“Naia! Wolves and Korrigan. We have to get home. I think mother is in danger.” he said, grabbing her arm with one hand and pulling out one of his daggers with the other. Some of the folk nearby heard him and almost everyone began to panic and run in every direction. Moments later two burly horned figures holding large two handed axes jumped out of the darkness and slew a man and a lady on the edges of the fire. They turned just in time to see the man and woman fall over.
The monsters dragged their axes from the two unfortunate souls. Suddenly their wicked looking faces magically sprouted blades from each of their throats. Neither of the teens could tell where the blades originated but soon after, the bonfire erupted into sparks and smoke. This had the effect of almost blinding them when it went out a moment later. As this happened a voice called out from the black. “Kayne! Run!” Not needing any further prompting they took off at a sprint into town.
As they blazed their way past the other panicked folk a bell now sounded in the night alerting the town guard. They were now showing up to engage the monsters here and there. Almost out of town they passed several more people who’d been slain, as well as, a dead monstrosity. What they didn’t expect came next.
A petite woman came out of one of the shadows and tripped Kayne causing him to tumble to the ground. Before he could regain his bearing he heard the distinctive sound of metal being removed from a scabbard. When he looked up the small cloaked, hooded, and very clearly female form stood above him with a long katana pressed to his chin. He didn’t dare move an inch and had dropped the dagger he previously held. Naia, standing nearby, froze and stared unsure of what to do.
Fortunately they never had to figure it out. In a flash, she was forced to step back. She used her blade to deflect three flashes of metal that came from who knows where. Kayne was able to scramble up and resume running. Naia summoned her power and with a flash of mist and blue energy the girls feet were now frozen in place on the ground. They turned and ran.
Almost forgetting, Kayne double tapped the knife belt and before he realized what happened the third knife was in its sheath. Almost at the same time he drew another. Still running he handed one to Naia and drew the other two. “Ju-just throw it. At anything that moves,” he’d said panting as he ran with her. Breathing even harder than he was, she said nothing. Piscalians were not the best of runners, though she did quite well keeping up, it was all she could do. That bit of magic had drained her energy so much! Moving and shaping water when it was abundant was not a huge issue. It was drawing it from the air around her target from almost nothing that had caused her to expend so much energy.
As they ran nothing else impeded them until the gate. Naia reached around the corner of their large wooden fence and found the secret gate release. It swung up revealing the warm light from the cabin. They hurried in and Kayne went straight to the inside operation mechanism quickly lowering it back down. As he did he heard the distinctive howl of some feral beast in the distance. His eyes going wide, he looked over at Naia. She’d already made it to the front door to alert their mother, and said. “That's no ordinary wolf.” The gate, thankfully closed shut before anything could come out of the dark. Naia looked with terror in her eyes at Nilah. “There…” She panted in between each word. “There. Were. Horned. Monsters.” She regained some of her composure after those chased words. “And some scary looking lady carrying swords tried to capture Kayne. What do we do? They may be coming for us.”
With little to no hesitation Nilah reached above their heads and gave the bell a little flick. A mysterious and eerie chime came from it that seemed to stick in their minds a few moments after it had stopped. “Come inside and help me blow out the candles. Everything but the hearth,” their mother insisted. Kayne took one extra moment to grab his dull steel practice sword from where he’d left it in the yard.
Several heart pounding minutes went by after they did so. Then, just as promised, someone showed up at the gate. Using the same method they just had, it slid right open. Much to their horror. Nilah pulled out a crossbow from a corner and cracked the door open. She found a large cloaked man cranking the heavy gate shut once again, obviously in a hurry to do so. Recognizing the rough hewn patchwork cloak she opened the door the rest of the way and whispered. “Kismet, i-is that you?” He finished cranking the door closed and put another bar across the gate. He then reached over to disable the mechanism they had used to release the gate from the outside. Seeing him do this, Nilah lowered her crossbow relaxing a little. “Nilah, kids, pack a small bag each. We can’t stay here much longer, they may have tracked me. That vile witch has fel hounds. They can’t be far behind.” To prove his point one of them bayed it's terrible unnatural howl. A few seconds later it was quickly followed by a response from two more.
Standing in the front yard pacing back and forth Kismet began muttering and drawing shapes in the air. This caused magical yellow, green, and red circles to plaster themselves all over the stout fencing that surrounded the house. The three of them ran about the place grabbing this and that. After several minutes, they’d each packed a small bag that was then slung over a shoulder or two. Naia now had her new bag from the fair over one shoulder and a rolled up sail over the other, owing to the fact that she had dumped the sail out to put smaller things in her sack.
In a flash of red light and a loud ‘boom! Sizzle! Crack!’ Some invisible barrier had intercepted a ball of fire. Then at the gate, the distinctive sound of metal on wood was heard. Two more Korrigan were using those large evil looking axes to rend the gate. Doing so sprung one of the magical defenses Kismet put up a few minutes earlier. They could only tell by the sound of burning and impish howling of pain. One of the two axes had become red hot in its hands causing it to drop it to the ground.
“Alright, Nilah. Kayne. Naia. T’is time. These two have grown as much as they can, we have to send them off.” Nilah looked pale and stricken at the bard. “It can’t be. I thought we had more time.” He stared hard at her for a second. “That witch out there has made it abundantly clear that our time is up. If she found us here, no less than a horde of those damnable beasts are not long behind. Quickly, out the secret side hatch. My magic shielding won’t hold for long.” Following Nilah the three headed to the north east corner of the fencing. Here Nilah moved a few bales of straw and unlatched a small hatch at the bottom of the wall. “Quickly now Nilah, lead the way to the tunnel. And we must be quiet.” While they did so several more fireballs splashed against the barrier and one soared over arcing past the rear of the house. Nilah helped Naia through and as they stood Kayne scrambled his way out turning to help the slightly overburdened bard. He’d almost gotten stuck on what Kayne assumed had to be pouches or bags or something protruding from the man's midsection.
Rather than running. The four of them, somewhat hunched over, scampered away from the now burning house and away from the noise of the literal monsters at their front door. The grave on the cliff was about three hundred meters away so the situation was very tense while they snuck out there. About three quarters of the way they heard a piercing howl.
The fel hound had spotted them. “Run!'' Is all Kismet could get out and the four started dashing their way up the cliff. Kayne watched and was astonished by his mother’s ferocious speed up to the grave site.
He thought to himself “how in the name of Ifia did she get so fast?!” But as he was pounding his way up the hill as well he didn’t have the time or air in his lungs to voice the question. Nilah arrived at the precipice and ran behind the strange unmarked grave stone. Or so Kayne and Naia thought it was unmarked. It took up a space of about three feet by three feet on the ground and was about two and a half feet tall as well. Nilah tapped several spots on the top of it and five magic circles appeared across where she tapped. She used her other hand to then effortlessly slide it forward. At this point two fel hounds had rounded the house and were charging up the hillside towards them with their small hooded master on the back of a third.
“Children! In you go!” Nilah insisted as they stood and stared at the ever approaching danger. Kismet had turned his back to the group, his cloak had flung upwards and they couldn’t tell what he was doing at the time. It seemed like his arms were flying furiously. It was if they were intent on something the others couldn't see. Naia didn’t need any additional encouragement, she plunged her way down the ladder inside the pitch black hole. Kayne, however, was watching intently as blades and fireballs began flying their way. While the blazing light was easy to spot in the night, they had no idea about the blades until a few plinks bounced off the grave and dirt around them.
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His mother insisted this time, “Kayne get in!” He quickly climbed down and was followed by Nilah. When she reached the bottom she stepped to one side and laid her hand on something flat in the wall which caused a mild blue glow to illuminate the whole room. Seeing this blue glow Kismet turned into a ball of flapping cloak and other garments as he vanished down the hole. As he did so, his hands flashed and out came two round objects followed by two rude gestures which the cloaked figure clearly saw.
With a sound of grinding stone and debris, the entrance to their underground hideout closed. Kismet landed gracefully and using both hands snapped his fingers. Two distinct explosions shook the earth around them causing some sand and dust to sprinkle down onto their heads. He bowed with a flourish of his cloak and some obvious satisfaction on his face. “Aaaahhh haha.” He bellowed. “She hates it when I do that.”
Finally gaining some courage, Kayne spoke up, “You… know that woman?” Seeming somewhat taken aback by the question, Kismet looked over at the young man. “Aye she’s been hunting you two for years! Been keeping her off your backs all this time. Many of these patches are her fault. And let me tell you. A right fine piece of work that girl is. Mourwyne I’ve heard her called. She’s some kind of tainted Alkin assassin. Carries more blades than even I do and always has those awful hounds at hand. I think she uses her master’s power to summon them from beyond. Can’t kill them but if you go far enough they seem to stop chasing. Haven’t gotten me yet, have they?”
Looking around, Naia was running her fingers along the walls which were decorated with several murals depicting what looked like epic battles. Each was hewn on the wall in a different major color. Blue lightning arked out from a character in one. White ice streamed from a figure on a gryffin rider in another. “What are these paintings?” she said somewhat reverently.
Kayne took notice and began examining some on a different wall. On these he found a depiction of a dragon and rider in a waterspout before a sea of ships. Another showed a stone entry into a mountain with armies of something, dwarfs he guessed, before it and long legged beasts towering over the opposing side, bursts of red erupting from the dark figures. He stared at this one touching the explosions on the wall.
He walked over to one end of the room where Kismet and his mother stood in front of a small plain stone platform. Behind them there was another much larger mural. The bottom illustrated two armies locked in combat, no battle lines discernible between them. At the top of the battle were five figures of five colors and one man standing in a doorway. From the top right of the mural a beam of light shone down on him from a particularly bright star. In sharp contrast to that, the top left of the mural was a small cottage and inside it there was a baby and his mother. The child had two different colored eyes and skin of blue. Next to him was a colorful sprite and a star before it. The star radiated light in every direction.
After a few moments of the two children looking over the intricate mural, Nilah spoke. “Kayne. This is you. Your destiny, and will be your legacy. That...” She pointed to the baby in the corner, “...is you”
He gazed at the starlight bathed infant then looked down at his hands. Dumbly he said, “I’m not blue. I never have been. That looks like some Alkin baby.” With a somewhat sad look in her eye Nilah took Kaynes shoulder. “Something happened when you were born. Something Kismet and a group of seers have known about since just after…” She pointed at the dragon and the waterspout., “...this happened maybe twenty five years ago. About ten years before this battle.” Again waving towards the large mural at the end. “You were born here to me the moment these six were frozen in time.”
Kismet stepped forwards slightly. “One of the fabled five heroes, that prevented the fall of Aumatia, was an incredible seer and foretold both the coming of Aumatia as well as our hope to prevent it.” Kayne looked terribly worried and a little confused and responded. “Who, or what is Aumomitia. And how can it be? I’m not blue! I’m just a normal human.”
Kismet pointed up to the star in the sky that shone light down to the dark figure and started again. “This is Aumatia.” Kismet emphasised that point to correct Kaynes mispronunciation of the name. “If you look up to the sky on a clear night. The brightest star in the sky is the celestial demon Aumatia. The brighter that star gets the closer she is to Sacalia. It was foretold by this Piscalian here, and here, that, should Aumatia fall too close to Sacalia it would cause a cataclysmic event. Oceans would flood the land and the true power of Aumatia would be unleashed. It’s said that the demon would draw all magical potential from the world. To bring about its desires, Aumatia from far out in the stars, has empowered servants here on Sacalia. This man here, if left unchallenged, will seek out gems of power hidden across Sacalia. Using that power he’d be able to channel the star close enough to take effect.”
The gravity of the situation seemed to be dawning on Kayne though he still seemed hung up on something. His mother noticed and followed up Kismet's description. “When you were first born, Kayne, you were as blue as any Alkin. This mischievous spriggen sprite here floated in uninvited and blessed you with some kind of magical gift. Your skin turned the same color as my own and your left eye changed colors.”
He reached up and rubbed his left eye. “Yeah, I think something is going on with it. I’ve been seeing things.” “We believe that will be part of your role here in the future. Some kind of gift that will aid you two on your journey.” She said somewhat drifting off in conversation.
Kismet broke into the conversation next. “Speaking of which. The great seer who prophesied all this saw fit to only bestow certain information to certain people. She said it would all be revealed to the right people at the right times. But what we think we’ve figured out is this. Naia you, we believe, are meant to be the first of the five that Kayne needs to bring together.” He then took her over to the mural of the dragon and pointed to the rider.
Kayne and Naia both looked stunned. Finding a bench nearby one sat down followed by Kismet leading the other to sit next to him. “Now children. We don’t have much time. This hideout is incredible strong but knowing that nasty piece of work up there, we don’t have long.” Nilah picked up a bundle off the small altar at the end of the room and glided over to Kayne. “We don’t know what she knows, but the Queen of the Alkin, Lyrosier Tamalin, herself had these two things made for you and gave them to Kismet here who then delivered them to me the night you were born.”
She turned to Kismet and let him unravel the black bundle. He left the hard object in Nilahs arms undoing the cloth. Holding it up for Kayne he seemed to get the hint and stood up unclasping his worn travel cloak. He turned around and let the man drape it over him. “This cloak was crafted by Queen Lyrosier herself, for you, Kayne. She told no one of its function or qualities. Those you may discover on your own.” He turned around feeling the fabric. It shimmered slightly and felt cool to the touch. To everyone around him it seemed an ordinary cloak.
“Next while this was approved by Queen Lyrosier, it was crafted by another. This sword has been bound to you since birth, Kayne. While anyone might wield it, only you can unlock its full potential.” He drew the blade from where Nilah held it out for him. Kismet was holding a short light iridescent colored blade in his hands somewhat irreverently. As he did so his mother handed Kayne the scabbard, which while somewhat ornate, was nothing exciting to look at. He strapped it into his dagger belt so that it hung horizontally along his back. To do so he slid two of the daggers around to his right hip and the other on the far side. He took the blade from Kismet and it pulsed blue when he touched it showing a small handprint on the blade near the crossguard. Unsure what to do now he reached back with both hands and slipped the short blade into the scabbard.
“At some point, you may want to name it but that can wait till you’ve learned to make use of it. Now… we need a plan to escape tonight.” Kismet eluded to them pointing towards a door in the corner the two children hadn’t noticed. They all started down the hall which led deeper into the hillside and then back down several flights of steps spiraling along the cliff side. Nilah was the last to go through that door. As she did she grabbed a small sack of coins and something else.
Walking in the pale blue light, they eventually heard the sound of splashing water in the night. Naia was the first to let out a sigh of relief as she took a deep breath of fresh sea air. They were standing in a room that was little more than a cave with a walkway on one side like a dock.