The Obsidian Arrow

The Obsidian Arrow: Chapter 24

Chapter 24:

[Arria’s POV]

            In the late afternoon sun a breeze that could crack iron pushed through the forest. There were only red spots of light that shone through the trees. The forest was dark other than the few patches of cracked red sunlight. Dark was fine though, in fact, it was exactly as Arria liked it. She smiled as she ran from tree to tree pausing slightly to take a break and make sure there was nobody following her or anybody in her path. It wouldn’t matter much if there was, so long as she found them. Anybody that would get in her way would learn of the dire consequences.

            Soft laughter echoed inside her mind that matched the smile at her lips. It was a cruel laughter as was the smile but it was humor nonetheless. She found it amusing that Zergiel was so terrified of the human. He seemed to shudder at the words when she told him that Searon was a lone survivor of a village. She knew all too well why the old warlock was afraid and it wasn’t all just because of the news of Searon. Searon was a big part of it and Arria knew that it had been Zergiel that had ordered the village destroyed. There was word of a human leader in hiding that if he came back to his rightful place as a general he could destroy the dark. Who are where the knowledge came from was a mystery but Zergiel had claimed the human as a threat.

            Arria knew what the warlock truly feared and her smile faded. The same terrified her nearly to her wits but she held her own with greater composure than Zergiel. She knew that Zergiel wasn’t the master but got his orders from another. There was greater evil in Calthoria than Zergiel and Arria combined. Arria learned long ago that it wasn’t mere chance or fate that raised her from the dead. She still remembered every second of embracing the dark magic and allowing it to flow into her. The feeling had been beyond anything she could have ever imagined. It felt as if she were powerful enough to do anything. She could have saved her mother and she could have killed anyone that was in her way to stop her. The power wasn’t fully hers yet and she felt an arrow in her back, her sister’s arrow. She had not seen her sister pull the string but she knew it was her.

She remembered her body vanished as the arrow pierced through her back and into her heart. What she saw next was pure darkness with a single red flame burning in the distance. She was naked and she shivered despite the blazing heat that surrounded her. There was little she could do but run and so run she did. The darkness was too thick surrounding her that she could not determine where she was going. Only one place was clear, the flame. It wasn’t a large flame, but barely the thickness of her pinky. Her mind was emptied except for the flame and she dashed with all of her might towards it. Haunting laughter pierce her mind making all other thoughts vanish. The laughter wasn’t hers and it terrified her to her core.

Her feet came to a stop directly in front of the floating flame that hung in the air at her eye level. It flickered from orange to red then abruptly shifted from violet, blue, and green. The laughter stopped and from the shadows a figure appeared. The body was surrounded by a cloak and hood where the face was not visible. Long wrinkled gray fingers with sharp black claws were visible past the long sleeves. The small flame that floated in the air made nothing else visible.

“Arria Nightsky… you are late to arrive.” The voice seemed inhuman. It was hoarse and neither male nor female but it echoed through the darkness.

Despite herself she shivered, “W-who a-are you?”

“I am he who commands the undead. You have been given another chance to live, do you accept?”

“Will it save mother?”

“My dear… it may already be too late for your mother. It is not your fault. You did all that you could. If only the others would have listened…”