The Chronicles of Time - Book 2: The Book of Flames

Chapter XII: Hide From Sight...And With Bacon

Chapter XII: Hide From Sight...And With Bacon

"Quietly now," Khael whispered as we sneaked from rock to rock. Even in the dark blanket of night, we could see several black-apparitions hovering in-land, behind the trees. "Penelope's invisibilty cast becomes weak the farther we get from the ocean so we need to be extra careful the nearer we get. You don't want to know how those Shadow Guard-dogs kill—Ow!"

Penelope had stomped on Khael foot, glaring at him. "Don't scare the kids!"

"Right, right, sorry," Khael replied sheepishly as he continued the advance with us following, which consisted of a semi-sleepy Skye, a Keith that might nervously set the air afire followed by a grumpy Penelope and—the tail of the team—me and Alicia.

Alicia was clasping my arm like a one of those pole-things firemen use. She was silent, but I could tell she was crying due to the fact that something warm was crawling down my arm. In another situation, I would've quickly mopped my tear-soaked arm, but I decided against it; she needed quietness, which was good because I definitely did not want to be mincemeat. My job was to guide her; be her eyes, and to make sure there wasn't a rattlesnake on her head.

With only the moonlight as our light source, we were able to get into the thick line of trees several meters away from the shoreline. The Shadow Guard-dogs, as Khael put it, were oblivious to our presence as we passed through their scouting line. We were near enough for me to see their smokey figures that resembled wolves with ruby-red glowing eyes.

Behind the thick set of trees was an asphalt road and beyond that was a chain-link fence with the sign "1000-Volts of Raphaelts." It was weird seeing real asphalt roads here. In Sorania, they had cloud-tiled roads. But I guess the Terranians had enough resources to not make their roads fairy-tail looking and make them look like actual asphalt.

"Did they just use Raphael as a measurement of electricity?" Keith asked, pointing at the sign.

"An insult," Khael explained. "Terranians didn't like Raphael supplying them with energy, but Raphael did so anyway under Nicholas' orders."

"Um, guys?" Penelope whispered. In the moonlight, her eyes were darting back and forth, worried. "I think my cast is going to die down about...now."

As soon as she said that, there was an ear-grating howl from behind us. I looked back and saw what I expected to see: a pair of red dots coming closer and closer accompanied by a few more behind it.

"I see four," Alicia said.

"Quick, follow me!" Khael hissed. He sprinted towards the electric fence and took out his Timepiece. With one quick spin, he G-shaped motion with his other hand and a monotonous sound spilled out in the air. A section of the chain-link fence bent side ways like a banana peel, opening a path. "Come on!" Khael ordered as he stepped aside, letting us pass through. I took extra care so that Alicia and I wouldn't be fried by a thousand volts of electricity.

Just as one of the shadow-covered canines leaped out of the forest, Khael dashed into the gap and did a reverse G-motion with his hand, making the split fence become one again. The creature stopped a few meters from the fence, aware that the barrier is charged with "Raphaelts." However, the canine reared back and pointed it's subtle nose to the moon-lit sky; it howled.

Khael, who must've realized what it was doing, spun his timepiece one more and did a grabbing action towards the shadow creature. Its voice vanished.

"Did you just steal that poor creature's voice?" Penelope said.

"Not really," Khael said, turning to continue forward. "Just silenced him. Let's go."

The army of trees that met us was thicker than the last set of trees near the beach. I had to grapple Alicia's arm tightly whenever she tripped on something. Thankfully, she was light enough for me to bring back up, with her muttering a "Sorry" or a "Thanks" everytime.