by Leah Ward
He continued to walk and sure enough he ran into the next obstacle. He hoped that the cave wasn’t a never-ending obstacle course designed so that no one could ever actually reach the book.
When he came to the edge of the tunnel, it was as cold of a temperature that he could ever remember being around. The tunnel opened up to what looked like an ice skating rink. Ice was on the ground, and there was a huge wall of it in the center. The only way around was to go directly through.
Edwin could already feel the heat traveling between his fingertips; they were itching to throw fire. A light frosting crept from the icy ground as if it were attacking him and crawled over his feet – slowly his skin was being covered with a thin layer of ice. He shook violently which broke him free of his growing icy bond. His eyes widened with terror - if he didn’t keep moving he would be frozen solid, alive.
He walked across the ice until he came to the wall. He lifted his hand, the glowing red snake-like flames danced around his wrist, warming his entire body in the process. Out came the flames, hitting the wall hard, yet it was thick, and only a small hole was being burned out. The area around the hole was slowly melting and cracking. It was going to take forever at this rate.
He didn’t know if he could make it much longer in this bizarre temperature. The ice seemed to be alive, attacking his ankles, trying to freeze his feet to the already frozen ground. Constantly he had to take his hand and throw small flames at his feet because his toes were numb. Edwin moved his hand around, angling it up and down so that the flame didn’t only burn one hole through the ice; it was now burning an area big enough for him to crawl through.
Slowly but surely it was melting, there was an area about a foot wide and a foot tall now open to the other side.
Edwin stopped the process to look through; sure enough there was the entrance to the next tunnel right across the way.
He went to continue his flame throwing when he saw that the ground below him was also starting to melt. This would be fine if the ice was thicker underneath his feet than in front of him, but he soon learned that it wasn’t.
The crackling of the ice filled his ears and he watched as the cracks traveled from the wall of ice all the way to the tunnel he had just come from.
He quickly started to burn through the wall; he was going to have to sprint to the other side. Still the hole was too small for him to squeeze through.
All of a sudden he saw the cracks spreading under his feet and a chunk of the ice was cut out, completely circled. It wasn’t being held by any of the adjacent pieces of ice so it fell through; leaving a gaping hole on the hollow ground Edwin was standing on. Below, it fell and he watched it until it disappeared in the darkness.
Edwin took that as his sign to run. He pushed his head and shoulders through the hole in the ice wall up to his hips. Unfortunately, on the other side the ice hadn’t cracked yet. He put his hands on the icy floor and squeezed his legs through the hole. Once he was completely through the wall he stood and ran best he could. Cracking still filled his ears, and behind him piece by piece the ice was falling into the abyss below.
Cracks quickly came under his feet, following him. With a loud shatter the entire wall caved, breaking the floor below it. It all went hurling down, and soon the very ice under Edwin’s feet was falling.
It was like he was stepping on pieces of the ice as they were no longer attached. He jumped when he came close to the end, and when there was nothing left to run on. He caught the edge with his stomach, his arms flailing on top of the dirt, trying to pull himself up. His feet kicked below, trying to make contact with rock or anything to step on, but there was nothing.
He stopped wiggling, because every time he did, he felt himself slipping. No magic power is going to get me out of this, he thought. It can’t end like this.
His average body frame wasn’t muscular enough to pull up, but he had to. He had to finish this quest. Invigorating energy rushed through his veins; he mustered up the strength not from muscle, but from his determination.
Digging his hands into the rock and dirt mixed ground he was able to get enough of a grip to pull himself up a little. He heaved and swung his leg over. With that leg safely over the edge, he used the momentum of his weight to swing the next. After dangling for a few seconds, he managed to pull himself up to safety. Which, now that he was able to think clearly, he didn’t remember hearing any of the ice hit the bottom… He imagined it to be an extraordinarily loud shatter, yet after the cracking and the falling out of the ice, silence had filled the cave.
Brushing off, he faced yet another tunnel where the walls started to glow, leading him once again. He sighed in frustration, becoming discouraged from the maze he seemed to be in. The same drawings were on the walls, and it twisted and turned just as the ones before had.
He thought about how he would get out of the cave, and hoped he wouldn’t have to go the same way because there was no way he could go through the death defying obstacles twice.
This tunnel wasn’t as long though, maybe twenty feet long, and when it came to its end, Edwin’s eyes widened and his heart raced with excitement.
The moment he had been waiting for, finding Darkness.
CHAPTER 18
He walked out of the tunnel, to the wide-open area of the cave. There were several entrances along the outskirts of the wall of this connecting room. Edwin had no idea what they led to, or if he was even supposed to travel down any of them. He still hadn’t figured out how he was going to get out of the cave.
In the center of the open room was a small concrete stand, resembling a podium. The walls were no longer glowing; the only light was in the ground like a lit walkway. It led from where Edwin was standing, right up to the podium. The book was sitting right on the top.
Strange that it’s just lying there in the open…
Edwin looked around, searching for a loophole, or some sort of catch, but from what he could see there wasn’t one.
He crept forward with his hand ready to throw fire just in case, and his eyes wide open. He was only ten feet away now, and nothing deadly was put in front of him – no obstacle.
Finally he reached the podium, awestruck at how ancient the book looked. The cover was very dark brown leather with Old English writing for the title. All that was written was “Darkness.” The edges of the pages looked worn and faded different shades, mostly they were a light beige, some lighter than others. He feared if he opened it, it would fall apart at his fingertips, it looked so dated.
Edwin took a deep breath, and reached out, picking the front cover of the book up. Just a few inches open and the book started to glow. The letters of the title remained black, and the light coming from the book wasn’t bright. It was glowing a dark red. His eyes full of wonder he continued to lift the cover curiosity begging him to, but a noise suddenly came from behind, rendering him motionless.
He turned his head around, scared of what the noise came from, and looked someone right in the eyes.
It was a man, a man he did not recognize. One with a freshly sharpened sword aimed right at Edwin.
“Who are you?!” Edwin yelled at him, but the man didn’t reply.
The walls of the open area started to glow, brightening the entire room.
“How did you get in here?! Where did you come from?!” Edwin yelled once again.
The man started to walk towards him and the closer he got, the more Edwin realized it wasn’t a man. It was more like a ghost…
His body was see-through, and he had a black glowing mist around him. Without warning Edwin lifted his arm and shot an icy blast right at the strange ghostly figure, yet, it didn’t freeze him. The ice went right through him, hitting the wall behind him, as he continued to walk towards Edwin.
One by one, more of the ghostly men appeared out of thin air, all headed for the one who disturbed the book. Some with small knives, some with ancient swords, and a few even had razor sharp axes. Edwin tried throwing ice, then fire, yet they were untouchable.
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With no other plan he grabbed the book from the stand, which was now glowing extremely bright.
As soon as he did, the glowing of the walls vanished and Edwin was left in a dark room full of angry ghosts in the bowels of a mysterious magic-filled mountain.
The only light source he had was the book, which was bright enough for the ghosts to see him, but not for him to see the ghosts.
Suddenly one of the tunnels leading out of the book room started to flash. It was as if the tunnels were directing him where to go. He ran towards the pulsing light, leaping high in the air over several of the slow moving ghosts.
Once in the tunnel it was like a maze, the glowing walls continued to flash. He hoped they were leading him out of the cave.
He turned around to see if the ghosts were following him, and sure enough they were. They were dark figures but their swords and knives shimmered and reflected the light, giving them away. It seemed they had sped up too, because they were keeping up with his sprinting.
Just then one popped up directly in front of him, making him hug the wall as he ran by to avoid it.
They were appearing and disappearing instead of walking after Edwin. It was much faster, and much more frightening.
Edwin dodged ghosts one after another. Then, the walls stopped glowing and all became dark, except for the low red light of the book. He didn’t think he had reached the end of the tunnel, since that’s normally what happened when the glowing stopped.
When the blackness faded from his vision as it does when the eyes have to adjust, and the little light from the book filled the room, he noticed he was in a very familiar place. He turned around and his foot stepped into a puddle of water. The area was small and he could see walls completely surrounding him, even though he had just been in a tunnel. There seemed to be full skeletons lying about, and that’s when he realized - he was back at the very beginning of the ancient cave.
He stood there wondering what to do next, but ecstatic the book was in his hands. Then a light started to shine in the shape of a circular door on a part of one of the walls. The glowing light filled the cave, and showed the same timeline drawings on the walls. Edwin hadn’t seen them when he entered, it was too dark then, but now they were adamant.
Edwin came closer to the glowing outline of a door, and pushed his hand against it. His hand went through like there was nothing there. It was a magic portal. He stepped the rest of his body through the portal and was surprised that he was back on the side of the mountain.
He looked around, noticing the sun hadn’t set yet, and saw Lena leaning against the rock wall, asleep – or at least he hoped she was…
“Lena!” Edwin yelled with excitement obvious in his voice. Lena didn’t respond, and in fact, she didn’t move.
Edwin ran over to her, and shook her shoulders. “Lena? Please wake up! I got the book, I got it!” He said anxiously. She opened her eyes and they found his.
“Congratulations, I’m so happy for you.” She said, hiding the words she wanted to say. Her voice was raspy and sounded dry like she hadn’t drank anything in days.
“Thanks, now we just have to figure out how to destroy it.” Edwin said, “It may have a special way to, since it’s magical.”
“You have to burn it, with the fire from the hand of the Seer who found it.” Lena said.
Edwin was shocked, how did she know that?
“How do you know that?” Edwin asked, but didn’t receive a reply.
Suddenly a hand came over the ledge; someone was climbing up the mountain.
Neither Edwin nor Lena moved, surprised that someone had even been able to climb this part of the mountain, especially since the area they had climbed was completely destroyed and non-existent.
With ease a man with a dark hood came over the side of the mountain, and stood directly in front of Edwin and Lena.
“Who are you?” Edwin said. Lena remained quiet; she didn’t want to waste her energy.
The man lifted his hood, and when he did, Edwin gasped.
CHAPTER 19
Edwin was utterly shocked, was he seeing things?
“You came all this way? You found me!” He said to Agmund.
“Edwin! I never thought I would see you again! You should have told me where you were going, I was worried sick!” Agmund said.
Edwin smiled and looked over at Lena; he had forgotten to introduce them.
“Oh! Lena, this is Agmund. This is the man who adopted me, who I told you about!” Edwin said, excited to finally be reunited.
“What are you doing here?” Lena said bluntly to Agmund.
Agmund looked as if he was confused, “Uhm, do I know you?” He said to Lena. Edwin looked between the two of them, blinking his eyes and tilting his head, trying to figure out why she spoke out harshly like that.
“Edwin…” Lena started but didn’t finish.
“What?” Edwin said, wondering what was going on.
“Edwin…Agmund is…my father.” Lena said. There was a silence between the three of them; no one knew what to say.
“Your father? I don’t understand, you told me your father died?” Edwin said.
“I lied. I wished him dead and in my mind, he was. After what he did to my mother, I could never forgive him. It was just easier to forget about him than to forgive what he did.” Lena said, revealing part of the truth about her father and uncovering a lie she told to Edwin.
“How…What…What did he do to your mom?” Edwin asked, not knowing whom to believe.
“He beat me, and my mother. That’s why she died, because of him!” She said as her voice filled with anger. She coughed strenuously after.
“Agmund hit you?” Edwin said, looking at Agmund for an answer, but Agmund just shrugged his shoulders like he was clueless. Edwin looked back at Lena, skeptical of her story, but why would she lie?
“Wait, you said your mom died years after your father? How could he have? I mean, if you hadn’t seen him in years…” Edwin said, trying to understand the story.
“Agmund beat my mother so bad the final time that she never fully recovered. I mean the works, broken bones, blood everywhere, you get the picture. After that he ran away a year before the curse. That’s when I told myself that he had died, because to me…he was dead. I never wanted to see him again. My mother couldn’t recover; she died years later because of permanent damage to her insides. That’s why I provided for my mom and I. That’s why I learned the bow. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to!” Lena said with her eyes full of tears.
Edwin had never seen her cry, which, knowing how thick skinned she is, definitely made her story more trustworthy.
“Is this true Agmund?” Edwin said, turning to look him in the eyes - his own filling with unwanted tears of anger.
Agmund only stuttered, incapable of saying yes or no, which automatically gave Edwin the answer he hoped wasn’t true.
“How could you? I trusted you! How could you be so hateful to Lena, yet be so nice to me?” Edwin said, desperate for an answer that wasn’t devastating.
Agmund stuttered once again. “Listen Edwin…that was a long time ago. I am truly sorry about that Lena.” He said trying not to look at her.
“Don’t listen to him Edwin. He is pure evil.” Lena said through her coughing.
Edwin didn’t know what to believe. He had known Agmund pretty much his entire life, and had only known Lena for a few days. Yet he couldn’t help but feel that Lena was right…
“The book! You got the book! Good job boy!” Agmund said, changing the entire conversation. Suddenly the book didn’t feel that important to Edwin. His original excitement had faded at the awful information he was just given.
Edwin completely ignored Agmund’s congratulations. “Why did you run away? Were you ashamed of what you did? Did you leave so that you wouldn’t do it again?”
“Of course! That’s why I left. I couldn’t bear to look at her mother and be reminded of what I had accidentally done. I thought it was
best to leave, that was the best protection for the two of them.” Agmund said.
“He’s lying Edwin.” Lena said simply, immune to Agmund’s ‘sorries’.
“You will be quiet if you know what’s best for you girl.” Agmund lashed out. Edwin raised his brow, shocked that he would talk that way to Lena.
“Edwin, Agmund practiced a lot of dark magic. That’s why he left. My mother tried to talk him out of it. She begged for his evilness to leave, for him to quit, but he wouldn’t. So he beat her. Then he left, to practice his evil spells in peace I assume.” Lena said.
Edwin was appalled. All this time, all this information, he couldn’t process it. Why would Lena lie about him? Why would she make everything up if Agmund were innocent? Could he really believe that happened?
“Edwin that isn’t true. You lived with me for how many years? You should know –” He started but was interrupted.
“Give it a rest Agmund. Edwin isn’t stupid. He isn’t going to fall for your lies.” Lena said harshly.
“Edwin, you have to believe –” He was cut off once again.
“Seriously Edwin, how did he even get here huh? You saw the part of the mountain he climbed. It caved on us remember? There isn’t even anything to climb. What about the tunnels we traveled through? They caved in too. How did he get through there? Did he also have a book that led him here like you did? He’s lying Edwin, he’s lying! Don’t believe –” Lena screamed, the intensity increasing in her voice with each word.
Agmund reached out and slapped her in the face, cutting the last of her sentence short.
Edwin raged with hostility. Heat filled his fingertips and if Agmund had not started talking he would have probably blasted him clean off the side of the mountain.
“Listen here you annoyance of a girl, I don’t answer to you. Edwin, give me the book, now.” Agmund said, in a demandingly deep voice Edwin had never heard before.
