Xander stood up and patted the dust off. He raised his hand, expecting to get a high-five, but the strange arrival walked ahead and ignored him. Xander proceeded to do it himself as he ran to catch up. “Thanks for saving me,” he said, but he got no reply.

Ren moved his hand along the wall as if he was keeping an eye out for something unusual. The radiant rings in his eyes acted like a light source for him to see in the darkness of the iridescent cave. Wherever he looked, the light would reflect a different color from the walls surrounding them.

Xander kept close to him, as he was the only able to see whatever Ren was looking at.

The sound of dripping water echoed loudly around them and the air grew colder as they ventured deeper. Whenever the sound of flapping wings reached Xander’s ears, he tried not to let out a peep. However, a small, drop of water landed on his head and sent shivers down his spine, causing him to stumble and bump into Ren.

“Will you quit it?!” Ren snapped and grit his teeth.

“What?” Xander asked innocently. “I’m just trying not to get lost.”

Annoyed, Ren clicked his tongue. “Just stay out of my way and don’t touch anything!”

“Alright, fine!” Xander crossed his arms and huffed. “I don’t know what’s your problem.”

Ren stopped in his tracks and faced him. Squinted eyes and a slight growl could be heard from him. His short temper was reaching its limit with a cursed child he has never met before. There was a natural annoyance, almost like a sibling that the crown prince could not tolerate, but something piqued his curiosity.

A strange, transparent figure was hovering near the white-haired boy. Almost as if reality was constantly being warped in a smoke-like fashion.

“What is that?” Ren asked him.

Xander looked back then faced him. “What?” He saw nothing.

Ren shook his head. “Never mind, it was probably nothing.”

Xander slowly shifted his gaze upward as he saw something in the shadows rose behind Ren. The prince turned around as the new arrival towered over him.

It was far taller than either of them and it hunched over with long, thin arms followed by jet-black claws. There were no legs, but its torso appeared to have sprouted out from the center of a dark puddle, where even the light couldn’t escape from. Its head twitched and it blinked its faint, luminescent eyes. Closer and closer, it leaned toward to them as the two boys were trying not to make any sudden moves.

Xander winced back as it grew close. He felt it huff warm air as if it took a whiff like an animal that found its prey.

It slowly backed off, but it let out an ear-piercing screech.

Out of pure instinct, Ren held out his hands with his palms facing outward toward it and a golden beam was shot out. The creature toppled over before sinking into its puddle.

The two boys looked at each other with wide eyes as they both looked behind them and similar gazes peered out from the darkness. Xander and Ren sprinted away out of instinct, but the living shadows weren't willing to let their prey run free so easily.

Ren occasionally glanced back and fired off several unrefined beams of light at them, but it didn't matter. When one was vaporized, two more took its place. The shadows swarmed everything that was in their way, almost like a wave of darkness consuming everything in its wake.

"What are those things?!" Xander yelled and vaulted over whatever barrier was in the way.

"Those things are Umbra." Ren floated off the ground and continued to fire repeatedly. He flew through the cavern, keeping up with Xander with ease. He grabbed him by his collar and dragged him along the way.

The cave walls were slowly closing in on them as the pathway slowly grew narrower and narrower. The Umbra were relentless in their pursuit like parasites focused only on the food before them. Slowly, but surely, they were closing in on the two boys as a dead end seemed to be ahead.

Ren fired at the cave wall, hoping there'd be another pathway. With a bright flash and a burst of smoke, even the Rularian Prince couldn't see any further. He and Xander closed their eyes as they braced for impact.

Much to their surprise, there was a large open space on the other side. Ren tossed Xander to the side and stood at the gap in the wall. He faced his palms at the oncoming shadows, bent his fingers until his hands were like claws and twisted his writs slightly inward. With more concentration toward the enemy before him, he fired a larger, golden beam than before, but it flared along the edges as though it wasn't refined enough to remain stable.

Xander's legs gave out the moment he stood up. His legs were shaking from being dragged along the way. He grabbed onto a flat surface to pull himself up, but a sudden whirring sound resonated around them as the floor felt unusually different from the rest of the cavern.

Ren’s breathing grew heavy. Unleashing everything he could in a single instance was quickly draining him of the energy he had for the day. Soon, the beam from his palms dissipated and the wave drew nearer. His hands were twitching from the overwhelming strain on his body, but as the shadows were about to reach him, the floor beneath him brightly lit up and the Umbra let out a blood-curdling scream as they retreated from the path they came. Ren dropped to his knees and tried to catch his breath.

The entire area was lit by the panels within the floor and in the ceiling. The metal walls were rusted to the point of no return and a strange crackling of electricity flowed through the air.

Xander looked around and noticed something strange was floating in front of him. Ten kite-shaped objects pointed downward and slowly spun in a circle as they were encased in an electrical orb. The miniature gears within each one could be heard, whirring and slowly ticking like the inner workings of a clock. There was a small orb at the thicker end of each one with lightning sparking outward from within the core. A glowing, inner outline was near the edges of each surface on them.

“Don’t touch it!” Ren yelled as he was struggling to stand.

Curious, Xander reached out toward it but pulled back his arm as it let out a spark of lightning and shocked him. “Ow!” He yelped as he fell back.

Ren let out a sigh, but he noticed it was slowly approaching the cursed child. “Move!”

“Huh, what?” Xander looked up at the orb and realized. He crawled back, but he backed up into a pillar. He was frozen in fear as it moved faster and faster until it homed in on him. He felt his hair rise with the electricity as it flickered around him. The pain that previously lingered in his body was suddenly intensified as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

The prince was speechless.

The strange objects circled around Xander and slowed down as soon as the shock ceased with his silence. He fell and hit the ground with a loud thud.

Ren crawled over to check on him, but he noticed the cursed child wasn’t breathing. Quickly, he placed his hand over Xander’s chest. A sudden burst of gold aura came from his palm.

There wasn’t a response.

Ren forced another burst of aura.

Again, no reaction.

Once more, Ren placed both of his hands over Xander’s chest and shot another burst of aura into him.

Xander’s eyes snapped open as he gasped for air. He saw Ren looking down at him. “What just happened?”

Ren didn’t answer and stumbled as he stood up, leaning against the broken pillar Xander. “We have to get out of here,” he noticed a strange bracelet on a podium on the other side of the room. He concentrated on it for a second and a golden orb surrounded it, making it float and bringing it to him. “Can you fly?” he asked Xander.

Xander stared at him, dumbfounded. “Do I look like a bird?” He pushed himself to stand, despite the soreness. He noticed the kite-shaped objects floating just behind and above his shoulders. “Are these supposed to do something?”

“How am I supposed to know?!” Ren snapped as the lights around them went out. Only Ren’s eyes, the golden orb, and the kite-shaped devices floating behind Xander were giving off a slight glow around them.

A familiar screech of the shadowy creatures echoed out around them as the underground cavern rumbled.

Ren aimed his other hand up at the ceiling and fired a bright beam straight above as the desert sand began to scatter down onto them.

Xander placed his hand down on a flat surface and felt his hand sink into it. He looked down and with the light from the tech floating around him, he realized he pressed a red button.

Ren tried to catch his breath as his beam faded and sand came down on them. He heard some gears turning in the walls around them. He immediately looked at Xander. “What did you do?”

“I don’t know!” he yelled as the living shadows began to close in on them.”There was this button and—”

The duo was launched upward as a panel opened up in the ceiling. They felt the warmth of the desert sun hit them as the shadows were piling upward through the hole in the ground. Ren grabbed the collar of Xander’s shirt, barely holding on as they tried to calm down in the sky.

“The next time you see a button,” Ren grit his teeth. “Don’t push it!” he yelled at him as the strain was slowly getting to him.

“It was an accident!” Xander tried to defend himself. “I didn’t know it was there when the lights went out!”

The strange bracelet broke through the golden orb above Ren’s hand, forcing the orb to fade from sight.

“That’s a bad sign,” Xander stated the obvious.

“Oh, you think?!” Ren snapped at him.

It emitted a strange blue light as if it was scanning the landscape below and it detected Aurora and Princess Yumelie below. It dived down toward them, passing by the princess and latched itself onto Aurora’s left wrist. The bracelet sparked with electricity and glowed light-blue along its edges.

“Ow!” Aurora yelped as she felt a sharp prick from the bracelet. It sent a large, electrical current from her arm to the rest of her body. “W-what is this?!” She screamed, feeling every bit of electricity as it intensified with each second. A dome of lightning formed around her and it vanished as quickly as it came. Aurora’s hands were trembling as Yumelie caught her when her legs gave out.

The horse stood up from its resting spot as the princess helped Aurora onto the saddle before mounting it herself.

Yumelie saw Ren in the sky and called out to him, but the boys couldn’t hear her. She looked back at Aurora, who was leaning against her. The princess took the reins and snapped them, telling the horse to gallop toward them.

The collar of Xander’s ragged shirt began to rip.

“Is everything alright?” Xander asked as he felt he sank a little.

Ren was deep in thought, trying to figure out what they can do now as he eyed the living shadows slowly climbing up the hole in the ground. He had a bad feeling that something was going to happen and he felt a sudden lightness. “I’ll put you down somewhere,” he said but got no response. He looked down at his hand and there was a torn cloth. He noticed Xander already started to fall down toward the monsters below and he dived down to try to catch up.

Yumelie snapped the reigns again as soon as she saw someone was falling with Ren diving downwards.

With each second, Xander saw the view of the shadows get larger and larger. The wind blew strongly against him. He was too scared to scream. He closed his eyes and believed for a moment that he was going to die. He was falling faster than Ren could catch up with to close the distance and the horse was even further away.

The words of that monster from his nightmare echoed in his head. He knew just any name wouldn’t work. There wasn’t any time to think, to figure out why it spoke to him, or even why it decided to show up recently. A single moment was all he needed as the world around him grew silent.

Xander took a deep breath and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Help me, Phaedra!”

                                “There’s nothing in this world to fear.”

Many voices whispered to him as silver sparks manifested and swirled around him. He opened his eyes and realized he stopped in mid-air, just out of the reach of the living shadows. The wisps expanded into an aura that surrounded his body like a candle’s flame as he was turned upright. His crimson-red eyes faded into a platinum hue.