The Golden Year and the Sorceress

by Isabella Hardiman

  I felt numb and I could not feel anything.

  "There." She turns back to her throne. Josephine laid on the steps, fully healed. "Now, let's get to the juicy part..." Eris smirked. "We have only just begun."

  "I have had enough with your games Eris." Leonardo stated. "Take down the barriers and fight me, already."

  "Hmmm...maybe I will fight her." Eris said calmly. This triggers something in Leonardo and when I step forward, I sense him tense. "What's the matter Leonardo?" His jaw tenses. "You don't care for her...maybe I should just go after her, if she means so little." Eris teased. Frederick chuckled.

  The look on Leonardo's face was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was like watching an angel in distress. It simply shattered your heart into a million pieces; like glass.

  "You both are a part of a fairytale love. It is almost cruel. It's like one of those one in a million love stories that doesn't even exist in books." Frederick chimes in.

  "Then the Da Angelo men have always had a soft spot for Havenshadows." Eris sighs. So that was my mother's surname, Havenshadow. "I suppose your father warned you about demon drugs, but he never warned you about one's with dazzling blue eyes and beating hearts."

  "What-?" Leonardo looked at her confused. "What does my father have to do with any of this?" I felt sick to the stomach, his father had loved my mother. I could not tell him that. I will not.

  "What about you Eris, have you ever fallen in love with someone you weren't meant to?" I interject.

  "I am a sorcerer of chaos. Don't confuse me with a warm-blooded damsel." For a moment I saw the vicious, heart-broken, twisted woman underneath; the same one that laughed as Josephine was stabbed.

  "Tell me, did it break you to see him with someone else?" I tested. I hit a nerve and I watched as two demons appeared.

  Their fur coats are as dark as night. They were bigger than any bear I had seen. They wore deep jagged scars on their face and I watched as they growled at us. A mixture of blood and spit hung from their lower jaws, dripping down their neck onto the floor. I watched as their fangs gleamed in the light and I wondered how quickly they could rip my throat out. Their razor sharp claws could shed bone as if it were paper.

  I took out my bow and shot the closest to Leonardo. It cuts straight through its eye and I can see Leonardo going in for the final kill. A howl was let loose as the second came for me. I fumble to get the second arrow but there are none left. I notice Eris holding my remaining arrows between her skinny fingers and snarl. It pushes me down the floor and my head crashes into the stone in one large blow. Blood oozes out of my forehead. I cannot help but shriek out as it's claws shred the skin on my left arm. The beast's fangs drove down towards me, the shining blur blinded me. I just managed to see a sword digging deep into the demon's neck and slicing the head clean off. A dark, thick, blood pours onto my chest and it burns. I ignore the pain. A hand was suddenly thrust into my field of vision- an offer to pull me to my feet. I found myself staring at Leonardo.

  Eris recoiled, snapping several words in a muddy sounding language. Then I noticed the black creatures surrounding us. "Where do you even get that many scorpions?" It must have been more than two thousand. They hung above us on ceiling lamps and circling us on the stone floor. Their toxic poison taunts me. One prick and I was dead.

  I looked at Leonardo and looked away. I took out my sword from my weapons belt and attempted to cut them down. Black blood and poison stained the floor. But it was no use. There were too many. You chopped one down and another one replaced it. "Leila, I have to tell you something..." Leonardo whispers. His back is pressed against mine.

  "I don't want to hear anything, you wouldn't say if we weren't about to be murdered by an army of scorpions." I complained. "You will just ruin it."

  Leonardo let out a shout of pain and everything seemed to stop. My heart pounded. My breath stopped. I turned and I watched as his body crumpled down to the floor. His eyes had clouded and it almost appeared for a dark fog to consume the light in them. A wave of heat surrounded me and I watched as the scorpions set a light.

  A thousand screeches. A thousand burning candles. A thousand burning flames.

  I felt a power pump through my veins.

  "Leonardo!" I scream and I see the cut in his lower abdomen. I take in the blood on his head and the deepness of his eyes. His one of a kind smile is still on his lips regardless.

  "Leila," he whispers. "I am sorry." He said.

  "Don't worry we are going to-" He stops me from finishing my sentences. His hand strokes my cheek.

  "I lo-" but before he can finish, his body gives into the pain and he is unconscious. I attempt to cure him by muttering a few healing charms but nothing seems to help.

  Just hold on. Please hold on.

  "Did you really think you could win this?" Eris's voice echoes around the room, her evil tone has a tinge of disgust. "Don't you get bored? Being the hero is rather dull." I turn to her, but instead I see the most devastating thing I have ever seen. The flames have died and the room is filled with a silver grey smoke.

  At first I did not believe my eyes. He stands there with a blade laced in poison and blood. He looks at me as if I am a stranger. He looks at me as if I had nothing more than the enemy. It wears the face of my friend but he is nothing but a monster.

  "How-how could you?" Something breaks inside me. How long had he been awake? Had he been working against us all along?

  "He is everything that we were against. He is not just a noble, he is the prince. His kind murdered so many of ours. How could you fight with him-" Theo said with disgust. I search in his eyes and I know he is no more than a stranger.

  The smoke rolls in. "Theo, he is not like his father."

  He laughs. "You expect me to believe that?" He betrayed us. He betrayed all of us. He betrayed me. That was the moment in which I realised it was not as easy to spot the bad guy, that he did not wear a black cape. He smiled, he had perfect hair and a charming smile.

  "He-he saved me." I argued. I felt like I was about to explode.

  "He is in love with you." Theo spits. That is when I see the dead part of him. That is when I see the broken part of him. "And you are in love with him." He snaps.

  "What happened to Theo? What happened to hope, friendship and honour?" I screamed and as I did the ground trembled. Theo and I just stared at each other.

  "BOLOX." Theo scoffed. "You walked out on us, on your home." I felt as if I had been stabbed inside out.

  "I protected you." I trembled and I heard a crack but I did not bother to look at what had broken. "You betrayed me. You sided with a murderer. You are no better than any greedy noble or assassin. Look at me and know you made a mistake."

  "He needed to die." Theo snapped. "He needs to die. Move aside." Smash. All the windows are destroyed and the glass falls around us, like shooting stars. Cutting through the air, like knives. Theo's arm is scraped by a piece but he does not seem to notice.

  "No- you want to kill him? Then kill me..." I challenge myself. A tear falls down my cheek as I stare into his eyes. I feel broken.

  Theo was my first love. He was my closest friend. He was what I had called home for so long. He was the first person I lost my heart to. He held a special part under lock and key. I breathed heavily. I felt a pain that could only be caused by someone you loved, it was a deep emotional rift.

  "Leila-" He begins but Eris interrupts him.

  "You are done here, Mr. Twilightdown." Eris goes down the steps slowly. "Report back to the Dark Lord. He will give you your new post." Theo nods and leaves the room and I feel myself begin to drain.

  He works for the Dark Lord. Then dawns on me, the dark has really returned.

  I am not giving up. I am not giving up. A fear, anger and fury boiled inside me threatening to rip me apart inside out.

  "Leila, you can give up now..." Eris insists. "Step away from the prince and stop the healing charm. You cannot win. If you fight me, you shall lose. Even if you killed me, the dark l
ord would finish the job." She says all too calmly.

  "Then I shall kill the dark lord as well..."

  An evil laugh escapes her lips. "The next thing you will be saying is you shall defeat the king of Infernum!" She cackles. "What a wonderful imagination you have." She sighs.

  "Oh, that's not imagination. That is a fact."

  "You really have no idea what you are facing. The king of Infernum is unlike anyone or anything ever seen. He is the youngest king ever to reach such lengths of power. From fifteen he had the entire west continent defeated. He has conquered lands his whole life. He fought every battle. He faced death every day since he was crowned. He is the most powerful sorcerer ever seen. He is not only a king of Infernum but of all the dark kingdoms. Everyone bows to him." She pauses. "To describe his story would be like trying to verify hell. Yet he would be even crueler upon the fate of the unfortunate souls. His heart is as cold as the northern countries in december. Leonardo does not stand a chance and neither do you. So let me finish what Theo started before you involve the king of chaos any further. Trust me, if he comes which he will, he shall realise such mayhem that there will no longer be a kingdom to save. You see, he is the devil with an angel. He will destroy you. Save yourself, let me finish the job. Let me end this prince and then take my advice and disappear. Run and hide for the dark lord is coming...if the dark lord does not complete the job that the king of Infernum sent him. Then he shall come and release hell on this land. Save yourself. Let me end Leonardo."

  I look at her. I feel this aching pit in the bottom of my stomach. I look at where I stand. I am standing on my own against a powerful sorcerer. I stand alone. Theo, my first love, tricked me. The thought ran around and around in my mind. Why did he do it? How could he? The kingdom is close to its destruction. My friends are in danger. Leonardo is dying.

  The odds of me surviving this, is close to none. She is right. It is impossible to win. But regardless, that is the very reason I must fight because if i do not fight the wars that can't be won, who will? Here I am, just a sixteen-year old girl. Just me. Standing against all the odds in the world, breathless and fearless.

  I will fight for what's right till my last dying breath.

  "Over. My. Dead. Body." I spit.

  "So be it." Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

  Chapter Thirty-one- The truth

  "You don't want to do this Chosen One." I cast the spell and the burning flames increase their savagery.

  Every time I heard that name, I wanted to shove a knife down the person's throat.

  The chosen one.

  I hated how people glorified something I wished I never had. Look where it had gotten me: Standing on a mountain of fire with demons at my feet, the boy I loved dying in the corner, a blood-thirsty sorcerer after me and my oldest friend betraying me. I felt hot tears on my cheeks. I feel forces that I cannot explain. I feel this energy flowing through me, through every drop of blood, every beating pulse and every bone in my body.

  I rise from the ground more and more every second. Eris tries to pull me down but it is useless.

  "You can't win this, the Dark Lord will come to get his rightful revenge." She shouted over the roaring flames. "You must join forces with him. He is powerful. He will teach you. He will guide you to greatness...to your destiny. He is powerful-"

  "So am I and I will kill him if he comes after my friends or Rumore." I glare at her.

  "You don't understand." Eris argues. "Your mother was-"

  "You tried to kill my friends, innocent people." I snap.

  "Innocent?!" She roars and I watch as she rises from the ground on a cloud of black smoke. "His father is a murderer. He has a low life. He is heartless. He is evil." She bellows.

  "Leonardo is not Isaac!" I shout.

  "The dark lord will come for you and you will join him." She ignores me. "Whether you like it or not."

  "I will not become Leonardo's enemy." I argue. "I will not become blinded by greed and anger. I will not kill innocents. I am not- I am nothing like you. I am not weak. I am not a monster. I will not side with you or the dark lord. "

  "You won't have a choice. There is so much you don't know..." She drifts into thought. "The dark lord has been tied to your fate before you were even born." What? "You have met before." She sighs.

  What did she mean we had met before? "Is the dark lord, the chosen one?" I question. She hesitates.

  "You know the prophecy?" She smirks. "Well, the dark lord will cross paths like all those years before..." She sighs. "But no. The other chosen one, is far worse. When the chosen one was born, the devil said 'I have serious competition'." You will not be able to escape your fate. You are destined."

  "I will not become the person. You expect or anyone expects me to be." I spit. I will no longer hide, I am going to scream and shout every second left. I am done with being calm and recollected. I am tired of being a good girl. I am tired of distancing myself from people. "The other chosen one, the dark lord or even the king of Infernum may come after me. I don't care. I will never become something dark. I will never become evil. I will fight to my very last breath and if there is an afterlife then I shall fight against people like you, there too."

  "Evil is always based on opinion. One man's evil, is another man's hero. It just depends on where you stand." Eris finally said.

  The wind picked up, whistling through the long strands of my hair, throwing them into my eyes. That is when she sends a death spell towards Leonardo and I deflect it. But now I cannot control the power. Chaos is unleashed. Flashing bright lights set the room light. There is no holding back. Eris sends her own forces towards me but it is no help.

  My power feeds on hers and before I know it she is struck. A high-pitched torture filled screech echoes through the mountains. Her glimmering eyes were blazing and the Amber shone like melted gold. The wind blew big bursts that threw her hair. I watched as she grinds her teeth against one another, out of anger and above all pain. "You can't do this." She whispers only loud enough for me to hear.

  "Watch me." I throw the necklace and I watch as my magic ties itself around her neck. The bright ruby glimmers in the light. The ruby immediately begins to clamp to her heart and I watch as she frantically tries to fight herself free. The ruby will not budge and I notice the Ruby's glowing, like a second sun. I hear her heart beat like a drum in my ear.

  Her entire body is sent backwards but I hold my grip on her and do not stop the power from striking her till her last dying breath. Her lifeless corpse falls to the floor with a thud. The smoke around me darkens. The air goes thin. The silence begins and I take a heavy breath as I am pulled back down to earth. The Lightning storm dies. I see Josephine laying on the floor.

  All of a sudden a dragon like none other bursts from the ground beneath us and soared up the side of the building. It is wings brushing the edge of the building. I stare at the blazing red sun on the horizon. I watch as the Orange as well as reds mix with the baby blue. The silhouette of the dragon cut through the colours.

  "Leonardo." I gasp. I go to his side almost stumbling. I can feel my powers weakening. I can feel the energy draining from my body. I can feel the burning sensation of my mark. "Leonardo! Wake up." I plead. "Leonardo," I cry. "Come on." I shake him hard.

  He cannot die. He cannot die. He can't die. And just like that I saw all of it. All the memories flashed in my mind. Meeting the overconfident individual at the joust, then in the dark streets of the capital, the serpent, the ball, meeting Eris, Ethel, faeries, the Seelie queen, trolls, medusa, pixies, ghosts, the witch, the gutters, the slums and so on. It was a kaleidoscope of memories, of adventures. The entire time he had been there. I can't breathe.

  He was the most frustrating, arrogant and annoying person I had ever met. Yet, what had I done? I had got feelings for him. Leonardo please do not leave me. Please...

  They did this and my entire body shifted into anger. He did this. Theo did this.

  Someone touched my shoulder, Cam looked down on me. His body
banged and bruised. "Where's Eris?" Cam asked.

  "I-I-I killed her." I paused. "Theo-he tricked us."

  "Theo-what?" Cams face shifted.

  "Theo was the one who-who..." I stare down at Leonardo's face. Cam did not speak for a minute. He just stares down at Leonardo. I look at Leonardo's jaw that could cut a boulder. His thick hair and his lips. "Leonardo-leonardo..." I shook him harder this time.

  "Leila," Cam whispers calmly. I ignore him because all that matters to me in that moment is Leonardo opening his beautiful eyes.

  "Leila." Cam repeats. I shake Leonardo's limp body more forcefully.

  "LEILA." Grips hold of my shoulders and tries to keep me in place. But he cannot stop me. Leonardo cannot be - I couldn't even finish the thought.

  "He is gone Leila." Cam shouts.