Chapter Two: Error of Heart
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Shadow stood in front of the mirror in his room. He stared at his own reflection, not sure who he was looking at. Shadow breathed hard to fight back the feeling of nausea. He looked down at his trembling paws, as he tried to stand straight. He looked back up at the mirror. “You can do this.” He breathed out slowly.
The many different ways that the mission could fail filled his head. He rested his head against the mirror. “Oh who am I kidding, I'm not ready for this, I have got to be joking to think that I am ready to lead a team.” He snickered to himself. “I guess I could always not show up.” He looked up into the mirror again. “But if I don’t even show up I am going to look like the worst prince in all of the Lycan Kingdom!” He grabbed the sides of the mirror and shook it. “And then I will lose the trust of everyone!” He held his breath for a few seconds, closed his eyes, and tried to empty his head.
He breathed out again, opened his eyes and looked into the mirror with a smirk on his face. “You can do this.” Shadow fell backwards onto the bed. “Why did father have to give me this assignment?”
Shadow looked up at the clock on his table. He closed his eyes and breathed in. “Ten minutes until it is time to leave for Equestria. I can do this.”
Suddenly the ground shook. He looked outside to see nothing but darkness. “That is strange,” he told himself. “I can’t see anything.”
He stuck his head out of his room only to see that nobody was around. “So much for the rent-a-guards doing their job. Anybody could have walked into my room.”
He left his room to see what was going on. He looked around everything was quieter than usual. There was nobody around. He couldn’t even hear any sounds from the mines. “It isn’t a day off, you would think they would be digging.” He looked down the cliff. “I can’t even see the sparks from their picks.”
He walked around, some of the houses were destroyed collapsed and burned. “What did I miss?” he told nobody in particular.
“You missed quite the fight.”
Shadow turned around to see an old pale pony. “What is going on?”
She responded, “You didn’t stop Stygian before. He came back and now everyone is gone.”
Shadow’s heart fell to the floor. His eyes started to tear up. “I tried to stop him. The Pony of Shadows was too strong.”
She continued, “Because of you the Pony of Shadows ate magic from the Heart of the Lycan Empire. The Heart is dying. When the Heart dies, the Lycan Empire dies.”
Shadow breathed heavily. He felt like he was drowning. As he gasped for breath, all he could say was, “No.” Shadow felt like his mouth was dry. He worked hard to catch his breath. “I did what I could, but I couldn’t beat him.”
She walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. “All because you didn’t say yes to the shadow.”
Shadow replied, “I couldn’t say yes, it wanted to use my body. It wanted me.”
She replied, “Coward, you should have said yes. Your fear is going to destroy the Lycan Empire.”
Shadow slammed his head to the ground. When he opened his eyes the pony had disappeared, in her place was just a cloud of smoke. Shadow looked around. His ears went down. “Okay, that is not strange,” he told himself in disbelief. He wiped his face as he tried to figure out what he just saw. His eyes fixed on the cloud of smoke.
The smoke hugged the ground. It started to head toward the front gate. Shadow started to follow it. But he stopped when he heard the sound of a pup crying. His ears shot up at the sound of his brother. “Remus, I’m coming for you!.”
He ran to the nursery. Passing by nobody on the way. The smell of burnt wood filled his nose. “What if the old pony was right?” hHe told himself. He closed his eyes to clear his head. He opened them a second later to see that he was going to run into a smashed cart. Quickly he jumped, barely avoiding it.
Shadow entered the nursery to see that the room was a mess. Beds were broken. Sheets were torn. He looked in the middle to see a bed turned over. Shadow’s heart beat a million beats per minute. He turned over the bed. Shadow searched debris for any news. He found the book that he had read to his brother, burnt. The pages illegible.
He searched a pile of torn sheets and all he found was the head from a stuffed toy Ursa Major. His eyes welled up. Shadow looked up a yelled, “Remus!”
Just then Shadow heard a familiar crying. He spoke softly, “Remus.”
He heard the noise coming from a table that was on its side. He walked behind the table. Shadow smiled when he saw Remus. The smile faded as he realized Remus was curled in a ball in the corner with his body pressed up against the wall. Shadow responded, “Little brother, are you okay?.”
He heard his brother whimper. “You said you would keep us safe. But you didn’t. And now everyone is gone.”
Just then Remus turned into a cloud of smoke. Shadow’s eyes grew wide. “What the hayseed is going on?” The table flew across the room. Shadow fell onto his back. He looked on in horror. The cloud’s eyes glowed red. It grew large fangs, as it shouted, “You didn’t save us. You let the ponies attack us. And now you are all alone. You should have said yes.” And then it darted toward him. He screamed and kicked his legs at it.
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Shadow woke up in his bed, screaming. Panicking, he kicked the blankets off his bed. Shadow felt his back foot his something heavy. He heard a thunk of something hitting the wall in front of the bed. He looked around to see Servo on the floor. “You okay?”
Servo got up. “I am okay, I didn’t need my spleen anyway.” Servo walked over to the side of the bed. “What was going on anyway?” Servo asked.
Shadow looked out the window to see the faint glow of the moon. Some Lycans walked past the window. They stayed to make faces at his guards, the guards paidpayed them no attention. Then the Lycans walked on with their day. Shadow looked back at Servo. “It must have just been a bad dream.”
Servo looked at Shadow and tilted his head, “Dreams? You shouldn’t be dreaming. You should have woken up by now.”
Shadow looked down at the ground in an effort to avoid looking at Servo in his eyes. “The mission wasn’t for a few hours so I decided to relax and I must have fallen asleep.”
Servo shouted. “You are going to be in charge of the mission! You can’t slack off!”
Shadow gleered “I wasn’t.”
Servo scolded him “life is not a game. You can’t just sleep all the time when things need to be done. You are over a thousand years old. You need to do some things even if you don’t want to.”
Shadow snapped back, “What do you know about being king. You’re just a puny little dragon.”
Servo continued “your subjects won’t follow you if you treats everyone badly.”
Shadow bared his teeth at servo. “fine then why don’t you leave!”
Servo “I am not doing this for you. I am doing it for your father. I am a scribe. I am loyal to your father. And some day loyal to you.” Shadow rolled his eyes. Servo continued, “Other kings and queens have lost their kingdoms. And you can’t be king with no kingdom. Just look at what happened to Queen Chrysalis. Her subjects didn’t like her so they found someone better. ”
Shadow yelled “good then they can find a better king than me.”
Servo sighed, “That is not what I mean.”
Shadow looked at servo, “no but it is what I mean.”
Shadow started to pace around the room. “There are many other people better than me. Heck one of the pups from the nursery would do a better job than me.”
Servo Sighed. “Calm down. Your father wouldn’t have put you in charge if he didn’t think you were ready.”
Shadow collapsed on the floor, “the only thing that my father cares about is the throne.”
Servo shruged at him and says "kind of.”
Shadows eyes pierced through Servo. “How are you helping?”
Servo responded, “Quiet.”
Servo chose his next few words carefully and spoke softly, “The throne is the Kingdom. You are part of that Kingdom. So yes I think he cares about you. He just wants you to be ready to rule the kingdom some day.”
Shadow put his paws on top of his head and pushed down on his ears, “I am so stupid I can’t rule an entire kingdom. I can’t even control a mission.”
Servo smiled “you will be a great leader someday. You just need to watch your temper and gain some confidence in yourself.”
Shadow shouted, “what temper!”
Servo held two claws up in the air. “You just yelled at me right now. You yelled at me in the throne room. And you sound mad, very mad. Like why are you so mad. What gives?”
Shadow protested “I was not yelling.”
Servo replied “well it looked like it.”
Shadow got up. “To be fair you were asking for it in the throne room. I haven’t gone by the name Romulus for about 500 years.”
Servo Explained, “well someone needs to be told that because my dossier had your name wrong. It was a honest mistake. Why would you threaten to eat me anyway?”
“I was playing.”
Servo yelled, “nobody plays that way!”
Shadow continued “I wouldn’t have eaten you even if I wanted to. Dragon meat is too tough.”
Servo says “how reassuring.”
Servo asks “what time are you supposed to leave on the mission.”
Shadow answered “ahhhhh.”
Servo “You didn’t read the dossier.”
Shadow says “of course I did.”
Servo answered “Well then!”
Shadow very carefully used his magic to hover the folder off his side table and levitate it behind Servo. Sometimes he really loved having magic.
Servo tapped his foot. “Well?”
Shadow flipped through the pages looking for what he needed. Servo Sighed, “Your horn is glowing, your using magic.”
Shadow tried to keep a straight face. “No, I am checking all the windows. Can’t be too safe.”
Servo knew that Shadow was lying. Simply for one reason. The room didn’t have any windows, not the kind that opened. But at this time servo felt like it was not worth the fight. Servo held up his wrist and pointed to it. “We don’t have all day.”
Shadow looked at the paper and then looked at his clock. The paper dropped to the bed. “I should have left 20 minutes ago.”
Servo picked up the dossier “well then we better get going.” Servo started to push Shadow out the door. Shadows claws dragged on the cobblestone.
Servo said “you know it is going to be easier if you start walking.
Shadow sighed “Are you sure I have to do this.”
Servo jumped onto shadows back, “It is your duty.”
Shadow looked back “what are you doing?”
Servo shrugged “my side hurts still from when you kicked me.”
Shadow growled, “I am not a pony. You can’t just ride me.”
Servo pat the Shadow on the head, “do you want to be late.”
Shadow rolled his eyes. “oh fine then.”
Servo kicked his feet against shadows sides. “Come on then.”
Shadow bit his lip, “I am not a horse.”
Servo “Then mush.”
Shadow Yelled, “Knock it off!”
Servo smiled, “Your wasting time. You better start running.”
Shadow “You want to see running.” Shadow ran as fast as he could. Servos head jerked back from the burst of movement. Servo grabbed onto the base of Shadows wings to keep from falling off. It did little, Servo could feel his claws slipping.
Servo felt his claws start to slip, “You’re going too fast. I can’t hold on!”
Shadow grinned, “you wanted fast.”
Servo sighed, “Me and my big mouth.”
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The guard paced back and forth infront of a large gate. The guard tapped his paw to the ground. Using magic he picked up a watch out of a bag around his neck. The guard turned to a group of five Lycans. “Well I will give him 5 more minutes and then I am going to tell the King that Shadow never showed up.”
A dark brown Lycan walked forward. She was smaller than the rest of the Lycans but not by much. On her head she wore a white hat with a green cross on it. “Don’t worry Sarge, He will be here.”
A dark orange Lycan brushed her dark red and white striped mane to the side of her face. “Well then Triage were do ya think he is. I got stuff to do.”
Triage adjusted her hat. “I don’t know Blaze. But he is never this late.”
A dark purple Lycan pointed at the cliff side. “Is that him!”
Triage looked at her. “Where are you looking Eclipse.”
Eclipse responded. “that big dust cloud.”
She pointed a paw at the side of the cliff. Shadow ran with Servo holding onto his tail. Then they both vanished. Leaving nothing but a dust cloud.
Triage squinted “I don’t see anything.”
Eclipse gasped, “Well he was just there. I am not a liar.”
Suddenly they were all surrounded by a flash of light. A loud boom cracked through the ravine. They all looked over to see Shadow standing there. Servo still holding onto his tail.
Servo held up one claw. “warn me before you teleport.” He then flopped on the floor.
Shadow grinned, “Why do you get motion sick.”
Blaze screamed to the sky. With both her arms in the air. “He is here, lets get this party started, wooo hooo!”
Sarge bit the corner of his mustache. He put his watch in Shadows face, “you are late.”
Shadow looked at the watch “or your watch is fast.”
“you got a bad attitude problem_”
Shadow grits his teeth “You wanna see a bad_”
“emmm” Servo cut him off.
Shadow breathed in and calmed down a bit before he spoke. “I had a bit of a delay. I did not jeopardize the mission did I.”
The guard says, “Not as of yet. We heard from the scouts the door is still clear. But that was about 25 minutes ago. 5 more minutes and we would have had to wait for another message. If you leave now you should be clear. Lucky.”
Shadow said under his breath, “your Lucky.”
Servo scolded “What_”
Shadow shouted at the top of his lungs “I didn’t say nothing!”
Sarge walked up to a giant machine that was connected to the door. He walked up to a row of buttons any typed on them. Lights came on and things beeped as the machine started to hum as it came to life.
Shadow grinned “start the countdown”.
Sarge turned to Shadow and screamed, His voice being drowned out by the machine. “It should be about five minutes for the pump to get enough pressure to more the door!”
Shadow Yelled back, “Thanks, that is fine.”
Sarge just cupped his paw to his ear and shook his head.
Shadow turned to his team. “We have two wagons to move. Whitwolf, Shirwolf you will be pulling the wagons. The Twins Nodded.”
Shadow looked over the dossier, “Flying team Take to the Skies and keep a birds eye on what is ahead. Look out for titans. Do you understand?”
Eclipse nodded. “Roger that.”
Shadow looked at Blaze. “Do you understand.”
Blaze tilted her head to the side. “where is Roger, I didn’t know he was going to be on this mission.”
Everyone in the group slammed their paws into their face.
Shadow stood with his mouth open while he tried to process that. He failed, so he shook his head and went back to business, “Magic users will help the wagon team. Make sure they keep moving. We cannot lose any wagons. If we lose a team member do not stay back keep moving? Priority one is to stay away from the lake.”
Shads smiled at the team, “any questions.”
Whitwolf raised a paw, “yeah, can we leave blaze here, last time I worked with her she nearly caught me on fire.”
Blaze scoffed “It was just your tail, and It has mostly grown back.”
Shadow gritted his teeth. “Yes blaze is coming, blaze no playing with fire.”
Blaze held up a lighter. “Can I keep this?”
Shadow grabbed it from her and threw it on the ground. “No!”
Shads asked “any other questions?”
Blaze raised a paw, “The wagons are kind of full. Where am I supposed to put my spare gas.”
Shads knocked his paw to his face. “you don’t need fuel. Don’t play with fire.”
Blaze tilted her head, “but fuel is not fire. It is fuel for a fire. So no fire.”
Whitwolf’s jaw dropped open, “Can I go back home?”
Shads screamed “No going home, no fire, no fuel.”
Whitwolf looked at his brother and sighed “I knew this was going to happen.”
Shirwolf looked at his brother and then Shadow “I am not feeling well, I need to go to the doctor.”
Triage piped up, “I am a doctor.”
Sarge yelled, “All good, the doors are opening.”
The engine revved up to speed and the door creaked and groaned as it opened upward. Shadow looked up to see the stars. A sliver of moonlight peaked through the opening. Just then the floor started to tilt creating a ramp, to the exit.
Shadow yelled “ok ground team move forward, Stay quiet until we get through the Shadow valley.”
Blaze started to reach for the small lighter, “can I bring a small fire.”
Shads picked up the lighter and handed it to Sarge. Sarge replied to Shadow with a nod. Shadow looked back at blaze and screamed “No, no fire!”
Blaze asked “what about for light?”
Shads exclaimed “Light could attract some Titans.”
The wagons moved up the ramp. As Whitwolf and his brother heaved and dug their paws in to move the wagons. Triage stood behind Whitwolf and pushed. Shadow helped push the other. Blaze and eclipse soon started pushing too.
At the top of the ramp all became easy as the ground leveled off. The wagons moved easier. Whitwolf and Shirwolf stopped pulling the wagons as they gasped for breath.
Shadow said quietly, “We need to clear the ramp.”
They all moved away from the exit. When they moved far enough away the massive bulkhead doors began to fall back down to the ground. The ground shook as the doors hit the ground. With a large bang they settled. Two Lycans came out of bushes and covered the bulkhead with brown sheet of leaves. One of the Lycans saluted Shadow. And then they flew off to the ravine. The humming stopped and only the crickets could be heard.
Shadow whispered, “Everyone to your places!”
Blaze and Eclipse took to the skies, Triage walked alongside the wagons.
They moved slowly through the night. The wheels of the wagons squeaked as the wagons moved.
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The group stopped when they got to a clearing. The clearing had a Large lake to the west. To the north there was at least 4 different paths to take. Blaze and Eclipse hovered over the ground as they waited for more orders. Shadow stood beside an old oak tree. Shadow looked at the group to do a head count to make sure that everyone was present. When he was satisfied his eyes landed on the twins. “We can’t set up camp in the clearings because we could be seen. With how large and heavy those wagons are I don’t want us to get attacked with no idea were to go. Let’s wait next to this tree and scout out the best route to take.”
Triage leaned against the tree. Shadow waved at the fliers to move on. Blaze and Eclipse started scanning the forest for a way through.
Triage whimpered, “ummm shadow?”
Shadow watched the flyers and didn’t pay her much attention, “yes it is very dark.”
A tree branch started moving across her chest. Triage fought for breath, she managed with whisper, “Shadow?”
Shadow looked at Blaze as she was doing a somersault in the air “She is going to give away our position.”
Triage started whimpering, tears started streaming down her face “Shadddoww.”
Shadow grit his teeth. “What, do you need.”
Triage stuttered “T.. T….. T…” She broke into tears and started crying.
Shadow looked back at her and yelled, “what!”
Suddenly Blaze flew over and screamed, “MOVE!, Titan!”
Triage Squeaked as Shadow Grabbed her by the neck and pulled her away from the tree limb just as it was starting to wrap around her legs.
Whitwolf and Sherwolf started running. The wagons squealed as they came to life.
Sherwolf groined as he jerked the wagon to the left, barely avoiding being hit by a tree limb.
Whitwolf moaned as his wagon rolled over vine.
Shadow yelled “Air team cover the wagons!”
Blaze yelled back, “With what?”
Shadow yelled “I don’t know do something!”
Blaze screams “You said no fire.”
Shadow Yelled “Now I am saying burn something.”
Blaze screamed “You took my lighter.”
Servo replied “And you didn’t keep it, remember?”
Shadow Screamed “I know you, you can’t expect me to believe that you would only bring a tiny lighter with you?”
Blaze pulled out a flask of liquid and poured it on the tree. The tree screamed and hollered.
Servo pointed “great now it is angry.”
Sherwolf’s wagon stopped. Sherwolf dug his paws into the ground but the cart refused to move. “Guys I’m stuck. Someone help”.
Shadow pointed to Eclipse. “Help him.”
Eclipse flew down and started trying to push the wagon from behind.
Blaze started flying around the tree to distract it from the wagon.
Whitwolf stopped moving. He looked over to Triage. “Get me out of this Harness.”
Triage explained, “I can’t Shadow said_”
Whitwolf Tugged hard on the strap to try and break it. “Oh for bucks sake he’s my brother. I can’t let anything happen to him.”
Shadow looked at Whitwolf and then looked at Servo. “Servo, get Whitwolf and Triage out of here.”
Servo explained, “I can’t you might need me here. We might need their help.”
Shadow Rebutted. “We can’t lose both wagons. If the worst happens I don’t want Whitwolf to see it. You take care of Whitwolf I will help his brother.”
Servo bit his lip and nodded. He ran over to help Whitwolf.
Shadow Looked at Whitwolf. Eclipse was still pushing the back of the wagon, but it didn’t budge. And the tree was getting closer. Shadow flew up to her and yelled, “get him out of the wagon. The tree is too close.” Shadow flew up to the tree and stared flying circles around it. It swung randomly at him.
Blaze looked at shadow “please tell me you still have my lighter.”
Shadow stopped for a minute. “The guard took it.” He quickly dodged to the side barely missing being hit from a fat chubby tree branch.
From in the corner Shadow could hear servo, “liar!”
Shadow looked back, “Shut it.”
Blaze went up to Whitwolfs wagon. She search the cart and pulled out the old worn leather bag. She searched through her bag. Eclipse struggled with the straps. “blaze can a have a paw here.” Blaze responded, “In a minute.” Frustrated Blaze threw the bags contents onto the ground. She looked around and found a box of matches, “Perfect.”
Blaze looked up in just enough time to see a tree branch heading for her face. Blaze felt some leave graze her side as she moved at the last second. The tree branch hit the wagon instead. Wood splinters flew everywhere. Sherwolf flew across the plains. He landed into a pile of rocks.
Whitwolf screamed, “Brother.” Eclipse flew over and picked him up. She smacked his face. “Sherwolf.” She breathed heavy. “Guys he is out cold.” Finally the strap on Whitwolfs wagons gave away and freed him.
Blaze struck the match and a glowed bright. She tossed the match onto the tree. Within seconds the tree blew up in flames. The sounds of it screaming echoed through the forest.
Blaze grinned “Sparky, Sparky boom, boom.”
Shadow looked at blaze. “Great now we have a tree on fire.”
Blaze smiled, “Just watch.” She took off from the ground and flew as fast as she could. Angered the tree followed her to the lake. Blaze flew up the second the tree got close to the lake. Giant tentacles reached out from the lake and grabbed the tree. The tree Hollard and screamed as roots dug into the ground. Giant claw marks were etched into the ground as the tree tried to stop the inevitable. The tentacle pulled the tree into the water. As the water settled shadow looked at blaze. “Nice one.”
Blaze grinned “Thank you, Thank you.”
Whitwolf looked at her. “I have to admit that was pretty good thinking. I take back half the bad things I ever said about you.
Blaze cheered. “Yeah!” Then she looked stumped, “Wait, what?”
Everyone laughed. Until Triage spoke up. “Everyone we have a problem. It is Sherwolf.” The group walked over to her. “He is breathing but he is out cold. And the wagon is in pieces.”
Shadow asked “Is he going to be ok.”
Triage frowned, “I am not sure. I think he has some broken bones. But I have nothing to check him with.”
Whitwolf looked at Shadow, “We have got to go back. We need to help my brother.”
Shadow frowned. “We can’t go back. We have nearly cleared the forest. And that is the most dangerous part.”
Whitwolf, “he needs help, how could you let this happen?”
Shadow fought back the urge to cry. How could he have let this happen? It was all his fault. The scouts told him that it was clear but he was late. In many ways it was because of him. It was his fault. All that Shadow could say was “I am so sorry”.
Whitwolf scoffed, “sorry, my brother is hurt. Because you were late_”
Servo got between Shadow and Whitwolf “It was me. Shadow was helping me with something. I am the reason why he was late. Your brother does need help and he is going to get it as soon as we get out of here.” Servo looked at Shadow. “What do we do next boss.”
Shadow was speechless. What is that little dragon doing? Shadow felt low, he barely met the dragon and Servo was trying to protect him. But why, he wondered. After a few seconds of thinking he knew what he was going to do. Shadow composed himself, he breathed out a few times and then Shadow pointed to Triage. “We have one wagon left. You ride on the wagon and take care of him.” He pointed to Sherwolf. “Blaze, Eclipse. Use the blanket from the top of the other wagon. Lay him on it keep him safe, we will just have to help him in Ponyville.
Blaze raised a paw in the air. “But one problem, how can we carry him in it if the wagon is smashed.”
Shadow slammed his face into his paw. Eclipse raised a eyebrow “seriously?” Whitwolf rolled his eyes, “A quarter, I take back a quarter of the bad things that I have ever said about you.”
Eclipse gently placed Sherwolf onto of the other wagon. Triage rubbed the top of his head. “He is going to need medicine, he is going to be in a lot of pain.”
Shadow looked past the forest. “On to ponyville.”
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Archimedes sat in his throne room. He tapped the armrest of his throne with his claws, as he looked out the window into the forest. “Why is he so late. Can that pup do anything right.”
The room filled with a bright purple light. A chocolate colored Alicorn stepped out of the shadows.
Archimedes got down from his throne. “what took you so long Cronos.”
Cronos spoke, “My sister was being persistent. Don’t worry she doesn’t expect a thing.”
In the distance a giant fireball exploded over a tree. Archimedes sighed. “Why does it look like my son is going to burn down the forest? Does he have to burn the titan? It is as old as the forest. Honestly can he do anything right?”
Cronos looked at him “Don’t worry everything is going as planned.”
Archimedes sighed, “Oh, there goes the medal. Do you have any idea how much that is worth?”
Cronos grinned, “A small price to pay. Besides that is why I asked you to send two. If it was one then he would have come back with a failed mission.”
Archimedes asked. “So you have seen what is going to be.”
Cronos replied, “I have, my sister does not expect a thing. And she is unknowingly doing what I need her too. Everything is going just the way I planned it.”
Archimedes asks “how do you know that everything will go according to your plan.”
Cronos replied, “Because I have seen that it will, sometimes I just need to do a little adjustment to keep the flow of time going in the direction that I want it to.”
Archimedes turned to look Cronos in the face. “If I do everything according to your plan I will get what I want.”
Cronos looked at him. “I know you will. As long as you continue to do everything that I say”. He gave Archimedes a smile, “Remember I can see everything that happens Past, Future and Present.”
Archimedes wrapped a paw around Cronos. Archimedes pulled Cronos toward him and gave him a giant hug. “Thank you my old friend.”
End chapter.