The Elementals : The Dawn of Darkness

Chapter 8 - I always wanted a sword. Oh look, it talks!

Sheira and I had very conflicting opinions on the word early. My early was seven in the morning when I had to drag myself out of bed and drag myself around the house like a zombie until I got some caffeine in me. Sheira's definition was so early that the stars were still out, and the sun hadn't risen yet. If the sun wasn't awake, then you'd have more luck throwing a pig out of a window and seeing it fly than catching me awake at this godforsaken hour. Yeah, I had pulled all-nighters before, but with those situations the terms early and late didn't exist until the following day when you realise you've somehow lost a few hours.

It didn't surprise that Shadow-the-psycho was awake at this time, he probably fed off the pain and suffering of others. But his early may have even been too severe for us. When Sheira woke me up at four goddamn thirty, Crash told us that we needed to get a move on because he really would leave us behind and that he had actually been considering abandoning us since he woke up at three. Three o'clock! That time didn't exist to most people. I moved groggily from my position on the sofa to see Ice padding round the room, she seemed anxious, she kept a constant eye on the door where Crash was standing. It seemed that Sheira was still a little weary of our new travelling companions.

"Where'd you we're going?" I asked her, stifling a yawn.

"I have no idea," she said truthfully. "We've just got to put our trust in Shadow."

"You do realise what you just said, right?"

She sighed. "Yep. We could be in for a long day."

Thank god I was wearing comfortable shoes. I stretched, yawned, released Flame who repeated my actions and stumbled out into the new light of the day. The sun was beginning to tinge the sky with a pale red as first light broke the horizon, the light cast a sparkling glow on the dew that coated the world in a blanket of water and the shadows of the night burned away under the glow of the sun.

Our Shadow, however, was a lot more difficult to get rid of. He was crouched down behind one of the diggers, watching the gates, sitting as still as a statue while Crash adopted a different approach and was rolling in the grass, having a bath in the dew. Flame and Ice approached Crash with caution, but they seemed to want to make friends. Not with Shadow though, as they both flashed their teeth at him threateningly. He didn't seem to be bothered by their distaste for him and stalked off out of the grounds, without saying a word to either of us, clearly expecting us to follow him.

We darted after him into the cold woodland with no clue about what on earth he was planning for us. Sheira attempted to work out a strategy for us, but Shadow proved that he was about as useful as a brick wall when it came to conversation, so she slunk back to me, defeated. If he was going to be like this the entire way there, then this was going to be a very interesting journey. And by interesting, I mean that it was going to be tedious, infuriating and if we did make it back to Camp then I was probably going to be bald for tearing my hair out. The only one who seemed to be communicating with Shadow was Crash, and their "conversations" were inaudible to us peasants.

Ice and Flame were darting through the undergrowth, on the hunt for breakfast no doubt. (Hopefully all furry creatures decided to stay tucked up in their burrows until the sun came up.) Crash was fine with finding food. As an herbivore he could just reach down and chomp up whatever he liked the look of. Sheira had the good idea to pack cereal bars and a thermos of coffee so we were sorted. We offered Shadow a bite. He declined.

After what felt like forever, we broke free of the forest and I caught sight of a town in the distance. It resembled a fortress, high walls, churches, steeples, a winding river, bustling roads and a railway line that was filled with trains. It looked like a model from this distance.