Allie Strom: The Bringer of Light Trilogy: The Second Trilogy in the Eternal Light Saga

by Justin Sloan

  “I see that I’ll have to approach this from a different direction,” he said, and then nodded to Hades and Poseidon.

  The two gods charged Daniel and leapt in the air. But instead of attacking him, they both shifted to a dark, oily mist, then dissolved into his body.

  Daniel took a step back, screaming. He fell to one knee, and when he looked up, his eyes had that same blank stare Allie had seen on Troy and Brenda when they had been taken over.

  “Daniel, fight it!” she screamed, but he was already charging.

  Allie lifted her ring to fight, but she had used up its energy on Zeus, and nothing happened. Daniel tackled her, slamming her to the ground. Allie raised her arms to protect herself—but he wasn’t striking. Instead he was pulling the armor off of her and placing it on himself.

  “You never deserved this, Allie!” He donned the helmet and then yanked the belt from her waist, securing it on his own. “I deserve this. You should have seen that from the beginning. Allie Strom, the Tenth Worthy?” He laughed, then pushed aside her arms, pinning her to the ground as he yanked the sandals from her feet. “I don’t think so.”

  “Daniel, stop!” she screamed. “This isn’t you!”

  “This is more me than I’ve ever been,” he said as he held down her wrist and slipped off the ring. He stood, placed the ring on his own finger, and smiled at Zeus. “Let’s get to it then.”

  Zeus nodded, and in a blink of an eye, they were gone.

  A shudder went through the ground, then another. The temple started to fall around Allie. An oil lamp shattered and tapestries caught on fire. Flames roared nearby, but Allie couldn’t move. She just lay there, devastated, staring at the stars visible where parts of the ceiling had fallen in. They’d taken over Daniel…. How?

  More ceiling fell and a shot of pain coursed through Allie’s ribs. Something had fallen on her, but she didn’t care to check. It was over. She closed her eyes.

  “Allie!” a voice shouted.

  “Where are you?” came another.

  It didn’t matter, she told herself. They’d lost.

  “Allie!” A chunk of rock moved aside to reveal Troy, scrambling to free her from the debris. “Thank God.”

  “Troy?” she said, weakly.

  “We’re getting out of this.”

  Brenda appeared beside him, helping to move the rocks. Soon they were carrying her away from the flames and the wreckage. They paused on the wooded hill, and watched as the large serpent far below created sand dunes around the destroyed pyramid, as if looking for its friends. The image of it thrashing about, slamming against the pyramids and fallen stones and retreating back beneath the sand only to resurface moments later, made Allie’s skin crawl.

  “I wish we’d never come here,” she said.

  “It’s not over,” Troy said, holding her hand with both of his. “We can still fight.”

  “How?” Allie asked. “They took everything.”

  “Did we train to fight them with rings and magic armor?” Troy asked. “No! Well, not exclusively. We trained our minds and bodies to be ready for this.”

  “We can fight them,” Brenda said, nodding in agreement. “If we don’t, no one will.”

  Allie struggled to stand, looking each of them in the eye. They actually believed this… and they were right.

  “They took Daniel… and they’ll hurt everyone we’ve ever loved. We can’t allow that.”

  Troy and Brenda smiled, weary smiles that showed how hard the path would be.

  “Of course,” Troy said with a glance around them, “there’s still the problem of getting out of here.”

  “Allie,” Brenda said, eyes narrowed in the way they often were when she had an idea. “Your eagle, it’s not entirely of this world or our own, right?”

  “And maybe it can bring us home!” Allie hugged Brenda, for a moment forgetting the bad blood between them.

  With a small pattern in the dirt, Allie called on her eagle, and a moment later it was circling them. A mist of lavender began to spread around them, hiding the surrounding hills and smoking ruins from view.

  When the mist cleared, they were back in Japan, in what appeared to be a crowded train station.

  “Why here?” Brenda asked. “I’d have thought it would take us back to school.”

  “I don’t know,” Troy said. “We haven’t found the last piece of the armor, and that means it’s still out there. And it makes sense, right? That’s where they’d be keeping the breastplate… the most populated place on Earth, where they’d know you would want to avoid fighting.”

  “And that’s somewhere in Japan?” Brenda asked.

  Troy walked to a wall of glass. “That’s right here.”

  The other two joined him and looked down at a massive intersection. People were running everywhere—dodging bursts of flames spouting from the ground as three shadowed figures shimmered into existence in the midst of the chaos. Then, in the middle of it all, Allie spotted an armored figure, red and black light swimming around him. In his hands he held a glowing red breastplate.

  “Daniel!” she shouted, pounding on the glass. “We have to get to him, to stop him!”

  “It’s too late,” Brenda said, her voice cracking.

  All three watched as Daniel donned the breastplate and then rose into the air, hovering above the crowd. The chaos suddenly stopped, everyone staring at him in awe. The three shadowed figures removed their hoods to show angelic faces, a faint red glow vanishing from their eyes to be replaced by a piercing blue. One of them, looking very much like Zeus, raised his hands.

  “Bow, people of Earth,” the one calling itself Zeus said. “Your time is at hand. The Tenth Worthy has been proclaimed.”

  Allie took a step back, then collapsed on jelly-legs, staring at the face of what had once been her friend, but was now the Tenth Worthy.

  Chapter 12: Two Worlds Collide

  Daniel was lost to them. He had been taken over by the fallen angels, had taken Allie’s armor and her destiny to become the Tenth Worthy. That title was now his.

  Where did that leave her?

  Troy and Brenda were saying something, but all Allie could hear were the muffled voices of people chanting.

  “Tenth Worthy! Tenth Worthy!”

  “Let’s get out of here,” she said, reaching for Troy’s extended hand.

  But as stood, Daniel turned and stared at her—a deep, dark stare that reached her all the way from the street below.

  And then he was surging toward her, crashing through the window and placing the tip of his sword at her neck.

  “I can’t let you live,” he said. “You’d try to take this all away from me, and we just can’t have that.”

  She hated that tears filled her eyes, but to hear that from him was gut-wrenching.

  “Stop it,” Troy yelled. “It’s still you in there, Daniel. Fight them, come back to us!”

  Daniel turned on Troy and plunged the sword into his chest, laughing as Troy fell to the floor in a pool of blood.

  “Soon there won’t be an ‘us’ to come back to,” Daniel said, turning on Brenda next and slicing her neck and shoulder.

  Allie backed up, horrified, but someone shoved her forward. People in black surrounded her, and outside she could see doorways opening and more Strayers coming through, hungry to watch the Tenth Worthy destroy Allie.

  “Don’t any of you know what’s going on here?” she screamed. “What this will mean for our world?”

  The remaining three fallen angels appeared beside Daniel, and he turned on her, his glowing sword at the ready.

  “It means a return to the old days,” Zeus said, and the ground outside began to transform. In place of the billboards and tall buildings, old temples formed, an ancient Japanese castle in the background.

  “It means a coming of better days,” the second fallen angel said, and raised its hands into the air. Lush trees sprouted everywhere, with huge flowers in vibrant blues and pinks.

  “It means the
rule of our ways,” the third one said in a singsong female voice. She wove her hands together, pulled a golden crown from thin air and placed it atop Daniel’s head, where it melded with the helmet.

  All the Strayers bowed to Daniel.

  “Don’t you see?” Daniel said, arms spread, accepting the praise. “We were lied to, Allie. This is the path we should have been on, this is what’s right.”

  Allie stared at him, wondering if he truly believed that, if somehow he could be right. What reason did she have for trusting Principal Eisner and her mom and everyone, anyway? But those fallen angels had taken over Daniel’s body by force, she reminded herself, and were controlling him. She pushed all doubts from her mind and stood her ground.

  “I know that’s not you in there,” she said to Daniel. “This has to stop, so I’m sorry for what I’m about to do.”

  He held her gaze, and the fallen angels laughed as she charged. They vanished and reappeared around her in bursts of black flames, raining down blows on her as she ran. Each one burned, but she deflected them, running for Daniel in a zigzag pattern and creating momentary defensive charms as she advanced. One blow knocked her sideways and onto shattered glass, but she recovered, performing a quick pattern that threw the glass into her attackers.

  The fallen angels drew closer, and Allie leapt at Daniel, hoping to at least knock the weapon from his hand. His shield caught her, though, and threw her through the broken glass. Air streamed past her and her chest clenched as she fell, and then she slammed into the ground with a thump.

  Strayers surged toward her, but stopped at a command from Daniel.

  “She’s mine,” he ordered, his voice deep and unfamiliar.

  Allie turned to look up, and then he was on top of her, sword raised.

  “Don’t do it,” she said in a whimper.

  “I… have no choice.” For a moment his eyes flickered and she saw a tear form, but then the distant stare was back, the sword falling.

  The steel felt cold as it broke through her, grating against bone and contrasting with the warmth of her blood flowing forth from her chest.

  Grabbing the sword, she pulled it deeper. She clutched at Daniel’s arm, fingernails digging into his skin, and drew him closer. He stared at her with wide, confused eyes as she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled—bringing him into an embrace.

  Using all her will, she stood there, hugging her best friend as her body grew colder.

  “I forgive you,” she whispered into Daniel’s ear, gripping him tightly to her. Her body shuddered and her vision darkened, but she held on, resting her cheek against his. She could feel his heartbeat, smell the sweat. But none of it was evil; it was Daniel, somewhere in there.

  “No….” he said, then louder, “NO!”

  He tried to push free, but she held tight.

  “I forgive you.”

  Then Allie let go and slipped from the sword, collapsing onto her back in an agonized groan. Her eyelids grew heavy, and then it was dark.

  Only it wasn’t, not anymore. A gold light was shining through her closed lids, and warmth tingled through her body. She forced her eyes open and saw a bright light streaming from her to Daniel. The nearby Strayers and fallen angels pulled back, covering their eyes. The light exploded, and Allie was standing over Daniel, who lay unconscious with the armor scattered across the ground.

  The Strayers and fallen angels stared, horrified.

  Allie looked at the armor, then at the bloodied sword, confused. Daniel now had the gaping hole in his chest, instead of her.

  “Please, no,” she said as she knelt beside him. She lifted him and looked around, searching for a patch of dirt. She spied one nearby, where the strange trees had sprouted at the fallen angel’s command.

  Still holding Daniel, Allie performed the healing pattern. But it didn’t work. She tried again, and nothing.

  Frustrated and scared, she wiped the stinging sweat from her eyes. Then she saw the glimmer of her ring on his hand. She had forgotten to put it back on! Gently, she removed the ring and slipped it back on her own finger.

  This time when she performed the pattern, Daniel’s wound started to glow. She performed the pattern again, and the scattered armor—corrupted to black and red—began to return to its golden hue. It floated up and attached itself to her, but unlike before, it felt weightless. As if it belonged with her.

  The helmet was the last piece, and when it landed on her head, the wound in Daniel’s chest healed completely. Golden light shone out from the armor in all directions, and Allie lifted off the ground to hover over the Strayers.

  They stared up at her in confusion, and for a moment she searched for something to say. Then a portal opened before her, and Principal Eisner stepped out. More portals opened, followed by more Guardians, Bringers of Light, and others she recognized from the training grounds.

  Daniel sat up in bewilderment, and Allie felt relief wash over her. Then she saw Brenda and Troy, also sitting up as a fading, golden light shone from their wounds.

  Principal Eisner gave her a warm smile. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” Allie said, taking a deep breath for whatever came next.

  With a raised eyebrow, Principal Eisner spread her arms and addressed the crowd. “I give you, the Eleventh Worthy!”

  Silence for a moment. And then, like a strong wind blowing away dirt, the Strayers scattered, trampling each other to flee.

  The fallen angels pulled back, watching the chaos. Then Allie met their eyes and, hissing like snakes, they retreated with the Strayers, disappearing into one of the portals.

  “Should we go after them?” Allie asked as she floated down to the ground beside Principal Eisner.

  “Not yet,” Principal Eisner said. “We’ve won the battle, but we must recuperate to finish the war another day.”

  “Then may I…?”

  “Of course.”

  Allie ran to Daniel, who was standing now, eyes wide and glistening with tears.

  “It was horrible, Allie,” he said. “I can’t even say how sorry I am, I just—”

  She threw her arms around him, laughing with joy that he was alive and himself again.

  “I don’t care about that,” she said. “We did it, we won. It’s over.”

  He pulled back and looked at her, then laughed as Troy and Brenda joined them in the hug.

  “It’s over,” Daniel said, closing his eyes.

  Allie loved those words.

  Chapter 13: The Eleventh Worthy

  A week later, Allie sat in the Principal’s office with her mom and dad, staring in confusion at Principal Eisner.

  “But what if I don’t want the new training?” Allie asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

  “You need this,” Principal Eisner said. “You’re the Eleventh Worthy now, and you’ll be training with The Elite Guardians and Bringers of Light, not children.”

  “It was these children that saved the world,” Allie said, annoyed.

  Principal Eisner nodded. “I understand, Allie. But there’s a lot more for you to learn, and some great teachers for you to be exposed to. You’ll use the portal doors to get to training, so it’s not like you’re really changing schools. You can still come here every day, as if you were going to Vigil Junior High part time. You can even stay on the soccer team if you want, and come help out with your old P.E. class from time to time, but the door you’ll go through will bring you to the elite training grounds.”

  “And when this war against evil is over?”

  Principal Eisner shared a look with Allie’s parents, then shook her head.

  “Dear,” Allie’s mom said, a hand on her shoulder. “We’re not sure it’ll ever truly be over.”

  “Sure it will,” Allie said. “We defeat the last three Grigori, then hunt down any Strayers that remain.”

  “And you think that’ll mean the end of all evil?” Principal Eisner asked. “I wish it were so simple, but I’m afraid it’s just not the way it is.”

&nbs
p; “And Daniel? The others?”

  “We’ve seen that being taken over by darkness isn’t a sound reason to stop them from training. They, along with Paulette and any others that wish to return to training, are welcome to.”

  Allie nodded, unsure what to expect from this new training, but accepting that her fate wasn’t that of a regular kid’s anymore.

  ***

  Troy was waiting for her as she walked back to her parents’ car.

  “Can I have a minute?” Allie asked, and her parents said they’d be in the car.

  “I heard the news,” Troy said when they were alone.

  “Already?”

  “Yeah, well….” He blushed. “I was kind of listening at the door.”

  “And why would that be?” she asked.

  “Let’s just say I want you to stick around… I like being around you. I mean….”

  “I get it,” she said with a smile.

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, you like me.”

  He turned even darker red, if that was possible. But his look of embarrassment turned into a smile, and he shrugged.

  “Caught me,” he said.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll still be seeing each other.” She gave him a peck on the cheek, and then spun on her heels and walked back to the car. Her dad glared past her at Troy, but her mom was giving her a corny thumbs up.

  From now on, she told herself as she got in the car and ignored their questions about Troy, she wasn’t going to sit around wondering and hoping. She was going to take charge. She had some great friends, even if Daniel had decided to study abroad for a year to spend some time getting to know Yuko and learning Japanese. Brenda had come over to hang out a couple times over the last week, and she was actually turning out to be pretty cool.

  Now Troy—and she really did like him. A lot.

  Perhaps she would see where it went. But she would be happy no matter what, because she was in control. She was the Eleventh Worthy, after all.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Justin Sloan is a writer at Telltale Games, as well as a screenwriter and novelist. Justin holds an MA in writing from the Johns Hopkins University and a certificate in screenwriting from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Theater, Film, and Television. His screenplays have won or placed well in such contests as ScriptVamp, The-Greenlight, PAGE, and the Austin Film Festival.