A Mysterious Arrow

Chapter Six: The Man in Mystery

    Cora stared at the arrow in shock. Was it the same one, or something completely different? "Cora?" Vulcannus called out. A wave of relief fell over him when he saw her unharmed. "Good lord, you can't just wander off like that," Tears fell from Cora's eyes like a sudden thunderstorm in the countryside. Vulcannus almost immediately kneeled to her level. "I wanna go home..." she whimpered. "Galleous promised." Vulcannus didn't know what to say. "I- I'll have Abbigail take you home," and that's exactly what he did. Abbigail flew Cora back to Galleous' and as soon as he opened the door, Cora was quick to embrace him. "What happened?" Galleous asked with extreme concern in his voice. Abbigail shrugged. "She was just begging to go home," Galleous thanked Abbigail before bringing her inside. "What is it? What's wrong?" Cora shoved herself away from him and crossed her arms in frustration. Galleous furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you- are you upset with me?" Cora didn't respond, but the look on her face let Galleous know she was. "What have I done?"
    "Left me!" Cora exclaimed, tears started to fall once more. "And you promised you wouldn't!" Galleous watched as Cora vented about her fear and her dreams. Without an ounce of hesitation, Galleous pulled the poor girl in for a hug. "I'm sorry," he whispered, trying his best not to cry with her. When they pulled away, Galleous looked down, hiding his sadness. "Why don't you go to bed, yeah?" Cora nodded. When she got to her room, she sighed. "Everything's going to be okay, Misha," She reassured her stuffed pig. He was probably 180 years of age, but Cora loved how he would always smell like old maps and burnt ink. "He promised."

When the night took over her, Cora woke up in a room she had never seen before yet had a sense of familiarity. When she turned the corner she saw a Sendarian man with aristocratic clothing that looked similar to Galleous with his feet kicked in a table. "There you are!" he said. Cora furrowed her eyebrows. "Who are you?" The man seemed shocked that Cora had no idea who he was. "C'mon, Thalleous Sendaris, Prince of Sendaria, Famous Voltarian Hunter. You've really never heard of me?" Cora shook her head taking a step back. "Even the pig knows, isn't that right?" Thalleous pointed to Misha before she heard him oink, but when she turned to the pig on her shoulder he was as stiff as usual. Cora turned back to Thalleous. "You're the man from my last dream aren't you?" she asked, starting to get upset. "What? No. That man is someone you should worry about, I am going to stop if you run some errands for me,"
"Who is he?"
"None of your business,"
"If he's someone I should worry about shouldn't I at least know his name?" Thalleous rolled his eyes. "If you keep being smart to me, I'm not gonna help you at all," Cora rolled her eyes. "That's what I thought." with a snap of his fingers, Cora woke up.

She sat up in her bed confused as ever, when she turned to her left, she saw a note that wasn't there before. It was from Thalleous. "There's a cave in the snowy forests near the east side of Ataraxia. Try to find a way there." It wrote. Just then, Galleous called out to her. "Cora, get ready for school!" Cora slumped down on her bed. Thalleous was a madman, and if it was up to Galleous, the note would be burned. But it wasn't up to him, was it? When Cora finished getting dressed and grabbed Misha and her bag, she rushed out of the house without a word. Luckily, her school was far away enough that it wouldn't be suspicious if she was walking.

Thalleous was right. Surprisingly, different parts of Ataraxia had different types of weather all the time, the East side of Ataraxia always snowed and didn't have cities or neighborhoods or even villages there, it was a cold, dark, forest, so much that Cora ended up taking off her School jacket and putting on her sweater. When she walked a particularly long distance, she heard a voice behind her. "Oh, you actually came," Cora screamed and turned around. "Jeez, calm yourself." Cora shook her shock off her shoulders. "You want me to go in there?" Cora turned away from him, looking into what she classified as a pit of darkness that couldn't tamed by her own powers. "Yeah,"
"What if I die?" She asked turning back to the Sendarian with strands of hair in her face. "Then I'll throw you a really nice funeral," he said sarcastically, patting her on the back. Cora rolled her eyes.  "What am I even looking for?"
   "You'll know it when you see it." Cora scoffed, annoyed that she didn't get any details, but followed his directions anyway. Her heart raced as she stepped into the cold dark area. She could barely see where she was going, but when she took another step a blue glow was seen under her feet. She looked down in confusion as she took more steps and the blue glow moved with her. "Cool," she whispered to herself. When she looked up, she saw a clearer view of the cave. It was cold, wet, and dark with jagged pieces of stone and moss in random places. What could be so special in a place like that? Suddenly, Cora heard a low growl come from the back of the vast cave. when she took a few steps closer, she saw a sunburnt orange dragon-type creature approaching her. "That's Renald!" Thalleous yelled from outside the cave. "He's very friendly!" right as he let her have false hope, Renald started to chase after her. "He has something that is obviously mine!"
    "Where is it!?" Cora yelled back as she dodged Renald's fiery attacks. "That's the thing...it's um...up his anus," Cora cringed in disgust. "What!?" suddenly, Renald hit the ground, and stones from the ceiling of the cave fell on top of her chest. A wave of fear pierced her throat, but she was too suffocated to cry. Thousands of thoughts crossed her mind and her chest heaved, begging for air. Just then, her usually chocolate eyes turned an ocean blue and she could suddenly push every rock off of her with great force. the rocks flew toward the dragon, crushing him and covering Cora in his blood. Cora, shocked and confused walked toward the dragon's corpse. A small yet long chained silver locket by the dragon's tail.

    Cora walked out of the cave shivering and very upset due to the errand that she had set on, but as soon as Thalleous saw the locket, and sighed with a smile on his face. "Yes," he breathed, opening the locket. "Who is it?" Cora tried to stand on her toes to see, but Thalleous being over 3 feet taller than her, didn't make a difference. "My mummy," he said, his smile getting wider before kneeling down to Cora's level. "This was three months before she died." Cora looked at the photo and saw a beautiful Sendarian woman with a shining blue dress and a royal crown. "She's so pretty."
    "She was." Thalleous smile dropped. "Well, thank you," he said before he started to walk away. "Wait! You can't just leave me here! You said you would stop the man in my dream." Thalleous didn't turn to look at her. "I will."
    "And I don't know my way back home," Thalleous rolled his eyes. "Fine."

Happy that Galleous wasn't home, Cora kicked off her shoes to avoid the blood stains being recognizable on the carpets. When she turned to look at Thalleous, she noticed that his expression was distressed and lonely. "Thalleous?" he snapped out of whatever thought he was in and turned toward Cora. "Hm?"
"What?" Thalleous shook his head. "Nothing," he said blankly before rushing away. Cora shrugged to herself before washing herself and getting into day clothes all before Galleous returned. "Cora?" he called. "You're not usually home before me," he said. Cora shrugged, knowing if she opened her mouth she would lie horribly. "It's 12:45," Cora smiled awkwardly. "Oh," she said. "Did you go to school today?" Galleous asked, skeptical. Cora slightly nodded. "Yes?" Galleous and raised an eyebrow. "Keep lying and I'll put Misha through the washer."
    "I went on a mission," Cora admitted quickly. "A mission?"
"With Thalleous," hearing that name made Galleous' entire world stop. Thalleous? He's supposed to be dead. And even if he wasn't, what the hell was he doing with his daughter? Almost instantly. Galleous snapped out of his thoughts. "Where is he?" he asked in the most serious tone, Cora had ever heard him in. "He left. And- and can you believe he had me rip an important memory of his mom out of a dragon!"
"If he calls for you again, tell me."
"Why?"
"Because he's my brother."