Chapter 13

The Choice

Zane poured the water over Amber's statue.

"Gah finally!" She said wiggling her nose. "My nose is so itchy." She cried as her arms began to free. She scratched her nose with a sigh of relief.  

“Let’s hurry and save the others!” Zane said, barely able to contain his excitement. He didn’t notice the tree branch hanging lower than normally and ran straight into it, causing him to fall backwards, and drop the leather pouch.

Amber and Jake tried not to laugh as they watched Zane run straight into a branch.

“H-Hey man,” Amber snickered, “You okay there?”

“That looked pretty painful man.” Jake said.

They looked at each other and burst into a fit of laughter.

Jake could barely breath, “I’m. Sorry. Man. That. Was. Hilarious!” Jake said between breaths.

“Guys!” Zane grabbed the bag, “The water! Half of it spilled! Its not gonna be enough!”

The two immediately stopped laughing and ran to Zane. Next to him, the grass and flowers were growing out from under the dead leaves and in seconds there was a little patch of green life amongst the cold and dead of the fall. “No way. No. No. It can’t be. What are we gonna do!”

Jake and Amber both went into a frenzied panic. They needed one as much as they needed the other. They couldn’t leave a friend behind either. How would they choose who to free?

“Guys! Let’s just sit down and think about this rationally.”

Jake and Amber calmed themselves enough to quiet themselves and sit down in a circle.

“Zane, can’t you go back to the mermaids and get more?” Amber asked.

“No remember what Kris said,” Jake began, “He said that we have to be there as the sun sets or they won’t come to greet us. It’s the middle of the night. It’ll only be a waste of time going back.”

“Well now what?” Amber said annoyed.

“We have to make a choice.” Zane said firmly.

* * *

“So tell me more about these rebels.” Milo asked curiously.

Serina peeked between the bars to check for guards, to her luck, there were none. “The rebels have been hiding for the past 16 years. Ever since the shadow king took rule, anyone that could escape did. The rest that were either stuck or couldn’t afford to go had to stay here. We’ve been training to go against the shadow king and take our kingdom back. There’s been one problem though…”

“What is it?” Milo asked, paying close attention to Serina as she spoke.

“The kings and queens. We may have powers, but its not enough to defeat the shadow king. Only the Royals can. Anyone with royal blood was killed off. The kings and queens of our land disappeared with their children when the shadow king came to attack them. No one has heard from them in years. Their friends and family in this land were all killed. No one knows where they are only that they escaped. They’re the only ones who have the power to defeat the shadow king. If their children are alive, we can only hope they return to us soon.”

“So no one knows anything about the whereabouts of the royalty or their children?”

Serina nodded.

“So why keep fighting?”

“What?”

“I mean, you need the royalty. They haven’t been seen in years. Why keep fighting.”

“Because…. They killed my parents right in front of me when I was young. Almost all of us in the rebellion had our parents slaughtered right in front of us as children. The shadow king didn’t want the parents in the golden age to influence their children to find the royals. He killed them all. We managed to save our granny but not our parents. They died for our escape. I’m not going to die without a fight. Not after what my parents did for me. Any parent that did survive has been training us well with their wisdom.”

* * *

The three sat in silence for a long while, staring at their feet, trying to think about what to do about the situation. They needed both of them.

“So guys… Any ideas?” Zane said, breaking the silence.

“You said that compass leads anywhere you want to go right?” Jake said, pointing at the compass.

“Yes, or so the mermaid says.”

Jake nodded. He was about to speak but hesitated. “Then… I think I know who would make more sense to save.”

Both Amber and Zane looked up and straight at Jake. He glances at Amber and back down at his feet, “I think we should save Luna.”

The three went into a state of silence again. Amber was shocked to a point she could barely collect herself.

“W-What? How is Luna any better a candidate than Kris?”

Jake gave her a grave look, “Think about it Amber. He was the guide. Now Zane has the compass. We don’t need a guide anymore.”

“But what purpose does Luna serve then? How will you know it’s going the right way?”

“She has powers like us too. There has to be a reason it was all four of us had to be together. Kris has no powers and he was the reason we’re all together now. He needed all of us to be together. We can’t split it up now. Plus we’re already lost in the forest and even Kris doesn’t exactly know how to get out.”

“But Kris knows the creatures and the people. Sure we have a way to navigate through but we know nothing about the creatures and people like Kris does. For all we know they might dress in corsets or shiny, metallic clothes. We’ll stick out like sore thumbs and become easy targets.”

“Look. We’re obviously not going to come to an agreement. Let’s let Zane choose.”

The two turned to Zane. The weight of the decision was upon Zane now. Both made good arguments, but Jake had more of a point. It only made more sense to save Luna.

“Guys… Let’s go get Luna…” Zane said quietly, not daring to look at Amber.

Jake smiled and jumped up, “Well what are we waiting for?”

The boys readied to go. Amber couldn’t move, though. She stared blankly at the patch of green, her mind racing. She was going to lose Kris for Luna. The journey had just began and they were already going to lose Kris. “Only brought back to life to be killed again.” she whispered.

“Amber? Come on. We don’t have time to waste.”

The boys each grabbed an arm and pulled her up, gently leading her back to Kris and Luna.

* * *

There stood Kris’ statue. The boys kept trying to lead Amber over to Luna but she stopped.

“Amber? We can’t stop here, let’s go.”

Amber stood her ground, “Leave me here.”

“What?”

“Go save Luna. Leave me here.”

“Are you sure?” Zane asked. Amber nodded, “Now go before I end up lighting you guys on fire.”

The boys nodded and ran off to get Luna.

Amber walked up the Kris’ stone form. This was goodbye. She wasn’t going to be able to see Kris ever again.

“Kris…” Tears began to pool in her eyes, making her vision blurry. She quickly wiped her eyes. She hated crying. She felt weak whenever she cried. But even so, that didn’t seem to stop the tears from falling.

She knew Kris wouldn’t be able to hear a thing she will say to him. She tried to stop the spinning in her head as she collected what she wanted to say.

“I-I know you can’t hear anything I’m saying. I still have to say something though…” She took a deep breath and wiped away her tears again. “Thanks. For leading us and protecting us. Thanks for pulling me out of the other life I had. Thanks for being something new and different in my life. This has only just began and we have to say goodbye. You’re incredibly weird, but… I really… Thank you.”

She couldn’t say anymore. Amber rested her head on Kris’ chest as she cried. There was no holding her tears back now. Tears dropped one after another onto Kris’ feet. Amber covered her eyes and continued to cry.

But then, something happened. Amber didn’t know how long she had been crying before she felt a pair of arms wrap around her, “Amber? Amber what’s wrong? I’m here.”

Amber looked straight at Kris. His face was no longer gray, but now full of color, life, and concern.

“Kris!” Amber jumped and hugged him tightly as she began to cry for a whole other reason.

Kris was taken entirely by surprise. His heart jumped around his chest as Amber hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her and shushed her, “It’s okay. I’m not stone anymore.”

“Don’t ever scare me like that again. Or else I’ll kill you twice.” Amber laughed and buried her face in Kris’ shoulder.

“Um. I don’t think that’s possible.” Kris chuckled. “Did the others make it?”

Amber took a step back and nodded, wiping her face with her sleeve. “They’re going to get Luna now.”

Just as she said that, Luna and the boys came through the bushes. The boys stared in shock at Kris. He was no longer stone. And yet not a single drop of water touched Kris.

“Kris you’re okay!” Zane and Jake ran over to Kris, giving him a quick hug and patting him on the back.

“Yeah I’m fine now.” Kris smiled.

Zane pulled out the compass and held it out to Kris, explaining what had happened while he was out.

Luna came up next to Amber, “Hey what happened? One second I’m turning into stone and the next here are the boys looking at me with huge smiles.”

Amber became quiet. She was lucky Kris turned back this time. Amber now knew that if something did happen to Kris, she probably won’t be as lucky as she was this time. And between Luna and Kris, she knew selling out Kris was going to be the majority option.

“Amber!”

Amber snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at Luna. “What?”

“Your pocket! Its on fire!”

Amber looked down and saw her pocket really was on fire. Strangely it didn’t hurt  or anything. She pulled her hand out of her pocket and quickly began patting the fire out.

She didn’t notice the little lion necklace fall out of her pocket as she put the fire out.

Kris noticed and picked it up, closely observing the little lion.

Once Amber had the fire put out, she saw Kris had the lion, “H-Hey that’s mine…” She mumbled.

“I knew it.” Kris looked at her and smiled.

“Knew what?” Amber asked.

“You’re the daughter of the Lion and the Phoenix! I wasn’t too sure at first because I only saw the fire, but now its for sure. Ah, the children of purity and bravery have returned!” Kris said with excitement.

Amber gulped. The Lion and the Phoenix? Throughout her entire life she hadn’t heard a single thing about her parents and now someone is telling her that her parents are the Lion and the Phoenix? What did that even mean?

“Wait wait wait. Slow down. Purity, bravery, lion, phoenix. Please explain this to me. Slowly.”

“Luna’s mother is the Lady of the Light. A true heart was something the queen always smiled upon. Your parents. Your father was the Lion and your mother was the Phoenix. The Lion’s bravery mixed with the fiery heart of the Phoenix was a mix that make them the bravest and most fearsome pair. When there were four kingdoms, the rulers each had their own unique quality. When put together they were the best rulers. They ruled with justice, strength, wisdom, and unity. Of course some matters did cause them to heads due to their different personalities, but their ruling was a time where the land prospered. The four couples always had a way of finding each other. They were always together no matter what.” Kris turned to the boys, “You guys and your brother, Milo, have to be the remaining three of course. Otherwise, there would’ve been no way I always saw you five. You five were the only ones I would see. I never saw anyone else as often as I saw you guys.”

“Wait so you’re saying we’re all royalty?” Jake asked in astonishment. Kris nodded, “The Royals have returned.”