The Dark Prince

Chapter 17

"Get out of bed" someone yelled right in my ear and I jumped up hitting Matthew in the nose and I smirked when I heard him cuss. "That's what you get for yelling at me"
I thought as I headed out into the hallway where Michael and Tiffany were waiting. I shot them a menacing glare as I yanked a hair brush through my hair and then pulled it back into a low pony tail.

"Are you ready?" Michael asked as I grabbed my bow and sword and headed out to the newly modeled court yard. There were targets for archery and an arena to combat with our horses, powers, and swords.

"Today is going to be a competition to test our skills to the best of our abilities and also to see who is better, the girls or the boys" Tiffany said as she shot a smirk to Matthew who rolled his eyes but smiled back. "First up is archery so everyone grab your bows and head down to the targets." I ignored Michael as I got in front of my target and pulled back the string smiling as my arrow materialized in my fingers. I breathed out as I took aim and then released the arrow and let it fly right into the center of the target.

"Yes!" I thought as Michael and Matthew cursed when there arrows hit the outermost ring but that wasn't even that bad compared to Lantra and Brissanna who totally missed the targets. The only one close to me was Tiffany who hit the target dead on. Since Tiffany and I had tied, Brissanna hit a button and the targets began to move in a chaotic pattern. I went through the same routine I did before and this time the arrow hit the target dead on and split my first arrow in half. Tiffanies arrow went a little to the left but still was in the inner most circles but she agreed that I had beat her.

"Not a bad idea" I whispered to Michael as we headed to the sword arena.

"Oh, so you actually like some of my ideas?"

"I never said I didn't like your ideas, I just don't like you" I joked.

"Ha ha very funny princess, you never said you liked my ideas though." Tiffany and Lantra were getting ready to duel with a sword and I chuckled under my breath as Lantras sword was on the ground before ten seconds had even gone by and she stormed out in humiliation and anger.

"Okay, our turn" Michael said as he headed into the arena with me reluctantly trailing behind him. I probably would have won if he hadn't smiled at me and distracted me but my first attempt at getting the sword of his hand failed and he even had the audacity to fake yawn. Okay yeah he was better with a sword then me but who cares. It didn't take long before my sword was also lying on the ground but unlike Lantra I didn't get all huffy.

"Better luck next time sweet thing" he smirked as he leaned in next to me making my heart race.

"Don't call me that" I hissed and shoved him away and turned to watch Brissanna and Matthew. Surprisingly Brissanna did pretty well and at times I didn't know who would come out on the top but eventually she messed up and Matthew won.

"Last event, testing our powers and just a heads up everyone is against each other except Brissanna who will be controlling the environment from outside" Matthew said as we all headed into the dome and got on our individual platforms that soon started to rise off the ground at became suspended in the air making my hair whip around my face. Instinctively my wings unfurled as the weather changed to fog and the light dimmed until it was nighttime with a full moon. I heard my friends moan as they realized we would be fighting in the dark and I smiled. This was going to be fun. I crouched down and leaped into the air making tiny air currents swirl around me as I flew up until I hit the top of the dome with a bang.

"Damn" I cursed as I grasped my throbbing shoulder and then dodged a bolt of light that singed my dress. Great, Tiffany had found me and I put up a dark shield that swirled and shrieked as I shot a small bolt of dark energy making her freeze in midair and slowly float downward. The curse would come off eventually and she would be back blinding me with her power. A scream from Lantra jolted me out of my thoughts and I went invisible as I flew to the sound of her cry. She was kneeling on a platform with Michael standing over her putting horrific images in her head. If I hadn't had my shield up I would probably be lying on the ground screaming to but instead I formed a ball of dark energy and hit him in the chest with it. His head jerked upward and he scanned around looking for me but before he could teleport I flew upward watching Lantra as she staggered to her feet. That had scared me a bit and my hands would not stop shaking. I had no idea Michael had that power and it too closely tied him to the Darklord. Michael eventually gave up looking for me and was heading back to Lantra when I came up behind him and touched his hair very gently soaking it with water and then froze it solid making him yelp. I couldn't help it and laughed out loud giving my position away and he glared at the spot I was hovering. He melted the ice and started to come toward me when an order shot through my brain.....kill him. My hands moved in front of me and a dark bolt of energy formed without my consent and I watched as I let it go toward Michael. He must have felt the disturbance in the air because he conjured a shield seconds before the bolt slammed into it. My invisibility was gone and I saw my reflection in his shield and my blood froze. My mouth was frozen in a sneer and my eyes were glowing white and my face looked gaunt. Instantly I knew Lantra was controlling me and no matter how hard I tried to push her out of my mind I couldn't. She was to strong. I heard her scream as Michael put images in her head again but this time I could see them. They were horrifying and I knew that all of them were real and had happened at one point in his life. A metallic taste stuck in the back of my throat and my body trembled as I screamed out in terror. Instantly the images vanished and I collapsed and started to free fall to the ground until Michael caught me and laid me on the lowest platform and then flew off leaving me there by myself. It took me almost an hour before I was able to stand up and fly back toward the fighting overhead. Lantra was out, probably standing next to Brissanna and I couldn't shake the feeling that something about her was not right but the pounding in my head make me think of Michael and I knew he was going to be my next target. Tiffany and Matthew were nowhere to be found which meant that Michael had probably beaten them and we were the only ones left. I finally found him looking for me and I turned invisible as I flew behind me and let pure light energy cascade off me. He saw the light coming toward me and instantly darkness was coming off him touching the outer most edge of my light causing me to put every ounce of energy I had into it so he would not overwhelm me again. Sweat poured down my back and forehead and I could see that his bangs were plastered to his face and his hands were shaking like mine. A look of surprise crossed his face as his darkness was pressed back and inch and I smiled as I realized I must have gotten stronger since the last time we had done this. Seconds before I was going to pass out the dome around us disappeared and the fog lifted making the sun burn my eyes.

"You guys overrode the system and it shut down." I small smile touched my lips right before I collapsed to the ground in a poof of fabric. Michael and I were both shaking and he smiled at me as I staggered to my feet and walked over to him and gave him my hand to pull him up.

"You were amazing" he whispered and I blushed as I whispered "So were you."

'Get a room" Tiffany yelled and I fake glared at her as I pulled away from Michael and headed inside to eat supper. Tonight Brissanna had made steak, corn, and some kind of glowing fruit that I was a little hesitant to try but it was so good and soon I was full and my eyes were getting tired. The moment my head hit the pillows I was asleep and for the first time in years I didn't have a single dream.

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