Two Worlds (Written by a 10-year-old author, 62,000 words, 72 chapters)

Chapter 33: A look into a prison

The tunnel opened into a small cave. There was barely enough room for Lily to stand. She got to her feet. Welcome, Theresa said. "I'm alone in this stupid cave," Lily said, "so why don't you show yourself?" The voice hissed. Take a look at my prison, and you shall see. "Prison?" Lily asked. She stumbled backward as images flooded into her mind.

A majestic castle towered over Lily's head. The light inside was very faint, so she could only see the bars over the giant windows and door. Lily glanced to her right and saw a figure sitting on a throne, no doubt Theresa. The queen of the dwarves said, "You see? Here is my prison. I am trapped. Slowly I make my way out of this place. And then I will find the person who imprisoned me." "What do you mean?" Lily asked. A small cloud of gray magic made its way to the barred door, coming from Theresa's faintly lit fingers. The glowing fog smashed into the bars curling around them, and the metal began to corrode and bend. The mist retracted and the bars mended themselves. Theresa growled in frustration. "This place seems pretty comfy, huh?" Lily asked. "Why don't you just stay here?" "Oh, I could. But fifty years in a prison gets boring."

"Why don't you turn the lights on?" Lily suggested. "Then we can have a proper conversation." "Oh, no, Lily," Theresa purred, "I won't have you seeing me until you are here for real." "Then how about you tell me why you want to destroy the elves so badly?" Lily said. Theresa laughed. "Isn't it obvious? The elves have been the dwarves' enemy for thousands of years, ruling most of the land and setting up limited laws. Their peace treaty didn't change anything. I want to stop them once and for all and allow the dwarves to rule the universe for eternity. They should know what it is like to lose, to be barred out." "Sounds like a good plan," Lily agreed. "Except for the fact that I do not like the dwarves."

Those cold eyes turned to look at her again. "I always love my plans for universal domination. But I need you, my dear, to help make this work. Without you, the elves will have no hope. Already I have convinced them to capture you for me. Ha! Those people will do anything to save their stupid city." The queen struck at the door's metal bars again, hitting them with so much force that they nearly snapped in two. Lily faintly saw Theresa reclining in her chair. "Yes," Theresa murmured. "Soon I will be free." She waved her hand at Lily. "Be gone."

Lily opened her eyes. She was no longer standing in the giant castle. The tiny cave was in its place. Lily crawled back through the tunnel.

Stacy helped her out of the tunnel. "How long did I go?" Lily asked. "About twenty to twenty-five minutes," Stacy replied. The metal vines covering the ledge slid back. Lily must've looked bad because Tara glanced back at her. "What happened, Lily? You look weird." "I'm fine," Lily said. "Are you sure?" Stacy asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," she insisted. No one asked her any more questions as Lily went out of the ledge.

***

The battle below them was worse than ever. Stacy stared at the colossal mayhem that had built over the last thirty minutes. How will we ever stop this? She thought. Lily drew her sword and dagger. She still seemed distracted. Stacy decided it was best not to disturb Lily while she was thinking. Tara sprinted down the hill and charged straight into battle. Lily tossed a grenade into the air and used the flat side of her sword to smack it down into the dwarf crowd.

The elves seemed to be having trouble fighting, halfway to follow Theresa's words, halfway to smacking the enemy. "Their general is not here," Jake realized. "He has either fled the battle or is unable to fight." "Then who's the next best general?" Lily asked. "How am I supposed to know?" he demanded. He went to the top of the hill and gazed down at the chaos below. Raising his sword, he yelled, "Listen up, people! Go and GAH!" A shield sailed up and hit him in the face, and Jake went down. Stacy groaned in exasperation and kicked a dwarf into his own brethren, knocking down six more of the little people (or maybe a more scientific term would be vertically challenged). Dwarves fell down about every five minutes, and they didn't get up, probably because they were in danger of being trampled by the other million bloodthirsty dwarves running down the hill. So if I were you, I wouldn't technically call it a success.

To make matters worse, someone screamed, "There she is!" and the crowd of elves who had listened to Theresa's words surrounded Lily. "Beware!" Lily yelled. "Take one step forward and you will be forced to fight the dwarves. There's no going back." "Listen to them," Stacy chimed in, "and don't fight Lily, fight the dwarves!" "What in the world are you people doing?" Jake shouted as several elves lobbed grenades up at him. He batted them away with his sword and they exploded in a massive shockwave, sending him flying backward.

Lily took one glance up at the hill, momentarily distracted. The crowd of elves took their chance and surged forward. Tara leaped toward them and began to knock out the first few people. Lily tossed a grenade over their heads and pulled Tara out of the way as it exploded in the middle of the crowd. Elves on the sides were suddenly shoved forward as others crashed into them. Stacy ran around, calling into the crowd, "Your armor is loose! That one called you stupid! Look out, there's an armed dwarf behind you!" causing confusion as elves turned around or started arguing with others.

Tara shouted, "Comeon!" Jake ran down the hill followed Lily and Stacy to where Tara was standing."What's the plan?" Lily asked. "There's a conference room where we can actuallymake a plan," Tara offered. Stacysaid, "You three go. I'll try to stop the others from reaching you." She dodgeda jumping dwarf and disappeared into the angry mob of elves.