Chapter 6

When Tharnale said ‘Small spaces’ Ellie thought he meant, maybe a small tunnel that people could walk through. Not a tunnel you could barely look up in.

“You know, when small spaces were mentioned, I thought I could handle it. No, I’m going insane.” Ellie said from behind Tharnale in a dimly lit tunnel.

Tharnale laughed, “You act like you’ve never been in a tunnel before.”

Carter grunted from behind Ellie, “I’ve been in a tunnel before, and an enclosed space. I hate enclosed spaces even more now.”

Tharnale grunted himself, “Ya, well be quiet and go on. We only have a little bit more to go, then we’ll be right in the room of the Emperor.”

Carter piped up from behind them, “So we’ll be right in the room with the Emperor? Against him?”

Thernale looked like he was smiling, but didn’t say anything. They crawled for a bit more until they got to a vent, where Ellie started hearing voices. Multiple people were talking, maybe a few kids and a few adults.

They looked through the vent to see multiple people and kids talking to each other, two of them were dressed in the clothing of royals. The others just looked like kids, maybe not even over ten.

Thernale pointed to one of the adults standing in front, “That’s the Emperor.”

Ellie started trying to pull energy from him, and could already get a good amount from him. She needed more though, it wasn’t enough to travel dimensions. They needed to get closer. Or maybe, the Emperor needed to get closer to them.

“Get back, I need room.” Ellie tried to get in the best line of sight she could of the Emperor.

“Why? What are you gonna do?” Asked Carter.

Ellie didn’t have time to explain, all she did was focus on the essence of the Emperor's soul. Like her and Tharnale, it seemed different in magical energy. Ellie started pulling on the soul to find there were two parts of their soul, themself and the forge. Ellie directed to the forge, and tried to pull as much energy as she could until she felt her dimensional powers ready for use.

Ellie stopped pulling and the Emperor started looking around, Ellie knew that was their cue to leave. “Alright, we got what we came here for.” She started shuffling through the vents.

“How long until we can hop out of this dimension?” Asked Carter.

Ellie shook her head, “A few minutes maybe.” She felt her powers surfacing, but not fully ready. They crawled for a bit longer, then eventually Tharnale started kicking a vent door.

“What are you doing Tharnale?” Carter said.

“Getting us a way out, Carter.” Tharnale did one last kick and the vent door opened, Tharnale jumped out immediately. Ellie then followed, and soon Carter as well. “Where to?”

Ellie shrugged, “How should I know, I don’t have any idea where stuff is!” Then Ellie felt many magical essences coming from their right, “But we should probably go this way.” Ellie started running down their left side, and Carter and Tharnale came down just as fast. They ran through the halls running into multiple demons, but no guards.

“How do we get out?” Carter asked.

“Ellie, do you know any movement spells?” Tharnale asked.

Ellie shook her head, “No, I don’t.”

“So how are we gonna get out of here?” Asked Carter.

“Perhaps I can be of assistance.” Tharnale said, smiling.

Carter groaned, “What is it, because if it is crazy we’re not doing it.”

“Carter, crazy is what we need right now.” Ellie said.

“Precisely Carter, that’s why I’m planning on doing this.” Tharnale ran in front of them and turned a corner to the left, Ellie and Carter followed. Tharnale ran straight through the hall, then looked over his shoulder to them. “Get ready to jump!” Tharnale ran straight through the wall and jumped onto a flag, riding down it. Then landing on a small tower.

Ellie shrugged, “It’s crazy, but smart.” Before Carter said anything Ellie ran back and jumped out of the castle. She grabbed onto the last part of the flag and landed on the same tower as Tharnale.

Carter shook his head, and ran back into the castle. Then he erupted from the building, Carter then grabbed onto the flag but instead of making it to the tower he fell to the shops below.

“No!” Ellie yelled, she jumped off the tower and landed in the shops with Carter. It was very dusty, but she was close enough to Carter to see him. “Are you ok?” She said, pulling herself up from the fall.

He nodded, “Ya,” He smiled, “Told you it was a crazy idea.”

Ellie nodded, then Tharnale jumped perfectly on a ledge above them. “You two might want to move before the guards come and find you, ready to jump dimensions?”

Ellie nodded, “Yep, I just need a place to focus.”

They all ran through the shops, trying to stay as normal as they could. When they found an open area between the buildings with no people, they felt safer than they were.

Tharnale burst into laughter, “Well, my dimensional friends, it seems we may have just pulled off the heist of the century!”

Carter nodded, “Seems like it.”

Ellie nodded, “We’re not bad people though, we’re just trying to get home.”

Carter looked at her, “Ellie, this isn’t about getting home anymore. We’re being tracked down by multiple groups of people, and have the entire magical community after us. I think we have more than just ‘getting home’ to do.”

Tharnale nodded, “I for one have no home, but I imagine from what you two have told me, that the homes you two used to know aren’t safe. Riddled with spies, and people that want you controlled. Not good, we must flee. Try to find other places to go.”

Carter nodded, “Alright then, where to?”

Ellie shrugged, “If the MDSC is after us, then we’re gonna need somewhere safe.”

Tharnale nodded, “Then we go to the human realm.”

Carter and Ellie stared at Tharnale for a second, “Are you serious?” Carter asked.

Tharnale nodded, “Quite, Ellie’s life before this is being monitored. Don’t go where you’ve gone and we’re fine, the only problem we’ll have is the MDSC.”

Anna piped up from the back of Ellie’s mind, ‘Which I think we can handle with her abilities, no mage will even come close to you with your power.’

Ellie nodded, “I guess we could go back, but I’m not entirely sure it will work as planned.”

Carter nodded, “Probably won’t, but it will help us get away from things.”

Ellie sighed, “If you guys really think this is a good idea, I’m in. How are we gonna hide Tharnale though? No offense, but making Carter look human is easy. You on the other hand, not so much.”

Tharnale nodded, “Guite true, but I say no to making any changes to my physical appearance.”

Carter nodded, “So how do we do this?”

Anna laughed in Ellie’s mind, ‘We could imbue an object.’

Ellie nodded, “How do we do that?”

“You’ll need someone like me.” Said a voice from their right. A light emerged from the wall, and a man with white hair appeared.

“And who is that?” Ellie asked

“The Master Knight, the director of the MDSC.” Carter said.

Ellie nodded, “Bad guy, noted.” Ellie ran to the man and prepared a pure magic spell to blast the man back, but instead of her energy pushing him it stopped right in front of him.

“No, not ‘bad guy.’ I’m here to talk to you all.” The Master Knight said, he flicked his wrist and Ellie’s energy was absorbed by him. Then Ellie was blasted back with the same spell. She hit the wall, making her back crack. She immediately felt her healing kicking in though.

“You say ‘talk’ then slam me into a wall.” Ellie groaned.

“Your fault for trying to attack me.” The Master Knight said, “Now to business, something very big is starting to churn here, and I’m quite a fan of it. Others, not so much. Especially the council, so in that fact the MDSC will still be sending scouts after you.”

“Great.” Tharnale said, taking a seat.

The Master Knight nodded, “What I say doesn’t affect what you do, but I might as well say it. When you arrive in the human realm you're going to be faced with a challenge, and get a few allies after that. You're going to meet a friend of mine, Craig, he’s one of the people that aren’t a fan of yours.”

“So, why are you helping us?” Carter asked.

The Master Knight smiled, “I am always here for the next generation, and you all are who I believe to be the next generation. Either way, I shall help you in your little identity crisis with Tharnale over there.” The Master Knight passed Ellie a scroll, “That should help you out, and Ellie. Please don’t die, trust me, the multiverse needs you. All of you.” The Master Knight looked at Ellie’s friends and then disappeared in a burst of light. Leaving them all without words.