Chapter 28: Chapter 28

The healer's door was closed when she got there. All she wished was that Cynthia would tell her what she wished to hear as that was the only thing that could save her people. She knocked for a while but no one answered. Turning on her heels, she was going to check other rooms when a head popped out of the door, it was Cynthia.

"I didn't realize it was you, Princess. I thought it was one of Lena's people. Since you left, I have been hiding out in here," Cynthia said, cautiously looking around then pulled Kathy into the room.

"It is chaotic out there."

"I've been waiting for you," Cynthia told her then began to arrange some things on her workbench. The dreadful flower stared right at Kathy as if mocking her. A lot of moon vine could be felt in the room as Cynthia had been experimenting on the. It was making Kathy queasy.

"I had to come as our people would surely die without the antidote."

"What is the state of our kingdom?"

"Very bad, Cynthia, very bad. Lena found the plants and now our people can't fight back. The wolves are fighting against the shadow warriors but for how long before they can't any longer? The shadow warriors have the number in their favor-" Kathy started explaining, walking around the room.

"I found it," Cynthia said from behind Kathy.

Kathy continued not hearing what Cynthia said, "-Lena released a massive amount of molten moon vine into the air and our people can't fight without fainting from exhaustion."

"I found it," Cynthia said again.

"Found what?" Kathy asked, finally hearing her.

"The antidote to moon vine."

Kathy paused with widened eyes, her heart racing in relief as her people could be saved.

"All experiments I tried always failed. Then I recalled the first vision I got when the Oracle instructed me to make the antidote. In the vision, the Oracle was standing in the moon pool with her hand in the water. Moon vine grew all around the pool but refrained from entering the water. Normally hydrophilic plants would grow towards the water but the moon vine grew away from the water and it is hydrophilic. So I added water to the mixture I was working on. Yet, nothing happened. Moon vine is not hydrophobic."

Cynthia moved to her work table and grabbed a moon vine plant and a vial of water in her other hand.

"But when I used water from the moon pool."

She poured the water onto a leaf on the plant and that particular leaf began to turn brown. Kathy was awed by the discovery. It looked like the leaf was immediately stripped of the green pigment.

"Shocking, right? I poured water from the moon pool into the mixture and we have our antidote."

"How much do you have?" Kathy asked.

Cynthia smirked. "Barrels."

Together they loaded the barrels onto a wagon and moved it to the combat ground. Automatically, Kathy's eyes searched for Hunter. She found him ripping into a shadow warrior. His fur was soaked with blood which she hoped wasn't his. He moved precisely and fought expertly. His powerful muscles flexing as he moved.

Kathy took her eyes away from him and onto Lena who was standing at the entrance, being shielded by a few of her warriors, and watching in delight as a lot of Lunae warriors were being killed by the shadow warriors due to the weakness caused by the moon vine. Kathy felt her heart clench in pain on seeing the bodies of some of her people.

"How do we release the antidote into the air?" Kathy asked, realizing that she didn't think of that earlier.

"The same way they released the poison," Cynthia said, as a few soldiers helped her unload the wagon.

"And how is that? We don't have enough time to get a plane or something," Kathy said then remembered there are no planes in Lunae.

"The messenger birds. Very loyal species once they find a master. Luna Hala kept them in the royal animal home but Lena took some. They are extremely fast, huge, and can carry a lot of loads."

When Cynthia brought the birds, Kathy could see why Cynthia knew they could do it. They did not look like regular birds. Bodies that looked like that of eagles but were as big as dragons. Their wings were huge and they had claws like eagles. Cynthia tied the barrels to their backs with multiple perforations. She whispered in their ears to go to different colonies and they flew away.

When Kathy didn't see any messenger bird in the arena, she asked, "And here?"

"I'm no soldier and I have no experience in combat but I know how to help," Cynthia said making Kathy curious.

Cynthia continued, "A friend of mine happens to be a Dragon shifter."

A man walked up to them from the back of the wagon. Kathy wondered how long he had been there.

"I am Erin, Princess. It's an honor to finally meet you."

His bright orange eyes first caught Kathy's attention. They were as vibrant as real flames and his black hair was spiked up.

"To the sky, Erin," Cynthia said and he nodded. He pulled off his shirt and Cynthia turned away but Kathy could spot the blush on her face. Their healer happened to like a certain Dragon shifter.

His countenance tightened and he began to shift. Kathy had not seen any other shifters apart from wolves. His skin was turning scaly and hard. His size grew and talons replaced his nails. He shifted fully and Kathy blinked her eyes twice to confirm what she was seeing. His Dragon form was over six feet tall and was very large. He looked vicious with bright orange eyes that seemed to be on fire.

Cynthia hopped onto his back with a barrel and they flew away. Then Kathy entered the arena and joined the battle. According to Cynthia's calculations, it would take approximately ten minutes for Erin to make two circular turns around the field, dispersing the antidote. She was certain that the commanders in charge of other colonies would battle the shadow warriors in their colonies once the air was clean.

She fought two shadow warriors before felt the poison leaving the air, she was getting stronger. The warrior she battled had no idea the poison was no longer in the air until she tried out her powers to check if they had returned. She called out to the flames and it appeared, shocking the warrior who had no time to prepare before he was burning. Lunae warriors around her also tried out their powers and it worked. Before she knew it, Lunae had the upper hand again.

The wolves were getting weak and Kathy told Lunae warriors through mind bond to help the warriors. She went looking for Hunter who was found battling two warriors. He had a big cut on his forelimb and a few other smaller cuts on other parts of his body. One warrior at his back held a sword to his back. I opened my mouth to warn him when he twisted his upper body slightly and grabbed the arm of the man holding the sword then ripped it off with his fangs. Kathy stared at him in awe as he ripped off the second arm in one swift movement.

He looked up and caught her staring then winked at her.

'Naughty wolf', she thought, blushing. It seemed like he could hear her thoughts as he gave her a wolfish grin which looked awkward with blood on his face and fangs.

She left him as he seemed to be holding his own just fine and went looking for Lena. The numbers of the shadow warriors dropped massively as they never stood a chance against Lunae as long as they had their powers. She saw Lena running towards the back of the arena and Hala was hot on her heels. She took off after them to help her mother. What Lena did not know what that there was no exit there. The only exit was the entrance.

They reached the wall of the arena and Lena was trapped with nowhere to go.

"Surrender, sister, and I might spare you," Hala said.

"Never, I'd rather kill you," Lena replied and Hala chuckled.

Kathy could feel that Lena had something else planned. She didn't have the time to warn Hala when Lena disappeared. She appeared behind Hala and held a knife to her throat. Kathy made a move to go forward.

"Nuh-uh, stay right there or I'll slit her little throat," Lena declared, smiling menacingly and Kathy halted.

"What do you want? Your people are dead and the ones remaining will be soon. You've lost, just surrender now," Kathy tried to convince her but Lena was not listening.

"It's not over until I say it is."

"I will end you, Lena!" Hala growled making Lena roll her eyes.

"Not if I do it first." She then turned her attention to Kathy. "I want safe passage to the portal. Give me that and I will let your mother go."

Kathy knew she was lying. Lena would not let Hala go just like that.

"Liar, you will never let the mother go just like that."

Lena smirked. "You know me too well, sweetheart."

Dad! Kathy called out in her head

We are coming, Precious, Aerial told her through the mind-bond.

Hala stared at Kathy then cast her eyes to the ground. She did that a few times like she was trying to show something to Kathy. Kathy looked to the ground to see rocks raising from behind Lena. Hala was going to trip her from behind.

Kathy's eyes widened on seeing the rocks. Hala would surely fall with Lena. She shook her head repeatedly and Hala smiled at her reassuringly. One wrong movement and Lena might cut Hala's throat.

"Scared? Wanna beg for your mother's pathetic life?" Lena asked, thinking Kathy was trying to dissuade her.

"End her, Kathy, I will be fine," Hala urged.

Lena scoffed. "Yes, Kathy, end me and she will join me!"

Kathy was torn between her need to kill Lena and saving her mother. In the end, she sighed in defeat.

"You will get your safe passage, just let the mother go," Kathy said and Hala picked that time to shove Lena backward and she tripped over the rocks, falling on the floor and taking Hala down with her.

"You shouldn't have done that," Lena growled and in one swift movement, slit Hala's throat causing blood to gush out of the wound and onto Kathy's body.

"No no no," Kathy muttered, running to Hala. Lena crawled out from beneath Hala and tried to run but Aerial, Triton, and some wolves arrived and apprehended her.

"Mother," Kathy whispered, holding on to Hala. Hala's blue eyes were dimming as she turned her face to stare at Kathy.

"My moon." Hala coughed up blood that stained her lips.

"Mother, no. I'm sorry," Kathy's voice broke as tears began to run from her eyes.

"Hala!" Aerial yelled, running to them.

"Do-don't blame yourself. It-it was meant to-to be." She coughed up some more blood.

"Hala, please no," Aerial pleaded tearfully and Hala turned to him with a loving smile on her face.

"Hang on, mother, we will get you to the healer," Triton said, trying not to cry.

"No, ta-take care of my-my people," Hala whispered and the light in her eyes finally dimmed completely.

"No!" Kathy could faintly hear Triton yell but it seemed far away. She could hear voices around her but faintly. Then it seemed like something in her snapped like a thread. Her vision turned red all she could think about was how much she wanted blood. Blood of the woman who killed her mother. All sane thoughts flew out the window and all she wanted was bloodshed.

Kathy stood up slowly and her feet took her to where Lena stood being held by a wolf.

"You did this!" She growled and Lena gasped in shock. She had a fearful look on her face.

"I-" Lena couldn't complete her statement as Kathy pulled her out of the wolf's arms and threw her to the ground. Kathy's hands were on fire faster than Lena could blink. She picked Lena up and punched her with the burning hand causing Lena to fall a few meters away from Kathy. Kathy pursued her, on seeing the burn on her face, Kathy smirked sadistically. Lena tried to use her powers to form a dagger but Kathy burned both her hands making her yell in agony. The smell of charred flesh was perceived.

Kathy sat on Lena's abdomen and punched her repeatedly with her flaming hands. Lena's face was unrecognizable when Kathy was done. Burns of different degrees could be sported on her face. But Kathy wasn't finished yet. Kathy picked her up again, wrapped flame rope on her wrist, and moved to whip her when a hand wrapped around Kathy's hand.

"At this rate, you will kill her. Let us handle her," Aerial said and she turned to look at him. He gasped just as Lena had done.

"Let. Me. Go," Kathy growled, shrugging him off. Aerial stumbled back, scared of what he had seen. Lena disappeared and appeared on the other side of the back of the arena. The walls were too thick for her to materialize through else she would have escaped.

Kathy spun back to Lena. It seemed like Kathy was possessed by something dark, something different. All she could think about was killing Lena. Flames appeared on Kathy's feet and before she knew it, it was flying her to Lena.

"You don't want to kill me, sweet-"

Kathy flung the rope and it wrapped around Lena's waist, cutting her off. Kathy pulled the rope, drawing Lena to her. All Kathy could see in Lena's eyes was fear and the made her somewhat satisfied.

Lena transformed to April Mallory hoping that it would sway Kathy but the passive look on Kathy's face showed her that it didn't work.

"Kathy, please," Lena begged as her life flashed before her eyes. Kathy smirked, not feeling the least affected by her begging.

"You didn't pity, mother." With that, Kathy wrapped the rope around Lena's neck. She made the rope ten times hotter. Lena couldn't scream, yell or even cry, only choking sounds could be heard from her.

"Kathy, no!" Aerial shouted but Kathy ignored him. She tightened the rope even more and Lena's head went limp. Lena's body fell to the floor but her head which had been burned away from her body remained in the rope. Kathy put out the fire and Lena's head rolled away.

As soon as Lena died, Kathy felt like a web was removed from her head. Her mark started glowing. It began to heat up and soon it was on fire. Kathy groaned as it burned. She tore her sleeves to expose the mark but it kept on burning.

"What is the matter, Precious?" Aerial asked as he and Triton hurried to her. She pointed to her mark, gasping in pain. Aerial moved to touch her mark but pulled his hand away, groaning as the mark burned him.

"Triton, get the healer!"

"Mother?" Kathy asked, her mind refusing to accept that her mother was dead.

"Calm down or the darkness would take over again," Aerial told her. Kathy shook her head, each movement causing the pain to intensify. She looked at the place Hala was but didn't see her. She had been taken away. A sob escaped Kathy's lips followed by full-blown crying. Her mind played scenes from when she first saw Hala down to when she died.

Cynthia came in with Triton. She examined Kathy then looked at Lena's body.

"What is it?" Aerial asked, staring at his weeping daughter with tears in his eyes.

"It seems like she was under a spell cast by Lena and when Lena died, the spell was broken," Cynthia explained.

"What spe-?" Triton couldn't complete his sentence as Kathy's scream cut them off. A red light could be seen rising from her mark. The pain was too much for her and she passed out.