“I can’t,” the old man mumbled, shaking his head in distress. “My magic will not work against the Queen. We are bound. No, no… the Queen is too powerful.”

“Oray,” the queen called from the doorway of their private study.

The King of the Isle of Magic looked up from where he was sitting behind the beautifully carved wood desk. His eyes were glazed with an ink-black film.

With a frown, the Queen stepped into the darkened room. She waved her hand and the blinds slid back. Oray rose from his seat with an animalistic snarl. The Queen’s hand froze in midair at the uncharacteristic sound.

“Isha,” the Queen quietly called, never taking her eyes off of her husband. She saw only a reflection of herself in his black eyes, not the warm, loving, and compassionate man who had once inhabited his body.

“I see it, Your Majesty,” Isha quietly responded.

* * *

Oray reached down and picked up the black box he had been talking to. Clutching the small, rectangular case between his gnarled hands, he pushed the chair back, and stepped into the shadows. His hands shook as the power inside the container began to surge, hungry for Magika and Isha’s magic. He knew what they were looking at—the box, his box. They wanted to take it from him and destroy it.

He would have given them the box if he could—but the dark magic that was wrapped around him made it impossible to surrender the small container. Instead, he protectively cradled it against his body.

“I command you to leave,” Oray ordered in a trembling voice.

“Oray, you are ill. Give me the box, and I will take you back to our living quarters to rest,” Magika requested in a gentle tone, stepping further into the room.

“This is not for you. It is my gift. No one else can have it,” Oray replied.

“When did she return it to you, Oray? The Sea Witch is banned from the Isle of Magic. You know that. You promised you would tell me if she returned. Please, husband, give the container to me. I miss who you were. Whatever unnatural magic is in the box, it is killing you,” Magika said, continuing to walk toward him.

Oray trembled. He wanted to give in to his wife’s request. He missed her soft touch, the laughter in her voice, the love they felt for each other. She completed him….

No, she is trying to trick you, a voice hissed in his head.

Our love…, Oray started to argue before wincing at the intense pain that shot through his body.

… is an illusion. They are trying to destroy you. It is time. Call the Sea Witch, the voice commanded. We will stop the deceit of the Queen and her followers.

“Please, Oray,” Magika pleaded, stopping less than a foot from him.

Oray blinked at his wife, bringing her face into focus as he automatically reached out to her when she extended her hand toward him. His lips parted on a hiss, and he stumbled back several steps. Oray stopped when he hit the bookshelf behind him.

“Sea Witch… It has… commanded me to call you,” Oray said with a shudder. He bowed his head, struggling to hold onto the last of his sanity. “Magika… You must escape. It is too late. I cannot fight it any longer.”

Magika stepped back in shock when the small box in his hands began to dissolve into a dark mist that swirled around him. Oray lifted his head to gaze at his wife in agony. His fight to keep the creature from attaching itself to his magic was draining him. His gaze moved to the young warrior who came up behind Magika.

“It is too late. I can only hope to contain him long enough for you to get our Queen to safety,” Oray forced out past the blackness wrapped around his throat.

“NO!” Magika cried, reaching out again for her husband.

“You must escape, Your Majesty,” Isha ordered, pulling her behind him. “By the magic of my sword, you will release the King.”

Isha swung his glowing sword at the black mist, but Oray knew it was already too late. The box in his hand had changed and was reforming into a ghostly creature determined to enslave him. Tentacles of black clashed with Isha’s sword. Golden sparks glowed before the magic contained in Isha’s sword sizzled and hissed. The black essence greedily absorbed the additional magic.

Oray could feel the Sea Witch’s connection with the alien life form. Deep down, he was amazed that the young girl, who he had known since she was born, had been able to fight against the evil force contained within the black essence. The link he had with it allowed him to see what had happened to Magna. The parallels to his own situation were terrifying.

She had been overpowered, the same as he had been, and she was still there, trapped within it. Yet, he could still feel the essence of the young girl hidden beneath the layers—hiding, seeking her freedom. As hard as he had fought to understand, to resist, and to contain the malevolent life form, it had still sucked him into its suffocating grasp.

“Heart as cold as ice, keep my soul safe behind its frozen wall. I command you to seal me now,” Oray whispered the spell in a tortured voice.

“Oray, NO!” Magika cried, struggling to get to her husband.

Magika’s grief-stricken cry pierced him for a moment before the spell took effect. Oray knew the only way to protect his kingdom—and what was left of him—was to cast a spell that only his Queen or the death of the entity could one day free him from. A dusting of ice formed over his skin, turning it a light blue color. He exhaled small puffs of warm breath before white crystals formed. Inside, the blood in his veins slowed until even it no longer flowed.

He was alive, yet not. His body was stiff, moving like a puppet on a string handled by an inexperienced puppeteer when pushed by the evil mass flowing around him. The emotions from his last second of awareness were frozen on his face. The last thing he would remember would be Magika’s distraught face.

Oray was unaware of what happened next. In his frozen world, he was of no use to the creature. Nothing could touch him or control him now—not even the anguished cries of his beloved could penetrate the ice protecting his soul.

* * *

“Your Majesty, escape!” Isha shouted as he swung his spelled sword at the swirling bands.

He was forced to retreat when the black mass solidified and formed into a half dozen deadly sharp points. He sliced through three of them. His blade sparked as it passed through the mass that dissolved and reformed. He clenched the sword’s hilt with both hands, trying different spells and striking again and again in an effort to find out what would temporarily stop the beast.

Behind him, he heard the Queen utter a powerful spell. Veins made of diamonds rose from the floor. The long tubular coils twisted and turned, creating a cage around the creature. Isha turned when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a movement near the window. From the shadows, Magna appeared. Dressed in a gown of blood-red with her black hair flowing around her as if caught in gale force winds, she stepped out of a swirling dark mist.

Isha continued his retreat. Behind him, he could hear the Queen’s footsteps as she fled to warn the other guards. He could already see thin cracks appearing in the diamond prison the Queen had formed around the creature. Reaching out, he gripped the handle of the door with one hand and held his sword pointed toward Magna with his other.

His gaze swept over the Sea Witch’s face. Her skin was pale as moonlight, and her dark eyes held a haunted expression that looked too large for her gaunt face. Her lips were the color of a moonless night and slightly parted. She stared at him with unblinking eyes the color of ink.

“The time has come for the magic held within the Isle to belong to us,” she said in a voice that echoed strangely in the room.

Isha’s hand tightened on the sword. “I will see you buried in the darkest regions of the ocean before the Isle of Magic will ever belong to you, Sea Witch,” Isha snarled in an icy tone.

Closing the door and locking it with a strong spell, he wrapped both hands around his sword. With a shout, he poured every ounce of his magic into the sword. Lifting it, he charged Magna.

She stood still, as if waiting for his blade to pierce her. The diamond walls exploded, creating a deafening noise. Isha felt the pain from the diamond shards as they struck him but ignored it. Slicing his sword through the air, he caught his breath when the end of the sharp blade was stopped by a thick, black tentacle less than an inch from Magna’s delicate neck.

Isha cried in pain when another deadly band wrapped around his waist. The band lifted him off his feet while other bands encircled his arms and legs. His sword, still glowing with his magic, fell from his numb fingers. He struggled, but the bands gripping him felt like a giant’s fist squeezing his body until he was sure his bones would snap.

Gasping for air, he watched Magna step forward and bend to pick up his sword. Isha tried to withdraw his magic from it, but the blackness was draining him. He slowly curled the fingers of his right hand in frustration.

“Mag…na,” he gasped.

“You have no idea of the power we are dealing with, Isha,” Magna informed him.

Isha blinked when Magna lifted his sword. He opened his fingers to prepare for her strike, but he was instead shocked when she placed the sword in his hand. Darkness blurred the edge of his vision as a serene smile appeared on her face.

“Sleep warrior,” Magna murmured.

Isha’s lips parted on a gasp. He could feel the spell burning through his body like a flash fire. His features hardened until he was no longer a living, breathing entity but a stone statue in the image of the great warrior that he once was.

* * *

Marina Fae kicked at a pebble along her path and watched it bounce until it rolled to a stop against the vine covered walls of the palace. Shouldering her bow, a mischievous grin lit her face. She glanced around before lifting her arms up and wiggling her fingers. The vines hanging down from the tree on the other side of the wall spiraled down and wrapped around her wrists. A moment later, she was lowered to the ground on the other side of the wall.

Turning to face the tree, she did a brief curtsy. “Thank you, Mr. Tree,” she laughed.

She turned and started cutting through the large garden surrounding the palace. Technically, she should have gone through the front gates, but she never did. One advantage of being the younger sister of the Captain of the Guard: everyone knew who she was.

Humming under her breath, she gripped her bow and took off at a slight jog along the winding path that cut through the huge garden maze. She was excited. Isha was supposed to return to their village today. She would surprise him at the palace—and just make sure he hadn’t forgotten that he said he’d be home.

The annual Festival of Lights this weekend was a very special time in their village. Because the village was farther inland than the palace, which was closer to the sea, the mountains came alive once a year with the blooming of the Nightstar flowers. The blossoms would open, and the glowing seeds within would float up into the trees, lighting the forest with color. The villagers’ voices would rise in song and spread their magic on the breeze to mix with the floating seeds. It truly was a magical night and one that she loved to witness.

Marina’s steps slowed when she heard the sound of shouting and a scream that was cut short. She stumbled when the ground shook under her feet from a loud explosion that ripped through the air. To steady herself, she reached out and wrapped her left hand around the thick branch of one of the tall bushes that hedged the maze. She was almost to the exit near the main gardens to the right of the palace’s front entrance.

Releasing the branch, she whispered to her bow. She could feel the string grow taut as she woke the magic within the bow. She moved forward in concern when she heard the Queen’s voice rise above the shouts, cries, and screams.

A feeling of concern flooded Marina. She couldn’t help thinking in an oddly disconnected way that she had never heard the Queen’s voice raised in anger before. She had only taken a few steps forward when she caught her breath in surprise. Thick bands of magic swirled around her like a turbulent river, rushing toward the area where she had heard the Queen’s voice. The pure beauty and power of the flowing colors took Marina’s breath away.

Spying the exit from the maze, Marina put on a burst of speed. She slid to a stop when she cleared the last hedge. Her lips parted in horrified awe. On the front steps of the palace stood a slender woman. All around her, a dark mist twisted and churned. The woman looked as if she was made of the black essence.

“Sea Witch!” Marina whispered, her gaze glued to Magna.

“I command you to stop, Magna! As Queen of the Isle of Magic, I sentence you to death for your deceit and traitorous acts,” Magika declared, lifting her hands.

“You cannot stop me. I now control the Isle of Magic and all the powers of this kingdom,” Magna replied, her voice strangely flat.

“You are wrong, Magna. Whatever evil magic you have summoned, it is not from this world. Think of the damage you are doing,” Magika responded in a cold voice.

“Magna!”

Marina turned to see Kell and Sabine, Magna’s parents, appear—the Queen must have summoned them. Hope rushed through Marina. Surely the pleas of the Sea Witch’s parents would be able to touch their daughter.

“Think of your family, Magna,” the Queen said.

Marina’s gaze anxiously turned back to the Queen. A soft hiss slipped from her lips when she realized what the Queen was doing. Queen Magika was weaving a spell in her words and using Magna’s parents to distract the Sea Witch.

Marina had never seen such pure and beautiful magic woven so tightly—so precisely. The ability to see magic was one of her talents. She had inherited her gift from her grandmother who had cautioned her to keep the ability to herself.

‘No one else has the gift like you and I, Marina,’ her grandmother told her when she was barely ten years old. ‘Except perhaps the Queen and King. There isn’t much use for the ability to see magic—except when you need to. Keep this little secret. You never know when it might come in handy,’ her grandmother had added with a wink.

Now, she watched the threads reaching out toward Magna. The magic was subtle, woven in the words the Queen spoke. Marina turned to focus her attention on Magna again. Was Magna able to see the magic? How would she react toward her parents?

Marina’s mouth dropped open when the black essence surrounding Magna reached greedily for the hidden strands of magic. The Queen cried out in pain as the bands devoured the magical threads. Marina could see the malevolent mist greedily absorbing the Queen’s magic—and growing stronger!

“Magna, no!” Kell shouted, stepping forward and placing himself between the Queen and his daughter. ”Let us help you. Please, I beg of you. Give yourself up, and we will help you.”

The expression on Magna’s face softened, her lips parted, and for a moment Marina thought the Sea Witch would give in. Even from several yards away, Marina could see the conflict on the other woman’s face. The indecision lasted no more than a second before her expression hardened.

“Watch out!” Marina cried, lifting her hand in warning.

She saw the change in the mist. In horror, she helplessly watched as two long tentacles shot out. The bands wrapped around Kell. Magna’s mother, Sabine, lifted her glowing hands while her lips moved, weaving a deadly spell to stop her daughter’s attack. A wave of mist swept over Sabine, hardening her features to stone and freezing the incomplete spell on her lips.

Magic unlike anything Marina had ever seen before rose up around those standing in the courtyard. All around her, the features of the Queen’s guards and the few servants who had fled outside began to freeze and hardened. Even Queen Magika was not immune to the horrifying mist turning her people to stone.

Marina frantically swept her gaze across the sea of faces, searching for her brother. She needed to find him. Surely Isha could feel the danger to the Queen and would come to her assistance—unless, she thought with a growing panic, he was protecting the King.

“Mr. Bow, I need arrows,” Marina ordered, lifting the bow in her hand and drawing the bowstring.

“Isha!” the Queen cried, fighting to keep the black mist from enveloping her.

“He is lost to you, my Queen, just as everyone who resists me will be,” the Sea Witch informed her, slowly descending the steps.

“What magic is this?” Magicka demanded, her voice shaken as the circle around her grew smaller and smaller.

“It isn’t magic. It is something far more powerful, more deadly, more horrifying than anything magic could create,” Magna replied in a voice that barely carried on the wind.

Marina’s fingers trembled and she lowered the bow in her hand. Her eyes widened as pain and grief swept through her. Behind Magna, Marina saw a man appear. He walked with stiff, jerky movements. His face, shimmering with a film of ice in the light, was devoid of all emotion, as if his body was there but that was all. Behind the King, the perfectly carved stone statue of her brother Isha, his magical sword still firmly held in his hand, floated past the King on a wave of the black mist. Marina released a broken cry of denial.

The Queen’s anguished cry mixed with Marina’s. Rage pierced the bubble of horror that surrounded her and her jaw tightened in determination. Lifting her bow, she didn’t hesitate this time. She released the magical arrow. The fire burning through her veins increased when she saw the black bands swirling around Magna rise up to devour her arrow.

Marina’s eyes narrowed, and she hissed out in fury. Reaching over her shoulder, she pulled an arrow from her quiver. If the creature fed on magic, she would see how it liked non-magical elements. Nocking the arrow, she pulled the bowstring back and whispered to her bow.

“Let my aim be true, Mr. Bow,” she murmured.

Her fingers parted, releasing the string. The arrow flew through the air. The black bands reached greedily for the wooden shaft, but the arrow curved, dodging the tentacles that were trying to stop it. Magna turned at the last second, the tip of the arrow cutting a thin, deep cut along the bicep of her left arm.

Queen Magika turned and saw her. “Marina, you have to warn the kingdom…,” Magika cried out seconds before the dark mist covered her and her body grew stiff.

“Stop her!” Magna snarled, grasping her injured arm with her other hand.

Marina lurched back several steps when the dark mass began to take shape. Massive creatures grew and solidified out of the bands. Their eyes glowed an eerie red while long, shiny, black fangs lengthened from their upper jaws. The black beasts had long snouts with a series of ridges that stopped between their eyes. Stiff spines rose from the top of their skulls and ran the length of their back down to their long, whip-like tails. Their four legs, each with massive paws and sharp claws dug into the soft grassy areas of the garden, which was littered with the petrified bodies of the palace’s soldiers, servants, and the Queen.

Marina stumbled back toward the entrance to the maze, drawing another arrow from her quiver. Her hands remained steady, even as she drew in an uneven breath. These were not creatures of any magic she had ever seen before. Her mind flashed back to what the Queen had said to Magna. ‘…it is not from this world. Think of the damage…' Lifting her chin, she pulled the bowstring back and breathed deeply when the beast closest to her snarled and took a step forward.

“Let’s see if you are real,” she said.

She whispered a spell. A dark blue film coated the tip of her arrow. Opening her fingers, she released the string as the beast leaped forward. Marina didn’t wait to see if the arrow did its work or not. She turned and fled back into the maze.