Unexpected departure

Everyone in the throne room froze; all eyes set upon the crystal within Reyna’s hand. That was, all accept the armoured man against the wall, immediately stepping forward with rage in his voice.

“Layla! You let her go right now!”

“Relax, relax; I’m not going to harm her, providing you meet my demands.”

Juliana smiled, lowering the girl down by her hair, but still holding on. Xander stood up fully, standing firm with a resolute voice.

“I’ve already told you, we’re not handing over the chosen one; I will not budge on that.”

The armoured man turned to face his king, throwing out his arms in desperation as he shouted out.

“My lord, please! We don’t even know this girl; surely she can’t be worth trading Layla’s life for!”

“I’m sorry, Zayden, but she is. The chosen one is the most valuable asset we’ve ever had; giving her up for a single life, no matter whose it is, just isn’t worth it.”

Zayden ripped off his helmet, revealing a relatively young face with light brown skin, covered in scars and cuts, eyebrows sharp and narrowed as he yelled out his rage.

“‘Just isn’t worth it!?’ That’s my daughter!”

A dark glow began to appear around Zayden’s chest. Grabbing it tight, his entire body began to change shape, morphing into pure black and melting onto the floor; he became nothing but a shadow. Before anyone could react, said shadow dashed forward, shooting across the floor before it reached Reyna. The man re-emerged, leaping out and grabbing Reyna around her neck, pressing her body tightly against his chest.

“Sorry, but you’re coming with me.”

Xander’s chest now began to glow with the same dark energy. Reyna could feel the atmosphere itself become aggressive as his eyes glowed red and he slowly stepped forward.

“Zayden, stand down before it’s too late. If you do this, I will brand you an enemy of the kingdom and we will hunt you down; there is no going back.”

Zayden turned his head down, sorrow in his eyes as he pondered his decision; it was clear it hurt him inside, but in the end, the eyes that looked back up at Xander were ones of resolve.

“I thought she was dead when we left her behind the first time; now that I know that she’s alive, and I have a chance to save her, I’m not leaving her again.”

He turned down to look at the elderly woman within the crystal, speaking to her bluntly.

“You, what’s the details of this exchange; where do I need to go?”

“For now, go to the deadlands; I’ll send a representative to meet you for the trade. I’ll tell you more once you’re alone.”

Zayden looked back up, staring Xander directly in the eyes, confirming his decision as the king made one last plea.

“Zayden, don’t-”

Before he could finish, Zayden’s chest flashed with dark energy again, and both he and Reyna disappeared into shadows, slithering away at a blistering speed. Xander threw out his arm, his voice ringing throughout the room as he too made his final choice.

“Sound the bells! I want every soldier after him; bring the chosen one back!”

The shadow containing Zayden and Reyna dashed through the corridors of the castle, with the latter’s vision being entirely black. She could hear the sounds of large bells ringing, legions of footsteps stampeding around, and various voices passing them by, shouting for them to stop, but she could see none of it. This kept going for a while, until eventually, her vision returned as she found herself thrown out of the shadow and onto her feet.

“Woah, woah, woah!”

She stumbled forward, struggling to regain her footing as she almost tripped over. Once she was standing upright, she looked to see they were outside, underneath the black night sky, with hundreds of stars twinkling away; way more than she would usually see than back home. She heard a ringing in the distance, turning behind her to see a large castle in the distance, which, aside from the entirely black colour scheme, looked as if it jumped straight out of Europe’s middle ages. She assumed it was where they just came from, with the sounds of bells she could hear probably being alarms caused from their escape.

Regardless, she had more important things to focus on. She turned back to see what was in front of her; a wooden stable, containing several four-legged scaly creatures resembling grey lizards, seemingly as big as a horse in size. She looked around a little bit more, spying Zayden hastily untying the reins from one off of the fence next to it, and jumping on. He tugged at the reins around it and it hissed as it started off in her direction. She flinched as it arrived next to her, looking up as Zayden held his hand down.

“Climb on.”

Reyna stared at him, hesitant to comply, but he refused to waver.

“You can try to escape if you want, but I’ll just turn into a shadow again and bring you back; don’t make things harder than they need to be.”

With reluctance, she took his hand as he pulled her up. She sat behind him, holding awkwardly onto the creature’s back as he cracked the reins, and the beast rode off into the night.

Back in the castle, Xander laid against his throne as he sighed in annoyance.

“Ugh, Zayden you utter fool.”

He drifted his palm down his face, rolling his eyes in exhaustion from the whole situation. The two female figures stood in front of the throne, with the shorter one speaking up.

“My lord, please allow me to pursue them by myself.”

Xander drew his hand off his face, sitting forward with intrigue.

“Alone? Do you not desire some soldiers to come along with you?”

“I have my own methods; it wouldn’t work nearly as well with company. I promise you I can bring the chosen one back.”

Although still reluctant, Xander's face fell into stillness as he accepted the response.

“Alright, you have gotten us this far, my advisor, so I will trust you. Are you sure you do not at least want to take Serena along?”

The woman next to her looked her way, but she simply shook her head to decline the king’s offer.

“I wouldn’t advise it. You’re already weak from our earlier invasion, and without at least one of us around to protect you, your life would be in danger if the light kingdom decided to take advantage and attack.”

“If that’s what you decide, I’ll accept your judgement, and wish you the best of luck.”

With that, the woman bowed before slowly walking out of the room. Now in the corridor outside, she leant against the wall, holding her hand out in front of her. A flash of light shone from her body, and a crystal appeared in her hand. Clutching it tight, the crystal flashed, soon showing the image of Reyna, sat behind Zayden as the lizard they were riding strode forward. She watched them closely, quietly intrigued.

“Alright, ‘Reyna’, let’s see what choices you make from here …”