The Prince of Light

Chapter 23

I awoke in a dark cave. Ash was standing off to the side, watching for something. I sat up and looked around for myself.

"Where are we?" I asked Ash. My voice was raspy and it hurt to talk. He quickly spun around and then he looked relieved.

"We are in a cavern farther in the maze. You did something and the whole lava room is now an earth room. And it was collapsing when I woke up. So I brought us here. What happened while I was out?" He asked me. I thought back to what had happened. That scream.....what had happened?

"I screamed and the place basically exploded." I said, trying to not move much. Or even talk much for that matter. He nodded.

"Sounds like you got a killer scream." He smiled at the pun. I rolled my eyes and tried to get up. My whole body felt like I had been torn open. I slump back down. Ash noticed and he quickly grabbed his pack. Wait. When did he have a travel pack? He got out a polished silver shot bottle and unscrewed the lid. "Don't drink too much." I sipped a little. My senses exploded. It was sour, yet sweet. It was the best thing I had tasted. Every taste bud came to life as I swallowed the drink. I took another sip and my entire body started tingling. I took another sip before Ash pulled it away. My body had never felt so alive. I popped right up and suddenly I felt like I could run a marathon. Or two. Or maybe a dozen.

"Can I have some more?" I asked Ash.

"No. If you have much more your body will burst into flames. This is called Favour's Nectar. It is made from the nectar of the Favour flower. It is very rare and only found in the caves of a dragon." He said. I nodded, sort of sad that I couldn't have it. But then I perked up.

"Let's go!" I said. I jogged down the hallway, going quickly. Soon I transitioned into superspeed and Ash had to fly fast to catch up. We were making many turns and twists by then. Dips and hills now appeared. Soon I saw light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. As we speed out of the tunnel, the light blinded us momentarily. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw where we were. I gasped. We were in a giant crater, apparently high in the mountains because the air seemed thin. Inside the crater was a giant garden, filled with exotic flowers and vines and trees. A little stream cut through the garden, heading to the side and disappearing into a hole, going back to where we had just come from. We saw a tiny path, off to the left. We headed over to it and Ash looked sort of wary.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Do you think that there are traps or something like that down the path?" He asked. I looked.

"No. I think we will be safe. But just in case, let's fly over it." I said. We launched ourselves vertical and spread our wings. Flapping, we raised high above the garden. In the center was a small pond with an island in it. Tiny streams of water flowed off of the island. In the center was a grove of thick trees. The leaf cover was so thick, no openings showed. I pointed and we landed next to the stream. I dipped my hand in it and brought a cupful up and took a deep drink. I repeated this several times until I had my fill. Ash did the same thing as soon as I got done. "Should we go explore the woods?" I asked. I thought a moment.

"I don't know. There is this......feeling in the air, like this place is ancient. Or has something ancient living here." He said.

"Well, if we are going to get out of this place, then we should see how to get out." I said.

"Do you really think the way we get out is on this island?" He asked, but I was already walking up to the grove. He sighed and ran to catch up with me. We stopped at the point where the trees started. We both walked in together. The grove was creepy. No lights shone, no birds chirped. The only sound was me and Ash's footsteps. We reached a point where a spring bubbled up out of the ground.

"I think this is the middle of the grove." I said.

"How do you figure that?" Ash asked. I looked at him.

"There is something called gravity, and since streams are coming off all sides of it, this must be the center." I said. He thought for a moment.

"I still don't get it." He said.

"And they say blondes are dumb...." I mumbled. Of course, he has been the angel of death. An hour of death was only a second of our time. That's a long time to remember. I feel my neck begin to tingle. It quickly increases to an uncomfortable itch then finally I couldn't stand it. It was like spidey sense or something. Spidey sense. Danger. Oh duh! I quickly spun around to see a giant cat jump on me. I was knocked back several feet before hitting the ground. The cat was on top of me. Ash spun around and raised his hand to shoot the cat. It quickly spoke.

"Shoot me and I kill your friend before I die." It warned. It had its teeth around my neck and the points were already drawing blood.