I was freefalling, when suddenly I was halted. Chade had appeared, his torso jutting from the rock like when he caught me back home. He lowered me to the ground and let me roll out of his arms. He stepped out and looked me over.
He raised an eyebrow at the egg. I realized I was still holding it tightly. I set it gently on the ground and looked up. Fred was peering over the side of the nest, trying to decide whether or not it was worth it.
"What's with the rock?" Chade asked.
"It's an egg. I was using it as a distraction, but I was knocked off of the nest," I explained.
There was a hissing sound, followed by a sickening crack. I jumped back as the egg splintered, releasing air from inside. There was a pecking noise, followed by squawking. Chade drew his sword and stood protectively in front of me. The egg cracked open, and a small baby pterodactyl came out. He was a skeleton like his mother, but he was cute instead of scary.
"Aw, it's adorable!" I cooed.
"Yeah, but it's deadly," Chade argued.
I shoved him aside and rushed over to the little creature. It cawed and flapped its little wings, lifting off of the ground for a few seconds. I ran up and knelt next to it, wrapping it in a giant hug. I cooed and rocked it back and forth, absolutely entranced by the cuteness. It snuggled up to me and looked up with those giant, cute eye sockets. Chade brushed himself off and narrowed his eyes.
"You should really let me get rid of it," he said.
"No, not Remmy!" I argued.
I got up and firmly stood my ground. King of Shadows or not, he would not make me get rid of Remmy. He raised an eyebrow.
"Remmy? You're naming it?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm naming him. He's a boy," I answered.
Remmy nuzzled my side and nipped at my pants. Chade pointed a finger at him.
"See, he's biting you!" he accused.
"He's teething. Just let me keep him, pretty please! I'll train him to be nice," I begged.
He looked doubtful.
"He could be helpful. When he's big enough he could attack monsters and fly us to our destination," I added.
He sighed and nodded. I squealed and ran over to him, throwing my arms around him. I squeezed him tight before pecking him on the cheek. I walked back over to Remmy and put my hands under his wings to pick him up. I gave up since he was as tall as a ten-year old. He was only a baby, but he was one big baby. I stroked his head and turned back to Chade, a wide grin on my lips.
"So, where are we going?" I asked.
"The center of this realm. That's where we'll find what we're looking for," he answered.
"Hey, can't you just use your shadow powers to take us there?" I realized.
"It doesn't work like that. I can only go to a certain point, but after that we have to travel on foot," he explained.
"Then what are we doing walking? You could've just taken us to that point and gone from there on foot!" I pointed out.
"So this was pointless," he finished.
"Nope, because now we have Remmy," I countered.
He sighed and gathered me in his arms. I clung tightly to Remmy, not wanting to leave him behind. Suddenly everything was dark. Air rushed past, and when I looked up I gasped. The world was zooming by at an alarming rate. I squeezed my eyes shut, afraid of losing them along the way.
"You can open them now, we've stopped," Chade murmured.
I sowly opened my eyes and squeaked in shock. I slowly set my feet on the ground, hugging Remy to me like a teddy bear. He didn't seem to mind, snuggling up to my chest. I gazed at the land in wonder.
Behind us was the land I had grown used to, hues of gray and black with a white sky. But then it just stops, like a wall is keeping it from going any further. Now there was color, and it almost hurt my eyes to look. Everything was either neon green, neon yellow, or dark purple. The ground was purple and cracked, green glowing through. Streams of yellow crawled past at a snail's pace.
Everywhere I looked, craters covered the land. I looked up at the sky to find it was different too. It was covered in smoke, which was odd. I didn't see any fires around. I took a step forward, then scuttled back to Chade when the ground moved. He chuckled as I hid behind him.
"Now c'mon, what happened to having no fear?" he teased.
"It's wearing off the more I'm with you," I answered.
He smirked, but his eyes were filed with worry. His eyes. I couldn't believe that only days before he was a freakishly tall, slender man with no facial features. He didn't even have any hair. Now he was still tall, but humanly so. He had a nose, eyes, and a mouth. His skin wasn't white, merely pale. He had jet black hair. By human standards, he was handsome.
He gently intertwined his fingers with mine and smiled at me. My chest filled with hope and respect for this man I loved.
"Let's go," he said.
