Shadow Princess

Chapter Four: In the Darkness

Julius watches the eighty-feet tall wall that surrounds his kingdom, that keeps out his village. He holds a bow and arrow, facing the Prisom and Yelkites. The kingdom is layered in three ways. Prisom is at the center, the king rules there and has his conferences. He plays games there and the traditional one is coming up soon. Yelkies surrounds the Prisom, filling with his army, the Yelkites and other demons he has convinced to join him. Then the third layer, the one in the open. The Outlaw Village is the most attacked and most targeted, filled with loners, disgraced, and disowned. Runaways live there, where Julius has taken home to. Jacob and the rest of his made family grew up there. The walls surround the Yelkites, leaving out the villagers.

The Wall Watchers are meant to keep them from entering, shooting them down as they try to cross the wall. It is almost impossible, other than a rope ladder that hung from the top. Only certain creatures and people can use it, but there is a secret entrance that Jacob found three years ago. They set up their own security, to see if it has been found by others. No one has dared to follow it, to see where it leads. To use it for future attacks, but none came. All of them defeated by the King and stuck under his control. The Witch and the Wizard left decades ago. Fae is the only supernatural beings his father has left before controlling the whole Realm.

Lost in his thoughts, Julius didn't see the figure climbing the ladder, but he heard the stretch of a bow and the release of an arrow. His eyes zoom in on the falling figure, biting his lip to contain his rage. Bursts of laughter echo to him, swimming through his head. Bowing his head, he sends a quick apology to whoever he belonged to.

∞†∞†∞

The sun began its descent in the distance as Julius overwatches Denis begin the training. They postponed when the king forced Julius to be a Wall Watcher for eight hours after being released from the call. The training field is right outside the boxing building hunkered in a clearing, by a small rippling pond. The boxing methods are in use, tape wrapping around all of the men's knuckles. They work hard as Denis shows them techniques, never tiring. Julius knew each technique; the vamping, the surprise attacks, the fighting methods. He practices them every day, drawing strength of the exercise and training it induced.

He sees Jacob match against Denis as the split, the techniques being used. Jacob ducks as the opponent punches, swiping his feet from under him in one motion. He vamps to the right, which is slowing a small moment in time to appear close by. Denis curses lowly, his eyes tracking Jacob's movement.

The vamping use to be transporting to one location, but then thirty years ago, a curse settled upon their realm. The curse took away abilities from every species known to the Supernatural Realm. Vampires' lost the ability to vamp long distance and speed heal. Werewolves' lost their morphing into their wolves and speed healing. The Fae lost their ability to stop aging. They have learned to adapt to their new lives. None of them felt comfortable in this life, this bubble.

Twenty-three years ago, everyone within the realm felt a window of time slide by. Their bindings on their magic released. Wolves transformed and vampires took off. Then it snapped back into place, freezing them in the bubble again. Werewolves that were morphed stayed wolves. The vampires that were in mid vamp, disintegrated. The Fae were the only ones untouched. The king grew furious, the fates playing with them. He started war with the werewolves, in a way Julius couldn't remember. He won five years later. He recently started war against the Far, but has been unsuccessful.

The males in the clearing pants and growls at the building frustration of the training. His lips quirks and his eyes meet Denis's. Laughter shone from their eyes, knowing that they would never get away with showing frustration in the Yelkites's training. The sponge like grass is trampled and worn as they move back and forth.