by Brandon Chen
He stopped in front of the hourglass and picked it up without thinking. Holding the brilliant object in his hands, somehow he immediately knew the name of the treasure. The Sands of Time. He frowned; he had heard stories of this object’s incredible power. But what was such a rarity doing in a place like this cave?
Suddenly the entire cave began to quake furiously and Tetsu grunted, struggling to keep his balance. The boy felt the ground beginning to lift upwards. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the entrance of the cave was now gazing up at the sky as the structure was torn from the earth. The cave was being lifted up somehow! Tetsu gritted his teeth and kicked off his back foot, bursting towards the exit of the cave. As he reached the edge, he gasped, slowing to a stop. He was already thousands of meters into the air; a fall from this high would kill him easily.
“WHO DARES TAKE MY TREASURES?” a loud voice boomed, shaking the cave.
Tetsu suddenly felt the entire cave tilting forward and he watched with horror as the floor began to slant, attempting to force the boy into the open air. He grunted, desperately trying to scramble back into the grotto. However, all of the mountains of gold began to roll out of the cave in a stream, cascading like a waterfall down towards the sandy ground below. The boy clenched his teeth, fighting against the relentless current of golden fortunes that smashed against him. But soon he lost his foothold and his eyes widened with terror as he was swept off his feet by the falling gold and was sent tumbling into the open air, plunging freely to his doom.
What had come over him? How had he been so stupid as to let something so elegant seduce him like that? Taking the hourglass had awoken something, and whatever that was had killed him. Tetsu’s eyes flitted through the thousands of gold treasures that rained down around him. Gold, gold, gold. All of the golden treasures must belong to the owner of the voice that had spoken to him. But weren’t there more valuable things in these piles than just gold? There had been the Sands of Time, surely there could be something in there that could save his life.
The final grain of sand in the diamond hourglass dropped to the bottom of the hourglass and suddenly time slowed drastically. Tetsu’s eyebrows went up in surprise, finding that he was falling at an incredibly slow rate. And it wasn’t just him. Everything was raining downward much slower than it should’ve been. He tried to move his arms but he felt as if he were moving through thick, mucky water. His movement had been restricted significantly. Was it that time had slowed and his consciousness was somehow still active in this frozen zone?
Tetsu smiled. The stories of the Sands of Time spoke of how its wielder could utilize the object to control time. It was a tool and a weapon. And right now the Sands of Time had reacted to his call. He was falling much slower, but that didn’t mean he was out of danger yet. He had to find something that would save his life otherwise he would still perish the moment he struck the ground. His eyes shot to something colorful that descended through the sea of golden treasures. It was a fine carpet made of purple and blue linens.
A carpet? The boy frowned. What on earth was something like that doing in a stash of golden treasures? Tetsu looked around and saw nothing else that caught his eye. He turned back to the carpet and sighed. This was definitely a gamble, but surely that carpet had something unique to offer. Otherwise it wouldn’t be in this group of treasures. He definitely had nothing to lose.
Time reverted back to its normal state and the carpet shot past Tetsu. The boy grunted, turning around and bringing his arms and legs close together. He became as aerodynamic as an arrow and pierced downwards, ripping through the air as he plummeted towards the falling carpet. The ground was coming to meet him just as quickly. He grunted, grabbing the end of the carpet with one hand, holding the Sands of Time with the other. “Come on,” he murmured. “Do something!” he yelled as the ground rushed to meet him.
The carpet snapped to life and yanked him, dragging him through the air as it soared up into the sky. “WHOAAA!” Tetsu screamed with glee, relief, and absolute horror. Sure, he didn’t die from the fall. But now he was dangling off a carpet from over a hundred feet in the air. He blinked, looking up at the carpet. “Wait, you can fly?” He burst out laughing. “No way! That’s extraordinary!”
The boy climbed up onto the carpet. Tetsu exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. He looked at the Sands of Time and whistled. “Man, I just went through hell for you.” He patted the flying carpet gently and laughed. “But I guess it was worth it, huh? Now I can get out of his cursed desert.”
“MORTAL! YOU DARE STEAL FROM ME?” a voice exploded, sending a gust of warm wind rushing into Tetsu’s face.
Tetsu turned and saw that the cave he had entered was actually the ear of a gigantic mountain giant. The creature was completely made of rock and towered so high into the air that its head was near the clouds. It was a humanoid, made entirely of boulders that were clumped together to form a gigantic beast. Its eyes were huge emeralds that gave off a green glow. Golden treasures continued to sprinkle out of his huge ears, deep holes that bit deep into the side of the titanic creature’s head, creating carved tunnels of rock. Essentially, caves. How deceiving.
The mountain giant raised one of its large hands and brought it tearing downwards towards Tetsu. The movement was rather slow, but the hand was so large that it didn’t matter.
“Let’s get out of here!” Tetsu yelped, yanking on the front of the carpet. Immediately, the carpet responded to the boy’s touch and burst forward at the exact speed that he wanted: fast. He flew away as the giant’s hand smashed down into the ground, creating a tsunami of sand that swept outwards in all directions. The boy glanced over his shoulder and saw all the gleaming treasures poking out of the sand. He definitely had no intention of going back there to retrieve any of those.
Tetsu sighed, relieved. “I’m not going to die here. As long as I’ve got you two,” he said, speaking to his treasures. His stomach grumbled and he smacked his chapped lips, groaning as he flew off into the desert. “Man, I’ve got to get something to eat. It’s been a long day.”
***
Hours passed as Tetsu flew at full speed across the Lost Sands. How many miles had he traveled? Fifty? A hundred? A thousand? He had expected to have flown across the entire desert by now with this carpet. Nevertheless, the sea of sand continued to flow underneath him, and he sighed. There was no way that Darien would survive in a place like this. The prince had always had things handed to him and never once had to fend for himself.
Tetsu felt his body growing weak and the carpet descended to the ground, dropping him gently onto the sand. The carpet rested beside him as he lay on the desert floor, tightening his jaw. He felt all of his energy sapped from his bones and he groaned, tears twinkling in the corners of his eyes. There were no signs of water after hours of flying. There were no animals. There was simply nothing for miles and miles; it was an endless wasteland of nothingness. Why did such a forsaken place exist? He gritted his teeth, grabbing a handful of sand in frustration. “Damn it … I can’t go out like this…,” he growled. Suddenly he felt a shadow looming over him.
The boy glanced up to find a young girl with blonde hair, wearing a white cloak that shielded her from the powerful sun. She had a silver scarf that was curled around her neck and a sheathed broadsword at her side. Strapped to her back was a gleaming shield that had an insignia of a sun inscribed into it. She was one of the most beautiful girls that Tetsu had ever seen.
The girl looked at him for a moment and smiled. That was the last thing that Tetsu saw before he lost consciousness.
***
Ares sat upon Amon’s shoulders as they trudged through the endless Lost Sands. The boy gazed up at the sky and sighed. “So? What do we do now? We just live in this desert?”
This desert is the harshest environment in all of Dastia. In it, you will learn many things. You will find your power and yourself. Amon’s voice echoed in his mind. This is where you will train. And this is where you will develop your powers as a god,
Ares.
“What kind of a god am I?” Ares murmured.
The last Ares was a god of war. But I believe you always have the choice to choose your own path.
“I want to be a god of wisdom. You know, really smart.” Ares exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air with a laugh. “Kidding, kidding. I don’t know yet. This is pretty exciting, though. Transcending ordinary humans, I mean. Becoming a god means that I can do anything I want, right?”
Your limitless power does come with responsibility, Ares. After all, that is why the Lost Sands chose you. The last Ares perished and his power must be passed on to another. The Lost Sands wanted to pass the power to someone who would use its power only when it’s meant to be wielded. Amon grunted. You must control your emotions and tame your power if you ever want to walk amongst the world of the humans again. Humans fear that which they do not understand.
“Responsibility, huh?” Ares said, lying back on Amon’s thick, rocky shoulders. “I understand. Say, Amon, you’re a pretty smart guy. Why didn’t they just give the power to you?”
I have been around for several thousand years as one of the many Guardians of Ares. Amon snorted. I was created for the purpose of protecting my master.
“Master?” Ares’ eyebrows knitted together. “That’s a terrible name for me. Just call me your friend, alright?”
Friend?
“Yeah, you know, someone you see as a good companion. Uh, I don’t really know how to explain a friend. I thought that the term was common knowledge.” Ares scratched the back of his neck. “I could use more friends anyway. So, Amon? You’ll be my friend, right? I mean, this desert is pretty lonely.”
Of course, Ares.
Ares beamed and leaned forward, looking to see that Amon had stopped in front of a gigantic pyramid that towered even higher than the elemental did. The boy whistled at the majestic structure. “Whoa, that’s pretty huge! What is it?”
It’s a pyramid. A god must have a god’s weapon. Call to it. Your weapon will respond to your beckoning call. Amon grumbled.
The new god frowned, standing tall upon Amon’s giant shoulders. Call to it? What did that mean? He extended his hand outward towards the pyramid, expecting the weapon to just appear in his hand. Nope. He flicked his wrist. Still nothing. “Come!” he shouted with authority and suddenly there was an explosion that sent the entire pyramid crumbling from the top to bottom. An avalanche of dust and debris rolled down the structure and swept down, engulfing the massive building in destruction. Emerging from the cloud of dust was a golden spear that whistled through the air and flew gracefully into Ares’ hand.
Ares’ fingers curled around the long shaft of the spear, and he stared at the weapon in absolute awe. The tip of the spear was made of a metal that reflected such a delicate color of silver that it looked as pure as the stars. Protruding from the bottom of the spear was also another sharpened tip made of some mysterious blue metal. The shaft of the weapon, made of shining gold, was easily grasped. The spear felt as light as a feather and he tossed it from hand to hand experimentally. “Wow! A magic spear! See, I didn’t know that you could enchant weapons like that!”
You have a lot to learn, Ares. Amon chuckled. And I will teach you. We will live in this desert. If you can survive the hardships of the Lost Sands then you can survive anything. Any opponent that crosses you will be seen as tiny as an ant. You will reach new heights that no human will ever dream of achieving. I will train you to become a truly powerful god.
Ares twirled the spear in his hands and grinned, wearing a look filled with determination. “I’m ready.” He was no longer Darien, the weak and powerless prince that had been afraid of something as miniscule as the responsibility of the throne. Now he was Ares, the legendary god, with all of the power of the world in the palm of his hand. He was ready to train with his new friend, Amon. He was ready to accept this new role as a god and work hard to obtain new heights. Most of all, he was ready to accept the perilous adventure that was offered to him. And he knew that he would not miss his old life.
Revenant
Five Years Later…
Aleysha sat on the wooden floor of a metal cage. She was confined with several other mercenaries that were like her, captured after failing a contract. She sighed, letting her long blonde hair roll down over her shoulders. The female mercenary wore an orange scarf with a black sleeveless shirt that revealed her tanned, muscular arms. She had baggy, ripped, white pants that had previously been equipped with an array of weapons. Unfortunately, her captors had frisked her and removed her weapons, leaving her unarmed in this cage filled with barbaric idiots.
As a mercenary, her job was to accept contracts from foreigners that came into her small city, Yuusus, and complete them. In exchange for completing them, she was paid a reasonable sum. Aleysha was known as one of the best mercenaries around for working on solo contracts. Her mistake had been accepting a contract that involved working with multiple mercenaries. On the mission, they had gotten in each other’s way and were captured. Typical. She knew that she couldn’t depend on anyone other than herself. Now she was probably being dragged off to Persia to be sold off to some pudgy, wealthy merchant that wanted some extra slaves. The very thought of serving one of those filthy bastards made her sick to her stomach.
Aleysha gazed through the cage’s metal bars and saw one of the soldiers toying with her orange shield, which had an inscribed sun carved into the metal. She’d had that legendary shield for many years now and she definitely didn’t intend to part with it yet. She reached out and grabbed the bars of her cage, pulling on them. Obviously they didn’t budge. What was she thinking? “Hey! You better not touch that with your filthy hands, Persian!”
The Persian, wearing a black cloak, raised his eyebrows in amusement at Aleysha’s threat. His skin was tanned from many years of working out in the scorching sun of Dastia. He lowered Aleysha’s shield and guffawed. “You think you’re in any position to make threats, woman? Sit down, otherwise I’ll come in there myself and silence you.”
Aleysha scoffed. “What are a couple of Persians like you doing so far from home? You’re taking the path around the Lost Sands. Still afraid of going in there, huh?” “No human should ever set foot in that desert! It’s already treacherous enough. But now you won’t even last a day in there without perishing by the hand of the God of War!” the Persian growled.
Aleysha frowned. “The God of War? I haven’t heard of such a god.”
“Then you must be living under a rock,” one of the mercenaries called from the cage. “Ever since King Cambyses claimed the throne, the Persian Empire has been expanding drastically. They’ve been dominating every nation in sight. Now that they’ve conquered most of the western side of the continent, they’ve attempted to set their sights on the eastern side. But the Lost Sands proves as a formidable obstacle in their path. To go around the Lost Sands takes ten times longer than going straight through the desert. The clueless king believed that if he sent a powerful army stocked with supplies into the Lost Sands, they would be safe from the dangers that plague those unholy lands.”
“And what? He was wrong?”
“Not only are there hundreds of thousands of dangerous creatures that wander the Lost Sands, a new guardian of the desert appeared several years ago. He goes by the name of Ares. He single-handedly slaughtered the entire Persian army that Cambyses sent into the Lost Sands. Rumor has it that he’s bound to the desert and can’t actually leave. But no human can enter the desert without being slain,” the mercenary said. “A god, that’s what they call him. It’s the only explanation for how a single man could obliterate a force of over a hundred thousand soldiers, leaving only a handful of survivors. Even the Magi cannot complete such an impossible task.”
The Persian nodded. “You should listen to your friend there. He’s right. Some unknown guardian has been haunting the Lost Sands, making it even more dangerous than it was before. It’s not even worth going near it anymore.”
“S
o instead you guys just go and conquer as much land as you can around the perimeter of the Lost Sands. Your king will be long gone by the time you finally end up getting to the eastern side of Dastia,” Aleysha sneered. “He won’t even get to see the united empire that he claims he wants.”
“He’s already dominated many nations, and he’s accomplished more than any ruler ever could using the powerful force of the Persian army,” the Persian snarled.
“And millions have died because of it.”
“They’re not of Persian blood. That’s none of my concern,” the Persian retorted. “Do you want to get lashed? Because that’s the direction that you’re headed right now,” he growled. Several other Persians had been drawn to the conversation and were now eying Aleysha curiously.
The mercenary knew better than to continue pushing these soldiers’ buttons and retreated to the back of the cage, plopping back down on the wooden floor. At one point in time she had respected the Persians. But after Prince Darien murdered his parents and was banished to the Lost Sands, Cambyses claimed the throne as his own with no other members of the royal family to challenge him. The man was much different than his brother and abused Persia’s incredible military arsenal. They swept across the western side of Dastia and conquered every nation in sight. Any country that opposed Persia was obliterated. The numbers of slaves captured from conquered nations had increased drastically as a result of Persia’s relentless conquest.
Aleysha had been on a mission to escort a mysterious package to a small city in northern Dastia. However, it seemed that the Persians were now contesting that area. She sighed. The Persians weren’t particularly skilled individually. But their numbers were so large that no one could stand against them. And with every conquered nation, their numbers only grew as they recruited foreign warriors. Aleysha just wished that there was hope for someone to stand up against these lowbrows. Suddenly there was a rumbling sound and the caravan came to an abrupt stop. Aleysha’s cage, which was being pulled by several horses, also halted. The Persians were looking up at the sky as they unsheathed their swords, spotting a tiny dot speeding through the air. The dot descended and crashed into the ground at blinding speed, sending hot sand spraying in all directions.
