Derek's dream took him to a strange place where nothing seemed to exist. He was alone for a moment. Then, a shadow appeared before him.
The shadow had no face, only the shape of one. It emitted a smoky aura that made Derek feel cold, colder than even the dead of winter.
It made no motion to attack him, but Derek was on his guard.
"You really believe all those lies about the Forbidden Arts?" the voice asked Derek, laughing cynically. "You're even more of a fool than I thought. I created the Forbidden Arts and set them upon the world. I watched as those wizards killed each other. The world was rotting because of the arts, and I waited for my chance to take it.
"But I was not careful enough. When Rothbart mastered them, I knew I couldn't emerge. He was too powerful for even me to attack. You see, being trapped as I am – though I will not be for long – has taken a great effect on my strength. I was lucky when you killed Rothbart, and even more lucky when his corpse fell into the lake.
"I absorbed his power over the years, not an easy task, considering he had amassed a great deal of it, in spite of King William's efforts. So, for killing him, I thank you. But you and Odette must be dealt with before I can take this world."
Derek faced the shadow with great resolve. "I'm not going to let you. You can be as powerful as you like, but you have no place in this world."
"Not now, but only because you're in it. I'll remove you yet."
Derek awoke to find Odette's hand on his shoulder.
"Are you alright?" she asked, looking at a few beads of sweat that rested on his brow.
"I'm fine. Listen."
He told her both what he read and what the voice told him, right down to the last detail, while she listened intently.
"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Odette asked when he was finished.
"Yes."
She sighed. "We have quite a problem on our hands."
"I know."
Silence. Neither one of them could truly express how much they did not want to go through all this again and how much they feared losing the other. Odette in particular had something on her mind as of late, but she struggled with how to say it.
"Derek?"
"Yes, Odette?"
"Do you think maybe… there's a reason for all this? That we're in the middle of it all?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why is it that every time the world is in danger, we're the ones there to stop its destruction?"
"Wrong time, wrong place?" Derek offered, hoping there was no more to the mystery.
"You know that's not true."
He frowned apologetically. "But I don't know the answer."
"Neither do I. But it's not a question to be ignored, is it?"
"Not at all… Come on, let's go to bed. Maybe the next thing the voice will tell us is how to beat it."
XxX
Truthfully, Odette wished she could get away. She wished she and Derek could just hide from it, and be somewhere remote and unreachable where trouble couldn't find them. She was tired of catastrophes and danger. She wanted peace and safety.
Well, she would have safety if she was to run away, but peace was another matter entirely. She would be too wracked with guilt to be at peace with herself.
As she lay awake, feeling oddly alone although Derek was softly snoring beside her, she wondered why she even bothered at all. No matter how hard they fought, how many enemies they beat, there would always be another battle around the corner.
She loved Derek dearly, more than anything or anyone in the world, and this was not the life she wanted with him. In fact, the only upside to the life they were leading was that they had each other.
These thoughts were not the only things keeping her awake. She did not want to hear that voice. Almost any other sound in the world would be more welcome than that.
But she was only human, and sleep soon took its hold.
She felt a great weight on her, something so heavy that she couldn't move any part of her body. She couldn't see.
But then, suddenly, she found that she could move, but only her head and her hands, and only just so. She was shackled.
Her vision then cleared. Before her were the citizens of the village, carrying torches, looking confused and angry. She looked to her side to see Derek trying to put on a brave face. When he looked to her he was saddened to find that she was awake.
"I am sorry," he said. "I failed you, and this is the price we pay for it."
"I don't understand."
Odette looked to her feet, which were set upon something uneven and uncomfortable.
A pile of wood. A pile of wood for a fire.
They were going to be burned.
A man appeared before them. He wore a dark red cloak, with the hood drawn over his face, which was hidden anyway by a white mask.
"People of Swan Lake, I give you your prince and princess."
There were confused murmurs from the crowd.
"They have betrayed you! They have weakened you! They have left you defenseless and they have left you to die!"
The crowd was not moved.
The hooded man walked into the crowd and stopped beside one of the men.
"You! You once described Princess Odette as an angel, did you not? Well, you may be right. Look at your village. It's gone. And your family? Gone as well. An angel? No! The angel. The Angel of Death!"
The crowd cheered as the man walked over to Derek.
"And this man, your prince! Look at him! He can't protect even protect his own wife, let alone an entire kingdom! You've put your lives in these peoples' hands, and look at how they've failed you. They let you burn. Now is your time to let them burn."
The man took a torch from one of the members of the crowd.
The crowd cheered louder as the man walked toward Derek, bent down, and lit the wood. The man stood, turned toward Odette, and looked through his mask into her eyes, instilling in her the greatest fear she had ever known.
He dropped the torch.
"No!"
Odette snapped awake. She was still shaking her head as Derek, who had been startled out of sleep by her outburst, was frantically trying to calm her down.
"Odette! It's okay! It's okay, Odette! I'm here. Shh. I'm here. I'm here."
His voice was a gradual decrescendo as Odette regained her senses.
Derek gently cupped his hands around Odette's face and looked into her eyes.
"It's alright."
"Derek… I was so afraid…"
She was crying. He drew her closer to him and held her a moment, allowing her to let her tears flow onto his shoulder, knowing that this had been no ordinary nightmare.
Finally, she stopped crying, having fully realized that she was in Derek's arms, not shackled to a pole and about to be burned.
"What happened?" he asked.
"We were being burned. A man, a man in a hood… he said it was our fault – the same thing as the voice. In fact, his voice was the voice."
"Then you saw him? What did he look like?"
"I don't know. He had a cloak and a hood and a mask covering his face. I couldn't see him at all."
He nodded. "Then what happened?"
"The whole village was turned against us. They believed the man when he said we brought the attack on them. They were cheering when he lit the-"
She stopped, and a moment later was about to continue when Derek interrupted her.
"It's alright, I understand."
She sighed. "I'm sorry. I lost it for a moment there."
"I did too, remember? This man, whoever he is, is driving us mad. And if he's showing himself, then he's probably gotten stronger and braver."
They talked for a while longer, but they reached a point where there was no more to say. On top of that, Derek had a lot of thinking to do.
It bothered him greatly that this man was challenging his ability to defend Odette. He was certain that she was in very great danger. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to get her away from it.
But she would stay at his side, regardless of the danger. He knew that.
So he'd have to face it alone, without giving her the chance to stubbornly insist that she would stay with her.
Quietly, he snuck out of bed and got dressed. He left the room, and passed through the castle, quiet as a ghost, and made it outside without being bothered by anyone.
It was a warm night out, with only a slight breeze for company. Derek wandered along the shore of the lake.
God, how he hated everything that was going on. He hated that he couldn't protect Odette or prevent what was happening.
"Or maybe I can," he said, looking toward the center of the lake, where Rothbart's corpse had fallen in.
He judged he could swim the distance. He took off his boots and his shirt and waded in, glad the water wasn't too cold. When the water became deep enough, he started to swim. Just before reaching the middle of the lake, he slipped under the surface of the water and opened his eyes.
The water was clear, and Derek could see very well. There were few fish in the lake, and they scurried out of sight before Derek could determine what species they were.
He went deeper, searching for something he was not entirely sure he would recognize, even if he found it.
His search was not in vain. Just before he had to resurface, he saw an unnaturally dark spot in the water. Quickly, so as not to lose his place, he swam to the surface, filled his lungs with air, and dove again.
As he moved closer to the spot, he found that the water became increasingly and inexplicably colder. Still, he pressed on, determine to identify the spot before he once again ran out of air.
The dark spot, he then realized, was approaching him, not the other way around. It threatened to swallow him. He tried to get away from it, but he wasn't fast enough. The darkness drew him in, bringing him to the bottom of the lake, where a human skeleton rested beside a white mask.
The skeleton was weathered and had been there for a few years. Derek determined it to be that of Rothbart, guessing that, like Odette, he was transformed back to his human form in his dying moments.
The mask matched Odette's description of the one from her dream.
"You've found me," the voice whispered. "Congratulations."
Derek couldn't answer the voice and dared not to even move for fear of running out of oxygen before he could reach the surface. He stayed very still.
"I've almost finished with Rothbart. Soon, I'll be free of this watery prison and I'll have the whole world. And you're going to help me."
Derek shook his head negatively.
The voice laughed. "You don't have a choice, dear boy."
Derek, in an effort to escape, began to swim toward the surface, using his strong arms to propel him forward, but he could still feel the darkness's weight dragging him down.
Somehow, he made it, sure that he had escaped. He made for the shore and, upon reaching it, ran away from the lake, watching it for signs of movement. Satisfied that he had truly escaped, he turned around, grabbed his shirt, and headed back toward the castle.
There was an odd rustling in the leaves as he walked back. Several times, Derek stopped to look around, but found no signs of movement – not even the wind, which made the motion of the leaves even more eerie.
He continued back, totally unaware that his shadow was pointed toward the wrong direction for that time of night. He didn't realize that there were eyes on his every move.
Even as he entered the castle through a side door, one that only a few people knew about, climbed the stairs to his and Odette's room, quietly changed, and slipped into bed, he didn't notice that he was being followed.
He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep without knowing that he did not return from the lake alone.
Wow. It's been a while. I've missed you guys. How are you? Well, you'll be expecting an apology and an explanation for why I haven't been updating. Alright then, I'm sorry. And as for the explanation, I have two words: Advanced Placement.I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and I'll update just as soon as I can. Don't forget to review! Thank you so much.
-The Phantom