Separated in the Phantoms

Chapter 32

I gasped as I looked at the shadow monster in front of me. It was huge. I backed away, until I stood with my back against the wall. Torin stood next to me.
“That’s a shadow. How will we defeat that?” I asked. Torin shrugged.
“Just attack, I reckon.” Torin raised his sword, ready to fight. I knew it was useless, but it was all I could do. I raised my sword as well, preparing for the worst.
The shadow monster roared and lunged towards us. I jumped to the left, avoiding its attack. I didn’t know how to defend myself against this creature. My eyes wandered off towards the other side of the room, until they met my dads eyes. I took a deep breath and focused. I had to dodge the shadow monster's attacks until Torin and I figured out how to beat this thing.
The monster leapt out to me again, but I rolled away. I sneaked away, while the monster focused on Torin. It had lost me, but Torin was managing fine. It took me a while to notice I was standing next to my dad. I wanted to untie him, but he shook his head. He tried to say something, so I removed his gag. He took a few breaths before talking.
“Ruby, listen to me carefully. The monster is a shadow. What makes shadows disappear?” He said.
“Light.” I replied. Dad nodded.
“Exactly. You have to make light for the shadow to disappear.” I raised my eyebrow.
“How? It broke the lights.” I said. I was confused. My father sighed.
“We’re from a very long and strong bloodline of spell casters. You must cast a light spell.” My dad said. I stared at him in shock.
“How? I didn’t even know!” I exclaimed. My dad looked me into my eyes.
“The spell is called Serenio. It’s a simple spell. All you have to do is cast the spell and aim your hand towards the shadow. You can do it.” My dad said. I gulped and nodded. I ran back to Torin, just in time to pull him away from the shadows' attack. I told Torin the news.
“Well what are ya waiting for?” Torin said. This time, he pulled me away.
“I’m scared, I’ve never done this before!” I exclaimed.
“Ruby, you are strong, amazing and smart. You can do this!” Torin said. The shadow monster roared again and tried to attack us. We both ducked away into different directions.
“Ruby! Now!” Both my dad and Torin exclaimed. I raised my hand up towards the shadow monsters. Countless scenarios about what could go wrong filled my head. The monster noticed my hand. It roared again and braced itself to attack. I took one last, deep breath.
“SERENIO!” A blinding flash of light emerged from the palm of my hand. The shadow monster made some sort of  shrieking, roaring sound. The light grew stronger and stronger and brighter and brighter until I could see nothing but light. When the light dimmed, the normal light of the room flickered back on and the monster had disappeared. Graves screamed out in terror. It seemed like he expected us to lose. I turned to him with a smug look on my face. But, Graves didn’t even say anything. He just stared at his chest. Confused, I followed his look. Slowly but surely, little, thin rays of white light emerged from his chest. And then his stomach. The light beams grew bigger and thicker. His whole body was covered in cracks where light came out of. Graves screamed out in pain as he exploded into light and turned to ash. My eyes widened as I saw ash flutter down to the ground, onto the spot where once stood a man. I ran towards my dad and untied him. I hugged him tight. I was so glad to feel the warmth of his body again. We released each other and stared at the pile of ash that used to be Fyren Graves.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Graves was so convinced he’d win, he cast a spell to summon the shadow monster. But the spell says that your life will be tied to that of the shadow. He gave his life to defeat you.” My dad explained. I sighed deeply.
“Well, we’re finally released from him.” I said. I heard soft muttering coming from the bags at the other side of the throne room. Bo and Mo emerged from the bags and jumped into my arms. My dad looked pleasantly surprised.
“Who are these little fellas?” He asked. I smiled.
“These are Bo and Mo. Bo is an adipose and Mo is a Mogwai.” I said. Dad smiled as he gave the little creatures some attention. Torin walked up to us. Suddenly, I remembered my anger towards him. I looked at him. He wanted to introduce himself, but I cut him off.
“No. We are done. We saved my dad and now you can leave. I don’t want to see you again.” Torin looked surprised.
“You’re not even letting me introduce myself to your dad?” He asked. I shook my head.
“No. You have no right. Leave. I don’t want you near me or anyone I care about ever again.” I replied, feeling no remorse whatsoever. Torin looked at me for a second before walking towards his bag and exiting the throne room. I sighed. Confused, my dad asked me what happened between us. I sighed and told him what happened. My dad agreed that he should’ve looked out more.
“Let’s just go home.” I said. My dad wrapped his arm around me as we left the castle. My dad managed to find his phone earlier and call Faith's mom, asking to pick us up. Soon enough, a chopper appeared to take us home. Faith’s mom asked me where Faith was, and in tears I explained what happened to her. She started to cry and we hugged, while both crying. It didn’t take long for us to land at my home. I walked into my room and stared at the pictures of me and Faith.