He sipped it slowly. Placing the glass back down, he sighed again. Much softer. Appreciative.
"Donal, I hereby banish you from the El-Assum. You will forfeit your estate, your land, your property and your title. A casting will be placed on you that will alert us if you ever again attempt to reach for your well, and we will come. You will leave the Red House and live a human life alone. Do you understand?" Horal, angry, his voice level and deep.
Donal wasn't listening, still pointing at me, trying to cast. I turned, looking to Horal.
"I think I can take his light away from him, preventing him from ever casting again. The ultimate punishment for a traitor." I informed him, uneasily.
He was looking at me now, fear on his face. An expression I had never before seen on the General.
"You can do that? Thomas, taking a magi's light is unthinkable. You must promise me that if this is an ability you have, you will never ever use it unless by my command." his voice remained calm, steady, but his face betrayed him.
I nodded, "I swear to you, General", he visibly relaxed. He had another drink, thinking. He looked to Donal, and back to me. His eyes flickering back and forth. He nodded.
"Do it."
Donal screamed.
Twelve – The Awakening
John clambered awake, his alarm blaring. 8:00am. He hit the snooze button and rolled over. His wife was gone, she left for work at 7:00am every morning. The curtains and the window were open, a soft breeze squeezing through as the soft rays of sun shone down on him, warming him.
He smiled, breathing in. Life was good for John, he worked as a structural engineer for a very successful architecture company, he had married a wonderful woman whom he loved dearly, and together they had two incredible children. He made good money, they lived in a nice house in a nice area. Life was good.
John rolled over, knocking his alarm clock off and stepping out of bed. His phone buzzed. Good morning handsome xx. His wife, he smiled and replied.
Jacob was warm, very very warm. A soft breeze was blowing, making it bearable. Stopping the heat from becoming stuffy and stifling. He was walking down his street, backpack slung over his shoulder. He had left a few minutes early this morning, he was meeting his girlfriend on the way to college.
Jacob had met his girlfriend a month before, they were both attending the same college. He was studying computer science, and Theresa was studying photography. She was beautiful, the first time he saw her his heart froze, his breath refusing to come. She was standing across the room at a friends party, she had a little shy smile and she was fiddling with a bracelet around her wrist. She had looked up and their eyes had met, and he knew. He knew he wanted to know this girl.
And now he did, and things were good. They hung out during free periods, after school, at night. They were inseparable, having so much in common.
Jacob smiled as he walked. Life was good.
Mandy was angry. And upset. Tears were drowning out her vision and her voice a high pitch. She was screaming at her boyfriend, ex-boyfriend now, she had caught him cheating. With her best friend. Her heart was shattered, she had been betrayed by the two people she cared about most, loved most. She didn't understand why. She was begging him to tell her.
He wouldn't. He had his hands raised, trying to calm her. Apologising profusely, begging her to forgive him. It was a mistake. A one-time thing. An error in judgement. It wouldn't happen again. He loved her.
But she couldn't. She stormed out through the front door, she didn't know where she would go - she just needed to get away. She rushed down the street, tears still flowing and the sobs racking her body.
The darkness roamed. It had felt as the lightbringer realised his true power. It remembered what it felt when it sensed the true light again, the first time in millennia. It watched as the lightbringer had given himself to the light, merging. As the lightbringer rushed through his sanctuary.
And then he had met the dragon. The light and the dragon had touched, had rejoiced. Finally returned to one another. It had been a very long time. It could feel the emotions radiating from the ethereal.
The lightbringer and the dragon, the light and the fire. They made their way through the sanctuary, all around them death and grief. They had arrived at a new hall. People were talking. A woman spoke. A man spoke. A woman spoke. Meaningless and insignificant. And then the light. Fire. Flashing. And half of the humans were down.
The attackers then attempted to take the lightbringer. They had failed. He had taken over their light.
And then the darkness witnessed something. Something it had never seen before. A rush of fear had coursed through the rolling clouds of darkness that it was.
The lightbringer. The fabled hero of prophecy. He had taken the light from another magi. The darkness had watched and listened and felt. He heard the screams of the victim. Felt the terror. He had felt the horror of the spectators. The shame of the perpetrator.
He watched as the well of the lightbringer had swelled, absorbing the new power, growing.
The time had come for the darkness to enter the world once more. Feel the sun. The light. Feel the wind. Hear the noise of civilisation. Gain power. Soon the world would remember its presence, the power of the darkness.
He could still feel it out there as he probed. The fear of the dark. No one truly remembering or knowing why they fear it, why it scares them. But the time of the darkness had returned.
The darkness scanned the humans closest to the sanctuary. A broken soul, sorrow and grief, anger and sadness. Tears flowed. It could sense betrayal. A man sitting alone, something in his hand, a smile on his face. Happiness, he felt complete. A younger man, walking along the street. Another smile. More happiness. Eagerness. Nervousness.
The darkness moved, rising. Long wispy tendrils of shadowy smoke reaching out to these humans, feeling them. Exploring them. The darkness disappeared.
The darkness opened its eyes.
Part Two
"There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights."
― Bram Stoker
"Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
― Terry Pratchet
Twelve – Fated
"My whole life I've dreamed of being a warrior. Of fighting the traitors. Bringing glory to my house, to my name. I'm the last, you know? My mom died when I was young and I never met my dad. It's just me. I dreamed and I dreamed. And then they made me a scholar." I was talking to the woman. It was just me and her now.
Horal and I had woken his warriors, and they had left to escort Donal from the premises. I could still hear his screams, his pleading, in the back of my mind. And my light, always there. Different now. Stronger.
"I accepted it. It was my fate, to be a scholar." the woman was nodding at me as I told her. I don't think she really understood anything that was happening. But she was taking it well.
"I devoted myself to learning. I absorbed everything they told me, everything I read. And now everything has changed again." I was beginning to pace now, back and forth in front of Horal's desk. She was sitting in Horal's chair.
"I'm worried. Horal sees me as a powerful warrior. But I never trained for battle, I don't know how to fight. I got through this night on luck, and with help from my light. I don't know if I can use it to help win the war. What if I fail?" I was talking out loud. The question hung. I wasn't sure if I was asking her, or myself.
The sun shone through the window, morning had come. The day of our initiation. And the world had changed.
I sat down in front of the desk. I was looking out the window. The city seemed so peaceful. I could make out the little figures of the humans as they moved and milled. Life went on. They had to go to work, school. They were meeting friends, boyfriends and girlfriends. Taking their children out for the day. Going shopping. All around the city, life
rolled on. A train that never stopped.
All around them waged a war that could decide the fate of their very existence. A war that had lasted centuries. They had no idea.
"I don't know anything about you Thomas. But tonight I've seen things that I thought didn't exist, things I thought were just in the movies and books. I saw you fight a group of evil men, and you won. You defended your home, and your leader. You saved your people." she was watching me as she spoke. She looked so confident. My heart fluttered.
I nodded to her, not trusting myself to speak. She made me feel better. But I was still so unsure of it all.
Footsteps.
Horal walked into the room. The woman shot to her feet, but Horal just smiled and motioned for her to sit back down. She smiled shyly. My heart fluttered again, I quickly looked away, certain that my cheeks were reddening.
"Thomas, New York has fallen. The sanctuary has been destroyed and the magi are on the run. We sent out a signal telling them to regroup here. We have also sent word to the other sanctuaries to send reinforcements here." Horal spoke, deeply, his voice hard and level, never betraying his emotions.
I didn't reply for a minute, or more. Taking it all in. The New York sanctuary destroyed.
"What's the plan Horal?" I asked, "The attacks won’t stop, it's only a matter of time before more sanctuaries fall."
"We're going to launch an all-out attack on the Black House, we're calling warriors from the other sanctuaries. When they arrive, we will have a briefing and we will begin." Horal stated, his eyes never leaving me. I could tell there was more.
"I want you to lead the attacks, Thomas."
I was shaking my head, he raised a hand to stop me. "I know, you haven't had battle training. I know. But your power is strong Thomas, I'm going to introduce you at the briefing tonight as the Lightbringer. Remember Thomas, these people are at war. They have lost loved ones, and friends. The Lightbringer arriving? Leading them against the traitors? It will give them hope. Something to believe in. We need you, and not just because of your power. Because of the idea of you, the saviour."
I stopped shaking my head. He was right, of course. I put myself in their shoes. I had lost my friends too. I tried to think of how I would feel, knowing a hero from prophecy had come to help, to lead us to victory. And I knew he was right. I nodded.
"Thank you," he said, "go and get some rest. The briefing starts at eighteen hundred hours. Take her with you, get her some food and somewhere to sleep."
I stood, giving Horal a slight bow and motioned for the woman to follow me. We traced our steps from earlier, winding through the sanctuary. We picked up some food at the mess hall and left quickly, I nodded to a few people I knew, friends that had survived the night.
We made our way back through the sanctuary towards the living quarters.
We had eight hours until the briefing, and it was finally time to hear her story.
Thirteen – Katie
They sat in a large stone walled room, a corner desk rested to the left of the window. A large bed to the right. A small wooden chair sat in the other corner behind the door. The view out of the window stretched out across the fields surrounding London. She could see endless green dotted with the streaks of blue of the rivers and canals.
Thomas told her to take the bed, he was sitting in the chair watching her. A smile played at the corner of his lips. He's quite handsome she thought to herself. She felt herself blushing and quickly turned on the bed, pretending to settle in to hide her red cheeks.
"Tell me about yourself" he said, his eyes never leaving her. She swallowed.
"I don't know where to start" she answered honestly.
"The beginning."
She thought for a second. She decided she would tell him everything.
"My name is Katie" she began.
She told him everything. She told him of her childhood, her friends, her school. She told him about her parents, their arguments, she told him about the conversations she had heard when she was a little girl, the talk of sanctuaries and running and hiding.
She told him about the incidents, the fires she had caused - knowing now that it was real magic. She told him about her dragon, how it was alive, how it moved and the incredible heat that came from within it. The comforting thoughts and the support it provided her.
He sat there in complete silence, accepting everything she said to him. He nodded sometimes, as if in understanding. He shook his head, frowned and smiled as he heard different parts of her story.
The seconds ticked by into minutes, and the minutes began to stretch into hours. She told him everything about her. And finally, she told him of her nightmare and of her home burning. Her mother lying dead in a pool of blood. She told him how she escaped the fire and saw him in the street running from the cloaked men, and how she had followed him to the sanctuary.
Her tale was finished now, they sat there in silence. Her nervous and him thinking.
"I'm sorry for your loss" he spoke softly, comforting. She smiled sadly.
He told her more about himself then. She listened as he told her about his training, being taught to cast his first spells - healing and dragon's breath, heatshields. Before he was finally moved to the library, he was given book after book, told to read them, study them. He spent endless hours writing reports and analysis.
And then his story was told, and so was hers. Katie felt connected to this strange and powerful man, she didn't understand the connection but she could feel it deep inside her, coursing through her veins. She could feel the heat coming from her dragon charm. And it accepted him.
Thomas was deep in thought, she could see it on his face.
"Artemis, he was the Chancellor of the New York sanctuary... Your dream... You must have been dreaming of the fall of the New York sanctuary. But how? Only the..." and he stopped, a smile spread over his face. He was nodding to himself now.
"What?" She asked, eagerly.
"Only the dragon born have seer abilities. It's in their blood, the fire. It makes sense now. Your aura, the dragon around your neck. You're the dragon born from the Prophecy."
They sat in silence for a few minutes more. Katie was thinking, what could this mean? She had guessed about the dragon during the telling of the Prophecy. She wasn't a warrior, she wasn't powerful. But she thought, and she remembered. The fires. They were here. She had an ability to use fire magic, but how? she thought to herself.
She was holding her dragon now, looking for answers, guidance. There was a candle sitting on the desk by the window. She was staring at it now, willing it to light. Light. Flame. Burn. But it sat there, still, mocking her.
She thought of her dragon, she could feel it, it was alive. So, she asked it, help me, show me.
She could feel her dragon begin to heat, it felt happy, content, like it finally had a purpose. It reacted quickly, she could feel it probing now, a vast and ancient consciousness. She looked back to the candle, she felt different this time, she remembered the power and the energy she had felt as she walked through the flames in her home. She breathed and she pushed, burn.
And it did, the wick of the candle exploding into flame.
Thomas jumped, startled. But his smile returned as he realised.
"You have control of fire. Remarkable. Our magic is based around fire, but we don't control it. We have an ethereal well of light, and we can guide the light, convert it. But it isn't true flame, and for that reason it is weaker. But you, you have control over fire. " Thomas informed her, explaining his powers and hers.
She smiled now, happy for a moment, she had cast magic!
"It's almost eight, the briefing will start soon. I hope we have the numbers for battle. Will you come to the briefing with me?" he finished with a question, watching her.
"Yes, I will come with you Thomas." she replied, without hesitation.
He smiled at her, and she smiled back. And for a moment everything was peaceful, they shared a moment and she wished it could continue forever.
But Thomas was already moving now, he was packing a rucksack, scrolls and small objects that radiated power and light.
There was a knock on the door.
The Darkest Light: Book 1 of The Inferno Prophecy Page 5
