"Sabrina..." I start in a whisper. "I'm scared..." I sound like I'm three years old again. But in a situation like this, who can't be?
The ground shakes beneath us, rustling us from a firm stature to one wobbly, like jello.
"Find your bedrooms!" Skifter yells to us, flying in abruptly. "You'll be safest there!"
I start to make a mad dash through the crumbling of walls and raining of debris everywhere, but unlike me, Sabrina stands confident.
"I wanna help," she says, her eyes glistening.
She's about to cry again, I think to myself. But I shouldn't be thinking this, when more serious matters are on our hands.
Lupo hurries over to Sabrina and me.
"What are you two still doing here? It's too dangerous out on the battlefield. Get to your rooms," he hisses. This is first time I have ever seen Lupo so mad. And urgent.
I nod, tears slowly streaking down my face. I grab Sabrina by the hand, and drag her away from Sateen Klenot and the Circle of Friedania.
"Christi, stop! Stop! Bring me back!" she wails. "Christi!!!!!!!!!"
I hurry her to the portal, where we can either escape to our homes or to the bedrooms we have been given by the Soul Animals.
Sabrina continues to plead me on the way.
"We have to go back, Christi. You don't know what we could do to help!"
"And you don't know what we could do to get ourselves killed!" I revoke, dragging her along.
Sabrina yanks her wrist from my grasp. Her fiery hair falls in waves against her shoulders. Her face is full of emotions. Many emotions.
"Christi, stop worrying about yourself for once. Can't you ever think to save anyone else? Be selfless, Christi! Care for others. Put others before yourself. Don't you understand?" she asks, eyes coating in tears. "Why do you think the Soul Animals came to us? We are important to them, Christi. We are like their life. If we leave them now," she pauses, pointing back at the battle scene, "it's like we are leaving them to die. They are our friends. Like family. And as Kase said: family does not kill family. We are their only hope. We can save them all. But only if we stop being so selfish and stop being so focused on ourselves for one time in our life. That time is now. Only if we choose to bring out the kindness that was hidden from our lives this whole time. We can put up a fight, Christi. There are more better things that leaving your friends and family to die while you choose to spare yourself! So come with me. We can stop this once and for all."
I sigh, thousands of thoughts rushing through my head like wind carrying the leaves on a crisp autumn day.
"You are right, Sabrina. We are their last hope. And I will be there, fighting for those I love."
Sabrina smiles at me, the happiest I have seen her in days.
"Let's go end this battle."
We scramble back out, turning our heels and heading back the way we came. From Klenouzlo. And back to Klenouzlo again.
As I jog alongside Sabrina, I ask, "Who is it we're fighting, exactly?"
Sabrina sighs. "I... I dunno..."
But I can see the look in her eyes. She's lying.
"Tell me," I prompt.
"Fine..." She takes a deep breath. "An army is gathered all around Klenouzlo. Practically everywhere you would find a Soul Animal. They are dressed in highly sophisticated uniforms. They carry weapons, and torches."
"Do they have guns?" I ask quietly.
"No guns," she answers with great seriousness. "But they have spears. And knives."
"Too bad we don't have any more weapons."
"Well, that's not the point though. I recognized their uniforms. Armed or not, their clothing is hard not to distinctly tell who it is."
"Then who is it?" I ask. I wonder why she's hiding all her secrets from me.
"Christi, prepare to fight with your life. Zaroho has come."
✦
"Sabrina, that's not possible. Zaroho can't be here." I shake my head in disbelief. We have almost arrived in Sateen Klenot. The center of the battle.
"He is here, all right. I saw the uniforms, his army, and even Igbo."
"You mean Escur, right? He's fighting on the bad side."
"Oh, no, he was with the Soul Animals. So he has the right to be called Igbo again."
"I guess so..." but I pause.
We have arrived.
✦
"We don't have any weapons, Sabrina," I say worriedly. We're in the middle of Klenouzlo, in jean shorts and run down tennis shoes, and absolutely no weapons.
"Oh, don't worry, Christi. I knew this would come in handy one day." With one snap of her fingers, a silver bow with a sheath of arrows appears in her hands.
"Woah, where'd you get that?" I say in awe.
"Later," she responds. Snapping her fingers one last time, a set of a bow and arrows appears just for me. I string it around my back, then look around for Sabrina.
She is nowhere to be found.
"Well, then, I guess it's time to fight."
I race through the duels of Soul Animal vs. Soldier, hitting a person from the army every few moments.
My arrows never run out.
I string them quickly, not giving up even when my fingers are sore and my arms aching from holding up the bow.
I've already taken out too many of Zaroho's followers to count. And I still cannot find Sabrina.
I look around wildly for her, occasionally calling her name.
"Sabrina!?"
I feel a hand rest on my back.
"Sabrina?" I whisper. Then, a sharp pain extends down my back, causing me to turn around.
"Well, hello, precious." A soldier stands before me. He is large, muscular and very very very intimidating.
"Hi, my name's Christi!" I say cheerfully. Then, I jam my fist into his jaw.
At first, he doesn't react. In fact, he looks like he's about to swallow me whole. Suddenly, there is a distinct twang! sound and the man falls at my feet. I mentally high five myself. That was a pretty nice move I did there.
But in reality, it's Sabrina who took the guy down.
"Need a hand?" she says, helping me up.
"Yeah," I say. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me too soon! We're not dead yet!"
All of a sudden, another soldier starts to approach us. I look for the comfort of Sabrina being near me, but quickly realize I have been left alone to deal with the conflict by myself.
"You will so pay for this," I growl. I string my bow and aim it at the soldier's face. As I let go, the soldier throws her spear at me.
I duck from its path just in time. But so does she.
I restring multiple arrows, as she continues to throw spears at me. I start running. Except backwards. The soldier continues to pursue me. She backs me up all the way against one of the walls in Klenouzlo. And then, my worst nightmare is finally reality.
I have run out of arrows.
✦
"I'm gonna kill you," the soldier says in a rough deep yet feminine like voice.
Even though my heart is internally screaming for mercy, I try to pick up some humor.
"Wow, what a surprise," I say sarcastically.
She glares. "Why don't you shut up you little piece of crap?!"
"That is actually a very good idea!" I squeak.
My hands sweat as she pins me to the wall and grabs a knife from her pocket.
It has serrated edges.
Gulp.
"Zaroho will be so proud of me," she says. And with one flick of her wrist, the knife comes down, stabbing me in the heart.
Or that's what it would've done, had Skifter not saved me at the last moment.
"Thank you, Skifter," I exclaim, feeling the wind on my face as I ride on his back.
"Wow, you've grown too!"
"It's what us Soul Animals have the ability to do. It's the way we can carry our master places." He swoops through the air, and I reach for the bow, but then suddenly remember that I am out of arrows, and out of hope.
But miraculously, before my eyes, a whole new stack of arrows appears.
I don't even bother to question it.
I fly with Skifter, shooting arrows from above, saving lives by risking my own.
I see many people and Soul Animals fighting. I even see Mr. W and Jace. There's no time to question it now. But with my hopes set up high, and the shadows falling behind me, I feel like I can do anything. And even though we are still in battle, I know that when I have my friends and family with me, I will always win.
Even if I do lose the battle, I have won the war.
I have won the war that is raging between me and my destiny.
As Skifter circles Klenouzlo one last time, I see that Zaroho's army is getting smaller, vulnerable and quiet.
I spot Sabrina on Lupo's back as I fire my last arrow.
I wave hello to her, and she waves back.
And it is now, that I notice, the sun is shining.
As I look back down on Klenouzlo, I see that Zaroho's army has fully retreated. I know it won't be for long, but I see hope among all the faces of the Soul Animals.
And right now, hope is all we need.
Because the battle is over. For now, at least.
✦
I gaze up at the sky, the twinkling stars of the night prominent over the darkness of a day's end. As I lay in my bed, wondering what tomorrow will be like, I realize. Sometimes I, sometimes we get so caught up in the distractions of life, that we don't stop to see the beauty of the present. But I see it now. Through all the illusions of my life, I have found love and hope in the midst of messes. And right now, that's all that matters.
Half of me rolls my eyes. The other half just retorts. I know. I'm a walking, breathing, living cliche. The first half laughs. The other just glares.
Deal with it.