Chapter 17 – Reunion
Sitting atop Raxtus with Warren and Bracken, Kendra glanced over at Seth, Lance and David, who were riding on Geminus. Ever since departing Wyrmroost several hours prior, the two dragons had been flying non-stop the whole way on their journey back to Fablehaven.
I really hope the fairies at Fablehaven are still doing well," said Bracken. "I don't know if I'll have the strength in me to revive them all."
"Just do what you can," said Warren. "No one will fault you for doing your best."
"This Zavarok thing has gotten out of control. At least that horrific monster is behind us now."
Her gaze still fixated on Seth, Kendra wondered as to whether or not he had heard Bracken's remark. She knew that Seth had some strange fondness for Zavarok, but she wasn't entirely able to comprehend it the way that he did. Kendra felt more comfortable in siding with Bracken, as she had a hard time in trusting Seth's story herself.
Catching a good glimpse of Seth's face as Raxtus soared closer towards Geminus, Kendra could see that Seth still looked quite perturbed. Despite Seth's tendency for mischief and getting into trouble, she could sense that his expression was sincere. Had Zavarok actually not been a menace? True that he was, for all intents and purposes, a demon. But did he actually possess a heart? And if so, was it in the right place? It was too late for questions at this point, beyond trying to ask Seth about what he already knew.
Nevertheless, with Zavarok no longer a threat, and Bracken on their side, the Knights of the Dawn could at least restore the fairies once they returned to Fablehaven. Seth had factored the situation into his mind, but was still perturbed over the loss of someone who might have not been a threat, at least intentionally.
Several hours had passed, but Raxtus and Geminus had made it clear that Fablehaven would not be much further. However, before they actually reached Fablehaven, they could see a large grey cloud looming across the horizon.
"Hey, what's up with that cloud?" asked Seth, as Geminus flew over towards Raxtus' side.
"Looks like rain," replied Raxtus. "And it's around the vicinity of Fablehaven. "Kind of a bummer, considering we're coming back with Bracken to help the fairies there."
"Correct me if I'm wrong," said Geminus, "but I'd swear that Fablehaven's beneath the direct center of that cloud."
Seth moaned. "I hope it's not another dumb after effect of Zavarok's former presence."
"Relax," said Warren. "It's only rain. Stan can just invite the hindered fairies inside and they'll be fine, so long as they don't stay in overnight."
However, as the group got closer to Fablehaven, they could start to sense that something was definitely amiss, as the massive cloud appeared to be thicker and denser.
"What's that smell?" asked Lance, who wasn't the only one taking a whiff of the air.
"It's smoke," said Warren, who then coughed. "This cloud isn't rain! There must've a forest fire down there! Raxtus, Geminus, fly below the smoke cloud!"
The two dragons responded to Warren's order by descending down through the smoke, until they passed beneath it. Once the air was clearer, the knights could see exactly what was going on. There had indeed been a forest fire, as the entire place had been torched, with little more than remnants of charred trees protruding out of the ground.
"Oh my god!" gasped Kendra, feeling worse than if she'd been punched in the stomach. "What... what happened?"
The two dragons came to a halt as they landed upon the scorched ground where grass once stood, prompting their passengers to dismount.
"Is this Fablehaven?" asked David nervously.
"Correction," said Warren. "This was Fablehaven."
"B-b-but how?" asked Seth, who felt like he was going to cry. "Our family..."
"Vanessa!" screamed Geminus in horror. "Where is she?"
"I don't know," said Raxtus, giving his mate a firm hug. "I don't know where anyone is."
"What happened?" asked Kendra. "Who could've done such a thing?"
An unseen voice responded with laughter. "Want to know who destroyed the place? I'll show you who, face to face."
"That voice," said Seth. "It's..."
"Hespera," said the witch, appearing out of thin air before the group, "your culprit is me. But I've got an accomplice too, you see."
"That's Hespera?" asked Warren.
"Surprised you are. It's so much fun, to see you ponder when I have won."
"Hespera?" asked Bracken. "Say it isn't so. I heard you were no longer confined, but what are you doing here?"
"How'd you even get here?" asked Kendra.
"I spoke of an accomplice, did I not? I'm telling you again, since you seemingly forgot."
"That would be me," said another voice, as a figure magically appeared next to Hespera.
"Matthew?" asked Kendra.
"No!" gasped Lance. "Not... him."
"Hello, Lance," said Matthew with a wicked grin on his face. "Did you miss me?"
Lance started hyperventilating. "Please. Not Matthew. He was so cruel."
"I thought you were dead," said Seth.
Matthew laughed. "Yes. You thought. But you were wrong. For you see, while I was gravely injured by Ashley when she wrongly attacked, I survived. Had you Knights of the Dawn not been too busy dealing with Ashley, you might've been able to stop me then. But not anymore."
"But what are you doing here?" asked Warren.
"I suppose the least I can do is explain things for you weaklings before we defeat you."
"You'll never defeat us!" blared Bracken. "I have had it! I'll show you two monsters what a real unicorn can do!"
Bracken began to glow in an aura of bright platinum, as a horn burst out of his forehead and he assumed his unicorn form. A rainbow of light then shot out of his spiraled horn and blasted itself at Matthew and Hespera. However, Hespera raised her hand and shielded herself and Matthew from the spectrum of light with some peculiar kind of black force field. The light was instead deflected off the shield and onto a nearby patch of torched ground, restoring the vibrant green grass that originally grew there.
"You attacked with a rainbow, that much was plain. But it would appear that your effort has ended in vain."
Bracken ceased his rainbow attack, and snorted viciously.
"You failed to best us with a shiny rainbow. Now it's our turn to have a go."
A small clear orb, no larger than a baseball, appeared in Hespera's hands, which then floated over towards Bracken. The unicorn attempted to swat away at it with his horn, but he failed. Instead, the orb grew larger and consumed Bracken, until his entire body was trapped inside of it. He then regressed to his human form, as if by force, and the orb shrank down to its original size, bringing Bracken down with it. Lastly, it floated back into Hespera's hand.
"Let him go!" squealed Kendra.
"Give us a break," snorted Matthew. "He's trapped. Just like the rest of your kin before him."
"Warren," said Seth, his voice full of fear, "what do we do?"
Warren gulped. "We, uh- we..."
"We get out of here!" blared Raxtus, scooping up both Warren and Kendra onto his back and flapping away, prompting Geminus to do the same with Seth, Lance and David.
"Where do we go?" asked Geminus, as she flew alongside Raxtus.
"I don't know!" he snapped. "Away from here!"
Seth looked back down towards Matthew and Hespera, only to see Matthew vanish into thin air. He didn't have a clue as to where Matthew would end up, and wasn't looking forward to finding out.
Suddenly, Matthew, now having grown to gigantic proportions, appeared standing in front of the Knights. He had to be at least a hundred feet tall, and was looming over the two dragons. His presence nearly made everyone's hearts stop.
Geminus squealed as she came to a halt in mid-flight and bolted off in another direction, as did Raxtus.
"You can't escape," guffawed Matthew in a booming, massive voice, as he placed his hands around his waist.
"Do something!" gasped Lance.
"Our only hope is if I become fairyprime," said Kendra. "But I don't know if all of us are enough. The only magical beings among us are Raxtus and Geminus."
"Might as well at least try it!" quipped Seth.
"How does this even work?" asked David.
"Just clear your mind and open your heart," replied Seth. "The dragons'll do the rest."
Seth, Lance and David all closed their eyes and concentrated, as Geminus did the same while in midair. With Geminus' power, they all transformed into glowing balls of light and flew directly into Kendra's body.
Next, Raxtus and Warren transformed as well and were also absorbed by Kendra's body. She was now floating in the air due to a magical force. Suddenly, her hair turned rainbow-colored and wings spurted out from her back. It worked! They had successfully managed to pull off Kendra's transformation.
"So this is your alleged fairyprime form?" asked Matthew. "Give me a break."
Matthew extended his hands towards Kendra and directed a blast of black energy at Kendra, only for it to bounce off of her.
"So you have some power. But so what? You'll never defeat me."
Kendra had to act fast. Although she could feel power surging through her body, she was aware that Matthew did as well, and he knew full well the extent of his. Wanting to even the odds, she used her power to make her own body grow larger. Just through sheer concentration, her body expanded rapidly. It shot up in size until her feet hit the ground and she had grown to the same proportions as Matthew.
Matthew scoffed. "Fine. Grow bigger. Now I get to pick on someone my own size."
Kendra watched in horror as Matthew's arms and legs fused together, and the rest of his body transformed into that of an enormous viper. Not know what else to do, Kendra extended her hands and blasted Matthew with a rainbow of magical energy. Nothing changed, and Matthew merely hissed in response.
"That'ssss pathetic," hissed Matthew. He then lunged towards Kendra and wrapped his body around hers. "Isss that the bessst you can do?"
Kendra struggled to break free, but Matthew's grasp on her was too tight. It even caused her to lose focus, as the stress of his wrap was enough to distract her from concentrating and ultimately using any magic.
Matthew then used his magic to shrink both himself and Kendra back down too their proper sizes, although Matthew remained a snake. "Too bad, Kendra. It takessss more than ssssize to bessst me."
Fed up with Matthew's wrath, Kendra forced herself to ignore his grip and began to focus on her power. Since Matthew was a snake, she thought about the first counter that entered her mind.
Kendra's body, still in Matthew's grasp, transformed into a mongoose. As the transformation had caught Matthew off guard, he lost his grip on Kendra, allowing her to slip free. Kendra then lunged at Matthew, clenched her claws around his neck, and proceeded to strangle him. Matthew seemed too frazzled to react to Kendra, and while she knew that assault was anything but pleasant, it seemed like the only option at this point.
"You cannot trounce us sorry, to say. 'Tis Matthew and I who are victorious today."
It was Hespera, whose voice had come from behind Kendra, followed by a blast of dark energy. The blast was powerful, searing through Kendra's body as though she was being dunked into freezing water on a hot day. Kendra not only felt petrified, but could feel her body getting weaker. She uncontrollably resumed her human form. Next, her wings retracted back into her shoulder blades, her hair reverted to its usual coloration and her fairyprime powers were gone. Subsequently, the rest of her allies appeared on the ground around her.
"What happened?" asked Seth, as Matthew squirmed his way out of Kendra's loosened grasp.
"I've de-powered Kendra, foolish child. Now she's weak, helpless, mild."
Matthew then transformed directly from a viper into a large, imposing manticore, standing across from Hespera, with the knights standing between the two of them.
"Where was I when we were so rudely interrupted?" asked Matthew. "Hespera's greatly enhanced my power. I'm a greater magician than ever before. You knights don't stand a chance."
"If I had help from the fairies," blurted Kendra, now barely able to move, "I would've been unstoppable in my fairyprime form!"
"Too bad Hespera and I scared off most of the fairies that were here. Not much of a threat to anyone who can traverse the barrier that's intended to keep unwanted visitors from entering Fablehaven. With our sheer power, it was a snap."
"Where is everyone?"
"We trapped them! Just like we did with Bracken. The thought of destroying them did cross my mind, but Hespera insists that they may have nuggets of information we need to extract, so they are still alive. But don't think you can just up and rescue them."
"H-h-h-how can you do this?" asked Lance. "You've captured everyone! You've destroyed Fablehaven. Why?"
"Power. Revenge. I wasn't too pleased after learning that you Knights of the Dawn had stopped Ashley and Oblivion. But, what was I to do? I couldn't stand up to the likes of you all by myself. The Society of the Evening Star had crumbled, and their assets were left up for grabs by surviving members. I managed to snag myself a nice little condo in Manhattan and lived there peacefully, recovering from my attack. Just yesterday, I was paid a visit by a certain witch by the name of Hespera, who had been living underneath the subway somewhere. She'd been banished down there long ago, but assured me she had been recently freed by some stupid kids and a dragon. I would've guessed they were just some juvenile delinquents or whatever, but when she told me their names, my eyes lit up. I don't know how how you got back to normal after being turned into rats, but quite honestly, I really don't care."
Upon hearing Matthew's remark, Seth couldn't help but notice David sulking. It had been him who had ultimately freed Hespera, the events of which were blossoming into something far worse than they could've ever anticipated.
"So Hespera, fresh out of her old home, sought me out through the use of her magical prowess. Lucky for me I didn't live too far away from her. We met up and discussed things. She offered to enhance my power in exchange for useful information. When I told her about the instruments of eternal power, she leaped at the opportunity to go after them, in spite of any complications there could be. One thing led to another, and since not only did I want to get back at you knights, but Hespera also wanted to capture you as, so we traveled here. We devastated the preserve, captured everyone of importance, then waited out your return so we could capture the rest of you as well."
"How did you do it?" asked Warren. "How did you just waltz in here, turn the place upside down and capture everybody? Did they not even put up a fight?"
"The orb that I used to trap Bracken, is what the others have all been trapped in," stated Hespera. "My orbs are all tools of blight. The feed on the power of magical light. Fairy magic is rendered useless, leaving its users in sheer distress."
"The fairies all tried, but they couldn't match Hespera's power," said Matthew. "And since Hespera shared her power with me, they couldn't match myself either."
"So," asked Kendra fearfully, "what are you going to do now?"
"First, we capture you. Then, we figure out what to do with you. Once we're good and ready, we'll go after the instruments of eternal power and seize them. Then we'll be all-powerful!"
"You'll never succeed!" exclaimed Seth.
"You've all failed to stop us so far, despite your best efforts. In all honesty, I don't see how the residents of the Fairy Kingdom can do anything that you couldn't do."
"Numbers!" exclaimed Geminus. "The fairies here are only a small fraction of what lies the Fairy Kingdom. You'll never defeat them all on their home turf!"
"Silence!" bellowed Matthew. "Enough of your bickering. Hespera, let's deal with these punks already."
Hespera nodded and unleashed another orb from her hand. It flew over towards Raxtus, expanded in size and surrounded him. It then shrunk Raxtus down like the previous one had done to Bracken, and flew back to Hespera's side.
"Leave him alone!" yelled Geminus, as another orb flew over towards her. She attempted to whack it away with her tail, but her attack didn't so much as phase the orb, and soon she too was captured.
David got the idea to run off, but another orb soon flew after and caught him, making him Hespera's next prisoner.
"There's nowhere to hide," laughed Matthew.
Next, Lance was captured in an orb, followed by Warren. Lastly, two more orbs came and caught Kendra and Seth inside of them. They then shrunk down, regressing the Sorenson siblings with them, as they flew back to Hespera's side, where the rest of their comrades, including Bracken, were waiting.
"Now what?" asked David worriedly.
Matthew, now a human again, walked over to Hespera and sneered down at the prisoners in their orbs. "We gotcha good now, don't we?" He then stood up and faced Hespera. "At last, Fablehaven has fallen. Let's put our new prisoners into my trunk and we'll be out of here."
Everyone watched in horror as Hespera levitated all the orbs alongside herself and Matthew as they proceeded to take a walk. They would've attempted to break out of the orbs at this point, but seeing as how Bracken wasn't even trying, they figured their attempts would've be futile.
Before long, Matthew and Hespera stopped in front of a black convertible. "Say goodbye to Fablehaven! You Knights of the Dawn are going for a long ride, and you'll never see this place again!"