Sentria: The Knight Prince (Book 1)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Mythic Figures

"No," I said to the Oblivion Witch, attempting even harder to break free of her hold. Fireballs were falling to my Askeran and I was helpless. She was too strong and I was but a mere mortal.

"Just remember that I gave you the option," said the witch with a sneer.

"This is not over," said Eldwyn in a cold voice that I had never heard from him before. He dispenses with his ice ball and creates a portal, stepping into it and disappearing just as soon as it had formed.

"What?" said the Oblivion Witch. The portal closed and she looked around, as if he would return. She then made a circle with her finger and a small image appeared, like a mirror vanity, only it showed Eldwyn on the ground below, looking up at the raging red fireballs raining down from the black sky. "This...isn't supposed to happen. This isn't how it was writ!"

Eldwyn held his hands out to his sides and the winds grew furious. Frost forms around his hands as anger takes him over at the falling fire. He pushed his hands up into the air and screamed at\ the top of his lungs, sending a blast of cold above and turning the fire into ice. They continued to fall, and while they crashed caused damage, they didn't burn the land like they would have done if they had stayed fire.

"No!" The Oblivion Witch fell back and held her head as if she was suffering from a splitting headache. "This is all wrong! Something has gone wrong!"

In her frenzied state, I was freed from her hold and I wasted no time going in for the attack. I jumped forward and cut into her back deeply, She screeched with ten voices and fell to the ground. With the opening, I cut into her heart and left my blade in as green blood spilled out like a geyser.

"I don't know which worlds you've seen, witch," I said between my teeth. "But this is my world and this is real to me. I will not throw it away for anything."

"I am but one," she said, gripping the blade and bleeding from her hands. "There are three kingdoms in total that you will have to face if you hope to save your false land. Something strange has occurred that has altered your fate, but you live upon borrowed time. Take heed and know that the war to come will be far worse than what I have conjured."

"That is enough!" I said, and plunged my sword in deeper. This time she laughed and her visage faded away and so did the clouds around me. I was unsure of where to go and it ceased to matter as I was sent falling down to Askeran below. I yelled with everything I had and reached out to grab hold of something, but there was only air. She had built a kingdom of illusions and with her gone, they returned from once they came. Oblivion.

After my initial reaction, I was relaxed in my descent. I knew that Sentria was safe and that was my main concern. I wasn't fond of the idea that Sentria would be without its' true prince, but I knew that they'd resolve it. My father had brothers and their sons could pick up the crown in my absence. All was not lost. It was never all lost.

Then, before my eyes, Eldwyn appeared from a portal above me and fell with me. My heart raced. I couldn't believe what I saw. "What are you doing here?!" I asked frantically.

"I came to save you!" Eldwyn said, reaching out to me. He looked drained. He had just saved the realms from certain death. He grabbed onto me in mid-air and I held onto him tightly.

"You shouldn't have done this!" I said, above the sound of whipping wind as we hurdled down to the ground.

"I'll make a portal." Eldwyn extended his hand below us to create a portal and nothing happened. He tried it again and still, nothing happened.

"Darren..." said Eldwyn, but he said so much more. He was out of energy and we were running out of time.

"Eldwyn..." I said to him and my words said much more as well. I didn't mind dying for my Sentria, it was a worthy cause, but I didn't want Eldwyn to go with me. He should've just stayed on the ground, safe and sound. I closed my eyes and imagined us out of our situation and living somewhere safe. Some far away paradise where chaos was just a memory. It filled my heart with light and I smiled to myself. Then, my back hit something soft. It felt like pillows. I opened my eyes and saw that we had landed on white large white feathers. I looked ahead and saw the back of a bird's head.

"It's an ice owl, knight!" said Eldwyn, gripping onto the bird. "We have been saved. You called on it and it came."

I held onto the bird's feathers as we soared above southern Askeran, above East Balgore and the Old Wood where we had met. The ice owl was taking us to my home of Sentria as if it knew where I needed to go. It must have.

The bird descended as we approached my castle and we landed before the gates of my silver castle. We jumped off and I petted the owl, thanking him before it flew back north. 

"We made it," I said to Eldwyn gleefully. I hopped in place, so happy that our quest was complete. I didn't care that it wasn't knightly or princely, we had just conquered the Oblivion Witch and saved all of Askeran, and from the looks of things, there weren't any signs of damage from the falling ice balls to my lands. Thank Danos.

"We did," Eldwyn said, his smile was without joy, however, and it muted mine.

"What's wrong?" I stopped my hopping and came close to him, holding his shoulders "Are you injured?"

"No, I am fine." He scratched the back of his neck. "But I must go away now and return to the forest."

"What? But why?"

"Because I am not meant for kingdom life. You have a duty to your people and I will just be in the way."

"No...Eldwyn, when I am king I will change the laws. Relics will be allowed in the kingdom and...I will some day marry you." I held onto his hands after I said this. It was a bold statement, but I meant it. He was everything to me and I never wanted to let him go.

"If there's anything that I learned from my time in Stargon is that I will not be accepted here. I hope that one day you do change the laws and that relics can go beyond the forests, but it's too early now. It's not our time."

"I will make them change," I said between my teeth. "My rule will be absolute."

"People's minds don't change so quickly. It takes time."

I lowered my head, looking at my steel boots and Eldwyn quickly lifted up my chin, forcing me to look into those hazel eyes.

"I like to think of the future. Hundreds of years from now when they look upon our story, people will have changed. They will have seen the trials and tribulations we've faced to save all the world over. We will have become mythic figures in their eyes and used as examples to live a life of peace and love without the barriers between us. Wouldn't that be nice?"

I smiled, unable to disagree with him. "That would be nice." I kissed him with all the passion I could summon, holding his face and feeling his love on my lips like the sun itself. Then we parted and my eyes welled up with tears.

"You are and will forever be the High Prince of Sentria," he said with a wave. "Farewell, knight."

"And to you, Eldwyn," I said, watching him disappear along with the coming dusk. A tear fell from my eye and I wiped it away and sniffed once. I walked to my Kingdom of Sentria with a heavy heart. It was home, but it wasn't the same. I had learned so much on my adventure and I wasn't the same Prince Darren. Somewhere along the way I had become a knight of valor, whether I officially had the title or not, and that was all because of Eldwyn Gamor of the Misty Moors.