61 Offense to Darkness (2/2)
”What is it?” Maya asked as she felt Will's eyes on her. ”Do I have something on me?” Her face went slightly red when Will didn't overt his gaze.
After a few moments, a low chuckle came from Will. ”I was just thinking of another promise I made to you a few days ago.” He said as he looked forward at the looming dark cloud ahead. ”When we are finally done with this, I need to get you a new dress.”
The pink didn't leave Maya's cheeks as she looked down at her barely held together dress. ”Don't forget the pizza.” She said with a smile.
”I'll even include a movie in the deal.” Will said, his eyes brightened against the night sky. ”I want to show you everything our world has to offer.”
Why don't you two get a room when I'm not in your head. Jake's voice rang from deep within Will's mind. And stop romanticizing, you know I can see everything right?
”Dammit Jake,” Will knocked on his head a few times. ”Is nothing sacred?”
”Do I want to know?” Maya had an eyebrow raised and looked expectantly at Will.
”Not really,” Will scratched his head. ”We are just setting some boundaries while he's crashing at my place.” He rolled his eyes as he continued forward.
This is entertaining and everything, Cainus's voice replaced Jake's. But your father won't last much longer, even now, his shield is cracking. Soon, you won't have any father to give their blessing. I'd hurry up the march.
Cainus sent a mental image of the gold dome around Will's father and Jonathan. The cracks in the dome shone through like spider webs. William senior was kneeling with the effort of keeping the shield raised as Jonathan had his hand on the king's shoulder. He looked more worried than Will had thought was possible.
I get the message, Will said subconsciously, We'll be there in a moment.
Seeing Will go from to carefree to serious in a matter of moments, Maya could tell he had just received an update from Cainus. ”Any news?” She asked, sensing the quick shift in his demeanor.
Will nodded. ”We have less than an hour before the barrier breaks.”
Maya's face paled as she turned to the army. ”Roland!” She yelled out into the crowd.
Will noticed a hint of gold from Roland's vest as he ran to the front of the group. His ponytail looked slightly disheveled from the numerous tasks his prince had instructed him to carry out.
”You called for me my lady?” He said as he went to one knee in front of Maya. Will couldn't help but give a satisfying smile as he witnessed the fealty the once slave trader had shown to the very same woman he had once wanted to capture.
”I need you to take control of the army while Will and I charge forward,” Maya commanded while taking Will's hand and leading him into the air. ”Make haste, your king is in danger.” With that, she didn't even wait to see him salute before she and Will took to the sky.
Waiting behind his three thousand strong army, Aremesis admired the blade he had spent the better part of an hour crafting from darkness. Dark veins appeared on his forearm which synced perfectly with the veins running along the pommel, leading up to the tip of the blade. When looking at the sword, one would think the blade was shattered, instead, the dark tendrils waited to drink the life blood of the small army rapidly approaching.
”Soon brother,” he said with a voice dark enough to rival the night sky. ”Soon we can put this childish competition behind us.”
Somewhere within the darkness of his mind, a flash of blinding white light pierced through. Aremesis dropped the blade into the dirt and held strong to the pommel as he screamed in agony. ”So many have lost already?!” He roared as he held his head in his hand, blacking out the view in front of him.
Within his mind's eye, Aremesis could see the searing power of pure light pour over his men like large waves crashing to the shore on high tide. ”There isn't a light user alive in this age! How is this possible?” He focused in on the source of the light. Even focusing on the image of the power was enough to make him grimace. Within the center stood a woman he had come to know quite well. A woman he had seen many times while living within Jake's mind.
Bianca stood with a staff of pure white and gold, her long brown hair flailed wildly around her and she focused all of her energy on the enemies before her.
”I thought she was a fire wielder like her prince.” Aremesis said to himself as he took his hand from his eyes. ”No matter, even a force that small would be enough to drain her substantially.” He raised his sword from the ground and instead, raised it to the sky.
”IT SEEMS I HAVE NO USE FOR YOU PUPPETS AFTER ALL!” His voice rang through the horde of knights. ”RETURN TO THE ABYSE UNTIL I CALL ON YOU ONCE MORE!”
The air around Aremesis crackled as tendrils of darkness leaked from every knight within the horde of men. The sword acted like a lightning rod within a storm as the tendrils flew to the puppeteer. A vortex of pure darkness wrapped around the weapon, slowly getting smaller as if it were being sucked in.
As the last drop of darkness disappeared within the sword, so did the last knight. Instead of leaving corpses littering Ebonhart's fields, it had fallen eerily barren. ”I will need all of my power for this fight.” Aremesis said with a small chuckle. ”It will be over soon, brother.”
Standing on the castle wall looking out to the wood line in front of him, Aremesis waited sword in hand for the battle which would win him his kingdom.