Malum quickly pulled me behind him. “Grace stay behind me and don’t move. Do exactly as I say. Understand?” He said in an extremely urgent and serious tone.
I nodded my head but did not say anything. Malum wasn’t looking for a response. He was too focused on whatever had just happened outside.
The smoke was still bellowing into the room and I started coughing. Damn asthma. Malum took notice of my coughing fit and snapped his fingers. All of the smoke instantly vanished from the room. Thank goodness for his magic.
“We need to leave. Now.” He took my hand and started pulling me forward to the nearby door. He opened it for me and we were then facing the stairway. I didn’t know where he was taking us, but it didn’t matter. As long as he and I were together, everything would be fine. He would protect me.
I have never really considered myself as helpless or the cliche damsel in distress. I can hold my own. No one needs to stand up and fight for me, but somehow this situation made me feel different. I was afraid and I am positive Malum could feel that. Explosions weren’t something that happened in Walpole.
“Malum, where are we going?” I asked quietly.
At first he didn’t respond. He was so focused on leading me down the stairway.
“I have a few ideas, but first we need to go outside. I am not sure what is out there so please, Grace, do as I ask. Please-for me.”
“I will.”
He turned around and smiled at me. “Thank you my love.” He said while brushing my hair back out of my face.
Just then, another loud explosion happened, this time shattering the walls we were near. Malum instantly wrapped his body around me and a purple cloud of smoke engulfed us. The debris didn’t hit us. Thank goodness.
I smelled something burning-most likely the house had caught fire. Malum then let out a low growl. “What the hell is happening?”
He snapped his fingers and we teleported away. I closed my eyes and held my breath. This was still going to take time to get used to. A few moments later I felt Malum’s lips brush my forehead.
“Open your eyes darling. The teleportation is over.”
My eyes opened and I looked around. The house behind us was on fire. Walls were slowly collapsing in. Thank goodness we got out when we did. When I turned back around, what I saw shocked me more than the burning house.
Two giant stone statues were standing a few yards away from us. They were massive-at least ten feet tall. They reminded me of the statues of the vikings of old, carved out with armor on their bodies. One of the stone giants held a long ax in its hand. The other had two giant swords. What the hell was going on?
Malum pushed me behind him again. I wrapped my hands around his waist and I could feel how tense his body was. There was still a low growl coming from him, something was terribly wrong.
“Malum what the hell is happening? What are those?” I asked urgently.
“Those are Guardians. They are from the realm I told you about earlier. The realm of Oblivion. They guard that realm and protect it from any possible danger. Nothing has happened in thousands of years. Oblivion has always been left alone. Why they are here on Earth, I have no clue.”
Guardians and different realms? This was all beginning to make my head hurt. If these things are meant to protect Malum’s realm, then why were they here attacking us?
“Even if you don’t know why they are here on Earth, why would they be attacking us? You would think protectors of something don’t attack unless they are provoked, this doesn’t make sense.”
Malum turned his head back towards me and looked at me. His golden eyes were gone, replaced by the coal black eyes I had seen before. Something was very wrong.
“I don’t know, but I am about to find out. Stay right here, okay?”
I nodded my head and Malum began taking a few steps forward, approaching the Guardians.
“Hello old friends. What brings you here to Earth?” Malum asked in a warm tone.
One of the Guardians took a few steps forward, meeting Malum halfway down the driveway we were currently standing on.
“Malum, deity of darkness. What a pleasant surprise my lord. We were sent here on urgent business. Oblivion has been threatened, and as you know-we are the protectors of the realm. We must fulfill our duty.” The Guardian said in a deep, broken voice.
Malum paused, briefly lost in thought. What was he thinking about? Was he wondering the same things that I currently was? What danger on Earth could possibly threaten his realm?
“Who gave the order for you to come to Earth?” Malum asked.
Neither Guardian showed any sign of emotion at Malum’s question. They briefly looked at one another, as if they were relaying a message silently. Both nodded their heads, and then the Guardian who had not yet spoken replied. “Unfortunately my lord, we are not at liberty to say. Nevertheless, we must attend to this urgent matter. We can not allow Oblivion to be in danger. So if you could please stand aside, we will fulfill our duty quickly.”
Malum took a step forward, his body becoming even more tense. He raised his finger and pointed at the two Guardians.
“And what is the duty that you came here to fulfill?”
“We must eliminate the girl.” The Guardian with the ax replied.
A wave of terror and fear washed over my body. I began to shake. They were here because of me? More importantly, they were here to kill me? What had I done? I didn’t even know all of this supernatural stuff existed until a few hours ago. Something wasn’t right, but at the moment I did not care.
Malum looked tense and concerned before, but now the look on his face was pure rage.
“I order you to leave at once and return to Oblivion. Now.”
The two Guardians took a few step forwards and raised their weapons.
“Unfortunately, we cannot do that. Please stand aside my lord and we will get this over with quickly. Then we will be on our way.”
Malum’s first started to glow purple, the same color as his smoke. “You are not going to hurt her. Leave now or else things are going to get messy for you two.”
“We can see that this will not be easy for us. Very well my lord. We will do what we must.” The Guardian with the swords said. Both Guardians then started advancing on Malum, with dangerous intent on their face.
“Grace, run!”
I didn’t even hesitate. I ran back towards the smoldering house, avoiding the debris that littered the yard. The woods behind the house were dense. I headed towards them, in hopes of finding a place to hide.
I quickly looked back behind me and saw a flash of purple light and yelling. The fight was on, and my prince was fighting to protect me.
I ran for what seemed like hours, even though my mind knew it had only been a few minutes. Once I could no longer see the smoke behind me I decided to take a break. I staggered towards one of the trees and sat down next to it, barely able to breathe from running so hard. The woods around me were eerily silent. I could no longer hear any of the fighting that was taking place between Malum and the Guardians.
Malum. I didn’t know whether or not he was okay and that worried me. I couldn’t lose him, not again. If only there were something I could do to help him, but I knew that there wasn’t. Me trying to help would only get in the way, or worse, get him killed. He had become like a drug to me. Being addicted to him so quickly was wrong, but he felt so right. Without Malum my life would be over. Malum was my beautiful, shining moon. An angel from above. Maybe not the kind of angel I grew up believing in, but a dark angel who would do anything for me.
I heard a branch snap somewhere close by. I quickly got on my feet and looked at my surroundings. There was nothing around me but a slight mist and the foliage on the ground. I let out a quick sigh, and then I heard another branch snap. And another, and another. The ground beneath me started shaking. I held my breath, and stayed still, trying not to make any noise. Something big was approaching me.
I turned around and started running as fast I could, deeper into the woods. Suddenly a giant sword was thrown into the ground only a few feet in front of me. I skidded to a halt and turned to look behind me. One of the Guardians had found me. Its large, stone body was running towards me, faster than I imagined it could run. The sword in the ground began to shake and then suddenly pointed out towards me, blocking my path of escape.
Was this the end? I didn’t want to die, not so young, but if my death prevented Malum from getting hurt, then that was fine with me. The sword sprang forward, aiming right for my chest. I closed my eyes and waited for the end.
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