ELEMENT

Chapter Forty-Six: Feathers

The day of the Dark Exile began like any other.

As Cole stumbled in through the portal, he was immediately taken aback by the chaos ensuing around him. Memories of a place he once lived seemed distant, especially since this didn't seem to be right at all.

Robin glided through, still a bird. "I'm going to catch up with Ethan and Sage! Do you need help?"

"Nope!" Cole zapped ahead, teleporting directly away.

"Oh, okay, then, that might have been just a little helpful to know jUST BEFORE NOW!" Robin called ahead, flapping away as the portal buzzed with activity.

Running, running, running ever faster.

Meadow dodged falling debris, shielding herself with magical shields she summoned up without thinking at all.

Not noticing that Sage and Ethan were behind her, she continued to speed forward.

"Meadow!" Ethan yelled, running while holding Sage's hand. They both had strange particles flying from them, losing energy as they went. "Wait!" But the sounds of destruction were too loud for her to hear anything.

And even if the world was silent, Meadow would have tuned it out anyway. Her own thoughts pounded her head, overpowering anything anyone could have said to her.

She'd never been told the whole thing. But she could just simply recount it.

She was there for all of it, wasn't she? Just tell him what will happen.

She's really starting to sound omnipotent now.

"Fuck, she's not listening!" Sage panted desperately, and not noticing how they continued to dust away.

Robin swooped down, stopping Sage and Ethan. "Guys, I—I don't know how much longer I can fly! I'm like a fucking dandelion!"

"No, we can't stop." Ethan exhaled, grabbing Sage's hand again. "Robin, can you fly ahead?"

Robin rose up again. "I might not be fast. But we have to stop her."

Meadow finally got to the gate leading into the palace. Brick and metal decimated the walls surrounding it, but she disregarded.

It still looked like home, after all it had been through.

A crumbling building, somehow still intact, that wasn't modernized yet. But it was home to her.

She remembered being coronated here, the nights her friends spent playing board games.

But now that she has to let all of that go, now that she knows what has to happen to her...

It's hard. Hard to walk right in, and meet her fate one last time.

So she didn't walk in and instead teleported in a puff of smoke. Problem solved.

"No, no, no!" Sage had just caught up to her, when—

"Stop!"

Guards came rushing from all sides, pointing swords and harpoons at the two kids and the bird in front of the palace. They hadn't even gone within thirty feet.

Robin squawked down. "Run!"

Sage and Ethan split up, dashing between the guards. Sage scrambled, dodging two men with swords and grabbing their arms, pulling them away from her as she slid past.

Ethan jumped over one and landed on another, successfully distracting both.

Robin was being watched by a guard with a harpoon gun, and as they zigzagged from side to side, they tried to avoid being hit.