The next month, I stayed in the Naremian palace and followed the usual routine I had gotten used to. I entered my room again after running around outside. On my bed was a double-folded, white sheet of paper. There was nothing written on the side facing up, so I knew this could only be a letter from the Mysaulian Council. I grabbed the paper from the bed and unfolded it to read it. What? My parents had gone to Lythora yesterday and would be staying there for a couple of weeks. Why? And why had I only been told about this now? I burnt the letter and stormed out of the room.
“Oscar!” I shouted loud enough that half of the Naremian palace could hear it.
I stormed through the hallway while shouting Oscar’s name again but louder this time. A couple of minutes later, he showed up in the hallway.
“What’s going on? Has something happened?” he asked worriedly.
“Do you know what the current situation is in The Great Darkness with the demons?”
That was the only reason I could think of why my parents would suddenly go to Lythora and stay there.
“Lately, there’s more activity on the side that Mysaulia tries to control and where your troops regularly patrol. Lythora struggles with protecting its border. Why do you ask? Is there something wrong?”
“My parents are in Lythora and will stay there for a while.”
I turned around and walked straight back to my room to get my sword out of my closet. Oscar appeared right in front of me, blocking the door opening.
“Wait. What? What are you going to do?” he asked.
“I haven’t even been gone for a year, I’m not even a part of the Naremian army anymore, and everything has gone wrong. Do you think it’s a coincidence there’s more activity? First, I want to know where my Royal Warriors are, and if they haven’t been sent out to The Great Darkness yet, I’ll lead them there myself. If they are there already, I’ll go as well. It’s dangerous there, and my parents are close to it now.”
“You shouldn’t put yourself in danger. Are you certain?”
“Get out of my way, Oscar.”
“I’ll just get you a pen and paper,” Oscar said, and he stepped aside.
I immediately entered my room and walked straight to my closet to get my sword. I hung the belt around my waist. I might not wear my official outfit as a Royal Warrior, but I wore black trousers and a black T-shirt. My current outfit would be sufficient.
In the meantime, Oscar had returned with a pen and paper, which he put on the desk. I immediately walked towards it and let my magic move the pen over the paper. The pen fell onto the desk again, and I picked the paper up, crumpling it in my hands to send it. It didn’t take long before another paper appeared on the desk, which I picked up, unfolded, and read. Just like I had expected, the Royal Warriors had been sent to The Great Darkness. I burnt the letter and let my magic do its work again. My next letter was directed to Maurice to let him know I was coming. While sending the letter, I saw the coordinates in my mind. Now, I knew the location of Maurice and the Royal Warriors.
“Do you know where the Royal Warriors are?” Oscar asked when the letter had been sent.
I nodded and walked past him to leave the room.
“Wait. What are you going to do?” I could hear him following right behind me.
“I’m going to them,” I responded.
“Alone?”
I didn’t even answer. Of course, I was going alone; that was kind of obvious.
“Just like that? Is that even allowed?” Oscar continued.
“Are you going to stop me, Oscar?”
“You aren’t prepared. You aren’t even wearing your armour.”
“I’m wearing black clothes; that’s good enough,” I answered simply.
“Madison, be reasonable for just five minutes.”
I stopped abruptly and turned around. “Just try to stop me. You can come with me if you want to be certain I’ll arrive safe and sound but shut your mouth. You can’t change my mind.”
“It’s far, you know, and don’t you normally have more weapons with you?”
I sighed and was about to turn around and continue walking.
“Just wait five minutes. We have weapons here in the palace, so you can take some extra with you if you want. I just want you to have enough to fight with.”
“I only need my sword, that’s enough,” I answered simply.
“Do you want me to bring you? Then you won’t need to walk, and you’ll arrive there quickly.”
“I don’t want you to carry me. I’d rather walk than to be carried.”
“You can sit on my back if I transform into a wolf. I can do that, and then I’ll tie my clothes around my leg.”
Now, it was getting interesting. I knew werewolves were bigger than regular wolves, and that hybrids actually didn’t like transforming. It was painful to transform, and most werewolves chose to become hybrids, so they had more control over their transformations, retaining their speed and strength without needing to transform.
“Fine. If you insist,” I agreed.
“Just wait a bit then.”
Oscar turned around and disappeared quickly. A few minutes later, he returned with the belt his sword was attached to, which he handed over to me.
“Keep my sword with you. I’ll transform once we’re outside. What does The Great Darkness look like? I’ve never been there. I’ve only been to Lythora,” Oscar said.
While we walked, I hung the belt around my waist above the one I already wore and told him about The Great Darkness. We left the palace at the rear end, and when we had left the palace grounds and stood between the trees, Oscar stopped. He pulled his shirt over his head so I could see his naked, hairless chest. Before turning around, I rolled my eyes. Oscar was such a show-off. While he transformed, I heard his bones snapping and breaking, but he didn’t make a sound.
When I didn’t hear any more cracking, I turned back around. He lay with his stomach on the ground. I climbed onto his back, went to lie on my stomach, and wrapped my arms tight around his neck; I knew how fast he could run. Now, he reeked ver much like a wolf, but his fur was soft and warm and had the same colour as his hair. He stood up, pushed himself off on his paws, and started running.
It was a weird experience to sit on his back while he was a wolf; he was lightning fast. Of course, werewolves were fast in their wolf forms, but Oscar was a hybrid and thus partly a vampire. He was faster than a werewolf. While he ran, I pressed my fingers against the fur of his neck. My mind penetrated his, and our thoughts mixed.
I’m going to describe to you the place where they are, I said to him through the mindlink.
Now, I felt his vampiric side reacting and his mind pushing back. Vampires could be in the heads of the living. Because I was a witch and had magic, I automatically had a blockade, so I could feel it when vampires tried to get into my head. I could also be in his head through my magic. I dropped my wall and let him enter.
No, show me. That’ll work better.
I let him see the coordinates and the place. It didn’t take long before we reached the border between Naremia and Lythora. There were only guards on the Naremian side of the border; the vampires didn’t really care who entered their country, and most humans left Lythora. Therefore, they didn’t have the need for border control. The guards were hybrids of course and saw us from far away.
I give you permission to temporarily render them unconscious, Oscar informed me through the mental link between us.
Our minds had been connected with each other the whole time, and I did feel him in my head, but he didn’t look around. I had been right to trust him. Warmth and electricity shot through my body when my magic became active. The two hybrids collapsed to the ground.
That was a strange feeling, Oscar noted.
He had felt it when my magic had been activated.
You felt my magic.
So that’s how that feels?
I didn’t answer; I had no idea what to say. We crossed the border into vampire territory. The vegetation was wild and high and grew over the roads. The vampires didn’t mind, nor did they take care of it. They also didn’t have fields or farms; they didn’t need them since they only fed on blood.
We quickly arrived in The Great Darkness. There was no clear border, but the pressure was noticeable — it just felt wrong — and I saw the red lines running through the ground under Oscar’s wolf paws. The red lines were caused by the influence of the demons and their demonic magic; they influenced the world negatively, which made people go mad. Since their arrival, plants had died, and the weather had changed. Nature was poisoned by them, and the world had changed massively. This world was different from the one before The Great Darkness, which first appeared three hundred years ago.
Stop, Oscar. It’ll be better if I continue on foot from here, and I think it’ll be the best for you to keep your sword out of its sheath as well, I said to him through the mental link between us.
Oscar stopped, and I slid off his back, turning away from him while he changed into his human form again. I heard all his bones snapping and breaking once more.
“Give my sword to me,” he said after the cracking had stopped.
The mental connection had been cut off when I had slid off his back — vampires and hybrids could only keep it up through physically touching someone or through looking that person straight in the eye, and I could only keep it up through physically touching someone — so we needed to say everything aloud to each other again now. I unbuckled the belt with his sword, turned around, and handed it over to him. While he hung the belt around his waist, I pulled my own sword out.
“Remain vigilant. Demons are very unpredictable,” I warned him.
I walked forward and scanned my environment with each step. It didn’t take long before three demon-like creatures jumped out from between the overgrown vegetation.