The Crystal 3 by Jones M (best beach reads TXT) 📖

and fear. He turned to look at the rest, noticing that Erick, Liam, Selena and the Queen shared the same emotions as him.

"Guys, what's--"

"It can't be," Selena cut Zane off.

The sound of shrieking erboons sounded throughout the area.

"Erick, I got the guards!" Logan announced, momentarily turning everyone's attention to him. Logan stopped next to Erick just as he saw an erboon fly above them. It shrieked as it looked down on them.

"What the hell?" Logan yelled. A thousand more shrieks sounded in the air as if someone had turned on their TV and had forgotten to reduce the volume. More erboons appeared in the sky like many leaves on a flowing river. The grayness of the clouds did not help because it made it very hard to notice each erboon.

"SHIT!" Ethan cursed.

"We need to move!" Selena said, already forming a fireball on her palms. She closed her eyes and chanted a spell before throwing the fireball up in the sky. It disappeared in the clouds before emitting a white glow that quickly dispersed the darkness in the clouds. The clouds became white, making it easier to see the erboons.

They were undoubtedly many.

"I can't believe this!" Erick yelled in disbelief as he summoned his own fireball and threw it towards the erboons. It hit one, making it screech as the flames quickly engulfed it before leaving soot as a residue.

"Couldn't they have waited until tomorrow?" Erick threw another fireball.

"This is impossible! They couldn't have come in on their own!" Justin exclaimed in disbelief.

"Justin, look out!" Logan yelled, jumping onto the boy. They both fell onto the ground, escaping the clutches of an erboon that was flying towards them. It flew past them, wind blowing over the two for a moment with the force at which the erboon was charging.

The guards finally appeared, rushing towards the King. They began throwing fireballs at the erboons. They managed to hit some of them while others swirled around, avoiding them.

Zane was looking about in shock. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He did not expect it to happen during a funeral.

Zane's eyes widened as he remembered Emery. He turned his attention towards the casket. He went towards it and stood by it, taking glances from Emery's form to the erboons flying around him, not knowing what to do. He was afraid that Emery would be snatched by the erboons and they would feast on her.

Then he came up with an idea of teleporting himself and Emery into the castle. Before he could do so, an erboon flew towards him and snatched him with its claws. Zane was caught by surprise as he saw Emery and the ground below him shrink.

The erboon screeched, the sound of its flapping wings a reminder that Zane needed to get back on the ground. He knew he needed to get to Emery quickly. He was not going to let an erboon take her body away. In anger, he summoned a fireball and shot it upwards. The erboon screamed, releasing its hold on Zane.

Zane quickly teleported and found himself near Emery's casket. What met him had his eyes widen in disbelief.

Her body was gone.

Zane stood in shock and horror, believing that an erboon had snatched Emery. In a panic, he looked around. However, many erboons were flying and blocking the view of others. It was impossible to find Emery with so many of them around the area.

Zane's thoughts ran wild. The erboons could have been fighting for her body, tearing her limb from limb as they fought to get pieces of her body. The image was revolting to Zane, and he was determined to find Emery before a lot of damage was done to her corpse.

Zane growled, firing fireballs from the palms of his hands. They each hit an erboon, making them disintegrate midair. He ran around, still throwing fireballs at the winged creatures as he looked around for Emery.

A few meters from Zane, Ethan was with Logan, using their powers to crash the erboons and make them fall to their deaths.

"There are so many of them!" Logan said as he sent fireball after fireball onto the erboons. Before he could say anything else, he noticed a shadow floating past him. He looked up, noticing a figure moving towards the castle. Logan and Ethan stopped what they were doing, too shocked by the person who was levitating above them.

"Eva?" Ethan commented in shock.

 

Chapter 07

Third Person's P.O.V

Eva had waited for a long time to attack the witches, and she was surprised that the day had finally arrived. She had been smirking ever since she had gotten out of her castle in a long blue velvet dress. The sight before her just fueled her joy.

Sure, her erboons were getting blown up, but she could summon more until the witches were exhausted. Now that Emery was dead, Eva could carry out her plans to take over Crystalia and the world. 

Her eyes suddenly zeroed in on a man throwing fireballs at quite a speed.

Eva frowned at Zane. With quick movements, she summoned a fireball before sending it flying towards Zane. An erboon had been inching towards him, and the fireball caught it, missing Zane. Zane had heard the erboon shrieking in pain and turned to face it, only to see Eva's form midair.

"Erick, who is that?" Harry asked the King after he killed an erboon with a fireball. Erick was confused as he turned to face whoever it was he was talking about. Erick stood still at the sight that met his eyes.

"Eva," he said. Harry was shocked into silence before fear grabbed his heart.

"Settle down my pets!" Eva shouted. The fighting immediately ceased once her voice echoed all around Crystalia. Every guard turned to face Eva, and they had looks of fear etched on their faces. The erboons flew higher in the sky, stopping at a point with their flapping wings as they waited for Eva's next orders.

"Eva?" The Queen shouted in disbelief. Eva smiled at her.

"Yes, it's me. How have you been, Elizabeth?"

Everyone who was in the castle had been notified about Eva, and they were all in shock. Just like everyone else, they couldn't believe she was alive. They mumbled amongst themselves, their voices heightening with the fear that Eva's presence brought. They were worried about themselves, especially since the crystal was dead.

Outside the castle, Eva flew towards Elizabeth, stopping a few feet in front of her.

"B-but... HOW?" Selena asked in a shout. Eva just rolled her eyes.

"It was easy," she replied, flying around for a moment. "I made you all believe that your precious crystal had killed me."

"Wait. So you have been alive this whole time?" Elizabeth asked in disbelief.

"Yes. And I'm quite disappointed you didn't figure it out, Elizabeth. You of all people should know that it's not easy to kill me. Ask your husband."

"You know he's not with us anymore," Elizabeth said in perplexion.

Eva smirked. "Exactly."

Erick felt shocked. The fact that Eva was alive made him feel that he had majorly failed as a ruler. He should have known that Eva was alive, and he could have possibly stopped the surprise attack from the erboons. But what was done was done. It was not time to sulk over what had happened. The only thing he could do was fix the problem.

"Are you kidding me?" Liam asked in disbelief. "Where have you been?"

"Oh! Here, there, everywhere..."

"Everywhere?" Ethan asked in confusion.

Eva gave out a loud chuckle.

"You people are all idiots," Eva said as she levitated a few feet higher into the sky.

Everyone was shocked and still trying to succumb to Eva being alive. It was a major turn of events; in one moment, they were burying Emery, and in the other, Eva and her minions had  shown up.

"You killed her," Zane said, having everyone turn their attention to him. "You killed Emery!"

Eva rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"I didn't send that... whatever he was... to kill her. That was a surprise to me, but the fact that both he and your precious crystal are dead makes it so much easier to take over Crystalia."

Dread filled everyone's heart.

"Now that we are done catching up, let's get on with the events! First things first: get rid of Crystalia's rulers."

Eva smirked with an evil glint in her eyes as she summoned a fireball. Before she could throw it at Elizabeth, a blast of cold air suddenly swept past her and distinguished the fireball. 

Eva was confused.

"I wouldn't be too confident about that, Eva," a feminine voice spoke as everyone turned to face who had spoken. They were shocked again.

It was Emery.

"Am I seeing what you're all seeing?" Logan asked.

"Yep," his bandmates replied, eyes fixed on Emery with a mixture of emotions that ranged from shock, anger, disbelief and gladness.

Emery was levitating, her hair being swept around by the wind, and a smug smile had been etched on her face.

"WHAT?" Eva asked in shock. "Impossible. You are dead!"

Emery laughed, and everyone was still in shock. They had no idea of what to do but to just watch.

Emery took that time to send some kind of enchanted chains around Eva. It wrapped around her, quickly blocking Eva's powers. With her powers blocked, Eva fell to the ground. She landed on her back, and pain quickly spread through her form.

Emery raised her arm, sending a raging flame of fire from her palms. It quickly reached the sky.

Crystalia had a sudden yellow glow as the fire that had reached the sky began to surround the erboons. The flames moved too quickly for the erboons to run, and they shrieked before exploding in the air. None were left alive. 

Eva watched what Emery was doing to her minions, seething and hating Emery all the more.

Once all the erboons had been destroyed, Emery levitated onto the ground. She started walking towards Eva who was still bound by the glowing orange chains. By then, the guards had surrounded her.

Eva could have easily thrown the chains off her, but because of the energy she had used to break the magical dome that had once surrounded Crystalia, she was too weak to do so.

"Hello, Eva. How does it feel to be outsmarted?" Emery stated with a victorious smirk once she was in Eva's field of view. Eva just growled in anger.

"I don't get it. How can you be alive?" Eva decided to ask as she was helped up from the ground by one of the guards. Emery went to reply, but she thought better of it and just smiled.

"You aren't getting any answers from me," Emery said, and Eva growled again. At the time, Erick and the rest had approached her.

"Take her away!" the King ordered without a second. Two guards had grabbed Eva, and three more went to surround her as they began taking her to the castle. A couple of prison cells were underneath the structure.

"Don't get rid of the chains off her!" Emery yelled at the guards.

"This is not the end, Emery! I will get you for this!" Eva yelled at her.

Emery just smiled as she watched Eva being taken away. She turned around, momentarily spooked by the sight of her former friends.

"Wha--"

"I know you have a lot of questions," Emery cut off Logan before adding, "We'll talk in the castle." 

She turned to walk towards the large building in front of her. The rest looked