My eyes cracked open and I winced as the sun shone into them. I had a mega headache and I was thirsty enough to drink an ocean! I sat up and was yanked down by manacles on my hands. Well, they didn’t want me escaping anytime soon. I glanced around and spotted Myra’s dark curls a little ways ahead in the cell beside me. She was rocking back and forth and humming. Not good.

  “Myra?” I whispered.

  She slowly turned to me and I noticed her eyes were slightly cloudy.

  “Myra,” I called louder and she seemed to awaken from wherever she had been. She was worse with whatever she had.

  “Do you want water?” she asked, smirking and holding out a crystal cup. Where did she get it? They didn’t give crystal cups to prisoners, not even nice ones as I’m sure she was. She made the connection and smiled.

  “I made it using Earth Fire and Wind,” she said. “They tried to contain me but my powers come from somewhere else. I’m not a Kin.”

  I touched my neck where a rune necklace was. I wouldn’t be fighting my way out of here with my elements. Myra stared at the rune necklace and smiled.

  “I can overwrite it. I’m waiting til we are out of this dungeon. I heard we are supposed to fight a Morgan without our powers. Won’t they be surprised?” she chuckled, and I smirked. Yeah they would be. We would kill the giant dinosaur, be free of these chains, and be on our way home soon enough. Myra filled the cup with sparkling water and handed me the glass. I remembered my thirst. I drank seven cups before I stopped and burped. Myra had curled into a ball, chin on her knees, arms around her legs. She tilted her head and speared me with those firework eyes.

  “Why did you stay? You had a chance to run,” she said.

  I shrugged. The truth was I didn’t know. I knew I couldn’t leave her to the fire witch. Wasn’t she like my friend now? And friends didn’t abandon one another at least I didn’t. I didn’t know how many times Katilia and Ralf had acted in their best interests instead of the collective…I guess they weren’t really good friends now that I think about it. They were always after them first. I was cool with that, but I was glad it was Myra I was stuck within a strange world. The other two wouldn’t have helped an iota.

  “I guess I consider you my friend, Myra,” I said.

  She smiled. “Thanks. Me too, Jonah.”

  We sat in our cells in silence for a few minutes before I bit the bullet.

  “So what are we going to do? Now?” I asked, and she grinned.

  “We wait to kick dinosaur butt, then get out of here, wherever here is, and find Noali. You were right, we should have left when we had the chance,” she said.

  “I’m always right,” I muttered, grinning as she glared at me. At least she wasn’t smiling that eerie empty smile anymore.

  “You wish,” she muttered, spraying me with some water. I ducked, smirking. We spent the next few hours talking about pointless things, waiting for the kin to tear us apart and get us ready for the sacrificial tournament between us and a dino.

  “You know Myra, I don’t regret our time together or getting to know you,” I said as the Kin showed up.

  She smiled. “Me either,” she replied as the Kin placed a chain around our necks and led us out of the cells. She was close enough that I could grab her hand. I did and she squeezed back, before we were led down different halls.

  “Don’t worry. You’ll see your precious girlfriend again, hybrid,” said the soldier leading me and I shrugged. I was led right and into a bathing stall where I was hosed down and dressed in a white shirt and white trousers. Heh, really? Ok then. Flowers were put in my hair. Flowers! What? Was I supposed to give this creature allergies or something? It was ridiculous! The chain was tied to my neck again and I was led to a post where Myra was already tied to. She too had a crown of white flowers on her head and a white sheath dress with splits that showed some leg. It was more decent than the slave garb. It fell to her ankles. She seemed far more comfortable in it than in the slave garb.

  I smirked as I was tied to the post. “How the heck do they want us to fight if we’re tied up?” I asked the guard and he smirked.

  “You can’t do anything so why let you free?” he said leaving the arena. It was dark but I could see through it. Night vision really does come in handy. I felt arms around my neck and the strange sensation of Myra’s healing magic filled me to the brink. I heard a chinck and the metal collar slid off. My elemental powers came roaring back to fill me and I smirked.

  “How did you get free?” I asked as my knots were undone and I could feel circulation in my arms again.

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  “Please. Mige ties better than this,” she muttered, working at the knot around my waist. I rested my arms around her shoulders.

  “My hero,” I said, fluttering my eyes and she smiled, finally undoing the last knot. I grunted when my butt met the floor and she smirked.

  “Should’ve held on princess,” she said walking over to her side and putting the ropes around her to appear being tied. I noticed there was a darker silver color around her feet as she floated steadily.

  “Wacha doing?” I asked, walking over.

  “They’ll expect me to be the tied one, so I’ll give them what they want and then blast out of my ropes with fire, shocking everyone,” she said, grinning.

  I smirked. “Clever,” I said, and she nodded. I leaned against the post crossing my arms and winking at her. She smiled and the large curtains around the arena were drawn open.

  “Show time,” I muttered.

  Screeching came from the opposite side of the arena as the pterodactyl was tortured with fire and wind. They were revving it up, so it thought of nothing but killing. I would too if I was tortured like that! The cage was aimed at us and opened. The other kin disappeared from the arena and I smirked. Cowards. After torturing the creature to madness, they ran. This one was different. A sharp beak with rows of teeth and rainbow eyes. It had arms and on them, claws as big as me. On its back were huge leathery wings. Its leathery body was reminiscent of a bat. The tail was at least three feet long and had a huge stinger. It was also made of the vertebrae and had jagged pieces of bone sticking out like plates. I shivered. This would be a hard fight.

  “Ready, Myra?”

  “That thing is a freaking monster! It's as big as a t rex!”

  “Focus, Myra. We will defeat it,” I said, and she snapped out of panic mode and exploded into flames appearing to become free and making the crowd gasp. If you think that’s impressive, you should see her handle four freaking elements and heal on top of that! The explosion caught the eyes of pterodactyl rex and it came barreling toward us.

  We dodged to the right of it. Myra shot some blades of wind at its gangly ribs. They bounced right off the skin. She tried torching its skin, but it was impervious to that too. We dodged a strike.

  “We need a plan!” she shouted floating up. I followed using ether to float up to her.

  “What if we wrap it in roots?” I shouted back. It stretched out its wings and beat them gaining altitude. Great now it was flying too! We sped downwards, the thing on our tail. Myra fell back and weaved in and out of its form until she reached its face. She was going for its eyes! She shot a line of fire at it but missed by inches. Instead it swung its tail and swatted Myra in the back sending her to the ground. I flew over and caught her before she crashed into the unforgiving ground beneath us. The crowd booed and I could feel my rage mounting as I landed in the corner where we were tied to first. Myra blinked and came to, a minute later.

  “Thanks,” she said, wincing in my arms. Had the thing hurt her? I swear if it did it was dead! I didn’t know why I felt like I did but I did. I had felt my stomach in knots when Myra had dropped back to attack the pterodactyl. When she got hit, I felt the world stop for a second and in slow motion watched her fall. Good thing I snapped out of it and caught her, or she’d be really hurt. The hard ground of the arena would have broken something, and she couldn’t heal herself.

  “What if we used roots to tie it down and then use my ether ability to blow its brains out?” I suggested as Myra gingerly moved from my arms. I could see the spreading red line on her back, and I growled.

  “Alright. I need you to distract it while I summon the roots. It’ll cause an earthquake so be off the ground,” she warned. I nodded and faced the creature. Hurt Myra, will you? We’ll see about that! I rushed out of our hidey hole and faced the behemoth. I summoned some wind and started chanting.

  “Mineral so strong, come upon me,” I said and an adamantine gauntlet formed around my left arm. Not what I had in mind, but it would work for this big dino. I summoned my weapon. It was a spell for my weapon, but what I was good at was still beyond my memories. Still I summoned my weapon. It turned out to be a sword. Great. I startled as runes lit down the metal and I smirked. Could I use it though? The body never forgot muscle memory, but it had been four years. I lunged. Nope, still remembered how to use Whirl Devil. I stepped back and parried the tail before lunging again. I used my wind to sharpen the blade and spun, blocking the sharp claws with my gauntlet and lunging at the dino again. I got several knicks in. Slowly but surely, I was wearing it down. Another parry and a strike to its shoulder with my pummel. Another hit to the face. I was breathing hard and shaking slightly from the adrenaline rush. It was as if I was meeting an old friend again. I swung the blade and lunged at the creature. It swung its tail at me, and I dodged, weaving in and out of its body and slashing Whirl Devil whenever I could. I averted my eyes, not wanting to be caught in its soul-sucking gaze, and floated just above its shoulder. It tried swatting me like a freaking fly! It caught my scent and began to follow me.

  I dipped and weaved around it making sure to stay away from that flailing tail. The ground began to shake, and I could see it buck and move. I smirked and flew closer to the ground. The stupid thing followed me down and charged. The roots burst from the ground and the thing squawked as it was wrapped in them. They dragged it to the ground, trapping its wings under it. They coiled around its arms and legs, wrapping so tightly that it could only let out a small squawk before its beak was also trapped by roots. Myra limped out of the hidey hole and looked at the pitiful creature. I aimed an ether shot and got ready to fire it into its brain.

  “Wait! Don’t kill it, Jonah!” Myra cried, limping to the dino’s side and touching a glowing hand to its head. A bright light blinded me and when I could see again a crystalis was in place of Myra and the thing.

  “What in hell! Myra!” I yelled banging on the crystalis.

  They are safe, prince.

  I looked around me for the voice but there was no one. Still, I answered.

  Can you guarantee it?

  I can

  I stood back and watched as the crystalis slowly shrunk.