Deadly Night Shade

Chapter 20

Chapter twenty

Shadow had left and I was curled up on my lounge with my head resting on the arm. It was mostly peaceful and I was relaxed until a loud CRASH echoed from far away. My eyes flew open and I sat up suddenly, not really knowing what was going on.

Another CRASH pounded into my eardrums and I stood up and walked to the door. When I looked out, I saw sickly smoke rising from the city, swirling and twisting angrily against itself, coiling into the sky.

I started to run towards it, my plaited hair flying behind me.  As I ran, a black light surrounded by body and, once it slowly faded away, my black dress and purple-tipped hair blew elegantly as I ran, my plaits gone.

I reached an intersection in the road that should have been crowded but when I truly looked, my heart leaped and I knew why. Standing, circling each other were the Crimson Knight and Silhouette.

It was now, that I truly looked at them, that I saw the lie. Both of them were relaxed, not tense as they should be. They looked comfortable with each other there and when every blow was enforced, a slight twinkle lit up their eyes.

They were playing it up for the cameras which were capturing everything from a safer distance. I sighed and gripped my sword with intensity, so many questions swirling through my head, but one constant idea popping up throughout, “join the fight.”

I followed my instinct and stepped out of the shadows, glaring angrily between Aly and hero boy, and as I stepped out, Silhouettes face lit up. “Night Shade, help me!”

I almost laughed, they didn’t realise what I knew and didn’t know what power I had now. “Silhouette,” I began, “go, I can take this wanna be super hero.” Silhouette eyed my suspiciously before cartwheeling once and running off.

My eyes narrowed as the Crimson Knight turned to face me. We stared each other down in a moment of simultaneous hatred and anger as I clenched my fist around the serpent hilt of my sword.

I saw a shudder of power going through his arm and dived quickly to the right, a beam of white light impacted with the pavement where I was moments before and obliterated everything in its path. I closed my eyes and stood up, having grazed my shins on impact. I stood up and swung my sword, a pulse of purple fire, going in his direction.

He quickly tried to dive over it and the fire licked at his skin as it passed, leaving burn marks on his face and arms but he avoided the full power of the pulse. My eyes flared with rage and I looked away from him as he stood up from the ground where he landed. When I looked around, the streets were deserted except for myself and the Crimson Knight, but in the buildings, there were people, too afraid to watch from the streets but had their faces pressed against their glass windows, watching intently.

The Crimson Knight got to his feet and stared me down angrily. I folded my arms and waited for him to make his move. Yellow-white light started to glow around his fists and he charged at me, eyes flashing golden for a moment.

I dived quickly out of the way and he charged straight past before turning agilely and charging at me again. I didn’t have enough time to recover from dodging the first attack and as soon as I could stand up, the Crimson Knight punched me in the chest, breaking several of my ribs.

I coughed and blood dripped out of my mouth. I put my finger to it and looked at the deep red liquid. I spat out most of the blood and quickly wiped off the remainder from my chin, standing up and facing the Crimson Knight, my chest groaning in disagreement.

I charged at him, my sword exploding with bright purple flames and before he could get out of the way, I swung the weapon and sliced cleanly through his arm, leaving a long thin cut with severe burn marks around the wound.

He gasped in pain and stumbled backwards. I made a ring between my thumb and index finger and blew through the gap. Purple flames leapt up from my breath and as they swirled towards Hero boy, he stumbled back and then a pulse of energy fired through his arms and a white light glowed from the cut before the surge of power blasted from the palm of his hand.

The ring was broken and the flames disappeared as I dived out of the way at the last minute. When I dived, the hot asphalt ground tore harshly against the skin on my arm on which I landed.

I winced with the stinging pain in my arm but stood up, thankful that it was my left arm that was wounded, not my sword arm. I swung my sword upwards and a vertical pulse of purple fire erupted into existence, tearing through the pavement that it touched and it flew directly towards The Crimson Knight who wore a mask of surprise. He dived out of the way and landed facing away from me.

He turned around and was standing across from me, a smile touching his lips. “You’re not a hero,” I said, my voice soft, but loud enough for him to hear. His smile disappeared, “I protect the people of Archvale from the likes of you and Silhouette, prevent robberies, save lives and do nothing but good,” he said, his eyes narrowing angrily.

“No,” I said, “I wouldn’t need to challenge you if you didn’t exist, the robberies that you prevent are real, but you give the ‘villain’ unnecessary harm and make their lives not worth living, in the battles you fight to save the innocent of Archvale, you destroy the cities buildings and roads, making the people you try to save in more trouble than before you started.” I shake my head, “You are no Hero.”

The Crimson Knight raised his head and walked slowly towards me. “What would you know about me,” he said, “I fight for all that is good and right, I destroy the darkness in the world and fight for righteousness. You are the one destroying the lives, you are the danger to these people, you, who came out of no-where and look for trouble while I am doing these people well, and don’t you tell me about who is the good guy, take a long look in the mirror and then tell me that I am wrong.”

When he stopped talking I realised that we were less than a metre away from each other. I put my hands behind my back and put my sword into its sheath. “Ok,” I say, and move closer to him. I needed to know who this enemy was, and I obviously couldn’t use brute strength to get there.

“Who are you?” I asked simply. He laughed and shook his head, “I can’t tell you that,” he said, moving closer to me, “Know your enemy,” I replied, a small smile touching my lips. He looked deep into my eyes, “I know your face,” he said, a look of confusion in his eyes, “Who are you?” he asked, “I can’t tell you that,” I said, and smiled sheepishly.

“This is so wrong,” he said, his eyes flashing golden for a second. “What is?” I asked in reply. When I made full eye contact with him, I noticed that his eyes were warm, not angry. “We are supposed to be enemies,” he started, “yet somehow I…”

He put his hand on my arm and leant down; I shivered slightly and felt his lips against my own. I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck and I heard a loud murmur shudder from building to building around us. I pulled away, bringing my hands to his face, and taking off his mask.

A loud gasp echoed around me and, and looking to see the face of the Crimson Knight and gasped in turn. I should have known, even with the mask on, his golden brown hair was visible and his unmistakable emerald green eyes… “Jason.”

The girl froze as the enemy realised what she had done. She had manipulated him and twisted his emotions, tricking him into giving her the perfect opening, an opening that he had not anticipated and a type of warfare that he hadn’t expected. He had played her game right into her hands, and now she knew who he was.