Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2020 14:52:57 -0400
From: Mito Mohamedy <mohamed180996@gmail.com>
Subject: Ashwood University chapter 15

Disclaimer

This story is a work of fiction, any resemblance with real life is just
coincidence. It is a work meant to be funny, romantic and thrilling. If it
offends your belief or religion I ask for forgiveness.

This story contains graphic descriptions of gay male sex. If that may
offend you, or is illegal for your country I suggest leaving now. Sorry
about my English, it is not my native language and I do not live nor the US
or the UK.

Here is Chapter Fifteen ... before I start I want do say sorry to all the
people who were reading this story when it came out. I had most of this
chapter written but the engine slipped my mind. And it did for 2 years. I
know I have no excuse.  But now I'm planning to come back to nifty with
other stories as well.  This story is planned to have a secuel. If you like
this story let me know. Please share your thoughts and comments. I receive
all feedback with an open heart. Come on people let me know what you think
by emailing your thoughts to mohamed180996@gmail.com

If you enjoy reading the stories on nifty, consider donating to the site to
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____________________________________________________________________________
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*Chapter Fifteen ¨C The Battle of Ashwood*

As soon as the golden light disappeared we were on Ferim's temple, we got
out of the temple as soon as we could, we run through the forest heading to
the school. We could see many students outside, in the gardens, I couldn't
find my grandmother Aleksandra but I saw the dean. We got to him and as
soon as he saw us he looked relieved.

"Thank the Gods you are fine," he said

"What is happening in here?" Asked Maman

"A group of Nightcrawlers and Strigoi came from the tunnel and attacked
us," said a man that I knew was a captain of the High Guard who came here
when Syrena was arrested"Your Majesty, luckily not many people were in the
underground levels so we managed to evacuate most of the personal and the
students body before the attackers reached the first floor

"Most?" I asked and he looked down and didn't respond, I knew what he meant
but I needed to hear it" the rest?"

"Presumed dead" responded the captain

"What the fuck?" protested Syrena, I turned to look at her and I saw two
guards putting handcuffs around her wrists

"What are you doing? Release her immediately" Maman ordered but the guards
didn't move

"Sorry your majesty but she is officially under the high guard's authority,
only the council can release her now" said the captain

"Well then arrest me too, I helped her escape," I said

"You are a prince, it is different, you are to be judged by the council
itself once this is over, but I am sure you will be found innocent" added
Sarah

"But that is not fair" I protested

"No it is not, but that is the way it is," said the captain" now please we
have more urgent matters to attend

"Why the ones outside don't leave the castle grounds? as soon as the sun
sets the attackers are going to be able to leave the castle" interrupted
Maman

"We cannot leave," said the Dean

"Why?" asked Ferim speaking for the first time since we got here, the dean
and the captain looked stranged at the group of immortals standing in front
of them

"We are surrounded" responded the captain" They are dark wizards and
witches, most of them have demonic magic" he said looking at Sarah, I
remember now that the Darkstars, Sarah's family, are like royalty for the
underworld, they control from dark wizard to fairies to any being that
lives in the darkness, aka the underworld, that includes many strigoi and
nightcrawlers

"You are not seriously blaming her?" I half asked half protested

"No one is blaming anything on anyone," said the dean

"But it's impossible that Sarah's family attacked the school with her
here," I said again

"You don't know my family, the only thing they care for is power, they
don't care if I am in here" said Sarah looking sad

"But you are the princess, aren't you?" asked Oscar

"My brother is the heir, he is older than me" she responded

"Your brother has an armour made of black metal and his helmet has three
horns?" asked the captain

"yes, how do you know?" asked Sarah

"He is leading the army outside the castle walls"

"What are we going to do?" I asked

"You nothing, we will take care of this," said Maman

"Oh no, I am tired of doing nothing," I said after we discussed for a time
my Maman realised I was as stubborn as she was, all my friends agreed with
me that we have to fight, Claire was helping Maria, the doctor, and
Christianna, the half unicorn, they were treating the wounded.

Professor Helena was trying to bring order in the mass of confused shocked
students, almost every freshman was in shock, they weren't used to this
kind of violence, Gods, not even I was used to this.

"We cannot leave, but we got to find a safe place within the castle grounds
to protect all these people" said the Dean

"I have an idea," said Ferim "we can take everyone to m... Ferim's temple,
we leave someone to stand watch and if someone, not amicable approaches the
only thing they have to do is break the looking glass, the people will be
trapped there but is better that than dead, we could create another door
later" he finished and everybody was liking the idea. My grandmother walked
to the steps in the stair in front of the school. Everybody saw her and
stopped talking, everybody stopped moving, even the wounded suppressed
their moanings.

"We have been attacked, we all now that but we are not going down without a
fight, no one, NO ONE will come to our home and try to destroy it without a
fight first, I know I am asking too much from you but I know many think as
I do, I am not talking you today as a queen, I am talking you as a mother,
as a grandmother, as a friend, I will fight, even if I lose my life in the
process, but I promise you I will do whatever it takes for you to be free
again, all those who don't want to fight are in their right to stand down,
we will offer them protection. All those who do want to fight, do it out of
courage and bravery, don't let yourselves feel fear, and I promise you once
you believe in yourselves you would be unstoppable, so who is with me" My
maman shouted the last part, everybody shouted, some only growled, everyone
wanted to fight. Many freshmen and all the human personnel took shelter in
Ferim's temple, some people from other years took shelter as well, but most
of the people able to fight did it, no one was forced to fight a war that
they didn't want to, many did it out of honour and vows, not only with the
queen of the school but with themselves, that day I learned that honour is
a very important thing. Thank the Gods the armoury was in and adjacent
building along the quarters for the guards, I don't know why a school
should have an armoury but it had dungeons so... Syrena was being held in
the temple as well

The High guard distributed the weapons as well as they could, many people
only had a shield, other's had only knives. I was good with a sword. Since
I was younger my grandmother enrolled me in fencing lessons, archery and
horsemanship; back in the day I thought that was because she wanted me to
look like a rich kid, but now I realize she was preparing me. I was good
with a sword but I was great with a bow, so that was they gave me. When
they finished with the old weapons they started giving firearms to the
people who knew how to use them, the captain handed me a handgun, a
Browning Hi-Power 9x19mm, or so he said, I hadn't ever shot a gun but he
explained me the basics and it wasn't that hard, it was easier than
shooting an arrow, you have to aim and shoot, the difference is that with
an arrow, you have to calculate the wind direction and speed and stuff like
that.

"Nick, we have a problem," said Theo coming my way, a look of distress on
his face, his eyes roamed all over the place, like if he was looking for
something, then I began to sense his pain, he was looking for someone,
Lancelot.

We asked everyone if they have seen Lance, every answer was negative, I
could feel Theo thinking the worst, what if Lance hadn't scaped the castle,
nightcrawlers and Strigois have a personal hate towards Daywalkers.

Our searching was interrupted by MJ, he came running from the other side of
the yard shouting our names, when he reached us he didn't wast a second"
Lance wasn't in the castle when the attack"

"How do you know?" Theo asked desperately

"Chrisson told me, he told me he saw Lance leaving early in the morning"
explained MJ

"He went to Arz??" Theo asked

"He is not sure, he didn't take the stairs or the elevator, Chrisson told
me he saw him taking the main exit"

"SO he either went outside to the human world or he took the old way to
Arz?," I said. The old way is the way that descends the mountain and then
surrounds it

"It doesn't make sense, the old way is only for traditions like the march
yesterday or to bring cars and stuff like that, any other than that is a
long way, without anything to look at" Said Theo

"Maybe he went to Glacier," I said, Glacier is the nearest human town to
this place" Or Everett, maybe he needs something from a human store, whit
his speed he could go there and be back within two hours.

"And when he tried to come back he encountered the army outside the castle"
exclaimed Theo

"Come on Theo, Lance is a very skilled fighter and you know it, maybe he is
hiding somewhere in the forest" I responded

"Maybe they caught him and slaughtered him," Said Theo again

"For the fucking Gods sake could you shut up already" I exploded" I am sure
Lance is okay, at least he has a way to escape we are trapped in here, why
the only way out is the main door?" I knew that before but only now I saw
the inconvenience of it, the stairs down the cliff is also outside the
walls, the cliff inside the walls is impossible to climb, either up or
down. And don't even try flying. The rocks create an air tunnel that any
attempt to fly ends up with your body crushed against the stone wall.


The fear was palpable, people were afraid, that I knew, what I didn't know
was if I was ready for this, I didn't know if I was ready when the archers
took place at the sides of the main door, waiting for the sun to come down
and the beasts to come out, I wasn't the only one struggling, as the
minutes passed and the sun move down little by little fear only grew
stronger in the heart of my friends, when I was certain I couldn't do this,
I was going to lower my bow, I felt someone took position at my back and
his hands hold steady my weapon

"You can do this," said the voice I had been hearing all my life, the voice
that had talked me through many problems before, the voice of the other
person I knew best after myself. the voice I only could give a name a short
time ago" I know you, you can do this" he repeated" I know it is hard, but
you can do it. I know it because I can and even if you don't want to accept
it, we are the same, tell me Nick, tell me you can do this" he exclaimed

"I can't" I whispered

"What?" he shouted at my ear

"I..." I doubted" I can," I said

"LOUDER!!!" he shouted again

"I CAN" I shouted at the moment the sun got down the horizon, as the doors
flew open and the strigoi came running out. at the same moment I let loose
the arrow I was holding, I felt the air that the arrow displaced, I felt
the inertia, I felt the movement of the arrow through the air. I felt as
the point inserted itself deep into the heart of one of the beasts. I kept
shooting, I knew to stop wasn't an option now, I didn't feel his presence
behind me anymore, but either way, I thanked him for his help, I thanked
him for always being there, Eremir, you and I are one and the same.

Sooner than I expected I run out of arrows, and I followed the example of
the ones beside me, I hanged the bow at my back and unsheathed my sword, I
felt Lumini, my sword, vibrate in my hand, I felt her urge to spill the
blood of those who dared to mess with me, or my family because that was
what we all were, a family, I felt the school's barriers tremble, but as
long as I felt it's presence I knew we were safe from the outside, we had
to take care of the strigoi and nightcrawlers first, and that was what I
did, side by side with my friends, we took them all down, one by one, I saw
MJ at my right, taking two at a time and John beside him turned into a
wolf, ripping their heads off with a bite, my grandmother didn't even move,
I knew she was using magic as I saw many strigoi drop dead and turn into
dust. Minutes passed, maybe hours, I wasn't sure, I just knew the time had
passed because now darkness was absolute, in the sky wasn't any trace of
the sun, some people had turned on lights around us, so we wouldn't be in
the dark. The strigoi were very little now, and in no time we had them all
killed, many nightcrawlers, were still inside the castle, waiting, while
the strigoi were bloodthirsty beasts, the nightcrawlers were more human,
more logic, they were waiting until the army of dark magics to come down
and fight us, so they would get us tired, so they could feast on our
blood. A small company stayed near to fight if the vampires decide to
attack, the rest of us motioned towards the gate, as in a cue, as we took
our positions the barrier trembled one more time, and then a crack as the
barrier came down, I saw Ferim appear at my side, in a full golden armour
and two long curved blades, one in each hand, his blonde hair moved in the
air, Eneride was at his side wearing something that resembled more leather
lingerie than a battle garment, I looked back to the school grounds, it was
full of corpses, the vamps were starting to disintegrate but the bodies of
our allies were still intact, I recognized many of them, no one very close
but faces I saw every day in the halls, the body closer to me was the one
of a guy I only had shared with him a couple of His or Hellos, he was in
3rd year, he was an eagle shifter, I didn't know his name but I felt his
loss as if he was part of my family.

"At the end what happens?" I asked to no one in particular, Ferim looked at
the direction I was looking and he realized what I was asking, what happens
after death.

"It depends, the soul goes to the land of the dead and then you either
stay, come back here or your soul gets obliterated."

"So the last one is the premium package," I said jokingly but it was true,
now that I had Eremir's memories and glimpses of many other's lives,
disappearing was the best thing that could happen to a soul, that was the
real eternal rest.

I looked at Ferim, Eneride and Yur, that had appeared at my side too, and a
memory came back, a memory of another life, a memory of a battle like this
one, we were fighting for the same reason, for freedom.

"The last time that we four fought together I died, "I said

"I recall very well that you killed yourself"added Ferim

"So this time I will make sure you don't do anything reckless," said Yur"
Maybe you don't remember, but you were like a father to me" I looked at
Yur, and I remembered a little more, I knew that what he was saying was
true, I put my hand in his cheek and kissed his forehead, and I looked at
him completely, he wasn't as naked as before, now he was wearing pants, He
smiled at me" I see you remember

"Some parts," I said, at that moment my friends and family walked toward
me, John still in his wolf form. At that moment I realised why this time
was different than the last time, I had something Eremir didn't, a big
family, ready to fight beside me until their last breath.

The first gate fell free of it hinges, only one separated us from our
enemies and it would fall any second now, and just when it happened a
dragon came out of nowhere and spat fire over the enemy lines, after that a
full horde of dragons flew over us, burning the enemy army. I saw Kibo jump
in the air and turn into a dragon in midair. A white beautiful dragon
emerged from within her. White dragons, small, fast, agile, one of the
rarest types, They are very rare because one thing that other dragons can
not do, white dragons can make the temperature of the ambient get as low as
to froze everything they touch. and their fire is so hot that can melt even
the coldest ice as if it was nothing. As soon as she turned I felt a cold
attack us. Now that I was connected to her I could felt her every move, the
dragons were annihilating every enemy pass the outer walls, after the
momentaneous shock the horde of dark creatures step forward, making their
move leaving behind their burning comrades. When the rest of the enemy army
was inside the walls the dragon recede, they couldn't attack without the
chance of hurting us, so most of them turned into humans and began to
fight, others remained in dragon form, the smaller ones, and attacked like
that, ripping with their paws and teeth. I was running to meet the enemy. I
was killing them before I knew, I didn't want to think about it. And then I
saw him, he was there in armour as black as the darkest night, I could
barely see him, he had a black cape and his helmet sported five horns. The
dark prince. Sarah's brother and I saw her walking towards him, she had a
sword I had never seen.

SARAH'S POV "Hello, sister," he said

"Hello Maximilian," I said

"Oh Gods, you look terrible," he said, I looked at the tunic and cape I was
wearing, they were white at first but now they were full of dust, dirt, and
blood, it was torn in pieces.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him

"We received an order," he said

"You, Prince Maximilian Darkstar receiving orders?"

"Yes, me, little sister, although they preferred you, but you're out of the
family business," He said, we were circling each other as two wild animals
do before a fight, I had in my hand a sword my mother gave me, it turned
into a ring when it wasn't being used, the sword was called Tritus, the
fire bearer. I turned my hand on fire along with the sword, any other
person would have burned but I was immune to fire. My brother was carrying
our father's sword, Tantos, the dark whisperer, the sword of the royal
Darkstar family, Tritus and Tantos were two swords alike, they were made by
the same person a millennia ago, this two swords had been passed from
generation to generation, The Darkstar bloodline, and like so many others
before them, my father and mother were siblings, married to preserve the
power in the family. But I refused to marry Maximilian. I did before and I
do now.

"You see what you have done to me, I had to rip my heart out for you," he
said

"Oh please don't come up with excuses you did this to yourself, no one ever
asked you to"

"You don't remember little sister, but when you were born you did with
Iromir's mark, everybody loved you, you were the future of the dark
kingdom, and when they introduced you to me I loved you in the instant I
lay eyes on you. When our parents died and you grow everybody knew you were
going to inherit Tantos, and I Tritus, I was the laughing stock of the
court, the weak sissy prince, but I never did anything because I loved you
so much. But when you did Catarsis and abandoned me in that castle, I knew
you did not love me as I did to you, and when they saw their only hope was
the weak and sissy prince they abused me, they raped me, they treated me
like a dog, It builds character, said our uncle. I always hoped you would
come back and save me, but you didn't. SO when I did the spell to cast my
feelings away, I had the balls to fight back, I raped and killed every
single man and woman in the dark court that had ever laid a finger on me,
so I took the regency from our uncle and become the king of the dark court"
he said the battle around us was raging, but we were like on a bubble

"Sorry Max I had no idea," I said

"Of course, you were too short-sighted to see what was happening, you never
cared for me," he said

"I did, but I needed to go away and you know it"

"You should have taken me with you," he said and I know it was true, I
abandoned him to his luck in the dark court.

"It is late to ask for your forgiveness?"

"It is, little sister, too late," he said and Tantos began to get covered
by frost and to suck light, it was difficult to see it in the dim light of
the yard. He jumped and attacked me with it, I blocked the attack with
Tritus, and something unusual happened, the collision created a blast of
energy that sent us both in opposite ways.


John POV The battle was at its full, I was on my wolf shape, I heard an
explosion to my left and I looked in that direction and I saw Sarah shot
through the air, she recovered quickly and landed softly on her
feet. Obviously levitating, I looked in front of me and attacked one of the
dark soldiers. the flavour of blood in my mouth was overwhelming, more
often than I wished I felt attracted by it. As I was attacking another
soldier I felt a weird pressure on one of my back legs, I looked at it and
there was a silver anklet with some inscriptions on it, I have never seen
one but I know of it, every wolf shifter knows of it, these bracelets make
us lose control of our shifting. I began to feel numbness on my leg, a
numbness that spread itself all over my body, I turned to my human form in
less than a second, I could manage to fight a couple of soldiers in my
human form but as long as I had the anklet on I was just a human, I could
not even fight with my usual strength. O was strong, but not strong enough,
and sooner than I thought I was on the floor, about to be slashed by one of
my enemies blades when with a hard thud I felt his body fell dead by my
side, I looked at it and his head was almost completely severed from his
neck, I looked up and saw MJ standing there with his sword on his hand
covered in blood. He was breathing heavy.

"How did you do that?" I asked in shock

"You are not the only one with superhuman strength, you know," he said then
he put his blade on the anklet and this one began to get hot, and it melted
a little breaking down the spell "and it helps when the blade is super hot"
he said with a smirk

"Thanks" was all I said before I transformed into a wolf again, the anklet
broke off my ankle.

MJ nodded and flew on the other direction, killing soldiers as he passed by
I resumed the fight unleashing the beast in me.

As I fought I looked around and saw that the battle was losing momentum,
and thankfully I saw more alive allies than enemies so maybe we were
winning, I kept fighting when I saw Syrena running towards Nick, I ran in
his direction too because the last thing I knew was that Syrena was being
held in the temple.

NICK POV

Finally, the battle was winding down, and it looked like we were winning,
Ferim and the other gods were ferocious, people died in groups of three or
four under their blades, Suddenly I heard someone calling my name, I looked
around me and I saw Syrena heading my way

"Syrena what are you doing here?" I asked as John arrived by our side too
and growled

"one of the guards released me," she said

"Why?"

"Because of that," she said pointing to a horde of vampires coming in our
direction

"Fuck," I said" There are too many of them

"I know," Syrena said

"And now we are all weak" added Theo who was beside us

"What can we do?" I asked

"You nothing, this one is on me" added Theo

"What do you mean?" I asked

"I'm going to show you what us daywalkers are really good for" he added
very cryptically I looked at Syre and she shrugged, she was as clueless as
me. I looked at the horde at the moment they reached the battle they
managed to attack some people, some of us, but also some of our enemies,
they were merciless, they were here just for the blood, Theo reached them
in a blink, and like when in a room someone says something important all
the strigoi and nightcrawlers stopped in their tracks, everything was
consumed by silence, something was happening and they knew it, the rest of
us simply was confused. Suddenly some of the vampires tried to run away but
other daywalkers from the school prevented them, and so it happened, Theo
removed his shirt

"I love this shirt," he said as if nothing was happening then looked at
Syrena and motioned his lips in a mute I love you, then he looked forward
and I swear I could see the horror in the vampires' faces, some of them
even knelt in surrender, they recognized Theo somehow, and then was when I
remembered, but it was only a theory, just that it wasn't, it was real, and
it was happening in front of me

"SOLARIS" yelled Theo and opened his arms, nothing happened and some
vampires laughed but Theo skin began to glow slowly, until he exploded in
light.


THEO POV I have never done this, I wasn't even sure it would work, but it
did, I felt the light emanate from my body, just as I imagined it would. it
was blinding, but I could see the strigoi start to burn and disappear in a
bunch of ashes, it felt incredible to hold this much power. I knew the
cost, but I would choose to turn into stone a thousand times to save my
friends.


Sarah POV I managed to get to my brother before the Solaris from Theo
reached us, the thing is that Theo's light was so powerful that it
incapacitated Tantos so I got to disarm my brother, he wasn't the best of
swordsmen, he wasn't even the best in the family, I was, I took tantos with
my other hand and pointed the swords to my brother, but the light came and
absorbed us.

Everything was a little blurry when the light disappeared but I could see
enough to notice that Maximilian was gone but I still had the swords. When
I could see again I looked in Theo's direction and there he was with his
hands on his knees and breathing heavy, he was still alive. After the
moment of shock, the battle carried on.

I was looking around to see if I could locate any of my friends when I
looked at Professor Will

"SARAH! BEHIND YOU" he screamed and I turned around but it was too late a
sword was centimetres away from my neck, this was it, my death, I didn't
close my eyes, I wanted to see the moment my soul left this world, the
blade crashed against my neck and instead of cutting through it the blade
shattered in a million pieces the man looked surprised, as surprised as I
was but I didn't waste any time, I stabbed him in the heart with Tritus
when he felt to the ground I looked at my skin it was glowing, the same
glow I have seen in Ferim and his sons and daughters but it was fading
little by little I around and saw Yur beside me, he looked scared and
shaken but he was also different, he wasn't glowing anymore.

"What?" I started but he shushed me

"Not important right now, let's get this over with shall we, hit your
swords together"

"Ok," I said still in shock I turned around again I looked at both my
swords and I knew what he wanted me to do



NICK POV I was running at Sarah the moment I heard Professor Will warn her,
I saw everything, I knew what Yur had done. I was almost there when Sarah
turned around and lifted the swords, and they collided over her head so
hard that a blast emanated from it, the boom was so loud that everyone
turned in its direction. Sarah was not dressed in her cloak anymore, an
armour made of bones and gold was protecting her body, a pair of wings made
of the same bones and gold opened behind her coming from her shoulder
blades, a golden skull covered her face and Five horns came from it, it was
beautiful.

All the dark army suddenly dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, I
understood what was happening, Sarah was now the rightful queen of the Dark
Court.


The front yard of the school was littered with corpses, to the sides, it
had been installed an impromptu campaign hospital, Dr Stephanopoulos was
yelling and ordering around the members of the High Guard who knew healing
magic, I was seating by the entrance of the tent along with several others
waiting to be inspected, classified and treated, I had a few scratches and
shallow cuts, and my left shoulder hurt when I moved it, but it was nothing
urgent or important, it could wait for others to get treated.  I wanted to
help scout the castle to see if we could find survivors. I knew Babushka
was alive and well she had sent a telepathic message to me and several
others, she had Luzeiza with her and many students and staff, at least 64
she counted, one of the students was hurt but Luzeiza had put her in stasis
so she could wait to get treated. They were locked inside of the Room of
the Lost Steps so they couldn't assess the situation in the rest of the
castle.

"Next" called the guard that was classifying us, but I was lost to my
thoughts and didn't realize it was my turn

"That would be you, your Highness," said the student that was seating
beside me

"Yeah sorry," I said standing up

"Don't be, we all are in shock right now, but you fought well, I am
honoured to call you my Prince," he said and bowed his head, I bowed mine
as well.

One of the guards inside inspected me and asked me some questions, he wrote
things in a sheet of paper and gave me a slip of paper with a number and a
colour tag on it, mine was green, he directed me to an area were several
people with green tags were laying on folding cots, I laid down in an empty
one and waited to be treated, two nurses were in this area they were
cleaning and treating the injured. When it was my turn the male nurse
approached.

"Oh your highness, you shouldn't have waited," he said urgently

"Of course I should have, I'm no different than anyone else and besides
it's nothing," I said pointing to my wounds,

"Ok, please remove your shirt, it looks kind of minor, I'll just clean them
and if you like we can heal them but with normal treatment and bandages it
would be enough, that shoulder though" he said positioning his hands on my
shoulder "It seems to be a minor abrasion but it will hurt like hell in the
long run" he moved his hands to my chest "One rib has a fissure, it's not
yet broken but almost" he prepped a needle with a clear golden liquid, I
extended my arm and he injected it in the veins of my elbow flexure

"What's that for?" I asked when he removed the needle, but he shushed me,
he started humming and moving his hands all over my naked torso, I felt a
weir vibration moving through me, he then positioned his hands over my
ribcage and I felt the vibration get stronger, he was fixing my fissured
rib, he then moved one hand to my shoulder and with a second one pushed my
shoulder into place, it hurt a little but the vibration got stronger and in
no time the pain was very dull. The nurse moved his hands one more time
over my torso then moved to my legs and when he got to my knees he moved
the hand in my right leg up again while the left one descended to my
foot. The hand that was going up went to my neck and head. it was weird to
feel my head vibrate.

"I fixed your rib and shoulder, they will take a few days to heal
completely, but everything will be ok, that was a special medicine made out
of gold and other elements to help heal bones and joints. Now I'll clean
your wounds" he brought a bowl of water and he controlled the water, he
started humming again with a different tone and began spreading the water
over my torso, the water clung to my skin and spread out to my arms and
legs, it stung a little when it came in contact with the wounds, the water
reached my face and it cleansed everything there, the nurse hummed a little
louder and the mild sting became intense, he then removed his hands and the
water came off of my skin it collected into a ball over me and started
boiling until it disappeared, the humming stopped and he began applying an
ointment to the wounds and putting bandages on them, he then prepped
another needle.

"That one is..." I said, maybe it was a magic serum of some sort

"Antibiotic" he completed with a smirk "and this one," he said injecting me
in my deltoid muscle "its a tetanus shot reactivation" he added "you are
free to go"

"Anything I can do to help?" I asked

"Do you know any healing magic?"

"No" I responded

"Can you recreate what I just did? to clean the wounds"

"Yeah," I said and recreated the hum he made, it was hard at first but then
I got it right

"Perfect, you are a natural, just go around cleaning the wounds"

"Sorry I can't do more," I said

"Don't be, that would be of great help, while you do that we can
concentrate on other stuff that needs more knowledge" he left and I did
that, I washed my hands and then began cleaning and curing the small
wounds, I knew first aid so I managed to applied bandages to the wounds
that didn't need sutures.

"Your Highness," said a guard who walked into the tent, and approached me
"There is a meeting in the command centre, the queen has asked for your
presence there, they are waiting for you"

"Really?"

"Yes, please come with me"

"Ok, just give me a second to finish with this person and I'll go," I
said. After I finished I followed the guard, when I was leaving the male
nurse came to me

"Thank you for your help, it was much appreciated, My name is Julius Myrtle
if you ever need something don't doubt to ask me" he said and extended his
hand I shook it

"I will, thank you" I followed the guard outside I had been inside of the
tent for almost two hours, the sky was very dark, I looked at my clock, 4
am, The sun would not rise for another 3 hours. The corpses in the field
were almost all collected they were being positioned to the side with white
sheets covering them. The command centre was in the Guard's building, when
I came in people were seating on a table, Maman was there along with Dean
Ashwood and the captain of the guard, others had arrived from outside, like
Duke Lyon and a man who had many medals and his shoulder pad showed he was
a high-rank officer

"Sorry for the delay," I said as I entered

"Don't be, we know you were helping with the wounded," Maman said I saw
Kito Ryu was seating at the table as well he was the Dragons leader after
all.

"Well, shall we start?" asked the dean pointing to an empty chair beside
Maman, I sat

"The castle has almost been scouted completely, the room of the lost steps
unsealed so we brought the wounded out, teller Aleksandra and Luzaiza
stayed behind to register what happened into the walls" said the captain
"We also found three other groups of survivors, small groups but it is
something, the death count is at the moment 130 students and staff and 70
guards, the wounded rise up to 500 between students, staff and members of
the guard" he said I could feel the sadness in his voice, I knew we had
casualties but knowing the numbers was another thing.

"We took 200 prisoners, but Prince Maximillian is not among them," said
Dean ashwood.

"Sarah should be here," I said, I thought I said it low but everyone turned
to me

"Why?" asked Duke Lyon amused

"Well she is the new Dark Queen, they are her army now so she should be
given the right to speak" I responded

"You are right," said Maman, she looked at the high ranking officer "With
her as the Queen the dark army is not our enemy any more, they were
following orders"

"Very well, we will have an audience with her about the matter," said the
man "For now let's focus on more pressing matters, we need to start
securing the castle and the grounds and begin the preparations for the
funeral"

"Yes General McEntyre, as soon as we had identified all the corpses we will
communicate it to their families," said the captain

"We need to make a public statement," said Duke Lyon

We stayed there for another hour discussing the preparations and how would
we proceed, Maman went to make a public announcement, the castle was
declared completely safe to return, the tunnels were sealed and we could
return to our dorms, the lower floors were completely trashed and a few
corpses were scattered around, all of them were covered in white sheets and
were being moved to the yard. Some of the staff started cleaning the common
areas I went to the room of the lost steps to see how my grandmother was
doing, she was reciting everything that happened and the walls were being
filled with inscriptions. I hugged her and stayed like that for a while,
then I went to my room.

Most of my friends were there, Alex had a few bandages on him but John, MJ
and Theo were already healing, Stella was seated on the floor with her head
in her hands, but other than the psychological wounds she was fine.

"How is everyone?" I asked

"More or less ok" answered John, he was limping on his left leg, I could
see a red scar on his ankle

"Where are the others?" I asked

"Well, Sarah was called to speak with the general about the dark army,
Syrena was taken into custody again but instead of the dungeons, she is
being held in one of the rooms, the fact that she came back to help will be
used in her favour" said Alex "Gert and Oscar are ok, they are just helping
around, Kibo is with the other dragons and Lance is nowhere to be found"
the last part was said whit a lot of sadness and fear

Suddenly the door barged open and a vampire walked in "Theo, come quickly
Lance is in the front yard looking for you"

As soon as he finished we all ran downstairs, effectively Lance was in the
front yard, he hugged Theo and then Alex.

"Where were you? asked Theo

"Out, I was walking through the woods when it all happened, I stayed out of
sight until now" he responded

<<NICK>> I felt Catania's voice in my mind <<Lance wanted me to give you
this>> she said again and I felt a dagger appear in my hand, the dagger was
a special dagger made to expel demons who were possessing people.  I looked
at lance and something was off with him, his eyes looked darker, he came to
hug me

"Nick My friend how are you?" he asked loudly but then he whispered "Do it,
now, please" I looked at him weirded out and suddenly I felt his fangs in
my neck, he was bitting me

"Lance, what are you doing?, LANCE" shouted Theo and ran toward us, but
Lance stopped him rising his hand. I knew what had to be done, I took the
dagger and stabbed him in his stomach. I never thought I would be on this
place, my hand stood firm as I pushed the dagger through the skin of one of
my friends.

As soon as I removed the dagger a black liquid started pouring out of the
wound. Lance fell backwards and started squirming in pain.

"What is happening?" asked Theo with a tear in his eyes

"I don't know he sent me this dagger," I said, the black liquid started
pooling around him and then a shape began emerging out of it, a horned
monster came out of it, it was tall and black as tar, he started squirming
as well, he then shouted

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS" he shouted and then disintegrated in millions of
pieces. as soon as he vanished Lance stopped squirming

"Thank you," he said without raising from the floor, he looked weak now

"What just happened?" I asked

"That demon had been inside of my since I was little, he wanted you dead"
Lance said "I managed to get the dagger and send it to you one time he was
dormant"

"So you have been a demon all of this time?"Asked Theo

"Remember as people used to say I was born very weak and sick, but then
suddenly I recovered?" lance said

"Yes"

"Well, father put that demon inside of me"

"So all of this had been a lie?" asked Alex sad

"Yes and no, when I was with you it was the real me, the demon was
disgusted by love, especially gay love, that was why I fucked around, to
keep him at bay, but every time I was with you he went dormant, he hated
your guts," Lance said with a smile. "I hope all of you can forgive me"

"There is nothing to forgive," I said I looked around, a crowd had gathered
around us, even some guards ready to strike Lance "Lower your weapons," I
said and they followed my command

"I killed that man," Lance said, he had a weird whine in his voice, he
sounded very weak and sick, like if it was hard to breathe "Say Syrena I'm
sorry, I love you all"

"We love you too," said Teho hugging his brother "Are you dying?"

"Yes, I should have never been alive, to begin with," Lance started
coughing "Can I please see the dawn one last time?" he asked. Theo lifted
him and carried him to the edge of the cliff, facing east, the sun was
almost coming out. Alex hugged him as well. "I will always love you"

"I will love you forever too," said Alex and kissed him, we stood like that
watching the sun coming out of the horizon.

"Goodbye," Lance said one last time and slowly started turning into
stone. we were all crying none stop when he turned completely into stone,
he started vanishing, being dragged like sand by the wind, only his heart
stayed behind, it was made pf pure Onyx.


Epilogue It had been a week since the attack, the funeral had been carried
away a few days ago, all the families and friends of the victims were here,
all the bodies were laid down on the grass and their names whispered into
tiny cristal balls, making the bodies burn into ashes and flowed into the
balls, then the balls were taken to the sea where mermaids took them to the
earthly entrance to the river of souls. Syrena had been freed and all
charges against her dropped. Theo had crushed Lance's hart into several
pieces and gave one to each one of us, as vampire tradition stated. The
school had been suspended, today we were going home until new notice. Many
students had asked to be changed into other schools or simply dropped
out. It had been less than two months ago the last time I came home, but it
fell like years, centuries, so much had happened already, and so much more
would happen. We had lost friends, cousins, lovers, family. I would say I
would never forget Lance, but forgetting him was impossible, as he was
always there, lurking in the corners, in the shadows, taking care of the
ones he left behind.

I have changed a lot since this all started, and I know I will keep
changing, but I have my family and my circle and I know that no matter
what, no matter when no matter where they would be always with me.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

That's all for now folks ... This is Chapter Fifteen. This concludes
the Book One of Ashwood University.

Again I apologize for the long time it took me to finish this. I was going
through dark times in my life. I actually stopped writing altogether. But
now I'm back A it again. Thank you for reading it.

Let me know what you think as it really helps to inspire me... Write me
with your feedback and comments and ideas at mohamed180996@gmail.com


Thanks