It was 3:00 AM in the midnight as Zaya jolted from her sleep. Heart pounding, drenched in an ocean of sweat from top to bottom. Her skin was stiffened as it was covered in what felt like infinite goose bumps.
She fell on the ground in a loud thud. Tears swelling in her eyes as she reminisced about the dream she just had. It was the most amazing feeling she ever felt.
Her dad rushed into the room after hearing the sound, seeing the soaked motionless Zaya laying on the ground. "Zaya, you're finally awake," he said with a mix of joy and panic, "Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine," said Zaya weakly as she rolled on the ground continuously. Dan then lifted her soaked body and carried her to the living room where Naya had waited.
Dan carefully dropped Zaya on the sofa, Naya giving her some hot tea in a mug to drink, she grabbed and sipped it.
"It's all right, mum," spoke Zaya, her eyes blurring as she spoke, "all foxes must stick together," drifting back to sleep.
That morning, the teenagers were all chattering in the bus in what seemed to never end. Zaya wasn't quite bored as she was glad that everyone had gone back to normal. She had been asleep for two straight weeks, Dan and Naya explained to her that the emerald had kept her under some sort of spell.
Zaya sighed deeply, staring at the pedestrians crossing the road and wondered who Edeth was? And why the bracelet had shown her the dream. She stared towards her reflection in the bus window, looking at a regular girl, who could at any time turn to a dangerous ravenous beast.
The bus halted, the passengers rushed out as they all seemed to be heading to the same place, The Phantom Middle School.
Zaya was sixteen and was definitely old enough to be in high school, but since she was still in middle school when the marine plague struck, they had all returned to their former classes.
Coming out last from the school bus was Zaya Lexington, her legs dragging on the ground like bursted car tyres.
She tripped and caught herself midway, almost hitting the hard tarred ground, she stood up, pacing hurriedly as she entered the school.
Continuously yawning, her body was still affected by the dream she had for all those weeks. She walked into the hallway towards her class.
Someone behind called her name, but she wasn't listening as her ears felt like heavy bags of ice.
The figure who owned the voice rushed, giving Zaya a hug from the back. Zaya was stunned as she tripped and fell, hitting the ground along with her anonymous hugger, like they both lacked purpose.
"Zaya?" June called out. "Are you alright?"
"What?" Zaya spoke, her face expression distorted as she was in utter confusion. "Oh, it's you, June," she said, forcing a smile on her weak face.
"You look terrible, Zaya, what happened?" asked June, worried at Zaya's pitiful state. "Should I take you to the school nurse?" she asked persuasively.
"No, am alright," replied Zaya as they both stood up from the ground. "Come on, follow me," June said, dragging Zaya's hand behind her.
They both hurried towards the girls' locker room, where they met the remaining four, who were the only ones in the room.
Natasha seemed to be telling the other three about something important as Zaya and June walked in.
"I found her," June said, facing the four, a bit out of breath. "How have you been, Zaya?" "You got us worried," said Ashara, concerned as she rushed towards where Zaya stood.
"She seems rather pale," Natasha said as she held the staggering Zaya in place. "I caught her walking in circles around the hallway," June confessed.
"Zaya, are you alright?" Pauline asked, shaking Zaya to and fro, "Don't tell me you lost my baby golden map?" Zaya smiled wryly at Pauline's joke.
Why are you all in the locker room, anyways, said Zaya, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing much," responded Zoey, "just all of that girl talk and magical fox den, too."
"Alright," said Zaya as she walked forward towards one of the lockers. "What are you doing?" Ashara asked.
June, who knew what was about to happen, approached quickly and caught her as she was about to fall.
Their expression showed they were expecting her to say something, Zaya heaved a sigh as she said, "I'm going today, will you come with me?"
"Yes!" yelled Zoey instantly, absolutely excited, "But we don't even have the exact location," June said.
Zaya stood gallantly, adjusting her backpack, "I actually know the way," she said, her face beaming with a smile.
"Wow, that fast?" Zoey asked, surprised at Zaya's quick recovery.
Zaya then dropped her bag on the ground, unzipping it carefully as she removed a golden scroll. She untied the scroll, revealing its golden beauty.
She then answered, "Golden map, show me where the magical fox den lies." The map shone brightly, revealing a snowing mountain where the magical den was, from their direction exactly.
After much persuasion from Zaya, they all left immediately, branching into Pauline's mum's mansion for supplies.
After hours of travel, they arrived at the mountain area, they gathered in a circle, "What now?" Ashara yelled amidst the snowing storm, her gaze focused directly on Zaya.
Zaya then responded, squinting her eyes, "It's really snowing out here and we are headed to a den, it should be a cave around here somewhere!"
"I think I know where we can find the closest one, follow me," June said as she began walking, gesturing her hands for them to follow.
They walked around the mountain in the snowing paths and fog. After a few dozen minutes of walking, they arrived at a shallow path that June called "A mountain cave."
The ragged part of a mountain looked like the entrance to a cave but had been sealed by a large ice wall, with icicles attached at the top.
"What the heck?" Natasha said, fueled with annoyance, "Are we ever going to enter this secret magical fox den if the cave is a wall?" There was a flicker in Zaya's mountain bag, something wanting to emerge.
She laid the bag on the snowy ground and removed the flickering map. They all stared at the map in her two hands that began to glow as bright as ever before, unaffected by the raging snow storm, seemingly getting brighter as the seconds passed.
To their shock, all the details vanished, leaving a very horrifying blank page. Then slowly, the picture of the wall they were standing right before appeared, and broke into pieces on the map.
Then a blinding light came out from the cave, instantly destroying the ice wall.
The map then returned back to its normal state. Zaya folded the map as it had started being affected by the snow and kept it back in her bag.
They gathered around the stone rubble in utter expectation.
They all were filled with anticipation as they entered the wide opening, set before them was an absolutely and beautifully solid, regular, and normal cave.
Their anxiousness vanished like darkness when light arrived, they strutted into the dark cave.
"Seriously, this is all we get?" Zoey said, kicking a stray stone that was lying around on the ground, her look filled with disappointment.
"This can't be all of it," Ashara said as she switched on her torch. "Let's go deeper," spoke Zaya as they all ventured into the dark cave.
After a few minutes of constant walking, they could see a sparkling light far away into the cave. On getting to the cave interior, they were all bemused at the rare sight.
Glowing mushrooms, sea shells, fireflies with different colors hovering around the place. The ice walls were so clear, you could mistake them for glass.
"OMG!" Discovery of the year, screamed Pauline, leaping in joy, "This place is awesome," said Natasha loudly, her voice echoing around the glimmering cave.
Ashara grabbed one of the sea shells, absolutely surprised as green emeralds fell from its insides.
She was beyond excited, "we are gonna be rich," she yelled. Except for you two, she said, pointing at Zoey and Pauline, "you guys are already rich."
Zaya then felt something absolutely strange, she began sniffing, picking up a scent of half-breeds, too many of them.
"What's going on?" June asked, glaring at Zaya. "Is it a wild animal? Or worse, a wild human?"
"No," replied Zaya, "it's a painting. Follow me," she said as she went deeper into the cave, the others followed, as Ashara quickly gathered the emeralds she could find, packing it into her mountain bag.
Her mouth wide with a grin before she screamed, "wait up, guys." Soon enough, the others caught up with Zaya.
Scribbled on the walls were different drawings, she could see various wolves and humans lined up on the wall with their lifestyles and lifetimes for different centuries.
Walking slowly, she knew she had begun gaining on the end of the cave, she was still unsure where exactly the half-breeds were.
She walked a little bit further, the others behind her, staring at the drawings on the walls.
Not more than nine feet from where she stood was a big and slightlyHere's the continuation:
hot lake filling about half a mile away. It was the part of the ice that had melted because of the heat in the middle of the mountain.
Zaya walked towards the edge of the cave, staring forward at what seemed to be a big hole chopped in the insides of a mountain.
She glanced at the ragged stony top, the boulders in the midst of the waters, and was peaceful and calm.
Steam rising out of it. "Feels like the perfect place to take a bath," Ashara, who was now beside Zaya, said.
"It is," replied Zaya calmly, staring back at the hot lake. "Zaya, called June from behind, how come you didn't see this earlier?"
Zaya reluctantly walked towards where June and the others stood.
She was very sure she'd seen every part of the cave drawing. Zaya stopped, staring at a painting, how come I didn't see this before, Zaya thought as she studied the painting.
There were thousands of men scattered across a large battle field, some injured, others drenched in blood, breathing their last. They looked like they just fought a war and failed brutally.
Something was not right, though, Zaya stared closer, they all wore the same color of armor, no opposing army stood as a victor.
Then it struck Zaya hard, her gaze suddenly fell on a girl standing in the midst of the fallen rebels.
A hundred goose bumps rose around her body as she recognized the silver hair, white armor, and the white blazing sword. Standing in their midst, was Edeth!