Arran was skilled in sword battle. He could do it well, but battling Rogh was different because the demon's swords were charged with dark magic. The twin swords of Rogh moved fast like they had their own mind, and Arran could match it well. The light from his necklace helped give him peace of mind and made his sword seem to have its own life too.

Then they heard the scream of Nerra as she turned to ashes, killed by Sylve.

Rogh got angrier now that his second-in-command, his loyal confidante, had been destroyed. His twin swords zipped around faster and Arran realized that.

In his fury, Rogh let out a howl like a wounded beast, and dark energy came out of every inch of his body. The energy, in the shape of black smoke moved fast to Arran. Arran moved backwards to avoid it, his sun pendant shone and encapsulated him in silver light, but the dark energy grew bigger and bigger—hungry and powerful.

It was when the dark energy started to descend on Arran, he shut his eyes and focused on thinking all the good things in his life. His sun pendant shone as more thoughts of happiness and hope came to him.

He thought of Charlotte, of her love for him, of all dreams he had about her, about them together.

"Swords do not work to conquer you, my dear son. Thus I will use your thought. You will despair, you will be sad, angry, and you will lose all hope. Come, come to me ..." Rogh opened his arms like he was waiting for Arran to come running to him. His twin swords went back into his body and he focused now on using his dark energy to conquer Arran and bring him to the dark side.

The dark energy attacked Arran, descended upon him, and started swirling around him, wrapping him in its embrace.

Arran trembled, and fear and worry began to take charge in his heart. "Charlotte, Charlotte, please stay in my heart and mind," he whispered in a desperate effort to fight the dark energy. His sun pendant became dimmer and dimmer and the dark energy lifted him from the ground, he floated a few inches from the ground, his sword fell, his arms outstretched.

The dark energy kept swirling around him, wrapping him like black cloth around a body.

"You are mine, beloved son. I come to take you with me. You will forget your human part, you will reign with me, you will reign in blood and tears and deaths," Rogh was calm, his expression was that of complete satisfaction.

Arran howled in pain as the dark energy wrapped him tighter, then his voice became quieter and quieter before finally he was silent.

His sun pendant's light was so dim it could barely be seen. The tattoo on his face became darker, and his blue eyes opened wide as they slowly lost the emotion and the vibe that made them human eyes. It was only his lips that moved, in little barely there whispers."Charlotte. My Charlotte, I am sorry."

<<<>>>

Sylve vomited some blood, Valis who had regained consciousness limped to come and help her stand straight. The two sorceresses were so badly injured they could not move properly or use their sorcery, they stood and watched the fate of Arran with anger and helplessness.

Charlotte pressed immora close to her heart, she did not cry anymore.

Arran. Her husband. The one who had saved her, had helped her through the pain of immora. He was falling now into darkness.

Charlotte shook her head. "No, no. This cannot be the ending. I do not want this!"

All of a sudden, the voice of Rogh was heard again. "Give me my immora. I promise Arran will not be in pain as I claim his soul. Then I will destroy your castle and my warriors can come from the open chasm below it. What a beautiful plan, isn't it? Now. My immora. Give to me."

"Charlotte ..." Sylve staggered to stand next to her.

Charlotte froze, then she lifted immora in front of her, turned it a few times, examined it. "No. Immora will not be returned. I have repelled it from within my body, I have beaten it, Sylve. It is mine. It has to listen to me now."

"H-how?"

Charlotte bit her lips, she thought of her late mom, Dad, Dad and Ellie, her clown business, her new job. Arran.

Immora was expelled from her body because it could not stand all the love she had for Arran. She was being a human, a human in love. Immora did not like that because love, hope, light weakened it.

She knew what she needed to do.

She lifted immora, then slowly took its sharp tip, and made a small slice on her right palm.

"I will drown it in humanity. In my love, my hope, all that it hated from a human," Charlotte grimaced in pain as the dagger sliced her plam. Fresh red blood pooled out, and she wiped it on the surface of the dagger.

"Immora, I am Charlotte. I have beaten you. You are drowned in my humanity now. I am more powerful than Rogh. You listen to my command. You are mine," she spoke to immora.

Immora vibrated, shook, and slowly there was a faint silver glow that came from within it.

Sylve shook her head in disbelief. "An immora listens to a human. I thought it could never—"

Charlotte lifted immora, she could her flapping of wings and she knew what would happen. She looked up, and the eagle, the same one always, the one who pointed her to where Arran was, the one who dropped berries on her. It came.

It swooped down, and Charlotte let it grab immora with its sharp talons, and it flew fast to Arran.

Rogh did not see that coming.

The eagle was agile, it went straight on top Arran, dropped the immora to him, and flew away.

It was as if Arran had just gotten an injection of a new hope. The glow from the immora became brighter, and Arran grabbed the weapon.

"No!" Rogh screamed. "That is my weapon! How—how?" the demon king was in shock.

Arran did not waste time anymore, he used immora to mess up the dark energy wrap around him, it disappeared right way and he could stand on the ground again.

Rogh knew what was about to happen, let out a loud roar as if he was trying to command immora to fly back to him, but immora stayed still in Arran's grab.

Arran took a deep breath and in one throw, shot the immora directly to Rogh. Immora flew fast to Rogh, and Rogh realized he was in a deep trouble. The demon tried to flick immora, but immora scratched its palm as Rogh jumped high, and when his feet touched the ground again, he sank into the earth with a roar. "I will return! I will claim you, Arran! You are my son, the next demon king! I will kill that human girl!" His voice echoed through the whole place, shaking the trees and the hearts of those who still breathed.

Charlotte heard the threat of Rogh, and she ran out to meet Arran, while Sylve and Valis walked in shaky steps behind.

Immora flew back to Arran's grasp, and he fell on his knees.

Charlotte got to Arran, kneeled next to him and hugged her husband tight. "Arran? Arran? Are you alright?" she whispered. Immora fell of Arran's grasp, and his sun pendant glowed very faint glow.

Sylve and Valis had by now stood behind Charlotte, watching Arran too.

"Your life is in grave danger, Charlotte," that was the first thing that Arran managed to say. He grabbed Charlotte's shoulders and gently pushed her away. His eyes focused straight on her. "Rogh has been scratched by immora now. He escaped back to his abyss, but he will return to kill you," Arran struggled to breathe.

"But he-he is injured by immora. It will take him sometime to heal, right?" Charlotte could feel gnawing fear in her heart though she was trying to sound brave.

"A light injury, Charlotte. He will return to kill you, and to claim his son Arran," now Sylve spoke as she lowered herself to kneel next to Charlotte and Arran.

Charlotte felt a strong premonition that she would not like what was about to happen now to her. She started shaking her head.

Arran's gaze at her had become so sorrowful. "I was wrapped by Rogh's dark energy just now until you sent immora to save me. I thank you for that. But now I am much closer to his mind, to his darkness. Look at this pendant, Charlotte. It does not glow brightly because it is now fighting harder to keep me human, to keep the light within me."

"No ..." Charlotte shook her head.

"You cannot stay close to Arran anynmore, Charlotte. He has been wrapped by Rogh's darkness now and he is indeed too close to darkness now, and you have been etched in Rogh's dark mind as someone to be killed. You have to return to be with your people, you are safer there than here, so close to the abyss, to Rogh's darkness." Sylve's voice sounded hoarse, each word stabbed Charlotte and she understood it all.

"Arran?" She turned to Arran, wishing that he would say something opposite of what Sylve had just said.

His gaze grew even more sorrowful. "Sylve is right, Charlotte."

"No—no," Charlotte shook her head. She wanted to stay here with Arran, she begged her logical mind to work properly again but she failed.

"I will let you go, Charlotte. For your safety," Arran took a deep breath, his hands took Charlotte's and massaged them gently.

Charlotte tried to think clearly. She was a scientist, she had a Ph.D for God's sake. But logic had left her mind and she knew there was some sense in what Arran and Sylve had told her, she just refused to agree with it.

"No," she shook her head and she slowly stood up, followed by Arran and Sylve.

"I let you go from this marriage, Charlotte. You go and live your life as if you never meet me. I will have you forever in my heart," Arran was calmer now, the calmness that came from his clear conviction that he was doing the right thing.

Charlotte sobbed as Arran embraced her one last time. "Thank you, Charlotte. For a brief moment with you, I know how it feels like to be in love, to be truly human," he whispered and kissed Charlotte's forehead.

Charlotte took a deep breath, her sobbing started to subside, and she nodded a couple shaky nods.

Arran let go of his embrace.

"Come to me, Charlotte," Sylve commanded her.

Arran's eyes locked with Sylve for a few brief seconds, he understood what Sylve had to do.

"Go, Charlotte. Do not look back ... please ..." Arran caressed Charlotte's cheek gently and nodded to Charlotte to follow Sylve's command.

Charlotte walked backwards away from Arran, never taking her eyes off him, silent tears streamed down her cheek.

Then she turned around and walked fast toward Sylve. She had to be strong. She had to be.

Valis stood next to Sylve, then she walked and stood behind Charlotte, holding the girl's shoulders.

"Are you ready?" Sylve's eyes pierced her and Charlotte froze, then she turned her head to look at Arran one more time. Arran nodded at her though it failed to add any strength to her.

"Who will ever be ready for a goodbye, Sylve? Noone! But I will have to do this. For Arran, for my own family," Charlotte turned to look at Sylve again and she sounded much harsher than she intended to be. Sylve did not mind it.

The old sorceress whispered something to herself, and her palms glowed light purple. "All your memories about us, about this place, about Arran. All will be erased."

Charlotte heard Sylve, and closed her eyes. For you, Arran. For you I will forget all about us.

Sylve lifted her glowing palms and put those on Charlotte's left and right temple.

A wave of cool air seemed to swirl inside Charlotte's head, it made her dizzy at first, then it helped her calm down. So calm that it felt like there was a black cloth that began to cover her memories of Arran and all about this invisible castle. All started to fade away, with every inhale and exhale, more and more of the blackness of the cloth covered her memories until she finally lost her consciousness.