Ater Mountains (21.10.9978 AS)
“Because you actually managed to hold me back for so long, I will award you, by killing you first.” The man said. “So you don’t have to see how I kill your friends.” The man added as he slowly walked towards Tristan.
“Wait!” Gabe, the blonde bard, who had been with them the whole time, interrupted the black haired man’s execution. “Yeah, wait!” The black haired female bard, named Mephis agreed.
“What do you want now?” The annoyed black haired man asked his companions.
“Sometimes I wonder how you could rule an entire continent by yourself.” The blonde woman said coldly towards the black haired man.
“Stop trying to sound smart, coz you aren’t!” The black haired man said towards the blonde woman. “Now Gabe, why did you interrupt me?” He continued sending his attention to the blonde man.
“Do you remember why we’re here in umbra?” Gabe asked. The black haired man looked bored. “Sightseeing?” He asked as he started laughing like mad. “Of course I know! We are supposed to look for that brat, aren’t we?”
“But we couldn’t find him in Obscurati.” The blonde woman butted in stating the facts.
Gabe smiled creepily, pointing towards Tristan. “Nooooo!” The black haired man said as he looked at Tristan.
“You said it yourself, he is a Schatten boy.” Mephis, the black haired woman answered. “No way!” The blonde woman said as she appeared right in front of Tristan.
The bewildered Tristan had to stand there as she examined his face and body. He didn’t have terms to fight back. Since the blonde woman was at least as strong as the black haired man, if not stronger.
After a few minutes, the woman finally pulled back and looked towards Gabe. “You’re right.” She confirmed.
“By Aetas, why didn’t I notice earlier?” The black haired man said, kneeling down before of Tristan.
Soon all the bards present, were kneeling in front of Tristan.
“Wha… What’s the meaning of this?” The dumfounded Tristan asked shyly.
“I’m sorry to have caused you so much trouble!” The black haired man said as he rose from his kneeling position. “Yes, we’re terribly sorry for having harmed your friends!” The blonde woman said also raising from her kneeling position. “But we didn’t know it was you!”
Tristan just stood there trying to figure out what was happening in front of his eyes. He just couldn’t believe it.
“I hope you’ll excuse these fools.” The black haired woman said. “I’m Mephis, it’s an honor to meet you, the one who shouldn’t have been born.” She continued introducing herself, in an awestruck manner.
“Where are my manners?!” The blonde man stepped with god speed in front of Tristan. He knelt down and kissed Tristan’s right hand.
“Whaaaaa…” This was just too much for Tristan as he pulled back his hands. “Can someone please explain what’s going on, so I can understand?”
“Well, I Dunkler Schatten, will explain it to you!” The black haired man bowed. “No, I, Helles Licht will explain it to him!” The blonde woman shoved Dunkler by side. Of course Dunkler didn’t wait for long to return the favor. Just to get smacked on the back of his head by Mephis. “You two, stop behaving like preschool children!”
Both of them looked apologetic. “I’m sorry.” The both of them answered at the same time.
‘Wasn’t I supposed to die just a few minutes ago?’ Tristan asked himself. ‘It seems they were looking for someone and now think I’m that certain someone. I really hope they’re right. I don’t even want to think, what they’ll do to me if it wasn’t me, who they’re looking for.’ Tristan cringed just thinking about it.
‘No, it’s gotta be me! The woman named Mephis, mentioned a part of my prophecy didn’t she? Yes, it’s gotta be me. So why would they be searching for me? And why would they be so friendly towards me?’
“Nooooo!!! No way!!” Tristan shouted as he finally figured out what was going on. “Shut up!” he continued in disbelieve.
‘They are ‘their’ enemy. They know about my prophecy and a woman sent her on a quest with no directions whatsoever! There is only one reason, why they’re behaving this way after finding out, who I am!’
“Did Bella send you guys?” Tristan asked.
“Yes, she sent us to find you, the one who shouldn’t have been born into this world.” Mephis answered.
Tristan looked at the black haired woman puzzled. “Who are you guys and why did she send you?”
“As I said, my name is Mephis, the blonde man’s name is Gabe, the blonde woman is Helles Licht and the black haired man Dunkler Schatten.” Mephis introduce herself and her companions.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“No, I got your nammmmme…. Wait, did you say ‘Helles Licht’ and ‘Dunkler Schatten’? Do you mean the ‘Helles Licht’ and the ‘Dunkler Schatten’ as in the people who ruled Lunae and Umbra ten thousand years ago?”
The black haired man stepped forward and nodded. “Who else would we be?” The blonde woman also stepped forward, smiling proudly and bowed. “Empress Helles Licht at your service.”
“How? Weren’t you supposed to have died ten thousand years ago, after fighting the ‘new gods’?” Dunkler smiled. “The books, you youngsters are allowed to use are unfortunately all manipulated by ‘him’. We didn’t die fighting the ‘god’s of old’. The opposite is the case. We decided to follow them and disappeared from the worlds of mortals, leaving our legacy to our sons and daughters.”
The blonde woman nodded strongly. “Back then we swore our loyalties to the ‘god of old’… You don’t know, how it is to live in a world, where your biggest rival is that muscle brain over there” She pointed towards Dunkler who looked like he would jump at her any moments.
“You don’t know how bored I was! You know I was so bored I started preparing my armies to invade Umbra, knowing that it would cost the lives of millions! Just to have some fun.” Dunkler nodded. “Same here, back then I was also getting ready to attack Lunae. But before I could do it the ‘god’s of old’ appeared.”
“They told us to stop right away. Of course we didn’t want to. So we fought.” Gabe stepped forward. “As Alexa’s right hand, I was the witness of Helles defeat.”
“And I was the witness of the fight between my master: Permix and Dunkler.” Mephis said. Dunkler nodded once again. “They both lost their fights. They both submitted to the will of the ‘gods of old’ and became their Reiter. Which means they became immortal just like everyone here.” Mephis explained so Tristan could understand.
“Everyone here is an immortal?” Tristan asked bewildered.
“Yes, everyone here is an immortal. We four though, are seen as their leaders because of the close relation we had with our gods.” Gabe answered Tristan’s question.
“Thanks for the history lesson. Let me summarize to see if I got what you wanted to tell me: You guys are the former Reiter of the ‘new gods’?”
“We prefer the name ‘gods of old’ to refer of Mistress Alexa and Master Premix. Because the term ‘new gods’ also includes that traitor: Fors” Mephis clarified. “I will keep that in mind.” Tristan answered. “So, why were you looking after me?”
Tristan still couldn’t decide to laugh or to cry at the situation. ‘That explains why my passive didn’t show me a ways of how to get out of the situation, like it always does, when I end up in a dead-end road. They are just too strong.
Them acting all friendly right now doesn’t mean I can lower my guard though. They are extremely unpredictable. I just can’t figure out, what they’ll do next.
They’re everyone’s night worst nightmare: unbelievably strong, but crazy at the same time. I wonder if I’ll be ever to sleep at night, knowing, that these kind of people are wandering around this world.’ Tristan forcefully swallowed his saliva as he thought about all this.
“As you deducted earlier, we’re here by Bella’s request. She told us, that the time for revenge for our master and mistress is coming closer.” Mephis told Tristan.
“And you believed that crazy woman, because?” Tristan wanted to know, why someone would ever believe to the words of someone like Bella.
“She’s a goddess” Gabe said convinced. “And the little sister of my master.” Dunkler added.
Tristan smiled bitterly. ‘So, that woman ruined my life, just because she’s a bro-con? Please don’t make it be like that! Please make her have another reason that will receive itself at the end, like in that cool novel I was reading recently’!
“Well, Bella told us, to guide you.” Heles’ words brought Tristan back out of the world of his thoughts. “She told us to help you reach immortality.” Dunkler continued.
“You’ll train me?” Tristan asked, with gleaming eyes.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the time to do so.” Gabe answered. “Since ‘their’ assassination attempt failed, ‘they’ll’ soon send Fors’ Reiter to get us here. Although, we might be strong, we can’t deal with their numbers. So we’ll have to soon leave Umbra and hide.”
“And we can’t bring you with us.” Mephis added. “If we brought you with us, you’d always live in danger and we can’t risk our only hope, to die before fulfilling his role. Also, right now ‘they’ think you’re dead. If you come with us, they might start targeting you and your loved ones you left back home.”
“I understand, but how am I gonna reach the needed level to battle him?” Tristan asked.
Dunkler pointed towards the sword, Tristan was holding in his hands. “Years back I hid a nice present for a true Schatten deep in the Noir Mountains on the Island of Oidche. If you manage to find it, you’ll have all you need to become my strongest descendant. I won’t give you any tips on how to find it, because searching for it is already a part of your training.”
Tristan nodded. “The legends, about the dark peek are your handy work I assume?” He asked, trying to receive the confirmation, on where he should start looking for the present.
Dunkler just ignored his question. “I’m really sorry for what I did to your friends, but what are we gonna do with them now? They’ll soon wake up, but we can’t leave this cave until next week” He pointed towards the magic circle some of his companions were busy creating.
Tristan walked towards the magic circle and smiled. He thought this was just an ordinary portal circle, but this was a gate to another dimension. He didn’t know the target, but he had seen a similar magic circle every time he used his active.
“Where are you going? I could help you with this type of gate.” Gabe made grimace as he heard Tristan’s suggestion. “What is that supposed to mean?” Tristan smiled. “One of my abilities is to open gate, to wherever I want. I could use this ability to send you to the dimension you want to visit.”
“We want to go back to Lunae.” Helles explained. “I’ve never been there, but I’ll try to open a gate.” Tristan answered.
“Do your gates close themselves after a while?” Gabe asked. “Yes, I can let the gate open for as long as I want to. If I want it to be open for an hour it does, and if I want it to stay open for just one minute it does as well.” –“Do they stay open even if you don’t send your mana throw them?” Tristan looked at Gabe and answered. “Yes, they do. But why are you asking that many specific questions?”
“Look around you. If you were the only one conscious after meeting with us, they’d get suspicious. So …” Tristan nodded sighed. “I see… I guess it can’t be helped.”
Tristan waved with his hand and opened a gate to Lunae. “It will stay open for ten minutes, you better hurry and leave.” Helles and Mephis both hugged Tristan. “We’ll see each other soon, our hero.” Helles whispered into his ears while giving him a big smooch on his cheek.
“I don’t have a smooch for you, but a nice old handshake.” Gabe said while laughing merrily. Dunkler, stepped in front of Tristan. “I guess you won’t like my good bye present much.” He said, as he knocked Tristan out before stepping into Tristan’s Gate followed by the horde bards that had been watching the scene.