The more we walked, the more I wondered why we didn’t invest more time in taming the pegasi. Seriously! Who thought it was a good idea to go on a million-mile-long walk?!

  “It hasn’t been a million miles,” Finn whispered to me.

  Well, it may as well have been! My legs didn’t know the difference! You would think that whatever little magic awakened in me would enhance my stamina like last time. I totally wasn’t drugged up on ether last time.

  “You kind of were,” Finn whispered again.

  “Can you two stop having a secret conversation back there?” Maverick turned to us.

  “Maaaaaaverick!” I whined. “Carry meeeeee!”

  “If you say so.” Maverick smirked.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, nobody’s carrying Ella.” Finn took a step in front of me.

  “Ella says otherwise.”

  “She was obviously joking.” Finn crossed his arms in front of him, not even bothering to turn towards me. Maverick, on the other hand, peeked around him.

  The odd thing was, I wasn’t joking. And Finn knew that.

  “It wasn’t a joke. I’m tired. Someone carry me.” I plopped down on the ground for added effect.

  “I’ll carry her!” The only part of Marge I could see was her hand waving frantically between Finn and Maverick’s sides.

  “You have nothing to say about this?” Zephyr asked, but I couldn’t tell who that question was directed at.

  Suddenly, my body levitated in the air. I briefly lost my balance as I started tumbling over to the side, but it was like gravity somehow came to my rescue and pushed me back.

  “There. I’ll carry Ella,” Aidan replied. I expected him to be smug about this, but his expression was blank. I thought back to what Finn had said earlier, and my stomach dropped. I’d have to talk to Aidan later…

  Man, walking was so much easier when you didn’t, you know, actually have to walk… I sat happily in the air, being suspended by Aidan’s wind magic.

  “Are you sure you’re not going to run out of magic?” I cupped my hands around my mouth so Aidan would hear me.

  “You know you don’t have to shout, right?” Maverick rubbed his ear. “You’re only like… ten feet in the air. That’s not even double my height.”

  “Shut up. You’re right next to me, and Aidan may as well be in another country.”

  “…You know I’m not any farther than before you started floating, right?” Aidan asked. Well, now I felt stupid. “To answer your question, no, I won’t run out of ether.”

  “Right…” I bit my lip.

  We (they) continued walking, and I couldn’t tell if I was still fascinated by the scenery or if I was starting to get sick of it. Like, yeah, sparkly lava rivers are cool and all, but like… when are we going to see something else? Lava river, green and yellow trees, lava river. That’s all that stretched on as far as the eye could see. Oh, sorry, occasionally there was a regular water river thrown in there, so the people in this story won’t thirst.

  Eventually, we came across a cave. Finally! Something different!

  Zephyr pulled out the folded-up map from his pocket. “It looks like the Falor Ghula is just past this cave.”

  Cool, I was getting sick of the scenery.

  “Ella says she’s looking forward to seeing more slizors.” Finn winked at me.

  “What?! No, I didn’t!” I shouted. “On second thought, um, maybe we should just go around the cave…?”

  “According to the map, there’s lava blocking one side, and you’ll simply fall off the continent on the other side,” Zephyr explained.

  “The lava isn’t a problem for me,” Aidan replied, staring at the pool of lava west of us.

  “Well, it is for us, kid.” Maverick crossed his arms, eyeing him suspiciously.

  Aidan turned to face him, his tone sharp. “I’m just saying that I could swim to the other side and take care of the Falor Ghula myself. You only really need my light magic, after all.”

  I could feel the tension rising between them, my stomach sinking the same way it did when my parents used to argue…

  “Even if light magic is all we need, do you really think you can take it on all by yourself?” Maverick took a few steps forward. He practically towered over Aidan.

  “Yeah, actually.” Aidan stood up straight, making himself seem slightly taller. It still did nothing to combat the nearly half-foot difference.

  “Now you’re just being stupid,” Maverick snapped.

  “Why are you treating me like I’m still weak?!” Aidan snapped back. “I’m not even the weakest one here anymore—”

  “Hey!” Finn shouted, his voice practically reverberating around us. “I think it’s time you got your head on straight and stopped acting like a cocky little shit.”

  “Wait, Finn—” I called out and was going to reach out for him, but Aidan moved his arm to punch him in the face. Thankfully, Finn reacted in time and grabbed Aidan by the wrist.

  “Listen here.” Finn tightened his hold on Aidan’s wrist, making the latter wince. “Unlocking your Talent doesn’t make you special. Nearly all of us here use our Talent daily. That doesn’t give you an excuse to act all high and mighty. Do you understand? Or would you prefer I tell everyone here what’s really going on?”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Get out of my head, you bastard!” Aidan shouted through gritted teeth before yanking his wrist out of Finn’s grasp.

  “We’re going through the cave. There is no going around.” Finn entered without waiting for a reply.

  I glanced at Aidan, offering a sheepish smile. His expression was blank again, but I could sense his anger. “For what it’s worth, I think your Talent is really cool!” I added to try to cheer him up. He wordlessly walked into the cave as if he didn’t even hear me.

  “Gee, wonder what’s up with him.” Marge shook her head before following. Maverick followed with her, his anger matching Aidan’s.

  “Don’t worry.” Zephyr placed a hand on my shoulder. “Aidan’s just adjusting to his new power. He’s never gone through anything like this before, and none of us has a similar Talent.”

  “Yeah…” I mumbled back. There was something deeper going on; Finn made that abundantly clear. But I needed to gain Aidan’s trust…

  Upon entering the cave, the area around Aidan started glowing.

  “Whoa! Is that light magic?!” Marge asked.

  Aidan nodded.

  Light was an element, right? I can use elements… Can I use light? I held out my palm in front of me, and light began to flicker like a burst of electricity, but never fully manifested.

  “Maverick, why don’t you try using your light magic?” Finn asked with a certain smugness in his tone.

  “You know my light magic isn’t that strong.” Maverick rolled his eyes.

  “And if I had to guess, Aidan is on the same path.” Finn eyed Aidan suspiciously.

  “Shut up!” Aidan took a stomp forward towards Finn. The two glared at each other for a while, and would have probably continued if I hadn’t said anything.

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “Light and dark magic exist on a spectrum of sorts,” Zephyr explained. “Darkness represents chaos, and light represents orderliness. Darkness can also represent death, and light life. One tends to lean one way or another, but it’s not uncommon to wield both. It’s actually less common for one to only be able to wield one.”

  “Is it true that light magic can revive someone?” Marge asked.

  “Yes. However, the wielder must give their life in return. Aidan’s magic likely awakened out of his desire to save Ella.”

  Aidan huffed.

  “Well, there are two paths up ahead. I say we split up,” Finn suggested. “Maverick, you’re still able to teleport relatively close distances, right?”

  “I should be able to, yeah,” Maverick answered. “I can teleport to you if I find the exit or if my path is a dead end.”

  “Good. You go with Zephyr and Marge.”

  “Wait, wait, wait, I want to be with Ella and Aidan!” Marge whined.

  “Well, I’m not leaving Aidan out of my sight.”

  “Then I’ll just come with.” Marge crossed her arms.

  “It’s fine. Zephyr and I will be fine on our own,” Maverick replied. “Try not to miss me too much.” He winked at me.

  “In your dreams.” Finn rolled his eyes.

  Somehow, I got the feeling that this cave would be a lot longer and probably more dangerous than the cave we first arrived in.

  “Aw, it probably won’t be so bad.” Finn smiled at me.

  “You know, it’s really annoying when you do that…” Aidan snapped.

  “It’s really annoying when you give your unwanted opinion,” Finn shot back.

  “I’ve had it with you two!” Marge shouted, her voice echoing through the cave to where I half thought Maverick would teleport to us, asking if we were okay. “Just stop bickering already! That’s what’s annoying!”

  “He started it!” Aidan shouted, pointing a finger at Finn’s chest.

  “And your attitude isn’t helping! From now on, if you have nothing nice to say, just don’t say anything!”

  “Tell that to him…” Aidan mumbled.

  “What did I just say?” Marge’s eyes narrowed as she gritted her teeth. She really was scary when she was angry…

  Aidan rolled his eyes and continued walking.

  “And enough of the sass! Both of you!”

  We continued walking in silence. Eerie silence. Creepy silence. Like the eerie, creepy cave we were in.

  “Sooooo, Ella, what’s new in life? Any cute boys you have your eye on?” Marge nudged my shoulder with her own.

  “Kind of difficult when we’re surrounded by not cute boys,” I teased.

  “I’m cute.” Finn huffed, crossing his arms.

  “Ehhh, not my type.” Marge shrugged.

  “Who is your type, then?” I asked. “Rosalie?”

  “Rosalie… Hm, I can’t think of any boys I like. We just don’t have any cute boys at the manor. I swear there were more cute boys where I’m from.” She shook her head.

  A ball of fire shot out into the darkness.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  “There was a slizor. I didn’t think you wanted to deal with it.” Aidan shrugged.

  “You can see that far ahead?” I raised an eyebrow, though he couldn’t see since he wasn’t facing me.

  “Yeah. My night vision has improved.”

  Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled that the slizor was gone, but… that was a bit excessive. I felt like we should at least eat the slizor or something.

  Burnt snake doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, though.

  Aidan and Finn suddenly halted.

  “What is it now?” Marge asked.

  “Something’s coming,” Finn responded, glancing back at the two of us before focusing on what was in front of us that Marge and I very much couldn’t see. Or at least I couldn’t see. Maybe Marge also has night vision.

  A creature over half my size came running at us from the dark. I instinctively screamed, my back colliding with the cave’s wall.

  “What the heck is that thing?!” I shouted, trying to process what I was looking at while also trying to stay as far away from it as possible.

  “I-I don’t know!” Marge shouted back. “I don’t think we have those in Meridia!”

  It looked like the body of a mole with the head of a skeleton. It also had yellow spots on its body.

  Two more creatures came running towards us, and it wasn’t until now that I noticed the faint purple light they emitted.

  My back was now glued to the wall, my fingers digging into the crevices, unsure what else to do.

  “It’s okay, Ella.” Finn ran over to me, pulling one of my hands free from the side of the wall. “They’re pretty small, right? If you keep your distance, you should be able to kill them from here.”

  “I second that.” Marge nodded. “It’s a good time to practice your magic.”

  “No. I don’t want to.” I frantically shook my head. “I’m not ready. Can you guys just kill them?”

  Finn pursed his lips before glancing at Marge, who shrugged. Without another word, he summoned his lance and gracefully took all three out with one swing. See? It was more efficient this way!

  “Come with me.” Finn grabbed my wrist and practically dragged me further into the cave

  “H-hey! What are you doing?!” I tried not to shout, not knowing what creature’s attention I’d attract next.

  “See over there?” Finn pointed in the distance, just past the light that Aidan emitted. I could faintly make out a silhouette. “There’s another one. From here, you could kill it in one shot without it ever noticing you. Want to try?”

  “Not really…” My body tensed.

  “You’re completely safe, Ella. If you miss and it comes running towards you, I’ll intercept it. I’ll have plenty of time.”

  “I’d really rather not…”

  “Why is that?” he asked patiently, with genuine curiosity.

  “Because I’m scared and uncomfortable, and I don’t really see a purpose to this.”

  “I understand.” He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Thank you for being honest with me. I won’t push you anymore.”

  Wait, why did he ask when he could already read my mind?

  “Sometimes it helps to verbalize your thoughts.” He shrugged at me with a smile before walking back towards the others.

  What was he trying—

  The ground beneath me collapsed a bit, creating a slide down to the bottom that I was powerless against. I winced as my ankle twisted and landed flat on my face.

  “Ow…” I mumbled as I pushed myself up. I could hear tiny footsteps approaching, but I couldn’t see anything. It was pitch black.

  I froze where I was sitting, my head frantically swishing back and forth as I tried to find what was running at me. I could hear heavy breathing now—it was in front of me, but I didn’t know where.

  I tried to summon light magic, but all I got was a bunch of icicles! Curse you, emotions!

  Light surrounded me as a yo-yo whipped by me, knocking out the bald-headed creature.

  “Are you okay?!” Marge and Finn shouted in unison.

  I could feel tears welling in my eyes, but I wouldn’t cry. Not here, not now. “Take me back to the village. You don’t need my help defeating the Falor Ghula—I’ll only be a burden. I don’t want to be here anymore. Take me back!” I pleaded.

  Marge extended her hand out, grabbing onto my hand and pulling me up forcefully. “You’re part of the team, Ella. We’re not leaving you behind.”

  “You don’t have to contribute to the fighting if you don’t want to. You can uh, be emotional support!” Finn suggested with a forced smile.

  “That makes me feel so much better…” I sighed before chuckling to lighten the mood.

  “I’m all we need anyway,” Aidan mumbled.