Outside Kamen's window sits a nest of birds, happily singing a song filled with joy and happiness. Unbeknownst to them, it was extremely annoying.
"Damn it, why can't they just go away? Why is it always the case when I want to sleep in? Damn pests." I think the clock next to my bed reads 9 a.m. as I look at it.When I get out of bed and proceed to put my clothes on, it would appear that Jenny had thought ahead and brought more clothes; unfortunately, they're almost exactly the same as the Armani ones from the previous day.
"I wonder what that was about last night; I don't know if it was a nightmare or if someone was really in here with me." I'll have to talk to Alice and see if she can set up a detection spell at night." While putting my shirt on, I think to myself.
As I finally get my clothes fully on, I hear a knock at the door.
"Who is it?"
Jenny opens the door and walks in. "I'm glad you're up; once you're done getting dressed, come downstairs; we need to talk about your training." I stare at Jenny, admiring her beauty. She's 5 feet 6 and 130 pounds, and she has curves in all the right places.
"I don't understand why she even loved me growing up, but she is just so damn beautiful. One day you'll fully be mine and no one else's." I think to myself, not realizing that I'm staring at her like a creep who's never seen a woman before.
"Hello?" Jenny says this while waving a hand in my face. Realizing that I had spaced out, I quickly replied. "Oh, sorry. I don't know what that was about."
"I can tell; well, hurry up." Jenny says this while walking out the door. Walking down the stairs, I see Alistair sitting at the main table, drinking what I hope is cherry kool-aid. He looks up at me and smiles. "I do hope that you had a good rest after last night." He says this as he puts his cup down.
"Actually, I didn't." I heard this voice that said, "You're mine now." I'm not sure if it was just a dream or if someone was really in my room." I say this as I sit down at the table.
Alistair, looking at me, pushes his cup across the table towards me. "Drink up. We have something to talk about." Looking down, I pick up the cup and smell it. "God damn it. It's not Kool-aid. It's blood. Why can't he just be normal?" Shaking my head, I take a sip and almost spit it out.
"Jesus Christ, this is fucking hot." I yell out as I put the cup back down on the table. Seeing this, Alistair breaks out into a laughing fit.
"Do you not like it? It's not exactly fresh, but it gets the job done. It's pig blood, by the way." Alistair explains that it's clear he doesn't like it either.
"That's disgusting, anyway. What did you guys want to talk about?" I ask. Alistair gets serious. "There was a spy in your room last night; you weren't dreaming it."
The information shocks me to my core. Someone was in my room and could've possibly killed me. The thought of it slowly started to enrage me. "Who was it? Do you know?"
"We're not entirely sure; we didn't notice him until it was too late to catch him." We detected his presence outside, but by the time we arrived, he had already vanished. Alistair explains, clearly upset, that he was too late to stop whatever might have happened.
"What do we do? How do we find out who it was?" I inquire, trying to keep my voice steady.
"We've already increased security, but we also need you to be more vigilant. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious or new in the area. And if you sense anything out of the ordinary, let us know immediately." Alistair replies with his eyes fixed on me.
I nod, understanding the gravity of the situation. "I will."
Jenny clears her throat, bringing our attention back to her. "Sorry to interrupt, but we still need to talk about your training. We can't let this distract us from our mission."
Alistair nods in agreement. "She's right. We need to continue with your training so you're better prepared for any potential threats."
I glance at Jenny, and I can't help but feel a surge of desire wash over me. But I quickly push it aside and focus on the task at hand.
I say, "Okay, let's start," as we start talking about my training schedule.
"But even as we go through the motions, my mind can't stop going back to that moment; if I were a little faster, I could've stopped him and asked him questions." As we walk into the portal to my training area, I think of myself.
Walking in, I notice some of the weapons are lying on a rack in the center of the building. "Am I going to start my weapon training today?" I asked curiously.
Alistair looks up from the weapons, confirming what I thought.
"Yes, you are; now you can decide who you want to train you first: Jenny or me." I will let you know that I am proficient in swords, spears, and axes. Jenny is proficient in hand-to-hand combat, mace, bow, and demolitions."
Looking at both of them, I turn my head toward Alistair.
"Well, this isn't a hard decision. "I'll choose you because Jenny is a battle freak and whooped my ass for a bit."
Jenny huffed, clearly irritated, but she couldn't deny it. "It's not my fault that you're a pussycat and can't defend yourself." I look at her in confusion. "Actually, you are; you know what. This isn't going to get us anywhere." As I walk up to the table and choose the sword, I say this.
"I always wanted to learn how to sword-fight." I look over at Alistair, containing a laugh. "Not like that, you fucking perv." As I walk over to the center and wait, I say this.
Alistair grabs another sword. "Now, are you positive that you want to do this?" He inquires, smiling at me with all of his sharp teeth visible. "Well, it's a better alternative to fighting her." I motion over to Jenny, and she stares at me with a stink eye.
Looking away is kind of awkward, I say. "Let's do this, Alistair."
Alistair squints his eyes. "Alright, but remember, I never said I'd go easy on you." "Well, that's just not fair now, is it?"
Alistair appears beside me, slashing my side. I jump out of the way. "Hey asshole! "That could've cut me something fierce!"
Alistair laughs. "That's the point; without injury, training wouldn't be training, would it?" He says he is tilting his head to the left.
"God damn it, he's just like Jenny. Fuck me sideways; I can't catch a break." As I disappear and appear behind Alistair, attempting to thrust my sword into his back, I think to myself. "Tsk Tsk Tsk," Alistair says, clicking his tongue as his sword goes behind him, blocking my attack. "You have to try better than that, Kamen." Trying something else, I appear to his right and kick into him, knocking him back three feet.
"Now that wasn't very nice, Kamen." "He says, snickering as he wipes the dirt from his black button-up shirt." "That was dirty, but I like it." Alistair mutters something, and fire starts slowly covering his sword. "This is where the fun begins."
He appears in front of me, slashing at my chest. His sword connects to my chest and cuts me open, while my shirt catches fire. Ripping it off, I watch as my cut slowly heals.
"Two can play at that game, Alistair." "I say as I close my eyes, imagining the darkness enveloping my sword." "Get ready." I say this as I vanish and reappear to his right, ready to thrust. He blocks it, and I immediately shift to slashing at his left side faster than he anticipates.
"It looks like someone is learning. That's good." As he slashes his sword into the ground, he says, "That's good." Rocks and flames come out of the floor in front of me, and I jump out of the way. "I didn't know you could do that. That's a neat ability." As I look at him with newfound respect, I say this.
"Kamen, there's a lot you don't know about me." That's the point." He says this as his sword changes elements and has water enveloping it. "Let's see if you can dodge this." He swings his sword out, and a long water jet comes towards me. I dodged another of his attacks.
"Ha. It looks like I'm getting better and better." Suddenly, I feel something hit my back; the water strikes me too hard and sends me into the wall, denting the concrete. I feel the dark energy slowly taking over. A voice sounds out. "Let me do this for you, Kamen." The darkness envelopes my body. Filled with rage, my body screams out in a gruesome roar.
Alistair quickly gets serious, understanding that things are about to change for the worst.
"Is that what he looked like when he lost control last time?" Jenny is concerned.
The darkness inside me takes over, and I feel more powerful than ever before. With a growl, I charge towards Alistair and swing my sword with all my might. He parries my attack, but the force behind it sends him flying into the wall on the opposite side of the room.
Alistair picks himself up, his eyes glowing with fury. "Kamen, what the hell is going on with you?" he demands.
"It's the darkness inside me," I reply through gritted teeth. "It's taking over."
"This isn't good," Jenny says, fear lacing her voice. "We need to do something before it consumes him completely."
With that, Alistair charges at me, avoiding my swings but also trying to knock me out cold. As he deflects one of my blows, he delivers a forceful kick to the abdomen, inducing a violent coughing fit.
"Kamen!" Jenny cries out, rushing to my side.
But as she touches me, a bolt of dark energy shoots out of my body, hitting her square in the chest. She flies back and hits the wall with a sickening thud.
In confusion, I look over at Alistair, not knowing that I was the one who attacked Jenny. "What did you do? You bastard!"
"I didn't do anything," he says defensively. "Your darkness is forcing you to do this; you must control yourself!"
Not listening to him, I pick him up by his throat. "You'll pay for hurting Jenny and trying to trick me!" I roar out as I slam him into the floor, then throw him towards the wall. As he catches his breath, I appear beside him, pick him up by his head, and throw him fast enough that he flies through the portal.
On the other side, Alice is waiting by the portal. "What's taking them so long?" They've been here for hours." As soon as she is about to walk into the portal, Alistair appears from the portal, slamming into her.
Knocking her to the ground, she asks in a panic. "What happened, Alistair? Where's Kamen?" Alistair looks up. "The darkness is taking him over." He won't listen to reason."
Alice speaks up, looking annoyed and worried at the same time.
"I figured this would happen; I spent some time trying to find a spell that would contain it and lock it away until he could control it." Getting up, Alice walks through the portal. "Wait, Alice. Please be careful; he's really strong and really fast."
Looking back, Alice says, "Don't worry, I can handle this."
She appears a second later inside the training area, staring at me standing above Jenny's body.
"Kamen, what are you doing?" Alice inquires, concerned for Jenny.
"Are you here to trick me, too?" I am annoyed and angry.
Alice is walking closer. "You don't understand; you can't control the darkness inside you, and it's corrupting your mind, making you see and feel different things, Kamen." No one is trying to trick you, I swear."
"LIAR," I say in a rage. Rushing towards Alice, I notice her muttering something. As soon as I'm about to slit her throat with my claws, the darkness fades from my body, and I hit the ground and black out.
"Jesus Christ, this guy has problems." Alice says she is rushing over to check on Jenny. "Are you serious?" She looks down at Jenny, annoyed.
"What? There's nothing I could've done against Kamen; the best thing for me to do was just lay here and not move." Jenny replies, shrugging.
"All right, then, it is your responsibility to transport him to his room after picking him up." Alice says she's walking away, making sure I'm alright and that there's no darkness emanating from my body. She whispers. "Good, I'm glad you're getting stronger, but if you stress me out like that again, I'm going to strangle you." She looks annoyed again. Walking out the gate, she stares at Alistair. "Are you seriously just sitting here? What if I got hurt?" She is upset.
Alistair shrugs. "You're a witch; I figured that you would've figured something out at some point." He says he is walking away, whistling.
