Midwinter War: Part Six

     The yellow Kougra did not respond to his shout. Felix raised a sword and walked towards Charmond.

     "It's me!" the Scorchio cried out in desperation. He could hear the dark faerie cackle from far away as he backed away from that sharp iron sword.

     "Who's that?" Philip asked, quite confused. Something beyond just this was going on here, and he had to find out!

     "My brother," Charmond whispered weakly as Felix advanced on him. "Hey! It's me, your brother? Felix, you..." The Scorchio stopped as he stared into the Kougra's eyes.

     They were red. A crimson red that he had glimpsed before... With a chill running down his spine, the Scorchio remembered the pets he had battled at that field. It was the same color, the same machinelike movements and the same apathy.

     "He's mind-controlled!" the Zafara shouted in the corner of Charmond's vision.

     Felix raised his sword and swung it with all his might... The Scorchio closed his eyes, knowing that his time was ending...

     Clang! When he opened his eyes, someone was in front of him. Charmond immediately recognized Philip's back. He stood up and moved to the side, then realized that the Zafara and his brother were fighting.

     "Your time's not up yet, matey," Philip said jokingly. Then the Zafara's brow furrowed as he held the iron sword in his hand tighter. "Since you can't fight him, I'll take your place!" he told Charmond as he blocked a hit from the Kougra.

     The Scorchio was touched. Here was his friend, fighting for him even though they didn't know each other very well... Charmond was filled with gratitude as he shouted, "Thanks!"

     "No prob," the Zafara said, blocking another hit. He turned around nonchalantly and the Kougra, too slow, tripped and fell on the floor. Felix' sword flew out of his hand and smashed into some potions.

     "My mutant potions!" the dark faerie cried out as she pointed her staff towards Felix. A dark cloud covered him for a second. Philip panted as he backed away, in fear of what could happen.

     Charmond, who had been awed by the Zafara's great skills was now in mortal fear. He shuddered but decided on an attempt. The Scorchio walked towards the cloud, his mind in great confusion as his body moved by itself.

     "Felix!" he shouted through the mist. A sudden pain pierced the Scorchio's arm as he fell backwards, seeing liquid flow through the air.

     The cloud disappeared, and the Kougra stood here, now in the color of Darigan. The Scorchio noticed that the faerie was grasping her staff tightly and looking at Felix.

     The Darigan Kougra stood there, grinning evilly. He held a long, elegant blade in his right paw as he walked towards Charmond. Philip sudden jumped in the middle and thrust his sword at Felix.

     "Philip! No!" the Scorchio cried out without thinking. He knew that he had always despised his brother, but he didn't want him to die...

     The Zafara stopped the attack, and the sword that he held fell to the floor. He quickly bent down to get it, but the Kougra was too fast.

     "Fool," the faerie muttered, never taking her eyes off Charmond. She could detect that faint shine of the pearl, and grinned. "Soon it will be time..."

     Philip was lying on the floor, unconscious. The Scorchio ran over to him and tried to shake life into the Zafara, with no success. When he realized that there was no help whatsoever, Charmond cried out, grief and despair grasping his heart. Now that the Zafara was gone because of him, what would he do?

     "Even better," the dark one smiled. She brushed her hair carelessly as she continued whispering. "That was a close one. Two inches and I would've lost the Kougra..."

     "I'll have to fight now," Charmond thought as he reached a decision, "if not for my life, then for Philip's sake!" Inspired, the Scorchio grabbed a sword off the wall and dashed to the Kougra. He was ready...

     The faerie stiffened at the change of events. This was not something she had planned. "So he isn't such a weakling after all," she whispered, drawing ancient symbols with her blue fingers. "But we'll see who wins in the end..."

     The curtains moved and all the windows shattered. The hallway incident came to Charmond's mind as he instinctively shielded himself from the cold blast. The snow whirled around the Kougra, andc it seemed to enhance his power.

     When the Scorchio opened his eyes, he stared into a pair of soulless red eyes. Charmond realized that it wasn't really Felix who was doing these movements, but the faerie. That thought strengthened his decision in fighting.

     "If that isn't you, then I'll fight with all my might!" Charmond shouted as he grabbed his sword. As if the pearl had heard his call, it sent him a wave throughout his body and towards Felix. The Kougra recoiled at the green wave floating through the air.

     "Curses!" the faerie snarled as she saw the green light. She took a deep breath and roared to the Darigan Kougra, "Battle him!"

     Felix obeyed the command and walked towards Charmond with his sword raised. For a while, the two brothers battled with equal strength... And then the Scorchio tripped.

     "Always at a disadvantage," the words rang in his mind as he tried to stand up again, but failed. The numb feeling in his legs spread up, and his stomach felt weird.

     "I'll have to try my best," Charmond consoled at himself. He threw a quick glance at the unconscious Philip and flew up, using his wings.

     "An aerial battle?" the faerie muttered, raising an eyebrow. She started to draw some different patterns with her staff as she shrugged. "Oh well... It doesn't matter now." Her cold, red eyes were still focused on the shining pearl.

     The Darigan Kougra flapped his wings and gained altitude. Soon the two pets were at the same height, and the battle continued. Now it was harder, since the area had grown. To his own surprise, the Scorchio managed to land two hits on Felix.

     The aerial fight went on, neither sides hitting since the other could dive or rise. Charmond growled in frustration as he flew closer... But before he knew it, the Kougra had smacked him right on his nose.

     "Argh!" the Scorchio exclaimed as he descended to the ground.

     "Couldn't handle it, could you?" the faerie laughed quietly for herself. "He doesn't have a long time left..."

     Following suit, the Kougra did likewise. In melee, the Scorchio had the advantage since he was both heavier and stronger than the elegant, sleek Kougra. Charmond regained some confidence. If this were to continue, he'd win. But what would happen after that?

     He would never get to know. The moment that he raised his sword for the final hid, the faerie cackled and threw her staff. It acted like a spear, targeting the defenseless Philip.

     Charmond quickly analyzed the situation. His good friend had taught him that it was worth the trouble, especially if he could avoid any disastrous consequences. If he continued to fight, then Philip would be lost. But if he didn't, then perhaps he could never win against the Kougra.

     Suddenly an idea popped up in the Scorchio's mind. He didn't have any time to lose! While giving Felix a hard kick as a distraction, he threw his sword at the staff. Charmond didn't have any time to see what happened, since the Kougra immediately got up and they continued the fight.

     Charmond could hear that something shattered. For a brief moment, he turned around and saw the orb in the staff fall into thousand pieces. The light hit the glass pieces, and they were see-through. The darkness that had inhabited the orb was escaping through the windows as the faerie made some gargled noises. Then it hit him that he had left himself open.

     "W-what's this?" a confused pet asked. The Scorchio turned around and saw Felix. He knew for sure that this wasn't the Felix that he had battled. It was the good old Felix. Filled with relief and joy, Charmond hugged his brother.

     "Char? Why am I here?" the Kougra asked, dazzled by the light reflecting from the pieces lying on the floor. His brother did not reply, but looked at the dark faerie.

     The Darkest Faerie was too upset to utter anything coherent. She walked back and forth in panic, looking at the remains of her beautiful orb. The elaborate, ingenious plan had failed! How could this have happened?

     "You didn't take their hearts into the account," a weak whisper came from Philip, as if he knew what the faerie thought.

     Her face twisted into a mask of rage, the dark faerie snatched a few bottles and gulped them. She threw another bunch of potions at the Scorchio, then ran towards them.

     "Explain this, Char!" the Kougra demanded.

     "Give me the sword!" his brother said and Felix obeyed him without a second thought. But the faerie just made a gesture and the sword flew out of the window. There were no defenses left... The Scorchio stood there in shock. But none of them could have predicted what was coming next.

     The faerie screeched as she grabbed all three pets and threw herself out of the window. Charmond tried desperately to fly, but it was hopeless. The three pets gasped, afraid of being smashed to the ground when the faerie shouted in a raspy voice.

     "Open!" she croaked, and a hole of the deepest midnight blue opened below them. All of a sudden, the Scorchio felt a little bit lighter and more tired. But there was no time to think. They fell into the hole, and the strong wind was enough to make them faint.

     Swirls and stars danced in Charmond's vision. Worlds came and went. He could hear the faerie cackle from far away as everything turned black.

     "Success!" he could hear her whisper as they spun around and around, in that seemingly endless hole.

     -

     "Charmond! Felix!"

     "Where are we?" Charmond asked when his eyes reacted to light. The Scorchio groaned a little bit, then stood up and brushed some dust off himself. He looked around and saw his two companions, but there was no dark faerie.

     They were in a dark forest. Nighttime made the full moon shine on tracks made in the soft snow. Then it hit him. He had made those tracks! Charmond looked at the trees around him and it just confirmed the fact that they had landed in the exact same place he had been at before he landed in that world with wars, scary dark faeries and stuff...

     "Hey, isn't this the dark forest outside Neopia Central?" Felix asked. Surprised, the Scorchio spun around and saw the yellow eyes of his one and only brother. He was relieved that there wasn't anything scary anymore.

     "What's this?" another voice asked. The two siblings turned around to look at Philip, who had apparently also gotten here.

     "I guess it wasn't just a nightmare," Charmond muttered as he helped the Zafara up.

     "This is where we live," Felix explained with confidence. "C'mon, let's go home..." He grabbed the Zafara's other paw and together they slowly walked away.

     "You sure you don't mind?" the Scorchio asked carefully.

     "Nah. After all, that castle and Lord Faran wasn't really my home... I was abandoned and they just took me in so they could get more fighters," Philip said nonchalantly. Suddenly his face turned a bit sad as he continued, "I envy you... having a home and each other."

     "Charmond! Felix!" a voice rang as someone came running. Suddenly the three pets were all squeezed into a group hug as a human sighed of relief. "You made me worry so much!" Alice reprimanded. "We've been looking around for hours! I even called the Chia Police!"

     "Who is this?" the Zafara asked. "And what's the Chia Police?"

     "This," the Scorchio said happily, "is our owner, Alice." Alice beamed at the Zafara. Then she took a grim expression and glared at her pets.

     "Now, what happened?" the owner asked.

     Charmond got to do the explaining. He didn't mind doing so much, since everything seemed to be fine and he was reunited with his family again. The Scorchio grinned happily. The promise had come true. He had tried his best, and now he was back.

     Alice seemed to do some thinking as they walked back to their house. When she opened the door and let the two pets in, the Zafara stopped and looked down.

     "I..." Philip mumbled.

     "You can live with us!" Alice said. "It'll be fine, but perhaps a little bit different from the life you've lived..."

     "Thanks!" the Zafara exclaimed gratefully as he entered his new home.

     "That's three now," the owner said.

     "Yeah! This is great!" Charmond did a little dance of joy as the others laughed.

     "Though I wonder where that dark faerie went..." Felix thought out loud.

     -

     A purple shadow stood in a dark corner, together with a small, green light. That figure cackled and raised the glowing globe.

     "Finally!" the dark faerie laughed. "He might've escaped, but it was worth the hassle!" She looked at the pearl with hunger in her eyes as she whispered the forgotten words.

     "Soon, soon I'll conquer..."

     -

     "Aw, don't make us all depressed! That faerie isn't even worth thinking about, matey!" Philip said.

     "I guess, but I can't help worrying," the Kougra said.

     "I agree. We should be careful," Charmond nodded as he took out a bottles of water. "Want some?" he asked his family.

     "Sure!" they said in unison.

     "Char, you've changed," Felix commented as they went to sleep.

     "Really? I hope it's for the better," the Scorchio said. He felt safe and snug in his bed. It was as if nothing could hurt him here, shatter his perfect world with his precious family and friends. He thought back at the time before and realized something. The Kougra had already dozed off, but Charmond couldn't resist...

     "We all change." He smiled as he pulled the covers. "But it's all fine now."

     Neither of the pets saw that dark shadow, sitting there and watching their every move...

     "Just wait... I'll be back!"

The End