Author's Note: Hello all it's I Bladed Raptor giving you another Chapter of all of your favorite story. Sorry for the long wait but I had college to finish up since I had a lot of homework, and had to study for Finals but while I was away I had a dear friend Help me with this Chapter. At first it was just me and this story but then I had some help from some friends that I met on here and I'm truly grateful. He is one of these many friends. You could say that He is my assistant or Co-Writer who helped me with this as we progressed and I'm truly grateful to him in everyway since now I'm back to give you all more entertaining reading material. so I'm sure you'll all enjoy his fine writing with both of our combined efforts on making this chapter nice since both of us have been talking about it. So without further ado enjoy.

Chapter 61: Portal Trails, Memories, Ghosts

Somewhere down the southwest, Tira and Zellos were on the move once again, calmly walking through the dark and stray forest. Both Shadowlings had apparently decided that it was time to put their plan into action. The calm sounds of the animals that surrounded through the night, made their journey all the more relaxing and quite peaceful.

"Be on the lookout..."Zellos thought, as Tira walked behind him. "Why did we have to take this route?"He then took a glance at Tira, who was calmly strolling while humming a bit of a song. "No... Don't be in fear; you're supposed to protect her, at all cost." He then proceeded to read the scroll with their objectives.

As assigned to them, their mission was to kidnap the princess of succubus, Alma in order to drive her older brother, the prince of the sin eaters, Agony into madness, as part of the Neydah's plan for the Shadowlings' Crusade against the mobs. Although both of them had failed to capture her the last time, both of them were determined to succeed this time, not just because it's their duty as Shadowlings, but to also save each other from Neydah's angered wrath.

Their route was apparently strained from their usual, heading towards the same obsidian portal they had used earlier in order to get to the Hell also known as Nether, where the majority of the demon mobs and where demon king and queen was. It was supposed to pass through the creepy forest first, then through an empty and ruined bridge connected through an abandoned town, which led to a hill that had the monument of the obsidian portal. Nearing the end of the forest, both of them had already encountered creatures in the forest, ranging from hunting zombies to giant wither bats. Zellos was quickly able to take them down with ease, but even he had his limitations as some of the mobs managed to wound him. Tira thankfully also knew combat of her own, and her tight and slightly revealing outfit had totally given her the advantage against most of the encounters.

After about a few minutes of walking, both of them saw the ruined bridge up ahead, along with the abandoned city. The ruined bridge still had its iron base and metallic build looking fresh, having only a bit of rust and dents on them. There were holes and craters, both large and small on area of the bridge, considering that it had eight hundred and ninety six blocks in length and nine blocks in width, plus the height of the columns along with its base was fifty blocks. It didn't have any vines on it, indicating that it hasn't been there for a while, maybe a few decades of neglect, but it wasn't too ancient.

"Hmm…" Zellos stared at the bridge, visually inspecting the bridge's stability for a cross. "Not too bad not rusty and all that, but I wonder if we can climb up there…" He then turned his attention to the metallic upper beams, which had apparently housed some wither bats. "Definitely not…"

"I hope we get this over with quickly…" Tira wondered what Zellos was thinking about, though what she had in mind wasn't similar. "I wanna spend more time with Zellos outside the Spire, before the sun rises."

"Alright love, I think it's safe to cross this straightforward, just avoid the holes and all that."Zellos said, after making his observation, taking his first step. Tira nodded and followed him along, as she took her steps slowly too.

Crossing the bridge slowly made them realize that they were now surrounded by constant silence. The forest apparently housed the sounds of nature, but once they entered the bridge, all they could hear was the silence. The giant wither bats apparently slept through as they crossed. Then as they finished crossing the bridge, the two of them saw the town didn't fare anything alive or well. Instead, it seemed bleak, barren and desolate, so much so that even the gusts of wind might seem like good company. Buildings destroyed or ruined left and right with roads apparently broken and burned. Whatever the hell this town was, it surely wasn't it anymore.

Apparently the section they had entered in was actually a small suburban home area. Dead trees and bushes were in the area, as signs of life were particularly devoid. Some chests were seen sticking out of the houses. Some horse carts were also seen apparently crashed, as some mine carts as well.

"Man…" Zellos started, observing his surroundings as both him and Tira walked past the suburban area. "This place looks like a war zone…"

"Maybe it was…" Tira replied, as he eyed some scythes were apparently stuck thrown into a wall. "I still can't sense anything alive here…" Some crows apparently flew by, apparently making scary noises as Tira suddenly hid behind Zellos.

"It's okay dear… they're just crows, they're not gonna hurt us." He assured her with a small and gentle pat.

Both of them proceeded towards the commercial area, apparently it was part of the route. Walking through the town sure gave them a bit of a creepy and spooky feeling. Not only was the silence eerie enough to make one paranoid by the fact that many mobs and spawns alike died in the city, made it totally understandable why anyone would avoid the place. Clues of what had happened were apparently spread out all over town. Weapons, barricades and armored horse carts, apparently it was either a war or just a plain civil conflict. It was also obvious through the graffiti on the walls that many have survived and apparently encouraging anyone to flee as much as they can. But why?

More wither bats were apparently sleeping around the area. Zellos and Tira quickened their pace silently, hoping to avoid any trouble. Apparently the commercial area was bigger and longer than they had anticipated. Apparently tall wooden and stone structures were just left and right, each having a very long length along the ruined roads.

"Wait." Zellos then gestured for Tira to stop for a bit, as he did so. He heard something nearby as he listened to it closely. "Do you hear that?" He asked her, as she stopped for a bit to listen.

"Yeah… it's music." She said to him. "It's coming from the east." Apparently it was familiar disc of Far playing in one of the buildings.

"Must be someone trying to either signal or just plain setting up a trap." Zellos then took out his map, looking for a possible other direction; apparently avoiding the east is now priority. "Guess we'll have to take north." He then shoved his map back into his pockets as he pressed onto the north.

As they headed north, a very bad presence was pretty much getting nearer and nearer. They then caught off guard by a very fast and incoming creature who seemed be riding a dark horse. As it charged, Zellos tackled Tira, in order for her to get out of the way, as the dark horse was just about to run her over. Luckily he was able to save her as the dark horse mob apparently passed them, though it seemed like they aren't getting away that easy from him.

The dark horse mob maneuvered around, with his rider on top. The two riders were seemingly like wither skeletons, however, both of them had the symbol of a red card diamond, the horse had its symbol on some sort of leather armor it was wearing and the rider had the symbol painted on his helmet. What was different about the skeleton is that it looked bulkier and much more wholesome, in contrast to its thin and normal counterpart. The bulky skeleton also wielded a strange longsword manufactured out of a netherrack blade, an obsidian hand guard and an obsidian handle. His sword also bore his symbol as he sat on his horse and looked down before them.

The skeletal horsemob then ran towards them again, as it charged full force. Zellos took his katana out as he and Tira started bolting out of the commercial area. The two of them then ran into an alleyway as the horsemob followed them through there. Zellos then quickly climbed up a broken fire exit, followed by Tira as both of them disappeared out of the horsemob's path. The skeleton then jumped out of the horse's back as it jumped into a third floor window below the fire escape of the two. Zellos then motioned Tira to keep moving, as he climbed up further into the upper floors. The both of them then reached the rooftop, which seemed to be dead end.

"Z-Zellos?!" Tira stuttered as she couldn't see any more ways to escape.

"Hold on, Tira." Zellos said, as he looked for any way that was possible for an escape.

Zellos then saw a large but slightly torn wire connected to another building, dangling below them. It didn't look too much of a safe choice, however, it was the only once present since the other building was way too far. Have no choice, Zellos prepared to cross the wires with Tira.

"Tira, we need to jump on the wires." He said to her as he approaching the railing.

"W-what?!" She stuttered again, apparently being too nervous.

"Just trust me on this. And whatever you do, don't look down okay?"

"B-but—"

"Tira?!"

"Okay!"

Without any hesitation, Zellos then jumped onto the large wire, carefully balancing through it as he motioned for Tira to jump. She then jumped in second, after a few minutes of hesitation as she slowly followed Zellos on the large wire. The wire apparently led to a large electrical grid, which seemed to be very overrun by fungi, but it was also in the direction where they headed. Down below, it was really ruined and destroyed as there was a large ravine that was opened up underneath the large wire. The large ravine looked to be very deep as there was also lava apparently seen underneath it. Several horse carts and wagons were also crashed on the ravine's mouth, indicating that it opened during the catastrophe.

The skeleton mob then arrived as he narrowed his eyes towards the both of them. The large wire was too bulky and blocky to cut down. Plus he had no throwing weapons on him; however he was surrounded by several blocks of stone bricks and cobblestone. As Zellos and Tira slowly crossed the large wire, the skeleton then grabbed a block of cobblestone and threw it towards them. The cobblestone barely missed Zellos as it nearly hit him in the back, thus alerting him with its crashing sound. They were nearly halfway, as the skeleton started throwing more blocks at them, mainly stone bricks, cobblestone and mossy cobblestone as he also had some blocks with him. This assault then made Zellos hurry up, as he started quickly pacing onto the wire. Tira followed through slowly, ducking underneath the skeleton's throwing blocks as he threw them.

As the two of them got further and further away, the skeleton mob then decided to jump on large wire, as he followed them. Tira then saw him did so, with eyes wide, as the skeleton threw more and more blocks at them. Zellos didn't even have to speak, as he ran through the large wire, with Tira behind him. The skeleton didn't even flinch as he ran and jumped through the broken wires.

"Shit. C'mon… c'mon…" Zellos was almost mumbling and ranting underneath his breath as the skeleton ran. "Please don't let this be the end of us…" He was almost in prayer as they were nearly there.

The skeleton then jumped up very very high, about three blocks high, lifting up his sword readily as Tira and Zellos were almost onto the grid. Then as the skeleton was about to slash them onto the wire, Zellos suddenly jumped up with his katana and slashed the skeleton back, causing the skeleton to be knocked back in mid-air. Tira ran ahead to safety and onto the building, as she saw Zellos fight the skeleton. The skeleton then fell towards the ravine, but not towards the lava but into a very low place. As the skeleton fell, Zellos then ran towards Tira, as he then needed a minute to catch his breath for a bit.

Verona inspected the academy grounds along with the old courtyard with Queen Rot, followed by the two kings and the two daughters. Apparently they were being very thorough with it, as being the main organizers, they expect the venue of their event to very decent. The courtyards were pretty good, looked modern yet at the same time had a feeling of ruin-ish like to them. The courtyard's walls were made out of seared bricks, which gave them a dark and stony covering. The area taken over by the courtyard was also fairly large enough for all the plans in the mob festival.

"Well Verona, what do you think?" Rot asked, as she inspected the last bit of the walls.

"Hmm… well it'll have to do. After all, I bet almost every one of the royales could at least go here." Verona replied, as she approached Rot.

"Alright then, should we lay down specifics?"

"No need for that, I've apparently made the placements for all the boots and the activities here in the courtyard."

"Good. So can you two talk to the council for us about this? I mean… please?" King Boom said to Verona in a rather low and submissive voice.

"Of course dear, we'll be happy to talk to them about this." Verona cooed to her husband.

"You know, you two should have at least notified us about this whole trip of yours." Rot sighed, rather tiredly.

"We know, we know." Bones replied. "But we didn't expect to find a place to hold the mob festival so quickly." He tried to reason with Rot.

"Whatever, let's go back to the council, and tackle this matter." Rot replied as she and Verona started walking back to the school grounds.

After a few minutes of catching his breath, Zellos was leading the way towards the exit of the city as Tira followed him from behind. Apparently, the route now called for the park, which was shrouded with a large pack of withered and charred trees. As both of them slowly entered the abandoned park, a feeling of very eerie and creepy atmosphere crept up on them. The place apparently felt very different in compared to the rest of the city. Unlike emptiness and ruins, the park somehow felt alive and inhabited by different things.

The two of them just attempted to shrug the feeling off, though Tira was visibly shaken as the feeling got more and more intense as they neared the middle of the park. As they stopped on a broken fountain and a pond in the middle of the park, both of them then heard flapping noises.

"Z-Zellos?!" Tira stuttered and whispered to him in fear, as he she shivered a bit, with the flapping noises getting closer and closer.

"Stay with me, dear." He whispered back, trying to look at his surroundings as he heard the very loud flapping and feathery noises. He had his katana sheathed out just in case something appeared.

After a few moments, several black and dark-gray, crow-like demon creatures started appearing in the sky. They were seemingly faceless and baring no symbol as they flew up high, with wings behind them. They appeared in a very large number as they surrounded Tira and Zellos. They also appeared to have swords sheathed on the belts of their waists as they flew above them, looking down with their orange-yellow eyes. Though as it seemed like they were about to drop down and slash down their two preys, all of the crow demons then produced large and circular flasks filled with some sort of mysterious gas. Without warning the demons then quickly dropped the bottles, as they broken releasing the poisonous gas of arsenic. As all the demons threw their bottles a large cloud of poisonous arsenic apparently engulfed the air around the two of them.

Zellos, acting on his instinct covered his mouth as his eyes suddenly got a little teary, similar to Tira who tried not to breath. Zellos then got a sight of Tira slightly as he ran up to her. Zellos then handed her his coat as he took most of the gas into his system. As she took the jacket, she then heard the demons apparently laughing at them, as they suddenly faded away. Slowly, the cloud of arsenics fas started diminishing away, as Tira held her breath and covered her face with Zellos' jacket, whilst he took most of the gas. As the cloud of arsenic cleared a few minutes thereafter, Zellos felt very dizzy and slightly fuzzy, as he suddenly dropped down to the ground when the oxygen started coming in. Tira saw this as she took his coat off of her.

"Zellos!" Tira yelled, as she caught him in her arms. His body felt very heavy and tired as he tried to get up, gripping Tira's hand as he did so.

"…hehehehehehe…" Zellos then started laughing and giggling almost as if hallucinating in a dizzy and hazy state. "Hey mom… what are you doing here?" He mumbled, as Tira felt very worried.

"Zellos?" She asked, tilting her head slightly, with a concerned expression.

"Ugh… no mom… five more minutes…" He said, as he faked a yawn.

"Zellos… I'm not you mom…"

"Yes you are. You dummy!" He said, as he had a big goofy smile across his face.

"Snap out of it, Zellos!" Tira then gave him a lightheaded smack to the cheek, trying not be forceful.

"What? What did you say, Jess?" He started to mumble another name as he was still feeling a little loopy.

"Snap out of it, dear! Please!" Tira then gave him a very powerful smack to the cheek, with power apparently equaled to an enchanted bow with knockback. Needless to say, he was knocked out cold as he skidded through the coarse dirt and hitting the fountain. Tira gasped and shock and quickly approached him.

She then desperately tried to look around for any type of help or assistance she could ask for, but to no avail. She then just huddled beside Zellos' unconscious body, as she laid him properly on the ground with his own coat serving as his blanket. She really tried to weep and cry as she felt really scared, not only is her beloved out cold and hurt, but only he knew the route and she was completely lost without him. She teared up silently as he hugged his body close.

A slightly dim light then suddenly was seen in the corner of her eyes. She then saw a transparent and humanoid figure standing before her. The transparent figure stood at 6'7 feet tall; wearing some of armor made from dark oak wood; with a flat and wooden right half mask which has a maroon circle on the middle of it; the left side of his face revealed a familiar color of yellow eyes and slightly pale skin to her; he also wore some sort of dark brown tunic inside his dark oak armor; with a belt strapped onto his shoulder with a longbow right behind him and several dark-yellow apples apparently strapped on his front belt; a flint-stone hatchet was holstered on his belt ; his grieves, leggings and boots were also dark oak. He really was familiar to her, but she just couldn't point out who he was. She felt very afraid of the figure who appeared before her as he stood over her, looking at her and Zellos.

The ghostly figure then offered his hand to her, as he was to help them. Tira seemed doubtful as she looked at the ghost-like figure, apparently still being a little nervous and scared. But at this point, she had no choice but to just accept it, otherwise, she and Zellos may die out there with the demons roaming around. She then took his hand as she helped get up. He then approached the knocked out Zellos as he carried him over his shoulders. The ghost then silently gestured for Tira to follow him. Tira nodded to the transparent figure, as he simply lead the way.

The way the figure gestured and motioned to her seemed very familiar as well. Almost as if she had seen someone do it before. Someone important in her life it would seem, as she followed him without almost any hesitation even in her heart.

The walk didn't take too long as both of them had reached a small water way or canal built with stone bricks which would seemingly lead out of the city. As they walked further into the side of the canal, there was a small log barge apparently to a side railing. The transparent figure then climbed down the stairs leading to the barge, as he motioned for Tira to follow him. As the transparent got on the barge, he then sat Zellos beside the mass, as Tira then jumped in the barge. Once the three of them were inside the barge, the transparent figure the cut the rope with his hatchet as he then slowly paddled through the wide canal.

While paddling through the canals, apparently, the signs of battle were very visible still, with debris apparently floating on the water surface and some lying underwater. Tira was still a little out of tune as she was still hugging Zellos' unconscious body by her side. She also had some thoughts with her as she tried to familiarize who the figure was. They then reached a part of the canal with a very strong current; apparently the transparent figure didn't need to paddle anymore as he just sat on the front of the barge. This then gave Tira enough confidence and courage to talk to him as she slowly approached him.

"Who are you?" She asked him, being the first question that popped her mind since he was so familiar, though he gave no answer, as he just sat there silently. "Hey… are you mute or something?"

The transparent figure nodded to her question.

"Oh. Well then… could you at least tell me who you are or at least tell me why you're helping both of us?"

The figure then suddenly tapped her forehead with two of his fingers as he then gave her a bit of a hint.

Her eyes then widened as she was given enough to who he was. "Wait… you? You're here?! But how?!" Now she was confused and at the same time happy. She then gave the transparent figure a tight hug, apparently squeezing him in her arms. Now would be a great time for him to appear at least. "You don't know… *sob* how long I've waited to see you again… Garov..." She mumbled in his chest as she hugged him, his ghostly hand then gave her a pat on her head, as he had missed her too, but he needs to tell her something quickly before it's too late.

He then placed his two fingers back on her head, as he passed on another memory. Her sweet moment was then broken as a horrible fact was revealed to her.

"Oh… you're not here to stay for long are you? You're a ghost? Or at least… dead at this point since then…" Tira then suddenly started sobbing a bit, as it was happening to her again. "…I'm sorry *sob* that we had to meet like this again *sob*… and I'm sorry, I never got to say all the things I wanted you to know at least… I mean… *sob* Zellos and I have a lot to tell since you've died… *sob* please… just stay for a little bit longer…" Tira then started crying on her shoulders, as she felt very emotional attached to Garov, even before his death; the three of them were bonded together so firmly.

As the barge then reached its destination, which was just pass beyond the city's exit, Tira had apparently calmed down but still had a bit of tears in her eyes, as Garov suddenly got up, standing firmly, looking down at her, with his left eye looking very saddened. He then gave her a farewell salute, as he then disappeared from her sight.

"You… you didn't have to go…" She stuttered, sobbing a bit as she wiped her tears.

A few minute then later, a groan was then heard coming from Zellos as Tira lay beside him. He slowly opened his eyes as he then a little dazed but conscious at least. He then heard a bit sniffling and sobbing from Tira as she sat beside him.

"Tira?" He mumbled to her; as she raised her head up, glancing at him as she cleaned herself up a bit. "What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Oh hey… dear… nothing… nothing's wrong…" She lied, though he saw through it.

"I heard you sobbing and sniffling… is there something wrong, did something happened when I was knocked out…?" He asked, his voice filled with sincerity as his hand slowly cupped her chin.

"I saw him again…" She tried not to remember, though she couldn't even forget him.

"Who?" He asked, growing a little bit more concerned with Tira's behavior.

"Garov…" She seemed a little hesitant in mentioning his name.

"Oh… he's alive…?" He seemed a little surprised that Garov would still be seen as a ghost at this point.

"No… I think it was only an apparition… but he helped me apparently… after you were knocked out…"

"Oh…" Zellos then approached her close and gave her a hug. "I'm sure he would've loved to be with us…" He tried to comfort her, but this matter was truly special for both of them.

Tira then just enjoyed the warm moment before they had to go back into their mission…

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed it although I shouldn't take all the credit most of it goes to Gray Quill who has helped with this chapter, he deserves it since he's put so much hard work and effort into it. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as there are many questions but they will be answered later on my dear friends so Review to tell me what you like and have a wonderful day Royal Guys and Gals!