“Your armor’s got on an impressive curse on it. It can make you invincible to almost anything, but it will also drain your life force. It’s not just magically, but the material is something completely different than anything I have ever seen.”

“Can you get rid of it?” I hope I’ve finally found someone that can actually help me out.

“No kid. You’ll need to go to the kingdom for that. Queen Ellen might be able to get rid of it.”

My forehead puckered. “My lifeforce. What exactly does that mean?”

“Your life is endangered. The longer you wear that thing the quicker it’ll kill you,” he said it so calmly like was completely fine. I looked nervously at Lilo. She lowered her head. There was nothing they could do to help me.

“How long do I have to live?” I ask anxiously. My stomach balls up. I feel lightheaded. I might end up fainting.

“At the moment you’re alright. It seems as though it has not done anything to you so far. Just breath in and out slowly,” Lilo says as she examines the chest plate as well. “Sit back down, and I’ll get you something real quick to make you feel better. A quick brew to recover you. Just some harmless magic free of charge.” She walks to a room behind us and makes some concoction that looks like tea but doesn’t really taste like anything.

“Thank you,” I left out a big huff in relief after I had drunk it. “So Queen Ellen. What can you tell me about her?” I don’t know much except that she’s taken over for her father who recently passed away.

“She’s great. She might be the youngest leader we’ve ever had, but she seems to take her job very seriously. And she wants to show the other Kingdoms that as well.”

Lilo makes a snorting sound and Herman turns to face her. “Are you kidding me? She’s ruthless. She doesn’t care about us. She only cares about the terrible war.”

“Hey, she didn’t start it. They thought they could come here and take away our lands from us. But she’s proving them wrong.”

“Our lands aren’t ours. They belong to her. Why doesn’t she recruit anyone except for the lucky few that already serve the kingdom?”

“It’s a good thing because we are safe. We’ve got people protecting our villages. That should be good enough.”

“It’s a terrible thing because she doesn’t care about us. Look at what happened to Oakheart.”

“What happened? Have they found out yet?" I ask interfering with them.

“It was demolished. An army from the other side ruined it. The army is still hidden somewhere in Special Woods most likely. They can’t hide for long, though. But no one is alive from there. No one’s even allowed to get into Oakheart. No one will ever know what really happened there. How would that happen if Queen Ellen was paying attention?” Lilo’s rosy cheeks have become red again.

“You don’t know what you're talking about. There are too many problems already. She’s fighting a war while also getting rid of all the monsters.”

By Cristina Collazo