Twilight Shadows

Chapter 22

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^^Moonrise

Before I could ask Joshua what the "Puppet Master" meant, the shadowy figure did some sort of motion with his fingers. It looked like he was stretching his fingers then clenching it into a fist. At that same time, the mortals below us fired their guns.

"Summon your force fields!" Noah yelled as his own obsidian like force field appeared around him, the bullets bouncing harmlessly off. I followed suite, and so did Joshua.

All the bullets were fired at once, and the air was filled with deafening cracks and booms of the bullets getting reloaded, fired, and hitting our force fields.

After a few more rounds of shooting, I guessed that the mortal's bullets ran out, so I held my hand above my head and clenched it into a fist, like what the "Puppet Master" did. My force field shattered like glass, and so did Noah's and Joshua's.

"Joshu - " I didn't get to finish my question again.

The mortals spoke in one, unified, yet monotone voice. "We are marionettes of the Great Puppet Master. Heed this warning and leave our boundaries at once, or we will force you to go."

"But - " I began.

"I know..." Noah said quietly. "There's no other way to the ocean. The Puppet Master was said to live in the ocean, and apparently, it's true." Noah's face darkened. "We will have to fight."

"Noah," Joshua said. "The Puppet Master is not able to be defeated, unless we have the Light. After all, it is a Shadow monster..."

"Aren't Shadow monsters controlled by the Shadows?" I asked. "They're both... well, Shadows."

"I'll explain the history later." Joshua decided. "Enough talking, we have to defeat the Puppet Master with the Light."

"But we don't have it!" Noah exclaimed, exasperated. "Now what are we going to do?"

Joshua sighed and snapped his fingers. Out of the distance, I saw something flying towards us, getting larger with each flap of its wings. Then I realized with a jolt that it was a Pegasus, radiating blue and purple aura from its body, which contrasted against the orange and pink sunset.

The Pegasus reached us, and hovered in front of Joshua, nuzzling his hand.

"Good boy, Moonrise..." Joshua said quietly. "It's time."

Moonrise backed away from Joshua and shook his mane. Then, he angled his head towards the sky, braying. It was an eerie sound, and the mortals below us seemed to snap out of the Puppet Master's trance.

Moonrise stopped braying. An Alicorn descended from the clouds above us, its horn glistening.

"Look away..." Joshua advised. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the Alicorn charging to the Puppet Master, who was shocked. Without him expecting it, the Alicorn dug straight between the Puppet Master's eyes. The monster started to melt; gray blobs falling apart and disintegrating as soon as it touched the ocean water.

Joshua looked shaken even after the Puppet Master had been defeated.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, flying over.

"There's a lot of things wrong with the world now... and it's mainly because of the Shadows." Joshua shook his head. "I have a hunch of what's going on, and it's definitely not good. I do know that our priority is to save the Obsidian Tree, but there's another thing that's almost equally important..."

"What is it?" I said, curiosity overflowing my mind.

"It would be risky to tell you." Joshua said. "Too many people knowing about information could lead to serious danger."

I didn't really know what he meant, so I just nodded and flew back to Noah.

"Let's get some rest. After all, we didn't really have a good night's sleep in a few weeks..." Noah chuckled. "I could do myself a nice hotel room... with a comfortable bed, a nice shower..."

"Okay, you got me hooked up!" I exclaimed. "Let's go to a hotel. We all smell terrible!"

~💖~  

After a good shower and lying in bed for several minutes, I still couldn't sleep.

Noah had decided to go to this hotel, Pacific Coast Beach Resort, which was a five star rating. We paid some mortal cash, which apparently was all colourful and shiny, and went to our own rooms. Honestly, the currency at Twilight Academy is way more expensive than the currency here in the mortal Britain world.

My thoughts kept on traveling back to what Joshua had said... Something probably almost as important, if not, more important, than saving the Obsidian tree... What could that be? 

Finally, I thought enough was enough. I needed some rest, and I was really tired. I fiddled with my bracelet which I refused to take off. Noah had explained to me that my Twilight power comes from the bracelet, so I've decided to keep it on at all times.

I unleashed Nightmare because I knew that her presence was comforting. She appeared in a flash, right beside my bed. She looked up and me, and stretched her wings. Nightmare decided that the bed was too small for her, so she curled up into a ball and stared at me.

"Goodnight, Nightmare..." I said, yawning. The next thing I knew, I was fast asleep.

~💖~  

I opened my eyes. I wasn't in the hotel anymore. All around me was a dark forest, with looming trees that made you feel like you were in a maze. And, I wasn't in my light purple pajamas. I was wearing my regular battle armor.

I must be dreaming, I thought. Where am I?

A voice whispered in my head. You are here, but not here. Look carefully.

I looked around at my surroundings. I squinted to see better. In the distance, I could just make out a mountain with... a little well-built shack on the very top.

Can't be a mortal, I thought. Or a Twilight, since Twilights don't like to live on mountaintops. Must be a Shadow.

I summoned my wings and flew towards the shack. All of a sudden, there was a huge, tall tree in front of me, and I was too fast to slow down and go around. To my surprise, I went through the tree like a ghost.

Is that what the voice meant? I wondered. That I'm here, as a ghost?

I decided to keep on flying towards the shack. As soon as I reached it, I heard a hymn; more like a chant now that I listened to it. The person inside muttered indistinguishable words, like it was of an ancient language.

Since I was a "ghost", it was reasonable for me to just creep in there. First I tested if the person would see me. There was an opening in the shack right in front of the person, so I stood there and shouted, "HEY!"

The person didn't respond. It's either he was too concentrated, or I really wasn't here. I tried to pick up a rock. My hand went right through it. Then I realized that I was still flying, although it seemed like I was standing on the ground.

I flew over to the person who was chanting again. In front of him was a book. The book was floating and glowing, and the person wore a tattered gray robe. He had long, black hair which was tied back into a ponytail. He also had high cheekbones, and was pale; but not like Mrs. Smith.

I crept closer to see the book and the man.

Then I realized that I knew who this man was. 

I also recognized the picture in the book that he was chanting in front of.

Dread crept through my body like a slithering snake.