Emerald Green

Chapter 13

Walking through the weapon yard showed Melanie the reality of her situation.  All of the citizens of both Emerald Green and New Tyme were counting on her.  Only her.  Even the rulers of the realms were turning to her as their last hope.  Her own parents.

          Melanie had only developed one elemental power; wind.  What if Dark Night was to attack?  Everyone was expecting Melanie to handle their armies, the weapons, and to fight off the enemy's leader, Don Inncarta. 

          A dark cloud of doubt entered her mind and a queasy feeling settled in her stomach. What if I am risking my life for nothing? What if I am fighting for the wrong side? What if- She had doubts a thousand times before but these were different. Her dream made her worries seem all too real. Just the thought of it made her hands shake and the feeling in her stomach become more intense.

          "Umm, mom? I'm not feeling so good..."

          Her mom looked over at her with a concerned expression and said, "Go on inside to your room." That still sounded weird to Melanie's ears to hear such a casual phrase come out of her mother's mouth. She abided her words and zoomed through the door of the castle. She rushed up the stairs with a sudden adrenaline that dissolved as soon as she reached her room.

          The energy was sucked out of her as soon as it came. The uneasy feeling that had fled her shortly arrived again. The room was unusually frigid and dark. She saw a fleeting figure out of the corner of her eye. Suddenly, she was just as afraid of darkness as everyone else in New Tyme and Emerald Green. Before a murmur could escape her lips, the darkness took her.

          A strangely familiar figure loomed over and whispered a greeting in its snaky, slippery voice. It gave Melanie a feeling of deja vu, yet she hadn't met anyone quite like that. She looked around and realized that the darkness had settled over the room so heavily, she could no longer make out anything but an odd person and her bed. That could only be one man... Don Inncarta.

          "We have a lot in common you know."  He said, confirm my pervious suspicion.

          "You have the potential to be just as powerful as my loyal trainees Myrna and Manny, and even me. The difference is that you're fighting for the wrong side."

          His words hung in the air. Melanie was tempted to reply but was overcome by the strong desire for power that Don had just ignited in her. A heavy silence hung in the air as she contemplated. Finally, Melanie replied.

          "I've heard a lot about you. Not any of it good."

          "And not all of it is true."

          "Why do you want me anyway? I didn't want all of this. I just wanted a wish, not a quest and responsibility."

          "Want from you?" he said in a kind, surprisingly calm voice, "Think about what I can give you."

          She found herself contempalting his offer. After all, I've had only heard one side of the story. Maybe I was fighting for the wrong side- What am I thinking? Melanie's thoughts weren't her own.  Don Inncarta.  Maybe it isn't that bad to switch sides, my parents have always annoyed me... But they're my parents. She fought against the thoughts that entered her mind but became less and less able to control it. Finally she surrendered. She stood up with new strength and whisked away to Dark Night.

•         •         •

          Melanie's POV:

          I was his puppet. I felt like I was seeing through the eyes of someone else. My movements were not my own. At least I had my thoughts, which were slipping through my fingers as soon as they arrived. The most terrifying part was becoming myself completely and then slipping back into the darkness. I felt the terror of falling off a cliff when I gained feeling at all.

          I would regain control. I could see he was surprised that I could overpower him at least for a moment. If I could just speak... I mustered every bit of power inside me and one word came from my lips.

          "Please."

          That's all I could say. A powerful wave of exhaustion came over me. How could one word suck everything out of me? But I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of blacking out. I'll play his little game, but I'll win.

          A loud booming laugh emerged from him and echoed off the walls of a room that seemingly served as his bedroom. Finally it subsided. "Please what?" He mocked. "Please let you go? Pretty please?  As if I'm going to let you go! Are you going to go crying to your mommy, the queen?"

          His words stung.

          "Let me GO!"

          He smirked and looked away. I felt his power over me slack. This was my chance. I used my shaky legs to support myself. I stepped forward and pulled my wand out, which pulsed in my palm reassuringly.  Wind wisped around me faintly.  For a moment, I was overpowered by a sense of confidence and power.  I could do it.

          Don Inncarta turned around and with a casual flick of his finger sent me flying back against the stone wall.

          Oops.

          An evil laugh tumbled creepily out of his mouth.  He was the enemy, he wasn't the enemy, he was the enemy, he wasn't the enemy.  I was trying to force my mind to believe that, but his thoughts just kept on interrupting mine until I was no longer sure which belonged to me.  On top of that, my head hurt from the "fall." 

          Shakily, I stood up and dusted myself off forcing the grimace on my agonized face to laugh, "You really think you can get rid of me that easily?"  I lifted my wand and willed for it to lift the bed in the corner.

          I obviously wasn't the strongest sorceress. But I honestly thought I could lift the bed. The problem was keeping him distracted. I looked him in the eye and he gave me an odd look.

          He moved me high enough in the air so that my feet wouldn't touch the floor, but my head was nowhere near the ceiling. Don opened the bedroom door and a magical, dark vortex was revealed. Some dark purple tendrils formed a spiral staircase leading downwards.  This time instead of hurling me backwards he slid me slowly towards the menacing screams from within. I had time to contemplate my fate.

          He didn't know I had the bed dangling. I focused my energy as I slid closer and closer to the door. I figured I didn't have time to move it slowly over to his head like I had planned. I attempted just to chuck it. And I failed miserably. Instead of crushing him, it rammed up against and shattered a window. Then, it fell to the floor and landed with a sudden crash.

          Another mistake that I should not have made.  Well isn't that nice.

**A/N** Hey guys! I FINALLY uploaded! I just got back from a long school field trip to washington D.C. so all during the bus ride, me and my friend wrote this chapter(: shout-out to nicole for writing most of this chapter! thank you so much! now go get a wattpad, girl:))

I did switch from third person to first person in this chapter(if you were confused:P) but I will be switching back to normal next chapter.

REMEMBER these four things: 1. I still need help with character ideas! 2. Vote! 3. Comment! 4. Tell your friends about my story!

Thanks so much for staying with me through the short updates! Until next time...