The Ancients

by Adam-Clay Webb

  I failed… The Eye… Oga has it… Prince Azar! He clasped his hands, forming, with a silent spell, a bubble of air around him. He gasped for breath. He saw Azar a few meters off, slowly sinking. He shifted to Azar, grabbed him, and shifted out of the water, reaching aboard the small vessel they had set out on. Azar coughed violently, spewing cups of water from his mouth.

  “Viknor… Where is the stone?”

  “Oga took it from you in the flash of light,” Viknor said.

  “Where is Darius?”

  “Certainly dead.”

  ***

  Oga appeared to Kizer, who was watching the battles Zakashi was fighting. “The time has come,” Oga said. The old wizard opened the black box and lay it on the table Kizer was at, holding gently the perfect stone. Kizer stood and took a look at the stone for himself. It was clear, almost invisible, with a calm white hue, a flawless and priceless gem. Oga looked down at the crystal ball that Kizer was staring at.

  “Your youngest son is quite intriguing, isn’t he? Still, he looks to be in rut at the moment.”

  “He sought out this battle. I will not interfere,” Kizer said. “Come, let us go to the shrine of our children.”

  ***

  Zakashi was for the most part on the defensive. Kyle and Blade pressured him into corners and had him on the run.

  Damn. If only I could fight the bastard without hurting Blade. Wait, that’s it! An idea flashed through Kyle’s mind. He grabbed his wrist. “Viknor!” he called.

  ***

  Viknor, who was still breathing heavily on the boat, hissed when he heard Kyle calling him. “I barely have mana left to shift,” he complained. “Kyle is calling me,” he told Azar, who was still lying down, “I’ll go see what he needs.” Azar just lay steady on the gently moving boat, looking up at the clearing sky. He was still shaken up by witnessing the power of Oga’s attack. He replayed it many times in his mind. Blade of the Cherubim…

  Viknor appeared by Kyle’s side. The old man stood confused for a little while, seeing Blade slouching before him.

  “Good, you came!” Kyle greeted.

  “Boy, I’m drained of energy and highly frustrated. What manner of foolishness is this?”

  “Zakashi is within Blade’s soul,” Kyle explained.

  Viknor finally looked interested in the situation.

  “Please, use your spirit teleportation thing and get me inside there. I think Oga is going to perform the resurrection any moment now. The sage told me that if we killed Zakashi now, we won’t have to face him in his full strength,” Kyle told him.

  “What sage?” Viknor asked, confused.

  “Never mind that, just get me in there! He is weakened. Blade and I can finish this,” Kyle assured.

  “I don’t have enough mana to shift us both in there,” Viknor said.

  “Just get me inside!” Kyle insisted.

  “Very well. I’ll get you in there and stay here to protect your body. Now listen. This is your first shift, so you won’t have much time in there before death comes.”

  “What?!”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll drag you out in time. Get ready!”

  Viknor grabbed on to Kyle. In a purple cloud, Viknor and the boy reached up to Blade’s body. Viknor grabbed them both, staring down into Blade’s eyes. “Spirit Shift!”

  ***

  Many Years Ago…

  A few decades after the war, when the plan of Kizer and Oga was set, the two stood on the hill where they had first made their truce. They had kept themselves in the shadows since the war. The world had just started to recover from the conflict that had split the great land into continents, and split the people into nations.

  “Everything is now in order,” Oga said. “It is time I seal us until the return of The Seven.”

  “…No,” Kizer answered, looking out on far-away mountain ranges Adam had created during the war. “We must bear the curse of burying our children – all of them.”

  “What are you saying?” Oga asked, anxious. Oga had no interest in deviating from the plan.

  “Let us prepare a place where our children will rest forever, a place where they will never be disturbed. I know that using the Soul Suspension technique on three persons is already a risky and arduous task, even for you. This is why you will not suspended your own children to fight and live with you in the war to come.”

  Oga said nothing for a while. “It is so,” he finally admitted.

  “I have sent my remaining children out to live at six ends of the earth, and to bear children and expand their bloodlines. I have also forbidden them from starting even small conflicts. The world has seen enough war for the next few millennia.”

  “I see. As for my two… Witch is adamant on ruling the world in its current shape. Her brother, though, is quite uninterested in rebuilding the council. He has gone to a faraway place to study and train in solitude.”

  “Do you mean the relics of the city of the Mananka?” Kizer asked, sounding at least a little apprehensive.

  “I am not reckless, Kizer,” Oga assured. “I have fortified the seal around the city with the highest level of magic, making it impossible even for my children to enter.”

  “Good. We cannot allow anyone else to enter the city, neither my children nor yours. We can afford no variable that can threaten our plan.”

  “I know.”

  “Oga, let us watch from the shadows for now. Our children are not quite men, but they are not immortal, like we are. Let us watch them live and die, and let us lay them to rest in a shrine in the heavens that in our absence, they will sleep above the world. Our children buried together will be the ultimate sign of our alliance.”

  Oga thought of all this. “Very well,” he answered in a moment.

  “Excellent. Meet me at Hinge Island at noon tomorrow.”

  Hinge Island was a landmass of about 80,000 square miles. It was very significant, as it was the first island to exist. Long before the war, there was a massive earthquake that had ripped off a tiny piece of land from the singular landmass. The island always remained unpopulated, as it was seen as cursed.

  By the sun had centred the sky the coming day, Oga had shifted to Hinge. He made it directly to where Kizer was. Oga’s brows furrowed. Kizer had a small purple flower in his hand, inspecting it in detail.

  “Ready?” Kizer asked.

  “How far up will you take it?”

  “Just above the clouds perhaps,” Kizer answered. He raised his hands up. “Ascend,” the elemental god commanded. With that, something incredible happened. The whole island was lifted up off the sea. Kizer’s hands shook slightly as he powered the flight of the mass of land at a speed just faster than the arrows of the most skilled archers. Oga instantly covered the whole island with a veil that protected them, along with the land, through the swift upward flight. In about minute, they had reached just above cirrus clouds. The two looked about them. It was an incredible sight, a sight that would be enough to frighten the regular man. The two were standing in the heavens.

  Kizer clasped his hands quickly, and the island shook. Oga looked about as a massive shrine, which covered half a square mile, quickly built itself around them out of marble and metal, elements Kizer had converted soil and wood from the island into. Oga said nothing, but he could hardly dim the beam in his eyes. The structure had perfect walls and decorative carvings. It looked like a shrine that took an entire century to be built.

  Light streamed down from patterning holes in the stone roof that covered the shrine. Oga marvelled at the heavenly place. The air was white and seemed to glisten. They were in a thin cloud.

  “Oga, I want you to grace this place with eighth grade magic. Fill everywhere with a protective mana that will sustain the nature here. Perform also a mass physical suspension spell to keep the island afloat. Also, cloak the island so that it will be invisible to men. We do not know what manner of development mankind will achieve while we are asleep. They might be able to see and even reach unto the island
if we leave it like this.”

  “I don’t imagine that will ever become possible, but as you wish,” Oga said. He held out his arms and summoned up great portions of white mana. As the mana was forced fully into the eighth grade, it became colourless. For several minutes, Oga uttered words of the tongue of the Mananka. Kizer picked out enough words to be convinced that the spell was legitimate. Finally, the chant ended. Oga breathed a bit heavier than usual for a little while.

  “Good.” Kizer knelt and rested his hands on the ground and closed his eyes. In a moment, the island began to quake, as Kizer sent a surge of power throughout the land in the sky. He stood slowly. “This place is now holy,” Kizer said. “My presence and yours are here. Our children, who will rest here, will never be alone.”

  Oga was pleased.

  “I will name this place… Araseli,” Kizer said.

  “Why do you get to name the island?” Oga asked, sounding slighted. He sounded a bit like a child. “I should have a say in the name of this place. My children will be here too!” He insisted.

  Kizer laughed a little, not having expected Oga to care about such a relatively trivial thing.

  “How about Sky Temple?” Oga suggested.

  “Are you insane?! That’s way too… obvious!”

  “Obvious? It’s not like anyone else will know about it.”

  Kizer sighed heavily.

  “What say… Angels’ Dome?”

  “What angels?” Kizer asked.

  “I know!” Oga said. “How about you drag the ruins of the magical city up here, and I get to name that place,” Oga suggested. “You keep your Aero…sail-”

  “Araseli,” Kizer said, knowing Oga was pretending to have trouble saying it, just so it would sound ridiculous.

  “Whatever.”

  “Fine. Take us to the Mananka city. Moving it to the sky will further protect it from the world.”

  And so, the two went to the hidden city where they had both made their ascension into godhood.

  Kizer lifted the city up into the sky. After much deliberation, which made Kizer very much annoyed, Oga decided to name the place Orenda, after the first daughter of his first wife, who was born long before the war.

  The two gods, for many years, watched the world from the shadows, and sometimes from the skies. Disappeared from the front lines, they anonymously put things in place to ensure that their version of what would be history made it down through generations. They scattered literature throughout all the ends of the earth and watched the truth slowly decay.

  Witch searched for her brother for many years until she found him, and convinced him to lie with her so she might have children of pure blood. Wizard spent eleven years with Witch, and by him she had six children. Afterwards, Wizard left and went in search of the city where his father trained, and searched for it until he died.

  Witch had formed, with her children, the second Ogal Council, which ruled over a great portion of the world, but their rule was pale in comparison to the rule of the first council.

  After centuries had passed, the gods had buried all their children on the island of Araseli. The six elemental races, the legacies of the six great sages, were now well-defined and had established borders and governments. The Ogal Council reigned from the largest country, a country Witch named Notherland. Witch wished to attack the races of Kizer’s sons and regain full control of the world, but she respected her father’s decree and never launched an attack on any of these races. 512 years after the lifting of the islands, Oga casted the Soul Suspension spell on Kizer and himself on Araseli, and there, the two slept and awaited the return of the Zagans.

  Chapter 14: Army of Shadows

  Oga shifted himself and Kizer to Araseli, the holy island above the clouds. They appeared in the land of heavenly earth, where the children of gods slept. There was the white fog of high clouds everywhere. It was thicker now than the first time they stood there. Oga glanced over at Kizer, whose face was more of displeasure than anything else. They were standing just before the massive shrine where their children were buried.

  “Oga, are you still foolish enough to cross me?” Kizer asked, walking toward the shrine.

  Oga hissed.

  “Based on our agreement, we should have awoken in unison after the suspension was expired,” Kizer said. “Yet, you awoke before I did, and waited nearly two years before you woke me. You had put me into a second layer of sleep with your magic.”

  “Yes, and I did this to prove my trust. I could have let you sleep forever. I could have destroyed you easily, yet I remained loyal to my words instead, and made you arise,” Oga said.

  “What did you do during that time? From you awoke until you woke me?” Kizer asked, sounding like he was accusing Oga of something.

  “Why is this now an issue?” Oga asked, “Are we regressing, Kizer?”

  “Who did you show this place, which I forbade you to show even to your son?”

  “What are you saying? I exposed this place to no one, Kizer. I assure you!” Oga sounded offended by the accusation.

  “Then why the hell is someone watching us?!” Kizer shouted angrily. Oga had never seen Kizer this angry before, except in the Great War.

  There was a thick silence as Oga heightened his senses to determine whether someone else was really there.

  The woman standing on a little hill about a quarter mile off gasped with wide eyes, realizing she was made. “These two, I cannot fight them,” she said to herself. Not both at once anyway. She was exquisitely beautiful, and looked like about 20 or so. She had dark skin and thick grey hair that flowed almost to her waist. Her hair was twisted finely and looked like lengths of fine rope. She was leaning against a tree, but there was no more point in trying to remain hidden. Her skin was utterly smooth. Her eyes were silver, just a bit darker than her hair. Her whole body, except her face, was decorated with paintings of red, yellow, green and white. She was dressed skimpily in clothes made of special vines.

  Kizer shifted his foot slightly, and the ground beneath the woman’s feet quickly transformed into quicksand. The sand pulled at her; running was impossible. Kizer stretched his hand out toward her and lightning, blindingly white, bolted toward her from his hand. The woman made a motion to the ground just before, and a massive wall made of an alloy tougher than steel came forth from the soil. The lightning smashed into it, creating a blinding impact and the rustle of ten-thousand birds.

  She looked up as the brightness cleared. Standing on the wall she had created was Kizer, his face straight.

  “Who are you?” she heard a voice from behind her. She glanced back. Oga was already there. The whiteness from his shift was just disappearing, mixing in with the white of the cloud that they were in. The quicksand she was in was far from ordinary. She was already down to her knees. The woman vanished in a black cloud.

  Kizer’s brows furrowed. Arcane magic?

  Oga reached into the disappearing cloud. “Shift Reversal!” He dragged the woman back out of the shift, flinging her by her neck with great force. As she handed and skated back, bars of metal sprung up around her, caging her. She grabbed unto the bars quickly and the metal that Kizer had brought forth became a liquid. The mercury quickly formed itself into a sword which the woman held firmly.

  “Girl, don’t make me ask you again,” Oga said.

  Kizer saw invisible wings of wind appear on the girl’s back. She took off, bursting through the whiteness in flight. She wields both elemental powers and arcane magic, Kizer considered. He remained on the wall of metal, looking up at the swiftly flying girl. With mental command, Kizer had a massive hand of wood and stone extend from the earth and move to snatch at the flying girl. Still flying with the sword in her hand, the girl glanced down at the approaching hand. The earth shook as a similarly massive hand appeared from another section of the earth, a hand made of marble. It grabbed on to the hand Kizer had commanded to tower up to her, and smashed it.

  Huh?! The woman flashed her eyes behind her as she f
elt an ominous presence, but it was already too late. Oga grabbed her around the neck from behind.

  “When touched by me, the god of magic, your spirit, out of fear, seizes to produce mana,” Oga said. Black wings of arcane mana spread out from Oga’s back. Oga’s eyes widened. The woman, without hesitation, pierced herself with the sword, and forced it up through Oga, until it protruded through his back. Kizer watched as the two plummeted from the air and hit the ground hard.

  Oga was on top of the girl, the sword jammed through them both. “Tell me who you are, and how you found this place, and I might let you live,” Oga said.

  “I… I am the same as you,” the girl struggled to say. Oga heard her mutter a laugh. “A clone that is,” she said. With that, several wooden stakes rose up from beneath them, tearing through them. They quickly became a cloud of mana. The black mana of the woman’s mana clone quickly mixed into the white mana of Oga’s.

  Oga was by then standing beside Kizer on the metal wall. A mana clone, Oga considered, by my knowledge, only Wizard and I are capable of using that technique. The mana clone technique was at the very peak of arcane sorcery. It troubled Oga that out of nowhere, he had encountered a woman who had not only learnt it, but had mastered it to the point where her clone was indistinguishable from her real self.

  “Things have become interesting, Oga,” Kizer said. “That woman, she not only used your precious mana clone technique, but she saw through your own use of it. First the little witch from before and now this one. I’m beginning to wonder just how many little girls running around here are capable of beating you at your own game, Oga.”

  Oga hissed. “Don’t be foolish, Kizer. It’s obvious I couldn’t battle her to any real portion of my strength here on this island. The island is fragile, and we wouldn’t want to have it destroyed – at least not until we have done what we came here to do.”

  “In any event, we have to assume we have seen nothing of her strength yet. She has the ability to manipulate multiple elements easily, and she is an arcanine. I already have some ideas about her, but in time all things will become clear.” Kizer had the metal wall sink back down into the ground, lowering him and Oga to stand on the soil. Kizer hissed as he looked around, seeing how messy the little squabble had made the place. “Do you still have the stone or did the girl snatch it from you?” Kizer asked, almost laughing.