The Crimson Prince： Awakening

"I see it worked." Michael said as he walked the path towards Will. "I like what he did with your jacket," he said with a smile. "The way it was before, I thought it would fall apart. Though I was expecting something a little more red." His eyes went to the cross and the smile faded. With a look of disbelief, he walked closer. His hands fumbled for the chain as he inspected the new weapon. "Do you understand what this appearance means?" his widened eyes searched Will"s.

His nephew nodded. "Cainus said something about me becoming a G.o.d, though he was vague in explaining."

Michael released his hand from Will"s chain, took a few steps back and waited for him to explain what exactly happened. Patiently waiting for his uncle to find his bearings once more, Will ignited a small flame within the palm of his hand and looked at it thoughtfully. He noted the gold which now outshined the usual crimson.

Will waited for Michael to get comfortable next to him by the fountain. He then began going through the entire experience with Michael. He left nothing out, from the golden chamber to the jacket and cross. Mentioning the jacket was enough to raise an eyebrow, but Michael paid more attention to the cross. He pretty much ignored the part about the throne room, as if it were common knowledge.

"That"s all of it." Will said as he stretched. He felt as he had after a long drive with Jonathan. "How long had I been sitting here?" he wondered as he got up and paced the ground in front of his uncle. He could feel his muscles give a sigh of relief after having been still for what seemed like hours.

"This gives me much to think about William, but now isn"t the time to do so." Michael said with a grin. "You need to get ready, it"s time that we continue your journey. This alone is enough to convince me that you are the one to bring about the change our land has been waiting for. Your path is not yet complete, the only way to continue is to go home."

Will thought about his uncle"s words. He had put off going back to Crystallia for too long. He had received a gift from the first king of Ebonhart for a reason, he too was waiting for the change. The advisers rule was numbered. Soon Will would set right the rule of the kingdom.

He thought of Maya and Jake. Two friends who had been corrupted by the black flame. He knew soon he would be reunited with the pair. The dream of him stabbing Maya came to him, he knew soon he would have to carry out the prophecy, yet he also knew that doing nothing wouldn"t help her either.

"When do I leave?" He asked, new determination shone in his eyes. He had a father that needed a good slap and dark advisers to put in the ground. He could do nothing to hide his excitement. He was waiting for this day, the day he could avenge Maya. The advisers wraiths had already suffered his blade, now it"s time to cut off the head.

"First I think there"s one other thing that must be done." Michael said with a glimpse of a smile on his face. "I think it"s time to find your friends, don"t use your aura to track them down though, that would be somewhat a waste. What if at one point your aura fails and you have to resort to good old fashioned tracking? Don"t spoil yourself with your new gifts." With that, Michael stood up, looking at the golden flame in the fireplace one more time with admiration. Waving a hand as he turned around, he left the room.

Getting in one last good stretch, Will noticed that he hadn"t allowed the flame in his hand to recede. Giving one last glance to the golden fire, he allowed it to extinguish. His mind was full of the knowledge in which he had received from both the king and his uncle. Soon enough he was going to go back to the place in which held so much pain, yet also equal amounts of promise. The land was alien to him, but he knew now that it was his home land. Remembering Maya and how the Crimson Knights had treated her, he knew he would be the only one able to right the wrongs in which his father had unintentionally allowed.

Walking away from the fountain, Will was deep in thought as he went into the mansion and through the mult.i.tude of corridors. He already had a small idea as to where Leo was located. He went through the winding halls, into the other side of the manor towards the library. As he went, he thought about Maya, the last time he had physically seen her, she was wrapped in chains. Her body had been left behind while the wraiths dragged him away. His visions of what had taken her place brought chills as he remembered the dark garments she had worn in his dreams, the old sword in which killed her that had become her own weapon. The haunting dark eyes that replaced her lively brown ones.

The library was coming up on the left side of the hallway, Will being deep in thought had almost walked past it. As he found himself at the entrance, he looked at the table in the middle of the room. The lights had been on within the library, so Will knew before he saw the table that his best friend had been studying. There was nothing more that Leo enjoyed more than knowledge. If they were going to be in Crystallia soon, what Leo learned may in fact save them one way or another.

Looking in the room, Will could see Leo sitting at the table surrounded by large books stacked all around him. He had been rubbing his temples with one hand while holding a book in the other. Will"s nose was a.s.saulted by the scent of dust and old books as he entered.

"Learn anything new?" Will asked as he moved some books from the chair across the table from Leo and sat down. Looking at the books he moved, Will saw most of them were land references or kingdom history. Many of the books held names he had not heard of from either his uncle or Cainus. Picking up one of the books, Will looked at the t.i.tle. "History of Euphelia" Will eyed it for a moment before putting it down.

"A lot more than you apparently." Leo said with a sigh as he put his book down on a stack next to him. "Seriously man, how can you be from an entirely different world and still not be interested in knowing anything about it?" He yawned as he looked at his phone. He apparently didn"t realize how late it was. "We are heading out to Crystallia soon, could you even tell me one of the village names? Maybe the other kingdoms that ally themselves with the capital in which you are an heir to? How would you even know who to rally when we get there if you don"t even know where you"re going?" The more questions Leo presented Will, the more he had to admit his friend was right.

"The last time I was there, the only place I knew of is Nearwood Village." Will said. "It wasn"t necessarily a luxury tour you know." He grimaced as he remembered the cottage he stayed with Michael in for a month. "If you know more, maybe you should help me out." Will picked up another book and waved it at Leo. "You know how well I am with studying, it never really sets well with me."

Leo suppressed a sigh. He wondered how exactly Will survived for six months without even knowing anything of the area he was living in. "There are four major kingdoms besides Ebonhart. Of those four, two ally themselves with the capital while one other is neutral. One is sworn enemies. Leo raised his eyes from his phone and looked Will in the eye. "Do you know which one is at conflict with Ebonhart?"

Will could already sense the change in atmosphere within the stuffy library. Leo raised a good point. What if he had just been wandering around Crystallia and entered an enemy kingdom? Killing him would be a major blow to the main capital, and he would never get the chance to slap his father out of his stupor. Will shook his head.

Leo threw a book at him, the t.i.tle was "Relations within Crystallia." "read at least a little of the book, I"ll fill in the rest." he said as Will suppressed a groan. Though Will had said he wasn"t a good study, Leo knew the truth. If his friend applied himself only a little to study, he knew that Will would outshine him within a day.

Will opened the book and began at a map of Crystallia. Ebonhart was clearly visible within the center of the map. On each corner there was another kingdom. Each area had been marked a different color for the border. Ebonhart had a red border outlining the center of the map, showing the land under its rule. The bottom left of the map was an orange border with the name Euphelia. The bottom right was a blue border which clashed with the orange. The name was Bloomstar. The upper right was a black border of Raven Crest while the upper left was designated Hawk Ridge in a green border.

Within the center designate for Ebonhart, Will saw numerous towns and villages surrounding the border leading in towards the kingdom. In the time he spent there, Will hadn"t seen anything for villages, yet on the map it seemed as though there wasn"t supposed to be any open land at all. As Will looked at the map surrounding Ebonhart, he tried to pinpoint where he might have been when he was with Maya. No where on the map indicated an area named Nearwood Village.

"These must be outdated." Will said as he put the book down in front of him. "None of these towns were there while I was training, Maya didn"t tell me of any either. But the kingdoms are there, if anything changes it would be the villages, not the kingdoms." He remembered his talks with Cainus. The kingdoms were the only thing within that world that would never change. If they did, the balance of power would be thrown off and he wouldn"t even have his gift. "As far as I can see, when we get back we should go around to the surviving villages and raise support." He said as he put his finger on the map. "If we go to the villages to the north of Ebonhart, they should provide enough support to enter the other kingdoms as well."

"What exactly are we planning on doing?" Leo asked skeptically. "Its not as if we can take support from all of the kingdoms, one is neutral while the other is in conflict." Leo knew Will didn"t know so much about the history, and he felt as if he was too confident in their standing within the continent.

"Then we"ll raise the support of Hawk Ridge and end the dispute with the kingdom of Raven Crest." Will moved a strand of his hair away from his face as he looked down at the map. "This would be the only way to take Ebonhart back. If nothing has worked in the past, we will have to think of something that hasn"t been done before." He thought. If there were any other way, Will was sure someone would have thought of it before.

"Michael sent me to look for you and Bianca," Will remembered his uncle was waiting for them. He was surprisingly vague with the specifics which made Will roll his eyes in annoyance. "That"s my uncle for you, always putting out the details." Will got up from his seat and walked towards the door. "Coming?" He called over his shoulder.

"It"s probably something to do with a final estimated departure time." Leo grumbled while he stretched his arms. Who knew just how long he had been sitting there. Will could only imagine with so many books surrounding the table. "Lets make this quick though, there"s a lot more information we"re going to need if we"re going to survive the trip." Leo and Will walked out of the library and through the hall.

As they walked, Leo briefed Will on all of the information he had gathered so far. The black border of Raven Crest was actually home to the "cursed flame" Jake"s corrupted flame popped into his mind. If there were a place he would find Maya and Jake, it would probably be there.

Walking to the exit of the hallway to the double stairwell Will stopped. It was unnaturally dark and cold within the open usual homey area. The feeling of this chill instantly reminded Will of Jake and his aura. Something felt off as the two of them ran into the entrance of the stairwell. When they got to the opening, they felt a chill that went beyond what lay outside the double doors of the manor. The s.p.a.ce was beyond dark as Will accessed his aura. His crimson gold flame shined more gold than anything as it went up the s.p.a.ce of his hand. The flame lit the entryway enough to see Michael standing facing the two of them. He had a shocked expression on his face as he held his cross in his hand.

Behind Michael, Will could only see darkness for a moment. It seemed to suck the light of his own flame into it. He knew only too well what had the ability to do that. He remembered the sparring session he had with Jake, when he went into a frenzy the darkness seemed to feed on Will"s flame. Suddenly an hand appeared on Michael"s shoulder, pulling him towards the darkness.

Without a moments hesitation, Will reached for his cross. His arm already igniting as his blade came to life. The shine of gold filled the room as the crimson went out. Launching himself into the darkness, Will grabbed hold of Michael without much success. The hand that lodged itself onto Michael wouldn"t budge.

Thinking as fast as he could, he fed the flames of his aura to the darkness behind Michael. If he knew anything of the darkness, it was that as soon as it was full of his flames, it would disappear. The golden flames seeped into the darkness, drenched out as fast as it was ignited.

For the most part, Will"s plan had worked. The hand let go of Michael, instead it reached out to Will. He was too far away for the darkness to take hold, so the dark flame stretched and grabbed hold of Will around his neck. Slowly, Will turned around to face Leo and Michael who was laying in his arms unconscious. He struggled against the darkness yet it felt like tar thickening around him. His arms flailed with his sword trying to cut through to no avail. It felt as if he were sinking in quicksand.

Leo raced forward and grabbed Will"s hand, trying to pull him out of the dark miasma. No matter what he tried it seemed futile as Will"s form continued sinking into the darkness. All that was left of Will was his left arm which Leo was holding on to and his head. Suddenly Leo felt a push as Will forcibly made him let go. Looking into his eyes, Leo knew Will had to go. He had a look of resignation on his face that only made his friend more angry.

"Find me." Will said as the darkness enveloped him. The last thing he saw was Leo"s widened eyes as his vision dimmed into nothing.