Hope and Darkness

Chapter 3

“We were betrayed,” Matthew said. “What?” Justin, Toby and Charlie all exclaimed. It was night. After the day Toby had woken, Matthew, Charlie, and then Justin (In that order) had all woken up within 1 hour. Matthew nodded. “Remember that flash of purple before we suddenly lost consciousness?” The others nodded. “Well, I remember Tim, the elder at our loyal village; say that one of the villages had been training in the field of magic, or something like that. Anyway, they say he was learning from one of those pilgrim people from up north. He was one of the people we recruited!” Charlie nodded. “His name was Amaro. Up north I think it means Darkness.” Justin gasped. “Like, destruction darkness?”  Charlie frowned. “I can’t remember. Why?” Justin blanched. “In my village, there was a myth that long ago, before the emperor of the island, there were a number of babies born. Hope, Light, Fire, Darkness. Hope was born a witch, while Light, Fire, and Darkness were wizards, each of the siblings practising their separate powers. When they grew up, Darkness turned against his siblings. He created children, Fear and Cold, to combat Hope and Fire, while he attacked Light himself. In the battle Light and Fire were destroyed, but Fear and Cold were also killed. In the end Hope and Darkness couldn’t bring themselves to kill each other, and also they didn’t have the power to either. They were both dying from their separate wounds, so each of them used their powers to revive their friends, Light and Fire, Fear and Cold, and they in turn used their powers to select champions every thousand years to represent Hope and Darkness. It’s a long shot, but this is possibly the tenth one hundred. So-,” Charlie finished his thought. “So Amaro is darkness.” Matthew frowned. “Who could be the champion for Hope?” “My daughter,” A voice behind them spoke. They all turned around, their hands reaching for their weapons that they had left outside, and they relaxed when they recognised the village elder. The elder sat down heavily and sighed. “What you just said was pretty much what the myth was. But when they selected the champions 1000 years before, they had to ensure that the champions would survive. So instead of choosing the champions directly, they chose the strongest bloodlines that displayed the best of each other’s characters. Light and Fire chose a family called the Smiths, as they were blacksmiths. In the village they lived in, they were poor, but they never complained, hoping that one day things would be better. Basically, by hoping things would be better they showed the best of hope, so that was why they chose them. All I know about Fear and Cold’s choice was that they chose someone who lived in the mountains. I assume that the person would be a bandit, as they would have to contend with the cold of snow and the fear of death in battle.” Toby agreed. “We already have enough up there.” Matthew rose. “Cheerful stuff. I’m going hunting to block the image of a teenager killing me with magic powers. Anyone coming with me?” A voice sounded in the passageway. “I will.” There, standing at the end of the door, was the young girl, except now she was fully kitted with a quiver of arrows and a hunting bow. She wore a long green cloak and at her waist was a long dagger. The elder didn’t even look up. “Lucy, you are not going. You will stay in this village and make sure the monument is safe.” Lucy looked angry, but left the room and the bandits could see her walk back to the makeshift palisade only 30 metres in front of where the bandits had woken up. Toby rose and walked over to the table of weapons. He slung one of the quivers of javelins while he asked the Elder, “What’s the monument?” The elder stuck out his hand. “Jeremy. Never introduced myself.” Toby shook his hand. “What is the monument?” He repeated. Jeremy pointed over at a point where there was another palisade. “In that second palisade there’s a rock. Inside is an Emerald that is supposed to be able to summon an army of elves that fight for Light, but only the Champion of Hope can actually use it. The Champion of Darkness has a similar precious stone, except this one is said to be able to heal anything.” Jeremy frowned. “I don’t get how that works with darkness, but it might have come in handy for us.” Suddenly from the 1st palisade, the warning bell rang. “Snow wolves attacking!”

*Lucy means light