Chapter Two: Dark Game

Wariness and fear were on the other men's faces as they glanced at Darcy and the shadows that had surrounded them.

"What is this?" a soldier asked from behind him.

"A Dark Game," the green-eyed man replied, throwing his dice up into the air and catching them with ease.

"Dark Game?" Porter inquired with a tense frown, directing his gaze back to him.

"That's right."

"Do you think this is wise?" a woman asked from within Darcy's mind.

"I have no other choice."

"Do we have time? The others are close behind."

"This is the quickest way to deal with them."

"I don't like it."

"Do I sense some concern?" he asked her, a playful tone to his voice.

"You know you do," she replied with the same sternness a mother would use to lecture a child. "A dark game isn't something to take lightly. If you lose, there will be dire consequences."

"I know what I'm doing, trust me."

His words did little to calm her. Through their shared consciousness, he felt her unease over their predicament and his decision. He couldn't blame her. More complications had arisen in the last few hours than either of them could have predicted. An outside force he didn't understand was determined to stop them, no matter what it took.

"What kind of trick are you trying to pull?" Porter asked.

He turned his full attention back to his high school nemesis.

For the first time, Porter seemed to be reluctant to face him. In all the years they had known each other, there had never been a moment when he backed down from a challenge. Perhaps the years had graced him with something after all. He wasn't as foolish.

"Are you afraid?" Darcy said with a mocking smirk.

He would have to bait him by bruising his ego if he wanted him to accept.

"What?"

"It's fine if you are. Fear is man's primal instinct when faced with the unknown."

"Who said I was afraid?!" Porter snapped.

"So, you accept my challenge?"

"What do I get out of it if I win?" he replied, taking the bait like Darcy hoped he would.

"The pleasure of dancing over my corpse as you so eloquently put it earlier."

"What's my guarantee you won't try to escape after losing?"

Within seconds, the barrier protecting him vanished along with the eye on his forehead and aura around his body. The only visible remanence of his power was the dark shadows isolating them from the city outside.

"Bring a group of your men over to me, and I'll allow them to have their weapons pointed at me at point-blank range. I wouldn't have the opportunity to defend myself if they were that close."

"What?!" the woman exclaimed in his mind, her concern for his well-being skyrocketing. "Are you mad?! You know as well as I that they may try to shoot you before the end of the game!"

"That is a risk I'm going to have to take."

"This is too much of a gamble! You will die!"

"There is nothing else we can do. I cannot allow them to continue to attack innocent people without punishment."

His response was enough to make her fall silent.

"Take off your cloak first," Porter ordered. "I want to make sure you're not hiding anything."

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"Fine," Darcy agreed, taking off his cloak as instructed and letting it fall to his feet.

Everyone surrounding him scrutinized the green long-sleeved t-shirt and black pants that fit snugly to his form for anything amiss. His only accessory was a large white gold necklace with an upside-down triangle at the center of a hollow ring hung from his neck. At the center, it had an eye similar to the one that had appeared on his forehead not long ago.

"Well?" he asked. "Satisfied?"

Porter nodded then turned his head to look at the five other men standing next to him. "All of you go over there."

"Yes, sir!"

They marched over to stand behind Darcy and pointed their guns at his back. Only an inch was between him and the barrel of their weapons.

Porter stared at him for a few long moments as if assessing the situation, then finally spoke. "What's the game?"

"The rules are simple. We roll the same dice, and the one with the lowest score after three rounds wins."

He would have thought of a game involving some strategy, but he didn't have time. He could only rely on his luck to get him through this.

"You want a game of chance to decide whether you live or die?" Porter asked with amusement.

"Mine won't be the only one determined. Yours and the fate of your men are also on the line."

"What?"

"That is the stakes of this game," Darcy said with a smirk as he shook the dice in his hand. "Are you afraid? You can still back down and let me and the woman go if you do it now."

"As if I'd run away from you!" Porter snarled.

"Very well," he replied as determination spread across his face, and he threw the dice towards the ground. "Let the game begin."

Although wary, the men who weren't poised to shoot him down decided to gather behind their commander to get a closer look. He couldn't help but notice they still all had a hold on their machine guns. It was one sign that they were also under the influence of the dark game he had conjured. A Dark Game always revealed a person's true character and thus determined their fate.

When the dice came to a stop, they landed on a six, two, and three.

"Eleven," he announced.

He could feel the tension in the air as Porter walked forward to pick up the dice. Everyone watched as he shook the dice and threw the objects to the ground. A smirk appeared on his opponent's lips at his first score. Two of the dice had landed on a two and the other, a one.

"Five," Porter stated with a leer.

Darcy crouched down to pick them up without a reply. He knew it was far too early to judge what the outcome of the game would be. However, despite all the trouble they'd encountered tonight, a part of him felt like luck would be on his side. The force that had been trying to stop them couldn't reach here, and he must have had some fortune if he was able to get this far. It gave him a sense of comfort in spite of the high stakes of the game he was playing.

He shook the dice and let them go. They landed on a four, three, and two.

"Nine and eleven make twenty," Porter declared as his leer grew. The crazed blood lust in his eyes revealed itself in all its glory as he spoke his following words. "I can already imagine what it will feel like when I see the light leave your eyes."

He crouched down and took his turn with unfounded confidence. All the soldiers surrounding them seemed to share his certainty that he would win. When the results of his turn were revealed, their assuredness vanished. Porter had rolled a five, six, and four.

They now had the same score.

"Fifteen and five make twenty," Darcy remarked.

The group frowned at him.

"It doesn't matter," Porter replied in an attempt to compose himself. "The game could still go either. We both have one more roll."

"It could," Darcy agreed as he grabbed the dice. He looked into Porter's eyes with confidence in his green eyes as he continued to speak. "Even so, I know fate is on my side."

His opponent's eyes widened in surprise from his bold claim as he released his hold on the dice. Everyone stared at them as they hit the ground and rolled as if in slow motion. A gasp escaped from all the soldier's lips when his final turn came to a conclusion. Each dice had a single dot at the top.

"Twenty-three is my final score."

Porter stared at the dice in horror. Without a doubt, he knew the likelihood of scoring the same thing was slim to none.

"Kill him," he whispered coldly as he swiftly brandished his machine gun. Darcy's eyes widened in alarm. "Kill him!"

"Ian!" the woman shouted in his mind in alarm, calling him by his first name.

He didn't have a chance to see what became of him. She had seized control of his body before he could.

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A gleaming gold light exuded from Ian's body as a see-through sphere of magic sheltered him from their bullets for a second time. The soldiers shooting at him were thrown back when the barrier grew in size and ceased firing as they crashed onto the ground. Many, angry and fearful of the outcome of the dark game, went to shoot at him again only to freeze in terror at his menacing appearance.

The anger of the woman who had taken control of Ian's body was transparent as she glared at their fallen forms with his glowing white eyes. Ian's form had become a shadow of his silhouette as the eye on the center of his forehead and necklace around his neck glowed multiple colors. His hair whipped around in every direction from a mysterious wind created by the power the woman had unleashed.

"W-what?!" Porter exclaimed. "You lied! You said you wouldn't be able to protect yourself!"

She didn't bother forming a response to his words. "You have defied the rules of the dark game," the woman declared, her cold voice filled with barely controlled rage. "It's time for you to be judged."

Rotting corpses of men, women, and children rose up from the earth. Each person was a victim they'd slew in the last month after being given unlimited power by their leader to keep the people in the area in line. And all were innocent and undeserving of their deaths.

"The door of darkness has been opened."

Screams of horror escaped the lips of every soldier as they gripped their machine guns and tried to shoot down the corpses. Undeterred by their useless attempts, the victims continued forward.

She watched without remorse as the corpses brutally attacked them, forcing each man to experience many of the atrocities they had endured upon their deaths. Until, at long last, they pulled them into the earth and down toward the pits of hell.

"Darcy!" Porter screamed out. "I'm sorry! Please! Darcy!"

His cries fell silent as he and his men disappeared from sight.

Their fates had been decided.