Destiny Island

Chapter 30

For the time being, all their fears and doubts disappeared. They were just people coming from the same world banding together to deal with the wonders and strangeness of the new magical world they found themselves in.

"I don't understand," Amber said, "the fairy queen assured us that nothing bad would happen to us and still we went through so many challenging and scary situations."
"Well, when you think about it, she never promised that nothing bad would happen. She just said we would be fine. We are fine, aren't we?" Royce said hesitantly.
The moment he said that Jade started giving him an angry glare that could cut holes through metal.

On the other hand, Amber could see the logic in what he was saying.
They started exploring the island with the assumption that everything would be just perfect, but there is no such thing as perfection.
They should have known that coming from the place that was full of imperfections, and people who wanted to make it perfect.

The search for perceived perfection was what led to many of the wars and problems in their own world, so they should have known better than assuming the world they found themselves in had no dangers or problems.
Nothing could go that smoothly, even on a magical island, what they lived through only further proved that point. For every light, there had to be the same amount of darkness to be able to keep the balance in the world.
If the scales tipped more to one side, the world would suffer the consequences.
While Amber was contemplating all this she couldn't help but be annoyed by the bickering match in the background.

Jade started arguing with Royce once again and even though Amber couldn't hear clearly what they were quarreling about she couldn't help but feel that it was an unnecessary argument.
"What's wrong with you two?" She asked thoroughly annoyed by their bickering.
"Nothing much. It's just that mister knight in shining armor doesn't think I am capable of taking care of myself. He thinks I need protection." Jade said.
Disgust was obvious on her face as she said those words and Amber could partially understand how she felt.

Men seemed to assume that women were always the ones who needed to be saved.
Ignacio was still fuming because Amber saved his life and that was the perfect example of men thinking that WOMEN were the ones who needed saving.
However, for Jade, it was much more than that simple, yet common occurrence.
In the past, she experienced first hand how bad a man's overprotective nature could get.
She was in a relationship with an interesting and kind guy, but suddenly something changed.

At first, the guy was just a bit more protective than normal, just a possessive hand over her shoulder when another guy approached her, and she didn't mind it at first. She even thought it cute that he wanted to show the world that they were together.
As time went on, it became more disturbing. It was such a gradual process that she didn't even notice what was happening at first.

He kept asking her where she was going, with whom, when she would be back and similar intrusive questions. She thought that he was probably a bit jealous, but she assumed it was normal, and she didn't pay any attention to it.
Without thinking, she would tell him all that he wanted to know.
Then the calls started.
He would call her to see if she was okay, to check that nothing bad had happened to her.
Sometimes he would call two or three times while she was hanging out with her friends.

He seemed genuinely worried, so she didn't want to be rude. Thinking that he was doing that for her own good, trying to protect her, she answered all his calls any time of day or night.
She didn't find that strange.

When he started suggesting what she should do and how she followed with no questions asked. After all, he only wanted what was best for her, didn't he?
Mostly she followed his suggestions because she loved him, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings.
It never even occurred to her that she might have been hurting herself by not being herself, by being someone else's puppet. After all, she felt safe, protected.
It was nice for a while.
For her, it seemed like just a phase that he was going through, that he would grow out of it, he didn't.
It only got worse.

The last straw, the thing that made her see the light, was when he beat up a guy because he got close to her, and he thought the guy wanted to hurt her.
All the poor guy wanted to do was ask her what time it was, but Jack freaked out and almost killed him.
That was when she finally realized that she had let a man run her life for far too long.
She could protect herself, she didn't need a man to do that for her.

Even after everything that happened she tried to persuade him to ask for help, to go see a doctor, after all, she loved the guy, but he refused.
He even said some very hurtful things to her about not being able to accept the love that he had to offer, that she was the broken one. Maybe she was, but she wasn't the one who almost killed a guy for nothing.
The day she left him, she promised herself that she would never let a man protect her ever again.

As she was thinking about her past Amber approached her and whispered: "He is not Jack. He is just trying to be nice. It's difficult for him to understand why you are so rude when he only wants to help. Maybe you should tell him about Jack."

"Maybe later. I can't talk about that right now." Jade answered quietly.
Amber just nodded her head well aware of how painful those particular memories were for her friend.

"What now?" Ignacio asked.
None of them had any ideas.
As they contemplated their next step, they failed to notice the shadows gathering around them, surrounding them.

Even Amber who was obsessed with shadows since they met Ci Nada let her guard down and didn't notice them overwhelmed with joy as she was that both Jade and Royce were okay.
No one noticed them until it was too late.
One moment they were standing on the mountain top, the next they were hurtling down towards the ground into certain death.