The Adventures Of Erlin-The Sword In The Stone || A BTS Fan Fiction || Vol. 4

The Darkest Hour

Second part

People were running scared, pushing each other, hoping to reach the castle. The bells had been ringing the alarm for more than half an hour, the lower city and the citadel had been invaded by strange creatures, who in a short time managed to kill many inhabitants. The guards took care of carrying the dead on stretchers, covered, otherwise the sight of their appearance would have caused too much discomfort. Adeoga was following two guards, who were carrying another deceased, taking care of making light with her torch.
"Adeoga!"
The girl stopped, her heart was pounding. It was Angus.
"More casualties at the west gate, warn Jin!"
He said, then immediately went outside. Adeoga ran again, hoping the torch would stay lit. She heard a scream and saw one of those creatures come through the window, it passed through a knight, killing him instantly. Then it headed towards her. Adeoga didn't hold back some screams, she held onto a wall trembling with fear and waved the torch towards that horrible thing, managing to chase it away. She tried to control her heartbeat, fire was their only weapon of defense. She approached the knight, turning him towards her and was horrified, his pale face was covered in snowflakes, it was a horrible sight. She had failed to save him... she ran to Jin with shaking legs and told him what Angus told her, returning outside to warn the others about her discovery. Meanwhile, the doctor examined all the bodies, but as soon as he touched them, he understood that there was nothing that could be done. In the room where he had been staying for more than two hours, it was full of lifeless people and many more were joining him every minute. Jin shook his head and covered all the deceased, giving peace to their souls who left so unfairly. Another two hours passed and the bodies stopped arriving, it was as if everything had calmed down.
"Jin."
The doctor recognized the voice and raised his head, her eyes lighting up.
"Erlin."
Jin hugged her, loving the feeling of warmth he felt, the dead bodies were too cold.
"You saw them?"
The doctor asked. The sorceress nodded. She saw what they had done throughout Camelot, and her discomfort increased.
"Are you ok?"
"A little scared...but yes, I'm fine. Come, help me cover the exposed bodies."
Jin went towards the pile of fabric, but he didn't see the girl helping him, she remained in the doorway, with sad, frightened eyes.
"Erlin?"
"My magic...doesn't work against them."
Her voice was shaking. For once using magic could be useful to her, it lost its use.
"I tried...I've never felt so helpless."
Her soul was not on the ground, it was below, many meters below.
"I felt something inside and when it came for me, I felt... like an emptiness. I couldn't breathe.
I'm scared."
"Erlin."
Jin moved closer to her, caressing her warm cheeks.
"It's okay, you don't have to feel guilty. These creatures can't be defeated with anything, you did what you could do."
The sorceress lowered her head, nodding. Her sense of uselessness didn't disappear, but she felt at home with Jin. Finally, she helped the doctor and when they were finished, they returned to their room, lighting as many candles as possible. The sorceress revealed to him that it was the only way to keep those ghosts away. The doctor and her then went to find something more about those beings, spending the whole night on it. They had no intention of sleeping, they were too scared. They found very little, but that was all the books said. Early in the morning, Angus summoned the two to the prince's room, so as to discuss with him what to do.
"At the moment we have fifty dead, maybe more, especially in the lower city."
Angus reported the data to the prince.
"Can we fight them?"
Namjoon asked, pacing in the room, too anxious to sit still.
"No, our weapons are torches and the light only makes them run away."
His uncle replied. Namjoon sighed, then looked at Jin.
"What are they?"
"The Dorochas, sire. The spirits of deceased people, on the eve of Samhain, in the times of the ancient religion, the priestesses performed a blood sacrifice, freeing the spirits."
The doctor replied. But no book explained why they did it, no one collected that information.
"But who would do something like that now?"
Angus asked, frowning. It didn't take the doctor long to get the answer to that question.
"Taehyung."
Erlin didn't flinch at hearing his name, it was somewhat predictable.
"How can you say that?"
The prince asked, not entirely convinced. Could his half-brother's powers really go that far?
"We know that he was heading towards the Island of the Blessed, that's where those sacrifices were practiced."
"How do we defeat Dorochas?"
The prince had a heart beating with hope, everything and everyone had a weak point.
"I don't know the answer to that. No mortal has ever survived contact with them. We can only keep them away with fire."
Namjoon felt his soul being crushed. He already had an idea on how to protect Camelot, but it couldn't last forever.
"All right. Angus, command the knights and guards of all Camelot to light every torch, candle or candelabra we have, Camelot must shine with fire this evening. Do not let anyone leave their homes."
"Yes, sire."
The uncle bowed and left the room to complete the order.
"You can go too."
Erlin and Jin did as requested and made sure to collect everything that could be lit and even got some matches. They waited for evening before turning everything on, the sorceress gave Jin the go-ahead, when she felt those familiar sensations, Dorochas were arriving. They closed all their windows, even if it would have been of little use, those spirits managed to open everything, but they could not pass through objects or inanimate things, only people and animals.
"Jin, do you mind if I go and see how the prince is doing?"
"Of course not, but bring something with you."
The sorceress nodded, taking a candlestick and walking briskly into the prince's room; every corridor was lit by at least twenty torches, it gave you the impression of walking during the day. Erlin knocked on Namjoon's door and when she heard permission, she entered.
"Erlin, what are you doing here?"
Namjoon asked, busy lighting the candles.
"I came to give you a hand."
The sorceress placed the candlestick on a bedside table.
"You didn't have to, but thanks."Erlin smiled at him and helped him turn everything on. The minutes passed quickly and they managed to light up all the rooms and even closed the windows. Erlin, unwillingly, dropped a candle, it rolled near a piece of furniture and that part of the room was pitch black. The sorceress swallowed when she heard a trail of those screams, but they disappeared in a nanosecond, Dorochas were not there. Namjoon saw her still and, weirded out, approached her.
"Everything's ok?"
Erlin seemed to awaken from a dream.
"Yes, sire, I just dropped...the candle over there."
The sorceress pointed at it and Namjoon also felt a bad sense of fear when he looked at that spot. Now that they knew that only with fire did the Dorocha stay away, or with any kind of light, they feared walking in the shadows.
"I'll handle that."
The prince said with a lump in his throat. Erlin grabbed his wrist to stop him.
"Together."
She specified. They looked like two scared children, but after what happened last night, they were just trying their best not to get caught by those spirits. The prince nodded, he took Erlin's hand, and they approached that spot slowly, their breaths caught in their lungs. Namjoon reached down and picked up the candle, sighing. Still together, they returned to where the light was, but stopped when they heard another scream. They both turned their heads towards the window, the curtain had moved.
"Stay here."
The prince warned Erlin, drawing his sword and taking a candle. He went back to the same spot as before, extended his weapon and pulled back the curtain, finding nothing. The tension in the two lowered dramatically, their bodies stopped shaking.
"Aren't you afraid?"
The sorceress asked, seeing Namjoon return to her with a relaxed look.
"I'm very afraid, but I have to steel myself and not let myself go to it."
The sigh he made, very shaky, was proof of how much fear he had inside. Meanwhile, the knights of the round table passed through the lower city and lit anything they could find, even straw or wood. They passed through the citadel and did the same thing, lighting the fires seemed to work, there had been no sign of Dorochas so far, just screams from here and there. Jungkook heard some strange noises and stopped, separating himself from his friends. He threw the wood he was holding into one of the braziers, lighting it with his own torch and followed those strange whispers. From behind a barrel, he saw some fabric disappear. Surely that couldn't be one of the spirits, spirits don't wear clothes, right? With this belief in mind, he approached the barrels and when the fire of his torch illuminated what was behind it his eyes softened.
"Hey hey hey. It's okay, it's okay, you're safe now."
It was a child, and he was visibly scared. Jungkook stepped closer and the light illuminated two more children, a girl and a boy. These poor people had to take shelter so as not to be caught by Dorochas, also losing sight of their parents. Jungkook turned his head behind him when he heard one of those screams getting closer and closer. The children hugged each other, letting out a few sobs. Jungkook couldn't leave them there, but he couldn't go back and forth to save them all. An idea lit up in his head as he looked at his torch. With all his great strength, he encouraged the children to go into his arms, dropping his only source of light. He raised them and ran away from there, trying to catch up with the others, the knight resisted the fatigue, his muscles were well trained, carrying three children was child's play, but they slowed him down. The little girl suddenly clung tightly to Jungkook's neck, starting to cry silently, seeing one of those monsters coming towards them. Jungkook turned and his breath hitched, it was about to reach him. A torch that came out of nowhere chased that Dorocha away, it was Elyan.
"Thank you."
Jungkook said, feeling his heart explode.
"Come on, let's get these kids back to their parents."
Elyan managed to get the three little ones to tell them where their families had taken refuge and they pointed to a house not far away. The two took them back to their home, Adeoga's brother took one to make Jungkook struggle less and they let the children run to their mothers, who welcomed them by hugging them, crying and kissing them on the forehead.
"Oh thank you, thank you we owe you, my lords."
One of the three men bowed.
"Sir, it is our duty."
Jungkook replied bowing and then went out with his friend, managing to get two more
torches.
"Good thing you got here in time."
Jungkook said, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"Hey, I'd like some glory too."
The two laughed and joined their companions.
"Where were you?"
Jimin welcomed them like this, sulkily, or more than anything, scared for them.
"Sorry dwarf, we had a setback."
"Dwarf-"
"You two, that's enough."
Yoongi scolded Jungkook and Jimin with his eyes, silencing them both.
"This is not the time to joke, we still have a lot of work to do. And if one of you has a "setback",might you all alert everyone else, we can't split up and if we lend each other a hand, the problems will be resolved more quickly."
"Yes, Yoongi."
They all responded in chorus, resuming their duties, not having the courage to go against the person nominated (also because he was right). And late at night, Camelot finally shone with light and Dorochas did not attack. But this was not the same for the nearby villages under Dooyoung's rule.