The Simplicity of Magic

Part 8

After what seems like seconds, the winds start to calm down and eventually fade into a light breeze. We're in what appears to be a castle-like room, except there's a layer of darkness in the air like there was in the meadow. There's a black throne sitting at the end of a long and spacious hall. The room itself is pretty bare and simple, but the man sitting on the throne is not. That's right, we've just arrived in the kings throne room. And lucky for us, he's here. Note the sarcasm. His eyes drift around the room, finally settling on me with an ice cold glare.

" Why are you here?" He hisses, continuing to glare at me.

" To visit my dear father of course." I reply, glaring at him with the same ferocity.

" Oh how very considerate of you, but i'm afraid i have better things to do right now." He tells me, slowly getting up from his throne.

" And what might that be?" I question.

" Nothing concerning you." He snaps.

Reader, i would like you to meet my father.

Samten Davis.

The one who doesn't care what happens to his children, never has, never will. Even when me and Archer were little he was always cold and strict. Mom wasn't much better, but at least she just ignored us. Whenever dad had any extra energy, he would always use it to insult me and Archer. Mostly me. Archer was the favorite child, i don't know why, maybe it had something to do with the fact that he always listened to whatever my parents said and did what he was told, no matter how unfair it was.

By now he's already made his way over to us.

" I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He orders.

" And why should we? What makes me think that i'm going to listen to you of all people?" I reply.

" If you and your little friends don't leave in the next 30 seconds, then i'm going to have to remove you myself." He hisses.

I look over at Simone, Noah, and Archer and their all just standing there, frozen with fear. 

" Thing is, we don't have a way of getting back." I inform him.

" Well then, i guess your going to have to find a way, and you better think fast. You only have 10 seconds left." He tells me.

After about ten seconds of silence pass he says:

 " Time's up and your still here, guess i'm just gonna have to find another way to get you to leave."

Then he whispers something under his breath, and seconds later a tiger emerges from behind his throne. A tiger with flaming wings. Then he closes his eyes in concentration and a ribbon of bright yellow light starts weaving it's way towards me and my friends.

" W-what i-is t-that?" I stutter.

" Your way out." King Davis tells me.

Before i can even process what's happening, the light is whizzing towards us and starts to go in circles around us, wrapping us up in the ribbon of light. As soon as the light makes contact with my skin, it starts to burn. I look back over at the others and there still frozen in fear, but i have to do something to snap them out of it if we want to make it out of here alive. 

" Simone." I hiss, elbowing her, " Snap out of it."

But that doesn't really do anything, somehow they aren't even reacting to being wrapped up in burning light. But then all of the sudden Noah snaps out of it and looks around, probably processing the reality of our current situation.

" This is bad." Noah mutters.

" You think i don't know that already?" I reply.

" No, like this is bad. Really, really bad. The light that's currently wrapping around us has been known to burn flesh." Noah informs me.

" Yea, i can feel it." I respond.

" It gets worse though, we have to think fast." Noah says.

" Enough with the chit-chat." King Davis bellows, " In a matter of seconds, you should be removed from this room and taken into another one. The dungeons."

" What do we do?" I question.

" Well, shadows and light are opposites. So we should probably work with that." Noah informs me.

" But how? " I ask.

" I on't know, but it looks like we only have a few seconds before were out of here." He replies.

Suddenly an idea pops into my head. It's probably not going to work, but at least i can try. I imagine shadows invading the light, and eliminating it completely.

A voice in my head whispers, " That won't work, it's only going to hurt you in the end."

" Then what should i do?" I reply to it.

" Shadow ribbons." The voice tells me.

Well that was helpful. How in the world am i supposed to make a shadow ribbon? 

"Concentration." The voice says.

I close my eyes and concentrate, just like i saw King Davis do. I repeat the words shadow ribbon in my head over and over again. It doesn't work. I mean, what was i expecting? But before i can try anything else, i notice that the light has consumed us completely. A wave of panic washes over me, and my instincts start to take over.

Shadows flood my mind, but at the same time there's a bright fire burning in the middle of it. My mind is flashing through all the of my memories with my parents, both the good and the bad alike. It's overwhelming, but it's also giving me a newfound sense of power. Somehow the memories, combined with shadows and fire, are creating a whole new element.I channel all of my concentration into two words, Shadow ribbon.

Suddenly, i feel shadows wrapping around the light, dimming it down to nothing but air. I look over at Noah and amazement is written all over his face. But were to late, the light has already managed to take us into the dungeon.