Floating Stars

Chapter 40: The Prisoners

Noir-Astra's influence swept amongst all the streets found in Natanstrelle. The four surrounding villages were darkened, as well as Central City itself.

If the four voyagers didn't have Luchinda's insight into the future, they wouldn't have made it past the first hurdle on their journey. They certainly wouldn't have got very far if they didn't have each other, and True was grateful for his team's bravery.

He was especially grateful that Òrum was still willing to help, despite the doubts he expressed within Petra Marbh.

"I don't know how I'm supposed to help convince people to join the Light Defenders, when I couldn't even convince my own wife!" he said at the meeting the night before. 

"Why wouldn't she come?" Malek asked tactlessly and earned a stabbing glare from his older brother.

"She is convinced that our sons will escape the darkness," Òrum explained, ignoring True's silent objection towards his younger brother. "Ridiculous, I know! But she wants to stay at home to greet them. Airgid and I tried to make her see sense, But she is too set in her ways."

"That's Òrelia for you…" Fratair lamented about his cousin, "she hasn't changed at all."

Before leaving that morning, they made sure to protect themselves with their family symbols. They had to move quickly and silently to be able to sneak past the impossible number of stretched dark shadows that surrounded them.

Once they reached the edge of the city, they met the second hurdle of their voyage.

Leaving the forest was one thing, but the wall sectioning off Tuanalis, the Northern neighbouring village, was unrecognisable. Black smoke swept across the once, welcoming white bricks. 

True stopped and silently communicated with his team about their next move. Luchinda gave him strict instructions and he told the others what needed to be done in detail the night before.

Òrum gave True a sharp nod, stood closely behind him. He held his light orb in his left hand and pressed it into True's spine. Fratair did the same behind Òrum and Malek joined the end of the tightly compacted line, pressing his light orb into Fratair's back. Doing this strengthened the family symbols covering them; so that True could safely use his light orb to open an arch in the Noir tainted wall, undetected.

They moved as one through the gap True's light magic made, and once Malek reached the other side of the wall the archway crunched back together. This awakened the shadows that became dormant as the light magic worked through the brick.

The four had to move quickly.

They ran through the village as Noir-Astra's puppets began to panic around them. They dodged past fleeting shadows that threw themselves, unwittingly, into their path. Missing them only by meer millimetres.

They reached Aurora Valley by the skin of their teeth, and they could finally gain their breath. However, they knew they couldn't rest for long, for Luchinda told them that they must always keep moving, even when they felt safe.

So they journeyed on, at a brisk pace, aware of their surroundings at all times. 

It took them just over three hours till they saw the surrounding walls of the Emerald Army. Black, billowing, inky smoke diffused through the air around them.

The team hid amongst the trees of Strelle Forest, to safely assess the situation. 

"We're too late!" Òrum hissed.

"No, no, we can't be…" Malek replied, matching Òrum's hushed tone.

"Luchinda said if we travel fast enough we should get there before Noir-Astra does. But look at it! He has been here, you cannot deny that!" Fury crept into Òrum's
eyes as he contemplated the gaping holes within Luchinda's predictions. "Why didn't she prepare us for this?"