I growled in frustration and walked away. Jade followed, but I didn’t want her to. Declan’s behavior was enough to stir up my darkness and it could trigger hers if I let it fully consume me. I had to stop it as soon as possible.
I sat on the bed, resting my elbows on my knees, head in my hands, taking deep breaths. “In,” I thought, “and out. In, and out.” I knew Jade was nearby, but was leaving me alone. I also knew I had to be ready for lots of questions. God, Declan was someone I didn’t even want to think about, but he had shown himself at my house. At my house!!
I felt myself growing more angry. I wouldn’t be able to calm myself if I kept thinking about it. “In, and out. In, and out.”
I felt arms around me. “In, and out,” she whispered.
I opened my eyes and sighed. “Jade, leave me be. I don’t want to lash out.”
“Awww, now why would you?” She asked, kissing my neck seductively.
That tone of voice. Her lustful actions. She wasn’t even frightened by my tone. I turned my head and saw her eyes. They had cast a spell on her. Now both of us had our darkness in the forefront. This had never happened before, aside from the initial spell Damien had forced me to place on Jade. I had no idea what to expect.
I closed my eyes and let her kiss me, my own lust pushing my rational thinking aside. My head screamed at my body to stop, as it would only pull me further in, but I couldn’t. As we continued our little session, the screaming stopped, giving way to complete darkness.
“There you go,” she whispered breathlessly in my ear as she felt the shift.
“I can’t,” I said quietly. “I don’t…” but I stopped myself from speaking. Yes, I could do this, and yes I absolutely did want this.
We didn’t end up going to San My that night. Lust got the better of us over and over until we just couldn’t take it anymore. We practically collapsed on the bed, finally falling asleep in the early morning hours.
Thankfully, Jade’s dark spell wore off. Mine didn’t, but her effect on me wore off. Once again, sitting on the edge of the bed, maybe only three hours after we had fallen asleep, I resumed the position I had been in, reminding myself to breathe. Finally, I felt myself coming back. The darkness began to fade. But as it did, my head started to pound. Great, another thing to worry about. It’s either darkness or a blinding headache. I opened my eyes and the room around me spun. This caused a heavy wave of nausea and I ran to the bathroom.
I gazed at myself in the mirror. I had bags under my eyes, and I could barely open them, but they were brown again. No more darkness.
I got dressed and went downstairs, every light along the way making my head pound even more. As I got into the kitchen, Jade turned around.
“Oh hey! I didn’t expect-whoa.” She saw the condition I was in and stopped me. Looking at the boys, she spoke quietly. “I’d like to imagine that even dark me would have stopped if she knew this would happen.”
I grinned, despite my pain. “It’s not like either of us wanted to.”
She laughed and massaged my temples with her fingertips. I closed my eyes, resting my forehead on hers, feeling the pain slowly melt away.
“You’re perfect,” I whispered.
“Oh hush,” she laughed. “My hands are just natural pain relievers.”
I brought my hand up around the side of her neck and kissed her slowly. She seemed surprised, but followed.
“Jeez,” Ethan rolled his eyes. “Get a room.”
Kyler grinned at him. “You know if you hadn’t been too chicken to stay in the tent like we’d planned, you wouldn’t be seeing this right now.”
Finally, we broke the kiss, laughing quietly at the banter between the boys.
After breakfast, we quickly grabbed our things and left to go back to San My. I needed to be away from the cottage.
The boys quickly ran into Kyler’s room to play video games. Jade pulled me aside on the balcony.
“Who was that guy yesterday?”
Yup, saw this coming.
I sighed. “Let’s sit.”
We sat on the bench, and I started to explain. “His name is Declan Walker. He is another dark sage.” I sighed. “As if we needed more.”
Jade tilted her head. “Don’t do that.”
I waved my hand. “He was the sage of practical magic while Damien was mischief and I was untamed. We were all overthrown by the sages that are now the council; Tess, Kiesha and Ethren. We remained in the realm, doing our own thing, but still bitter. We all started practicing black magic and the three of us made several plots against the realm.” I looked away. “It may not come as a surprise to you that Damien’s plan was to cast a spell to hold the realm hostage.”
Of course, I was describing what Damien actually did, and I helped with. Jade nodded.
“Well, he died trying to execute his plan. Or at least, I thought he did.”
“What was his plan?” She asked quietly.
“Kill the sages. I told him it was dumb. One, he’d never be able to. And two, there was always a new line of sages ready to jump in.” I shrugged. “We warned him. He tried to attack Ethren first and was blasted by powerful magic, throwing him into instant overload.”
“I see,” she nodded.
“Damien and I got even more angry and resentful, and that’s when we started just doing whatever we wanted. We didn’t care about the consequences.” I shook my head. “Anyway, I never expected to see him again. All this time…for decades, I thought he was gone.”
“Well, just another day in paradise,” she sighed.
I nodded. “Yeah. But it’s all coming together now. Declan knows of the legend. He knows Orion is the destroyer. Having a child the same age, he found this as a way in to finally execute the plan that was expected of Orion.” I hung my head. “He couldn’t defeat the sages himself, so he’s using the legend to further his agenda. Thing is, instead of ridding the realm of Ethren, he will rid the realm of all sages, past and present.” I cleared my throat. “Including me.”
“He’s going to force Orion to kill everyone?” Jade asked, shocked.
“Only the sages and anyone who stands in his way.”
“Kyler,” she whispered. “We have to keep him safe.”
“How?” I shook my head. “Declan would easily throw us back into darkness, and we would take his side.”
“I’ll ask Morgyn to cast the spell on us,” she suggested. “We won’t be able to enter the realm.”
“But you’re a sage.”
“They found another one before.” She shrugged.
I sighed. “I don’t know what to do, Jade. This is bad. Very bad.”
She rested her head on me, wrapping her arms around my waist. “Marco, calm down,” she assured me, “everything will be alright, okay? We’ll find a way to make it work.”
I thought for a moment. “Ethan.”
“Hmm?” She asked, lifting her head. “What about him?”
“We had no plans to adopt,” I said. “But he spoke to us in a way we couldn’t understand. What if there was a reason for that?” I looked at her. “What if the protector and restorer are two different spellcasters?”
She raised an eyebrow. “You think Kyler is the restorer, and Ethan is the protector?”
I nodded. “It makes sense.”
“But the legend states the next child born to the destroyer’s mother,” she reminded me.
“It doesn’t talk about another child, because the legend didn’t predict we would adopt one.” I smiled. “Ethan may give us hope “
She smiled as well. “Yes. Now we just need to make a plan for the inevitable.”
I nodded, but sighed. I wanted to stay positive, but it was hard. I knew what Declan was capable of, and if he wanted something, he went to great lengths to get what he wanted.
If he wanted us dead, we would all die.
We went inside again and were startled by a knock at the door shortly after.
I opened the door and Orion brushed past me and into the apartment.
I furrowed my brow. “Sure. Come in.”
He turned toward me. “I heard Danny was looking for me. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He’s the reason you are the way you are,” I explained.
Orion scoffed. “You should know by now that I hear things. If you don’t want trouble, I suggest you actually tell me next time.”
I shrugged. “I’m not obligated to tell you a damn thing.”
He growled. “And you’ll regret that.”
“Let’s not forget who the master of dark magic is.” I glared at him.
He laughed. “Not like you plan to use it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “If I need to, I will.” I stepped closer. “Don’t test me.”
“Ooooh,” Orion stepped closer. “Big bad dark sage, huh?”
“Stop.”
“No! I’ll test you, if you think you’re so tough. Will you follow through?”
I felt myself getting angry. “Damn right I will.”
“To a child you helped raise?”
I stopped. He was right. “If I am in danger, I will defend myself. I don’t care who it is.”
Jade stepped in. “Stop! Orion, leave him be.”
“No, Mother,” he glared at her. “I’ll never stop.” He lifted his hand, conjuring a strong dark magic attack. I was caught off guard, but blocked it.
“Stop, Orion,” I begged. “Please.”
He quickly tried to cast a darkness spell on Jade, to get her to fight with him, but I jumped in front of her. It affected me instead. I felt the shift, but fought it.
“God dammit, boy!” I shouted. “Get out! All you want is a fight! Always. You manipulate us, fight us, and for what? What do you gain?”
He grinned. “The satisfaction of watching you suffer.” He stepped even closer. “Isn’t that what the destroyer does?” He held his hand up, using magic to push me away, but I conjured a shield and came toward him as well.
Jade didn’t know what to do. She was stuck. Being Orion’s mother, she didn’t want to fight him, but she wanted to stop him. No one could stop him without a fight.
Orion managed to get me down on the ground, where I couldn’t fight back as easily. I tried to get back on my feet, but he held me there, pinned. As I struggled, Jade stepped in. She cast a spell that bound his arms, unable to continue his attacks.
“Orion,” she said quietly. “You don’t have to be the destroyer.”
“I am.”
“No. You’re a sweet boy whom I love dearly. Your mind is clouded. Stop this.”
It seemed like she was getting through to him. “I’m sorry, Mother,” he said quietly. This prompted Jade to dismiss her attack. Orion grinned. “Sorry that you have to see this.”
He blasted me with an attack. It absorbed my energy and would kill me if he continued. It was the way Jade had killed me when consumed by darkness. I couldn’t move or do anything, but I felt myself slipping away. Jade tried to stop him, but she wasn’t strong enough.
But Kyler stepped in. Conjuring a counteractive light magic spell, he neutralized Orion’s. He then cast another, paralyzing Orion’s power. He couldn’t cast any more magic.
Jade quickly ran to my rescue, as always. She cast a healing spell, and I felt myself coming back.
“What did you do?” Orion shouted. “What did you do?!”
“I stopped you,” Kyler said, furrowing his brow. “Now leave. You aren’t wanted here. If I die defending my parents, oh well. It’s worth the pain.”
My head started to throb. I grabbed it, wincing.
“Aww, your poor daddy there has a headache,” Orion laughed, heading for the door. “Better brush up on your magic, little bro. You’re going to need it.”
And with that, he was gone.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.