The Depths of Darkness
Page 25
“I see you’ve learnt a lot,” she remarked facing me. “Let's see exactly what you know.”
Without further warning, the bolt of lightning struck me across the chest, sending me flying through the air backwards. My chest hurt and burnt and my breath came out in short bursts; it felt excruciating. I felt the first trickle of blood begin to pour from my chest wounds; there was no time for me to use to heal myself and this wasn’t going to stop me from counterattacking her and cursing her to hell.
“I see not a lot,” she sneered.
“I don’t see how you can make that assumption,” I answered standing and sending the quickest thing I could think of and watching her hurtle backwards in a ball of fire. My hands flamed red. The shower of sparks arched themselves over my head, and I sent the other the ball of fire straight to her to incapacitate her some more. She was fast, and her own powers had sprung into life. I watched as she did a double somersault and land expertly on her feet a few yards away from the sparks which gradually lost momentum and died in front of me.
A second time while she was still slightly dazed by my strength, I sent another ball of fire, welting itself towards her and leaving a path of crimson flourishing fire in its wake. It struck her sending her down on her knees and bursting into a capitulating light of fire.
Her scream and cackle of fury echoed across the hill as her body immediately went up in flames/ I smelt the burning of her flesh, her hair burned bright and fell to the floor. Her eyes stared at me as her mouth continued to scream her hatred and venom; she never stopped screaming. I watched when her face closed itself and she doused the fire with her own counter curse. Her body quickly healed and her hair reappeared, growing with rapid strength. She stood facing me, her eyes black holes that resembled coal.
“Interesting,” she said.
Her body levitated into the air; droplets of red gradually cascaded from the sky turning her dress to spotty crimson. The blood of those she’d killed began to open up above us both and fell from the sky. The spirits of good and wholesomeness were weeping their confusion and agony at the fate befallen to me and her.
It was funny to think she could have had anything she wanted, if only she’d waited and didn’t continue masquerading as a spoilt witch wanting more and more. Her greed had consumed her and now it was about to destroy her.
Her eyes turned into stony small stones of black pebbles while the blood dropped onto my own dress and drenched my hair. Tendrils of my hair stuck to my face, my cheeks smothered and smeared with the blood of others. Her own hair was plastered to her cheeks, while she stared directly at me, not really seeing me but only seeing her own envy and hatred towards me. The evil consumed her, filling her and stealing her soul completely, and I realised with an utmost certainty that it was far too late to try and redeem her soul.
My hands shot out as my feet pounded the ground as I raced towards her, my stampede and fast paced kicking up dirt that stung and stuck to my blood soaked skin. I felt the blood drip from my chin, and I felt the vile temper of hate and disgust begin to rile me, making me seek further into myself for the strength and will to destroy her and retain the balance of the realm and worlds combined.
She realised my intentions and brought herself back to the ground, her body waiting in the fighting formation of a witch. Finding her hair and grabbing hold of it, fistfuls filled my hands as I pulled and pinched her scalp with my claws that I’d summoned to the ends of my fingertips, to caused as much harm as I could and incapacitate her in some way. The claws sharpened themselves almost the same instant I ‘d summoned them. From somewhere deep inside me an animal raged wanting and demanding to be set free. I ignored it not having a clue what it was or why it was there, something was different about me; I felt it.
Her hands appeared as snakes and they slithered around my body, squeezing me until I couldn’t breathe; my mind began to feel black, as my body slowly begged me for air.
I released her and collapsing to the ground, gasping and filling my lungs with air.
“I see you now know what you are,” she seethed when I was on all fours, her gown surrounding me and covering my legs.
Disorientated, I looked down at myself to see what she meant. To my amazement I was a Meniagier, my body was veered with soft fur, not like the full sized creatures that I’d become friends with. You could see the gentle human source of my nature emanating from me. The puddle I used that Lilly had doused herself with when she was on fire, allowed me to see the rippling reflection of what I’d become during my turn at battle.
Softly I sniggered, if Luke saw me he would jest at my appearance and tease me to no end; he wouldn’t understand.
She stood towering over me. Her eyes blazed and turned white, the sign of evilness filling her soul and her body no longer able to function in the human world.
Scrambling to my feet, I retrieved my stance and stood facing her. The wind whirled around us both and sent my purple dress into a frenzy when I conjured my deadliest storm capturing her in the centre, whirling her around and sending her hurtling into the tree. Her body bruised and bleeding, she scrambled dazedly to her feet staring at me; confusion struck her between the eyes. Debris swarmed crazily around me, covering me with dirt and grime from the ground. My Meniagier state dampened and settled back down, to my satisfaction my human form re appeared and I stood facing her, as she swirled around in a maddening swarm of debris.
Lilly quickly healed herself partially, and sent me whirling through her secret hideout, the walls crashed as my body made instant contact. I heard my bones crack and break with the force, the internal bleeding began to spread rapidly through my body. I began to get weak and my responses were slowing down; the rapid pace of my heart was all I could hear. The nearest thing to me was an old tree that lay listlessly on the ground. Using my powers, I picked it up with my mind and saw it hover undecidedly a few feet from the ground, and then it zoomed at an inhumane pace across the gap separating us, smashing into her stomach and sending her plunging into the small cabin and sending it into a million pieces.
Scowling she stood, her power overwhelmed mine as she managed to heal herself so quickly, a small trick she’d undoubtedly learnt in the underworld.
“Nice try,” I whispered weakly laying on the floor beside the rubble of her once hideout which was now in pieces, “check this out.”
I ran to her using all my strength, once our bodies touched there would be no stopping the ending spell to end her life but ultimately it would end my own life as well.
Crashing on top of her and taking her by surprise I whispered the words as she screamed beneath my body.
“Take my life and take her soul, devour us both inside the black hole. Don’t let us go until her soul is replete, take my life too and make this complete.”
The words of the spell caused the rumbles beneath us as the earth cracked open. Zigzagging gaps appeared around us; the sink holes warped their way to our location; I watched with my head slightly bowed. Lilly had stilled and accepted her fate.
“You're going to die,” she sneered, “silly little genetic lab rat.”
“At least I will die with honour and without regret,” I replied softly. “Your soul Lilly is going straight to hell.”
The sky darkened to its blackest, as the earth continued to shake and shudder readying itself for the pits of the earth’s crust to open up and swallow its deluxe prize, Lilly. Flashes of light crossed the sky, lighting the world in many amazing colours. Crimson, purple and green flashed continuously as the earth shuddered violently beneath my feet, shaking and throwing me to the ground, where I took her with me, holding onto her and feeling her strength subside and her will collapsing when she realised this was the end of her leadership and realm, taking my life as well. For the spell could only work when there was one evil and one good present at the exact same time. This way the good soul would be sacrificed as it never existed, and the evil soul could then be devoured by the earth’s core, the deadliest to all witches.
I didn’t turn to see who it was, when I opened my eyes it was to find Luke staring at me with horrified eyes. Shadows of guilt lay beneath his expression and something else, love. His eyes flashed the sorrow he felt, the love surrounded us all. Lilly had stilled beneath me as she watched with wide terror filled eyes at the earth as it began to slowly open revealing the inferno beneath that would take her soul.
When the earth finally made its opening big enough to take her, the fire licked the surface of the gaping hole, both of us fell through, Lilly clinging onto me and unyielding when I tried to prize her hands of my clothes.
“Lilly,” I shouted about the roaring fire, “let go. What are you doing? It can only take one.”
“If I go in here then you’re coming too. There’s always room for one more.”
Swirling around in a circle, a dance for freedom while I fought with her strong grip against my weakened one, to release myself so I could float easily back to the surface before the earth closed itself around me. The fingers of the fire danced their way to our location, surrounding us as they too reached out and stole Lilly. Her screams were ear piercing and terror filled as the flames engulfed her and slowly reprieved me from her grasp and swallowed her deep inside the earth’s crust, the pits of hell for any witch gone bad.
In this place there was no escape, no chance for a resurrection. My mind began to reel out of control as I faced the fire head on, stopping momentarily as it tested me, licking me lightly causing a slight tickle on my skin. My heated moments of hell weren’t as scary as I thought they might be.It wasn’t like storybooks; it was purely a world of its own and entirely different.
Seeming to not like what it tasted, it roared angrily and sent me shooting back to the surface, my feet dangled helplessly and my hands covered my head. The hole began to close slowly, painfully my body shot out the now small opening and dumped me unceremoniously on the ground.
With a loud bump and crackle the earth closed simultaneously, leaving me gasping and clinging hold to the last shreds of life that remained in my body, my pulse was weak and my head felt odd, spinning out of control. Finally it was over and I’d won against Lilly but my once friend and the higher witch was now in a place unfit for mortals and immortals alike, the one place that anyone dreaded to encounter, goodness knows the horrors that awaited her.
If she thought she could summon horror, it was nothing like what she would undoubtedly come across down there. Her body would be engulfed and separated from her head which would float unceremoniously in the graveyard of lost hungered souls of the dead, never to return to earth or have contact with the living. It was something the realm had gotten accurate in their reports and their pathetic records, my own record keeping would be entirely different now, if I lived.
The shield of the battle slumped lower than before, collapsing slowly to allow any spectators to know the fight had ended and allowing the others to reach me. Luke was beside me in seconds, his hands cupping my face and he sat on bended knees, my body battered and bruised with the internal bleeding raging out of control. I felt unconsciousness surround me, my body gently weaving in and out of waves, the waves of tranquil existence, my own death was coming. I could feel it and taste it; there was nothing going to stop this from taking me, I would go to heaven. Hell didn’t like the taste of me, and who could blame it; I wasn’t for normal consumption.
When I opened my eyes to stare at the sky, with my weakened state, it looked magnificent. The storm had receded and was gradually dying down and whirling its strength to a weak point where it would simply dissolve into nothing. The stars gradually appeared when the clouds drifted across. The brightest of lights filled my eyes, teasing my images into something I’d never experienced before, and my mind was subject to a hazy glow of slow moving shards of light. They dimmed, and then shone brightly and I noticed the comparison between them doing that and my breathing. When I felt myself becoming weaker, the light brightened and it appeared to be beckoning me into its fold, readily accepting me for who and what I was, a man made witch.
“Luke” I whispered smiling up at him weakly and trying to move my arm to point in the general direction from where the light was coming from, “the lights are bright here, look.”
My arm flopped uselessly to my side, and I admitted defeat. There was nothing that I could do; my body was far beyond any movement of any kind, all I could do was accept the fate and embrace the light that still wanted me.
I felt my blood dripping through his fingers, the sticky warm patches were all over my body, compliments of a very angry and deceitful witch, and this was my life source leaving me.
“I know sweetheart,” he whispered back staring down at me as he carried me gently in his arms. “Darcy, get back to the house and prepare a room for her. I can’t go any faster than this,” he ordered. I watched in a hazy glow as Darcy jumped to his command and the second she’d gone, leaving behind a blur of movement.
The excruciating pain threatened to overwhelm me, the pain from being carried and jostled from side to side, the never ending journey seemed to be longer than it had been before but I didn’t mind so much so long as the light stayed.
Luke’s head was framed with shards of light beaming from around him; the brightness was comforting, glowing warmth had begun to spread itself across my body. His smell surrounded me, cosily wrapping me inside a gossamer blanket of trust and love, something in my life I’d never had the chance to experience.
I know I’m dying, slowly and painfully as my blood continued to spill out onto Luke’s hands. It didn’t seem to faze him not like it had before when he’d nearly killed me from hunger. My only regret was not being able to say goodbye to my adoptive parents and thank them both for giving me a childhood that I wouldn’t have had if Matace hadn’t made the decision to send me away, but it was then, against his imagination that I’d found my own way home, back to the realm and the beginning of my existence.
“I’m scared,” I managed to whisper, my legs had begun to feel abnormally numb, and the light was getting closer and warmer, “I’m scared,” I said again when he failed to answer.
“I know,” he replied, “I heard you. We’re nearly there, just stay with me,” he placed a gentle kiss on my head, and moved the stray strands of hair away from my face.
I nodded. I wasn’t sure how to answer him or to tell him that I was dying and it was too late; the prophecy was coming true.
The house was further away than I thought, or was that my imagination creating an illusion, or was it simply my memory was fading? I wasn’t entirely sure.
Silently I drifted away back into a deep state where I could hear everything happening around me. The sounds of the feet stepping rapidly on the ground from Luke’s shoes and the others as they walked alongside him, occasionally asking questions and receiving nothing in answer. His deep concentration ran with me and getting me back to his house, where I was sure he hoped to save me from death.
“No Patty,” he cried urgently. “Stay with me, please stay with me.”
I couldn’t find the strength to speak. My mind was closing itself down which was as it should be; there was nothing he could do. My last sense to leave was my hearing, and even now it was gradually fading and then I wouldn’t be able to hear anything he was saying.
I heard the creaking of a door and the footsteps as they crossed the tiled entrance of Luke’s house. I felt the warmth begin to surround me, spreading across me and I clung onto it, unwittingly wanting to stay here for a little while longer safe in his arms. For once something good was happening to my life and it felt an awful menace that it was also something that I had to relinquish my hold over.
“Stay with me,” his whisper became urgent, the sounds of others when they walked past as Luke continued to stride ahead to take me to the room Darcy had been preparing.
I felt her pr
esence before she spoke, the comparison between the earlier person I’d met and the one replaced now was considerable. Darcy had begun to accept me and like me a little, that much I felt with her tone of voice when she spoke and the gentleness of her cold hand as it touched, ever so briefly across my brow.
“She’s close Luke,” she said sadly. “Whatever you’re planning, do it quickly. There isn’t much time.”
Time for what? I wondered, and do what quickly? I wished my mind would allow my mouth to speak. I wanted to have some depth to the last few minutes of my existence, and not some useless words that weren’t explained just spoken by someone else.
“I’ll need to lay her down,” he answered. “Will you stay with us?”
“Of course,” she whispered softly, “lay her down here.”
I felt jostled slightly and then finally his arms were replaced by the softness of the mattress, and my aching tired bruised body was laid down on top of a the blankets. Something warm was placed over me and I felt sweetened by their actions, funny how vampires had accepted me when the members of the realm had been revolted by the sight of me, and their magic had been kept hidden from me. But with Matace’s assistance, I’d been taught the basics that I’d used and created my own strong bonds to defeat Lilly.
“What happened to Tye?” I heard Darcy question.
“Dead,” he muttered. “Did you get any clean clothes, how about bandages?”
“Here,” she said.
The time and place seemed frozen into a comparison of darkness and my once brightly lit world was now a perilous existence of darkness and their mourning would soon begin. I could still feel the aches and the painful agony of my wounds; every touch and whisper felt paralysing to my current state.