Journey of the Dead King - Landon G. (phonics reading books .txt) 📗

snapped back to reality and started walking to.
As I walked I though about what Death said. Could it be true? Is my demon really gone? No, not gone, just dormant. As Death said, there is a way to revive it.
We soon came to a mountain path which I remembered lead to my old castle; my journey would soon reach its end.
It started to get dark, and I had no intentions on facing Delacroix tired, we decided to camp at the end of the path. Dart went out to gather firewood and Carthasis and I were practicing magic. It turns out he hadn’t learned many of the spells I knew. He taught me some new dark magic which I mastered quite quickly. It took him less time to master my spells though his strongest dark spell was harder than mine.
Once Dart brought back some wood Razor set a fire and we sat around it for a while. Razor fell asleep on my lap a while later. Carthasis started reading a book of summoning and Dart and I discussed tactics for our fight. Much of it involved my demon; I hadn’t told him that I couldn’t access it easily anymore.
Around midnight Dart and Carthasis went to sleep. I stayed up staring into the fire and stroking Razor’s hair. Her ear twitch once, I thought I had woken her, but she just mumbled something and slept on.
It was well, past midnight when I finally laid back and tried to sleep. I stared at the stars for a while. They were all so beautiful. I started to feel drowsy, just as I started to close my eyes I felt Razor’s head leave my lap. I sat up and looked at her, she was wide away now.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her. She had a terrified look on her face.
“Huh? Oh I just had a bad dream,” she told me, “nothing to worry about.”
“You want to tell me about it?” I asked.
“Well... I know it probably won’t happen, but I dreamed that Delacroix killed me,” she told me, “he said ‘I won’t allow you to kill me, Darian, if I can’t destroy your body, I’ll destroy your heart,’” she paused for a second. A tear slid down her cheek, “You don’t think that could happen, do you?” she asked, she looked at me, waiting for an answer.
I put a comforting arm around her shoulder and said, “As long as I’m around, Delacroix won’t be able to lay a finger on you, I promise.”
She smiled and hugged me. She was still crying but I couldn’t tell whether they were tears of joy or sorrow.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she said, “I want Delacroix to pay for what he did.”
“Thank you, Razor,” I said, “thank you for everything you’ve done.”
She wept a bit longer, I stayed right there, comforting her. Afterwords we kissed and laid down together, we fell asleep in each others arms.

Chapter 6
A Promise Broken

I woke later that morning, Razor was gone and the sun was shining. I sat up, the fire had burnt out. Dart and Carthasis were sitting opposite me, Dart cleaning his sword, Carthasis reading his book.
“Where’s Razor?” I asked. The two looked up; they hadn’t noticed I was awake.
“She went into the woods to train,” Dart said, pointing a nearby gathering of trees.
“Okay, thanks.” I said, and took off into the forest.
I walked on a little and then found Razor in a large clearing, she was slicing away at trees with her scythe, cutting down each with a single swing. I admired her for a moment, she was an amazing woman. Strong, caring, and beautiful, as Dart said in Karskin.
“Having fun?” I called. She jumped, not knowing I was there.
“Oh, you’re awake!” she said, putting down her scythe and running over to me. She flung her arms around me and kissed me. “I didn’t expect you to be up yet.” She told me.
“Well, I see some one’s awfully enthusiastic about today,” I said, “any particular reason?”
“Well, today's the day we finally get revenge on Delacroix,” she told me, “why not be happy?”
“I guess you’re right,” I said, “Hey, while you’re training, mind if I try a new spell Carthasis taught me?”
“Sure!” she replied, “How can I help?”
“Okay, all you need to do is swing you’re scythe at me,” I told her, “and don’t worry, if it doesn’t work, then I have my potions right here.” I set my bag on the ground.
“Okay,” she said, looking a little uneasy. She ran over to her scythe and then came back. “Ready?” she asked me.
I nodded. She swung her scythe at me, I held up my hand in the way of the blade.
“Shield!” I shouted, and a shield formed over my hand, stopping the blade instantly. Razor looked bewildered for a second, then pulled back her scythe and swung again. I held up my other hand and a shield appeared over it. She started swinging wildly at me, I kept blocking her attacks.
She tried to get me overhead, a shield appeared above me and stopped the attack. Before she could pull back her scythe, I said “Parry,” and the scythe flew out of her hands.
“Wow,” she said, “that’s some powerful magic. What else did he teach you?”
“How ‘bout I show you?” I asked. Before she could answer, I held out my index finger and drew a symbol similar to the one Carthasis used to summon a sword, the only difference was mine had a staff on it. When I finished drawing it I thrust my palm through it and a black rod of energy appeared in my hand.
I twirled it for a second, and then started drawing another pentagram. This one had an imp’s head in it. When I thrust my palm through it an imp appeared. I started battling with it; it dodged my first attack, and just barely avoided the next. Then I used another new move Carthasis taught me. I twirled the energy staff, looked straight up at it, and blew my purple fire breath at it, instead of spreading out and burning the staff, it went inside, and started coming out both ends, the twirling made it spread out and spin around, like a burning purple cloud, hovering a few feet above my head, there was little space above the imp, so what to do next was simple. I swung my staff at the imp’s feet. It Flew up stupidly into the flames, and burned to a crisp.
Razor stared in amazement, “You’ve gotten to be a strong mage,” she said, “Mind if I fight a few imps?”
“Of course not,” I told her, “If things get too much for you I’ll desummon them, okay?”
“What? You think I can’t handle a few imps?” she asked, she looked a little angry.
“Oh no, it’s just that, well you get carried away some times, you know?” I told her.
“Oh is that so? Well, why don’t you just name one time I got carried away.” She said, looking angrier.
“The orcs,” I said, “I’m sure you remember.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, looking a little embarrassed, “thanks.”
“For what?” I asked her.
“Well, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have ever gotten out of there. You’ve been really nice to me ever since we met,” she told me, “you helped pay for getting my scythe sharpened, you keep me warm every night, you comforted me last night, you’re even helping me with this training. I guess sometimes I think of you as my guardian angel or something. Sounds pretty stupid, doesn’t it?”
“Not at all,” I told her, “I enjoy helping you, and, don’t forget, you helped me.”
“How?” she asked.
“Well, you brought me in when I was unconscious, you also kept me warm at night, and you taught me that there are more important things than revenge.” I told her.
“Like what?” she asked.
“Like love,” I told her. We smiled at each other, held one another, and kissed. We would’ve stayed there all day, though I knew Dart and Carthasis would be waiting, so we got our stuff, and went back to our campsite.
“Ready to leave?” I asked them as Razor and I emerged from the forest.
“Yeah,” Dart said, sheathing his sword, “You ready, Carthasis?”
“Yes,” he said, closing his book, “Let’s go.”
For the rest of the day we traveled up the mountain path. Carthasis read his book along the way, aware of every obstacle in his way, Dart Stayed ahead to deal with any danger, and Razor and I walked hand in hand. For the most part the trip was peaceful. I kept my guard up in case Delacroix sent more of his creatures to attack, though he didn’t. We got to my old castle without a hitch.
The front doors towered above us. They were made of large planks of wood and trimmed with iron. I wanted to be polite so I knocked, hard. I blasted the door with dark lightning and they fell immediately, causing a large crack and wood to splinter everywhere.
Delacroix was standing there, in the large entrance hall. His skin was pale, his hair long and white like Carthasis’s, enormous red horns sprouting from his head. He was wearing a suit of dark gray armor and a red flowing cloak. The second I saw him my heart filled with malice.
He just stood there, smirking at me. He probably thought he would win.
“Wipe that smile of your god damned face,” I told him. He started to chuckle, “Fine,” I continued, “then I’ll do it for you!”
I held my hand out and a purple lightning bolt flew out. Delacroix jumped to the side and started to levitate.
“Do you really think that will work?” he called from across the room.
“No,” I answered, “but this will.” I thrust my fists at my feet and black smoke emitted from them.
At the literal speed of light I ran over, jumped on his shoulders, and blew purple fire in his face. The recoil from the fire knocked me off his shoulders and caused him to spin back and smack into the wall.
I landed a few feet away and immediately went back at him. I poured my energy into my fist and it emitted black smoke like my feet. I sucker-punched Delacroix in his stomach, he flew through the wall into the next room. I jumped through the hole in the wall and summoned an energy staff again. I started smacking away at him, I though I might beat him easily, but he caught my fifth or sixth strike, and redirected the staff into my face, causing me to fly back through the hole. He quickly flew through and tried to punch me, but Dart stepped in and swung his sword at him, he dodged and flew to the top of the room.
“Take this! Niger Incendia!” Delacroix shouted. Black orbs of fire started falling from the ceiling, burning everything. We would’ve been incinerated if Carthasis hadn’t put us all under a shield. Delacroix looked faint. He fell limp and dropped from his high resting place. He must have been worn out by the spell; this was our chance to strike.
Carthasis summoned his sword and we all went in for an attack. Dart Swung his sword at him, knocking a few feet away. Razor intercepted his flying path and did an uppercut to his limp body, knocking him into the air. I jumped and smacked him into the ground and Carthasis finished by impaling him on his sword, and throwing him into the wall.
“That’s enough, Darian!” Delacroix shouted, “This battle will be between you and me! Niger Redimio!”
Black energy flew from his