Wings of Paper - Chapter 25

Kip's Courtyard

“What is this place?” Kenzie asked, eyeing the piles of rubble suspiciously.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” I admitted. “What did you say the second ‘ring’ of Dee’s castle was?” 

“I didn’t,” Kenzie informed me. “I thought it was a village of the deceased, like where the Dark Warriors will live when Dee rules over the entire land. But I’m not so sure anymore - it seems more like a…” 

“Junkyard,” Alex finished for her, wiping her eyes. “And for the record, Dee hasn’t taken over the entire world.” 

“Yet,” Kenzie reminded us. Very pessimistic, which wasn’t exactly helping. 

She was right, though. This “village” seemed more like a junkyard by the minute, discarded items that didn’t seem to have a purpose scattered everywhere. 

The “village/junkyard” ring was apparently one of the largest because I could spot trees forming a forest in the far distance. Unfortunately, it also meant that there was Darkness everywhere due to us reaching Dee’s castle. 

Luckily my sword cleared a path through the Darkness, but I had to let Kenzie carry it. Who knew what the Darkness would do to her if it touched her? It seemed super concentrated here, like pure shadow. 

I knew Kenzie was probably a bit scared. After all, Kip had disappeared, Hiro had died, and we had just left Sammy and Sadie to fend for themselves. It wasn’t looking too good for the fictionals anywhere. Not to mention that Alex and I - and Hailey too, now that she had complicated things - had no way of getting home. 

The “houses” in the village were more like pits of trash than anything. I spotted what looked to be a discarded newspaper in the ruins, though I was afraid to touch it. 

Alex, however, shared none of this hesitance. She was picking up anything that caught her interest. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what we were finding in the junkyard. Alex picked up a statuette of a unicorn with a crooked horn, a wizard hat, and a dented watering can amongst other things. 

It wasn’t until she found a thick, glass bottle with pink syrup inside that I realized what I was looking at. 

“It is a junkyard,” I breathed. 

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Kenzie mumbled with an eyeroll. “A Darkness encrusted junkyard, to be exact.” 

“No, you don’t understand,” I murmured, grinning. 

Kenzie and Alex crossed their arms in sync. It was crazy how alike they looked. I gestured for Alex to hand me the bottle of syrup and she did. 

“This is a junkyard of my ideas,” I explained. “Like the unicorn statuette - Hiro was supposed to have a steed of a unicorn with a broken horn. And the wizard hat belonged to the wizard I was going to create. The watering can was for the Idea Garden where people could grow creativity plants. And the syrup is a love potion.” 

“So every bad idea you’ve ever had is here?” Alex asked me. 

“Hey, they’re not bad ideas,” I argued. Alex held up a crayon drawn picture of a dragon breathing fire to toast marshmallows with a princess on its back. “Excuse me, but that’s not a bad idea. I could go for some marshmallows now.” 

Neither of the girls laughed and I sighed. 

We continued on through the piles of abandoned ideas. Alex stopped touching stuff, it was like she thought everything was cursed. Not that I really blamed her. I didn’t know where half of this stuff had been or what it was supposed to be. 

Luckily the village was entirely derelict. I guess it probably wasn’t suitable to live in for anyone - not even the Dark Warriors. 

Still, leaving Sadie and Sammy behind weighed heavily on my conscience. I definitely didn’t want to face something like that again. 

Surprisingly, we passed through the entire village within about an hour and half. The sky was growing darker by the minute now and my sword was the only illumination we had to navigate by. 

The next ring was a forest, thick and deep. The trees weren’t very far apart and from the very beginning I could see the foliage was nearly impossible to get through. 

Kenzie was growing weaker with every step. “It’s something in the air,” she whispered. “I think it’s something that only affects Fictionals.” But with no other Fictionals left we had no way of telling. 

Alex stayed by my side as we cut through the vines and bushes in the forest. She used her daggers to slice away the stray branches while Kenzie forged ahead with my sword in hand. 

“Are you scared?” Alex asked me, pausing to wipe away the sweat beading on her brow. 

“Scared of what?” 

“Of Dee.” 

“I guess so. I mean, I’m scared of anything that can kill me and Dee seems intent on doing so,” I said with a shrug. I was lying, though. Dee terrified me more than I cared to admit. This world was everything to me, I had created it with all of my heart. 

“I’m not scared,” Alex replied. 

“Oh yeah?” 

“Not of Dee, at least. She’s just the embodiment of doubt, she can’t harm you - that’s something only you can do.” 

“You make no sense, you know that, right?” I sighed. Alex shrugged again and kept cutting away the thick leaves in front of us. Kenzie was already pretty far ahead and we hurried to catch up. 

“You two lovebirds ready yet?” Kenzie asked us when we finally caught up to her. She was reclining against a tree, her water bottle in hand. 

I blushed and Alex turned away. Kenzie didn’t seem to care. 

“How far are we away from the end?” I asked, even though I didn’t think Kenzie or Alex would be able to answer that question. 

“Halfway there,” Kenzie answered for me.

“How did you-” 

She pointed to a sign not far away. The weeds looped around the pole but the word Halfway was still visible. “It won’t be any easier from here on out,” Kenzie informed us. “The inner rings are meant to stop anyone who made it past the outer rings.” 

“Lovely,” Alex muttered under her breath. “Just when I was hoping for a nice vacation.” 

I decided to treat her with her own medicine and ignored the joke entirely. 

Unfortunately for us, Kenzie was right. Not long after her comment we encountered the first real struggle of the rings. 

The forest ended abruptly, leaving off at the edge of a brick courtyard. 

And the courtyard was swarming with Dark Warriors. That explained why the village appeared to be so empty earlier. It also meant that pretty much every Dark Warrior to ever exist was probably here. 

“What do we do?” Alex whispered in my ear. We were crouched behind a group of bushes near the edge of the courtyard. Kenzie handed me my sword, pulling out her own weapons. I could already tell she wanted to fight, but it was three against one. We would most likely lose. 

“Put your weapons away,” I hissed at Kenzie. “There’s no way we can win against all of them.” 

“Maybe you can’t, but I can,” Kenzie mumbled, rising to her feet. Alex and I held her down. 

“Suicidal missions aside, we need a plan,” Alex reminded us. As if I needed reminding. 

“I have a plan,” Kenzie argued. “Let me run out there and take them all down. I have mind tricks up my sleeve.” 

“That won’t work,” I interjected. “Face it, Kenzie, the Darkness has taken a hold over you. That’s why you can sense the rings - the Darkness is taking your mind powers and making them its own.” 

Kenzie pouted, but she knew I was right. 

“We can slip by them,” Alex offered. I shook my head. 

“They may be under Dee’s control, but she hired them as guards for a reason,” I explained. “These people are the best of the best.” 

“Like Hiro,” Kenzie spat. “Please, I need to avenge him. You said it yourself, Luke. The Darkness is taking me. Let me hold the Warriors back while you and Alex slip inside the castle. Please.” 

I wanted to agree with her, but I knew it was wrong. “This is your story too, we can’t leave you.” 

“I’m not asking you,” Kenzie said, her voice steely. “I’m telling you. I don’t want you to have to drag me around like you did with the others. I want to go out with a bang - and I’ll help you guys while doing it.” 

“We need you,” Alex tried halfheartedly. Kenzie shook her head with a sigh. 

“Then at least let us help,” I begged. “Kenzie, you can’t fight them alone. There’s hundreds of them.” 

Her eyes met mine, glinting with icy coldness. Kenzie had already made up her mind. 

“It’s going to be dangerous anyways,” she reminded us. “To sneak through there you’re still going to encounter some danger.” 

“Kenzie,” Alex began, but then she heaved a sigh. “You’re like the sister I never had.” 

“Wait, you’re giving up already?!” I interjected. Was Alex really just going to let Kenzie go?” 

Alex met my eyes. The girls looked identical with the exception of their eyes. “She’s going to go with or without our permission, so the least I can do is give her my blessing.” She turned back towards Kenzie. “Be safe.” 

“I will,” Kenzie assured us. “And good luck. May we meet again.” 

I was at a loss for words so I bid her farewell with a handshake. Then Kenzie wrapped Alex in a hug and the two shared some parting words. Kenzie turned back to me again, wiping her eyes. “Don’t let her die.” 

And then Kenzie darted away in the underbrush. She would cause a distraction and we would make it through with relatively little challenge. 

I snorted. As if things would be that easy. 

“C’mon,” Alex grabbed my shirt sleeve. “We need to be ready when Kenzie sends the signal. This is the end. I sure hope there’s a happy ending.” 

I heard the shouts before I saw the chaos. I had no idea what Kenzie was doing or if she was going to live, but I knew Alex and I only had one chance to make it through the ring and we couldn’t waste it. 

“Let’s go,” I exclaimed, grabbing Alex’s arm and yanking her away. She stumbled after me, remembering the life threatening danger we were in. 

Unfortunately for us, not everyone had been distracted by Kenzie’s whatever-she-was-doing. A few Dark Warriors lumbered around the courtyard, oblivious to their surroundings. 

Most of the remaining Warriors were small and unimpressive looking, but there were two that worried me. One was a large, brutish looking woman with a face that reminded me of a bulldog. She carried a wicked looking sword and a bludgeon was strapped to her back. Very stereotypical of a villain. 

The other one was a man of slightly smaller stature though with lean muscles a sword. I didn’t recognize him at first, but when he spun around I realized that I was looking at Kip. 

I sucked in a sharp breath. It doesn’t mean the other villagers died, I told myself, it just means Kip did. Though that wasn’t particularly reassuring either. How many people had the Darkness consumed now? The better question: how many Fictionals were still alive? Kenzie - wait, I didn’t know that. So I couldn’t say any people were alive for sure. 

“What do we do?” Alex whispered. “The Darkness will provide a cover for us but do you see the spotlights on the top of the walls? They’ll see us for sure.” 

Alex was right. On the walls rimming the castle itself were bright white lights that pierced the Darkness and somehow made the shadows seem even deeper. “Let’s split up and try to sneak past,” I suggested. “If either of us runs into trouble we can turn back for the other-” 

“No,” Alex interrupted. “I mean, I agree with the first part. But if I am in trouble you cannot turn back to help me. Luke, you will be the one to defeat Dee - not me. So you have to go ahead no matter what. I’ll be fine.” I didn’t like that idea. I was splitting up to increase our odds of surviving, not to kill Alex right off the bat. 

But it was also my best chance at killing Dee and ending the Darkness. I gave a reluctant nod. “Fine, on my count. Three. Two. One…” 

“There they are!” some cried out. 

“Run!” Alex yelled. My muscles listened and I bolted out of the brush as fast I could, hoping the spotlights wouldn’t be able to catch me. 

Fortunately for me, the two Dark Warriors I had been worried about ran in the direction Alex had gone. Ok, so maybe that wasn’t a good thing but I forced myself to repeat what Alex had told me. Just leave her. Leave her. Leave- 

There was a scream. My moral compass was broken and I ran towards Alex. 

Idiot, my brain chastised. My legs kept running anyways. I drew my sword but something knocked me aside. 

I rolled instinctively away from whatever had hit me and discovered it was the brutish woman. “Don’t mess with Lilith,” she spat at me. I wasn’t sure if Lilith was her actual name but I was going to call her that.

“Sorry?” I said, pushing myself to my feet. Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to say because Lilith came charging at me with her bludgeon in hand. I kind of treasured my safety so I ran from her. Lilith followed suit. I wasn’t sure what was happening with Kip and Alex but I assumed they would be fighting.

“Alex?!” I called out. 

The cry cost me a slice on my arm from Lilith. “No distract.” Lilith wrinkled her nose as she threw her sword at me. It missed wildly and she grabbed her bludgeon again. 

There was no response from Alex but I couldn’t afford to get distracted again. 

Lilith charged again and I narrowly avoided a spiked club in my face. She had a distinct fighting pattern of all offense - which seemed to be a similarity among Dee’s brutes. 

Which made me wonder - if Lilith’s bludgeon was wooden… 

I waited for Lilith to swing at me again and when she did I parried with my sword. The light did what I had hoped and set the wooden weapon on fire. Lilith was too stupid to try and put it out, she simply discarded the weapon. 

I darted out of the way but Lilith wasn’t done yet. “Lilith angry!” she informed me, holding her palms toward me. 

I jumped just in time, side stepping at the perfect moment. Dark purple orbs shot from her palms and I realized she was one of the witches - probably one of the not so magical ones. Whatever the purple orbs touched turned to dust. 

But the odds weren’t in my favor and with the magical woman against me it limited by fighting options. I had to fight from far or risk getting hit and turned to dust. 

I suddenly had an idea - one so stupid that no one except for me would ever attempt it. That was my speciality after all. I ran straight towards Lilith. She wasn’t a quick thinker and began to shoot orbs towards me. I began to zigzag. It was a simple strategy and not necessarily a good one. But Lilith missed me and I advanced on her. All it took was one hit from my sword for her to dissolve into a beam of light. 

“Luke!” I heard Alex call. I was hesitant to answer. How coincidental was it that Alex just happened to call for me at the same time as I finished my fight with Lilith. 

My hesitance was good because just then a fireball shot at my head. I ducked but I could feel the heat singe the hair on the top of my head. I wheeled around to see Kip holding Alex in a headlock. She had a gash on her forehead and she looked weak from struggling. 

“Put down the sword,” Kip ordered. His voice lacked all of the compassion it normally had. I didn’t move, frozen with fear and trying to think of an escape. 

Alex’s gaze was obvious. She wanted me to run. Maybe I could escape the fireballs. Maybe I could get inside and live. Maybe I could defeat Dee. Those were more maybes than I really wanted in the situation. 

“Have it your way,” Kip hissed at last, breaking me out of my thoughts. He pressed his fingers to his lips, throwing Alex aside in the process. 

I knew what was happening. “Alex, run!” I yelled, following my own orders this time. 

A large shape descended from the sky into the courtyard. The temperature dropped several degrees until my breath formed white clouds in front of me. 

“Arya!” Kip called out in greeting. 

“Kip!” the Dark Warrior named Arya called, hopping off the dragon’s back nimbly. Hux snorted, snow fluttering away from his nostrils. He was an ice dragon, he breathed cold instead of fire. 

“Master called me in,” Arya explained. “She said there was something to be taken care of.” Arya sent a glance my way, skipping over Alex on the ground. 

“I’m sorry I ruined date night,” I said, immediately regretting the decision. Arya’s eyes narrowed and Kip scowled at me. Hux’s muscles tensed and I could feel the courtyard growing colder if that was possible. 

I ran. I didn’t care if Alex could fend for herself, I knew that I had just made a death wish. And Kip and Arya were going to grant it for me. 

I looked over my shoulder but Kip and Arya weren’t following me. I realized why as I collided with Kenzie. She looked battered and bruised, blackened blood leaking from various wounds. But when she met my eyes she still seemed very much alive. “Run, Luke. I’ll send Alex after you. Don’t turn back.” 

And then she was gone, charging Kip and Arya. Not a great idea, but if anyone could handle it, Kenzie could. 

I kept running. Kenzie had done an amazing job of disarming all of the other enemies. 

Except … where had those other Warriors gone? The ones who didn’t go investigate the distraction? I got my answer a few moments when I felt something pierce my shoulder. 

I registered the hot pain and shaft of an arrow protruding from my upper arm. 

I tripped and fell to the ground. Pain shot up my shoulder like a serpent, striking my brain again and again with fiery fervor. 

I heard someone calling my name but my vision was fuzzy. Heal yourself, a voice whispered to me from inside my head. Picture yourself well and healthy. I didn’t care who the voice was, I began to picture the arrow pulling smoothly out of my arm and the wound sealing. 

A warmth spread through my shoulder and arm like honey though it was considerably cooler than the scalding. 

When I opened my eyes again the blood was gone and in its place was a jagged scab. The arrow was in my hand, blood dripping from the point at the end. I raised it like a javelin, ready to throw it at one of the Dark Warriors. 

And yet none of them were left. Alex was panting, a knife gripped tightly in her hand. She wiped the sweat off her brow. “Are you done being a baby?” she asked me. 

“Hey, I was shot,” I argued and Alex laughed, rolling her eyes. 

“We’d better hurry - Kenzie can’t hold off a dragon forever,” Alex reminded me. “The doors to the castle are right over here.” 

I inhaled once as Alex helped me to my feet. This was the end. 

We made our way to the doors and I pushed them open with a creak. Dee wouldn’t win anymore.