The Dark Realm

Futures

"Kid, you're getting a lot better at this." Mr. Parker smiled as he put down his sword. Luckily Luke was a fast learner. He was doing a great job at practicing and had surprisingly almost disarmed Mr. Parker himself. "The rest of you are doing great too. Keep up the good work. Now I want you all to take a break. We can't have you overexerting yourselves."

Mr. Parker had grown closer to his daughters' friends over the past couple of weeks and became a sort of mentor and role model to them. They had already knew him before but now they were actually learning from him.

Luke wiped a bit of sweat off his forehead. He had been practicing as much as he could for the past couple of weeks. Even his friends, who were all determined to accomplish the same goal, thought he was a little obsessed, but the thing is when you truly care for someone you do everything in your power for them.

"Luke, come on. We're going out to grab something to eat. You have to join us." Jade smiled at him. Luke looked back at the swords he had laid on the rack. "You heard Dad. No more practicing. You've already overexerted yourself once. Do you want to faint again?" Jade asked.

Luke sighed. "Alright. I'm coming."

The group found themselves in a little pastry shop trying to forget the battle ahead of them.

"So what are you going to do after this adventure is over. We are all adults now after all." Michael asked. He glanced at Jade. "Well, most of us are." Jade glared at him.

"I'm going to college of course, but I'm not quite sure where yet." Olivia said. Nate and Tyler nodded in agreement.

"I think that I want to explore the realms and find out as much as possible about them. Did you know that there are five realms? Two of which are only reachable by dying though. I'm going to explore the other three and look for the supernatural elements in each." Emily spoke up before taking a bite of a vanilla cupcake. Michael smiled.

"You know, I've always wanted to be an adventurer. I'll join you... You know... If you don't mind." Michael's cheeks had a slight pink tint to them. Emily shook her head.

"I don't mind at all. It would be nice to have company." She smiled. Jade groaned.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You two aren't known to get along that well." Jade said. Luke shook his head.

"They can handle this. They may not always see eye to eye but they are a surprisingly good team." He interjected. Michael smirked and Emily beamed.

"What about you, Luke?" Tyler asked. "I don't think that you've ever mentioned what you want to be." There were murmurs of agreement.

"Well, I want to go to college first... My dream job is kind of far fetched." Luke blushed.

"I doubt that it's more far fetched than being an adventurer like Indiana Jones." Michael said, trying to convince his friend to talk.

"I want to be a fantasy and science fiction author since I was little. I've only ever told two people that: Lilly and my little sister but only because Leia stole some of my stories. It's kinda a secret of mine."

"There's nothing wrong with that. Honestly, I can totally see it. It really suits you." Emily told him. Luke smiled. The group went quiet for a moment, lost in thought about their futures. Luke sighed and spoke up.

"Are you guys ready for this?" He asked. Jade had a confused look on her face.

"Ready for what exactly?" She questioned. Luke twirled the straw in his milkshake around and stared at the table.

"I mean we're about to go to war. We're only teens. We're about to involve ourselves in a war that's lasted centuries. It's terrifying." His friends nodded in agreement. "We could die. We're up against a trained army and we just learned how to sword fight a couple weeks ago. When I was in the tomb with Lilly I had a vision. It was a body lying on the ground, impaled by a sword. It wasn't clear enough to tell who it was but" Luke paused worried just thinking about it. "I'm scared it's one of us."

Each friend held their breath at Luke's words. He looked down. So many emotions filled his being. He wasn't ready for war, to be faced with life and death, to possibly watch his closest friends perish before his eyes.

"Luke, you have to believe in us. We're going to make it through. Have some faith in us and in yourself. You are doing great. You almost disarmed Mr. Parker who has been doing it since he was like six. We're going to make it through this together." Emily gave him a slight smile.

"I know but-"

"Think of the positives, Luke!" Jade interrupted.

"Positives? What positives? If we don't do battle I lose my best friend forever. If we do we could all die. I don't see a bright side here." Luke grumbled. Jade slapped him across the back of his head.

"Stop thinking that way! No one's going to die. We're going to save Lilly and you're going to get some confidence. Shesh, Luke, right now you're being such an pessimist. Stop being such a stupid doofus." Jade glared, but said the last line in a teasing tone.

"Ow!" Luke rubbed the back of his head. "I guess you're right." He sighed.

"You're d*mn right I'm right. Now start thinking of the glass half full." Jade demanded. Michael and Nate laughed. Tyler smirked. Michael made a whip cracking noise. Luke glared at him.

They were right of course. Luke had to stop thinking of the worst case scenario. But he thought of the impaled figure. What did the future look like for them?