Excerpt: PARADISE LOST: Twilight Warriors

When he came to, Tarrin saw Velasarous clutching his shoulders while Kibwe, Autumn, and Samantha stood around. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when they saw their leader’s eyes open slowly. Zenix curiously scurried up Tarrin’s chest and got in his face. The dragon cocked his head to the left as he looked into his keeper’s eyes. Tarrin smiled and Zenix looked back to the others and nodded once.
“Alright, he’s okay,” Velasarous ordered, “Let’s get back to packing up.” Autumn and Kibwe went to their mats to begin packing, as did Velasarous. Sam knelt down by Tarrin and brushed some hair out of his face.
“You okay?” she asked gently.
“Yeah,” Tarrin replied as he sat up, “Look. I need to tell you something.”
“Alright, shoot.”
“I saw Tauruc.”
“What?”
“Yeah, he said we have to find Jasper. And we have to find people who can give us the power we need to find him.”
“And how are we supposed to do that?”
“Time Travelling.”
“How?”
“I’m not sure, but we have to find Jasper. And if we have to figure out some way to time travel, then we’ll do it.”
“Where do you think we should go first?”
“Ireland,” Tarrin said matter of factly, “I need to see my home.”
+++
Before long, everyone was packed and ready to go, so they began their trek back to the London Tunnel Entrance.
“Wait,” Sam interjected before they got on their way, “Ellesmiaralda is right near the entrance, right?”
“Yeah,” Tarrin agreed, catching on to the idea, “And Tauruc said that Lord Carmine had captured him!”
“So we go to Ellesmiaralda!” Sam continued, letting Tarrin take the sentence and finish.
“And we find Jasper!”
“Yes!” They exclaimed, high fiving each other.
“What’s Ellesmiaralda?” Kibwe asked sullenly, wishing he wasn’t out of the loop.
“It’s an ancient city that exists within these tunnels,” Velasarous explained, “Samantha is correct, Ellesmiaralda is near London, but I wouldn’t advise going there. I feel you will find nothing.”
“We have to try,” Tarrin argued, “If we don’t find anything, that’s fine. But there may be something there.”
“If you go, Carmine will know about it and he will capture you. You will meet the same fate as this Jasper you speak of.”
Tarrin cut in front of Velasarous, turned, and stopped the grown man in his tracks, “We’re going to Ellesmiaralda.”
“No,” Velasarous said forcefully, “We’re not.”
“I’m more powerful than you could ever be,” Tarrin threatened, letting the darker side take over, “I’m the leader and I say we go to Ellesmiaralda.”
There was no more arguing over the subject. Velasarous backed down.
“I’d listen to string bean here, if I were you,” Helius said.
“Don’t try to talk me out of this,” the boy threatened, “I’ll squish you like a bug.”
“Listen, Tarrin, I worked with Carmine. I was general of his army. He knows things, Tarrin, I don't know how, but he was able to tell me where our enemies were going to attack from, and he was always,always right.”
“It isn't exactly helping your case that you worked for him,” Tarrin said snidely as he turned and began walking on.
“Tarrin, he’ll know if we plan on going to Ellesmiaralda. I know Jasper, and he wouldn't want you doing this,” the rat cautioned, but Tarrin walked on, he wouldn’t be swayed. It was his job, his duty, to find Jasper. Somehow, Tarrin knew Jasper was a part of all of this and he wasn’t going to let a smart assed rat sway his opinion.