Suddenly, I could see again.

  Austin was putting his hands against the control panels. His eyes were bloodshot and his hands were tremling. I had no doubt he had felt all the same things I had. He was scared.

  "I see you're awake," Austin said, straightening up as his eyes turned black again. I could feel the presence of the Dark Matter enter the room. The fear, the despair, the dread - it was all coming back.

  "Stop it!" I screamed. My body couldn't take it any more. I just wanted to give in. Let the darkness carry me away. Everything was better than what I was feeling right now.

  The ship trembled. Austin's eyes darted around like he was dreading the inevitable.

  His little black tendril started to curl out. First one out of his eye, then one through his hand, then one out of his foot. Soon thousands of black tendrils were coming out of his body.

  I looked at his face. Austin's eyes were pitch black. I shuddered in my seat as the fear started to come upon me. That horrible feeling of dread and hopelessness. This time I was prepared for it in a way so it didn't seem to affect me as much.

  "They're coming," Austin said, his body trembling. "Still, I might as well kill you guys. Then maybe the Dark Lord won't punish me."

  I gasped as the tendrils extended towards my neck at lightning speed.

  IT'S OVER. I thought. The tendrils were moving so fast but once they were probably about a millimeter away from my neck something miraculous happened.

  A large, dark shiny object appeared out of nowhere shielding my face and my body.

  My bonds then fell away as if they were cut by something. I looked down and saw the same mettle that was protecting me, cutting away my bonds.

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  Austin was enraged. I sat, frozen in my seat as his body turned completely jet black.

  "Get out of here!" I heard the man behind us yell. I snapped out of my trance and started to get out of my seat. I looked over at Harper's seat and noticed that she was still sitting there.

  "Harper!" I yelled at her. I ran over and pulled her out of her seat. Her legs were shaking so hard she could hardly walk but I managed to pull her over to the man.

  "Go through that hatch above you," the man said, pointing at a little hatch I hadn't seen before. "I'll try my best to hold this Darkling off."

  I practically pushed Harper up the ladder. It wasn't an easy task, especially since the whole space ship was shaking. I looked over and saw Austin swelling with power. He pushed against our saviors shields with his dark matter. It was only a matter of time before he got through and killed us.

  At last, I got Harper through and scrambled up after her. A woman with black hair like a raven, was standing in a small room. There was nothing in it and the walls seemed to waver and move with the shaking of our ship that we had just exited.

  "Get through here!" the woman said pointing at another open hatch. I listened and pulled Harper through. She seemed to snap out of it. I looked back and watched in awe at what was happening.

  Austin was standing in the tiny room, a source of immense power. The man was standing with his hands outward holding up a shield. At this point the shield was seen through and you could tell it wouldn't hold up much longer.

  "Get out of my way," I heard someone say behind me. A younger man was standing behind us waiting for something.

  Suddenly, Austin's body started to bulge, almost like he was going to burst into a million pieces.

  "He's gonna blow!" the man screamed as so many things happened at once. Time itself seemed to slow down. The Darkling body completely disintegrated and in its place was a wave of Dark Matter going all directions.

  The shield went down and the matter looked like it was going to kill us all but then dark liquid came from the woman, pushing at the dark matter. I watched in horror as the Dark Matter moved into what used to be my ship and absolutely destroyed everything. Each thing the Dark Matter touched seemed to turn into darkness itself.

  The man dove into the room we were in and locked eyes with the young man. The woman was diving in only moments later. The man slammed the door and all of a sudden a dark shield exploded everywhere, blocking the explosion of Dark Matter. It all happened in an instant.