Endless

Chapter 28

Malik

Cyrus had banged on my door A minute ago, telling me we were leaving immediately. I didn't ask questions, I just packed what little I had brought and met him in the lounge room.

Master Camilla stood next to him, her bag slung over her shoulder and her face grim. Cyrus looked frustrated, typing violently on his phone.

I realized then, the meeting probably didn't go very well.

I assumed we were being kicked out of the coven by Bellona.

This was probably very bad.

The doors opened suddenly, two warriors I hadn't met walked in. They were both very big guys, each carried a weapon on their backs.

A woman walked in behind them, it was Adria, the warrior I had met in the "lunchroom". She had a very serious look on her face, a weapon was also strapped to her back.

"Good evening, I will be escorting you three out of the coven." Adria said and turned back around, leading us out of the room without another word.

We walked silently, warriors starred at us as we passed, almost angrily.

My anxiety grew, this didn't look good. I wanted to hurry out of here and get back to Xavier.

                    **********

Cyrus

After an unbearable two hours, we finally arrived at the Denver airport. The sun was starting to rise and my irritation rose with it. 

After leaving the western coven, I immediately felt weaker, more tired, almost sickly. I was reminded of my impending self doom, which only made my frustration grow.

Camilla had stayed beside me the entire time, silent, I could sense her worry.

I took a deep breath and turned to her, but before I could say anything she spoke first.

"My coven will stand with you Cyrus, I will prepare them when I return, give us the word and we will be there, weapons ready." She didn't meet my eyes as she spoke.

"Thank you." I said quietly, I grabbed onto her hands, holding them in front of me. She looked up at me then, her sea green eyes piercing into me.

I didn't know what to say to ease her, she was scared and didn't want a war. Neither did I, but I wasn't afraid, just angry. I didn't want warriors to die for no reason.

The warrior covens had been at peace for over a century now, we had worked together to ensure each others safety and security. Now none of that mattered, everything that was built will crumble down with this war.

I leaned forward, closing my eyes. She did the same and our lips met. This was pretty illegal, and we were in public where anyone could see, but I didn't care.

We were on the verge of war, and I had maybe a couple years left to live anyways so I wanted to kiss and hold the only woman I had ever loved.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, while she wrapped hers around my neck.

I held her for a few long moments, savoring her touch, but I reluctantly let go.

We stood silently, I grabbed her hand one more time and kissed it.

"I will see you again soon my love." I said softly. She nodded solemnly.

"On the battle field, my darling." She said quietly and turned away from me, walking towards her planes gate. I watched her go until she was out of sight.

"Master Cyrus?" Malik said from behind me, I had honestly forgotten he was close by.

"What?" I said a bit flatly.

"Uh we need to get to our gate." He responded. I nodded and started walking, Malik following close behind. 

We made it as they were beginning to board. We got into first class and sat down silently. I rubbed my eyes, suddenly exhausted. I wanted this plane ride to be quick so I could rest in the comfort of my own home.....

I sat up straight, furrowing my brow. What was I thinking? I can't rest, war is about to begin! I needed to focus, I needed to stay sharp, my coven needs a leader, I am a master warrior for shits sake.

"Malik." I said suddenly, breaking him out of his train of thought.

"My liege?" He said probably more out of habit instead of just saying my name.

"Let's be honest, I'm not at my best, but I need to be, so in turn, I need your help." I said.

"Of course, what do you need me to do?" Malik asked.

"When we return, I will need your help to prepare the coven, I will allow you to use the other top warriors to help you. I'll be communicating with Camilla, we will need to use all the extra rooms for our sister coven." Malik nodded quickly. "And Malik?"

He nodded again, silent, waiting for me to speak. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"If I am to die, you will take my place as Master immediately, do you understand that?" I asked.

"Yes but... I don't think I'm ready." I waved my hand and shook my head.

"Do not put yourself in such a mindset, you will have to be their leader if I am to fall. I know you haven't had as much time as you should to prepare, but we don't have much of a choice." I leaned my head back in the chair, feeling a bit dizzy as the plane began takeoff.

"When we return, we will preform the master ritual, so that when I do die, you will become the master warrior of our coven, I know the ritual isn't the usual way of going about this, but I trust you more than anyone else within the coven."

The ritual was a way for a dying master warrior to somewhat bind themselves to their successor, if they had one, so that when the master warrior did die, the successor will gain the strength and abilities of their deceased master.

I looked Malik in the eye now, I could see the emotions running through him; fear, worry, confusion. I knew he would be great, he would be the next Master Warrior of the eastern coven.

"You are meant to be our covens new master Malik, there is no one else, it has to be you." I said softly, his eyes widened for a second.

"Yes, my liege." Malik responded, he seemed saddened suddenly. I glanced at his face, his eyes starring down.

It hit me then, he wasn't sad about becoming the next master, he was sad about me.

I was going to die, I didn't care much about it, but apparently Malik did.

I was fine with death, I had lived a long and good life. Sure I had a few regrets, but I couldn't dwell on them.

Malik was much younger than me, he had many years left to live, and many years left to learn.

A memory passed through my mind, a young boy smiling at me for the first time. Malik had grown, that's for sure. I grinned, thinking about the boy, he hated me at first, but with time anything can change.

I moved my arm up and placed it on Malik's shoulder, patting it a few times before letting go and leaning back into my seat.

I could feel his eyes on me as I closed mine to fall asleep. My last thoughts before falling prey to the sandman was of that young boy, smiling at me.