The Crimson Prince： Awakening

Ebonhart stood out like a looming raven in the darkness, as if it were an omen for Will to turn around. Even with a chill running down his spine, he knew the time had long pa.s.sed where he could have run from this inevitability. He could see a lone figure on the city wall and knew almost instantly who it was.

"Are you ready for this?" Will asked as they slowed to a halt. He sent a squeeze of encouragement to Maya"s hand. "The sooner this is done, the sooner you can have that pizza." Will gave his friend a halfhearted smile which she mirrored.

"Don"t forget the movie and the dress," She tried to sound upbeat. Maya gave him a wink as she looked down at her shredded dress. "I think this one has lived far beyond its expiration date."

"It"s a date then." Will said as his eyes returned to the lone figure on the wall. Giving Maya"s hand one more squeeze of encouragement, he hesitantly let go and flew towards the city.

As he neared the wall, the darkness seemed to shroud him in an unnatural way. It felt as if the lack of light was enough to physically stop him from reaching his destination.

Will struggled forth by spilling a small portion of his aura to guide him to Aremesis. He knew by the vision of his father that he might have to use the same method of protection as he had been shown. For hours on the ground, he had practiced the same method of shielding until he had mastered it.

"Excellent job learning how to protect yourself, young prince." Aremesis chuckled as Will approached. "Your life expectancy has gone from two minutes to five." He clapped his hands halfheartedly.

"Thanks for that." Will said with his own mocking smile. "All I"ve ever wanted was the approval of an evil overlord." He gave a small sniffle and brushed away an invisible tear from his cheek. "It must be my birthday."

"You must realize how futile this is, brother." Aremesis brought his hands to his sides. A sword of pure darkness materialized in an instant within his right hand. "Light is finite, it must always return to darkness."

Will felt the familiar burning sensation from around his neck as his cross beckoned to be released. Flames were released even before he could cup his hand around the pendant. Instantly, he was holding his gold and silver blade which had been his constant companion through all of his trials. "Light may be finite," He said as he held his blade to his side, matching Aremesis"s stance. "But darkness will always need the counterbalance of light, just as all life must end, so must the end give way to new life."

"Always the riddler, Ragnos." Aremesis spat at Will. "Darkness reins within the hearts of all that live," He raised his sword eye level with Will. "You"ve seen it for yourself, all who follow you, love you, have the potential to betray you in the end. So stop spouting out all this idealistic c.r.a.p and get out of my way!"

Will thought of Bianca and how she had acted when he had last seen her. Though her intentions were pure, she was willing to abandon thousands of people just for the sake of dragging him back to his old life. He thought of how hurt she looked when he turned her down, how resentful she could have become in the future.

"It doesn"t matter to me how people live their lives." Will said simply. "People betray others all of the time under the guise of good intentions. No matter how long I live, I know there will be no end to the people who feel they know what"s best for me. I know that sooner or later, yet another loved one will betray me once more under the impression that they are trying to help." Will raised his sword to Aremesis"s. "But that"s their choice, it"s their lives, I am not going to be one to tell someone how to live."

The blade of darkness started to shake slightly while stretched out to Will. Looking at Aremesis, he could make out a small smile as he heard chuckling. "You really refuse to change then." Aremesis clouded himself with darkness which dimmed Will"s aura. "Fine!" The darkness sword reached out from what seemed like nothingness an inch away from Will"s face giving him only an instant to parry. "You could never understand death"s intentions!"

The blade retracted back into the cloud of darkness, disappearing in an instant. The blade came back with rapid succession, each time Will had a tough time dodging and parrying. There"s no pattern to the attacks, he thought while trying to back away from the blade and gain ground in the a.s.sault.

Were it not for his aura, Will wouldn"t have noticed in time. As he backed away, a blade of darkness protruded from thin air directly in the path he was planning to take. Using his elbow against the flat of his blade, Will was able to block from behind before being skewered.

"Don"t let your guard down even for a second, brother." A dark rumbling voice boomed from the dark cloud. "You are not up against a dark flame wielder. You are challenging the G.o.d of darkness himself!"

Will couldn"t relax for even a moment as the darkness blade picked up in speed, searching for any weak spots within his defense. He knew it would be impossible to switch to the offensive while on his own, his only hope was to hold off until his reinforcements arrived. He sent a silent prayer to Leo, hoping he had at least some luck gathering the rest of their Crusade. Hurry Leo, I can only hold him for so long.

Almost as fast as the thought had left his mind, the battlefield was bathed in light. It seemed like daylight had returned to Crystallia hours before it could have. Will could see the dark cloud in front of him shimmer slightly as the fierceness of the light attacked Aremesis.

"You had the right idea, Will," he heard a familiar voice ring out from behind him. "Just the wrong kind of light." Will took advantage of Aremesis"s sluggish movements to turn towards the source of the voice.

In the clearing of the trees, Will saw Leo flying towards him, followed by Maya and Bianca. Somehow, he had not been surprised to see his ex-girlfriend following behind. He had not expected her to stay away from the battle for too long. What he had not expected was the white staff with gold wiring that rested in her hands, nor the pure white and gold aura which surrounded her.

"You called for help?" Leo smirked as he launched himself into the fray. Even though Aremesis hesitated for a moment, The sword was once again at work, trying to skewer Will. Leo flew back to back with Will as he blocked, which gave Will few precious seconds to launch a counter attack.

As the two of them fended off Aremesis, Bianca stood back and tried to regain her strength. The previous fight on the way to the city had left her at less than half of her full power. The aura which had been given to her was not meant for direct combat as much as it was for support.

"I can do this all day, Ragnos." Aremesis spoke from inside his dark cloud. "The light eventually dies out, giving me more power to feed off. Your power is much more finite."

Will knew he was telling the truth. Though the brief hesitation on the dark lord"s part had given him some ground, maintaining momentum was slowly draining away his reserve power. Even then, he could feel his aura dimming slightly.

Looking for a way to break himself away from the frenzy, Will parried one more attack before grabbing Leo and flying at full speed away from the cloud. "We need another plan of attack." Will said while gulping in as much air as he could. He was draining fast and Leo could see it.

"Didn"t you borrow power to fight against Jake before?" Leo asked as he regained his composure. If they kept fighting the way they had been, it would have been over long before the one-hour time limit had lapsed.

"Yes, but borrowing that much power would leave everyone else helpless while I try to defeat him, and besides," Will looked at the cloud through his gold and crimson aura. "Even if I were to borrow that much power, I"m not sure I"d be able to defeat him."

You"re looking at the problem the wrong way. Will heard an unfamiliar voice within his head. You"re only focusing on one of the aspects of your gift, William. There is so much more you can do.

Who are you? Will tried to respond to the voice. He was getting tired of feeling like he had a multiple personality disorder most of the time. I already have Cainus and Jake in my head, could you kindly remove yourself before I go crazy?

Stop being so arrogant, William. The voice rang out louder in his head, making Will cover his ears to try to drown it out. Now is not the time to be flippant, just listen. You have only borrowed power before, you have never magnified someone else"s.

I can do that? Will had never thought it was possible, so he had never given thought to try it.

Of course, The voice took a gentler tone. How do you think you can give people the aura? How do you think you"ve kept Maya alive well past the time she was supposed to die? Will had never thought of how he gave the gift to others, he had never figured out the answer to how he was helping Maya, but now it was staring him in the face.

You"re telling me that the King"s Flame is some sort of battery? He didn"t know how better to describe it.

He heard the voice within him draw out a sigh. I forgot that"s what you all have been calling it these days. Will was confused at the voice"s apparent disapproval. Yes, for lack of time, the "King"s Flame" acts as a conduit for power. You can release all of the aspects of this power, yet none the aspects will ever be as powerful as the wielder who owns the master flame him or herself.

You"re going to have to run that by me one more time. The more the voice spoke to him, the more he was confused. Will could tell that the voice had a lot of experience with the aura, as much as Cainus had. Even though he was so insightful, Will couldn"t make heads or tails of what the voice was saying.

The Master Flame is the gold outlining within the aura. It shows the vast maturity of the aura compared to the average wielder. Where there are master flames, you have the one known as the Omni Flame, which controls all elements. Will felt lucky that the span of a thought was only a second within normal time, or he would have felt stupid floating in the air with his nemesis only feet away waiting for another attack.

"Are you planning on attacking anytime soon, or should I end this?" The cloud of darkness evaporated from around Aremesis. His face was pulsing with dark veins as he waited for Will to continue his a.s.sault. "I won"t wait much longer."

You have all you need to defeat my brother within you, William. Trust your instincts. With that, the voice was gone.

"Brother?" Will was confused for only a second. If Aremesis is the G.o.d of darkness, I was just speaking to his brother? Will couldn"t help but let out a laugh as he put away his sword.

Will"s actions grabbed Aremesis"s attention. "Something funny little worm?" He said with a raised eyebrow. "Not that it matters, soon you will die." Lifting his sword, he readied himself for another strike. "Though, I would like some entertainment while you are still breathing."

"The entertainment you will receive is not from me, Aremesis." Will said as he dropped back to the ground beside Bianca. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he did something he had never done before, but felt as right to him as breathing.

Where his hand rested, the aura from his flame gathered, feeding into Bianca"s light. "Sorry it took so long for me to figure this out." He said to her with a wry smile.

As his aura drained into Bianca, her light became even more overwhelming than before. "I"ve included something else besides this power, do you understand?" he said with a wink.

"I"ll make sure it gets where it belongs." Bianca said as she focused her attention on Aremesis. "I remember you, Aremesis." The dark lord turned his attention to the white and gold aura. "I remember your voice whispering to me in that dungeon, I remember you telling me to abandon hope in Will."

"You should have listened to me, girl." He spat venomously. "If you did, you wouldn"t have to die here."

"No one is dying today," she said as she pointed her staff at Aremesis. "But you are going back where you belong." Bianca focused her aura into a large beam of light, too large for Aremesis to avoid.

Within the beam of light, laughter rang out from all corners of the field. "YOU MAY HAVE FREED MY VESSEL, BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO BANISH ME."

Will struggled with the large amount of energy it took to maintain Bianca"s beam of light. Just as she was going to release it from exhaustion, a huge wave of power hit Will. He had never felt such raw flame before. His aura shifted from crimson and gold to something new.

Bianca and Will were standing in what seemed to be a pure ultraviolet flame. The power was overwhelming to bare, but Will kept his hand firmly planted on Bianca"s shoulder, feeding her the power he knew would be enough.

The white beam of light expanded until it hit all of the castle and courtyard, every shadow in every crack of the city was exposed to the light. That is but a taste of the power you will attain in the future, William. Will heard the voice of the stranger in his head once more.

"YOU CANNOT CONTROL THIS REALM FOREVER, BROTHER! I WILL RETURN!" Aremesis boomed throughout the field.

"And I will be here every time to stop you, Aremesis." Bianca was startled when she realized the voice behind her was not the voice of Will, but of a stranger. She tried to turn in her fright, but the hand squeezed tightly on her shoulder. "Focus on what lies in front of you, Bianca." He said as he fed more power through her.

Aremesis"s curses died down to a whisper throughout the field, no louder than a wisp of wind through the trees. The moment the voice subsided, the darkness around Jake disappeared, leaving him falling for the earth.

Before his head hit the ground, Leo sent a gust of wind below Jake to slow his descent. He laid his best friend"s brother down on the gra.s.sy plain softly before turning to the ultraviolet aura. For once since his journey with Will started, Leo"s breath was caught in his throat. Behind Bianca was a pillar of pure power being fed into her. Will was no longer visible within the surge of power.

"WILL!" Leo shouted as the flame finally died out, leaving a sleeping Will on the ground.

"WILL!" Leo"s voice was mimicked by a worried Maya who came up beside Will. "Will, wake up!" She took him in her arms and shook him. "He"s barely breathing!"

"You still have to take me to a theme park," Maya said softly as she brushed a strand of his hair from his face. "You still have to get me pizza, and a new dress, and show me how planes work."

Leo put a hand on Maya"s shoulder. When she looked up, there were no tears in his eyes as he stared at Will. "He will wake up eventually Maya, he is just exhausted from all of that power."

"When?" She asked while cradling Will"s head. "When is he going to wake up?"

"That"s up to him to decide." Said a voice from behind Leo. "Let"s just let him rest for now." Maya turned to see who the intruder was which spoke with such authority. She was shocked to see a face she had only seen in pictures her whole life. It felt like she was looking into the eyes of an aging Will. "Let my son rest for now, for when he wakes," He turned back to the castle. "The real work will begin."