"God save us everyone
Will we burn inside the fires of 
A Thousand Suns"

-The Catalyst, Linkin Park.

~

KAITO

There's no time for a backstory. I need to run.

But I will have to give one anyway.

I am not one for violence, but I'm going to throttle the person who suggested we go with the grab and run strategy in the middle of the night.

Yes the tent was surprisingly less guarded than the prison tent, and the plan would have worked if we had more hours of the night without sunlight.

Because guess what? The night in this place lasts for FORTY FIVE MINUTES.

So the Sun began rising as soon as Simba grabbed the Shadow Orbs from the main tent. The Shadow orbs, under the Sun rays, began resisting the force, and somehow alarmed the guards around.

And now we were ambushed.

So of course Simba tossed the two orbs to me and now I'm running for my life.

Wait, I can summon the carpet.

The cat and mouse chase is affecting my thinking ability.

I turn slightly to see swarms of guards coming out of their respective tents and will catch up with me in no time.

Well, lucky for me the carpet zooms to a stop right in front of me. I hop on and off we go, flying as fast as the Air Users.

I had become way too happy to notice the tail of my carpet on fire.

Of course they would destroy the beautiful carpet.

I need to extinguish these flames...I look around and thankfully see Lia flying close by.

"Lia!" I shout and get her attention. She flies closer and I toss the orb towards her. She expertly catches it and flies away while I begin working on the flames with my magic.

◆●◆●◆

AUGUSTUS

We have been waiting outside for quite a while, so much that the night itself has ended.

I wonder what the others are doing right now.

And as if on cue, I hear a lot of commotion coming out of the camp. Wha-?

There are guard coming out and I immediately throw an invisibility shield on top of me and Rey.

They run towards where Zarren is standing and start saying something in some foreign language while Zarren just nods at them. They run back inside and Zarren runs towards us.

"Okay so they have been ambushed. We need to do something."

And that is when I see Lia flying towards us, holding two black spheres in her hands.

Oh thank the Gods she's safe.

And well, the God's must have been like 'Ha, ha, SIKE' because in that exact moment, she was shot out of the air like a game bird.

That happens to me all the time now.

I use my air abilities and pull the orbs to myself. These are the ones we need in exchange for the key?

I turn to where Rachelle and the others are already mounting on one for he carpets.

And that's when the biggest swarm of black robed guards comes out of practically nowhere.

"RUN TO THE BLAZES CAMP! WE'LL GET THE OTHERS!" Avalkyra shouts.

I don't know where it is.

But well, I don't wanna be killed either, I think, as I duck to dodge an arrow. These people have really bad aim sometimes. And then I dodge a white coloured fireball thrown at me.

I clutch the spheres closely to my chest.

Time to fly Gus.

◆●◆●◆

AUGUSTINE

I summon the carpet to me and my trusty piece of transport spins out of the air and towards me as I jump to miss the line of fire which is currently being shot in my direction.

I look downwards to see scores of Cinders marching towards the exit of the camp.

I zoom towards where Lia is tumbling down out of the sky, and my carpet swoops downwards and scoops her up and with that I fly towards where I had seen Gus go with the orbs.

Lia grips my hands into hers, "Thank you for saving me," she says, with a soft, tired voice. I ignore the heat creeping into my cheeks as I nod slightly at her.

There are arrows being continuously shot at us and I keep swinging the carpet from side to side to try and dodge them.

There are so many Cinders chasing us, it's insane.

We pass Kaito who's charred carpet is going a bit slower than usual and I see Simba on the ground, running for his life as he is being chased by the army of the Cinders.

I will the carpet to go lower and then catch him around the waist and heave him onto the carpet as we fly faster forwards.

"Is it a bad time to say I love you?" Simba asks breathlessly.

"...It is," I reply before turning back to look out for Gus.

Oh well, at least they broke him out safely.

And of course the last thought jinxed everything because Gus gets shot out the air by a few Cinders who had begun riding on the sand like the Blazes.

Poor thing always get hunted down.

I watch as Valerie scoops up the fallen orbs from Golden Boy and begins sprinting away from the Cinders who were catching up on her at the speed of light.

Augustus gets snatched up by Arbor, Coral and Meenakshi's carpet.

"Mikaello!" I yell out and the faerie looks towards us from one of the other carpets.

"Take Valerie away from them and fly out!" I shout as loud as I can.

He nods and spreads his orange wings and flies straight for Valerie, scooping her up in his arms.

◆●◆●◆

MIKAELLO

I have Valerie in my arms. And it's so freaking weird princess carrying her like that.

She seems to pay no heed as she watches the soldiers chasing us, hurling fireballs in our direction.

She closes her eyes and in an instant, a blue shield surrounds us, deflecting every single fireball. But we're still being shot at by hundreds of arrows. I fly whole swinging from one side to the other, while maintaining a tight grip on Valerie.

"I see you were successful in rescuing Augustus and Rey," Valerie speaks up and I nod, before swerving to the left to dodge another barricade of arrows. No offense but these people have really bad aim.

Our plan was to take the Shadow Orbs away and not let the Cinders anywhere near it during the eclipse. And then kill the leaders when they don't get any powers from the orbs. But well, you can see our escape strategies need a little improvement.

My eyes involuntarily shift from our attackers to where Rey is flying a few feet away with Rachelle, Zarren and Avalkyra on the carpet.

She's safe. That's good.

And to say the least, I made a mistake by diverting my attention because now my wings have a dozen arrows sticking out of them.

Pain like acid shoots through my back muscles and I accidentally let go of Valerie. She falls on the sand, landing like a cat and begins sprinting away.

Damn.

I toss the orbs towards Rachelle before my wings lose their ability to hold me in the air anymore.

◆●◆●◆

RACHELLE

Oh heavens I don't like this chase that were going through. I read everywhere that during emergency situations like these, our minds and bodies become hyperactive and act well. All I feel is overwhelming anxiety, and my mind is just continuously shutting down.

What were these idiots thinking?

Now we have the orbs and a dozen arrows flying our way, and Zarren's shield can only hold for so long before he gets too weak to use it again.

We are flying as fast as we can but the Cinders came into their senses and realised they have the ability to ride the sand, so now they're moving as fast as us.

Even if we get to the Blazes camp, will they help us fight? We might just get killed by then.

I grip the orbs tightly in both my hands, and it's so irritating that the sphere's we're being attacked for are as big as my fists. The others we had seen at the Blazes camp had been five times bigger, yet these two small ones were more powerful than the rest.

This world is so screwed up.

I know we are in trouble when Zarren begins drooping onto my side. His energy is depleting, and his shield is becoming weaker.

Suddenly, I feel the most intense amount of pain I've ever felt, on my calf. It's on fire. Literally and metaphorically. We were unable to dodge a fireball and it burned a hole through the carpet and grazed my right calf.

Agony. It's agony, the heat of the fireball in the already sweltering heat of the sandy realm. I feel my eyes water with the pain, but I grit my teeth. I need to hold it together.

It hurts so much, like my skin is being torn apart by a flaming hand. I don't have the courage to even look at the wound let alone touch it or tend to it.

Plus the Sun is now completely out into the sky, after having barely an hour of moonlight, it's blazing heat not helping our situation in any way.

Another hole tears through our carpet, caused by yet another fireball. And now our carpet is almost completely on fire.

We have to jump.

◆●◆●◆

VALERIE

I watch in horror as Rachelle jumps down the carpet with the orbs into the sand, and then tumbles down a sand dune to the bottom, the Cinders chasing after her now.

Even though my legs feel like they will melt if I run any longer, I sprint towards her. She desperately needs a weapon and shield.

But before I can get there, Gus lands in front of a lying Rachelle, a golden shield glimmering around the two of them. The Cinders that were about to attack her get burnt by golden flames as they touch the shield.

Augustine's carpet is also completely on fire, and the pink haired boy also has no option but to jump along with the rest of the crew. They land near Gus and Rachelle, surrounding Rachelle with their own bodies.

I join them as Arbor, Meenakshi and Coral run towards us, and they join the circle as well, with Minakshi dusting off some flames from her robes as if they were dust.

"My leg," Rachelle whines. I wince as I look at her burnt leg, charred so much that I can see some of her calf muscles and the bone beneath. I wish my healing powers extended to healing others as well. I can only heal myself.

None of us can spare energy to heal it right now.

"Hang in there Princess, I won't let you get another scratch," Augustus says through grit teeth.

Simba, Kaito and Mikaello run into the golden shield, followed by Avalkyra, and then finally Rey, whose left wing has a couple of white flames licking it's sides. I flick my fingers at her and the flames extinguish themselves.

I watch as all the arrows, fireballs and spears bounce off the Soul shield Augustus has made. The black-robed freaks are getting closer and closer, crossing the top of the sand dunes around us to get to the bottom where we currently are.

I heft my broadsword and begin equipping my throwing knives on my belt. I hand a bunch of bottles of nectar to the people around me, and down two of them myself.

Suddenly, the surroundings start becoming darker. I look upwards just to see a dark body covering the edge of the Sun.

The moon.

The eclipse has begun.

 Now is the worst time for the Cinders to get their hands on their orbs.

I shift my attention back to the ground. More and more scores of soldiers are now sliding down the high rise sand dunes to get to where we are.

We are surrounded by all sides now. 

We cannot run. We have to fight. 

And protect Rachelle and those orbs at all costs.

~

Hey hey! How was this chapter. I'm not particularly fond of it, but I have no idea how to make it better, so, well, sorry.

The quote is from one of my favourite Linkin Park songs, though it's used in the wrong context. The song is actually based around nuclear warfare, not around a bunch of faeries running away from dudes in black clothes. But well, I couldn't resist. 

I promised fast updates so here it is. The next chapter might just be one of my favourites so stay tuned. It's written in third person.

Until then, toodles :)