The sky was red and the land looked like a wasteland of dirt and bones. Skulls lay everywhere of creatures that were not human or anything even close. A wind blew little dust devils around as the three of them look around at the hell they have walked into.
"So, which way do we go?" Kevin said looking around.
"Well, I see something that could be a castle in that direction," Patrick said before ripping off his sleeve and wrapping it around his mouth to block the dirt in the air.
"This place seems, familiar in a way," Shadow said as she looked around.
"Well if your father ruled this land its probably just something in your DNA," Patrick said.
"Perhaps, anyway let's find Nessira and get out of here," Shadow said before she started heading towards the castle in the distance.
It was not easy to walk as the ground hid decaying bones under the sand making it easy to trip. Shadow did not seem to have a problem as she seemed to see things Patrick could not. Kevin was trying to keep up with her knowing he had the same ability though he just hadn't learned how to use it yet.
The whole place seemed like a dead wasteland and none of them could figure out why anyone would want to rule a place like this. Shadow stopped for a moment noticing something sticking out of the sand to her right. She walked over pulling it out as Patrick and Kevin looked to see her holding some sort of sword with a bone handle.
"This may come in handy," Shadow said looking her weapon over.
"Any others around?" Patrick said looking through the dirt.
"Planning on stabbing your fiance?" Kevin said.
"No, but I wouldn't mind having something to keep her from stabbing me."
"It won't come to that," Shadow said before she found another weapon which looked like an ax handing it to Patrick.
"Alright now here is the plan..." He started to say before he felt something hit him knocking him down into the dirt.
Shadow turned quickly but didn't see what hit him as it had swooped back up in the air. As she focused her vision she saw a winged creature covered in an exoskeleton that made it look like a vulture or some other dangerous birdlife creature. She readied her weapon as it came back down sprouting two swords from its hands before attacking Shadow with a speed she almost wasn't ready for.
Shadow soon transformed sprouting her horns and fangs as the beast continued to attack her. She was able to block most of its attacks but she knew she needed to get the upper hand. She turned and ran into what looked like a giant rub cage sticking up from the ground before jumping up along the pointed bones trying to get some height before using her cat-like reflexes to jump towards the creature knocking it to the ground.
The both rolled a little before Shadow jumped up and started an offensive attack at their enemy. It was covered in so much bonelike armor it was almost impossible to tell what it actually was attacking her. The wings were also armored with sharpened bone as it spun almost taking off Shadow's head as she ducked down seeing a few of her red hairs get trimmed.
Shadow knew she had to end this but found herself getting overwhelmed again. She was shocked at the speed of this creature but continued to do her best but suddenly she was struck in the chest by its wing knocking her back against a rock. She looked up as she saw multiple blades coming towards her. She wasn't sure what to do but she suddenly saw.something dark jump through the air kicking the creature to the ground.
Kevin had transformed and jumped in to help Shadow in the nick of time before landing on the ground. He lunged at the beast before he started pumping its head trying to keep it down as Shadow ran over to join him. She grabbed her sword before she jumped up to plunge it down onto it but it reached up and grabbed the sword holding it in place as Shadow couldn't push it down.
Kevin was suddenly kicked off of it as Shadow was also thrown back as the beast stood up. Just as it was about to attack again something hit it in the head knocking it to the ground. Patrick stood there after hitting the beast with the side of the ax as it was on the ground hiding its face. The skull-like mask had fallen off and was a few feet away.
The other two got back up as the three of them surrounded their for before it looked up at then. Shadow turned pale dropping her sword as she saw the creatures face. Patrick saw Shadows reaction and was confused before he looked down and saw the red hair and beautiful face of Nessira looking up at them with an animalistic look in her eyes.
"Oh my God, Nessira?" He said dropping his ax before stepping towards her.
"Patrick, don't, she's not herself," Shadow said protesting.
"Nessira," he said kneeling down. "Nessira it's me, it's Patrick."
She looked into his eyes for a moment before lunging at him pushing him down the small hill until he hit the bottom with a thud. Before he could get up she was on top of him drawing another blade and holding it to his throat. Shadow and Kevin stood there afraid to act as they didn't know if they could save Patrick from her if they tried so they hoped maybe he could get through to her. Patrick looked up at his fiance as she was about to strike when she stopped.
"Nessira, it's me, I don't know what they've done to you but you have to fight it, you are stronger than this, you are better than this!"
She stared at him for a moment with the blade pressed against his throat before her expression changed. Shadow and Kevin watched not sure what was happening as she suddenly dropped the weapon on the ground. A glimmer of hope suddenly appeared as she placed her hand on his chest feeling his heartbeat before she leaned down and kissed Patrick placing her hand on his face.
Patrick enjoyed the moment thinking he had gotten through to her and she was still in there somewhere fighting this control over her. He went to wrap his arms around her when he noticed something was wrong. He could not move his hands or his arms and soon couldn't move his legs either.
Shadow and Kevin saw what was happening as Patrick suddenly turned to stone and shrunk down to the size of one of the statues Nessira kept in the shop. Nessira smiled as she picked up the statue and placed in a satchel on her side. She looked over at Shadow and Kevin with a concerned look on her face before she stood up and spread her wings taking off heading back to the castle they had been headed for.
"What just happened?" Kevin asked confused.
"I... I don't know."
----
Back at the castle, Nessira landed in the throne room in front of Ror'gon who was sitting on his throne. She landed in a kneeling fashion before standing up and smiling at her king before she walked up to him planting a kiss on his lips.
"How was your encounter?" He asked his Queen.
"Useful," she said pulling out the statue of Patrick. "Now I have my heart safe and sound and out of the way."
"I see, wouldn't it have been easier to kill him?"
"No, then I would have died as well."
