15 Gone

Halfway through the pass, General Rohan signaled for the group to stop. The once clear sky slowly darkened the further they moved. It was not a good sign, the Serpens pass is known for its steepness and the danger one can encounter during the rainy season. No one would dare to use this pass when they know that a downpour would happen. Landslides also occur in most parts of the pass.

"Why did we stop?" Orion asked General Rohan.

"A storm is coming," he simply replied while looking at the distance with a frown.

"The pass becomes more dangerous if it rains, but we can't stop now because it would be more dangerous if we remain in one place," Apollo suddenly spoke from behind. He also knew the dangers of this pass. They were currently halfway through the pass and there's no place in the pass where they can take cover when the storm comes.

General Rohan nodded, "we can only move forward at the fastest speed we can, if we're lucky we can reach the pass before the rain can fall down but by the looks of it, we can't."

"We will be caught on the storm, my wind spirits have warned me that the storm is a bit strong, so we need to move now," Arthur cut through their conversation. General Rohan signaled for the soldiers ahead to move.

"Let's make haste," General Rohan kicked the horse and they all followed suit.

Dust flew as they raced towards the end of the pass. They steadily covered a few miles when rain suddenly poured out from the dark sky.

"Don't stop!" General Rohan instructed at the top of his voice through the rain. They were only kilometers away from the pass's end. If they continue at the speed they were going in now, and don't encounter any mishaps they can avoid any dangers of the pass.

A light suddenly flashed in the sky followed by a loud rumbled and everything turned into chaos. The lightning hit a part of the mountain pass causing a sudden landslide that caught all of them off guard. The path was covered by fallen soil and boulders. The group was also separated because of the incident. the group of soldiers on the front were cut off from General Rohan and the prince's group by the incident. They were forced to stop momentarily under the heavy rain.

"What do we do now, we can't stay here," Orion asked through the pitter-patter of the rain.

"We need to remove the blockage, Arthur and Karina, we need your magic to remove the boulders, if it's possible do it in the fastest way possible," General Rohan gestured for them to fix the problem.

Karina used a spell to control the water and lift the boulders while Arthur used his wind magic to help Karina move the boulders into the river below. Slowly the blockage was cleared when another lightning fell striking the spot above Orion.

"Your highness!" Apollo exclaimed in a panic and immediately urged his horse closer to the prince in an attempt to grab him. Stones and boulders fell and left the group in a state of shock.

"Your highness!" Karina and Arthur hastily left what they were doing and ran to where the prince was but it was too late, all they could see was the fallen part of the pass.

"Prince Orion!" General Rohan shouted in hoes that the prince was able to dodge the landslide.

"I'm fine," a faint voice answered from the other side. "But my horse isn't."

General Rohan and the order breath a sigh of relief, but then they all heard a loud crack. All their gazes fell to where they were standing and saw several cracks speedily forming. "Your highness, run!" Arthur bellowed through the rain while dispatching his wind spirits but the ground finally gave out and swallowed a big part of the pass.

Arthur fell to his knees at that moment with wide eyes and shaking hands. "No." He muttered to himself.

"What happened?" Karina asked in an unsteady voice.

"I - I wasn't able to grab him, they - they all fell," Arthur answered dejectedly. He was about to grab the prince with his wind but the ground fell and so was the prince and the other soldiers with him.

"No, no, no..." Karina took a step back and faced the direction of the now empty part of the pass. "Your highness! Prince Orion!" She shouted and continued to call out but no one answered.

The river's current was strong and sharp, all the boulders were already taken by the currents. A human can't fight a current as strong as the ones in the Serpens River during a stormy day. General Rohan and Apollo were rooted in their place at how fast everything happened. No one uttered a word, Karina was crying in frustration while the rest were slumped on the ground in shock.

After a while, the rain stopped and the soldiers at the other side of the landslide were able to clear the blockage with the help of the Southern Border Patrol who came to meet them. They were stupefied at the scene they saw, the path leading back to the Emerald Forest where they came from was gone and their general was slumped on the ground together with The Order. Strangely they didn't see any sign of the prince and came to a terrible conclusion. The path was gone and so was their prince, there was only one explanation for this, the prince was gone.

Captain Rom slowly approached General Rohan and kneeled in front of him. "General..." he tentatively called out but the general didn't answer. He knew that he can't speak to the general right now nor to the order so he moved his gaze towards some of the soldiers with them.

One of the soldiers bravely stepped forward and narrated what had happened in a shaking voice. They were all shaken in witnessing what had happened. They were not able to save any of their comrades and failed to keep their prince safe. The rest of the soldiers were also left speechless and Captain Rom and his subordinates were also frozen. The prince was gone.