Crossover II Evalius

Chapter 27 The Ritual

Chapter 27
The Ritual

    “Whoa, this place is insane!” Ian commented looking around in awe as Derek and Vanessa explained everything to him about this world and Aria. “And Aria was actually born here?”

    “Yep, she sure was,” Derek confirmed. “In this world she’s a princess.”

    “Why doesn’t she live here all the time?” Ian wondered. “Heck, I would. It feels so incredible.”

    “Yeah, the atmosphere does kind of have that mystical feel,” Vanessa agreed, as they began to walk. She then looked over at Derek unable to resist adding, “Just think, if Aria had said yes, you two could be living here right now.”

    Derek smacked his hand against his head.  “Why did Aria have to tell you about that?”

    “We’re best friends,” Vanessa pointed out with a smirk. “We tell each other everything.”

    “You two just made up this afternoon. How did that topic even come up?”

    Vanessa just shrugged.

    “Wait, I didn’t hear about this,” Ian chimed in, giving Vanessa a puzzled look. “What did Derek ask Aria, to move here?”

    Vanessa grinned as she nodded. “That and her hand in marriage.”

    Ian then turned to Derek, bewildered. “Dude, you actually asked her to marry you? What did she even say to that?”

    Derek sighed. “Well, she did kind of freak out about it.”

    “Well, yeah, you are in high school,” Ian reminded him “Anyone our age would flip out over that. Why did you do it in the first place?”

    Derek, still looking straight ahead to the path, answered, “I wanted to protect her. I knew if we were here she’d be safe. You understand, don’t you? I mean, if you knew marrying Kendal and bringing her here would ensure her safety, you would do it, right?”

    Ian nodded, uttering softly, “Yeah, I guess I see your point.”

    “Oh my God, you are both insane,” Vanessa muttered, as she noticed something in the woods. “Hey, are those horses?”

    Derek and Ian turned their heads to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, three mares, two black with one white, strolled along the forest, appearing to move gracefully towards where Derek, Ian, and Vanessa stood on the path.

    “Do you think we can ride them to Evalius?” Derek suggested with uncertainty.

    “It would be a lot faster than walking,” Vanessa agreed, feeling slight awe by the mares’ presence.

    Ian, however, seemed even more apprehensive than Derek. “Doesn’t it seem a little too convenient that these horses just happened to show up as we needed them?”

    “Well, we are still in the good part of this world,” Vanessa explained to him. “Everything comes more easily for us here. I think we should take advantage of it while we still can.”

    Seeing her point, both Derek and Ian shrugged in agreement and the three of them mounted the horses and made their way to the dreaded kingdom. While following the signs, they noticed the dramatic change in scenery around them. There seemed to be less and less enchantingly green grass as they rode into the dried up, cracked lands.

    Vanessa looked over and noticed both Derek and Ian’s expression grew more and more worried, and she then felt the dark dreary feeling take over her as well. Unlike Galatia, these lands had more of and eerie and depressing feeling to them. Vanessa recalled she felt more cheerful than this when she was held hostage in Myrtle’s tower.