The Heart of Darkness

As the battle raged on around us I quickly looked around hoping to find Malefore. I kept looking from Sarah to Annabeth making sure they weren’t in any trouble. Annabeth was nothing short of a graceful assassin. She slashed through every single creature that got in her way. The creatures stood about five feet high, had varying dark shades of green, brown, purple and black skin. Their teeth were totted and blackened as were their tongues. They wore tattered, yet tough, body armor and held blunt fierce weapons. The swordsmen were up in the front while the archers stood back hoping to eliminate us from far away. I signaled to Sarah and Annabeth to follow me, we were going to attack the archers.

We rushed through the ranks of soldiers slashing and killing any of them that got in our way. I jumped over a group of them and landed right in front of the archers. I swung my sword left and right hacking off the limbs of the creatures. Killing them one by one, and as I did I felt a surge of adrenaline pulse through me. The blade felt weightless in my hands, like it was a part of me. I caught one of the creatures starring me in the eyes, and I stared back into his sickly yellow eyes. He drew an arrow at me and prepared to fire, but Sarah shot first killing him. Annabeth watched this and I could see a jealous look in her eyes. She took two daggers from her belt and slashed at a small group of creatures, throwing one of them in an arc and stabbing the rest with the other. The thrown dagger flew in a circle cutting the throats of every single creature in its path and finally coming back to rest in Annabeth’s hand when she caught it. She winked at me, I winked back and that’s when I seen him. Directly behind Annabeth, about a mile away, hovering in the air, wings flapping was Malefore, still in his human form.

Annabeth seen my reaction and looked behind her, by the time she turned back around I was already flying towards Malefore. Had I stayed long enough for her to turn back around things might’ve played out differently, but nevertheless I was determined to kill Malefore and to have revenge for Mal’s death. I landed just below him and shouted his name. He looked down and just dismissed me; this made me even madder. I launched myself into the air and swung my sword at his face. He blocked it easily and swung back. I tackled him after I blocked his sword and we crashed to the ground. He never said a word; he just came after me with his obsidian blade. He pounded my sword with blow after blow and with each strike I could feel myself getting weaker. Then I remembered the scream and evil laugh I heard during my shadow travels. This time though, I was plagued with a vision; an evil black dragon with bloodstained claws. He looked pleased with himself and he was standing over a body. The body belonged to Annabeth, Malefore had killed her, and this is what would happen if I didn’t end his life here and now.

I felt a new strength surge through me and I knocked the sword from his grasp. I went to strike his heart but he rolled away from me. I did manage to leave a gash in his side and I watched the blood slowly seep from it. He gripped his side and bared his teeth. He growled at me and swung full force towards me. I ducked and uppercut his stomach, then swung my left leg into his legs knocking him off balance and sent him crashing to the ground. I kicked his sword away and held my blade at a downward angle, I was aiming for his heart.

“Frodo no!” I heard my father shout and that’s what saved him. My blade pierced Malefore’s body but not his heart, his right side close to his hip.

“You damn fool. What’d you do that for?” he growled at me. He winced as I drove the blade even further in him.

“You tried to kill my father, you killed my best friend, you killed my brother, almost killed my sister, tried to kill me, and you would’ve killed the woman I love if I hadn’t stopped you.” I shouted.

“You simple minded idiot. I didn’t try to kill you; I tried to kill the guy behind you. That was my job.” He shouted back struggling to speak from all the pain.

“You killed my best friend Mal, and you tried to strangle me Malefore!” I shouted getting right up in his face.

“My name is Terrador you dumb shit! I work for your father!” he shouted back. A small amount of blood squirted out of the wound my sword still protruded from. I thought for a minute that maybe the man who called himself Terrador was lying, but my gut told me he wasn’t. If he was telling the truth, then why had my father ordered him to kill Mal?

“You had his sword, The Mark of the Devil’s Soul Eater, why did you have that if you aren’t Malefore? Why did you try to stab me with it after you got thrown out the window?”

“The Council has a mist of their own remember? You only saw what I wanted you to. I fought Malefore in that room that day. I tried to knock you out by cutting off your oxygen, I took his sword and tried to kill him, but I failed. He still lives.”

“Even if that was true, you killed my best friend instead. I’ll never forgive you for that. How do I even know you’re telling me the truth? Show me proof that you aren’t Malefore. Show me proof!” He weakly raised his hand and pointed behind me. I turned around and the blood in my veins seemed to turn to ice water. He had jet black hair, and baggy clothes, the same thing he had on the day I met him. The familiar eyes greeted me, and the same smile, but his presence was darker this time.

“Hello Frodo.” Mal said.

“It can’t be. Dude, you’re dead.” I replied.

“True, very true. If this guy had had it his way I would’ve been. Stupid Terrador, don’t you remember that those that use that mark besides me are killed for using it, in one way or another?” he spoke to the man lying behind me.

“He’s telling the truth…but how did you survive? I watched you die. You died right in my fucking arms!”

“I always loved theatrical performances. Your trip down memory lane made it all the sweeter too. I almost stood up and applauded when you said that I was the real leader and hero. Tear jerking performance really.” He then chuckled darkly. I couldn’t believe what all of this implied, but I had to here it for myself.

“Mal, who are you really?” I asked.

“Wow, you’re even stupider than I gave you credit for. There were a ton of clues that gave away my identity the whole damn time. I was a descendent of the Ephors, Mal the Ephor. Put the two together. Hell, I speak Spanish, what’s my name translated from Spanish?” he asked.

“Bad. Mal-ephor. Malefore.” I said. I was dumbstruck; my enemy was with me the whole time. He walked passed me and plucked my sword from Terrador’s side tossing it away from us. I turned and watched Malefore take the obsidian blade, the sword he wielded thousands of years ago, and had been nearly killed with, and decapitate Terrador with it. He then picked up the head and tossed it into a group of creatures. They scrambled for it like a pack of rabid wolves.

“So where does that leave us Frodo? Still friends, or do you still wish to kill me?” he asked. It felt liked he’d just asked me if I would choose to kill either my mother or father. I was best friends with Mal, but I wanted to make Malefore pay for everything he’d done. I couldn’t separate the fact that Mal and Malefore weren’t two people. They were one and the same, and I needed to defeat him once and for all. I walked over and picked up my sword. I turned and faced him, determination set before me; I would either kill Malefore or die trying. No retreat, no surrender. That was until Malefore struck. “Tsk, tsk Frodo. I didn’t want to do this but you’ve left me no choice.” He then transformed before my eyes; his limbs growing in length and in size. He sprouted black wings and his teeth became razor like and wicked sharp. Long horns spiraled out of his head and he flew above my head and flew at a fast pace towards a silver armored warrior; Annabeth.

“Annabeth, get out of here!” I shouted. I went to use my ring to teleport her to my side but I was soon overwhelmed by creatures. I watched numerous soldiers of all species of our army move to intercept Malefore but they all fell to his powers. My powers overwhelmed me and I sent a wave of power towards my attackers throwing them off to the sides. I ran over to Malefore and then I heard an ear splitting scream, the same scream that’d haunted my dreams for some time. I saw Annabeth’s body drop to the ground. I staggered towards her, I thought for certain that Malefore would finish us both right there and then, but he just stood by. I collapsed to my knees and picked up Annabeth’s body. She was still breathing, but barely. I knew my water powers wouldn’t be of any use, she’d been struck with shadow. The wounds were fatal if not treated immediately, if I had the Mask of Life I could’ve saved her. She weakly opened her beautiful brown eyes to look at me.

“Frodo…I’m so sorry about the other day.” She whispered.

“No, don’t be. That was my stupidity. Don’t worry about that, just save your strength, you’re going to pull through this.” I whispered back. I could feel the tears pour from my eyes; I couldn’t believe this was happening.

“No, I need to apologize. I didn’t mean what I’d said. I don’t hate you Frodo. I love you, with all of my heart. I’ve always loved you, and it never stopped. Before I left I just wanted you to know.” She said. “Kiss me, one last time?” she asked me weakly. I nodded my head and kissed her lips. I lifted her head close to me, and whispered; “I love you too Annabeth.” But by then it was too late, she was dead. I thought back to what happened two days ago…

The first day on our leave went well, I spent the entire day at home with mom and eventually we went to go see a movie. She was excited to see me home and still alive, but was somber about the fact I’d met my father and that the last day of my reprieve would be spent with him. The following day I invited Hera out to dinner with me around six o’clock, but apparently the universe had different plans for me, and it all began with the ringing of a doorbell.

“I’ve got it.” I shouted to mom. I walked up to the door and my jaw almost dropped at the sight of Hera standing there. “Hey.” I said.

“Hey, you going to invite me in?” she asked.

“Sure, by all means come on in.” I said. She was wearing blue jeans and a black tank top.
Her dark hair was let down and full of curls. She was a perfect image of beauty. She said hi to mom and sat down on the couch. I took up the seat beside her and found that I couldn’t stop staring at her.

“So what brings you here so early? I thought we were meeting at the restaurant at six.”

“We were but I decided to call and cancel the reservations and thought we could spend the day together, just the two of us. Is that ok with you Ms. Ward?”

“Sure thing honey, just tell me where you need to go and I’ll take you there.” Mom said. I suspected that they’d secretly planned this together; momma was never this complacent with any change of plans. I figured I’d just roll with it and see where things went.

“You a good swimmer Frodo?” Hera asked me. I was shocked at her question to be honest. She’d passed up a dinner at a fancy restaurant for some cramped and dirty public pool?

“I’m fair enough, why?” I asked.

“Cause, provided your mom has no issues, we’re swimming out to an island.” she said.

“Which island?” I asked.

“I’ll give your mom the directions. It’s an island I’ve only visited once in my lifetime, it’s truly remarkable, I loved it there. You can’t tell anyone Frodo, understand?” she asked. Well, true to my word, I wouldn’t tell a soul. We drove for what felt like hours until we reached a small dock, we’d changed into swimsuits and dived right into the water. We decided to just lie out on the sand and let the sun dry us. She jus collapsed onto the beach, not caring in whatever position her body ended up. I laid down and put my arms behind my head. We ended up having a cloud finding game, which she won for finding a cloud that looked like the Eifel Tower. I’d seen one earlier that looked a lot like a dragon ready to strike but didn’t tell her. It was our day and nothing was going o spoil it, much less that stupid competition. I’d left the necklace that I kept the sword keychain and ring on at home on my dresser, but soon I felt something heavy drop into my pocket. I didn’t even bother to check, I knew they were there.

It made me think of the things my father said to me, about how he had left his family to hunt down Malefore. That he had only left to keep his family safe. It also got me thinking about who I’d be if something happened to Annabeth, and I could have prevented. She’d almost been a hydra and troll’s snack, and almost got killed by Malefore himself. If anything happened to her I couldn’t ever live with myself, if anyone I loved had gotten hurt I couldn’t. It occurred to me right then and there, I’d fallen in love with Annabeth. All the things I’d said earlier, about her being a slut and all, it was a lie, every bit of it. True she could be a mean bitch when she wanted to be but then again who couldn’t? Now that I’d gotten to know the real her, the girl who I noticed had moved and laid her head on my chest and snuggled up against me, I realized that I loved her, and any moment either she or I could be taken from each other at any moment. I knew what had to be done.

“Being my girlfriend is hazardous to your health.” I said.

“True as that may be, it’s all worth it.” she replied.

“You’re so beautiful Annabeth.”

“Thanks Frodo.” she said snuggling closer to me.

“It’s all worth it, what do you mean?” I asked.

“Look at some of the things I’ve gone through to help you, and to be with you; I’ve fought hydras, trolls, and an ungodly ancient dragon. I’ve followed you from one end of this country to the other, and nearly halfway around the world, all for you. I’d do anything for you Frodo.”

“I’m sorry for scaring you during the shadow travel.” I said. She raised up a bit her eyes with a questioning look in them. “Missouri remember? You screamed.”

“No I didn’t Frodo, I never screamed.” she said. That worried me a bit because I swear I heard a scream and it sounded a lot like Annabeth screaming. She then went back to laying on my chest. “You want to know something Frodo?” I nodded my head. “You remember when we were in Greece, and you got to go back to the Battle of Thermopylae?” I nodded again. “I made Mal and Elijah swear not to tell you this but, when you died, I found myself crying. I ran over to you and shook you, trying to bring you back. Nothing would work, Elijah walked over and began chanting some sort of spell, but Mal waved him off. He knelt down beside me and whispered; ‘Give him a reason to live.’ And I whispered; ‘You can’t be dead.’ Elijah was screaming for us to move, that he had to act fast if we wanted you to live, Mal decked him. ‘You can’t be dead, you have to get up. I love you too damn much to let you go. That’s right Frodo, I love you. I think I always have, so you have to get up.’ Whether it was my words, or the fact you’re too damn stubborn to die, you started breathing again. I looked up at Mal and he was smiling. I looked at the two of them and told them not to breathe a word of this, or they’d wake up dead.” she said. I was in shock, and it showed. “What’s wrong?” she asked looking up at me.

“You love me?” I asked.

She smiled. “Yes Frodo, I love you, very much.” We then shared one long passionate kiss, the kiss she shouldn’t have given me, for it would haunt me throughout the next few weeks.

“Annabeth, I can’t.” I said and started to get up. I stood up and started walking away.

“You can’t what?” she asked.

“Be with you. This competition is getting more and fiercer, on top of it all I’m going after Malefore after this competition is over, providing I’m still alive. That’s also why you aren’t coming with me.”

“Excuse me? Who has saved your ass on numerous occasions? Who brought your ass back to life? I bear my heart and soul to you and you hit me with this? What sort of an insensitive bastard are you Frodo Ward?!”

“Hera, if you got hurt or died and I knew that there was something I could have done to prevent it I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I can’t stand the thought of losing you; I don’t want you to have your heart ripped out by watching me die.” I shouted.

“No, you just decided to do it yourself. I take back everything I just told you Frodo, I hate you!” she shouted. I’m not sure which hurt worse; the fact I’d just hurt the greatest thing to ever happen to me, or the fact I’d pulled this ridiculous act, it backfired, and now I could never tell her how I really felt about her. But everything I had told her was truth, half of it any way.

“I’ll send you back home.” I pulled the ring out of my pocket and slipped it on.

“Don’t bother, I’ll find my own ride.” she said and then turned her back to me. I opened up my own shadow portal and disappeared. I never seen what happened to her afterward, but if I had I could have foreseen the events that would follow and maybe even prevented them.

Hera swam back to the shoreline and hailed a taxi. She got inside and gave him the address. He looked back at her and whispered; ‘Hello Hera. Nice to see you again.’ She wanted to scream but found she couldn’t. ‘We have a lot to talk about my dear, so be a good girl and have a seat. I mean you know harm I assure you, I just want to talk.’

“You…you…you’re…” she stuttered.

“Yes dear, I’m Malefore.” he said to her.

Present day…

I opened my eyes and looked at Annabeth, the light had left her eyes and her body was cold and limp. I closed her eyes and laid her body on the ground. I looked up at the black dragon standing before me. “I’ll let you take her back to your camp, so that she may have a decent burial at least. Then you and I will finish this.” he said. I nodded and picked her body up. I looked around and seen all the fighting had stopped, they were all watching me; human, elven, dwarven, shadow ghoul, and creature. I walked the body back to my father and laid her down. Tears filled my eyes as I did.

“We can retreat now. Malefore won’t care; he’s been betrayed like this before. It’s up to you son.” he said. I didn’t raise my head to meet his gaze. I shook my head at him and turned to walk back to Malefore.

“I’m ending this fight here and now.” I said. I walked towards the dragon who’d taken on a more adult form of Mal. “This ends now Malefore.” I said.

“Agreed.” he replied and raised his sword above his head. I didn’t respond I just held my head low. He lowered his sword a bit in confusion. “Why won’t you fight back?” he asked me.

“Because you’ve left me nothing to fight for.” I replied. It was true. I knew I still had my mom and dad, and there was also Sarah, but I’d accepted the fact that Annabeth was my one and only. There was no one else but her. Without her I’d lost my will to go on, to keep on fighting.

“I understand Frodo. I’ll make it quick.” he said. He raised his sword again and stabbed me in the stomach, he’d lied. He wanted me to suffer, no; he wanted to make my dad suffer. To watch and be able to do nothing as his son suffered and died. I looked up and could see the smug evil grin on Malefore’s face. I then heard someone shout an order to attack. I could see the Council running over to me, with my father leading them. Malefore returned to his dragon form and the carnage began again. I could feel myself becoming warmer, it felt good. I just wanted to close my eyes and drift off into a nap, a never ending one. The last thought on my mind as my vision grew dark; I wanted to see Annabeth one more time. I looked over to her and could see her smiling face. For a moment I thought I could make out a massive shape coming towards us, but I didn’t care. I just drifted off, with Annabeth’s smile still in my head. I smiled one more time and let the shadows take me.