The Depths of Darkness

by Laurie Bowler

  He’d groaned and uselessly tried to wrestle me to the ground which hadn’t worked because I levitated him and kept him there locked inside the air tight bubble above my head while I worked on the remainder of the powers that I had.

  “Hey,” he’d shouted, “this is hardly fair.”

  “Don’t try and stop me when I’m working on something then,” I’ returned cheerfully and ignoring his shouts and protests while I carried on concentrating.

  Eventually he had shut up, and stayed still but not without pulling hideous faces at me that he thought I hadn’t seen. Life had certainly taken its own turn of events and had locked itself into a strange pattern of unknown events; I eagerly awaited for the next chapter to begin.

  “She’s here,” the whispered comments from either side of me began their hushed talking to each other as I passed every member of the realm.

  With my head held high and the body guards of the high witch following behind me, their own guards were up and they’d been pre–warned by the highest members, which are those who are the highest, higher than even the high witch but who chose to remain silent during times of tribulation fearing their own safety. But this time was different, this time there were no more gaps to be made and no more bridges to be built; it was time to tread on the new path that Matace had unknowingly built which separated this one from the old one.

  My own timing was perfect; every member crowded around, waiting to glimpse the new high witch. Their own expectations were clear; they expected more than just me to appear and were severely disappointed and more than a little annoyed with the person who faced them right now.

  Standing at the head of the realm’s circle, facing all of them wondering why they had all been made as high as they were within the realm, none of them belonged to be inside this temple of riotousness but that was something for me to figure out later on when the time was right to choose my own realm members, watchers and grand witches which would not be any of these power hungry witches who would given time and the right amount of greed and hate turn into something much worse than Lilly thinking they could over throw me.

  “Order,” the leader of the realm’s conference circle called banging his fist down on the table to silence the whispers and the anger that seemed to become a loud din in the once silent room.

  “I see you’ve lived,” Stella was the first to approach without asking and without the usual granted permission. “How did you manage it?”

  Her scorn was apparent in the way she approached; she had malice and hatred for me already, and no respect for the order that must be upheld against all reasoning. The guards rushed towards her, taking her arm within arm and ushering her away. My own hand lifted to stop them, ceasing them in mid action.

  “No,” I said, “wait!”

  Breathless moments passed as they all wanted to hear what I would do with the one that was willing to defy the rules and the policies dictated by others eons ago. They watched, stretching towards the edge of their small enclosures, eyes pinned on me.

  “Leave her be,” I said. “She doesn’t understand the consequences of anything she’s doing. Let this be the one lesson you will all learn today,” I said. “There will be no explanations except for the fact that I am alive, and thriving and I am also a vampire but I intend to take full advantage of my higher status above all of you. This time the realm will be different in the way that the old prophecies will no longer be maintained. New and exciting changes are upon us as the times have changed and we all need to bear in mind and our memories of those we have lost because of the miss deeds of one of us.”

  “Are you telling us that you’re dead and you intend to take over the realm?” another chocked from the side of me, completely enthralled with my new and imposing words on them.

  “That’s exactly what I am telling you,” I said. “Furthermore those we have exiled without good cause in the past will have a re trial because I am not sure the old prophecies ring true in the world we now inhabit. The realm hasn’t changed with the times, we’ve tried to maintain the balance but because some of us,” I said staring directly at Stella who glared at me furiously with her eyes, “have decided to try and take over without the say so of the high witch, there will be no more and we shall be moving towards maintaining the balance once more but with the new age of the prophecies I intend to set in motion. “

  Silence, no one uttered a word, jaws dropped and they gawked, their whispers ceased as did the actions of the guards who stood waiting for further instructions. I could Stella fuming inwardly, her stance was one on guard ready to attack but inside these walls where the high witch was the one most protected there was no way she’d get away with it.

  “I am in complete agreement,” the soft voice appeared over my right shoulder.

  I turned to see the dark haired beauty that I’d only ever known existed in the records maintained, no one had actually known whether her heritage was true, Yana. Her name was supposed to mean peace, but during her terrible reign which had cost her the status that I now held, she remained the quiet dormouse that didn’t impose herself any longer inside these walls, although her voice had been known to be heard giving advice and the extinguishing the torment of others.

  “And I too second the motion this young lady is giving to us today,” Torech appeared, old and frail but still the stern voice that had been documented sometime ago, both of these historical witches had appeared like they had told my father they would, to support me in the order of the realm to take over and to sort what had gone wrong in the past.

  Everyone in the circle silenced, watching and waiting for the third silent partner of the realm to appear. It was strange to think that he might appear; his word was the final one to accept the fate handed down to all of them.

  I sat, holding my hands in my lap to stop them from flapping around, and I kept thinking about the past, the events that had fallen so many times and all the people who had been exiled because of some old rule that meant they could no longer remain here on earth despite their forgiveness of others and their own haste actions to repair whatever they’d done wrong.

  The flurry of commotion gathered in the far corner, the witches shuffled along the benches their frowns and their own worry shining through their armour that was evident earlier when I’d first arrived, their hushed whispers quickly dispelled to fear.

  Anxious gazes met mine as the misty air changed and began to force itself into the bright shining light at the end where the witches had hurriedly shuffled and looked like they’d sat on top of each other.

  Gradually the formation of three people began to appear, the final elder never traveled alone. He’d been notorious by all rights for traveling with his own specifically handpicked army of fighters who’d once been lords to some unknown deadly force.

  “Her realm will rule all of you,” he stormed once he’d arrived in full form. “I am backing the motions of the others, and have been summoned here today by some mortal who believes his daughter can do a much better job than any of you to which I have reason to believe she holds the power, wits and strength to take the realm across the unknown parallel that we have been fighting to sustain for many years. Patty, welcome to the ruling of your realm.”

  To my utmost surprise he bowed down, his way of welcoming me I supposed, but it was still the most pleasant but strange response and one I didn’t expect to receive from him. Never had he been known to bow to others particularly those involved with the realm he’d fought so hard not become too closely involved in since his own time at ruling had ended drastically and he’d long since decided to be the ultimate silent partner in the proceedings of anything involving this term and this particular time.

  The congregation rushed into their own conspiratorial whispers, sniggers of resentment and with some the respect I’d immediately earned by having the silent partners and leaders here with me. They all bowed respectively showing Stella their own resistance to her cause and to her own possible angered ways to defeat me and take
over what she obviously thought was hers. Stella bowed, respectively and shaking with fear, her shoulders shuddered with the powers she felt around her that would outdo anything she could summon or fight back with.

  I only hoped she wouldn’t turn out to be like Lilly, maybe that was why I’d been made to protect the realm from the hunger and power crazy witches that tried to establish themselves but in the wrong ways.

  My own leadership was now established. I was the vampire-witch ready to fight any new and unknown force and ready to take on the reconciliation that had long since failed between certain parallel worlds that Matace hadn’t bothered to conceal neither had he been bothered to try and draw a treaty between the worlds to better and strengthen what we had already.

  One thing was missing here today, and that was Luke, with his own leadership and the way he carried out his own affairs. He would have loved to have been here to see my own power and leadership and help me begin the, what I hoped to be the historical reign of a now powerful realm, or rather a soon to be powerful realm once I’d ditched the many hopeless wonders and the ones that eagerly fought amongst themselves for their own hierarchy.

  Every witch that was now bowed down to welcome and accept me would have their own small cat fights, ones I was more than happy to dispel and bring peace and harmony amongst all of these witches for the better and the goodness of our cause. After all many centuries ago, the realm had been erected for the peace, harmony and prosperity of the demons and strange creatures that appeared at the doors of witches almost daily, seeking the magic and the power and drawn to it like a magnetic force that no witch could begin to fathom.

  Humans would need to have the surety to be kept safe and out of the way of any wrong doings and any fights that might occur out of the hatred and anger because of who I was.

  Now it was my time, my turn to establish my name in lights, the one thing I’d always been destined to do, and the very thing I guessed Matace had secretly built me for. He’d not only built me to face Lilly and had known I’d remain alive, somehow but he’d built me as a super power against the renegades that uselessly fought the realm and all it stood for and in that he’d succeeded before he’d died leaving me, his one and only heir to take over and bring our name towards the goodness and bring back hope.

  *****

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  The Depths of Darkness.

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