Darkness The Diary of Samantha Owen

by Ariadna Marrero Saavedra

  “Very astute,” he said with pride in his eyes.

  “I had a great teacher,” I smiled at him.

  I let him go, but this time I started to attack with the daggers, I didn´t want to hurt him, but I noticed how the material of his combat suit ripped. When I was too confident he threw me to the floor without me being able to do anything, leaving my daggers to slip from my hands.

  “I win,” he laughed triumphantly.

  He leant over and helped me to get up. It had been an intense fight. I saw how he leant over to pick up my daggers when a cry came from the depths of his throat.

  “Are you okay?” I asked him worriedly.

  “It was the daggers, they burned me,” he said showing me the palms of his hands.

  “I am really sorry Gabriel, I didn´t know they did that,” I said.

  “I warned you…” Kenneth was heard to say from behind, “only the owner can touch them.”

  “I didn´t think you meant that they would burn me,” Gabriel let out sarcastically.

  “Young man, you should listen more,” he scorned him.

  I picked up the daggers carefully and hooked them onto my belt. Then we headed back to Kenneth´s house to heal the wounds of the impressed Gabriel.

  He looked perplexed at the daggers as we walked back to the house. I was almost not aware of my surroundings, it seemed as though the sharpened senses that had been awoken only nights ago, in the armchair in my house, had left me. I couldn’t take my sight off the weapons I sustained in my hands. They were so beautiful that whoever dared to look at their detail would be hypnotized. As I observed them I started to recall all that had happened to me, of the things I had discovered and learned, of all that I had done. And all in less than one week, it seemed to me that it was much more time. At that moment, I could barely remember the details of my house and it had been a couple of days since I thought about Anne. Without warning, the urgency of knowing how she was invaded me. I lifted my eyes and saw no one in front of me. I had left the path that I myself had made. All around me were tall trees that shone in the light of the sparkling sun. I remained for a few minutes in silence observing in detail all that surrounded me. I looked down again at the daggers that were in my hands. I put them on my belt carefully and prepared to go back to Kenneth´s house. After a few steps I saw something out of the corner of my eye that made me stop and look in that direction. At first I couldn´t see anything, until a new moment a few steps away caught my attention. It didn´t surprise me to see the man in the red cape again. Even being far from him I could see how the velvet shone, resting on his shoulders and his face. Only a small part of his chin protruded, letting me see a hard skin, punished by the pass of time. I took a step towards him but he stepped back at the same distance that I advanced. Standing still I looked at him fixedly searching for a sign or a trace of something that would allow me to identify him.

  “Who are you?” I asked without getting a reply.

  His head continued bowed down without looking at me.

  “What do you want from me?” I shouted.

  I had never considered myself to be a very patient person and that moment was no different.

  He still didn´t move, I took a step forward, and he retreated again.

  He had a combat suit on and gloves that didn´t allow me to see any part of his body.

  “Have you brought me the daggers or have they fallen and you wish to recover them?” I remained unanswered.

  I started to advance little by little until without realizing it I was running after him. I wanted to know who he was and why he had come back to find me. I don´t believe in coincidences, so I wanted to check out what was happening. I followed behind him until we had crossed the forest and we appeared in front of Kenneth´s house. All were in the porch and looked at me when I kept running without stopping. In an instant Gabriel came behind me.

  “Samantha! Can we know why you are running?” he shouted at me.

  I continued without listening until I felt how my body started to float, I flew for a second and the next thing I knew I was on firm ground again.

  “You are crazy!” I said moving within his arms. “He is going to escape!” I shouted furiously looking towards the red shadow that was disappearing.

  “Who is escaping?” he asked me confused.

  “Have you not seen him?”

  “I have not seen. What?”

  “The man that ran in front of me,” I looked at him upset.

  “I only saw you, running like a crazy person without brakes.”

  I sat on the ground not knowing what to say. How could he not have seen it? It was right in front of me. I checked that my new daggers were in their place, leaving Gabriel a few paces behind.

  I went up the porch and stood in front of Kenneth and Francis who looked at me confused.

  “Where were you?” Kenneth asked me with worried eyes.

  “Running after the man who left me these,” I replied pointing to the weapons that hung on my belt.

  “We haven´t seen any man Sam.”

  “I see that,” I answered unenthusiastically and entered the house. I couldn´t believe that Gabriel had done a rugby hold on me when I was about to catch him.

  I sat right in the middle of the sofa, in front of the extinct fireplace.

  “What was he like?” Francis asked in a friendly tone.

  “He was tall and corpulent. He had a combat outfit on, gloves and a cape.”

  “Gloves?” sighed Gabriel as he came in the door.

  “Yes,” I replied calmly.

  “Are you alright?” Gabriel asked me after a while.

  “Calm down you haven´t broken anything,” I joked.

  “Why were you chasing him?”

  “I don´t know, I simply felt that I had to follow him. Furthermore, I wanted to know why he was spying on me and why had he left the daggers there.”

  “But you stumbled upon the daggers,” Francis said confused without looking at anyone in particular.

  “I stumbled upon them whilst I chased him and I believe that he left them there.”

  I got up silently; I was puzzled as to why they believed even when they hadn´t seen the man, sometimes I forgot that they were so different to those like me. I went to the kitchen in search of a little water. I was putting the glass down on the counter when I saw how my skin moved from the inside of my right wrist. I carefully let go of the glass to be able to see clearer what was happening to me. The skin of my wrist was moving, forming a drawing of fine lines. It didn´t hurt but I felt like something inside of me was changing. Seconds later, a small set of fine almost white silver lines had formed. I rubbed my fingers over the drawing and it didn´t change at all. I remember that I arrived silent to the lounge where the others were still debating about the meeting with the stranger. I lifted my head to look at them without being able to pronounce a single word. Kenneth quickly perceived that something was wrong. I extended my wrist towards him and doubt crossed his face until comprehension was reflected in his expression.

  “It is your mark. You have connected with your sister,” he explained with a calm voice.

  “Is this normal?” I asked scared, “my skin has moved and I couldn´t do anything.”

  “Don´t worry” he said in a paternal voice “Did Eric tell you about his connection through eyes?”

  “Yes,” I answered sitting by his side.

  “It is the same; you just have a physical mark. I should say that it is not usual. The connections of the majority of people don´t tend to be visible. However, you and your sister are special in every way. The mark must have activated when you used her as a channel to repel the negative energy that Ian sent you. It was the first time that you did things together and that has formed a link.”

  I looked at my mark with new eyes. From that moment on I would be much more united to my sister in every sense; Francis assured me of this when he saw the drawing on my wrist. At that moment I couldn´t imagine how right he was.

>   Chapter 16

  A black burn extended from his fingers to the end of Ian´s forearm, staining his silver skin. He continued to give turns around the study looking at Elizabeth who was still unconscious. He thought that he knew the extent of the powers of the girl he had brought up, but the stain on his arm told him that he was wrong. The weapons and his army were ready, but he had to wait a little more for his prisoner to cooperate, but he doubted that that would be soon. If the twins discovered how much power they could have, his plans would fall apart.

  Barefooted, he returned to the room, now desperate. He left, closing the door with fury and moved towards the hidden basement again. He moved the clothes apart with disdain in order to go down the stairs submersed in darkness. He didn´t bother even turning the light on. He arrived to the end and placed his hands on the wall. Closing his eyes for an instant and then he made the wall move to be able to see his prisoner. Before him he saw an empty room, full of scattered papers all over the floor, the bed had moved and the chair was broken. His prisoner was not there, but he wasn´t going to fall for such a cheap witches trick.

  “Gaia, I know you are here. You are not going to fool me so easily my dear.”

  Nothing happened after his intervention, so he continued speaking to catch the attention of the young witch.

  “My men have told me that they saw a man with a red cape this morning. I suppose you know who I am talking about.”

  “Gaia, scared, appeared from within the walls as if she were a ghost, becoming visible again for her captor. Her expression was flooded with worry when she dared to look at Ian´s face.

  “Is he alright?” her broken voice from crying so much gave away her desperation.

  “Well, I have told my men not to touch him, for now,” these last words he said slowly so that they would be etched on the witches mind.

  “But I suppose that I will send for him to be captured if you continue to not cooperate.”

  He continued to appear to be calm, but inside he was boiling in anger. Gaia knew it and could corroborate it when she saw his arm. She had never seen a wound like that; she had never seen a wound on a Fallen One.

  “I don´t have enough power to do what you wish me to.”

  “Any witch could do it,” exasperated Ian.

  “That is not true,” Gaia shouted.

  “But you are able to do it. I know. And if you don´t do it soon, you will suffer the consequences. I am able to do anything and you know it, so hurry up.”

  Gaia, reflecting, bowed her head as a tear fell to her cold cheek. She had delayed this moment as long as she could, but there was not much time left. She had to do as he asked if she didn´t want to lose everything she had, if she didn´t want to lose the love of her life.

  “Alright,” she said finally lifting her voice to show strength.

  Ian smiled without saying anything. He turned to leave when Gaia started to speak again.

  “I have to go to the forest; there are many ingredients that I need to get.”

  “I will send my men to collect whatever you ask them.”

  “No, I have to go. Those critters are clumsy and they don´t know what they are doing, they will ruin everything. If you really want it to work, I have to go.”

  “Alright,” he sighed, “get yourself ready to go.”

  The wall slid back again after his exit, leaving a desolate Gaia not knowing what to do.

  Her flaming red hair waved in the air as she walked firmly. She stopped her walk suddenly when, looking down, she observed the young man climbing up the path. She hide amongst the trees until he reach where she was.

  Jack, was seventeen, although he looked older, went quickly towards the path that led to the palace. It was clear that he came from very far away, but he had told himself that he would not rest until delivering the letter to its addressee. He stopped for a moment to drink water. He returned to put the bottle in its place when there in front of him appeared a very pretty girl, with hair as red as fire. He gave her an educated smiled and continued on his way. He got another surprise when she stopped in front of him again.

  “Hello,” the girl greeted him smiling.

  “Hello,” he responded a little confused.

  “What are you taking in your hand?” the girl, who was still smiling, wanted to know.

  “Nothing, it is just a delivery.”

  “To the palace,” she finished.

  “Yes,” the young Jack recognized overwhelmed by the interrogation.

  “You can give me the letter and I will take it to the palace. I live there,” she said.

  “No thank you, I should do my job.”

  Susan, tired of formalities stood firmly in front of him with her hands on her hips and she stopped smiling.

  “Give me it, I don´t want to hurt you,” she threatened.

  The boy had sworn to protect it with his life and he was not going to allow anyone to take it from him. He started to run along the path, but a few seconds later the girl caught up with him. She took the letter from him and thrust a knife in the center of Jack´s back, without any mercy.

  She left the young man’s body in the dirt whilst she followed her way towards the palace. Tired of walking, she vanished, appearing in her room hidden behind the library. A few minutes later, she smiled when she saw Morgan’s face of stupor as he came in the door.

  “Can I know what it is you have here?” he reprimanded her in an accusing tone.

  “I have just come home, don´t get so scandalous”.

  “I had understood that the Council had retained you.”

  “Yes, they had. The rooms weren´t so bad, but I didn´t want to spend the rest of my life living under the Council building. They locked me up, but they committed the error of giving me a room with windows.”

  “What I am going to do with you Susan?” Morgan said defeated sinking into the sofa.

  “Love me greatly,” she said giving him the letter. “I have read it and I have to admit that it doesn´t surprise me. But you should thank me that it didn´t fall into the wrong hands.”

  Morgan, lifted an eyebrow, he opened it and started to read.

  Dear empress, with this letter I wanted to inform you that there is a rumor of the start of a battle in our kingdom. A confrontation in the not too distant future could put in danger the lives of all of the inhabitants of the kingdom and of other dimensions. For this reason, we beg an urgent answer of how to act under this situation, hoping that they are only rumors that have motivated us to write this letter. We await anxiously your reply. Best regards

  Signed: the ministers of the Kingdom

  Peter Jr. Smith Marissa Jones Eleonor White Robert Shepard

  “Thank you Susan, I know that your intentions are well meant, but you didn´t have to bother. The empress has gone.”

  “What?”

  “She left early this morning.”

  “Where?”

  “I don´t know, nor do I want to know. Without her it will be much easier to walk around the palace pretending that everything is fine.”

  “How long until our dear Ian invades the palace?”

  “Two nights.”

  “Well, I think that I can go then. Don´t you think. I have been a great help robbing all the weapons and getting this letter, so I will be leaving.”

  “It doesn´t make sense for you to leave, Susan. If everything turns out as Ian has planned in two days nothing, nor anyone, will be alive on the face of the Earth. He will be the owner of all you know. And even so you want to go to the human dimension to see how the devastation flattens them.”

  “Hey, I haven´t asked you explanations for why you help that monster, so let me do whatever I feel like and if I die, I will die happy.”

  She started to walk towards the door when Morgan smiled and started to speak again.

  “Happy? Have you ever been happy when your great love has not been near?” he said in theatrical manner.

  Susan turned to look at him.

  “Shut
up.”

  “Both of us know that you are still in love with Eric.”

  “He doesn´t love me anymore, so shut up and let me go.”

  She left, slamming the door. Morgan would have to wait for nighttime before contacting Ian and telling him about the letter, so he sat down to read peacefully on the sofa as they day passed.

  His red cape waved amongst the trees. Despite his lack of care, everything had turned out fine. He had told Harri to meet him at Gaia´s house, that way he could see her once more before the battle. There was little time left to arrive when he noticed something different in the atmosphere. He hurried to arrive to the house. A few minutes later he saw Harri trying to pick up the disaster that had formed in the garden of the house.

  “Harri, are you alright?”

  “Yes, don´t worry. I don´t know, when I arrived everything was like this.”

  “And Gaia? Have you seen her?”

  The nuddle denied with his head and let the messenger into the house. Inside there was nothing out of place, except a sheet of paper full of ink that had spilt on the desk. He deduced that someone had taken her.

  “They have kidnapped her; I have to search for her.”

  “No,” Harri imposed. “You know you cannot go. At this moment our best chance is the surprise factor, you cannot just show up.”

  The messenger felt defeated in a chair.

  “Why have they taken her?” Harri asked.

  “She is a very powerful witch, I am sure that Ian wanted her to make some sort of spell for him.”

  “Have you delivered the daggers?” Harri said looking at him without knowing how to comfort him.

  “Yes, but I was almost discovered. I stood paralyzed when I saw her and returned to observe her a little more. So much time has gone by since I started to search for her. I couldn´t even say anything. That is what hurt me most.”

  “Don´t worry, little time is left and you know it. In a few hours you will be able to hug them as you never have.”

  “Thank you for your comfort, you are a great friend.”