Chapter One: Living Flames
Ush stirred in bed as he dreamed up a dream filled with horror and pain. He woke up in a matter of seconds and sat there in bed, thinking over what had just happened. He sighed a deep sigh of relief as he got up and walked over to his sink. "Boy am I glad that was a dream." He said as he grabbed a rag from one of his cabinets and sat it under the faucet. When it was wet enough, he gently rubbed the rag over his face. Then placed the rag back in the cabinet, and walked over to his dresser and pulled out his robe and slid it on. Lastly, he went over to his sandals, and slid them on as well, and walked out of his room. As Ush walked down the spiral staircase, he heard voices.
"Where's Ush? He's late again..." a silky female voice spoke in a worried tone. Then a familiar voice spoke,
"There is no need to worry Evaleen. He's probably just sleeping in." Remington assured the girl.
"Yeah.., your probably right..." Evaleen answered with a sigh. Bam! Evaleen and Remington looked to where the sound came from and saw Ush standing there with his eyes tired from no sleep. "Ush? Is everything okay?" She asked with a worried look on her face. Ding-dong! Ush looked at the door with his wide, glowing, yellow eyes. Remington stood to answer the door, only to find Ush stoping him with a gesture of his hand.
"Don't answer the door." Ush said slowly. His tail whipped the air like a blade cutting down it's apponent. It was a sign that he was annoyed or angry. "I'll do it." Remington was confused.
"But-"
"I'll do it! Now sit down!" He yelled at Remington. He sighed a very stressed sigh as he walked over to the door.
"Ush! Don't-" Evaleen started, but stopped as she saw his deadly stare. His hand went towards the doorknob as Remington and Evaleen gasped. They both closed there eyes when they heard Ush's shriek of pain.
"AHH! WHAT WAS THAT?!" Ush screamed as he pulled his hand away from the door. Evaleen rolled her eyes.
"I tried to warn you." she said flatly, then pulled out a pair of blue oven gloves and handed them to Ush.
"Thank you my love." He smiled in a way that made Evaleen feel warm and fuzzy inside. Evaleen blushed as she saw that Remington was smirking at the two of them. Ush hurried to the door and stood there, wide eyed. Chills crept up his spine like vines slowly climbing a tree.
"Can we get up now?" Remington said with sarcasm flowing throughout his voice. Ush just stood there, looking at what was in front of him. "You okay Ush?" Ush shook his head violently as if he was shaking off a thought that had been stuck in his mind all night. In fact, that was exactly what he was doing.
"J-Jévolan! W-why are you here and not at the Ombré Realm?" Ush switched from a shocked expression to a stern expression, yet he still stammered as he spoke. Jévolan laughed a terrifying laugh.
"Why do you think I would be here?" He said in a raspy, deep voice.
"Umm.., to-" Ush was inturrupted by the old foe. Jévolan got close to Ush's face, making Ush cringe from the smell of rotten flesh in Jévolan's breath.
"To get my revenge." As soon as he stopped speaking, he disappeared. Nausea's cold hands crept up Ush's spine, and soon enough, he fell into it's dark spell.
"Ush!" Evaleen and Remington both ran over to him, lifted him off the cool floor, and into his bed. "I'll go start some Waterspell Tea for us, keep an eye on Ush whilst I'm gone." Evaleen instructed him. Remington nodded his head in respect of her wishes. Evaleen hurried downstairs and began brewing the minty tea. She made a mix of a few peppermint tea leaves, some water from the Okapi River that her and Ush had collected from a previous journey to the forest haven, some sugar, and a tablespoon of healing powder.
As soon as she was finished with the Waterspell Tea, she walked back upstairs with two glasses of the delicious tea; one for Ush, and one for Remington. When she walked in, Ush and Remington were talking about something. "Umm.., sorry to bust your bubble, but who are you talking about?" Evaleen interrupted. They hadn't realized that she had come inside.
"Oh! Sorry Evaleen!" Remington apologized, "we were just talking about Jévolan. Come, have a seat!" He gestured over to a seat over by Ush's bed. Her eyes widened as she sunk into the luscious, warm, fuzzy seat.
"Wow! This is a SUPER comfy seat!" She exclaimed. As soon as she got comfy in the wonderful seat, she asked an easy, yet complicated question to Ush. "So smart guy, what's your plan for destroying Dark Lord Jévolan?"
Ush smirked, and replied in a relaxed tone, "I think I got a plan."
"PHEW! That's a relief!" Remington jested. Ush gave him a dirty look, which didn't help at all because Evaleen laughed so hard that she fell out of her luscious chair, which she quickly got back into.
"Alright, enough funny business!" Ush started, "Now, here's my plan."