Darkness The Diary of Samantha Owen

by Ariadna Marrero Saavedra

  She walked at a quick pace through the forest shortcuts. She touched the trees with her hands on both sides of the path; she was content. The trees opened and became smaller the closer she got to the city. She stopped on the top of a hill and observed the small wooden house on the left. This was the point where the city of Light started. She restarted her walk, until she reached the training center of the city, the only building constructed after the princess disappeared. The Kingdom had changed a great deal. Physically it looked the same, but the inhabitants did not radiate happiness and serenity, every second the evil forces took possession of one more lost soul. In a short time the city would be full of wanderers, from this moment on there was no way back. She had a good view from the height of the building. She lowered her gaze and saw how a girl with black hair entered. The young girl showed no emotion, she didn´t know how she felt and that awakened curiosity in Susan, who jumped from the roof and landed gently on a street corner. She entered the hall and hid.

  Morgan entered into the room leaving Samantha´s letter on the desk without opening it. He had just sat down when the servant knocked on the door.

  “The empress has summoned you,” he heard a low voice.

  He sighed and got up again to attend this new call.

  Chapter 11

  I woke up confused. I opened my eyes slightly and saw how the room went round in circles. I quickly closed them when I heard the door opening.

  “Samantha, wake up,” Gabriel said in a soft voice.

  I didn´t want to open my eyes. A great uncertainty invaded me. Where was Eric? Was he alright or had he been hurt in the fight? Would he come back to look for me? Why was Gabriel not upset? All of a sudden I felt a pain as though I had been drowned out by the strike to the head. There existed the possibility that I would never see Eric again, that they had murdered him and that Gabriel had kidnapped me to convert me into someone that I am not. A tear ran down my cheek. Guilt and sadness engulfed me.

  Gabriel sat on the edge of the bed and spoke softly to me.

  “I know that you are awake and you have to get up. You have to train hard today.”

  I opened my eyes for the second time to find a different Gabriel. His expression was peaceful and his eyes revealed his tiredness. And, something more, deception. I looked at him, I knew he wasn´t pretending. I sat up in the bed and continued to look at him as though I had just discovered something totally new. I didn´t know what to say. I just kept looking at him until he spoke again.

  “I am very sorry about what happened to you last night, you shouldn´t have intervened.”

  A fire ignited in my interior, crackling until it reached my throat.

  “Are you crazy? You are telling me that I shouldn´t have intervened?” I said furiously as he looked at me heavily. Heat began to invade my body, “They were taking Eric,“ I shouted, “I couldn´t just stay there with my arms crossed.”

  My body burned in fury and impotence for being there instead of Eric. Soon I noticed how my hands changed shape as I pressed them against the sheet. Almost without realizing it, the sheets went on fire as well as my arms. The fire did not burn me, but it burned everything around me. Gabriel got up alarmed and went running to the bathroom. When he returned he sprinkled a jar full of water on me, until the fire was extinguished. I remained there breathless. He looked at me with his eyes wide open, impressed.

  “Let´s go,” he said with a firmer voice. “We have no time to lose.”

  I got up and put the training outfit on. I didn´t say another word until we finished breakfast.

  “Eric is fine,” he said without looking at me, “don´t worry about him; the one thing you need to do now is train and learn.”

  I looked at him disconcerted.

  “Do you know where he is?”

  “No.”

  “Why are you so sure?”

  “The person that took him and I have common interests. Nothing will happen to him.”

  I did not want to speak anymore. The sadness had disappeared from within me, the anger too. At that moment I stopped feeling everything and I put myself into a bubble. I didn´t want to experience any sensations. We left the house and headed towards the great training hall. I told myself that I seemed like a zombie, without feelings, but I didn’t care, I kept walking until we entered the building.”

  The same trainer from the previous day, whose name I couldn´t recall, greeted us with a gesture as we entered the weapons hall. He brought me what I thought were two daggers. Before starting with the sword he had taught me a concentration technique and he told me that I had to apply the same one.

  “We tend to use swords. These beauties are called Sais, they are very sharp and for the majority of people very difficult to use,” he said moving the dagger he had in his hands. Try them and concentrate to see if you hit a marked spot. Remember that the wanderers will always be bigger than you and in occasions you will have to jump to hit them.

  He gave me them and I felt how they molded to my hands. They were bigger than normal daggers, but smaller and lighter than a sword. They were silver, shining under the sunlight that flooded the hall and had etchings on the blades. Furthermore, on either side of the central blade there were small sharpened points that could cause more injury with other deliveries of the main blade. I loved them and noticed how little by little a smile formed on my face. In that instant, I forgot about everything that I had done the day before with the sword and decided that I would not be brought down. I bet on fighting for what I wanted and nothing would get in my way. The bubble burst letting a giant grow inside of me.

  I lifted my vision forward, decided, and moved away from the practice dummy. I turned my back on them and closed my eyes as the trainer and Kenneth had taught me. I felt the weapon in my hands, feeling everything that surrounded me. I felt strength and power. I felt that I could do this. In an instant of absolute silence, I crossed the knives in front of my breast and took a deep breath. Wrapped in an infinite force I turned and threw them in the direction of the dummy. I felt adrenaline invade my whole body. When I opened my eyes I saw how they watched me surprised from the corner of the room, I looked at the dummy and saw that I had nailed the two knives into it. One had hit the neck, it was about to fall to the floor and the other was buried into the depth of the fictitious heart of the dummy. Content, I looked enthusiastically and thought that there was something else that I did well, other than ask questions.

  We spent the rest of the day practicing until night fall. We did not speak, we just trained hard. The moonlight entered through the roof and embraced us in its magic. There was no one left in the hall, only us three. We had placed many posts at different heights from the floor; three meters; four meters; six meters. They were easy to place, but not so easy to walk on top of. I had to jump from on to another varying the heights. I had gone up progressively and had been practicing for half an hour on the six meters, when the trainer decided that he would turn the lights out completely; I should learn to move in darkness. I came down to look for my sais and when I went back up Gabriel was on the post looking at me, his look fixed in my mind when all of a sudden the lights went out. The challenge was to fight against him. My eyes adapted to the darkness, thanks to the tenuous light of the moon I could see Gabriel coming. I jumped to another post, he followed me. Soon an idea came to me and I wanted to put it into practice. I grabbed the daggers strongly and closed my eyes, I concentrated and in a second noticed how my hands heated the same way they had in the morning. I didn´t want Gabriel to see me, so I concentrated only on the heat and not in its light as I avoided him. I turned ready to jump to another post when I noticed how my arm was grabbed. I turned and found a known face that I didn´t expect. I was seeing my sister. It was surreal, she couldn´t be there. The moon lit her smile, as she held my arm so tightly that I had to let go of one of the daggers. She was hurting me. Without expecting it, my sister spoke, somehow I had thought that it was a ghost, but her voice and her strength were real.

&nbs
p; “Hello, little sister. How are you? I suppose a little sore from your fall,” she laughed noisily. “You don´t know how long I have been waiting for this, to see you and tell you face to face how much I hate you, you and all this race of useless ones, Sons of the Night.” She mocked, “You are good for nothing, and you will not stop us. We will destroy your world as you destroyed our thousands of years ago. Soon we will enter with our strength and will flatten ever trace of life that we find in the whole city.”

  “You will not be able to stop us.”

  With a clearer mind, I could see her evil eyes full of thirst for revenge. I didn´t understand why she was saying this, she was part of us, she was like me. Furthermore I was there standing with her, I hadn’t fallen. I did know what was happening.

  “Don´t forget little sister that we can communicate and I can hear everything that you are thinking. I am not like you,” she shouted, “Despicable, disgusting being. And believe me, you have fallen when you put me into your mind, you weren´t prepared for this I suppose. Afterwards you will feel the pain. What a shame that you haven´t banged your head hard enough so as not to see you anymore.”

  “Why are you doing this? Don´t you want to meet our mother, be a normal person, this is the world you belong to, not that one that you are tied to. Why do you hate me so much? I haven´t done you any harm.”

  She looked at me coldly with an evil smile.

  “Our mother died a long time ago, my dear,” she said pretending to suffer, “I killed her and I suppose that you haven´t done anything, but I love to see how you suffer.”

  That was the last thing I heard before she left. I shouted and cried. I wanted to know what was happening and why my sister was so frivolous. My sister wanted to kill me. I was sure of it. This was my last thought before my world faded and submerged completely in darkness.

  I opened my eyes and a blinding light filled them, I shut them again in pain.

  “Samantha, are you alright?” I heard Gabriel´s concerned voice.

  The trainer and he spoke but I didn´t understand what they were saying.

  At that moment I understood everything. That was the fall that Elizabeth had spoken of, I had seen her in my unconsciousness. I was starting to get fed up of not being aware of what was happening to me, I didn´t want to faint again in my life. I hated it and right at the decisive moment, I was again taken by the waters of the darkness of my mind.

  I heard people around me; I was in bed, in my room I supposed, in Gabriel´s room. I couldn´t open my eyes, I noted how exhausted my mind was. I just wanted to feel the peace that Eric transmitted to me. I called him as I could and luckily he was by my side.

  “Precious one, are you alright? Eh, she has woken,” he shouted to the others. “Be calm, I am here. Can you speak?”

  I forcibly nodded. Trying to make use of my telepathic power I started to speak to Eric.

  <>

  To my surprise he answered.

  <>. Certain that both felt the same for each other, I let myself be taken by that tide that tried successfully to capture my mind.

  I woke up when Gabriel sprinkled a jar of frozen water on my face. It was day time and I couldn´t see Eric anywhere, it was just him and Francis in the room.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  His face was serious, it seemed like he had missed something. He had bags under his eyes and a somber gaze.

  “He isn´t here,” he replied in a low tone.

  “I was speaking with him just an instant ago – or so it seemed.” I stared at them “He hasn´t returned,” I declared deceived.

  “No, you were dreaming.”

  Soaked and with a clearer mind, I remembered how I fell the previous night from the post in the training hall, I said nothing, I didn´t shout. But I remembered the pain that the collision with my sword produced when I fell against the floor. I tried to sit up, everything hurt, although after various tries I succeeded. I touched my arm where my sister had squeezed me in my imagination, it hurt. The pain was real. She could control my mind. She didn´t know how it was possible, I didn´t understand it either, but I decided to find out which secret weapons she had in her favor and what I could do to counteract them.

  I looked at them stunned. Francis came closer and sat on the edge of the bed. He put a glass on the bedside table.

  “Drink it, you will feel better.”

  This said, he got up and left. He was distinct; he seemed to have lost some of his grace in speaking and moving. I looked at the glass in distrust, a green liquid moved in its inside. I drank it in one gulp and almost vomited noting its disagreeable texture going down my throat. Gabriel left, leaving me alone to recompose myself and be able to get up. The light of day was not seen yet in the window, so I imagined that it was still quite early. In a few minutes I felt better, stronger and not in so much pain. I changed clothes and went out. They were chatting in low voices in the kitchen.

  “Good morning princess” Francis said trying to appear to be in better spirits than a few minutes before.

  I smiled as I could and sat up to have breakfast. I felt worn out and hungry, but little by little I improved.

  “What are you doing here Francis? It is not that I am not happy to see you, but I don´t think you are here on a social visit. I imagine that the council has been busy these days,” I looked at him fixedly.

  “Very observant my dear, I have come to give you something,” he left the kitchen and returned with something in his hands.

  “Take it,” he passed something wrapped in a smooth silk handkerchief. “It will help you to concentrate and with this nobody will be able to get into your mind.”

  I looked at him in a meaningful way. How did he know what had happened to me? Surely the others thought I had passed out from pure tiredness, not for the real cause.

  I opened it carefully and a pendant appeared before my eyes. I put the handkerchief to one side and picked it up; it was formed by two stones, linked by a fine thread of silver with an inverted “s” form. The stones were round and very pretty colors. They were smooth and even. The one on top was a dark blue with an unusual shine and the one below was a translucent white with grey and violet lines through it. After observing them in detail I lifted my head and Francis answered the question I hadn´t asked.

  “The top Stone is called Stardust, its dark color will help you to concentrate and its shine will keep you from getting lost in the dark. The stone underneath is a smoked Quartz with veins of Amethyst. This combination will help you to develop your powers and have more control over your mind.”

  “Thank you,” I said with a timid smile.

  “You don´t have to thank me. The nuddles sent them for you”

  “I thought that jewels had to be ordered.”

  “True, but in certain cases they send things to who needs them. In this case, it is a jewel for you.”

  I put the pendant on and left the kitchen in fluid movements. I felt lighter and more prepared than ever for my third day of training. Later I wanted to speak to Francis about some things and also with Kenneth to apologize for not having gone the previous night. I was decided to rescue Eric from wherever he was and that evening I would go to see my mother. I didn´t want to wait anymore.

  I entered the training room with determination after seeing a red explosion come from the corner of the building. I didn´t think about it again until later.

  The trainer was waiting for us with his arms crossed. Francis had accompanied us in case I fainted again. He said that he knew how to get me out of that state while we walked through the deserted streets. The trainer went to get my daggers as Gabriel sat beside Francis´s ashen face observing the hall. He left bewildered without anything in his hands, looking at me perplexed. They had stolen from the precinct. This had never happened, he couldn´t believe it. I entered into the weapons hall and there were only a few swords in a corner. A r
oom that only yesterday had contained thousands. There was nothing. His face burned with anger and his fists were clenched in sign of fury. Before we could say anything he was already gone. We left the place running and heard shouting in the distance. I lifted my neck and saw the same red flash disappearing and the trainer running behind it.

  Without thinking I started to run up the street until I arrived to a slope; there was a short distance between me and the red haired girl and the furious man that chased her. They were almost at the edge of the forest and if I didn´t hurry I would lose them. I ran between the trees and decided to take a short cut to catch up on them. I stopped suddenly and thought about how I was connected with the Earth, that I could use my powers. I bent down and leant my knee on the cold ground; I buried my hands into the still humid earth and closed my eyes, it didn´t take long for me to connect. When I felt that I had the help I needed, I opened my eyes and asked the forest to show me the way; a green beam of light very close to the ground appeared before me, as though the path had always been there.

  I started running again, I didn´t know why I was chasing them but felt that it was important. In a few minutes I saw her. She turned her head to see how far away her captor was, I went in her direction as fast as the wind and in a few seconds I was between her and the trainer who was running almost out of breath. She turned her head again and saw me; her eyes filled with alarm. Without thinking about it I pounced on her and brought her down. Both of us were exhausted; our chests went up and down quickly as the trainer got closer. I got up and looked at her inquisitively.

  “Have you taken all the weapons from the hall? What were you thinking?”

  After a few silent seconds she started to laugh hesitantly whilst she stared at me.

  “Hello Samantha.”

  Her great red long hair covered part of her face when she moved and laughed.

  “Answer my question,” I said.