Rift Duology #2: Rift of Shadow

Chapter 16: Departure

—Xavier's POV—

Albus sliced towards me, and his scythe blasted a gust of icy wind towards me.
I was at the edge of the cliff, and was pushed just enough to almost fall to my death.

"C'mon Albus, Jayus, it's me! We're friends!" I protested.

They ignored and got closer and closer, and stopped.
When they stopped, a red flash happened right before.
Cassiopeia walked on the roads in front of me, and stood there.

"Albus, Jayus, stand down. I would like to have a talk with you, Xavier." His voice boomed.

"What? What do you want?" I responded.

"A deal. You have something I need- my Axe. And, your help." He said.

"What? No! I'll never help you!"

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong.
I know you questioned your morals and wanted to help Keros. I know you're jealous of Jayden and Jayus, and I know you want to become human again. I can give you that.
If you accept my offer, of course." He listed.

"I-"

"I'll give you some time to think. In the meantime, I'll give you some peace and quiet."
And with that, he snapped his fingers and the world shifted into a prison cell.
I was alone in a small room, and the bars were made of a black and red crystal.
Ominous Obsidian.

The cell was in a dark, stone hall, and there were other cells.

"Hello? Is anyone else there?" I called out.
No response. I sat down and thought about Cassiopeia's offer..
My friends were powerful.
But I had to think of the consequences.
Cassiopeia is an Atavistic- a direct descendent of Creare, and more ancient than Primevals.
Cassiopeia could wipe out the entire earth if he wanted to, but he didn't.

After a few hours, I was getting impatient.
I thought about it already.
I only needed to tell Cassiopeia, and that was my main problem now.

Several minutes later, I heard footsteps.
It was Cassiopeia.

"Well? What's your decision, Xavier?" Cassiopeia said.

"I've decided.. I'll help. I'll help with whatever you need and give you your Axe back."

—Jayden's POV—

"Look out!" Owen shrieked and Nyctos dodged the flurry of glass.
The Sand Serpent, being desert monster, could heat the sand enough for it to become glass.

"Run, hurry!" Nyctos yelled and we followed him.
The desert spanned across 6 states, but only one had a large body of water near it.
Part of the Nile River, in the City of Scale.

The giant snake followed through the sand.
It 'swam' under a thin layer of sand and glass, and made small dunes whenever it went quick.

"Hurry up! The River is close, so we'll get to a town." Owen reminded and we ran quicker.

After a few minutes of pure terror, a few villagers fended off the serpent.
Since they lived somewhere infested with them, they practiced magical spells to ward them off.
Each of the magicians had a Rhombus shape with a sun shape in the middle, and they manipulated the sand.

"Okay, now that that's done- what do we do now?" Nyctos asked.

"We look for this Feather. Azure said it could 'rewrite' the Fragments themselves, so we could resurrect Polaris." I said.

"But we don't have single specific clue to where the Feather is. He said the Cluster- it's a huge place, a whole Realm. How are we supposed to find a feather in a place like that?" Owen said.

"I dunno.. I for one, think that we're better off resurrecting Polaris with the fragments only. The feather would take too long to find, and we don't even know how to use it!" Nyctos exclaimed.

"Plus, even if it doesn't work, we'd still have an equivalent power source to Cassiopeia." Owen stated.

"Then it's decided? We look for Keros and steal the Fragments." I restated and sighed.
"But first, we should probably get help. We couldn't deal with Keros at any time we tried, he was just too strong."

"I may be able to help with that!" Someone said.
"I'm Aspen. You might know my brother, Albus.. But anyways, I'd be glad to help! I'm studying 'The Glacials' power, and perfected Ice Magic. See?" Aspen put her hand and faced it up, and a stream of snow rose from it.
"Y'know, it can be useful, since Keros liked to play with fire."

"You're a mortal though, right?" I asked.

"Well, yes— but I can be a big help!" She exclaimed.

"I don't see a problem, the only thing is that we won't be able to heal you with Ambrosia." Nyctos said.

"That's not a problem." Aspen replied as she took out a green knife.
"Enchanted Emerald, healing scale of 8/10. I can just heal myself with a small slice, so I'll be fine."

"Okay. But, we will need to pick up a few things. In the vaults of Camp Cetus." I said.

"Okay! It shouldn't be far, considering we're one state away." Aspen said.
"But, I do have to bring a few things, if you three don't mind waiting."

I nodded and she ran off into the village.

"I dunno about this, Jayden.. She's scared. I can tell, she's hiding it well. But it can't fool me- masking it doesn't work." Owen said.

"Scared of what?" Nyctos asked.

"Ending up like Albus. I'm not sure how Aspen found out, but she knows. She's also afraid of losing this war. She knows about the first Cassian-Wars. She knows how destructive they were, and she doesn't want to repeat them." Owen replied.

"Well, she'll have to get over that fear
because—"
Before I could finish, Aspen returned with a small bag.

"Silver Apples, Inferna Flowers, Ambrosia and other useful gadgets, and my spellbook." Aspen stated.
"Now, if we're ready, let's go!"