Chapter Ten
Friends And Enemies

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There was a green Mantis, about six feet tall, and a smaller, bluish- green Mantis, about four feet tall. They were talking to each other in squeaks and howls that seemed untranslatable by any human. The taller of the two walked over to the Hippocrene and took a drink from it. It looked up from drinking and noticed me. Its two strange eyes glowed orange, and it seemed to stand like a human. It started to charge at me, but I cast Speed and ran at a supernatural speed away from the Mantis. I cast Detect, and noticed that both Mantis's were glowing with a bright blue color. Brighter than it should be for any being of Magic.

"Light Cloak." I said. I looked down, and couldn't see myself. I smirked to myself at this great spell that EDEN had empowered me with. It lets light pass right through me to make me seem invisible. I looked up from my invisible self and saw the Mantis looking around itself to see where I went to. It then walked back to the smaller Mantis, and hugged it. I realized that these creatures were more human than Mantis. I slowly walked to the creatures, still hidden by my Light Cloak spell, and cast Destroy Enchantment on the green Mantis. It saw a human shape flicker from the spell, but it remained in Praying Mantis form. I reached into my bag and felt around for the Magic Charm Bracelet that Prince Justin had given to me. I tried to place it on my wrist, but it was hard because I couldn't see myself. I got it on, and recast the spell.

"Destroy Enchantment!" I said, dropping my Light Cloak spell. The green Mantis fell to the ground. As it fell, clothing formed around it. When it hit the ground, there was a man in his forties lying before me. He had at least a week old beard on his face, and had clothing from the North. He looked up at me with his bloodshot eyes, and stood up.

"Please! Help my son!" he said. His voice crackled when he spoke. I raised my hand, and aimed the Destroy Enchantment spell at the bluish-green Mantis. The Mantis slowly turned into a boy my age. He looked like a normal teenager, but had a mature, wise look in his eyes. The man went over and embraced his son.

"Thank you, boy! I don't know how to repay you!"

I smiled. "You don't have to." He gave a look of surprise, then let go of his son. He looked up, and my eyes followed where he looked. For the first time, I saw the Pegasus. It was the most beautiful creature that I had ever seen. The man looked at me in amazement.

"Is this Silmaria!" he said, his voice sounding a lot clearer. I nodded. "I must see King Orion!" I laughed at his urgency.

"I might be able to help you there. I'm staying at the Hall of Kings."

"I won't need any help." He smiled. "My name is Draco, I'm Orion's brother." I almost tripped when he said that. "This is my son Joshua" He nodded his head in recognition of me.

"I am Prince Erik the Third, of Shapeir." I said, and bowed. "I am honoured to meet you Draco." He looked nothing like the Draco from my dream. First off, he was older, by about twenty years. He also had facial hair, and a dark tan. His dark hazel eyes seemed focused on something distant, and never seemed to be aware of what he was really looking at. I felt a sense of loneliness when he looked at me. I walked over to the Hippocrene and scooped some water with my hand and brought it to my mouth. The feeling the water gave me was one of power and one of peace. I reached into my bag and took out one of my flasks and filled it with the water. I then stood back up and directed my attention back to the two people whom I had just saved. "I will get us to a safe place until we have a chance to get to Silmaria itself." I cast Erana's Haven on Draco, and then on Joshua and watched them disappear.

As Joshua vanished, I heard a laughter from above me, and I looked up to one of the large pillars of rock, and saw a swirling of gray and orange. A Kobold appeared. It looked strikingly familiar. Then it hit me, it was Markus! The same Kobold from my dream. He raised his hands, and the clouds above us started turning gray. He then jumped the tremendous height with very little difficulty. He landed on his feet, and started to talk to me.

"You'll never be a hero Prince Erik. You'd be better off dead than alive." He raised his hands again, and cast a Force Bolt at me. I tried to jump away from the Bolt but it hit me hard in the leg while I was still in mid-air. I fell to the ground hard, landing on my back and skinning my left shoulder. I winced at the pain. Markus laughed again, then cast another Force Bolt at me. I rolled to my right, a crater forming where my head had been.

"What do you want?!" I screamed at my foe. I slowly stood up, Markus just staring at me menacingly.

"All I want is to have you dead." He teleported onto a rock that was about twenty feet away from where he had previously been.

"May the Power of Darkness converge on us two, Bring me the power of the Evil Nosferatu!"

Markus finished his incantation, and the Pegasus Peaks disappeared. The sky was completely black. The Hippocrene had disappeared, the cliffs were gone. All I saw was a black void all around me. The only color was the gray stone of the ground. Markus appeared standing in front of me. I tried to back away, but he rammed me in the stomach with his cane, knocking the wind out of me. I collapsed to the ground in pain. I felt a burning in my side. DragonFury was unsheathing herself. The blue gem on the hilt let out a large pulse of light, and the sword fell to the ground.

Markus looked wide-eyed at me. "Interesting Summon boy! But you cannot defeat me that easily!" He then crossed his arms. I cast fetch on DragonFury and sheathed it. "Shadow Bats!" Markus screamed, throwing his arms out in front of him, small, gray bats started flying from his hands out towards me!

"Light Wall!" I yelled, erecting a glowing window of magic in front of me.

"Faer Haven Darkness Destroy!"

I heard a voice from above me. A Faerie girl barely dressed in pink, and with pink hair, was floating above me. She had her arms extended above her head. She flew down beside me, keeping her focus on Markus.

"Erik," she said, "we are in a alternate reality created by the Kobold. That is why you can see me." The darkness around us slowly started turning green.

"Who are you?" I asked the Faer girl.

"You know me as DragonFury," she looked at me long enough for me to notice her pink eyes. The ground beneath me slowly turned to grass. I saw small trees grow into giant towers around us.

"NO! I will not let you win!" I totally forgot about Markus still being there. He cast a volley of Force Bolts and Lightning Balls at my Light Shield. The barrier flashed with each hit, and quickly disappeared.

"Light Laser!" I yelled at him, then raised my hand to send the beam of concentrated Light energy at him. He raised his hands above his head and lowered them back to his side, casting the Reversal spell. I quickly cut off my attack so the returning laser of light would be as short as possible.

Markus crossed his arms. "Shadow Bats!" Markus yelled. Several more bats came flying at me.

"Wall!" DragonFury flew at me, and tackled me to the ground away from the bats that her wall was unable to stop.

"You two are really starting to get on my nerves!" Markus teleported to the outside of the wall, waiting for it to fall.

DragonFury and I both stood up. I looked at Markus thoughtfully, trying to devise a plan.

"Erik, you might find this spell useful," DragonFury floated in front of me, then placed her hand to my forehead like Bruce and Erana had done earlier. I felt the knowledge of the spell 'Fly' sink into the depth of my brain. I tried to cast my new spell, but it didn't work. My Mana was depleted.

"DragonFury, hold him off if the Wall falls until I can finish my potion."

"My name is Viana, I'd appreciate it if you called me by that."

I shook my head, then reached into my pouch and grabbed out one of my spare Mana Potions. I quickly drank the potion, and the bottle it was in vanished. I now tried to use my new spell. I shot ten feet into the air. I looked down to the grassy plain below me. Viana flew up beside me. Markus had an irritated look on his face.

"You rotten child! I will make you suffer!" Viana's Wall then faded. Markus cast Shadow Bats again. The bats flew out from his hands and in between me and Viana. I flew down and tackled Markus. He flew through the air and landed on the ground, hard. I flew back up beside Viana.

"Lightning Storm!" I cast the spell, creating clouds that formed under the canopy of the giant trees. Lightning bolts crashed down into the ground, leaving craters and burnt grass where they hit. Markus tried to dodge the bolts, but was too slow. He looked up at me.

"You haven't seen the last of me, Prince Erik!" He hit both hands to his chest, and disappeared. The area around me started to fade. I looked up at Viana, she was fading too.

"Will I ever see you again?"

"Only if you realize the essence of my entrapment." She looked like she had a tear in her eye. "Until then, I can only see you in like this. Goodbye, my Prince!"

I stood there and watched her vanish as the Pegasus Peaks rematerialized around me. I saw pink and lavender sparkles form around me, and soon found myself back at Bruce and Erana's house.