The airship rocked slightly from the impact, shaking everything inside. Lucia steadied herself quickly, looking around. There was absolutely no response echoing in her head from either Ebony or Ivory. So, being the only logical thing to do at the moment–and probably the worst–she decided to go up on the deck to find out what was happening.
Once up on deck, she looked out, and saw a void-like darkness in the sands–Eclipse.
She paled slightly, but recovered and said, “If you want me so badly, why are you attacking an airship?” She then went down onto the sand, despite Velour’s protests to do otherwise.
“There you are,” hissed Eclipse as he watched the girl descend, his wicked grin catching the moonlight like the fangs of a ravenous beast. He twirled his dull rod around his fingers, calling the darkness back to him, where it condensed into three black balls orbiting around him.
“Is it not obvious?” the dark mage queried with a roll of his eyes. “I wanted to draw you out to me, and to me you have come! Now there is nowhere for you to hide and no way for you to escape.” He snickered gleefully and walked toward the girl, dark energy dancing eagerly around his heels.
But then, abruptly, he stumbled sideways, clutching his head as though he had just suffered a strike to the temple. Eclipse hastily jabbed his weapon into the sand to balance himself. He winced and shook his head distractedly.
“Enough!” snapped the dark mage, finally turning back to Lucia. His triumphant attitude was shattered, replaced by indignation. “This ends now,” he snarled, raising his rod against her. Dark magic crawled along its golden edge and leapt into the air as Eclipse gave his command.
