A bolt of lightning went on to burn through several shrubs before a hydron laser melted a rock to a puddle of lava, then the two children ran across the scene.
"Give it back!"Jessica yelled.
"Then catch me first!"Alek retorted.
A tree branch tried to grab him but he vanished and appeared above it and dodged another, making it seem like he zapped from branch to branch, before twirling down while snickering.
Jessica ran as the trees gave way for her then sensed something too bad to be true, there were three of him now.
She screamed in agitation and chased one till they all vanished and appeared as one who was standing before a deep crack in the ground.
Jessica also looked down it, then punched him down and took her diary.
He appeared right besides her again then said,"We have to tell all the others."
A geyser of lava exploded besides them and they hydroteleported back home...
At home, they saw the situation wasn't much better, especially since the moon was growing larger and redder by the minute, it began to scare most of the children and it was up to only the adults to protect them, the servants and basically the entire city.
They had never experienced something like this but Apollo had to do something about it, so he imagined everything reversed which had an effect on the cause, making time reverse.
A few days after the incident, Anneliese was lying on her bed alone and stirred, her facial expression changed as she spoke,"No, don't..
please...Felix!!"
She sat up and caused a tremor which almost collapsed the entire building and looked at her mangled room, breathing heavily.
She lay back on her side after convincing herself it was just a nightmare, as her room rearranged and the cracked grounds mended.
Anneliese hadn't slept ever since the nightmare because every time she blinked, she saw it again, I got my spine ripped out of my chest and pierced through my eyes by a being she couldn't recognise.
She had to speak with me.
She went out and looked to the sky and took a deep breath, as the sands on the floor stirred in a whirlwind then she spoke,"Felix, come back to me...I need you..."
She went back inside and saw me casually leaning against a doorframe with a rose between my teeth, I then took it out and said,"I knew you couldn't survive a week without..."
She ran and hugged me which was something I wasn't expecting then I asked,"Did I like forget my birthday again or something?"
She shook her head still on my chest, looked at me and said,"I've been having a nightmare."
My expression became dead serious as I asked what she saw, then she spoke,"It was just you, you were fighting some...things when one of them stabbed you in the back and another tore out your spine and pierced it into your eyes..."
"...my gem said something like this would happen..."
"What?! You knew?!"
"Yes, but don't worry Annie, I'm fine."
"Maybe now but what if this would happen in just a few days or even today?!"
"Anneliese I..."
"Please don't leave us, just sit this adventure out, it wouldn't kill you, please..."
"Anneliese, if I don't go, what if it rather kills one or more of the others, I can't take that risk."
"Felix, please, I can't...I can't lose you again."She said amidst tears.
It was those tears, those ones which drowned my heart in an inescapable sorrow, I was about to leave when someone hit me from the back and I almost attacked since it was such a surprise, then I heard her, Jessica.
The child didn't want to lessen her grip and begged me to stay for long this time.
I looked both at my wife and my daughter, and gave them my word, that I would stay for as long as they wanted me to.
Alexa sat with her feet in the still waters of the pond and she looked at Curtis, who sat beside her resting his arms on his bent knee.
Though he was in his usual black tone, he was dressed rather sparsely on that day, with a light oversized black t-shirt and dark grey sweat pants.
She looked at his arms and up then he looked at her and smiled as she spoke first,"I've always wondered what this tattoo was about, whose name is it?"
"Oh this one?"He said, pointing at his neck,"It's nothing, you don't have to worry about it."
"Really, why?"
"Please could we just drop it?"
"O...okay."
"I'm sorry but I just don't like talking about it."
"She was really important to you, right?"
"In a way."
That was all Alexa needed to know.
They sat by the pond in silence as the fish swam in a never ending harmony, the waves rippled in an everlasting symphony and the dragonflies fluttered in a continuous dance.
Then Catherine appeared above the pond and yelled,"Mommy!"
"Aah! Brace yourself!"Alexa yelled.
There was a huge splash right before all the water collected into a sphere and burst again on them, then their daughter pounded on Alexa and yelled,"Mommy I missed you, so you know how much? This big!"
A herd of elephants appeared and fell over eachother as the parents looked at it then they vanished as Catherine said,"I missed you more than that, I missed you before you left, I missed you before I was even born!"
"Okay pumpkin."Curtis said.
"Not you daddy, I see you all the time."
"The child has spoken."Alexa said.
He chuckled as Catherine whispered,"Mom, one person missed you more than me...Nicky, she hasn't been the same without you, she doesn't sleep and doesn't want to eat or even train, all she does is sit in her bedroom watching videos the two of you had together."
"What?!"Alexa said,"Curtis, why didn't you tell me?!"
"Alexa, I didn't want to worry you."
"Well I am worried now."She stood up and left with Catherine.
My mother was with Indigo, and Alex on the other hand was with...Alex.
My twin brother had so many questions on his younger brother's (who looked ten feet taller than himself) appearance, while my younger brother wondered how he was standing there before him...alive...
I ended up staying in the mansion for about a week, but that didn't help much, Anneliese said the nightmares were only getting worse.
I tried using my nightmare abilities to interpret it but it was unnecessarily encrypted, only the true nightmare crystal wielder could interpret it and it was off finding Portia's parents with the rest of the parent search party.
Then it happened, something we hadn't seen in weeks, maybe even months, a portal, and there stood that stupid dude we captured with three crows living at his back.
I got out of the bathroom and saw it then groaned and was about to slice him in half by forcing the portal shut when he said calmly,"I need to speak with you."
"Well I don't want to speak with you, so leave before I kick your sorry butt out."
"Felix, I just want to talk."
I had been in this situation with someone who looked strikingly similar to him and it actually played well, I decided to count my blessings.
I snapped my fingers to get some clothes on and offered him a seat but he declined.
"What is it that is so urgent you needed to interrupt my three hour bathing session to speak with me?"I asked, obviously angry.
"I have come to tell you that Darlok is no more using beasts to do his dirty work."
"He has set them free, well thank goodness for that."
"He has had them devoured by his next generation army."
"Why did I ever set my hopes in you high? So how come you're alive and kicking?"
"I escaped but barely..."
"It doesn't look like it."
"I can regrow my wings as long as they're not all cut off at once, it takes time and is arduously painful, but it happens."
"So you lost a wing?"
"Three, but that isn't the point...the time you fought and barely defeated the monster in the realms of my son..."
"I don't know why I didn't see that coming, anyway, continue..."
"That monster was the first of the next generation and he is feeding the gems and spirits of all the older beasts to form much more powerful ones, and is planning on contending with the omegas."
"Who are the omegas again?"
"The original enlightened race, they interbred with the creatures of several universes and planets, most notably yours, and gave them the special abilities some of them posses, I believe you have met some of them, the spirits of..."
"...life, death and deception...so you're telling me that girl has done it with other guys before going for life?! Man, she is a bad girl...and might be my ancestor..."
"What I came to say is you must be prepared and work on merging to change into your next generational forms otherwise he would catch you and feed you to those he deems worthy."
"How you're saying it doesn't make it seem as serious as it really is."
He frowned at me then I burst out laughing and asked,"Can't you take a joke, we'll be ready."
"Then you have to leave now, because..."
"Nope, don't rush it, my wife hasn't given me the clearance to leave yet."
"So you're basing your life, the lives of your whole family and the fate of the entire Multiverse on your wife's selfish decisions?!"
I then got serious and stood right next to him and said in a low tone,"Don't you dare talk about my wife like that ever again, now go, before I take you down again and this time, I wouldn't be so merciful."
He looked at me and saw a reflection of himself, then bowed and walked back through the portal.
I slumped on the bean bag and pinched my temples, what was I going to tell Anneliese?
My gem itself was telling me to go, but I couldn't just abandon her when I had barely been here a week.
I just closed my eyes, and called her...