The Depths of Darkness

by Laurie Bowler

  They shrieked in terror, tried to hold on in vain against the force of the winds that I gradually began to rise. They fiercely snapped the sprits springing them away. I called the eye of the storm to directly hit the over flowing Cerberus, to take them far away from here. The wind picked up as many as it could grasp and flung them sideways, elevating them into a frightening spiral, and ditching them on the ground, injuring them in the process. The Cerberus, disconcerted and frightened by the sudden ferocious attack back at them, howled their dislike and their own anger flowed across, hitting me squarely and knocking me backwards.

  My feet found the ground and I began again. Lightening struck at every angle; purple, green and red, lashing out towards the Cerberus and the spirits that caused them to become unfocused and dependent on the sounds around them.

  “Come on Luke,” I muttered as I struggled to keep the lightening and the storm in the same place; it longed to be set free to wreak havoc. “Hurry up and finish.”

  Never in my life had I wanted someone to be placed in safety as I now wished Luke was. He was battling his way across the grounds towards his allies, making sure he dispelled any attack along the way. His own fighting skills sending him acrobatic style across the field with his legs landing fluently and cleanly on the floor when he dodged an oncoming Cerberus that charged in his direction. It was snorting and creating clouds of dust in its wake; Luke expertly ripped through it and pulled it apart with his bare hands, limb by limb they fell on the floor.

  I stayed where I was, feeling the power surrounding me. Lilly had expelled her own power and rain hit my cheeks, stinging pains that were made for me to become unfocused and loose my concentration in the aid of letting the storm loose and thus out of my control. Angrily I screamed her name, echoing it across and allowing her to hear me. I heard her laughter, evil and incriminating, her own vicious attacks as more demons joined. Vaguely I saw a shadow move swiftly searching for something, but I was busy focusing on the storm and creating my own havoc, descending my own demons down to fight Lilly’s. A demon for a demon they began to dance around, surrounding each other ready to take each other should the other show a weakness. The grounds had become nothing more than a playing field of madness and uncontrollable animals that were supposed to be unseen by us.

  With every roar and every shriek I felt the power inside of me grow stronger. It thrived and became alive, waiting and listening for my instructions. The shadow moved elegantly, keeping itself locked inside the shadows, causing me to send lightening to the area to reveal who it was that was sneaking around.

  “Tye,” I whispered suddenly frightened for Luke who was currently locked inside a heated battle surrounded by three Cerberus that aimed for his throat; still he didn’t give up. “TYE!” I shrieked across the field, my voice being captured by the wind and sent directly to him. I heard my own voice echo across, and Luke looked in my direction, his eyes focused on me for a split second before Tye appeared, gallantly racing towards him his arms outstretched. The Cerberus paved a pathway, moving aside to allow him into the ring. It was a trap set by Tye to ensnare Luke and lock him inside a heated battle that he seemed doomed to lose.

  “Cronomiun,” I gasped, “Help Luke!”

  They appeared almost instantly, followed in hot pursuit by the spirits who chased and swarmed around them like a swarm of angry wasps waiting to sting.

  “Help Luke,” I insisted watching with shaky hands outstretched.

  I directed as much of the storm and the tornado as I could towards them, fearful I would harm Luke somehow, and aware of the implications if it should aim itself towards the house and capture just a little. The portals used by Lilly would be destroyed in the process leaving me no options and no way to find her.

  I watched with unbridled fascination as the Cronomiun fought alongside Luke. They’d weaved their way through the crowded Cerberus, causing them to plant themselves aside and choose one to fight with. Luke and Tye fought, neither of them aware of their surroundings, their fighting was in depth and atrocious. Luke tore at Tye with something akin to hatred, tearing his arm from its socket and laughingly throwing it aside like garbage. Tye bellowed out with pain and indignity, his howling created the whirlwind effect on my storm, channelling it towards the power of his howl. I managed to grab it backwards and direct it towards the remaining Cerberus, my desperate attempts to keep the vampires safe would have been seen as absurd, but to me it felt like a normal everyday occurrence.

  The presence of someone behind me had me spinning around to find myself faced with the misty appearance of the realm, their faces masking disapproval at my vehement but effective storm; I smiled at their approach. And this time I didn’t bow down to them; their own misguided ways in creating me had been their downfall and now it had come to this.

  “It's time Patty,” they whispered together. “It's time to find Lilly.”

  “Not yet,” I replied through gritted teeth, determined to see the rest of the fight through to the end, “not yet.”

  I felt a hand touch my arm and I shivered at the coldness of the approach, no love was exchanged and I didn’t feel any kinship like I expected to. It was not the same as I felt with the other mysterious creatures that were courageously battling down in the field. Their world was compromised by the antics of Lilly, one of their own who was supposed to be the protector of the realm. She should have known better than to allow hatred, hurt and cruelty to control her world. it was one of the very first witch teachings, never to allow it to gain control, and in this knowledge our magic would be safe from the types of happenings around me.

  “You have to find her now Patty,” she whispered gently holding me back; “I can’t let you stay here.”

  “Oh,” I turned to her facing her squarely and sent her slightly off balance with shock, “and what is it you guys are expecting to do to stop me?”

  My challenge, although a relatively small one, was heard by all those around me. I heard the cheer erupt from the Cronomiun. They disliked the realm since all of this had been unraveled.

  “We’ll stop you anyway we can,” she responded, “and we will deliver you to Lilly if we have to. Don’t fight us Patty,” she warned softly.

  “Fight you,” I spat, “How dare you?” my fingers jabbed her in the chest, a complete show of disrespect for the likes of someone connected so highly up inside the realm. “I’m going to die when I’m ready to, and not when you decide its convenient for you.”

  I forced my anger into torrents of wind; wave after wave struck them all. They fell down like soldiers forced to surrender; they hadn’t expected my power to aim at them and neither had they expected me to appear so angry. I was fuming not angry, two entirely different concepts of the word. I was determined against all odds to make sure everyone was safe before I faced my own peril.

  I turned away swiftly and realised for the first time that I’d developed my own power beyond the expectations and teachings of Matace. He’d only taught me partially and had me studying most of the time, but I felt stronger and more than capable of defeating Lilly.

  The fight waged on. Tye was relentless in his tactics and fought with one arm, while Luke valiantly struck him down time and again. My own precious Meniagier were stomping their way through many Cerberus that whimpered when defeated and laid down waiting to die when their time was near due.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I slipped away when the time was right, allowing the storm to calm itself and gradually die down and away from the fight. It had expelled its own fear into those that it needed to and no longer needed my input. I’d left the realm leaders unmoving on the ground with their eyes staring blankly at me.

  Shifting my weight I managed to make it to the side of the house, and waited until the Cerberus passed. The troops of the beasts lamely following each other as if they didn’t have any other choice, their protective nature for their maker was defined by their actions and sickeningly clear. Collapsing in a heap, the Cerberus folded, their armour and dignity fa
ded into nothing, particularly as the storm lifted dirt and debris and flung it in their direction, causing them to fall quicker than Lilly expected.

  The spirits quickly realised their own defeat was inevitable but they valiantly struggled on with their own fight against the Cronomiun. The pending war that had been destroying both kinds for centuries was finally coming to a head and with the aid of vampires and the Meniagier, they knew their loss was coming soon.

  I decided now was the time for me to slip away silently into the shadows and make a good clean escape. My only hope now was I wasn’t too late to trace Lilly and then my own destruction was incredibly clear in the actions I had to take.

  The house stood set apart from the initial battle that raged on; the roars and detests of the creatures that fought echoed around the area. My own idea to place a protective shield around them came to a head and the shield loomed, encasing the battle inside. The noises, protected inside, were clearly locked away from the ears of the mortals; their fright and them witnessing anything that happened here today would be devastating to the cause and would only deem to play into the hands of Lilly and her pathetic attempts at gaining control of all the worlds and creatures. Little did she know the future had already been seen hence I was sent after her in the attempts of prevention.

  In the distance, a small beam of light could be seen, moving steadily through the corridors of the upstairs landing. My eyes focused a little more clearly and I saw the familiar face of Lilly, her eyes deeply concentrating on the pathway she was heading.

  As I rounded the corner to get a better view, the sudden attack from my left made me stumble and fall to my knees. My dress ripped at the sleeve, taking my skin clean off and blood began to pour onto the ground. Heaving with dismay and wondering who my attacker was, I waited on my knees, my eyes keenly searching the area to see any movement. To my utter disgust, there was no one there. The area seemed quiet and I could hear the distant sounds of animals scurrying away to safety, but the hairs on the back of my neck told me another story. The attacker was still nearby, but was quick enough to divert it away to be safely hidden like a coward.

  “Who are you?” I called, my voice coming out breathless and a mere whisper in the night.

  Panic began to set in, the tears overwhelmed me, and I chided myself to remain strong and obstinate against this person and the rest of the evilness I had yet to face; now was not the time for feeble tears.

  “Who are you?” I said again, my voice stronger than before, but still facing the unknown brought a certain amount of terror to me.

  The crackle of laughter beside me, my head snapped around to see but I saw nothing, an empty space of trees and wildly growing bushes.

  “Show yourself,” I shouted into the space. “Now!” I yelled stronger and my tears subsided. The voice drifted closer to me, bringing with it the intense atmosphere and the instant smell of death. Death had a peculiar smell, especially to a witch. The nauseating stench caused me to cover my nose to prevent it from entering. “Nice, very classy,” I mumbled through my sleeve, “Now show yourself.”

  My order went unanswered, the sound of thunder boomed around me. The lightning turned the sky to a blaze of orange and red. The night sky was alive, as lightning zigzagged again and again, striking down low and hitting the earth somewhere in the distance. Howls of pain and anguish filled the air a moment later, the outer rims of the shield had been penetrated creating the noise to be able to leave.

  A sudden noise from the right and I looked around just in time to see a dark shadow race towards me, and then the world went black. Vaguely I saw mysterious shadows appear around me, staring with empty black sockets directly at me. Their wicked smiles were full of satisfaction and glee at my capture.

  Awakening sometime later, my head throbbed; my eyes hurt when I tried to distinguish shapes and shadows around me. Nothing seemed to fit with the last things that I saw before I was knocked out. The endless sound of water trickling added to my frustration as my mouth hungered for a taste;, I was so damned thirsty.

  My eyes sought the attackers; there was more than one. How many, I didn’t know because I’d been knocked out but I knew they’d be here.

  My hands were bound behind me, and I was laid on my side with my feet bound and curled up tightly to my chest. The strain of the day had weakened me to no end and I felt the bruise on my head begin to ache and throb some more with the effort to see and to think.

  “I see you’re awake,” a voice cackled beside me. “Don’t be alarmed. Believe it or not, we don’t mean any harm to you; we want to be able to stop you from doing something that’s not yours to do.”

  “Who are you?” I asked weakly licking my dry lips and wishing there was water.

  “You need water?” it asked kindly. The voice held no distinction between whether it was male or female; “I’ll fetch you some.”

  I watched it float away, the body shapeless and black. Despairingly I wanted to lash out and run after it into the house. If there were anymore interruptions tonight I would have no chance to find Lilly in time before her portal closed its last remaining sprays.

  “Here,” the voice said, thrusting towards my head a cup which seemed to be balancing in the air; the shapeless body didn’t have any hands to hold it out to me.

  Greedily I drank from the cup feeling the sprays of droplets fall and land on my chest, my mouth watered and I needed more but I knew better than to ask.

  “Thank you,” I said sitting myself up and watching it move to the other side of the hut. “Who are you?”

  “Dead people,” it replied. “We’ve come back here to this rotten planet to stop you. Lilly is responsible for our deaths and we cannot allow her to take your life too; you’re too valuable to the earth and the realm.”

  “You're dead?” I questioned. “I don’t get this at all.”

  My head hurt with the information she explained. A few years ago her own kind had been killed in their efforts to stop the darkness from taking control of Lilly. They’d seen it in their rocks of truth, their own way of foretelling the future of others and what was to come. It explained they’d never had to intervene before but with Lilly, they’d seen terror rise from hell and the earth over taken by the evilness of her soul. Only she could summon the most deadly monsters straight from the imagination and hell. She’d already managed to have her soul ensnared by the evilness that spread like wildfire when the combination of jealously, hate and envy took their toll on a witch.

  “Whoa!” I said shaking my head. “If you’ll untie me so I can finish her, it’s the only way and I was born to do this. Surely you understand I was made to die to fight her.”

  “We understand a great many things,” it answered in its sweet philosophical voice. “What if you die before you have a chance to finish her?”

  I pondered on the question. It was a possibility that I couldn’t rule out, but with all things aside I had a pretty good idea and a good strength; at least until they beat me round the head, to be able to stop her.

  “That won’t happen,” I said tilting my chin stubbornly. “I’ve got the strength and the power to match whatever she can throw back at me; untie me please.”

  “We will see,” it replied,.“Now,” it continued, “tell me and my friends why it’s so important that it has to be you. We can no longer see the future because of our death which has thwarted our chances and powers to delve into the unknown.”

  I sighed, “Right,” I said. “Matace built me in a lab to destroy her; only I was made from many different creatures. It’s hard to explain except that I now have the power that I have learnt over a short period of time to be able to defeat her, which is why you need to let me go. I can’t stay here any longer, and if I do everything will be lost. Her portal will close and the spray that stays behind will vanish leaving nothing.”

  They huddled together in front of me. I waited on my knees for one of them to speak; their hushed conversation was eerie and beyond anything I’d yet to hear. Nothing
in the records of the realm foretold of the dead coming back to attack the living; it was beyond anything my imagination could build up and definitely something the realm needed to warn people about.

  “We can release you,” it said, “but you have to promise us something.”

  “Anything,” I replied eagerly, “anything you want.” I only hoped it wasn’t something dangerous. Even if I did live, I didn’t want any more danger in my life, just a normal existence would be sufficient enough for me.

  “We want you to proclaim our souls, take us back to the righteousness of the realm and bring our souls to the place where we may rest in peace,” it replied. “And we want to be remembered in the records of the realm. For years we’ve been hushed away like evil spirits when we only react to those wrong doings other cause.”

  “I understand,” I said bravely and ready to commit to anything at this point; time ticked on and I was fretful that I would be too late. “I’ll do what you’ve asked. Please take these off my wrists and my ankles.”

  “You can do it for yourself,” it chuckled. “We’ve only tied you and fought with you to test your strength; now it’s your time to shine and shine you will. Untie yourself and set yourself free. Remember us; we’ll be watching.”