VALKYRIE

Chapter 13: Juno's POV

I was falling.

Falling, spinning, and swirling. My braided hair was being wrenched in every direction.

I slammed against the ground with incredible force. I laid there for a while, coughing and catching my breath.

I opened my eyes and looked to the left. Eric lay there, coughing like I was. He looked at me and we grabbed hands and helped each other up.

While we stood there shakily, I took in my surroundings. It was cold, with snow on the ground. Not traditional, white, powdery snow, but gray, dirty snow.

It was unnaturally dark outside. The sky was black and smoky. There were trees near, but they were all missing their leaves and looked almost... Dead.

Which was most likely what they were. The branches of the trees were cracked and ghostlike. In the distance, there was a black castle. It was massive but it looked haunted and terrifying.

Shivers ran up and down my spine as I gazed at it. There was a drawbridge with dozens of soldiers marching across it, two by two.

"What are you two doing here? You are supposed to be in the castle!" A male voice came from behind us. I whirled around.

A large man, around the same size as Eric, stood, glaring at us from under his mask.

"There is a war going on, stop messing about!" The man continued to go on about how we were violating the rules.

"You could be vaporized for that!" He finished.

"We're sorry, sir, but a lieutenant asked us to inspect a strange noise in the forest, and, as we all know, there is nothing living in the forest, so naturally we had to check it out," I lied, hoping the man would believe me.

"That's strange, I didn't hear anything about that," the man said, rubbing his beard. "Well, even if there was somebody out there, I would be able to deal with them. After all, I am Lieutenant Shade."

Eric looked at me, his expression, asking me how I knew anything about the forest. I sent him a look with the smallest shrug, which hopefully said that I didn't know.

"Well, let's get back. What were you doing before you came out here?" Lieutenant Shade asked gruffly.

"I was cleaning the Dark Leader's throne room, and he was doing dungeon patrol," I replied, gesturing to Eric.

"Alright, get back as fast as possible," the lieutenant said, and shoved us toward the drawbridge in the distance. He set off in the opposite direction.

Eric and I walked briskly.

"How will I know who the Light Leader is?" He asked me.

"Believe me, you'll know," I responded. He nodded, looking confused. "She gives off light radiation. You'll feel it," I explained.

"Oh," Eric said.

After a few moments, Eric and I reached the drawbridge where the soldiers dressed in identical clothing as us marched, two by two.

We slipped in at the end of one line and stiffly marched alongside them, praying we wouldn't get caught.

We safely got to the castle, but before we were able to go inside, a guard checked us.

Eric was immediately free to go, but the guard stopped me.

"What's the necklace all about? The guard asked.

"Umm... It was... A gift," I stuttered.

"A gift? From whom did you receive this gift?" The guard asked, mocking me just a little bit.

I was about to answer, when Eric caught my eye.

He winked at me, and put his hands together in the shape of a heart. Then he made a kissing-like  face and pointed at me. I could feel my face warming up. What was that? Why did he do that?

Questions swarmed around in my head as my face turned beet red.

The guard chuckled, "Oh, I see what's going on." I was terrified we were about to get caught.

"Your boyfriend gave it to you," the guard said. "Go ahead."

I was relieved, and joined Eric again. "Thanks for making me blush, otherwise I would have been caught," I told Eric.

"No problem," Eric said, almost laughing. I held back my own laughs.

We walked into what looked like a dark, deserted corridor. Suddenly I slammed into someone.

"Hey! Watch it!" A woman stepped out and I saw her more clearly. Her mask still covered her, but she looked familiar.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"None of your business," she responded, clearly disturbed.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"You look so familiar. Do I know you?" She asked.

"I was thinking the same thing!" I excitedly told her.

"We both remove our masks on the count of three," the woman told me, while Eric stood by me.

I nodded in agreement.

"One, two, three," the woman said, and we both pulled off our masks.

I gasped in shock. She did too.

But the woman was... Me. But older. How could this be? Unless.... No. It couldn't be.

"Juno?" The woman asked. "Is that you? Is that really you?"

I looked at her, and the more I looked, the more I realized... My voice came out in a whisper.

I asked the question I had wanted to ask my entire life.

"Mother? Is that you?"