Chapter 131

Diana's POV

Looking at the expression on her face, the gratefulness in her eyes, I couldn't help but feel a warmth rising up within me. She was smiling at me and cleaning tears from her eyes with her fingers. Something told me that she was very surprised, but it wasn't the time to get emotional.

"I'm serious," I told her. "There's a war we have to fight right now, and we can't afford to keep moving around here. Come along," I said. "You'll fight beside me." And so I moved quickly, appearing at the front of my army. I gave a couple of commanders the charge to ensure that she was well equipped, and to others, I gave the charge that they should deploy the rest of the army apart from the ones left at the base to defend. We simply needed to be fighting with everything that we possibly had. We couldn't afford to waste our time, and at the same time, we couldn't afford to have a smaller army than was necessary.

We were fighting, yes, and the armies had started clashing already, but soon enough I knew that things were about to get worse, especially when I saw creatures that I had never seen before approaching. They were simply flying in the air, seeming like they were made out of shadows themselves. I was unable to really understand what to do. I didn't know how on earth I should face them, but I went with trying blast after blast of energy, hoping that it would end up taking down one or two of them.

I sent the blast of energy indiscriminately, and as it happened, they were actually helpful, but the creatures had a way of affecting my consciousness. They had a way of making me dizzy whenever I looked at them to aim another strike. As for my men, as for my people, the creatures seemed to be doing a lot more than making them dizzy. Some of them had stopped fighting entirely and were staring at the creatures. Some of them were staring and bleeding at the same time, like it was hurting them from the inside out.

Even though I didn't understand how those worked, Ashley was suddenly before me, striking down someone that had been trying to sneak up on me—not as if I didn't know that he was coming anyway. I had simply been waiting for the right moment to turn around and put him on the ground.

She spoke, her voice loud to the entire army so that they would all hear, "Don't be afraid of them! I've faced them before!" she said. Hearing the words of someone who claimed to have faced them before, whom I knew was telling the truth, they all looked at her, and I looked at her. If she had any tips for us to use, now would be the time for her to present them to us, because what was the point of telling us so much if she didn't tell us exactly how to deal with them?

"You need to keep your consciousness tethered to the present," she said. "You need to make sure that you don't be distracted, that you are focused on your main goal. If not, you will be consumed, and they will have the edge over you," she proclaimed, shouting to everyone. "Your mental fortitude is necessary because your mind is your best weapon here!" she told us all. "Do your best!" she shouted once again. "Be strong! Destiny is ours to win!" she continued.

Hearing the words that she spoke, the motivational piece that she handed us, I took a lot more confidence to go against them. It wasn't testing any longer. What she was telling us was her own experience, something trusted on how she managed to beat them when she had been up against them herself. In other words, there was every tendency of us winning over them with the same technique, as long as we followed what she said carefully and to the letter.

With that thought in mind, I faced off against the next one of them that I was up against with confidence, making sure that my mind was fixed on my goal. My goal was simply to win and protect my children and rule as queen justly and fairly for the next couple of years, and as long as possible to ensure justice in my time and also freedom from war and strife. A noble goal, and one that I was ready to make work. I didn't know how exactly it was going to happen, but I was willing to try my best.

However, it started getting dark. I was pretty sure that it wasn't night yet, but it was getting black all the same. "There's still a couple of hours till evening," Ashley told me, as I looked at her in confirmation.

"The weather's not natural," I told her. "Something's coming," I said, "or someone."

"Or someone," she breathed. I took in a deep breath and then took up my stance, ready to face up against whoever was up against me. I expected a giant of some sort. I expected his feet to cover a wide expanse of land simply with one single step.

He appeared as a man, however, like someone that I could grapple with and fight. I didn't know how to respond to that as I looked at the human in front of me. The army behind him seemed to give way for him to get right to the front. I wouldn't let my army face him either. It would be a disaster if he completely devastated them all on his own. I didn't want him to be the one to end up killing so many of them easily, and the only way for me to ensure that was to come up against him myself and face him personally.

He looked at me. "You are the queen in the woods, the new one that I hear about?" he asked. His voice was smooth, melodic, and also very intoxicating. I didn't know why, but somehow I felt drawn to him. I didn't feel like he was some kind of beast that had completely taken over the entire world—no, far from that. I felt like he was simply a good man in his own right, and he was here simply to talk, and we were going to be diplomatic here instead of fighting each other.

I, however, didn't let myself forget where I had come from, forget my people that were behind me looking up to me for leadership in this crucial time. They had given everything; they had come out to fight for my sake. I was definitely not going to let them suffer for no reason at all. I was going to strike, I was going to fight if I needed to, to ensure that this would end up well for me and for them, that we wouldn't end up colonized under his rule.

"I'm the queen," I said, "and you are Malachi," I continued. He laughed, the sound becoming one to laugh to, but I restrained myself. A couple of my people were at the back, apprehensive leaders who had come to fight. I didn't know if they were being swayed, but I would never let myself be.

"I come in peace," he said suddenly, his words booming, and somehow, everyone seemed to hear him at the same time. The expanse of land around seemed to resonate with his words, as if he was claiming his inheritance by right.

"I'm here to take what belongs to me. Nobody needs to die," he said, his clear voice ringing out. "You guys simply need to surrender, and then I'll take you under my rule. I'm a pleasant person; I don't do wickedness without cause," he continued. "All of you bow and give in—it doesn't need to be any bloodshed," he said.

"No, thank you," I said immediately without even thinking about it. There was no need for me to discuss it with my elders or anything like that because we had pretty much heard this beforehand and we had made up our minds.

He looked at me and smiled a sad smile, as if he didn't want to do what he was about to do but he had no choice. Personally, I wasn't fooled as I glared at him.

"I expected you to be wise," he said, clicking his tongue. The darkness of a dream that I somehow had missed when it suddenly didn't come any longer suddenly enveloped the entire place, at least it overlooked the half of the land he was dominant over. The people that were on his side were covered in pitch black, and then somehow that made their moves undetectable from us as they started engaging in battle once more.

As for me and him, we were locked in a fight on our own, one on one. The both of us were moving as quickly as possible, trying to get a hold on the other. I expected him to have an ability that I didn't have, some kind of claim to the land that would make him impossible for me to stand against, but honestly, we seemed to be evenly matched. The only thing was that he brought a certain darkness with him, and with each punch, I felt that darkness seeping into me slowly. Actually, there was something he was doing to me that I really couldn't place a finger on, even though I was trying my best to ignore it and try to simply fight him and win.

Blow after blow we exchanged. But all of a sudden, I felt a certain energy unlock within me when he hit me with all his strength. Something came to my vision. I wasn't sure what it was, but I reached out to it, and once I touched it, light enveloped me. I countered with a blow of my own, no longer feeling fearless and somehow feeling like I could fly if I wanted to. I felt unbounded, unlocked, and the sea of energy that was in me no longer flowed out in a trickle—it flowed out in waves of an ocean that burst out against him and overwhelmed him with every punch I made.

Soon enough, I saw Malachi and his army of darkness diminishing. On his part, he was frowning at me. His expression was of shock.

"Who are you?" he asked me.

"I'm Diana," I said, taking a step towards him. But he shook his head, smiling bitterly.

"You are not Diana," he said slowly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Who am I then? Tell me," I asked him.

He laughed. "You want me to confess?" he questioned before laughing out loud again. "Over my dead body. But then again, I don't need to die," he said.

I frowned, wondering what he was about to pull off, but suddenly I could see a portal opening, a vortex somehow. I readied myself in case he was about to pull out a trump card from inside. What instead happened was that he winked at me.

"Mother of In Ages, Queen of In a Show, we will meet again," he said, before giving me a mock bow. "Don't think that this is over. You might have won, but I have not lost yet," he said, and with that warning, he stepped into the portal, disappearing. To my surprise, all his army disappeared with him.