Digital publication | Page 210

"Thank you," said the guardian, standing in the same place where Limoria once was, seeking to show appreciation towards Axel.

 

The boy nodded, awestruck, and watched as the creature slithered forward and held out its hand. "As promised, I will allow you to leave."

 

A large burst of light struck over the whole area, Axel started to drift away, leaving the guardian to disappear into the dust. After a minute, the boy opened his eyes. He shot up from the sandy floor, making quick glances around himself and his surroundings. At first, he only saw a blank landscape, loss and dread seeping into his mind. Did everything go wrong again? He asked himself as all the bad thoughts ran through his head.

 

"Axel!" a familiar voice called out from behind him. He whipped his head around just to see his two friends rushing towards him.

 

"Alice, Ace?"  He felt a sigh of relief.

 

"We thought you were dead!" they shouted, coming together in a tight hug.

Overwhelmed by the feeling of happiness and relief, Axel broke down in tears. Finally, he was reunited with his best friends in the same world.

As they finished hugging each other, worry still did not disappear from Alice and Ace’s faces.

"What’s that? What happened?", they pointed at a strange bump on his head.

Axel even did not feel that bump, he touched it and felt the bump growing! Suddenly it grew bigger... and a huge horn grew out of his head. Alice and Ace were shocked by this monstrosity of a horn. Axel got scared, not understanding what was happening to him, raced around looking where he could see his reflection. Suddenly, Alice remembered having a tiny mirror in her pocket, and she immediately handed it to Axel. When he saw himself, he gasped – that horn on his head, he had seen it before. Everything went dark in his head, began to flicker, and some voices mumbled, as if some mysterious vision had happened. And Axel understood, the guardian rewarded him with supernatural powers so he and his friends could return home – their real home. Though the friends did not know how to use that superpower. After a minute, Ace jumped in front of Axel and swung his hand at that horn. To their shock and surprise, the horn started to glow. Their eyes widened in surprise as the horn shone brighter and brighter, blinding them. And BAM - a flash of light from the horn shot into the sky, and images of various strange places started spinning around them. Children realized that those were of all other dimensions, they recognized some of them.

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