Chapter Fifteen

Tygra�s dealings with Drake�

Why are you following him?
Tygra continued to follow the sorcerer who has so wickedly taken control of her body however leaving her mind free to question her unwilling act. His guards, demonic and sinister, so much so as their master, watched after them as the two made their way through the maze like halls. After climbing the last flight of stairs to his chambers, Drake allowed Tygra’s influenced body to walk into the room, silently shutting the door behind them.
Standing just a few paces from the door, Tygra stared blankly before her. Drake brushed past her to a set of chairs placed within the back of the room. The chairs where almost throne like with deep red cushions and polished in a way that one could nearly see a perfect reflection. The backs of the chairs revealed carvings of war; the chaos and destruction that it brings.
That suits him well…
Set on a small table before the two chairs was a crystalline ball, dark and clouded on the inside, held up by metallic prongs.
So that is how he’s been keeping an eye on us?
Drake now stood to left of the second chair, watching her intently. “Will you have a seat my dear?”
Tygra felt her stomach turn at the sound of his voice though her body beckoned to his demands. She moved swiftly across the room, sitting slowly into the chair beside him, her eyes fixated on the crystal ball before her.
Drake stepped out before her, touching her forehead firmly but briefly. Tygra felt herself grow weak at first as she leaned back into the chair in a slouched posture, exhausted from whatever it was he had done. After a few moments to recover, Tygra raised herself back up to a sitting position glaring at him angrily, then narrowed her eyes puzzled. I moved myself? she looked to her hands raising them to her face.
Drake stepped back turning from her. “I believe it will be easier to talk with you this way. I can not see you trusting me if I keep you in such a trance forever.”
Tygra lowered her hands, attempting to stand but was too weak to make the effort. “No matter what you do I will not trust you. You kidnapped me from my friends!”
Drake laughed ignoring her comments. “You are a lot stronger in your beliefs then what I have gave you credit for.” he turned back to her his chilling blue eyes piercing through hers. “Jade does not deserve such loyalty. Not with what she has planned to do.”
“You want me to believe you? You’re nothing but a monster just as the legends and stories go!”
“I’m not the monster here, Jade is.” he looked away from her avoiding her eyes. “She’s been lying since the beginning. Yet you’ll continue to believe her lies because you don’t know the truth.”
“The truth? You expect me to believe you will tell me the truth? Don’t make me laugh!”
“You have a time limit, do you know that?” he looked back into Tygra’s eyes. “You have exactly until midnight to do this spell.”
“Midnight?”
“And a sacrifice is needed for the spell to be complete.”
“Sacrifice?”
“A blood sacrifice of an Encryptarian such as your sister and yourself.”
“No! They’re lies! All lies!” Tygra exclaimed, tears coming to her eyes. Her head was beginning to ache badly; confusion creeping in from the back of her mind. Jade has hid a lot from them…but this?
Drake knelt down before her, locking his eyes onto hers. “She was going to have you and Star do the spell for her so your bodies will be taken into the portal instead of hers. By doing this she’ll become all powerful and nothing will survive in her wake. She will destroy our world along with that of the topside.”
“If that’s true,” She began shaking her head, “Then what would it matter to you? You want chaos, you want destruction! Why would you want to stop her?”
Drake grasped her hands in his, startling her by the sudden gesture and looked into his eyes. She felt her heartbeat skip in her chest as she saw, for the first time, warmth within his gaze. “I may seem heartless but I don’t want the worlds destroyed.” he tsked shaking his head briefly. “That was just a rumor spread by her so no one who aid me stopping her plans. Every holocaust was blamed on me in order to ensure her victory.”
What’s going on here? Who should I believe?
What Drake had told her, well it made sense to her, but Jade…she was her best friend. They even lived together! She couldn’t possibly want to harm her or Star. “I-I just don’t know what to believe.” she pulled her hands from his, cradling her face within her hands, willing herself not to weep openly before him.
Drake stood to his feet, turning from her. “Please, believe me Tygra. I’ve been fighting this battle for a very long time alone.” he held out his hand. “Please don’t make me do so any longer. This is Jade‘s last chance for destruction and if you do not help me stop her, it is very well likely she will succeed in destroying both worlds. Please, believe me.”
Tygra looked up from her hands to his outstretched hand. She looked up to his eyes; they seemed so sincere, however there was still something amidst in the words he spoke…
“I believe you.” she said quietly taking his hand. For now…
Drake smiled lifting her to her feet. “Thank you.” he glance back to the crystal ball behind them. “Come on. Let’s see what Jade is putting Star through at the moment.”