Forced into Fantasy 2

Chapter 5 - Warned

Adomis;

The trail of luminescent violet blood I have continued to follow leads me deep into the centre of the dense forest. I am surrounded by a tall canopy of lush trees, each with trunks wider than any I have ever seen before.

This place… it’s strange. It almost looks mystical in some way.

It’s darker in here than out there in the open and I find myself lifting the torch up in front of me to ensure that I don’t trip or fall on rocks or risen roots from beneath the ground.

My brown eyes narrow and I squeeze at the grip of my sword’s handle as I focus on the sights before me, fully alert and prepared for any kind of an attack.

After all, I did just willingly follow a dangerous creature in here, didn’t I?

I was the one brave enough, or perhaps foolish enough to venture in here alone, into unknown territory with only a sword to defend myself against any possible threats.

Strangely though, something within me stirs to the surface, telling me to continue onwards into the unknown and to show no fear.

It is as if I am not afraid, though I definitely can’t make sense of that.

Who wouldn’t be afraid of walking into a situation alone like this?

Before I know it, I have finally arrived before a large wall of thick vines which appear to be hanging down from one of the taller trees above. Smaller leaves and flowers scatter across the length of them, giving it a more enchanting look as I stop and stare at it.

Don’t ask me why, or how, but I suddenly have this strange urge to continue forward. To march on through the vines into whatever lies behind them. It makes no sense.

I am unable to explain where this feeling has come from. It clouds my mind and I can think of nothing else now as I slowly begin to sheathe my sword once more.

With the flame torch still held in my left hand, I lift my right and reach out for the vines, slowly but surely until my fingers touch them.

I frown in surprise at their texture.

They are softer than I would have imagined and the flowers littering them almost shine as they move with the vines in the subtle breeze.

As I part them to the side, I am confused to come face to face with what appears to be a gigantic stone wall blocking my way.

The wall is much taller than I am, made of grey stone and covered by strange markings of some sort from top to bottom.

It takes me a moment to look around the outside of the vines to find out where this rock has come from, but it makes no sense whatsoever.

The vines have revealed a stone wall located right in the middle of the forest, one that by all logical means shouldn’t even be here in the first place.

So why was it?

Lifting my free hand, I place it palm first onto the surface of the rock and am startled to feel just how warm it is.

The rock feels as though it has been absorbing rays from the sun non-stop for an entire day, and yet here it is in the middle of the night, surrounded by a shield of vines?

‘Something is definitely very peculiar here.’

Before I can think to remove my hand the rock begins to glow from beneath my open palm. A bright yellow hue emanates from beneath the solid surface and I suddenly panic, pulling my hand away in fear.

As soon as I do however, the glow immediately disappears and the rock returns to its normal appearance.

I frown, uncertain of what I should do next.

Glancing around for a moment, I decide to try again and see what happens.

‘What’s the worst that could happen?’

Resting my open palm up against the rock’s surface once again, I wait and before too long it begins to glow once more. I stand and watch as it slowly begins to circulate outwards until the entire rock is finally glowing brightly before me in a brilliant golden glow.

I can almost hear a ‘humming’ sound as I stand staring in wonder at the incredible sight.

Suddenly each of the markings scattered across the surface of the rock begin to glow a bright neon crimson shade.

Then, within seconds my hand seems to fall through what should have been a completely solid surface right in front of me and I gasp, pulling my hand back out of fear.

The solid rock surface has somehow managed to change into a more transparent, liquid-like surface and still emanates a dull yellow glow.

It looks as if someone has melted down ridiculous amounts of gold and somehow made it stay in place to form this strange… thing. Whatever it is. I can’t even begin to try and describe what this is.

One word and one word alone would possibly explain something like this, and it comes to mind immediately – magic.

With my sudden lapse of my memory, I remember very little of my life before or of how I would know anything relative to something like this.

But somehow this kind of magic seems so familiar to me. I am certain that I have seen something like this before.

Lifting my hand up I look down to see that my open palm is now glowing the same golden hue as the wall in front of me and I freeze in shock.

Suddenly my head is thrown backwards and my eyes glow a bright crimson shade as a powerful rush of memories floods in, forcing itself deep into the very depths of my mind.

The sudden wave washes away some of the uncertainties and instead fills it with known facts and past experiences.

I remember...

Not everything unfortunately, but I can now recall certain facts about my abilities in the mystical arts and in turn the Four Mystical Guilds protecting them. Including mine...

The Fire Guild.

‘No way!’

I suddenly recall that I am the leader of the entire Fire Guild!

I recall possessing mystical abilities in the arts of magic and ruling over the Fire Guild and its people.

But then what does that make me?

A Lord?

A King?

True, these memories do not reveal a name as I would have liked, but it’s certainly one step closer towards learning who I am.

With all of this new information and the subsequent excitement, I peer at the glowing wall before me and wonder how I came to be here in the first place?

My heart is thudding loudly now, over and over it echoes inside my head.

‘Should I touch it?’

True the wall could be dangerous, but why would I have felt this strange compulsion to head towards it? There had to be something more to this. There just had to be!

Lifting my hand up I slowly go to try and poke my finger into the strange substance.

The tips of my fingers easily guide into it, as if I were submerging them into a thick and gluggy kind of water. Only the consistency was more like syrup or mud.

As my digits enter it’s surface, I notice that they feel surprisingly warmer than they were mere seconds earlier and I chuckle out of intrigue at this incredible phenomena.

Pulling my fingers back out I notice that they have remained the same, completely intact and not covered in the strange golden substance as I thought they might be.

“Hmmm…” I begin to consider my options quickly.

Either I leave this place now and try to forget ever laying eyes on such a strange and intriguing obstacle as this.

Or…

I put everything on the line, my life included, and walk straight into the liquidy substance with no idea of what will happen to me or if I will even survive my encounter.

‘Oh, choices, choices…’

Without giving myself a moment more to consider the dangers of what I am about to attempt, I take a deep breath, close my eyes and begin to walk forward until I feel my body slowly being submerged into the thick substance one inch at a time.

It is only now that I begin to worry if I will be able to breathe when fully submerged, or if I am soon to suffocate!

‘s**t - too late…’

My body slowly warms up and two seconds later I feel as my consciousness suddenly slips away from me.

Everything fades into a silent darkness and I fear I have in fact died from my dangerous choice...

-

Zarkin;

There are so many things running through my head right now and I fight to handle them all at once.

My mind is an utter mess as a growing anxiety and sense of fear coarse throughout my veins. There is so much that I must do. So much to do and so little time.

But I obviously need to be extremely cautious of how I go about this!

If this imposter gets even the slightest hint that I am onto him, I am done for!

No doubt he’ll have me killed to silence me.

No, I need to be smart and make each move slowly, strategically.

I think for a moment about the real Adomis. If this is not my Overlord, then where the hell is he?

I take a moment to try and recall. The last time I saw him was inside the cave at the Mountain Ranges, when we were rescuing Ivy. Adomis and Ronaar were both preparing for a duel and…

I suddenly freeze and my eyes widen.

Realisation hits me like a tonne of bricks.

“Ronaar…” I whisper to myself as I pace back and forth in the privacy of my chambers.

“You sneaky son of a b***h. You had us all fooled didn’t you?”

If my instincts are in fact correct, it is not my Overlord Adomis in control of the situation here at the castle, but his sworn enemy Prince Ronaar instead!

Of course, I need to be sure that my hunch is indeed correct.

What I need is proof.

And what’s worse, I need to warn Ivy about all of this before she and he… oh no!

I pause as the possibility enters my mind and I cringe at the thought of him getting his slimy hands all over her, while wisely disguised as his enemy.

Poor Ivy would have no idea of what she was doing, or more importantly, of whom she was doing it with.

“s**t!” I curse under my breath.

Before I know it, I am headed out through the doorway of my chambers on my way towards the Overlord’s chambers on an urgent mission to find Ivy and warn her.

She needs to know who this imposter is now before anything further happens between the two of them.

I can only pray that I am not too late...

-

Ivy;

After our most recent altercation and Adomis leaving me more confused now than ever, I was having trouble sleeping and decided to try and warm myself by the enormous fireplace at the end of the room.

I couldn’t seem to understand what was going on with Adomis.

First the strange scar and his refusal to talk too much about it. And then just rushing off without so much as a word of why he was leaving...

Deep down, I felt like I’d done something wrong. That I’d done something or said something to upset him.

I wanted to know why he was acting so strangely around me; so unlike his usual self.

No matter what I did to try and distract myself, I couldn’t seem to erase the nagging feeling that something was not quite right with the Overlord.

Normally the mere sight of me standing naked before him was enough for him to immediately tear off his clothes and take me right then and there!

If there was one thing I knew about Adomis, it was that he was insatiable; an animal in bed. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

But ever since our return from the cave that evening, when he rescued me from Ronaar, Adomis… well, he’d changed somehow. He’d become incredibly distant from me.

And what was worse, I had no idea of what had caused it.

For the first time since arriving in this strange new world, I felt alone now more than ever and it was beginning to eat away at me from the inside.

I needed to talk to someone, to get these horrible thoughts off my chest.

Chewing my bottom lip nervously, I decided to go and have a word with the one person I knew I could actually trust with something this important. The one person who had always been there when I needed him the most since my arrival – the very Mage whom I considered to be a friend, Zarkin.

Getting up from my chair, I quickly searched and found a large white and gold robe. Pulling it over the top of my nightgown I then proceeded to slip on a pair of flat golden shoes for the long walk ahead.

With my mission in mind, I began heading towards the door that would lead me out into the adjacent corridor. My only concern now was whether Zarkin was asleep at such a late hour.

Stopping in front of the wooden door and reaching for the handle I paused and gasped as the door suddenly opened inwards on its own.

There he was, standing before me in the doorway with his chocolate brown eyes locked onto mine.

We both stood in silence for a moment before I broke through the awkward silence between us.

“Adomis… what are you-”

I was quickly silenced mid-sentence as he suddenly closed the gap between us and crashed his lips onto mine, igniting a fiery kiss between us.

A kiss that blossomed with desire and intense, heated passion.

‘One long overdue, if you asked me.’

When we finally parted lips, I was clearly out of breath and the bottom half of my face was rubbed raw thanks to his newly formed stubble.

Not that I cared even in the slightest. I’d hardly even noticed.

After slowly opening my eyes to gaze into his, I finally had the chance to open my mouth and this time use it to speak.

But I couldn’t seem to form a single word... not one!

I could feel my breasts rising and falling with each of my heavy pants as I secretly fought to control the sudden injection of lust I had just received.

I could barely see straight as the entire world around us seemed to blur out of focus. I’d never felt this way about someone before. Not like this.

His voice was incredibly deep, husky and oh so sexy!

“Tell me you want me, Ivy... tell me…”

I could feel myself pooling with excitement as I swallowed nervously before replying.

“I want you.” I managed to whisper. “I want you so f*****g badly.”

My brows are furrowed in desperation as his hands both move to cradle either side of my face.

He stares into my eyes with a loving expression before smiling.

I attempt to speak but he quickly silences me, “Adomis, I-”

“-Uh-uh! No more talking…”

Though his command is unusual, I don’t think too much into it before nodding my head, right before he claims my lips once more in yet another powerful and heated kiss.

This one is twice as demanding as the other and in no time he has manoeuvred himself, joining me inside the chambers.

I hardly even notice as he casually kicks the door shut behind us with his boot.