61 Offense to Darkness

Parting the enemy force as if she were parting an ocean, Bianca looked over the boys and girls she had come to know well. Most of them retained their aura, trying to push back the forces they were so ill equipped to handle. Others she recognized were now standing opposite the side they started. She noticed black veins running from milk white eyes pushing back to the brain, the faint outlines made her shiver. Each one only had a shallow cut on their arm or leg, nothing that should have been lethal. Their lineage weapons had the same black veins which were present on their faces.

"Bianca!" Leo cried out in surprise as the sea of enemies crumbled around his friend.

Bianca smirked as she waved her hand at Leo, almost not even registering the fight which was commenced around her.

"Would you at least try to look like you're in a battle, girl?" Bianca heard a familiar voice roar over the many knights within their crowded battlefield. She looked over Leo's shoulder to see Michael with an ice lance in his hands.

"Glad to see you have regained your power, Michael." She said as she whistled at the ice daggers floating above his head, one of which he took and flung over her shoulder, hitting a knight in the head.

"I will have gotten it back for nothing if you don't get out of here Bianca!" he roared as he parried a knight's blade.

Bianca felt as if she were in a live action movie, even though there was so much carnage around her, she didn't feel in danger. She felt in control.

"What are you doing here? I thought you went home." Leo said as he sidestepped a knight and ran him through the back with his blade. There was no venom in his voice, only curiosity as he looked at the hand she waved. The familiar lineage ring adorned her right ring finger, though instead of the plain silver ring of the ungifted, he noticed a white gem within the center.

The gem in the center pulsed with power as her white and gold staff became visible. Leo saw the gold swirls around the staff, the same design as he had on his sword, finally registering what happened. "You found your power again." He stated as he once again turned his attention to an advancing knight.

"Much more than that, my friend." Bianca said as he pointed her staff towards the advancing knight. A beam of pure white shot from her staff and hit the knight, instead of stopping, it went through him and continued a path straight through the horde of incoming knights. Wherever the beam hit, enemies instantly dropped.

As easily as the light was unleashed, it was snuffed out by the hundreds of knights. Soon the path was once again closed as Leo had to once again bring his sword up to block a fatal blow from a mindless foe.

"That's nifty," Leo said as he grunted from the weight of the attack. "Got any more?"

Bianca nodded, though she didn't have much of a handle on the power which had been entrusted to her, but she knew it was meant for that moment.

You've got to push through this obstacle to get to your real challenge. She thought to herself as she gripped her staff tightly. Light poured from the weapon in such intensity, it almost turned the dark sky to daylight. With a grunt of effort, she slammed the staff into the earth.

Pulses of light slammed into the horde of dark forces, where each hit, the enemy dropped. Leo looked at his childhood friend as if for the first time.

The wielder Michael was fending off stopped attacking as the first pulse hit. "What's happening?" He asked as he looked around the battlefield. As far as Michael could see, the enemy dropped by the hundreds, the vast ocean of enemies became an ocean of corpses within moments.

"How?" He said as the last of the knights fell. They were now surrounded by the expired corpses of a lengthy battle.

Bianca returned the staff to her ring and took a deep breath. The amount of energy she had to release was more than half of what she had. "Light is the counter of the dark, I just cancelled out the control the darkness had over these men."

"Is there anything you can do for the men that fell within our group?" Michael asked as he looked at Bianca with new eyes. "Some only have gashes on their arms or legs, they shouldn't have died."

Bianca shook her head. "If they were still alive, my aura would have only cleansed theirs." She said as she looked with sad eyes to the men she recognized from her adventures when she had first landed in Crystallia. "I wish I could bring them back."

"When this is over," Leo said as he looked around at the hundreds of knights which littered the battlefield. "We are going to have a long talk."

Bianca nodded, "Right now, we need to get to Will." She turned to the path leading to Ebonhart. "He's going to need this power more than you did."

Together, the two childhood friends and the man in a business suit led the way for the remainder of the men left from the assault. Bianca knew they would need each and every one of them if they were to overcome the threat which loomed in the distance like a blanket over the night sky.

Though he had only dropped Jake's full consciousness within him a brief moment ago, Will could feel his confused brother begin to realize what had happened. Sit tight Jake, Will thought. You'll have your body back soon.

Walking the King's road with a thousand men behind him, Will could feel and hear the men training their new auras as they impatiently waited for the long fight ahead of them.

"They're getting pretty anxious." Maya said as she came up behind Will. "Most of these men and women have never held a sword before today, I hope you have a plan."

Will nodded his head slightly as he looked at his ever-present companion. She still wore the same dark black dress which clung to her in tatters. Their stay in Holtz had been brief, not at all long enough for her to find a decent change of clothing. A white and black ring clung to her ring finger as her arms swung gracefully from side to side.

"If my plan works, not one of these men will lose their lives today." Will tried to remain optimistic about their chances, but he knew he might not be able to make good on that promise. Thinking of the promises he had racked up since he returned to Crystallia, Will looked once more at Maya's tattered dress.

"What is it?" Maya asked as she felt Will's eyes on her. "Do I have something on me?" Her face went slightly red when Will didn't overt his gaze.

After a few moments, a low chuckle came from Will. "I was just thinking of another promise I made to you a few days ago." He said as he looked forward at the looming dark cloud ahead. "When we are finally done with this, I need to get you a new dress."

The pink didn't leave Maya's cheeks as she looked down at her barely held together dress. "Don't forget the pizza." She said with a smile.

"I'll even include a movie in the deal." Will said, his eyes brightened against the night sky. "I want to show you everything our world has to offer."

Why don't you two get a room when I'm not in your head. Jake's voice rang from deep within Will's mind. And stop romanticizing, you know I can see everything right?

"Dammit Jake," Will knocked on his head a few times. "Is nothing sacred?"

"Do I want to know?" Maya had an eyebrow raised and looked expectantly at Will.

"Not really," Will scratched his head. "We are just setting some boundaries while he's crashing at my place." He rolled his eyes as he continued forward.

This is entertaining and everything, Cainus's voice replaced Jake's. But your father won't last much longer, even now, his shield is cracking. Soon, you won't have any father to give their blessing. I'd hurry up the march.

Cainus sent a mental image of the gold dome around Will's father and Jonathan. The cracks in the dome shone through like spider webs. William senior was kneeling with the effort of keeping the shield raised as Jonathan had his hand on the king's shoulder. He looked more worried than Will had thought was possible.

I get the message, Will said subconsciously, We'll be there in a moment.

Seeing Will go from to carefree to serious in a matter of moments, Maya could tell he had just received an update from Cainus. "Any news?" She asked, sensing the quick shift in his demeanor.

Will nodded. "We have less than an hour before the barrier breaks."

Maya's face paled as she turned to the army. "Roland!" She yelled out into the crowd.

Will noticed a hint of gold from Roland's vest as he ran to the front of the group. His ponytail looked slightly disheveled from the numerous tasks his prince had instructed him to carry out.

"You called for me my lady?" He said as he went to one knee in front of Maya. Will couldn't help but give a satisfying smile as he witnessed the fealty the once slave trader had shown to the very same woman he had once wanted to capture.

"I need you to take control of the army while Will and I charge forward," Maya commanded while taking Will's hand and leading him into the air. "Make haste, your king is in danger." With that, she didn't even wait to see him salute before she and Will took to the sky.

Waiting behind his three thousand strong army, Aremesis admired the blade he had spent the better part of an hour crafting from darkness. Dark veins appeared on his forearm which synced perfectly with the veins running along the pommel, leading up to the tip of the blade. When looking at the sword, one would think the blade was shattered, instead, the dark tendrils waited to drink the life blood of the small army rapidly approaching.

"Soon brother," he said with a voice dark enough to rival the night sky. "Soon we can put this childish competition behind us."

Somewhere within the darkness of his mind, a flash of blinding white light pierced through. Aremesis dropped the blade into the dirt and held strong to the pommel as he screamed in agony. "So many have lost already?!" He roared as he held his head in his hand, blacking out the view in front of him.

Within his mind's eye, Aremesis could see the searing power of pure light pour over his men like large waves crashing to the shore on high tide. "There isn't a light user alive in this age! How is this possible?" He focused in on the source of the light. Even focusing on the image of the power was enough to make him grimace. Within the center stood a woman he had come to know quite well. A woman he had seen many times while living within Jake's mind.

Bianca stood with a staff of pure white and gold, her long brown hair flailed wildly around her and she focused all of her energy on the enemies before her.

"I thought she was a fire wielder like her prince." Aremesis said to himself as he took his hand from his eyes. "No matter, even a force that small would be enough to drain her substantially." He raised his sword from the ground and instead, raised it to the sky.

"IT SEEMS I HAVE NO USE FOR YOU PUPPETS AFTER ALL!" His voice rang through the horde of knights. "RETURN TO THE ABYSE UNTIL I CALL ON YOU ONCE MORE!"

The air around Aremesis crackled as tendrils of darkness leaked from every knight within the horde of men. The sword acted like a lightning rod within a storm as the tendrils flew to the puppeteer. A vortex of pure darkness wrapped around the weapon, slowly getting smaller as if it were being sucked in.

As the last drop of darkness disappeared within the sword, so did the last knight. Instead of leaving corpses littering Ebonhart's fields, it had fallen eerily barren. "I will need all of my power for this fight." Aremesis said with a small chuckle. "It will be over soon, brother."

Standing on the castle wall looking out to the wood line in front of him, Aremesis waited sword in hand for the battle which would win him his kingdom.