INTRODUCTION:
Lightning stretched across the dark sky, illuminating a large castle that stood atop a large cliff. Rain pounded heavily against the stone walls, echoing almost as loudly as the claps of thunder that filled the sky after each flash of lightning. In the center of the stone walls stood a large tower, covered in windows overlooking everything that surrounded the castle. To the south, was the ocean that crashed furiously against the rock cliff hundreds of feet below; to the west and east laid acres of forest as far as the eye could see; and to the north, lay some more forest, but at the end of the trees stood a small village.
Lightning cracked through the dark sky again, lighting up the ground for a split second for one traveler. The figure within the forest was tall and was wearing a large black raincoat, covering his entire body. As another crack of lightning forked across the sky, the figure looked up and watched the stream of light stretch itself across the night sky, as if it was reaching for the highest point on the castle. Lighting up the figure’s face, it was revealed to be man with very dark and cold eyes. His face was pale, but it couldn’t be told if it was normally like that, or from the freezing cold rain pounding against him.
He grinned as he saw the outline of the castle ahead of him, showing two large fangs that came out over his lips. “The throne will be mine Alexander, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” the man said to himself as he continued down the rain soaked dirt road towards the entrance to the castle. The man pushed open the large stone doors that blocked the entrance to the castle and stepped inside out of the rain. Pulling back his hood, he shook his head and got whatever water had accumulated in his black hair out. Removing his raincoat, he tossed it onto the hangers to the left of the front door, and then disappeared into the darkness of the castle.
~
The only lights that were on were found in the throne room, deep inside the castle walls. The size of the room looked like it could fit the entire village found to the north, inside, and it seemed like it was doing just that. The room was filled with people, wondering all over the place, talking to one another, or just leaning against the walls, waiting for something to happen. At the head of the room, sitting on a large golden chair, was a powerful looking man. His eyes were dark, like two droplets of dried blood, his short, straight black hair, partially covered his pale, studious face. He looked like he was very intelligent, and he was. He was wearing a black shirt that was lined with gold. Golden symbols ran down the sleeves meaning The Blood of the Covenant. His pants were black as well, and were lined with gold also.
In his right hand was a large glass full of a red liquid, his left hand was empty. Standing at his sides were two rather tall figures, cloaked in shadows, his guards. In front of him, stood a young girl with long dark blue hair that reached to her mid-back. Her face was also pale in color. She was wearing a black dress with dark blue lining. She had a look of seriousness in her face.
“Are you positive, my child?” asked the man sitting on the throne. His voice was filled with control and power. His dark eyes were fixed on the girl standing in front of him. “Yes my Lord,” said the girl. Her voice was very soft, enchanting, and quiet, yet was loud enough for half the room to hear what she was saying. The man sitting on the throne grunted and took a sip of his red liquid.
“So your father is on his way to kill me as we speak,” said the man, “Eivan, you fool…” he added as he put his glass on the arm rest of his chair before standing and walking towards the girl. “Rose, my child, he mustn’t see you here. If he finds out that you’ve warned me about his intentions, he’ll kill you as well” said the man. The girl looked up as he placed his hand under her chin and looked into her eyes. “I wouldn’t want any harm to come to you” he finished with a small smile. Large fangs also hung out of his mouth. She nodded and stood up in front of him.
“Where should I go my Lord?” she asked.
“Go to my tower. He’ll be coming here for me and won’t bother looking there,” said the man. He pointed to a doorway behind the throne. “Go my child, hurry before he arrives,” he said as he pushed her through the doorway and closed it behind her.
“Lord Alexander, do you intend to fight Eivan?” asked one of the cloaked guards standing beside the throne. Alexander turned from the hidden door to the man speaking to him and nodded his head.
“If it’s a fight he wants, it’s a fight he’ll get,” Alexander answered as he took his seat again and drank the rest of his red liquid. “More blood,” he ordered the other cloaked figure. The figure nodded, picked up the empty glass and disappeared into the shadows.
~
Eivan through open the throne room doors and stepped into the room. He looked around the room and noticed that over two hundred people were in the room, including Alexander and one of his guards. “Alexander!” Eivan shouted across the large room. “I’ve come for you,” he said as he slowly began to walk towards Alexander. His eyes darted across the faces of everyone he passed. He hadn’t expected this many people to be here, killing their ruler might be harder than it thought.
“Come for me?” Alexander asked as he took the glass of blood from his second cloaked figure after it appeared out of nowhere. He took a drink of it before placing it on the arm rest and standing up. “What’re your intentions Eivan?” Alexander asked.
“I’m tired of the way you’re ruling our people,” Eivan answered as he reached the stairs that ascended to the throne, where Alexander stood. “I’ve come to relieve you of your duties,” he added, staring into Alexander’s eyes. “Just me and you, right here, right now,” Eivan stated as he continued to stare up at Alexander.
Alexander looked over the large room; everyone in the room had their eyes fixed on him, wondering what he would do. Looking back to Eivan he nodded. “Alright,” he said. “Whoever wins gets the crown,” Alexander said as he removed his cloak and handed it to one of the guards. ‘Make sure Rose stays safe,’ he whispered into the guard’s ear. The guard nodded and disappeared into the shadows again. Turning to face Eivan again, Alexander drew a large sword from the sheath that hung from his waist. He didn’t’t give Eivan a countdown or anything, just appeared in front of him and slashed down at him.
Eivan stumbled back from the blade cutting into his shoulder. Grunting he drew his own weapon, a large sword as well, and clashed it against Alexander’s sword. Their swords clashed against each other until Eivan had managed to push Alexander against a wall. Kicking Alexander’s chest, he forced him to drop his weapon, now he had the upper hand. “Looks like you’re out of the crown,” Eivan said as he dug his blade into Alexander’s chest.
Coughing up packets of dark red blood, Alexander collapsed onto the floor, the blade still in his chest. He looked up at Eivan; his eyes were growing darker and darker until they had been clouded in darkness; his skin began to lose its color, getting lighter and lighter as his life dripped out onto the floor. His eyes quickly glanced around the room and settled on a female in the distance. Seeing what he wanted in his eyes, she quickly disappeared out of the room and headed towards the village to the north. Looking back to Eivan, Alexander grunted again. “Don’t get too comfortable. You’ll lose that crown eventually, my death will be avenged,” he said as he collapsed onto the blade, dead.
Eivan turned to look at the people in the room, shock filled their faces. “Bow to your new leader!” he ordered. The entire room stayed silent, but the sound of clothing shuffling could be heard as all two hundred of the people in the room bowed to him.
~500 Years Later~
Chapter 1
It had been a rather busy morning for the eager group of teenagers. They were planning a trip to a rented cottage for a week and were busy packing the essential goods for their trip. It had been organized by one of the teenager’s parents, and had been planned for that one family originally, just the parents, their son Tyler, and his girlfriend Katie. An unexpected turn of events left Tyler’s parents dropping out at the last moment. Still being able to go on this trip, Tyler and Katie both invited one of their friends to come along with them, and now they were packing the last of their things into Katie’s S.U.V before they would hit the road. “That’s the last of it,” Tyler said as he packed a cooler full of beer into the back of the S.U.V.
“Alright,” Katie said as she turned and faced the house, “You two ready in there?” she called to their friends that were waiting inside the house for them to be ready to leave. When the two of them exited the house with a small bag of things to keep them occupied on the drive down, Katie took that as a yes, and climbed into the driver’s seat. Once everyone else was in the vehicle and buckled up, Katie started the car and pulled out of the driveway and headed to where their cottage adventure would begin.
Tyler’s friend Brandon spent the car ride listening to his iPod and mouthing the lyrics to each song as they played by. Jasmine, Katie’s friend, spent the car ride playing Go Fish with Tyler on the CD compartment in between the driver’s and the passenger seat. After a few hours of driving, they finally arrived at their destination. The road to the cottage was covered by trees and completed secluded from civilization, but at the same time, had very beautiful scenery.
Pulling into the driveway of the Office, Katie climbed out and headed to the door. The Office Door was locked, so she rang the bell hanging from the wall next to her, and waited patiently for the owner to arrive and assist her. Tyler, Brandon, and Jasmine waited patiently for Katie to return from talking with the Owner of the Campsite with the keys to their cottage.
Katie stood at the door to the Office, which wasn’t much of an Office; it was more a full sized housing complex, with a long wooden desk in front of the door, which stopped customers from entering the rest of the owner’s house. Katie continued to stand outside the Office door; she had the unnerving feeling that she was being watched, but she couldn’t point out where this feeling was coming, and it was like it was coming from all around her.
She glanced around her, at the trees, around the corner, thinking she would find someone there, but she was the only person there. She reached up again and rang the bell hanging beside her, it chimed against the bronze casing, echoing through the silent forest around her. It was so startlingly loud that she almost jumped as it bonged against the bronze a few more times. Finally getting fed up with waiting, Katie walked along the side of the building to the first window she came to.
It was a little higher up than she was, but she managed to prop herself up on a small ledge that poked out where the wood met the ground. It gave her just the leverage she needed to be able to see into the window, but she couldn’t see anything. Her hair was in the way. Stepping down from the small wooden step she had found, she lowered her head, bringing all of her brown hair over her face, before she ran her hands through it, pulling it back and tying it into a ponytail with a black elastic that had been around her wrist. Once her hair was out of the way, she found the wooden step again, and lifted to look into the window.
Tyler snapped awake from the dream like state he was in as the air filled up with a cry. Whatever it was was louder than the bell Katie had been ringing. Brandon still had his iPod lodged into his ears blasting away so he hadn’t heard the cry, and Jasmine didn’t seem to hear it either. Tyler paid no attention to them and climbed out of the S.U.V and headed to the Office. Passing by a tree, he spotted Katie on the ground and quickly ran over to her, helping her to her feet. “What happened?” he asked, dusting her off. Katie took a deep breath, calming down the fast beating heart in her chest.
“I was looking into the window,” she paused, taking another long breath, “and there was a girl looking back at me,” she finished, taking another deep breath. Her heart slowly came to a slow beating pace, but her eyes were still wide from the shock of what she had seen. She showed him the little step she had found and watched him use it to look into the window himself. There was nothing there. It was covered by a thick black set of drapes, only thing he saw was his own reflection looking back at him.“There’s nothing there now,” he said as he climbed down from the small step. Katie was quiet. Behind them the leaves rustled.
“Can I help you?” asked a cold voice. It had been too quiet, and the unexpected voice cut through the silence like melting butter, too easily. Tyler jumped and almost fell over a root that was hidden under the orange and yellow leaves that had scattered the ground. Regaining his position Tyler turned to face the source of the voice that had startled him. He looked at the man behind him.
He was very tall and pale skinned; he had deep blue eyes that never seemed to come to an end. He was wearing a white dress shirt, buttoned up except for the one closest to his neck, he had that one undone, revealing his collar bone. Tyler noticed a red and black cross tattooed to his neck, which was clearly visible with the top button undone. The man was rather intimidating and had Tyler hesitating to answer the man.
“We’re looking for the owner. Have you seen him?” he eventually said after finding his way out of the man’s deep eyes.
Katie was still lost in the man’s eyes and paid no attention to the fact that they were having a conversation.
“I am the owner,” answered the man; his voice cutting into the silence again as it tried to envelop them again, cutting off all other sounds from their ears. “Can I help you?” he asked again. Tyler had switched places with Katie, he was now lost in the man’s eyes, unaware of the conversation at hand, while Katie continued to the conversation Tyler left.
“Yes. We reserved Cottage number five and would like to sign in for the week” she answered. The man’s cutting glance turned to her, as if releasing Tyler from its grasp and taking hers.
“Ah. So you must be Katie Brampton” he said before turning his gaze back to Tyler, “and you’re Tyler Stephenson?” he asked.
Katie nodded her head with a soft smile. The man smiled back, surprisingly with a reassuring smile. He stepped between them and unlocked the door, and invited them in. Even though Katie and Tyler were right behind him, it seemed like time had been frozen for a split second while the man positioned himself behind the counter in front of them. He leaned partially against his side of the counter, in his hand were four sets of keys, another thing he seemed to freeze time to get, he hadn’t been holding them a second ago.
“There are still four of you? Correct?” he asked, his eyes no longer seemed endless, now they held a small hint of confusion in them.
Katie reached out and took hold of them. “Yes, though we had a slight change of plans”.
“Oh? Like what?”
“The parents coming with us couldn’t make it, so we invited two friends instead”.
“Oh yes. Mrs. Stephenson informed me of that”
“Oh she did? Alright then,” Katie said. She hadn’t known Tyler’s mom had called and told this man that the plans had been changed, but the reservation was going to be kept.
“Mr. Stephenson, please sign these papers,” said the man as he slipped out a pad of paper and a pen towards Tyler. “If you’re going to be playing music, it needs to be either off or turned down low enough that it won’t bother the neighbours at eleven o’clock,” the man said. He recited the rules of the campsite to them, clearly memorizing them from having to tell so many people them every time someone new signed in. This campground was a rather popular spot this year; Tyler was surprised they had managed to get reservations at such short notice.
After signing all the papers Tyler slid the pen and paper back to the man. “Alright, that should just about do it. Hopefully you enjoy the cottage,” he said as he slid the paper under the counter and pushed away from the counter. “If you ever need any assistance or need something answered, I’m sure someone will be here to help you,” he assured them with that soft smile again. Katie smiled back and then left the Office with Tyler and headed back to her S.U.V which was parked just at the end of the driveway.
“What took you guys so long?” Brandon asked as they climbed into the vehicle. Katie didn’t pay any attention to Brandon; she let Tyler answer to him.
“Owner wasn’t there. Guess he was busy elsewhere,” Tyler answered.
Brandon shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t really care, just wanted something to say. As Katie pulled the car out of the drive way, Tyler spotted two females standing just outside the Office. They were too far for him to be able to see what they looked like, but he could tell they were female by the way they were standing. What were they looking at? Tyler asked himself, but shrugged his shoulders, wasn’t that important.
Cottage number five wasn’t far from the Office building. It was fairly big, would easily fit the four of them. Pulling the vehicle into the driveway, Katie leaned back in her chair. “I sure hope this week goes easier than meeting the owner went,” she said with a sigh of relief, happy to finally be here. The cottage was painted a dark brown; the porch out front was the normal colour of wood, a lighter brown. To the left of the door, was a large window that looked into the living room which was decorated skimpily. There were three chairs that had a plain grey cushioning to them. The couch had the same coloured cushions. To the left of the couch was a door leading into a single bedroom. Plain white sheets covered the mattress, gripping the corners like the wind would blow the sheets away.
To the right of the front door was another window that overlooked the eating table. It was simple wood, a light brown colour. Five chairs sat around it, two on the left, three on the right, and on at the end. Behind the table was the door to the washroom, to the left of that door was the master bedroom with a king sized bed covered with ruby red sheets. To the right of the bathroom door was the other single room, decorated the same as the other single bedroom. To the right of the table, was the kitchen. There was a wooden counter that lined the outside wall. There was a fairly new looking microwave sitting in one corner and a toaster sitting in the other. In the center of the counter was a fairly clean sink. The owner must have went out of his way to make sure that each cottage was thoroughly cleaned and inspected before and after each of his customers used it.
Above the sink was another window looking onto the porch that sat out front. Few cupboards lined the bottom of the counter, housing frying pans and other pots and pans. On the opposite side of the counter was an old looking stove, but had been made out to look presentable, even in its old age. A single squared counter sat between the stove and the fridge, which was also brand new, but made to look newer than it was. The entire cottage was spotlessly clean, and Katie was amazed at the quality of the work put into making sure everything looked presentable, down to the last corner behind the hot water tank in the washroom.
“I call this room!” Brandon shouted as he ran across the room to the bedroom across from the master bedroom, to the right of the bathroom. He flopped onto the bed and moaned. “Wow, this is extremely comfortable,” he said, face buried into the pillow. That left the other single room, and the double room, and three of them. Jasmine rolled her eyes playfully.“Looks like you two get to sleep together after all” she said as she picked up her bags and carried them into the other single room off to the left of the living room.
Katie giggled and hugged Tyler. “Maybe it was better that you parents didn’t come,” Katie said as she pressed her lips against his softly. Tyler’s parents weren’t completely convinced that they were ready to sleep together, so had his parents came with them Katie and Tyler would have been separated into the two single rooms while his parents got the master bedroom. Tyler wrapped his arms around Katie and pressed his lips against hers. He was going to enjoy this week.
~
“Oh!” said a startled voice, “I’m sorry, am I interrupting?” asked the voice. The voice was soft and female; it seemed to just glide across the air like a feather. She was standing outside of cottage number five and just happened to get there just as Tyler and Katie began to kiss one another.
Tyler heard her voice and broke the kiss to turn his head and look outside at the girl talking to them. He was surprised to notice that she was one of the girls he had seen when they were pulling out of the Office driveway. Her hair went to about her mid-back and was a bright red. Her skin was just as pale as the owners, maybe a little less. Her eyes were also blue, but they didn’t seem to just go on forever into the back of her head, sending you into a trance. She was wearing a black blouse, and a skirt that was the exact same shade of red as her hair was. “No, it’s alright. What can we do for you?” Tyler asked as he looked over her.
Katie looked from Tyler to the new girl, kind of annoyed that she had broken up their kiss, but didn’t show it. “My father owns the campground and I come around regularly when new people check in to see if they need help with anything” she said, softly and innocently. She continued to stand outside of the cottage, waiting for them to allow her in before she would enter. Tyler motioned for her to enter with his hand as he let go of Katie and stepped away from her. “My name’s Taylor,” she introduced herself, holding out a hand to him. Tyler took her hand and gently shook it.
“I’m Tyler.”
“And I’m Katie.”
“Nice to meet you two…” she trailed off for a moment, looking around the empty cottage, “Weren’t there two more with you?” she asked, a confused tone in her voice. Tyler nodded his head as he let his hand drop back to his side. Taylor’s hand returned to her pockets.
“My friend Brandon, he’s probably laying in his bed listening to his music, like always,” Tyler responded, as he pointed to the bedroom door that led to Brandon’s room. The door was closed now, seemed he wanted some quiet to listen to his music, “Not sure what Jasmine’s up to though.”
“Probably trying to find somewhere to put all her clothing,” Katie answered with a laugh. She knew it was true too.
“So is there anything I can help you with?” Taylor asked. Her ocean blue eyes digging into his deep green eyes. Tyler thought for a moment or two.
“You could show me how to drive the boat,” he suggested.
Taylor nodded her head. “Alright,” she said as she headed outside. Tyler eagerly followed after her. Katie smiled a bit and knocked on Jasmine’s door.
“Me and Tyler are going to learn to drive the boat” she told her before she followed behind Taylor.
“I should warn you. There are certain islands you should stay away from,” Taylor warned as they walked down to the dock. The sun was high in the clear blue sky. A few clouds scattered the sky, but they didn’t seem like they wanted to be friends with the sun, they kept away from the sun. There was a small, cool breeze blowing around them, rustling the leaves of the trees. A few birds chirped from atop branches, their songs filled the air, soothing the heat. The beach was empty, only thing that occupied it were a few beach chairs that were scattered across the sand. Just off the shore was an orange and blue water trampoline, that must have been anchored or it would have blown away from the breeze that was blowing around them.
“Why?” Katie asked. Rocks also littered the sandy beach, Katie used these to stay off the sand, and she hated sand in her shoes, and knew she would get some in them if she walked across the sand.
“Can’t say they’re too fond of us building a camp ground on their doorstep,” Taylor responded as she carefully made her way across the dock. The wind had whipped up a few waves, nothing too big, but just enough to rock the wooden dock back and forth slightly. She pointed to a boat that had a large number five plastered on the side. The boat was a dark blue with the word “Speed Craft” inked on the side in black like graffiti. All the other boats around them looked almost identical, except for they were different colours and had the number of the cottage they came with plastered on them. Tyler helped Katie climb into the boat then helped Taylor before he climbed in after them. “It’d probably be best if you stayed as far away from them as you could get. I can’t guarantee they’ll be happy if you do get too close,” she added as she sat Tyler in the driving seat and began to instruct him on how to drive it.
Tyler did as she told him to do, and pretty soon the boat was slicing through the waves and skimming across the lake. “I’ve been in my parent’s boat a lot, but they never taught me how to drive it” Tyler said as he turned the boat and continued to cut through waves as they crashed into the nose of the boat.
Taylor smiled. “It’s really easy, once you get the hang of it. Like riding a bike,” she said with a small laugh. She leaned over Tyler and ran her fingers down his arm and then took hold of his hand, pulling the boat to a stop. Tyler’s eyes widened a bit as she did this, but Katie didn’t seem to notice, so he didn’t say anything about it.
“That house there. You’re going to want to stay off that island regardless what happens. You’d be better off swimming back to the beach if your boat broke down there” she stated. That perked Katie’s interest. “Why? What’s so bad about that place?” she asked, intrigued now. “The man who owns that place, is rather…” she trailed off, searching for the correct word that would describe him, “Last year, someone didn’t heed the warning, and they were shot to death almost instantly,” she added, hoping that would detour them from wanting to land there. Katie gulped.
~
Tyler placed the boat back in its place at the dock. The wind had steadily picked up and the waves had gotten too much for the small boat. Twice on the trip back, the waves had almost toppled them over, crashing against the side of the boat, like they were furious, angry, scared of the boat. The wooden docks were rocking more than they had when they had first boarded the boat, but they safely managed to make it to the sand. Tyler turned to Taylor after they made it off the rocking wooden docks, “So just stay away from any island that has a house on it, right?”
“Mhm…”
“Alright, thanks a lot.”
“Don’t mention it, just doing my job,” Taylor said as she waved farewell to the two of them before she turned and headed down the beach towards her house, the Office. Tyler watched her leave until she had disappeared behind a tree in the distance.
“Well that was interesting,” Tyler stated as he took Katie’s hand in his and walked with her towards their cottage. Katie nodded her head in agreement. “Hopefully the wind dies down and we can go on a nice little boat ride after dinner,” Tyler suggested. He thought it was a good idea, however if the wind continued to blow as furiously as it picked up to by this point, it might not be a good idea. Katie nodded her head again. “That would be nice,” she said as she leaned against Tyler, placing her head on his shoulder as she walked next to him.
~
The name’s Andrew, I’m 18, turning 19 in February, I love to read anything I can get my hands on, and write anything that comes to mind; People say I’m fun, exciting, and interesting, to say the least; I’m an addict of music, can’t live a sane life without it, and I listen to quite a lot of different genres; and I love to watch Movies. My website’s called Anime Gallery. You can read more of my writing there.
