Island Seven (Book 1: DOVE Series)

Chapter 34

Ash:

Wyatt and Kiara are enemies to the cause. Kill them. Burn all who refuse. Purify the weak. Enlighten the ignorant.

Dove chants her will in my head. I feel her presence now stronger than before.

Go to the shore! Retrieve the gun!

I immediately run towards the shore, without being able to comprehend any other thought other than submission. We were pawns before Dove taught me of her power. Now we are soldiers for the betterment of society. We are the Purifiers.

Get the gun!

I emerge from the forest, watching the last streaks of sunlight disappear behind the horizon. I create a flame in my hand, lightening the beach before me. I notice a young man made of shadows staring at me coldly, with a gun under his foot.

Get the gun!

"That gun now belongs to me. Hand it over, and Dove might gracefully spare your life." I shout out fearlessly, with the feeling of someone inside my head.

"Your goddess is a power hungry child. This gun is a tool of your own demise. I will not allow you to take it." He vainly states.

I raise my hand, and the flame that is suspending there suddenly brightens into a small sun. I shoot the focused energy in a thin beam of lava towards the man. Once I lower my hand, I realize the boy is gone. The gun is also missing.

"Where are you, you rat?" I yell, briskly stomping towards where the gun was.

"Why, I'm right behind you." A whisper echoes from behind me. I turn and look at him, and his pupils are solid black. He stands only a couple steps in front of me, paralyzing me with his gaze. "Dove is not the only powerful being here." My peripheral vision goes black, and I suddenly start to lose focus of the world in front of me. "You choose to blindly follow her. I can show you true blindness."

A wind rapidly billows simultaneously with the darkening of the world. The only thing I can see around me is a black abyss.

Shadow man! You should have listened to my disciple. May all my wrath rain like fire upon you!

I feel a fire burn all around me, passing me by unhindered. The man cries out, and the wind suddenly stops.

Oh, my poor Ash. He is gone now, the man that dared to damper your light. Only Kiara's powers can heal you now. Once we convince her to join us, you'll be able to see.

"Then we aren't going to kill her?' I question, with a tear threatening to fall from my eye.

She will burn, but only after you are restored. Take this gun, it will allow you to effortlessly increase the intensity of your fire balls.

The cold steel sends shivers up my spine as it is firmly pressed into my hand.

Go now to the cave. Burn everything inside.