Book 1 Chapter 02
The Lurking Shadows
Was it the end so soon? Valdenn asked himself, at the sight of the four amalgams vibrating simultaneously with all their eyes shining in red. The knight attempted to free himself from the black slime with his sword, only to get it stuck in the substance, right at the first swing. He tried to flap very fast to take off as the black goo made its way up his sword. The red light in the creatures’ eyes grew brighter, as the end of Valdenn and his mission drew near. The knight ceased to fight, watching the amalgam in front of him and waiting for the angel of the death to strike him.
“Divine lightning rain.” Eli calmly said.
Valdenn looked up and a mixed feeling of surprise and joy filled his heart when he saw his mentor floating in the air right above the creatures. His coat agitated by the wind, Eli pointed his rod up and a blue light ball escaped from his weapon and engulfed in the clouds above his head. A few seconds after, as the creatures were about to release their attacks on Valdenn all at once, a gust of lightning bolts struck them, blinding the knight in the process.
Never have been the growls of the zeraks so deafening, powerless under the rain of lightning bolts unleashed by Eli. How could he display such tremendous power without having an armor? The apprentice asked himself. However, they did not last half a minute and Valdenn could not witness what was taking place in front of him, covering his eyes with his forearm and one of his wings, until all the screams stopped. When the knight opened his eyes, he noticed that all of the zeraks as well as the black goo vanished, and he saw Eli standing before him, already scolding him with an angry look.
“I can see you plan on getting yourself killed.” Eli said, turning around and starting to walk away.
“They were many coming here, I had to catch the summoners!” Valdenn pointed out, his sword and shield disappearing as he ran to his mentor.
“What did I tell you to do before I left?” Eli asked, walking straight ahead without looking at Valdenn.
“It was an emergency! I had to—”
“Disobey?” Eli asked again, stopping his walk and looking right into his apprentice’s eyes.
Valdenn stopped his walk too, paused and took a deep breath before replying: “You know it wasn't my intention.”
“You won’t last long if you keep on not listening.” Eli pointed out, while a blue light outlined his whole body before he slowly took off.
“I don’t understand anymore! What do you expect from me?” Valdenn said as he spread his wings to follow his mentor in the air.
The rain had stopped, and a fresh air brushed the grass of the Crescent Park as the two heroes were getting further in the sky. Hidden all the time behind one of the park’s tree, a shadowy figure watched them fly away, the heart filled with absolute bitterness and hatred after the great defeat. Lissya removed her hood and clenched her fist, already thinking of how she could counter attack the next time Eli uses that lightning technique. Resolute to serve her master Astin, she vowed to find a way to defeat the two obstacles that could hinder their plan to summon Orozias, before opening a portal under her feet and disappearing under the ground.
Seized with a certain sense of guilt following another terrible blunder that almost cost him his life, Valdenn flied behind his taciturn mentor, knowing the old man would sooner or later reprimand him for his act. Therefore, in an effort to brush it off, the young man broke the silence with a question he thought would make him look like a committed apprentice eager to learn.
“What was that move earlier?” he asked, only to be ignored by Eli. Confronted to such an attitude started to boil his blood on the spot, so he tried again, a little harder and in a little less polite way. "Old man! There is no victory without taking action and risks!"
"Wrong." Eli replied, suddenly stopping his flight and thus prompting his apprentice to mimic him. "Instead, there is no victory without faith." The old mentor added, floating in the air and still not looking back at Valdenn.
"I do believe. I do believe what you told me, about us light pilgrims having the supreme power. But still, those creatures were about to..."
"You got afraid when you realized they had you trapped." At the moment Eli mentioned his apprentice's fear, a fairly strong wind blew in the opposite direction they were facing, as if it came to support the veracity of the mentor's statement. "Fear is the end of faith, and the end of faith is the end of power."
"The end of..."
"So let me ask you again more clearly this time. What is it that really torment your mind?"
"Why there are so many rules to follow? Why can't we just crush them all since we are the one possessing the true power? What else do we.—"
"For the last time!" Eli retorted almost angrily. "What do you fear?"
Resulting from the depth of the master's question, a silence let the wind of the night whisper in their ears as the knight was about to open a door to his mind. Looking down at the city with a sad look, Valdenn finally said the words that prompted his hasty actions:
"My family may be in danger as we speak Eli. I don't know why The Highest gave me these powers. I don't know why I can't see my family yet, when I've the power to protect them. Eli, you know about my past, and you know I might be right about them being in danger. Since it's the mission first, I want to accomplish it as soon as possible so I can be reunited with my family. Can you blame me for that?"
With his spiritual eyes open, Eli looked down on the city, witnessing the darkness of the reality hidden behind all the beautiful buildings, cars and lights. Understanding the mission a little more, the old man answered:
"This is not about blaming anyone. And this is not about your family only. The whole world needs you right now Greg, because the witch is coming. The world needs the light more than ever. The Highest gave us the mission to spread it. We are the knights of Sermo, but we are first light pilgrims just like our brothers and sisters in the temples. The Highest never lied, so you don't have to worry about your family. Focus on the task and keep faith, and remember that fear can bring to life what you dread. This is your milestone, and a key towards your growth." Eli said before resuming his flight.
Plunged in reflection following his mentor's answer, Valdenn watched him for a few seconds as his words echoed in his mind just as loud as a tower's bell: fear can bring to life what you dread. The knight then resumed his flight too, resolute to not put his family in danger by the mere power of his sheer fear. Faith and the mission first, he thought while clenching his fists, ready for the fight and the long road that awaited. The dawn enlightened them both while on the ground some of the buildings' lights were turned off, and SonnSol City prepared for a brand new day.
At the same moment, in the outskirts of the town, sinister plots were shaped in the alleys of a renowned district. Between the fairly tall and old buildings, a group of dealers was in pursuit of a young man, tracking him with malice and rage like a wolf pack. The melancholic grey sky above his head seemed to predict his sad and inevitable demise, as the bleeding young man limped to his best toward a chance of escape that narrowed at each step he made. Soon, behind him, a canon released one deadly cherry that did not miss his heart, making him crash instantly on the still wet and dirty floor.
"Get down Cody! Get down now!" A woman ordered in an apartment near the crime scene as soon as she heard the gunshot.
"Okay, okay mom, that's what I'm doing." the annoyed little boy said while executing himself with nonchalance, his portable video game in hand.
"I got him!" a girl shouted from the streets.
"Dammit! If it starts again we'll be late." the mom said, joining her son under the dining table.
"Mom, it happens all the time here. You know it, especially since—"
"Don't you dare speaking of him!" she retorted, addressing her son a stabbing look while he kept on playing his game.
"Look mom, it's just some gunshots. They're done with their business and they should be far from here now because the cops are on their way." the boy said, still quite focused on beating his own record.
"You don't take nothing seriously do you?" the woman questioned, looking at her son and shaking her head in disbelief.
"It's not like that mom."
After shaking her head one more time, she then stood up and crept to the window, and threw a quick look through her curtain only to glimpse the body of a young man bathing in its own blood. Her eyes then caught something right in front at the window facing hers, as she saw her neighbor looking back at her while on the phone, certainly with the police. She closed her eyes and sighed to the sad view, already regretting her act, conscious that it will only add to her long list of horrible memories.
"We're not going anymore." she said as she started to unpack what she already prepared for their destination.
"What? Mom why? You promised to—" Cody said immediately getting his eyes off his console and standing up, his eyes filled with a mix of surprise and disappointment.
"Today doesn't feel safe Cody. We'll go next weekend. And the weather today is not good anyway." she retorted, still busy unloading her backpack.
"You're just like Greg aren't you?" Cody asked.
His mom froze when she heard that name, closing her eyes and clenching her fists as if she battled to contain a volcanic eruption. She then sighed to control her emotions, slowly turned to her son and managed to address him in the most calm manner:
"Cody. For the last time, I forbid you to—"
"Or what mommy? You'll beat me? Just like he used to do right?" he said, looking straight in his mother's eyes.
"Cody!" she shouted, making a step forward and surprised by the attitude of her son.
"You're not different mom." he added, walking to his room.
"Cody! Cody!" she shouted after him.
Distressed by the situation, she sat at the dining table and slid her fingers through her hair. She looked through the window at the sky, desperate about the ways she could soften the relationship between her and her son. A little noise pulled her back to earth as she looked in the direction of a television set.
"Damn mice." she whispered, not even taking a clear look at the small animals, as her eyes were trapped by the framed picture resting on the television set. Their smiles dazzled in that moment of pure bliss at the beach that day, a beautiful moment between a mother and her son during the day of his fifth birthday. She sighed again, and looked back at the sky through the window.
"He quite looks just like you Greg. Right?" she said, her words almost muffled by the loud sirens of the oncoming police cars.
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Unfazed by the arrival of the police, a man dressed in all black was seated on the hood of his car parked some meters away from the young man body. With all the calm in the world, while looking at Cody's apartment window, he took his phone and launched a call as two police cars parked on the crime scene.
"Yeah it's me." the man said on the phone while he looked at the ring on his right index. A silver ring with the letter W carved on its front. "I found that bastard's family." He added, watching four police officers getting out of their cars. "Huh, yeah don't worry about that." the mysterious man said taking a look at the cadaver on the ground. "Just some fun I've nothing to do with. Catch you later." he hung up, looking back at the police officers unseathing their weapons.
"Police! Don't move!" one officer said as they all pointed their guns at him.
"I ain't got none to do with that officers." the man calmly said, getting off his car hood with his hands up. "And it's quite a shame I missed the damned party." he added, turning around and waiting to get handcuffed, under the curious peering of several residents.
Later the same day, Greg stood at the window of their apartment with a cup of tea in hand, admiring birds flying in circles in the sky. A little habit he developed over the years envying their undeniable freedom, a luxury he long felt completely deprived of. The late afternoon wind of SonnSol City seemed to carry all the sins and calamities of the town, marching like a prophet of doom, come to announce a soon to arrive demise in the form of news broadcast:
"...carry on with the investigations. Following the suicide of the latest victim's mother early this morning, Mr Mayor Simon Ribburts gave a speech earlier this afternoon in front of the SonnSol City central police station to testify his support and encourage all the victims' families..."
Greg could not listen no more and decided to ignore the television behind him. The words of the reporter made him close his eyes, already sharing the pain of the victims themselves. An empathy he thought he could never be capable of months ago, when he was still shielded from all sort of emotions by his armor of cruelty and crime. To the mere thoughts of his past deeds, his hands began to tremble as he managed to keep a hold of his cup of tea.
His eyes still closed, he could see himself again robbing a poor old couple when he was still a late teenager. The dark memories then took him to that day when he and his partner in crime beat up a local butcher to near death. Milna and Cody, his two most important persons in the world he chose so often to abandon for a life of dirty money and fleshly pleasures. He could also see himself, selling tons of various drugs over the years and get engaged in gunfights across the city.
They called me Burner, he thought, feeling embarrassed for even choosing such a ridiculous name for himself. But yet, he and his fellow thug pal Thunder terrorized the city for several years before the tragic car crash that almost took his life. Greg remembered the fall, the water, the blue light that chased away the approaching shadows before the complete blackout.
"Fresh air and a hot tea." a familiar voice said behind him. "Is that why you refused to come to the temple today?" Eli questioned while hanging his umbrella up the coat rack, as Greg turned to him.
"Told you. Just didn't feel like it today." Greg replied, before looking back at the sky and sipping his tea.
"You know that Shepherd Elijah is really eager to meet you right?" Eli reminded his apprentice, approaching him as he talked.
"I guess it's just like you say all the time. Time will come."
"Well, in the meantime, how about a new lesson to get you one step forward? Hm?" Eli proposed, tapping Greg on the shoulder.
The apprentice looked at his master almost as soon as the latter pronounced those words "It better be that lightning thing then." Greg answered with a smile.
Eli then joined his hands as if he was about to say a prayer and his eyes shone with a blue light. At that instant, the decor of the apartment changed as everything disintegrated, rapidly replaced by an empty vast room. Everything from the floor to the ceiling was white, however, the blue light shining from behind those surfaces made the whole place look like a navy blue room.
"Warming up first." the old man said, making his faithful rod appear right in his hand.
"Good. I hope you're not too rusted." Greg said, throwing his fist forward before his armor appeared on his body.
Finally, the time had come. The time to reign as a supreme master, the time to rule this ruthless city, and to prove everyone who doubted him wrong, thought Astin in the dark of his empty room. Through a curtain, only a single beam of moonlight rested on his face, making his eyes glint, as his concentration session reached an end. A tough past is the premise of a great future, he thought, standing before taking the direction of the door.
Opening the door to his living room never felt so symbolic to him before, the passage of a man from one dimension to another, or from one life to the next. Ready he was, and so were most of the members of his cult, as well as every single necessary item for the ritual. Still dressed with their usual dark grey garment, they were all standing around a circular seal burning on the floor, hands forward, in order to tame the powerful element until the beginning of the ritual.
Sauntering around the participants of the ritual, Astin soon reached his place and took an ancient locket from the pant he wore under his cloak. The locket and the seal on the floor were identical and represented a four pointed star trapped in a circle, symbol of the elemental spirit they were attempting to summon. After presenting the locket with reverence, he then wore the sacred item around his neck and put his hood back on his head. As soon as he imitated the gesture of his fellow occultists, the fire grew instantly and a vicious smile full of malice decorated his face.
"Concentrate Valdenn. Focus on the ball of energy." Eli said, still in the training dimension with his apprentice.
They were both kneeling on the ground, eyes closed, facing a little ball of blue light shaking between them. Valdenn tried to focus as hard as he could to canalize the energy and stabilize the ball of blue light, first step for the mastering of a new technique he needed for his mission. To see if his apprentice could hold a higher level of energy, the master transferred even more of it into the ball which grew larger and shook even more. Under his helmet, Valdenn grit his teeth in an effort to contain the energy, while Eli continued to encourage him for the task.
"You're doing good young man. Just concentrate. The energy is—" the master spoke, stopping in his track. He then opened his eyes and looked behind him with suspicion.
Valdenn could not hold the energy any longer and the ball of light shook uncontrollably before exploding and making the knight fall on his back. As he opened his eyes, Valdenn was surprised to see Eli standing meters away from him, his left ear and his hands glued to the wall trying to listen to something.
"Hey! We were supposed to work on it together re—" he said, halted by the gesture of his master placing his right index on his lips.
The knight stood and watched his mentor focused on a far more different task for several minutes. Eli squinted his eyes more and more as he listened closely to distant voices which seemed to repeat the same phrase in the same manner with reverence. The 6th Valdenn closed his eyes and concentrated for few more minutes before he could clearly hear it:
"Come oh Orozias and unleash the fire of destruction!"
As soon as he heard the words, he stepped back from the wall. His eyes were filled with dismay, locked on the wall before the distraction came from his apprentice.
"What's wrong?" Valdenn asked.
"Are you tired young man?" Eli calmly questioned after he turned to him.
"You're joking right?"
"Are you ready for action?"
"Always."
Eli made his rod appear in his hand and they were suddenly back in the apartment.
"We have to go. We have to stop them before it's too late. Right now!" Eli ordered as he flew through the window.
Valdenn followed, unaware of the reason why he interrupted the training, but excited about the opportunity to work with Eli for the very first time.
"Come oh Orozias and unleash the fire of destruction!" Astin said while the other members were reciting incantations in an unknown language.
Under the full moon of SonnSol City, the heroes flew in the direction of the ritual's location as Eli led the way. Valdenn managed to keep up with the mentor which speed was incredibly high for a person flying without an armor, driven by his energy alone. As they got closer to Astin's house, despite seeing the buildings and the city's lights literally flashing below them because of their high speed flight, they still spotted a few zeraks running in the same direction at some point, bringing a clear confirmation into the knight's mind about the nature of the emergency.
Confident about her power and determined to fulfill her task, Lissya stood on the roof of an apartment complex and raised her arms at the distant view of the two heroes rushing towards her master's house. The strong wind that arose following her summoning agitated her cloak and soon her hood fell backwards, revealing her long, black and gray hair as she pronounced the words to launch her devastating technique:
"Zeraks Hurricane." she quietly said.
At that instant, carried by the wind since they cannot fly, hundreds of zeraks appeared behind her, turning in circles as if they were trapped in a giant hurricane. She then put her hands forward and the strong wind blew right above her head, carrying all the zeraks in the direction of the knights.
"We summon you oh great Orozias, come and unleash your fire of destruction upon this world!" Astin said, while the other members carried on with the incantations. Their voices grew pressing at the sight of the burning seal on the floor vanishing progressively, a sign that their ritual was being a downright failure.
"Impressive." Valdenn whispered when he saw the amazing cloud of zeraks almost covering the whole sky that was sent in their direction. He then wondered what the world could be if everyone could see the spiritual world as he was able to. Frozen in the air in front of the challenge he was about to face, he then heard his master's voice who accelerated his flight towards the zeraks hurricane:
"You have to believe! Hurry!" Eli shouted.
His apprentice watched him as he engulfed in the cloud of monsters until he disappeared, only seeing a blue light flashing inside it from time to time. Sword in hand, Valdenn hesitated several seconds, his family in mind, before he resumed his flight towards the monsters with his shield forward, screaming like a warrior running to his death.
"Orozias! Oh great Orozias! We summon you tonight, come and unleash your fire in this world!" Astin summoned once more as the burning seal kept on extinguishing slowly. A feeling of despair then rose in his heart in front of this spectacle when the other summoners stopped their incantations and looked at him with a surprised look on their faces.
On the roof of the building, despite bleeding from the nose due to the tremendous power she was trying to withstand, Lissya swayed her arms in different directions in order to control the wind and therefore the direction of the zeraks in the cloud. Determined to win the battle against the old man and the knight, she began whispering incantations to add more power to her technique.
Inside the zeraks hurricane, the raging battle of the two heroes against the monsters continued. Eli made his rod turn around his hand and serve as a propeller to release waves of energy that destroyed many zeraks in its path. Valdenn turned around himself and released several feathers and killed a fair number of zeraks. Eli then made his rod lit and hold it at one end before it became a long whip of blue light that he swayed around him and pulverized several zeraks. On his side, Valdenn curled up in a fetal position with his wings around his body and his sword pointing forward, before he began to turn around him quickly and act like a human slicing disk. He moved like that in the direction of his master killing many of the monsters until they both found themselves back to back. Eli looked at him and nodded, to which his apprentice responded by nodding back.
"What's the meaning of this?" Astin whispered. "This can't be."
"The seal! It's vanishing!" one of the cult members said out loud in a panic.
"Yes I know! I can see it!" Astin shouted, ripping his hood from his cloak.
"We have to hurry!" another one suggested.
What could go wrong? Astin wondered. He gathered prominent occultists and rallied them to his cause. During months, they performed the several rituals necessary to summon the entity during this night's full moon. He was in possession of all the items required to perform each ritual successfully and especially the locket for the final summoning. He was himself a good occultist and worked hard to reach such a level, ready to graduate to a higher one in this night of glory. But what just went wrong? He kept on the wondering, his eyes on the slowly vanishing seal.
"Do something!" he heard from another member, violently pulled out of his train of thoughts.
Not again. Not another failure. Astin thought, images from his past flashing into his mind, from the day he was laughed at in front of the whole class at school, through the day he received a severe rejection from a school he wanted to attend, and to a recent day he got bullied at the fire station where he used to work. Therefore, contrasting with the weak fire of the burning seal, a raging fire arose in his heart from all those bad memories. Astin pulled the locket and broke the chain against his neck, almost hurting himself, and guided by his uncontrollable anger, he placed his hand forward, holding the locket, as the words escaped from his mouth:
"Orozias! By the power of the seal of fire, I summon you right now! Come!" he shouted.
When he pronounced the last word, the seal completely vanished in the same manner the flame disappear when someone blows on a candle. They all stared at the seal, paralyzed and in complete disbelief of the failure that just came to be their share. Several of them then turned to Astin, ready for retaliation after his ultimate blunder.
"All these nights, during months!" one of the summoners said.
"What have you done Astin?" an old lady among them asked.
"I know what we should do right now, we should rip him apart and offer him as a sacrifice." another cult member suggested.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Astin whispered.
"Well it is now. Because you failed, you prick!" Marcel said. "I'm not going back to Europe empty handed because of your stupidity! Never!"
"Wait. Let me think, there's surely something." Astin said quietly.
"What thing? There's nothing left!" Marcel shouted.
"I said wait! I have to think of—" Astin was replying when he suddenly got interrupted by an expected occurrence.
A strong fire of incredible heat emerged from the seal of the floor which was back to burning. As soon as the fire reached the ceiling of the room, it began to take shape in front of the amazed summoners in order to reveal a powerful entity of incredible size. It resembled a giant, bald and muscular man whose only clothes were fire. Not able to stand, the entity bowed the knee in the too small room, its lit yellow eyes plunged in Astin's. Helped in recognition by the legends and the research they made on it, the cult could easily identify the supernatural being in front of them. The ritual was a success and their efforts finally led to the desired outcome. Orozias had finally appeared, and it was time to bow before him.