The End
Every beginning has its end.
This is.the end.
Chapter One: The Hunt
I am the Dark Lord, Slyther. That is my real name. But I have taken on a name now. A human name, Shane.
He look into her eyes dangerously. He was not one to be fooled around with. And he knew the people here are born of deceit and lies. He knew that because hadn't himself been fooled by them? The throne does not matter to him. Power was never a temptation. He will not become his brother.
"My lord, please do not question me further about this. I am but a lowly witch. I know no further than you, my lord."
"I am not a fool, Anna. And I will not be taken like one either! Tell me what you know!"
Anna lowered her head immediately. "My lord, please simmer down. I can help you ask the elders."
Shane thought for a while. The elders will never tell him. And Anna probably knew as much. It has been years since Shane had tried to free Rindy and Raul from the wrath that had consumed them both. He had tried all means to contact his granny, the witches, his vampires but to no avail. None of them knew about the witches' binding spell. None of them knew where Raul and Rindy were being held captive. None of them knew if they are even alive still.
But Shane knew. Deep within him, he could feel his evil brother still breathing, still stirring amongst the dead. Still waiting.
Shane will not lie to himself. His brother's fate was very much none of his business. Ever since he knew Raul, the man that had taken the woman he ever love, share the same blood as himself. He had lay in the darkness during the night and cursed the poison that had run through his veins. He will only continue on this journey to free them because of Rindy. The thought of her stilled his heart. It calmed him considerably that everything that he had done so far was worth it. Giving up the throne was worth it.
"My lord, is there anything else?" Anna asked in a whisper.
Shane looked at the petite girl standing before him. She had an aura of peace and tranquility about her that reminds him very much of Rindy. Her long brown hair was plaited and it fall down to her hip. She wore a white cape and dress. Shane would have thought her an innocent girl if she wasn't a witch.
"No there is nothing else. You have proved to be worthless. I had wasted my time on you. Go now."
On this, Anna quickly walked away. Shane was left alone in his chambers again.
What is the difference now that I'd given up my throne? He thought. The people of this land continued to worship him because he had defeated the evil Dark Lord. They revered him as the new Dark Lord now. Even though now the matters of the kingdom comes under a council of witches, vampires, and werewolves, he was still a king no less to his people.
However, few people knew of his plans. He had made sure only his most trusted can learn of this plan to free Raul and Rindy. One of them was his granny. Though his granny was a witch of supreme power and authority, she disagrees with the ways of the Witch Council and that make her an ally. Also, his granny had been the one of the few elders that had created the 'key', that will curbed Raul's power. The key, being Rindy.
However, his granny had told him that she does not know about the binding spell because she, too had been kept in the dark about it. Hence, she does not know where Rindy and Raul might be held up or how to free them.
Another person that knew of his secret plan was Virginie, the vampire. He had no intention of telling her at first. But she had make it her business to find out. God knows how many times she had followed him, stuck with him, tailed him and pester him. Shane had finally told her, out of goodwill, and made her swear on her honor never to tell anybody else. A vampire's honor is worth more than blood itself. The secret will be kept save, she had promised.
As Shane made his way back to his chambers, a tiresome troll lunged at him and fall down on his feet infront of him. Shane eyed the dirty slave with much weariness. There were a time when trolls used not to roam on this lands. But his evil brother had make it a habit, or merely a hobby to create them using his dark magic. Trolls born from fallen witches, vampires and werewolves. It was said that they had no soul but were made to follow whoever leads them. Poor stupid
creatures they are, Shane thought. Now, the troll laying infront of him was grayish green in color, with no hair and big ears. Trolls came from all forms and shapes. This was one of the ugliest yet.
"What is it? Speak quickly." Shane commanded.
"The humans are upon us! The humans are upon us!"
Two years ago, Shane would never thought it possible for him to ever get used to these medieval languages. Considering his position now as the unofficial King, he had picked up the ways of the language pretty quickly.
"What? The humans? But how can it be? Do the council know about this?"
"Theys the one who send me to you, my King."
Now this was worrying. He had always known that humans were not dumb creatures as some of his people were led to believe. He had lived alongside humans once! What's with the chaos that had erupted straight after his brother's execution, Night World was in the verge of breakdown. It took Shane every ounce of his strength to try to bring order back to his kingdom. He had heard tales of werewolves, vampires and witches alike sneaking out into the human world, creating chaos, injuring humans along the way and such. It is no wonder that the humans are suspecting something beyond imagination. He suddenly thought of Raul, his brother. Would he have allowed such chaos to take place? Would he have govern his people better?
"I cannot think like this." Shane muttered to himself. "I must believe in my strength." With that, he hurried to see the council.
The council was in a frenzy when Shane flung open the door and entered a room littered with papers, account sheets, notes and books.
"What is going on here?!"
"My lord, you have arrive!" Galadriel, the vampire leader greeted urgently. Others quickly hurried back into their respective seats while Shane took the chairman position.
"Let the council begin." He sighs.
"We have alarming news from the west." Frances, the werewolf leader said quickly, eyeing his other members. "The trolls said they saw large armies of men, armed with disgustingly shiny weapons making their way towards the capital."
"How reliable is this news?"
"Very reliable." Galadriel said softly. "I send my own men to scout and they gave me similar news."
"How many were there?" Shane asked. Already, he was at a loss. He will not go to war with the humans. Yet he would not risk his own people.
"Easily ten thousands. Maybe more on their way." Lilia the witch leader whispered.
"They will not send an army that big unless they are sure we exists." Shane muttered.
"They caught a werewolf. Heard they send him straight to the laboratories. Maybe he gave them the lead." Galadriel said.
"Alfred will never!" Frances snapped." Speaking of which, we have to rescue Alfred. Lord knows what they are doing to him right now!"
"He brought it upon himself!" Galadriel said coldly. "He should have never gone into that stink hole in the first place and messed around with humans. If he's brought back alive, the council will see to his severe punishment!"
"Enough both of you! Let the lord decides." Lilia said.
"There is definitely a way. We will not risk open war with the humans." Shane said.
"But how can we not fight? They are nearing our borders! Soon, the trolls will be overrun!"
Shane knew exactly how his members felt. He felt the same. He was scared and for the first time, not really know which directions he should take. For this was a very important decision. One that may either wipe out his people, or keep them alive.
"We should retreat. Order the trolls guarding the borders to retreat to the Inner Circle."
"Retreat? That's absurd!" Frances growled. "If we put up a fight, we can surely win!"
"Then you look more a fool than I had care to think of!" Shane glared at the werewolf. "It must not be known to you that humans wield incredible weapons. The most up to dated. The most deadly. We only have our instincts and a little of magic to go by. We are no match for them."
This was a blow to all the members. They all seemed depressed.
"What will we do? Retreat and.?" Lilia whispered.
"Retreat and stay cool. Stay hidden. I will talk to the witch elders in the meantime."
And so the command was made, ordering each and every of the trolls to abandon their guarded positions at the towers and retreat into the Inner Circle. Everyone gathered. Bands of vampires, werewolves and witches filled the Inner Circle. They know much was at stake. If the Inner Circle was lost to them, there is only the capital left. And the king. And they will risk their very lives and make sure no foul human will take one step into the capital. The sight would have been glorious, with armies of vampires, were wolves and witches and not to forget the trolls banding together, forming a mighty wall. It would have been such a glorious sight but Shane knew the wall will not hold. As mighty as his people were, as dark and magical as his kingdom was, he knew not to place too much hope. The humans were a force to reckon with. And the only reason why Raul had wanted to unite all the night people to launch a massive attack on the humans. He had disagreed with his brother then. Thought his method to be cruel and sadistic. Now, it is the humans, whom he was trying to protect two years ago, hunting his people down. What irony.
The Witch Elders were as evasive as ever. It took Shane almost an hour before he could find them. They were gathered at the Garden of Eden. Always from the others, from the action.
"My lord has arrive."
"I need your help. Can you create a magic barrier, maybe a mist of some sort to boggle the enemy? Make them retreat?"
"We could but it may not work, my lord. The humans have brought with them a big army. It could only mean one thing. They meant to destroy. They won't easily retreat."
"What will you have me do then?" Shane snapped. "Watch my people die?!"
"The battle is over when it had not yet begun, my lord?" The elder said softly. "There is one thing that will win the battle and that is your faith, my lord. You must believe in your people. You must believe in their strength."
"But the humans."
"The humans are a strong foe, no doubt. But they are also frail. Their minds are weak. We will attack their minds."
" I have been a bad leader. You are right. We will win this. We can win this."
"My lord, it may cheer you to know that the Witch Council are fully behind you in this matter. We will drive the enemy out of our borders, with minimum casualties."
With that, the elders got out of their seats and scurried towards the Inner Circle. It might have been the first time Shane saw the elders ran like that. It was a most sorry sight. He hoped it would be the last time.
By the time Shane got to the Inner Circle, his people were ready. They cheer at the sight of him. It only makes him ever so determined to protect them. One Witch Elder was speaking to the mass.
"The enemy have infiltrate the borders. They have with them the most evil of all weapons. They intend to destroy all of us. Our home, our families. We will not let that happen. We have something they do not have. And that is our natural instinct. The witches can do wonders with magic, the werewolves have incredible strength and the vampires have their cunning. We will win this war. There are many of them, but look at us, there are many of us too. We will destroy the humans. And leave none alive!"
The army roared and howled with excitement. There was anger in their eyes and a frightening thirst for manflesh. Shane did not anticipated this. Had not known about it. He did not like this one bit. Weren't they only suppose to drive the humans out? Why are they talking about massacre?
He hurried to the Witch Elder.
"This is not my plan. Had never been my plan in the first place. I do not mean to kill all the humans."
"A human left alive will remain a thorn, my lord. If we are to finish this business, we have to finish it cleanly."
Then what would be the difference? He had wanted to make Night World a more peaceful place. Maybe in time, a place accepted by humans as well. What would this Night World be any different from the savage dictatorship of his brother two years ago?
Before he could protest to this new turn of events, two hands grabbed him away from the crowd, away from the rage.
He turned around to find the glowing yellow eyes of a vampire.
"Virginie! What are you doing!"
"Quiet down! This is our chance."
"Chance for what!"
"Chance to rescue Raul!" She urged him away. "Comon! Follow me!"
Shane had no choice but to race after the female vampire. In more glorious times, Virginie had been his brother's mistress and seductress. She had been his loyal aide. Now, she lives only to free her master again.
It was no wonder that Raul should be so taken with the vampire. She was lovely to look at, from a distant that is. Hers was of a fiery nature. And her intense loyalty for Raul only make her unpredictably dangerous. Her long straight black hair was both bewitching and alluring. Many humans have fallen under her death spell, only to be mutilated and suck clean later. She was no friendly vampire. And Shane wasn't surprise. Coming from Raul's side, she must have been an equal to his cruelty and evil. But there was something on Virginie's face tonight that were different. Something in her seductive yellow eyes betray traces of sorrow.
"I have followed you enough! Tell me what is going on!"
Virginie stopped in her tracks and tossed her hair. If she wasn't a vampire, Shane would never have put up with her for so long.
"The humans are fighting those midgets right now. Why risk our immortal lives? I say, we take this opportunity to wreck the elders' place and find out the spell to undo Raul!"
"Those midgets that you speak of, are fighting for our home." Shane said lowly. "We have to turn back and help them. The humans are strong."
"Raul is stronger. If we release him, think of what he can do and will do to those bastards."
To this, Shane gave no reply. He knew deep in his heart, that she was right. Raul was stronger. A lot stronger. He will prove to be an untouchable ally.
"Lead me to the Elders' chambers!"
The Witch Elders kept their chambers neat. Every book of spells were neatly stacked against the book shelf. And there might have been thousands of these books. Shane was dejected.
"We will never get the correct spellbook in time! This is pointless!"
"No, I won't give up. We expected this didn't we? We can find that damned book! My honor depends on it!"
And so the two vampires searched head and tails for the book, to which Shane swore he had never laid eyes on. It was like looking for needle in a haystack, or maybe much worst. And during the search, Shane couldn't help but felt that he had forsaken his people. He should have been at the frontline right now, battling the army.
"This is useless!" Virginie finally given up. "We will never find the book in this mess! Look, we have to get a witch here!"
"Everyone else is fighting except us!" Shane rolled his eyes. "We have to get back to them now!"
"I know!" Virginie appeared not to have heard him. "We can get Anna down here. She's the responsible type. I bet she helps to clean this chambers. Maybe the elders confide in her sometimes. She will know!"
"That is pointless. I have asked her myself. And she doesn't know a damn thing."
"She might have been lying to you!"
"So what makes you think she won't lie to us again?"
Virginie frowned slightly. Her beautiful face contorted into anger. "I will kill her myself if she will not tell."
"That isn't going to work. How many witches are you going to kill?" Shane sighed. "I have wasted enough time here. I am going back, with or without you. I have a home to protect." He turned to walk. When he realized that Virginie intends not to follow him, he added "Raul would want a home to return to."
When he closed the door to the Elders' chambers, he was sure he could hear soft crying. He sighs and hurried towards the Inner Circle.
The scene that greeted him was so shocking to Shane, his knees gave way and he fall to the ground. The Inner Circle was in shambles. Bullet holes were everywhere. Bodies.tens of thousands of bodies littered the once majestic crystal floor. There were broken pillars, holes on the floor and mutilated bodies. He could not even recognized humans from his people. They were all so.so wrecked. He was having trouble breathing. For he suddenly recognizes this cold place. It was the place Raul had destroyed two years ago, with his very own hands. There was the same familiar coldness and darkness about it. The same dampness, the same mistiness. He was suddenly very weary. Who had won? Was it them? Or had the Night World been lost to them?
He heard soft footsteps behind him. He could recognized her scent.
"Virginie.I know not what has happen here."
She squat down beside him. "There may be survivors. Let's look about."
And so it took every ounce of strength in Shane to get up and roll over every dead bodies, in the hopes that they may not be a familiar face.
"I remember this place." Virginie suddenly said. Shane knew what she was going to say.
"Raul had almost destroy his own kingdom once. That time when he was so mad at something so insignificant.I can't even recall it."
"It was because of Rindy." Shane muttered.
Virginie spat at her name. "That accursed bitch. She's got Raul eating out of her hands. I wished she remained dead forever!"
The anger welled up inside him at the cursory of Rindy. He strike her down. She was so shocked, she looked up at him with big questioning eyes.
"You."Suddenly, she starts to giggle.
"What's so funny?" The mist around them have thicken considerably. He was having trouble seeing her.
"You've fallen under her spell too, haven't you? Ah.the almighty Rindy. Those midgets were damn right when they say she was a curse. To the royal bloodline that is!"
"You're not talking sense!" He glanced around him. "We shouldn't stay here for too long. Let's go to the capital. There may still be."
"Don't you see at all? My lord?" She utters with sarcasm. " Raul is somewhere here. Still alive. He's waiting to be freed. This must be his doing. No one else can do this."
Shane paused. The feeling was back again. The same dread.
"How can he do this when he's been binded away?"
"Oh he has his ways, he is the dark lord. I do not know how. But I'll wager we probably are the only ones left alive here. Except the few cowards that might have fled into the capital."
The few cowards turn out to be the rest of his council members, a few night people, and the entire Witches clan. Virginie was bitter.
"How is it that the witches suffers no casualty? Did you even fight in the first place?"
"We did fight. We fought to our greatest abilities." Anna quickly protested.
"Save the bickering for later."Shane said. "Tell me, what's happen? We saw the scene at the Inner Circle."
"It was most terrible, my lord." Frances, the werewolf leader quickly said. "We were fighting the humans. They had large weird looking weapons and they shoot out balls of fire. My brave army fought with all their strength but those balls of fire were very large indeed, and very strong. We were almost wipe out."
"Then there was this sudden mist out of nowhere." Galadriel the vampire leader added. "It consumes our men. We lost our sight but not our sense of hearing and smell. We defeated the humans swiftly then."
"Overall, it was a victory, my lord." Lilia, the witch leader concluded.
"Then where are the others? There should be still many of you."
"We send them to the eastern and western borders. We're afraid of humans reinforcements." Frances said.
"We may not have killed every last humans we see. Though we tried to, some may have escaped." Lilia said.
"This will have undesirable consequences. If the public learn of our existence. The humans may then band together even more and we won't be able to hold another attack." Galadriel said.
Shane nodded quietly to all this information. He looked at the elders.
"Did you create that mist to blind the enemies?"
They shook their heads.
Virginie rolled her eyes."So then, what exactly did you do?"
Shane paused. This was all too disturbing. Not only of the fact that the humans may soon learn of their existence but also of the mist that had consumed Inner Circle and is still consuming it now as they speak. It may only be a matter of seconds before the mist reached the capital.
This thought was all on their minds. And they were all thinking the same thing. They had witnessed two years ago, how the mist have turned Night World into a ghastly places, forcing Night people to fled into the human world.
"What do we do about the mist, my lord?" Frances asked.
"I thought he was dead.." Anna muttered softly.
"He cannot be dead, you dimwitted witch!" Virginie snarled.
Galadriel hushed her quickly. She turn to Shane.
"What is your command, my lord?"
Shane had no commands at present. He looked at the elders, who were looking positively awkward at the moment.
"What do you say to this?" Shane asked.
"We have no answers, my lord. The spell was meant to bind for eternity."
Virginie perked up at the mention of the spell, but she kept her silence. Though her yellow eyes were ever watchful.
"What spell did you use?"
The elders were suddenly cautious. "My lord, the spell is ancient to us. We cannot utter its name here."
"Then maybe the spell didn't work." Shane insisted. "Maybe my brother is too powerful for a spell to hold him. Maybe he is working his way towards us right now, amidst that mist!"
"That is impossible! The elders will never make such a grave mistake!" Anna protested quickly."The aurora spell binds even time itself!"
"Oh, so that's the name." Virginie grinned, showing her teeth.
The elders cast Anna a look that was enough to bring the poor girl to tears. She quickly retreated behind.
Shane shrugged. "It don't matter now. We have to think of a way to fend off the mist. Any ideas, council?"
"My scouts have reported that the mist does not appear to dwell in the far borders. Of we retreat to the east and west borders, we should be able to avoid the mist for the time being." Galadriel said.
Shane nodded. "That's promising. Pack whatever important possessions you have and evacuate to the eastern borders."
"Somehow I feel we are nearer to our goals." Virginie nudged Shane. He moved away from her. Right now, he want to focus on bringing hope to his people. Already, tents were set up to make temporary chambers to the night people. Trolls were busy scurrying around, serving food and water to the wounded.
There had been rumors spreading that the evil dark lord was back. And the mist that now covers the Inner Circle to the capital was his doing. This causes much despair and fear and Shane and his council had to calm everyone down. It wasn't easy and though his people appeared to have been much settled into their new environments. The fear was still there. It was in their eyes.
"Shane, have you been listening? We can sneak a peek at the aurora spell later tonight."
"I am not interested."
She was appalled. "And I thought we had common goals."
He eyed her squarely. "We have nothing in common, Virginie. Its about time you come to terms with that."
She shrugged, not the least put off by his offense." I know your weakness, Shane. As you do mine."
He rolled his eyes. He will not hear her stupid ramblings.
"Rindy has been ever in your mind. And your heart."
He grabbed her throat suddenly. That sudden movement caught the vampire completely by surprise. She would have been usually more agile but when it was in Shane's company, she was slack. Shane had shone remarkable gentleness as opposed to a normal vampire will usually behaves. But this strange anger and violence shocked her. She started to choke.
"I will squash you now like a common fly if you weren't my kin." He snarled. Then he let her go when Virginie's face was turning quite green.
She coughs and chokes a bit but her lips turn up into a cunning smile. One that Shane is only all too familiar of.
"You're turning more and more into your brother each day." She grins. "Even your behavior is most alike."
"Shut up." He warns. And she did. Shane was definitely touchy when it comes to topics about Rindy. And Virginie wasn't a dumb vampire. She knows when to keep her mouth shut. Just to secure her immortality.
