Dark Form_Book 1 of the Shadow War Trilogy

by M. A. Da Costa

  Clearly, this must be the Grey King. I mean, who else would walk around dressed like that and cast lightning bolts at people. He doesn’t seem to thrilled by my presence, nor is he surprised. I can feel a storm intensifying within the atmosphere, the clouds around the kingdom are starting to darken. As the king clangs his claws together, flashes of light go if in the distance.

  “Is there a problem your royal highness?” I conjure Crystalline’s sarcasm.

  The king aggressively stabs his right claws into the ground just as I tumble out-of-the-way. Electricity discharges all about the strike, conducting through the earth. Driving his other hand forward, a bolt of lightning flashes through his blades and zips past my head as I barely evade the attack; the building behind me catches on fire and begins to spread the burning plague to the other buildings nearby.

  “You’re just going to let your kingdom burn?” There’s no way he can just let his people die.

  “If it means killing you, then yes,” the king’s voice is firm. Looks like I’ll have to be a hero, again.

  Shifting my arm upwards, the earth rises before me; with my free hand, I summon a stream of water around the buildings, extinguishing the flames. From the corner of my eye, I spot the Grey King’s claws pierce through my earth shielding; charging up with deadly static, he blows a hole through the wall. Dammit! I cartwheel to the left as his majesty breaks the rest of the stone.

  Cyclone’s of frost emit from my hands and start freezing the king. A layer of electricity surges over his skin prior to expanding into a force field, melting the ice; lightning bolts zap out from his gauntlets and interact with my ice powers.

  Glancing around, I mentally break off chunks of the building and fling them at him, however, they just deflect against his barrier. Thus, he holds his ground and grows increasingly frustrated with me. I break off the wall of the nearest building to the Grey King and crush him beneath its mass. I reshape its form and cage him inside a large wad of earth and ice.

  “Wow! That worked better than I thought it would,” I laugh at myself.

  Suddenly, my helmet is struck with a loud clang and it knocks me off balance; looking around I spot an arrow on the floor. Guess the guard didn’t expect my armor to be so durable. Two more guards come around the corners with their bows raised, ready to take me down. I, of course, have no time for these petty games and set their bows on fire and let the flames consume them; burning the three of them to a crisp. Don’t even understand why I’m doing this.

  Another guard comes behind me and slices his sword across my back. Aside from the annoying screeching noise it makes, I am unharmed. Therefore, I sock the guard across the face with a fistful of vibrations that knocks him unconscious and snatch his sword. One more relentless soldier charges at me with his shield raised and sword ready to strike. As the guard swings, I parry and grab ahold of his wrist; forcing my strength onto it, I break his hand. Next, I grab ahold of his sword. Manipulating the wind to blow his shield arm off to the side, exposing his chest, and I shove both blades into him as I lift him a few inches off of the ground. After I watch the life leave his eyes and his blood drip down onto my armor; I slide him off the swords and onto the floor.

  Should have just run away.

  Multiple lightning bolts zap the Grey King’s imprisonment, one after the other, eradicating the structure. His silhouette grows in size behind the dust as he straightens his back. I know I say this to myself a lot but…it’s time to end this. While I proceed to move forward, his majesty charges me as a flash of lightning and jabs his left claws below my ribs. Luckily, my armor repels the attack, however, I still feel the force and buckle over. Just when he tries to pierce his claws into my face, I push his attack upwards with my left sword. Thrusting my right sword towards his chest, the king sweeps my blade to the side.

  Not bad. He could possibly go toe-to-toe with Crystalline. His control over the lightning has made him faster than I am, which is basically fighting Genu all over again. Then again, I too can call upon the lightning.

  His majesty's claws aim for my face, charged with lightning. I match his speed to the best of my ability and I strike his gauntlet with the combined power of my strength and a burst of vibrations. Although the sword shatters into pieces and his claws remain intact, the sheer force of it all blows both of us on our asses.

  Using my remaining blade as a crutch, I get to my feet. The Grey King, on the other hand, just electrifies himself into a standing position in a flash. I plunge the sword forward and it’s meet with a swift counter strike; the king catches it between two claws, twisting it around, sends a surge of lightning through the metal that shocks me and loosens my grip. He tosses the sword aside. Now, without any weapons at hand, his majesty surges with lightning and drives his claws forth.

  Instinctively, I raise my hands to defend myself. This reminds me of the first time I used my power, that feeling when it came from deep within. That feeling is what saves me even now.

  The Grey King’s claws stop right before my hands, the metal is completely under my control. I can’t explain how I am capable of doing this, however, I can almost feel the evolution from stone to metal within the claws. I’m simply expanding my control over it…becoming the element.

  As I expand my fingers, the space between the blades widens until they break off. The both of us are dumbfounded by this. Curling my hands inwards, the blades circle around and point at the king; with a flick of my wrist, they dart into his chest.

  Instead of blood seeping out of his wounds, static flickers around the shards. I begin to siphon electricity from his body and, to my expense, this causes him extreme pain; once I’ve gathered as much energy as I can handle, I release it back at the king with a blast of vibrations. This blows him through a building or two.

  “That was fun!” I chuckle. I’m very fond of my vibration powers.

  As I reach for my glaive, thunder sounds overhead and lightning strikes down where the Grey King lies. At the speed of lightning, he is instantly a couple yards away from me; his body is throbbing with energy.

  “I’ve had it with you annoying insect,” the king’s voice wavers.

  What is it with these bad insults. Throwing his hands to the sky violet lightning crashes down on him, circulating through his fingertips and into his body. With a furious shout, “gggwwwaaahhh!”, he propels his hands forward and discharges a mighty thunderbolt. As it zigs and zags through the space between us, I can feel my blood rushing through my body as my adrenaline goes crazy. I have the need to just let loose. That very next second, the lighting stops and so does his majesty, both are motionless.

  “Zarvick…what in the absolute hell do you think you are doing?!” Genu calls over to me.

  His free hand is raised in the air, fingers clenched. Somehow he has frozen the king and even the lightning. I must confess, he’s a lot more powerful than I thought. Kind of scary when you think about it.

  “Crystalline! Finish this already!”

  Running above the market on crimson panels is none other than Crystalline, an arrow is already drawn and ready. Once she is at a good angle, she releases the bowstring aaannndd bam! The arrow is enveloped with her spiritual energy as it whips off of the bow; when it pierces the Grey King her power disrupts his electric body and the arrow punctures through his topaz heart.

  A dark yellow light flashes just as the king’s heart shatters, a new found energy courses through my veins and my vision blurs. Everything around me fades and morphs into the Meta Village.

  * * * * *

  I am back where I left off. Except both the eagle and Reaper are gone. Looking over my shoulder I see my father making his way up the ladder leading to our house. I fly up after him, hesitating before I enter. Kids playing in the background distracts me because I’m not entirely ready for this but I do it anyways. This is the most difficult I’ve ever done and that’s including trying to beat some answers out of Genu. One step at a time, I make my way into my old home (which I’ve tried so hard not t
o think about).

  The wooden walls are decorated with bookshelves, banners and a few windows. Carved into the wood is different symbols that I now realize are protection spells. All of the houses have them, probably the reason why Meta Village was so safe. Off to the side, on a mantle, rest the dragon glaive.

  My mother is sitting at our eating table with her head buried in her hands. Edon kneels down beside her and they begin whispering to one another. My younger self is beneath the mantle playing with some toys. Completely oblivious to the world around him.

  “We have to tell him! I’m tired of these lies!” Delphine’s shout is muffled, “we are putting his life in danger along with everyone else's in Meta Village.”

  Edon just sighs, shaking his head, “I know. But think of what will happen if they knew the truth and Zarvick is too young to understand all of this. For now, everything will be ok. I promise you.”

  She doesn’t buy it. Her frustration forces her to get up and walk away. My father desperately chases after her.

  “You and I both know that the wards are weakening,” she’s no longer whispering. “The Sacred Forest is darkening under the shadows’ presence; it’s purification powers won’t be able to hold back the darkness much longer.”

  Her words change the surroundings, the symbols are beginning to rot. Realization is striking me hard, I never noticed this as a child. Even now, I just continue playing beneath the mantle. As my parent’s argument heightens, the younger me heads outside and I follow after myself. He makes his way to the other kids and they all runoff, playing together.

  Reaper appears where they were playing, the cube floating in front of it. Reality swirls all around us, the cube remains motionless; cracks race across the vortex and everything shifts out of place momentarily. All at once reality is restored and eight hollow silhouettes appear. Two of them are the Drow Queen and the Grey King, unlike the others they are whole. With the exception of the gaping holes in their chest and their faces are pale with death. The others I cannot make out but each has a different glowing light in their chest.

  “I’m not falling for your little game,” I say.

  “This isn’t a game,” Reaper responds, “it’s fate.”

  The cube releases a ring of pulsating light and the silhouettes fade. Darkness shrouds over the forest until only the two of us are visible. A faint colorless river gradually flows through the darkness. A blinding light emits from the cube and Reaper is disintegrated. I am thrown backwards out of my memory.

  Chapter 27

  (Crystalline & Zarvick)

  Zarvick has fallen to his knees with an, even more, blank expression on his face than usual. The Grey King is dead and I honestly feel like I can accomplish anything. My helmet’s mohawk is brightening to a scarlet red as Zarvick’s soul fragment is being restored. Genu appears displeased at this sudden turn of events; he’s just standing in place, staring at him with all of his might. I have the urge to sock him in the face but I ignore it. After all, we need him awake if we are going to continue this quest.

  “Genu, what are you doing?” I can’t hide the irritation in my voice. There’s just something that is making me really aggressive at the moment, I’m not sure what it is exactly.

  Suddenly, he takes a step back as he places his hand on his forehead. A little bit of blood trickles down from his nose. That’s can’t be a good sign.

  “I was trying to read Zarvick’s mind to see what’s going on but something repelled me. It’s stronger than anything that I’ve ever come across. Only another telepath could have this kind of mental shielding.”

  “Perhaps Zarvick has gained telepathic powers,” I suggest.

  He’s not so sure about that answer. The next second Genu is giving me the same look he was giving Zarvick. And then I am slapping myself across the face.

  “Well, I can still enter your mind,” he comments.

  “What was the slap for?!”

  “That’s what you get for thinking about punching me in the face.”

  We share a laugh and it brings me back to the days before all of this happened. I’m becoming all nostalgic again and I don’t like it. I turn my attention back to Zarvick and he’s regaining consciousness; his eyes are no longer glazed over. He takes off his helmet and starts rubbing his face up and down.

  “Are you alright over there?” I call out.

  “Yes. I just need to rest.” He makes his way to us, still confused about whatever he just witnessed. I’ll get him to talk about it later.

  “You can get all the rest you want after we finish up here,” Genu responds.

  The both of us questions his words. We just killed the Grey King, what more does he want? A party?

  “But aren’t we done here?” I ask.

  “No, the Sky Kingdom is a joint empire of the Storm and Cloud Kingdoms. Their rulers bound their domains together after they married to protect their people but neither wanted to completely give up their royal heritage.”

  “That’s just idiotic,” Zarvick arches an eyebrow.

  Genu nods and we leave it at that. It’s just all incredibly stupid talking this over when we can just walk in there and kill the queen outright. As easy as one, two, three. Ergo, we make haste to the castle, take down a couple guards and storm through the gates. Like I said, easy! Who could possibly stand in the way of two half-angel/half-demon hybrids and vampiric-kaine?

  The utter size of this castle can hold smaller kingdoms within its walls. Many pillars and towers make up its exterior but the inside is giant. Like the earth castle, the walls hold banners yet, unlike the earth castle, the walls are smooth and finely forged; it has this certain calming glow about it, a gentle breeze constantly circulates through its halls. Portraits of what I assume to be past rulers hang in these hallways. There spiral staircases at each corner of the room that led to the upper hallways.

  Finally, we enter the throne room. At the far end of the room sits the throne (obviously); it’s a structure made of feathers and metal. An elegant glass chandelier hangs halfway down from the center of the high ceiling. The walls even have a spiral that circles all the up to the chandelier. I am impressed.

  “Okay, now what?” I ask. The queen isn’t on her throne…

  “Not sure,” Genu says, “I was expecting the Grey Queen to be sitting in here.”

  “Our lives are continuous repeats of similar but different battles,” Zarvick insightfully adds.

  Genu and I stare at him with confusion. I ask him, “what brought that on?”, and he just shakes his head.

  After debating for a few minutes we decide to venture through the rest of the castle since the queen isn’t here but are cut off by at least a hundred guards; they’ve boxed us into the throne room, making sure to cover all the possible exits.

  “We can take them,” I say.

  “I’d rather save my energy for the queen,” Zarvick refutes.

  “He’s right,” Genu actually takes his side, “the two of you should step aside and let me handle this.”

  Just for the record, I don’t doubt that Genu can’t fight all of these people. After all, he is the reason that I am an excellent warrior. But he’s sucking up all of my fun for himself. Zarvick gently pulls me off to the side with his glaive in hand. I’m not letting this go anytime soon, they both will feel a woman’s scorn.

  The guards make their way in as Genu unsheathes his diamond sword. They’re mainly focused on him but a few keep a watchful eye over the two of us. If I were them, my undivided attention would be on Genu; it’s not as if any of them could kill him. He’d destroy them all before that happens. Plus, I wouldn’t let that happen…Zarvick maybe but not me.

  He throws his scabbard into the air and commences with the killing process; a sonic boom roars through the throne room as he dashes towards the nearest guards. One-by-one he stabs them, cuts limbs off, breaks necks (or other appendages), rips them apart with telekinesis, has them kill each other with mind control, and even finds the time to drink some blood. I
don’t approve much of that last method. All of the guards drop dead by the time the scabbard hits the floor. I could’ve done better but props to him.

  “That’s a lot of blood,” Zarvick says.

  “There’s a lot of bodies,” I grin.

  After wiping off his blade and sheathing it, Genu floats over to the staircase on the left leading up into a corridor. I construct a scarlet bridge to walk over the dead bodies seeing as how I can’t fly like these two showoffs.

  “Genu, where are you going?” I call out. He’s already at the top of the stairs.

  Looking over his shoulder, he says, “while I was in one of the guard’s head, I discovered that the queen is at the—”

  A mighty gale blows him out of the window nearest to him. Zarvick tries to go after him but the current is too strong to push through. It even cuts deep gashes in his flesh. I rush over to him to heal his wounds, yet they’ve already closed. Now everyone can regenerate.

  “We have to find him,” my tone is firm.

  He just nods, continuously tapping his foot on the ground. Whatever the hell he is doing, it’s annoying the hell out of me. I glance up and down the corridor; nothing is out of the ordinary. Therefore, I press on.

  Zarvick grabs my arm. “Two guards are coming out of the door to the left.”

  Swiftly, I draw two arrows and take them out with headshots. Damn, I’m good! I have to tell compliment myself because none of these idiots will admit it out loud.

  “The queen is at the top of the tower,” Zarvick says after I’m done gloating.

  “How did—” he grips me to his chest before diving out of the window.

  With me in his arms, we soar up the castle’s walls. The Sky Kingdom is magnificent from this angle. I make what’s left of its citizens running towards us as they seek to escape giant black storm clouds that have devoured less than half of the kingdom already. The Grey King’s death must have triggered some kind of destructive spell. Just like with the Drow Queen and the Terra Kingdom.