Twilight Shadows

Chapter 9

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I felt the ground materialize underneath me. I blinked a few times. It was nighttime. Then, I saw Noah carrying myself into the tent, and I followed behind. Frankly, I wasn't in control of my body. Then, it stuck me; I was Nightmare, but not Nightmare.

Nightmare, or, um, I went into the tent and curled up beside... um, me. Things were getting awkward. I lay there for a while, watching the real me, before trotting outside to follow Joshua.

Joshua looked from side to side, his eyes sweeping the place where I (Nightmare) was, but he didn't seem to see me. He took a deep breath, and shape-shifted into a black panther. I shuddered, but still followed him.

In my real mind, (not Nightmare's) I knew that only Shadows could shape-shift. But Twilights? I didn't think so. 

Still thinking about how Twilights could possibly shape-shift, Joshua jumped over a fallen log and started sprinting to the dark woods. I could tell that Nightmare hesitated before flying after him. 

Just saying, flying from a dragon's point of view is just like flying by myself, except somewhat smoother. Either that, or I just wasn't a good flyer yet. I was thinking more to the second one.

Suddenly, I (or rather, Nightmare) made a steep dive that surprised me. I screamed, but made no sound. Apparently, my mouth didn't even open when I look into Nightmare's memories.

I came to a stop on a tree, overlooking a small clearing like the one we set camp on, except this time there was a huge, exposed rock near the middle. On the rock was a cloaked black figure, all skin and bone.

Soon, the black panther that was Joshua bounded into the clearing, halting in front of the figure and bowing his head. He transformed back into Joshua (human form), still bowing his head, on his knees, not daring to look up.

"Joshua." The cloaked figure regarded him coldly.

Joshua stayed still, not moving a muscle.

"Stand up." The figure commanded harshly.

Joshua stood up shakily, looking up into the cloaked figure's eyes.

"What is it? Have you gotten the scroll?" The cloaked figure asked.

"N-no, sir. Noah is very... protective of it. I-I cannot show any signs of b-betrayal - yet." Joshua stammered. I could already tell that his life was on the line.

"Very well." The figure's eyes glinted. "Ever since Lord Seth, ah, banned me from the Shadows, I have been plotting revenge... We must find the nymph before Noah finds it, and ask her to grant me a wish... To destroy Lord Seth once and for all!" The figure let out a cold, harsh, and maniacal laugh.

Joshua was shaking. "A-as you wish, sir..."

"Now go back to your filthy camp before anyone thinks something's suspicious. And don't forget to report back to me every few days." The figure commanded.

Joshua nodded, and scrambled back into the tall grass, and shape-shifted into a black panther again, running back into the direction of camp.

Then, the vision ended, and I was back in the tent, feeling extremely dizzy. Nightmare was still staring at me very intently.

"Phew," I said. "Thanks for that, Nightmare." Nightmare blinked innocently. "You honestly are the cutest."

I heard the tent's zipper getting unzipped, and Noah stepped through. "Good morning," he said. "We have a long day ahead of us."

I nodded, and started packing up my sleeping bag. I always had trouble packing these things, and this time was no different. I groaned as I tried to stuff the sleeping bag inside its bag. It didn't work.

"Here, let me help you." Noah offered. I smiled at him gratefully. He unrolled the sleeping bag, and re-rolled it up neatly. He put it into the the outer bag with no problem.

"I never get how to do these things..." I grinned sheepishly.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it... You just need a little more... muscle power." He smirked in a joking way. I stifled back a laugh.

~💖~  

As soon as we packed our tents and stuffed them into our lightweight backpacks (which weren't so lightweight anymore after that), we flew for hours, taking occasional breaks since I had to rest after flying so long. What surprised me was that Joshua had wings, which was rare considering the fact that Shadows don't usually have wings... unless you were a Shadow royal, ruler or just happen to be granted with that gift.

We kept flying over lakes, rivers, grassy fields, plains, and mountains until 11:30 AM. 

"Let's stop for lunch," Noah decided, rubbing his wind-blown hair back into order. "I see a nice flat surface on that mountain there..." Noah pointed in front of us, where a jagged mountain peek seemed to go beyond the clouds. I could just make out the tiny surface where we were going to settle down for a little.

"Sounds good," I said. "I can't wait to get food in my stomach after flying HOURS nonstop..."

Noah grimaced. "Don't blame me!"

"Oh, well, I was going to..." I made a face at him.

"Will you two stop flirting?" Joshua finally said, looking at us disgustingly.

"Fine, fine..." Noah smiled.

I glared at Joshua and made a move to punch him. Before I could though, Noah already reached him and punched him square in the jaw. Joshua's eyes rolled upwards, and started plummeting through the sky.

"I... guess we should've knocked him out on the ground... Let's go get him." I suggested.

Noah nodded and dived down gracefully, catching Joshua before he hit face-first onto the hard ground below us. I followed close behind and landed onto the flat piece of rock where Noah decided to eat lunch at.

"You know, him saying that we were flirting wasn't such a big deal that you had to punch him..." I started to say.

"Oh." Noah said. "That's what you're talking about. I knocked him out because I'm going to unroll the scroll to see what it says."

I blushed. "Oops..." I quietly said. Then I straightened up. "Well, good plan anyway."

Noah smiled. "Now let's unroll this..." Noah took out an old, worn-out scroll which was tightly wrapped in a blue ribbon.

I held my breath as Noah tenderly untied the ribbon around the scroll and carefully unrolled it. As if the scroll were waiting for its time to be unrolled, it began to glow brightly. I leaned closer to Noah to see what the scroll said.

The blinding light faded away.