The Netherling Curse

Chapter Two

"What the hell happened?" Knight yelled. He kicked a rock and started grumbling to himself.

"Where are we?" Luke asked.

Knight swirled around and glared at Luke and started advancing on him. "You shouldn't be here! I'm sending you back." Knight turned towards a giant oak tree that is standing in the middle of a clearing in the forest we are in. Half of it is lit up and the other half is darkened by shadows. He started running his fingers through grooves on the tree, muttering under his breath.

I couldn't even focus on the fact that Luke is here. It's just so beautiful. It's like God couldn't decide whether it should be night or day so half of the land is sunny and beautiful with the lushest rose and flower bushes I'd ever seen. That half of the forest looked like it was peeled off the pages of a story book. The other half however is cast in shadow and darkness. The trees have no leaves and the branches twist up in grotesque shapes, constantly shifting and forming new arches. The trees groan and creak as they shift. Movement catches my eye and I swear I saw a tree pick up its roots and move to another spot, but as quickly as I thought I saw it, it was all still again. I looked up at the sky and saw that there is no sun AND moon here, but there is one sphere in the sky, half a bright yellow and the other a pale grey, both battling for reign of the sky.

"But where are we?" I could hear Luke ask again. I could barely hear him though, it sounded as if he's underwater. I turned to look at him and he appeared hazy and fuzzy around the edges too, like he's not all the way there. I turned to Knight and he winked at me.

"Did you do that?" I asked.

"Whatever do you mean?" He impishly turned back to the trunk and stared intently at it.

"Muffle him, or whatever you did to him."

"Oh I'm sure the human is just reverting back to his idiotic state." He chuckled under his breath.

"Knight..." I started.

He held up a finger to silence me. "Actually, it's Talon. And yeah, I cast a silencer spell on him. He thinks we're just ignoring him."

"Talon? Why have you let me call you Knight all these years?" I looked back at Luke who is still sitting on the ground; he was starting to look red in the face and like he's shouting.

Talon shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, it was cute when you were little. I never told you my name but you named me. Said I was your Knight in shining armor. I kind of liked the thought of being someone's hero, so I never corrected you."

"Why correct me now then?" I walked over to him and sat on the ground up against the tree.

He looked down at me and smiled. "You're in my world now and if you go around calling me Knight, people will think you're more insane then they already are."

"Wait, so is everyone around here crazy, or is that just you?"

He frowned and furrowed his brow. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that last part. And yes, they are more crazy than even the craziest people back in your dimension. And by the way, don't irritate me with comments like that. I can get pretty....hard to be around pretty easily. Just a word of caution."

"Okay. I guess I'll keep that in mind." I tucked a strand of blonde hair behind my ear. Wait, blonde? "Hey! What happened to my black hair?" I yelled.

Talon looked back down at me. "Oh, here everything will revert back to it's natural state. I was only half joking when I said the human was reverting back."

"The human has a name you know." I didn't know why I was getting all defensive over Luke now.

Talon scoffed. "Yeah, and I saw what that human did to you. I think 'the human' will suffice."

"Fair enough. So what are you trying to do with the tree?"

Talon sighed and dropped his hands. "I'm trying to send the human back, but for some reason the portal tree isn't cooperating. This is the eleventh time I've completed the pattern and nothing." Talon kicked the tree then leaned up against it. "I guess I can't avoid it any longer." Before I could ask what, he swiped his hand across the air and Luke came back into focus.

"And another thing wingboy, I really don't appreciate the damn silent treatment!" Luke screamed.

"Calm yourself human," Talon sighed. I stood up and brushed the twigs off of my dress.

"Oh, so now you can hear me! I'll keep that 'wingboy' thing in my mind. Seems to be the only thing that gets your attention." I rolled my eyes and saw Talon's eyes flash red.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Talon practically growled. I stepped away from Talon as his wings spread out behind him, spreading out to maybe fifteen feet. The light got darker around him and everything went eerily silent.

Luke backed up a few paces and held up his hands. "Okay, freak. I won't call you 'wingboy'."

Talon relaxed a little, rolled his eyes, and glanced my way. "You actually liked this guy?"

"Unfortunately." Luke winced and looked almost apologetic.

"About that Sera, I'm so,"

"Save it. I don't want to hear it." I looked back at Talon who hadn't taken his eyes off Luke, like he's some kind of threat.

"Right," Luke started. "So does anyone want to tell me what's going on?"

"Not particularly," Talon growled, "let's just say... you're not where you belong."

"Okay, well if you could just send me and Sera back, that would be great."

"I'm not going back." I whispered.

"What?! Why? Is this because of prom?"

Talon looked at me. "My reasons aren't any of your concern."

"So are we just going to stand here all day?" Luke asked after an awkward silence.

Talon clapped his hands. "I'm actually glad you brought that up. We need to head to the gold palace to send you back."

"The gold... You know what, I'm done questioning this," Luke muttered. Talon turned on his heel and started heading into the dark forest. "Whoa wings, wouldn't it be smarter to go through the sunny side?"

"'Wings' isn't an acceptable way to address me. For you, either 'My Highness' or 'Supreme Ruler of the Underworld' works. Nothing less." Talon broke off a branch and the tree hissed at him. He whispered something to the tree then started using the branch as a walking stick. "Now, boys and girls, the golden palace can only be reached by traveling through the Nether."

"I thought we were in the Nether already?" I asked Talon.

He whirled around and leaned up against his branch. "Nope. We're only in mid-country right now. The Nether is just across the dark forest. Trust me, after a mile it'll look better."

"But what about the sunny side of the forest? That looks a lot safer!" Luke whined.

Talon's eyes flashed purple. "On the other side of the light forest lies the Ether. The Etherlings look great and like they can be trusted, but trust me, they're monsters. They have no souls." Talon turned around and kept walking through the dark forest. "You can follow me if you'd like! If not, heed the creatures. They're not as nice and warm as I." He called over his shoulder.

I ran to keep up with him. "How can they not have souls?" I asked.

He smiles and glanced at me. "Tsk, tsk, Sera. Remember your lessons. If I need to refresh your memory, the empress of grey brainwashed half of the Netherlings into following her path. She told them that we could overthrow all the other dimensions and rule over everyone. But no one is ever supposed to have that much power. In order for her to gather up enough life force to open a portal to the other dimensions, she gathered up her followers' souls and placed them into her spell. That gnarled tree back at the clearing? It's a collection of over 10,000 souls."

"What happened to them?" Luke asksd.

"Them or their souls?" Talon asked.

"Both I guess."

Talon sighed. "Well, their souls live on in the tree in eternal agony. Having your soul ripped from your body is a terrible experience." Talon shuddered. "As to the bodies that once housed the souls, they became the Etherlings. They're not mindless per say, but they don't have much of a free will. If it goes against their mistress, then their bodies absolutely will not let them do it. They love inflicting pain however, probably because their queen enjoys it too."

"What do they look like?" I asked.

Talon quirked an eyebrow. "Much like me I suppose. Handsome, and devilishly so at that." He winked at me then and I heard Luke groan. "Seriously though, they do look a lot like Netherlings, just that, they have golden wings instead of black as night."

"What about the Netherlings? Do they have a queen?" I asked.

"Yes. But enough of that for now. I'm done playing teacher at the moment." I looked over to my right and through the trees, I saw some kind of dark creature prowling through the forest. It looked over at me with its glowing blue eyes as it kept up with our pace.

"Umm Talon?" I said as I kept my eyes on the creature.

"Mmhmm?"

"I think something's following us."

"Is there?" He looked over and winked at me.

"Seriously Talon, there's an animal following us!" I was getting really frustrated and kept nervously glancing to the right. The creature seemed like it's gotten closer to us.

"Eh, I'm not really concerned about it," Talon laughed maniacally.

It was only a few feet from us and I couldn't breathe. It looked as if it was about to come out and attack us. "Talon are you insane?" I shrieked.

Talon stopped and turned to look at both Luke and I. His eyes glowed blue just like the creature's and I took a few steps back. "You already know I am."

The creature's shadow stepped out on to the trail right behind Talon and stood up on it's back legs, it's face still cast in shadow. "Talon!" I screamed and pointed behind him.

He whirled around, his wings dropped below their usual resting place, and raised his hands. "Aravut! Don't sneak up behind me like that, you'll freak out our guest." He laughed and then did something truly insane: he embraced the creature.