Off in the distance Gabrielle could see a white structure. She looked to Skyler, who's purple bandages with blue markings were stained black. She worried about his wound, even though she thought that it wasn't bleeding anymore.
"Is this the Ruby Citadel?" She asked.
"Yeah." He gripped his bandaged wound.
"Are you going to be alright?" She reached out and grabbed his bare arm.
"I'll be fine, I'll be fine. You don't have to keep worrying about me." Skyler smiled and shook his head.
"Alright, I was just checking up on you." She let go of his arm and grabbed her dress.
They continued to walk up to the citadel, until Skyler raised his arm to stop her.
"Watch this." He looked at her, then looked to the citadel.
He raised his arms, and off in the distance the black ground turned white. The ground turned white up until it reached halfway across the citadel, he then lowered his arms, and the black ground stopped going backwards.
"Wow, how did you do that?" She looked to him, amazed.
He summoned a single black coin with unknown markings.
"This stores all Wrackivorn's powers, now that he is dead, I possess them. That doesn't include the spells he got from the forbidden book, those can't be transferred." He flipped the coin and caught it.
"Oh, thank goodness, I was worried you'd lose your soul." She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, no, learned spells are only transferred if it comes to shadow magic. I'm the last of my kind left now, so I all of them, and I have to use my powers responsibly." He smiled again.
"Why did you have to change the ground?" She was confused as to why he already gave back so much land to her side.
"Because the citadel wouldn't open otherwise." He chuffed.
"Really? I thought they just closed it because they didn't like it, not because the land was taken from us." She thought that it was only because they wanted to keep whatever was inside secret, not because it was impossible to open because it had to be on both halves of land.
"It's because there needs to be peace and an agreement between both light and dark that they would keep it open and not try to take any more land, if any amount of land on either side is more than half, the citadel closes." He pointed to it.
"Should we go in?" She looked to it and then back at him.
"Yeah, I want to see what's inside, and, most likely, so do you." He nodded.
"Of course I do." She nodded back and gave him a small smile.
The doors creaked open, and inside was a giant library with beautiful statues of people on one side and shadow demons on the other. The inside was very spacious and there were breathtaking murals along the walls and ceiling. She looked to the one directly behind her and saw two figures, one dark male with short hair, and one light female with long curly hair, they were shaking hands.
"Wait, is this supposed to be us?" She looked to Skyler, who turned around and walked up to the mural.
"Wow, looks like it, they even got the hair down pat." He gave a surprised smile.
She stared at the mural for a few more seconds, but then got the overwhelming urge to open one of the books in the library. She turned back.
"What are all the books here about?" She walked up to the bookshelves.
She opened one, and even though the writing wasn't English, she could understand it.
"This is a… gray magic book?" She looked up to Skyler, who shrugged.
"I guess it's a combination of shadow magic and light magic. Must have been forbidden and got locked away after the war started up again." He looked over her shoulder.
"Can you read it?" She looked over.
"Yeah, I can too, usually reading light magic spells hurts my eyes, but this doesn't" He reached around and put his hand on her shoulder.
"What else is there in here?" She put the book away and ran deeper into the citadel.
"Whoa, slow down, there could be dangerous stuff in here." Skyler ran after her.
They ran to the center of the citadel, where there was a circular opening filled with white water.
"Hmm, I've never seen anything like this before." She reached down and touched it.
A being came out from under the water, it had white skin and a large yet thin backwards pea pod shaped head and solid red eyes with no pupils or whites. It was wearing a long white poncho with gray magic markings around the bottom. The poncho had sleeves and it waved with sharp white hands.
"Greetings, Light Maiden. It seems the war has finally ended, and my time of awakening Is now." The creature smiled with its eyes, since it had no mouth.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Ah shit, I hope it's friendly." Skyler ran up behind Gabrielle and stopped. He huffed, his hands on his knees.
"I am Adam. It seems your betrothed's power is waning, usually Darklings do not tire." Adam looked to Skyler.
"That's a very normal name for a creature like you." She looked Adam up and down.
"I am named after the first human, I was sent by the Veil of Light to guard this place, since I am a member of it." Adam pointed to himself.
"Oh, that's adorable." She put a hand to her face and smiled again.
"Ah, thank you, Light Maiden. And I suppose your betrothed is the King of Darkness?" Adam continued to stare at Skyler, who stood back up and coughed.
"Well, I haven't been crowned yet but I will be soon." He lowered his head but kept looking upwards at Adam.
"Oh that is fine. Do not worry. What of your brethren?" Adam put his index finger to his face.
"They're all dead, I'm the only one left." He summoned a bunch of coins with slightly different symbols to Wrackivorn's coin, along with the coin itself, into his hand and showed them to Adam.
"I see, so that is all that is left of them. They must have really hated the light to not be swayed by the threat of death." Adam looked to the coins and back up at Skyler.
"I'm determined to do whatever I can to end the war, let me know how I can help." Skyler bowed and the coins disappeared from his hand.
"Have you given back any artifacts that were stolen?" Adam asked.
"No, not yet, but there's a lot, a giant display case full. I'm planning on returning it after I'm crowned king." Skyler rose back up.
"I assume you two have already consummated?" Adam looked to the both of them.
"I-" Gabrielle started to try and say something, but Skyler piped up.
"Yeah, I showed the bloody bed sheets to Shai, don't worry." Skyler nodded again.
"Skyler! Don't tell him that!" Gabrielle's face crinkled and reddened in embarrassment and anger.
"What? That's kind of important, even if we didn't do it immediately after the ritual, it had to be done eventually." Skyler's face flushed gray and he lowered his head again.
"You don't need to tell the nice man about our love life." Gabrielle huffed.
"Sorry, but it seems like he's an important figure, so I thought I should tell him. Besides, he asked." Skyler's face became more gray.
"It is fine, it is too late now, the cat is out of the bag anyways." Adam giggled and held a hand to his face.
"What else does he need to do? And no more asking personal questions." Gabrielle frowned.
"Other than being crowned king? He did the biggest one, which is why you are inside here, he gave the land back to your people, Light Maiden. Are you prepared to be crowned queen, by the way?" Adam looked to Skyler and then to Gabrielle.
"Wait. I'm going to be queen?" She was surprised, she didn't think she needed to be queen to make peace with the other side.
"Well, a king must have a queen. I assume you will build a new castle on the border, yes?" Adam looked to both of them again.
"The old king is alright, but I would prefer if you were ruler." Skyler looked at her lovingly.
"I have no idea how to run a country though." She looked to Skyler again. She was worried that she would do something wrong and have the people knocking at her door with pitchforks and torches.
"I'm sure Shai would teach you how." Skyler waved his hand.
"Do we really have to build a new castle here?" She looked back to Adam.
"You can use the Ruby Citadel as a castle while the other one is being built." Adam nodded.
"Alright, it's settled then. Can't wait for this war to finally be over." Skyler grinned.
"Shouldn't we go back so you can be crowned?" She looked to Skyler.
"Yeah, let's go." Skyler took her hand in his.
"I can't wait!" She grinned and giggled.
They bid goodbye to Adam, and went back to the dark side castle, on the way they noticed that the battle had ended and everyone was gone. Skyler went inside and picked up his clothes and put them on. He apologized for bleeding on her dress, but she just said she could easily get a new one. Skyler talked to the Gravekeeper Darklings about a coronation, and she smiled. She knew that Skyler would be a great king.
Skyler then took her to the light side castle and she talked to Shai about her coronation as well. Shai already knew that Gabrielle was in line to become queen, but did not tell her because she did not want to worry her. She asked about how to wake up and Shai told her that Fira and Lunara had already awoken. Shai led Gabrielle to her room and they performed a spell that would wake her up. She woke up in the middle of the day, and thanked the powers that be that it was her day off. She called Skyler, who was already awake, and spent the day chatting and having fun with him.
Off in the distance Gabrielle could see a white structure. She looked to Skyler, who's purple bandages with blue markings were stained black. She worried about his wound, even though she thought that it wasn't bleeding anymore.
"Is this the Ruby Citadel?" She asked.
"Yeah." He gripped his bandaged wound.
"Are you going to be alright?" She reached out and grabbed his bare arm.
"I'll be fine, I'll be fine. You don't have to keep worrying about me." Skyler smiled and shook his head.
"Alright, I was just checking up on you." She let go of his arm and grabbed her dress.
They continued to walk up to the citadel, until Skyler raised his arm to stop her.
"Watch this." He looked at her, then looked to the citadel.
He raised his arms, and off in the distance the black ground turned white. The ground turned white up until it reached halfway across the citadel, he then lowered his arms, and the black ground stopped going backwards.
"Wow, how did you do that?" She looked to him, amazed.
He summoned a single black coin with unknown markings.
"This stores all Wrackivorn's powers, now that he is dead, I possess them. That doesn't include the spells he got from the forbidden book, those can't be transferred." He flipped the coin and caught it.
"Oh, thank goodness, I was worried you'd lose your soul." She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh, no, learned spells are only transferred if it comes to shadow magic. I'm the last of my kind left now, so I all of them, and I have to use my powers responsibly." He smiled again.
"Why did you have to change the ground?" She was confused as to why he already gave back so much land to her side.
"Because the citadel wouldn't open otherwise." He chuffed.
"Really? I thought they just closed it because they didn't like it, not because the land was taken from us." She thought that it was only because they wanted to keep whatever was inside secret, not because it was impossible to open because it had to be on both halves of land.
"It's because there needs to be peace and an agreement between both light and dark that they would keep it open and not try to take any more land, if any amount of land on either side is more than half, the citadel closes." He pointed to it.
"Should we go in?" She looked to it and then back at him.
"Yeah, I want to see what's inside, and, most likely, so do you." He nodded.
"Of course I do." She nodded back and gave him a small smile.
The doors creaked open, and inside was a giant library with beautiful statues of people on one side and shadow demons on the other. The inside was very spacious and there were breathtaking murals along the walls and ceiling. She looked to the one directly behind her and saw two figures, one dark male with short hair, and one light female with long curly hair, they were shaking hands.
"Wait, is this supposed to be us?" She looked to Skyler, who turned around and walked up to the mural.
"Wow, looks like it, they even got the hair down pat." He gave a surprised smile.
She stared at the mural for a few more seconds, but then got the overwhelming urge to open one of the books in the library. She turned back.
"What are all the books here about?" She walked up to the bookshelves.
She opened one, and even though the writing wasn't English, she could understand it.
"This is a… gray magic book?" She looked up to Skyler, who shrugged.
"I guess it's a combination of shadow magic and light magic. Must have been forbidden and got locked away after the war started up again." He looked over her shoulder.
"Can you read it?" She looked over.
"Yeah, I can too, usually reading light magic spells hurts my eyes, but this doesn't" He reached around and put his hand on her shoulder.
"What else is there in here?" She put the book away and ran deeper into the citadel.
"Whoa, slow down, there could be dangerous stuff in here." Skyler ran after her.
They ran to the center of the citadel, where there was a circular opening filled with white water.
"Hmm, I've never seen anything like this before." She reached down and touched it.
A being came out from under the water, it had white skin and a large yet thin backwards pea pod shaped head and solid red eyes with no pupils or whites. It was wearing a long white poncho with gray magic markings around the bottom. The poncho had sleeves and it waved with sharp white hands.
"Greetings, Light Maiden. It seems the war has finally ended, and my time of awakening Is now." The creature smiled with its eyes, since it had no mouth.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Ah shit, I hope it's friendly." Skyler ran up behind Gabrielle and stopped. He huffed, his hands on his knees.
"I am Adam. It seems your betrothed's power is waning, usually Darklings do not tire." Adam looked to Skyler.
"That's a very normal name for a creature like you." She looked Adam up and down.
"I am named after the first human, I was sent by the Veil of Light to guard this place, since I am a member of it." Adam pointed to himself.
"Oh, that's adorable." She put a hand to her face and smiled again.
"Ah, thank you, Light Maiden. And I suppose your betrothed is the King of Darkness?" Adam continued to stare at Skyler, who stood back up and coughed.
"Well, I haven't been crowned yet but I will be soon." He lowered his head but kept looking upwards at Adam.
"Oh that is fine. Do not worry. What of your brethren?" Adam put his index finger to his face.
"They're all dead, I'm the only one left." He summoned a bunch of coins with slightly different symbols to Wrackivorn's coin, along with the coin itself, into his hand and showed them to Adam.
"I see, so that is all that is left of them. They must have really hated the light to not be swayed by the threat of death." Adam looked to the coins and back up at Skyler.
"I'm determined to do whatever I can to end the war, let me know how I can help." Skyler bowed and the coins disappeared from his hand.
"Have you given back any artifacts that were stolen?" Adam asked.
"No, not yet, but there's a lot, a giant display case full. I'm planning on returning it after I'm crowned king." Skyler rose back up.
"I assume you two have already consummated?" Adam looked to the both of them.
"I-" Gabrielle started to try and say something, but Skyler piped up.
"Yeah, I showed the bloody bed sheets to Shai, don't worry." Skyler nodded again.
"Skyler! Don't tell him that!" Gabrielle's face crinkled and reddened in embarrassment and anger.
"What? That's kind of important, even if we didn't do it immediately after the ritual, it had to be done eventually." Skyler's face flushed gray and he lowered his head again.
"You don't need to tell the nice man about our love life." Gabrielle huffed.
"Sorry, but it seems like he's an important figure, so I thought I should tell him. Besides, he asked." Skyler's face became more gray.
"It is fine, it is too late now, the cat is out of the bag anyways." Adam giggled and held a hand to his face.
"What else does he need to do? And no more asking personal questions." Gabrielle frowned.
"Other than being crowned king? He did the biggest one, which is why you are inside here, he gave the land back to your people, Light Maiden. Are you prepared to be crowned queen, by the way?" Adam looked to Skyler and then to Gabrielle.
"Wait. I'm going to be queen?" She was surprised, she didn't think she needed to be queen to make peace with the other side.
"Well, a king must have a queen. I assume you will build a new castle on the border, yes?" Adam looked to both of them again.
"The old king is alright, but I would prefer if you were ruler." Skyler looked at her lovingly.
"I have no idea how to run a country though." She looked to Skyler again. She was worried that she would do something wrong and have the people knocking at her door with pitchforks and torches.
"I'm sure Shai would teach you how." Skyler waved his hand.
"Do we really have to build a new castle here?" She looked back to Adam.
"You can use the Ruby Citadel as a castle while the other one is being built." Adam nodded.
"Alright, it's settled then. Can't wait for this war to finally be over." Skyler grinned.
"Shouldn't we go back so you can be crowned?" She looked to Skyler.
"Yeah, let's go." Skyler took her hand in his.
"I can't wait!" She grinned and giggled.
They bid goodbye to Adam, and went back to the dark side castle, on the way they noticed that the battle had ended and everyone was gone. Skyler went inside and picked up his clothes and put them on. He apologized for bleeding on her dress, but she just said she could easily get a new one. Skyler talked to the Gravekeeper Darklings about a coronation, and she smiled. She knew that Skyler would be a great king.
Skyler then took her to the light side castle and she talked to Shai about her coronation as well. Shai already knew that Gabrielle was in line to become queen, but did not tell her because she did not want to worry her. She asked about how to wake up and Shai told her that Fira and Lunara had already awoken. Shai led Gabrielle to her room and they performed a spell that would wake her up. She woke up in the middle of the day, and thanked the powers that be that it was her day off. She called Skyler, who was already awake, and spent the day chatting and having fun with him.
Read the rest of The Light Maiden's Mark here: https://moonquill.com/book/46