Shadow at the moment, is sitting at the edge of the Dark Forest. His medic mentor sent him to get herbs. Angel said she wanted to go, but she had to go see their mother, the Mage Keeper first. The Mage Keeper is the one who kept them all safe. It was hard for her since she had to protect everyone and not just her children.

Soon he heard a familiar yell, “Hey bro!” Angel padded up to him, smiling. “So, we ready to go?”

Shadow rolled his eyes as he answered. “I’ve been waiting for you at least thirty minutes.”

His sister smiled. “Sorry bro.” Then raced into the forest.

“H-Hey!” Shadow snapped.

He walked after her, pausing to pick up herbs on the way with his black colored magic. When he caught up to the pink fur child, she seemed to be looking down at something. Shadow padded next to her and followed her gaze. There was an out of place object lying on the dirty ground. It was out of place because it wasn’t every day you found a white egg in the forest, on the dirt floor.

“What’s an egg doing here?” Angel asked, her voice small.

“W-Well...It could be a fallen bird’s egg or an abandoned egg.”

Angel scanned the ground to find a note by the egg. “Hey! A note!” Her cheery voice was back.

She picked it up with her pink magic, “Take care of it. Please!” Angel read, twitching her ears. She always did that when she felt sorry for someone.

She looked at her brother, “What should we do Shad?”

Shadow bit his bottom lip. “It’s hard to say, we could take the egg to daycare.” As soon as he said that, the note lit up in pink flames.

Angel, surprised, squealed and dropped the note. “Oh forget it! They won’t take the egg without evidence!”

Shadow frowned, “Then…” As his warm eyes gazed over the egg, he felt a voice in his mind. ‘Take care of it. Please.’

“This is going to sound crazy, but I think we need to take care of it.”

Angel smiled, “So you heard the voice too?”

Shadow’s eyes widened. ‘She heard a voice?’ He shook his head. “Okay, first things first, we need a place to hide the egg.”

Angel smiled and winked. “Don’t worry bro, I got a place.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow but put the egg in his bag before following his sister to a dark shade of the forest.

“There!” Angel pointed to the base of a tree. She was pointing her paw to a hole in the tree.

“You want to hide it there?” Shadow asked.

She nodded. “We can hide grass and leaves over it.”

Shadow lifted the egg out of his bag with magic and put it in the hole.

Angel used her wings and paws to brush leaves and grass over the hole. “There! Done!”

The two stared at the egg for a few more moments before starting to walk away, toward the exit of the forest.

“So, what kind of egg is it?” Angel asked.

“Well, I think it’s a penguin egg.”

The other smiled, “Cool!”

When they got back to their house, medics, commanders, and everyone was running around. While their Mother tried to talk over the noise. The two children ran over to her.

“Mom?” Angel questioned with worried eyes, “what’s going on? Everyone is acting like the world is ending!”

Their mother bit her bottom lip, she did this when she felt troubled. “Well, when an illusion penguin is on the loose, everyone panics.”

Angel frowned while Shadow’s face was unreadable.

“What’s...an illusion penguin?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Sweetie, it’s hard to say. They just are strong and unpredictable. So we don’t know how to react.”

“Why are they running around like a footless chicken?” Angel inquired.

Shadow raised an eyebrow, “Don’t you mean a headless chicken?”

Angel rolled her baby blue eyes, “SHADOW. How the mystic does a chicken run without a head?”

Shadow grunted in frustration. “Well, how does it run without its feet then?”

This time, their mother rolled her eyes. “Kids. Everyone is freaking out. Because they are trying to find what the escaped illusion penguin dropped.”

A male penguin with back blue feathers, white front feathers. Orange beak, and feet with ocean blue eyes came up to the Mage Keeper.

“Mage Keeper,” his voice was deep and low, “we tracked down the illusion penguin. But she said she doesn’t know where the egg is anymore.”

Egg? Shadow thought, feeling his heart give a huge jolt.

“Oh dear.” The psychic mage sighed.

Should we tell her we know where the egg is? He almost spoke when the voice from before spoke in his mind again.

Please don’t tell anyone, they’ll destroy my baby.

Shadow looked at Angel, she shook her head at him and headed to their shared room. He followed her, he didn’t want to be there anymore.

“I don’t get it,” Angel whispered. “why does the voice think people would kill her baby? We don’t that kind of thing.”

“I..I don’t think illusion penguins are to be believed….people with feelings.” Shadow didn’t know how his mouth came up with these words. It was confusing.

2: Chapter 2

“Okay, so I was thinking…” Angel paused.

Shadow nodded, giving her the okay to go on.

“If we want answers, we should go to the source.”

Her brother raised an eyebrow. “Where are you going with this?”

Angel rolled her eyes, “I’m saying we should go visit the captured illusion penguin.”

Shadow stared at her, confused. “Uh...Why?”

The Angel Mage groaned in annoyance. “Bro! We need answers!”

Shadow sighed. “How would we go see the illusion penguin anyway? I doubt mom would let us just walk in.”

Angel smiled. “That is why we’re waiting until everyone is asleep.”

Shadow sighed again. “Alright.”

They waited until the sky turned dark black, and snores filled the house. Shadows danced as they padded through the house, to the jail cells. There were a lot of mages and penguins in the cells, everyone is asleep.

“I can’t tell who’s an illusion penguin,” Angel whispered.

Shadow couldn’t tell either. “Well…” He stopped speaking as he saw something...interesting.

Some kind of pink glowy light was floating in the air at the last jail cell. It almost looked like some kind of illusion. Wait, illusion? Shadow ran toward it, with his sister following him. Once they arrived, the illusions disappeared. Inside the cell was a black and white penguin with orange feet and beak. She had curly feathers hanging over her green eyes.

“Hey, kids, what brings you here?” Her voice was soft and kind.

“Uh, hey, we have some questions about an egg.” Angel never felt so speechless before.

“Oh, so you’re those two.”

“So, uh,” Shadow started, moving his wings a bit. “what is the egg?”

“An illusion penguin, just like me.” The female looked amused.

Angel bit her bottom lip, “Wait, so is the egg yours?’

The other nodded.

“How did you lose it?” Shadow asked, frowning.

The female sighed, “I must’ve dropped it.”

Shadow looked to the left, then the right before looking straight at the prisoner. “Why are you in jail?”

“They thought I might kill them, so for everyone's safety, they locked me up.” The illusion penguin smiled shyly.

Shadow frowned bitterly. He didn’t understand why everyone treated illusion penguins like this.

Angel’s face distorted into a disgusted look. “I’ve never felt so disgusted by our kind.”

That’s when something occurred to Shadow. If the mother was in jail, where did the egg come from? The green eyed penguin seemed to read his mind.

“I was pregnant when I ended up here, that’s actually the reason why I got captured.”

Angel giggled.

“I couldn’t let them kill my baby, so…”

“Sorry to interrupt, but why would they kill your egg?” Shadow asked this was something he wanted answers to.

The penguin smiled sadly. “An illusion penguin only needs a motive to live. When we’re first born, or not born yet, we don’t have a will to live for something.”

Shadow didn’t ask any more about the subject.

“S-So what do we do?” Angel asked timidly.

“Just keep caring for it, please.”

Angel nodded and smiled. “We will. By the way, what’s your name?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s Ruby.” The female was surprised by the question but managed to recover quick enough to answer.

Shadow had a suspicion why. “No mages ask for your name that much, huh?”

Ruby smiled. “Yes.”

All three of them flinched hearing footsteps.

“M-mom is coming,” Angel whispered, sounding panicked.

“I’ll cast an illusion so she won’t see you,” Ruby whispered.

Her eyes glowed pink, then she snapped her right flipper. Angel and Shadow backed off as their mother came to the cell, but she never noticed them.

Ruby must’ve made us invisible to mom. Shadow thought, impressed.

“Illusion penguin, are you sure you have no idea where your own egg is?”

Ruby nodded. “Yes, even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

The Mage Keeper frowned bitterly. “It could be better for you if you cooperated.”

Ruby narrowed her eyes. “Why would I cooperate?"

The mage sighed, irritated, and walked away.

Shadow realized he was holding his breath and let out a sigh of relief.

“T-That was tense,” Angel muttered.

“Tell me about it.” Ruby laughed.

Angel smiled at her. “Well, we gotta go to bed now.”

“We’ll see you later.” Shadow smiled, just a little bit, though.

They waved goodbye then padded upstairs to their room.

(~)

Shouting and screaming cut through Shadow’s peaceful dreaming. He pushed back his black covers and rolled on his stomach. Angel was still asleep under her robin egg blue blanket.

“Angel!” He barked.

The female peeked an eye open. “Y...Yeah?”

Surprisingly, Angel was not a morning person.

“Don’t you hear the commotion?” Shadow whispered.

Angel lifted her ears to hear, then rolled out of bed. “Well. Let’s...go.”

She padded out with Shadow following her.

“The footage is all messed up!” Trevor, Shadow’s mentor, shouted at a dark gray fur mage.

“Why are you yelling at me for?! It’s the illusion penguin’s fault!”

“Ruby must’ve messed up the cameras so the egg would be safe.” Angel smiled.

Shadow frowned. “I don’t know. What would everyone do if they found out we are cooperating with an illusion penguin?”

Angel looked at him curiously, “Do you mean she did it to protect us?”

“I think so.” Shadow nodded.

“Let’s go check on the egg.” His sister whispered, starting to pad towards the door.

Shadow started to follow her, but Trevor’s voice stopped him. “Where are you going Shadow?”

“Uh,” Shadow darted his eyes right then left, “the Dark Forest?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no reason to get more herbs.” His mentor nudged him away from the door with his wing.

3: Chapter 3

Angel gave her brother a reassuring smile, which Shadow luckily understood. She raced out the door. Shadow bit his bottom lip and prayed to Mystic that everything would be okay.

. . .

Angel ran as fast as she could through the forest. She wasn’t usually the worried one, but now she was worried. The pink fur mage padded to where to hid the egg and looked under the grass, it was still there. Angel smiled, she covered it back up and was about to leave, but she heard twigs crushed behind her. The female turned around with a quiet gasp.

. . .

Shadow had to be kept up in his medic training until it was evening. He could hardly pay attention to anything Trevor told him. Angel still wasn’t back, and he was starting to get worried.

“Trevor? May I go? I’m worried about Angel.” He asked.

“Uh yeah, yeah.” Trevor sounded distracted, but the younger didn’t care.

He turned on his paws and ran out at bullet speed. Mages looked at him, confused, as he bolted for the Dark Forest. “Angel! Angel!”

He stopped as he saw ugly creatures with long claws, tails, and red eyes attempting to attack Angel. Emphasis on attempting. Despite her over cheerful manner, she was one heck of a dogger. Knowing that, he still launched his dark attacks at the badger-like creatures. Two of them hissed and swiped their sharp claws at him.

He hardly dodged, they only managed to cut some of his black fur off. Twenty minutes into fighting and the two kids were getting a bit tired of fighting. Shadow couldn’t move that much anymore, he fell on his stomach and had no strength to get up. He shut his eyes tight as the black and brown creatures leaped at them, baring their teeth.

ZAP!

He opened his eyes, but a penguin was blocking his view of the fleeing badgers.

Angel huffed breathlessly. “You took a long time.”

Weird enough, Angel seemed to be talking to the bird, not him.

The penguin turned to look at Shadow’s sister. He shrugged, dark blue illusions sparking at his flippers. “Sorry.”

“Uh, who are you?” Shadow asked, feeling confused.

Shadow might as well not exist, his question went unanswered, “So is the egg alright?”

Angel nodded smiling, “Yes, the egg is fine-”

Shadow interrupted her, “Uh hello? First of all, who is this guy? Second, how does he know about the egg?”

Angel rolled her eyes, “Bro, he’s the father. He has a right to know where his own child is.”

Shadow was quiet for a few moments. “Wait. Father? Why are we protecting the egg if the kid already has a father?” He just kept getting more confused.

The male sighed and sat down on the ground, “It’s a long story.” He put his flippers behind his head. “Well, the Mage Keeper has a good track on what we’re doing. If I brought the egg back with me, she would find my and Ruby’s egg.” He huffed angrily. “She would destroy it.”

Shadow winced, “Yeah, we got the ‘destroy life inside eggs’ from Ruby.”

“But nobody will track the baby, as long as you guys take care of it until that is...the egg hatches.”

Angel’s pink face went pale. “Oh yeah. That is going to be a problem.”

“To answer your earlier question, the name’s Keith.” The male pushed himself off the ground, “Take care of that egg, alright?” He didn’t wait for an answer, he walked off into the darkness.

“I...I think we better get home, it’s getting dark.” Shadow said, getting on his paws and started going toward the exit.

Angel trailed behind him. “Heh, I guess I lost track of time.”

The two went home, not saying a word to each other. When they entered the house, Trevor all the sudden appeared in front of them.

“For the love of Mystic, where have you two been?!” He exploded, waving his paw about.

Angel smiled shyly. “I was in the Dark Forest. Just messing around.”

“I was looking for her.” Shadow shuffled his paws.

Trevor glanced suspiciously at him, while Angel stood there awkwardly. Both of them knew Shadow did that when he was nervous.

“You’re not lying to me, are you Shadow?” The older grunted, doubt in his eyes.

“No, I was just worried about Angel,” Shadow said honestly.

His sister giggled, patting her brother’s head, he grumbled in response.

“Alright then.” Trevor then finally turned away and walked around them to go outside. After all, Trevor didn’t live with them.

Shadow sighed in relief then walked to his room, Angel followed him. She didn’t speak until they were safe inside.

“I think we should go to the library tomorrow.”

Shadow looked at her surprised, “What? Why?”

Angel laughed. “To know more about illusion penguins.”

Shadow frowned. “Why would our mage kind write about Illusion penguins?”

The female smiled awkwardly. “You never know until we try. Besides, everyone will be suspicious if all we do is spend time in the Dark Forest!”

Angel did have a point, Mystics would get suspicious of them. Someone would follow them and find out about the egg.

“Alright, fair point.” Shadow yawned, “Though I think we should get to bed now.” He stretched then walked to the bathroom. “After I brush my teeth.”

Angel made an annoyed sound. “Egg at risk and all he can think about is sleep and teeth brushing!”

“Someone has to be the responsible one.” Shadow droned.

Angel flushed, embarrassed her brother heard that.

4: Chapter 4

Shadow was awakened by someone jumping on him. He grunted, and tried to curl into a tighter ball.

Angel pouted. “Shadow! Come on! Library!”

Library! Right... He remembered now. Shadow arched up his back and stretched. Then jumped off his bed.

The Angel Mage pushed their window open. “This time, we’re going out the window, I don’t want to run into Trevor again.” Luckily, their room wasn’t even at a high height.

Angel and Shadow jumped out the window and started walking to their library. The older sibling pushes the door open, the bell on it rings making the Librarian look towards them.

She makes a tsk sound. “What do you kids want?”

“To look at books,” Angel responded with a smile.

“Of what?” The female’s smile faded into a frown.

“With writing in it?” She tried with a hopeful face.

Shadow slid his paw over his face, shaking his head.

“I can’t help you if you keep acting suspicious.” The librarian smirked.

Angel puffed out her cheeks, frustration coming off her.

“Lil. Don’t you know better than to argue with the Mage Keeper’s children.” A low voice said from behind the siblings.

Shadow turned to look at Trevor, who was wearing an amused smile. Lil glared at the medic before rolling her pink eyes.

“Go look for your books.” She almost snarled.

“Thanks, Trevor!” Angel shouted, running off, ignoring the Librarian’s shushing sounds.

Shadow nodded at his mentor then followed his sister. She was looking at the I section.

“Illusion..Illusion...Ha! Illusion Penguins!” She cheered.

Shadow covered her mouth. “Shush!”

Angel pulled away, rolling her eyes. “Oh Shad, you sound like that grumpy librarian.”

“Be serious, you can’t say that out loud in public.” Shadow hissed lowly.

Angel shrugged, lifting the books down with her pink magic. She put them in his bag while the other pulled out his Library card. They checked out the books then went back home, coming in the same way they went.

“Alright! Now let’s see what they say!” Angel said, her eyes shining brightly.

“Okay...But I’ll only read what we need to know.” Shadow took one of the books out.

Illusion penguins can use their illusions for many things. Talking in your mind, mess with your memories, and make physical things.

“So that’s how Ruby spoke to us internally.” Angel interrupted, with an amazed look.

“I guess so…” He flipped a few pages.
Illusion penguins have a...strange way of hatching. You’ll know when you see it.

“Who knew learning could be so much fun?” Angel laughed, causing Shadow to roll his eyes.

“Everyone did, except you. The only thing you’ll read is Shakespeare.” He scoffed.

Angel pouted angrily. “I like it, kay?”

Illusion penguins have special beings in their illusions called Illusion Mages. They're based on their personality.

“Hey! Maybe Ruby can show us her's one time!’

Shadow raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, when she’s not in jail.”

We’ve been tracking down Illusion penguins for a while, but no luck. It’ll be no easy task wiping them out. They have this weird ability. If they have a motive to live for someone, they won’t die. So it might be a safe bet to just aim at the offspring.

Angel made a face. “What is with our kind wanting to kill illusion penguins? They never did anything to us.”

Shadow flipped through more pages and skimmed through. “I don’t know, it doesn’t say.”

Angel bit her bottom lip. “What about the other books?”

Shadow looked through those too, “For some reason, it just doesn’t say.”
The younger sighed, walking out of the room, Shadow followed. Their mother was waiting outside.

“Ah, Angel, I need to talk to you.” She said, her face unreadable.

Angel nodded and followed her mother. But, Shadow, bolted out the door. He had this sudden intense feeling to check on the egg. He ran past trees and bushes until he was at the tree. He lifted some grass from the hole, the egg was still there.

Though it looked more light purple, rather than white. After he got back, Angel was in front of the house with an upset frown.

“Whoa, what’s wrong?” Shadow asked. If Angel is upset, something bad happened.

“Mom said she’s getting traces of some sort of illusion nearby.” The pink mage grumbled, looking at the ground.

Shadow froze. That wasn’t good, was the egg getting closer to hatching?

“L...Let’s go to the Dark Forest.” He finally spoke, turning on his paws. He started to pad to the forest, with his sister following.

They found Keith standing near the egg’s hiding place with a frown on his beak.

“What’s up?” Angel asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“I’m getting weird sensations from the egg.” He replied, his expression growing bitter.

Shadow gulped. “I think we might want to find a new place to hide the egg. Our mom might come here to investigate. Someone is picking up illusions here.”

“Hold on, I want to make sure the egg is in good shape first. I’ll go get a doctor.” With that, Keith walked away.

Shadow and Angel stood guard, not noticing the purple light, glowing from the grass and twigs. Shadow took this time to think, why does the egg look purple? Is it an illusion penguin thing? He hoped Keith would get back soon, he felt as if his nerves could explode. He looked at Angel, for once, her face was blank.

“What did Mom say exactly?” Shadow asked cautiously.

“Well, we went in her room, meant for private discussions.” Angel began, frowning, “she asked me if I noticed anything strange in the Dark Forest.”

Shadow bit his bottom lip, nervous.

“I told her no. She then continued to talk, saying a medic had picked up illusion energy coming from the Dark Forest.” Angel sighed.

“So the egg must be close to hatching,” Shadow concluded.

5: Chapter 5

She was about to answer, but she took notice of a bright purple light. It was flashing from the egg’s hidden place. She removed the grass and twigs, the light was coming from the egg. Shadow came next to her, his brown eyes widened. The light got brighter and brighter.

They didn’t expect the egg to explode. The two ducked as egg shells blasted everywhere. Shadow and Angel shook off the egg remains and looked where the egg used to be. A cute male baby chick sat there.

“I think this is what the book meant by ‘strange way of hatching’,” Shadow said, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, I think we can say the baby is healthy.” An unknown voice said from behind them.

The two looked behind them. Keith was standing there with another male penguin, who was the doctor. Angel scooped up the small baby and hugged him. He squealed happily and hugged back despite his small flippers.

Okay, so the egg hatched….Now, what? Shadow wondered with a troubled frown.

“Hey guys, don’t freak out…” Angel started, “but the baby is gone.”

Her brother did the opposite of what she said. “What?! The baby is now lost in a forest full of Shadow Badgers and you expect me to not freak out?!”

Angel shrugged with a shy smile.

Keith examined the ground. “These marks in the dirt suggest the kid rolled away.”

“That’s one way to roll with the punches.” The Angel Mage giggled.

“Angel! Be serious!” Shadow groaned.

The three followed the markings until Shadow stopped in his tracks. “Oh mystic.” He whispered. (Do not ask me where the doctor went. Because I honestly have no idea)

The baby was playing in the dirt near a few sleeping badgers. Shadow took a deep breath then picked up the baby with magic. The kid attempted to snatch a badger’s tail, but Angel seized his attempt with her own magic. The baby’s cheeks puffed up in frustration and started screaming loud. Shadow placed the chick in his bag.

But, it was too late. The Shadow Badgers had woke up. They snarled, looking straight at the three. They did what any reasonable creature would do, run like the wind. The badgers ran after them, roaring angrily.

“I can understand how they feel..” Shadow muttered, glaring at Angel.

She didn’t take notice. “Well, don’t we have an interesting life?” She joked.

“Yeah, sure.” Shadow droned.

“You kids sure are calm.” Keith huffed.

Shadow looked behind him. “Oh. Right.” That’s when a realization struck him.

They were heading right for the Mystic Village!

“Oh, Mystic…” He groaned.

“What?” Angel asked, confused.

Shadow pointed with his nose.

Angel followed his nose, “Oh… Is this bad?”

“Considering how everyone doesn’t react well to illusion penguins... And we’re leading Shadow Badgers to our home...Yes, this is bad.”

Angel kicked a badger in the jaw as one lunged for her hind leg. It wasn’t effective so Keith had to blast it away.

“What are we going to do? We can’t lead them to every mage out there!” Shadow huffed and puffed.

6: Chapter 6

“Don’t worry, I’ll get us out of here,” Keith reassured, he stopped running and snapped his flipper.

The badgers and the forest faded away, and dirt went around them. At first thought, Shadow thought they're buried alive. But he realized they're indeed underground, but not buried. He felt eyes on him so he looked around, Illusion penguins were staring at him. Remembering the baby, he opened his bag, the kid jumped out.

He shook his feathers and featured his bright smile. The grown-ups made cooing sounds, taken by his cuteness.

“So where are we?” Shadow asked while Angel played with the baby.

“We’re underground, this is where we always have hidden,” Keith answered.

“So, what should we do next? People will be able to track down the baby easier.” Shadow said, worry swirling in his brown eyes.

“I still have to think about that. If they find us, we’ll have to counter attack...” Keith rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh.

Shadow nodded. “Alright.” He turned to Angel. “We got to go now Angel.”

The female pouted. She hugged the kid, “Farewell my love! Parting is such sweet sorrow! My dear Motets!”

The baby chirped happy, though he didn’t understand a word the angel mage uttered. She put the baby down and pretended to faint. Shadow rolled his eyes then grabbed her by the ear and dragged her away, out the opening of the Underground. She didn’t bother to get up herself. Though Shadow did force her up when they neared the house.

“Remember to act natural.” He reminded her.

“Okay!” She smiled.

They entered the house, their mother was waiting for them.

“Hey, kids! How was your day?” She smiled.

Angel cleared her throat, “Have more than you show, speak less than you know.”

Shadow sighed in annoyance. “An-”

“Oh dear, sweetie, let’s get you to a medic.” The Mage Keeper spoke, guiding her daughter to a nearby medic.

Since nobody was paying attention, Shadow went to the cells to give Ruby a visit.

“Hey, Ruby.” He smiled.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Well, the egg hatched, got chased by shadow badgers, Angel is delusional and convinced that your child is her soulmate and is trying to push Shakespeare on him.” Shadow droned.

Ruby laughed, “Well, he is an illusion penguin.” She teased.

“So, do you have any idea what we’ll do next?” The younger asked, lowering his black ears. “The baby is easy to track down now after all.”

Ruby frowned, wrapping her flippers around herself. “I’m not sure, things are going to be harder. That’s for sure.”

Shadow’s lips formed a frown as well. “Uh, well-”

“Shadow?”

He froze, hearing his mother’s voice.

He waited for the, ‘What are you doing down here?’

But, that is not what he heard.

“Illusion penguin! What do you think you’re doing? Trying to talk nonsense into my son?!” The psychic mage’s lips formed into a snarl.

Shadow was shocked by this fierceness, while Ruby looked taken back. They hadn’t expected his mother to react like this. The Mage Keeper nudged Shadow upstairs, he was too stunned to resist.

“W...What the Mystic Mom?!”

Everyone looked their way, surprised by Shadow’s outburst.

“Just because you’re the mage keeper, doesn’t mean you know everything about every species!” He snapped, his eyes full of rage.

His mother’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “What are you talking about Shadow?”

“You yelled at her for no reason at all! You’re supposed to protect all creatures, not just who you want to!” He growled, whipping around and ran to his room and slammed the door.

Silence overtook the room. The mother sighed. “I guess an explanation is in order.”

7: Chapter 7

Angel could feel the tense feeling of Shadow’s anger, but didn’t dare speak a word. He just came in and slammed the door, then laid on his bed. She turned her head hearing their bedroom door open. The mage keeper walked in and closed the door behind her.

“Shadow?”

The pre-teen didn’t face his mother.

“I owe you an explanation.”

Before she could start, Shadow held up his right wing. “It doesn’t matter what you tell me, it won’t change my view of Illusion penguins.” He lowered it.

“Alright. A long time ago, there was a time we didn’t mind Illusion Penguins. But that was before one went insane and attempted to kill every one of our kind. Mages, and penguins.” The psychic mage frowned.

“The Mage Keeper at the time had to kill him quick, it was easy since he had no motive to live. And for now on, we knew Illusion Penguins weren’t as nice as they pretend to be.”

She sighed, “I snapped because she could’ve killed you right then.”

The Mage Keeper waited for his reply. Shadow did not even flinch once.

“It doesn’t matter what you tell me, it won’t change my view of Illusion penguins.” The male repeated what he said before.

Angel smiled while their mother had been surprised by his response. After a few moments, she walked out, biting her bottom lip.

“So what do we do now?” Angel asked.

Shadow leaped off his bed. “We, make sure nobody finds that baby.”

She smiled and nodded, walking out of the room with her brother. To their surprise, nobody was in the house. They peek outside, the mage keeper was leading mages into the forest. Shadow had a bad feeling about this.

Before they could even think about taking a step, a tan colored mage nudged them back inside. “Can’t go outside today kiddos. Mage Keeper has instructed everyone to stay inside until further notice.”

“W...We have to get out! They might find the baby!” Shadow exclaimed in fear.

“My love! Worry not! We will come for you! We’ll not die at the end!” Angel shouted.

“ANGEL.” Shadow groaned.

“What?” She asked, “I like Shakespeare.”

“There are lives at stake, and you have the nerve to remember a tragedy story?” The older grunted.

Angel smiled shyly. “I’ll check out some way to get out.” She tried to go out the door again, but it is locked. “He locked us in!”

“What?” Shadow groaned.

Angel tried the windows, even those are locked.

“I think they’re onto us Shad. They even locked the windows.” Despite that, she laughed a bit.

“They are insane.” The boy growled.

“You got to admit, they must think we’re a threat if they locked us in,” Angel smirked.

“No, it’s because we’re alone.” Shadow droned.

“Well. Then there’s one choice left.” Angel giggled.

8: Chapter 8

“What choice? They locked the windows and door.” Shadow huffed.

“Bro. We can go up the Chimney and fly off the roof.” Angel laughed.

“Oh, right.”

They both climb up through the slight dirty chimney and onto the roof.

“Ready?” The angel mage smiled.

“I was born ready,” Shadow replied.

“Good answer!” His sister praised.

They folded out their wings and ran forward. They jumped off the roof and took to the skies. He could hear Mystics shouting at them, but he blocked them out. He flew into the forest, with his sibling gliding behind him. The two landed in some trees, they couldn’t get caught following after all.

Some mages were sniffing were the egg used to be.

Shadow bit his bottom lip. “We need to get past them. Before they pick up on our scent.”

Angel nodded. Then to Shadow’s shock, she dropped to some bushes below.

What is she doing? He thought, feeling panicked.

All the sudden, shadow badgers roared. Tearing out of their nesting place and charged at the mages. They flew by as the medics, and fighters tried to fight the badgers back. But, the Mage Keeper must be up ahead. After flying for awhile, they got tired and landed to run.

Shadow ran faster, even faster when the Shadow Badgers were chasing him.

“Do you think...we...we’ll make it?” Angel huffed in and out.

“Y...Yeah. It’s a need to make it, more than a question.” Shadow puffed.

“Do you think mom will get there before us?” She questioned.

“Maybe. But, I think we can stop her.” The older said.

“I hope you’re right.” Angel hissed, pain starting to make itself known in her legs.

“Do you need help?” Shadow grunted.

“No. I rather keep pressing on. My prince needs me.” Angel laughed.

The other rolled his eyes. “He’s way younger than you.”

“Shad. I’m joking. OH, my Mystic.” The female gasped, coughing a bit.

Trees, rocks, and bushes sped by them, it seemed to go on forever.

“This is taking forever,” Angel growled, annoyance in her tone.

“Patience is a virtue.” Shadow huffed.

“You and I both know we can’t afford patience.” The small mage hissed.

“Yeah...I know…” Shadow didn’t know how much further he could run. There was no time at all, but his muscles screamed for him to stop running.

He yelped as he tripped on a branch. He couldn’t get back to running now. The dark mage had no choice but to limp, Angel had ceased running and was doing the same.

“How...big...is...this...forest?” She panted.

“I...I...don’t... know.” Shadow gasped.

Angel squinted as she spotted someone wandering around.

“Keith?”

9: Chapter 9

“K-Keith!” Shadow coughed, he couldn’t be gladder.

“Whoa, what’s with you two? There is such a thing as too much exercise.” Keith chuckled.

Angel rolled her eyes. “I rather die than exercise. We ran this fast because we had to.”

“Have you seen the Mage Keeper?” Shadow asked, sitting down.

“Well, I saw something white flash above me. I don’t know if it was her, though.” Keith admitted.

“Can you like teleport us to your Underground place?” Angel asked, hopeful.

“Sorry, I can’t for some reason.” The older said, “We’ll have to walk.”

Angel groaned loud in distress.

The two walked around the whining child. She only started to follow once she heard faint footsteps from behind.

“I heard footsteps, so we might want to hurry,” Angel warned.

“I changed my mind, we’re running,” Keith muttered.

That’s when Shadow and Angel both groaned. Ignoring their aching limbs, they raced through the woods, it got darker and darker. The trio went over branches. Keith blasted badgers out of their way, but they didn’t expect the next obstacle. The grunted as they crashed into Keith, the male had stopped in his tracks.

“What gives?” Angel huffed.

“Birds,” Keith replied.

“Birds?” Shadow asked.

“BIRDS?!” Angel snapped. She glared daggers at the small different colored birds.

Shadow tried to blow them away, by whipping his wings to bring up dust. The birds did fly away but came right back to peck all over Shadow’s head.

“Ouch!” He yelped, batting away the winged creatures.

Keith tried to blast them away, but they pecked him too.

“These birds sure are stubborn.” He muttered.

The dark mage rushed at them, but they retaliated by pecking with their sharp beaks.

Shadow grunted in annoyance.

“Move!” Angel shouted, her body shaking in anger.

A bird yawned.

The female’s jaw dropped. “WHAT?!”

“Angel...Calm down.” Shadow sighed.

“They want the poor baby dead! I know it!” Angel ranted.

“Kid, they’re birds, I don’t think they could know the trouble they’re causing.” Keith tried to calm the pink mage down.

Angel ignored him. “You got a ten seconds birds.”

They tilted their heads.

“One….Though she be but little, she is fierce!” She screamed out other Shakespeare quotes.

Needless to say, the birds flew away, chirping. Angel composed herself before diving into the hole.

10: Chapter 10

Shadow followed, illusion penguins were on the ground as if in physical pain. Except for one small chick, gazing up at the Mage Keeper. Shadow’s eyes widened.

His mother seemed ready to strike, so he and Angel jumped in front of the child. “NO MOM!!”

She didn’t expect that the attack missed them by an inch.

“There’s no need to do this!” Shadow shouted, his voice cracking a bit.

“If someone thought we were monsters, would you let them kill us?” Angel asked, her blue eyes tearing up.

The mage keeper hesitated.

“Are you really going to kill a child? You always told me everyone has a conscience, well I’m sure that goes for illusion penguins too. We always have treated them like dirt!” The dark mage shouted.

“It led to them living within dirt!” Angel exclaimed. It was a silly, but true statement.

“We can be the ones to stop this pointless, hurtful treatment.” The preteen said, ruffling the baby’s head feathers.

He giggled, smiling brightly. Their mother flinched at the smile.

She steps back, “We...We will try.” She climbs out the hole, Trevor was waiting outside with the others.

“We’re standing down.”

“We know,” Trevor stated, smiling slightly.

“What?” The other asked, pleasantly surprised.

“Ruby told us what your kids told you. I gotta say, they’re really brave to come all this way by themselves.” Trevor chuckled slightly, gesturing his wing toward the illusion penguin behind him.

Shadow and Angel came out of the hole, carrying the baby.

“Announcing Motets!” The female shouted proudly.

Ruby raised her brow at Shadow questioningly.

“It’s Latin for cheer.” Shadow smiled nervously then glared at Angel. “Angel! You can’t go around naming babies that aren’t yours!”

Angel smirked. “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”

Shadow folded out his wings and flew into the sky. “I’m going to get herbs! To make medicine for headaches!”

Angel laughed but then paused. “Wait. Do I have to run all the way home?!”

Everyone laughed.

“No dear, I can take you home if you want.” Ruby giggled.

“Nah, mommy dearest will take me home.” Angel smiled cheekily.

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Of course I will.”

Ruby scooped up her child, “Oh I’m so glad there’s not a scratch on you!”

The chick squealed in delight and hugged his mother’s neck.

“Mom, I need to get home. Before I fill this forest with tears.” Angel sniffed.

“Alright.”

Before they could fly off, Ruby stopped them. “Mage Keeper? If it isn’t a problem...Who are you?”

Angel’s mother grinned. “Katie. Katie Mystic.”