The Discordant Opposition Journal Issue 10 - File 1
Dragonmount: Book 2, "A Clandestine Cause" : part 1
An original story by D|amond.
Diamond ran through The Tomb as if in dire need of something at the opposite end. As he made haste through the passage, it bloomed: the hallway opened into a great dark hall, blanketed in shadows. Diamond stopped, amazed at the room's size.
The only light in the cave was emanating from the green rune on his forehead, which, when his adrenaline rushed, glowed with a faint, white light. As his eyes scanned the darkness, hoping to find what he was looking for, he saw a dark mass on the floor. He ran quicker, and realized it was, indeed, what he had been looking for. It was her. The reality had hit him: Lylyn really was hurt. As he approached her corpse, he collapsed in despair, upon it, assuming the mortality of the wounds she had suffered.
His eyes teared, and he let out a moan of loss as no one ever has. The tears trickle down his cheeks, and he let them. He slipped into a euphoric dream, ignoring all, save the beautiful woman who was the most potent drug to him. He reminisced about all of the times they shared. He remembered the first time they met - at the CardonÈ castle. How he felt when he was near her. He crouched, ever so slightly rocking, cradling her, as if she were a baby. How peaceful she looked. How much she meant to him. How he had lost her. How He had killed her. How he had killed her.
Diamond slipped from the dream which engorged him. He lightly layed down Lylyn's body, as if she were still alive, though wounded, on the cold, wet floor. And, grasping the hilt of his sword, stood up, slowly, as though his body had no muscle in it. He faced the shadows, as if aware of someone's presence in the dank cavern, and yelled, voice quivering, through his ire, as though enraged beyond the point of coherant thinking and speech: "You will pay, Arcades! I will travel through hell to avenge Lylyn's death! As God as my witness-", he paused, as though re-evaluating what he was about to say, "-you will die by my hand, one day. I promise!" He paused. Then his voice calmed, and strengthened, as he had realized the enemy's real objective in this murder. He spoke in an even, aggressive voice "I will not let you take her body. If you want it you will have to fight me for it."
Then, an unseen voice, deeper and more cynical than his own, spoke quickly from the darkness. "I will do no such thing, Diamond. You will give me the body." As the words were muttered, Diamond skilfully and nimbly drew his sword, anticipating an attack. None came. "I will get her body, whether or not you give it to me." With that, his tattoo stopped glowing. It was disappearing, revealing bare skin. "I am removing your imbued powers, Diamond." Diamond knew that when the tattoo was gone, he would not have the powers that were given to him by The Seventh Order. He would lose his immense strength, and not have any extrasensory skills. He would lose what had made him as a fighter, and a person. When the tattoo was finished being removed, his arms felt like they were jello. The sword's blade dropped to the ground, pivoting at the hilt, on his hands, which were trying so hard to keep it up. He was unable to weild the big sword without The Tattoo, he thought. He then heard a loud hissing noise which came to a sucking stop. He knew what this was. Arcades had left. He had left Diamond by himself, with the body of she who was most dear to him, dead, and without the ability to weild his sword. He dropped to his knees, staring into the pitch black, next to Lylyn's bpdy, and fell on his chest, carelessly. Before he drifted into nothingness, he had thoughts of only one thing. Revenge.
