Forced into Fantasy 2

Chapter 3 - Scarred

Zarkin;

‘I can’t believe it… the bastard - he lied to me!’

I felt hurt, deeper than I had ever felt before. After everything I’ve done for him; my tireless work and devoted service towards his ongoing cause. I really thought he held more respect for me than this.

Oh, what a fool I was.

I never would’ve believed Adomis of all people would be the one to go behind my back. Not unless I’d seen it with my own two eyes, and unfortunately, I did.

The Amethyst Amulet.

Adomis now held two of the four ancient amulets, thus moving himself closer towards the possible goal of gaining unlimited power from them.

But would he really do that?

Was he that type of man?

I’d known Adomis since he was just a child, having served his father before him. Sure, Adomis had his flaws… we all do. Is the man impatient? Yes. Short tempered? Sure. But greedy?

In all our time together I never once remember seeing any signs leading to this as a possibility... not one!

He’d even come right out and admitted that he had no intention of using the amulets for the prize of power.

So why did he have the Amethyst amulet and what were his intentions with it now?

I couldn’t rid the menacing thoughts from my head and like a powerful migraine, I needed to be freed from them as soon as possible. Or I may go totally insane otherwise.

But I also knew the Overlord was currently with Ivy and that would obviously take priority over a meeting with me, his Mage. It appeared that I would have to wait it out and find something to take my mind away from this chaotic mess.

-

Ivy;

As soon as we reached his chambers Adomis began his feverish assault on me. His mouth met mine in a frenzied flurry of passion and desire, his tongue dancing about to entice mine to play along.

I struggled to breathe between each of our heated kisses as our hands began to make short work of the articles of clothing we had been wearing up until now.

Mine of course took the least amount of time to remove. The cloak fell with ease, revealing my complete vulnerability all at once as we continued our passionate kisses.

The sounds of muffled grunts and deep moans filled the room as his last piece of clothing fell to the floor and Adomis was finally revealed to me in his most vulnerable state.

I love seeing him naked, bared before me with nothing to hide. It gives me a sort of power I never thought I would possess in my lifetime.

Like this he is perfect to me.

As my eyes roam across his chest, in a hungry search to remember every single hill and crevice of his muscular form, they suddenly stop at the sight of a large jagged scar just below his left pec.

One that, for some strange reason, I don’t remember ever seeing before.

My eyes narrow as I struggle to recall if my mind is playing tricks on me or not.

‘Why can’t I remember this one?’

‘Is it new?’

‘It can’t be! He’s only been gone for a matter of days. A week at most…’

It doesn’t make sense and I begin to feel myself tense up as I take a step backwards from him. This of course alerts him to my unease and he frowns.

“Ivy? What is it?”

I can hear genuine concern in his voice, but I still feel confusion hazing over my normally logical thinking and struggle to focus on what he is saying to me here and now.

“Is something wrong?” he continues to prod, taking a step in to close the gap between us once more, his hand grasping mine as he attempts to look into my eyes.

“We can stop if you want to.”

I swallow hard, I don’t know why. For some reason I am unable to meet his eyes as he would like me to and they remain downcast at the floor.

“I… I don’t…”

‘Why can’t I formulate a single sentence? What’s wrong with me?’

He rubs his left hand over my right shoulder in a reassuring way as he squeezes my other hand in his.

“It’s alright. If I’m pressuring you…”

“No.”

My reply comes quickly, my head lifting to meet his eyes now.

He frowns.

“No as in you want to stop? Or no as in you’re not feeling pressured?” he asks with caution.

I force a smile before I reply.

“It’s fine, really, it’s nothing.” I lie in an attempt to reassure him.

“Tell me, Ivy. What’s wrong?”

I point towards the unfamiliar scar as I begin to explain my absurd confusion.

“It’s… it’s this scar… I’ve never seen it before. Is it new or something?”

He looks down at the scar in question and his face is a mixture of expressions; shock, fear, confusion and sadness.

“Oh, right… that one…”

Still, his reply makes no sense to me. I await more details from him as he adds one more vague comment.

“This scar… it has a history, if you’re interested?”

I merely nod my head in agreement.

He then begins to lead me across the room towards the warmth of the roaring fireplace and the large thick black rug covering the floor conveniently located just in front of it.

Adomis lets out a defeated sigh as we stop at the rug and both sit down together, facing the brightly dancing flames.

I sit up in his lap with his legs both bent either side of me and his strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me in against his firm chest as he begins to explain himself.

“It was many years ago now. I was betrayed by a good friend of mine.”

“Betrayed?” I question.

He nods, blinking slowly.

“Yes. I trusted that man with my life. He and I were very close. But…”

He pauses, seeming hesitant about continuing on any further. I know I need to urge him on to learn more. The more I know about Adomis the better our bond will be.

“But?”

“I’m afraid it wasn’t meant to be, Ivy. He alone made the decision to end the life of someone very dear to me. And he went through with it, not before attempting to end my life as well.”

He pats the scar with his fingers.

“This man...” I ask, “He killed someone? Who did he kill?”

“My father.” he admits coldly.

-

Ronaar;

‘I can’t believe I just told her that!’

The truth…

It was the bloody truth!

Having been caught up in the moment and in the mixture of recent emotions, I didn’t have the chance to just stop and actually think about what I was openly admitting right here and now to her.

I was telling Ivy about my own past; about Prince Ronaar’s past, not the Overlord Adomis’. I could only prey now that Ivy did not yet know Adomis well enough to have realised the lies spilling from my mouth.

“This friend of yours… the one who betrayed you.” Ivy continues to pry gently.

“Who was he?”

I shake my lowered head, closing my eyes as I speak to caution her. I'm not yet ready to share such information, especially under my current circumstances. It's all too confusing for me.

“No…”

“Why not?” she seems taken aback by my reply, as if she hadn’t seen it coming.

“Now is... it's not the time.”

I make up yet another excuse before reopening my eyes and turning my head to face her. She shows obvious concern in her facial expression, but also deep understanding as well.

‘f**k, this woman’s incredible!’

“For now…”

I focus on changing the subject as I lean in and take both of her hands in mine, leaning my chin down onto her right shoulder blade as I continue.

“Let us focus on us instead.”

I nuzzle the soft tanned skin on her long neck, trailing gentle kisses along it as I move down towards her shoulder blade. I use my tongue to run along her skin, causing her to moan deeply and lean her head back into me as she savours the experience and gives in to me.

It appears she has decided to forget the mysterious scar, for now.

But what if she finds something else on me that I can not explain?

Or what if I let it slip as I just did a matter of moments ago? Will she figure the truth out, about who I really am? Not to mention the fact that the spell I originally cast was only meant to last less than a couple of months at most.

It would soon run out.

I now had two of the amulets within my grasp. I was also now aware that the Sapphire Amulet was being watched over by King Varrus, leader of the Marine Guild and had a plan of how I would get my hands onto that one also.

It was just the elusive Ruby Amulet I could not seem to locate, the one rumoured to have been protected by the Fire Guild.

The only problem with that was that no one I had spoken to under Adomis’ rule so far knew anything about such a trinket. Not even his General.

The trail had unfortunately run cold and I would soon have to find another way to locate it, especially with time failing me.

I needed to find the remaining amulets now, before it was too late…