Swiftshadow felt his presence before she saw him. Dread and panic steeped into her soul as Julien stepped out of a dark swirling vortex. His dark aura was ten times more pungent than before. Malic's presence flooded the clearing like a tsunami. Six animal shaped gems hung from his neck. Including the panther.
How he had even managed to even get his hands on that was beyond her. Last she knew it was taken into a super secret vault by an top secret organization. No amount of surfing the web would've led him to it. The only way that Swiftshadow could even fathom it was that Malic Korvoth pulled a trick out of his sleeve.
"I told you to stay out of my way," barked Julien.
Cliff and Sky dashed to Strong-paw's side and bared their teeth. Strong-paw stoically studied Julien. The only sign that he picked up on the ambient darkness was his raised hackles. Todd stepped away from the white clad boy clearly sensing something off. Wilson simply hung his head in sadness. Dark shadows skittered and flitted in the trees and shrubs.
"Excuse me." Swiftshadow challenged, "I was having a nice peaceful get together when you came barging in,"
"UUh, Who's-?" Todd shivered.
"Not now Todd!" Stressed Swiftshadow. Gritting her teeth she dug her claws into the moss.
There was no way she could fight him with six gems around his neck. She had only managed to defeat users of a single gem. Even then she had both luck and capable allies on her side. She currently only had Wilson and the Wolves to help. Her brother was no fighter and had no no experience in supernatural dealings.
"Who's this?" Julien arched a brow, "A friend of yours?"
"Leave him out of this," Swiftshadow threatened. Her tail blade thrashed angrily. She would not allow harm come to her brother if she could help it. He was the only family she had left.
"I came here looking for a trinket," Julien noted. "Perhaps you know about it,"
A growl rumbled inside Swiftshadow's throat. "I have nothing that you could possibly want,"
"After doing a bit of research the Celtic Wolf was stolen by a man known as Neal the Eel, who was arrested while attempting to rob the tower of London. According the reports a dragon was seen aiding in his arrest. The Celtic Wolf was never recovered." Julien's snide eloquence grated on her nerves. "I cant help but wonder why did my locator spell lead me to this area?"
"So you did steal that gem," Todd accused. His eyes were daggers digging into her scales.
"Todd-!"
Spears of shadows burst from Julien's feet dragging her brother to the ground. Todd attempted to squirm his way out of the vines. Sky yipped as a darkling rose boring its claws down upon her, yanking her up, holding her tightly in the air. Strong-paw and Cliff bit into its inky shins to little effect. Several more darkling's manifested forming a circle around the moss covered clearing.
"Let them go." She growled baring her teeth. Something fluttered between the pines.
"Here's the deal. You give the gem I'll let you have you're friends back. However if you refuse…," Todd and Sky yelped as the dark vines constricted around them.
The darkness was suffocating. It was if she had plunged deep into the heart of darkness. It made it hard to think. Her heart and mind were being pulled in radically different directions. The logical part of her mind said that giving him the gem would be cataclysmic. Her heart screamed to just give him the thing for it was not worth the lives of both Todd and sky.
The heart screamed louder.
Her body twisted and shifted into it human form. She felt quite vulnerable without her teeth and fire. The darkling's stood unearthly still as she reached into her backpack. The air was still and quiet tinged with a slight chill. Her heart hammered as the pulled out the thermos that housed the wolf gem. A gleeful grin spread across Julien's face while she placed the canister on the ground.
A tendril whipped out snatching the thermos. The lid hissed as the lid was twisted off. Tipping the canister the gem plopped into Julien's waiting hand.
"Well…" Swiftshadow demanded.
Julien glanced at her. "A deals a deal," He tossed the thermos and waved his hand. The shadows binding Todd and Sky melted away. Her brother and the wolves darted to her side.
"Finally, I have them all!" Julien shouted.
A sharp snap interrupted his victory. A sound like ice forming on glass creaked as thin cracks spiderwebbed across each of the gems surfaces. Spreading, splintering inside and out. A sheering glow permeated the gems hearts.
Then it happened.
It was if a nuclear bomb went off.
Darkness consumed the world.
Julien was thrown back into a tree. His head and back ached as he tried to reclaim his breath.
The earth trembled and shook as the dark storm rose. A pillar of shadow and darkness grew from the place he had once been standing. Tendrils dug into the ground like poisonous roots draining the life out of anything that they came into contact. Its trunk grew to be as thick as an ancient redwood. Shadows clawed their way into the heavens like branches choking out the sun like storm clouds. Thousands upon thousands of glittering eyes opened like stars in the evening.
Fighting the torrential winds, Julien hoisted himself off the ground and dusted himself off. Stepping forward he shouted up at the sky. "Malic Korvoth!"
The eyes all turned and focused an him. A wave of of smallness and insignificance washed over him. "I have fulfilled my end. Acted as your servant and freed you of your prison. Now I ask of you to fulfill your end and heal my mother."
A thick roiling laughter shook the earth. "I only promised that her illness would not claim her,"
Shock ran agonizingly through his chest, "We had a deal!"
"I have greater things to do than entertain the ego of of an underdeveloped mortal."
Fury welled within his heart. How dare he renege on his promise. How dare he make his months of struggle be in vain. A hole of shame burned inside Julien's gut that only fuelled his rage. He believed his lies hook, line, and sinker. Followed them without question. His fists clenched as tears burned his eyes.
Reaching inside his suit jacket Julien ripped out a worn sheet of paper. Runes and circles decorated its surface. This was the one thing that could make him pay for his transgression. Searching deep for that dark power that fell hues magic only to find nothing. The power that once flooded his veins was terrifyingly absent. He tried again to summon the energies he'd long become so familiar with only for nothing to come forth.
"Whats going on?" He cried out to his shaking hands.
Malic Korvoth laughed, "You'd think I'd really let you use my own power against me? Don't be so naive. Only a champion of The Beast Spirits has even chance of using such a spell,"
Julien gazed across the clearing. Dragon girl pressed herself up off the forest floor. Her dark hair waved wildly in Malic's storm. A panicked confusion in her eyes stared back at him. She, Julien realized, was his only hope. The worlds only hope.
Grasping the paper tightly he dashed across the meadow. He internally shuddered at the amount of mud woking its way into his shoes treads. Dark spikes rained down upon him barring his path. Infinitely black pillars formed a cage around him. There was no escaping this prison and he no one else to blame but himself.
Glancing up at the ever darkening sky Malic's voice boomed like thunder. "You worked hard for this display of might. It would be cruel of me to not give you some form of reward."
"The only reward I wanted you rescinded," Julien reminded. Malic's countless eyes glittered with all the colours of a corrupted rainbow. Frightful and unsettling. They made him sick with hatred. He wanted to jab each and every one of them with a red hot needle. Scorch them all blind. The thing above him was nothing more that an abomination that needed to be torn apart.
"Since it was you who freed me, It would only be fitting that you shall be the first to taste the full strength of my power."
Julien wanted to kick at the bars of prison on to find his feet locked in place. Shadows clawed their way up his legs dragging him down into their depths. The final ray of sunlight was drowned out for what Julien feared to the final time.
A great beastly roar broke over the gale. Bright silver fire blazed eating away the shadowy prison. The dragon darted around several spikes torching several darkling's.
Julien grinned as the darkness crept over his chest and onto his neck. "Malic Korvoth, You won't get away with this."
A dark spike flew over Swiftshadow's head. If the darkness was suffocating before, she was choking on it now. A twisted gnarled pillar of darkness reached into the sky painting it into a deep black void. It lacked the subtle indigo hues that adorned the night sky. The stars were not stars but eyes. Thousands upon thousands of unblocking eyes that multiplied rapidly as the darkness stretched out to the horizon.
"Fall back!" Strong-paw howled over the wind. Both Sky and Cliff retreated to their pack leader. Wilson climbed a tree to escape the creeping shadows. Swiftshadow blasted soul fire at the trees base scorching away the shadows. She leapt underneath Wilson's branch. The moment she felt him drop into the saddle she sprinted of trying to locate her brother.
"Todd!" She roared. He was scrambling away from a darkling that sliced away the tree separating them. He screamed as the darkling to aim with its razor sharp claws. Swiftshadow charged. There was no way in hell she was losing her brother to Malic korvoth. Blasting the darling into vapour she pounced to Todd's side. "We need to get outa here!"
"Ya think?" Todd retorted steadying himself on her shoulder.
"Julien!" Wilson shouted. looking over her shoulder she saw Julien glaring up at the monstrosity as he was being dragged into the shadows. She cursed. Despite everything she was going to have to save his sorry ass.
Handing Wilson over to Todd she instructed, "Start running, I'll find you when I have Julien."
"Kelsey wait!" Swiftshadow Ignored Todd's plea as she charged across the clearing. Darting around spikes and darkling's. Soul fire left her jaws in an inferno. Malic darkness was spreading faster than it could be scorched away. Dark blades nicked her scales.
In a final push she blasted Julien's prison just as his head disappeared. Before she had even the chance to even comprehend her failure agony tore into her chest. A dark spike penetrated her lower ribcage. Blood and energon spilt from the wound.
Fighting the haze in her eyes she blasted the spike with soul fire. Escape her Instincts commanded. She could only get a few paces in before her feet slipped. The last thing she saw as the world went dark was a bright violet light.