Darkness Awakens_Chronicles of Hunter

by Frank Perez

  Again nothing! The Prince was annoyed. Just as he reached forth to destroy the drone in his rage, a great cry of pain erupted in his head. Quickly taking back control of the drone, he caught its final moments as its life-force faded away, a figure walking away from the drone towards the shadows. Dressed completely in black with no sense of power coming off it. Impossible! The Prince thought to himself, The Dark One has returned and yet the barrier is still up!

  *~*

  Hunter walked off from the demon bat he had just killed.

  He had ensured that he was totally cloaked upon first transporting here. And then he’d waited. Sooner or later one of the Brethren would come close enough for him to find out whether his invisibility was complete or not. It hadn’t taken long for Hunter to see the bat circling overhead. He watched as it circled, waiting to see if it would detect him.

  Without warning, the demon had begun a dive towards the ground.

  For one fleeting moment Hunter thought he’d been detected and was almost about to blast it with his power, until he noticed that it wasn’t aimed at him but rather a good twenty meters away. He stayed his hand and watched as the bat-like creature landed on the floor, looking around for any signs of danger. He eased himself around it. It had sensed something but the cloak he’d woven had at the least, confused it. He smiled. It would be a simple matter to blast the thing into nothing but doing so may alert any other Brethren that may be in the area. Instead, he quickly leapt forward and twisted the demons neck, snapping it in two. It would be dead far quicker than it deserved. Hunter walked away-quicker than some of the others will die that’s for sure.

  *~*

  Hunter looked skywards towards the dim green light of the barrier above. It still amazed him to think that such a subtle thing could have kept the Brethren imprisoned on this planet for so many centuries. He wondered whether he would have been able to sacrifice himself the same way, unable to picture doing so.

  He was coming to the end of his second day amongst the Brethren, trying to learn as much as he could about the Prince Consort and the Queen. I’ll only get one shot at this, he thought Best make sure I cover as much as I possibly can.

  He’d walked to the east after his encounter with the bat-like demon, taking in every nuance of where he was.

  He’d become confident that the cloak surrounding him was operational. The sandy terrain beneath his feet had turned into a rich red-colored moss under his feet.

  Different smaller life forms had buzzed through the air, like giant mosquitoes paying no attention to him. Kneeling down, he’d run his hands over the moss trying to get a feel for everything around him. His senses perked. The moss at his feet was not just alive like other plants but also held an inkling of thought. Simple thoughts as they were, they still surprised him. He stood up and shifted his awareness a little.

  The land surrounding him was shrouded with a misty, pink glow. It flowed over and around everything he saw from the moss at his feet all the way through the pink-red clouds in the sky. The only parts not uncovered were a small space around him.

  As if it was a sentient thing, the mist avoided him. He looked skywards. The green barrier was being pounded by the mist. Huge cyclonic swirls of red mist thrust upwards like a tornado, to end with a green flash of light and dissipate. It was strange to think that a battle of immense proportions had been waging over his head and he’d not felt a thing. I’m surprised that the barrier has lasted this long considering the amount of damage that it must be taking. Moving forwards with renewed purpose, he stepped towards the small copse of trees in the distance.

  *~*

  For the past hour he had sat enthralled at the view below him.

  Sitting atop a large boulder, he’d watched as the brightly colored bird had sat on the edges of the river bed, chirping. Reds, blue, green and yellow feathers had floated through the air as it dove into the shallows, splashing around. Its song loud and endless, like it was enjoying itself without a care in the world. A second bird had quickly joined the first as if enchanted, both of them creating havoc and having fun. It was the first bit of joy that Hunter had come across in this bleak land and he wanted to study it further.

  It hadn’t taken long for the thrilling sounds to attract others. Hunter had sensed them easing their way through the trees. Three of them in total. Hairless, their sinewy bodies looked like snakes that had grown arms and legs. Tongues darting out of the thin mouths every once in a while, testing the surrounding air. They stood there watching the birds for a few moments. With an unspoken signal, each had crouched down and disappeared. Hunter frowned and looked closer. Not disappeared, they’re blending in with the surroundings, like chameleons. Each of them had slithered over the ground on their bellies, moving away from the others and taking up positions surrounding the two birds, which were still chirping away and playing, not realizing the danger that they were in.

  Hunter had been tempted to create some kind of warning for the birds. This world desperately needed more of this joy but he had forced himself not to interfere. His goal was to take out the Prince and the Queen, not save some birds. So he sat and watched.

  The snake creatures had moved in closer around the birds, which had settled down on the edge of the bank, still chattering away. Without warning, the snakes had reared up and pounced upon the birds. Feathers flying in every direction. The chirping had stopped as the hunters went to work on devouring their prey. Hunter shook his head and was about to move on when something strange caught his eye.

  The feathers that had been floating in the air had all settled back down to the ground, in an exact circle around the three snakes, glowing. One creature within the circle lifted its head and the forked tongue slithered out of its mouth, tasting the air. It whirled quickly and took two steps backwards, agitated. The others looked up, sensing its distress. As one, all three of the snakes bounded off as quickly as their legs allowed. The light surrounding the feathers had grown so bright that Hunter had to shade his eyes to see what was happening. As if they were one, all the feathers launched themselves to where the three snakes were scrambling up the side of the small incline. Each single feather on target like an arrow, piercing the snakes’ skin with ease.

  Hunter watched the fallen snakes, fascinated.

  Each one was covered in hundreds of pulsing feathers. He looked closer with revulsion. The feathers were leeching the blood out of their victims. Tiny tendrils of red working their way through the veins in each feather. Redemption truly doesn’t seem possible for this species, he thought when even the smallest of things on this planet is prey or hunter.

  Hunter forced his mind back on the present. Standing up, he looked down the hill towards the entrance to the miles of tunnels which housed the Prince and the Queen. It hadn’t taken him long to find out the location, every single mind that he had probed during the past two days knew where this lay, the place that caused the most dread and fear amongst them all. A place to be avoided at all costs. Small tendrils of laser like mist beams crisscrossed the entire plateau. An early warning system for the Prince, no doubt. You may have the entrance up here covered pretty well, but just how far does your coverage go Prince? He looked down at his feet, feeling the empty spaces deep in the earth below. Let’s see if your alarm system catches me from this far out!

  Concentrating on himself, he willed himself downwards into the waiting tunnels below.

  *~*

  The Prince laid its clawed talon on the Queens head, willing her to produce more warriors. Over the past two days she had given him an army of fully grown battle drones. Seeing the Dark One through the eyes of the bat drone had sent him running down to the cavern where the Queen lay. It had always been his intention to create the army once the barrier had weakened further. Now he had been forced to change those plans. It was not something that he was accustomed to doing and it had made him even more irritated than usual.

  With the Queen producing his army as quickly as she could, he’d gone to the deeper chambers wher
e the girl was held. He disposed of the drones that had been working at weakening the barrier, inhaling their power to augment his own. The girl was now a lower priority to him. The dreaded Dark One now consuming his entire thoughts. The girl would keep. Taking one last look at the chamber, the Prince created a solid wall around the entire structure, making it almost invisible to everyone and headed back towards the chamber that housed the Queen to await the coming of the Dark One.

  *~*

  Hunter had materialized in one of the many tunnels that wove their way through the underside of the mountains. He could sense the Queen but the Prince went undetected. Strange, he thought I would have expected the opposite to be the case.

  He pushed the thought aside. It made no difference to him. Both would lay dead before he was finished.

  He moved off down the tunnel towards the steady pull of the Queens’ life-force that he could feel, only a few hundred meters away. With the death of their Queen, the Brethren should fall apart.

  Hunter paused before the opening to the cavern which housed the Queen. So far he hadn’t come across anything resembling security around her. Powerful wards crossed the air in front of him but they didn’t seem to be any protection for her against him, they’d been engineered to cloak her presence from other Brethren. Keeping to the many shadows that surrounded the room, he entered. No one stirred.

  The huge body of the Queen lay in the middle of the room. Her body was like a giant ant. Like the rest of the Brethren, she was red in color. Three parts made up her body, all covered in tiny red fur. The antennae on her head easily two meters long. Her six legs looking withered, bent below her body. Thousands of embryonic sacs lay behind her, ready for their time to hatch and she was producing more. With a tiny almost human-sounding groan, another sac come out from behind her.

  Almost instantly, two of the Brethren that were behind her leaped forwards and dragged the sac to where the others were, making room. Already the Queen had groaned again like she was about to produce another one.

  Hunter looked around the cavern again, ensuring that the two drones and Queen were the only ones here. It made little sense. That many Brethren being birthed in such a short time would annihilate this planet. Something else must be going on. He sent his awareness further down to the caves behind the Queen. Millions upon millions of fully formed Brethren lay in wait within the confines of their embryonic cocoons. Every single one awaiting the mental command of their Queen to hatch.

  She’s making an army, Hunter thought to himself. But an army against what? There’s no one on this planet that comes even close to her power, not to mention that without her the Brethren would need another Queen to reproduce - and only the Queen can produce another… Maybe the centuries of being contained had warped how the Brethren thought.

  He made one final search of his surroundings before attacking. The combined might of Michael, Uriel and Raphael had not been enough to destroy the Queen the last time they’d met, even though they had caught her completely off guard. Something more drastic was needed this time around. It would be a complete destruction of every single part of her being. He breathed deep, taking as much concentrated power as he could hold inside him.

  This would be ugly, gory and excruciatingly painful, but it falls upon a handful of us to do what others won’t. To walk the paths of darkness in service to the light. Eyes squinting as he concentrated his entire being on the task, Hunter unleashed the full fury of his essence into the prone body of the Queen, pulling back to himself, readying for the offensive onslaught that would follow.

  Hunter looked around cavern, bewildered. Nothing attacked.

  The two drones stood rock still in the same positions that they had held, looking like they were just waiting for the Queen to lay the next egg. Weird! He looked over to the shattered remains of the Queen, dead. He’d vented his power into every part of her body and quickly retreated into himself.

  He watched as the Queens’ body had convulsed and shaken for a moment, each internal body part had exploded within and yet she hadn’t sent out any kind of mental warning to any of the Brethren. It sounded like she had given a sigh of relief at the end, just before she burst into millions of pieces. He sent his thoughts out towards where the embryos lay. Each of them stood as they had. Unharmed. With the death of their Queen, they should all have been destroyed and yet, each of them still lived, still awaited the command of the Queen.

  The frown formed on Hunters’ face once more. None of what had happened since his arrival was making any kind of sense.

  *~*

  Hunter peeked over the edge of the ledge that he was sitting on, darkness surrounding him. He’d just finished witnessing the revolting vision of the Prince below him. A group of demons knelt prostrated before him. The remains of others scattered around the floor. The kneeling ones just sat and waited as the Prince had made his way to stand before each of them. Taking their heads in his hands, he’d grabbed the tops of their heads and twisted it open to reveal the grey slushiness of the brain within.

  A smile of satisfaction on his face as he seemed to savor the essence of each. He would then thrust his hands into the grey matter and jerk it free of the body, bloody and gore falling from the wounded bodies as they hit the floor. His mouth opened, and the jaws unhinged to allow him to place the full piece in his mouth, the brain slithering down its throat like a snake devouring its prey.

  Hunter shifted his perception slightly to allow him to see the Princes’ aura. As he had guessed, the feeding was not just to fuel his body; the Prince was filling up on the essence of the others, gathering more power with each passing moment. He would have to act soon before the Prince gathered more power.

  Looking around the rest of the room, Hunter took stock of the Brethren that the Prince had surrounded himself with. Two of them stood close to the entry way, guarding the only entrance in. Another two stood behind the kneeling victims and two more stood with their backs against the wall of the cavern behind the Prince. All of them were identical in form to the Prince, albeit a slightly smaller version.

  Bristling muscles on a human-like torso, each of them around six feet tall with a strong, thick, segmented tail that ended in what looked like a venomous stinger. Each of them armed with what appeared to be a spear, ending in a double-point, much like their stingers. Six bodyguards and the Prince himself. The shadows that I could see in the sacs that the Queen lay, all bore a similarity to the brethren below, Hunter thought to himself a veritable army of these creatures and all indications point to them being controlled by the Prince, not the Queen.

  Hunter moved back into the shadows once more to think, his original plan of taking out the Queen and Prince no longer applicable. Something deeper was going on.

  With the Queen dead, half the battle should be done. Instead, nothing had changed. The barrier overhead was quickly coming to the end of its life and the Prince appeared to be gathering an army together. Something larger was going on.

  He would go onto the next part of his plan, freeing Bonnie and then get back to Michael to discuss what the next steps would be. He eased back into himself and sought Bonnies’ presence again.

  It looked like she was still in the same place as earlier.

  Hunter took one last peek over the ledge to ensure himself that everything was still the same. The drones were still on guard as the Prince was working his way through his meal. With another shudder, he moved himself into the cavern where Bonnie was held.

  *~*

  Hunter sat cloaked in the shadows of the cavern that held Bonnie. She still sat within the two spheres of power surrounding her, the initial white one surrounded by the red. The only difference now was that there were no longer any brethren trying to attack her.

  This whole thing had started with Bonnie and yet here she sat, completely unguarded. Making sure that there were no hidden traps around, Hunter stepped forwards to get a closer look. He watched as the lines of power within the red sphere crackled and shook. Each little wisp draini
ng away the source from the white sphere before shooting upwards towards the barrier outside, leaving behind it a long, slender thread back to the original source.

  Somehow the Brethren had turned the power of the white sphere against the barrier itself. Looking closer, Hunter saw how easy it would be to break the red sphere apart and get access to Bonnie. Doing so however, would bring the barrier above completely undone.

  He stepped back into the shadows once more. Looking around, he committed the cavern to memory. When he came back, he would not have to go hunting for her. For now, Bonnie would have to stay behind. Sorry Ren, I will get her back. Just not right now.

  *~*

  It had taken most of the day since Hunter had returned to Michael upon Ren’s death to convince him not to go after The Jackal. They’d argued back and forth, going over the same things time and again before Hunter had thrown his hands in the air and yelled at Michael “I can finish it now! I could have done it already if you’d just stop arguing. Jackal, Julian, the rest of them… and anyone else that gets in my way!”

  “Of that I have no doubt Hunter!” Michael had screamed back at him. Dropping his voice to almost a whisper he added, “And that’s the reason that I can’t let you do this.”

  That final whisper had done what no amount of arguing and yelling had done all day. It brought Hunter to a complete stop. The rage inside him subsiding. "What do you mean?"

  Michael sighed. Now that he had Hunters’ attention "In your current state, and with your powers as they are, you could bring this whole citadel down around us without even leaving this room. I’m not worried about them doing anything to you, Hunter. I worry about what you doing this will do to you." He paused for a moment then added, "Sometimes we all need to do things that are not exactly right. Some call it the lesser of two evils. The choices that we make at these convergence points are very powerful. The wrong choice will lead you to your own destruction. What most people fail to see is that even making the right choice here but for the wrong reasons will also lead down the same path! The essence, emotions and power that we bring to these decisions weigh just as heavily as choosing the wrong way."