Hi everyone. Here's chapter 5. Please email me your comments!! They really let me know whether or not this work is worth the effort. Oh yes, there's naughty words and some sex scenes, so if you're under 18.. well, you know the rules. It's your butt, not mine. ;-) Thanks for reading!
-David.
The Dark One
Chapter 5
"What are we doing here?" Melinda asked in a whisper as John pulled out a flashlight and turned it on.
The beam flickered as John moved it over the paved path. "We have to find the old man," responded a seemingly entranced John. The night was quiet. Unduly silent. No crickets, no owls. "I have to find that root I tripped on -"
Nervously, Melinda exclaimed, "You came out here to find a root?! Why?" She clutched his arm. "John, this is crazy. Something's wrong. I just don't feel right. Please, let's go home." She never spoke so seriously unless she was very frightened. And frightened she was. Her primal sixth sense was telling her something. Danger.
Melinda looked over and noticed that John was clutching some strange object. What on earth? She had been so preoccupied earlier that she hadn't noticed him grabbing it from his apartment. She ran her hand down its lancelike body is a strange reverence. She didn't know why, but it brought out a sense of awe in her. "Demonsdeath," he answered simply. She didn't even have to ask.
"What's it for?" she questioned, hardly aware her lips were moving.
John looked at it with a thoughtful gaze and back at Mel. "I don't know," he answered in a hushed tone, "but I do know I am to have it here at this time. Something's going to happen." The wind picked up. Leaves were scattering around the damp grass. Mel then looked up and screamed. Just in time Jonathan jumped out of the way. A giant vulture swooped down past him and up again. Its wicked beak snapped in anger at its error. Its cold talons restricted and contracted in anticipation of the kill. But vultures aren't hunters... The bird's eyes flashed with a mad fire as it circled.. "Run," John said suddenly. "Run!" They ran with all of their might.
In the distance.. what was that sound.. no it couldn't be! A very loud motor... The bird flew closer and closer. Lower still.. find the target.. Prepare.. open beak, prepare claws.. Yes, he has the object. Take it, take it we must. It glows! Oh how it glows! Bright red does it glow! No matter. Find it, find it and finally rest. Rest after one hundred years of service to the Dark One..
The twigs broke rudely as Jonathan and Melinda dashed over them. There was that sound in the distance.. what was it? Jonathan couldn't place it. Running, running. They were panting. This was getting to be too much for them. But the adrenaline came. Yes, they could go farther. Then out of nowhere, the vulture came. It rushed at John with an unbelievable ferocity. It grabbed.. not for John or Mel, but for Demonsdeath. But that must mean.. Yes, it was a servant of the Dark One. John pulled back his tool with all of his might and blindly swung at the scavenger. "Be gone!" he screamed with all of his might. The vulture flapped its wings and flew off. John dropped to the ground and panted for breath. "You okay, Mel?" he asked looking up at her. But there was no response. She seemed to be clutching her throat... just then, John noticed her necklace pointing skyward. From some deep section of his mind, John thrust Demonsdeath forward, slicing the necklace. The Dark One's vulture skyrocketed suddenly into a tree and was knocked unconscious. Melinda fell to the ground gasping for breath.
Melinda began weeping uncontrollably, like a lost, scared child. She sat up. Through tears and gasps she sobbed, "I want to go home, John. I don't want to return ever, ever again." John looked down at his frightened friend with empathy. He felt her pain.. not again. He could always feel their pain. The air seemed to thicken. "Home.. please," she muttered. She turned her head to the side and fell down again. She began to chant, "Go away go away go away go away.."
The sound was louder now. The motor, loud and violent. The single headlight was getting closer. John whispered down to his weakened friend: "Yes, we have to go." He pulled her up and began to run. The brute saw this movement and followed at a faster rate. Find the boy we must, yes. The Dark One had given him a special gift; the gift of night sight. Like a cat, his evil eyes reflected the light as he zoomed toward his target.
John pulled Melinda away into the bushes and let her lay there, panting and mumbling. Then he ran away from her, grabbing Demonsdeath tightly in a white knuckled grip. "Come here, brute," John madly yelled into the night, "It's me you want after all!" The almost human, almost pig creature sniffed the air and repositioned to John. John began to swing his object in the air. The brute drove his motorcycle full speed at John. Just as it was about to colide, John swung at the front wheel, igniting the tire and causing it to spin wildly out of control. The brute squealed in surprise.
"Massssssster..." it called.
"Why are we here?" asked Cor, looking up at the older Mage.
Cornelius' new teacher looked down at his student and smiled. "My dear boy, there are things that you need to learn outside of magic. First of all, there is life outside of the castle walls. It is time that you learned how others live. And it is said that the bard here has a song for you."
Cornelius sat down on a very uncomfortable stool in a drunkard's inn. Sad overwrought faces were drowning their miseries into alcoholic delights. Most were only semi-conscious. In a corner of the inn near a barely stable fire sat a bard playing his lute. He was finishing a sad song.
"..and looking back upon my life, I found it rather useless. I was of no consequence at all, just a figure full of muses." A few sober members applauded lifelessly. The bard nodded to the few appreciative patrons, but stood upon his sight of Cornelius. As if in a trance, the bard walked and sat by Cor. "Your anam cathram will be very lucky," the bard said, smiling widely. "But alas, admirable glances are not my task here. I am to sing you the old words that you must know.
Lifeshield and Demonsdeath, together they belong. One of the past, the other to be found 'ere long. Each has a story, each has a life. Each has a power to end the Dark One's strife. Lifeshield has a song and she sings it quite well. Listen, and your fears will all be felled.
"I am time and I am death. I am life and I am your breath. Close your eyes now, foolish boy. For when this tale is done, two souls will join and mend into one."
Demonsdeath, 'tis said, has a sad tale of its own. Its journey is harsher and older, as it finds its throne. Pain it heals, but never to the quick, for it must find its mate, or all wounds will be pricked. Listen now to its words, for they are sage and true. And maybe thou wilt learn to love and have three to your crew.
"I am health and I am pain. He takes away, yet I add to thy gain. You must learn to end your hate, or the Dark One will break through the gate. Things are not as they appear. Life is grand, and better sans fear."
So the two tales are told, and yet the journey is long to behold. The two servants must the maker of Evil and return peace. To find him is to battle time, and revolt against one's anger in its prime. Forget not your task, dear lads. Forget not the love to be had. In the end when all is well, joy will come and go in spells."
"John! Get up, please.. Oh god please please.. John," Melindah was sobbing. John then blinked his eyes and looked at Melindah's sobbing face. The Brute was getting up too.
"Did you hear that? The song.. those words.." Suddenly, the brute gifted with night vision jumped upon John and pressed its hand upon his forehead. John screamed in pain. As his empathy began to activate, he saw all the murderous deeds of the Dark One's evil creature. He felt the agony and torture that it had caused. He saw the villages it had burned, the children it had ripped the skin from for its own hungry appetite. John saw the women that it had raped for sport. Jonathan began to sob in pain as he felt each victim's horrible doom. "Away, monster!" John cried.
"Your empathy is your undoing, foolish boy. In your hour of darkness, my power is doubled!" the creature yelled triumphantly. Sensing John's weekness, the Dark One's creature thrust its hands greedily forward, grabbing for Demonsdeath. "And so it is done," the creature grinned, almost to the magical object. But a look of detemination fell upon John's pained face. He swung the object, scraping the Brute's arm. It screamed in pain as a green liquid seeped out of its veins. It then fell to the ground and flew backwards, knocking its head against its motorcycle.
Melanie gazed up at Jonathan in fear and anxiety. "Go," John said, his eyes never leaving the Brute. "Now!" In terror, she jumped up and ran away. The Brute began to growl, and suddenly jumped up leaping after Melanie. "Stop," Jonathan yelled to the pitiful creature. "You want me, not her." The Dark One's creature's eyes grew as it realized this truth. "Come and face your doom," John haughtily yelled, swinging Demonsdeath proudly.
The Brute replied: "Oh foolish boy! You think that only you wield the weapons of power?" It ran to its motorcycle and lifted it up as if it weighed no more than a feather. John backed a step away as he watched the dark instrument transform into a black broadsword before his very eyes. The Brute raised the cursed weapon to the sky yelling, "For my glorious Maker!" The Dark One's creature then glared at John and uttered a snarl. John stood in a crouching stance, his object ever ready for the strike. Then with a primeval roar, the Brute rushed forward to meet John, who then rushed at an equally frantic pace.
The evil black broadsword met with Demonsdeath in a fury of spark and invisible energy. "Foolish child," the Brute growled, swinging down as John met its strike with an equal power, "you cannot defeat the Dark One." The Brute eyed to the side of John's head before swinging powerfully upward again. "He is not human. But he will make this world his!"
"You shall never," John grunted as he swung forward, causing the Brute to step backward while fearfully thrusting its broadsword up to defend itself, "take our world and our time! The prophecies have forseen your wicked task!" Taking another swing, the Dark One's creature gloated.
"That is only," the creature continued, again looking over John's shoulder, "if one of you survives!" At that moment, the Dark One's evil vulture as it flew, with its horribly sharp beak thrust forward as a lance, almost to Jonathan's sword arm. Without thinking, John's weak arm flew out and emitted a green shot of energy that burned the wicked creature to death in midair.
Joshua the Grey looked up at his anam cathram as they quietly walked through the woods. There in his arms was an eagle of the Goddess, cold as ice. Frozen to death in mid-flight. "My love," Joshua said with a tear in his eye, "this is the work of the Dark One. It has begun." William the Seeker rested his loving hand of his partner's shoulder.
"But one of the Dark One's may have sufferred a similar fate."
"I sincerely hope so," answered Joshua. "For this lovely creature was a faithful servant to the Goddess."
In anger as its ambush gone awry, the Dark One's creature thrust its broadsword down upon John with all of its might. He was thrown to the ground in a flash. "Now to finish it," the creature panted. It prepared itself and came running madly at Jonathan, prepared to kill him in his weakness. John was ready this time. He swung the object at the Brute's ankle, chopping off its evil foot. It fell to the ground screaming in pain, clutching its severed limb.
"Here my child, calm down!" cried the old mage. Cor's eyes were still wide from this blatant display of the Dark One's far-reaching power. "We must rejoice, for the Dark One has been deeply struck. One of his great servants have been perilously hurt." Cor was about to ask the mage how he knew this when came the swift reply, "This is because our greatest allies are joined in one way, just as things in life are. But these are but superficial joinings, and by his choice, as the Goddess did not create his minions. This evil was done for his cruel benefit." The mage then whispered a chant in a language not known to man, humming a melody no man could follow, which caused the Bard's feet to repair itself.
"Now my child," the mage calmy continued, "it is time to put your training to the test. Your candle-power must equal mine so that we may protect the life of this great bard. As the Dark One focuses his power upon his wicked servant, doing whatever deeds it is to perform, we must break his waning interest in this Dark-Light bond. Join me now!"