I was eating in silence while the dwarves talked, laughed, and drank. The three of them made almost as much noise as the whole Great Hall back at the school.
After a while, I got tired of listening to them and I cleared my throat for attention. They immediately stopped talking and looked at me.
"I have a few questions that will probably determine my future. What is this surface guardian and what kind of challenge do I have to face?" I asked once they were all quiet. Fahrg exchanged glances with his wife and looked back at me.
"The surface guardian... ya see, Darky, the moment ye entered the tunnels ya got all yer Elements back. Until now, ya couldn't have had shape changing and the healing one. Ya'll have to fight the surface guardian, but he's a human and one of them Purebloods. He's thousands of years old and his Elements are very powerful, kid. Ya'll have to beat him to pass. Nobody beat him before."
A Pureblood... Could a young Datonx beat an experienced Atonx? I wasn't very sure. Actually, I thought I had no chance, but I felt Shade's presence more now. Maybe that would weaken the guardian, but it was very unlikely.
I sighed, my appetite gone. I stood up and took my plate to wash it, but Finny stopped me and took the plate from me. I shrugged. If she liked washing plates, she could go right ahead.
Fahrg stood up, and motioned for me to follow him.
"We're leavin'. Ya might want to practice after ya've met 'im. He won't go easy on ya since yer a Datonx," he said as he opened the door. That's when I noticed that the doors were actually made so that humans could go through with ease, but the doorknobs were lower than usual. Fahrg said that the guardian was an hour's walk through this big tunnel.
During our walk, I took in the details of the tunnel: the lights and the dwarves. They all had a tint of hate when they looked at me, but some of them were curious. None approached us, though. They must have known that we were going to the guardian. Otherwise, they wouldn't be too shy to approach us. At least that's what Fahrg told me usually happens.
After a while, I felt the Atonx's presence tugging at my mind. He must have sensed me, and he was trying to break through my mind. However, Fox taught all of us how to protect ourselves from weaker attacks, and he didn't seem to be using all of his power for reading a stranger's mind.
Minutes after that, we saw some sort of temple with diamonds, rubies, gold, and more precious ores put symmetrically on the walls and the roof. There was no door, and Fahrg entered slowly.
The inside was made out of gold and the brightness was hurting my eyes. In the middle of the room stood a man. He was tall, and shirtless. I had never seen such muscles. He was as tall as two of me standing on top of each other and two more next to each other. He was blond, like most Atonxies and had a beard of the same colour. He was looking at me with a smile on his face, probably happy that he'd get to kill another creature that day.
"So, you wish to pass?" he said in his deep, booming voice, after which he let out a laugh as loud. "A Datonx wishing to pass? You should turn back, girl. All that crossed me died," he said, his smile turning into a grin.
If I couldn't defeat him, I stood no chance against Shade. I knew that in order even to stand a chance, I'd have to let the dark take over. I knew that I had to learn to do what Shade did, to be in the dark form while controlling it. In order to do that, I knew I'd have to practice going in and out of the dark form. I should have started doing that earlier.
"Answer me," he commanded.
"Yes, I have come to challenge you," I said, taking a step forward, so we were standing eye-to-eye. Except that my eye level wasn't anywhere near his. He laughed.
"I will wait for you at noon. You have 4 hours to prepare. I will crush you easily," he said. I turned around to see Fahrg cower in fear and then run out of the temple. I shrugged as I went after him.
He was waiting outside, shaking violently.
"Hey, are you feeling okay?" I asked him. He nodded.
"I'm fine. Go and prepare. I'll go back home and bring me family to watch you die... I mean, fight," he said, running away. His behaviour was strange. The guardian must have really scared him.
I was scared, as well. The chances of victory were very small. I saw a bench nearby, so I decided to sit and practice controlling my dark form.
I took a deep breath and concentrated on Shade's influence. I let my dark form crawl into my mind, and in an instant, it consumed me. My fangs seemed to have gotten bigger, and my presence smaller. I concentrated, trying to make my body obey me. I raised my hand, but my dark form stood up and looked at a nearby dwarf that ran away as soon as he met my gaze.
I fought for control, and after a few minutes of mind battling, I managed to make myself sit down while the dark side was still present.
I looked at a puddle and saw my reflection. Both of my eyes were red and I was smiling. I saw my long fangs, a lot whiter than usual. My hair was a mess, but it didn't look as bad as I thought it would. My clothes were surprisingly whole, without any holes in them, although they were dirty and crumbled. They were armour, and I refused to let Griselda sew me more clothes.
I closed my eyes, making the remaining darkness flow into me. I jerked my eyes open, fighting for control again. I clenched my fists, seeing that the dark form was winning. I pushed it back with my mind, but not forcefully enough for it to withdraw, since I still wanted its strength and combat abilities.
After what seemed like hours, I was finally in control. I thought I'd be tired, but I felt refreshed. I felt unstoppable. I wanted to kill everyone just for the fun of it, but somewhere deep, I knew that such thoughts were caused by me merging with my dark self.
I tried to concentrate, but I couldn't control the whole body myself. My dark self was there, but my presence was stronger, so I controlled the body. I knew that I could let the darkness take over completely and then I would take control afterwards, which was what I was going to do for the fight.
I knew that 3 hours had passed so far. That left me one hour to do things. I looked around and saw a bar of some sort close by. I decided to buy something to eat.
My vision seemed better than before, but that could be because of the shape-shifting being able to be used once more. I entered the bar to see many dwarves turn around and stare at me. I ignored them and approached the counter. Another dwarf was behind it, and I asked for a dwarf meal like the one Griselda made for breakfast. I liked it.
The dwarf nodded and told me to wait at a table. I nodded, but there was a problem. There were no free tables. I walked around to search for an empty one, but there seemed to be none. I felt annoyed, and I was about to leave when I heard a dwarf say something.
"Sit 'ere," a dwarf said. I turned around to see a group of five dwarves inviting me to join them. I gave them a forced smile as I sat beside them. I nodded my thank you, not being in the mood for conversation.
"So you're going to fight the guardian, eh? Good luck with that! Are you planning to join Shade if you survive?" one of them asked.
"I'll fight him and I'll win, but I'd never join Shade, I'm here to kill him," I said. They all nodded, although they seemed to doubt that I'd defeat the guardian. I doubted my victory myself. He was extremely powerful.
They didn't say anything afterwards, and I ate my meal in silence. That was after I realized I didn't know what currency they used underground.
I pulled out a silver coin. It was more than enough for this meal. I left it on the table, hoping they'd accept it.
I left quietly anyway, in case they challenged me and made me late for the battle. I walked out of the bar to see a very different scenery.
Instead of a temple, a smaller arena was standing in the middle of a large space.
It wasn't that big, but there was a still lot of room to move around in. In front of it stood the guardian, still shirtless. I guess he thought he could defeat me easily. He had a broadsword at his hip. He was smiling, expecting an easy victory. I felt panic starting to creep up on me, but my darkness made it go away. I was instead filled with hate towards Purebloods, and the desire to kill.
I walked over to stand in front of him. Fahrg and his family were close by, waving to me in support. I couldn't comprehend that this day might be the one when I would finally die.
"Enter the arena, Datonx. Once you do, we will start our battle," he said, already stepping in. A lot of dwarves were sitting there, waiting to see me die. I felt determination rise inside of me. I knew I could do this.
I took a deep breath, letting the Darkness comefurther. I took a step forward, and cheers greeted us.d wen㯷n�4-