Dimension Travelers

Chapter 52

I silently take out my bow and two arrows. I shoot both guards. I don't kill them; just make sure they're not able to follow us. We run past them. They don't even see our faces. Rick grabbed our hands and shot down the hall. Walls blurred past me. I'm getting dizzy from running so fast. We reach a section of the castle that's purple. We're here. We've made it.

"This is it." I say and look at Rick and Firefly.

Rick's face doesn't portray any emotion. Firefly looks scared-worried even. Why, I don't know. She just stares at it.

"Yup. It is." Rick says finally.

"I've imagined this moment several times in my head. But now, it seems different." Firefly says.

"Everything is different when you imagine it then live it." I say.

We all look at each other. We all know that this will either make us, or break us. This will determine whether we walk out victors, or if they have to find our corpses. All I can think about is wishing that I could see Chloe and my family again. That's all I ask.

"Let's go." Firefly says. "The sooner we end this, the better."

"Let's do this." Rick says.

She takes hold of our wrists and we enter into hells gate.

* * * * * * * *

I can see small buildings in the distance. We're finally getting out of the desert and into society. I must be honest; I'm tired of the desert. It's just been a very chaotic few days. Jared and I haven't spoken very much. Until now,

"It's getting late." He says, "Should we stop for the night?"

"I guess so." I say, "I think we're almost there."

"Good thing too. My butt can't take much more."

I laugh. "Same here."

So we set up "camp" in the middle of the desert. The night is cool and refreshing. I can't help but wonder what Seth and the others are doing. Are they fighting Eclipsa? Are they planning some giant battle? My mind races with questions that I can't answer. It drives me crazy. Pretty soon, I'm worried sick. I'm wound up tighter than a ball of string. So I give up on sleeping. I sit up and look at the sky. It's dark and formless. It's just a blob of nothingness that consumes this world with darkness and hopelessness. I hate it. I can't help but hate it; hate everything. I hate the situation that we're in, hate Eclipsa; hate this place, and most of all, hate myself. I hate myself for letting this happen. I mean, none of this would have happened if it wasn't for me being stubborn. A few minutes later, Jared gets up and sits next to me.

"What's wrong? You seem all tensed up." He asks.

"If it wasn't for me, none of this would've happened." I say.

"Yeah, that means that I would still be trapped here."

I look at him. "I didn't mean that part. I meant all this war and fighting. I didn't want anyone to get hurt!"

"Right. But you're helping these people more than you'll ever know."

"But we're paying for it with our lives. Do you know how many times we could've died these past few days? A lot."

"Yeah, I realized that."

Duh. He's been here way longer than us. He probably could've been killed plenty more times in a week than we have in a few days, I thought, maybe I shouldn't have said anything...I'll never truly know what Jared went through. But all I can do is not mention it.

"Sorry." I say, "I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's ok." He says.

Silence.