The Crimson Prince： Awakening 12 Chapter 11: Black Despair

Within the first day of travelling, Will and Maya had spent half the day on the same path. The wood line stretching far in front of them. No matter how sore Will's arms had become from heaving the small heavy cart, he had not complained once. Though now he understood exactly why Maya had been so adamant on him resting the full week before they had left. She had wanted him to be completely rested in order to meet the physical demands of the journey.

Seeing Will not complaining about the physical demands of the trip didn't stop Maya from seeing the decrease in speed. "Lets find a resting place, it's been hours since we left." She said with a concerned look as she saw the deep sheen of sweat upon Will's face. Nodding his approval, they left the path for only a minute, just long enough for the wagon to be concealed from the path. Finding a small clearing in the trees, Will sat the wagon down and took out some of his jerky provisions and water.

Within moments the two were sitting in the gra.s.s, eating the dried meat and washing it down with cold refreshing water. Though the trip was a long one, the both of them were grateful to be on it together. It would have been a lonely dangerous trip for either of them to make on their own.

About an hour later, Will put away the canteens and let himself fall onto the gra.s.s, allowing his head to hit the forest floor. The sun was in the final stages of setting as he looked up to see the first stars to appear. "Lets rest here for the night," Will said as he sat up and rummaged through his bag for sleeping mats and sleeping bags. "Travelling through the night would be risky, especially with the wagon." Maya nodded her agreement as she accepted the sleeping supplies.

There was no real need for a fire seeing as though the sleeping bags were insolated, so the two just curled up and talked as the final blueness of the sky turned dark. Within an hour, exhaustion took Will as he finally released his consciousness into the realm of dreams.

Seeing Will resting so peacefully, Maya couldn't help but smile. She hadn't expected him to overdue it on the trip, there were plenty other resting spots along the way from home, but Will had insisted on traveling until dusk.

There were still so many mysteries surrounding the slumbering man next to her. So many things she wished to know. Seeing his mournful expression every time he looked at that 'phone' as he called it, she knew there was someone in his life back where he came from, he had all but admitted that the night before. At times he was so close to her, but whenever he looked at his phone, he would trail off into himself and leave her behind. She had been relieved when the thing causing so much grief had long since stopped working. But then he was always training himself, pushing to the limits. Why?

Would Will ever look at her the way he looked into his past? Would he ever show the same affection towards her that he did someone he was intimate with? Maya knew one day he might. He had finally let her in the other night, had finally shown a brief display of helplessness. She thought back to when she was able to hold him in her arms. It was an amazing experience, something she was waiting for the entire time he lived with her. laying next to him, she had a feeling of accomplishment. He had been so drawn to himself, she doubted he even noticed.

Finally allowing sleep to take her, the only thoughts in her head which mattered were those of her travelling companion in his shiny black jacket.

The darkness of night, the blissful slumber of the two travelling companions cloak them from any observance. Slowly the wraiths make their way to the clearing in which the two young friends sleep. Their cloaks hiding any features in which could possibly show any humanity.

'His father having just made pancakes, Will sat at the table. "How has your trip been? Have you made any friends yet?" Jonathan said with a playful gleam in his eyes. Will only shrugged as he checked his phone. There was only one message from Bianca. With excitement Will clicked it open. Looking at the contents, Will became confused. It only had two words yet he could feel the urgency. WAKE UP!!'

As Will read the words, he felt an icy dread. At first he thought it was just because of the urgency of the message, though he began to shiver. Slowly he woke up to see the source of the chill. As he slowly rose, he saw them.

The five wraiths made a circle around the two of them. Though it wasn't like last time, Michael was nowhere to be seen. Will knew that this time, the fight was completely up to him. All the training he had done for the past four months would have to do.

Will jumped out of his sleeping bag, summoning his flames he thrusted himself between the now awake Maya and the closest wraith.

The wraiths started to close in their positions, trying to trap Will within. He managed to grab Maya and make a break for an opening before they succeeded. The moment Will left the circle, he summoned the largest flame he could make, easily large enough to engulf all of the wraiths. As he sent it down, he saw each one caught ablaze. Within an instant, Will grabbed Maya and ran. "Will, who are those people?" She called out to him but he was in his own world, he had to do something in order to protect Maya.

As they ran, Will could hear the sound of swords being removed from sheaths. He dared not look back for fear of them catching him. Suddenly he felt a cold tingle on his leg. He had no idea what it was so he kept going, but soon his movement had become labored. He looked down to see he was bleeding. The five wraiths had already taken their positions once more.

Will knew he couldn't run anymore, the adrenaline was the only thing keeping him on his feet as he looked at the cut on his leg. A dark red puddle had already formed beneath him and he knew he would have to do something about them or he would pa.s.s out from loss of blood. Doing the only thing he could think of, he summoned yet again the largest flame he had and condensed it. Will thought of a minigun and the power they had, He allowed his flame to throw out smaller flames of the same potency of fifty caliber rounds at the wraiths, though as soon as they came close, they lost their form. Will couldn't give up quite yet as he knew Maya's life depended on him succeeding.

One wraith stepped forward. It put it's sword back in it's scabbard before walking to Will. Though the opponent was unarmed, Will could only think of the battle he saw Michael get into all those months ago. He had fended off the attacks of the wraiths chill with his own flame. Will had trained his own flame to such an extent that he shouldn't have had a problem keeping up, but the closer the wraith became, the smaller Will's flame became.

Not taking a chance of them getting closer to Maya, Will launched one of his flames to the wraith. He believed while the cloaked monster tried to dodge the flame, he would have an opening to attack with another flame.

The wraith however allowed the flame to hit, and as the inferno engulfed him, an arm came out to grab for Will. Knowing what a touch from the black cloak meant, Will dug his foot in the ground to stop his approach and side stepped his a.s.sailant.

The flames in which seemed to be eating away at the cloak suddenly started dissipating, almost as if they were being devoured by the chill being emitted from the wraith. Within moments to Will's astonishment and horror, his flames were gone and not a single mark could be seen on the hooded figure.

Will grabbed Maya once more about to make a break for it when the wraith from before blocked his movements.

Again a hand went for Will, which he sluggishly swiped away, his movements driven by fear rather than his usual confidence. Trying once more to get Maya out, Will frantically ran to try and find an opening within the formation of wraiths. Whenever he tried another angle, a wraith came up to block him.

Inch by inch, the cloaks closed in on the now nearly defenseless Will. His hopes of survival being drowned out within each step they took. The more they closed in on him, the smaller his flame became.

Within moments Will was too cold to stay on his feet and fell to the ground, then the wraiths surrounded him, giving no s.p.a.ce to escape. The closer they became, the more hopelessness creeped into Will's heart. Soon there was nothing he could do as he went to his knees, the cloaks in a tight circle around him. One by one they each took out chains, it didn't seem as though they were planning on him walking out without them. They laid two parallel on the ground, Will could only stare out into nothing as their cold hands reached towards him, laying him flat on the chains.

"WILL! DON'T GIVE UP! YOU CAN FIGHT THEM!" Maya screamed as she too was being wrapped up. Will was glad he could do nothing but stare into the sky, he couldn't stand the idea of looking his companion in the eyes while showing such weakness and despair. He wished he could just get knocked out again, that way her screams had no hold on him.

Soon the screams died down as he heard a gasp for air followed by a gurgling sound. Everything became quiet for Will as he tried to look around. As he did, his gaze swept across a wrapped up Maya. Seeing as though the wraiths couldn't silence her, they instead thrust a sword into the chains.

Maya's eyes shined at Will. She was barely conscious but she still had enough life left to smile at him. "Thank you." was the only whisper that came out before her eyes lost their shine. Will looked at the lifeless smile that never left her. Will allowed himself to look up at the sky once more. He had failed to protect Maya, the one thing he had trained all that time for. The wraiths clearly outmatched him.

Allowing himself to slip into darkness, Will continuously heard Maya screaming within his mind, begging him not to give up. Whether he looked to her or not, the image of her lifeless smile haunted him, making him remember her promise to him before they left. He had let her in, and now she was gone, taken away by the very creatures he was running from.

Now as he was wrapped tightly in his own coc.o.o.n of chains, the five black figures dragged him by a single chain sticking out of his entrapment. Only looking up, Will tried to ignore the lifeless corpse that was left behind. There was nothing more he could do, his ignorance of power had left him utterly broken and defeated. Whatever lay ahead of him was what he deserved.

As Will resigned himself to his fate, he heard a clang of metal hitting chain, with a hint of flame. Before he could register what was happening, a midnight black cloak covered his vision as he felt himself being pulled inside, the last thing he heard was Mayas frantic screams inside his head before everything went silent.