So I haven't posted very often on here as of late, but that's because I've been writing my books and school started up and I created a new blog (on a different account). Anyways, I should probably put some more of the story up... oh, btw I changed the character dialogue to period elizabethan english so it's more beleivable and accurate, even if it doesn't flow as well. It took me FIVE HOURS to redo all of the dialog and that's only in what I've got written down in the first book! DX Oh well. Here ya go.
-CHAPTER 2-
-The province of Veronia, England-September 13th, 1431
Artemis looked up at the ranks of men. There were so little of them… His eyes widened in realization: He’d waited three years for this. Somehow it was just so appropriate to have his revenge now, on the eve of their destruction. If he killed them now, Averleigh would triumph. He could go home a hero.
“Lux lucis nex…” he chanted under his breath. A crackle of electricity formed in his palm and he stopped in his tracks. “Theca!” The blue light enveloped the soldiers and electrocuted them. They writhed in the neon flames for a few moments; screaming in agony. Then, quietly, like a feather drifting to the ground, they fell before him in a shining heap of armored bodies.
Julius turned at the sound of screams to find every single one of his men dead, nothing but lifeless corpses; his best friend looking at him from across the hallway with an air of amusement. Artemis stood with his arm outstretched, energy still glowing in his hand; the sick smile of a madman painted on his face. His eyes burned with excitement and hatred, daring him to fight.
Julius stood aghast for a moment; the fear and surprise plain to read within his shrinking pupils and half-open mouth. In a moment it turned into teeth clenched in anger; his eyes grew fierce and unforgiving; and in that moment he knew. It was true that he did not understand why, but he knew.
“You BASTARD!”
he screamed unsheathing one of his swords.
He knew his best friend was a traitor.
He ran forth at him in a blaze of fury; Artemis turned to dodge his sword by mere inches and took out his staff. He whispered something in Latin and it glowed with a bright intensity, and he swung it at Julius’ head as he turned back around. Julius became afraid for a second- if that touched him surely he would die…! He back flipped to avoid it; sprung on his hands back to his feet and charged at him again. Artemis flipped his staff and shoved the wooden end of it into Julius’ gut. He choked with the pain and staggered back, left hand instinctively moving to his stomach. Artemis took advantage of this momentary weakness and sprung upon him; the jewel atop his staff aimed downward. Julius bent backwards; he touched his hands to the ground and pushed off, catching Artemis’ staff between his legs as he flipped; wrenching it from his grasp and catapulting it across the hall. He landed on his feet and panted; wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He ran back at Artemis; who in turn ran at him. Julius swung his sword in an effort to decapitate him, but Artemis crouched down below it and used the momentum to slide down the corridor. He ground his heel into the floor to stop himself and grabbed his staff off the ground as he rose. Artemis laughed to himself. Such fun! This was even more fun than he’d expected it would be.
They turned around to face each other.
Julius no longer saw the face of his friend. Here was the placid insanity of a madman. A sadistic psychopath.
A stranger.
Artemis too saw something, but it was not Julius. In his’ mind’s eye, before him stood the Late King, Julius’ father; his ghostly visage replacing the pleasant man he once knew.
And that was all Artemis could see.
A sadistic light danced across his eyes.
He was getting his revenge.
They both charged. Artemis brought his staff down upon Julius’ head, but it was stopped mere centimeters away. Julius had pulled out his other sword and crossed them in an X, keeping the deadly tip of the staff from touching him. They put all the energy they had into their action; Artemis pushed the staff towards his head with all his might, and Julius pushed it away from him with all of his, but in was soon apparent to Artemis that it would go nowhere; they were of equal strength and neither would win this way. He; however, had an advantage. He had magick.
He smiled wickedly and there was laughter in his eyes. “Silens nex.” he whispered as his eyes glowed an electric blue.
Julius tried to move away as he recognized the Latin phrase—silent death. An electrical charge went through the victim and created confusion of the heartbeat. It was essentially a magick induced heart-attack, and although it took a few minutes for the victim’s heart to stop beating entirely, it was a practical and relatively humane way of killing, and for that it was highly regarded as the best way to put someone out of their misery.
For a moment the world slowed down; a bright blue light coursed through the staff, conducted by Julius’ two crossed swords through his hands, his arms, his chest, finally reaching his heart, all within mere milliseconds; the hazel of his iris’ mixed with the crackles of electric blue as his mouth opened in a silent scream. He fell back and stumbled down to the floor; ending up in an awkward sprawled out position on his knees. He clutched his heart, his eyes grew wide, and his breathing became short, spastic gasps. His bangs fell over his eyes and a shadow enveloped his face. He knew he was going to die. He looked up at the man before him; the purple-clad figure beginning to blur around the edges.
Artemis face had gone rather blank. A quiet emotionless played across his eyes. Julius looked up at him, and even though Artemis could not see his eyes he could sense a sort of pleading in the expression. Confusion. Fear. Greif. He could see it on his face; it emanated from him.
In under a minute he had taken his entire life away.
He did not know it yet, but that picture would remain in his memory forever. He would dream of it almost every night, that moment where he broke a man’s spirit... the day he killed part of himself. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.
He walked up to the man dying on the ground and his face grew dark. The image of Julius’ father had disappeared when he’d fallen to the ground. Artemis stood quietly watching his friend die; the only sound to be heard was a tiny whimpering, short, small, erratic gasps for air.
He stood there for ages; for all eternity, it seemed.
There was a deafening silence, it blanketed emotions, thoughts, feelings; covering the whole world in a ghostly shell where all meaning was lost and time did not exist. A snowfall, peaceful and quiet. Full of death and destruction, but peaceful and quiet all the same.
Artemis saw what he had done, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. He felt a sensation of tranquility; desolate, and empty. A strange thought began to form in his head, but he dismissed it before it got a chance to be heard.
_____
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