Shards of Darkness

Chapter Four

  Austin Allen Ace 

I sat in my office, feeling extremely nervous and scared.  It's been several weeks ever since Irina joined our group that I founded, that I brought together, that I'm leading.

    Now you're probably wondering, "if that's true, then what the heck are you complaining about?"

    Well, did I mention Irina?  SHE IS SLOWLY TAKING OVER MY ROLE AS LEADER!  Ever since she joined, she proved herself again and again how she can be better than me.  Of course, being the 'humble' girl she is, Irina never said it outright, but in this case, action speaks louder than words, hun!

    I was fuming a bit as I looked over the papers Irina had given me.  It was all the inside information she knew about Bruce, her dear sweet emperor who right now is looking all over for her.  Why can't Irina just run back to Bruce?!  Then it'll prove to the other Shards that she was actually just a spy!

    Of course, that isn't true and I guess I shouldn't be so harsh to Irina.  I gotta give her some credit.  If she hadn't arrived, we'll still be stuck on square one.  It turned out that Irina wasn't a spy at all.  Niko had gave me that much.  Niko was awesome at his job and I know what he said was true.  He had been keeping watch on Irina day and night and Irina never did anything suspicious for us to kill her.

    "Yo Austin, we gotta talk man," Dylan was in my doorway, gesturing for me to follow him.  I let out an irritated sigh but got up and followed him nonetheless.

    "What's this about?"  I inquired tiredly.

    "Just wait," Dylan replied.  My left eye was twitching and I felt an uneasy sensation about this situation.  Just what on Earth is going on?

    "Ah, you're here," I had entered the lounge room and the one who greeted me was Esmeralda.  The lounge room was completely cleared of furniture.

    "What's going-"  I began.

    "We're having a death match," Esmeralda cut me off, her face stone cold.

    "Huh?"  I cocked my head to the side, confused.

    "Niiiiiiiikoooooo!"  Someone whined.  I turned to see Irina being dragged by the emo.  "I waaaannaaaa sleeeeeeeeep!"

    "You can sleep later, we're having a death match," Niko growled.

    "I don't care!  I don't wanna watch!"  Irina grumbled.

    "You're not watching, you're in it," Niko told her.  I felt a sense of dread.  Now I know what's gonna happen even before Thomas began to speak.

    "We're having a death match between Irina and Austin," Thomas started to say.

    "Why?"  Irina interrupted him.

    "We have seen your abilities, Irina.  We believe you're a better fit to be leader than Austin is," Thomas informed us.

    "Can we do this tomorrow?"  Irina moaned.  "I'm tired, I wanna go back to sleep."

    "A leader will not choose sleep over her people," Dan said strictly.

    "Welp, that clearly shows I'm not fit to be leader.  I CHOOSE SLEEP!"  She declared before twirling around and heading for her room.  Niko, who has a blank look on his face, grabbed Irina and pulled her back.

    "Why don't you want to have this death match?"  Angus asked curiously.

    "Two reasons," Irina held up one finger.  "One, too much work."  Then she held up two fingers.  "Two, too much hassle after I kick Austin's ass to the moon."