set on one thing. He unmounted the griffin at the forest’s periphery and gazed at the eastern section of the Black Rose Fields beyond. It was magnificent to behold.
The black flowers covering the fields swayed in the wind which would occasionally blow now and again—setting off what would have been otherwise a calm ambiance had Dante not been in a state of angst.
He watched carefully for any sign of the Shadow Woman from the forest’s shadows—his sword gripped tightly. Without a second thought, he lowered his body and dashed into the field. Dante zig-zagged quickly through the myriad flowers which parted gracefully to grant him passage—he never wanted to kill a cthonican as much as he did now.
He huffed and looked around—his blood boiled and his senses were heightened. He tried to sense anything. Any auric or magical energies. His vexed emotional state made it hard to do so, however—he needed to calm himself. There were few people he had an emotional attachment to, but Naro was one of them—having taught him everything he knew about being a great knight, and whom he could confide in about personal matters.
Now he was dead.
Dante whipped his head to the left where he felt a presence. He could not make out whether it was sinister or not, but he knew he had to investigate. He dashed off in that direction with his sword at the ready. He stopped in his tracks as a figure stood in the distance—hooded with their dark cloak blowing in the wind. As she turned, he discerned her gaunt face and fully white eyes.
The Shadow Woman.
Due to the full, white color of her eyes, he could not tell where she was looking, but assumed it was at him as she grinned.
“Halt!” he yelled, running towards her with his sword at the ready. He expected her to run or fly away and was prepared for it—having a spell at the ready. He wanted to cause as minimal damage to the fields as possible, since the king forbade them being destroyed. What was more, was the fact that black roses were highly sensitive to magic. Even the weakest of spells could easily set the entirety of the fields aflame.
As much as he wanted to do whatever it took to destroy the Shadow Woman, he opted to use his sword.
Dante got within a few paces of her. He poised himself, lowering his center of gravity and launching himself forward. He stepped once… twice… then was within striking distance. He flipped the blade downward in a reversed grip—in the blink of an eye, its sharp edge made its journey. The glint of cold, hard steel meeting her neck. It was a swift attack, one which few had ever avoided. He could not have missed.
But he did.
His blade went right through the Shadow Woman as though she were an apparition—she might as well have been, as she almost immediately disappeared in a wisp of dark mist.
“Damnit!” Dante yelled as he looked here and there for any sign of her. How could his blade have made no contact? No cthonican was ethereal, so his attack should have struck. Was it some strange feat of magic? He wondered if, perhaps, she was a peculiar sub-race of vampiress the likes of which he had never before encountered. He looked around some more.
Nothing.
He was about to head off again when he heard a groaning sound close by and decided to investigate. He paced quickly through the field and found another dark-cloaked figure, the form of which he made out to be that of a woman. She lay face down on the ground and groaned, clutching her right arm. Around her were four soldiers lying face up with their swords stuck through them.
“D-damn,” Dante said silently, upon sight of his fallen infantrymen. There was no way they were alive. He then cautiously bent his knees and held a hand outward to touch the woman. Cautiously, he held the sword outward—the point facing her body. He used his free hand to touch her shoulder and rolled her over.
His eyes widened. “Rina!” Dante yelled, dropping to one knee and lifting her head up with his free hand. “Rina, can you hear me?” He began searching her body here and there for any fatal wounds and was thankful for their absence.
“Unnghh… D-Dante?” She opened her eyes halfway.
“You’re alive! Yes, it’s me, what happened?” he asked, finding her sword under a patch of nearby flowers. He quickly handed it to her.
She groaned and took her sword in hand, but did not sheath it. “We were walking then the… Shadow Woman flew at us… our swords went straight through her and then she cast a spell at us”—she groaned—“the spell did no damage but—then she flew away. After that… I don’t know… the soldiers began arguing amongst themselves. I tried to stop the argument, but then they all attacked me at once, I umm… I was able to fight them, till I was hit me from behind. The last thing I saw before passing out were the knights fighting amongst themselves…”
“Damn, she must have hypnotized them with magic. It must have happened to Naro too, he”—Dante helped her to her feet—“Naro… Naro is dead.”
“What?!” she exclaimed, rubbing her arm.
“When I left the inn—a little while after there was a commotion and when I checked, he was found dead in the town square”—he helped her to her feet—“his sword was stuck through him, but I th—wasn’t he with you?”
“Y-yes, he was but we split up to cover more ground,” Rina said, wobbling a bit as she tried to balance herself. “I didn’t see him since then… dead… how is that possible?!”
“I don’t know but our priority is finding this damn cthonican! We’ll have to use magic, I tried attacking her with my sword too, but it went straight through her, just as yours had.” He kept his guard up and paced off with Rina in tow.
She glanced worriedly at the fallen soldiers. “How stupid of me! If only I had kept my guard up.”
“Don’t blame yourself, she even took Naro by surprise it seems like.”
“Naro… even if she did, he is a werecat and should be immune to her hypnotic magic and—” she stopped suddenly and looked at her hands with a puzzled expression. “I… I feel strange though...”
Dante turned quickly and looked at her hands. “Strange how?”
“I-I can’t explain it, maybe I’m a bit disoriented.”
“The spell she cast, it had no effect on you?”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “No… I was only affected from the blow from behind.”
“It wasn’t magic?”
“No, it felt like a physical force that hit me, definitely not magic.”
“Okay, well let’s stick together and pursue her until you feel less dazed,” Dante said, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I ordered more men to come along and they should be here soon.”
Rina nodded and ran beside him through the fields as the moon continued its course across the sky—beaming its light upon them. “Look!” she pointed towards the forest where, in a discreet area, the Shadow Woman was seen peering in their direction from the darkness. Without hesitation, she held her palm outward and leveled a red ball of fiery magic at the cthonican who evaded it by disappearing into dark mist.
“Be careful!” Dante urged her, “His Majesty forbids the destruction of the Black Rose Fields—”
Rina ran after her. “I know! But I won’t let her get away! Not after what she did!” Dante huffed and followed behind, running into the forest where the Shadow Woman could be seen beyond a tall group of oak trees. Rina stopped and pointed her sword at the Shadow Woman. “Stop running and face us!” she yelled. The Shadow Woman grinned and disappeared yet again.
“This is getting nowhere, we need to bait her,” Dante said.
“How?” Rina asked as Dante walked forward slowly, sheathing his sword and looking up to the forest’s canopies. “Where are you going, Dante? And don’t disarm yourself, are you mad!?” she stared at him as though he had truly gone insane.
“Just cover me,” he whispered. “I know what I’m doing.” He gave her a reassuring nod which at once, appeared to him to have put her at ease. He then spoke up loudly. “You are angry, aren’t you?” he asked, walking along a path in the forest which was illuminated by the moonlight above. “I know you are
. I can sense a difference in your aura now, unlike before. It’s filled with hate… contempt… you want to kill those who caused you grief. You want revenge—”
“Silence!” a female’s voice shrieked. Dante knew could only have belonged to the Shadow Woman. It was a blood-curdling voice—full of wrath, hate and anger.
He continued to walk on, with Rina silently following behind him—her sword at the ready. He shook his head. “You will never succeed this way. Your weakness has caused you to err. Killing humans will never resolve your pain, it will only increase it—”
“Silence!” She shrieked again. “You know nothing, Dante Legothe!”
Dante stopped suddenly in his tracks along with Rina who looked at him quizzically.
“How does she know your name?” Rina whispered.
Dante shook his head. “I do not know. Perhaps she recognizes me as the knight captain of Nyaria—” his head quickly swiveled to the left from where a whooshing sound came. He had barely any time to react as harrowing claws were spread before his face—the Shadow Woman’s menacing face behind them. She shrieked angrily.
In a second, the sight of cold, hard steel invaded his perception. His eyes darted to the right where Rina stood, holding her sword between him and the Shadow Woman who howled in annoyance. Dante wasted no time in raising his hand upward—a flash of blue lightning illuminating the space between them all. The Shadow Woman shrieked as the lightning bolt met her