"Emeryl!" Eric tackled him before he leapt anywhere. They bounced on the ground, peering up at the scene from their tangled bundle.
      "No! Maskini!" Emeryl wrestled with Eric.
      The lich queen charged into the young boy. His periwinkle eyes filled with shock as if he never expected the lich to be there. It rammed him, flinging both of them off the side of the cliff.
      "No!" Emeryl threw Eric off and charged the cliff.
      "Wait! He's ok! Don't!" Eric chased after him.
      The elf knelt by the cliff and looked down as Eric tried to keep him away. Recklessly Emeryl shouted over the edge of the ledge, not capable of finding the boy.
      "Emeryl! He's ok, he was dead!" Eric held him to prevent him from slipping off the cliff. Emeryl stared at him with large, tearful eyes.
      "He was a ghost! I saw him die ten years ago!" Eric explained.
      "What?" Emeryl whimpered. Slowly Eric drew him away from the cliff and back to the group.
      "I just remembered ten years ago, when that spell destroyed the village, I saw him die. He's a ghost!" Eric explained again.
      "Isn't that stretching reality?" Bentora twitched an ear.
      "No, your face is stretching reality. Eric is giving a theory." Blake responded.
      "Why you!" Bentora leapt to her feet.
      "Not now!" Prism stood between them.
      "So, if he's a ghost, then he's ok?" Emeryl wiped his cheeks.
      "Technically, he's dead. But other than that he's fine." Blake shrugged.
      An echoing roar burst into the tunnel, "Hello?!" The elves held their ears as everyone searched. Signing, Prism waved them over the hole in the ceiling. It looked as if a sheer had plowed across it diagonally in a very unnatural way. At the top a white scaly head hung down, staring at them.
      "Fionnula!" Bentora shouted, waving.
      "You lived!" the dragon bellowed. Carefully she clawed her way down the tunnel until she joined them in an uncomfortable squeeze.
      "And you have friends..." she glowered at Blake and Leiko.
      Prism stayed in front of the two with his book wrapped in his arms like a child with a story; "It's fine. We've been traveling with them, and they want to leave too."
      "Mhmm..." she nodded skeptically, "Well, I thought I heard some noise down here. Who messed up this tunnel?"
      "We don't know, it was like that when we got here." Prism shrugged.
      "Aw, no matter. With this slope I can climb you all out." She answered.
      Bentora crawled up Fionnula's back first, positioning herself at the base of her neck. Emeryl helped Leiko up, then held her tightly so she wouldn't slip. After them came Prism, followed by Eric and finally Blake climbed on too.
      "Hold on!" she roared, crouching down. Furiously she sprang against the wall, digging her claws into the deep slope. Bentora leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the dragon's neck to hang on.
      Quickly she sprinted up the wall, heading for the opening. The group clung on tightly as her wings began to spread. She launched out of the tunnel into the morning lit sky.
      Blake stared at the strange new sky. It was as blue as Bentora's eyes with a thin white fog covering a small piece of it. His eyes strolled down to see a large yellow light. Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared, and suddenly he felt a strange pang he'd never felt before.
      His arms rose up to rub his eyes as if to remove the pain instinctively. Suddenly, he felt his body slip until the only thing engulfing him was a cold, chilly air.
      "Aaa!" he reached up for the dragon blindly, unable to open his eyes. Fionnula glimpsed the green dot dropping to the ground. She paused, wondering if she should save him or let him fall.
      "Blake!" Emeryl cried. Swiftly she swooped around, diving for the flailing body. It only took a matter of seconds for her jaws to clamp down on his flapping black cape. From there she tried to pull him back into the air, but only managed to glide parallel to the ground. Her legs dug up the black soil as she screeched to a halt and set the blind figure down.
      Blake stumbled about, rubbing his eyes, blinking, and rubbing his eyes more. Everyone disembarked happily, glad to be off the lumpy ride.
      "Blake! What happened?" Emeryl was the first to set Leiko down and try to balance him.
      "That light! It's too bright! Turn it off!" Blake cautiously peeked out with one eye. Prism couldn't help but laugh. He felt too overjoyed about being home to be sad.
      "That light is the sun! Even I know that!" Bentora spat back.
      Groaning, Blake managed to stagger to his feet.
      "Go easy on him, I don't think he's ever been outside before. I was holding Leiko, so he was the only one unprepared." Emeryl spoke up for him. Leiko blinked several times as she wandered over to them, adjusting to the bright new light.
      "This is what's left of Cervik?" Eric questionably inspected the black soil.
      "Yes. But Fara Fara is only a day away." Prism nodded.
      "This is such an interesting place. I've been flying about for a few days, very colorful, very lively." Fionnula chuckled.
      "Are there books here?" Leiko asked.
      "Tons of them! And Prism has a shop full of them!" Emeryl jumped with her.
      "Thank you for your help. I guess you want to find a den?" Prism bowed to the young dragon.
      "Not until I explore some more!" she gave him a large, toothy grin.
      "Aw, well, when you're ready there are mountains about three or four days away. Just follow the setting sun." Prism pointed her in the direction.
      "Of course." She nodded.
      "Look Spidey!" Emeryl bounced his strange pet.
      "When and where are we going?" Blake wrapped his small cape over his shoulder.
      "Through the forest, to Fara Fara, that way!" Prism pointed again.
      "How do you keep track?" he mumbled, drooping a gray ear.
      "The sun always rises and sets the same way. It's rising now, so Fara Fara has to be that way." The wizard explained.
      "I see." Blake spoke in an enlightened voice.
      "Welcome to your first day in the real world." Prism smirked at him. Blake sneered at him spitefully.