Chapter 21: Follow Your Dreams

Drake dodged her first blow, grabbing her ankle and sending a small jolt of electricity into her leg. That seemed to put her temporarily out of commission, and Drake started running down the street, trying to get to Erika. A jet of flame shot past him and he saw Fern standing up, bracing her left leg. "You'll pay for that!" she screamed, then erupted in flames and ran towards Drake at full throttle.

Drake's eyes widened and he shot a bolt of lightning at her, which bounced of the superheated flames of her shield. She was gaining on him fast, so he figured there was nothing to lose. He formed two intense balls of energy in his hands and combined them, then shot them back at Fern with all his might. the flame and electricity collided and produced yet another massive explosion. Holy Moses! Drake thought. I don't see how she coulda survived that!

He kept on running as the heat from the explosion caught up with him and knocked him down, knocking the wind out of him. The explosion had sucked up all the oxygen in the immediate area, including the oxygen in Drake's lungs.
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Erika was running for her life. She was so intent on running that she didn't notice the root in front of her feet and she tripped and fell, just as she reached another hill. The flying object was now closing in again, the gap was shortening every second. She came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, wedged up against a rock and a log. The fire was right above her now, and she could feel the heat.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" chortled a voice from the fire. "I have you now, little miss disappear. I don't know how you managed to get away the last time, but your little friend isn't here to protect you now. I took care of him personally." the voice said, chuckling to itself at the end.

"Wh- Who are you?!" Erika screamed. She had no idea what she meant by her getting away, and her 'little friend' protecting her, but she didn't care right now. "What do you want from me?!"

"Oh you know what I want... Why else would someone like me be chasing you? I want that pretty little crystal around your neck. It's either that, or I just kill you and then I get it anyways...your choice." said the voice with an icy tone.

"What do you mean, 'someone like you?' Do you have-" she started.

"No, foolish girl, I'm not a Spirit Bearer. And no, I can't kill you, not yet. I was hoping it would scare you into giving up." said the voice, still shrouded in flames.
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Drake recovered from the explosion in a few seconds and looked to where Erika had been. She was at the bottom of the hill against a large rock. Whoever else it was with Fern had cornered her and was getting ready to attack. "Oh hell no you don't!" screamed Drake, and scrounged up the most powerful shot he had ever made before, throwing it at the flaming attacker. He then took his lightning and used it to propel himself at Erika, just in time to block the light from the explosion and take most of the hit.

Whatever it was attacking her was gone with the explosion, and Drake was left there on the edge of a crater, still smoldering and smoking, crouched over with the wind knocked out of him again. Drake looked down at Erika and saw her unconscious, the wind getting knocked out of her had been the last straw on top of her exhaustion.
"Erika, please wake up. Please be okay!" he yelled.

"She will be fine, she's only unconscious. But we must get the two of you to safety. Please follow me, Drake." said an aged voice from behind them.
Drake turned around and saw the old man from before, standing there with his hand outstretched to grab Drake's. He took it and stood up, then bent down and hoisted Erika into his arms. "Lord Triton, I presume?" he asked, his voice strained.

"Indeed, child. Now we must get the two of you to safety...I'll take you to where I come to rest when I'm here. We'll talk there where we won't be overheard." said Triton
"Alright...where is that?" asked Drake
"The entrance is over there, behind the Palace." he said, pointing to the Forum.
"So I was right...you liked it when ti was the Ice Palace, huh?" asked Drake, walking towards the Forum.
Triton chuckled. "Yes, I did quite like the name...made me feel more at home there. I used to go there in the middle of the night and lounge around on the ice for a bit...but then security got tight and I've had to be more creative about how I get in." he said

They arrived at the rear entrance of the ice palace and there was just a wall where Triton stopped, nothing special at all about it, right? Wrong. Triton stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out a key chain that looked like a small fork. it grew to the size of a hockey stick and became a crystalline, frozen trident. He raised it in the air and the wall split open to reveal a stairwell. "This will probably be the last time I use this place...technology i getting better and it's only a matter of time until they find this." he said.

Triton's Trident lit the way and Drake followed him down a few flights of stairs. They came out into a dark hallway which led down a ways with a light at the end. The light was a crystal at a doorway with an Ice Crystal painted on it. Triton opened the door and they walked into a fantastic room lit with crystals. It looked like a Throne room, only it was smaller and where the throne would be, there was a wraparound couch set in an alcove.

"Welcome," said Trident "to the real Ice Palace."