Shadow (Paused and Undergoing MAJOR Editing)

Chapter Twelve

Shadow

Someone taps me on the back. Can't they see that I'm waiting for Stefan? I turn, annoyed, expecting to see Athena or Vapor or someone else. I nearly fall over when I see Stefan. Stefan, smiling his amazing smile, as if he was just on a short trip, and that it was perfectly normal for Wittnor to kidnap him, and that nothing had happened, and that we weren't nearly worlds apart. "Stefan," I breathe. "You're... You're back." I stare at him. "With... my brother? And... a demon?" Oh, no. She's glaring at me with hatred, probably exactly what I'm looking at her with. I try to shrug it off. "I remember now! Tor... Torian!" I exclaim. My memories come rushing back. I don't try to disguise the disgust in my voice when I say, "Who are you?" to the demon.

"Echo. Not that it matters," she snaps. I don't reply. She's right. She doesn't matter.

"Wha- what happened?" I ask Stefan and Tor. They look shaky and terrified. So does Echo.

Stefan explains to me what happened. I can't believe he went through all that. Soon, Durpner, Pustyn, Vapor, Athena, and my companions come. He repeats what he's told me to the rest of them.

"Whoa," Vapor says. "That's... a lot of stuff."

I suddenly notice Stefan's eye, which is scarred.

"You say Jocelyn did this to you?" I growl. He shrugs, even though I'm sure that it still hurts.

"Let's get to Vlamkorlar," he suggests, waving off the topic. We begin to walk. "Oh yeah, Echo, you know those guards at the prison?" she nods. I wonder where this is going. "They acted as if the war was the elves' faults, and the ones who sided with them. Why is that?"

"Because it is," Echo says stoutly. All of us gasp.

"WHAT???" I scream in shock. Stefan and Pustyn are staring at the demon. Durpner whips around to face her.

"That's a lie." He says this monotonically, but his eyes are full of rage. Vapor gasps again at Echo. We face him.

"Never," he says, following the conversation, "Never have I heard something as wrong as that."

Chinglar, in his hypnotic voice, repremends, "How about Echo explains what she thinks she knows?" We all look at her.

"The first attack happened when there was a farming festival. An elf Duskor, under the command of her government, unleashed her full power on the farmers and attenders of the festival. Th-"

Chinglar interrupts her. "I was there!" he says in amazement. I look at him skeptically.

"Really?" I ask. Chinglar looks so shocked, I have to believe him. I dip my head, and Echo beckons for him to take over the story.

"I grew up alone. I had smelled food, and so I just followed the scent," he explains. "They were giving free samples of things. Everyone was chatting, happy, and they let me take food too. It was a mostly demon festival, with some chingles, too. My kind were terribly endangered at the time, because of human hunters."

He pauses. "Also some Vamcorl, too," he adds bitterly, and then resumes, "But the demons offered to help protect us. I was hoping to join my kind and live happily. I had just begun talking with some other chingles when suddenly the sky went dark. A female elf flew up into the sky, and completely destroyed everything with her power. Luckily, there was a young male demon Dawnor in the festival. Duskors and Dawnors, once they get their abilities, are mortal enemies and will try to kill one another. So, the Dawnor and Duskor clashed, until they both were dead. Once everyone realized what had happened, it was chaos. Especially when they attacked," he finishes darkly.

"You can't stop there, Chinglar! Who's they?" Stefan pleads. The chingle ignores the question and stares bitterly at the ground.

"Well, I guess us elves were more responsible than we thought," I conclude. Echo looks surprisingly sorry for us. Maybe she's not as bad as I thought. Our eyes meet, and I silently use my Telepathic abilities to tell her something. I have to accept it. Her hair, which fades from fiery blue to the deepest indigos, sways in the wind. I pull my thoughts away.

"Wait," Chinglar says. "That's... You're not as responsible as you think." he sounds more modest than ever before. I'm about to ask him what he means, but his wolf ears perk up. "Shh," he says. We warily keep walking until we reach a lush green forest. "Keep going," Chinglar whispers. "But carefully." Eventually, our group arrives at a burnt area and stop for the night.