The crash had obviously knocked some sense back into me. I woke up on the dusty ground and dusted myself off. I rubbed my eyes, trying to see. At first, my vision was blurry, but then I could clearly see the dust that was settling. When it had cleared, I could see that I was alone.

"Zoé?" I said, looking around. There was no sign of anyone. I tried to think. What was the last thing I said to her? I couldn't remember. The Red Bats that had attacked me earlier had done something to me. They made my memory fuzzy, like a radio with bad reception.

I called again, "Zoé? ...Zoé!?!" and again.

"Zoéééé!?!" I yelled, louder now, panic making me fear the worst. "Zoéééé!?!" My head furiously started darting left and right, looking for the 11-year-old.

"ZOÉÉÉÉÉÉÉÉ!?!"I yelled at the top of my lungs. Suddenly, I heard a twig snap. I turned immediately to see Hector, who was jumping around, trying to get my attention. He was holding Zoé's shoulder bag and looking sadly at me.

He pointed towards some stone ruins. "Deepdoodoo! Frrrr bouif, toosad." he said in his strange gibberish. I began following him. When I reached the destination, I stopped in my tracks.

Zoé's body lay motionless on the top of a pile of rubble. A beam of light seemed to shine directly onto her, giving Zoé's pale body a celestial glow. She was covered from head to foot with dust, but I could still see the golden shine on her hair that lay in long braids that dangled at each side of her.

Lian-Chu was standing in front of her, while Hector walked over beside her head. Zoé's eyes slowly opened.

"I... can't... feel my legs." she said weakly.

I looked up at Lian-Chu. He seemed too stunned to do anything so I ran up to Zoé and kneeled down beside her, checking to see how damaged her legs were. They didn't look broken.

I held one of her hands in mine. They were so delicate and soft compared to my coarse gloved hands. "Your legs are just fine! You had a bad fall, that's all." I assured her, gently brushing her fingers with my other hand.

How could I have been so stupid? To bring a little girl all the way to the end of the world to defeat the dragon of doom: The World-Gobbler.

"You were right, Gwizdo: Life isn't a fairytale," she said in a bare whisper. She pulled her hand away with little energy and it slipped out of my grasp.

"But you know, it doesn't matter if you're not really knights. You're still my favorite heros," I looked at her, smiling. I don't see why she even liked me. I was small, poor, and mean. And that was if I was in a good mood!

"Lian-Chu, he's even stronger than Silver Knight Gothic, and that's no fairytale. All you have to do is believe. But Lian-Chu needs you in order to succeed," I looked up at Lian-Chu, and then I looked back at Zoé, nodding.

"Promise me you'll carry through to the end, Gwizdo, and my death won't have been in vain."

My eyes started to water and tears began flowing down my cheeks. "It's a promise, Zoé. We're gonna make kindling out of the World-Gobbler!" I said, feeling choked.

She started coughing a little. I hoped that it was just the dust that was making her do that.

"Really?" she asked, sounding even weaker now.

"I swear we will."

"OH, THANK YOU GWIZDO!" she yelled, jumping up and hugging/glomping me. Hector made a huge gasp. I pulled away from her viper-like hug that was squeezing the air out of me. I held Zoé up by her shoulders, who was now smiling at me. I looked at her, shocked, I had no idea of what just happened.

"B-But- You- And- ...You're not hurt!?!"

"Nope. I just fell down there." she said, getting up and pointing down. I stood up and looked to where she was pointing. Apparently, she had just fallen to a ledge that was less than two feet below.

"You- But that-That-That's-That's immoral! Do you realize what a fright you gave us!?!"

"You were really scared?" she giggled.

"Of course I was!" I yelled, throwing my arms up, exasperated.

She looked at me thoughtfully. "That means you love me." she said softly, her hands clasped together.

I looked at her, bewildered. Then I looked down at Hector, who was grinning up at me cheekily.

"What? But- I- Was- Uh, mmm- All-All right, party's over, guys! We've got us a World-Gobbler to slay!" I said, quickly marching away.

Was she crazy!?! Where in the world did she get such an idea? I was way too old for her.

Zoé ran up and started walking beside me. I looked down at her. She smiled sweetly to me, and I smiled back. Maybe there was some truth in it after all.