Darkness Awakens

Confusion arises and the one of darkness is arrives.

Chapter 1

The once beautiful dark blue leaf now bears the color of brown and becomes more brittle with every second. The leaf unlatches itself from the thirty foot tall tree and begins the long trip to the ground.  Along with this leaf the rest of the forest is beginning to wither away. When the life of a being ends, a piece of the forest dies with that being. The day this forest dies is the day the entire world of Continentia is destroyed. This is the Lakia forest located in the country of Chevallia.

One after another a cloaked Possagic would emerge from the Lakia forest, each with their own individual style and color. They would walk into the distance, all but one. This one wore a dark red cloak, it was a man who bared the name of Reo of Fire. Reo removed  his hood showing his face. He was a forest dweller. The iris of his eyes were of bright red flames and moved in a constant motion as if they were on fire. His nose was small and pointed; he as well had small ears, high cheek bones, an indented chin, and jagged red hair.

Reo looked up into the clear sky where it glowed blue. In the distance the three moons could be seen illuminating the suns light. It was a sight Reo had not seen for years, since he had been in the Lakia forest for so many years.  A  slight breeze blew over his skin giving him goose bumps. Reo looked into the valley ahead of him seeing that all the other Possagics were far ahead of him. He stood debating if he should follow the possagics. A quick pain struck Reo’s right hand. He grimaced with pain, and turned his right hand over quickly in reaction. On the inside of his right hand was a glowing tattoo of a flame. Reo clinched his hand into a fist and began to march down the valley in the opposite direction of the other Possagics.

Before Reo could take ten steps he was stopped by three white horses with armored knights mounted on them. The knight in the center had gold encrusted armor with dragon designs at the seams. The knight grabbed their helmet and twisted it off. It was a beautiful woman. She had whimsical light brown hair, bright blue eyes, dimples, and a long scar across the bottom of her neck.

“What is a Possagic doing trotting outside of the Lakia Forest,” questioned the woman.

“Chevallia is in grave danger Madame,” replied Reo, “I must speak with the king.”

“This gives you no reason to remove yourself from the forest, for you are only to leave the forest under King William’s permission.”

“We have all left, Scarlett Arlock of Teronia.”

“W-what do you mean, how did you know my name and where I came from?”

“I sense these things Madame.”

“Alfred, Lockner, head south and find the rest of the Possagics.”

“Yes Madame Scarlett,” replied Alfred on the left of Scarlett.

“As you wish…” replied Lockner on the right of Scarlett with red armor and shield that bared the symbol of a crow.

Both of the knights rode off down the valley toward the other Possagics in the distance.

“Now that I think of it, what Element do you possess?” Questioned Scarlett.

“I am Reo of fire.”

“Oh, I’ve heard about you Reo.”

“Ah, have you now?”

“You’re the only survivor of the battle at Mount Teronia during the hundred year war.”

Reo looked down at the ground and scrunched his eyes, “Yes that twas me.”

Scarlett smiled, “Come with me I’ll bring you to the King.”

Scarlett hit her two feet upon the horse’s sides, and the horse quickly began to gallop. Reo ran close behind. Reo came to a sudden halt. He turned his hand to look at his tattoo, it began bleeding and the pain returned. Reo gasped and fell to his knees. Scarlett heard Reo’s gasp and yanked the rope on her horse’s halter and turned around. Reo began to sweat and pant with both of his arms barely holding him up from falling to the ground. Scarlett stopped her horse in front of Reo and jumped off. She barreled to Reo and grabbed his shoulder, “what is it?”

“My Element...”spoke Reo.

“Your element what?”

“My Element is telling me-,” Reo lifted his arm up and pointed, “ I must head northeast Madame. There is something I must do before I see the king.”

“We cannot be taking detours, we must head to the castle at once.”

Reo looked up at Scarlett and picked himself up. He then brushed the dirt off his cloak.

“I’m sorry Scarlett, I must go.”

Reo lifted his hand, his eyes began to glow orange, and a ball of fire began to form in the center of his hand. Reo pitched the fireball toward’s Scarlett’s feet. The fireball exploded in front of her feet. She flew backward into her horse. The horse with fear galloped away. Scarlett lay on the ground moaning from pain.

Reo’s eyes color faded back to their normal state. He turned and sprinted northeast.

*                                                                 *                                   *

 “Stop right there,” yelled Alfred, “don’t move any further.”

The Possagics stopped and turned to look at Alfred. One in particular came forward. He was a little shorter than the rest and looked like a happy fellow. He had light blonde hair and wore a bright green cloak. In his hands he grasped a large walking stick that had a small green leaf growing atop of it.

“’Ello dere,” spoke the possagic, “Da names Wendell of greenery. Why are ye stoppin’ us?”

“You left the forest without permission,” replied Alfred.

“We are headin’ to de Elemental Tower ta discuss da dangers amongst dis land.”

“Dangers?”

“We believe de dark one has returned.”

Lockner hit his feet on the sides of his horse, it galloped to Wendell, halting when he pulled on the reins. He stared down at Wendell with an expressionless face, “What evidence do you have?”

“Most of us saw a visin’ of him burnin’ a village.”

“Do you recognize this village?”

“Yes, yes its da village of Linferdel. Can’t see much importance dere dough.”

Lockner turned and looked at Alfred. Both of their faces were as serious as can be. Lockner nodded, Alfred hit his feet on the side of the horse and rode back the direction they came from. Lockner stayed with the Possagics.

“You come with me,” ordered Lockner pointing at Wendell, “The rest of you may proceed to the Tower.”

“Why ye taking me wit you?” Questioned Wendell.

“I need you to speak with the king,” replied Lockner.

Lockner put his hand out for Wendell. Wendell waddled  to Lockner’s horse and grabbed onto his hand. Lockner tossed Wendell up onto the back of his saddle. Wendell hugged onto Lockner, “I’m not fond of dese horse rides.”

Lockner smirked and hit his feet on the side of the horse and headed in Alfred’s direction. Alfred’s horse came to a halt. It trembled with fear and got onto its hind legs. Alfred fell off the horse onto his back, the horse galloped away in fear into the nearby forest.

“What in God’s name,” growled Alfred, “They always give me the crazy horses.”

Lockner caught up to Alfred and noticed him standing with no horse in sight, “what happened?”

“The horse just went crazy, “replied Alfred, “threw me off and ran away…”

“D-d-dat is why!” Yelled Wendell pointing ahead.

A group of black armored soldiers marched toward them lead by a black cloaked man. A dark ball of flame came crashing into Alfred’s armor. He flew backward, until slamming onto the dirt, leaving a trail.

“We must leave now,” yelled Wendell, “It’s de dark one!”

“Go,” replied Lockner, “I will take care of this.”

Wendell jumped off of the horse and waddled away like a penguin. Lockner stood atop of his saddle and summersaulted onto the ground. The group of knights got at least twenty steps away until they stopped. The black cloaked man stepped forward, “Young knight, why do you step in our path. Do you want to end up like your friend?”

“How dare you harm a Justice Knight,” yelled Lockner as he removed his battered  sword from his red sheath, “You are a threat to Continentia and may not pass!”

“But you do not know who I am?”

“You are dressed like Darius of Darkness. An enemy of Continentia.”

“You bare the armor of the island knights, the symbol of a crow. Why do you fight for Continentia?”

“I do come from the islands, but I’m Lockner Vincent a Justice Knight of Mount Teronia and protector of Continentia.”

“Okay Lockner, protector of Continentia. You are correct, I am Darius of Darkness. Nice to see you again ha-ha-ha.”

Darius removed his hood. His skin was pail, about as white as paper. There was no imperfection on his face. His lips were gray and irises of his eyes black. He wore long straight black hair that went to his shoulders.

“It is a pity you must be killed Lockner,” spoke Darius with an evil smirk, “But you are not worth my time, I’ll have you fight six of my wonderful knights. This should be a fair competition, since you are after all the protector of Continentia. Good Luck..”

Darius created a circle of fire trapping Lockner and six black armored knights. Darius strolled passed Lockner with the rest of his soldiers, laughing. Alfred got up and saw Daruis. He wielded his sword and jolted toward Darius. Without even looking at Alfred, Darius raised his hand. A black fire ball would form under his palm. With a quick swift motion the fire ball flew from his hand and crashed into Alfred’s chest. Alfred rolled down on the dirt, losing his sword.

 As the knights were leaving, the six whom were to fight stood still like statues. Lockner stood patiently waiting for Darius and his soldiers to be out of sight, as so did the six remaining soldiers. Darius could no longer be seen in the distance, Lockner stood looking at the soldiers waiting for the first move.

Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, he focused on the area in between himself and the knights. Each knight stood frozen in place. The circle of fire faded and at the same time each of the knights wielded their swords, each sword looked like new as if they were melded together the night before. The knight closest to Lockner yelled a battle cry and they all charged toward him. Lockner awaited them. The first knight swung at Lockner, with swift movement Lockner ducked and kicked the knight down. He then clashed his sword with the next two in front of him. He yelled. Pushed off the knights and pointed his sword, “Is that all you’ve got?”

With Frustration the knights darted toward Lockner. One by one Lockner would cling his sword against theirs and slice through their armor. Each fell to the ground in pain before they met their fate. Only one remained, the biggest of the bunch. Lockner breathing heavily swung his sword at the last knight and it was quickly blocked. The knight made a thrust at Lockner’s armor. The sword punctured through the red armor into Lockner. Without a wince of pain Lockner kicked the knight, causing the sword to break free from his body. One swing after the other was blocked by the knight. Lockner grew frustrated. He gave out a yell and continuously clashed his sword to the knight’s creating monstrous sparks. The knights sword cracked, until it finally broke in half. Lockner thrusts his sword toward the knight. The knight dodged the attempt and grabbed Lockner’s hand that held the sword. The knight grabbed Lockner by the neck, picked him up into the air, and smashed him into the ground. Lockner got the wind knocked out of him. His sword slipped from his grasp. The knight picked up the sword and readied for the stab. The sword came thrusting down, but stopped inches from Lockner’s armor. The knight gave a girdling sound. He collapsed onto the ground and Alfred stood behind him with a blood stained sword.

Alfred got down on one knee and saw blood dripping from Lockner’s armor, “Lockner, are you able to get up, we need to get you to a mender.”

“I’ll be fine…” Replied Lockner as he fell into a slumber.

“No! You are not going to die on me!”

The bushes from the nearby forest began to shake. Alfred got up and readied his sword. Out came Wendell, “Quickly follow me, ye don’t have much time.”

Alfred put his sword back into his sheath, picked up Lockner and followed Wendell into the forest.

Author's Note

Enjoy.