Midnight Rider

Chapter Twelve : Nightmares and Reality

The sound of war and the smell of death overwhelmed Lynette's senses as she watched, seemingly helpless as Lymers swarmed over Kaldrak and advanced towards the castle. She sneaked a glance down at her feet, unharmed and healthy, able to move with agility, yet for reasons unbeknownst to her, she was rooted to the ground, perhaps with fear. Lynette could only watch with despair as the infallible, mighty and powerful Lymers cut down her friends and teachers, leaving them bloodied and limping. She tried to scream, to even express her feelings, but the words got stuck in her throat. Standing right there, so close to them, yet unable to help, panic and confusion raced through her veins.

More Riders raced from the castle to fend off the Lymers, but the Lymers were much more powerful. Lynette recalled the effects of the eclipse. This must be the aftermath. With greedy grins on their faces, the Lymers shoved the remaining weak guards away and sprinted confidently into the castle. Lynette heard a loud blast and saw the magnificent palace erupt into dark black smoke. "No!" She croaked, but it was already too late.

Suddenly, the deafening sound of the explosion transformed into a mere irritating beep. Lynette forced her eyes open was reality flooded back. Her back was damp with cold sweat as she propped herself up on her elbows to turn off the alarm. This was the second time she had had this similar reoccurring dream, in which the eclipse had caused the Riders to lose everything they fought for.

Lynette scrambled off her bed, calming her racing heartbeat as she got ready. Moments later, she teleported to Kaldrak. The past days had been a frantic rush to rally up as many Riders as possible to get prepared for the possible battle with Kaldrak during the eclipse. Tonight was the night, when the sun would be shrouded by the moon for a while. Under the cover of the darkness, with their enhanced magic, the Lymers would attack. This time, the Riders would be unprepared, caught off guard, with their magic casting in poor condition.

As she finished teleporting to Kaldrak, she began to relentlessly seek out more Riders who still did not know of the incoming war that Lynette spoke of. She remembered the group of poorer citizens of the realm whom Professor Namsin had spoken of the previous day. Some of them were Riders who had failed so badly in their tests that they had dropped out, others were old and had been thrown out of the city during worse times where there was a major disagreement. Lynette vaguely remembered that a while back, a cruel leader had evicted some youths who had refused to comply with their policies. Thankfully, most of the officers below him had rebelled and managed to save the realm from his rule, but the exiled youths had already refused to return, believing that the city would never change. Only a few had forgiven the people who had jeered at them years ago, allowing themselves to rejoin the community and integrate.

The remaining Riders, who had yet to pass on, lived in a rundown settlement in the outskirts of Kaldrak, just past the fast-flowing stream that wound down the edge of the main town. Lynette hated to pop her bubble of perception, to see the less privileged people in Kaldrak, and to know that there was no such thing as a perfectly happy world, but she knew that if she was to unite as many Riders to brace themselves for the war in the hope of saving Kaldrak, she would have to speak to them about the threat. Despite the fact that they were unlikely to fight for the sake of the realm that had once shunned them, Lynette hoped that the element of defying the majority would convince at least part of the population to cooperate with her and her friends.

She headed towards the Stables and soon found Stardust there, talking to Fortes, her best friend. "Stardust! We've got to go to the Outskirts," Lynette hissed urgently. It was early in the morning, and while the two Horses were already awake, most of the others were still sleeping soundly and she didn't intend on waking them. Most of the Horses would follow their Riders' desicions, hence there wasn't really a need to stay on their good side as no convincing was needed, but Lynette still wanted to be polite. The Outskirts was the term for the living quarters outside of the city.