Week 2
This morning I wake up the with intent of having the day to myself. The whole reason we came to Chopver is to see how we can put a stop to Darkness before he takes over the whole kingdom with evil. The situation with Xavier can wait. There is no point with having the possibility of getting attached to him if Darkness is just going to come and destroy anything we have.
I get ready for the day and head over to the door that leads to the hallway. Walking out into the hallway fills me with a heavy feeling. Like someone who has the intent to kill is watching my every move. Every inch of my body shivers and the mountains on my skin grow as the chills run down my spine.
Shaking my head, I continue down the hall and into the training room where my brothers and I agreed to meet the night before. My footsteps echo as I seem to be the only one in the hallway but then I hear a faint set of footsteps behind me. My hair continues to stand up on my body and I grab a glint from the sheath on my hip. Squeezing the glint at the base of the handle, I prepare both my mind and body for a fight that is about to happen.
I stop walking, trying to hear exactly how far away the footsteps are from me. Thudding from the person’s heals grow louder and louder but the pace doesn’t pick up. They obviously are not in a hurry to get to me so I turn around to try and see the face of my opponent.
The eyes that meet mine are someone’s I never would have thought as an enemy. There is no evil on the face, only intent of a mission. Maybe one he was just told to do.
“Your highness,” the man in front of me says. He stops in his track and immediately bows.
Air leaves my lungs as I take in the fact that there is no threat. Why am I so on edge? The castle is safe and there are so many soldiers to fight whoever is a possible threat to the kingdom.
“Hammonet,” I reply. “You can’t sneak up on me like that. You could have gotten yourself killed.”
I feel bad for blaming this on him. It’s not his fault that I thought he was an enemy. He works in this castle and he has every right to be in here and do his duty in protecting The Magnificents.
“My apologies, it will not happen again. I was just on my way to relieve the soldiers of last night’s duty.”
“Continue the shift change,” I command.
He stands up from the bow and nods at me. I let him walk past me before I start heading to the training room again.
The feeling of disappointment overwhelms me. I’m glad it wasn’t a threat but why was I hoping it was someone else. Someone that I haven’t been able to get my mind off of lately.
Xavier.
His face pops in my mind and my cheeks immediately heat up. Shaking my head in attempt to get him out my head doesn’t work and so I just focus on each step I take towards the training room.
Walking through the door of the training room gives me a sense of clarity. My brothers are there already and they look at me when I step into the room.
“Good morning sister,” Theon says. He gives a sympathetic smile to me as if I just told him bad news but he is trying to lighten the mood.
Strider just keeps his arms folded and stares at me with a stern look. I just walked into the room, there is no way I could have done something to have disappointed in me.
“What’s your problem?” I ask. More attitude seeped into my tone than I intended but I stand my ground.
“We’ve been noticing something,” Strider glares at me.
“Care to share?” I reply.
“Guys, we can do this without starting a fight. Strider, just tell her what you have been noticing,” Theon says. His hands are between Strider and I as if we are about to pounce on each other like lions fighting for a scrap of meat.
“Noticing what?” I return the glare to Strider. Who does he think he is giving me attitude for not reason?
“You’ve been distant and your head is no longer focused on the mission. Instead, you’ve been acting a little school girl giggling about boys,” Strider says.
I look down at my shoes as if I am a child getting scolded by a parent. I don’t disagree with him. I have been more focused on Xavier than I have about the mission. We have been here for about a week and we haven’t made any progress towards balancing out Darkness and it’s all my fault. I haven’t been a good queen to my kingdom, a good sister to my brothers, or a good savior to the world. I have been a disappointment to both my brothers and myself. Things need to change but how do I succeed in such a thing?
“You know better than to have a crush on a mortal,” Strider continues. “You saw what happened to our dear brother. I can’t bare to see you go through that too. It almost killed Theon seeing the love of his life die.”
I look up to Theon who’s eye are glassy. I haven’t seen either o my brothers cry in centuries and I can’t stand to look at Theon thinking about the love of his life. I have never seen him look another person the same and I know a part of his heart will always be for her. Nothing will ever heal the pain that he felt and is continuing to feel knowing that he will never be able to see her again. He has to live his life and continue seeing the world his wife loved so much fall into pieces.
“You honestly can’t be stupid enough to fall for a mortal, Orien. You are better than that.”
“Don’t call me stupid.” My teeth grit together as I try to hold back my anger.
“I don’t know what else to call you. If you fall in love with him and then he dies, like every mortal does, then what? Are you going to be forever sad like our brother is? That is no way of living life.”
I just stand there looking at my brother is disbelief. Where did all of this pent up anger come from? Strider stands there with his hands in the air as if he is waiting for me to respond. I have nothing to say to him and when he comes to that conclusion himself, he groans and then excuses himself as he storms out of the training room.
Theon looks like he got stabbed in the heart by Strider himself. Getting called stupid by your brother is hard to hear but having your brother talk about falling in love with your wife was stupid is ever harder to hear. No one should ever tell you that falling in love is stupid.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I look down at my feet. Feeling of guilt rushes over me. If I didn’t decide that Xavier and his friends had a potential chance to not be part of Darkness’ plans then my head would have been more focused. We could have potentially won the war already. Balance could have been restored if it weren’t for my immature crush.
Looking back up at Theon, I see frustration radiate in his eyes.
“Theon, I don’t know what to say-”
“Stop. Stop it right now,” he demands.
My breath hitches in my throat and I take a step backwards.
“I don’t care that you have kissed a mortal. Hell, I don’t even care if you fall in love with him. But, you still have to keep your head focused on our mission. We are here for a reason and, I’m sorry sister, but I agree with Strider that your head hasn’t been fully locked in. If you want to be in Xavier’s future, you have to save his world first.”
Theon giving me advice is new but it is also refreshing. He gives me the truth but in a kind and caring way. Unlike Strider, who just yells at me and belittles me. Tears give a little hint in my eyes before I run to Theon and hug him. It took a couple of seconds before he hugs me back but when he does, he squeezes me. “I know exactly what you are going through. I will support you no matter what sister, but I will also lead you in the direction of saving the world first.” I nod into his shirt. “I am going to go get Strider back in here so we can figure out a plan.”
We let each other go and he turns around and goes through the door Strider stormed out of. I walk the opposite way and step into the fighting ring. A new fighting dummy has replaced the old one I destroyed the other day. Reminding myself that I don’t have to try and kill the dummy, I give a couple of swings to it’s head.
If you want to be in Xavier’s future, you have to save his world first. Those words repeat over and over with every punch and kick I give to the dummy. The head makes a satisfying sound when I kick it in the head.
I have to save the world.
Kick.
I have to save the world.
Kick.
I have to save the-
When my leg swings up to hit the head again a sharp pain shoots up my thigh.
“Come on now, I thought The Magnificents were supposed to be the best of the best. Weren’t you supposed to sense me coming Your Highness?”
I look over to the door way where I see Hammonet with bow in his hands. Feeling warmth on my leg, I look down and notice that there is an arrow sticking out of it and blood trickling down.
“You- You- You shot me? What is going on?”
Hammonet’s eyes look sick. Blood shot and crazy is all I can see.
No. No, no, no, no, no. He didn’t.
“You turned to Darkness,” I whisper.
I’m loud enough where he can hear me because he responds with, “I did. And it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Honestly, Orien, you should feel what it’s like. Darkness can give you whatever you want.”
“When did this happen? When did you decide to be a traitor to your kingdom?” I ask.
“I’m not a traitor!” he screams. “I had to do what was best for my family. I had to save my daughter from whatever torturous death you were going to give her.”
A torturous death? To June? She hasn’t even shown any signs of being on Darkness’ side. I wouldn’t torture something and I certainly would never kill someone for no valid reason.
“Who told you that I would give June a torturous death?”
“Darkness told me himself. He came to me last night and said that the only way I can save my daughter and get everything I have ever deserved is if I can convince you and your brothers to join him.”
“You know that will never have Hammonet. So, why even bother joining Darkness to try and convince me to join. You just ruined your life and for what? Nothing.” Sympathy seeps through my voice even though I am trying to sound as brave as I can be.
Why didn’t he just come to me? I was never going to kill his daughter unless she actually turned.
“Didn’t you say you trusted your daughter? You said it yourself that you know that she would never turn to Darkness. You said she reads the scripture of Light everyday. Why would you turn?”
He steps inside of the room and walks closer to me. His eyes are even more blood shot than when he shot me. He did something he wasn’t supposed to and now he is going to die because of it.
“Orien, you don’t understand. I know now. I know you are the daughter of Darkness and I can help you make a decision you will never regret. He has everything for you. He will make everything you ever desire appear right in front of you. He can make your life happy.”
“And make everyone else’s a living hell? Hammonet, Darkness is not the path. You have made a terrible mistake and because of that you will die.”
“Not without convincing you to go to your father. He wants to talk with you. He wants his children to reunite with him again.”
The burning in my leg becomes more intense than before. What is happening? I’ve gotten hit with arrows and knives before and I have never felt a burning sensation like this before. I look down again at my leg and notice that black liquid in now coming out of my leg. My eyes widen with the horror that I am witnessing.
“Oh, that,” Hammonet says, “Your father told me that he has made a new development to his arsenal. All he had to do was spill a little bit of his blood on the arrow head and it was the strongest weapon in history.”
My eyes begin to water at the heat running through my leg and into my abdomen. My knees buckle and I fall to the ground. Tears sting my eyes but it doesn’t sting as much as my lungs are stinging with every breath I take.
Hammonet laughs. He leans in close to my face and whispers, “Who knows, this could be the weapon that finally kills you and your brother. Darkness is the true ruler and he always will be.”
My breath gets shallow and dark spots take over my vision.
“Sister!” I hear one of my brothers say. I don’t have enough mental clarity to figure out which one said that but I see both of them pop up in my vision. The last thing I see is my brothers tackling Hammonet to the ground and the last thing I hear is the glint getting stabbed into Hammonet.
Maybe this is where I should say my goodbye.