"1.To The End:I Love You" by Anthony J. Rodriguez

They got to the open field, there stood that castle that looked divine, it was made for an angel, the ones before had failed to protect it and it fell into the hands of a demon instead, now it was their turn. They ran for the entrance and as they approached shadows were cast from all directions, some of them held swords others held spears and the rest were shooting at them with bows. Jaygen got down on one knee and pulled an arrow to his own bow, mumbled something under his breath and released. Lily, who stood behind him, also said something, whatever it was went unheard. A deafening blast came from the arrow that had missed what were supposed to be enemy’s, a small dome of white light grew larger,  as it did roars of pain and anguish came from those caught in the blinding white light, Jaygen had cleared most if not all of the dreads, he was confident when it came to his skills as an archer. Only a few dreads had survived here and there. He drew his sword and moved forward quickly and silently dodging. He didn’t want to stress her so he made sure he was not even so much as scraped. He drew his sword just as he ducked; he jumped and took the two on the lowest turrets down in a single swing of his blade. The last one drew a sword and ran at lily screaming, like a wild boar, Jaygen ran at him, quietly. Now Jaygen felt his heart start skipping beats as the dread grew closer to Lily.

Lily stood there, as if waiting, from under her long cloak she drew the most beautiful sword that had ever existed, its hilt made of pyroze, could be seen even in this darkness from the distance, then the blade, made of the purest light, made the night into day. The dread stopped in its tracks and stood as if in trance, Lily advanced at a patient pace but the creature disintegrated before she could strike. That was the extent of the Excalibur’s power.

Jaygen revealed his long wings, they were white feathered and angelic, He looked at Lily, she gave him piercing gaze

“Your right” he said in a reluctant tone. With those words he let his wing return to their leathery blackness, they looked like this but being a zephyr let him change their appearance, he thought they looked demonic but those were his, what he was born with, he had no choice on the matter, even though from time to time he might wish they were at least grey or, feathers even if they were black would’ve been nice.

“Right about what? Your wings, I could care less what they look like” she said then looked up at the stars as if expecting them to say something. Jaygen looked confused for a moment then he replied “then why do you look like your about to kill me?” she turned her attention to him “You think we are going to fly up there?” she said looking in the direction of the tallest tower, positioned in the exact center of the estate. “Yeah, why not?” he answered, she ignored him and continued her graceful walk towards the open front gates where the first dreads had come out of. As they approached Lily raised her hand from under the cloak and said “lux” and a ball of white light about the size of a  golf ball glowing with intense light appeared hovering over her hand. Jaygen, as they got closer to the towers, saw now why they couldn’t fly and immediately concealed his wings “See? The dreads we fought were weak, they didn’t require much power to defeat, but as we try to advance he’s going to try harder to stop us, I was thinking we could fly but you had to use a devastation spell didn’t you?--”

 “He already knew we were here--” Jaygen interrupted

 “No, actually he didn’t--” she wasn’t allowed to finish

“Why were the dreads waiting for us?” he tried to make his point

“They weren’t waiting, they saw us coming. They were only guarding the gates, I’m sure that your brother would’ve sent his most powerful dreads had he known we were going to cover that much area in so little time, we didn’t stop running because we wanted to catch him by surprise, he hasn’t enough of them to beat us yet, if any finals have been made yet there’s only going to be one and had you not used devastation maybe there wouldn’t be any” She said it all so calmly it was disturbing, they had just seen two elementals getting ripped apart by these final dreads. it took much of the Jegans power but by now he’ll be strong enough to make another, but Jaygen figured that it took just as much time as it did power, so they might still make it before he has to fight one of those things, if there was another he was not going to let Lily fight, he was going to protect her at all cost, even his life.

“Afraid?” she asked

             “Never fear” he said “I am not afraid of anything”.

They reached the entrance, Jaygen, before entering the pitch black of the castle, made sure that all weapons on him were in place. The only light came from Lily’s palm, that light was still there, illuminating her silky face and hands. In this darkness her amber eyes seem to glow brightly.

                        Jaygen sprang forward just as Lily turned her hand and dropped the golf ball, the room turned a dramatic white and there stood eight dreads nine if you count the first to go down on the second the ball hit the floor. “seven” Jaygen shouted as another dropped, he seemed to vanish between blows “six” a pounding shockwave ran across a small part of the white lit room “five, four, three” he vanished again “two” and that one fell to the ground almost unexpectedly  “one” cried Lily just as the light faded. She had used a strange water effect to finish the last one “Why would you use that?” Jaygen asked, puzzled in the darkness. The answer came from the nothing “nix? I don’t know” Jaygen was still confused but let it go.

            “They were weak, I thought you said that they would get stronger” Jaygen said, as he thought he was in for the fight of his life, but his enemies hadn’t even gotten the chance to fight back. “They will” Lily said simply “lux” another bright light filled the room “shall we” She said pointing at the stair case at the end of the long hall. “You feel that?” she asked pointing at the door to the next level. Indeed there was something more powerful behind this door. “Yeah, let’s get them”

“Wait” Lily said calmly

She dropped her cloak revealing her curvy body and her golden red hair that came down to her knees, perfectly even at its ends. Under her cloak she wore a plain white blouse, on her left arm Jaygen noticed a silver arm guard, from her knuckles to right below her elbow, and a long skirt down to her ankles split down the left side with white pants that fit her perfectly under her skirt and around her waste the Excalibur lay quietly and sheathed. Jaygen thought that the slit in the skirt was probably so she could kick him when this was all over, for ruining the plans that she never shared.

Jaygen removed his cloak also, she has to think that she is going to have to fight really hard if she took off her cloak, he wanted a heavy fight, at least a challenge, before he learned of his power Jaygen had searched most of liaad for someone who could at least give him a challenge, even if not intentionally, his abilities had given him more an edge in his fights,  that’s how Lily first noticed his power. Jaygen was wearing a black  shirt, black pants and a pair of shin guards also of also pitch as night, on his back the bow he had used earlier and around his waste the sword, he also wore a pair of arm guards on his arms, these were pearly white

The presence on the other side of the door seemed to weaken. Jaygen pushed the door open and heard footsteps somewhere. “It moved” he said.

Jaygen drew an arrow to the seventh heaven and said “lights” Lily raised her left hand over her head and said “ardor sagittae” the arrow head burst into flames and Jaygen released almost immediately, only letting the fire settle so it wouldn’t go out on the way to the other side. This room was smaller than the hall, with four doors, two on each side.            

“Which one?” Jaygen asked. “De lux” she said barely audible, the light in her hand went out, leaving only the dim burning arrow at the end of the hall like a torch. “There is a powerful aura coming from this one” she said pointing at the second door on the right “and this one” she continued, this time pointing at first door on the right. Jaygen moved next to her “That one is dark” he said pointing at the first “that ones….well, different, I cant tell” he walked to the second and examined it closely, he noticed some strange runes he had never learned “Lily” he called over to her “you recognize this?” he asked inquiringly. She looked at it and her eyes grew wide.