Bond of Darkness - Chapter 1

Chapter One: Summer’s End




“Hey Sebastian, watch out!” laughed Romia as Damian came out of the water and jumped on him. Sebastian twirled around and countered with his elbow but it wasn’t good enough. Damian narrowly missed the elbow by moving swiftly to his right; he then wrapped his arm around Sebastian’s neck and dragged him down into the water.

A haze of blue surrounded Sebastian, as he grew again frustrated at being made a fool of by Damian. Damian always did this; the worst part was when it was in front of Romia.

“C’mon Sebastian, you okay?” Romia was sitting on the wall next to Shell. Himself and Damian were standing waist deep in the clearest of blue water.
It was a beautiful day in Trinity. Days like these, when everyone was cheery and happy and at the beach catching the rays, that Sebastian lived for.

“You alright, Sebastian? What’s the problem? I didn’t even hurt you, stop being such a baby” Damian said as Sebastian moved away from him. He couldn’t be bothered being shown up again.

“I’ve had enough of the water for now, I’m gonna go relax, you guys coming?” the last part he shouted to Romia and Shell for they were sitting on the wall, that led to the breakwater rocks, deep in conversation.

“Uh huh, be there in a minute!” shouted Shell as Sebastian waded inwards. He looked towards the beach that was pretty crowded. Kids, adults, pretty girls, it had the lot, even a few dogs running around.

“This could be the last summer…better make it worthwhile.” he thought.

He was 18 now, next year he was leaving school, getting a job and living the ordinary Joe lifestyle. That was boring; there had to be better stuff out there than that. There were more worlds than this one, more places to visit and he would visit them all, one by one. Hopefully it would all be with Romia by his side.

“Wait there, Sebastian!” Damian shouted. “You’ve got a problem! Learn to take a joke!” Damian scolded Sebastian as he caught up with him

“I’ll do what the hell I like Damian. You can be an ass sometimes you know!”

“Aww what? You’re just sore cause I embarrassed you in front of Romia, stop being such an idiot, she doesn’t like you man! She likes me, I told you!”

“Whatever” Sebastian said as he walked away, leaving Damian shaking his head.

The golden beach was warm on his feet as he sat down on his towel. He lay down to absorb the sun. Lately he had been feeling as though something big was going to happen, something life changing. After all he was leaving school, going to get a job, going to find a place of his own soon. It was all-, huge. He was growing up.

He looked over at the rocks and saw Romia and Shell coming towards him. Romia had shoulder length, silky dark drown hair, startling green eyes and a perfect frame. Shell was different. Shell had almost bleach blonde hair that was in a bob, her eyes were the brightest blue and her frame was very slender. They looked polar opposites walking together along the beach. Romia was wearing a blue summer dress while Shell was wearing a bikini.

“Hey, what’s up? Where did Damian go?” Shell asked. Sebastian looked around, Damian was nowhere to seen.

“I dunno where he went. I don’t care either” Sebastian answered.

“Uh oh, someone’s in a bad mood. What happened?” Romia asked.

“Nothing, just can’t be bothered with him anymore. He always has to be at the centre of everything, wish he’d just leave me alone”

As soon as the words came out, Sebastian realised he was being very childish and he didn’t want to do that in front of Romia.

“Sebastian, please, go find him, and you both need to stop this silly arguing. You’ll never get anywhere!”

Sebastian got up and nodded, feeling his face going red. He set off for the one place he knew Damian would go.

The beach became distant as Sebastian headed towards the cave. Damian always went there. He found it and told only Sebastian of it, together they spent hours in there talking. Well actually Sebastian talked while Damian listened and, now and again, intervened with some great adventure story that he had been involved in.

Sebastian always looked up to Damian because of these adventures. Damian had his own apartment; he went places and had seen more of the world than Sebastian had. His parents were travellers, they seen the world, then, once they had Damian, settled down in Trinity. But his father couldn’t stay settled and he often dragged Damian and his mother to distant places that he would never speak of to Sebastian except when he was talking about his adventures. Climbing mountains, braving the ocean in a sailboat, surfing on waves the colour of which was even bluer than Trinity he assured Sebastian.

As he climbed over the rocks, Sebastian saw the cave appear just ahead, a little clearing that only those willing to risk the sharp rocks and dangerous waves would discover. Sebastian jumped the last few rocks and landed knee first on the section of gravel that appeared just after the rocks.

“Ah! Damn! Son of a…” he exclaimed in pain. As he was wearing only swimming shorts, the gravel had cut his knees and blood was quickly trailing its way down both of his legs.

“Never mind” he thought. He pushed on towards the seemingly empty cave. It was seemingly empty because they had found an enclosure within the cave. There was no overhead so the sky was clearly visible and at night, often he and Damian would sit there talking under the moonlight that illuminated the area.

Sebastian crawled through to the enclosure and stood in the middle, looking up at the sky. Beautiful.

“So he was right, to think that I might have doubted him. Yet here you are…”

Sebastian turned quickly, to see the owner of the voice he didn’t recognise. There at the entrance of the enclosure stood a man draped in a dark cloak. His head was just visible under his hood. He had silver hair and his eyes were covered by material of some kind, which had been tied around his head.

“Who are you?” Sebastian asked the stranger.

“You don’t know me but I know you. At least…I know of you”

“What…? Are you from here? Are you from the school?”

The stranger laughed then shook his head.

“No…I am not…Sebastian. Sebastian…that is what they call you, am I right?”

“That’s my name yeah, why?

The stranger surveyed the enclosure then took a minute to size up Sebastian.

“You’ve no idea, do you?” he asked

“Of what? Stop these riddles, why are you here?”

“Silence!” the stranger commanded. Sebastian felt the force of these words and immediately abandoned the idea of shouting back.

“They are coming here, Sebastian. Tonight. So get the hell away from this island if you want to live! Understand?”

Sebastian felt a chill run down his back. This apparent messenger was not the joking type and he had a strange feeling about this person, as though he knew him. He could believe what he was saying.

“Why are you telling me this? There are so many people on this island, why me?” he asked the man.

“You are meant for better things. This island has been marked by their will. They’ll get their end, Sebastian, but if you live the fight will go on. You understand?”

Sebastian stuttered. Why was he special? What had he done to become special?

“Just know that you are special and leave it at that. Now go! We’ve lingered too long!
The stranger responded.

It was as though he had read Sebastian’s thoughts. However he didn’t have too long to wonder how the strange man could read his mind because the stranger threw his cloak at Sebastian. Not giving him a chance to see the stranger’s face before he was plunged into darkness.

Darkness he was falling into, down and down and down. It was never ending, where was he going?

“Ahhhhh!!!! Help!!!!!” he screamed as he fell further.

A woman appeared from the darkness. She too was strangely familiar. She smiled at him and waved disappearing back into the darkness, another person appeared…its shape forming…it was…Damian!

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Sebastian focused on Damian’s face, dumbstruck by the arrival of his old friend. He was so absorbed by this he hadn’t noticed he was standing in the enclosure, the sun setting over him.

“What was that all about? You were like in a trance then you started kicking and screaming” Damian said.

Sebastian looked up into the sky; it was getting dark…that was strange. He hadn’t been talking with that man very long and now it was dark.

“How long have I been gone?” he asked. Damian shrugged

“Dunno, I went home for a few hours…then I came out here for a walk”

He must have been here for a while. Who was that stranger?

“C’mon man, we’re going now. The festival is tonight, we can’t miss that!”

“Oh yeah! Aw man I forgot! That’s gonna be sweet!”

Together they left, heading for the beach.

“Okay so I’m gonna go home and get changed. I’ll meet you at the beach in an hour?” Sebastian asked. Damian nodded.

They split up when they reached the beach and Sebastian walked the path that led home, past the small chapel, past the grocers, past the little café and up the hill towards the housing estates. His mother was sitting on the stairs of the porch.

“Hey Seb, you’re a little late, were you out with Damian?” she asked.

“Yeah, got a little sidetracked, sorry. Are you going to the festival tonight?”

“Of course, I never miss it you know. It only happens once every ten years,” she said as he entered the house

“Okay well I’ll see you there, I gotta go get changed.”

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The clock chimed 10pm. Sebastian awoke on his bed. He must have fallen asleep. He looked around the room. It was sparkling clean. His mother must have cleaned while he slept. He looked out the window. Everything seemed okay. Guess the stranger’s warnings were a hoax.

“Still it seemed so real. It can’t have been a hoax or his imagination. But then, he though, when he had been falling in the darkness when he was really sitting in that enclosure.”

He picked up the keys his mother left on the table and left his house. Time to go to the festival.

“Hey there! Where’ve you been?” a voice said. Sebastian turned. It was Shell.

“I was getting ready. What time did the festival start?” he asked

“Oh about an hour ago. Damian is down there now with Romia, he asked me to come get you” Sebastian cringed. He suspected Damian had other intentions in asking Shell to find him.

“Oh okay. Well we’d better hurry then,” he said.

Together they walked back down to the beach not talking much. Sebastian didn’t mind Shell although she was a little naïve and annoying.

They walked into a huge crowd of people who were drinking and enjoying the night. Some were even swimming in the ocean.

“So where are Damian and Romia?” he asked Shell.

“I’m not sure. Damian didn’t say where they’d be. Well never mind. They’ll turn up.”

No. They couldn’t just turn up. He could not let that happen.

“Hey Shell, I’ll be right back, got to go somewhere”

Sebastian ran off without looking back. Through the beach full of crowded people and newly erected stalls and huts selling drinks and food. He ran to the rocks, climbed them. He began to worry that Damian and Romia…no; he didn’t want to think about it.

He cleared the last section of the rock and landed feet first this time on the gravel once he was back up he sprinted towards the clearing. As he entered he noticed there was nobody. Nothing. He had come to the wrong place.

“Roxas! What does it mean?” Roxas? Do you know it?”

Sebastian turned around and looked into the enclosure. There sat Damian. A man who was wearing the same cloak as the one this afternoon was holding him down. Only this man had his hood down and wasn’t wearing a band over his eyes. To the right was another man dressed in the same cloak, he was wearing his hood but somehow Sebastian didn’t think it was the man he met earlier. This man was struggling, he was holding…

“ROMIA!!!” Sebastian shouted. He pushed through the space leading to the enclosure.

“Sebastian! Help please!!” Romia shouted when she saw him.

Sebastian swung his fist at the man holding Damian but he dodged it and grabbed Sebastian’s arm

“So, Sebastian huh? I think this might be the kid we were looking for.”

Sebastian struggled against the mysterious man, but he had his hands held behind his back.

“Anadego! We need to be sure of this! Lliego will not have us fail. There is too much on this. You need to be sure this is the one we need, are you sure?”

“Zemnas I was told the boy went under the name Sebastian, they were careful about this but they slipped up with her” he nodded towards Romia

Sebastian looked over at Romia; she looked as confused as he was. He turned to Damian, who was staring directly into his eyes. Their gazes held. Sebastian could not understand why Damian was acting so strangely.

“Hey Zemnas, look at this kid, look at those eyes, ha! He has something. You know I’ve seen that look somewhere. That’s incredible,” the man called Anadego said.

“I’ve just started Anadego!” Damian shouted before he rose up despite Anadego’s pressure.

It was then that Sebastian realised that Anadego hadn’t been holding Damian; he had had to abandon him to catch Sebastian. Anadego let him go to fight Damian who was delivering incredible blows.

The three of them stood there, watching Damian and Anadego crushing each other. Damian was clearly winning; his strength seemed to have increased tenfold. Suddenly Sebastian felt a hand on his shoulder, it was the one called Zemnas, and he turned around to see a fist connect with his face. Then there was nothing.


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“Man you got one hell of a weak resistance. He threw you one punch!”
Sebastian awoke to see Damian standing over him; the tall broad features were unmistakable. He held out his hand, which Sebastian took and got to his feet. He immediately noticed Romia was gone.

“Damian, where is Romia?” he exclaimed but Damian shook his head and smiled.

He walked into the centre of the enclosure so that he was illuminated by the moonlight.

“Again with Romia, you need to give that up. It’s over now. We’re part of something much more important, can’t you see? Finally!”

Sebastian could see the look in his eyes, a look he had seen before, a look of hunger, and Damian was insatiable, this wouldn’t end well.

“But Damian, Romia? Where is she? What happened? Tell me!” Sebastian moved up to Damian, they were standing chest to chest.

Damian was a good few inches taller however and this was evident. Sebastian looked in his eyes again; they had lost something, something very important. Now his eyes held bleakness, darkness, and disparity. Something was not right and Sebastian could sense that trusting Damian was not something he felt comfortable doing anymore.

“That’s always been your problem you know! So goddamned soft, grow up Seb, we live in the real world!” Damian pushed Sebastian in the chest; he hit the ground feeling embarrassed again. No not this time. Romia was missing.

“I swear to God, Damian. If you’ve let something happen to her, I’ll never forgive you!”

Sebastian got back on his feet quickly and struck Damian in the face.
Damian put his finger to his lip, which was bleeding, once he realised the blood he was swift.

He forced his elbow into Sebastian but grabbed his collar to hold him up, and then he punched him in the face, still holding him up.

“Never hit me Sebastian. Never hit me!!” he shouted as he continued to pummel Sebastian.

Damian let his grip go and Sebastian fell to the ground.

“I know where she is, I can take you to her. She is far away from here and we’re gonna have to keep going no matter what. We can’t let anything stop us okay Sebastian? Do you understand me?”

Damian held out his hand but Sebastian ignored it and stood up on his own. He stared into Damian’s eyes, eyes that had completely changed within the past hour.

“You take me to her and I don’t care. I’ll never stop till I get her just take me to her, please Damian!”

He didn’t want to have to trust Damian but something happened. He wasn’t sure what but something did happen to Romia. Damian was the only one who could take him to her. So it had to be done.

“Our friendship won’t ever be the same Damian, never again. When this ends and I have Romia, that’ll be it for us. These bigger things you’re talking about, they’re yours. Keep them. I don’t want it.”

Sebastian and Damian left the clearing to embark on an adventure. It was an adventure that would lead them to Romia, as long as Damian remained trustworthy. Damian knew where she was, that much Sebastian did believe. Their adventure would have to wait however. First they had to avoid the chaos at the beach.