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“Knox called another meeting; we need to head back.” Madden ground out, quickly looking away from the last place we saw Halley.
With a nod, I turned back, Madden and I trudging along the path to the castle in silence. Wisps of Darkness floated around us, covering the expanse of the realm so that no rays of sun shone through. We were all living in complete darkness; it seemed fitting for how I felt on the inside as well. The only relief from my morbid thoughts was that Halley’s last words had rung true. The three men that understood how I felt, if not more, were by my side each day. They didn’t give me a smile in the morning, there were few of those these days, but they were there nonetheless. Kalani and Maeve were by our sides as well. I had wondered if the loss of Halley would tear us apart, she was the tether between us all, but if anything, it had brought us closer, mourning her together made the pain a little easier.
“What’s the meeting about today?” I asked, keeping an eye out for the creatures that lurked in the Darkness.
For now, they generally kept to the shadows, allowing us reprieve in the castle, but I knew that wouldn’t last forever. And I knew we couldn’t live in the castle for the rest of our lives. There weren’t many Divines left, only a few thousand, but the living conditions were cramped. Madden echoed my thoughts with his next words.
“The people are restless. There’s no space. And the Darkness is fucking creepy.”
As if on cue, a screech broke through our conversation, the sound of the creatures nearby. Looking at each other, Madden and I nodded, before he shifted and the two of us broke out into a sprint, heading back to the safety of our castle.
???
When I first laid eyes on the castle, I was in awe. In fact, I think most of the Divines were. We didn’t have places like this on the human realm. Similar to Sanctum Library, the entirety of the structure was made of trees, intertwining in an unnatural way to create doors, floors, and walls. The glass windows decorating the walls reflected the shadowy sky, creating an ominous glow. The castle was large, easily big enough to fit a few hundred people, but we had thousands. Because of this Knox and Hank, his father, had taken it upon themselves to build shelters on the outer grounds of the castle, still within the protective shield, for others to live. The grounds were covered with multiple gardens, the plants still alive after all these years, allowing our people to eat what the gardens grew.
Currently, Madden and I walked through the shelters, thousands of Divine families milling about. Children ran throughout the area, boisterous and loud. Some of them were starting to get their powers, much earlier than anticipated. We had heard the rumors passed down for centuries that Divines manifested their powers earlier on Agrum Di Vinum, but now we were seeing the truth. Due to the increase of kids with powers, Eli had formed a small school, trying to teach them control.
A man and woman stood outside the entrance to the castle, nodding as Madden and I approached. Everyone was allowed inside the castle, but Knox hadseenthat some of the Divines would not be happy with the predicament we were in and try to loot the building to garner things for themselves alone. Once Knox had the vision, we had asked old Guard members to protect the doors, making sure we were all safe. Of course, they never questioned Madden and I when we walked through the doors. Although most Divines had given up on returning to Agrum Di Vinum, we all knew the history. That the Heirs would take the throne and lead their people. And to my dismay, once we were here, everyone fell back on that history, treating the four of us as if we were real royalty, not just a bunch of regular Divines.
Knox glowed under the leadership role, using the opportunity to delve into creating a life for the Divines. Onlookers would think he was a strong leader, doing what was best for his people in a selfless manner. But I thought he worked so hard to ignore what was staring us in the face. Halley was gone and we weren’t getting her back.
Entering the large common area, we had decided to hold our meetings, I eyed the men and women in the room. Knox and Eli sat at the head of the table, two empty chairs on their sides for me and Madden. Kalani and Maeve sat to the right of them, several members from their communities adjacent. On the other side of the table, Knox and Eli’s fathers sat, with other members from the remaining community. Knox made it a priority to have a voice from every community in these meetings, making sure that all opinions were heard.
So far, these meetings had seemed useless to me. Besides decisions about shelter and food, we didn’t do much more. We had no leads on how to defeat the Darkness. No idea how to leave the castle without each and every one of us being massacred by the creatures that lived within. And I couldn’t help but think that no matter how much we celebrated returning to our home, we had only traded one prison for another.
Chapter Three
Knox
The group sitting around the table was the closest thing we currently had to a system in control. When we had ushered everyone past the Darkness and to the castle, they had regaled the four of us as their saviors and the Heirs to the throne of Agrum Di Vinum. I could do without the hero worship, but I soared under the weight of the world on my shoulders. I took more tasks under my belt than necessary; the perfect distraction to everything I had lost.
“Our people are starting to panic. We’ve been cooped up in these walls for almost four months and each day the Darkness seems to grow.” I addressed everyone, glancing out the window in front of me.
There was no light to be seen, only the inky clouds of destruction that covered Agrum Di Vinum. For four months, we had created a safe haven for the Divines. Together, we had created shelter, a rationing system for the food from the gardens, and a protection detail for the outer walls of the grounds. Madden had taken on the role of feeding the masses and building shelters for those staying outside of the castle. Wilder had dismantled the old and corrupt Guard, creating a new one and led them. Eli had even taken it upon himself to create a school for the younger Divines that were now manifesting their powers. And I had created a governing power, those in charge of making decisions for our people. And yet the one thing I failed to do, the one thing hanging over my head like a dangling knife, was figure out a way to defeat the Darkness. The one thing we came back here to do.
“What are our steps moving forward?” Gianna, an older woman from the west coast community questioned, her white eyebrows crinkling above her eyes.
The rest of the group murmured amongst themselves, clearly wondering the same thing. But the truth was, no matter what I said to placate the masses, I didn’t have some grand plan to save our realm. Our ancestors, the original leaders of Agrum Di Vinum, hadn’t been able to defeat the Darkness and they knew everything about this land. And now we were supposed to do what they couldn’t? Hell, we weren’t even sure what we could do anymore, the effects of Agrum Di Vinum playing with our powers in different ways. Plus, we didn’t have our Enchantress anymore and I was almost positive we couldn’t do this without her. I didn’t utter these words though, not wanting to bring more fear into these people’s lives.
“Moving forward, we are going to do everything to calm our people. We will continue on as we have been, continuing to build a home among the castle grounds. But I brought everyone here today to discuss a plan for beginning to defeat the Darkness.”
I waited for my words to settle and for everyone’s rapt attention to be on me. Once I was sure everyone was listening, I began to explain my plan. I hadn’t spoken to the others about it yet, wanting a buffer between us. Especially since Iknewhow each of them would react.
“We don’t know where the Darkness stems from or how to defeat the entity of it. However, we do know that it uses the creatures as an army. Our first step needs to be taking down the creatures.” I paused and murmurs broke out amongst the group sitting around the table.
We had all heard the sounds of the creatures throughout the day and night. The screams and howls were eerie and seemed to be the only noise to pierce through the dark.
“Who will fight the creatures? We don’t even know what they are.” Maeve questioned, sitting between Kalani and Eli.
Over the last four months, there hadn’t been a moment that Maeve wasn’t at Kalani’s side, the two grieving the loss of their friend together. And since Kalani spent most of her time with Madden or Eli, training her new creature, Maeve followed behind, the bond between all of us only growing in the time on Agrum Di Vinum.
Several others at the table spoke up as well, reiterating Maeve’s question and asking more such as when we would attack, who would protect the castle, and if those in charge would be among the fighters. Before more questions could be asked, I raised a hand, silencing the group.
“This will not be like our fight against the Hunters. No one will be forced to risk their life. We will take volunteers. The sooner we can attack, the better. After this meeting, we will spread the word and once volunteers amass, Wilder and the Guard will create an attack plan. Any Guard members that choose to not fight, will continue their duty of protecting the castle. And as for our leaders,” I glanced at the other three men surrounding me, stubborn expressions on each of their faces. “They will stay here and continue to protect and lead our people the best they can. You may all be dismissed now.”
The rest of the Council members began spilling out of the room and I could feel the tension building, the three men that I now considered family patiently waiting to freak out on me. I hadseentheir reactions, hence why I hadn’t wanted to tell them before this meeting. I knew each of them would already be planning their way into fighting against the creatures. But what Maeve said was the truth. We don’t know what they are or what they’re capable of. This will be our first step towards defeating the Darkness, but it could be disastrous. We could lose every man and woman that went outside the shield. Hence why we would only take volunteers. I refused for our leadership to be like the previous Council’s, sending innocent people to do the dirty work. If they didn’t want to fight, then they wouldn’t. Thankfully, I hadseenthat plenty of Divines would offer up their aid, wanting to get out of the castle.
The door shut behind my father, only six of us remaining. I patiently waited, knowing that the first outburst would come sooner rather than later.
