Threat of the Shadow Mage

“HIGH KING AKOFF! AURON HAS DECIDED TO TURN HIMSELF IN AFTER thinking what this would do to his family.”

“Sacrifice is not going to counteract what is done.”

“Yes, sir. Bring him!” The two soldiers that held her tightly brought her forward and shoved her to the ground before Akoff. “Well, well, well. Sir Auron, what a surprise. This is truly unexpected.” Catalina quietly grunted as she lifted her head from the ground, and brought herself to sit on her knees with her head bowed. “Have you anything to say… peasant?” Akoff asked, raising his voice at the last word. Catalina spoke after thinking of what Auron would have said. “My only wish is to end of all this and protect my family from your rage against me.” “Your family? She is my daughter, and I should have seen the signs that gave you away so many times.”

“Believe me, I know what she means to you, but she is my wife just the same. I am only here at your feet in hopes that it ends with my life, and no one else.” Tears welled up in her eyes, feeling the end was near.

“Ha, ha, ha. Did you honestly think that a sob story would soften me and allow you to live? I think not.” Before he motioned for the guard behind her to carry out the sentence, she spoke quickly. “A sob story is what kept your daughter alive in the past.” Akoff stopped, and looked down at her. “How do you know of that?” She was silent. “A spy, thief, deceiver, and betrayer. Be done with this filth!” Akoff commanded. Catalina closed her eyes, and a tear fell to the golden floor. The guard then drew his sword and sliced it across her back. She drew up in pain, and stared at the ceiling. Again, the guard cut at her spine, and then pierced her in the middle of the left side of her back.

Akoff then noticed something. Auron’s eyes were light blue instead of brown. He stood, and the guard stopped, and backed off as he came down. Akoff took her in his arms, and watched as the enchantment left her. “No. No! Catalina, why?” The guard then had a worried expression on his face, and cautiously left the room.

Hearing the commotion, the queen hurried in. Seeing what had happened, she rushed to their side. “What has happened?” she asked Akoff as she put her palms on the floor. “No, Vienna, go back to your chores.” He commanded her. “I will not! If something has happened to my Catalina, I should know.” He sighed, seeing there was no possible way to get her to leave, and then softly said, “Our dear Catalina used an enchantment that changed her appearance so she’d look like Auron.” Vienna sat up, and saw two things. One being that this was of Akoff’s doing, and the other being that Catalina had a deep enough love that she would be willing to do such an act of valor and nobility. “Well this only proves two things.” Akoff looked at her with question, asking what without words. “One, you are so full of yourself that you didn’t care to check and make sure it wasn’t an imposter.” “Vienna, how dare you.”

“Would you kill me then, too, Akoff?”

He was silent.

“Two…she had such a love for Auron that she was willing enough put herself in his stet. We elves don’t sacrifice ourselves unless we truly care for another being.” Akoff saw her point. Then he grew angry, and became filled with denial. “No! Don’t you see that that’s what they wanted you to think? Auron could have been a coward and sent her in his stet.” “Akoff! What’s gotten into you? Why can’t you just accept the fact that what I say is true?”

“It’s not true! Auron is a coward, and is nothing but a crook!” He then stood and struck her. “Take this wench to the iron pen of darkness and despair!” he commanded.

At first the soldiers who were in the room hesitated, and Vienna wiped her chin with the back of her hand as she glared. Then Akoff raised his voice in a threatening way. “Do you want to be fed to the snappers? Arrest her!” The soldiers hastened and did as commanded. Vienna didn’t struggle for she knew (or thought) they would only go as far as 50 paces out the door before they let her go. Akoff then left Catalina lying on the floor, steeping in her own blood that stained the golden tiles, as he stormed back up the stairs; but then he stopped, remembering that there were still others in the room. “The rest of you give my daughter a proper funeral.” The few remaining soldiers walked over to the cold body, and picked her up. Now was his chance to enter the hidden room, and he entered it quickly.

Back in the woods, Auron finished with his old foe, and headed back to where he thought Catalina was, but his heart was about to be broken in two. “It’s safe now, Catalina, you can come out now.” He said as he reached the door, but as he looked in, he only saw Aspen laying on the bed sucking on her thumb. “Catalina?” He stepped in to make sure she wasn’t hiding as if to pull a prank, but seeing it was just Aspen, he knew what she had done. Auron walked over to Aspen, her being the only thing that reminded him of her beauty, and picked her up to hold her against his shoulder. Tears came to light, and he couldn’t help but sob quietly as he held his precious little girl. Aspen just laid her head on her father’s shoulder, looking out, and did nothing but stare.

“You incompetent fool!” Akoff shouted as he entered another room. The Shadow Mage that was there stood in recognition, but also in surprise. “My liege?”

“You said nothing about my daughter portraying to be Auron and she being killed in his stet!” Akoff hustled towards the Mage, but he backed up behind the table he sat at, and then flew up to a support beam. “Ah!” Akoff shouted as he hit the table with his fists. “Sire, I am not the one whom your anger should be directed to.” The Mage said before he came back down to stand beside him. “The fore-telling I spoke before came from another source that lives deep in the caves of the Misty Mountains. An insane fool, but he speaks truth.” Akoff gritted his teeth, and then asked, “Then why didn’t he say anything, or give a warning about an internal imposter or enchantment?” “I know not, sire. I only relay what is said.” The Mage put a hand on Akoff’s outside shoulder, and grabbed the other. “Come. You need your rest.” He said leaning down to be just above Akoff’s ear. Akoff took a deep breath in, and then sighed as he let it out. “That’s right. Now come with me, and everything will be alright.” “Alright Kraizon. Alright. Just…make this go away.”

“Can do my liege. Can do,” said the Mage, and he led him to another, open arched room.

“Alright soldiers, you can release me now. He isn’t really going to feed you to the snappers.” Vienna said, having just passed 50 paces, but the soldiers were silent and continued their mission. She looked between the two of them, and became concerned. “Boys?” They were silent still. “I relieve you of your duties.” She tried, but they remained focused. Soon they reached the doors of the dungeon, and Vienna started to struggle. “Soldiers! I told you he didn’t mean what he said. He was just angry.” She pleaded, but the man on her left jerked her arm, causing her to look him in the eye. “You know not of what you speak. We spend more time with our king than you ever did, and we know when he’s serious…and when he’s not.” Vienna couldn’t believe her ears, and he yanked her again, causing her to nearly fall as they went down into the pitch black abyss that lay before them. “Hey! Soldiers! I said you’re dismissed! Let me go!” “Now, if you’ll just sit here, my liege, I will give you something that will make you forget all of today.” Kraizon said as Akoff took a seat in a strange looking chair. “But I don’t want to forget just today. I want the very memory of Auron to be erased.” Kraizon, still facing away from him and getting a vile from a cabinet, nodded. “That can be arranged.” Akoff laid back and sighed as he closed his eyes, ready for the day to be over. Finding the desired vile, Kraizon smirked, still holding it just above the shelf he pulled it from. Then he gently tossed it in the air so he could then catch it quickly by hiding it in the palm of his hand. As he turned, he saw his victim at peace.

“My lord, if you drink this, what you’ve asked of me will become true.” Kraizon said as he handed him a silver goblet with 4 black onyx gems around it. Akoff took it, not aware of its contents, and Kraizon watched eagerly as he gulped it down. It wasn’t long before he dropped the goblet and grabbed his throat as he fell to the ground. Kraizon stepped back, semi-circled around him, and watched as the transformation began. Akoff looked up, and his eyes had already turned. “What have you done to me?” he tried to say, but Kraizon just continued grinning, and Akoff went back to coughing and being in pain.

By the time Kraizon finished his half circle and went back to be in front of Akoff, the transformation was complete, though Akoff was still taking in what just happened; therefore still being on his hands and knees. Then he took a breath in, and let it out; took another breath, and then he was breathing normally again. He lifted his head, his eyes steaming with a red anger, and his shoulders began to let off black fog. Akoff was an elf no longer.

TIME PASSED, BUT IT FELT as if everything was still normal. Aspen grew into a beautiful young elven lady (though she was only ten), and showed the maturity of a 50-year-old elf. She had been raised to be quite the noblewoman, though she was, by blood, only a commoner. It was during this year that people began to mysteriously disappear. Auron became concerned about Aspen, and started to restrict her limits as to where she could play or go with friends. “But dad, I’m not a kid anymore!” she would say as Auron’s rules continued to get stricter, but she would always get the same response. “Aspen, you are only 10 years of age,” and she would always argue with it. “But in elven years, that counts to be 21, or even a hundred!” As always, Auron would put her back in place with, “Young lady, you are who I say you are until I release you from my parenting.” It would be the same conversation every day, and Auron started to grow tired of it, and would tell her to go up to her room.

Then, one day when she was 12, Aspen decided to sneak out. “Dad? Can you please at least let me go in the back yard?” she pleaded from down the hall. “Aspen Leighanna Silvertongue. We’ve been over this a thousand times, and it hasn’t changed.” Aspen bit her lip and smiled as she pretended to be disappointed. “You never let me do anything anymore!” Then she stomped her feet to make it sound like she was storming back up to her room. Swiftly and quietly, Aspen snuck out the back door, and swung it back around without having it make a sound. Outside, she let a breath out of her mouth, and turned around to go out to meet her friend.

“There you are. I can’t believe you pulled it off!”

“I know, and I thought I could never do it.”

“So, you ready?”

“Yup. Let’s go.” They giggled, and ran into the woods. Little did they know, though, that they were to be visited by a new enemy. “Let’s rest here for a minute. I’m out of breath,” her friend said as they reached a clearing. Aspen stopped and turned. “You’re not tired already?” she asked, though she was a bit weary herself. Her friend crossed her legs and collapsed, ending up sitting crisscrossed. “Exhausted. Aren’t you? Don’t you dare lie to me. I see you heaving.” Aspen couldn’t hide it, and went back to join her.

Her friend then brought her pack beside her, and opened the flap to grab the snacks she made. “Now you didn’t have to go and do that.” Aspen said, but nonetheless she had a little picnic with her.

A couple hours passed with gossip and small talk before Aspen’s friend noticed it was starting to get dark. “Oh. Hey, I think we should start back home.” Not desiring to go back however, Aspen continued the conversation based off of her comment. “What? You’re not afraid of the dark now, are you Marissa?” “No. I just don’t want to get caught after dark due to the disappearances lately.”

“Right. I forgot about those.”

“Well I suggest we start out. Our parents, well...my parents will start to worry if I’m not back by sunset,” Marissa said. Aspen agreed, and they packed up to go back home.

They had been walking for at least ten minutes before Marissa realized they were lost. She stopped, trying to remember the trick her Uncle had taught her. “What’s the matter?” Aspen asked, seeing the expression on her face. “Um…I think we’re lost.”

“What? How can we be lost? You are the navigational expert! Oh this is just great.”

“I’m sorry, Aspen, I am, but it’s true. I’m sorry.” Marissa threw down her pack and forcefully sat as she buried her face in her knees with her arms lying across the top of them. Aspen then realized that she may have been a little harsh on her for an accident, so she squatted beside her and placed a hand on Marissa’s right shoulder. “Hey,” she started to apologize, but then she heard a sound that caused them both to jump and looked around.

Aspen stood. “What was that?” Marissa asked, frightened. “Sh,” Aspen quieted her, and held her hand slightly behind her as she moved forward. Hearing it again, she looked to her left, and there was an eerie silence. “Marissa, get behind me. Back to back!” and she did so, as they prepared themselves for whomever or whatever was out there. Just then, a black cloud zipped by them, and they fired their best shot. Marissa missed, and Aspen thought she hit it, but it just went through it. It then rushed at them, and they split; falling on their hands as they caught themselves.

The cloud then stopped and turned around to face them again. Then two red eyes appeared, and they both shuffled to their feet, but as they did, it zoomed toward Marissa. “No!” Aspen shouted as she watched her friend disappear in the cloud. Aspen fired another shot, and the eyes turned and faced her. She lowered her hands, scared, and stood stiff. The cloud then turned, but held eye contact, and circled to be in front of her.

Marissa lay flat on the ground with her hand in opposite “L” shapes, and her hair pulled behind her head, and Aspen grew more frightened. What was this…thing, and what did it want? She didn’t know, and she didn’t want to think about it, because she thought that this would be the death of her.

Just then, a shrieking, whistling sound came from behind her, and the red eyes looked just above Aspen’s head. Aspen ducked, and who should come to the rescue, but Auron. She knew she was in trouble now. Auron zoomed over her, and caught what he knew as a Shadow Mage, and forced him back as he met his chest. They both flew back quite a few yards before they hit the ground and skidded to a halt with a pile of dirt behind the Mage. Auron stood quickly and stepped back as his enemy slowly picked himself up.

The cloud around him settled, and revealed just who it was. “King Akoff?” Auron asked. Akoff shook the dirt from his head and shoulders as he stood, and Auron noticed that he was taller than he remembered. “Sir Auron. We meet again, at last. I thought I recognized your wife. Or should I say your daughter?” Auron placed one leg back so he could brace himself in case Akoff planned to strike back. “What she is does not matter to you. You killed your own daughter,” he paused, seeing Akoff turned his head away from him remembering what he had done.

Akoff noticeably set his jaw, and then raised his head in the “say that again, I dare you” way, and faced Auron again.

“And I will not let mine be killed by the same man who murdered her mother.”

At this, Akoff drew his sword that was about an inch across, and a two centimeters thick, and lunged at Auron. Not having a weapon though, Auron instead used a powerful spell that held even the heaviest asteroid from hitting the one creating the shield. They both struggled as Akoff pressed as hard as he could, and Auron held the shield as best he could without wearing out and letting it fall. “You’ve grown stronger since last we met,” Akoff said; but Auron grew confused. He’s never demonstrated his magic in his presence. Akoff smiled, seeing the confusion grow, but then Auron made the shield grow in waves, and forced Akoff back to where he started.

He skidded to a halt, and held his sword down by his side as he watched for Auron’s next move; but Auron knew what he was doing, and shot himself up into the trees before Akoff could lay eyes on him again. Akoff looked to the left, and then to the right. Without Auron even making a sound, Akoff knew where he was, so he looked forward, smirked, and leapt into the trees. “Ah!” Auron cried as his arm was grazed. He went to catch himself, but the branch broke, and he hurled down to the ground. Aspen saw her father was hurt, but she kept her distance as Akoff came back down.