Midnight Rider

Chapter Fifteen : Torn Between Loyalties

Earth | 3rd POV {timeframe is after last chapter}

Emily stretched lazily, slowly rolling off her bed onto the floor, unintentionally dragging her blanket off too. She rubbed her eyes wearily, sitting up. Then, she was jolted out of her sleepy daze as she remembered that she had to finish packing for the most exciting thing in her life. She simply couldn't wait! 

Emily threw open the curtains and the sky outside caught her attention. The sky seemed to be divided into two, one side dark, the pitch black of the night, while the other side was bright and sunny, a cheery morning. What was the time? Emily frowned. What was going on? The thought of packing completely left her mind as she dashed downstairs to check the news on the television. 

"Strange weather and occurances have been reported all over LA and in other parts of America.Scientists are unable to fathom was is going on. Weird "half-skies" as they have been called, are the more common appearances. Here's a picture one of our curious viewers sent in." The video flashed to show a picture of a sky very similar to the one outside that Emily had seen, except part of it was raining while the other bright and sunny like a summer day. 

"Other problems include crosses between night and day, and even worse, a small town that was supposed to be having summer has reported freezing wintery temperatures and snow! Researchers and officials are looking into this matter, and our channel will keep you up to date on any new developments. Now, let's move on to the next--" Emily turned off the television, confused and appalled. Nothing like this had ever happened before. And with the sky so weird, would she be able to go to see Lynette? What if worse things occured? 

Emily shook her head. As a usually positive person, she was personally surprised that she would even think of such possiblities. Could this be related to this crazy weather? She breathed in deeply to calm herself.

Of course not, she told her mind. The scientists will defenitely find a cure or reason to it. They always do. But even as she insisted upon, she knew that she herself did not believe it. 

Kaldrak | 3rd POV {similar timeframe}

"Oh no, how could it be?" Lynette whispered to herself as she watched a small orb in the Shelter. A spell had been cast on the Viewing Stone, as it was called, to enable it to provide homesick Riders with a view of their beloved world. Normally, these magic-infused stones were only used as surveillance cameras around Kaldrak, but with a little tweaking to their design and the spell, it was now able to show them a slighty hazy, but still accurate view of the Earth.

Lynette's eyes took in the twisted skies and crazy weather patterns with shock and horror. The dark magic of the Pearl was already affecting Earth and its activities. Beside her, Hanara and Cryscent murmured in worry as they watched their home get turned upside down by the effects of a dangerous and volatile magical orb in Kaldrak. 

"My parents..." Cryscent trailed off, concerned for her family who were on Earth. "And my friends! My dad!" Lynette added, although she did not mention her mother, knowing that she and her kind were the ones responsible for this.

"Please, we've got to stop it! We have to close the connection now!" She pleaded Professor Namsin to request that the officials to close off the connection to the human world, thereby stopping the flow and transfer of dark magic. 

However, the Professor shook his head. "We can't, not yet. There are still many Riders packing on Earth. We can't leave them there." "But the others on Earth! This is our fault. We can't let them suffer!" Lynette shouted, her anger beginning to boil. 

Hanara and Cryscent nodded. Having come from Earth, they still loved the place and it was against their moral conduct to not help. A couple of other Riders who were gathered around the Viewing Stone, peering at the scene of Earth, nodded in agreement. Deep down, they all were still connected to the planet that was now in danger.