Wake up, Maggots’! Time for Tellios!” The Sergeant yelled, waking all of the sleeping soldiers. The Sergeant stormed down the hall, banging and opening doors yelling, “WAKE UP! TELLIOS TIME!” at the peaceful soldiers. He burst into Ultheron’s room and pulled his covers away. Ultheron woke up immediately.
“Ah! Is that you, Nate? Gosh, I’m only in my shorts –”
“WAKE UP, MAGGOT! TIME FOR YOUR TRIP TO TELLIOS!” The Sergeant yelled in Ultheron’s face.
“Okay! Okay! I’ll get up! Just let me get my clothes on –” Ultheron said.
“ONCE YOU’RE DONE, GO TO THE TRUCK GARAGE! YOUR JEEP MATES ARE WAITING FOR –”
“JUST LEAVE AND DO YOUR DUTIES!!” Ultheron yelled angrily. The Sergeant stopped his announcement and looked down at Ultheron. He stared at him with a hard, cold stare, and left his dormitory, grumbling about Ultheron’s behavior. Once the Sergeant left, Ultheron leapt out of bed and pulled on his soldier uniform. He looked out the window. It wasn’t even light out yet! Ultheron sighed and walked over to the wood chest at the foot of his bed. He opened the chest and pulled out a Sniper Rifle. There was a knock at his door.
“Come in.” Ultheron said. Nate entered.
“Hey, Joseph. Better hurry up. The others are waiting.” Nate said.
“I was just about to get going right now.” Ultheron said. He and Nate walked out of Ultheron’s dormitory and to the Truck Garage. The Garage was filled with the shouts of excited soldiers and the loud rumblings of the many jeeps being put into drive. Ultheron and Nate’s jeep was in the far back. They hopped into their jeep: Nate hopped into the driver’s seat and grasped the wheel. Ultheron climbed on top to where the turret was. The whole garage fell silent suddenly. Footsteps were heard and the General appeared in front of the army. He looked around at his men, and cleared his throat.
“We shall depart for Tellios in about thirty minutes. But I want to explain why I am deploying men for this mission early,” The General said. “I am deploying you all early because I have uncovered some information about our enemy that made me deploy you immediately. Our enemy, Tellios, have been sending men from its ranks to spy on our government and on me. These men can turn into dragons or are able to use them as their mounts. A prince by the name of Prince Marikai is our target.” Ultheron gasped, but no one heard him.
“Marikai is our target because the government and I see him as a great threat. He has a large amount of power that he can use to destroy us. This boy might be about twelve years old, but he can destroy a whole continent. Marikai holds a power that we want. And we can take it away by capturing him and use it for our purposes. Once we take his powers, we can both release him and let him die slowly or execute him. Marikai is the . . .” The General said, but he trailed off. He looked around the room and his gaze floated onto Ultheron. Ultheron knew he was staring at him. The General pointed at him. Everyone turned to his direction.
“You . . . come here.” The General said. Ultheron knew he had to obey. He climbed out of his jeep and walked towards him. His footsteps echoed through the dead quiet garage. Once Ultheron had approached him, the General stared hard into his eyes. Ultheron saw the red orbs in his eyes. He winced as a migraine bombarded his mind. A raspy, bone-chilling voice rang in his ears.
I shall destroy you from within . . . you are one of them . . . The voice said.
No . . . you shall not destroy me . . . I have repelled you before and I shall do it again! Ultheron said to the being. He screwed his face up in concentration, but that voice laughed an evil laugh.
I am stronger than that weaker Xerain. You cannot repel me, The being said. I shall reveal you!
NO! Ultheron pleaded, but it was too late. He screamed in pure agony and fell to the floor. Ultheron gasped for air, and his hair turned from its short brown hair to his original long dark purple hair and his ears became pointy again. He felt like he was being chocked by an invisible adversary. The being inside his mind was cutting his oxygen!
“P-PLEASE! RELEASE ME!” Ultheron screamed. The soldiers gasped and pointed at Ultheron’s writhing figure.
“What’s happening to him?!” Nate yelled over Ultheron’s cries of distress.
“I don’t know! He just suddenly fell and started screaming!” A soldier sitting in the back seat shouted.
“Look! He’s changing! His hair! It’s . . . It’s purple!” A soldier from the other side of the room yelled. Ultheron stopped screaming and gulp down large amounts of air. He looked up at the General. The General was giving him a sinister smile. Ultheron’s eyes flashed violet and the room was filled with surprised screams and yells from all of the soldiers.
“HE’S AN ELF!!” Nate cried. Ultheron’s eyes flashed back to his original eye color. His vision was beginning to become blurry and unfocused and then normal again. Nate ran over to him and bent over to examine him. Ultheron saw tears streaming from his eyes.
“Nate . . . please . . . help me . . .” Ultheron gasped. Nate shook his head, and his sad eyes became an angry glare. He seized Ultheron by the throat and held him in a headlock. Ultheron gasped and kicked, but Nate held him tight.
“What do you want me to do with him, General?” Nate said. The General smiled.
“We shall hold him as a hostage. For now, handcuff him and place him in the back of your jeep. We can use him as bait or a reason to hand over Prince Marikai.” The General said. Nate shouted for handcuffs and a soldier gave him a pair. He let go of Ultheron’s neck and held his hands close together. Nate put the metal rings on Ultheron’s wrist and clasped them. He guided Ultheron back to his jeep. Ultheron was literally thrown into the trunk.
“Wait! Nate, you don’t have to listen to him! He’s being possessed–” Ultheron said, but Nate slammed the door in his face. The door’s impact with Ultheron’s nose almost broke it, and blood trickled out of his nostrils. It was worthless to persuade Nate or any of the soldiers to believe that the General is possessed by a being called the Xerain. Ultheron sat there in pain and despair while the General gave the rest of his announcement. Once he was done, the jeep’s engine turned on. Ultheron heard the enormous garage door slide open, and the green army jeep rumbled forward.


“Where are we?” Ultheron asked the soldier closest to his small prison.
“What do you think, ‘Joseph’? We’re at Oxnard and on our way to Yosemite Mountain!” The soldier replied bitterly. They had driven for about seven hours and Ultheron was starting to get hungry. He would wonder if the soldiers would feed him some scraps if they ever stopped at someplace to eat.
“What?! You hungry or somethin’?!” A soldier named Lyle shrieked, clearly very annoyed. Lyle must’ve heard Ultheron’s stomach grumble loudly.
“Y-Yes . . . I am quite famished –”
“Well, maybe you won’t be very hungry anymore once we get to Yosemite! We’ll feed you to the bears and wolves if you get too annoying!” Lyle said.
“But I can’t control my stomach’s rumblings!” Ultheron argued.
“Now you watch yourself boy–” Lyle pulled out his combat pistol and pointed it at Ultheron’s chest. “One more outburst like that and I’ll–”
“Lyle! Point your gun away from him! The General said that if we kill him without permission he’ll do terrible things to our families!” Nate yelled. He had seen Lyle point his gun at Ultheron through the rear-view mirror. Lyle pulled his pistol away and pocketed it. Ultheron sighed with relief.
“Thank you, Nate.” Ultheron said, but Nate didn’t listen to him. He sighed and looked out his small window. Ultheron wished he could be on the turret right now; he would love to feel the wind rush past him and through his hair, but here he was, imprisoned in a stuffy supply compartment.
He closed his eyes and listened to the sounds outside of the jeep and blocked out the chatter of the soldiers. He could hear the first chirps of doves. Then a coyote’s howl off in the distance. A bobcat’s satisfied purr. The woodpecker pecking eagerly at a tree full of bugs, and a tired bear grumbled and yawned noisily. He can hear the fish jumping out of the river and falling with a loud splash in the water and the great flow of a waterfall. Chipmunks and squirrels chucked and the sound of teeth chewing against acorns filled Ultheron’s ears–
“Hello? Are you awake?” Nate’s voice interrupted Ultheron’s vision. Ultheron opened his eyes and saw that Nate had stopped the jeep.
“Uh? Are we here? At Yellowstone Park?” Ultheron asked.
“Yes. We are here.” Nate said. Ultheron looked out his window. Yes, they have indeed arrived at Yellowstone Park. They were parked in a parking lot filled with the many army jeeps. The trees swayed gently in the wind while everyone got out of their vehicles. Once Nate had exited his driver’s seat, he went to the trunk and opened the door. He grimaced when he saw the dried bloodstain where the door had made contact with Ultheron’s nose. Nate helped Ultheron out and steered him towards where the large group of soldiers formed a circle around their General.
But the General didn’t know he was being spied upon by not Ultheron, but a very large raven.
Nesilian the Raven looked down upon the army of men in green. He glared at the General and then down at Ultheron. His glare shifted to a sorrowful and panicked stare once he stared at Ultheron. Nesilian let out a loud carkk and he was off, flying high into the blue sky.