Madeline

Madeline: Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two

[Daniel's Point of View]

All I saw were blood and chaos. The bars of the prisons were either bent, or covered with rich, crimson blood. Arrows were shot, magics were cast, and swords were clashing. My hands were bloody and tired, but my adrenaline pushed me through. We've lost a quarter of our men, and they've lost two-quarters of their men. Although my left arm was broken, I have to push myself through the limit.

Reflex made my moves swift and steady. Men after men I've sliced through, yet they kept on coming and coming. I took a quick glimpse at my right and saw the women that we saw earlier. The one who helped us convince that we were here for good purposes. Her eyes were flickering with fury and spirit as she shot some arrows with perfect calculations. I feel bad that I didn't remember her name. I quicken my pace as I headed further into the edge of the prison, trying to find a quiet place for me to heal my bones. As I looked back, I could see my friends out of the corner of my eyes. 

Madeline was face-to-face with Daemon. I'm thinking of some polite chit-chat from Daemon, and some quick lectures, since Ivan usually did that to her. A few meters away, Jack was battling Ivan, their powers clashing over as Jack's hands generated blue lights which knocked Ivan off of his feet. He got back, and threw his bare hands onto the direction of Jack, and in an instant, a black orb flew from his hands. Aaron was helping some of the injured. But something about Daemon caught my attention. Something that he was holding. 

Madeline's stuff and ring. 

God, how could we forget about that? 30% of Madeline's power were from those things. Although she could still fight, her power won't be powerful enough to fight him. My feet were about to turn back, but a loud rumbling sound interrupted. It gave off a powerful vibe, that I shuddered. Everyone was now eyeing their surroundings. And then a shadow passed by so quickly, that's when it hit me. A Shadownight. 

It's a humongous, eagle-monster-beast-or-something-like-that, which was only known as a mythical creature. Legend told us that the dragon belonged to the founder of the Eagle Board. It had black and white feathers which were as sharp as a samurai, two beady eyes that illuminated red lights, and a huge beak that could crush things into pieces in a split second. The Shadownight was looking as malicious as Daemon, its owner. 

I ran towards Madeline, trying to help her get her stuff back. Pain flared through my arms, and yet I ignored it. For once, the pain didn't really matter to me. 

Time went by so quickly, I was only six meters away from Madeline. I slashed my way through the chaos, trying to hit the Eagle Boards while avoiding harming the prisoners, or allies. 'Five meters away.' All I need to do, is just run a few meters, and I'm there. But it seems like the odds are against me. 

That Shadownight blocked my way. Its eyes were glaring at me. The red light was blinding my eyes. It shrieked in a high tone, which almost made my ears pop. I knew that I wasn't in a good position, and so I did what I thought was best. Run. 

My legs were running as fast as it could. My heart was thumping so fast, it could easily burst. Now, the pain from my broken arm was really getting into my nerves. I was only focused on one thing; getting out of that maniac-eagle's way. 

As I reached the end of the prison corridor, I just realized that I went into a dead-end. My brain was trying to find a way out. The Shadownight was quickly approaching, and I was stuck in this dead-end. "Oh God, I wish I could just hide under those bars." 

It was only thirty meters away. "Wait, bars. Bars!" 

I gripped the bars tightly, and tried to climb my way up into the second floor of the prison. Well, it definitely worked. But then I just realized, that this thing could fly. "Avoiding it won't mean anything. I need to destroy it," I said to myself. People might call me crazy for talking to myself, but strangely that's one of my habit. And as they say, old habits die hard. "I need to end that Shadownight for good. But how? I think I remembered something about Shadownights. My grandpa used to tell me some stories about it." 

Twenty five meters. "Something about light. And how if we kill it, we also kill the owner." As I scratched my head in frustration, the Eagle kept on approaching. Twenty meters. "Oh! I remembered. If I want to kill that Shadownight, I'd have to stab the Eagle on both of its eyes while in the middle of broad daylight. " 

Fifteen meters. "But how am I supposed to have some daylight, when I'm on this piece of concealed prison with no source of light at all?" Ten meters. I took a quick glance at my back. "Let's just hope that there are no other rooms beside this wall." 

I took a deep breath as the Eagle flew its way towards me in an impressive speed. We were only two meters away. A meter away. And on the last second, I jumped as high as I could, and hold on to its beak as we both hit the wall. And now I was dangling on the Shadownight's beak as it soared through the open sky. Success. All I need to do now is stabs the Shadownight's eyes and it'll die terrifically with me on its back. Hopefully, after I killed this enormous eagle, its owner would die too due to the spiritual connection they have. And let's hope that the owner of this eagle is Daemon. That'll be awesome. 

I climbed my way, struggling as the Shadownight thrashed around in panic and distraught. It took a major effort to climb my way up to the right eye of the eagle, especially with a broken arm. But I managed to stab its right eyes at last. The once, glowing red eye, dimmed and shattered into pieces. The eagle screeched so loud, my ears popped. Oh, now I think I'm deaf. 

Getting into the left eye was more difficult, since the Shadownight was now restless. I took a deep breath and lifted my left arm. I closed my eyes, and hit the left eye with a single jab. And everything slowed down as I lost my grip and fell down into the ground, followed with the eagle's shattered eyes. 

It gave a mad, shrieking voice that made the ground rumble. And it disintegrated softly. I couldn't imagine that I have killed a Shadownight. The relief brought happiness back into me. But reality broke through. I was now going to fall from the height of a hundred meters, and my speed was only accelerating, not decreasing. Panic began to flow through again. My breathing became heavier by the minute. But I realized that all I could do was relax, and let the fact that I'm going to die trying. At least, I died while killing Daemon, right? So my death wouldn't be useless. At least, I knew that my last moments weren't just sitting in my house, drinking teas or eating bagels.

As I inhaled deeply, a single feather appeared on my hands as if it were made out of thin air. There was something written on it, and I read it quietly, "Very well. You've succeeded in killing my Shadownight. But for all you know, the legends are sometimes wrong. I am still alive." 

And in that moment, my body hit the ground, as I took my last breath.