The Sorcerer Prince

Chapter #14

This chapter goes out to all my 'ghost' readers. Where would I be without all of you? Wow, I wrote and published three chapters in one day...... might as well do another......

     Damien has dark magic, but his eyes burn a red color. Needle-like bolts of magic fly from his fingers and straight for Seto. He has no doubt that those bolts would have flew through several of his vital organs. He froze, but the prince didn't see that someone was already at him.

A much larger impact then inspected slams into Seto from a shadowy alcove. He's too stunned to speak or do much if anything. A hard, metallic force pulls him right off his feet and across the room at inhuman speeds. It knocks the wind out of him. All Damien sees is a blur sweeping the prince across the room and disappearing into a servant's passage.

Seto only starts to come to his senses when the blur shudders and starts to slow. They make several more quick turns before ducking into a storage room and finally dropping Seto. The prince tries to clumsily scramble to his feet, but he's surprised when someone grabs his arm to gently help him up. He flinches away at first.

"It's ok, Prince Seto. It will take some time for the other sorcerers to get this far, and there's more soldiers waiting for us", the kind voice is startling to hear after so long on the run. Seto looks up to see a boy just a little older then himself, with brown eyes and hair. He wears a purple and black guard's uniform with a gold badge on the front. He's the son of the Captain of the Guard, Adam.

     "A-Adam what are you doing here?", the prince is utterly shocked to find him here.

     "What do you mean what am I doing? You're my Prince! I came to save you, and-", Adam abruptly cuts himself off as he looks behind Seto. The prince whirls around, just remembering his savior.

     It takes a moment for him to recognize the man. He's never seen him outside the dank prison cell. Matt is much taller and bigger up close. His robotic eye is lit up, but flickers as Seto watches. Matt looks up and smiles despite his labored breathing. His shiny metal arm can't hide the bleeding holes that were shot into his chest. There's even rips in his clothes where dark magic bolts bounced off his metal pieces. He took Seto's killing blow.

     "No No No- Not again! Matt!", Seto freaks out as the cyborg looses his balance and crashes to the floor. Seto falls down and scrambles on his hands and needs to pull Matt's head onto his lap. "Matt, no, you can't die! W-Why did you do that!? You've been trapped for so long and, and-", he's abruptly cut off.

     "Seto.... it's fine", Matt smiles, a shudder going through his body, "I've lived a long life, and I've seen many amazing things. R-Remember when I told you that I still had something to do? This is it, kid".

     "But I need you, Matt! I can't loose you too......".

"You'll be fine..... Seto. You'll be ok.......". Seto can see Matt's robotic eye dim, and the solar panel on his arm loosing power. Any sort of healing magic he might have once had is totally useless to save the people he loves. It makes him angry and sad and guilty all at the same time.

"I.... I'm sorry", Adam is in just as much shock. He only knew Matt for a few days, but the half-robot was kind and protective of everyone he met. Seto stares blankly.

      He only snaps out of it when a subtle glow draws his attention. He slowly pulls the tiny gold box out of his pocket, mystified by the changing pattern. The hourglass was empty before, but now it looks like the bottom is filled in with a small amount of red. He had gotten Matt's blood all over his shirt. It just had to be blood magic, didn't it? Seto still feels grossed out while touching blood, and even worse with Matt's dead body sitting right in front of him, but he still smears more blood onto the box until the hourglass is full. Adam watches over his shoulder in confusion as the box finally opens. The inside is purple velvet, indented to hold a small vial the size of Seto's pinky. The bright white liquid inside glows as he switshes it around.

"What is- S-Seto!", Adam interrupts his own question with a yelp as the prince pops the cork and drinks the the strange liquid.

"I appreciate your help, but I don't need an escape route", Seto's voice is low. He's pissed. No one can hurt his friends and escape the consequences. Adam nervously steps back at the prince's aura changes to something older and more dangerous. He doesn't immediately follow when the prince strides out of the room.

When Seto stalks back into the throne room, he's come back exactly the same way he left. That should be impossible with how many sorcerers Damian sent after him. The prince has his head tilted to the floor so that the false king can't see his eyes.

     "How did you get back in here!? My men should have caught you", Damien yells, standing up from his throne.

      "They're unconscious", Seto replies.

     "That's not possible! A human wouldn't defeat that many sorcerers in a thousand years!", Damien snarls, ready to strike down the prince himself.

     "You're right", Seto replies. He finally looks up and makes eye contact. One of his eyes in a shimmering blue, and the other is a pulsing red.

     The Sorcerer Prince is ready for the world to burn.