Chapter 2 - Marked by Destiny
1521 Words
Magnus by now had rid himself of his helmet and many other tiring pieces of armour during the short breaks he had between fights. With his helmet long gone, his long dark hair was drenched with sweat, mixed with dirt and blood. As he paused for a moment to catch his breath, his eyes squinted warily to focus in on how their forces were faring.
It was pure chaos all around him. There were men fighting and dying in all different directions for as far as the eye could see. The sounds around him were deafening, screams of pain and anger filling the air as the battle raged on.
As Magnus continued to scope out his surroundings he had momentarily let his guard down and an enemy soldier came up from behind. Before he had the chance to react the enemy blade sliced across Magnus’s upper thigh causing him to cry out and grit his teeth with frustration. He had been wounded and would not allow such a mistake to happen again.
Magnus turned around to face the enemy soldier responsible.
“Come on!” the soldier snarled viciously, his sword held out in front of him as he stood in a fighting stance.
Shaking his head and scrunching up his face in anger Magnus decided to show off a little as he marched towards the shorter soldier, intending on ending his life. Twirling his massive sword around in his right hand, then from one hand to the other, around behind his back and finally holding it upright in front of him, he prepared himself for a fight; one he planned on winning.
And it appeared that his apparent skills had paid off.
Seeing this impressive display of skill and realising the mistake he had made by challenging this adversary, the enemy soldier seemed to have second thoughts and he hesitated for a moment. A second later he shook his head with fear and ran off in the opposite direction into the mass of fighters.
Magnus rolled his eyes and shook his head at the cowardly soldier who had dared wound him. Turning away he suddenly froze as he came face to face with the demonic white irises of the Master Mage himself! His eyes widened in a sense of panic and automatic response to such a terrifying sight.
“What the-”
Reacting immediately and without thinking Magnus plunged his sword straight into Alabam’s chest with hard force and brute strength alone. But as he did he stood baffled as to why the hooded figure did not seem to react to this fatal blow with any obvious signs of pain or concern.
He didn’t even react!
Instead Alabam stared deep into Magnus’s eyes and grinned.
Magnus watched in terror and disbelief as Alabam took a step forward, then another and another; the blade sliding deeper and deeper into of his shadowed chest as he came closer and closer towards Magnus who stood still in a fit of paralysing shock. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t react, and he felt helpless.
“What are you?” he queried with barely a whisper.
Before he could react Alabam surprised him by reaching down and grasping Magnus’s right forearm, wrapping his long white fingers around it and holding on to him with some kind of superhuman strength.
"Magnus..." the demonic figure hissed with a haunting echo to his eerie voice as his glowing white eyes fixated on the terrified human he had a hold of.
In a panic, Magnus released the handle of his sword which was still impaled in Alabam’s chest as he struggled to pull his arm away from this hooded creature with unbelievable strength, but Alabam’s grip held onto him far too tightly. Magnus winced as he suddenly felt heat on his forearm, heat that was rapidly increasing in intensity with each second that passed and within mere moments it was unbearably excruciating.
“Ah, f**k!”
Alabam’s hand was burning into Magnus’ arm and he could not seem to free himself from the demonic figure’s grip!
“Aargh!” Magnus cried out loudly, “Release me demon!”
Then suddenly and without warning Alabam released Magnus’ forearm and his white irises were glowing with such intensity that it made Magnus cringe. He was forced to stand by and watch as the hooded demon standing impaled before him seemed to somehow morph into one of the enemy soldiers, who at that exact moment had come to and looked down at the sword protruding from his chest with a puzzled expression.
“What... ugh...” the soldier asked, barely able to get another word out before blood poured out from the corners of his mouth.
Falling to his knees with the sword still protruding from his chest, the soldier proceeded to slump over and collapsed to the ground lifelessly as Magnus stood staring down at his body with disbelief.
He could not quite grasp what had just happened.
This was not the face of the creature he had impaled with his sword only moments earlier. What dark magic had he just witnessed? How was this even possible?
Swallowing hard, Magnus glanced down to his right forearm which he had been holding with his left hand up until now, in an effort to minimise the burning sensation. As he took his left hand away he stared in horror at what he saw.
There it was, the proof that he had not gone completely insane after all; the burn of a handprint had been melted into his very flesh and it sent shivers down his spine.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Questions, so many questions ran through Magnus’s head as the fighting continued to rage on around him. Who was the demonic creature who had marked his arm and what purpose did it serve? This was the first time Magnus had ever remembered experiencing fear in over twenty years and he did not know how to react to such an emotion. It was alien to him.
His heart raced and the adrenalin continued to pump its way around his entire body as he reached down to grasp the handle of his sword, still impaled in the body lying by his feet. Using his left boot to push against the corpse below him Magnus pulled his sword out from it and looked around to see how his army had fared in the meantime.
The last enemy soldiers were being finished off and bloodied bodies lay all over the ground for miles in every direction. Some were even piled high on top of others. It was a field of utter m******e.
A few soldiers standing close by began cheering when they realised they had been victorious and soon after the others chose to join in. Their cheers echoed across the field as the King’s men celebrated victory yet again.
Magnus stood covered in blood, sweat and mud. He was alive with only a few minor injuries to care for. He glanced down at his forearm to see the handprint once again, a visual reminder of something he still wasn’t sure had even taken place.
Was it real or had he imagined seeing the figure with the glowing white eyes? He had heard of demons before but never dared dreamed they existed.
As he stood staring down at it for a moment a friendly soldier came over, slapping him on the back playfully in recognition of their glorious victory. This pulled him from his thoughts as he in turn gave a small smile and nodded to the man as he passed by. Then with a loud sigh he started to make his way back to where the surviving soldiers were beginning to gather.
This day their forces had been victorious and they would revel in their victory this night and for many nights to come.
But what Magnus didn't yet know was that this win had come at a great cost and in turn unknowingly brought with it the beginning of the end… for them all.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Now standing high atop the cliff side once more, Alabam gazed out over the survivors of this giant battle. In particular the one he had just marked for mystical transformation; Magnus.
As he grinned with darkened delight and revealed his sharply pointed teeth, the Master Mage knew his time had finally come; the beginning of the end for all living things.
And soon enough the Demon King would awaken from his eternal slumber to destroy them all.
- Writer
