Dark Form_Book 1 of the Shadow War Trilogy

by M. A. Da Costa

  “Whatever happened to slapping me?!” He shouts angrily.

  “Slapping you is for when you make an asinine choice, punching you is when you make me think that you were dead!”

  He signs and retracts his glaive into his waist belt. Zarvick is actually surprisingly calm. Creepy.

  “I’m sorry but it took awhile to figure out that I wasn’t dead.”

  I’m still pissed, “at least I know you can’t die easily. So…let’s head on back.”

  “No.”

  Before I can respond he grabs my arm, energizing the both of us, and leaves me in front of the Ice Kingdom in the barren ass arctic! While he jolts off to the Sea Kingdom. What an ass!

  Chapter 33

  (Zarvick)

  Amazingly, I survived! The chrome armor reshapes into my silhouette, prior to reverting back to my soft skin. Well, at least I know that I can survive death by transferring my consciousness into an inanimate object. Or at least I can’t die with enough fire that equals the power of a dwarf star exploding in my face; that is assuming I actually know how powerful a dwarf star actually is. I mean, guessing by the amount of power that I myself wield it would—what am I talking about I need to help Crystalline! Looking around, she is nowhere to be found, neither is the Red King.

  Picking up my glaive I notice a blurring image. It takes me a moment to focus on it before I realize that it’s Crystalline and some old men surrounding the king. They are transparent and no doubt can’t acknowledge my existence, however, I understand fully well what is going on here. My connection with her is allowing me to see them, yet my vision still isn’t clear enough to completely make out their faces. Honestly, I could care less because as long as she is safe, I’m happy.

  Speaking of which, how the hell am I going to explain this situation to her. I thought I was dead and she must’ve been traumatized by that experience. This will truly piss her off. Just when I decide the seal the throne room, my mind goes blank and I drop to the floor.

  * * * * *

  I awaken to a deathly forest. The trees that are left standing are broken down and smoldered, everything else is complete ash. Except for the bodies of countless elves who have been torn apart. I know right away what this is…it’s Meta Village. The present Meta Village. I want to leave, I shouldn’t be forced to sit here and stare right at everything that I’ve lost. Thus, I get to my feet and sprint my way out of here, only to be stopped by a tiny blue and red orbs. They are incredibly familiar…

  “Zarvick, what are you doing?” My mother’s voice is calming.

  The orbs expand into translucent forms of my parents. I’m both thrilled and skeptical to see them. “I was planning on seeing if I can escape this vision but now I am wondering what the two of you are doing here.”

  My father speaks up, “we’ve always been with you since the day we died. Despite you obviously forgetting that we have been waiting to help you.”

  “With what?”

  “With helping you find the location to the gates that will lead you to the Ures and Culbur, of course,” Delphine replies cheerfully.

  As if it was that obvious. Even in death, they are still annoying me. Typical parents.

  “Well, where is it?” I ask with a shrug.

  “That’s not how this works. You must find the answer which is buried deep inside your sub-conscience,” Edon is somehow annoyed with me.

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  It takes awhile for Delphine to explain: the information that I need is within my visions/memories that I am experiencing, it is up to them to help guide me along the right path, and (despite all of this) they cannot disclose the information directly because that’s not their purpose. In addition, I may actually go insane. Well, that last part is just my input.

  We walk for a bit through the ashes of my friends. My parents inform me that their real bodies were engulfed by Reaper, so there’s nothing for me to go back to and bury. The lesson in all of this is to always cherish what you have because you never know when it will be all taken away by some asshole in a black cloak who is so powerful, four badass people can’t even kill it. Anyways, I notice something amongst the bodies: a jagged piece of stone.

  It’s some sort of rubble from a building. “What is this?”

  “That must be from an ancient ruin. Pick it up, gently.”

  I do as my father instructs. Sure enough, the brittle stone begins to break apart under my touch, nonetheless, I managed to see an unusual glyph engraved on its surface; it is the outline of an eye, the pupil is diamond shaped with a ‘t’ inside of it.

  “You know what just happened here, don’t you?” Delphine rest her hand on my shoulder.

  “To be honest, no,” I respond quietly and place my hand over hers.

  “Zarvick, you confronted a difficult part of your life. The response to which gave you your first hint to finding the Hwevoxa and saving Elvendora. This was the easiest of your remaining task.”

  A part of me doesn’t care about saving this world or any other world. I just want to freeze this moment in time so I can stay here with my parents. Tears roll down my eyes before I push away from my mother.

  Straightening my back, I say, “well, it appears the All-Mother wants me to suffer in order to save her. I’ll go insane like this. If I am going to find the Hwevoxa, I should do it alone. Seeing the two of you will just cause more pain.”

  “That’s not your call to make. I’m sorry,” my father shakes his head.

  I can’t be mad at them but I am. This is too much for me right now, I need to focus on repairing my soul before I can worry about confronting the most damaging parts of my life. If Crystalline was here she’d know what to do. I can actually hear her, feel her close by. Turning my head the vision fades away.

  * * * * *

  I sit up to find Crystalline dashing over to her bow. Another kingdom is now falling apart because of us. Boulders are about to crush her but I rush forward to save her. I zap us out of there and am met with a punch in my face. She’s pissed, we talk, and that’s it. However, I am done waiting and training, I want to hurry up and finish all of this. So, I drag Crystalline although way to the arctic and leave her about a mile off from the Ice Kingdom.

  “Why the hell are we here?” She’s angry again.

  “We need to finish this, so I am going to fight the Mer King and you are going to fight the Snow Queen.”

  Crystalline rambles on about how we should go back to Asvarp so we can train some more and how it’s better to fight together than apart. “I mean, if you look at the record, I have been the one who's killed the four royalty we’ve fought. What makes you think you can do it by yourself.”

  “For one, you didn’t do any of that by yourself except for the Grey Queen. Two, I am just as capable of killing royalty as you are; if not, then more.”

  Just when she is about to respond I leave and come to a stop on a beach shore. I remove all of my armor except for my undergarments, all that extra weight will just slow me down. Not, really but I want to do this without any extra help. Plus, I don’t need the armor to cause me any unnecessary pain while I change the water to air in my lungs. With my glaive at hand, I run across the water and come to a halt directly above the Sea Kingdom. It’s difficult finding the location of an underwater kingdom even with my connection to the earth.

  Without any further distractions, I dive into the vast ocean ready to prove Crystalline wrong.

  At first, there’s hardly any fish until I swim closer to the darkness, then the creatures flourish. I keep them at bay by radiating a field of electricity around me but that doesn’t stop an even greater threat from approaching me.

  A kraken torpedos from below and grabs ahold of me. Its body is gigantic! Two bulging yellow eyes lie inside a humongous head where several thorny tentacles lash out from its body. It’s clear complexion almost camouflages it with the water. I deliver a strong enough electrical current through its body that it releases me, wailing in pain. My skin is aston
ishingly intact from the kraken’s grasp.

  In expectation of me releasing more lightning, the beast swirls around and tries to swallow me with the gaping hole of a mouth kept hidden beneath its tentacles. Rows and rows of deadly teeth are more disgusting than terrifying to look at. I extend my glaive and chop off its nearest tentacle; the beast releases a cloud of greyish ink before retreating. I lost sight of it, which doesn’t make me feel any better.

  As I go deeper, a loud shriek punctures my eardrums. The kraken comes back with a dangerous rage; its tentacles slither all about me, gripping onto me with so much force I feel my bones beginning to crack. I continuously try shocking the creature to death, to no avail does it work. Nonetheless, prior to the kraken eating me, a mosasaur ascends from below and devours the squid; blood floods all around me, forcing me to descend deeper into the darker waters. The beast swims away, leaving me untouched. That was fun!

  The darkness of the deep sea keeps even my eyes from seeing the surrounding environment unless it’s a few feet in front of me. Luckily, I use vibrations to help guide me away from potentially deadly fish and the alike. Eventually, there is a light off in the distance, thus I swiftly make my way to it without any other considerations. It has to be my destination or else I am going to destroy everything.

  I finally arrive at the sparkling Sea Kingdom, it’s orderly and booming with life. That quickly changes when I slam down at its center, creating an earthquake that collapses the kingdom, killing thousands. They were going to die anyways the way I see it. The aquatic elves are turquoise with webbing between their fingers and toes (there’s even webbing that connects their arms to their torsos!), and they have gills on their necks. They have dark blue hair and their ears are almost fin-like. I walk on over to a dead child and feel nothing. I’m done regretting my actions.

  The Mer King makes his way over to me, his armor is black and green. Its scaly texture compliments his appearance, the symbol of the Sea Kingdom—a vicious looking serpent—rest on his chest plate. There are dark stripes along his exposed skin, claws extend from his fingertips, and a silver bejeweled crown on his head. Fins rest on the sides of his face and large eyes bulge out from his head. In his right-hand, is a green and gold trident; the middle spike is more like a blade of a sword whilst the outer spikes are shorter but shaped similar to axe blades. An array of spiraling metal tentacles connects the spikes to the weapon’s handle.

  I don’t even let him speak; extending my glaive, I charge forth. In preparation of my total lack of etiquette, the king points his trident at my chest and lets loose a highly pressurized beam of magic/water. I’m blasted deep into the earth. I must admit, that fucking hurt.

  I torpedo towards the king as he readies another beam; this time I swirl my glaive in front of me fast enough to deflect the attack, however, it is knocked out of my grasp in the process. This doesn’t stop me from kicking his ass. Electrifying my fist I uppercut him, then punch him in the gut and slam my elbow against the back of his head.

  Shockingly, the Mer King is still conscious and rams his shoulder into me. As he swings his trident around, it catches my arm and cuts it open. My wound quickly seals but the fact that his weapon can actually break my skin and a kraken’s spiky tentacles cannot is a bit unsettling.

  His majesty starts speaking, I can’t understand him while he speaks in his native tongue.

  “Speak in the common tongue, you idiot!” I tell him.

  “Who are you calling an idiot?! You are the one that came into my domain and attacked my people!” His voice is high pitched and raspy.

  “You have my soul fragment in your chest and I want it back!”

  Charing him I grab his trident and am met with a surging pain. The king pushes me to the floor and tries to stab me with his oversized fork. I manage to hold it back but whatever the material it’s made out of is so much stronger than any substance I’ve ever come across. I force his majesty to stab himself and I project a stream of flame that melts some of his armor. Immediately, he grows enraged and my skin hardens into diamonds. This is where the real fun begins.

  We collide with a flurry of attacks. I slash his arm, he sticks his trident through my leg—it can actually pierce diamond!—and I blast him back with a thunderbolt. Pulling the trident from my leg it's magic attempts to cause me agony, however, my body just conducts the energy eliminating any pain; therefore, I heat up myself until the water around me is steaming and the trident gradually melts. The Mer King makes an effort to disrupt me, however, I keep him at bay with diamond spikes popping up in his path. In time, the trident weakens until I snap it over my knee, a wave of magic detonates from the break and propels us away from one another. Tossing aside the trident’s fractured remains, I dash my way to the king and tackle him to the floor. His body has become grotesque as his skin bubbles and reshapes itself.

  First, the king’s form quadruples in size and his now armored forearms grow to the size of small houses. Second, five lengthy claws jolt out from each hand and a clear shell coats the top of his head where you can see his brain. Third, a singular yellow eye molds its way to the center of his face and the bones inside of his shoulders spiral out of his flesh till they appear to be a dark pink armor. Finally, his central mass extends out from the shoulders then separates into six smooth tentacles. I’d rather face the kraken again than his majesty.

  The Mer King’s roar is mighty. During his transformation, I swam over to my glaive and put some space between the two of us. Yet, It made no difference because he effortlessly closes the distance. I evade his hands with lightning speed and go straight for his eye; as my glaive punctures the viscid texture, liquid oozes from the wound. The monster whacks me with the back of his hand and slams me to the ground. The clear shell over his brain throbs as it glimmers with multiple hues of blue and green; at first nothing happens then the mosasaur from before comes diving after me.

  I try my best to escape, yet the pressure of the ocean is increasingly weighing down on me and I can feel the water grabbing ahold of me. His majesty is really starting the piss me off. I fire a barrage of diamond shards at the mosasaur but it keeps coming. The sea monster inevitably catches up to me and eats me in a single bite; while I slide down its throat into its stomach, I can just imagine Crystalline’s eyes on me as if she is waiting to tell me “I told you so”. I won’t let that happen.

  My body burst forth into a mass of spikes that puncture from the inside out. I feel the beast collapse to the floor, so I slash through its body and into the open ocean. The Mer King looks in my direction with my glaive still stuck in his eye. I rush him as fast as I possibly can and collide with his chest with enough vibrational power to level an entire castle. Afterwards, I fire searing hot shards all over his physique. They pierce through his armored sections with little to no effort. As he screams in agony, more animals from the sea—even those that don’t delve down below—arrive at the scene. There are sharks, octopuses, eels, and much much more. I decide to take care of them all with a single radiant blast of lightning. I’m in love with myself right now.

  Tentacles grapple me to the sea floor, strangling me with such force that my body reverts back to normal.

  “Okay, that’s it!” I mutter to myself.

  I conjure a blazing flame deep within him, rapidly expanding it until his majesty explodes. Giant chunks of flesh float in all directions. I summon my glaive to my side while I swim over to an alluring light inside one of the chunks. Sparks jolt out of the cracks along his sapphire heart. The blast must’ve damaged the gem but wasn’t enough to break it. Well, Crystalline said I couldn’t do this alone, look at me now. Smashing the gem with my glaive, a stream of energy flows into me for a moment before I collapse; a new vision has started.

  Chapter 34

  (Zarvick & Crystalline)

  Standing up, I find myself in the Fey Kingdom. Queen Levouay’s castle is broken down and the sky is grey. Walking into the throne, there are only the bodies of the undead guards and Crystalline; she’s c
ompletely bloody and has fainted from the fight. This moment in my life is when I knew I truly loved her and I would do anything for her. Seeing a warrior as great as she fall to the likes of a twisted being such as the banshee queen, really proved that we weren’t as strong as we thought we are. Saddening…

  My parents appear at my sides, saying nothing. I don’t want them to. There’s nothing from this vision that can teach me something that I don’t already know.

  “So where is the next clue?” I ask under my breath.

  “Where do you think?” A familiar voice responds in place of my parents.

  Levouay stands in front of me as I turn around, she shrieks with all her might and I drop to my knees holding my bloody ears. I know none of this is real but I can’t fight it. I am powerless here. How do they expect me to fight back?!

  Oh…now I get the point. I made a decision that would have cost all of us our lives during this time. I have to confront it. This is so predictable.

  I stand up against her breathy scream. I am the powerful one here, not her.

  “I’m sorry Levouay for your corrupted life but you are nothing. I let you have power over me and was foolish to think that I could beat you. I let my love for Crystalline stand in the way of my reasoning instead of doing the rational thing…destroy your connection to Reaper. To stay alive.”

  Nothing happens, thus I stand and wait. Then my parents tell me I have to actually mean what I say and not just say what needs to be heard. There are just so persistent on making me go through with this. So, I recite my previous statement with more emotion.

  Suddenly, I disintegrate her with all of my might. In her place, an unknown silhouette flashes into view and vanishes even faster. Delphine and Edon are pleased by the outcome, however, these false versions of them are irrelevant to me. This clue isn’t as helpful as the last one but it’s good enough for Asvarp to try and figure out.