King Malin

Daniel's hand hurt. it has been nearly an hour since they were taken away from their camp area. The heroes' hands were securely tied behind their back. 'A little too tightly' Daniel thought to himself. He tried wriggly free but with no prevail. A red mark started to form on his arm.

The ten heroes were locked up in some kind of basement after being brought the palace. Just then, one of the soldiers who kidnapped him, whose name was Lloyd, came into the room.

"The king will be ready to see you in 10 minutes" he said. And he closed the door behind him. Daniel heard the click of the lock. Myra and Dennis tried using a combination of fire and electricity to force the door open. But door was made of fire proof materials and it didn't conduct electricity.

"It's no use" Dennis sighed. "I guess we're gonna have to go and visit the king and do what he says" said Daniel with gritted teeth.

15 MINUTES LATER:

"The King is ready to see you" said a voice. Daniel assumed it was Lloyd. He hated the knight so much. The doors opened and daylight flooded in. A few more men walked in and took hold of them. "Tie them up" Lloyd said. The other men did and they were told and they were taken out into the King's court.

The palace was grand. White columns with statues surrounded the building. The floor was a mix of smooth stone and golden wood. The walls were covered with pictures depicting things that Daniel didn't understand. And in the middle, the king sat on his throne. He was a man who seemed to have experienced many things in his lifetime. He was always weary and quite old. But you could tell be demanded respect. Daniel frowned. They still didn't know why they were here. "Welcome kids" the king said in a cheery voice. "My name is King Malin" he said. "Why are we here?" Alicia whimpered.

"I guess I'll get straight to the point then" he said in an unnatural glee. "For many years, I have ruled this part of the Marshes with pride. But as the years passed, my people have started finding out about elemental powers. We have always been 50 or so years behind the rest of the world. And that's how I liked it. But now, I am starting to loose power."

"I thought once I unlocked my powers, everyone will respect me... but no." he said, his face staring at the ground. "And what has this got to do with us?" Edger growled. His face looked up. "I want your powers"

"Do you know what my powers are?" he asked. Nobody spoke. He walked up to one of the guards. "Show them your powers" he commanded. The guard did as he was told. He opened the palm of his hands and a single bolt of electricity flickered in his hands. The king walked up to him, the guard was shivering. The evil king placed a hand on the guards shoulder. Suddenly, a light blinded the heroes.

When they opened their eyes, the king was standing in the same spot, but his surroundings zapped with electricity. The heroes took a step back. "It can't be" Dennis whispered. "Absorption" Klara said. "That power isn't natural, it was a test done by some scientists 60 years ago" she finished. "I'm going to take your powers, and I shall full control of my people"

The heroes struggled and wriggled to get free but the soldiers held them tight. But through the corner of his eyes, Daniel could see Harold standing behind a column. Daniel was overjoyed to see him but he couldn't give anything away. Daniel and Catherine made contact. They knew it was time. It was time to escape. 'But how did Harold get in' Daniel thought. Just then, the king started talking. "Let's start with the Lord of Darkness, I've heard a lot about you.

There was madness in his eyes. He could see through the smile and the hatred in his eyes. "The Lord of Darkness has spoken to me, he shares my hatred towards you. After I'm done with you, I shall and you over to him, Daniel."

"That won't be happening!" Daniel shouted. Everything else that happened was a blur. Daniel saw the grip on his arm release. He looked back to see Harold making large boulders from think air and throwing them at the armed guards. They got instanly squished. It wasn't a sight to see...

Daniel could see the other heroes trying to break the robe around their hands. Daniel backed away. He could see the king coming towards him. A boulder flew across the room and went towards king Malin. He brought out what seemed like a sword. It glowed a dark red, almost like blood. Daniel knew he has killed many other heroes with it before...

The king walked towards him. Daniel kept on backing away. 'He wants me the most' Daniel thought to himself. Daniel eventually hit the wall. Daniel was starting to get frightened of the situation. Dennis got out using the fire to burn the handcuff off. Then, a few seconds later, Igor managed to bend the bend the rope using his powers. But the rest of the heroes were struggling.

The sword rested on Daniel's head. "Your powers shall be taken away, they shall be mine!" he said, satisfied with himself. "Please, don't" voice from the room said. It was Myra. The other 9 heroes were trying to keep the guards at bay. "Get them, hurry!" Lloyd shouted.

The hand came towards Daniel's head. The king's hand glowed. 'This is it, it's over' Daniel thought. He had come all this way just to loose his powers and to be handed over to the most evil being alive. Daniel closed his eyes. "Giving up already" the voice of King Malin echoed. "Ye-" something in Daniel's mind froze. "NO!" Daniel screamed. "I not going to lose the will to survive" he cried and lashed out. He spun and kicked the hand away...

Daniel sank his teeth into the rope. It made a cut but it wasn't deep enough. Daniel cursed. "Call in reinforcements" Daniel heard the voice of the king. He was still not worried about the whole situation. The second he said it, more guards ran in. They surrounded him. Daniel had nowhere to go. His friends were too busy fighting the other guards. He saw the face of one of the guards. He was smiling at Daniel. "Your dead, kid" he whispered and all of them raised their swords and attacked...

"NO!!" Daniel's voice echoed through the palace. Surprisingly, everything was silent, and the soliders stopped dead in their tracks. Then, Daniel noticed King Malin had pressed a button on a remote. Then Daniel started to realise what just happened. All the guards had a switch device connected to their nerves. This meant whoever had a remote can control all their movements. When the king pressd the button, the soliders got paralyzed. Daniel was scared they were going to get un-paralyzed. The king was a shade of grey.

"Surprised I let you live a little bit longer?" he asked. Daniel knew that wasn't the case. Something made King Malin stop the soliders from attacking him. But he didn't want to show any weakness. "What do you want?" he asked, nervously. Then suddenly, Daniel knew. It was his voice, when he shouted 'NO' everything went quiet.

"A duel" Daniel said, as calmly as possible. "Duel?" the king said. "Is there an echo in here" Daniel asked Jockingly. He knew it wasn't appropriate for the situation he was in, but he couldn't help it. "Yes" he continued "a battle to the death..."