The Heir Of Darkness
991 Words
Chapter 9
The underground chamber fell deathly silent.
“You have your father’s eyes.”
Aretha felt frozen in place.
Allan Dark stood beneath the glowing roots with shadows curling around his boots like living smoke. His silver eyes remained fixed on her with unsettling calm.
Not hatred.
Not fear.
Recognition.
Liam immediately stepped forward.
“You need to leave.”
Golden wolf energy surged through the chamber around him, sharp and dangerous.
The shadow hunters behind Allan instantly raised their black crystal weapons.
Fenrir’s growl shook the underground roots.
And still—
Allan never looked away from Aretha.
“It’s strange,” he said quietly. “After nineteen years of searching, I expected someone different.”
Aretha swallowed hard.
“You knew my father?”
For the first time, something shifted in Allan’s expression.
Pain.
Only for a second.
“He was my brother.”
The words hit the chamber like thunder.
Nyra stared in disbelief.
“…What?”
Selene closed her eyes painfully.
Orion’s face darkened.
Liam looked toward Aretha immediately.
But she couldn’t even process what she’d heard.
Brother?
Her father was related to him?
Allan stepped forward slowly.
Shadow hunters tensed behind him, but he lifted one hand slightly to stop them.
“Kael Dark,” Allan said softly. “Youngest son of the Dark bloodline.”
He looked directly at Aretha.
“And the only person who ever betrayed our family for love.”
Selene’s hands trembled slightly.
“Don’t talk about him like that.”
Allan’s silver eyes shifted toward her.
“You disappeared with him without a word.”
“You would’ve killed us.”
A dangerous silence followed.
Then Allan answered quietly:
“No.”
But nobody fully believed him.
Fenrir’s massive form moved slightly between them.
“The realms stand on the edge of collapse,” the guardian warned. “This is not the time for old hatred.”
Allan glanced toward the spreading corruption across the roots.
“I know.”
That answer surprised everyone.
Orion narrowed his eyes.
“You know what this corruption is?”
Allan remained silent briefly.
Then finally—
“It began in the Dark Lord City months ago.”
The chamber grew tense again.
“The darkness spread through the ancient roots beneath our kingdom first,” Allan explained. “Creatures began appearing from underground ruins long abandoned.”
Elias looked horrified.
“The corruption is spreading through the Tree of Life…”
“Yes,” Fenrir rumbled.
“And if the roots die completely, all magical realms connected to the tree will fall.”
Nyra frowned deeply.
“Okay, so let me understand this correctly.”
She pointed between Lumierre and the shadow hunters.
“We’re all about to die together?”
“Possibly,” Caspian answered nervously.
“Wonderful.”
Another violent tremor shook the chamber.
This one stronger than before.
Part of the ceiling collapsed nearby.
The corruption spread higher across the roots.
And beneath the shaking earth—
Something roared.
A deep monstrous sound echoed through the underground tunnels.
Even Fenrir stiffened.
Allan’s calm expression darkened immediately.
“It’s awake already.”
Orion gripped his blade tighter.
“What awakened?”
But before Allan could answer—
A shadow hunter suddenly screamed.
Black roots burst from beneath the stone floor and wrapped around his body violently.
Everyone jumped back.
The hunter dropped his weapon as the roots climbed rapidly across his skin.
Corruption spread through him instantly.
His eyes turned completely black.
Then he looked up—
And attacked.
The corrupted hunter lunged at another soldier with inhuman speed.
Chaos exploded across the chamber.
“MOVE!” Liam shouted.
Shadow hunters drew weapons while Nyra launched upward into the air.
Her metallic wings sliced through the corrupted roots spreading across the floor.
Caspian summoned massive waves of water from underground streams to push the corruption back.
But it kept growing.
Faster.
Aggressive.
Alive.
Fenrir roared thunderously.
“The corruption has reached the chamber!”
More roots burst through the walls.
Corrupted creatures began crawling from the tunnels surrounding them.
Twisted beasts made of shadows and bark.
Dozens of them.
Orion cursed sharply.
“We can’t hold them here.”
Allan drew a black blade from his side.
Dark energy flowed across the weapon instantly.
“Then we move.”
Liam glared at him.
“You expect us to trust you?”
“No,” Allan answered calmly before slicing a creature apart in one clean strike. “But you currently have bigger problems.”
Unfortunately—
He was right.
The underground chamber had become a battlefield.
Students above the academy were still evacuating while the corruption spread beneath the entire city.
And at the center of it all stood Aretha.
The whispers in her mind grew louder than ever now.
Not whispers anymore.
Voices.
Ancient voices calling through the roots.
“She must awaken…”
“The balance must return…”
“The child must choose…”
Pain exploded through her shoulder again.
She gasped sharply.
Dark and golden energy suddenly burst from her body at the same time.
BOOOOM!
The shockwave blasted creatures backward across the chamber.
Everyone froze briefly.
Because the energy surrounding Aretha had changed.
Light and shadow swirled around her together without destroying each other.
Impossible.
Fenrir stared at her in awe.
“The balance…”
Allan’s silver eyes narrowed with fascination.
Orion looked deeply unsettled.
But Aretha herself looked terrified.
“I can’t control it!”
The roots beneath the chamber began glowing violently in response to her power.
Ancient symbols across the walls lit up all at once.
Then the underground cavern suddenly split open.
CRAAAAACK!
The floor beneath them shattered.
A massive pit opened at the center of the chamber.
Darkness waited below.
Endless darkness.
And from somewhere deep within it—
A gigantic eye slowly opened.
Everyone stopped breathing.
Because whatever was beneath them…
Was far older than the Tree of Life itself.
- Writer
