by Jason Wilcox
The laughing grew louder. Light tapping moved as something circled him. “You don’t love her anymore…” the voice was terrifying as it hissed at him. But the words angered him.
“ENOUGH! Leave me be.” Silence returned and a soft, golden glow headed his way. As the light grew closer, he could make out some type of a golden ball. It was about the size of a medium melon with carvings etched on it. He had seen it before, but he couldn’t remember where or when.
When the floating object was about three feet away, it stopped and hovered. He debated reaching out to it, but was hesitant. A rock formation appeared underneath, holding it up. Six people appeared next to him all staring at the golden sphere. The ancient carvings glowed.
“What do you think it is?” the man next to Mauldrin asked. Mauldrin turned to look, but didn’t know who he was. The young man was dressed in a strange old leather outfit.
“Azgiel, I dare you to touch it,” another young man spoke to the one Mauldrin was looking at.
Azgiel!? Mauldrin stared at him. How can that be Azgiel? It looks nothing like him. The young man was broad and charismatic, nothing like the Azgiel Mauldrin knew. Is this what he looked like before he took over Steven’s body?
“Domblin!” Azgiel spoke while looking past Mauldrin. “I told you to stay home.” A young man, younger than the rest, walked up with his head low and not saying anything. As he drew closer, Mauldrin was surprised to see a young Domblin. The whole scene grew confusing.
Just as Domblin reached the group, he tripped and fell into the others, causing a domino effect. Mauldrin reached out for balance and hit the golden sphere. Light flashed through his eyes and he awoke.
“Mauldrin!” Tagen patted his shoulder. “Are you okay?” Screams and gunshots in the distance echoed. Mauldrin was at a loss for words. His friend had almost completely changed. There was very little blackness left to him, he was almost all white with some splotching of shades of gray. His eyes were remarkable, colored with a vibrant blue that was penetrating. Strangely enough, Mauldrin found him creepier looking.
“What happened…” Mauldrin coughed as he tried to speak. “…to you?” His chest hurt, along with different areas on his body, which made it difficult to move or speak.
“I’m not sure.” Tagen looked at his hands and to his chest. “I noticed it after I got you up here. Maybe it’s the last phase of my life. I have been wondering if these are signs that I’m dying, and now maybe this is it.” His eyes darted, as if he was worried.
Mauldrin tried to speak but began coughing. They were deep heavy coughs that hurt. Black mucus came up after the painful coughs. His lungs and chest felt as if they were going to tear open.
Leaning in closer, Tagen looked at him with a furrowed brow appearing concerned. “Even though you don’t like being part dark soul, it’s saved your life many times. There’s no way you could’ve lived through this last attack if you were only human. I was worried you had died.”
Mauldrin sat up more. He could feel his body rejuvenating quickly. For the most part, it hurt, but strangely, the hurt felt good. He looked out over the battle. Curt and Espo had joined a group of soldiers. They were doing well, unlike other places where soldiers were fighting. Overall, it wasn’t good, which made his heart heavy.
Dark souls and the evil humans with them, outnumbered soldiers almost ten to one. How the soldiers were still alive, Mauldrin couldn’t tell. They should’ve been dead long ago.
“James!” Mauldrin jerked forward as he spoke. By the opening in the barrier, James and a large group of soldiers were in an intense fight. The group he was with was probably the largest out there. “Whoa, look. Smitty’s still alive. He’s fighting next to James.” He pointed as he tried to stand. Down by the fort, where they had been previously, he could see Espo and Curt. Their group and another had joined forces, which appeared to be led by the General. Seeing the General fight was impressive. The man knew how to use a gun.
Turning his attention back to James, Mauldrin began walking.
“What are you doing?” Tagen squawked. “You have to stay here and heal. Curt told me to get you to safety and keep you here.”
Struggling and shaking, Mauldrin made it to his feet. “I have to get down there.” He turned to face Tagen. “I can’t sit by idly doing nothing while they fight. They need me. They’re losing.”
“No,” Tagen growled and stepped in the way. “You’ll get yourself killed. You’re body isn’t healed enough.”
Mauldrin stared into Tagen’s eyes, looking at him for a moment. “Tagen we have to make choices in life. In this moment, you can run and hide or you can come with me and fight for what matters. Right now, I can’t waist time arguing with you. They are dying down there, and I can’t just sit and watch. I will be beside them in victory or in death. The choice is yours. Be free.” With that, he walked past him.
CHAPTER 39
The world seemed strange to Tagen as he watched his master walk away. There were no demands, no threats, just be free. He knew he could’ve run away a long time ago, but it was different to have Mauldrin say the words.
Tightening his jaw, Tagen knew exactly what his choice was going to be. “Mauldrin. You’re not going without me,” he yelled while running to his master.
Stopping and turning, Mauldrin looked at him. “Hurry, we need to get down there,” he waved as he spoke. It appeared, by how well he was moving, he was getting closer to being fully healed.
“I’m coming,” he snapped while trying to run as fast as he could at Mauldrin. Just then, he caught a whiff of a distinct odor. “Mauldrin!” Tagen yelled, but it was too late. A dark soul came from behind some bushes, in shadow form, diving at Mauldrin.
Sprinting with all his might, Tagen clipped the dark soul just as he knocked Mauldrin to the ground. Grabbing the creature’s arms, he pinned him and looked back to check on his master, who was leaping up from the ground. Two large black cuts ran down his cheek.
“Go,” Tagen called out. “I’ll take care of this and catch up.” His master hesitated for a second but turned and ran down the hill.
“Tagen! Get off me,” the dark soul growled from under him. Surprised, Tagen let up to see who was under him. Turning his head, the dark soul hissed and bore his teeth. It was Looth, the dark soul that had command over the Eastern continents when Snyp was still alive. How he was still alive was beyond Tagen.
“What happened to you?” Looth spoke while trying to free himself. “Why are you white?”
“If I let you up, will you behave?” Tagen tilted his head to look in the dark soul’s eyes, ignoring Looth’s question.
“Yes! Yes!” Looth snapped. “I heard you were back.” He pulled his hands away from Tagen and they began getting to their feet.
Tagen looked to see where Mauldrin was. His master had made it to the soldiers, now he needed to get Looth to help. “We need to end th…” Claws sliced into Tagen’s chest, catching him off guard and knocking him to the ground.
“Traitor!” Looth hissed as he moved to bite Tagen’s neck, but the movements seemed amateur at best. Even his power that he was trying to use against Tagen, felt feeble.
With ease, Tagen caught him by the neck before Looth could sink his teeth into him. Overpowering the dark soul, he pushed him back. “You don’t have to be this way.” Tagen pushed the dark soul’s hands back. Again, Looth came in for an attack.
Tagen dove into the air and slammed the creature to the ground. “You should’ve taken my offer.” Moving quickly, Tagen disposed of the creature, driving his claws into his chest and neck. The thought of taking a bite of Looth to gain more power crossed Tagen’s mind, but the thought made him sick.
Letting the dead dark soul go, Tagen pulled his hands away and looked for Mauldrin who was almost to James. That’s where he needed to be, but before he could move, the trees and fighting below began to spin. Pain shot through his arms and legs, collapsing him to the ground. The pain increased, spreading through his body. He clawed at the grou
nd. His bones and joints made snapping and cracking noises. A burning sensation ran across his skin. Screaming, he could feel his head fog over. The light around him dimmed, and everything went to black.
A small light began to grow, which developed in the center of a black liquid wall, dark matter. Once the hole grew to the size of a large melon, a head appeared in it.
“Look at you.” Triaad smiled. “You’re coming along very nicely.”
Tagen once again just stayed on the ground where he sat. There was no effort to get Triaad. Instead, Tagen could feel drool dripping down his chin.
“Soon you won’t remember who you were.” The wall was almost gone and Triaad stepped in. “Your name Blayth will mean nothing to you.” A smile stretched across his face and he squatted. “I’ll have to rename you.”
Standing up, Triaad began to pace. “What to name you? What to name you?” his tone was one of mockery and Tagen knew it. He felt bad for the guy; he was stuck listening to Triaad’s rants. Knowing he used to be treated the same way infuriated Tagen. His appreciation for Mauldrin grew as he thought back on the years he had followed Triaad.
“You know your biggest mistake?” Triaad stopped pacing. “You should’ve kept your nose out of things. No one else is investigating me. No one else stumbled upon my plans to overthrow Azgiel. But you had to come along and dig into things you never should’ve. But it doesn’t matter. You’re now as low as a maggot.” He chuckled. “Maggot, that has a nice tone to it, don’t you think?”
A couple of muscles flexed in his arm. Tagen wasn’t sure what he was trying to do, maybe to sit up, or get more comfortable. Either way, it didn’t change a thing.
“No., I can’t call my first dark soul a maggot.” Triaad rubbed his chin. “Maybe backwards, Toggam, Tagem, Tagen. Yes, I like that.” He laughed. “Tagen it is. Derived from the maggot you are.”
Tagen couldn’t believe his ears. It was him this whole time? He was Blayth. A pressure seemed to pound into his mind. Images of him as a child pushed in. He could see himself growing up, playing with kids and learning under his father who was a clerk for an advisor under Azgiel.
Soon he was off to join the military. Marriage followed to a woman he recognized, the same one he had seen before. It gave him a strange feeling, knowing that he had been married. He wondered what happened to her.
The memories kept flowing through his mind. He saw himself go through a war against demons. He had to be away from his wife for years, but in the end he and his men were able to bring an end to the war. The adrenaline and excitement ran through his veins as he relived the moment he had captured Hermue and hand-delivered him to Azgiel.
Tagen’s head began to spin from the memories flooding back into his mind. He began seeing events that led up to him becoming Azgiel’s commander over his armies. From there, things began to unravel as Blayth learned of treachery and betrayal. As he uncovered more, things became dangerous as he learned of Triaad’s plans.
The same images as before came to his mind. His last goodbye to his wife, where he told her he would be back before long, because he was going to go tell Azgiel everything. Unfortunately, he walked into a court waiting for him.
Azgiel invited all the other advisors to be there, but there was something different about how he treated him. Everyone was excused except the advisors, and they took Blayth captive. All evening Triaad had been having witnesses give false testimonies of Blayth, saying he was out to kill Azgiel and betray him. That he was actually a spy for Mauldrin. He tried to argue, but every argument hurt him more as Triaad had been ready.
Finally, he stopped fighting, knowing it was useless. Azgiel took him to a room where he said goodbye and told him that Triaad would deal with him. The moments moved by quickly before everything caught up, and he was back in the cell full of dark matter.
Tagen sat in the cell, staring at Triaad, who was still chuckling. He couldn’t believe this whole time he had been seeing his own life. Even more unbelievable was the idea that he was a commander under Azgiel. He had no idea.
“From this day forward, you’ll be my slave.” Triaad began pacing. “You will be the first of many that will help me bring an end to the reign of the kings. An army we will create without Azgiel ever even knowing.” He chuckled.
Blayth tried to move again and this time, in his efforts, he collapsed to the ground. Triaad walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Give it time. Soon you will have a lot of power.” As he pulled his hand off, black slime stuck. Wiping it off on his clothes, Triaad laughed and left the cell. The wall closed behind him.
Tagen laid there in the pitch-blackness. The usual sound of moving liquid below him could be heard, along with the restricted breathing that came from Blayth. His mind was flooded with thoughts, trying to comprehend everything he remembered. He was in shock and couldn’t wait until he woke to tell Mauldrin, or should he?
Something shook everything around Tagen, and he woke up. His body hurt like he had been severely beaten. He took a deep breath, the blades of grass under him sucked inwards as he inhaled. Silence filled the air. There were no more screams or guns firing. He felt disoriented, not knowing what was reality. His mind was full of swirling memories causing his head to throb. He didn’t even trust the touch of grass to be real.
His skin burned as he moved to sit up, and he let out a moan from the pain. The torn and charred flesh crackled as his skin started to heal.
Finally sitting up, he looked out. The battle was over, and Mauldrin was nowhere to be seen. A sharp pain shot through his head and he fell backwards. His vision blurred and he passed out.
CHAPTER 40
“Go,” Tagen yelled. He had a dark soul pinned. “I’ll take care of this and catch up.”
Mauldrin struggled with the decision. He didn’t want to leave Tagen, but he needed to get to James before they were slaughtered. The moment felt like an eternity, but in the end, he knew Tagen was right. He had the dark soul taken care of, Mauldrin just needed to go.
Giving a quick nod, Mauldrin turned and ran down the hill, almost tripping a couple of times. As he arrived at the bottom, he looked back to see Tagen dive through the air and take down the dark soul. Mauldrin couldn’t help but smile, but he didn’t have time to watch, he had to keep going.
Soldiers were pushing into Mauldrin as he made his way to James and Smitty. He even shot a couple of dark souls on the way.
“James…Smitty…” Mauldrin shouted out as he put a hand on James’s shoulder. A dark soul dove inwards towards them, and Smitty smashed him in the face with his metal gloves. The creature squealed on the ground for a second before Smitty blasted him with his gun.
“Good to see you’re both still alive,” Mauldrin said, letting bullets fly. James and he repositioned to go back to back.
“Good to see you alive too,” Smitty said.
“I wasn’t sure if you were alive or dead,” James added.
“Do you think we can win this?” Mauldrin yelled to Smitty, hoping he would give some hope.
“I will not let you die,” Smitty and Mauldrin were blasting the dark souls as Smitty spoke. His comment frustrated Mauldrin. He wanted an assessment, not protection.
“What about you James…” Mauldrin stopped as he turned to look at James. His friend was running, with soldiers beside him, right at Hermue. He must’ve just now seen him, and wanted to go for the kill. Mauldrin had wanted that earlier, however James had a better shot. The dark souls were sparser, and Hermue was close, with only humans for protection.
Knowing what James was getting into, Mauldrin tried to follow, wanting to help. There was no way James was going to be able to fight a demon in a human body. The dark souls had closed the hole James had run through and tackled Mauldrin as he tried to follow. At least five of them jumped on him, knocking him to the ground. Teeth and claws tore into him.
Mauldrin shot one of the dark souls by his head. With a white puff, the creature was dead, opening a view of James and Hermue. The soldiers that
had gone with James were either dead or fighting with dark souls and would be dead soon.
Moving with amazing speed and skill, Mauldrin saw James go in for an attack, slicing Hermue across the chest. Somewhere or somehow, James lost his gun. He was only using two knives, one in each hand.
A dark soul came down on Mauldrin’s head and bit him in the shoulder. His black, oily body blocked Mauldrin’s view of James. Twisting, he tried to shoot the dark soul, but the ones that had him pinned blocked his arm from moving.
From behind a dark soul screamed, but it was cut off, and Mauldrin felt the weight on him grow lighter. The other dark souls on him scattered. Before the one on Mauldrin’s head could move, he was blasted and with a white flash was gone.
With the dark souls off, Smitty grabbed Mauldrin and picked him up. There wasn’t a moment to lose. Mauldrin could see James being picked up by his throat, Hermue’s large hands digging into his neck. James kicked and tried to free himself from the large arms that held him up.
Another dark soul dove at Mauldrin, but Smitty shot him. Mauldrin ran through the soot that fell to the ground, giving all he had to get to James. He slammed through dark souls, knocking them to the ground. Smitty seemed to be trying to keep up, as he shot at dark souls in front of Mauldrin.
Through the shifting dark souls, Mauldrin saw Hermue pull out a large knife while holding James in the air. He smiled and said something that Mauldrin couldn’t hear. The long knife shimmered as it was thrust into James’s abdomen.
“NO!” Mauldrin yelled. He felt an emotional dagger slice through him. His heartbeat filled his ears with intense thuds. He couldn’t believe what happened, he couldn’t lose his friend. He couldn’t lose the man that had saved him so many times.
The knife moved upwards, and James’s body stopped kicking. Hermue smiled and pulled the blood soaked knife out and tossed the body to the side. As James’s body collapsed to the ground lifelessly, Mauldrin heard his heart pound louder. Everything around him slowed down, color became lifeless.