Jim cackled as he exited the dentists office, "finally I have it!"
"What took you so long?" I asked, still seated on his vespa.
"I may have messed around with Strickler a bit." He strode over to me.
"Well whatever else you need to do, we have T minus 9 minutes." I crossed my arms.
"That should be enough time to decide whether I give Angor his soul back..." He hesitated.
"Or wear the ring and control him?" I finished his sentence.
He scanned the stone ring that rested in the palm of his hand. He didn't even have to say anything for me to know what he was thinking.
"I don't think that's a good idea."
Ignoring me, he slipped the ring on his finger and his face went blank.
"Jim?" I waved a hand in front of him.
He suddenly removed the ring with a deep gasp before looking at me a bit panicked.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I-i-i saw the killstone!"
"The killstone?"
"Yeah! And we can get it back! It's with Angor Rot!" He shoved the ring into my hands and climbed back onto his vespa.
"Where is he?" I held onto him.
He started up his scooter and we made our way through the city once again.
"He's in the sewers, I just need to find an entrance where I can bring my scooter in."
"I know a place! It's by my house!"
"And it's not that far! Nice call Phoenix!"
"Speaking of which, can we stop there? If this means going against Angor Rot again, I need my sword." A feeling of guilt came with the question.
"Of course! As long as you're quick!"
He sped up and dodged cars down the roads as we passed them. The knowledge of everyone frozen in place except three people started to fill my mind again. Looking around, it was like we were going at super speed and everyone was just moving really slow.
The fact Blinky specifically said only one person could be outside of time doesn't make any sense. Why only Douxie and I out of anyone else to unknowingly break the rules?
With four minutes remaining, we reached my house. I ran inside as fast as I could without hurting myself and grabbed my sword that leaned against the desk inside my room. I was back outside in a flash and slipped the sheathed blade through a loop in my jeans.
Jim continued down the road without hesitation. The closer we got to the sewers, the higher my anxiety rose. I reached down to rest my hand on stitch as I held onto Jim with my other. I was sure he could feel my heart beating faster and faster.
He drove the vespa down a small hill and into an opening of a dried out sewer. The smell outside of it was bad enough that I didn't dare imagine how dreadful it smelled farther down the tunnel. Jim made no hesitation entering it, his mind was set and there was no going back.
I knew how important this killstone was to him. It was a key to unlocking a new power in his armor and he's only managed to find a few so far. We found this one previously but ended up loosing it to Angor Rot during a battle with a Floridian troll.
With all the turns he was making I was worried we'd get lost, but he seemed to know where he was going.
"How much time do we have left?"
I pulled out my phone and checked the stopwatch, "T minus 2 minutes."
He sighed and revved the engine to speed up. We had just turned down the tunnel when i spotted Angor Rot. I felt Jim tense up and could tell he was more terrified than he led on.
He slowed the vespa to a stop in front of the 7 foot troll and put the break on. He sat on a pile of rocks, holding the stone in his hand like a classic fairytale villain.
"Can I do it?" I hesitantly asked.
"Be my guest." Jim tried to keep his voice steady.
We both stood up from the scooter and stepped towards the troll. My heart raced as I stood in front of Angor. I looked at his every detail and slowly reached for the gem in his hand.
With the amount of anxiety I had, I couldn't think of why I would offer to grab the damn killstone myself. 'He's not going to move... He's not going to move...' I repeated to myself. My hand was practically hovering over the gem, but my eyes were locked onto Angor's eyes.
He was frozen, but a small part of me was worried he could see me and was just waiting for me to grab the gem. Letting out the air I was holding in I quickly retreated back to Jim.
"Okay I can't do it, I can't do it!" I panicked.
"Alright then..." He stepped towards the troll feeling uneasy. "Okay okay..." He cleared his throat. He waved his hand in front of Angor's eyes while still whispering the same word to himself repeatedly. With a bit of force he wedged the gem out of his fingers and headed back to me.
Keeping my eyes on Angor, Jim climbed back onto his vespa and started it up again.
"Phoenix, come on."
Before I could turn away from the troll, his eyes slowly moved upwards in our direction and Jim let out a soft gasp as a water droplet hit the scooters light.
The sound of both our timers alerted us into fight or flight mode as we looked at our phones. Angor's growl was suddenly heard all throughout the sewer tunnels as I briefly covered my ears.
Jim let out a scream as Angor stepped in front of us.
"Jim!"
"Gimme the ring! Gimme the ring!"
I fumbled to hand him the ring in a panic. Before I could even hand it to him, Angor Rot fired an energy of dark shadow magic at us, sending Jim and I tumbling backwards.
"Ow! Holy hell!" I yelped as I rolled off my swords handle. I looked back up to see Angor swiftly making his way towards us and Jim let out another scream.
"You dare try to control me?" The trolls raspy voice roared.
"For the glory of Merlin, daylight is mine to command!" Jim's armor appeared around him and lit up the entire tunnel in blue light as he and I both stood back up.
Raising his hand, he forgot once again that daylight was no longer his to command and Angor summoned the sword into his own hands.
"Give me the ring!"
"Okay okay! We can just put the sword down and we-" Jim tosses me out of the way as Angor started to swing the blade in every direction towards us.
"Did you just try reasoning with him!?" Jim asked as we both fumbled back and forth, trying to grab the ring while trying to avoid Angor's attacks.
"It's a habit!"
"A habit of what!? Getting yourself killed!?" Jim landed stomach first onto the ground and reached for the ring, Angor raised the sword and charged right at Jim.
Jim rolled out of the way, and Angor broke open the ring that held his soul. A desaturated, wispy yellow orb flew out of the ring. I pulled Jim off the ground while trying to quietly get us back to his vespa.
Picking up his vespa, Jim and I sit back on it as he struggles to start it up. After being tossed aside with magic, I was sure it wouldn't start.
"I'll kill you!" Angor's voice rang out and the scooter started, allowing us to make our escape. As if with no energy, Angor quickly caught up to us.
Turning myself around in the seat, I stood up and pulled out my sword.
"What on earth are you doing!?"
"Don't worry about it, just keep driving!" Angor would frequently lunge towards us and miss his hits. Occasionally I would block them before struggling to catch my balance again. Fighting on a moving vespa going at least 80 mph was not the easiest thing to do.
Jim turned abruptly as Angor threw the sword past my face and into a sewer wall behind us, causing me to nearly fall off the scooter.
"Jim Lake Jr!" I snapped at him.
"I'm sorry but I'm trying to get us out of here! It was your idea to stand up!"
"Fine!" I sheathed my sword and sat back down. "Jim!" A gasp escaped my mouth as the scooter rolled out from under us, sending us head first into the ground.
Sitting back up, I saw a crack through the lens of my glasses and my sword had been tossed near the sewer exit. Hoisting me up by the arm, Jim and I struggled to get over to the bars.
"Get out, now! Now!" He rushed me.
Picking up my sword, I barely managed to squeeze through the bars before stumbling onto my knees. Jim had forgotten his armor was still on in a rush to get through as Angor's glowing figure appeared behind him.
"Jim your armor!"
He gasped once he saw Angor and immediately removed his armor. I pulled him through the bars, knocking us onto our butts right as Angor charged at him.
Angor Yelled and reached through the bars as Jim and I fumbled to stand up and leave the dangerous place. Out of Angor's sight, we sighed in relief as we could finally catch our breath.
"Do you still have it?" I spoke while breathing heavily.
"Yep!" He sighed. "Oh man, that was terrifying!" He looked around and spotted a ladder leading up above ground. "Now, let's get back to the sun."
He twisted open the manhole cover above his head and climbed up before pulling me out. It was nice to get back to normal and see people moving again. Sighing, I kicked the manhole cover closed and hugged Jim goodbye.
Despite saying goodbye, I was prepared for him to call me later about everything that had happened.
~~*~~*~~
"Phoenix!? What- where have you been?" Asked Krel.
"I uh... Had to do something." I said between heavy breaths.
I just ran for, I don't know how long, searching for Aja and Krel. I was hurting everywhere and felt like my legs were about to give out from underneath me.
"What happened? You were gone suddenly and Krel tripped over your skateboard and- what happened to your glasses?"
"Oh... Right, sorry Krel." I hunched over, leaning on my knees to try and calm down. "Just gimme a second, I'm dying."
"What?!"
"No! Don't die! We'll-"
"No not literally! It's a figure of speech!" I sighed before standing up straight.
"Really? Why would you make a figure of spech about dying? It's a horrible thing." Aja stated.
"I'll explain what I can, just, maybe not so much in the open." I glanced around. "As for my glasses, I fell and they broke... I need new ones."
"It doesn't matter when you tell us, what matters is I take care of that." Krel pointed to my foot that just so happened to be lifted off the ground.
I looked down and remembered how my ankle had started hurting not even half way into searching.
"Why were you running to find us anyway?" Aja tilted her head.
"I wanted to make sure I got back to you guys before you noticed I was gone... I guess that didn't really work out as I hoped." I was surprised to hear them both giggling at my doltish statement.
"But, before you say anything, I am making you another brace!" Krel gently placed my skateboard onto the ground. "Now, my princess, we shall roll you home. Hop on."
"Princess? Where is that coming from little brother?"
Krel immediately realized what he had said and blush covered his face.
"It- it's nothing. I just mixed up her name! That's all." He crossed his arms with a nervous laugh.
I became flustered almost just as much as he was and I failed trying to hide it. Aja was clearly getting suspicious of us if she wasn't already...but it's not like we were hiding anything, we're not dating!
"So "princess", hop on already so we can take you home!" Aja teased. Krel and I both knew she would never let that go. I stepped onto my skateboard and held both of their hands as they started rolling me down the sidewalk.
I quickly changed the subject in my mind and turned my attention down to the ground. It felt weird having them roll me down the sidewalk, and yet Douxie had done this to me as well.
I watched the cement pass under me and my mind trailed into deep thought. 'They really are amazing friends. They deserve to know what happens in this town, but it's not my secret to tell.' I couldn't place where these sudden thoughts came from, but then again, that was just me.
I looked up at Krel, he looked content and had a small smile on his face. Turning my attention to Aja, she seemed as happy as could be with the brightest expression. Seeing them both like this put me in a state of cheerfulness but also relaxation. The familiar feeling I've only felt a few times now. It was a marvelous feeling and I never wanted it to end.
Then my mind wandered to a different thought.
"How come you two trust me so much?" I broke the silence.
They both looked at me confused.
"What do you mean? Aja raised a brow.
"You both trusted me from day one. It's only been a few weeks and I already know your secret, why is that?"
"I guess we were just lucky,
"Vex always told us not to trust anyone because of the bounty hunters after us. But you seemed different, like-"
"Like there was some sort of light around you that told us we could trust you!" Aja interrupted krel.
"Yes, exactly like that. I mean, it's still pretty crazy to me considering..." I looked at him suspiciously. "... considering we've already decided to show you our true forms." He chuckled nervously.
I smiled and focused my vision to the crack in my glasses. I haven't broken a pair of glasses in three years now so I was surprised to say the least when these ones broke. I knew to expect my aunt to be worried about me considering this.
The last time I broke my glasses I had run into a wall and gotten a bloody nose. It was certainly an interesting day when it happened.
I looked at the two again, thinking about how I was taller than them now. It was a funny thought and I got a smile out of it. It was nice to be in their company though.
2507 words
It's a bit short and this one took a bit longer than usual bc I've been a bit busy
But I hope you enjoy and look forward to seeing the next chapter!