A Life Beyond by Mark Church (e book reader txt) 📖

The figure silently moved through the eerily quiet grounds and up a small flight of stairs towards a door which opened wide with a flick of the figures hand, the figure floated in through the open door which then slammed behind him and along the darkened corridor he kept going, not a sound could be heard anywhere inside the castle as he approached what looked like a door made of the darkest most rotten wood but seemingly held together with all sorts of bones and skulls which made it look like a door of some importance, the figure stopped outside the door as if waiting for something then slowly it opened,

'Master….' The figure said as he was met by a room decorated with such evil that it would make your skin crawl, 'I have news on the boy…'.

At the end of the room stood a huge window overlooking the castle

grounds and in front of it stood a huge throne made from skulls, a voice came from the chair, a voice so deep it seemed almost unearthly, Emperor Aret Del had been alerted to Skaffs presence as he got closer to the door,

'I'm listening…' He boomed '...We need to move this plan forward and the boy is causing me problems, I have seen the change in him ever since we sent the scout into his world to shadow him, he has become strong but he doesn't know his true power yet'

'Yes master...but everything is falling into place slowly but we cannot afford to rush this, we cannot risk them finding out what we are doing' the hooded figure replied 'But I assure you that the last of the Bells will fall and we will be victorious, Erwin WILL be ours and the land will cease to be protected so you can rule once again!!'

'Make sure that NOTHING interferes with this plan, and I mean nothing, or else the consequences will be far greater than you can imagine, this land is rightfully mine and no one shall stop me!!' said Aret Del, still sitting at the end of the room facing towards the huge stained window, looking out over the castle where he ruled

'What of Lord Casborn though my master?, It seems that there's a significant change in his well-being, the land feels slightly odd, his presence seems to be disappearing with every passing day' The hooded figure asked,

'He shall be taken care of in due course Skaff, I shall be the one to end it, he has taken everything from me and only I can stop him' came the sharp reply once more

'Now Skaff, go and inform Commander Grogg of the latest news and make sure the Army is ready for the next assault on Mesita, we must see how far we can push this time, we need answers and we MUST find the Bells, we must finish what I started and the boy cannot find out….'

'Find out what Master?' came the slightly confused reply,

'He cannot find out the secrets of the land and the reason why he is truly here...The family must be silenced and the boy….well let's just say I have something rather special lined up for him'. Said Aret Del as a huge smirk spread across his face,

'Now go!!!' he barked 'I have some important business I must see to'

'Yes master' replied Skaff as he turned and floated off out of the open door behind him.

Aret Del just leant forward in his seat and watched as the rain fell heavily down across the castle grounds, lightning ripping across the scorched skies like an arrow and not a soul could be seen outside wandering the grounds.

Aret Del huffed as he stared outwards before talking to himself,

'The day will come…' he said over and over as he clasped his hands tighter and tighter until they turned a white colour, then he stood up straight and stormed out of the throne room and off into the corridor, his boots clomping along the stone floor as he strode along still muttering the same phrase over and over again, he reached a long set of stairs which led into the bowels of the castle, they stretched as far downwards as they did upwards and were dimly lit too, at the bottom sat a pool of dark water, as still as the calmest seas until Aret Del reached the bottom where the water rippled heavily then with an almighty splash a creature arose from it, snake like in its appearance, two horns sat in the middle of its forehead and row after row of sharp pointy teeth filled every space in its mouth. As the creature saw Aret Del come closer it lowered its head towards him like a dog would do when looking for attention and rested its head across the stone bricks, a deep purring noise filling the cold air as its tongue reached out towards its keeper,

'Ahhhh my faithful friend, how are you today Chikra?' asked Aret Del as he gently stroked the creatures face

The creature nudged itself into the body of the Emperor and let out a small but deep noise which seemed to suggest the creature was happy now it had met its master,

'Do not worry Chikra, it won't be too long before I can free you, when you are full strength I will need you...my pet you will have your revenge I promise you' he said still stroking the side of the creatures head as the rest of its body slowly raised out of the water to reveal huge cuts and scars along its body.

'Now my pet…' Aret Del said 'I must go...I have had a visit from an old friend, a huge smirk spread across his face as he knew something from his past was waiting for him below.

The creature disappeared back into the black water as Aret Del strode off through the door at the bottom of the steps, as he paced along the dark cold corridors of the lower bowels of the castle he could hear screams coming from behind most of the doors, these were holding cells for any enemy they had captured and it seemed every cell was full. At the far end of the corridor stood a lone door with a couple of guards standing outside, as the Emperor approached the guards bowed their heads out of respect and opened the door.

As the Emperor entered the room he stood still to let his eyes adjust to the darkness, a small window high up in the room was the only source of light, a dark light that filled the room with an essence of evil.

Aret Del smiled as he caught sight of a figure chained up to the wall, hands raised above their head and feet chained up to the lower part of the wall,

'Well well well...Do you know how long I've waited to get you back??' Said Aret Del as his eyes were met with the sight of a familiar face,

'Aret Del…' The sound of a familiar woman's voice replied 'I was wondering how long it was going to be before you showed up!!'. The figure leant forwards slightly into the small source of light shining down on her to reveal who she was,

'My dearest Lydia….How I've missed you so!!' he cackled as he moved closer and saw the muddied face move closer to his, it's wrinkled appearance covered in a collection of small bruises, her clothing all ripped in places and dirty,

'I see you are keeping well Lydia…' laughed Aret Del as he took a few steps back in case Lydia decided to attack him,

'As well as can be expected, seeing as I'm being treated like an animal!!' She replied angrily 'I'm chained to a wall in the coldest darkest most horrible place ever, I've been here for a few days and you haven't told me why!!'

'It seems, my dear, that you have been rather busy I have been told' came the calm reply as Aret Del slowly paced up and down,

'I'm always busy, but I have no clue what you’re talking about, and I'm angry at the way I was ripped from my cottage by your men!!' Lydia's voice began to raise slightly as she sort of knew what Aret Del was getting at but she needed to throw him off the scent,

'Well….' started Aret Del 'as you know there seems to have been a slight...shall we say...disturbance in the land lately, someone or some people who have stumbled into this land, whether by accident or on purpose….'

'And what are you getting at?' Lydia replied, knowing whatever she says may place the children in even more danger,

'It seems that two of them are related to Lord Casborn, one is the rightful heir to the Kingdom and the other. Well she isn't that important. But as it turns out they have made it to the castle and have been reunited with their father!!' still calmly speaking Aret Del paced even slower in front of Lydia,

'And?.....' Lydia tried to show she knew nothing of what he was talking about,

'And it seems..' replied Aret Del '...the journey would of been perilous for three people who have no place in this world of ours, but as I have been informed, they may have had a little help'

'And you think I have something to do with that?, do you really think I'm that stupid, you know where my loyalties lie!' Lydia replied angrily,

'So why did you disappear so suddenly all those years ago then?' came the scathing question right back at her 'One minute we are on edge of taking over this world, you and I, then the next thing I know is you have vanished into thin air, and Casborns wife and children have somehow escaped!!'

'I left because I didn't agree with what you had become!, Yes I admit I was taken in by you at first but my judgement became clouded and I felt more and more brainwashed as time went by, that's why I left' Lydia knew she was slowly putting him off of suspecting her involvement in what had happened all those years ago,

'I moved as far away from you as I could because I was angry and upset, you had changed..' Lydia said as Aret Del stopped right in front of her, 'You weren't the same person any more, power had gone to your head and I could see that nothing was going to get in your way of complete control, I knew nothing could stop you, not even me, and I feared for my own safety, you became withdrawn, you cared for no one but yourself, I knew if I stayed then you would harm me and I couldn't stay',

'I wanted total control so WE could rule this land together Lydia..' He explained 'I done all this for you, every battle I fought, every village I conquered, every life I took, It was all for you. But the day you left made me think that you had betrayed my trust'

'I'd never have done that, maybe it was a coincidence that they disappeared at the same time but you were becoming someone I couldn't trust anymore, that's why I went deep into the woods, I knew I would be safe there, I had to cast a spell to hide myself and the cottage as I didn't want you to find me!' Lydia had been getting her story together for a long time as she had a feeling this day would come, she knew what she had to do and was well aware if the consequences,

'Ahhhh yes your cottage..' he smiled wryly '..a place of safe haven, I wondered why it took so long to find it!!, my men always returned with no news on so many occasions, My feeling was they weren't looking very hard so I had them disposed of for failing me…'

'Exactly what I'm getting at..' replied Lydia now knowing she was making Aret Del see she wasn't lying to him '..You didn't think twice I