Chad reached a steel doorway. The bolt that had locked the door had been ripped off. Gripping his axe tightly with his right hand, he held out his left arm and gently pushed the door open. He walked inside slowly into another old and run down room. This one was smaller in size than the other however, and also the top of the lighthouse could be seen above the man’s head. Here, sat the old light that had once signalled ships as they approached the shallow waters.
As Chad came to the middle of the room, he began to feel faint. Then suddenly a loud ringing sound filled his head. The eyes of his father, Kanto, flashed in a vision inside of his soul. Chad held his hands against his head and began to shake. “No!” he said defiantly.
“Don’t fight it,” said a voice from high above his head. It was Lucius who was lurking in the shadows above. He was standing on a small platform near the top of the lighthouse near to where the light was stationed. “It is our father. Give in to his will. Let him control your very thoughts.”
“Shut up!” shouted Chad, who was trying to fight his father’s control with every ounce of strength he had.
Kanto was using his telepathic abilities to try and manipulate Chad’s very thoughts and actions from Underworld realm itself. As a native of the Underworld realm, even though he had never been there, Chad was vulnerable to his father’s influence.
Chad struggled as more images flashed in and out of his mind. They were flashes of the dark realm, flashes of death, and then flashes of Chad committing unimaginable acts, acts in which he seemed to enjoy. The most disturbing vision of all for Chad was something he had seen before, a vision of him stabbing his girlfriend Stacey in the heart with a knife. “Nooooo!” Chad screamed. Tears welled up in his eyes and he dropped to his knees.
Auron and James rushed into the room. James ran to the aid of his fallen friend. Chad was now lying on the floor, trembling, shaking, with both hands pressed against his head. Auron observed Chad with concern as James attempted to help him. “Chad, what is it?”
Chad could only partly hear James’ words for his head was filled with another voice. “Kill him!” said Kanto, who was gaining more influence over his son by the second. Chad cried out in pain as he attempted to resist. “He wants me to…kill,” said Chad, who gazed upon James in a way that the latter had never seen before. It was almost as if the eyes of another were looking at him.
“This is the work of Kanto,” said Auron. “He is using his son as a vessel.”
“What do you mean?” asked James.
“Kanto, the King of the Underworld, an enemy of your father. He is trying to take control of this boy and use him for his own evil ends, which I suspect is to kill you.”
“Chad wouldn’t do that!” said James.
“Perhaps, but Kanto would not hesitate to take your life,” said Auron.
The Alexandrian held his sword high over his head in a striking position. James quickly stood in front of Chad, blocking him off from Auron’s reach.
“What the hell are you doing?” asked James.
“Move out of my way Valentine,” said Auron, who called James by his Alexandrian birth name. “The boy is not strong enough to resist his father’s will.”
Chad continued to wince in pain, however, the more he fought, the angrier he seemed to become. This was Kanto’s intention, anger was a negative emotion, and the Underworld king fed off of this.
Lucius observed events from high above in the shadows. He did not need to intervene. He knew, as Auron knew, that Chad’s fighting was in vain. No man from Underworld had ever resisted the will of Kanto.
“Stand aside,” said Auron to James. “I must kill him, it is for the good of all.” His voice was sounding less like a request now, and more of a demand.
James knelt down to Chad. “Fight it Chad. You hear me? Fight it!”
Chad forced his eyes open. His pupils were now yellow, the mark that Kanto’s will was beginning to suppress that of his own. “I…can’t,” said Chad, who struggled even to speak due to the inner struggle within him. “Kill me James, before I kill you.”
James shook his head, refusing to agree to the request.
“A noble gesture son of Kanto. I am sorry I must do this,” said Auron. “Now move aside Valentine.”
James refused to move. Auron took matters into his own hands and easily pushed him out of the way. “I am sorry, but this is the end for you,” said the Alexandrian who prepared to behead Chad. The fallen man looked up helplessly, ready to accept his fate.
A strange faint purple mist began to engulf the room. “Poor poor boy…” said a female voice.
Auron and James looked ahead of them, to the direction in which the voice originated. There was nothing ahead of them but the wall of the lighthouse. Then, the wall began to blur. A dark figure dressed in purple appeared through the wall and stepped into the room. The figure noticed the presence of Auron and James and placed its hands together in a praying motion. It then pushed its hands outward and a strange blue shaded light sprayed the area, pushing the pair backwards.
Auron tried to race toward the figure but a light blue shaded barrier was now in place between them and the dark figure, and also Chad. The figure took a step forward from the shadows. The figure had female form, a hood masked her face and she wore long purple silks. The figure removed the hood and the woman underneath smiled at Auron. Her lips were covered with a dark red lipstick, making her smile sinister. It was not a smile that friends would exchange. This was Harriet, the sorceress of Underworld, and one of Kanto’s elite.
After foreseeing Lucius’ failure, the Underworld king had sent Harriet directly to intervene with events to ensure they ended in his favour. Auron and James could only look on helplessly from behind the barrier as the sorceress slowly approached Chad. With Harriet’s arrival, Kanto had released his hold upon Chad. His senses were now fully attuned to his surroundings once more and he picked up on the strange woman coming towards him. He reached for the golden axe, which was still by his side and held it out in the sorceresses direction.
“Stay away from me!” shouted Chad, who was still shaking from the trauma of the mental battle with his father.
Harriet smiled, sensing his fear. “Such a confused little boy. Are you going to step forward? Retreat? You have to decide.” Harriet took a step forward.
Chad gripped the axe hard with both hands and prepared to swing it should the woman come any closer.
“Stay back! I’m warning you!”
Auron and James looked on from outside the barrier. James punched it, but his hand simply bounced right off. “It is no good,” said Auron. “The barrier is a mystical force. It cannot be penetrated.”
“Chad! Chad!” shouted James.
“He cannot hear you either.”
They watched on as the sorceress and Chad continued to exchange dialogue. They could not hear a word, though. The mystical magic barrier that Harriet had created not only stopped someone from entering it but also all sound inside was shielded from the outside world. James looked worried. He was desperate to get inside and aid his friend. Auron could see that James was anxious and attempted to calm him down.
“Do not worry, the witch cannot maintain the barrier for long,” he said.
“Who is she?” asked James.
“She is Harriet, the most feared sorceress in all of Underworld,” replied Auron.
“What is she doing here?”
“That I do not know,” stated Auron, who looked back through the barrier at the woman.
Chad stood in a battle stance, ready to engage the woman at any second. However, he was trembling, he knew a darkness raged within him now, and he was afraid it could come out again at any moment.
“Are you going to strike me down, child?”
Chad thought about it for a moment. The woman appeared unarmed. Still, Chad hesitated, although he could not say why.
“You can’t make up your mind can you? You don’t know the right answer,” said Harriet.
The trem
bling that had ravaged Chad’s body was gone suddenly, and he could feel himself relaxing. He lowered his guard slightly, even feeling himself warming to the woman.
“You want help don’t you? You want to be saved from this predicament.”
The words seemed to smooth Chad. He didn’t say a word, lowering the axe further. Harriet smiled at him in an almost affectionate way.
“Don’t be ashamed to ask for my help, besides you’re only a little boy,” she said. Her words were spoken in a way that a mother might speak to a child.
I’m not a boy! “I’m not…stop calling me a boy,” said Chad. Normally such a remark would have enraged him, but not this time.
James looked on with concern from behind the barrier. “What is he doing? Chad take her out now!”
Auron had been observing Chad’s actions in great detail and began to realise what was happening. “This is bad,” said the Alexandrian.
The sorceress took a few more steps forward, stopping right next to Chad. The latter made no effort to thwart the woman’s advances. Harriet leant forward and whispered into Chad’s ear. “Come with me to a place of no return. Bid farewell to your childhood.”
Harriet held out her hand and offered it to him. Chad turned and looked at James through the barrier for a few moments. He then took Harriet’s hand and the pair walked towards the wall in which Harriet had first appeared. Both of them walked through the wall and disappeared.
Lucius, who had been very confused watching events from high above, jumped down into the barrier as they disappeared. He had expected Harriet to eliminate Chad in an instant, however, what had just transpired was not to his liking. The white haired man walked to the wall in which the pair had vanished through. “What about me? Father? What about me?”
The white haired man fell to his knees in despair. He knew his father had deemed his quest to concur the Earth on his behalf a failure, and Lucius knew the penalty. As he knelt, the barrier shattered, allowing James and Auron to enter the area, which had up until this point been concealed from them.
“Chad? Chad!” shouted James.
“It is too late, the boy is gone,” said Auron.
“Where has she taken him?”
Auron was concerned, if what he thought had transpired was true, he knew a sequence of events had been put into motion that could very well threaten the entire realm of Alexandria. “She has taken the boy to…him,” he said. Auron referred to Chad’s father, Kanto. The Alexandrian knew the god Trenkenth would not take kindly to a banished son returning to the world, and he knew that Alexandria, as well as Underworld, may face consequences.
James was ignorant to all of this though, only caring for the safety of his friend. “Taken to who? Tell me?” he said frantically.
“Harriet has taken him to her master, Kanto, the king of the Underworld. He is the boys blood father,” said Auron.
“His…father?” said James.
“You must understand, his father is not like your own. Kanto is cruel and uncaring. Nothing good will come of this.” There was a worried tone edged in Auron’s voice. The Alexandrian looked at Lucius who was still moping on his knees. “What is this mischief, Lucius? Why has your father taken your brother?”
Lucius didn’t answer him. The man was heartbroken. He lay on his knees almost in tears for he knew that his father had chosen his elder brother over him. Deep within his heart and his soul, Lucius knew that his father had left him on Earth to die.
“Answer him!” shouted James, who prepared to strike the white haired man. Auron stopped him before he could do so.
“There is no point. We will gain nothing from him now. His spirit is broken. He knows he is deemed a failure in his father’s eyes.”
“So?” replied James who didn’t understand Auron’s reasoning.
“Failure in his father’s eyes means death. He knows he can never return to his own world,” said Auron.
James looked upon the grief-stricken figure of Lucius. The man looked a shell of the dominating figure he had once been, the man who had almost killed him and his friends on several occasions. The agent almost felt a small shred of sympathy for him.
The sound of a helicopter could be heard from outside the lighthouse. With the natural disasters brought to an end, the World Order had locked onto James’ location and dispatched reinforcements.
“It appears your adopted people have come to aid you,” said Auron, who picked up on the sound of the helicopter. “My work here is done. I must go now.”
“Wait, what about Chad?” asked James.
“I must seek council with your father. He will know what to do,” replied Auron.
“Then let me come with you. There is still so much I want to ask you,” James said. I want to meet my father. I want to see this place where I come from. I want to find Chad.
“You cannot come with me Valentine,” said Auron. “Your return is forbidden.”
“I’m coming with you. You can’t stop me!”
“If you return to my realm you will threaten the lives of every single being that has life within it.” Auron put a comforting hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I know you are concerned for your friend. I will do everything I can to ensure no harm comes to him. You have my word.”
James nodded in acceptance of Auron’s promise.
“Before I leave however I have one last request of you,” said Auron. He pointed to his old sword, that James held in his right hand, the same sword that Lucius had taken from Auron two years earlier in the depths of the Dark Forest. “That blade you hold, I have long searched for it. It is something I earned the right to wield after proving myself worthy of its power. I would ask for it back.”
James nodded again, taking one last look at the sword before handing it back to its rightful owner. Auron smiled as he held the weapon once more, it seemed like he had been reunited with an old friend. “Here,” said Auron, tossing the other sword he had wielded up until now to James. The latter caught the blade in mid-air and examined it closely. James examined the dark markings on the blades handle and the strength of the steel. “That is the prized sword of Underworld, the dark king’s gift to his unworthy son. Treat it with care and it may serve you well.”
The Alexandrian reached into his long red robe and picked out a small crystal, no bigger than the tip of his thumb. “One last thing. Here, take it.” Auron handed the crystal to James who looked upon it with curiosity and wonder. “This will give you the answers you seek.”
“What is it?” asked James.
Auron smiled. “You will see soon enough.” The Alexandrian glanced down at Lucius for a final time before looking at James again. “This world will need you now, more than ever. You must keep an eye on this one. Even in defeat he is still dangerous.”
James also glanced at the white haired man. He had a faraway look in his eyes, lost in his own despair.
“But what am I supposed to…” James stopped mid-sentence as he looked to where Auron had been standing. The Alexandrian warrior was gone. James looked around in every direction but the man was nowhere to be seen. Moments later, several number of agents entered the room in which only James and Lucius now remained.
A middle-aged agent held his finger to an earpiece he was wearing. “Sir, we’ve found them,” he said, relaying a message back to headquarters. “Are you ok?’ The agent asked James.
“Yeah…” he replied almost half-heartedly. He had a lot on his mind. His thoughts began to drift to the fate of his friend, and also to Auron, the Alexandrian who had arrived and saved his life. His thoughts dwelled on his discovery that his real father was alive, and that Kara, the girl in his dreams was real after all. So much had happened in such a short space of time. He needed to think, he needed time to take things in. And also, he needed time to think of a plan. He looked into his hand at the small crystal that Auron had given to him and then it dawned upon him. I know what I have to do…
Chapter 19: Farewell Strange World
Three days passed
since the end of the very unnatural disasters that had swept across the continents. The World Order had resumed its search for the missing Chad but James knew the search was in vain. They will not find him here. He is in another world now. He had been taken to Underworld, the realm of eternal darkness and that was a place outside even the far-reaching eye of the organisation. James knew he had to find this place and bring Chad home but he did not know the way.
He had endlessly gazed at the crystal that Auron had given to him. “This will give you the answers you seek,” he had told James when he handed it to him. The crystal hadn’t done a thing, though. For three days, James, and Professor Milton had observed the item closely but it hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. The agent had almost given up hope until the third night, James slept, as he had done for the past three nights, in the private sleeping quarters at the headquarters. He had remained in London because that was where the world’s powers had decided to hold Lucius. They wished for James to remain close in the event the white haired man attempted to escape. There is no need for me to be here. The man’s spirit is broken.
Lucius had been a shadow of his former self. Sitting silently in a reinforced specialised holding cell. He had not spoke a single word in the three days he had been held captive. He will not try to escape. He has lost his purpose for life. Sergeant Cooper did not share James’ opinion however and, therefore, the latter stayed put, being no more than a glorified prison guard.
So James slept comfortably inside his private sleeping quarters. His dreams were a mixture of many things. Of Chad, and Kara and Auron. Kara was far away from home. Danger surrounded the girl from all corners. Something was hunting her and she could not escape its scent. Auron was marching for battle, although where and with whom exactly he could not say. As for Chad, well he was confused by what he saw of him. He seemed like a different person, a man who was showered with glory. Then he saw it. Chad walked through a dark field, stepping on skulls and bones of men. He walked towards a fallen child. The child wept and begged for mercy. Chad smiled and raised his axe and swung. The child screamed. James suddenly sat up quickly, as if waking from a nightmare. Breathing heavily, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. A dream.
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