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Lumia Four Part Five

As it turned out, a bowl of delicious snacks were laid out in the rooms of the residents every morning. Alistair hadn’t eaten since he left Lumia, so he devoured all three apples, one vine of grapes, two peaches, sixty cherries, and an entire block of sunny yellow cheese faster than a pack of starving wolves. Fruit juice and cheese crumbs were strewn all over his room, even on the ceiling. He did not notice because he only had eyes for the delicious food, which, thanks to him, was disappearing quickly.

By the time he had finished, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in!” he shouted.

The door slid open smoothly and both Fig and Thatcher walked in.

“I see you were hungry,” Fig observed.

Alistair licked his lips. “Why?”

“Have you seen your room within the last minute?” Fig scoffed. “But judging by the rate of the mess, it must have been the last five seconds. You weren’t hungry, where you?”

“Anyway,” Thatcher said, tapping his mace with his finger, “We’ve got five minutes until we have to meet Truss on the ground floor. We don’t want to waste any time or we won’t get to go show those Lumia twerps who’s boss.”

“Yeah! Let’s go,” Fig agreed.

With one last glace at the bowl which was quickly robbed of its food, Alistair gathered his bow and arrows (which laid on the floor), leapt off his bed, and followed the others out of his room. As they strolled down the hallway and descended the stairs, his mind filled with possibilities of how this mission could turn out. What would happen if they got caught by Fowlis or the Mastress? Would they try to get him to come back?

‘But I’ll never go back to their side,’ he thought. ‘Enough of those annoying thoughts of doubt. My new friends will never betray me like Fowlis did.’

But as he glanced around at the stone walls and breathed in the smoky air, he began to think back to what the Overlord said about how they must succeed. What if they got thrown out and it was all his fault? Fig and Thatcher would be furious if he cost them their homes. They would never forgive him for an error like that. Not only that, but he would lose the only place where he was respected.

Hoping to ease the nervousness that was eating at his insides, he glanced at his new friends. Thatcher had his head held high as if he was ready to take on the world at any moment. At the same time, Fig was glancing behind her…wait. Why was she glancing behind her? What was back there that was so interesting?

“Uh, Fig?” he asked. “Are you ok?”

Fig looked startled for a moment, almost panicked or scared. “Uh, yeah. I’m fine. Why?”

“You were looking back. Are you thinking about what would happen if we failed?”

“Well, I guess you could say that. But don’t worry Alistair, we will not fail.”

They continued to descend the stairs in silence as still as an inanimate object. Before long, they reached the bottom of the tower stepping off the last stair in perfect unison to find the cloaked figure of Truss standing at the entrance.

“Three minutes,” he said and let out a dry cackle. “You wouldn’t get to do it then! Ha! Serves you right. At least the Overlord gives me second chances.”

Fig rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Truss. Are you going to provide our transport or what?”

“Roar, there’s a kitty in the house.” He started to laugh again, but stopped when he earned a sharp glare from Fig. “Alright, alright. Sheesh. Come with me.”

The three of them were led outside of the tower where the bonfires casted a lot more light than the inside, forcing Alistair’s eyes to adjust.

“Here,” Truss said, handing each of them a purple beaded necklace. A silver turtle charm hanged from the thread in between two large beads. Its eyes were embedded with crimson rubies that shone and glistened under the light. Alistair fumbled a bit with his because he couldn’t see it that well, but soon got a grip and clutched it tightly to his chest.

“These are your tickets home, to and from Lumia,” he explained. “All you need to do is touch one of their eyes with your fingers, it will break, and you will find yourself where Fig found Alistair for the first and back in Xecro for the second.”

Fig placed her boomerangs between her knees and started to rub her hands together. “Um, you’re forgetting my transportation powers.”

Truss looked a little embarrassed. “Well, keep them just in case.”

Fig plucked the necklaces from the others’ hands. “We don’t need them, trust me.” She started to rub her hands together at a faster speed.

“Wait!” Truss protested.

Fig glared at him, her grey eyes turning crimson. “No.”

With that, they disappeared from Xecro.

A blink: that was all it took for Alistair to transition from the dim light of Xecro back to the snowy landscape where he met Fig. The winter-themed desert was as barren as ever, the mounds of glistening snow the only thing that made it not so flat. Plump snowflakes tumbled from the small clusters of dark grey clouds. There was a light blue, almost white, hue from the horizon that made their destination seem a huge distance away.

“Come on,” Thatcher said. His body was starting to tremor slightly from the cold.

Without further interruption, they marched slowly towards the distant horizon, towards the Lumia cave.

They walked in silence for a while, listening to the wind whisper intelligibly and the snow crunch under their feet. Alistair thought about starting a conversation, but kept his thoughts to himself. He still wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do once they got to the cave, but he didn’t want to doubt his friends anymore than he already had. He still felt guilty for thinking negatively about them when he first arrived. On the other hand, what if his friends had never considered what they were going to do once they got there? Would it be all his fault if they failed?

“Uh, guys?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“Yeah?”

“Uh, do we... Uh…” He considered what he was going to start with. Would We’re doomed; we’ve got no plan work? Or how about What the heck are we going to do?He had no idea!

“What is it, Alistair?” Fig asked.

“Er, um…” He quickly thought about what to say. “Why are we walking?” That came out awkwardly.

“What?” Thatcher asked in bewilderment.

“W-wouldn’t it be quicker to not to walk or to maybe run?” he stammered.

Fig and Thatcher exchanged looks of realization.

“Uhhhhhhh…” they both stammered.

“So you’re not sure why?” Alistair inquired.

They both shook their heads.

“So let’s go!”

With that they took off, their legs pumping across ice and snow. Their quick breaths created a thick halo of fog around their heads. Their lungs burned as if on fire and sweat turned to ice on their brows. At last, after climbing over a rather large drift, the unmistakable mouth of the cave could be seen in between two mammoth chunks of ice.

Alistair could not believe that he was back. He had sworn not to return, but this mission was for all of Xecro. This very mission could help rid the world of the vicious Lumia. It felt like it had been years since Alistair ran away from this prison, but he realized that it was only a few days.

He looked at both of his friends. Fig was staring at the cave too and Thatcher was shivering violently.

“Why c-couldn’t we j-just teleport to the m-m-m-mouth of the cave?” Thatcher shivered.

“I can only teleport to place I’ve been before,” Fig explained. “I’ve never actually seen the cave before. But before you, Alistair, joined our cause, we could sense the great amount of magic—which was you—leaving to I was sent immediately. We had been tracking you for a long time beforehand but Lumia got to you right before we could. Good thing we found you just as you were escaping.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Alistair asked. This sudden outburst was very unexpected and completely random. What was Fig aiming for?

“Just so you’ll remember what we had to go through to get you out of the clutches of evil.”

‘What’s going on with her?’ he wondered. ‘Why is she acting like this? It’s obvious why Xecro saved me, but why do I need reminding?’

Thatcher nudged him with his elbow.