The Dragon's Bounty IV:Nightmares

Chapter 13

Emma walked into the castle, where there was a man in a large suit of armor guarding Dagger, who was in a large orb. There was a knight standing in front of the floating orb. He banged his spear against the floor, which echoed around the large room.
Emma waved at the knight. "Hi. Have you seen a guy with curly brown hair and green eyes around? We're looking for him. Oh and also we need him." She pointed to Dagger. The knight didn't move, his gaze focused on her. Emma sighed and shook her head. "Fine, then." Huey rode into the castle of a massive wave, Duros swinging in behind him, Lance flying in with Kai in his arms.
"This is embarrassing." Kai said monotonously. Lance laughed and dropped him above the knight. In a motion faster than a thick suit of armor should have been able to do, the spear head entered Kai's stomach, running all the way through him. Kai looked down at his stomach, which was now covered in a thin layer of fire around his wound. He smiled. "Glad that still works." He said with a grin. The knight snarled and attempted to shake him off. Kai grabbed the handle of the spear, not allowing the knight to pull him off of it. Lance flew down and punched the knight in the face, putting a dent in his helmet. Duros extended his threads and wrapped the knight up. His arm was pulled away from the spear, allowing it and Kai to topple to the floor. Kai removed the spear from his stomach and pointed it at the knight. Huey surrounded them all with a wall of water, preventing the knight from escaping.
Suddenly, lightning jumped around the knight's armor, slicing through Duros's threads, allowing the knight to move once again. He pointed his fist at Kai, shooting a stream of electricity at him.
Kai jittered and shook as the lighting zapped him, dropping the spear and falling to the ground. "Why me?" He squeezed out of his mouth. The knight picked up the spear and began spinning and slicing at everyone else with it. Duros solidified his arms and blocked the spear with them, trying not to be pushed back. Huey pointed his hand at the knight, a fist of water shooting toward him. The knight extended his hand, electrocuting the water and Huey, who was touching it. Huey fell to the ground, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head. Lance shot forward and put another punch to the knight's head, knocking off his helmet, revealing a head of curly brown hair and a pair of green eyes.
"Khan?!" Duros shouted. Khan bared his teeth and jumped back. He lunged at Duros once again, quickly being blocked by the stone arms.
"We have to find a way to free him!" Emma shouted, jumping out of the way of the spinning spear.
Aro lowered his brow as he stood behind Dagger's glass orb. "You guys aren't very smart." He said. He pushed the orb, causing it to fall out of the air, landing on top of Khan, shattering.
Dagger got up and brushed himself off. "Thank you." He said, Ferallity appearing in his hand. Khan got up with a wild look in his eye. Dagger grabbed his head as he lunged at him, using a quick burst of dark energy to stop him in his tracks. He released Khan, who stepped backward, clutching his head.
"Woah. What happened?" Lance helped Huey to his feet. Kai rose and tried not to fall down again. Dagger flipped through Ferallity in silence.
"Soooo. Where are we?" Huey asked.
Dagger glanced up at him. "We're in some sort of mindscape." He said.
"Meaning?" Lance asked.
Dagger sighed. "We're in a realm that someone created to keep us trapped here."
Khan shook his head. "Anyone else feel deja vu?" He asked. Everyone thought for a moment and nodded.
Dagger put his hand to his chin. "Come to think of it, everything seems more than just familiar. It's like deja vu, but more."
"Can you get us out?" Emma asked. Dagger nodded. He summoned Tenebrius, turning it into energy. He opened his hand toward Khan, Fernokanus flying out of Khan's chest and into his hand. Khan's brow shot upward as Dagger reduced that to energy, too.
"Hey!" Khan shouted.
"Relax. I just need the energy to create the portal. According to this spell, it will get us out."
"Just like that?" Kai asked.
Dagger shrugged. "Either that or it'll tear this place apart and us with it. But that's worse case scenario." Everyone stared blankly at him.
"You sure there's no other way?" Emma asked. Dagger shook his head. He created a portal at the center of the room.
"Wait." Khan said, putting his hand on Dagger's shoulder. Dagger looked at him. "Where's Andrew?" Khan asked.
Dagger thought for a moment. "I had forgotten about Andrew somehow."
"I'm sure he's fine. Let's just go." Aro said, beginning to walk thought the portal. Duros extended a thread toward him and yanked him back. Khan pointed his spear at him. Everyone stood in front of him and looked down at him sternly.
"That's not Aro." Khan said.
Aro began to laugh, appearing on the other side of the room. "It's amazing." He said. But the voice that came out was not Aro's. He placed his fingers on his forehead. "As many times as we've run through this, I've never had an answer for that question." He continued to laugh as everyone watched him in confusion. "All I'm supposed to do is get you idiots through that portal." He began pacing back and forth with a grin on his face. "But every time, that question stops me." He looked at them. "I've even made it into somewhat of a game."
"Why are you telling us this?" Khan asked.
Aro laughed hysterically. "You see, it doesn't matter if you know now or not. In a few moments, once I've killed you all, you'll be back where you started and we'll play the game all over again." Everyone balled up their fists and got ready for a fight. "You see, I'm not Aro. I don't know if you've picked up on that." Aro said. "I'm Eirelus, one of the Demon King's right hand men." He shook his head and laughed. "It's still funny to me. As many times as we've played the game I've never won." He grabbed Kai's fist, who had jumped at him while he wasn't looking. Eirelus laughed and looked him in the eye. "I know exactly what happens. There are no sneak attacks here." He effortlessly tossed Kai into the wall. Khan jumped at him with his spear as Duros fired a multitude of threads toward him. Eirelus shattered Khan's spear head and rapidly sliced up Duros's threads into small tufts of material. "I've had this task for nearly four years, and it still brightens my day when you think you can beat me." He tossed Lance aside, who had flown up behind him.
"How long have we been here?" Dagger asked. "How many times have we run through your little game?"
Eirelus smiled. "Four thousand, eight hundred and seventy nine times we've run through it. And even now it brings a smile to my face as the light leaves each of your eyes." He grabbed Kai again and slammed him into the ground, snatching Duros's threads and spinning him around, slamming him into Khan.
"Why do I feel so weak?" Duros asked, unable to get up.
Eirelus looked at him. "I'm draining your magic. At first I thought it would be fun to fight you at full strength. But then I realized that it would be more fun to beat you up as if you're little kids just starting out on your magic journey." He grabbed Huey's water whip and hurled him at Lance, both of them falling to the ground.
Kai looked up at him as Eirelus stood over him. "You're just a bully."
Eirelus smiled as his hand turned into a sword. "You won't remember." He said, impaling the sword into Kai's back. Kai shouted out in pain as his flame phase did not activate. Eirelus snatched something out of the air, Dagger appearing with Eirelus' hand around his neck. Eirelus smashed him into the ground and yanked the sword out of Kai's back. "Always exactly the same." He said as he looked at Emma, who was pulling with all her strength at Heartstorm. Eirelus chuckled. "Try all you might, but no matter how hard you pull, you've never been able to draw the sword." His eyes narrowed. "And you never will." Emma looked down at Kai, who had reached his hand out to her.
"You can do it." He said through strain. "Because I believe in you."
Eirelus impaled Kai in the shoulder. "Well that's new. But no matter!" He slowly walked over to Emma, who continued to pull at the sword. Dagger grabbed Eirelus' ankle, holding him back. Eirelus turned and looked down at him. "What's different?" He asked as he sliced Dagger's hand off. Dagger shouted out in pain as he clutched his arm. Emma met eyes with Khan, who nodded sternly. Emma looked down at the sword. She looked over at Huey and Lance, then over to Duros. She thought of her friends who were in the real world, possibly fighting against the Demon King, possibly dead. Ethan, Alexander, Destiny, Andrew, Micah, The Sins, Nickolas, Ekpen, Iris, Elliot, wherever he ended up. She looked at Eirelus, who still wore Aro's face. As if in slow motion, her brow lowered and she gritted her teeth. She gripped the hilt of the sword and gave it one final yank. A wave of pink energy blasted Eirelus back against the wall. He shook his head and looked up at Emma, who now had glowing pink eyes and hands, her hair flowing as if the wind was picking it up. The sword had loosened, some of the glowing pink blade now visible and separate from the scabbard. Eirelus' brow shot upward. He looked around at his foes, who were now beginning to get up. Pink lighting jumped around Khan, vibrant pink flames in Kai's eyes and covering his fists. Duros' extended threads glowed pink, along with Lance's fists and eyes. Huey formed together a wave behind him, a soft pink glow coming from the water. Eirelus stood, his legs beginning to tremble. "No! This is wrong!" He shouted. "You're supposed to die!" Dagger stood, his dark energy coated with the pink energy from Heartstorm, his hand now reattached to his arm.
"So, who's first?" Kai asked with a smirk. Dagger dashed forward, surrounding Eirelus with his dark energy. Dozens of fists came from the walls of the dark energy, pummeling Eirelus. A large fist came up from the ground and launched him into the air. Huey created two large walls of water, punching Eirelus between the two before launching him out of it. Lance flew upward and uppercutted Eirelus, shattering his jaw. He released a flurry of punches before slamming his fist into his chest, launching him further. Duros wound threads around Eirelus and slammed him into the ground and walls a few times before unraveling Eirelus and spinning him around before he collided with the ground. Kai took a deep breath and breathed a massive stream of pink fire, barreling it into Eirelus before dashing forward and launching him into the sky. Khan swiped his arm downward, a massive pink lightning bolt surrounding Eirelus, causing him to scream in pain. Once Khan was finished, Eirelus fell back to the ground. He looked up into Emma's eyes, which were pure pink energy.
"You hurt my friends." She said. She slammed her glowing pink fist into Eirelus' stomach.
Eirelus screamed in pain as his body began turning to dust. "This is not right!" He shouted. "I'm supposed to win! This is my game!"
Emma smiled. "No one likes a sore loser." She said.
Eirelus' scream of "Nooooo" faded away with him. Everyone's pink energy faded and went back into Heartstorm, which dimmed back to its original silver blade.
Emma turned to Dagger. "So how do we actually leave?" Dagger shrugged. Suddenly, everything went dark.