43 A Civil War? (1/2)

I couldn't believe it. I had beaten them all so badly. Thengal's face. Well it didn't even look like a face anymore. It was just a bloody mess. My hands as well. They are covered in blood. I slowly got to my feet, nearly falling down at one more point. Once I was on my feet completely, still shaking and feeling complete and utter despair. I heard someone clapping.

My eyes instantly focused onto the noise. All I could see was the darkness of the hallway. But as the clapping got louder an old man walked into the room. He was wearing what seemed like normal robes, but on them I could see the occasional flicker of runes appear on the clothes. As well as that once he entered the hall, a pressure fell down onto me though I could tell that he wasn't doing it intentionally. It was just a natural pressure he was producing.

As he walked in, I also noticed that the ranger who was in charge of overseeing us was with him, but was standing back and every time his gaze landed on the old man, it was filled with a kind of reverence and fervour that I have never seen before. I then looked back at the old man.

'He must be really strong, for that kind of look from the ranger.'

Then what was more surprising, was Erebus who appeared seemingly by melting out of the shadows, like he was a part of the shadows themselves. What was even more surprising was that he too, fell in behind the old man.

'Just who is he?'

He walked straight through the room, his eyes never leaving mine. As he got closer to me, the pressure he was releasing was slowly getting stronger but this was only due to him being the source of it so the closer he is to me, the stronger the pressure will be.

Once he stood in front of me, the pressure itself disappeared as if it was never there at all. A let out of a breath, it was at that moment I realised that I had not really been breathing. A layed there panting like a dog for a few minutes. Once I was breathing normally, I slowly got to my feet. Standing in front of the man, all of the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as well as all of my senses were screaming at me to run. This man is dangerous.

After what seemed like an entirety of silence the man finally spoke. His voice was gravely and firm, which was in stark contrast to his appearance.

”So, you are the one I have been hearing so much about. Looking around it seems like there was a good reason for that. Come on now, get up. Come walk with me, we have much to talk about.”

I looked around at the others, their bloody bodies. Seeing me look at them, the old man had a slight smile on his face.

”Don't worry about them, they will be fine. I will have these to others here to see their injuries. Now come on then, these bones of mine won't last forever you know.”

He walked off towards the glass, which I had looked out of before. Arriving in front of it he muttered something and drew something into the air. Once he was finished, a white, glowing writing appeared in the air. It then imprinted itself onto the glass. Where it imprinted itself a doorway appeared in the glass, stunning me.

The old man walked on through the opening. He stopped a few minutes in, then turned back to look at me. ”Are you coming or would you like to become a skeleton before we talk.”

Sensing the annoyance in his voice, I stopped staring in astonishment and hurried after him. Once I was through the doorway, it sealed behind us. Contrary to my expectations, instead of becoming pitch black, the passage which we were now in, was well lit up.