The Mysterious Door

Chapter 24

The caves burst into chaos as every creature in sight prepares for battle. Eric's vision showed that the Instructor will enter Fairshadow with the help of Gustav with her entire army. Since the caves are protected against them, they will be targeting the settlements to lure us out and into battle.

Martyn has instructed his wolves to take on the vampire army, much to their delight. June instructed the new halflings and most of the witches to take on the Instructor's halfling hordes. She gave Ella, Aimee, Kyle and Liam special orders to deal with Zack, since he's one of our most powerful enemies at the moment. It wasn't necessary for anyone to tell me what part I was to play. I knew the time for me to face Daniel was here, whether I'm ready or not.

"Take this," Martyn says, pushing a bag into my arms, "I'm sorry that I can't help you more," he says with a hand on my shoulder, "But be careful out there and come out alive."

I nod and head to my room to get ready. The bag contains an assortment of weapons and some light armor pieces. I put on the chestplate and leggings, but the rest will only slow me down. As for weapons, he gave me harness with knives, a sword and an axe. I put the harness over my shoulders and take the sword, but the axe seems unnecessary. I might not know how to throw the knives but I'm sure they'll come in useful.

"You doing okay," Kyle asks, coming into the room.

"I hope so," I fake a smile, "Take care of yourself out there."

"Don't worry about us," he puts his hand on my shoulder, "We can take care of ourselves."

"I've seen some of what Zack can do and he's very powerful."

"Well then I guess it's lucky for us that he's burdened by using his powers through the timeline." He laughs a bit, "We'll get through this, I know we will." I nod and he pulls me into a tight hug, "See you after the battle, yeah?"

"Definitely." There are so many people that I wish was heading into this battle next to me. People that deserve to be here a lot more than I do. Jasmine, who was too good for this world, Cindy, the first person I felt could see me for who I am and still loved me for it, and Anthony, who deserved more than the world could ever offer.

"You look almost as nervous as I am," I say to Prince, the frog halfling when I run into him on my way to the portal.

"It's not so much nervous as it is concerned," he says, "There are already not a lot of halflings out there, so it feels wrong fighting against my own kind."

"I haven't thought of that," I say scratching the back of my head, "Why do you think they're following the Instructor?"

"It's not their fault," Corley, the bat halfling says joining us, "If they are following their old methods again, they will be kidnapping the kids as soon as the changes start which is usually puberty. They convince the parents that they can cure them, but they do the opposite. They bring out the beast inside the children, make them give into the animal inside until there's almost no humanity left. Animals are easier to control than people."

"Is that what they did to you?"

"It is," Prince says, "When I first got there Corley was a long way down their reprogramming, but luckily I was able to bring her back from the abyss." He takes her hand in his, "No one should go through that."

"Once this is over, we'll get them out," Dominique says, "We did it once, we'll do it again."

"I'm sure the Commander will be happy to help as well," I say.

"Either way," Prince says, "PEACE will pay for what they're doing."

We step through the portal, finding some of our troops waiting in the clearing leading to the door already.