The next morning I awoke to the golden sun blazing down over my face. I forced my tired body into a sitting position and looked around to see that I just so happened to be laying in the only place that the trees were thin enough for the light beams to break through. Typical.

I stretched my arms upwards and looked around at the others to see that Shade was the only one awake and was sitting quietly on an overlooking rock. I got to my feet and walked lazily over to him.

"Morning Princess" he greeted.

I stopped in my tracks, taken back slightly by how low and husky his voice sounded in the mornings. He shifted over for me to sit down next to him and cleared his throat. I resumed my walk over to the rock and climbed up next to him.

"Morning" I greeted while getting myself comfortable on the rock. "you can get some sleep now, I'll take this watch" I finished, turning my head to face him.

"Nah, I haven't been awake for long" he explained, his red eyes meeting my purple ones.

I nodded my head and looked back to the others.

"Do you think we will find him?" Shade asked.

I could feel him looking at my face but I continued to look forward.

"We have to" I replied, bringing my legs up to my chest in an effort to protect myself from the cold.

Shade grabbed the sides of my cloak and wrapped it further around me to keep me warm.

"Then we will" he replied.

*_*

It was around 6:00 am by the time everyone was ready to leave, I practised my dark abilities with Asher for the small amount of time that it took for our dragons to return before we were back on route. We flew for what seemed like hours before we finally reached the borders to the land of Solitudinem, the now afternoon sun continued to scorch the dead lands with its radiant beams, I averted my gaze from the horizon to see the boundary of the land.

The famous border marker was basically a long river made entirely of glowing, molten lava that spat threateningly at anyone who dared to enter, but the strangest part was the fact that it was always raining without fail on our side of the river.

Some people say that this is because of some ancient curse that was set to separate the two lands, while others just believed that the Archangels caused it to keep the fiery lands at bay, but for whatever reason, it fulfilled its purpose effectively meaning that very few people would ever try to enter the land and the small amount who did were never seen again.

"We will fly over the border until we reach the forest of Mortem" shouted Asher through the now pouring rain.

I pulled the hood of my cloak up and Max's grip tightened around my waist. I pushed Obsidian faster so we were spending towards the border at a great speed, there were rumours that there was an invisible wall that stretched up to the heavens themselves, but I couldn't let that small chance of immediate failure hold me back, I had to believe that we could push through it because this was our only way in, it was all or nothing.

I screamed out in determination as we broke through the invisible boundary, proving the rumours to be true, this caused a brilliant light to erupt from the newly penetrated spot, it radiated outwards in a full ring around us until it dimmed and disappeared, leaving no evidence that it had ever been broken.

Obsidian came to a stop safely at the other side, causing a wave of relief to flood through me. I watched closely as the others flew through the border before we began our journey through the land of Solitudinem.

I tried my best to study the lands as we flew but we were travelling at such a height that it was hard to see anything on the ground, and that's with my enhanced sight. I lent down over Obsidians neck and attempted the sight bond.

To do this, I closed my eyes and concentrated on my dragon, I felt his presence enter my mind to which I explained what I was trying to do. He roared loudly and allowed me access to his mind, I searched through it carefully looking for the correct door to open. When I finally found the right one, I entered it and reopened my eyes. Well, not my eyes.

I gasped in surprise as I took in the amazing sight, I was looking directly through Obsidian's eyes, he was still in complete control of himself but I was there as a passenger. I took in everything, how the bare land spit onto small dehydrated sections, how there would be the occasional lonely tree still grasping to its life, but most importantly, I watched for any sign of demon activity.

After about ten minutes of flying, the forest of Mortem came into view. I pulled my presence back into my own body and blinked a few times as I readapted to my own sight.

"Get ready to land" shouted Asher loudly.

We all began to fly downwards steadily, losing our height gradually until we reached the forests border. Obsidian waited for the others to land and circled around speedily before he touched down on the ground. I patted his neck in appreciation and jumped from his back, hearing Max drop down beside me.

I walked around the side of him until I was standing directly in front of his gigantic head. I held my hand out towards him and he rested his nose on it.

"You have to leave," I said into his thoughts.

When he showed no sign of moving I laughed quietly at his loyalty and reentered his mind.

"I know you want to stay with me but you can't, its safer for all of us if you stay out of sight" I explained hoping that he would understand me.

His usually happy thoughts entered my mind causing me to laugh at his optimism, I patted the smooth surface of his nose and shook my head.

"Obsidian, Avolar," I said pointing up at the cloudless sky.

He turned around slowly and walked away from me a few paces before he began to flap his humungous wings, the wind whipped around us violently until he started to gain tremendous height. I watched in amazement as his outline became smaller and smaller until he disappeared completely.

"Alright then, Aurora come here" called Asher.

I turned around and walked into the dead forest, approaching the others.

"Time to put your new abilities to use" he smiled while handing me a backpack.

I pulled it on and closed my eyes, holding out my hands with my palms facing upwards, when I reopened them the dark ribbons were once again streaming out of them.

"Everyone gather around" I instructed.

They did as I said and watched me in curiosity, I tried not to let their reliant stares burn into me as I concentrated on making the ribbons surround us all. I moved my hands in different directions to direct the darkness until it was finally moving around every one of us in a tight circle.

I nodded my head and steadied my hands, I fixed my attention back on the darkness and envisioned it bursting into a sand-like structure, but nothing happened, I tried again with more concentration but again, it didn't work. I let out a frustrated sigh and stared at the moving ribbons.

"You can do it Princess" comforted Shade while resting a hand on my shoulder.

I turned my head to face him and the ribbons immediately burst into the desired form. I smiled happily and dropped my hands to my sides.

"This is the best coverage that we can hope for," said Asher while examining the surrounding darkness which acts as a shield against anything that lingers on the outside.

"Let's go," said Orpheus, walking a few feet ahead.

We followed him silently with our weapons drawn, this was going to be a long journey, and in my heart, I knew that not all of us would make it back.