"In dark times, there is light."
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~ JAPETH'S POV ~
Kei's dead body laid lifeless upon the ground. Kei's blood mingled with the blood of fallen Students scattered across the ground.
The smell of death hung in the air, strong and pungent.
Japeth stared at the puddle of blood staining the ground where Krushem had laid just seconds ago. For a moment, Japeth couldn't get Krushem's words out of his head; "He didn't care about anything or anyone except for killing his mother...But, there—there was something else. Someone else; You. You were always there in his head. He tried to hide it. He tried to hide his pain, but I could see it."
Part of Japeth had wanted to believe that Aric had felt nothing when he left Arbed House. Japeth wanted to believe Aric wasn't in pain during his time at the schools. But Aric had been in pain, and there was no denying that.
Krushem had only confirmed what Japeth had already known deep down; Aric had been hurting despite his unwavering determination to take his mother's life.
As much as Japeth wanted to dwell on the thought of Aric and sympathize with Aric's pain, he had to get the ring.
He'd passed two out of three of the trials in the Storian's test. But in order to be truly victorious, Japeth had to get that ring from Tedros.
Japeth's gaze found Tedros. The prince was staring at him. His face was white as a sheet. Japeth felt the corners of his lips tug upwards into a mischievous smile at the sight of Tedros looking like such a frightened little boy.
"Look who's on top now, prince," Japeth sneered, unable to resist mocking the prince. "Just give me the ring. We both know you've lost."
Tedros shook in rage. Japeth watched him, waiting for Tedros to attack him compulsively. But instead, Agatha tugged at Tedros's arm, bringing the prince's attention to her.
Agatha whispered something in Tedros's ear. No normal person would be able to hear what she was saying to Tedros from the distance they were from Japeth.
But thanks to Japeth's super hearing Scims, he could hear what Agatha said clearly. She uttered just one word, and that single word was enough to let Japeth know of Agatha's plans.
"Sophie."
The heroes wanted Sophie. Take Sophie, regain Sophie's memories, and Sophie would be theirs. Japeth would lose Sophie to them.
But to become the One True King, Japeth had to steal the ring from Tedros and keep Sophie loyal. Sophie was long gone from here. She'd run off a while ago. With any luck, some Camelot guards or Camelot allies had stumbled across her while they were off transporting an injured Krushem back to Camelot.
Sophie was safe. That was Japeth's hope now.
Now, Japeth was squaring off with the prince.
The false king of Camelot and Camelot's true heir glared at each other, their fists clenched and their bodies tense. Japeth felt his scims stir to life, eager to run Tedros through, and he watched Tedros's golden fingerglow flicker.
It was the same shade of gold as Rhian's. For a moment, Japeth was distracted by the golden hue.
"In dark times, there is light," NotRafal's familiar voice said.
Japeth saw NotRafal standing there. The School Master—or Not School Master or the Storian or whatever—was staring upon Japeth. There was a wisdom in NotRafal's blue gaze as he gazed at Japeth, the winner of the trial.
"I don't need your help or anymore of your riddles, thank you very much, dad," Japeth snorted at the frosted haired boy.
NotRafal's attention went to Agatha and Tedros. Both the prince and princess gaped, and that's when Japeth realized that they too could see NotRafal.
"Dad!" Tedros echoed, blanching. Then, Agatha gripped Tedros's arm, shaking her head in shock. "Tedros," she breathed, staring in horror at NotRafal and then at Japeth. "They—they have the same eyes. The same goal. This proves it; Japeth is not the true heir of Camelot's throne—You are."
Japeth rolled his eyes at the princess. No duh he wasn't the son of King Arthur! Had it really taken Agatha that long to figure out that the snake shared not a single drop of blood with King Arthur?
"We all knew that my brother and I weren't the sons of King Arthur already," Japeth scoffed at Agatha. "You just have no proof. No proof that you can show to the woods, at least. Just give up already, you fools. You've lost."
Agatha and Tedros exchanged glances that Japeth didn't miss. The heroes were planning something.
Despite Japeth being way ahead of them and despite Japeth declaring two victories against the prince, Agatha and Tedros still believed they could beat Japeth. They wished to strip Japeth of the mask he was hiding behind and reveal to the whole woods who he truly was. It Was the mask of a king concealing the face of a monster who'd shed so much blood in the name of love.
"Be that as it may, many in the woods still doubt who the true king of Camelot is," NotRafal spoke up, his voice as chilly as Japeth's. His eyes sliced into Tedros and the prince visibly flinched despite the fact NotRafal had no power over him. The dead couldn't hurt the living.
Yet, the dead could have power over the living. Japeth knew this fact all too well. He was struggling to bring his best friend back from the dead, after all.
"It doesn't matter who takes who's head," NotRafal went on. "Whether Tedros is crowned the One True King or whether it is Japeth deemed the king, all the woods must put their faith into whoever wears the crown. Despite Japeth winning the test, there is still great challenges ahead. Time is at an essence and the only way to fulfill the prophecy—to declare victory—is to see this path through."
Japeth felt his heart deflate at NotRafal's words. To see the path through?
More riddles. More complications.
Why couldn't NotRafal just give it to Japeth straight! Was it that hard to tell Japeth what specific steps he had to take to win against Tedros?
"Screw you," Japeth hissed at NotRafal, unable to contain his rising anger and frustration. "Stop with the dumb riddles! I won the test! That ring will be mine and Tedros will be the one to fall."
"One test. Three trials. The victor has not yet earned the crown," An unfamiliar voice echoed from the sky.
Japeth swiveled around to see a face peering through the clouds like a magical projection. The man's thick, luscious locks and his twinkling blue eyes matched Tedros's own. It was indeed King Arthur himself, the one and only.
"One may have won the trial and another may have lost. But there is still hope to change the tide," King Arthur's voice rumbled, so loud that it seemed to shake the earth. "In the end, the truth will be revealed, and deception will be found. Have faith. Faith is the key to revealing the truth."
Then The clouds billowed, seeming to become thicker and thicker, swallowing King Arthur whole. Japeth watched as NotRafal too disappeared.
In the wake of their absence, both Tedros and Japeth were left lost in their own thoughts. Tedros suddenly looked hopeful at the prospect that he could still potentially beat Japeth while Japeth felt doubtful of his victory.
Japeth had let go of his own twin! He'd shown Krushem mercy! Tedros had failed two out of three of the trials. Two!
Japeth knew he couldn't just stand there dwelling on his possible defeat. No. He had to be sure he didn't lose. He wouldn't allow himself to lose to that stinking prince. Not now when he was so close to becoming the One True King.
"Say your goodbyes, prince," Japeth hissed at Tedros. He felt his scims tense, eagerly awaiting to steal Tedros's life. "Cause I'm gonna kill you. I'm not as merciful as my brother once was, unfortunately."
"Get to Sophie," A voice urged. It was Hester, the demon tattoo swelling on her neck. She was glaring at Tedros and Agatha, her blood red gaze fixated upon them. "Find Sophie! Go! We'll hold him off."
Tedros looked like he wanted to protest, but before he could, Agatha grabbed his arm and pulled him along. They began to retreat, and Japeth went to follow them, but Hester and the two other witches and Hort blocked his path, their fingertips glowing threateningly.
"Oh, just give it a rest, you fools!" Japeth snapped, his scims stirring. His golden and blue king's uniform had long converted back to his black snakeskin suit, and his scims were curling off his body, hissing threateningly at the obstacles standing before him.
Japeth's temper flared as his patience wore thin. If there was a chance that Agatha and Tedros could somehow help Sophie regain her memories, Japeth had to stop them.
"The only fool we see is the snake posing as a lion," Hort fired back.
Japeth's anger burned hotter and hotter. His blood boiled and he snapped. Scims peeled off his suit to launch straight at the Neverboy. Hort, the man-wolf, snarled in outrage and snatched scims from the air with his furry paws.
But there was so many scims coming at Hort that Hester and Hort's other friends had no choice but to scramble to defend him from the scims' attacks. Scims slashed and bit at their opponents, drawing blood.
Eight scims were overpowering Hester and as she flailed to beat them, Japeth drew forward, clutching Aric's rusted dagger in his hand. The others didn't see him coming before it was too late—
Japeth swung his fist down, slashing the rusted blade of Aric's dagger across Hester's throat. Hester's hands flew to cover the gaping wound in her neck and the witch's gaze widened in shock as she struggled to staunch the blood.
"Freak," Japeth hissed, glaring down at Hester as she wheezed in pain.
Hester's friends rushed to Hester's aid. But by the time they reached Hester, Japeth had already found an opening. He raced away from the heroes towards the direction Tedros and Agatha had fled, his legs pumping and his broken heart pounding in his chest like a war drum.
Hort tried to race after him, but he was intercepted by Wesley and Thiago who'd come out of nowhere to attack the man wolf.
So with no one in his way, Japeth ran. He ran and ran, not stopping once to catch his breath. He glimpsed the shoe prints of unmistakable clumps and the shoe prints of royal boots leading onwards, an unmistakable path Japeth had to follow.
See the path through...Follow the path!
Japeth kept running, following the obvious trail Tedros and Agatha had mistakingly left behind. The schools receded behind him and the cries of battle began to sound far off and distant.
Agatha and Tedros had gotten far ahead, but they couldn't run forever and they couldn't hide either. Japeth's scims would find them, wherever they were.
But the further Japeth went, the longer Tedros and Agatha's trail seemed to become. The prince and princess had really gotten a head start. If Japeth wasn't lucky, they had made it to Sophie by now.
Just went it seemed that the path would go on forever, Japeth saw his destination.
Past the twisted trees of the endless woods was a clearing. Pushing through the prickly undergrowth, Japeth saw three heads. Two blonde heads and one head of black hair. As he emerged into the clearing, he saw there was a body upon the ground near Sophie's feet. It was a boy with black hair and piercings—Armeq, yet another one of Aric's old henchmen.
"He isn't who he says he is, Sophie!" Japeth heard Agatha tell Sophie urgently. "He's not the guy you want him to be. He's an imposter wearing the mask of his deceased brother. You don't love him! Please come back to us. We need you."
"Don't listen to her!" Japeth cried, making his presence known. His scims peeled off his body to point their knife sharp tips at the heroes. Sophie leapt in shock at the sight of her fiancé before her, his hands stained with Krushem and Hester's blood and his tame copper hair now wild.
"We can't beat him without you, Sophie!" Agatha pleaded, gazing into Sophie's green eyes. "You tell the endless woods the truth and they'll turn on him. He won't be a king after that. He'll be nothing."
For a moment, the two girls stared at each other. Two sisters. Two twins. Sophie's blank stare seemed to lighten as if Agatha's words and conviction were sparking a memory alight within her heart.
Japeth felt a prickle of envy at the connection between Sophie and Agatha. He wished Him and Rhian could still be together to feel what Sophie and Agatha felt.
But then Japeth came to his senses and all at once his scims tore at Tedros and Agatha. Before they could defend themselves, every last Scim on Japeth's body had pinned the both of them to the ground. They thrashed desperately to break free and were so busy in their struggle that they didn't notice as a single Scim wrapped itself about Tedros's finger.
"No!" Tedros cried, struggling to wrench his hand out of the scim's grip.
His fingerglow lit up the scales writhing upon his body as a lion's roar ripped from his throat. With a flurry of strength, the prince ripped an arm free from his scaly binds and flailed to tear the rest of the scims off his body.
For a moment it seemed as if Tedros was going to truly break free from his binds. But just when he had smashed some of Japeth's scaled eels to smithereens, the Scim wrapped around Tedros's finger tightened its grip, threatening to cut through it.
"Sophie, please!" Agatha sobbed. The princess's voice sounded so broken, and Japeth watched as Sophie seemed to stare at Agatha in a daze as if her memories were threatening to break through the confines of her mind.
A feeling of dread and desperation seized Japeth as his gaze bounced between his bound hostages and his queen. Tedros was threatening to break fully free from his binds, growling in outrage and Sophie was staring numbly at Agatha as if she realized she was making a great mistake by standing beside the boy she believed she was in love with.
If Sophie regained her memories now, she could help Tedros and Agatha attack Japeth, and Japeth would only lose the ring. He'd lose his chance to become the One True King and bring Aric back from the dead. His scims were being killed off at Tedros's hands and he didn't have much strength to ward him off another attack from three opponents.
"Sophie, look at me," Japeth urged the blonde witch. His tone sounded like his brother's, so silky and smooth, he almost didn't sound like himself. "They're liars. They want me dead. They want us both dead. Do not fall for that wench's tricks! Don't be a fool."
Japeth drew close to Sophie and cupped her cheek with his ice cold hand. Her blonde hair was a mess and her mascara ran down her cheeks. Japeth traced the teary black trails with his thumbs to wipe her tears away.
"I need you, Sophie," Japeth whispered. As Agatha tried to protest, Scims gagged her and Tedros both. "I need you more than you could ever know. Tedros and Agatha are the ones standing in the way of our happiness. Standing in the way of our peace. And throughout the chaos I've endured, the one sane thing—the one thing that has kept me human—is you. You healed me, Sophie. You helped me deal with my guilt when it had been on the verge of consuming me. Don't let that all be for naught, my love."
Despite Japeth not loving Sophie, the words he spoke were the truth. He needed Sophie to fulfill the prophecy of the One True King and without Sophie, Japeth would've never had the strength to let Rhian go and rid himself of the guilt that followed him after Rhian's death.
Japeth's words seemed to do the trick. Sophie pulled Japeth close in a hug that Japeth reciprocated before he turned his attention to his enemies screaming through their gags and thrashing against their binds. In that instant, Tedros ripped free, managing to leap to his feet. Without a beat, he charged at Japeth and a gasp of fright tore from Sophie's throat as Tedros struck Japeth, slamming into him.
Both boys fell to the ground. Tedros's only intent was to pummel Japeth, hitting him with his fists over and over again. He was so enraged, he was blinded to Japeth's intentions.
At last! The long awaited moment had come to pass. No more pain. No more regret. No more hate.
In Japeth's heart, there was only hope.
Instead of seeing the blood clouding his vision, he glimpsed the impossibility of this moment as the Scim wrapped tightly around Tedros's finger ripped the ring off Tedros's hand.
Tedros was so blinded by his rage, he didn't realize what had happened before it was too late.
Japeth's last hope was seized in his cold hand in an instant. The ring was hot, warming the palm of his hand but not too hot that it scalded his flesh. The engravings in the band seemed to glow as if the ring had taken on a life of its own.
From the ring, a sudden beam of light burst forth, shooting a golden spark into the sky over the twisted treetops of the endless woods. Japeth could feel his fingertips tingling. His whole body trembled at the sudden burst of power that coursed through his blood, making a shaky gasp slip from his throat.
"No!" Tedros cried. The prince suddenly grabbed at Japeth but Japeth was untouchable it seemed, protected by the last ring's powers. It was as if the last ring knew Japeth was to be the One True King and so it acted as a shield for Japeth.
Japeth was too focused upon the last ring, looking at it over again and again to be sure it was real and that his eyes weren't deceiving him. But it was a real. This was no dream.
Nothing mattered in that moment but Japeth basking in his victory, so much so that he didn't care when Tedros helped Agatha rip free from her own binds. Nor did Japeth care when Tedros snatched Excalibur straight from the folds of Japeth's robes. Excalibur was nothing compared to the last ring Japeth held in the palm of his hand.
"Ted—Tedros, we must leave! Now!" Agatha blurted. Her expression conveyed shock and dread. Tedros looked indecisive as if he didn't know what to do.
Now was the perfect time to run the heroes through, but instead Japeth was far too distracted by the feeling of hope encompassing his broken heart to pay mind to his enemies.
That's when Japeth felt NotRafal's familiar presence close by and as he looked up, the sky seemed to open up like it had earlier for King Arthur.
"The time has almost come for one son to claim his title as the One Tue King, to control fate and lord over the endless woods," NotRafal's voice echoed in Japeth's head.
Japeth felt his lips curl upwards into a smile he couldn't suppress. He turned back to the heroes , only to find that they had fled like the cowards they were. But then he caught sight of Sophie staring after them almost longingly.
"It's time," Japeth told her. Her green gaze found his and Japeth saw his hopeful expression reflected in her green eyes.
Japeth couldn't help himself, and he took Sophie into his arms and smashed her against his chest. But instead of hugging him back, Sophie seemed to tense in his arms at first. Then, little by little, she relaxed and it was as if everything felt right in that moment.
Japeth wondered what would become of him and Sophie after all was said and done. He wondered what would happen after Aric was finally back and by his side. Japeth had always thought he could just lock Sophie up after Aric's return and come up with a story that Sophie was a traitor to Camelot. But locking Sophie up didn't feel right to him anymore.
He had truly come to appreciate Sophie. What she'd done for him was something that he couldn't repay.