The Children of Destiny

Chapter 27 - Preparing for the Worst

We had fallen asleep, deciding that Max and Scout had the right idea, letting our guard down for the last time. When we woke up, it was bright outside. We'd only been asleep for about three hours, yet Roxie and I felt amazing. Scout and Max seemed well rested too. Roxie went out and caught us some food. I never knew that scorpicat tasted so good, but it's never too late to figure that out.

"Alrighty, you guys," I began after we'd gotten food into our systems. "I hope you all remember what we have to do now?"

"Yeah," Scout nodded. "Head to the border and get ready to save the world."

"We fell asleep because we were drowsy," Max smirked, seemingly amused. "We didn't hit our heads."

Roxie also seemed amused by that comment. I rolled my eyes at the two of them.

"Guys, this is more than just stopping a normal border skirmish," I hissed. "This is life or death, and not just for the people fighting, but for us too! I just wanna make sure you understand that."

Scout gave me a concerned look. Max was slightly taken aback by my tone just then. I took a deep breath and continued.

"Sorry, I'm just worried about all of this," I admitted. "This has been a lot on me, and I just found out that I might have to fight my brother, the guy I grew up with, and it's just..."

I paused, holding back tears. I hadn't cried in a hot minute and all the stress was caving in on me. Scout put his hand on mine and I felt a little better.

"You guys are basically all I have, and I don't want to imagine what could happen to you while we're out there," I sniffed. "But, just in case, I want to say my final goodbyes now. That way, no one will cry about it later if one of you dies, or if I die."

"Don't be a pessimist!" Scout scolded. "It's not like it's a guarantee that one of us is gonna die."

"It's possible," I shot back. "Plus, I'm pretty sure the prophecy isn't gonna tell us literally everything that's gonna happen. One of us could die, and I don't wanna lose one of you and not have been able to say goodbye."

"Why are you already thinking about that?" Scout asked. "Don't expect the worst already."

"You're arguing," Max warned.

"Well, in any case, I at least wanna say goodbye to my family," I sighed. "Is there any way I could do that?"

"I could call Owletta to send a message," Scout offered. "Owls have really good memory, and your family can speak Avian."

"Yeah, that'll work," I smiled.

Scout whistled loudly and, soon enough, I heard an owl screeching and looked up to see Owletta. She landed nearby and screeched in greeting.

"Hey Owletta!" Scout called. "Evander has a message for you. You need to send it to Thorn the flying snake-tailed lion in his cave to the east, okay?"

Owletta chittered, which was a sound I never knew an owl could make.

"Wait, why just Thorn?" I asked.

"You can get him to pass on the message," Scout explained. "Plus, if he's not there, one of your brothers could pass it on."

"Oh, makes sense," I shrugged.

"Well, go ahead then," Scout encouraged. "She's listening."

"Just in case I don't make it back," I began. "Pass this on to the others. Me and the others are heading to the border. There's a battle happening there; a huge one. If we don't get there in time, people will die, and we won't have another chance. I'm sure you probably knew this already, though, since our kingdom has always been tuned in with anything that could affect the prophecy. I'll miss you guys so much, even Victor-"

"Wait, before you finish," Max interrupted. "I have something to add."

I nodded and signaled for Owletta to wait a moment while Max whispered in my ear. My eyes widened as she spoke, and when she was done I smiled at her at looked up at Owletta. I repeated Max's words, and even Scout seemed a bit surprised. Finally, I was done saying everything I had to, and I finished up the message.

"Again, I'll miss you. See you on the other side. Or who knows, maybe I'll make it through this. Stay safe, Evander and Max."