her. After walking to the section, she pulled out every single book, which was twenty in total, and carried them to an isolated table.

As soon as Nia sat down, she picked up the first book and began to skim through it. She did this thirteen times until she found it. The information she was looking for.

"Hurc alvas ura upla gi kusg biatfol sballs gdu kum kumta da ubbaurumka if um alf. E kum lusg ob gi am huys. Da imly uy fir e gi pa omeima es ef da raul alf es sgumhemt u lausg feva faa uuy frin da hakaevat."

(Dark Elves are able to cast powerful spells that can change the appearance of an elf. It can last up to ten days. The only way for it to be undone is if the real elf is standing at least five feet away from the deceiver.)

"If this was true, who is the elf pretending to be Xirus?" Nia thought. She then put all the books back where she had found them and walked out of the library. She knew she needed to find Xirus. He was probably in big trouble.

-

Tuesday, August 20

The next day, Nia woke up at around 3 am. She was going to look for him. After showering, she switched her daggers for long swords. She changed out of her attire and put on one of her warrior suits. She then made a bun with her hair before exiting her room. As she walked down the hall, she heard someone call out to her.

"Where are you going?" She turned around to see her tired-looking sister walk toward her. "I'm going to go look for Xirus."

"What do you mean? Didn't he come back yesterday?" Nia stepped forward and leaned into her sister's ear. "That elf is not Xirus. That elf is an imposter."

"Huh?" Elora asked. "I don't understand..."

"He called me Ellania and said that the scratch on his back that Midnight gave him had fully healed, but he never even got scratched. I went digging around in our library and learned something. Dark Elves have the power to change the appearance of an elf," Nia whispered. "That's cool... but scary," Elora said.

"Yes, exactly. But I think the real Xirus is in trouble so I'm going to go and look for him."

"Do you want me to come?" Elora asked her sister. "No. It's ok. I'll be fine," she responded. "Are you sure Nia? Maybe one of the boys should go with you. It might be dangerous out there and plus you haven't travelled that far before," Elora replied with concern.

"I know, but it's ok. I'll be fine. I should be back with Xirus within the next couple of days. I know he's out there somewhere and I'm going to find him."

-

Nia flew over the Dragon's Den and landed in the pit. She wasn't sure if the Hybrids would remember her, but she was hoping one of them would give her a ride.

So she walked over to their cave and entered it. When she made it to the center, she began to hear a high pitch sound. She quickly covered her ears squeezing her palms as hard as she could. A few moments later, it stopped. Out of nowhere, a Hybrid flew down and landed in front of her. She took a step back in fear.

It took a step closer until its head was only a couple of centimetres away from Nia's head. With its nostrils, it breathed on her. Nia closed her eyes but remained still. When she opened them again, she looked to see that the Hybrid was sitting down; waiting for her to go on its back. "Thank you," she said with gratitude. After getting on, the Hybrid exited the cave and flew into the dark night sky.