Wings of Paper - Chapter 9

A Battle Lost

The second I turned to the street where the Dark Warriors were, they saw me. Several ran at me at once, the ones with the bows knocked arrows and aimed them at me. 

Two of the Warriors grabbed me at once, pinching my hands behind my back and forcing me to the ground. One of them pressed a foot into my spine, crushing my lungs. I tried to breathe but the foot was stronger than I was. 

The other Warriors grabbed my sword, tossing it away where it clattered to the ground loudly and far out of my reach. The second Warrior patted me down, searching for hidden weapons. The Warrior didn’t find the knife concealed in my shoe, something I was quite glad for. I knew I would need it. 

The first Warrior finally let me up off the ground and I sucked in a grateful breath. 

“Come, the Master is expecting you.” I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I was reserving my voice for Dee and Dee alone. 

The Warriors kept weapons trained on me at all times as I was marched triumphantly along the houses. No one was witness to my capture, something I was glad for. What if Nigel or one of the other children had been forced to see this. 

My heart was pounding in my chest, my stomach fluttery with nerves. This wasn’t a game, this was my life on the line. Was I really risking it all for a fictional world? 

No, it wasn’t just a world anymore. It was my home away from home, I had to save it. 

The church building was large and though I didn’t know what the villagers worshipped, they obviously cared deeply for the appearance. Or at least they had, until all of them died. 

The pews were thrown aside to allow for a large, empty space, the only exception a small chair in the center. At the front of the room were several large statues of men and women, probably gods and goddesses. Kings and queens. The murals had been destroyed, yet the statues had been spared. It struck me as odd. 

I was unceremoniously dumped into the chair, my legs tied to it with tight rope, arms fastened as well. The bonds were tight and the rope rubbed my skin raw. The Warriors took their places at the windows and at the doors, eliminating any chance of escape. 

“You need to teach your leader about tardiness,” I noted to the Warriors, forgetting about my promise to keep quiet. 

A fist slammed into my gut and I gasped at the impact, doubling over against the ropes and coughing. A small, child Warrior stood beside me. I recognized Nigel, the boy whom we had spoken to at one of the towns. He glared at me, definitely not himself. 

“And you need to learn about not insulting your creations,” a feminine voice whispered. It echoed around the room and I felt goosebumps prickle my arms against my will. It was a voice I knew all too well. But as I looked around, Dee was nowhere to be seen. 

A figure suddenly stepped out of the shadows. She was wearing a black dress that trailed on the ground. Her face mirrored mine except her eyes were darker, mirthless. Her hair cut off at the base of her shoulders but her figure was curvier than mine. Apart from that we could’ve been identical twins. 

The similarity unnerved me. 

“I didn’t know my appearance startled you so much,” Dee commented. Her steps were careful, slow. Everything about her was cold and calculated, she obviously had planned out this exact moment for a long time. “Does it … scare you to see someone so terrible look exactly like you? You don’t like being compared to a monster.” 

She was approaching me slowly. Her eyes glanced over my body, perhaps taking in how much stronger she was than I. 

I didn’t like how well she knew me. She knew that I didn’t like looking so close to someone like her. It was almost as if she was me, yet I knew she wasn’t. She was malevolent, evil to the deepest extent. 

Dee was standing directly in front of me now. Like a serpent she struck my face with the palm of her hand. The impact stung but I grit my teeth and ignored my pain. I wouldn’t let her know that she had caused my discomfort. “That,” she spat. “Was for me. And this is for every. Single. One. Of those. You. Abandoned!” 

She slammed her fist into my shoulder and a tiny groan escaped my lips. I bit my tongue to keep from crying out. Dee seemed satisfied with what she was causing me. 

“What do you want from me?” I asked her, trying to hold the tears back. My shoulder burned like crazy and Dee knew it too. Her smug little grin made me want to smack it off her face. 

“I want many things,” Dee began, pacing around me. “All of which you took from me.” 

I didn’t understand. I had never met her before, much less taken anything from her. What did she mean? 

“You don’t understand, do you?” Dee asked, laughing without humor. “Of course you wouldn’t. You’re too worried about the real heroes, the ones whose stories are worth reading. But what makes a hero a hero? Interesting things? Noble acts? Or is someone born a hero?” 

“If you’re trying to say you’re a hero, you’re dead wrong,” I said before I could stop myself. “You’re the furthest thing from a hero.” 

Dee whipped a knife out of her dress. She pressed the blade to my neck but suddenly seemed to remember who I was. She whistled once and the Warriors came to me. They untied me from the chair but kept my hands and legs bound. They forced me to kneel on the floor and I saw Dee nod. 

“I need you alive, but not unharmed,” Dee said, her voice emotionless. She nodded again to the Warrior behind me. “Do your worst, but he must not die.” A cool blade was pressed on my back and there was a slice as my shirt fell to the floor. 

I heard the crack of the whip before I felt the sting of the pain. It was like lightning spread across my back. I yelped in pain, a small tear spilling from the corner of my eye. I grit my teeth as the whip struck again. And again. The coppery smell of blood began to fill the air and I had taken enough. 

I retreated to my own private corner of my mind where I huddled in the warm, dark air as I waited for the pain to retreat. 

I felt someone wrap bandages around my chest and a shirt was fit over my head. Someone had untied my hands to do this but I was too weak to do anything. I realized there was a sack over my head, cinched at the base of my chin. 

I must’ve blacked out for a bit. 

I heard the rattle of chains and cold metal against my skin. It took me a moment to realize with the musty smell that I must’ve been under the church, maybe in a cellar. 

The sack was removed from my head, though the chains did not budge from my wrists and ankles. My back stung but the bandages helped. Hopefully I wouldn’t scar, though I couldn’t worry about that now. 

As my eyes adjusted to the Darkness I found Dee sitting in front of me. 

“Are you ready to get to business now? I find you quite weak for someone to have created this entire world.” Her words stung but I bit back a retort. I could feel the blade of Kenzie’s knife still in my shoe, and I would make Dee pay. 

“Again, what exactly do you want?” I was tired of this. If she wanted me dead she needed to kill me soon. 

“Am I correct to assume that everyone in your stories has a purpose?” It wasn’t an answer, but I figured Dee was going somewhere, so I nodded. She exhaled slowly, her fists clenching. “What is my purpose?” 

Was this a trick question? I thought that Dee was smart. 

I actually laughed, earning a glare from Dee. I noticed she still had her knife on her and fell silent. “You came all this way to find your purpose? You don’t have one, Dee. I don’t know where you came from, but you were an accident.” 

My words sounded harsh, even to me. But Dee deserved them. She was destroying an entire world for what purpose, to find her reason? Overdramatic much. 

“You’re saying I was never meant to exist,” Dee repeated, her voice low and dangerous. 

I might have crossed a line that had never been meant to be crossed. Dee’s black eyes met mine, loathing in her glare. 

Finally, she spoke. “Then that is your mistake, Luke. You made this entire world but you never made anyone strong enough for it. You never created the hero you needed and when I came along you disowned me. Well this world isn’t good enough for me anymore, and it never has been. This creation is trash.” 

Her words felt like they were personally attacking my heart, and yet she continued. “You created Hiro, but he’s just a weak little prince. Kenzie can’t show emotion even though you created her out of love. Sadie has no life. Sammy’s loyalty will be his downfall. And Alex, that girl you brought with you? She despises you and this entire world.” Dee stared at me and my slowly crumbling hope. “You are nothing. You wanted to be an author but all you are is a failure.” 

It was like being stabbed in the gut with a sword, the blade twisting around and around. 

Dee had just voiced almost everything I had ever worried about. She was reminding me over and over again that I was a nobody, that I wasn’t meant to be an author, that I was a failure. 

“All of this for attention,” I whispered, meeting her eyes again, my own filled with tears. “You’re doing this because you wanted me to notice you. And I did - and I told you that you weren’t meant to be here. I noticed you, now disappear.” 

Dee inhaled deeply. “You destroyed everything I ever wanted. Now I’m going to destroy every single thing you’ve ever loved. And you’re going to watch it all.” 

There was a thump from upstairs and Dee smirked at me. “You’re friends are here, right on time. Who should I kill first? Maybe the little girl, I can make her bodyguard suffer as she slowly dies a painful death.” 

I was about to yell for the others to turn back but Dee waved her hand. The shadows from around the cellar seemed to float in front of me and they attacked me at once, launching themselves into my mouth to form a gag and around my head to keep me blind. I struggled against the chains but Dee punched my shoulder. “Stay quiet and still or I’ll kill you too.” 

The dark silence was terrible. I couldn’t hear, couldn’t see, and I could barely breathe. My heart pounded in my chest and my stomach churned. My friends had no idea what waited for them. Dee would trap them and kill them.

  My mind raced, trying to find out who Dee was. Where had she come from? She seemed to know so much about me, yet only the bad things. Everything she said echoed my own fears. 

I strained against the dark magic she had wrapped around me but it constricted, squeezing my chest like a steel jacket. I was stuck here unless I was rescued. And a rescue was unlikely, my friends were preoccupied. 

Then I felt a cool hand touch my wrist. I tried to scream. Dee was here already? Were my friends already prisoners? I struggled harder but then there was a flicker of light. 

Confusion flooded my thoughts until a face appeared in my vision. Alex’s worried expression stared down at me. “Luke?” She sounded panicked. Her hands snaked their way up my arms searching for anything that would help her unlock my chains. My pockets were empty and my knife would do little good against these chains nor the dark magic binding my lips. 

Alex stared at me for a second before removing something from the waistband of her pants. It was a small hairpin! She inserted it into the locks and twisted until they clicked. I collapsed to the floor, grateful for the allowance of movement. 

When I had caught my breath and regained my strength, I ripped the dark magic away from my mouth. “It’s a trap,” I said, voice quick. “Dee was waiting, she’s going to capture the others and kill them one by one.” Alex’s expression grew even more panicked and she pulled me to my feet. I winced at the pain in my back and shoulder but I forced back the hurt. I couldn’t worry about that, not now. 

Alex led me up the steps and outside into the bright light. I shielded my eyes until they adjusted to the light. Alex passed a sword to me. “I stole it from a Warrior,” she said with a smile. I smiled too, though my stomach was fighting against me. 

I had abandoned Alex and the others. They were probably livid with me, but I couldn’t dwell on that now. 

“C’mon,” Alex said. Together we burst into the church. The whole room was still, Dark Warriors strewn across the floor with my friends standing over them. Dee was nowhere in sight, and we seemed almost successful. That couldn’t be right. 

“Luke?” Hiro asked when he saw me. “You’re okay!” 

Yes, yes I was. But where was Dee? She had to be lying in wait somewhere. I glanced around, but the shadows were all gone, every corner illuminated. Which meant Dee was playing with shadows… 

Before I could leap out of the way, dark cages descended upon us, forcing Alex and I apart. The Dark Warriors dissolved into mist, leaving six cages of black magic scattered around the room. Dee stood at the front, her dress flared around her and her eyes practically gleaming with content. 

“Ah, Luke, I’m so glad you decided to join us,” Dee said, her voice low, almost like a purr. I spat at her, but Dee laughed. “Now, which one to start with.” 

She took her slow, measured steps, inspecting each of her prizes. Kenzie was trying to escape, climbing the bars of her cages. Hiro was glaring at Dee from inside. Sadie was trying to squeeze through the gaps, and Sammy was trying to pry the bars open. Alex and I simply stood there, we knew there was no escape. 

Dee stopped outside of Sadie’s cage. I knew she would start with Sadie. The innocents always died first. Sammy would be forced to watch, and as her bodyguard it would destroy him. Kenzie, Hiro, Alex, and I would be helpless and Sadie would die. 

All because I accidentally created Dee and she wanted to be the only thing left. I would have to pay attention to her then. 

Sadie’s cage morphed into shackles that wound around the girls wrists and feet. Sadie’s eyes widened but she said nothing as Dee approached her, a sword appearing out of thin air in her hand. 

“No!” Sammy screamed. “Take me instead! Take me!” His cries broke my heart, but Dee had nothing to break. She didn’t care anymore. 

Suddenly, I remembered the knife in my shoe. I slumped down, pretending to give up hope. Dee paid me no mind, she loudly debated where she should stick her sword first. I withdrew the knife from my shoe and straightened up. 

I didn’t have good aim, no. Nor was I good with any weapons. But I had an imagination, and that was what mattered. 

I threw the knife and imagined it fixing its spot in Dee’s head. She gasped as the knife struck her temple and hope welled within me, rising. I had won! I had killed Dee! 

But then Dee laughed, a terrible sound. 

She yanked the knife out of her head and the wound closed, leaving no trace. She turned the weapon in her hand, fixing her eyes on me. “You threw this, you thought you could kill me?” She laughed again. “How ironic would it be if I used this very weapon to kill the girl?” 

The blade flashed, suddenly darkening. Dee raised her arm to stab, prompting more screaming from Sammy. 

And in one horrible moment Sadie’s life nearly ended. Dee struck but Sadie rolled aside and the blade missed her by less than a centimeter. Sadie’s eyes sparked and the shackles dissolved, leaving her arms free. 

Sammy’s cage soon did a similar thing and the boy grasped his sword, engaging in a fight with Dee. Swords clashed and sparked as Dee and Sammy sparred. 

Sadie ran to my cage, releasing me, Alex, Kenzie, and Hiro at once. 

“Elves are made of light,” I remembered. Sadie had a slight power over the Darkness. She nodded and Sammy let out a shout for help, ducking as Dee’s blade flew wildly. 

Hiro roared and rushed into battle, attempting to strike Dee from behind. She spun quickly, attacking him too and leaving Sammy to catch his breath. But Hiro was still good with a sword and he launched attacks at Dee, hoping to wear her down. 

Kenzie rushed into to attack as well, distracting Hiro. Dee shot dark magic at Hiro and he flew across the room, slamming into a wall and falling unconscious. 

Kenzie let out a scream, stabbing wildly but missing terribly. She must’ve been too distracted by Hiro to properly fight because Dee waved her arm with a free moment and Kenzie smashed into the wall beside Hiro. Two of our best fighters were down. 

Sadie leapt into a battle with Dee too but the girl did not have Dee’s abilities and quickly fell into a bad position. Sammy jumped in front of her to protect her, but Dee slammed them both instead, sending them careening into the pews where they crumpled to the ground.

Dee wheeled on Alex and me, practically gleaming with sick joy. 

“Don’t you say what a mistake you made?” Dee asked me, approaching slowly. “I am the true hero, these others are just weaknesses that will fail you. And without my help you are just as weak as they are.” 

They were not weak, Dee was simply a cheater. 

Alex began to speak but Dee didn’t hesitate before slamming Alex into the wall with her dark magic. Now it was just Dee and I, locked in a battle with an obvious victor. 

“You could’ve had everything,” Dee spat as she circled me. “Now you have nothing.” 

She lunged for an attack but by then I was ready I ripped my sword from my sheath and stabbed in her direction, but the blade passed through her stomach. Dee took my moment of shock as an opportunity to shove me to the ground. 

My sword clattered away and Dee approached, her blade raised as I scuttled backwards. Just as she prepared to slam her sword down she was attacked from the side. Hiro was stumbling away, clutching his head with one hand his sword with the other. Even dizzy Hiro managed to win the upper hand. I crawled to safety but Dee suddenly launched into a frenzy of attacks. Hiro couldn’t dodge them all and her black blade pierced his side. Hiro let out a cry before falling to the ground. 

I couldn’t tell if he was breathing. 

And then Dee was standing right in front of me, her foot on my chest and her breath warm against my face. A small bruise was appearing under her eye, maybe from a hit by Hiro. 

“I could kill you all now,” Dee threatened. “But I have mercy for now. Enjoy your last days here, Creator.” And with that Dee disappeared into the shadows. The world began to spin and it wasn’t my head, it was actually happening. 

Dee was sending us somewhere far away so we could die and she could win. 

We had lost.