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“Get him,” one of the guards grits out.
I block a guard coming at my left, using the blunt end of my dagger to the side of his head. He crumples to the ground just as black smoke circles me, trying to cage me in. It draws closer, surrounding me like the rising waves of a dark ocean.
Before it closes over me, I see the two guards as they join hands, both wearing smug looks as they combine their powers for an attack, hoping to snare and suffocate.
Instead of fearing the darkness, I embrace the familiar power and step through the guards’ tenebrous trap. A rush of power slides through me, brushing against my heightened senses and alighting every nerve in my body.
Coming clear of the shadows, I’m greeted by mirrored looks of shock.
“How did you?—”
“What are?—”
I don’t give the guards a chance to finish their inquiry, and use their own trick against them. I watch as my own power swirls and coils around them before encasing them whole. Connecting to my power, I feel their life force like small embers in a flame as they slowly ebb away. Just before they dim completely, I pull back, revealing their slumped forms.
In a way, it is easier fighting the dark creatures. I don’t have to hold back for fear of killing them. I can let go, embracing the dark side of myself that I know we all carry deep within us. We are not wholly good nor evil but flawed as all mortal creatures are. But I am also not a god and will not kill without cause. Their judgment will come when it is their time to enter the Otherworld.
Turning around, I drop to the man’s side, noticing the river of blood around him, quickly realizing we don’t have long before death calls to him.
“Thank you.” The man’s voice is but a whisper.
I find the source of his wound, a thick gash at his side. Tearing some cloth from my cloak, I use a hand to staunch the bleeding, trying to halt any further blood loss before I can get him help.
He reaches a hand out toward me, and I grab it with my free hand, thinking he needs some comfort and reassurance, but the look in his eyes tells me different.
“We must find you a healer,” I tell him—and quickly, by the looks of it. The black cloth is already drenched with blood. I’m about to call on my shadows and bring him to safety, damn the consequences, when his plea makes me hesitate.
“My pocket.” His pallor is gray and each breath he takes is labored.
“I need to get you to a healer; you won’t last much longer?—”
“I do not fear death. I know it is my time.”
I shake my head at him, pleading with him to trust me. “I can get you to someone. Just hold on.”
“Please.” His voice is insistent yet weak. “My pocket.” His eyes beg me, moving me forward.
I reach into his pocket and pull out a pulsing white orb the size of a fist. Its power draws me in, calling out to me.
“Forgive me, but they must never have it. It will destroy everything.” The remorse in his voice shakes me out of the strange spell the orb has over me. I open my mouth to ask him to explain what he means, when the pulsing orb’s light expands out around us.
“You must never allow them to get hold of it,” he whispers.
I try to drop the orb, but it clings to me like a second skin before continuing to expand its light. The light intensifies untilit’s all I can see, the bright flare engulfing everything, causing me momentary blindness before it starts to recede.
I glance down, no longer seeing an orb but a glimmer of brightness. Almost like a piece of a star, its luminous shine so delicate yet alluring.
The illuminated sphere sends out one last small pulse of light before it flickers, shrinking inward and melding with my hand. I try to shake it away, but it does no good. It continues its process until no outward light can be seen.
A flicker pulses under my skin. Once. Twice. Before it disappears completely.
“Protect it.” A weak, soft voice draws me back to the man just as the light leaves his eyes.
“No,” I call out, hoping it is not his end even though I see the truth right in front of me.
“Damn it.” Releasing a harsh sigh, I reach over and brush my fingers down his eyes, closing them for the last time.
My hair falls free as I bow my head and pray to the Gods that they grant this man a safe passage to the Otherworld.
