Spirit Animals - The Ten Keepers: Fall of the Ten [Book Three]

Chapter Ten - Separated

Eilene's POV

"Thanks Jhi," Eilene said to the panda who just grunted in agreement.

They had stopped to rest for a bit once they were a good distance away from the city. Jhi had healed Eilene's wound that John gave her.

"We better keep moving and meet up with the others," Meilin said, getting up to start walking again.

Eilene only nodded and followed after her silently. They kept on walking back to the Evertree, both lost in their own thoughts. John and everyone else who are infected are being controlled by the Wyrm. Zerif himself was being controlled by the Wyrm. This time, it was much harder to fight it, much stronger than the Bile. If Meilin barely fought the Bile, how could anyone defeat something much stronger?

They finally reach where they were supposed to meet and to her relief, she saw the others. When they spotted them, their eyes widened in relief.

"You're safe," George exclaimed, relief in his tone.

"Of course we are," Eilene reassured him with a smile.

Her smile dropped when she noticed something, "Wait, where's Hope and Zoron?"

They exchanged glances filled with sadness and worry as George answered, "We got separated."

Hope's POV

She was falling, wait no, they were falling. Falling down from the cliff, away from the Many but straight towards the Sulfur Sea. How did it happen? They simply just jumped off because it was their only option. They kept on falling until Hope was surrounded with water. She quickly swam up and gasped of air as she broke through the surface. Nearby, she saw Zoron gasp for air as well. When he spotted her, his eyes filled with relief. Not saying another word, they both swam for land and they laid there to catch their breaths.

"Are you okay?" Hope asked, breaking the silence between them.

To her surprise, Zoron's eyes turned angry as he glared at her, "What were you thinking? I told you to stay with the others!"

"And let you die?" Hope exclaimed.

"That's exactly what you should've done," Zoron fired, "What if you got hurt?"

"Why can't you just be thankful that I saved you?" Hope snapped, "Look, we're both alive!"

"The ones who needs more saving is the whole of Erdas!" Zoron retorted, "They're the ones who needs saving, not me. Everyday we're stuck here is everyday Zerif gets stronger and is one step closer to getting all the Great Beasts!"

"Well what if you were in my position?" Hope fired, "What if I was about to watch the one person I care about, ready to be turned into one of those mindless creatures that are threatening to rip my team apart? I can't let that happen!"

"No, you could've let it happen," Zoron muttered, "You just didn't want to. Guess what? The others are probably going to be looking for us, knowing we're still alive and we're all just going to be wasting our time. It's better for one person to die instead of more. We're risking everyone else's lives."

"So what you're saying is that you would've let that person die?" Hope asked, in disbelief, "Half of our team are above ground and who knows what they have become of and John already lost to the Wyrm. I can't lose another teammate."

"Well, more of us will be lost," Zoron suddenly fired. Somehow, those words sent a chill down Hope's spine, "Heck, we're already lost and knowing them, they're just going to be wasting their time by looking for us, knowing we're still alive! Why can't you just do as you're told to do?"

Hope couldn't take it anymore. She was getting even more angry and hurt and this conversation was just going around in circles.

"I don't take orders from you," Hope told him coldly, "Last time I checked, we're a team and we make decisions together."

"Well what would've happened if we stood there discussing what we should've done?" Zoron fired, "All of us were going to turn into the Many!"

"You know what?" Hope snapped, "I'm done arguing with you. I saved you, so if you're still angry that I risked my life to save you, then deal with it cause it was my decision to make, not yours!"

With that, she turned around and walked away, still fuming in anger. She didn't want to talk to Zoron right now nor did she want to even look at him.

"Well, more of us will be lost."

Those words stayed in Hope's mind. Somehow, Zoron's words sounded like a prophecy. Somehow, she knew that it would happen.

Zoey's POV

Zoey was on the decks as she casually chatted with Jef. She looked up confused for the sky looked gloomy as it was going to rain.

Jef groaned, "I do not want another storm. Being in this ship is bad enough."

"You think something bad happened?" Zoey wondered out loud.

"No," Jef replied, "but I know something bad is about to happen."

"Since when did you start being like Hope, getting the feeling that something bad is about to happen?" Zoey asked.

Jef shrugged, "Storms are always bad news. Especially when we're on a ship."

"Of course it would," Zoey mumbled.

Ever since the team split up, Zoey and Jef became much closer. Zoey missed her brother, Zoron, and had always wondered how he and the rest of the team was. Jef became a bit like her brother and talking to him always made her worries go away for a while.

"How many compasses are we supposed to find?" This wasn't the first time that Jef had asked that question, "I mean, how many compasses do we have right now?"

"There was the one that Lin gave us," Zoey replied, "The one in Shai Lu Man, two in the Place of Desolation, one with Vhon, Gerald also had one then Rollan found his 'own' compass. Whatever that meant."

"That's 7 compasses," Jef said, adding it all up, "How many do you think the others got?"

"No idea," Zoey shrugged when she suddenly had a thought, "Wait. Remember the prophecy? Maybe the compasses have something to do with that?"

Before Jef could even reply, a thunder sounded and Zoey saw a lightning flash nearby. And just like that, the storm quickly came and quickly grew stronger.

"Quick, we better get back inside," Jef told Zoey, quickly grabbing her hand and they both ran inside.

They reached where they usually eat with a big table to find Irene and Vhon, deep in a conversation. When they spotted them, they must've noticed that they were still holding hands.

Irene raised an eyebrow, "What happened between the two you you?"

Their eyes widened and they quickly both dropped their hands, faintly blushing. Vhon let out a chuckle while Irene just shook her head. Suddenly, there was a scream. Without another word, they quickly rushed to where the sound was and they realized it was coming from where Ivan's room was. They burst inside and gasped at what they saw. Riley was in the room, her eyes wide with fear and worry.

There on the floor was Ivan, the parasite making it's way to his forehead and slowly turning into a spiral.

Dun, dun dun! Cliffhanger! What do you guys think the prophecy means? Will Hope and Zoron find the others again?What will happen to Ivan?

Please vote and leave a comment on what you guys think. Stay tuned for the next chapter! Check out GriffinFur1933 and Griffin-Bluestar!