Page 22 of Barbi and the Villain

“Yes, I heard that too. Some said he had a scar this big running down his face,” one soldier says, trailing his finger down half of his face.

“I thought he was just ugly.” Another laughs, and a mocking contest begins.

“Maybe he was afraid he’d be called the Ugly One instead.”

The jokes run amok.

While they argue about how the Dark One looked like, how ugly or scarred he was, I’m left reeling from all this new information.

This is not the Dark One I read about. Hell, aside from the name, there’s very little resemblance between the fictional run-of-the-mill evil dude in the books and this dangerous figure the soldiers are still terrified of.

Even his abilities are different.

The books only spoke of his ability to cast forbidden spells.

I’ve read the sixth book countless times, including recently for the play, and the main plot revolved around an ancient book of forbidden spells that the Dark One was searching for. The Five had teamed up to stop him since those spells could have serious implications for Akkaya. The Dark One had managed to get the book and was about to perform a spell that would grant him immortality when Sir Damien defeated him. Nowhere had it said anything about his ability to control shadows—or him being so powerful that the entire continent was terrified of him.

“King Damien must have seen him. He fought him face-to-face more than once. Remember when Kuma died?” Jerry asks, and the soldiers nod. “He couldn’t kill the Dark One then, but he injured him badly.”

“And then the devil started this damned plague,” Willy curses in a low, somber tone.

“Wait.” I frown. “What’s the connection?”

“After the King injured the Dark One, the entire continent was enveloped in a thick, dark fog. Soon after, people started dying. No one knew what it was for months, until the King discovered that the Dark One had been stealing the life force of Akkaya’s citizens to heal himself and become more powerful. Anyone who died of the plague served as fuel for that damned devil,” Jerry adds accusingly, visibly shuddering at the memory.

“He’s been in hiding ever since, but the King had promised the people he would find and kill the Dark One once and for all. And now he’s fulfilled that vow.” Willy smiles.

“A worthy ruler, King Damien,” another soldier chimes in. “No one will ever forget the dark days of Akkaya and how the King defeated the greatest evil to ever grace these lands.”

There they go again about the Dark One being the most terrifying evil dude ever. Although I believe them when they say the Dark One is frightening and bad and just overall a supervillain, why is there a discrepancy between their account and the information from my books?

“What about Moloch? Or the Red Flame? Or…the Hybrid Witch?” I ask.

In the books, these three were the most frightening villains the Five ever faced. Moloch in particular, almost killed Lady Jocelyn in book eleven. He was so strong, the Five couldn’t destroy him, so instead they merely locked him away in a mystical prison from which he could never escape.

Jerry, Willy, and all the soldiers who heard me turn to stare at me.

“Uhm, Lady Barbi… Who are those people?”

“You’ve never heard of Moloch?” I blink.

They shake their heads, their expressions downright confused.

“The big bad demon who could turn mages into his servants and have them do his bidding?”

“I have never heard of any Moloch,” Willy adds tentatively, but the other soldiers back him up, a chorus of me neither erupting in the air.

I gawk at them.

How is this possible?

Moloch had been the Five’s archnemesis for almost six books. Six. That’s not just a passing villain like the book version of the Dark One, who only made an appearance in one installment. That’s a super, mega, ultra villain.

Something is wrong.

Though this is the Akkaya I know from books, it also…isn’t.

I swallow hard as I try to make sense of the conflicting information.

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