The Dawning Night: Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Ghost Host</u>

"Hmm… yes I think you'll be just fine," Corin nodded. He was sitting near Cezial, who had suddenly woken up in the middle of Corin's and Sylvia's conversation of the plan. His eyes were wild and filled with fear and he had screamed when he first saw Corin, throwing pillows and the plates at him. Shade and Lightning had helped calm him down and they were both relieved to see that Cezial seemed to be himself again. Hymereidd had kept her promise.

"Oh… how grand…" Cezial sighed, standing up and stretching his wings. "Oops," he grinned sheepishly when he knocked over the lamp. "Umm… I can fix that…"

Wynia laughed lightly and picked up the lamp, placing it back on the table. "Don't worry about it."

"So, Cezy, are you… feeling okay?" Shade asked, slightly worried he'd be seeing Hymereidd's feral eyes glaring at him.

"Yeah, why?" Cezial smiled brightly and Shade grinned back at him, happy to have the lovable bookworm back.

"No reason," Shade replied.

"Well, now this is just touching but… I think we should prepare for the plan!" Lightning hissed.

"Hmm? We have a strategy now?" Cezial cocked his head. "I was afraid that we had sided with the opposite sides… given our current house resident…" the frost ridgedor gave Corin a reproachable glance.

"No! We'd never go with Rayzord!" Shade growled, his fangs showing out of the corners of his mouth. "Corin might be a hilock… but any friend of my mom's is a friend of mine."

Sylvia smiled lovingly. "Thanks for the confidence, dear."

"So… what is this… plan?" Cezial continued.

"Oh," Sylvia gestured to Wynia. "Could you tell him?"

"Sure, Sylvia," the girl said.

Sylvia started to walk out of the room and signaled to Shade and Lightning. The two friends looked at each other and followed. Corin raised his head, watching the three leave. He twitched his tail and got to his paws, going after them silently.

"Shade," Sylvia whispered when she rounded the corner and stopped outside the kitchen.

"What is it, Mom?" Shade asked, yawning. He was really tired from the day's work.

"Luna isn't back yet…"

"So?" Lightning lazily picked his teeth with a claw. "You said she was just going to blow off steam. Man, she's such a drama queen."

"Yeah," Shade nodded. "Don't worry about her."

"But… I…" Sylvia looked around cautiously. "We need her… more than you know…"

"What are you talking about?" Shade raised his eyebrows.

Lightning's ears suddenly swiveled backwards. "Wait!" he said. "We have ourselves an eavesdropper…"

Sylvia and Shade turned to look. They saw Corin slink dejectedly out from behind the corner to join them. "Heh, sorry, couldn't resist…" he mewed sheepishly.

"Corin, I would have let you come with us," Sylvia scolded.

"Forgive me," Corin lowered his head as he sat beside Lightning.

"Apology accepted, my friend. You… know about this already, right?" Sylvia leaned forward expectantly.

"Know what? I know many things, my dear, too many to keep track of…"

"About… the Crystallized Graves true purpose…"

"Oh…" Corin's jaw seemed to tighten. "Yes, it grieves me everyday…"

"The Gem Cemetery?" Shade interrupted. "Wynia mentioned it being part of the Prophecy."

"Correct…" Corin muttered. "It's said, that the 'hero who must lose, to pay for their dues' must be sacrificed… to give the other three the power to defeat the tyrant…"

"What! But that's so unfair!" Shade protested.

"True…"

"Hey, isn't that the one who's haunted?" Lightning questioned.

"Oh, yeah, I remember Luna saying that…" Shade agreed thoughtfully.

"Well, of course she would know that," Sylvia smiled. "It's because she's the one."

"WHAT!?" Shade exclaimed.

Sylvia blinked. "She's one of the Prophecy… didn't you know that?"

"No!" Lightning yowled. "I think that would have been useful information to have beforehand!"

"I'm sorry… It's a sore subject for her…"

"Why? What happened?" Shade asked.

"Well… when the Prophecy said haunted… It really meant it…"

"What do you mean?"

"She means some creepy ghost stalks Luna, you idiot!" Lightning snarled. "Stick with the program feather head!"

"I don't think 'stalking' is the right term, Prince," Sylvia whispered. "You see, it's her grandmother, Leera Lazerlight, who haunts her."

"Why would Leera do that?"

"I think it's not really that she wants to scare her… more likely that she's just watching over her granddaughter."

"I guess that makes sense… but the Prophecy says she has to face a ghost as a challenge… why would Leera want to fight Luna?"

Sylvia shook her head. "I don't know, Shade…"

"Well, we have to find Luna. Maybe she'll have some answers. Do you know where she might be?"

"… It could have been…" Sylvia turned to Corin. "Do you think…?"

Corin nodded. "Who else?"

Lightning gave a disgruntled hiss. "Just tell us already!"

"It has to be Rayzord," Sylvia answered.

"Perfect. We can knock two birds with one stone!" Shade smiled broadly. "If Luna's there when we attack the castle, we'll just save her and then defeat Rayzord."

"I fear it might not be as easy as that. First off, we don't even know that she was really taken by Rayzord, secondly, we needed her for the attack, and lastly… what if she's already dead?" Corin said fearfully.

"We mustn't think like that," Sylvia scolded, waving her hand slightly.

"So… what now…?" Lightning questioned.

Sylvia paused and tapped her chin with one slender finger. "Shade," she eventually said. "I want you to go to Flox Borough. It's just a few miles south from here."

Lightning got to his paws, announcing, "Let's not burn anymore daylight people!"

Shade gave him a bewildered look. "But it's nighttime."

"It's an expression, chicken," Lightning twitched his ears.

"I've never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad you're calling me 'chicken' again," the ampithere ridgedor gave the chequick a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just cut the mushy stuff and go already! I want to be back in time for dessert."

***

Lightning leaped joyfully into the wide grassy borough of Flox. It was almost identical to Verdalatt, the only difference being that the houses were smaller.

"Man it feels good to be out of that cottage!" Lightning yelled.

Shade raised his eyebrows. "You were only in there for a few hours."

"Yeah but it felt like FOREVER!"

Shade shook his head, striding past the chequick and going towards the long creek near a silver maple. The creek glowed in the moonlight, its waves reflecting the shine of the stars.

"Hmm…" Lightning murmured. "What are we looking for again?"

"I don't know… Mom wasn't very specific…" Shade whispered. "Why don't you check the inside of the houses and I'll go around outside."

"You got it, chief," Lightning bounded over to one of the houses and went inside, his tail swishing as he disappeared.

Shade gave a sly smile. "Sucker," he walked towards the creek and sat by the tree's roots. Sylvia had told him that he had to wait for the moon's reflection to light the tree's leaves. Shade still didn't know why Sylvia wouldn't just tell Lightning and Corin.

"I wonder what's supposed to happen when the moon illuminates the leaves…" Shade muttered under his breath. He raised his head, smiling as the moon's light came towards him. He gasped when the tree's leaves suddenly glowed brightly. It was the most beautiful thing Shade had ever seen. He looked around expectantly, hoping something would pop up and tell him how to beat Rayzord.

"You might want to try looking up, dear," a calm voice said soothing up above him.

"Huh?" Shade's head shot up and saw a strange translucent figure hanging lightly over the tree. She kept flickering in and out of focus and each time coming back as a different color. Red, orange, blue, green, yellow, and purple, the hues rapidly flickering. The ghost-like woman seemed to be wearing a long dress made of mist and her hair, skeletally white, streamed behind her.

"Are you… a ghost…?" Shade stammered, swallowing.

She sighed, shaking her head. "Wow, that would be anyone's first conclusion and you seriously ask that? Well, at least this means you aren't the Prophecy's 'wise' one."

"Did you just call me stupid?"

"Look, let's just get right to the point. My granddaughter, Luna, she didn't just leave. She was kidnapped."

"What?" Shade raised an eyebrow.

"Archariss Axehead sent an OIO, his personal one, to bring a bag of Hypteiddio Uldwst which is Spyritian language. It means Hypnotizing Powder and it's made in Malmenn, the land of the Spyrits' Capital."

"So?"

"So the OIO used the bag and threw it on Luna. You see, Archariss is very skilled at getting in people's heads and probably made Luna lose her guard. When the powder hit her, Luna was instantly hypnotized and, whoever was controlling her like a marionette, led Luna to their lair. Now… can you guess who it is?"

Shade shrugged. "Rayzord?"

The ghost smiled eerily. "Perhaps there's hope for you yet, Shade."

The ampithere ridgedor nodded. "Yeah, but here's the thing: Why should I believe you? You're a ghost, I don't even know your name, and you called me stupid."

"Indeed that is true… How about this…" the ghost bowed. "My name is Leera Lazerlight. I believe you've heard of me."

"Yeah, you're the lady who sealed a homicidal wolf inside me."

"Ah, yes, sorry about that…"

"Also, you're the ghost who's stalking Luna."

"Stalking?! Why would I stalk my own granddaughter? Please, just save her will you?"

"What!? I was going to do that anyways, Miss Lazerlight."

"Good but let me give you a piece of advice," Leera paused. "Remember what clocks tell."

"What?" Shade raised an eyebrow. "How the heck does that tie into anything?"

Leera gave him a strange grin and suddenly disappeared. Shade looked toward the moon. It had gone behind a cloud and it's light was distinguished.

"Hey!" Lightning's voice sounded behind Shade. He turned to see his chequick friend running towards him.

"What? Did you find anything?" Shade asked.

"No, not a thing useful. How about you?"

"Well… I found some bad advice."

"Huh? What was it?"

"Remember what clocks tell…"

"… Alrighty then… yeah, you worry about that," Lightning's tail tip twitched. "Maybe Sylvia just got the wrong place… Let's head back."

"Sure. Mom said we'd be having carrot cake for dessert."

"Oh? Sounds tasty, let's go," the feline licked his lips happily.

"I didn't know cats liked carrots," Shade cocked his head.

"We don't... but we do like cake," Lightning flashed him a smile and then took off into the forest. Shade blinked and slowly followed him.

"I wonder what Leera means…?" he murmured aloud.