Dream time:
I was sat on top of what seemed like an old cart with Owl and Sunny by my side. I was looking down at Rapunzel and Cassandra. I heard Cassandra sigh and the entire atmosphere felt very uncomfortable. "Raps, I said it's fine." Cassandra said annoyed. "And you keep saying that. But it's okay if you're mad at me. I'm mad at you, too. I told you that I had it under control and you didn't listen. So if you're upset, then please tell me." Rapunzel was pleading at this point to get Cassandra to talk with her.
'I wonder what even happened. It must have been really bad if they're acting like this.' "And I told you I'm not upset! Ow!" Cassandra said hitting her head on a lowered drawer of the cart. A few things fell off the cart and one thing I couldn't really see landed in her hand.
"Please, Cass, I just want things to get better between us. We can't just push this aside and forget it, like it never happened!" Rapunzel said and Cassandra clenched the object in her hand. 'Oh shit! I have to stop her before she does something stupid!' I thought to myself. I jumped off the cart and landed next to Rapunzel. "You know, I wish you would just forget about this whole thing!" She yelled and my eyes widened. The object in her hand started glowing red and I glared at her. "Cassandra, what did you do?!" I yelled right before a blinding white light filled my vision.
I shot up from where I was and I quickly looked around me to see everyone else awake. Varian stared at me wide eyed. "What was that?!" He asked and I stared at him confused. "What do you mean?" He looked at me even more confused than I was. "Did you not feel that huge possibly earthquake?!" He asked and I shook my head no.
"It wasn't an earthquake." Lance said and he pointed towards a large pillar that was knocked down. On top of it we're the two badger like creatures from before. I could hear Adira and someone else fighting from the other side. "It's sad to see the once mighty Adira waste her life on a fools dream!" An unfamiliar voice yelled. "Talk about wasting lives...you and the brothers spent yours hiding something no one was even looking for." Adira yelled back.
"The moon stone has the power to destroy the world. Keeping its existence secret was the kings wish. And to do anything otherwise is treason!" The voice yelled and the only thing that was heard were grunts and metal hitting metal. "I've seen the sun drop's power firsthand, Hector. And so will you when we return to the Dark Kingdom." Adira said softly. "That'll never happen." Adira grunted and I became more worried. "I'm sorry it came to this, sister."
I gritted my teeth and glanced down to Sunny with my wand in his mouth. "I'll be needing that kitty." I said crouching down to him and holding my hand out. He gave me a soft nod and dropped it in my hand. The mysterious voice revealed themself as Hector as he jumped up onto the fallen pillar.
"And now...for the so-called sun drop." Hector said jumping down and making his way towards Rapunzel and Eugene. "Leave her alone." Cassandra said standing tall with her sword in hand ready to fight. "Brave Child. Stupid, but brave." Hector said slowly walking towards Cass. "You want the sun drop? You gotta go through me first." Cass said and I was about to step out and help her, but Varian held onto my arm and kept me by his side.
"'Kay." Hector said while Cassandra was charging at him. He easily dodged her attack and pushed her back. "You wanna try that again? Well, come on." Hector said shoving her back causing her to drop her sword. She struggled to get up and Hector walked over to her. "Tell me lady in waiting." He said before stepping on her outstretched hand. "What are you waiting for?" I tried to get out of Varian's grip, but he held me back and leaned over to my ear. "We have to let her do this. We know that she has a plan." Varian said and I nodded still worried.
"Funny you should ask." Cass said before throwing dirt into his eyes. She grabbed under his foot and shoved him off the edge. The two creatures started charging for Cassandra. "Cassandra!" Rapunzel yelled and Cass dodged them just in time. The creatures fell over the edge along with their master. I quickly ran over and hugged Cassandra before quickly letting her go remembering she doesn't like hugs. "S-sorry! I-I was just w-worried a-and you did it!" I exclaimed extremely happy and proud of her. She let out a soft laugh before pulling me into a soft hug. It didn't last long, but that's alright.
Adira, Cassandra, and Rapunzel were all looking over the edge staring at where Hector fell. My eyes widened as I felt a very uneasy and familiar feeling. "G-guys. W-we gotta go. Now!" I said and everyone turned to me except Rapunzel. There was rumbling and Rapunzel spoke up. "Do you hear that?" "Yeah, in my experience growing rumbles never lead to good things. Especially when (Y/n) says we should leave." Eugene said and the wind started picking up.
I grabbed Varian and Lance's arms trying to pull them away. "Please listen to me! We have to go!" I yelled and Varian held onto my shoulders. "Woah woah calm down. What's wrong?" He asked me softly and the feeling kept getting worse and worse. There was no more calmness only despair, darkness, evil, and more. "It's no longer dormant. It's awake. We have to go." I said pulling him, but stopped when large glowing green vines rose up from the pit. A collection of vines moved away to reveal Hector with a glowing blue spear in hand. He yelled and shook his head in different directions and I held onto Varian scared.
"All who enter the Great Tree of Zhan Tiri shall be destroyed!" Hector yelled and the vines were about to crash down on us. We all ran trying to avoid them. I noticed that more were going after me than anyone else. We ended up back together completely surrounded by the vines.
"The tree! It's alive!" Rapunzel said and Varian butted in. "I really think we should have left when we had the chance." "Do you remember when being chased by a rhino was the weirdest thing we had to do this weekend?" Eugene said before jumping out of the way of a large vine. Varian and I avoided vines and he stopped a couple of them with some of his chemical solutions. Rapunzel helped Cassandra and I was left along with three large ones surrounding me.
I felt something wrap around my ankles but it was too late. I was hoisted up by my ankles causing the back of my head to hit the ground hard dropping my wand in the process. Vines wrapped around my wrists and I was lifted above the ground. "(Y/n)!" I heard Varian yell and vines started wrapping around my torso and around my neck. I watched as Varian ran towards me only get vines wrapped around him. He was hoisted up and struggled in them.
I was able to see everyone except Rapunzel tangled in vines for a split second before vines covered my entire body. Less and less light could be seen and I was trapped in some sort of vine cocoon. My body was released from the vines grasp, and I started banging against the vines trying to get out. I tried ripping them, but every time I managed to damage one the space would get smaller and smaller.
"I...I have to." I said softly to myself rubbing the spot where I hit the floor earlier. I winced slightly at the pain before letting a little bit of orange light surround my fingertips. "My family is out there and I have to do something about it. Death told me to stay safe and I will, but my family comes first." I watched as the little bit of orange flickered red.
The pain in my head became worse and I took a few deep breaths. Instead of flickering to red it was just flickering to nothingness. I've low me I noticed a vine turn black. It trailed through the other vines and the glow started flickering faster than a small flame in the wind. I felt light headed and fell onto the bottom of the cocoon. Piece by piece the vines started to die and break apart.
The vines beneath me shattered and I went falling to the ground. I coughed a few times and glanced up to see Rapunzel with dark black hair wrapped around the vines surrounding Hector. I tried to stand, but my body felt too weak. I watched as Cassandra broke from her vines and grabbed a glowing blue spear. I felt a gloved hand on my cheek and saw Varian staring at me worried. He quickly hoisted me up and wrapped my arm around his shoulder.
"W-wait. We have to help her." I said looking back at Rapunzel and Cassandra. "I got this, Cass. Go!" Rapunzel yelled and Adira held onto Cass's shoulder. "You heard her. Let's go!" "No. I'm not leaving her." Cassandra said before turning to Rapunzel. "Raps, please let go." Cassandra tried to reason with her. "Break these earthly chains...I can't! And set the spirit free." Rapunzel yelled coming back to reality for a split second. "What are you waiting for?" Cass yelled. "I can't control it." Rapunzel said and Cass rushed to Rapunzel's side.
I noticed a tall dark figure with a scythe standing in front of Rapunzel. "Wait Cass!! Don't!!!" I tried to warn her, but it was too late. Cassandra touched Rapunzel's arm and Death touched his scythe to Cassandra's hand. It lit up in a blue flame and Death stared down at the ground not even bothering to look at the result of his scythe. Cassandra screamed in pain. "Cassandra!" Varian and I yelled and Rapunzel's hair turned back to its golden color. "Cass, no!" Rapunzel yelled and Adira mom shoved Varian and I forward. "You two kids need to get out of here! Now!" She yelled to us and we made our way towards the exit as fast as we could.
Eugene and Lance were standing at the ledge across from us. "Come on! Jump! We'll catch you." Eugene said and we both nodded. Varian pushed me ahead first and Eugene easily caught me setting me down. Lance caught Varian and we backed away from the tree. Soon Rapunzel and Cassandra jumped out and onto the ground. The Great Tree fell and became nothing but dead pieces of wood. "W-where's Adira?" I asked softly and Rapunzel pointed down at the large pit.
In the pit, Adira was standing next to Hector. She stared up at us and the creatures pulled Hector away. Adira started walking away and I glanced at Rapunzel. "I-is she no longer joining us for our journey?" Rapunzel only shrugged her shoulders. Cassandra groaned next to us and I remembered what had happened to her arm.
"Oh, Cass. Your hand. Are you okay?" Rapunzel quickly asked. "Yes, I'm fine." Cassandra said, but we all knew she was lying. "Are you sure?" Rapunzel tried asking again. "I said I was fine." "But you're hurt." "I know. But it won't happen again." Cassandra said and Rapunzel didn't say any more and moved away from her giving her space. "C-can Varian or I at least take a look? I can promise I'll be more gentle than Varian." I said softly and she stared at me for a moment and I stared back with wide worried eyes. Cass simply shrugged me off and I nodded. "If you ever want me to take a look at it, let me know."
I got up and stood next to Varian and Rapunzel stared off into the distance where the rocks were heading. "So, what now?" Eugene asked. There was a moment of silence as Rapunzel dusted off a small black rock with her foot. "It's your call, Raps." Cassandra said now covered in armor. She tossed Rapunzel's bag back to her. We all stood next to Cassandra and I held Varian's hand.
"This path has been paid out for me. There is no turning back. I am going to the Dark Kingdom." Rapunzel said and we all walked behind her. Sunny and Ruddiger walked in front of Varian and I and I rested my head on his shoulder. We held hands and one of my arms held onto his. "Are you ready for wherever this trail takes us next?" Varian asked me and I looked up at him. "As long as you're by my side, I'll be ready for anything."