Chapter Thirty six
Darce
(*Darce coming back after the Noxlin ball, when everyone discovered Alora’s true identity)
With a heavy heart, I shadowed back to Eallarim. I had no idea how I was going to explain the last seven hundred years to my parents, but I wasn’t going to allow them to go to war because I’d fallen in love with the Dylin princess.
Alora had stumbled into my life and lightened my way ever since. The prophecy had always been about her. I understood that now.
You will vanquish your darkness for light and finally understand the true power of Afterlight. Give your life to the one you love, and peace will follow.
Alora wouldn’t allow me to sacrifice myself to keep her safe. That was why I had chosen to keep that part from her. My life in return for her safety and freedom was the easiest decision I had ever had to make. I would protect her with my life.
The fire twins were still using their protection spell as I portalled back into the grand ballroom.
It was nearly empty. Nox had been subdued.
He was being held by Nyx and Nadine’s power.
Charna was in Mrak’s strong grip, but had a mist of my mother’s power around her.
Pure carnage must have occurred the moment I portalled Alora to safety.
Charna, no doubt, would have tried to interfere with her poisonous lies.
“Darce,” my mother’s eyes were torn, “what have you done?”
“Please hear me. It’s not as it seems.” Pleading with my parents, I put my arms out to them in reassurance. They needed to listen to me before they made any judgement.
“You’ve damned us all, Darce!” Charna called from the corner of the room. “I hope you’re proud of yourself, fucking that Dylin whore!”
“Mrak, get rid of her before I do something I’ll regret,” I commanded, holding my shadow magic (that wanted to strangle the breath out of her) back. She was quickly escorted out.
“You stupid, fucking idiot!” Nox yelled as I moved past him. “You would have faired better fucking a moon beast than that Dylin filth.”
Containing the fury inside me, I turned towards him. “Nox, insult her one more time and I’ll strike you where you stand! You do not know her.”
“They are all the fucking same! You’re a fucking traitor!” Casting my shadow magic, I gagged Nox with my shadows, silencing him. He touched his throat, trying to force words out.
“I’ll give you your voice back when you have something useful to say.
This is your last warning. I will strike anyone down that speaks ill of her!
” I spat, turning back to my parents. “Alora isn’t like her race.
You need to understand what she has sacrificed.
What she is willing to do for Afterlight. ”
“Alora?” my father questioned. “I’ve heard that name before.”
I had to be honest with my parents. There was too much at stake. “Alora is the Dylin princess.” Sharp intakes of breath and gasps came from all around me.
“Gods! You bedded the Dylin princess?” he bellowed.
His power radiated off him before he slumped down on his throne, pinching the bridge of his nose in defeat.
“I should banish you for this.” That was true, but I knew my mother would never allow it.
“Darce, you are smarter than this. Didn’t your mother and I teach you anything?
Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Zohar will not stop until he’s killed you!
You have taken the forbidden fruit. You’ve tainted his bloodline! ”
“Alora gave herself to me freely. I didn’t take anything.”
“You think Zohar will see it that way? You’ve started the next Great War!”
“War won’t break out, I can assure you.”
“How can you be so foolish to think that? Has Alora bewitched you that much? Perhaps this was her plan all along: to get close to you to insure the destruction of Eallarim. You know what they are capable of. You’ve seen it with your own eyes in Cataha!
They are probably readying their army as we speak. ”
“Alora knows that it was my power that helped to kill her mother. Despite that, she allowed me to explain and forgave me. That’s how pure she is. I helped to kill her mother and she forgives me!”
“She’s playing you. Zohar will have planned everything! Darce, you’ve doomed us all!”
“Why can’t you trust me? Zohar doesn’t suspect a thing.”
“You are a foolish boy, allowing yourself to be led around by your cock! They’ll be marching on Eallarim within days!”
“They will not!” Darkness fell around me with my rage, and I was unable to control it.
My father looked at me in shock. I was no match for him, and this wasn’t a threat.
I was simply too angry to hold any of my darkness back.
“Alora has told them nothing! If you could see the love she has for Eallarim, for our people, you would understand. She is not our enemy! Ask the fire twins. They’ll confirm it.
” My father looked at Nisha and Lisha, who both nodded in confirmation of my words.
“The Dylins aren’t our enemy. Their leader is!
” I pointed out, trying to calm my father as best I could. I needed him to understand.
“They are one and the same.” He ran his hands through his long black hair, which had come loose from the tie that had bound it. “They fight for their king.”
“They are controlled by their king. There is a difference. They have been lied to and manipulated. Alora wants to challenge him once she comes into her powers. She wants peace for Afterlight Veil, as do I.”
He slowly let out a breath of air. “Any female, Darce. You could have any! Why her?”
“We love each other.” Everyone gasped around me, except my mother, who was watching me with sorrow-filled eyes.
“You can call me foolish, but I had no choice in any of this. Alora and I met seven hundred years ago by chance. I saved her from a noc beast. Neither of us had any idea who the other was, apart from being Noxlin and Dylin, but the moment our eyes locked, our destinies were intertwined. We have no issue with our differences. Noxlin and Dylin can live in harmony. We are proof of that. If there was a way to promise myself to her, I would. I would bond with her in a heartbeat if I could.”
“Seven hundred years?” My mother finally spoke, looking at me in disbelief. “You’ve kept this from us all that time?”
“To protect Alora...yes.” She shook her head, turning to smile at my father.
“Tamas, he’s as headstrong and foolish in love as you were.
” She chuckled, opening her arms to me as my father let out a loud laugh.
“Whatever Holy Ether has planned for you and the Dylin princess, I only pray it doesn’t end in war.
” As I embraced her, I prayed for the same thing.
“We will make no attempts on the Dylin unless they attack first. Does Zohar really have no idea?” Relief flooded me when my father nodded in agreement.
“No. Alora has kept everything a secret and lied about what she has seen here for the last few hundred years. They believe her to be their spy, but she is far from it. She’s our ally in every sense of the word.”
“Zohar’s wrath will be great when he finds out. She must be a strong female,” my father interjected, stroking his beard before looking towards Nisha and Lisha. “What do you two have to say for yourselves? How long have you known about this?”
“We received the prophecy thousands of years ago, My Lord, but could only tell Darce at the time.” Nisha stood firmly. “Alora has quite the road ahead of her, but if all parts align correctly, she and your son will bring peace to Afterlight.” My parents gasped in unison.
“She will have to go on a journey first until she comes into her full powers. Darce will know when. It will become too dangerous for her to stay here.” As Lisha spoke, her eyes fell on Nox, who was trying to break free from Nadine’s hold.
“There are several males in Afterlight that wish to cause her harm.” Sharp shadows appeared at my fingertips. No one would touch her.
“They’ll have to get through me first,” I spat, glaring at Nox.
“Where is the mead?” my father joked, trying to calm the tension. “I am in need of refreshment before I hear anymore.”
It didn’t take long for the twins to tell my parents of the prophecy that had been explained to me centuries ago, but they left out the part about me giving my life up for her.
I was grateful to them for doing that. If my parents knew what I had to give up for peace, they might intervene.
They would continue to rule long after I was gone and Alora would rule the Dylin’s once she overthrew her father.
Peace and safety. That’s what my life would be forfeited for.
While listening to the fire twins, something shivered over my skin.
I looked around, wondering if Nadine was trying to get my attention.
Perhaps Nox was trying to escape. Nope, nothing.
Taking in the position of the moons, I wondered if I should go and check on Alora.
I had left her in haste an hour ago. My parents were settled now and had no intent of war.
As the fire twins continued, an uneasy feeling began to fill my entire body.
Something was wrong. I felt tiny prickles of a strange power, and the hair on my arms began to stand up.
Electricity tickled my skin and a sense of unease washed over me.
Alora? Was that her? If she needed me, surely she would have called through the bracelet.
Using my power, I reached for the tiny part of my soul I’d given to her. It wasn’t there. It had somehow come back to me.
“Darce?” My mother questioned the look on my face.
“I...I...think Alora needs me.” When searching deeper, I sensed her panic.
She was in danger, I could feel it. Bathin!
I needed to use my wish! I quickly opened a portal, and the beat of shadow raven wings surprised everyone.
These were rare creatures. One hadn’t been seen in over ten thousand years.
He landed in front of me bowing his head.
“I want to claim my wish, old friend.” The great bird craned his neck, waiting to hear what I would ask of him.
“The King of the shadow ravens?” My father choked. “Darce, how...” Bathin was the King?
“I had no idea he was the king,” I admitted.
“We found each other when I was lost veil hopping.” Bathin gave me a slight nod before bowing to my parents.
You could have told me somehow, old friend!
His feathers were ebbed with shadows as he shook, waiting for my wish.
“I need Alora safe until she comes into her powers. Can you hide her somehow?” Flapping his great wings, Bathin created a portal made out of pure night sky.
The stars seemed to be spiralling around the darkness like a gentle tornado.
Something floated down from the universe, wrapped in a dusting of silver light.
“It can’t be!” Nisha gasped. “Is that a soul seed?” A soul seed? They were meant to be a myth. Alora’s fear rippled through me again, making the power on my skin surge. Save me! I could feel her. That motherfucker Xavier was trying to bond her to him!
“Alora is in danger! I have to go to her!” Darkness already surrounded me. I didn’t care what happened to me, rescuing her was all that mattered.
Nisha’s eyes had the appearance of hot lava and were wide with shock. “Go to her! We will prepare everything with Bathin at our dwellings. We will await your return! Bind our power with yours.” Turning to her sister, their power began to surge with mine.
I didn’t even blink. With our combined power, I pinpointed my love and portalled to her.
Rage filled my body and my blood boiled when I saw what they had done to her. To their princess. I scooped her up in my arms as I blasted my power as far as it would go. My only thought was to get her out of there as fast as I could. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder as I portalled us away.
With the twins’ power and mine, I got Alora out of Dallethas fairly easily.
The injury on my back was treatable. Zohar had only clipped me with his powers.
The fury he had for me was nothing compared to the hatred I felt for him.
The fucker had allowed Xavier to strip her down and force her to bond with him.
It was more than hate I felt for both of them.
It was a burning, maddening fury. I wanted to burn Xavier with my darkness, and pull apart Zohar piece by piece for doing that to his only daughter.
Standing in the fire twins dwellings, watching them prepare the soul seed, I knew what was going to happen. Alora was going to be sent far away from me. Keeping her safe was all that mattered. That’s what I kept chanting in my mind while I was breaking from the inside.
A few centuries without her was the cost, but the fire twins had ensured that I would be her protector in each of her lifetimes on Earth veil.
We would have some time together in the future until the final pieces fell into place. When Alora’s powers fully manifested, she would be unstoppable with my help.
I may have been a guardian of the dark, the royal Noxlin bloodline, but my only purpose was to ensure the safety of Alora’s soul.
I would protect it with my life. It was simple, really. I loved her more than my own life. It was an easy price to pay.
Darkness would shatter for light.