The Magical Islands Of Da

17. The Harsh Reality

Cole slowly woke up with a headache, feeling groggy from what he experienced. He sat up in his bed and felt his neck, it seemed perfectly fine with nothing that bugged him. As he looked around, he was shocked to see his room. He jumped out of bed and felt the floor, he looked over at his drawers. He opened them and rummaged through them, all his clothes were there. He looked over at the telescope in his room, eventually looking through the glass and up at the starry night. 

There was a warm feeling that brewed while looking at the stars, everything from just how the sky looked to the different patterns in the sky. Even seeing the big dipper, everything felt warm except for his hands. He stopped looking at the stars and looked at his desk. The field trip permission slip was on his desk. The signature was on there with the smell of the ink being fresh. 

He looked behind at his door, he slowly opened the door and peeked out. He rushed to Jessie's room and tapped on her door repeatedly, eventually she opened the door, "Cole what do you want? It's late at night! Let me go to bed, you should go to bed too!"

"Jessie please, I'm having nightmares and...I don't want to be alone in the dark tonight...please? It will ehm...well only be tonight and then I'll be back in my room. Please, I won't stay up or wake you up." Cole responded. She sighed before motioning Cole to come in, inside her room was warm compared to his, there was a bean bag in her room that she sat on, putting a blanket over herself. "Jess I can go on the beanbag, plus it would make sense. I can fit in there since I'm well you know..."

They switched positions with Cole wrapping himself with a blanket on the beanbag while Jessie went on her bed, Cole slowly closed his eyes again, "You really thought you were back home huh? Just a sad dream? No, welcome to reality again!" Cole opened his eyes and stood up, he wasn't in Jessie's room. 

Instead, he was in another jail cell, with mice and skulls on the floor. There was no bed like in his previous jail cell, in front of him was Jessica wearing what seemed to be pajamas. Cole ran up to her but hit something hard, he fell back on the ground. He shook it off and slowly got up and reached in front, feeling a little woozy. He was giggled at while being watched, "Oh I see, it's a mirror, you really do have me trapped in here. Great, that's just great." She showed him a little device that blinked, sort of similar to the one Elijah had described to him earlier. 

"You did. No wonder The Sinful was able to find me...no wonder Hadeon was still able to find me, Jessica...why? Why are you with him? How could you possibly work for a guy like him? I can't believe you would do this."

"Well you probably will cause, he's my dad. That's all I really need to say, I'm sure you can put those two things together and understand why. Cole I'm sorry I did this to you, I had no choice. I'm very impressed and inspired by your bravery and ability to put others over yourself, but look where it got you. I see what you've done but...as they say, family always comes first over others. For me it does. Right now, you're not a part of the family."

"Really now? Then tell me this. How would you feel? Just...how would you feel if you were truly away from him, without him there to protect you, without him being over your shoulder and watching everything? With that safety net or protection you always have, to me, it looks like you take it for granted..." There was a pause before the glass wall changed, Jessica could not be seen any longer, just an old putrid wall. 

Cole kicked the wall before looking down, he was no longer wearing the glistening golden vest, just his own attire. Tears started to build up in his throat, Cole took a deep breath and looked out the window in his cell, the sky outside was purplish black with rain coming down. A loud thud could be heard behind him, he turned to feel light beaming off him. It was Jessica with two guards by her side, the guards had the heads of wolves but the body of a human, with their gear being over plated and shining, they were holding spears. 

"Cole, just follow me, we have some things to discuss with my dad...whether you want to or not. Oh, one more thing...you'll need to wear these." Once again Cole's hands were tied up like in cuffs, he gruffed and rolled his eyes as he followed Jessica out of the cell. His hands were behind his back, the walls were stone bricks like a medieval castle, rooms were lit with torches that hung against the walls and by ceiling lights which were lit by candles. 

Eventually he was led into a room which had what seemed like twenty guards in the room with The Mysterious Man sitting on a throne that wasn't fancy, just made of wood. "Ah, finally you brought him, I told you to bring me to him ten minutes ago, but you...gah, sweetie...you're grounded after this for the next three hours."

"Grounded? And for three hours? That's too long, dad I'm sorry. Just please, it was an accident...plus I was just...trying to make sure that he was well, okay. He's been through it, I feel bad for him, I feel like we shouldn't put him in a guest room like that!" She looked over at Cole for a split second before looking back at her father, the Mysterious Man's eyes panned between the two.

"Sweetie, that's not for you to decide, that is my call. This is still my castle, I run things here, not you. Plus let's not argue in front of our guest here, we wouldn't want to give him a worse impression than we already have. You're under my watch, do you understand sweetie?"

She slowly nodded and looked down at the ground slightly, looking at the ground while also looking at her father. Cole would pan his gaze between the two before he shifted his focus to the man on the throne, there was an uncomfortable silence in the room as some of the guards would look among each other, some would whisper faintly. 

"Cole I apologize for our sudden argument, look usually someone like you...I would plan a public execution for but...you are a special kind of problem, that doesn't have a simple solution. Look at the end of the day, you made me go through hell to get you, and you caused me a bunch of trouble with other rival kingdoms and tribes, but at the end of the day, you have rewarded me with this." He took out a box with a lock on it, the lock had a purple glow to it, giving off some odd mind hurting energy.

"Can I please just go home sir? You promised me if I gave you the vest then you would take me home, plus I don't think the vest is what you really wanted...you don't want to keep the vest to take over others." The man on the throne laughed and looked over at Cole in a confused manner, "Okay then kid genius, tell me what I really want."

Cole looked at him for a few seconds without saying anything before he looked at Jessica once again, "You want her to be safe. Knowing your reputation, you know she's a target to others. So, to be by her side, you want to wear it to protect her...because you don't want to lose her, am I ehm...right? Seth?" Jessica looked at her father and felt her chest beat in pain a little, Seth gasped and didn't say any word for a few moments, "You're...really smart for your age, yeah that's why. And how did you even know my name?" 

Cole pulled out the picture of Seth when he was younger with a younger Solamon and others in the picture, he threw the picture on the ground in front of Seth. He looked at it for a few seconds before looking back at Cole.

"Okay look, you saved my daughter...in that arena, I don't know what Solamon was thinking, I'll give him a piece of my mind later. But we both will always be grateful that you protected her, from both Solamon and that idiot kid, ehm what's his name...Hadeon. But I can't let someone like you know my name, I can't actually take you home. I can give you a dream or vision like you experienced earlier...but I can't actually bring you home. I'm sorry kid. Guards put him out of his misery." 

Seth looked away, Jessica screamed and begged them not to hurt Cole. They started to approach Cole until Cole's restraints went on the ground, they stopped and slowly backed away from him. "What are you idiots doing? Just put him down! Don't make me put him down!"

Cole held his hand out to everyone, he was wearing The Ring Of Light, Seth stood up and took out his staff. He stood up off his throne, Cole pointed his index finger at him. The two stared at each other through the harsh reality. ***

Hey everyone, I hope ya'll enjoyed chapter 17, a little bit shorter than the previous chapters, very happy with how this turned out and looking forward to the final chapter which be Chapter 18, I'll see ya'll for the final ride in this story. 

If you liked this chapter, feel free to give it a vote as it helps tremendously. Thank you.