Elements of Glory: The Princess of Nothing

ONE:

The Hidden Master

’Leave no one alive…

-The Hidden Master to his Demoness

The ruins were formed into a circle, stone pillars rising upward. Some were crumbling, others still stood tall, though covered here and there with moss of emerald and blue. The stone circle sat deep in forest, atop a small hill. In the very centre was a smaller ring of pillars, these with sharp peaks, pointing skyward. All was silent in the dark forest. Even so, a tall, thick-built, man, dressed in long black, hooded, robes that hid his form and his face from the world, moved swiftly, like the wind, along the outer edge of the stone ring.

The man, his yellow eyes locked on the inner circle, as the moon glowed high above him, chanted Gemgic words of great power, and his breath was like a hiss, coming out in plumes of steam. Suddenly there was a crack of thunder, and flashes of lightning at the inner ring. Then there was swirling white and blue light and a brilliant flash. When it dissipated, two figures stood in the centre of the stone circle.

It had worked!

The robed man slowly strode into the stone circle, toward the ones he’d brought to this world. They turned to face him. One was a gaunt and pale man, the other a gorgeous Demoness. The man’s two minions looked on him in awe and then dropped to their knees.

The robed man let them.

’Master,’ the Dead Man said in a voice of reverence, ’Ratikgurr is dead, and his brother… the Element, Samantha, is in our hands.’

’She lives?’ the robed man asked, his voice hissing darkly.

‘She does,’ the Dead Man responded, a small smile on his black, cracked, lips.

’Then our anchor to this world is firmly placed,’ the robed man said, a note of pleasure in his deep voice. ‘It is what we need, to complete the task.’ He turned to the Demoness. ’Your freedom will be given only if you fulfil your part in this.’

The Demoness bowed her head, long, silky, black locks falling into her face. ’I will do everything that I can, my Master.’

‘Then we are to begin immediately?’ the Dead Man asked.

‘No,’ the robed man responded. ’You will move after the day is well on… they think they are safe in the light, that only in darkness does evil move… I intend to show them the folly of that thinking. We will take them in the day, and their screams will howl until the darkest moment of the night.’

‘And when I fulfil this, Master… how deeply do you want me to inflict?’ the Demoness asked.

‘All I need is one… the others are of no use,’ the master responded coolly. ‘Inflict as deeply as you can, dear child,’ he growled, ’leave no one alive!’

The Demoness bowed her head again.

The Dead Man, his smile growing on his face, chuckled happily.