A grin appeared on his lips as the green light became brighter and brighter. The magic was slowly filling the room and he absorbed it all. He needed this kind of power, this kind of magic to do what he needed to do. This was the power needed to shape the shadows. But only shape them. It was powerful magic that danced through the room but it was incomplete.
Seelan had made sure to keep the energy contained, unlike the last time. It had been a foolish mistake, a mistake he had only made because he had been impatient and hadn’t read through all the parchments. The energy had gotten out of the room and tipped off the Mages and Dragon Knights. They had been prepared when his army got to them. That wouldn’t happen again. No one would know he was coming. No one even knew he was walking again, free from his timeless prison. It had been clear people had forgotten him over the years, over the centuries. A good thing in Seelan’s opinion.
And yet, the girl had sensed it! How was that even possible?
Well, he knew how it was possible. It didn’t seem fair to him how the Gods and Goddesses, and of course those damned Elements, were helping their little hero to stop him. He had always thought they weren’t supposed to interfere with whatever humans did. Of course he stopped believing that the moment they froze him in time.
The green light became brighter and brighter and he knew that soon he would have to close his eyes so it wouldn’t blind him. So he did. The light kept getting brighter and brighter through his eyelids, so bright he wanted to raise a hand to cover his eyes even more but he didn’t. He didn’t move from his spot.
After the light reached its apogee, everything went dark again. Seelan opened his eyes and gave himself a moment to get used to the sudden darkness. When he was used to it he looked around. There was nothing but darkness and shadows. He smiled to himself and raised both his hands. He moved them through the air as if he wanted to catch something. And he did.
Opening his hands, he was pleased to find the shadows had gathered in his palms. Using his newly regained magic, he willed the shadows to change, to become bigger and bigger before shaping them into something no one would ever want to look at directly. Pleased at first with what he had created, even though it was only a lifeless shell, something made him rethink his creation.
He had created an army of these things thousands of years ago. They couldn’t be killed by swords or lances but it had never discouraged the soldiers that had to fight them though. The Dragon Knights hadn’t been as scared as they should have been when these creatures managed to get on their dragons. But he couldn’t recreate his army now. Not yet. It would call attention to him and what he was doing. So what could he do? The grin stretched a little wider and became more of an evil smirk. As he concentrated on the hideous creature made out of shadows before him it started to grow. It grew and grew until it was twice as tall as Seelan. And he had always been on the tall side of average.
If this didn’t discourage the soldiers from fighting then he didn’t know what would. Of course there were always those dutiful and patriotic soldiers who executed their orders regardless off the army ahead. But the solution to that problem was simple; death.
He watched the assembled shadows in front of him and was satisfied with the results. But he couldn’t leave this place like it was now. To his regret. In one big sweeping motion, one he had often seen when merchants got mad for a wrong deal and wiped their desk clean of everything on its surface, the shadows disappeared. They were absorbed into the stone walls of the circular room before the crackling sound of a fire in the big pit before him returned. It cast a light orange glow around the room just enough to see.
With one last look in the pit, where the magic flames began to grow again, he turned on his heels and marched out of the room. He descended the many steps to the ground floor. Nighug and Fylkir were waiting for him there. It had been quite a long trip and Air was clearly working against him. Both deserved to rest for a while; Nidhug because he had had the winds against him the entire flight and yet managed to get them there as fast as he could and Fylkir because Seelan knew that the little creature preferred to have earth under his feet instead of a dragon's scales.
The room was large, Nidhug could have been three times the size he was now and he still would have had enough space to move freely. And the room was completely empty. There were no windows in the walls, and apart from the stairs leading up there was only one other exit; a long corridor that had wrapped itself around the tower if you looked at it from the outside. Not that the tower was easily visible from the outside. Only someone who knew what they were looking for and where they had to look could really find these towers. All three were hidden within their surroundings. Seelan himself had missed them several times when he first set out search for them.
This room kept them comfortable during the colder nights and none of them needed to keep watch because nothing and no one came in here. It was a strange sense of safety Seelan rarely felt outside his own home; that abandoned, leaking castle was the one place he felt really safe. Even though they could sleep calmly and without worry, the two nights that followed he couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about the old times. And more importantly about her. For once he led his thoughts run freely and take him back to happier times. Of course the memory of the girl he loved also brought forth a lot of sad ones.
It wasn't fair. It never had been. She had been taken from him and she had been too afraid to do anything about it. It went without saying that there was no happy ending for either of them. He completely turned on his Goddess and any other person who could control people; he raised an army and slaughtered thousands of innocents, only to be stopped by the very Goddess he had left behind and to be frozen in time.
Unlike him, she hadn't been frozen in time. She had died. Barely two years after her marriage. In one way he was glad she had; she hadn't had to witness the horrors he had done. Or maybe she had, not that it really mattered, he would never get to see her again.
When he felt his thoughts becoming too much for him, he decided to go for a walk outside. They had been at the tower for two days already. The sun would soon set and bring forth the night. Nidhug needed the rest and so far he had only woken up to eat a little before going back to sleep. It was actually quite boring here. The tower had been built between hills, empty and dusty hills. No vegetation grew here, other than the occasional bush. The grass was completely dried up, more like hay than actual grass. There were no trees to provide shade, just as there was no water source around to provide water; the sea was at least a three days ride south on horseback for where they were.
The presence of animals was almost unnoticeable. A few lizards would show themself but disappear just as quickly again. High in the sky, vultures circled above the seemingly endless plain, searching for food. They had all disappeared when Nidhug had been outside, their instincts telling them he was the most dangerous thing they could run into. But since the Celestial dragon had been resting inside they had reappeared and were, once again, circling the sky.
Tomorrow morning at dawn they would leave. They would head towards the second tower behind the Dragon Mountains. This one would be tricky and Seelan hadn't decided yet whether he wanted to take the risk with the Dragon Knights or fly over the ocean, which was a slight detour. Not that it really mattered what he thought; in the end the decision would be Nidhug's.
As the sun slowly set, he waited patiently outside for Fylkir to return. The little creature had somehow managed to capture something to eat every day. Seelan was impressed. If it hadn't been for Fylkir he would have used magic every day to steal food from somewhere on the continent. But the little creature was clever and managed to find something anywhere; even here where there was seemingly nothing.
The sun hit the horizon just as Fylkir appeared on top of the hill. And sure enough there was something resting on his shoulders, other than his bow. As he approached, Seelan walked over to him and offered to take the heavy load from him. Something he had offered every day and had been turned down every day; today was no different. Instead he walked next to the little creature back to the tower.
He let Fylkir enter first before he followed closely behind him. Or at least he would have, had he not been stopped by a strange feeling in his gut. It froze him on the spot and made him look all around. His senses were on high alert and he watched every hill closely, trying to determine what had caused that feeling. When he saw nothing another theory came to mind. When he had released the power to shape shadows the girl had felt it. She had known something was wrong. Why wouldn't it work the other way around.
Fylkir had stopped to watch him, only a few steps ahead. "Master? Is everything alright?" He asked hesitantly. Seelan was jerked out of his thoughts and considered the little creature before him.
"Yes, don't worry Fylkir. So ahead, I'll catch up right away with you." He said, his thoughts already drifting back to what could have happened with the girl to make him feel what he did. He waited for Fylkir to be out of sight before he created the Black Fog that he used to watch her. "Show me the Princess." He whispered. He waited for the image to appear but nothing did. The Black Fog stayed black. Had he done something wrong? Why didn't the Fog work? "Show me the elf." He asked instead.
This time an image did appear. The elf that was always with the girl was now somewhere in the Desert with the red dragon by his side but he couldn't see the girl anyway. The young elf was using his connection with Earth to move the sand at one particular spot, as if he was digging. Behind him the dragon walked around in circles like a caged lioness. But where was the girl?! That was what he wanted to know.
"Zjarr!" The elf eventually yelled, stopping the dragon on the spot. "Stop pacing already, it's quite nerve-racking." The dragon's golden eyes turned hard as she looked at the elf; clearly those two didn't get along very well. A little like Nidhug and Fylki, Seelan thought with amusement.
"It is not your Knight who disappeared right in front of your eyes." The dragon thought back to the elf, her tone hard and sharp and cold. "I can't feel her Robin. The only reason why I know she isn't dead is because I am not. But it is like she never even existed!" The dragon sounded desperate now and worried.
Wait! Did she say that her Knight disappeared in front of her eyes? That it felt like she had never even existed? Was that was Seelan had felt, the disappearance of the girl? He had read something similar. Dragon Knights had disappeared, completely, without even leaving an energy trace during the last battle against him. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time and still didn't know what to make of it.
Not that it really mattered; the most important thing was that the girl, the Princess, the one chosen to stop him, was gone. What was more important than that? Nothing. Now he could resume his plans without any worry. Without their chosen one, even the Gods and Goddesses couldn't stop him. That simple train of thoughts brought a smile to his face.
And the last thing he heard before he waved his hand through the Black Fog was the deafening roar of the red dragon for the loss of her Knight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voilà voilà! Here is the prologue of the sequel to the Dragon Knight. Aren't you all very happy with this?! =) I know I am! I know this is not as long as the first chapter of the Awakening but then again this is only the prologue.
Please leave me your thoughts on this!! I'm not really sure yet how the entire book is going to go... So far I only have a few things mapped out and I'll make up the rest as I go. Although this one will probably be a bit longer than the first because I don't have enough ideas for a third book... But hey, that is what I'm saying now, who knows what happens and the story movies along.
But anyway, once again, tell me your thoughts about this!!
I hoped you liked it and you will all read the rest (no matter how long it'll take me to write it)!!
~~ Bye ~~