"Just jump!" Ever shouted getting frustrated.

"I'm am not jumping on you. Get on the ground right now."

Ever smirked and I knew he was going to say something ever-like. "You want me to get on my knees for you?" He gasped. "Your boy toy over there wouldn't approve."

I looked over to Raiden who was about ten feet across from us talking to Octavious. They both looked at us like we were crazy children. I smiled back at Ever. "Neither would yours."

"Oh, don't even go there."

"You know what? I'll just jump, okay?"

"My god woman make up your mind."

We had been walking for what felt like years. In truth it had only been like a day but whatever my feet were going to fall off. We had stopped for a small break, the others were in front of us, and Raiden and Octavious were across from us. I asked Ever to give me a piggyback ride he agreed only if I gave him one next. We were struggling to say the least.

I jumped onto his back without warning, he let out an oomph, he tried to grasp for balance but he lost it and we both went tumbling forward, falling into the snow.

"Ever!"

My body shook from his laughter. His laugh was always contagious for me, especially when it was his real one, and despite myself, I burst out in giggles. He was the only person who could ever make me laugh like this. I clutched a hand to my stomach as it started to hurt. There was always something about Everson that made everyone want to laugh. I truly don't know how he did it.

I shoved snow in his face and he fell back down onto the ground still laughing his ass off. "You did that on purpose!"

His blue eyes widened like I was a crazy person. "I didn't know you were going to tackle me from behind!"

"I don't know why this is so hard for you, Raiden can do it just fine."

"Well I'm not Raiden," he retorted sticking his tongue out at me.

"Not even close," said Raiden from across us where he chatted with Octavious.

"Are you two just sitting there watching us fail miserably?" Hissed Ever with narrowed eyes.

"We're standing actually," said Raiden with a smirk at the same time Octavious said,

"Yes."

Ever flipped Octavious off then stood up and offered me his hand. I grasped it and lifted myself off the snow-covered ground.

I jumped onto Evers back again and though he stumbled a bit, he grasped my knees as I clutched his shoulders and finally we didn't topple to the ground.

"Aha!" He exclaimed. "We did it!"

I laughed holding back tears of joy, I pointed to the trees ahead. I tried to sound like a posh British man as I said, "Onward, sir Crestwood!"

"Whatever thy wish thy lady!"

"You guys are children," said Octavious as he and Raiden began to follow us up the hill.

Ever tilted his head and I got a face full of blond curls. "Do you hear something lady Ryn?"

"Why no, I do not, sir Crestwood."

"See? Children," said Octavious.

Ever and I both flipped him off.

After we had been walking (well Ever walking and me on his back) for around ten to fifteen minutes I asked, "so ... what's going on with you and Octavious now?"

I felt him shake his head, his hair flapping around my face. I scrunched my face up as it began to tickle. "How can you always tell?"

"I know all," I replied mysteriously.

Ever sighed, his steps slowing down. "He confessed his love to me."

"Oh my god," I breathed genuinely surprised.

"And then he gave me a blow job."

"Oh my god," I gasped out of shock this time. "Well, that escalated quickly. Was it like 'Everson I love you so much and to prove it I'll give you a-'"

"Shut up. And for your info, he told me he loved me after the blowing of jobs so."

"I'm sorry," I whispered because I knew to him when Octavious said he loved him it wasn't something he would be happy about. He would never let himself be. And I knew that it would hurt him to hear Octavious say those words. It hurt me when Raiden said them. Actually, it felt like someone took a fucking chainsaw to my heart.

"It's ... fine. I said it back."

"You what?"

"Yeah I know surprising, I surprised myself too don't worry. But now I don't know what to fucking do because now I'm all confused. I was determined to push him away for the rest of my life but now ..."

I smacked the back of his head. "Stop being an idiot Is what you do. Can you just for once let yourself be happy? Ever, you deserve it, okay? You deserve the world."

"You're right." He let out a long breath. "I do deserve the fucking world after carrying you up this goddam mountain."

"Oh shut up. I'm carrying you down."

"As if you could carry me."

"Don't underestimate my strength."

"Oh please. You got your ass handed to you by Kai."

"It was a tie."

We went on like that for miles, arguing and bickering about stupid things. Forgetting about the important tasks in our lives, forgetting about what we were on this mountain for. It was always like that with Ever. I could always forget and pretend I was a normal teenager, arguing with my best friend.

"I have a good feeling about this," Everson said after a while, looking up at the darkening sky, a real smile on his face.

"You and Octavious?"

"Yeah," he whispered. "I think it's right this time. And I think I'm ready to love him the way he should be loved, the way he should be cherished. I think I'm finally ready to be happy. I'm done with the self-destructive bullshit."

"That's great Ever," I replied with a real smile on my face too. All I could ever want in this world was for Everson to be happy.

"I also have a good feeling about you and Raiden."

"Oh yeah?" I wanted to laugh at his sudden giddy mood.

"Yeah. And this goddam mission. We're gonna get that weapon kill the fucking demon king and live the rest of our lives in peace."

"Maybe Octavious and Raiden can accompany us to London and we can all have a bakery."

Ever scoffed like I was insane. "No way in hell are they ruining our bakery. It's ours. Just ours. They can open up a funeral home or something with their negative attitudes."

I choked on my laugh.

***

"This is it?" Kai asked unimpressed.

"It's so ... small," Roz agreed with disgust.

We'd been hiking up this mountain for days, if we were normal humans it probably would've taken weeks, but we weren't normal or human. After many many complaints and groans from everyone in the group, we had finally reached the top. And at the top, besides the piles of snow and ice, was a cave. One single cave.

I stared at the small dark hole, afraid to even step inside or have a closer look. This was it. We were here. We were at the place where the Vad was at.

Chaska's words ring in my head like a fucking bus horn in my ear.

I warned you not to follow in my footsteps.

You have no idea who you will become. You will be stopped.

What if I don't want to be stopped?

"I expected it to be at the very tip of the mountain, just like resting there in all its glory," said Ever with narrowed eyes at the cave.

"This isn't a cartoon," Octavious rolled his eyes.

Bash cleared his throat. "Should we ...?"

I stepped forward and let go of all my fears. I let the numbness inside me take over I could do this. I took one last look at the sky that was now darkening and said, "Let's go."

I walked into the cave first, much to Raidens disapproval, though he didn't say it I could practically feel his thoughts shooting at me. The cave was dark and not very tall, Bash, Octavious, Raiden, and Mara all had to duck just to fit. They were all freakishly taller than the rest of us.

Once we entered everything was black and I could see ahead of me. Raiden's hand grabbed mine as he walked beside me. Everyone was silent, I think they could all feel the energy in here, just like I could. It was eerie, ominous and left a chill at the back of my spine. After what felt like walking in the day for ten minutes the cave opened up into a large cavern. Large enough that there was a wide lake in the middle of it.

I gapped at the cavern. The lake was frozen over and above it the ceiling was all opened up. I was assuming it was the top of the mountain as moonlight shined down and snow fell onto the ice through the mountain top. In the middle of the lake, there was a rock, well there were rocks everywhere but this wasn't any rock. This was a stone, and in the stone was half a sword.

Seriously?

The Vad glimmered in the moonlight. Only the point of the sword was in the stone, it looked like somebody had broken it off in the rock. I wondered if Chaska was the one who did it, or perhaps it was her god.

Nobody did anything for several minutes. I knew they were waiting for me. Just as I was about to take a step into the ice an arm stopped me. I looked up at Raiden with my brows raised. He grabbed a decent-sized rock and tossed it out onto the ice. When nothing happened I snickered. "I could've told you it was thick enough."

He narrowed his eyes. "How?" 

Ever clasped a hand on my shoulder. "Despite the stupid words that come out of her mouth Ryn really does have a big brain."

"Aww thanks, Ev, that's what every girl wants to hear."

He winked before backing away.

I stepped onto the ice, it wasn't as slippery as I thought it would be but my boots held me up pretty nicely. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and my hands shook from being so cold. I was tempted to light a flame but afraid of the ice breaking. After a few more steps I reached the stone. The stone had strange markings on it that I didn't quite understand. It looked like Latin. And I didn't know much Latin only a couple of sayings here and there.

My stomach suddenly felt hollow like I was going to throw up. My heartbeat felt like it was in my stomach, pounding loudly in my ears. As I stared at the Vad I felt that sense of longing in my throat, crawling its way up, that sense of hunger. I reached my hand towards the sword.

"Wait!" A voice shouted and my hand froze but my head swiveled around after a second. Mara stared at me with wide horrified eyes. "Somethings wrong. Something doesn't feel right," she whispered then hissed in pain, clutching her head, eyes squeezing shut.

Her mouth opened and closed about a billion times before she finally said something. "They're... they're here," she whispered, she put her fingertips to her temple and groaned, knees falling to the ground.

Kaida was quick to catch her. "Mara?" She asked concerned. "Are you ... having a vision?"

Mara was still groaning in pain but still managed to nod her head.

"Gods," someone breathed but I wasn't paying attention to who it was. "That hasn't happened since we were kids."

"The Greer," Mara whispered. "They're here."

I felt my eyes widened. "Here? What do you mean they're here?" I shouted across the lake.

I could feel Raiden's eyes burning through me so I turned towards him. "We can shadow away," he told me, but Mara cut him off.

"No, Raiden, you can't. They ... they're everywhere."

"Mara please explain with context," Bash said crouching down to her.

"What I mean Bash is that they are everywhere. An army of them. Waiting outside the cave and all down the mountain."

My eyes flickered to Roz as everything clicked. "You did this!" I shouted, my voice echoed off the walls. "You never wanted to fucking join us! you just wanted to lead your father here!"

Roz stood still for a minute then shook her head. "I didn't do this," she said in a small voice, with maybe even a hint of panic in it.

"Bullshit."

"Ryn, this wasn't me. Trust me I admit to my wrongdoings and betrayal, it's entertaining for me when they look all surprised like 'oh gods I can't believe you would ever do this to me' but this wasn't me. I swear to the gods."

"Then how did they find us?"

"They must've followed me when I followed you?" She suggested.

"What do we do?" Nyan whispered, her eyes directed at Bash who seemed to be in deep thought.

Vengeance brimmed at my fingertips, humming underneath my skin like electricity. I could kill them. I could kill them all if I wanted. The Vad was powerful enough to destroy armies, that's what Chaska said anyway. No. That would be mass murder.

"Mara, what did you precisely see in your vision?" I asked her, I was close enough for my voice to travel along the rocked walls in a chilling echo.

"Just images of them. I can't explain it. But I saw them and they were everywhere."

"Okay," I whispered, searching through my brain for every possibility out of this. I looked up at the hole in the mountain top. We couldn't climb, it was a good twenty feet in the air, there was no way to reach it. And even if we did make it out from there Mara said they were all over the mountain. I thought of every solution but ... I looked to Raiden as I realized the defeat of our situation. He knew it too, I could see it in his eyes.

There was absolutely no way out of this.

"We fight," I said holding my head high, pushing away the fear building in my stomach. Not fear for myself. Fear for them.

Everyone was silent, until,

"We fight," Mara agreed with a nod.

I looked back at the sword and grabbed it before I could change my mind. My hand clasped around it and I tugged as hard as I could. The sharp edges of the blade began to slice through me from squeezing too hard but I could barely feel it. Blood dripped down the blade and with one last yank it broke free.

"You are the chosen one," said Ever in a dramatic voice, trying to lighten the mood. I let a laugh slip through for only a second.

Once I got back to them, Raiden made it known that he wasn't leaving my side. "Once we get out there I don't want you to leave my side."

I was tempted to make a joke but decided against it and nodded. I put a hand on his arm. "Give me the other half."

"I don't think it's a good idea to connect them now. It's harder to steal when they are separated."

I sighed trying not to look too disappointed. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"Do we have any other plans?" Asked Octavious. "Any ideas?"

Bash shook his head. "I've tried to think of strategies but there aren't any good ones. If they are everywhere like Mara says then there's no way to take them but head-on."

"So we're fucked is what you're saying?" Roz butted in.

"That's not what I'm saying," Bash snapped back.

"Except that's exactly what you're saying. There's no way we are defeating all of them. They outnumber us and outgun us. Don't forget that Greer armies are the most powerful for a reason. Our guards train from practically the time they are born, plus some of them have powers."

"Raiden and I can burn them," I tried.

"Not if your fire travels through the ground. It would never hold with the snow. You'd have to burn them one by one by making direct contact and we'd all be dead by then," said Roz speaking the most sense I had ever heard come from her.

"The trees?" I questioned.

"There's a nearby town around here. If you burn the trees you'll burn the town and everyone in it," Roz said. "Those are innocent Greers."

"So ... there actually are no options?"

"There is one," said Kai who had been quiet for a while. She still cradled Mara in her arms, her hands tight around her as if she couldn't let her go. Mara stayed there like she didn't mind at all.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I can shift into a dragon, but there are a lot of issues with this," she said, then looked anywhere but my eyes as if she couldn't gaze into them with what she was about to say. "They could have arrows and shoot at us, I won't fit through the mountain top, my dragon form is too big, so we'll have to go outside of the cave where I'm sure they are waiting for us and... I won't be able to carry all of you."

"How many of us can you carry?"

Mara gave Kai a sympathetic look as kai said, "probably only six, maybe seven, but six is even pushing it."

"I'll stay," I said before anybody else could.

"Absolutely not," demanded Raiden.

"You will not," bursted Ever who glared daggers at me. "The Greer want you the most."

"Exactly. They want me. As in they won't kill me. If any of you stay behind they will kill you. I have a better chance."

"No," said Raiden. "If my father has you again ... you don't know what he'll do to you."

"It's not up to you to decide."

"I understand that, but I beg you, no."

His eyes burned into mine like fire. For a minute we were the only people in that cave, everyone else disappeared and it was only us. I recalled our conversation from nights ago. When he said he couldn't live with me dying.

"Oh for bloody sake, don't get your panties in a twist. I'll stay," said Roz with an annoyed expression.

"You'll what?" I asked shocked. She was ... being selfless?

"Well, I'm obviously the best choice. I'm the princess, aren't I? And who knows if I've been announced as a traitor yet." She smirked.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "So what's your plan? If they really did follow you, don't you think they'd assume you were with us?"

"Not likely actually," she replied. "No offense but it is very out of character for me to join a group of Devaras, a half-blood, and a traitor. They probably think I'm undercover." She sucked in a breath as she got an interesting thought apparently, she clapped her hands together in her overly excited manic way. "Ohh! we can even make a show out of it. Once we get out of the cave, you guys will see the guards and I can be like "give me the Vad right now or the guards will kill you" or something. Then one of you can gasp and say, "I can't believe you betrayed us!" That's my favorite line to hear when I've betrayed someone."

"You are a lunatic," said Kai with a blank stare then she tilted her head. "But it might work."

"Thanks love," said Roz with a wink. Kai just ignored her and went back to looking at Mara. "Then after our little scene I can distract the guards somehow, Attitude girl can become a dragon apparently and you all will hop on and get the hell out of there, yeah?"

"Her name is Kaida," said Mara with a small glare on her face as she looked at Roz. I don't think I had ever seen her glare at someone. Frown? Yes. Glare? No way. She was always too nice for that.

Roz rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Okay," said Bash with a sure nod. "Let's do this."

We left our backpacks in the cave, less weight to put on Kaida. Bash gave us weapons just in case we would need them. I shoved my half of the Vad into a holster and called it good. My heart was pounding so loud I'm surprised nobody could hear it bouncing off the cave walls. Raiden's hand found mine as we began to walk back to the entrance. His fingers slid through mine, tangling our hands together. His face was stone, concealing any emotion he might be feeling but his hand holding mine told me he was afraid. Afraid for me.

I squeezed his hand and offered him a reassuring smile, that I didn't quite believe myself. My eyes found Ever and noticed he was extra close to Octavious and that Kaida was also extra close to Mara as if to take an arrow for her or jump in front of a sword for her if the opportunity presented itself. I realized that's what Raiden was doing for me.

We reached the entrance and at first, there was nothing. Nothing but snow and silence and the sound of my heartbeat pounding. It was fully nighttime now, stars shined above us casting some light down. It all happened in seconds. Suddenly there was a whoosh sound in the air and somebody cried out in pain. I whipped my head around to find an arrow, black and made of wood, sticking through Nyan's arm. Bash had caught her before she fell to the ground from the force. He looked up, as if at the sky.

"They're in the trees," he whispered.

"Kaida now!" Shouted Roz, saying Kai's name as if she had known it the whole time. Knowing her she probably did.

Kaida didn't hesitate, she shifted in seconds, her normal form vanishing and suddenly there was a dragon before us. She wasn't as big as the first dragon I saw but terrifying nonetheless. Covered in stone black scales, that looked like steam came off of them, and eyes so amber it was like the sun was shining down on you.

More arrows flew at us but none of them hit because we were moving too fast, each of us jumping onto the dragon's back. As soon as we were all on securely, Kaida took off. The first thing I noticed was the heat. There really was steam coming from her scales and they were burning hot underneath my skin. Once we were in the air Bash began to treat Nyan's arm. She laid across Kaidas back, vertically, as we surrounded her. Though Kaidas dragon form was not long, it was wide. "Ny?" He asked. "I need you to open your eyes. Can you do that?"

Her eyes opened. They weren't closed because she was tired, they were closed because she was in pain.

"I can take it away," Ever offered. I could tell it wasn't just to be nice it was because he really wanted to. He hated seeing her in pain.

"Absolutely not," she hissed.

"I'm going to have to break it," Bash explained.

"My arm?!" Nyan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Bash chuckled, green eyes filling with amusement. "No idiot, the arrow."

"Well excuse me if I'm not in my proper mind."

I chuckled at that, she was quite funny when she was in pain. While Bash did what he needed to do to help her I finally let myself look at the horizon beyond. I let myself feel the wind through my hair, the cold breeze through my lungs. It was truly beautiful. It reminded me of being on the pirate ship all those weeks ago. It was strangely freeing to ride on the back of a dragon.

And then I decided to look down. My stomach sank at what I saw. Mara was right. They were everywhere. Hundreds of them. Of soldiers. Dressed in black looking as terrifyingly as the next. All of this just for a stupid sword? All of this just for a girl who happens to be both Greer and Devara? I realized it didn't have much to do with any of that. The Greer king was angry with me. He was angry with his son and his daughter too. For making a fool of him. I knew how his sort worked. We had wounded his ego.

No sooner than when we had taken off, the Greer had figured out what we were doing and started firing arrows at us. Kaida tried to block them as best she could, using her wings as a shield for the rest of us. But all that did was wound her. My eyes widened at the arrows piercing through her wings.

How was she still flying?

But then I noticed that we were soaring downwards and that we had been for a while. She couldn't keep us up much longer.

"Kai are you okay?" Asked Mara, concerned.

We were close to the trees now, the top branches brushing across us. After a while, I could see we were heading towards a small clearing and finally Kaida lowered us to the ground where we were soon to be killed. Crimson blood poured over the snow-covered ground, glistening in the moonlight, coming from Kaidas wings. Seconds later Kaida shifted back into her normal Devara form, her injuries in her dragon form disappearing.

"Kaida are you alright?" Octavious asked, helping her stand.

Kaida wiped sweat from her brow with the end of her t-shirt, her stomach and abs coming into full view, though she didn't seem to care at all. "Fine, but I'm drained out, I don't think I can shift again, not for a while at least."

At that moment a sudden thump came out of nowhere, it was almost as if something dropped out of the sky and onto the ground, well, multiple somethings. My blood ran cold and everything in me froze. Everyone else stilled as well. I turned my head towards the tree line, seeing several dark figures embraced in shadows all around us.

How did they find us so quickly?

"Plan?" Ever whispered at me.

I held my head up, swallowing down the crushing fear in my bones. "We already tried running ... Now we fight."

***

That's all I got for now. I hope you all have a good week!

As always please correct any grammar mistakes you see. I wrote this when I was tired as shit at three am 😭

Oh wait there was one thing I wanted to talk about. A lot of people are arguing on whether or not Raiden is white??? Y'all I've said multiple times that he's not. He's south Asian and I don't specifically say that in the story because he's not from our world or whatever he's from a fantasy land but please stop saying he's white when he's not. I've described him as brown multiple times so I'm not sure why you would imagine him as white.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed the chapter. We are getting a little closer to the end of this story now.

Bring tissues for the next chapter ;)