A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

'He's your……' Harvey was cut short as the soldier’s head poked round from behind the King and he finished Harvey's sentence

'...Father, I'm your father' he smiled as the King helped him to his feet and held onto him, 'My...children…' The soldier smiled 'It's you!!, You have come back to me' He cupped the faces of Lillie and Daniel as he stared deep into their eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek,

'May I have a hug?' The soldier asked, hoping for the response he so desperately wanted. Lillies smile stretched right across her face as she knew it was the right thing to do now and she felt safe so she took a step forward just as the soldier bent down and embraced her tightly.

Daniel just stood there totally stunned by what was going on, the soldier opened his tear stained eyes and reached out an arm,

'My...boy, please' the soldier begged Daniel to come to him which he then shot forward and practically threw himself into his father's arms and buried himself deep into the body of his father, who then let out a huge sigh of happiness and relief as he realised his search for his family was over for now, but the path ahead was going to be one to test even the strongest of bonds but for now this was time for family.

The King smiled and clasped his hands together unaware of the trouble that was heading their way, 'The Circle is finally complete!!' he said as the soldier rose to his feet gingerly,

'My children...You were my biggest wish and my whole world, I cannot tell you what I have gone through to get to this place, I want to hear and know everything. From the start, but I must also speak with my father. Please allow me some time then I promise I will be all yours, I won't let you go ever again'. So as the children were led outside the room the doors shut behind them and they were once again ushered up the dark staircase leading to the upper floors of the castle where they were once again greeted by Garin who had been frantically searching or them all around the castle grounds,

'Children, where have you been?, I left you in that room for your own safety and now I see you have somehow ended up here', Daniel smiled as he explained to Garin what had happened and how they had finally found their father, Harvey was less than impressed as he was standing there holding his stomach,

'Guys...I'm starving, can we please get something to eat, I'm wasting away!!'.

Garin looked at Harvey and knew that he would only start moaning more unless he was shown food.

'Yes ok Harvey, I have had a feast laid on for you in the Quarters so please can we go and this time try to stay in the room ok?'.

So the children were led off to the Quarters to feast on whatever delights they had been left with,

'Oh also…' said Garin '...we have placed the bags you had with you in the room also, they had been left out by the gate when you came in. one of them seemed to be glowing for some reason', Lillie sniggered as she knew it was one of the lanterns they had been given by Lucas,

'It's ok Garin it's just a lantern, nothing special'.

So as the children tucked into the mountain of food that had been prepared for them Lillie and Daniel smiled at each other across the table knowing that whatever had brought them here had helped them find their father after all this time, but the evil spark that had been implanted in Harvey began to grow stronger with every second.

Chapter Sixteen

Starting To Change

As the children sat there making their way through the feast that had been prepared for them Lillie and Daniel suddenly looked up and smiled at each other as they both realised just how big a deal this meeting was now that they had found their father but they weren't aware of just how crazy their future was going to become, Harvey wasn't really that bothered by what was happening around him though, something that wasn't lost on Daniel,

'Harv...how come you don't seem that bothered by what's happening here?, I mean...this isn't like you at all, you're the sort of person who gets excited by a free cookie and you can't wait to tell everyone but you seem...well really calm', Harvey looked up from behind his mound of food and raised his eyebrows slightly, as he was trying to swallow whatever it was he had stuffed in his mouth this time,

'To be honest Dan, I don't really care about the fact you've finally found your dad, I mean yeah...It's great and all but what about me?, It seems I've totally forgotten about my mum since we've been here and all you've banged on about is your dad and how much you needed to find him, but let me remind you that I didn't ask to be here in the first place remember!!, that was down to that stupid dog of yours and you deciding to follow it after he ran off, so now all I can think of is my mum!!'

'Whoa ok Harv!!!' replied Daniel looking taken aback slightly by Harvey's honesty 'I'm sorry that we have ended up here but look, now we are here and we've found somewhere that we actually belong…'

'YOU belong!!! Not me' Harvey replied,

'WE belong mate...' came the stinging reply from Daniel '..we might be about to have some kind of adventure or something, like when we used to mess around in your garden and that, all the times you wanted something exciting to happen and now something actually might be, so let's see what happens from here ok?'.

Harvey just stood there looking right through Daniel as if his mind was elsewhere,

'To be honest Daniel I just want to go home now, I've had enough of following you around and you telling me what to do, also that sister of yours constantly picking on me so I'm sorry but I'd rather eat worms than stay here a minute longer!!' Harvey stood up and shot out of the door as quick as he had ever moved, Lillie just shrugged her shoulders as the door slammed shut behind Harvey.

'BABY!!!' shouted Lillie as it seemed Harvey's attitude had finally made her patience wear so thin that she didn't want anything to do with him, 'Why do you still bother with that friend of yours Daniel?, he's totally holding you back still and what the heck is going on with these mood swings!!',

Daniel huffed as he sat back in his chair seemingly thinking the same thing now 'I don't really know anymore Lillie, he's ruining all this for me, I wish he would just leave me alone for a bit!!'.

Harvey was making his way through the cold echoey corridors of the castle seemingly on some sort of autopilot, as he passed all sorts of castle inhabitants on the way they just stared right at him as if they could see something was wrong with him but daren't ask. He kept muttering to himself along the way too but barely high enough for anyone to hear what he was saying,

'Hooded man...hooded man...the woods…' he was mumbling so much to himself as he made his way to the castle doors, with a show of strength he hadn't shown before he managed to open the huge doors to the castle which weren't being guarded and off he went, his eyes still glowing an unnatural colour, as he descended the huge steps he seemed to know where he was going, his face had a huge but creepy smile on it as he made his way towards the woods.

Harvey stomped right through the woods crushing everything in his path as he went until after a while he came back to the place he had been held in a cage against his will, he stood completely still as if in a trance still muttering to himself 'Hooded man...hooded man...take what's yours...' his eyes glowing in the darkness of the woods as he stood there, when all of a sudden directly in front of him the hooded figure appeared, floating just off the ground as he reached out a gloved hand and placed it on Harvey's shoulder,

'Ahhhh it seems the spell is working as intended. Master will be pleased' said the figure 'Let me see what he has gathered so far!!', as the figure moved his hand up to Harvey's face he seemed to put him deeper into a trance as what followed was a sort of memory removal, all the things Harvey had already seen were being sucked out of his head and into the body of the hooded figure who could see every thought and vision Harvey had seen,

'Good. Good..' the figure seemed to be getting what he needed from Harvey's head, 'Ahhhh just what I needed...now with this spell getting stronger inside you I need more!!, time is precious but we must not be found out...keep bringing me information boy, the Fall of the Bells will come and the Boy Prince will be no more', then the contact was broken and the figure turned on the spot and floated off into the woods again before disappearing completely, Harvey was still under the spell he was before but it seemed he was being controlled from another source.

As he stood there he heard a voice inside his head talking to him,

'Go back and gather more...help us to see…' and no sooner had it been said then it just disappeared and Harvey was left standing in the woods all alone and still stuck in a trance.

In the darkest part of Dansheer, a province deep in the darkest part of Vaymia stood the imposing figure of Castle Rondor, it was as wide as it was tall and surrounded by a river so black that nothing could survive in it, but what looked like huge eels could be seen swimming through the black waters, electrifying it, meaning nothing could ever get out if they fell in. The skies above the castle were dark like nothing you had ever seen before and filled with relentless which soaked the land from morning to night, the Castle itself was so crudely made that every brick that went into making it was jagged and broken, the walls were covered in moss meaning nothing could climb it and heavy doors, bigger than any that had been ever seen stood proud at the front of the castle and were covered in the armour of the enemy as a reminder that this place was evil. Inside lived the imposing figure of Emperor Aret Del, the most feared of rulers known across the planets, he rarely involved himself in battles unless absolutely required and he was the most feared warrior ever to set foot on this land, he wouldn't think twice about slaying an enemy or even one of his own if it was needed, even his own army, The Graxx army, were scared to put a foot wrong for fear of having their life ended in a truly horrible way in his purpose built torture room which had seen a lot of activity lately.

As the rain fell heavily the hooded figure appeared at the edge of the forest seamlessly floating towards Castle Rondor and up to the edge of the surrounding river where there seemed no way across but the figure just floated across the river, the electricity crackling below as it passed.

As it reached the other side the huge doors creaked and groaned their way open and the figure carried on inside where the castle grounds were so dark and had a damp feeling about them that you could tell this was a place where bad things happened, there was the odd light flickering in the distance