No one knew of her existence. She was a surprise in the battle. And we were too cocky to the point that we underestimated everything about her. And face the consequences, we did. Everywhere I looked, thousands of corpses covered the ground. There was no blood, no wounds, just the depressing and pitiful sight of a defeat in the making. I was one one of the wiser ones. I did not rush into the castle like the rest, but I was unwise to not try to retreat.
The images were still repeating themselves in my head; the screeching sound of swords colliding, the screams of mighty men falling, knowing their time was at its end, and then she came out of the castle, waving a single hand over the front of her with a dark fog dispensing from her palm. The repeating images of my allies halting their rush for a few seconds and just standing there like they had seen a ghost just kept flashing in my head. I remembered the living nightmare occurring before my own eyes. The men just stood there, before a powerful blast of wind scattered them all around.
But I was not still not about to turn around.
I was hidden in the magnolia tree just a few hundred meters away from the castle gate. I had begun to climb at the beginning of the short battle to shoot arrows at the enemies, but I didn't expect such a powerful defeat that night.
After waiting for the castle guards to examine the bodies, she re-entered the castle with them.
That was my opportunity...
I put my bow around my shoulder, anchoring it on my back to free my hands. I was high above the ground, but that wasn't that much of a problem for me. "Alright, here goes..." I sprung myself off the branch, diving outward to avoid hitting other branches. Bracing for the feeling of freefall, I held my breath in the intensity. I flipped forward to recover my balance from the dive, preparing for the hard landing on the stone brick walkway. My feet smacked into the ground and my right hand hit after, absorbing the impact for the rest of my body. I looked up and turned my gaze all over the place, scanning the area for guards, but I was alone.
I could only hope my black cloak would hide me in the night's dark shadow, because from there to the castle gate, there was no bushes, trees, or shrubs to hide in. After scanning the area, I moved to the right side of the walkway, keeping my head down to be silent and swift. Refusing to tear my gaze away from the top of the castle, I noticed a suspicious silhouette on the corner. It was silver and had the shape of a person, without a doubt. I halted in my tracks, hoping and praying he didn't notice me.
He leaned to his right, perking his head up to see better, when I noticed, he was bringing his bow up as he started yelling. "Guards! We have a straggler!" The arrow flew towards me. Thinking quickly, I extended my right hand in front of me as a flash of light emerged from my hand, knocking the arrow away to an unknown destination. "It's him!"
I started running to the side of the castle, trying not to let the rest know where I was, but he wouldn't shut his mouth. "Eastern wall!"
"That's it!" I quickly swayed my left hand in front of myself. A flash of light brought forth a black knife-like weapon with a twelve-inch blade. I used it like a pickaxe to jump and stab into the stone wall. It glowed blue with every bit of strength I put into it, heating up like a majestic blue flame. I began climbing the wall. Stabbing, jumping, ripping, and rushing my way to the top, the archer met me at the top. He reached for his sword, but I threw my blade at his neck when he unsheathed his sword, slashing and cutting through his neck in an instant as his head fell with his body. The blade flew back into my hand and I proceeded to the stairs, sprinting down the spiral of steps that were overrun by guards.
There were seven of them making their way up. They all had the same armor and equipment: chain helmet, light iron body armor, dark brown leather boots, iron leggings, and a single longsword.
I roared in adrenaline, dispensing enough energy into my magic that a majestic light emerged from the irises in my eyes like rings of blue flame. I brought my arm back to throw the blade, building up my energy into the wrath of the weapon. I released my leash of death. The blade was almost glowing too bright to even see what happened. It ripped through them and knocked them into the wall before they dropped. The blade didn't return, so I opened my hand to summon it once again with a flash of the light.
At the bottom of the stairs was a giant hallway, with many wooden doors on each side of it, but there was a single door at the other end, larger than the others, but even stranger: no guards. Confused, but alert, I sprinted onward. "Where is she?!"
"Black Blade!" Her loud voice startled me enough for me to flash a light shield from my hand unintentionally as I felt a powerful blast on my back that knocked me into the back wall. "Your light ends here!"
I didn't respond. I just braced myself to hit the ground, letting an orb of light form in my hand. I impacted with the ground, letting the light create a shockwave that sent a powerful blast thundering off the walls. I stood back up, immediately having to shield myself from a ray of darkness she was sending, but she was sprinting towards me with a silver katana in her right hand. I lifted myself from the floor, dashing to her through the air at the speed of sound with my black blade. She disappeared, leaving a bit of darkness where she was. I halted myself and landed back on the floor.
"You're no different than the rest," she taunted, but was nowhere to be seen. "Let the Darkness swallow your light!"
Then something strange happened!
A puddle of black fog appeared beneath my feet, sinking me into the floor. I tried to move away, but I was stuck in place, trying to free myself. "Come on... Come on!" I tried too hard and lost my balance, falling forward to catch myself with my hands. That was a bigger problem. I was completely stuck. The darkness covered me up and blacked out my vision for a few seconds. Was I dead or dying? Was I trapped forever or buried alive? I didn't know what happened. I closed my eyes and felt a sudden jolt that would cause any warrior to yelp with pain. I opened my eyes and noticed I was in a giant vortex that had black and grey fog spiraling clockwise all around. It had to be at least a quarter of a mile of space, but where was I? The floor was invisible, and below me was darkness.
"Give into the dark!" She appeared in front of me, already grabbing me by the throat. She picked me up off the floor of nothingness, making me start kicking my feet in instinct as I grabbed her wrist, trying to free myself.
I raised my left hand, summoning the black blade. She released me and disappeared again. I looked around to find her, but she was nowhere. About two seconds passed before a group of four mages spawned out of the darkness in front of me. I immediately lunged forward. I pierced the chest of one, but as soon as I did, I took an orb of darkness to the side. The shockwave sent me through the air, and I was too disoriented by the vortex to stop myself, so I plunged into the invisible ground on my back, sending a jolt of pain through my whole body.
"He's down! Finish him off! Go!"
My side was burning like it had just lied on top of a bonfire, but that didn't slow me down much. I sat up, holding my right hand in front of me to create a light shield, already expecting it to block something.
I couldn't have been more wrong.
I found myself lifting off the ground. "What the..." I looked ahead, trying to read the next action of the... enchantress?! The mages were nowhere to be found, but instead of letting my slight confusion cost my life, I tried to break free. "You again!"
She held me in place, giving me enough time to notice the dark fog coming from her hand, creating a black sphere in her right hand. She was whispering a spell, in a language shrouded in mystery. What was she saying? She continued for about five seconds. I started developing an all-out magic attack. I held my palms together. An orb of light sparked and began to expand in between my hands. I started drifting my hands apart from one another, letting the light build up. The orb was about two feet in diameter, so I was confident it would deal a critical blow. I sent it off, but she also sent hers. The two powerful elements exploded on collision, creating a mixed element of both light and darkness that was so powerful that it knocked us both to the ground. She immediately was able to get back up, and when she did, her voice turned to a loud whisper.
"Your light is weak
in the face of the dark.
Succumb into darkness
and vanquish every spark!"
But the light was what I had always fought for, and for a good reason. It symbolized the freedom of doing the right thing not for myself - but for everyone. "I beg to differ..." I stood back up. My blade had disappeared. I couldn't find where it landed, and even worse: she was charging at me at full sprint. I opened my hand, regrouping with the blade once again. She stopped a few feet in front of me and picked me up with an unknown force, circling thin, dark fog all around me.
Little did I know of her intentions.
She was sending the dark fog into my eyes. Trying to resist, my eyes glowed bright blue. But it didn't stop it. "Succumb into darkness!"
I couldn't respond. The darkness was mixing with the light, creating conflict in my own head. The darkness told me to give in, but the light told me to do something about the darkness. I started to raise my hand to throw the blade at her, putting all my strength into the shining blade. The light continued to get brighter and brighter, becoming unbearable to her eyes. She halted my defecting and put her hand in front of her eyes. Taking the shot, I sent it off to her! The blade soared through the air, creating a small breeze in its wake. It met her shoulder, sinking in its wrath. A loud scream of agony confirmed its success. A second later, the light exploded in a massive radius, sending her soaring through the air while leaving me unharmed. Why was I unharmed? Simple. I was part of the light, and it was part of me.
The illusions of the dark realm quickly faded away, revealing where we really were. I looked around. I was in the center of a large room, nowhere near as large as the illusion, but it was large enough for a small village to fit in. I looked at the end of the room and saw an empty throne. It was the throne room.
As my gaze turned aimlessly to the left, I noticed she was lying on the floor close to a pillar. Dark fog was rising from her. It was thin enough to see her, but thick enough to make her look blurry. I walked over to her and sat on my knees beside her. She was alive, but panting her last few breaths. I decided to say a few words. "This didn't have to happen."
Her voice was trembling in a whisper. "B-Black Blade... I'm sorry."
I was confused as to why she was apologizing to me. "Change of heart?"
"I was like you at one point; fighting for the defense of doing the right thing, but then she turned me."
All I could ask was one word. "Who?"
"The queen. She retreated into the realm of darkness when your army invaded the castle."
"How do I find her?"
She slowly raised her right hand, with her arm trembling. In front of her appeared a dark wall in the shape of half an oval, with dark fog blocking my vision into it. "That...is a portal...to the realm of darkness. You will find her there. Now go. And...thank you."
Her body faded away, disappearing as the darkness from her body evaporated. A new journey had begun: a journey to end this now.