Huntik Trilogy. Volume 1 The Battle Against The Specter

The Calm Before the Storm

Marcus crossed his arms behind his head and sighed. He tried to fall asleep for the umpteenth time, closing his eyes, but he couldn't and turned on his side. He reached his titans with one hand and began to study them. He felt as if the amulet of Leones called him and he had the instinct to evoke him. At that moment Clara turned to him.
"Are you awake again?"
"Yes I cannot sleep... apparently, I'm not alone!"
Clara opened the zipper of her sleeping bag and sat next to her brother.
"How do you feel?" she asked as he laid Leones next to Cerberus.
"I'm scared! I cannot help, but thinking about that day when I went on a mission alone with Dad. What Shadow did to him... you weren't there fortunately. "
Clara nodded.
"Mom said she didn't want me to get in trouble. She said I wasn't ready, I would have been in the way."
"When Dad dropped himself forward with his weight, right after he saw his mother..." Marcus shuddered. "Do you remember when we didn't know anything about the titans and we thought we were living in a normal family?"
"When we thought Daddy was an unlucky privite eye and Mum a desperate housewife?" Clara asked. "Did you think that Dad was that in that moment?"
Marcus nodded.
At that moment the tent's hinge opened and Cherit entered.
"Guys, I was listening to you. I understand how you feel, but tomorrow is near and your father is counting on you for the success of the mission."
"We know Cherit, but this scares me! What if I couldn't control Leones tomorrow?"
"You will make it! You are the son of Dante Vale and Zhalia Moon, two of the greatest seekers of the Huntik Foundation! Your parents have hidden their true identities just to protect you. They are not weak and Dante will soon return to be combative as before!"
Clara sighed.
"We already have our hero of tomorrow: the son of the prodigious Dante Vale!"
"Clara, I..." Marcus tried to say something.
"You'll build a bond with a legendary titan tomorrow." Cherit reminded her. "The most powerful seeker of the Foundation counts on you."
"Who? Eathon Lambert?" Clara asked.
"Eathon is no longer the strongest as he was." Cherit laughed. "The strongest is Lok, but he's not aware of it yet."
Marcus began to think.
"So, Dad is the third best seeker..."
Cherit smiled.
"Your father is relegated to only one position."
Clara laughed.
"Then Montehue lost his position too."
Cherit nodded.
"You're very cool Cherit!" Marcus exclaimed. "You managed to make us laugh with less."
Cherit mimed a bow.
"Thank you, guys!"
Marcus yawned and locked himself in his sleeping bag.
"Maybe it's better if I sleep too." Clara commented, rubbing her eyes.
"Sleep well, guys. I'll be out here." Cherit greeted them.

Lok woke up suddenly and saw Sophie sitting with her knees to her chest. He approached her and put his arms around her shoulders.
"I'm worried about Sam." Sophie told him in a low and dark tone of voice. "We risk to not see him anymore."
"Don't even think about it, Sophie!" Lok told her resolutely, "We will win and we will return home!"
"I hear the voice again and I talked to Dante before." Lok looked worried and Sophie looked him in the eyes, serious. "It keeps repeating - Death and blood!" she broke off trembling "I'm scared, Lok!"
"Be quiet, Sophie! Tomorrow I will be with you all the time. I won't leave you a moment alone."
"Thank you." she thanked him with tears in her eyes, hugging him.
Lok returned the hug and stroked her hair and after that they fell asleep.

Dante was sitting outside the tent alone and started talking to Cherit.
"Do you want me to check out Marcus and Clara?" the little titanasked.
"Yes. Make sure they sleep until morning." Dante asked him.
Zhalia came out of the tent with a blanket in her hand, which she placed on the shoulders of the seeker.
"Dante, you are trembling! What's wrong?" she asked a moment later with a worried look.
"Nothing, it's just a memory." his hand slipped on the scar of his left side and he shivered again. "A bad memory which snowballed."
"We all lowered our guard with Shadow. Don't beat yourself up! It makes no sense to continue to hurt yourself."
"Did you go to see Klaus anymore?" Danteasked her to change the subject.
"No. I preferred to not let him know that we were risking our lives to save the world." she looked down and smiled cynically. "For the umpteenth time."
"You know, I was thinking about all the nights spent reading the diary when you were infiltrated into the Blood Spiral. You were so far, yet so close!"
Zhalia allowed Dante to caress her cheek and went with him under the blanket.
"This could be the last night we spend together."
"I know. Regardless of what's going to happen, I'll never forget it!" Dante smiled as he kissed Zhalia on the forehead.
Zhalia put her arms around his neck, he lifted her off the ground and carried her into the tent, waiting for the battle.

It was just four o'clock in the morning when a flash appeared in the sky. The seekers guarding the perimeter of the camp that hadn't evoked their titans invoked them fothwith. The seekers who were to rest activated, beginning to line up.
The battle was about to begin.
Montehue took his axes from his belts and waved them in the air.
"Let's see who has the courage to come forward first, I'm ready!"
Dante came out of his tent with Zhalia at his side. What he saw petrified him: there were about a thousand searchers, all dressed in black with dark cloaks, and in front of them there was Shadow. A thousand wicked seekers against only one hundred of the Foundation.
"They are so many. The recruits have increased since the last time." Dante noted turning to Zhalia.
Metz joined Dante with Den, Harrison and Montehue.
Eathon reached his son and gave him a smile to encourage him.
"Lok, if you recover the titans for Shadow it's over and we'll be back home. Don't fail!" he urged him.
"Don't worry, Dad! I'm going to get Clara and we'll head straight to the cave where the titans are kept."
Sophie took Lok by the arm and pulled him toward Marcus and Clara's tent.
"There's no time to waste, Lok!"
Shadow went ahead with his army and so did Dante.
Marcus approached his father and watched his frowning look at Shadow.
"We are at the showdown, Dante Vale!" the hooded man grinned.
"In the end, here we are!" Danteexclaimed. "Don't hope that I will let you subdue the Earth, after all the effort we have done to free it from the threat of the Blood Spiral Brotherhood."
Shadow looked down and shook his head.
"I deceived you from the beginning. From the prophecy I left in Toronto's base to this day. It was all an invention and I will tell you what will happen now: you are in the minority, you will be defeated and killed. Surrender now and I will try to save the lives of the seekers you have involved and perhaps even the one of Zhalia, provided they swear loyalty to me."
Dante stood before his son.
"We won't give up. We will fight to the end and you will lose!"
"I have my doubts." Shadow hissed "Anyway, if you want to die in a bloody and not very merciful way..." he added, raising a hand towards Dante. "Bladewave!"
"Honorguard!" Dante defended himself with the shield created by the spell.
The final battle really started. Once again the fate of the world would be decided.
Dante and Marcus were immediately joined by Zhalia and Metz, while Sophie Lok, Clara and Cherit ran to the cave where the Legendary Titans of Antiquities were locked up, the only hope to stop the conflict and ensure victory. Shadow, with a wave of his hand, gave orders to pursue them.
Dante tried to resist the attacks of Shadow.
"I won't let you summon any one of your titans, Dante Vale!"
Marcus tried to take Cerberus, but he was assaulted by two silent soldiers who blocked him on the ground with Ropetrick. Zhalia left her husband's side to help her son.
Dante found himself in trouble and wondered if he had made any mistakes in the assessment. Worries began to haunt him, but then he remembered that Lok would hardly fail his mission.
"I only have to hold on until Lok's return!"
The fate of the world was once again in the hands of that young seeker.