War for the Skies (completed) (Book 1 of the Heroes of the Realms series)

Chapter 22

Aurora got herself her own room, which was two floors above, after dinner.

I gave a few leftovers to Stormo, Flare, and Shock, which must've seemed weird to the people outside.

The rest of us all went to our rooms to rest for the big day tomorrow. The instant we arrived at our rooms, I crashed on my bed, barely able to keep my eyes open.

Skylar sat up on her bed watching TV, which was still on a news channel. I was about to ask why she hadn't slept, but my body disagreed. It needed rest.

I closed my eyes and fell unconscious.

I had no dreams, which was such good news for me I almost screamed out loud. I sat up, smiling, looking at Skylar, laying peacefully on her bed.

I got up and ran over to the cafeteria to eat breakfast, still happy that I had no dreams. There was a buffet from where you could choose food, varying from pancakes, omelets, fruit salads, and many more.

I grabbed a tray and ate.

Once everyone had come and we had all finished eating, we gave back our keys to the receptionist.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay," the woman smiled in a thick Spanish accent.

I nodded and we left through the door. Before we had gone up to give the keys, Skylar had sprayed Stormo, Flare, and Shock so that no one saw a huge griffon and two unicorns coming out of the hotel parking lot.

They were waiting outside for us, the two unicorns fighting with their horns and Stormo spectating from the side. I didn't know how that looked for the regular humans, maybe two cars crashing and the other one's road blocked? But that didn't make sense since the car wouldn't be going out of the sidewalk, and also there wasn't any commotion, but since no one looked at us or them suspiciously, I didn't care.

I jumped on Stormo, followed by Skylar who hugged my waist tightly. Aurora jumped on Flare, along with Theo, and I noticed that neither were comfortable, Aurora because she was behind a guy radiating heat, and sitting on a horse that was half made of fire, and Theo because Aurora was there.

Lukas sat alone, but I felt like that made him happier.

We followed the road until we were near an urban area, to start flying to Rome. We were standing on top of a grassy hill, overlooking the rest of Valencia, as well as the sea. I doubted that the people would like seeing a flying Jeep along with two other Toyotas.

"Well... which way?" Lukas asked.

"Toward the sea," I pointed at the horizon.

"You sure that will get us to Rome?" Theo dismounted his horse and looked around.

"It's our only option. Maybe after we set out and we go toward the south..." I pointed right, which was the southern direction. "We'll get close."

"It's our best shot," Theo mounted Flare again and we flew off.

We rode for hours, but finally arrived in Rome. We landed in Pompeii, the ruined city. I felt uncomfortable staying there, and could feel the presence of many deaths.

"Where is the door?" I asked.

"Should be somewhere in here. But you should be able to tell if you're close, it will radiate power," Skylar explained.

Still on our rides, we walked around Pompeii, in hopes of finding a door that might lead to all of our deaths.

Obviously, we couldn't find anything, since that's just our luck. We all dismounted and huddled where we had landed first. No one passed by except one tourist group of five, who stared at our "cars" in disbelief and hurried away.

Aurora's hair was becoming even more icy, turning a sickly shade of whitish blue.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Fine... I'm fine," she shivered.

I was expecting Theo to make a fire, but he just looked around the ruins as Aurora looked like she might freeze herself by accident. I didn't know what happened with her, maybe she couldn't use her powers and they were just running free, but that seemed doubtful.

I was about to ask her when the ground started rumbling. A green aura filled the city, which made me ten times more uncomfortable than my former state, and I started to shiver, as if Aurora was slowly freezing me from the spine.

We backed up and pulled out our weapons. Aurora pulled out a wooden hilt, which then grew into a double headed white-ice spear. Theo took a metal stick from his jacket, and turned it into a double sided axe, with it's blades and center glowing with fire. Lukas drew his bow. I pulled out my sword. Skylar looked like she was scanning the surroundings.

Another rumble shook the earth, stronger this time. I fell on my face, and so did Theo. We quickly recovered and I felt a strange presence inside the city. The tourists and our group were not the only ones visiting.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"This is bad. This is very, very bad," Skylar said, her voice shaking.

Another rumble shook dust off of the roofs of the houses and onto my head.

"What's very bad?" I screamed over the wind that suddenly picked up.

"They're here! The-"

Her voice was cut off by a sharp pierce in the air. It felt as if someone used a giant sword to slash a giant into half, and that, I assure you, did not sound friendly.

"The what?!" I yelled, but then my question was answered, not by Skylar but by the volcano. It erupted into a huge green mushroom cloud, and I could see tiny beings, from afar, flying out of the dust and sailing towards the city.

"Heroes shall perish..." the voices muttered into the air. "Just like us..."

I heard a sword being pulled behind me, and quickly turned around, slashing the sword off of my attacker.

His shape looked human enough. A man in a warrior outfit. What was different was that he was translucent with a green aura.

I slashed my sword, but it went straight through his body. He smacked me in the face, which felt very real even though he was a ghost-also very strong I might add- making me tumble down onto the floor.

"What are you?" I asked, quickly getting back up.

"I was a Hero, just like you. The first to set out for the Hall of Pandora," he grabbed his sword. "My soul was taken by the spirits of the people who suffered in Pompeii, and I understood their pain, becoming one of them. Now it is time for you to join us, for you have not been tortured as much as we have. And all of you will become a spirit of Pompeii."