CHRONICLES OF THE LOST ORACLE: BOOK ONE - SHADOWS

Chapter Eleven

 Soon two and a half years had passed since I joined the dark side and the year of the Basilisk was approaching. It was said that in this year a dark queen would rise and bring about a new age of terror.

I was now a formidable opponent for even the most skilled fighters in Xavior's armies. Dairen had become my best friend. I never could find the significance in this but whenever I was alone with him he would always note the hint of green in my ice blue eyes. But it was only there when he and I were alone. When Dairen was on missions and I was left at camp I could feel the darkness gain power in me. I was stronger without him but still I would rather have him by my side. He had taught me a lot about the world, the ancient ways and so much about my own powers as a shape shifter. He knew things and understood me in a way that that I didn't myself.

It was in the darkness of the night one morning that Dairen came to me with grim eyes and a broken spirit. I was training as he walked up to me. Into my ear he whispered a single word and then left.

"Siirmare"

Translated it meant I'm sorry I tried. I understood not what he meant by this. But I would soon find out.

It was at dawn that Xavier came to me.

"Good morning my sweet." his voice was colder than I have ever heard it. Like a snake he talked. "Today's the day you take the final step into darkness and become more powerful than even me if that is what you want."

More powerful than my master sounded tempting but the one most important lesson I ever learned was that everything always comes at a price. And what the price for this feat might be I was not sure. Over the past two years Dairen had told me over and over again that some thing are worth their price. I think I know now what he was trying to tell me. But my dark lust for power however had my mouth watering at the thought of gaining more. But he was giving me the choice and I didn't know what to do. The little bit of good left in me, brought forth only on Dairen's presence, knew this was not going to end well.

"Sounds good to me." my dark side won.

Xavier teleported us to a clearing near a town in Nox Averosa.

"What are we doing here." I asked.

"He hides here."

"Who hides here."

"A traitor." was all he said. I knew the look that meant no more questions all too well by now.

The town was not what I expected. One would think dirty, medieval times like but no. It was quite beautiful. Clean. All the buildings were newly restored. The people were buzzing around. We moved through the town to the market where I lost Xavier. It was kind of on purpose. There was so many things I wanted to see. And I always had at least one gold coin on me.

The shield I used to cloak myself for Xavier was invisible yet as I walked through the crowd the people moved out of the way. They stared at me but if I looked at them directly they would bow. It was as if they knew who I was instinctively. The feeling that I got from their reaction to my presence I liked. They feared me and that made this good feeding grounds. As I drew in the energy of the people around me I realized it had been months since my last feed. Not since my last birthday that I fed off of Toby. Poor man didn't recover for a month. I had needed the strength to fight the need to go home, but even that didn't work. So far every year on my birthday it came to be that I was pulled to the village my family lived by a force I did not know. It was uncontrollable. I would hide in the shadows on the mountain peek so no one could see me. I would watch my family have a picnic and wonder if I had indeed erased their memories of me. I would listen to what they'd say and all I could figure out was that if anyone knew the truth they were good at hiding it. But right now non of that mattered. The people around me was my only concern at the moment. Feeding and gaining energy was adding to the darkness in me.