Mark of the Rising Sun

I had been home for the summer for approximately two weeks, and I was checking my e-mail. After sifting through various junk mail, messages from friends at school, and other such items that clog up the average person’s e-mail folder, I found one that was from an unknown sender. I was about ready to delete it, when I got a good look at the subject line which read, “If you want them to live, don’t delete this message.” Now, I didn’t know who they may have been talking about, but considering all that I had learned over the last couple years about the struggle, I wasn’t taking any chances.

I opened the e-mail and read its contents. What I saw made me gasp.

Dear warrior of light,

We know that you are one of the warriors of light, and that you have friends. We have your parents and if you ever want to see them alive again, you must come to us alone! If you bring any of the other warriors of light with you, they will die an excruciatingly painful death, this we can promise you. If you come alone, however, there is a small chance of them coming out of this alive. In the event that you beat our leader, we will allow you to leave with them.

The Society of Darkness

I had to read the message twice, and still it didn’t make any sense. My parents were fine; they were downstairs, watching T.V. Nothing bad had happened to them, I would have heard something. It wasn’t until I clicked on the attachments that the meaning of the message became clear. It showed a picture of a man and a woman, and I certainly knew them. It was a picture of my original parents. The parents I had before all this mess started. They were blindfolded, tied up, and had gags placed in their mouths. It also looked like they had been roughed up a bit.

I stared at the picture for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do about it. Hope spoke up, You don’t have to go after them you know. It’s probably a trap.

Of course it’s a trap. But these are the people who gave me life, who raised me initially. I owe them so much, and they don’t deserve to die for our fight.

We were told that no one else would be harmed. They can’t kill your parents, it is a trick to get you alone so that they can defeat you more easily. If you just leave it alone, they will be fine.

We were told that the warriors of darkness could not harm anyone else, but who are the Society of Darkness? I have never heard of them. From the sounds of it, they are recruiting humans who are not limited by the rules that are in place. Maybe they have found a loophole that would make it possible to harm them. Loopholes have happened before, that’s how I got involved in the first place.

You may have a point, but do you really want to walk into a trap that was specifically made for you? They have figured out who you are, they will have set up a snare that is made to your weaknesses. If you go into this alone, there is a high chance of death or worse.

I’m willing to take that chance. We don’t know who any of the other warriors of light are, or who else we can go to for help. We don’t have time to find them. Whether we like it or not, it is our duty to fight, to destroy our enemies. We have the power of right behind us, we should never balk from doing what is right, no matter what the cost.

I know, I just wanted to hear you say it. This battle is not going to be easy, and I didn’t want you running from the battle the moment it gets hard. You need to stick to your beliefs, help those who can’t help themselves, and stand up for the rights of others.

With that decision made, I tried to figure out what to do next. I had to let my new parents know something, but how, and what? Eventually I decided to leave a note telling them where I had gone and why. I also told them that I loved them, and that if anything happened to me, not to weep. I couldn’t face them, not at this time. They would just have to understand. I would sneak out through the window, and fly to the destination on Hope. They would never even know I left until it was over. If I died or was captured, they would find my note and know what had happened. If I lived, they need not know everything.

I clicked on the other attachment to find directions to an old abandoned building a few miles away. It was the perfect place to implement their schemes and I was at a huge disadvantage. I had no idea what I was walking into. They seemed to know what everything about me, and I still had no idea what I was walking into. How many warriors of darkness would be there? What would its element be? How many humans would be there to interfere with our fight? There were too many questions for which I had no answers. If I focused on them, I would never get out of here.

Making a decision, I went over the spells that I had learned in classes. I was still a novice in terms of spell knowledge, but I was powerful, and the spells I did know, I could use in ways most people couldn’t. I also had Hope, she had a bit of power of her own, and could assist me in the fight to come. Between the two of us, we were by no means a master, but we could hold our own in the fight to come. With a little luck and ingenuity, we would win this fight, and save my parents.

Not wanting to delay too long and risk having the parents come up, I opened the window and leaned out. It was a beautiful evening, and if it was my last, I was going to enjoy it. Hope expanded to a size I could ride and hovered right outside my window. I Hopefully climbed onto her back, and took my place there. For a time, we soared through the skies, just enjoying the lovely weather and the breeze on my face. I took time to just enjoy the flight. We weren’t headed to our destination right away, we needed some quiet time to figure out our move.

Realizing that planning was a waste of time, that nothing could prepare us for the unknown, we gave up on that. We would just have to wing it. By unspoken agreement, we changed direction and headed towards our destination . The flight had lost all of its magic, and the full weight of the situation that awaited us began draining my reserves of strength.

Have faith, if you lose heart now, we will have no chance when we enter the arena prepared for us and we will lose. Then the forces of darkness will be one step closer to defeating us and taking over the world. Don’t forget your dreams of the future; if we lose, that future will come to pass, and we are one of the few people that can do anything about it.

With renewed strength, and a silent thanks I prepared myself mentally for the challenges to come, and when we finally reached our destination, I was as ready as I could ever be. The building of choice was huge, they could almost fit an entire army in there. I think that at one point it had been a school that had since closed down. The windows on every floor had been blacked out to prevent anyone from seeing inside.

I approached the double door entry system and hesitated a moment before tugging at the handle. Not to my surprise, the door swung open with ease and a dark corridor met my eyes. With some trepidation, I entered the old school building and let the door swing shut behind me. Almost immediately, I heard some scrabbling behind the doors, and when I tried them again, they wouldn’t budge at all. No turning back now, I was in it until the end.