Searching for Darkness

by Leah Ward

  “I’m not going to give you this book! Why do you want it so bad anyway?!” Edwin screamed, his fingers itching with urge.

  “You haven’t figured it out yet? Think Edwin. Your parents died here, in this very spot. The inside of that cave has a drawing, of a man and a woman dying right here and a young boy fulfilling their journey. That young boy looks identical to you. That young boy lived with his grandmother, who was extremely hard to locate. Then that same young boy comes to live with me. With a little information that boy journeys through the woods, has the misfortune of finding her and then accomplishes the goal of locating and retrieving the most powerful ancient spell book ever created. You put the pieces together Edwin, the boy of the fates.” Agmund said arrogantly.

  “Wait… You… You are Nefarious?” Edwin said as his jaw quivered with terror of the words, “You killed my parents? You are the one that cursed the world?!”

  “Yes, Edwin. A plot that took ten years to fulfill, but in the end was worth the wait.” Agmund said with a sly smirk.

  “You monster…how…how did you know?” Edwin started.

  “…How did I know that you were the actual legend and not your parents?” Agmund said proudly. He began to walk around, pacing confidently as if he was retelling a story.

  “As you saw when you entered the cave, the markings on the wall. I too saw that wall. I couldn’t continue to find the book myself because I did not possess those powers. Then I thought to myself, why not use magic to appear where the book is?” Agmund said, then disappeared and reappeared to show off his talent.

  “As I do possess a lot of magic, I don’t have enough to appear at such a powerful sight.” Agmund continued.

  “How did you even get out of the cave? I couldn’t get out until I had the book.” Edwin said shyly. He was now timid of someone whom he used to feel comfortable around.

  “I do have enough magic to get out of a sticky situation my boy. As long as there is ground, I can appear there. Just apparently not at magically historic sights…” Agmund said.

  “Wait, how did you get in the cave then? You told me you weren’t a Seer? You must be! You are Lena’s father because she is a half Seer!” Edwin said, answering his own question. “So you lied about that too?”

  “After all this, does that surprise you, boy?” Agmund said arrogantly.

  “Don’t call me that.” Edwin said, defensively.

  “Are you mad at me Edwin? Are you frustrated that I ‘betrayed’ you?” Agmund asked.

  Edwin didn’t answer.

  “Boy, you know nothing of betrayal.” Agmund said.

  Edwin lost control, “I wish you had never even adopted me!”

  He lifted his hand to blast Agmund with fire and send him over the mountain side, but what he said next stunned him, he felt like he was physically paralyzed from the hurt his heart had to bear.

  “Edwin, do you really think your grandmother just happened to pass as I wanted to ‘adopt’ you?” Agmund said mischievously.

  “What…what are you trying to say?” Edwin asked, his voice shaking.

  “You’re smart; after all you are a legend. Put the pieces together.” Agmund answered.

  “You…killed my parents, and then my grandmother?” Edwin couldn’t believe the words coming from his mouth. This all seemed like a terribly unrealistic nightmare.

  “I needed you Edwin, and your grandmother wouldn’t tell you anything about your parents. I needed you to know, so that you could go out and find the book for me.” Agmund said.

  “For you?! I will never give you this book!” Edwin said.

  “I like your anger Edwin, a side I’ve never seen of you before. But yes, the book. You will hand it over to me. Obviously I can’t actually let you destroy it now can I? I just needed you to have enough motivation to go out and find it. Then when you did, I would appear, and you would give it to me. I suppose I didn’t count on the girl being here, giving away my…secrets.” Agmund said.

  Edwin was speechless, this entire time he had been fooled. Lena hadn’t said anything in a while, and by her expression he could tell that she too was speechless. Or maybe, she was just too weak to speak anymore.

  “I thought you would have realized I was following you sporadically through the woods too. It was only for a few minutes, then I would reappear at the house and wait, but still you never caught me. You weren’t even smart enough to realize it was me, even after the times I know you saw me.” He said with an evil smirk across his face.

  “I wish my parents could see how I am about to avenge them.” Edwin said, with a voice so hauntingly deep and authoritative that even Lena was surprised.

  “Boy, you are going to die in the same spot your parents did, and in the same way. Won’t that be symbolic? Two legends, one family, both killed by the all-powerful Nefarious. It has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?” Agmund said with a devilish grin.

  Edwin, with the book in his hand, bent down and placed it with Lena. “Hold onto this for me,” he said, turning to face Agmund.

  “You can’t defeat me Edwin. I am much too powerful for a boy such as you.” Agmund said, standing and raising his brow, not terrified in the least.

  “I am not just a boy Nefarious, I am the legend. I am the one who could retrieve the book, when you couldn’t.” Edwin said.

  The two of them were circling each other now, like they were in a boxing match. Each was just waiting for the other to strike and throw the first punch, or in this case the first fireball.

  “What does that say about you Edwin?” Agmund taunted.

  “What do you mean?” Edwin asked curiously.

  “You were the one that was able to retrieve the darkest spell book in history. Not I. And I am apparently the Dark Lord? What does that say about you and your fate? Are you sure being the ‘hero’ is the route intended for you?” Agmund said, filling Edwin’s mind with questionable doubt.

  “Don’t listen to him Edwin, he is trying to get inside your head!” Lena shouted.

  Agmund was standing fairly close to her, and when she spoke he lashed out and backhanded her cheek. She fell over on her side and the book flopped out of her lap. Agmund stared at her, and then the book.

  Edwin’s eyes bulged while his head steamed with hatred. He flung his arm level with his chest and in that one swift motion out came a thick blazing fire stream pointed directly at Agmund.

  It missed him by an inch, but singed the hairs of his wool cloak. Agmund’s eyes strayed from the book, and looked at the burned arm of his cloak.

  “Don’t you ever touch her again!” Edwin yelled at the top of his lungs. The words came from the pit of his diaphragm, radiating through the trees.

  Edwin let out another fireball but this time Agmund did too. Agmund’s blasted through Edwin’s throw and hit him hard in the center of his chest.

  What Agmund threw wasn’t fire however. Fire is normally orange or red, and burns. What he threw was purple, and instead of burning it was more of an electric shock.

  Edwin fell to the ground clenching his chest, struggling to breathe while his body was jolting violently. The wind had been knocked out of him and now the electrocution seemed to turn into a mild paralysis.

  “That, my boy, is dark magic for you. Your fire is much too weak and will never be able to pass through what I can throw.” Agmund said.

  Edwin didn’t respond, mostly because he couldn’t. He was on all fours, with one hand still holding his chest where the impact occurred.

  Lena had watched the entire process and really struggled with feeling helpless as Edwin lie there in pain.

  “Leave him alone Agmund!” Lena shouted to the man she once called father.

  “I’d much rather you call me Nefarious dear.” Agmund said with a grin so evil, that she didn’t understand how a person such as him could have fooled Edwin for so long.

  Nefarious kicked Edwin in the side and he fell over, now laying in something that resembled a fetal position.

  He then walked ove
r to Lena, yet she refused to be afraid of him.

  “Well, well. Your little boyfriend couldn’t save you, and boy did he barely get you to last this long. You look awful.” Nefarious said.

  “Gee thanks, that’s what every girl wants to hear.” Lena said, glaring at him.

  “Well I’m just being honest.” Nefarious said, trying to be coy.

  “That’s something you’ve never been before.” Lena responded sharply.

  A wretched smile came after his face, appreciating her brutality.

  “Just as Edwin’s parents laid here and died, the two of you can do the same. Perhaps history does repeat itself. I imagine you’ll bleed to death soon anyway on this mountain.” Nefarious said as he bent down to take the book from Lena.

  That’s it! Lena thought. As Nefarious reached for the book she shouted painfully at the top of her lungs: “SATIYA!”

  Nefarious looked at her as if she had gone completely mad.

  “Are you insane?” He said with a chuckle. All she could do was smirk at him.

  Satiya appeared within seconds, her beautiful white scales glowing in the setting sun’s light.

  Nefarious looked up completely in awe at what was flying above him.

  “Meet our friend, Satiya. Maybe she’s hungry?” Lena said half-jokingly.

  She hoped that the dragon would take the hint, to throw fire, or scare Agmund away, but she only flew above them waiting for a command.

  Agmund bent down, picked up the book, and in a flash disappeared into thin air. Lena sat there, looking back and forth at Edwin and Satiya. In a split second, the darkest magician in history had escaped with the book that contained the darkest spells in history.

  Edwin rolled over and stood up, relieved that the pain from Agmund’s magic was finally subsiding.

  “Where did he go? We… We have to find him!” Edwin said out of breath.

  “He disappeared!” Lena shouted frustrated.

  Edwin had no idea what to do next. The only thing he knew was that Lena desperately needed to get to a doctor.

  “We have to get you to town. Your face has lost all of its color.” Edwin said.

  “No. I’m not going anywhere unless it’s searching for Agmund.” Lena said sure of her decision.

  Edwin thought about how stubborn she was; yet he also admired her determination.

  “You’re not going to be able to do much of anything if you wait any longer…We don’t even know where he went, we can’t waste any time, your life depends on it.” Edwin said, stating the obvious.

  Lena eyed him, weighing her chances but knowing that Edwin was right, “Fine. Help me up.”

  Edwin walked over and helped her stand up. She wobbled back and forth so he decided it best to continue to be her crutch.

  He figured since the area where they had unloaded was shot, that now they would have no choice but to board right where they were. Satiya flew as close to the mountainside as possible, but it still wasn’t close enough for Lena to climb on.

  She had no choice but to land, and when she did the ground immediately started to shake under the weight of her huge clawed feet. Edwin helped push Lena onto the giant dragon’s back where she held tightly to the spikes, and hooked her feet into the sides of Satiya’s belly.

  The slab of mountain broke free, and fell from underneath Edwin’s feet. Jumping at the last second he managed to land on the dragon’s back, flat on his belly with his feet hung over on one side and his arms on the other.

  Satiya flapped her wings enough to lift her from the sinking ground, and once Edwin was on, she flew high into the clouds.

  The landslide happening below them took out several trees, and crashed into other rocks and boulders. The crunching of stone was deafening to the ears.

  Edwin corrected his position on the dragon, now sitting behind Lena with nothing to hold onto really, considering her situation.

  Both Lena and Satiya looked back at him, as if to say ‘What do we do now?’ The only problem was Edwin had no clue; Agmund could be millions of miles away by now, who knew how far he could transport. Yet, Lena needed a doctor’s attention right away.

  The one thing Edwin knew for sure was that wherever Agmund was, he was probably opening the book and reading the dark spell at this very second.

  CHAPTER 20

  “Satiya, fly back towards that volcano in the distance, follow the river upstream and by then we should be able to see the town I live in.” Edwin said with his voice full of sorrow. He was utterly devastated. Not only did he fail at destroying the book, he also pretty much handed it over to the darkest magician in history, who just so happens to be the only father figure he had had in his entire life.

  “What are you going to do? Drop me off and let Agmund destroy the world? We have to look for him instead of wasting time taking me somewhere.” Lena said. She knew it was a life or death situation, not only for her, but for the rest of the world too.

  “There is nothing I can do?” Edwin said, raising his voice.

  “You have to try! Isn’t there anything? Can you teleport? Is that a gift you haven’t learned about yet?” Lena said, becoming angry.

  “Teleport to where Lena? Every inch of the Earth until I magically run into him? I’m telling you, I don’t have a power that will help! I have failed! Just face it! Let’s just take you to the doctor, so that I can at least say that I didn’t let you die!” Edwin said with his voice almost cracking at certain parts of his sentence.

  Lena didn’t respond, she was so upset with Edwin that she thought it better to keep her thoughts to herself. They rode in silence the rest of the way.

  When they had passed the volcano, and were almost finished with following the river, Lena started to recognize the land below her. Her tree house was near here, and it gave a sense of serenity knowing that she was so close to home. She missed being in the comfort of her own home.

  As if a light bulb went off in Lena’s head, she sat straight up with new confidence. “Edwin! I have an idea!” She exclaimed and turned her head around to face him.

  Edwin looked at her, a small part of him hopeful that it was a rational idea. The other part of him was too discouraged to be hopeful at all.

  “Didn’t you say you could see the future before?” She asked.

  “Yeah, but what about it?” He said.

  “Well, look into the future!” She said, completely perked up by her idea.

  Edwin was confused and seemed to be misunderstanding her intentions. “Why would I want to do that? I can pretty much guess how awful that’s going to go.”

  “But you may be able to see where he is!” Lena exclaimed.

  “How am I going to be able to see that, if I am not looking for him? How would I ever find him, even in the future?” He asked.

  “No, you are missing the point. Don’t look into your future, look into his future. See where he is right now.” Lena said, with a smile so big across her face that it was the first time Edwin noticed how incredibly white her teeth shown.

  A small light bulb went off in Edwin’s head too once he put together what she was saying, but it quickly faded away. “I don’t think it works like that unfortunately.” He said.

  “Have you tried?” She asked, pressing her lips together and raising her eyebrow questionably.

  “No…” He said but didn’t finish before Lena blurted out, “Well try now!”

  She did have a good point, if it worked, he may be able to tell where Agmund was, especially if he knew the area. “If it does work, I still might not be able to tell where he is if I don’t recognize anything.” Edwin said, doubting and not getting his hopes too high.

  “What do you have to lose? Let’s try!” She said as she grabbed his hands and closed her eyes.

  He looked around and sighed, not wanting to go along with Lena’s plan. He was so full of frustration that he didn’t even want to attempt it incase it failed. With a long, heavy sigh he closed his eyes and began to think. Not knowing how to engage the power,
he thought of Agmund and questioned how he could ever have trusted him. He thought of how betrayed he was, and finally he wondered what Agmund was doing right now.

  His mind became grainy, and black and white. Suddenly he didn’t feel much like himself, instead he felt lighter and as if he were asleep. When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a room, one that wasn’t very familiar. He walked around the room, hoping to gain clues. Looking out the door he saw a kitchen and a living room, it was his house! This must be Agmund’s room, he thought.

  Edwin walked in the kitchen and there stood Agmund, the book sitting on the table, its title glowing iridescently. Edwin ran over to the table and tried grab the book, except his fingers went through as if he was a ghost. He was able to stick his entire hand through the wooden kitchen table.

  Agmund walked over and flipped the book open. “Now to finally read you,” he said aloud.

  Edwin’s heart raced and he screamed at Agmund to stop, but he continued. Agmund studied the book, taking in every last detail, and Edwin could do absolutely nothing about it.

  “Edwin? Edwin! What do you see? Is it working?!” Lena was shouting but getting no response. It was if he had literally fallen asleep and wouldn’t wake up. She tried shaking him, when suddenly he had screamed. Her eyes grew wide and she stared at him, wondering what he saw.

  Gasppppp!

  Edwin opened his eyes and started panting from being out of breath.

  “What did you see?!” Lena said, curiosity killing her on the inside.

  “He’s at my house! He is about to read the book! We have to hurry!” Edwin said, then asked, “Satiya did you get that? We need to get there pronto!”

  Satiya nodded with understanding.

  Both Lena and Edwin dug their feet into the dragon’s side, and clung to her spikes and each other – it was about to be an intense ride.

  Satiya nosedived, dodged trees, and flew faster than either of them could have ever imagined. She was making a mad dash towards Edwin’s house.

  “Turn that way!” or “Go towards that tree!” He yelled to her over the powerful noise of the wind.