Broken hero

Chapter 40

 "Something wrong?" Anna tilts her head as she sees Eclipse scowling.

"Not really." Eclipse sighs as she runs a hand through her hair. "Dad told me they're setting up a ... ball of sorts. He wants to announce his timeline for retirement as well as reintroduce me to the nobles back home."

"That sounds like fun." Anna giggled, "Though I understand the look now."

"Glad you'll think it'll be fun." Eclipse smirks as she leans down to her eye level "cause you're going with me."

Anna gives a little squeak in surprise. "Wait, seriously?! But... I don't..."

"You'll be fine. It's just a party and I'll be with you the whole time." Eclipse kisses her forehead. "I'm going to make sure Warfalcon knows we'll be gone for a few days. We'll leave tomorrow if that's ok."

Anna nods, "Ok I'll go pack. Should I bring anything specific?"

"Casual clothes, pajamas, any overnight stuff, and a dress for the party. Anything else can be gotten there. Unless you want to pack some stuff to keep yourself occupied." Eclipse smiles as Anna jogs towards their room while she heads to the office.

The next day, Eclipse parks the car and gently shakes Anna awake. "Hey, we're here."

Anna stretches as she gets out. The building in front of them looked like a normal office building, but inside was like an airport. Eclipse's family waved at her from where they were standing. The two of them made their way over, ignoring the odd looks from the security team around them.

"Hey, you two. Ready to go?" Zala smiles.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Eclipse mumbles but Anna speaks over her.

"I'm so excited to see your home!" She grins from ear to ear.

Her sisters giggle. "Don't worry. It'll just be a short portal ride."

Anna tilts her head. "Portal?"

"They built teleports between all the worlds to make it easier to travel." Eclipse explains.

"Wait seriously?! I always thought you traveled by ship's still. That's so cool!" Anna's eyes sparkle with excitement as she looks at Eclipse. "So will this be like how you teleport places?"

"I mean... I can teleport like this, however what you're thinking of isn't teleporting. I use the shadow realm to move from place to place. It's shorter and, because of my dark affinity, I can move quickly through it, but it's still a physical space. Teleporting moves you physically from one place to another without you having to do a thing because it turns you into light particles. It doesn't hurt and you'll barely notice." Eclipse explained again.

"I see... well if you say it's safe then I'm excited to try." Anna smiles brightly as she turns back to Eclipse's sisters and starts talking about their plans while they walk through the security line.

Her dad pats her on the shoulder sympathetically. "You sure about going this route? We can always..."

"I'll be fine. It's only a few seconds and it's the safer option for Anna." Eclipse gives him a small smile.

She watches as her sisters step through the gate and disappear in the light, growing uneasy as she gets closer. Anna looks back as it gets to her, and Eclipse gives her a reassuring smile. She smiles back before turning and walking into the beam. Eclipse takes a minute to steady her nerves before getting the signal to do the same. She takes a step into the beam, pain immediately radiating through her body as she disappears in the light. Her feet touch the ground and she steps out quickly, sighing with relief as she goes to join the others.

"You, ok?" Zala looks at her with a worried look. "Your face looks like you got sunburnt."

"Yeah, I'm ok." Eclipse feigns a smile.

Anna doesn't buy it though and places a hand on her cheek, pulling it away as she winces. "What happened? I thought it wasn't supposed to harm people."

"It doesn't." Eclipse's dad says as he comes up from behind them. "But Eclipse is biologically tied to darkness remember? Turning shadow into light particles is damaging even if it's changed back."

Eclipse gives him a slight glare as Anna slaps her chest. "Why the hell would you go through something that would hurt you?!"

"Cause it was the safer option for you." Eclipse shrugs. "The burns will go away soon enough but the shadow realm isn't safe for you to travel a long distance like this, not to mention it goes through space and there wouldn't be any oxygen. The only other option would be to find a ship and there's not many that's in shape enough to not be a danger."

Anna frowns, "and you didn't want me going alone?"

"I know things like this scare you and I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Ok." Anna kisses her cheek. "I get it now but promise me you'll go through the shadow real on the way back. I can handle it now that I've been through once."

"That I can do." She takes her hand, and they walk outside to join the rest.

Anna looks around with awe. The sky was a dark purple color instead of earth's vibrant blue. Two suns hung in the sky, neither was very big but one was bigger than the other. Eclipse knew the smaller one was the same from earth since the planet laid on the outskirts of the solar system. The other was a star that was much closer than the earth's sun. The plants stems were a white color instead of green or brown, however their leaves were a brilliant emerald, green color. The grass was a green/blue color, but the dirt underneath them was brown just like om earth.

The town they stood in looked the same as the ones on earth with buildings scattered about, however it had two main differences. The first was the large castle at the edge of town. The second was the people. Everywhere you looked, people stood with bird like wings attached to their back. Eclipse notices Anna's eyes widen as she looks at her family, each with their own pair of wings. Zala had a gorgeous pair of emerald wings that she was stretching above her head. Spire's were a soft white and ruffled in the slight breeze, and Midnight's wings had a galaxy color. Eclipse's mom had a pale green color with shimmers of blue and purple, while her dad's was orange with black tiger stripes.

Anna looks at them in awe and Zala laughs. "Don't tell me Eclipse never showed you her wings before."

Anna jerks her head to look at Eclipse. "You have wings?!"

Eclipse laughs, "I've already told you I do silly. Remember?" She taps her nose as Anna turns red in embarrassment.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. But why don't you have yours out?" Anna tilts her head as her family e changes worried looks.

"Eclipse's wings are... well known. If she brings them out now, then she'll become a target and word will spread. Best to wait until after the introduction is made." Her mom explains.

"Oh, ok." Anna smiles and follows as they follow the guards towards the castle.