Aveena: The City of Gold (The Black Knight duology Book 1)

by Destiny Hawkins

  When Michael began to recognize his surroundings, he put his head down and sprinted down an alley. The Knights that saw him followed behind. When he looked back he counted four on his tail, and still had no idea where their leader was. He snapped his head back around and picked up his speed. A few shots went off behind him, but they barely came close. The Ponz Quarter had newly trained Knights that clearly still needed to work on their aim.

  The runner made one last left turn before he made it to the alley with a tunnel slide. Up ahead he saw someone bent over while peering into the dark abyss, wondering what was down there. Michael couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl because the person was dressed in a black cloak. Whoever it was was soon going to find out where the tunnel led, because he was right in Michael’s way, and Michael had no time for manners.

  The cloaked person heard someone coming and reached for his waistband to grab his knife, but as soon as he made the slightest turn to face his attacker, Michael crashed into him and they both went flying down the tunnel.

  Michael could feel his stomach drop, turn, and do a few back flips as he slid down the unbelievably steep slide. He held back from screaming for as long as he could, but when the cloaked person looked up at him from his chest with white glowing eyes, he began screaming at the top of his lungs.

  The people of Raluza had many odd characteristics like glowing eyes and pointy ears, but their eye color was always based off of a natural color. A common color. This person’s eyes were glowing white in the darkness of the tunnel, and they looked anything but kind. It could have been because Michael screamed in his face, or because the person was an evil eyed pointy eared demon. Whatever the case, it scared the hell out of him.

  The two finally came to the end of the tunnel and rolled out into another alley. This time Michael was the one who fell on top of the cloaked man...or woman. He held himself up with his hands planted on both sides of her head and stared down into her now grey eyes. They were filled with surprise at first, but then her eyebrows came down into a frown and she pushed against his chest.

  Once again, the Knights didn’t follow him, and he was safe for the second time.

  Michael jumped to his feet and stepped away from the grey-eyed stranger, then he snatched his green ball out of his pocket, squeezed it in his palm, and watched the black staff shoot out of both ends of his hand. The woman’s eyes weren’t normal, and he wasn’t one hundred percent sure that she wasn’t a threat.

  “Who are you?” Michael asked, holding his staff out in front of him.

  The cloaked woman stood to her feet while breathing heavily. Her hood had fallen off, revealing her wavy black hair that hung down to the center of her back. She snapped her eyes up to Michael’s with a frown on her face, and Michael was relieved that the woman's eyes weren’t glowing white anymore. That would have only made her look more intimidating.

  “What is wrong with you?” The woman snapped.

  Michael ignored her question and observed her features. Her beauty was so distracting that he had completely forgotten about how he’d just tackled her down the tunnel with him.

  The woman had flawless milk chocolate skin and stood around five feet and six inches with a pair of cream sandals on. Her wavy black hair hung over her shoulders and just passed her chest with a few strands being sucked against the side of her full pink lips as she panted. There was a small diamond ring in her nose, and several stud earrings going up one ear, while the other ear had one crystal earring dangling from it.

  “Hello? Can you hear me?” The woman asked. Her arched eyebrows came together, forming an even deeper frown with a flared nose.

  Michael snapped out of his trance and pulled his brows together in thought. Why was she so familiar? He reached up and touched his crystal that hung against his chest, then rolled it around between his fingers.

  “And will you put the staff away? As you can see I’m harmless,” the woman snapped again, holding her hands out to show that nothing was in them.

  Michael looked down at his staff, “Oh, sorry.” He pressed the button and it shifted back into a ball so that he could stuff it down into his pocket.

  “Now he speaks!” The woman shook her head. She looked as if she were around the same age as Michael. She definitely acted that way.

  “Yes,” Michael chuckled. “I can speak. I was just kind of distracted by your beauty ma’am.”

  The woman’s frown softened, but Michael could tell that she was still trying to keep up the act. It looked as if he’d caught her off guard, but she retaliated by raising her chin and an uncertain brow.

  “That’s why you pushed me down the tunnel?”

  Michael laughed, “Well, no. I actually thought you were a man at first, but at the moment I didn’t care. You see, there were a few Knights chasing after me, and you were kind of in my way.”

  The woman frowned again, but she couldn’t stay mad for long. There was something about Michael that made her want to laugh and smile with him. She looked him up and down and was amazed at how there were ripped muscles in every part of his dark body. Her eyes dropped down to his six pack, which she could clearly see through his sheer black shirt, and then up to his chest at his dark nipples. Once her eyes made it to Michael’s dark browns, her head slowly cocked to the side. His eyes were darker than any eyes that she’d ever seen. Everything reflected off of those glossy irises, and they took her back to a time when she felt happy. There was only one other person with dark eyes like those, but he couldn’t possibly be...

  “Well, we started off a little bumpy. Literally,” Michael rolled his shoulder, then walked up to the woman and held out his hand. “I’m Michael.”

  The woman’s mouth slowly dropped open as she stared at Michael’s face. She thought that he had died five years ago, but here he was. There was only one way she could be sure. She ignored Michaels hand and instead, reached up to turn his chin. His ears had a curve...not a point. She jerked away from him as if he had just burned her.

  “Is everything alright?” Michael’s smile faded a little, insulted by her reaction to him.

  “Why are you here?” The woman asked, puzzled.

  Michael frowned. He was in the right quarter. He was in the Ponz. From the looks of this ladies jewelry, she had to be from the Zyla Quarter. Once again, he was in front of someone who looked down at him.

  “I’m where I’m supposed to be. The real question is, what are you doing here? You don’t belong in this quarter.”

  The woman growled and flared her nose. “You’re one to speak! You don’t even belong in Raluza!”

  Michael’s mouth dropped open. Who was this girl?

  “How do you know that?” Michael asked.

  The woman sighed, almost more hurt than angry. “Don’t you remember me?”

  Michael sighed. She seemed familiar but-

  “Down here!” A Knight yelled from the tunnel.

  The woman’s eyes widened. She looked from the tunnel, then back to Michael, “Get out of here. I’ll distract them.”

  “You-”

  “Go! Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. They aren’t after me, remember?” The woman pointed down the alley for Michael to run down.

  Michael didn’t want to leave the girl yet, but she was right. Maybe one day he would see her again on one of his trips to the Zyla quarter. He pushed the thought away and ran down the alley, then turned a corner and waited on the other side. He could hear the Knights coming through the tunnel yelling.

  “What on Ralu are you doing all the way out here?” It was the lead Knight. He stepped off of his air board and grabbed the woman by her arm. “Your uncle will not be happy about us finding you here.”

  Michael almost went running back down the alley to help her when the lead Knight spoke again.

  “Take the Princess back to the Palace and make sure that her uncle learns of her trip to the poor quarters. Be sure to tell him that I’m the one who found her. I’m pretty sure I’ll be rewarded for her return.” />
  “Yes, sir,” one of the younger Knights nodded. He took the Princess by her arm and pulled her down the alley that led to the road.

  Michael snapped his head back around the building and rested it against the brick wall. That woman was the Princess? No wonder she was so beautiful! She had to be. There was no such thing as an ugly Princess. Well, maybe there was, but not in Michael’s mind. No, she had officially set his standards on what all Princesses should look like. Beautiful, with a hint of an attitude. He smiled as he thought back to how she frowned at him. He had to admit it to himself, he thought it was cute.

  “Find that boy,” the lead Knight ordered.

  On that note, Michael pushed away from the wall and went running back to the streets.

  ~*~

  The rest of that day Michael stayed hidden in his room. He figured that it wouldn’t be the best idea for him to go roaming the city while the Knights were out searching for him. For a few hours all he could think about was Princess Aveena. He knew that he had met her before because of his talk with Tayen years back, but had no memory of actually meeting the girl. From the look on Aveena’s face, he could tell that she knew who he was, and felt like bad for not remembering her back. It clearly hurt her feelings when she realized that.

  Michael did his best to push her beautiful face out of his mind long enough for him to fall asleep. He had a big night coming up. It was almost time for the initiation.

  ~*~

  Michael woke up as soon as nightfall hit. He jumped out of the bed and ran down the stairs, to see that no one occupied the bar and all of the lights were out. Not even Joctus or Tayen were anywhere to be found. They must have been downstairs, like Tayen said they would be.

  Michael walked to the back of the bar and behind the counter. On the far end of the bar, Michael knew, there was a secret wooden door that led to the basement. He slid the rug over and pulled up the metal latch to lift it. Once it was up, he stared down into the dark pit that looked as if the darkness went on forever.

  He looked around to see if there was anyone else that would go down with him, then sighed when he was sure that he was alone. “It just had to be in the dark. They couldn’t initiate me in the bright sunlight with red wine and blooming flowers huh?” He muttered to himself as he started down the wooden steps. He walked to the bottom and looked around. A light switched on in the middle of the basement ahead, leaving the rest of the room to be surrounded with darkness.

  “Hello?” Michael had a bad feeling about this and reached in his pocket for his green ball. In seconds, it was a staff again. “Anyone else down here?” This initiation was starting to creep him out. No one had ever told him how he was going to be initiated into the organization, just that he needed a weapon by the time that he was initiated.

  Michael stepped under the light and looked around. He heard footsteps ahead of him and got into a defensive stance with his staff out and ready.

  Two bare feet stepped into the light, and then a pair of grey ripped up shorts. Michael’s eyes traveled up the stranger’s creamy skin and frowned at his six pack and muscular chest. He never met anyone with a physique so similar to his. The only difference was the skin color.

  “You must be getting initiated as well,” the man said.

  Michael observed the man’s appearance. He had short cut blond hair that stopped at the back of his neck, hazel brown eyes that lit up a bright orange color, stone pointed earrings dangling from both ears, and a necklace with the same pointed stones going around his neck. He also looked to be around Michael’s age.

  “I’m Clay.”

  “Michael,” Michael nodded.

  Clay gave a smug smile, “Ah, I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Michael frowned, “What? Why? Where is everyone else?”

  Clay reached into his pocket and pulled out a little green ball. It shifted into a silver staff in his hand, then he slowly started spinning it from side to side like a windmill. “I really don’t think that you should be worrying about them right now,” He said smugly. He used one hand to move a few loose strands of hair out of his face, then he gave a toothy smile.

  Michael knew that this Clay was about to make his attack, so he braced himself. He had never been in a real fight with anyone since he arrived in Raluza, but he had years of training to back him up. Even though Joctus was his trainer, he also had the help of Ty’ere and Lennie. There were times when he had to go up against Tayen, but after a few beatings he avoided any chances of training with her. He wasn’t afraid of the woman, but she could pack a mean punch.

  Clay came at Michael with his staff overhead and slammed it against Michael’s with a clang. The silver staff lit up with more electricity than Michael had ever seen. The currents lit up even the darkest parts of the basement.

  Clay became excited when he saw the shock on Michael’s face. He knew that he was going to beat this boy down and take an easy step into the organization. Michael wasn’t going to be much of a match for him at all.

  Michael looked into Clay’s eyes and was going to make a move to kick him, but Clay was faster. He slammed his bare foot into Michael’s stomach and sent him crashing down to the dirt floor, then ran at him once more to slam his staff against Michael’s head, but Michael quickly rolled out of the way and was back on his feet. He could admit that Clay had caught him off guard with his high voltage staff, but he wasn’t going to lose to this guy.

  Clay took no time in waiting for Michael to brace himself again. He twirled his staff in his hand and then swung upwards for Michael’s chin, but Michael blocked the blow with his staff again, causing sporadic electrical currents to vibrate throughout the staffs.

  “Hmm,” Clay squinted his eyes, kicked Michael off balance again, and spun around with his staff, aiming it at Michael’s head.

  Michael ducked and swung his staff to swipe Clay off of his feet but Clay was two steps ahead of him. He jumped over it, then smashed his against Michael’s shoulder.

  Michael felt a strong burning sensation course through his entire body and dropped down to the ground onto his back. He wanted to retaliate quickly, but his body felt numb.

  “I told them you were no match for me, Earth boy,” Clay chuckled as he walked up to Michael.

  Michael grunted and tightened his grip around the handle of his staff. There was no way that he was going out this easily! Not after stealing those crystals, being paralyzed with fear because of Tayen’s suspicions, waiting three whole hours to get his staff done, and being chased by Knights. No way.

  “Your time is up little earthling.” Clay aligned the bottom of his staff with Michael’s chest and raised it high over him, preparing to thrust it down.

  Michael swiped his leg against Clay’s and knocked him off balance, but he didn’t fall. Michael took that chance to jump to his feet and finally made his attack. By then, Clay had regained his bearings and blocked Michael’s blow for blow.

  The two boys got to the point where they were exchanging blows with each other, in hopes that one would tire and fall. With every hit it seemed like the electrical currents in Clay’s staff grew weaker, and Michael knew why. It was the same reason that his staff didn’t have a high voltage. The crystals embedded in it absorbed most of the power.

  Michael slammed his staff against Clay’s and moved in close. He gave a smug smile and then elbowed Clay across the nose. He made another move and slammed the end of his staff against Clay’s chest. Surprisingly, and only for a quick second, the end of his staff sparked after making contact with Clay’s chest. He had just remembered that he asked for a spark staff.

  Clay stepped back and looked at his singed chest. Sweat dripped from his forehead and down the side of his face. He was confident at first about beating Michael, but now he wasn’t so sure. Michael was actually a match for him.

  Michael aimed his staff at Clay again, but Clay swiftly slid to the side and then threw a side kick to Michael’s ribs. It landed perfectly, but Michael, who was practically made of steel, was
barely affected. At least he acted that way. He swung his staff at Clay's ribs and smashed it against him.

  Clay was definitely wounded by the impact. He fell down to his knee while holding his side, and wasn’t sure if his ribs were broken, or if the little power Michael’s staff held just numbed him.

  Michael was the one feeling confident now. “What was it that you were saying earlier?” He made a mistake and got too close. No one would have expected Clay to punch Michael right between the legs. He dropped his staff and fell to his knees in front of Clay. The pain stretched from between his legs and up his stomach. “Ah,” was all Michael could manage to get out.

  “That your time was up...Earth boy,” Clay panted.

  Laughing sounded from the darkness and both boys jumped, catching their bearings. Michael could recognize that laugh from anywhere, and he sighed. Lennie saw it all.

  “That’s how you go out Michael?” Lennie laughed as he stepped out of the shadows. His laugh was high-pitched and echoed throughout the basement.

  Ty’ere walked out with Lennie and had a slight smile on his face, then a few others came out behind them.

  Michael frowned and, tiredly, got back to his feet. He picked up his staff and turned it back into a green ball, then he glared down at Clay, who was also getting back up.

  “I mean, that was it!?” Lennie asked again. Ty’ere was clearly trying to hold back a laugh as Lennie made multiple jokes about the fight he’d just witnessed.

  Michael shook his head, too tired to come back with any smart remarks. He looked around at the others and noticed that most of them visited the bar from time to time. Joctus and Tayen were the last two people to emerge from the darkness, and Tayen was also trying to hold back a laugh. Joctus, on the other hand, was frowning.

  Clay stood next to Michael and waited for Tayen and Joctus to say something. He knew that this was a test for the initiation, but Michael barely had a clue. The idiot. Clay wanted more than anything to get into the organization. He had only heard rumors about them in the Zyla Quarter, but he didn’t believe them until he saw them breaking into the neighbor’s cabin. He should have been afraid that he was next, but he knew that he and his family wouldn’t have been made targets.