Chapter 12- Death Mark

I just sat there in silence, how could I be his champion? No, I won't be his champion, I decided. I reached for a sharp tool.

     "Don't worry I won't be his champion." I said. I grabbed the tool and cut my throat. I passed out and everything went black.

     When I opened my eyes, thinking I was dead, an old man locked up in a black cage surrounded by darkness was in front of me.

     "It is not your time yet, free me, and I shall spare all those you love." He said. "I shall even give the power to conquer death itself."

I felt an intense aura, that of an army. I looked pass the cage of the old man, and in the darkness, was an army of undead beings. Thousands with weapons that looked like they could cut a mountain.

Suddenly, the old man disappeared from the cage.

"You are my champion Draven, you have already given me your body." A voice in my head said, the same one from the cage. "You just don't know it yet."

     Once I closed my eye and opened them, the image of the old man disappeared, now replaced with my father sitting in front of me.

I felt a stinging pain in my neck and collapsed on the floor. I was still feeling the pain from when I cut myself in the throat. I definitely regretted doing that.

"I'm sorry Draven, but you have to be locked up in here until we can remove the mark on your body. You probably know of the prophecy and we think that you will be your grandfathers champion. I'm truly sorry for everything. I was never there for you and now I'm locking you up." He said. "We don't know when or even how to remove the mark, so you'll probably be in here for a long time."

I looked around my prison cell. I noticed that there weren't any bars on the doorway. When I tried to walk out, I was blasted away from an invisible barrier, similar to Jon's barrier.

     "I can't believe this, I'm just a kid." I said.

     "I know Draven, but this is mandatory. I hate that their doing this to you, but I can't do anything."

     I didn't respond, I didn't even look at him, I was to enraged that they think a little kid like me can destroy the world.

     I tried to teleport away, but nothing happened.

     "Your power won't work, you have a leg bracelet that won't allow you to use it." My dad said.

     I looked at the bracelet on my leg, a red light flashing. That made me remember of my mark, I looked at my arm, still glowing a slight red glow.

     That was when a voice started to speak in my head. "Kill, kill, kill". That one word seemed to ring inside my head.

     I looked at my father, losing control of my own body. Then, I lashed out at him, without even knowing it.

     Suddenly, something caught my leg and I tripped. I looked at I tripped on and it was a shadow.

     By now, I got back full control of my body.

     "I'm sorry, I don't know what got over me." I said. "It was like, something... no, someone... was telling me to kill you."

     A few minutes of silence later, I finally said something.

     "How are my friends, how is Axel?" I asked.

     "Don't worry about them, we are giving Axel special training since we figured that he will be our saviour." He replied. "Look, I need to leave now, I have some important matters to take."

     And with that, he left my cell without any disturbance from the invisible barrier.

     A few hours of solitude and boredom later, a voice started speaking in my head.

     "I left my prison and into you, only to end up in another prison cell." The voice said.

     I was confused with who just spoke. I looked around to see if there was anyone else in the room. I saw no one and thought that they must be invisible. I hit randomly everywhere and was probably looking like a mental patient.

     "Stop that kid, you look stupid. Hurry, we need to devise our escape plan." The same voice said.

     I still looked around the room, not knowing where the voice came from.

     "I'm in your head young Erebus. I'm your great grandfather." It said again. "Now, we must leave!"

     Then I realized that it was the same voice from the giant hole in the ground in a recent dream.

     "Never! I will not be some pawn in your evil game. I will stay right here and not cause earths doom." I said.

     "It is your destiny to free me from my cage. And you can't do that unless you free yourself first. I will give you my power, and trust in you that you will free me."

     Suddenly, I felt something in my body. The same one when I manifested my shadow ability. The hair on my arms stood, I felt cold and pale. I felt like I was dying, getting harder to stand every time a second passes.

     "I'm using my last power to speak to you, I just gave you my ability, death. It's the only thing that's been keeping me alive in that cage. By giving you my ability, I am going to die. But I trust that you will carry on my legacy, go Draven, escape from this prison and find my army."

     After that, the voice stopped. He was finally dead. The death mark on my body started to shrink until it was just on my neck.

     It didn't go away though, there was still a tiny black and red mark on my neck that resembled the blade of a scythe.

     Suddenly, principal Alastair came running towards my cell from out of nowhere.

     "Principal Alastair? What are you doing here?" I asked.

     "I've just received some news from the guards of Tartarus. Your grandfather... he's dead." He said. "You know what that means?"

     "I can finally go?"

     "Well yes, but I meant that the prophecy was wrong! You can go now, I'm sorry for all your troubles."

     He noticed that the mark on my arm was gone and that confirmed his suspicions that the prophecy was wrong. What he didn't know was that the mark was now small and on my neck.

     He removed my leg bracelet and I was finally free to go. I stretched my arms and legs and headed to the dorm rooms.

     But before I got there, a stinging pain started to form from my neck. I fell down on my knees and started to have visions.

     Images flashed in my head. The last one caught my eye.

     An army of undead and living soldiers were all kneeling under one person... me.