"You remember."
"I do... you never died."
"It's a horrible thing. Immortality. I've spent it watching over our reincarnations."
"I noticed."
"You know, over all of these millennia, you have been the only one to ever remember the first one. Our first adventures together?"
"I know."
"Don't do that. You aren't like that, you have reason to be happy. Your other side isn't in you, you can be happy. Like you should be."
"I need that other side. I need to help them, my brothers, my friends."
"You will. Do you remember where they are?"
"We were the last ones. I was the only one who lived long enough to help you hide them besides Emmalyn. Then Hala protected them until now."
"Yes... I can open the door. All of the guards are at the Cannon."
"What for?"
"Aaron, Michael is trying to turn him. I have to go." She turned back to him. "You can do it. I believe in you."
"Thank you... Irene."
"Don't call me that. It's Aphmau to my friends." She disappeared.
Dante and Kawaii-Chan watched as Laurance, Zane, Lucinda, and Kim all pushed their power into reviving Aphmau.
"Come on, please. Breathe!" Lucinda begged.
"Lucinda, she's been gone for more than—"
"Shut up! I'm trying to focus!" Lucinda snapped.
"Don't focus your energy on Lucinda, focus on Aphmau." Laurance advised.
Since they got there, Dante and Laurance had explained everything. Zane was especially worried about Vylad when Dante told them about his escape. He did calm down a little when Laurance assured that he was alive.
"Please. Please breathe." Lucinda said.
Aphmau gasped. She breathed heavily, eyes wide.
"Aphmau!" Zane cried.
"W-What's happening?" She coughed.
"It worked! It actually worked!" Lucinda said, tears about to fall. "No, no, no stop! Don't go to her." Zane stopped. "We need to finish healing her until she's able to sit up."
"Aphmau, stay still. We're trying to finish repairing the wound." Laurance told her.
"L-Laurance?"
"We'll explain later." Dante said.
She nodded shakily.
It took a little while, but slowly they finished.
"What happened?" Aphmau asked hoarsely.
"I used a healing spell to repair a part of the hole in your chest. I wasn't sure if I would revive you but I thought..." Lucinda sighed.
Aphmau sat up, her face contorted with pain.
"Take it easy!" Zane said.
"Please, my healing isn't perfect. At most it's just a bandaid helping your heart to function enough to get by." Lucinda said.
"Lucinda... thank you." Aphmau said.
"It wasn't just me. Laurance, Zane, and Kim gave their strength to aide you as well."
"Thank you."
"Anytime." Kim nodded.
"It was nothing, I just... wasn't ready to see you go." Zane admitted.
"None of us were." Laurance agreed. Which was a rarity, Laurance and Zane hardly ever agreed.
"Laurance, Dante... when did you guys get here?" Aphmau asked.
"We got recruited for the Guardian Forces." Laurance told her. "It was before you guys left, but we weren't allowed to actually say why we were leaving so we made up our explanations. We've been undercover the whole time."
"How? How could you know to be undercover?"
"Vylad. Garroth and Zane's little brother. He was a part of it before us and he knew a bit about them trying to find the Ultima. And when we found out who we were supposed to be going after, we did our best to subtly deter them."
Aphmau tried to stand, she did it but she also was in audible and visible pain.
"Aph!"
She was fine. Once Aphmau stood up, she didn't look like she was in so much pain. She turned and saw Kawaii-Chan on the chair with a large bandage around her torso that was getting bled through. Dante was in a similar state, a bandage around his torso and you could see the blood seeping through. Though his was in one spot while Kawaii-Chan's was across her whole chest.
"Kawaii-Chan! Dante!"
"I'm so happy to see you alive." Kawaii-Chan said weakly. Dante nodded.
Aphmau took steps towards them.
"Do not try to heal them in your state! Using your energy right now could damage you beyond my repair!" Lucinda exclaimed.
Aphmau turned back to her. "B-But—"
"We'll be ok." Dante assured her.
"This is interesting..." they all looked at Kim. They had explained the whole thing with Ghost so Laurance and Dante weren't too freaked out. "We may have healed her but there's no way we revived her soul on our own." Ghost turned to Aphmau. "What happened to you?"
Aphmau looked down. "I-I met with an angel."
"Of course she had a say in this." They all looked towards Terry. "She's the matron."
"What on earth are you talking about?" Zane demanded.
"Wait," Aphmau stepped forward, "aren't you—"
"Travis' father. Yes. And a catalyst that helped set things in motion."
"How did you get here?"
Kim answered. "Lucinda, Laurance, and I brought him here." She looked back at Terry. "We needed answers."
"Answers... only I can give." Terry got up from the couch and walked over to Aphmau. "Let's hope whatever she saw in you will help us."
"Being cryptic isn't going to help us in this situation." Lucinda said.
"Let's start from the beginning." Terry sighed. "My name is Terry Valkrum, I come from a long legacy that stems from an ancient warlock. One of great power and evil."
"Wait, are you a descendant of the Demon Warlock?" Laurance guessed. Lucinda gave him a confused look like 'how do you know about that?' "What? I read. I did my research ok?"
"Yes."
"That's impossible. His descendants were hunted down and killed thousands of years ago because of the chance he would return." Lucinda argued.
"They did a poor job of us off." Terry said.
"Obviously." Dante muttered.
"It's not important for now. Know that Travis and I are the last of his heirs. The Demon Warlock uses Travis and myself as catalysts for his being. Some years ago, Derek and Garte managed to seal him and his followers away in his dimension. Leaving the world to be at peace. In recent years, he managed to find a way to escape and has been working to make this world his own."
"Oh, so classic villain." Dante muttered again, though this time no one heard except Aphmau and Kawaii-Chan.
"However that is nearly impossible for him to do in his weakened state. He needs a relic to regain his power."
"A relic?" Ghost questioned. "Wait... Wait."
"Ghost, are you ok?" Lucinda asked.
"That cannon that appeared in the center of the island, that's the Celestial Cannon. Isn't it?"
"It is."
"Ghost?" Lucinda looked at the girl, confused.
"In the past few days, it's all come back to me. A long time ago, I was trying to bring my husband back from the dead. Someone I knew spilt their soul and I attempted to use the same method to do the same, to bring him back. But something went wrong, and next thing I knew, I was like this. I've always been like this... a wandering soul. The other half. Over time, I forgot who I was and... and I forgot everything." She started to cry. "But now I remember."
"As she mentioned before, the Celestial Cannon was created by an ancient civilization to utilize the souls of humans to create powerful relics. There are already some made there but they are hidden, Michael tried to find them but the Magicks hiding them are extremely strong. Now Michael's plan is to use a cursed soul fueled by rage to create a relic of destruction.
"He had Aaron's downfall planned from the beginning."
Aphmau grew concerned. "Aaron?"
"Aaron is a cursed soul. One that if cultivated properly and by using the cannon, could give Michael the power he desires.
"Where is—"
"Aaron was captured by Michael."
Aphmau gasped. "Is he—"
"No, the cannon fired off not to long ago. Which leads me to assume it was unsuccessful."
"Why not?" Lucinda asked.
"If it was successful, this island and everyone on it, wouldn't be here." Laurance realized. "Right?"
Terry nodded. "They wouldn't. Something must've interfered. But it won't be long before another plan is set in motion." He sighed. "Travis, Aaron, Katelyn, Garroth, Vylad. One or all of them will suffer." Terry walked back over to the couch.
Aphmau was filled with determination. "We need to go after them."
Zane was immediately against it. "What?!" He walked over to Aphmau. "There is no way I'm letting you go in the condition you're in. We just got you back!"
"Zane!" Dante snapped. Drawing everyone's attention to the blue haired boy. "I know it sounds like a bad idea, three of us are badly injured or at least, were. But what about Garroth? And Vylad? Your brothers. Would you rather leave them there? And Aaron, Katelyn, and Travis. They could all die and you're willing to put this off for just Aphmau." Dante demanded. "No offense intended, Aph."
"No, you're right. Staying isn't an option." Aphmau agreed. "If Michael gets his way, I don't know if any of us would be here."
Zane looked down.
Lucinda stepped up. "We cannot go into this without a plan."
"What kind of plan do we have?" Kim asked.
"I still have my clearance card." Laurance said. "For all they know, I died to Aaron because technically, I was supposed to be with Garroth and Katelyn getting him."
"You were?"
"Yeah. But I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep Garroth or Katelyn away from Aaron or be able to calm him down. Plus, I had a feeling to go to Michael's office where you guys were." He nodded to Lucinda and Kim. "Hopefully, I can get us a helicopter and we can get onto the cannon, find our friends, and get out without being caught."
"And if we get caught?"
Laurance pulled out a handgun he had in a holster. "We fight our way out."
"But if it comes to that we won't get far. Sure, we have Lucinda's magic, Aphmau's healing magic, Zane who... is Zane, Laurance you have a gun, and me. There's not much to go off here."
"That's where this comes into play." They looked back at Terry who clicked open a briefcase.
"What is that?" Aphmau asked.
"This is the Realm Breaker. It is designed to open, and destroy realms." Terry explained. "It has the power to seal beings of great power away."
"Wait seriously? Where did you get that?" Lucinda gasped.
"I found it lying around here. Literally, just now."
"That could be the answer to seal away Michael. We may just have a chance."
"Which means... we need to head to the island." Aphmau said.
"Are you sure you all want to do this?" Terry asked. "It could cost you your lives."
They all stopped. Aphmau looked around.
"I cannot ask this of you all. But I cannot leave everyone on that island. Aaron, Garroth, Vylad, Travis, Katelyn. I refuse to leave them behind."
"I'm with you." Laurance said.
Ghost sighed. "Think about it this way, if we do not do something to stop this now, it will come to hurt us later. It's not like getting away from here is going to change our fate."
"Well, I mean, I can't let you go alone. Not in your condition." Zane said.
Laurance rolled his eyes but refrained from snapping at Zane. They didn't have time to get into a petty argument. However he did make a comment. "She definitely isn't going alone. I'm going, and apparently so are you."
Zane nodded.
"I'm with you." Lucinda said and Kim nodded in agreement.
"Thank you—"
"APHMAU! APHMAU!" They jumped at the sound of Aphmau's Mom's voice.
"Huh?" Aphmau walked downstairs.
The others knew who it was, they all met Slyvanna before and knew who it was. They let Aphmau talk to Slyvanna alone.
Sorry, it's been a while.
We've almost ended the book. Just a few more chapters. Plus, so you know what that little snippet at the beginning meant? Who were talking? Let me know if you do.
I'm excited to wrap this up. I liked doing this. It was fun.
💜 ~ Bye!