Authors: Philip Mcclennan
A steel gateway that was the main entrance to the palace was raised as the hooded figure approached. The gate made a loud noise as the sound of metal rising echoed all around the mountains surrounding the castle. One of the palace guards stood at the entrance as the man entered. “Welcome back Lord Magus, the king has eagerly awaited your return.”
Lord Magus removed the hood from his head. He was an old man in appearance, around mid-sixties and had a balding head with a strip of grey hair at the back.
“Tell the king I will see him right away,” Lord Magus said to the guard who bowed before him and left. Magus was the king’s longest serving and oldest advisor. He had served the kings father before Kanto had come to the throne and was loyal to him. However, Magus knew that Kanto was not the forgiving type and the fact that he had failed in the task the king had set him did not bode well. The King was also known as Kanto The Unmerciful for his unforgiving nature and his unwillingness to accept failure. A shudder filled Magus’ body at the very thought of this.
The king had set Lord Magus the task of going to Earth and reclaiming the Dragon Dagger for him. He had been on the Earth for many months and had trained numerous humans the fighting style of the Underworld realm, which accounted for why the ninjas were such skilled fighters. This, he thought, would help him obtain the dagger. This was the same dagger that James had gained possession of whilst inside the tower. Magus knew the king would not be pleased that he failed to take possession of the blade for within it lay great power. Within the dagger lay the power to summon a legendary beast. Samael, the dragon and guardian of the Underworld, lay sleeping in an unknown location in the ocean on Earth. Samael, along with the dragon of Alexandria Ehecatl, where taken from the worlds by Trenkenth as punishment for the war that caused the two worlds to be merged many years ago.
Within the Dragon Dagger was an enchanted flute. Either descendant of the bloodline of Underworld or Alexandria would be able to awaken and summon the dragon by playing the flute that lay within the blade. Kanto wanted the legendary beast under his command once more to restore the power of his kingdom. With the power of the guardian back under his control, the king would be able to bring the opposing kingdom of Alexandria to its knees, for they would have no guardian to defend them.
Lord Magus entered the throne room of the palace. The room was not what you would expect from a typical throne chamber. The room was traditionally large and had the standard royal artefacts and statues. Fire torch’s lit the room, but they were not great in number and a large area of the room was cast in darkness. The room was manned with guards at every corner and Magus felt uneasy as he passed them. The walls were made of old stone and Magus had to climb many steps on the marble flooring to reach the throne in which Kanto was sat.
“Where is the Dragon Dagger?” asked the king.
“I located the daggers location but I was unable to gain possession of it,” replied Magus sounding very edgy and uncomfortable as he spoke.
Kanto seemed bewildered by Magus’ answer. “Is that all?”
“No, my king, there is something else. I would have obtained the dagger if it was not for two things.”
Kanto looked on, his look was stern and his face was still, showing no hint of what he might be thinking.
“My king, there were two men who had fighting skills above any human I have ever seen. They’re speed and strength was that of the Underworld bloodline.”
The king suddenly became a little more interested.
“That can mean only mean one thing. The two who were banished from this realm long ago and one of whom is you eldest son, Shadow.” Said Magus.
The king sat back in his chair and rubbed his hand against the stubble on his chin, as if in thought. He leaned forward once more. “So where is the Dragon Dagger?” The question was asked in a far more stern tone than the king had asked previously.
Magus began to panic a little. His heart began to race, he knew he was in a bad situation, but he tried his best not to show it. “My king, the boy Shadow and the other one have developed extraordinary skills, far above the humans on that planet, after all, their blood is of this realm. The men I trained were no match for them and the Alexandrian boy took the dagger himself.”
Kanto rose to his feet. “So the dagger is now in the possession of the Alexandrian?” His voice rose significantly in volume.
Magus trembled in fear. He quickly realised he should not have revealed that fact to the king. “He won’t know how to use it ,my king, he won’t…”
“Silence!” shouted Kanto, which brought Magus to his knees.
Magus began to plead to the enraged king. “Please my king, after all my years of faithful service.”
“You are well aware of the punishment for failure,” Kanto responded, showing no sympathy for his fallen servant.
Magus indeed knew the penalty for failing the king, and he knew there was no coming back from it for the penalty was death. Magus pleaded one last time. “Give me one more chance Kanto and I will succeed!”
“I am not in the giving vein this day,” Kanto responded coldly before shooting a flare beam from his hand, which disintegrated Magus into nothing more than ash.
The guards who stood in the throne room began to tremble. They knew no one was safe around the king when he was in such a foul mood. They nervously looked away from him, trying desperately not to make eye contact with their enraged master.
The king sat back on the throne. He placed his hand on his chin again and became deep in thought once more.
So the banished brothers of this realm have united
, he thought to himself. He referred to Chad and James, or Shadow and Valentine, which were their names in Kanto’s realm. The king called out to one of the guards in the room and asked him to send for the General of his armies, a man by the name of Lucius.
Two days after the mission to the Costa Rican Island, everybody had returned back to the training complex safe and sound. Alberto and the others that had been wooded on the battlefield received treatment from the medical safe and the training squads had been fully debriefed. Everyone on the camp was nervous today for this was the day in which the results of the field exam would be announced. The difference between success and failure was great. Success in the exam would mean the trainee would become a fully-fledged member of the government’s secret organisation, but failure would mean the student would be released back into the world as a civilian and all ties with them would be cut.
During the two days since the end of the exam there had been conflicting views by all over the actions of one of the student’s during the mission, the student in question being Chad. Whilst openly recognising and praising Chad’s abilities, there were those who believed in blowing up the tower against orders, Chad showed huge immaturity and they thought him to be a liability. The commander of the mission, in particular, was in direct opposing of Chad becoming a fully-fledged member. However, this wasn’t the only reason for the student’s to be nervous for rumours had begun to circulate around the camp that a Sergeant from the secret government organisation was coming to the facility today in person to address the squad members who had taken part in the exam.
At around two o’clock in the afternoon, a helicopter set down at the training complex. All the trainee’s lined up outside in the courtyard and gave a salute as the rear door of the helicopter opened. Out stepped Sergeant Cooper, a man who was high up in the chain of command at the government’s secret initiative, the World Order. The professor called out for the student’s to salute and they duly obliged as the sergeant stepped out of the chopper. Sergeant Cooper was dressed in military uniform and had several medals on his blazer. He looked in his fifties in appearance, was very tall, had huge broad shoulders and a chin that looked as though it was made out of granite. The man was one of the most respected people in his field of work; having commanded troops in Afghanistan and many black operation missions for several government agencies around the world. The professor had talked at length to the students over the years about the tales of Sergeant Cooper and the respect shown by the trainee’s towards him was genuine.
The sergeant took around ten steps from the helicopter and looked back towards the vehicle as another person stepped out onto the platform. All heads turned in the courtyard as a young woman walked up to the sergeant’s side. This was Stacey Cooper, the sergeant’s daughter. Stacey was twenty-three years old and was a picture of beauty. She was short and slender and had dark hair that came down to her shoulders. The woman linked her father’s arm as the pair walked past where the recruits had lined up to salute them. The sergeant saluted them back and shook hands with Professor Milton who had walked over to greet him. The sergeant introduced his daughter to the professor and the three of them began to walk inside. All of the male trainee’s were stunned by the girl’s beauty, but she paid them no attention. All that is, expect Chad who Stacey had caught a brief glimpse of when she first exited the helicopter. As she walked past him the pair locked eyes for a couple of second’s. Chad was mesmerized as he looked into her hazel eyes. He had always been super cool around women before, but this one took his breath away. She gave him a small smile before she walked inside the training complex with her father and the professor.
The trainee’s began to disband from the courtyard and there was an announcement for all those that had taken part in the exam to assemble outside the professor’s office in one hour. Nerves began to fill the bodies of the members who had participated in the exam for they knew that this would be their last chance to impress before the judgement upon them would be passed. They would either become fully-fledged members of the government’s special organisation or simply be sprung back into a normal civilian life. James and Chad were more nervous than the rest. (Although Chad’s nerves had calmed somewhat from seeing the sergeant’s daughter smile at him)
Professor Milton and Sergeant Cooper briefed the exam participants squad by squad as they were called into the professor’s office. It would be these two men who had the final say on who would be recruited to the organisation and who would go home. Squad A was called inside first and in went James, Cody, Sophie, Alberto and Sato.
The sergeant briefed each person on what he thought about their strength’s and weaknesses and informed each individual of their performance during the exam. To Cody he said, “You showed great focus and patience whilst being held captive. You are not usually a warrior by nature, but you showed that when it really matters, you don’t hide.” With regards to Sophie, he commented, “despite being in a male dominated group, at times it was you that led the way. You are a thinker, a planner, a strategist and your skill with knives cannot be underestimated. Then he turned to James. Sergeant Cooper looked long and hard at him before speaking.
Is that a look of disappointment, or anger?
James thought worryingly.
“The professor had such high hopes for you,” he said to him in a very low beat tone. It sounded like this was to be a speech of disappointment. “However, it seems even the professor underestimated just how good you really are son.” The sergeant gave James a nod of approval.
James gasped a huge sigh of relief. He had feared the worst when the man had started to talk, but now he felt twenty feet tall. James, Cody and Sophie all passed the exam, but sadly Alberto and Sato failed. Alberto was particularly down about this as the injury he suffered to his hand during the battle with the ninjas had done permanent damage. He would never be able to use his right hand again. The three celebrated together, but they tried to keep their joy low beat, consoling the two men who had failed.
This process continued until finally the squad which Chad had been captain of was called into the office. Lined up inside stood Chad, Rick, Rachel and Jade. The sergeant walked up and down beside them for a few moments before beginning to speak. “First things first, you all did remarkably well considering you were dispatched to the island earlier than the rest to aid our teams. Then when the other forces took full control of the island, you avoided capture which is most impressive.” Sergeant Cooper’s tone then began to suddenly change. “However, why didn’t you radio for backup or inform the professor of what had happened once the others were taken?”
Chad tried to intervene “Well you see we…”
“I didn’t give you permission to speak trainee,” Sergeant Cooper said bluntly, cutting Chad off. The latter looked on completely bemused as the man continued on. “Why was it that you decided to masqueraded as enemy forces instead of calling for reinforcements?”
Chad again tried to talk, “well I figured that the other squads…”
The sergeant gave Chad a cold stare that told him he should stop talking, which he reluctantly did.
Rick, Rachel and Jade remained stood in silence, too afraid to speak. Professor Milton looked on with a deeply serious look on his face.
“Then when the other squads arrived, you idly sat by and watched from the trees as they engaged enemy forces in battle without aiding them, resulting in a serious injury to one of their members.”
“Now wait just a minute,” said Chad determined to get a word in to defend himself.
To the surprise of every else in the room, the sergeant let him speak.
“If it wasn’t for us, the whole mission would have failed. It’s because of us, that everyone’s alive.”
“Is that right?”
“You’re damn right it is!” said Chad, sounding very sure of himself. “Another thing, the so-called fully fledged members out there were useless! We had to save their sorry arses because they were stupid enough to get caught. They owe us their lives!”
The sergeant asked the other members of the squad to leave, which left only Sergeant Cooper, Professor Milton and Chad inside the room. The two men were not pleased with Chad’s arrogant attitude.
The sergeant slowly circled around Chad, examining him closely. “You have great skill Chad, that I have no doubt. You have also, however, demonstrated an inability to follow direct orders. May I ask what brought you to the conclusion that you needed to blow up the tower upon your escape?”