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Chapter 9 - The Dark Prince

Moise wanders through Chidinma's house frantically calling out for her but is met with nothing but silence amidst the crack of distant thunder and the dripping of morning rain. 

Throughout the building, she sees signs of a hasty escape as clothes, appliances and furniture lie scattered around. 

Outside, she notices a familiar purple glow and walks out to investigate. 

As she steps out, she hears someone creeping though the bushes in the distance and gets into a fighting stance shouting, "Who are you and what do you want!?". 

The intruder, a male Leonid, raises his hands in the air and replies in her language, "We do not wish to harm you but it would be wise not to resist us" as three other Leonid women emerge from behind the trees. 

Recognising the sound of his voice, Moise continues to demand, "I am not leaving until you answer my question!". 

Stepping closer with his arms raised the man replies, "So you were not told about your father's sins? 

… How he killed our people… 

… Stole our homeland… 

… Banished us to die… 

… and for this… 

… They called him 'mighty'". 

For a moment, Moise relaxes and puts her arms down asking, "Can you prove all this?" and the man responds, "Come with us and see the truth" extending his right hand forward in greeting. 

Moise takes hold of his hand and smirks before swiping at his neck with her left claw. 

The man blocks her attack and smiles back before punching Moise through a window into a bedroom upstairs. 

Moise groans as slams into the ceiling before crashing into the doors of a closet.

As two of the women climb up in pursuit, Moise rips off a closet door and throws it at them before running into the next room where she slams the door shut and barricades it with furniture. 

From the other side of the door she hears the thundering man's footsteps as he says, "So treachery does run in your blood…". 

"... but it is time to stop running!" he shouts as a purple bolt of lightning smashes the door to splinters. 

With her cover exposed, Moise jumps out through the window only to meet one of her pursuers below preparing to shoot a bolt of purple lightning in her direction. 

She manages to dodge the bolt on the way down but gets caught by her wrist and slammed against the wall. 

As the two of them struggle, Moise summons a weapon out of desperation and manages to draw one of her old daggers. 

She uses the dagger to stab her attacker through the arm before forcing her head into the ground. 

Moise rips the dagger out, aiming to stab her attacker in the heart but a well placed lightning bolt from above halts her attack, with several more bolts driving her off into the forest nearby. 

While one woman tends to her injured comrade, the other pursuers chase after Moise, jumping from tree to tree as they aim to cut her off on both sides. 

With each jump they inch closer and closer, the man coming within a hair's breadth of grabbing Moise but recoils when he senses danger ahead. 

His companion, however, continues the chase despite his warnings to retreat. 

She boosts her spark to grab Moise from behind, who then throws her off as they tumble in the leaves. 

Filled with rage, both Leonids stand and raise their claws to strike the other but Moise's attacker is stopped by the pull of thick vines wrapped around her foot. 

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Moise moves to stab her with the dagger but is caught in the trap as well. 

The man watches helplessly as the vines slowly creep up and crush his companion, her screams only stopping when the vines snap her neck, internally severing her spinal cord. 

At the same time, the vines release a sedative gas directly at Moise's face, sending her to sleep immediately. 

Sequence 2

Moise wakes up to see herself restrained tightly to a hospital bed, with two bracelets wrapped around both arms. 

To her left, she watches as Amina quietly enters the room and laughs saying, "I hoped I would never see your wretched face again". 

Amina ignores the insult and replies with a blank expression, "There is a light pointed at your head, if you make any strange movements it will kill you and I don't want that to happen so please let me help you". 

Moise reclines on the bed without saying a word, allowing Amina to remove her restraints and examine the wound on her shoulder. 

Amina carefully cleans and sutures the wound shut saying, "You're lucky he didn't hit any bones so the wound should heal in two weeks". 

Confused by Amina's behaviour, Moise asks, "Why are you doing this? After everything I've done you still want to help me, you must be insane". 

Amina replies, smiling, "It is my deen to help others" as she packs up and disposes of the items she used.

A confused Moise rubs her sore shoulder, asking, "Deen?" and Amina laughs slightly at her confusion saying, "It means my religion". 

Moise lays back on the bed, laughing slightly as she says, "I'd like to hear more about it". 

Amina smiles back saying, "One day I will tell you all I know, for now get some rest" before walking out of the room. 

Later that evening, Moise is told to wake up and follow a lighted path by DIVA. She does so and finds herself in a dimly lit white room, separated by a glass wall and desk running across it. 

She's told to sit and as she does so, the lights brighten to reveal Dele and Prophet seated on the other side. 

Moise turns her face away in shame and says nothing until Prophet asks, "Why do you turn away from us child?". 

Fighting back tears, Moise replies under her breath, "Because you were right". 

Dele snidely remarks, "I can't hear you" causing Moise to scream at the top of her lungs, "YOU WERE RIGHT, I WAS WRONG, IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR!?" before collapsing back to her seat. 

As she covers her eyes in shame, Dele tells her, "What I would like to hear is an apology. That little stunt you pulled put us in a difficult position, another group within our organisation found you before us and they won't be as forgiving". 

Wiping her eyes, Moise asks, "Why are you telling me this? I have no power here". 

Dele responds, "If you weren't useful you wouldn't be alive right now, though we have pleaded your case, they still are not convinced". 

"Trust is the key.…", Prophet interjects, "... so far we have told you nothing but the truth, it would be wise to do the same". 

Dele takes a cue from Prophet saying, "You can start by telling us who those people hunting you were". 

Moise sighs, "I do not know, they look like our kind and speak our tongue but their spark has an aura of corrupt energy". 

Stroking his beard, Prophet asks, "What did they want?" and Moise responds, "They wanted me to come with them because of something my father did long ago, I fear they might be the ones who poisoned him".

With the interview over, Dele stands up to leave while Prophet stays back to give Moise some words of advice, "You carry the hopes of your people inside your heart, do not crush their hopes under the weight of your pride".

As Prophet gets up to leave, Moise tells him, "All my life I was told to think about what other people want, did anyone ever consider what I want?". 

"Such is the burden of leadership", he says as the lights on the other side slowly dim and DIVA directs her back to the ward for further observation.

Sequence 3 

Gutted with his failure, Narmak uses his spark to teleport back home with his companions, Xeti and Xaan. 

In an instant all three are transported to a scorched hellscape by the side of a jagged mountain. 

Narmak and Seti move through a nearby cavernous passageway to deposit into one of several purple brine pits. She moans in pain as she's submerged but Seti comforts her saying, "Hush little one, save your strength for our day of glorious revenge". 

After Xaan has calmed down, Seti turns to Narmak asking, "Are you hurt" and he replies "No, just angry with myself. If I did not hesitate, Cara would still be alive". 

Looking down at Xaan, Xeti, declares, "She knew the risk, we all did, and her sacrifice will not be in vain". 

"I must go, the elder calls out for me", Narmak says as he follows a passageway leading into the side of the mountain. 

After several minutes he finally reaches the elder's chamber and a frail old man, seated on a black throne, greets him saying, "You left with three, I expected four but you returned with two, where is the one you owe?". 

Narmak falls down on one knee saying, "Apologies my lord, but we could not capture her". 

The unsatisfied elder presses on saying, "Your failure is clear, but is the key to the eye still alive?". 

"We do not know my lord, she was taken by an unknown creature", Narmak replies. 

The elder slowly stands up from his throne and walks down the room saying, "This is unfortunate, though I will consult with our allies on other ways to retrieve the key I still have full faith in you".

Placing a hand on Narmak's head, the elder declares, "In time all the known worlds shall kneel before The Dark Prince". 

The End?