Heaven Door | The Finale of the Dragon Children Trilogy.

23 | Frozen In Time

Naphtali and Ahriman stood in front of the frozen Julius. The ice began cracking from the spell that Naphtali had performed. "Not bad, brat," Ahriman smirked. "Not bad at all. Maybe you WOULD make for a good enemy." Naphtali scoffed. "Hmp. Tell that to yourself from when I defeated you." Ahriman chuckled. "Why won't you just shut it?" He took out a Soul Pulveriser from his pocket, and looked down at it. "So, we're hand in this to Julius?" Naphtali nodded. "Commander orders." Ahriman's head started buzzing. "Oh?.." He looked over at Naphtali. "You sense that too, don't you?" Naphtali looked down. "Yes. It's.."

The 11 heroes landed in the once-upon-a-time Omniverse. Akuji rushed ahead. "I can feel it.." She pointed toward the large cavern in the very centre of the Omniverse castle. "He's there!" Euryale looked down at his map. "Hm.. from the records of this timeline, it seems we are currently standing where the fountain once was.." Lucina walked around. "No way.." She stared at the blue-ice-filled kingdom. "People used to live here?" Otto nodded. "Yeah. Can't you tell? It's almost an exact replica of the Omniverse we visited." He pointed over to some docks which stood next to a frozen river. "That's where we departed on our 2 year training." Layla's optimism faded. "This.." She looked around. "This is horrible. People.. died. It's.. it's just like.." Sol waved his hand forward. "Come on. We must keep moving forward." Artemis looked toward the cavern. 'This energy.. this power, it's the exact same as in those cracks.. those cracks in the skies.' He looked over at Rem. Rem.. can you handle this? Rem looked down as she walked forward. "He's.. he's up there. I know he is." Lilith patted her back. "Don't worry.. we got this." Artemis, out of pure empathy, ran up to Rem. "Say, Rem? Maybe you should stay behind. Y'know, so you won't have to fight.. yeah." Rem cracked a smile. "No, no.. I--I'm fine. I can handle this." She clapped her hands together. "It's just.. it feels like yesterday when he was just a boy, and I was just a girl. It feels like yesterday we sat under that tree. So much has happened.. I don't know who he is anymore. I don't know who I am!" Any hint or spark of hope there was remaining, was gone now. Ruthven spoke up. "Don't you know, Rem?.." Rem looked up. "Don't you know who we are?" Rem stuttered. "I--I'm not sure I understand." Her voice cracked. "Why did we even come here?! So that.. so that we could fight our old friend?! Our hero?!" Ruthven shouted over her. "When has it ever been easy? It's always been hard for us. When you go against the order of the universe, there is always bound to be someone out there who goes against you. But what do we do?" Rem stayed silent. "We fight. We fight until we find a way to save the day. That's who we are." Rem walked in a circle. "This isn't the future we wanted! This isn't the future HE wanted! It's all wrong! Damn, if we just didn't bring him along to fight Kraghon, none of this would've happened! It would've all been fine for him.. BUT NOW WE'VE LOST HIM!" Ruthven held onto Rem's shoulder, stopping them from walking. "Even if it takes a thousand years, we will get him back. Believe me. He's a Holy Stone. No matter what, we will get him back. As long as there is one of us, Holy Stone or Omniversal Warrior standing.. we will win. THAT'S who we are." Rem's head shook as she looked up. She grinned. "R.. Right!"

With this newfound confidence that Ruthven found for the group, they ran ahead. Rem smiled, as she ran ahead of everyone else. 'That's right.. this feeling.. it isn't hatred. No.. it is far from it. This feeling that I am sensing.. while running up these stairs.. it's love. I will free him.. I will free Naphtali. No matter what happens.' Her eyes squinted. 'Even if.. it means sacrificing myself.' The light at the top of the stairs began getting closer as they ran up. Lilith shouted out. "THIS IS IT!" She huffed. "The king.. is at the top of the stairs!" Everyone ran faster. Sol continued the talk. "No matter what happens.. don't back out! It is guaranteed we will lose people in this battle.. so let us try and keep our numbers up! Omniversal Warriors!.." Lilith shouted. "Holy Stones!.." Then, in unison.. "CHARGE!" The light disappeared as they reached the top of the stairs. Everyone stopped running, as the sound of their footsteps lowered in numbers. "Huff.. huff.. huff.." Rem panted. "I knew it.. I knew I'd see you up here." The glowing blue eye looked back at her. The look that she didn't want to see. "Naphtali." Naphtali turned around from facing the king, to facing the group. "Rem.." His eyes returned to their normal brown colour. His chin faced up, as he looked down. "Why.. did you come here?" Flora shouted out. "Isn't it obvious?! She's here to free you!" Naphtali shook his head. "No.. no. That isn't what I was asking. Rem.. why would you put your life at risk, here?" Rem stayed silent. She froze. Ruthven stepped forward. "Because she loves you, dumbass." Her pink and blue hair flowed in the wind. "And if you can't understand that.. then you don't understand what you're fighting for." Naphtali became enraged once more. "Understand?" His eyes started glowing blue again. "I don't understand what I'm fighting for?" Ahriman chuckled. "No.." Naphtali spoke again. "No. That's not right. It's you.." He awakened rage mode. He grew one wing from his back, and his nails turned to claws. "IT'S YOU MONKEYS WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Ahriman smirked. "Alright! Now, this is what I've been waitin' for!" Euryale started extending his chains. "THEY'RE COMIN'!" The group shook. Otto summoned his shield. "EVERYONE, STAND S-STRONG!" Naphtali's body was covered in a blue aura, while Ahriman's was covered in a white. "Father.." Lilith looked at him.