Chereads / Artras / Chapter 9 - Chapter Nine

Chapter 9 - Chapter Nine

Somewhere in the stadium locker rooms...

"Hey, listen up team," the coach called the opposite team known as the Pirates to attention. This was the team that the Armenville high had been preparing to face that Saturday. "This team we are going up against is just a warm up for the big ones"

"Coach didn't they..."

"That was luck," he said raising his voice.

"And..." the player interrupted again.

"Shawn," the coach yelled now clearly infuriated, "anything else you want to add." The coach then continued his pep talk after shutting down the player. Little did this coach know that dark forces were at work. Well of course then he wouldn't know. These humans were oblivious to the magical world.

A servant of the dark wizards having worked his way into his way into the mind of this young boy. And with that spell, deadly motives were locked in his mind on the annihilation of the young oblivious siege that Armenville High had put its hopes in to win the game.

...

We were getting ready for the game when Kendall came to me. "Hey, you nervous," he asked in a voice that clearly showed that he was the nervous one. Not that I mind, I was freaking out.

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, good, it means you'll be on your toes," he replied.

"I'm gonna need a better pep talk than that," I said lacing my voice with utter disappointment.

"Well that's all I got," he said giggling. "Ciara is the one who's good at those." he said taking a seat beside me in the locker room.

I looked at him, "Really, Ciara is good at pep talks." I reacted quite taken aback myself.

"Yeah, she is," he said as if reviewing a memory. "Anyway, she's going to be watching the game. So you should be fine."

"Listen up people," coach spoke up, "I've been seeing you through our practice sessions. And from what I've seen, these guys are gonna be a piece of cake. NOW GET OUT OF THERE AND BE MONSTERS," he shouted as we ran out to the field with pumped up spirits.

The match then began. The pirates had won the coin toss and were getting to play offence. We all got into position ready on defence. We stopped them from making three touchdowns thanks to Thomas knocking down their quarterback.

Getting back into position the quarterback started calling plays different from the ones they had been using. 'I guess they are using an emergency play this time,' I guess.

"Hut hut," the quarterback shouted springing the field into chaos. Helmets clashed as defenders started brawling to get to the quarterback before he threw the ball. This time Thomas was blocked. He couldn't make it.

Everything slowed down as I tapped into my super speed, but not too much to make it noticeable. I looked at the quarterback and saw the receiver he was aiming for and I started making my way for the receiver making sure to ditch the guy I was pretending to struggle with having his face on the ground. 'Good thing we wear helmets.

The quarterback hurled the ball into the air and I watched as it made its way to the receiver with whom I'd caught up. Being a receiver required one to be really fast since he had defenders to ditch. I collided with the receiver and threw him off the path of the ball. This was my strategy to get the ball into our possession. Thomas was a beast as he took down the receiver twice in the four downs they had to keep the ball. It was soon our turn to play offence and we got into position having known our plays.

"Hut hut," Thomas shouted and the game once again was in motion and everything slowed down for me as I started my run for it. I looked back and everything is slow. Well, almost everything. 'Wait what!' I'm startled as I notice a pirate approaching me at an alarming speed with a crazy look in his eyes and his pupils dilated so much you can't see the iris. Or are they just black?

The sound of Thomas hurling the ball broke me out of my trance and I took a look at the ball coming towards me, but so was the crazy freakishly fast defender with a murderous look in his eye. Not that I was slow or anything.

I caught the ball and made a run for it with the guy behind me gaining on me fast. Well, I was not really worried since my calculations suggested that with the speed I was running at I would be making the touchdown before this guy got to me. It's what happens after that got me on edge. The look in this guy's eyes was unnatural.

It was almost like he was in a trance. I made the touchdown but the guy just kept coming at me. 'Okay, something is definitely off.' I came to the conclusion. Slowing my speed to a jog, I focused on slowing things down more as he got closer. I was under the impression that he would freeze if I stopped time. It appeared to be working. The guy had slowed down remarkably enough for me to take a good look at him.

His eyes were pitch black and filled with hatred and rage as if it was from....from somewhere else. I concentrated harder as he begins to slow with everything even further until everything came to a stop. I was sure that time had stopped. But he was still moving slightly. 'What the hell?'

I started pacing around the guy. 'This is not good. Not good not good. Maybe I can ask Ciara for some help,' I looked through the spectators until I saw Ciara seated with Jacob and Isaac at the far end of the field. I jogged up to her even though she was also frozen together with everything else. 'What did Mr Bergstrom say again? Oh yeah. It's a subconscious decision. Wait what is that supposed to mean....'

"Kevin, what's going on?" she asked while waving her hands in front of Isaac.

"I need your help," I told her grabbing her hand and leading her to the player who was acting weird. She studied him for a while until she came to the conclusion that he was possessed by an evil force. She then fixed the poor boy's mind and his eyes went back to normal and he finally froze with everything else. She took her seat and assumed her previous position which I found weird. I came in front of her and was about to attempt waving my hands in her face when she looked at me.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Oh, well I just thought you'd frozen or something," I told her sheepishly.

"Aren't you going back to the spot you were in before you stopped time? Just imagine the look on everybody's faces when they can't see the wide receiver all of a sudden," she explained.

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that," I said which seemed to anger her.

"Don't be reckless Kevin. Humans don't know about magic or Armensia," she said sternly before dismissing me.

I got back to my position and resumed time. The crowd went wild as I had just made a touchdown. I had been drained after holding time for so long.

The match proceeded with no more difficulties from the Pirates as their fast player had been getting his speed from the evil possession. We won the game 6-1. Kendall might have tripped.

We got back to the locker rooms where everyone began celebrating our victory. Thomas walked over to me and pulled me into the centre of the commotion and we stood on a bench. "Guys, the real man of the match." He yelled and the room erupted into cheers. After about an hour when we were done showering I got out with Kendall who walked me home and we parted at my house. 'If only I could teleport.' I thought as I watched him vanish right before my eyes.

I entered the house making sure to be stealthy so that I had no disturbances as I made it to my bed and almost immediately fell fast asleep.

Little did the young Siege know that his family was completely aware of his sneaky approach to his bed had even watched his game. As predicted, they had known he would be tired and had made an effort to let him get to his room in peace.

.....

I was standing with my friends on a vast plain. It was beautiful and the air around us was full of magic. The feeling was amazing. Ciara giggled, "It's so beautiful, but how do we get to the Artarak."

Just then we saw a black mass in a distance coming closer to us like a swarm of locusts. And at that same time, an ear-piercing roar was heard from the other side. We turned to see dragons, two of them flying towards the black mass at an alarming speed. They reached the darkness and started fending it off with fire and magic from the riders on their backs.

"It's magnificent," Jacob exclaimed.

"It is, just like Dan said," Kendall added.

I continued to stare at the dragons flying gracefully in perfect harmony with their riders with their smooth scales gleaming in the sun as they fend off the darkness. A feeling of loneliness and longing started etching its way into my chest causing excruciating paralyzing pain to surge through my body like a lightning bolt.....

....

I woke up screaming this time as the pain seemed to be real and my shivering was worse and drenched in sweat.....

The pain... it had been like my heart shattering into a million pieces a hundred times over. 'What the hell was that?'.....

....