The Death Breathers

Chapter XVI

Jay looks sadly at the ground.

"Parakeet has died."

My eyes widen.

"Parakeet?" I have to check if he said that or not.

"Yes," he says, full of sorrow.

"Have we still got the body?"

"Yeah," says Canary. "He, uh, he got stabbed. In the chest."

"I think we need a moment of silence."

And we wait.

We think.

And we reflect.

"I wasn't even there to say goodbye," I say after the moment.

"Hey, you were too busy dying yourself to know," says Dove.

I laugh gently.

"He was such a good friend to us all," says Jay.

"Yeah," we all agree.

We stand in silence for a moment.

Jays eyes widen.

"We haven't even done what we came for!" He says.

"What was it?" I ask.

"Getting the oxygen!"

It suddenly clicks in my mind. Knowing we had to get this sphere of good oxygen was suddenly at the front of my brain.

"Well, I can't, uh..." I say, pointing at my leg.

Macaw is still holding me.

"Well... uh, Macaw, are you okay still holding her?"

"Yeah, all good."

"We need to go to the temple. I think there's only one room left until we find it."

"Okay," we all say.

()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()-()

We go through the door of the next room, and see its almost exactly like the first one.

Except, I highly doubt it is.

Swan gets something out of her little bag.

Some sort of spray can?

She shakes it, then sprays it, revealing green laser lines.

"It's always handy to have a can of this," she says.

She rolls and jumps and gracefully makes it to the other side.

"Easy," she announces.

I stick my tongue out at her and she giggles.

I decide to turn into a small thrush, the smallest bird I can think of.

I fly over and under all the lasers and land on Swan's arm she has stuck out.

I've still only got one leg, as a bird.

More birds come over, and so does Macaw. I'm guessing he's still able to turn into a bird.

"Okay guys, this is it. The moment we have all been waiting for."

Jay pushes open the double doors and I see a man with a beard and narrow eyes.

"Well, well, well. Looks like you're finished!"

The room is white marble, with golden touches. The man sat on a throne at the top of the room, made of gold. There were plants scattered around, and it felt very majestic.

But also so goddamn scary at the same time.

We all walk in further, and Jay stands up taller to make himself seem less scared of the man.

I, on the other had, was petrified.

But I kept the thought of Jay being strong in my mind and it gave me strength.

Macaw was holding me again. My leg was aching.

Jay walks up to the man and looks him in the eye.

"We want that oxygen," he says.

The man pulls out something from his suit jacket.

"Oh, you mean this?" He laughs. "You're not getting it."

It was a small sphere, about the colour of a cloud. It was misty white, and you could see the mist. (It was a little bit like a Remembrall.)

"Give it to us," Jay says.

"Or what?"

"Or... we'll destroy your temple until you give it."

"Fine, go for it. I don't care."

Jay narrows his eyes even more. I see his hand move into a fist.

Just DO it.

It feels like an eternity before he actually swings his arm up and punches him, right on the nose.

The man is knocked out for a few seconds, worrying about his nose.

The sphere falls out of his hand as he puts them on his face.

Jay catches the oxygen just in time, and holds it up.

He comes over to us and undoes the buckle.

The top of the sphere opens and the cloud comes out.

It morphs into something.

A person.

"Hey, idiot!" It talks to the evil man. "You were never gonna even survive with me! I kill bad people like you!"

And with that, the cloud stretches out its arm, and chokes the man with one hand.

He goes limp and the atmosphere is silent.

Some of Avis's start clapping and cheering.

"Hey, you've done a great job. All of you," says the cloud.

"Thank you for killing him," I say.

"Hey, it's wouldn't have happened if you," she smiles at Jay, "hadn't let me out."

"Hey, no biggie. We just saved the entire world, anyway."

The cloud smiles and turns to mist.

"Well I guess that's that then," says Jay.

"Yeah, it must be."

"Should we go home?"

"Yeah," says everyone.