Fall of Igneeria: The Half-ling

by Kaylee Soderburg

  The water war continued with us getting them and them getting us. We attacked them with a pool, and they threw water balloons at us while we were on bikes. It was pretty simple, but the whole time all I noticed was Seth. He wasn’t the same to me anymore; he always had this mask on his face, hiding himself from the rest of us. I had to find out what was wrong, and soon.

  “Jazell, are you paying attention?” Emily’s annoyed voice broke my day dreams.

  I snapped back to attention, “Uh yes, I am Emily. Just for the record, what are we talking about?”

  “Jazell you’re hopeless! We’re talking about what to do next,” she scowled.

  “Wait,” an idea jumped into my head, “how about we meet under a truce.”

  Emily stared at me. “A truce? Seriously? That is the complete opposite of what we’re doing.”

  “I know but trust me; we need to meet under a truce. What about monster fighting and this whole puzzle with the dwarfs? Did we just forget all about it or are we not going to do our job anymore?”

  “We’re still fighting, Jazell. We’re all just having some fun because it’s summer and not school. We’ll get back to it later.”

  “Listen, why don’t we meet once and then go back to this water war. At least we should think about this a little bit.” I pushed the paper of warnings in front of her face.

  “Fine,” she snatched the paper out of my hands. “We’ll meet Jazell, okay? Are you happy now? Then we’ll go back to soaking each other randomly.”

  “Yes, I’m happy.” I didn’t call a truce for the warnings. I did it because that’s when I’d talk to Seth and get his secret out of him. Then maybe I could help him and stop having to watch his miserable face.

  Emily made a face and left the room to dial Jason’s number and tell him about the meeting. I waited patiently for her to come back in my room. I can’t wait long because I have a tendency to go crazy, so I walked up to my window sill and looked at the sky. I stared it and turned around to see Emily come back in. But not before my eyes caught a flash of blue.

  Emily and I parked our bikes and headed into the woods and towards the clearing. We stepped into it, and I took in the familiar feeling. Out of all the places we’ve all been, this place felt the safest, as if it were surrounded by a good force, not bad for once. We often met here when we weren’t all together. I sat down next to Emily on a log.

  Minutes later Jason and Seth emerged from the trees. They weren’t smiling or doing anything suspicious so I figured we were safe, for now. They sat down across from us. I noticed that Seth was avoiding my eyes.

  “So whose crazy idea was it to meet under a truce when we’re having so much fun wreaking havoc on each other?” Jason asked.

  Emily sighed and pointed at me, “This crazy person right here.”

  “So what do you want?” he continued and eyed me.

  I took a small, quiet breath and said what I had planned, “I want to work on the dwarf problem.” I nodded towards Emily, signaling her to take out her paper.

  She groaned and pulled the folded piece of paper out of her pocket. She unfolded it and placed it in front of us. While we studied it, I tried to catch Seth’s eye, but he didn’t look at me. I felt something boil deep within me-the anger at him. We were his best friends, we told each other everything and now he was keeping something from us. I could see it was eating at him, so why didn’t he tell us what it was? That was the question that was making me steam.

  “Seth out with it!” I didn’t know why I shouted.

  I startled him and he looked up at me. “What do you mean, Jazell?”

  “I mean tell me what you’re hiding!” I yelled at him.

  He stood up, “I’m not hiding anything.” His voice was level but it shook slightly.

  I stepped towards him and gave him a hard shove. He stumbled back and fell on the ground. He looked up at me, waiting for what I would do next.

  “Why are you keeping a secret from me?” I repeated, my voice as cold as an icicle.

  Seth didn’t answer me, instead he did the most cowardly and annoying thing you can do.

  The idiot ran off.

  Seth pushed himself up at a surprising speed and raced off into the woods. I did the crazy thing that people like me would do and followed him. I looked over my shoulder to see if Emily and Jason were coming but both of them stared at me, baffled. Their faces disappeared as I was swallowed by the trees.

  I skidded to a halt and scanned the trees. I didn’t see any trace of where Seth could have ran. That shows how much I know about asking questions. I don’t get the answers and boom; I lose it and become a demanding person.

  I walked more slowly, watching the trees. I sent a silent prayer that Seth hadn’t entered Igneeria, because then I would never find him.

  What bugged me the most was that Seth didn’t fight me when I pushed him down. He just sat on the ground not saying anything at all in his own defense. Now, I couldn’t find him anywhere and I would never get my answer.

  I heard a large snap to my right and I whirled around. I heard another crack and I slowly crept towards the noise. Another snap sounded, louder this time, to my left. I changed direction and hid behind a tree. I peeked around it.

  Seth grabbed another stick and slammed it into a tree. It hit the tree with a loud crack and broke in half. He picked up another and rammed it again. He went to grab another one but his fingers couldn’t grasp it. They shook so hard he dropped it and he sunk to the ground. I saw him place his head under his arms and he curled himself in a tight bundle. He shook and I heard him do something that I thought Seth never did. He cried.

  I stepped out from behind the tree and walked over to him. He didn’t hear me, or look up. I wasn’t mad at him anymore for not telling me what I wanted to know. Now I felt bad that I had nagged him so hard that he was breaking. I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his body. He stopped crying and I felt him squirm.

  Seth grunted and then mumbled, “Get off me.”

  “No, not until you tell me what’s going on,” I said.

  He groaned. “Seriously Jazell, nothing is wrong. Now get off me.”

  I rolled my eyes but he couldn’t see that. “You’re a horrible liar Seth.”

  “I know,” I felt him sigh. “Please Jazell it’s nothing you need to worry about, okay? Just leave me be, I will deal with it.”

  I let my arms fall and Seth lifted his head. His eyes were red from crying but something in his eyes showed he was still Seth. The same darn stubborn and annoying Seth I was friends with. That let me relax a little.

  He faced me, “You should go back to the others. I bet they’re probably wondering…”

  “No way,” I cut in. “I’m not leaving until I get my answer.”

  Seth traced the dirt with the end of a stick. “You say I’m stubborn” I laughed and he continued, “Listen, I don’t even know if it’s true or not. There’s no need for me to worry any of you. That’s why I didn’t say anything.”

  “I still don’t care, Seth.” I said.

  He made a face, “Jazell I really don’t know if I should say anything…”

  I interrupted him again, “Seth just give up trying to talk me into not listening. It’s a waste of breath.” I took my own stick and threw it at him. He ducked, of course, and it landed on the ground. “What if whatever you’re not telling us happens and we never knew? How would that help anyone?”

  He looked down and mumbled something that sounded like, “You couldn’t help.” When he looked back up he said, “Fine you win, I’ll tell you.” He didn’t sound happy about it.

  “I’m waiting.”

  “You know, when Emily asked for any warnings that we were given?”

  “Yeah.” I had a bad feeling where this was going.

  “I lied.”

  I blinked in amazement. “You lied to Emily? She’s going kill you.”

  He smiled faintly. “She doesn’t need to know.”

  “So a dwarf told you so
mething? Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked.

  Seth looked away. “It didn’t actually include you or anyone else, so I didn't say anything.” He paused. “They said that I would betray you all and be Kojas' servant. I would be the key to the downfall of Igneeria. I don't know what to do Jazell; I don't even know if those things are true. They won't attack me and I swear, if you gave them a minute, I bet they would help me.” He was talking so fast the words almost blurred together.

  “I don't know what to say Seth,” I said. “Maybe you shouldn't worry, maybe they're wrong. You can control what happens. If you say it won't happen, it won't.”

  “I hope you're right,” he said.

  “Me too.”

  The mood was perfect. I saw Seth relax a little and the look on his face was more like himself. I was perfectly happy with the way everything was right now until I saw the small outline of a toad dwarf nearby.

  “Uh Seth I don't think this is the best time to mention this but I think we have company.” I pointed to the shape.

  He swore under his breath, and we both entered the dwarf's world together. Sure enough, it was a dwarf but there was something strangely different about this particular dwarf. He just walked toward us as if he wasn't afraid that I might put an arrow through his head.

  Just as I was about to release my arrow, the dwarf cried, “Please stop!”

  I don’t know why I listened to him but I didn’t pull the string. The dwarf was acting different than the others; its pudgy eyes were filled with fear at the sight of my arrow.

  “Why?” Seth growled. “Your kind has done nothing good to us except make us confused and our lives more complicated.”

  The dwarf looked startled. “Oh you’ll have to excuse my brethren; they have a tendency to be rather annoying.” He took a long frightened look at Seth’s sword. “Good sir, before you try to slay me, I have a message to deliver from her majesty.”

  I lowered my bow because I had a feeling I wanted to know what this message was. If it was a lie, Seth and I could kill him anyway in a blink of an eye.

  “Seth, maybe we should hear what he has to say.”

  “I’ve had enough of listening to dwarfs,” Seth hissed. “All they bring me is bad news.”

  The dwarf was trembling. “Oh please, sir, listen to the good lady! I do not bring news that will cause you pain, but I bring news of the pain of others. You must listen, it is my task!”

  Seth looked at me and I nodded. He sighed and lowered his weapon to the ground, its tip digging into the dirt. The dwarf relaxed a little, but its body was still full of tension.

  “Thank you, sir!” he squeaked. “Her majesty requests that I tell you about you’re real destiny. She believes you’ve been in the dark long enough.”

  “What do you mean?” I questioned. “Our real destiny?”

  “Yes,” he said, a little more relaxed, “it must take place in Igneeria, where you are truly needed.”

  My brow furrowed in confusion. “But wait, aren’t we in Igneeria right now?”

  The dwarf gave a quick, half-hearted laugh. “No miss, you are far from Igneeria. You’re in the Half-way, the place between Earth and Igneeria. The Half-way can act as a gate, or passage into Earth. It seals off the two worlds and if a monster were to make it as far as the Half-way, it would have a truly difficult time completing its journey because it won’t find a way in or out of this place.”

  “So let me get this straight,” I said slowly, “we’re not in Igneeria right now but some Half-way?”

  The dwarf nodded, happily.

  “So where’s Igneeria?”

  The dwarf rubbed his stubby chin. “The entrance changes but its current location is in your town. That’s how I got here. But don’t get the Half-way confused with Igneeria, miss, for they are quite different. Especially now, with all the dark events that have been occurring because of his rising.”

  “You mean Kojas?” I asked.

  “Shh! Not here, not anywhere!” he said quickly. “Never say his name unless you’re sure he’s not around. His name can summon him or others. You understand, do not say his name!”

  “Alright, alright I get it!” I said. “I don’t have to be told a million times. Now what else do you need to tell us about our destiny.” I included air quotes around “destiny”.

  He stared at me happily. “Oh you have to come to Igneeria, miss.”

  “Wow wait, hold it!” I held my hands out. “Buddy, you just show up talking about some destiny that we don’t know about and then you say that we have to come to some place that’s not here, and you expect us to go? What about our families and people who’d ask questions, if we disappear. What do we say, oh sorry about that everyone, we just felt like leaving Earth to go to this magical place called Igneeria to do something that we don’t know about.”

  “Well of course, there will be some minor difficulties,” he said.

  “Minor?” I squeaked. “Seriously, did you not hear a word I just said?”

  He placed his pudgy hands on his small hips. “Miss don’t you think that Her Majesty would have this all planned out? You don’t have to worry.”

  Seth twirled his sword. “Why not, we have to tell our parents something.”

  “Sir, don’t worry about a thing. All you need to do is go home. Everything has been arranged.”

  “What do you mean, arranged?” Seth asked sharply.

  The dwarf seemed to bounce up and down. “It has sir, but I don’t know what her majesty did. All I know is that all of you have to go home to get ready.”

  My mind whirled with all this new information. “Wait, why do we have to go? What is this destiny?”

  The dwarf gave a feeble smile. “All of you must free our world from darkness, from him.”