Damian Black - The Order of the Night (English Version)

The Order of the Night - Chapter 3

So it was the trip to the city where he would finally learn the truth.
Now it was soon, that made him a little nervous. After all, it seemed to be a well-kept secret that hardly anyone knew about.
The time had finally come, the secret that he had been working towards until today, was revealed.
As if out of nowhere, joy flowed through him, not much longer. It was so hard. Scenes from training rushed through his head and so he remembered one scene.
It was in the afternoon when Liz sat exhausted, by her standards, on a rock and watched the birds in the sky. As always, she was lost in thought while he was next to her trying hard to break yesterday's record.
"One day," she muttered to herself. "I will reveal the secret of this world."
She put her head in her hands before looking over at him.
"Come on! Otherwise you will stay here!" She yelled at him.
Before his memory blurred again and only bits of the last month rushed through his head. When his gaze slid forward, the huge city wall was already in sight.
From this distance you could see two huge watchtowers and a suspension bridge. The river snaked under the bridge and seemed to split the land in two.
According to Liz, this huge river was also the limit from which the darkness had not yet engulfed people.
A cold chill ran down his spine as he remembered it again, clenched his teeth and his hands into fists, he tried to suppress the rising fear of the mere memory.
Once they got to town they would be safe. After three hours they finally reached the drawbridge.
There was a lot of activity on this. Carriages, horses, passers-by, it looked like an anthill in which everyone had a goal.
He and Liz snaked their way across the bridge to the guards who did not look at them. They got into town without any problems. This was overrun with traders and passers-by, the atmosphere was loud and you could hardly walk a meter before you had the next back in front of you.
Here too, ride one house to the next. But Liz just snaked through the crowd, for the first time he had to try not to lose sight of her.
He already didn't like this city, it was too loud and there were far too many people there.
"Damian, we'll soon be there. It's quieter there." Liz yelled, otherwise he probably wouldn't have heard her.
But the next moment, the city fell silent. When the sun darkened Damian's heart started beating hard against his chest when darkness fell over them in broad daylight.
The next moment he was blind and all he heard was desperate screams. "Damian, keep calm. We'll disappear into the quarters."
He heard Liz next to him, the next moment she grabbed his arm and started running.
The screams boomed loudly in his ears. Again and again he noticed how he bumped into people. But Liz just seemed to walk like the first time.
"Liz, why don't you help these people." "Neither of us can do that yet, and now go in there."
Liz pulled his arm forward and pushed him somewhere. Then suddenly there was silence. Everything in his head was spinning. He heard footsteps in the background as Liz pulled him down a flight of stairs.
"That cannot be."
"Impossible."
"Why are they coming here."
He heard unfamiliar voices talking in confusion. When he suddenly heard a heavy door close behind him.
The next moment he was blinded by a bright light. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to see something, but everything was blurry.
He felt how people rushed past him and the door was opened again. Were there actually those who fought and if so, why did Liz not fight at their side.
"Corporal Taylor, welcome back to the Order." A man's voice seemed to be right in front of him.
"Thank you Lieutenant Myro, but we'll be leaving for headquarters soon." Damian was still trying to see something, but it was only slowly that his eyes got used to the light.
"Is that the boy?"
"Yes, he understands me directly." "Unfortunately I don't have time to welcome you here right now."
When he heard the man's voice, he bowed slightly.
"This isn't a problem." He replied.
He could still only see shadows, this light was so bright. But he felt how everyone around him was tense, the wild drift seemed to have no end.
"We'd best go into the lounge. Here we're just standing in the way."
Liz grabbed his sleeve and pulled him on. Why did these people bother to fight, obviously they couldn't do anything.
They weren't warriors as he had thought, but only weaklings who hid and fought with great difficulty against the inevitable.
They used their skills to survive and abandoned people as soon as they were cornered.
Nobody could prove that they were really trying to do something about it. Even when they went outside. He had never heard of warriors fighting the dark.
If that were really the case, this Order would be known throughout the country. But he had never heard of them.
He didn't want to belong to such people, all his efforts had been in vain. He squeezed his eyes shut and suppressed a cry of frustration. This Order was not good for anything.
Again he heard a door close behind him, when he opened his eyes he could actually see reasonably clearly.
A huge hall stretched in front of him, with five long rows of tables that were queer to a lectern. The whole hall was brightly lit by candles. But it was poorly furnished.
Three large flags hung on the left and right walls. One looked like what was emblazoned on his back. With the dragon in the lower corner without anything in the upper right corner. Next to it hung a similar flag, which had two crossed swords in the upper right corner of the coat of arms. Next to it was a flag with a sun in the right corner.
It was probably the departments here. There were three tall men in the hall, their form covered by the same coat that he and Liz wore. But in the upper corner were the two crossed swords. At the very front on a bench sat a boy about his age, his black hair hanging over his face, but one side of his head was cut short.
He looked quite muscular. His eyes were rather narrow and a mischievous grin lay on his lips.
His gaze was fixed on an old book and the whole hustle and bustle around him didn't seem to interest him. Somehow he felt as if he had seen him before. When he suddenly lifted his gaze and looked directly at him.
"What are you staring at stupid idiot." He hissed at him before turning his attention back to the book.
"Boy!", he heard Liz scream in amusement. "Aidan, don't be like that." Before Damian could react, Liz had already started moving.
"What do you expect, Corporal", now his full attention was on Liz.
"I was gone for six months and you just yell at me. Typical."
"Tsk."
He bowed his head and went back to his book.
Unimpressed, Liz sat down across from him.
"You are the same age as Damian, I hope you understand each other."
"He doesn't belong to  us Liz!", furiously he closed the book and stabbed Liz with a fatal look.
"If you think." Liz put her head on the table as she sat down. “But he's here now and that won't change."
A cold shiver slipped down Damian's spine, what did it all mean?
What had he got into?
"Please explain to Damian everything he needs to know about the Order. I want to sleep a little."
Damian's gaze slid over to Aidan. Who looked annoyed at him, pure hatred in his eyes. When his gaze slid to Liz for help. She just sleept in  during this crisis.
"Do you know who Liz is?"
The boy began. Damian shook his head, his counterpart rolled his eyes in annoyance. He let out a deep breath and leaned his head back.
"She is the daughter of the leader of this Order. The daughter of General Taylor. The youngest corporal here."
He leaned over to him and grabbed his collar, Damian wanted to back down, but the person opposite had been too fast.
"Then suddenly she disappeared and nobody knew where she was." He yelled at him. "Then these letters came and now she arrives here with you. Everyone you see here was born and raised here. This order is the heart of us and you are a danger!"
The boy in front of him began to tremble in anger and Damian froze.
"What do you even know about us?" Now Aidan finally let go of him and sat down again. Arms crossed over his chest.
"Actually, nothing at all. Liz hasn't told me anything to this day." He reported honestly.
"This order was founded 150 years ago. When the darkness first appeared. Since we were children we have been trained to find out what this darkness is and to fight against it."
He exhaled and looked him straight in the eye.
"People like you are a danger and just because Liz trusts you doesn't mean that I do."
Damian swallowed hard, this guy was really scary and in a fight against him he wouldn't have a chance.
"You came here when you were 13 years old. Don't be so mean to him."
He heard Liz mumble tiredly beside him. Before she turned her head and went back to sleep.
"Tsk", he saw how Aidan gritted his teeth.
"After all, I was still half a child. Not like that one."
He replied angrily, his voice trembling at the statement. He frowned deeply. Damian felt his tension very well, his instinct to flee began immediately. This guy was dangerous, unpredictable.
"Oh come on Aidan", Liz said annoyed and straightened up.
"You won't even get him. I said you should explain the order to him."
She looked grumpily over at him, Damian was trembling all over, even though he had tried to pull himself together.
"So the Order consists of three departments, recruits, warriors and the people who belong to the Scout Unit. The warriors fight in the dark, they try to save as many people as possible.  Which is difficult because we never know when and where it shows up. Their symbol is the one with the crossed swords.
The Scout Unit is trying to find clues where this darkness is coming from, what is happening to the people who are disappearing and how this phenomenon could be stopped. The symbol of the sun belongs to them."
Liz let her fingers drum on the wooden table before she streaked a strand of hair out of her eyes.
"The Order was founded by the king of the south, who supports us as far as he can. Since you are subordinate to me, you belong to the Scouts. Together with Aidan here, Kim and Selim. You will get to know the latter two at headquarters."
Tired, she put her head back on the table while Aidan went back to his book and he himself just stared dully at the wall across from him.
So his group was entrusted with finding out what was going on here. But how much did this order know about it after 150 years?
He looked at Aidan, who was still reading.
"A-Aidan?", he stuttered. The young man looked up in confusion and raised an eyebrow. He looked a lot less aggressive now than before.
"Tell me, what do you know about this phenomenon?
Do you have any plans how to defeat it?"
Aidan now slipped away from the book so that he was sitting across from him. "We have nothing." He said dryly and propped his elbows on the table so that he could rest his head on his fisted hands.
"B-but?", desperation sprouted in Damian, so this order had not found out anything about their counterparts for 150 years.
"If there are people who fight, shouldn't they have seen what makes people disappear?"
His whole body was tense, but now his counterpart seemed a lot more balanced than before.
"That's the problem." He said and looked over at the big flags. "Our Order is fighting, they also manage to save people from the darkness." He clenched his fists and hit them on the table with full force.
"The warriors who came back didn't remember anything. As if someone had erased their memories."
He pressed out between his clenched teeth.
"You know, we’ll probably all die. Without knowing a thing."
"Then why are you fighting?"
Aidan started laughing, as if Damian had told a good joke. Before he looked at him seriously.
"As long as there is hope, people will fight."
He just said and got up. Picked up his book and looked at him invitingly. "Come on, let's go to the training hall. I want to see what you can do, I can't get rid of you anyway."
Damian got up and followed Aidan who was walking almost comfortably through the underground corridors of the building. Liz was really seated, asleep with her head on the table. After a few minutes they reached a large training room.
At first glance Damian saw wooden swords. Otherwise nothing seemed to be special about the room. Aidan put his book on the floor and sauntered over to the wooden swords. He reached for two, turned and tossed one to Damian.
"I'm not allowed to kill you, unfortunately." He said with a grin. "But I can hurt you, so make an effort." Before Damian knew what was happening to him, Aidan rushed towards him in a unbelievable speed. At the last second he was able to block the blow from him.
He felt the force of the impact. Immediately the adrenaline shot through his body. But he didn't have a long time to think about it.
Then Aidan attacked him again immediately. All the while, however, he was unable to break through his defense.
Until, Damian realized it was too late and Aidan hit him with the wooden sword against his hip with full force. A loud scream escaped his throat and he let his sword fall to the ground. "Wrong!", Aidan roared, dropped the sword as well and attacked him with his fists.
"Never let go of the sword, but now switch to hand-to-hand combat."
He roared when he threw him to the ground, Damian immediately turned away on the ground and reached for him.
In fact, he managed to hold Aidan in his grasp, but he reacted within a few seconds and was already over him again.
Both were breathing hard, but Damian wasn't ready to give up yet. Again he managed to escape Aidan's tight grip and stood up.
He raised his fists like Liz had taught him, this time he would be prepared. But Aidan remained seated on the floor and stared at him with wide eyes.
"This hand-to-hand combat technique, did Liz teach you that?"
He asked, gasping for breath.
Damian nodded without changing his position.
"It's impressive how far you are after a month, but next time I won't hold back."
Damian's heart sagged, he had been on the defense the whole time. That would be his death sentence if Aidan would fight him with all his might. Slowly, however, he relaxed and sat on the floor.
How much time had passed. With his head back, he took a deep breath in and out. Maybe Aidan just needed time to get used to him. They couldn't be that different and he already looked a lot nicer than before.
How did it look in the city now, when the darkness was gone again. His gaze slid to Aidan who was still staring at the ceiling and ignoring him.
"Well, did you have fun?", you could hear Liz's mischievous voice. The two boys immediately looked in her direction. She crossed the room and picked up one of the wooden swords.
"Well, Aidan, do we want to?", she threw it to him, he grinned enthusiastically and got up.
Liz walked over to other one and let it bounce in the air with her foot before catching it with ease.
"I missed that." Aidan grinned, Liz threw her coat in the corner.
"Let's go!", the two rushed towards each other with a speed that he had trouble following their movements.
He got up slowly and backed up against the wall. The two used almost the entire space. So this is how it looked when the two gave everything, it shot trough his mind.
He was still miles away from this strength, so he stood there with his mouth open.
When Liz suddenly turned away and jumped a few steps back. As if on command, the two dropped their wooden swords and went into hand-to-hand combat.
It took a few minutes until Liz finally managed to grab Aidan and throw herself onto the floor with him. Immediately she wrapped a tight grip around his torso and fixed him.
It was weird to see how Aidan couldn't get out of her grip. Although he was much stronger and taller than Liz.
"Liz, let go. You won." He gasped, but her grip only seemed to get stronger. "You know it doesn't work that way." "Yes, come on!"
He shouted so loud that Damian was startled and pressed his body against the wall.
"Next time, stay alert." Liz hissed and jumped up.
She cracked her neck, took the two swords from the floor and stowed them away again. Before she grabbed her coat and tossed it over her left shoulder.
Only then did she hold out her hand to Aidan and help him get up.
"Selim and Kim are on their way over here. They will arrive tomorrow."
"But I thought we'd meet them at headquarters?"
Aidan raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked at Liz.
"The general doesn't want Damian to know where the headquarters are. Come on, we still have to pack for tomorrow."
She said and ran without another word in the direction of the door. They followed her immediately.
"How is the situation outside?"
Damian blurted out and immediately winced.
"About ten dozen people were saved, but again the soldiers have lost all memories."
Liz clenched her fists.
"This can not continue like that."
They walked back through the building in silence, towards the great hall.
This was now filled with people, the warrior symbol was depicted on the back of their coats.
What had happened was discussed wildly. Everyone looked desperate, including ordinary people.
Some of them sat crying and desperate on the floor.
"No, I don't know anything anymore." "As if everything were covered by a veil."
"Where are my memories?"
So it really was true, Damian thought. That was awful. So they forget any information from the fight.
Whatever happened then, humanity would inevitably perish.
When Damian suddenly shot another thought through his head.
"Wait a minute, how can you fight in this darkness without seeing anything?" Liz and Aidan stopped suddenly at the same time.
"You are now asking yourself that?" Aidan's dislike was clearly noticeable. Again he wanted to grab him, but Liz intervened.
"Magic, you damn fool."