Chapter 6: A deadly shadow

The light finally vanished and the second princess found herself in a small cave. In all four directions there were corridors leading god knows where. But the princess didn’t panic. She had trained all life for this and she was quiet confident in her abilities. First she deployed a shield in case of an ambush. “Spirit of the water lend me your strength and protect me from my enemies: WATER SHIELD!” With a quiet shout she completed her incarnation and a faint blue sphere started to surround the princess.

She took in a deep breath than started to move. There was no light present except for the lightly glowing sphere surrounding her. It was kind of a flow stone cave, the ground was uneven and it was difficult to move. She was quiet nervous. There was no telling where her siblings were and shadow beasts could attack any time. Just as she thought that she heard felt a presence behind her and she jumped around. There were two spots of blackness that were much darker than the darkness around them. Shadow beasts. She couldn’t make out what kind but that was unimportant, quick and decisive action was the key.

She immediately started casting: “Spirit of the water lend me your strength and destroy the enemies before me: WATER BULLET!” Before they could attack the two spots of darkness were bombarded by bullets made of water that constantly rained out of her shield. She stopped the rain of bullets when she felt the presence vanish. But with that noise she had to be extra careful now. Slowly she advanced towards one of the corridors. The corridors themselves weren’t very long and made of plain stone. She passed two caves one bigger and one smaller than the first but she didn’t encounter anything. This isn’t right! There are supposed to be countless shadow beasts down here.

Just as she thought that her foot bumped into something. In the faint light she couldn’t make it out so she whispered: “Spirit of the water lend me your strength and enlighten the path before me: WATER ILLUMINANCE!” A blue glow started to spread from her at the center and the scene before her eyes shocked her to an extent that can’t be described with words. There were hundreds of Shadow beast bodies around her. And they were all around her even on the way she came from. Yes all those shadow beasts had been killed almost directly next to her without her even noticing a presence.

Suddenly her eyes fell on a small figure sitting about ten meters in front of her on a broken stalactite. He looked around fourteen years old but she knew better. The youth in front of her was 11 years old had long dark hair bound to a pony tail. His black eyes that had a slight tilt to them giving him a slight exotic look. He was definitely good looking but in a cold cruel way. His face radiated coldness and the killing intent that was suddenly released from this small figure was thick and intense. The second princess could not comprehend it. The useless dropout, he was of no concern! He cannot have done this.

He looked at her and slightly tilted his head. When she met his eyes she knew she had been wrong. Wrong all this time. He wasn’t the weakest. He was the demon in appearance of a sheep. His eyes only promised one thing: Death. His killing intent alone left her unable to think about running away let alone using any magic.

He slowly got up and said: “Dear sister, so nice of you to join me.” Relaxed as if they had just met by coincidence in the park he leisurely walked towards her. The princess had finally given in, her mind went blank and with a scream she prepared to fire all the magic she had in her towards this… thing. But before she could even so much as gather her energy she suddenly felt a piercing pain from behind. She looked down and from her left breast the tip of a dagger showed. She could only whisper: “How?” But at that moment life had allready left her. The dark shadow behind her silently vanished into the darkness while the image of the boy standing before the body of the princess slowly disappeared.

The fourth prince didn’t hesitate. As soon as the light vanished he immediately set up his defenses in case of any attacks. He possessed a combination of earth wind and lighting. And he was good at using all of them so he was quiet confident that he could at least put up a fight against anybody. “Spirit of the earth lend me your strength and become the shield against my enemies: EARTH ARMOR!” Within the blink of an eye a thin layer of earth had covered his entire body. The thickness can be misleading, it is as hard as steel. He followed that up with: “Spirit of the wind lend me your strength become a shield that protects me: WIND SPHERE!” At first one could think nothing happened but if you payed close attention, the air around the prince was in constant movement. Anything coming in contact with that sphere of slicing winds that surrounded him would be ripped to shreds.

Now as for light. “Spirit of lighting lend me your strength engulf my body and enhance my senses become one and let me experience your might: THUNDER FORM!” Suddenly his entire body became clad in lighting and started shining. This was a high ranking lighting spell that could only be learned once you had reached the sixth rank. It would clad the body in lighting enhancing reflexes, speed and strength. An added bonus was the light so the prince could see the flow stone cave he was in. Before he could even take in his surroundings he saw the small figure of a boy standing about ten meters away from him. A nasty smile started to form on his face. Look at that the dropout he thought. Lucky my first encounter is a tasty starter… how could he have known?

He was about to raise his voice when the boy suddenly disappeared. The prince was dumbfounded. Had he dreamed? No he was sure that the 17th prince stood there just a moment ago. Then where… Before he could even end that thought a pain he never felt before bloomed in his chest. He looked down and ignoring the lighting on his body ignoring the layer of earth ignoring the sphere of wind a two feet long dagger clad with something that looked like moving shadows struck deep into his chest. On the other side of that dagger was his brother who said with a smile that could freeze hell over: “Good night… Brother.” Just like that his life ended.