The Crystal by Jones M (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

her. She shook her head sideways with a shocked and frightened expression.

"Then we both can't get what we want, now can we?"

She stared at me in disbelief before I made the fire surround her form. She screamed as the fire burnt away at her flesh.

After a while, the screams died down, and her burning form was left.

I walked away from the scene, feeling satisfaction for exacting my revenge. 

As I walked, the events that had recently occurred replayed in my mind. I found it hard to keep moving, and a few seconds later, I collapsed onto the ground. 

I was immediately heaving with sobs with what had happened.

She was dead. My mother was actually dead.

"NO!" I screamed out as tears flowed freely down my cheeks. I did not anticipate the events that had occurred in the past ten minutes. There were things left unsaid, things left to do. I didn't remember the last time I told her I loved her. I had hardly spent time with her in the past month, and that fact alone made me feel guilty and sad.

"Emery!" I heard someone call out for me as they quickly approached me. The footsteps became loud as they approached, quickly ceasing when the person was in front of me. I didn't care to find out who they were as I felt arms wrap around my form. They patted my head as I continued to cry. 

I found myself thinking: how the hell am I going to continue living without my mom?

CHAPTER 19

Ethan's P.O.V

Liam, the guards and I were heading towards Eva's castle. Midway, we heard a loud scream sound through the area. That urged us to quicken our pace.

"What do you think happened?" I asked Brian as we ran towards the building.

"I don't know," he replied. We were just about to reach the entrance of the castle when we heard a loud cracking sound. We turned to the source just in time to see a couple of bricks fall off the castle's side and a woman bust through.

The woman was pale-skinned and she had worn a long black dress. Before she even hit the ground, she levitated high in the air. Then Emery appeared, her head turning to her sides as she showed a look that frightened me.

I had never seen her look so furious, and I had bullied her in high school.

She was livid.

The doors to the castle suddenly opened with Selena and Erick coming towards us. Selena and Erick both looked distraught, and I noticed some tear stains on Selena's face. My eyes turned to something behind them and they soon widened at what I saw.

Erick was levitating three dead bodies in the air, and one of them was a skeleton.

"I can't hold on much longer. I need your help," he told us. Brian and the other guard proceeded to help him lower the bodies to the ground. I flinched at what I first saw. 

There was a man whose throat was cut. The other had no flesh but bones, and then there was the one I least expected.

It was Emery's mother.

Her eyes were closed, but there was a patch that was dampening her blue blouse with a red color.

"We need to be quick," Erick said. "The erwiches and erboons are behind us."

I heard that, but I was busy staring at the dead bodies in front of me.

"Ethan, look away!" Liam told me in surprise as he forcefully turned me to face another direction. I had not realized that tremors had taken hold of my body. I was shocked and frightened by what I had seen. It was my first time seeing a live dead body, let alone three, and I hoped it would be the last.

"He needs to snap out of it!" Erick yelled. "We'll be dead if we don't get out of here quickly."

While Emery was fighting the woman dressed in black, the guards were placing the dead bodies on one of the magic carpets.

"Ethan, look out!" Selena warned me as she jumped onto me. We ducked, landing on the ground and escaping the clutches of a shrieking erboon. I looked around, noticing that there were five trying to get to us.

Selena quickly got off me and helped me stand up. Then with a quick movement, she threw a fireball towards one of the erboons. It missed the animal, sending it flying towards the sky.

The erboon turned to face her. It screeched before flapping its wings and approaching her.

Okay, Ethan. Be calm. You can deal with this.

I summoned my own fireball and threw it towards the erboon. The fireball reached the erboon, sending it into a screeching fit as the fire consumed it before the animal perished and left soot as the residue. 

"Thanks, Ethan," Selena said before taking off towards another erboon. My gaze turned to the castle. A couple of erwiches were coming towards us. I turned to see if either Erick or Liam was free, but I was momentarily distracted by a fire that had begun to form on a tree.

I looked at the burning tree and the approaching erwiches. An idea soon came to mind, but I was uncertain if it would work. 

Without wasting time, I approached the tree. I narrowed my eyes at it as I tried to visualize the idea that had formed in my mind. I felt something stirring in me, and seconds later, the wind picked up its pace.

I directed my hands to the direction of the fire, making the wind increase the height of the flames. It was soon about four times my height.

I turned away from the burning tree, searching for the erwiches. I spotted one getting close to Selena who was fighting an erboon. With a determined expression, I motioned with a finger towards the erwich. I heard roaring flames before I saw the fire quickly reach for the erwich.  In an instant, the evil witch screamed as the fire consumed it before it turned into dust.

Everyone, except Emery and the woman dressed in black, momentarily stopped to see what had happened. Selena gave me a look of shock. I too was surprised. Then we all continued fighting the erboons and erwiches.

A few moments later, a series of screams pierced the air. I turned to the source, shocked by what I was seeing.

Emery was standing in front of the woman dressed in black, watching as she burned before her. I tried to direct my eyes away from the sight, but I couldn't. I never thought that seeing a live burning of a person would affect me as much as it was at the moment.

Behind me, I heard a couple of rushed footsteps. I turned in time to see the erboons and erwiches retreat to the castle. A couple of seconds later, they closed the castle doors.

My gaze turned to Emery, dancing between her and the burning woman.

I believed I had enough of death for a day.

Harry's P.O.V

Zane, Logan and I were inside the castle in the main study room. The Queen had requested us to stay there while she busied herself in arranging the rushed battle towards Eva's castle.

"So, what do we do now? It looks like Ethan and Liam won't be able to shoot the music video with us today," I spoke.

"We'll have to tell management to postpone it," Logan said. 

They would not be happy about that.

"But what reason shall we give them for their absence?" Zane asked. My attention turned to a window nearby. I noticed that the sky had quickly cleared up, bringing light back to the area.

Before I could answer Zane's question, a scream pierced the air. That voice sounded familiar.

"Emery," we said at once, staring at each other with wide eyes. It meant that Liam and Ethan too had returned. But why did Emery scream?

We all rushed towards the exit of the castle, curious to know what was going on. We joined a couple of servants running towards the source of the scream. 

We soon bust into the castle's garden. With rushed footsteps, we made our way towards the people who had returned. However, I was met by an unexpected sight.

In front of us was a sobbing Emery held in Erick's arms. He and Selena too were crying. I looked around, seeing Ethan and Liam standing a few feet behind them. Liam was holding onto Ethan's shoulder, and I had no idea why. Ethan looked like he had seen a ghost as he seemed to stare at nothing.

Then my gaze moved past them. I gasped, understanding the cause of the mood.

There was a carpet in front of them. On it lay three bodies. I did not care for all but one that stood out. 

It was Emery's mother.

I clasped a hand over my mouth, shocked by the sight. My attention was hardly interrupted by the sound of rushing heels behind me. I soon felt someone push me to a side. I stumbled for a moment and turned to see the Queen.

I looked at her, seeing her eyes widen in the same shock that we all felt. She held onto Liam as she stared at the dead bodies.

"NO!" the Queen screamed before kneeling on the ground. She grasped Miss Davis' head and placed it on her lap, not caring about the sight of the other two dead people beside her. She held onto Susan's head as she cried.

"Susan! Susan!" she screamed out Miss Davis' name. However, she got no reply. Then her shoulders were hunched as her body was racked with sobs.

I suddenly felt uncomfortable being there, witnessing the people who knew Susan Davis crumble down in tears. But then, I guessed my presence would somehow show support for her family. 

My gaze turned to Emery, and seeing her cry made me want to cry with her. It felt weird for a moment, but I decided to not think too much of the feeling. I just wished nobody had died on that day.

Ethan's P.O.V

More people went to the garden to see what had happened. Liam and I decided to go into the castle. I was certain that the details of the dead bodies would remain in my mind. I looked back for a moment then quickly turned to face forward, cussing at my own stupidity of doing that. The image of the dead bodies resurfaced in my mind, making it hard for me to focus on what I was doing. 

I was afraid I was scarred for life.

"Ethan! Liam!" our bandmates called out as they came towards us. Liam and I turned to see them. Once they were near us, we hugged each other.

Then we noticed Selena walking towards us. At first, her head was bowed as she stared at the floor. Then she looked up, facing us. She was sad with tear marks left on her face.

"Selena, what happened?" Harry asked. 

It was certain that Emery's mother had died, but no one was certain about the details of her death and of the others. In fact, some of us didn't know the others.

She heaved in sobs, urging us to get near her. Harry grabbed her and hugged her.

"My...my...my parents are dead!" she said through the sobs she heaved.

"Were those bodies on the carpet—" I went to ask, and she nodded in reply. My heart was filled with sadness for Selena. She and Emery had lost their parents and they were currently both orphans. It was sadder for Selena because she lost both of them at the same time.

We stayed in silence as we comforted Selena for a while before escorting her to her room. Erick happened to enter the room seconds later, and we left him with her. We wandered around the hallways, not knowing what to do next.

"Liam, what happened?" Zane asked as we came to a stop. Liam turned to face him, and then all of us.

"On our way back, Prince Erick filled me in on the events that occurred when they entered Eva's castle," he paused for a moment. 

"He did?" I asked him, surprised he hadn't told me anything.

"It was a trap," Liam continued, ignoring my question. I didn't mind, seeing he was filling us in on what had occurred.

"What?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Yes. In fact, the past six years were a front. They were hiding that they were searching for ingredients."

"For what?" I questioned. 

"They wanted to bring Eva back," he answered. There was a momentary silence from all of us.

"WHAT?" the rest of us said in shock.

"I'm not done yet," Liam told us. "So they mixed the ingredients to make a potion, and Eva did come back. Eva killed Emery's mother and Selena's