King of Shadows

The Last Trial

I stood in a clearing, the monster that attacked me was standing there, but it didn't attack me. It walked over to me casually, and wrapped it's claws around my head. Pain exploded everywhere it touched me. I screamed and gripped my head, "The Earl is coming for you," it's breath smelled like rotting flesh. I gagged. The monster took a step back before lunging forward, stabbing me in the heart. Blood poured out of my mouth.

"Hey! Wake up!" Viper shouted in the distance. My eyes snapped open and he was above me, shaking me. I shoved him away, ignoring the sharp pain that shot through my entire arm.

"I figured out the first task," Viper said, glaring at me, "I thought you'd want to know."

"What is it?" I asked. I sat up, wincing at the pain.

"You know how the door disappeared after you shut it?" he said, "We have to figure out a way to escape the tower."

"How do you know it's our first task?" I asked, poking at my bandages.

"There was a note on the wall," he answered, like it should be obvious, "'Your first task is to escape,'" I looked at the wall, and there was indeed a note on the wall saying just that. I looked around the room, there was nothing, but a breeze was coming from somewhere. I stood, and began pushing on the bricks on the walls.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Viper asked.

"It trying to find a secret door, idiot," I told him. I tapped nearly every brick in the room with no such luck. I frowned, and felt around the floor. Maybe there was a tunnel under the tower. I ran my fingers across the floor until I found it. It was a line cut in the cement, I traced it with my fingers, it must be the door. I started prying it open, "Hey, you know what would be great? If you helped me." I snapped.

Viper groaned and heaved it open. I moved the block of cement away to reveal a dark tunnel. I didn't even spare Viper a glance as I jumped down. It was dark and cold, but I didn't mind. "Come on," I called, walking ahead. I heard Viper jump down next to me. We walked through the tunnel for what felt like hours. Finally, we came to another room. I sighed with relief, until I saw all the different tiles. Everyone of them had something different on them, I stopped walking. Viper didn't seem to notice or care about the tiles, and kept going. He stepped on one, and it sunk into the ground.

There was a loud groan, and suddenly the tiles started disappearing. The ground beneath his feet disappeared, I lunged, and grabbed his hand. Pain flared in my shoulder, I gasped in pain. My arm shook and Viper's eyes widened. "Don't let go!" I licked my lips, and squeezed my eyes shut. He was so heavy, and I couldn't hold on much longer. I couldn't just drop him, below him was a bed of spikes, he'd die. I took a big breath before I hauled him back up. Tears formed in my eyes, but I didn't stop until he hauled himself all the way.

"You fucking idiot!" I yelled, cradling my arm, I was one hundred percent sure that the wound opened again. Only a few tiles were left. We could still cross to the exit. I got up, and headed for the door. I pushed the oak door open, and light flooded in, we were in the woods again.

It was now that I started wondering how long I'd been passed out. Had it been an hour? A day? I left the darkroom behind and surveyed my surroundings. The two of us were in a clearing surrounded by trees - trees that were moving. They creaked as the weaved together slowly, forming a wall. Grey fog seeped out of their bark. In a matter of seconds, I couldn't see anything except the grey fog in front of me. "It's been so long," garbled a familiar voice. "I was beginning to think you forgot who gave you that scar, boy." I could never forget that voice, or the man behind it. Where was he? My entire body tensed and I looked around wildly. His form appeared in front of me, Viper's father. The scar on my forehead, red and ugly, was from him.