Rekindle the Darkness

2.0

I awoke to a searing pain in my head. As I shifted in an attempt to make myself comfortable, it just intensified, causing a groan to leave my lips. Slowly, the pain subsided and I was trying not to breathe too heavily as not to move my head.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. My body felt heavy. My head felt heavy. When my eyes came into focus, I realised I was lying in a rather familiar wooden cabin. Carefully, very carefully, I sat up, rotating my head around with glee to find that the pain had completely disappeared. My head snapped to the door as I saw the doorknob slowly turn. Only then did I notice that I hadn't heard any murmurs of conversation or any movements. The house was completely silent. I sat up a litter straighter, my shadows forming long tendrils behind me, awaiting on orders to attack. I held my breath.

The door opened slowly and I could hear some shuffling before a little boy's face peered around the door, his bright blue eyes dimmed in worry.

Immediately I recoiled my shadows, a smile upon my face as I saw his eyes light up with happiness.

"Princess!" He ran into the room, although pausing beside the bed, unsure whether to jump on or not. I beckoned him to do so and he sat on the bed, opposite me. "Marcus told me you were sleeping and that I shouldn't disturb you, but you were sleeping for a long time!"

I chuckled, which rather quickly turned into a coughing fit. Archie shot off the bed, reaching for the glass of water on the cabinet beside and passing it over to me before taking his place once more.

Once I'd finished, I tried again.

"Where did you go, Archie?"

The little boy frowned. "I went to find Kit, so that you wouldn't be so sad anymore, Princess!"

I caught my breath. "Did you find him, Archie?"

His tone was cheerful. "Of course I did, Princess! Kit told me that I could do anything if I wanted to and I wanted you to be happy so I found him!"

My heart ached for both Kit and him.

"Did they do anything to you?"

"I don't think so!" He replied, his voice dropping a few decibels. "Kit didn't look very well but it's rude to point it out so I didn't."

Fragments of memories where slowly starting to return, each one preceded by the last image of Kit: bound and unconscious, thrown carelessly in the car. His cheek was pressed against the window and there were multiple cuts and bruises on his face. I saw Ethan. And when I saw Ethan, I saw red.

"Where's Marcus?" I resolved to asking instead, in hopes that it'd take my mind off the image.

"He's outside with his girlfriend. His friend, that is a girl, I mean. Not like dating. That's just gross." Came the reply, his nose scrunched up in disgust and I chuckled at the mentality of the five year old.

I shifted in my bed and Archie got off as I did too. It took me a while to regain my balance and both my feet had lost feeling so I had to walk around the room to regain them.

"Archie, how long was I asleep?" I asked, just to make conversation.

"Three days."

I paused. "Three days?"

"Uh-huh."

"That's a long time." I responded, the feeling slowly starting to return to my legs. Ethan must've been MILES away by now. I'd lost precious time.

"It was! I had no one to play with."

"You could've played with Marcus!"

"Marcus was looking after the girl. She keeps crying and Marcus just said that she's really upset because she lost her brother, but I don't understand how you could lose a person! I told her that we'll find him and I think I just made her more upset because she started crying even more!"

My heart melted a little. This little boy was caring and tried to make everybody feel better! His actions were with heartfelt meaning.

The feeling had all but returned in my legs and I walked over to open up the windows. Heavy clouds hung low in the sky and the earth looked as if it had already been covered with a small layer of moisture already.

"Princess?" Archie called and I turned to look at him.

He squeezed his eyes shut, whispering something to himself which sounded vaguely like 'Please work, please work,' over and over again, before opening his clenched palm. For a moment, there was a wisp of a shadow, before it sizzled away to nothing. He opened one eye, then the other, grinning.

"That was amazing!" His grin matched my own. His only widened at my words.

"I made it happen the day I went to find Kit. I knew that you'd like it!"

His words suddenly made sense. A Necro could normally create simple things such as Necromantic Orbs, but controlling and manipulating the darkness was a much harder thing to master. The first time a Necro masters the manipulation of a shadow, a beacon is sent out, much like a trace but more powerful, to let surrounding Necromancers know that the half-fledged was ready to be trained. If the Necromancers could sense it, as could the Resplendent, of course.

I threw my arms open, crouching down as he attacked me in a hug. I lost my balance and we both fell over, laughing.

After we'd calmed down, he spoke again.

"Princess?"

"Yes, Archie?"

"I heard the two men talking and they said something about going to a place a called Edin's burrow. Is that far away?"

My eyes widened at this information as I sat up. "Do you mean, Edinburgh, Archie?"

He gasped. "That was it."

"When were they talking about this, Archie?" I asked, stumbling over my words in a rush to get them out.

"I heard them talking outside when I was in the orb, before you came."

I gasped.

"Archie, we need to go find Marcus."

---

[A/N]

Hallo Chicos y chicas!

This chapter was mainly to show the relationship between Nika and Archie, I hope you liked it!

Stay tuned, I've a feeling some very exciting things are to happen in the next few chapters!

Make it a great day, y'all!