The Prince of Light

Chapter 5

I scrambled up and away from the thing. It wasn't a 'thing' but a person!!! He stood up slowly, like every move hurt. In the place he was standing, the shadows seemed to thicken and cling to his shimmery black clothing. He had jet black hair so black that it seemed like it was made of raven feathers. Where eyes were supposed to be were black holes, deep pits of despair. He was deathly pale and yet he was still lithe. He had a short, black sword at his side. He pulled out the sword, making just a whisper of sound. The land surrounding us was forests. But it was nothing like the trees I had ever seen. It was like Cherry Blossom trees, with the white bark on the trees and clustered leaves. But instead of leaves, it was.....cotton? The clearing was soft grass. I got up slowly and dusted off.

"Who are you?" I asked. He made no move to answer. He raised his sword. It seemed to darken the whole clearing. No sunlight glinted off of the sword like it should have. Instead, it seemed to absorb the light. I backed away slowly. He stepped forward each time I stepped back. Then he sprinted towards me, inhumanly fast. It looked like a bird's shadow speeding towards me. His robe flickered behind him like giant wing. Wait. Those are wings! His cape has transformed into wings! He jumped, his cape flowing out behind him as he brought his sword up. Down he came, straight towards me. Time slowed again as the power filled all my thoughts.

'Destroy the dark!' I thought. I calmly lifted one arm, made it into a 'stop' gesture. My hand started glowing, and then out shot a wall of light, white bright, fast as a bullet. The Dark One (the guy) hit the wall full force. The wall shattered into little beams of light, and The Dark One flew backwards into the sky. An explosion shattered the peaceful serenity of the forest. The trees caught on fire and the cotton was burned to ashes. The grass turned from a lush green to a dead, yellow-brown color. My sight went blurry and I collapsed. The guy fell to the ground, and I heard bones crack. He yelled out. My energy felt drained to the bottom of its limits. My thoughts were swimming in muck. The guy got up, so slowly. And I still didn't have any energy.

'I can't pull off another stunt like I just did. I'll kill myself.' I thought, slowly. He had finally got up. He grabbed his sword from where it had landed. He turned towards me slowly. He spoke again. But this time it was nothing like the first time he had spoke. It was like soft caramel, like a babbling brook, like nothing I had ever heard before. Like something you could listen to and fall asleep forever. Something you would do anything for.

"Now is the day you die. You are an obstacle. Something I will get over. By any means necessary. That includes ki....." He paused as a rustle in the bushes caught his attention. He looked to where the rustle had come from. He raised his arm that wasn't holding the sword. From behind him, on the other side of the burnt clearing, a flicker caught my attention. Behind a rock, a girl about sixteen, crouched. She had long, black hair and deep, blue eyes. She was dressed in a deep, dark blue t-shirt and black jeans. She had on a silver necklace but I couldn't make out what the pendant was. Blue and black gloves covered her hands. Two pouches were at her side along with two daggers. She looked at me. She opened the two pouches and left them open. In a flurry of movement, she was out of the bushes and whipping her hands around. The pouches held water. And the water followed her hands.

'She controls water?!?!' I thought. The water hit the guy and knocked him back. More and more water flowed out of the pouches. Soon she and the guy were fighting. Water against shadow. Finally, the girl covered the guy in water. Holding him to a tree with it, she concentrated. The water slowly froze. Finally, the guy was frozen completely. By that time I had gotten my strength back. I slowly stood, my head pounding. The girl collapsed and I caught her. In a few seconds, though, she was up again. She stood and swayed but kept her balance.

"Thank you." I said. She growled.

"You almost got killed by The Raven. You are lucky to still be alive." She walked back towards the rock. I stared, dumbstruck.

"Ahh, don't worry. She does this to all the new recruits." said a voice from behind me. I spun around, startled. There stood a boy about the same age as me. Seventeen. He had short, black hair, spiked up. His eyes were freaky. Navy blue on the outside, pale green in the middle, and gold in the center. Tan, muscular, and short, he pulled off this freakish look topped with a black muscle shirt and.....black Capri's? No, some weird pants type. They were black jeans cut off just below the knee. He smiled at me and said, "I'm Faolan. And you are?" He had wickedly sharp canine teeth. Like a dog's.

"L-L-Lucas." I stammered. Then I asked, "Who is she?" He laughed.

"Her name is Kendra. She is a water warrior." I raised an eyebrow. He rolled his eyes. "She controls water. And anything cold."

"Ahh...." I answered. "That explains her cold nature." I mumbled.

"So what are you?" He asked.

"What?" I said, confused.

"What's your power?" He explained.

"Oh, I don't know." I said. "What are you?"

He grinned. "I'm the Lord of Forest, the Alpha Male, and the King of the Den. I'm," He paused for drama, "a werewolf." He howled. I jumped back. He laughed again. It was kind of creepy, like a wolf howl and a barking laughter mixed together. I looked around again. Kendra was putting out the remaining fires, muttering on about how she has to do all the work around here and how men are only problems.

"Where are we?" I asked Faolan. His grin melted from his face.

"You honestly don't know???"He asked.

"No. I was dragged through a portal and we landed here." I answered.

"Ok. One, what do you mean 'we'? And we are in Camden Valley, one of the only safe havens left for mythical creatures." He answered.

"Me and the Raven guy. We both came through a portal." I said.

"Tell me everything." Faolan said. So I narrated the whole story. Kendra came over and listened to the story too. After I had finished, Faolan shook his head. "This is bad."

"You think?" Kendra said sarcastically. I tapped her shoulder.

"Look. He's gone." I answered quickly as she brought her fists up. She looked at the ice.

"We need to get to the main village FAST." She said. She went over to the frozen ice. Placing her hands on the ice, she inhaled deeply, then exhaled. The ice melted all at the same time and she quickly pulled it all back into the pouches. "Let's go." And we set off.