“Wait… So Siver was a snake?” I ask sitting down on Zona’s bed. Zona starts to pack a bag hastily.

“Yes and no. It was the one of the things I had to defeat in order to save the world. It was an old powerful demon I think.” My mouth goes dry at the though of an actual living demon.

“A demon?” She nods finishing her packing. She goes over to the nightstand picking up a necklace. She puts it on looking back at me.

“We will pick you up supplies in a nearby town. Once we make sure it is dead, than we can work on the next part of the plan.” I pause slightly making sure I heard her right.

“We?” She looks at me as she picks up a large hat.

“Yes. It looks like you can read the old dead languages. So, you will be coming with us just in case we need you to read something.”

“...Will it be dangerous?” She turns away looking in the mirror. She smiles at her reflection deciding that this will be the best look for her. She looks back at me.

“Of course not. Lupa and me can handle anything that gets thrown at us.” I shift my options, but I decide that if can help I must.

“Okay.. What time are we leaving?”

“Go sleep. I will wake you up after I head to town and grab supplies. I also need to find a horse and cart.” I leave the room going back to James’s room. I find James is still asleep, so I get in bed beside him. I quickly fall asleep with the last couple of hours events running through my mind. I am awoken by Zona who is shaking my arm. “It’s time to head out.” I yawn sitting up. I blink a few times realizing that I was cuddling James. I stand up quickly slightly blushing. Zona rolls her eyes. “Help him in the cart and we can head out.” She leaves the room.

“You need to get up James.” He groans rolling away from me. I huff hitting him a pillow. He huffs back slowly getting up.

“I am up..” He stands up stretching slightly. I find a pile of clothes that are way too big for anyone living here. I find a shirt to give him. He looks at it for a minute before making a few changes to it. He rips the sleeves off it and uses the sleeves as a belt. He puts it on. “Really?” I laugh slightly leading him outside.

“It’s that or no shirt.” He smirks slightly.

“I am okay with that.. Are you?” I frown slightly feeling my face get red. We see a cart with a white horse connected to it. Lupa and Zona are sitting in the front. Zona has a large straw hat with a red cloak covering her body. She looks over to us annoyed.

“Come on and hurry up. We need to get moving.” James looks at the cart confused.

“Where are we going?” I get in the cart offering my hand for him.

“We are going to see if something is alive.” He frowns taking my hand and getting in the cart.

“Well... She can drop us off back at town then.” Lupa urges the horse forward. We make our way from the destroyed house. Zona looks back at James.

“We need Ashley for a reason James. So, you can either decide to come with us or not.” He makes a face at Zona causing her to flip him off. She faces forward leaning back against the cart.

“I need to tell my...” Lupa chimes in.

“I already talked to your parents James. They are really nice people.” He makes a comment underneath his breath.

“How did you find them?” She turns around pointing to her nose.

“I am really good at tracking.” He doesn’t say anything else deciding to rest. He lays down placing his head on my lap. Before I can say anything, he is fast asleep. I relax trying to wrap my head around that has happened in the last twenty-four hours.

We spend the rest of the day traveling South. We each take turns driving the cart. Luckily, whenever it’s either me or James turn, we just drive the cart straight. Zona and Lupa take turns keeping watch. We don’t run into any problems except for a few animals wandering in the middle of the road. We finally stop the cart after a couple of days of traveling. Lupa pulls the cart over near a decently sized lake. The lake is crystal clear with many fish swimming around in it. It’s a perfect spot for us to stop for the night. A village is down the road so we can go collect more supplies that they have forgotten. Lupa pulls the cart over. Zona gets out of the cart. Lupa leaps out of the car sprinting into the nearby forest. Zona looks at James as we both climb out of the cart.

“Set up camp. Me and Ashley are going to go bathe.” James goes to tell her off, but I elbow him in the side. He grumbles looking back her with a smile.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Fine.” She smiles happily grabbing a few extra clothes, towels, and some soap.

“Come along Ashley.” I follow her getting nervous. Before I get to the lake, Zona has already started to strip. I quickly turn away from her feeling embarrassed.

“Aren’t you getting in?” I turn my back to her stripping down covering myself. I enter the water realizing that the lake is cloudy now. A dense steam rolls off the lake as I sink next to Zona. The water is the perfect temperature. I sigh somewhat happy sinking to where my nose was just out of the water. Zona relaxes against the edge of the lake. She looks down at me smiling.

“Enjoying yourself?” I nod happily. Her smile turns to a frown as a tree-limb breaks behind us. She stands up faces the nearby tree-line. She creates a fire bolt shooting into the forest. I look toward the forest than back at her. I see scars running up and down her back. These scars are large and deep. I feel sorry for her. She sits back down and pauses looking at me. “Everything alright?” I raise my head out of the water.

“.. What happened to your back?” I notice a slight raise in temperature in the lake as she settles back into her place.

“The Church of the Brothers. Back when I was younger, I was held prisoner for being a mage. They did things trying to prove that I was a mage. They did that to me to prove it.” I look at her shocked.

“Do you hate them?” She smirks slightly.

“I did at one point. Now? They don’t mess with me. I don’t mess with them.” I see Lupa from across the lake carrying a large buck. I look on impressed with the size of the buck she brought down. I look back to Zona.

“The military has blamed the Church of the Brothers for everything that has happened last year.” Zona shrugs relaxing deeper into the water.

“All I am worried about is getting this finally over with. The gods have played too big of part in my life. The Church and especially the military can worry about themselves.” Zona closes her eyes for a moment relaxing completely. I go to close my eyes, but I notice Zona stiffen up. She opens both of her eyes staring into the middle of the lake. Her breath has quickened as she holds up one of her hands. A small ball of black flames explodes out causing the lake to evaporate lake.

“Zona! What are you doing?” The flames stop as her body relaxes again. The panic in her eyes leaves her leaving her looking confused.

“Sorry thought I saw something.” She gets out of the water somewhat quickly. I follow her looking back in the lake. A majority of the water is now gone as a lot of the water has started to evaporate. We dry ourselves off. Zona is constantly looking over her shoulder back at the lake. She hands me some clothes. Luckily, we have the same body type. I notice her put on a weird looking necklace. It has a weird stone at the base of i. She looks over her shoulder one last time as we head back to camp. I walk in to see the buck that Lupa was carrying being cooked. Lupa is cooking as James looks to be working out. I roll my eyes but smiling slightly happy he is getting back to normal. Lupa looks over to Zona and frowns slightly.

“Is everything alright?” Zona quickly goes back to her old attitude playing off like nothing happen.

“Yes. Nice work on getting us the food. It will still take us a week at least to get where we are going.” Lupa studies Zona for a second but smiles happy at the compliment.

“Thank you. Oh, Mary wants her apples.” I pause confused and look at Zona.

“Mary?” Zona makes a face grabbing an apple heading over to the horse.

“Lupa is very keen on naming all the animals we use for our travels.” She throws an apple to Mary to which she eats up happily. Zona comes back over sitting next to Lupa. James looks over to us as he finishes his training. Hopefully he has learned his listen when it comes to doing his magic. He walks over plopping next to me. I look at him holding my nose.

“You need to go bathe now.” He rolls his eyes relaxing.

“I will after I eat. So, the more important question...” He looks at Zona and Lupa. “So, are you two a thing?” I almost spit out the water I am drinking looking at James furious. I hit him on the arm angry.

“James that is so rude!” Lupa stops cooking the buck looking at Zona confused. Zona’s cheeks are a nice crimson red.

“What does that mean?” Zona’s entire face lights up causing James to laugh.

“Nothing Lupa.” James smirks sitting up interested.

“Well Lupa. When two people love each other…” He stops after I hit him a few more times laughing his head off. The fire burns brighter as Zona turns a deep side of crimson.

“James. I am warning you…” She stops standing straight up looking serious. Lupa stands up slightly growling underneath her breath. We stand up last looking at a group of men walking over to else. I look over to see them dressed in military clothing. The men leading the group is dressed in superior military uniform. Zona glares at them. “State your business.” The group of about ten looks worried except for the leader.

“We are securing the path so that Lord Lionheart can make his way through. If you could please clear the area.” Zona laughs to herself glaring at the man.

“Who?” The man frowns looking disgusted.

“Who? Well our glorious leader that will bring us the promise land. Everything you need to know about him is here.” He holds up a piece of paper causing James to chuckle to himself. The paper lights on fire causing the man to drop it. Zona glares at the men as I hear a faint growl from Lupa. A few men start to whisper back and forth between each other. Names like White Wolf and the Traitor get thrown around. Another group of soldiers can be seen in the distance. Zona glances at Lupa who silently gives her a signal. Lupa looks ready to attack as the soldiers come to the view. A man dressed in gold armor leads the group. He is a good foot taller compared to everyone else and is carrying on his back a golden great sword. The group of men in front of us part as the man walks toward us. He is in a full suit of armor as he stomps his way over to us. He stops looking down at Zona.

“Hello. My name is Lord Lionheart.” His voice sounds rich and cheerful.

“We don’t want any trouble.” He waves his hand as the men start to march away.

“Of course not. We are keen on recruiting all able men to defend our land from monsters.” His helmet scans the group for a moment. “As far as I can tell, we won’t have any issues with you.” He turns away leading his bodyguards away. James frowns for taking a step forward. I grab his hand and jerk him back. I feel the tension in the air leave as they march away from us. I try to relax hoping something like that doesn’t happen again. Zona and Lupa keep guard making sure no one else gets that close again