Argent Eye IV

32

I shot up, not really seeing anything but darkness at first, but I did feel a pair of firm hands on my shoulders. I took a deep breath, like I'd been holding it for a while, before my vision started to clear and I realised where I was. It was David's office, and I noticed it was now dark outside. How long had I been asleep for?

Ronan was there with his hands on my shoulders, trying to calm me down.

"Woah, Millie." He said. "You're okay." He assured me.

He didn't know that, though. He hadn't heard what I'd just heard. He didn't feel what I now felt, in the pit of my stomach, ready to emerge whenever it felt like it.

I was shaking my head. "Shit." I said. "Shit, shit, shit."

"What is it?" He asked. "What happened?"

I couldn't even bring myself to say it out loud. David and Irina were looking at me, deeply concerned. I rubbed my head, before dragging my hand down my face. I then held that hand out in front of me, and brought the darkness forward. I saw it spread through the veins in my arm like ink in water, until it reached my palm and started to materialise as a black sphere of smoke. It filled the room with a strange and unnerving energy. I could feel it's power flowing through my veins- even in its weakened form, it was strong.

Incredible.

Scary.

Everyone in the room stared at the darkness, silently and still, as if any sudden movement might somehow provoke it. David and Ronan knew first hand what the darkness was capable of, as did I. Irina had only heard, but she was still weary.

"Is that...?" David finally asked, pointing at it with his eyes narrowed.

I nodded, before closing my fist and watching the smoky substance dissipate into the air.

"But how?" Ronan asked. "You still have your other elements, right?"

"Yeah." I said, and just to prove my point, I reached for the ice. It was still very much accessible, and didn't feel any different to how it usually would as I let it frost over my hand.

"Then how...?" Ronan didn't even know what to ask, he was so confused, and I didn't blame him.

And so I set about telling them what the darkness told me in my dream. About how Haydn's consciousness had been bound to his Black Prometheum, and that he'd just gathered enough strength to summon the darkness. About how we were now connected to each other, and that was why I also had the darkness in me.

I then spoke about the whole darkness being split between us, and how there was still darkness and light somewhere on earth to be found.

"Wait a second." Irina said, slowly understanding. "So darkness and light cannot exist without the other, unless they have a host?"

I nodded.

"But if they are within a host, they can thrive independently?" She asked.

I nodded again.

"Which is why you and Haydn only have darkness and no light inside you?"

"Yes."

"Oh, okay." She said. "I think I get it."

"But how is it that you now have the darkness in you as well as all the other elements?" David asked. "Didn't the other elements cast it out before?"

"Yeah, but this time, Haydn and I are connected." I said. "The darkness was basically saying that I am the light to Haydn's darkness, and he is the darkness to my light, blah, blah, blah. But then he said that where my elements make the darkness weaker, Haydn's absence of elements make it stronger. It's like we're sharing the burden of it or something."

"Oh." David said.

"That sounds even more fucked than last time." Ronan said.

I smiled. "Thank you for kindly pointing that out."

"Sorry." He said. "But you were able to bring out the darkness willingly just then. It didn't possess you or anything."

"Yeah, I think it can get around that if it wants to." I said. "I just need to be careful not to get too emotional about anything. I can't let it take over."

Ronan nodded.

"Sorry you all got dragged into my mess again." I chuckled, suddenly realising what was happening here. I did feel bad. David and Irina seemed to keep getting dragged into everything that went wrong in my Argent life. Ronan, of course, was my Dreamwalker, so it was kind of in his job description, but even with him I felt bad.

"Don't be silly." Irina said. "We are happy to help. It's what we're here for."

"You're not even my tutors anymore." I pointed out.

"We are Argents, though." She said. "We're supposed to support each other."

I smiled gratefully, before my stomach growled loudly.

"Was that you or the darkness?" David asked.

I laughed. "Me. I'm bloody starving." And so I took that as a queue to stand up. "I'll see you guys soon."

"Take care, Millie." Irina said, and so I left with Ronan.

__________