Beside The Shore

It was an uncomfortable night. Tossing and turning, overwhelming thoughts, heavy breathing, it was hard to sleep. The sky was dark, the stars and moon were at their brightest, and the kingdom was silent. Nobody was able to get a good amount of sleep, they could even oddly sense that the others were just as restless as they were themselves, though the room was silent, nobody said anything. A breeze entered a window, making the room a little cold, the friends shuffled underneath the covers, their eyes shut tight, trying to sleep. Images flash in their heads, terrifying images, ones they wanted to go away. Their minds finally made disturbing manifestations of their worry and dread, and they hated it. They tried to ignore them, until someone gave up.

"Gah!" Kyle grunted out loud, throwing his sheets off himself, everyone else sat up in surprise. Kyle breathed heavily in frustration, "Alright! I had enough of this, don't tell me everyone else got a wink of sleep!" He growled, sick of being sleep deprived, he was tired, bags were under his eyes like everyone else. Swift and the others were silent, they were tired too, they didn't expect their missions to keep them up. Kyle groaned and hopped off his bed, starting to pace. "You know, I wished our thoughts hold just leave us alone for one night, how can we even sleep like this?!"

"Kyle, keep your voice down." Izzy said in a hushed tone, hopping off her bed, the others on bunk beds followed, Kyle stopped pacing and aggressively rubbed his eyes. "Look, we all know that we're worried, scared, for what we're gonna do in a few days. But Raven already said we'll be relaxing tomorrow morning, until then, let's just.. try to keep our minds calm. It isn't good for our mental health." She added quietly. Kyle huffed, stopping his pacing.

"Won't that be a nice challenge?" Kyle said sarcastically, "You know, if only we could really forget about our worries that easily. It's driving me nuts!" He exclaimed in a quieter voice, Swift and Jake looked at each other worriedly.

"We won't know until we tried." Hunter added tiredly, he seemed to have darker bags than everyone in the room, and his fur was a little more messy. He let out a yawn, "Come on." The others followed, trying to get comfortable, Izzy nuzzled in close to him, they nestled into their sheets and closed their eyes, hoping that their minds will leave them alone.

Morning...

The morning went by slowly, the sun was rising, the sky turning orange, the stars and moon disappearing. Raven was up, semi trotting toward her destination, she had an uncomfortable night as well but she was able to manage. She hummed a tune as she skipped along, when she arrived at the door, she knocked on it a few times, waiting for someone to open it. Knocking again, she waited, this repeated until she realized that nobody answered. Her ears laid back in annoyance, she opened the door, about to tell them off, but stopped herself.

Everyone looked.. well, she hoped another word could describe them, but they looked horrible. Dark bags under their eyes, disheveled fur, and they were even sweating a little, their expressions were either stressed, frustrated, or worried. Maybe even a combination of all, Raven slowly entered, hesitating to even wake them up, they looked like they haven't had a great night at all. She felt sorry for them, guilty even, she sighed, they'd have another night like this if the beach day didn't work, and they had to get up. Guiltily, she spoke up, "Er, guys? It's time to get up.." They shuffled underneath the sheets, grumbling incoherent words under their breaths, Raven remained silent and prodded them again.

"Guys, I'm sorry but you have to-" Raven's eyes widened and she shrieked when suddenly she was enveloped in orange aura, and then thrown across the room, she yelped in pain, alerting everyone in the room. They jolted awake, looking around the room, Hunter took notice of Raven now in the room, groaning in pain, he sighed heavily. Raven grunted, getting up slowly and rubbing her head, her purple orbs met Hunter's red ones. "Well at least that worked."

"What happened..?" Laika asked tiredly, Luke opened his eyes curiously, looking to be the only one who had the best sleep. He glanced around the room, taking in the scene and state of his friends, Raven cleared her throat.

"Well, someone levitated me and threw me across the room." Raven seethed, the others blinked, looking at each other curiously. The princess then glared at the only one fox not awake, Kyle was still under the covers, mumbling incoherent words under his breath. Raven fumed and stomped toward him, harshly grabbing him by the tail and tossing him to the floor, Kyle's eyes opened wide and he yelled in pain. The princess huffed in satisfaction, "Now that all of you are awake, we have to get ready, we'll be leaving within twenty minutes."

...

Alright, the day didn't even start right.

The trip toward the shore was tensely silent, the only sounds being the waves coming from the ocean, Raven tried to ease the tense atmosphere my humming a tune. The others were still quiet, the princess sighed heavily, looking back at them, "Guys, come on. Don't be like this! We're here to have fun!" She tried to say happily.

"You know, it's kinda odd how happy you are, you're going too." Kyle said bluntly. Raven huffed, her ears pointing back in annoyance, Raven tried to protest, "You know it's true." He added, Swift stared concernedly at her other friends. The princess sighed a little.

"Look, moping around like this isn't good for us, plus it's causing stress." She said, looking around them. "Forgetting about it for a few hours will do us some good, so just try to have a good time, okay?" Raven said hopefully. It wasn't gonna be easy, but they did their best, the sun was bright, and luckily it wasn't too hot. The water was fairly cold, they discovered after setting down their stuff under a few trees, the smell of the sea was oddly comforting. Izzy splashed around the water, seeming to really enjoy the moment, Hunter and Swift joined her. Swift even controlled some of the water and made a semi-huge wave that splashed everyone, they all began laughing, the feelings of dread and anxiety slowly leaving them.

They went underwater a few times, with air bubbles created by Swift, seeing several fishes and other marine creatures,  Jake even tried to swim to the deeper ends but nobody allowed him to. When the water got a little colder, Kyle tried to heat it up a little, he burst into flames under water and the water warmed, it was pretty cool. Though, there was a lot of steam from the fire, it was now like a big hot tub, the warmth made their tense shoulders relax and feel content after the rough night. Raven's idea was working, and she was glad, because she also had a semi-rough night. After a while, they decided to stay on the shore for a bit, Izzy started making sandcastles, eventually everyone wanted to make a huge one.

Swift would go underwater to get some 'decorations' like shells, rocks, seaweed, Kyle got some small twigs and made small torches, Laika, Raven and Izzy did some nice touches like windows, the gates, and other unique designs to make the castle a bit more realistic, it was going great. Jake made a circle around the castle, and made it a bit deep and let some water flow into it to make a moat, then he started making a rock wall, though in the end, a wave will destroy the castle despite the little wall. By now their coats have dried and they started eating their snacks next, since they didn't really eat too much breakfast before leaving, Raven packed some delicious food. And they had a picnic near their castle, which was now standing proud with a small flag they made for the last touch, it was a multicolored flag made with convenient pieces of cloth they found.

And they had the separate colors of their respective coats. What a funny coincidence.

They ate foods like sandwiches with different fillings and spreads, drank fruit juices and some soft drinks, and for dessert they had some small cakes that Laika thought of bringing. So she stopped by Calla's café for a bit and she paid for all of the cakes, thanking the sabertooth before leaving, and the cakes were delicious. It was now lunch time and they finished eating, they just laid on the huge picnic blanket they brought and stayed there, the sounds of the water touching and leaving the shore was relaxing. The sea breeze made it better. The group felt content, their eyes closed, finally their minds were relaxed and they could enjoy themselves.

They must've fallen asleep for at least two hours because when they all woke up, Raven was first, they noticed that the sun had shifted and the tide changed. With the remaining time they had left, they went back into the water and played some games, as childish as it may seem. The day was fun, despite the rough night and early morning, and the kingdom's shore reminded them of Crystal Sands from back at home.

Jamaa. It's been quite a long time since Swift and her friends left their home to come here, they wondered how their families were doing, how Jamaa was doing. Were the Phantoms still making threats? How was Jamaa Academy? How was... Hunter's father? Hunter's content look vanished at that thought, he remembered the almost still body of his father, in a coma, for Mira knows how long. He tried not to think about it, as this day was supposed to stop those kinds of thoughts, but Hunter couldn't help it. Swift must've noticed because she splashed him, luckily in response he playfully glared and they all started splashing each other.

Meanwhile In Jamaa...

"The threats are appearing more often now."

Sir Landon said in a tense voice, pacing back and forth, looking up from her table, Amanda sighed. The crocodile stared out the window, where some students could be seen from Jamaa Academy's open area in front, despite it being summer vacation some students liked to come back here. The healer stood up and watched the jammers quietly, she saw innocent, cheerful souls that had a lot to accomplish in the future, if only the Phantoms didn't threaten that.

"Any word from the Magic Alphas?" Sir Landon asked quietly. Amanda's gaze flickered from him then to the window again.

"The last letter I received from them was two days ago, Swift stated that they will be leaving to retrieve some ancient magical artifacts that will supposedly help in stopping the Phantoms if they come." She said thoughtfully, the crocodile nodded, his tail wrapped around himself as he debated asking another specific question. Amanda's ears twitched slightly, "I can sense your tension, Landon, what is it?"

Darn, she's good Sir Landon grunted.

He inhaled deeply. "How is.. Hakiro?"

Amanda stilled, tense, worried, and lost. Her ears drooped slightly, "He's as still and silent as ever. I don't wish to tell Hunter this, but..." She trailed off, looking sad, her tail stopped swishing around. Sir Landon tensed, waiting anxiously, Amanda exhaled, her eyes glassy, "I.. I doubt he'll even wake up."

The crocodile shook his head frantically, defiant. "Amanda, don't say such a thing!" He said in a panicked tone, his forehead furrowing, "Sure, the Dark Magic almost literally sucked the life out of him, but he'll wake up in due time!" Amanda looked dejectedly at Sir Landon, her ears flat. The crocodile tensed, the hope in his eyes trying to tell her that he will wake up. Wake up to see Hunter, live the rest of his remaining years bonding with his son and his cousin, to make up for the years he tormented Hunter and even almost killed Swift. That made Amanda shake. "Amanda.." Sir Landon trailed sadly.

"We can't not think of the possibility, Landon." Amanda said seriously through tears, now falling freely down her face. "I feared this the moment we learned that he was possessed by that wretched king, Dark Magic is still being studied and we don't know everything of what it could do and how much damage it can cause. You're not a delusional either, you know you thought of this too." Her eyes narrowed, the crocodile looked down, looking shameful. Amanda was right.

They both glanced back out the window, silent.

"..I just hope we're wrong." Sir Landon said quietly. "If not, Hunter will have to live without a father, even if his mother is still alive, she hates him."

Amanda didn't say anything else.

...

It was nearly dark out now, the friends were beginning their journey home, though it'll take a few minutes more.

Meanwhile, Alexander looked around the hallways, realizing his sister and her friends weren't back just yet. He skipped quickly toward his parents' room, politely greeting anyone who sees him along the way. His eyes dart around cautiously, his paw grasped the door knob and he twisted it, once the door was closed, he saw his parents waiting for him. Alexander walked toward them, they were glancing into the distance outside a window, where the shore was.

"They're leaving after tomorrow, right?" Alexander asked quietly, glancing at them.

"Yes, Alexander." The king replied, he stood up and gently caressed his son's face, "Your sister will be gone as well, and we have some important business we have to do while they're gone." He said seriously. Alexander nodded silently.

"What if they.. fail?" He suddenly asked.

"Now Alexander that is not a good thing to say." His mother cut him off quickly, the prince bowed his head low. "Besides, they defeated the Corruptors, they should be able to find some artifacts, alive." She stated.

"..Is that all we needed to talk about?" Alexander asked, confused. His father shook his head, walking to a bookshelf and grabbing some papers that looked old, with an odd style of writing. The prince looked at them, curious. "What are these?"

The king smiled, "More instructions from him."

The prince's eyes widened.

To Be Continued...

...

I really should commit to being an author more, 'cause despite having writer's block at times I'm worried so much about losing interest in writing ;-; So I fought against the writer's block again because I'm not giving up on this book series :"D The next update is I don't know when but hopefully within a week or so, this is why I don't promise update schedules ;w; Thank you for the patience even though I did this so many times