Chapter 10: Sweet Dreams

I spiraled through the green portal, trying to spread my arms out and fall chest-first as if skydiving. Suddenly time stopped. I still had the unpleasant weightless sensation though I was not moving. I attempted to move but found my muscles would not budge.

“James Dolan of the ADMI,” an ominous voice rasped. “Welcome!”

As soon as the voice stopped, the green magic that surrounded me disappeared and I landed roughly on a sandy terrain. I picked myself up before the sand would crawl into my armor. I hated that, as the tiny grains would be nearly impossible to totally get rid of.

I scanned my surroundings. It was a desert covered in fine black sand that stretched beyond the horizon. My vision was illuminated by a dim blood-red glow in the center of the sky. The ‘sun’ was occasionally covered with humanoid bat-like creatures that swarmed the air. My teammates were nowhere to be seen.

Before me, stood a teenage boy with black hair wearing a black T-shirt and black jeans. As he walked nearer I could see that he was not human. His skin was so unnaturally pale that you could see faint black veins underneath his arms and his lips were obsidian black too. The most unsettling detail was his eyes. His eyeballs were entirely black, not just the pupils. I could feel a faint gravitational pull as if his eyes were magnets, making me lean forwards despite that every molecule in my body was screaming for me to stay away from him. I instinctively grabbed the hilt of my sword

“I am Zabulas,” the figure rasped. Although his appearance indicated that he was quite young, his sandpapery voice sounded ancient and malevolent, like a magical artifact from Indiana Jones.

“Who?”

Zabulas chuckled menacingly. “I am Zabulas, the Lord of Entropy and Shadowlord of Darkness. I have turned entire continents into dust with a fraction of my power. Your pathetic bravado will not help you from being destroyed.”

“Errr…Ooookay, Jaboolag.” I said, attempting to sound nonchalant despite the tremendous intimidation I felt.

Zabulas walked closer. He held out his right hand, charging it up with magic. Curiously, instead of regular magic which consisted of glowing energy, Zabulas’s magic was made of darkness. It seemed like his hand absorbed the shadows in the immediate area so that only his fingers were not obscured by the pitch-black smoke. His fingers gently stroked the Dark Magic as it built in size and power. Zabulas was close enough so that I could have reached within striking distance in two paces. I could have attacked but I found that I could not make myself move.

Zabulas raised his hand, grinning maniacally and his hand discharged the tenebrous energy. I forced all my willpower into snapping out of my paralysis to dodge the destructive beam of energy. The pillar of energy would have liquidated me if I had not dived into a nearby sand dune, barely avoiding the attack. I frantically jumped off the ground but some sand had gotten inside of my steel plates through the chinks in my armor. I expected the powdery sand to be little more than a minor annoyance. Although, when the sand touched my flesh I yelped in pain and surprise. Rather than the rough and powdery texture you would normally feel from touching sand, this sand tore at my flesh like broken glass. I felt warm blood drip down my skin. Enraged by my injury, I drew my sword and swung it with all my strength, hoping to take Zabulas’s head.

Clang!

I blinked in disbelief. Zabulas had caught the blade mid-strike. His agility was impressive as his hand had been limp before I attacked. What was more, he had caught the blade which should have severed his palm and continued through his neck. When I looked closer, I saw that Zabulas’s palm was not actually touching the edge. Instead, his fingers firmly squeezed the flat of the blade.

Zabulas raised an eyebrow and his grin disappeared as if he was surprised by such a fruitless attempt at his life. He lifted his other hand and flicked his fingers. I was thrown back by a wall of air and I landed on my butt as even more deadly sand seeped into my armor. I lifted myself up and fled, trying to ignore the pain. My stomach felt strange. I felt something which I had never felt to such an extent before: fear. I looked behind me. Zabulas was not making any attempts to prevent me from escaping.

“You can run! You can hide! But you are only delaying your death!” Zabulas taunted.

Suddenly, black tentacles exploded from the ground, spraying the deadly sand everywhere. I immediately ran in another direction but the tentacles lashed around my wrists and ankles. I struggled to escape. The black tentacles slowly pulled me into the sand. I screamed in agony as the excruciating pain made my mind go blank. The last thing I saw before my face was submerged under the sand was the humanoid bat-like creatures swarming the sky, completely blotting out the red glow.

I shut my eyes and prayed that this would not be the last moment of my life. Maybe I would see my dead parents very soon. Maybe the pain would end very soon.

Suddenly I felt weightless again. The pain disappeared. I opened my eyes and realized that I was back in the green tunnel of magic. I exhaled a sigh of relief, seeing that I was still alive. Seconds later, I was dumped on top of a heap of flesh and metal. It was Imbeseel. He stood up without even noticing that I was on top of him and tipped me headfirst onto the ground.

I turned around and looked up. My blood turned cold. We appeared to be in a forest. Surrounding us, there were sixteen elven warriors dressed in green leather armor and armed to the teeth, pointing their spears at our throats. Behind them were our horses, the only chance for our escape.

“Ummm…is this part of the plan?” Grubby wondered aloud. Stump hoisted himself up next to him and held onto his elbow with all his might, looking pale as if he might wet himself.

Winter looked at Grubby and rolled her eyes.

“Well…this is the alleged place where Excalibur is being safely guarded,” Oliver explicated. “What do you expect?”

“Surrender intruders!” The tallest elf commanded. “You are now prisoners of Moenire, the land of the forest elves.”