Chapter 41

Dez and everyone started at dawn on their travels, they all left on horseback even though Tristan and Dez wanted to fly in their dragon form, so they could get back sooner. Malik felt the same way, he could've used his gift to meet them there, but because Dez never saw Malik's gift and vice versa King Titus decided to just go by horse, just to be careful. They just reached the only road that left the Vampire Kingdom, there were two roads to pick from, one that led to the Fairy Kingdom or the one that led toward the Witches Kingdom. Dez and Malik already memorized the map and knew where to go without looking at it. They both signaled for King Titus Tristan to follow them toward the Fairy Kingdom and began to go in that direction. They all knew that going this way they would definitely run into some Trolls, they instantly became on high alert. They picked up their speed to quickly pass the territory. The last thing they needed was to be slowed down for any reason. The horses were galloping at full speed, Malik and Dez in the front, King Titus in the middle and Tristan in the rear. After a couple of hours of riding, they came across a dirt path that was covered with tall grass and weeds. Dez and Malik looked at each other, "This can't be the way, It's covered and it look like no one has been this way in years", Dez said as he turned his head to the road. " I agree but the map shows that wwe need to go down that path. It's a small path, we can't take the horses, we will have to walk the rest of the way", Malik said as he jumped off of his horse. Dez and Tristan jumped off their horse and began to examine their surroundings. King Titus stayed on his horse until they knew everything was safe. After Malik and Dez scanned the area, Dez walked over to King Titus to help him off his horse. "We need to walk from here, I will stay with you while Malik and Tristan go in front". King Titus nodded his head and looked at Dez, " I may be old but I still can take care of myself, you don't need to watch me on this trip". He started walking toward Malik and Tristan, " We all can walk together, I believe I'm strong enough to handle myself". Dez smirked then nodded to him, this is the first time he has done this. He guesses Tristan's presence is making him do this. The bushes and weeds looked taller than expected; Malik pulled out his sword and started to walk toward the entrance of the path. "Stay here and rest, it's a pond five minutes from here. I will go ahead a couple of miles and cut a path for us. I'll be back within a hour". Malik disappeared into the path while Dez, Tristan, and King Titus decided to stay close to the path in case Malik ran into some trouble. Malik traveled most of the path within 30 minutes before he reached the darkside of the forest that sent a chill down his spine. The Oracles had to be there, he felt nothing but power radiating from that area. He stood there debating on whether or not to move forward or go back to get the others. He could not move his feet, he stood there trying to move forward, but only felt dread and despair. He smirked as his eyes began to glow and he was at the beginning of the path. He walked out the entrance and walked over to them sitting under a tree a few yards away, " That was quicker than a hour, did anything happen?", Dez asked as he began to stand up. King Titus stood up, he was curious about Dez's question, " Is there a problem? Can we not continue?" Malik straightened his clothes and face then stood up straight, " The road continued for almost 2 hours, they were there, I felt their ora its very strong". Dez looked at Malik with a questioning look on his face, " You've only been gone a little over a half hour, how do you know it's almost a 2 hour walk?" Tristan, who was laying down looking at the sky, stood up and walked over to Dez and Malik and put his hand on both of their shoulders, " What's with the questions and distrust? We are both on the same side right?" Before either of them could say anything Tristan narrowed his eyes to both of them, " We need to have a talk to ease everyone's mind, we are all family there should be trust between us". He looked at Dez, " Dez, Malik is a transporter. He can transport anywhere or transport anything as long as he's touching it". Dez glaced at Malik and felt more irritated, ''We could've been there and back". Tristan just laughed, he remembered when he was young and hot tempered. "Dez, it's ok, at least we got to know each other", as he winked at Dez. Malik wanted to ask about Dez, but when he looked at King Titus, King Titus shook his head. King Titus walked over to them and looked at them both, "Since we are almost there, Malik can take us the rest of the way", as he smiled. At this time Dez didn't care about how they got there as long as they got there quickly. Something didn't feel right, he kept having a nagging feeling, but he didn't understand why. He will definitely ask Tristan or King Titus about it later.

They all walked over to Malik and stood there. Maliks eyes started glowing as King Titus touched Malik, Tristan and Dez touched him then they were standing at the entrance of the Dark Forest. Dez looked around with a surprised look on his face, they were at the Dark Forest. This can't be good, Dez thought, " Why did we stop here?" Malik smirked and started scanning the area, " You dragons are all alike, you never pay attention until it's too late. Scan the area, do you not feel anything? Did you not notice there is no kind of life here, not even bugs". The three of them scanned the area, King Titus and Tristan both had a weird look on their faces, but Dez stood there unaffected. " I noticed the lack of life, but I don't feel anything wrong". He turned and pointed to an area close to the river, " I know without looking at the map that they are that way. I feel a pull to that direction". King Titus, Tristan, and Malik all looked at each other with a surprising look on their face. Malik walked over to Dez, " How could you not feel the dread and despair here? Why do the three of us feel it and you don't?" Malik rarely trusted anyone, he had his reasons, but he could not understand why Dez wasn't affected. If King Titus and Tristan trusted him, he felt he could but, something just isn't sitting right with him. Dez looked at King Titus and then Malik. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever before Dez spoke, " Maybe it's because I'm a shadow Dragon, that type of thing doesn't affect me". Malik was shocked, he really thought the Shadow Dragons were extinct. Sure he's seen Black Dragons but never a Shadow Dragon. Once a Black Dragon realizes that they have a Shadow Dragon it would be too late, they would be killed Before Malik was able to respond King Titus spoke up, " He is my most trusted dragon, If I don't have a problem with him, you shouldn't either. And I would appreciate it if you don't not disclose his secret". Malik nodded at him and looked into the forest again, " How are we supposed to pass, the three of us can't even move a foot toward the forest". Dez smiled as his eyes began to glow, then his shadow began to move toward them, " Just like I told you, that doesn't affect me". His shadow stretched out to cover all four of them, Malik looked scared but Tristan and King Titus remained calm. The shadow covered them and began to move quickly on the forest floor to the Oracle's cave\. In less than ten seconds they were at the entrance of the cave.

They all walked into the cave, Dez was the only one not feeling the effects, but the other three were sweating and nauseated. They reached a room filled with candles and one of the Oracles was standing in the middle. Her eyes were glowing and she was muttering a chant very fast. Her hair was white and long enough to reach her feet. Her skin looks scaly and dry, while her teeth were grey and brown. They stood there staring at her in shock, they never saw any creature look so hideous and disgusting. As if she felt them in the room, she instantly stopped chanting and smiled, " How did you four get past my barrier?" King Titus tried to answer but he almost passed out trying to muster up the strength to talk. " Hee hee hee, did you try to say something? You should not be here, you're not even strong enough to ask a question". Dez stepped forward and helped King Titus back to the others and turned to her, " You know why we are here. Stop playing games and tell us what we want to know!", as he growled. She stopped laughing and looked at Dez with her milky white eyes as if she could see him. " Mhmmm..... What do we have here, I haven't seen a Shadow Dragon in a very long time". Her voice irritated Dez, he wanted to silence her so bad, but he had to learn about Alora. " Black Dragon, come closer, I want to examine you". "Emmy, is this how we treat guests? We haven't had guests in decades, at least offer them a drink". A beautiful woman was walking into the cave so graceful, it looked like she was gliding. She had long white hair that stopped in the middle of her back. Her skin and teeth was such perfection they didn't believe she belonged in this cave. She stopped next to her sister and looked at them with her milky white eyes. Dez could swear they both can see, it has to be some kind of trick. " Oh Emmy, you're so mean to our guest. We have the King of Dragons here with his son. Don't you think they are strong enough? I tell you, your standards are too high". Her eyes began to glow, " This will help them, I have no intent to harm them". She muttered something and shot 3 of light at them and they immediately felt better. They thanked her and walked over to Dez but still didn't say anything. "I'm Emma and this is my sister Emmy and I know why you're here Dez, Tristan, Titus and Malik. Why didn't you bring the queen with you? This is about her too, don't you think?" Tristan stepped forward so he could explain why Alora isn't there, " She's still a newborn, this is such a long journey for her". "Humph, then you shoulda brought her, I will only talk to her and her alone", Emmy said as she started to walk away. She stopped in the far corner of the room and waved her hand. A door appeared and she turned around, " My barrier was set so only the Queen shall pass. She is the only one I will concern myself with. Bring her back so I can have a talk with her". She walked into the door and it disappeared as fast as it appeared. "I'm sorry about her, she is the one you wanted to talk to. I can see the future and she sees the past, it takes more forbidden magic to see into the past. You need to bring the Queen back, she needs to know about her past lives." "We came all this way for nothing, you can't tell us anything", Tristan presissted. " She faced one of the candles as the flame began to dance, " I can do you one even better than a question. I will show you what will happen if King Morton gets his hands on Alora. Everyone will suffer if that happens". When she turned to them her eyes were glowing, she quickly shot four beams of light to them. Dez saw Aloras dead body, his heart almost broke into little pieces, then he saw that he was working for King Mortons army. He also saw the Dragon Kingdom in flames and King Titus and Tristan's dead bodies. Tristan saw his dead body, then he saw the Dragon City Burning down. The bodies of Lynia and his father scared the hell out of him, he couldn't let this happen. What pissed him off the most is that he saw that his son was the number 2 for King Mortons army. Malik saw everyone he knew and loved dead, even Lucis. He was in the cells because King Morton wanted him to serve him. King Titus saw his kingdom and family was gone. He saw himself executed in front of everyone. The resistance was found out and killed alongside him. All of their hearts were beating fast, they were sweating and nervous. All of them asked her the same question at once, Can this future be changed? Emma smiled, " Did you not hear me say that will happen if you don't bring her here? Bring her here a month before her 18th birthday only her and her Bloodmate should come". The wind blew and she was gone just like that. They all looked at each other and vowed that Dez will bring her back next year, then walked out the cave. Once they reached the horses, Dez was walking to the horse and stopped dead in his tracks, " WHAT. THE.FUCK. ARE.YOU.DOING HERE", he growled. Malik and Tris tan looked around to see who he was talking to, but King Titus told them to let him be. His eyes grew big and his face became dark, " What the fuck did you just say?!!" He looked at King Titus and Tristan with a hurried look on his face, " We need to get back to the castle now! They are under attack and the girls are missing!!!" His eyes instantly started glowing then the shadows engulfed him and he was gone. Malik Eyes started glowing and he touched Tristan and King Titus, then they were back at the castle ready to kill anyone in their way.