The Hidden Mages

The Nightmare King

(picture above is Nico)

Out of the dark came sprinting Angelo and Dylan who looked completely exhausted.

"We've finally caught up to you," Dylan stated after stopping right in front of us.

"Wait, where's Daphne and Lucas?" Angelo asked, almost out of breath.

"I told them to go ahead of me while I battled with some Harpies," I replied.

"First, the Minotaur, then, Harpies? What's next?" Dylan asked, frustrated about the situation we were in.

"I don't know but we have to find Daphne and Lucas as soon as possible because something tells me that there are more monsters lurking around here than we think," Angelo stated.

We continued our walk for another 30 minutes before finally catching up with Daphne and Lucas who told us that they had just faced Agrius, a centaur who has once battled with the legend, Hercules. These creatures that are prowling in the forest have all been revived from the dead and it seems like they don't want us to find out about what's on the other side......but what?

Eventually, we came across an antique castle that looked like it could fall apart at any moment. We looked at each other before walking towards the castle and up the stairs that led to an old but huge wooden door.

"Do we knock?" Lucas asked awkwardly.

"I guess so," Daphne replied before knocking twice on the door.

No one answered and there wasn't even the slightest sound coming from inside the castle, so we came to the conclusion that the castle was abandoned. We were about to walk away when the door suddenly creaked open, making us look at each other in surprise.

"Guys, I don't think we should go in there," Lucas spoke softly.

"And why not?" I asked while raising one of my eyebrows.

"Haven't you guys watched a horror movie before? Bad things happen to people who walk through a door that had just opened by itself!" Lucas whisper-yelled, making us roll our eyes in annoyance before entering the castle.

We all jumped in fright when the door closed shut right after we had entered the building. The hall was completely empty with two flights of stairs leading to the upper floor and a throne that stood right in front of us. The walls were painted in black while the ceiling was made out of gray marble. Overall the whole placed looked and felt depressing as ever.

"I knew we shouldn't have come in here," Lucas whispered to himself.

"You're right. You shouldn't have," said a dark voice.

We looked around to find the source of the voice that had frightened us to death and realized that it was coming from the throne.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Angelo commanded while walking towards the throne with the rest of us following him from behind.

"You dare command me?!" the voice yelled with anger. We stopped and stood still before seeing a black figure stand up from his throne and step out of the shadows.

There stood a man with silver hair and gray colored eyes that were staring right into our souls which were really scary, by the way. He wore a black hooded cloak over his black outfit and he also had a silver necklace with a red gem as a pendant. Angelo, Dylan, and Daphne stared at him in shock and disbelief. It was like they knew him somehow. 'Are they friends?" I asked myself but then, eventually, it hit me.

"Nico," Daphne called his name.

"Nico is no longer here," he spoke with sadness and hatred in his voice.

"Who are you, then?" I asked, trying hard not to show my fear.

"I am the ruler of this kingdom. I'm the one who make your bad dreams.........real. I'm who people call, The Nightmare King. The one and only," he answered with a wicked smile on his face.

"Nico, it's us. Your cousins," Dylan spoke.

"What part of Nico isn't here did you not understand!!" he screamed, making the whole castle shake.

"You are trespassing on my TERRITORY! And whoever invades my space will never make it out alive," he said with an evil laugh that sent chills down my entire body.

All of a sudden, the ground starts shaking violently and two huge serpents emerged from underneath. The Cerastes. An incredibly flexible creature that has four pairs of horns on its head.

"Holy Cow!" Lucas exclaimed while stumbling backward.

"Nico! Come on, dude! It's us!" Dylan yelled before taking out his sword.

"It's no use. He's possessed," I said before changing into the Sagittarius Transformation.

"Lucas, you're a Spirit Mage aren't you? Do you have any idea how to save Nico?" Daphne asked her little brother.

"It will take some time but I think I can find out what's controlling him," Lucas answered.

"We'll buy you some time," said Angelo before running towards one of the serpents with a sword in each hand. Dylan approached the serpent and tried to hit it with his sword but it was moving too fast. Daphne tried blocking the serpents way by making a wall of ice, using the Water Element. It worked for a minute or two but the serpents managed to break the wall like it was nothing. I shot three arrows, aiming right at the serpent's head but just like before, the serpent dodged it.

"It's impossible to hit these things," Dylan complained before getting smashed by the tail of one of the serpents.

"I got it! It's the necklace!" Lucas exclaimed after figuring out what was controlling Nico all this while. Daphne decided to take care of Nico while the rest of us handle the two serpents who were basically trying to kill us all.

"Attack its head!" Dylan yelled after using his magic to sense the weak point of those two creatures. It would be easy for me to shoot the two serpents in the head with my arrow but they were too quick.

"Guys, I need your help. Distract them for me," I told them.

"What are you going to do?" Dylan asked before seeing me run off with my bow and arrow in hand.

Angelo seemed to understand my plan, so he quickly asked the boys to help him. Angelo ran towards the two serpents and caught their attention by moving from one place to another using his Shadow Magic. The serpents became more and more frustrated by the second. I saw the chance to attack and quickly pulled out two arrows.

'Ready. Aim. Shoot' I said in my head before firing my magical arrows that started to glow.

"HEADSHOT!!" Lucas yelled in joy after seeing both arrows hit the heads of the two serpents.

Right after the serpents had fallen, we turned towards Daphne and Nico who were having a one on one battle. Finally, Daphne was able to freeze the necklace that was hanging on Nico's neck and break it into pieces. Nico, on the other hand, fainted and that was when the castle began shaking like it was...... angry.

"Let's get out of here!" Dylan exclaimed before helping Angelo to carry Nico out of the castle.

The walls and the ceiling were starting to crumble. Even the throne itself had already fallen apart. We were all able to make it out in time before the castle fell into ruins. It was silent for a while until Lucas just had to say something.

"That was.............awesome! Can we do it again?"