Vlad'War's Anvil

by Rex Hazelton

  Alysha was her name- the one who came Together with Loryn in the Realm of Vapor after she was done dancing. And when they came Together, Lylah was conceived, and the prophecy was set into motion.

  ****

  Now that Lylah finished all she had to say, Kaylan's worried expression compelled her to ask, "Are you offended to think that forces greater than yourself might be directing your life? That the choices you've made are not your own?"

  Stunned over the things Lylah had told him, Kaylan shook his head like he was trying to gather his wits before he asked, "Does this mean you're pregnant?"

  Relieved at Kaylan's response, Lylah laughed with genuine mirth as she said, "That's what you're worried about? Not that some outside power forced you to want me?"

  "Listen," Kaylan sounded a bit defensive as he replied, "I come from a family where destiny is a regular house guest. My father carries the Hammer of Power and my mother has learned to sing the Song of Breaking. What does it matter if fate has chosen me to come Together with a waterkynd or not? I want to know if you are pregnant or not because I hadn't planned on this happening so soon. Ashes... I didn't know if such a thing was even possible!"

  Laughing once more, Lylah playfully chided Kaylan by saying, "If you don't want to get stung by the bees, don't mess with the honey." Relieved that her love wasn't perseverating over the role free will played in their coming Together, Lylah used a metaphor that a human could understand, one that would go over a Mythorian's head. After all, a waterkynd couldn't get stung by a bee, nor did they eat honey. At least, not in the Warl of Man.

  "Is that what you think of me?" Though Kaylan knew Lylah was having fun, he wanted to make certain things were made perfectly clear. "Being a father isn't like getting stung by a bee, and having a child with you would be the sweetest honey of all."

  Kaylan's normal calm demeanor was returning as he started to get a handle on things. "I love you," he said with an ease that washed over Lylah like a lovely fragrance wafting off a bed of flowers. "But I need to know... are you pregnant?"

  "Silly," Lylah's eyes danced with delight as she spoke. "Not every trip to the Realm of Vapor results in a child." Playfully mussing up Kaylan's hair, she added, "And once we enter the season of our lives when we can no longer bear children, we'll still come here."

  Then, opening her eyes wide in mock surprise, Lylah touched her stomach and said, "Oh my... I think I felt something kick."

  "Please don't make fun of me." Kaylan pulled Lylah's hand away from her stomach. "Are you pregnant?"

  After leaning forward and kissing Kaylan on the lips, she replied, "I don't know. But if I am, it would be unusual. The Realm of Vapor usually lets us grow in our Togetherness before the demands of parenthood are placed upon us. Still, that's not always true. Take my parents for instance, one trip and," spreading her arms apart she chirped out, "ME! And I don't think they'd say they had a bad life because of it."

  "If you are pregnant," Kaylan was starting to feel buoyant, for the idea of being a father was starting to appeal to him, "we'll have to learn how to raise a child that prophecy already has a claim on." Then laughing as he placed his hand on Lylah's stomach, he asked, "What would a child of a human and a waterkynd be like?"

  "All I know is..." Lylah chimed in, "It'll have to be a girl if she’s to become the Mother of the Waterkynd.”

  "No way," Kaylan continued the banter, "It'll be a boy for certain. My family doesn't know how to have girls. The Mythorians will just have to get used to the idea that their Mother is a male.”

  After a few more playful verbal exchanges, Kaylan looked skyward and asked, "What's that?" Reluctant to change subjects, the feeling of dread his Powers of Intuition filled him with forced Kaylan to do just that.

  Looking in the direction Kaylan was pointing, Lylah gasped as she exclaimed, "It's a Goar!" Outsiders are attacking us."

  Kaylan watched the swirling wheel of black specks grow in the sky above. And as the wheel expanded, it darkened when more specks were added to it. In time, the specks morphed into raggedy bird-like creatures that were devoid of symmetry: none of the myriad pairs of wings matched, one was either wider or longer than the other; some of the bird-like creatures lacked tails while others had tails that were impossibly long; heads were proportionally too big or too small for the bodies they were affixed to, and the sounds they made ranged from a crow's angry croaking to a bird of prey's high-pitched scream.

  When the last speck had finally turned into a winged-creature, the vast flock melded together to become a single avian monstrosity that was nearly as big as one of the clouds that floated overhead.

  Other winged beasts, all looking like sheets of black cloth flapping in the wind, appeared in the sky as they sped along to join the melding. These were creatures from realms different from the one the larger mass had come from, interlopers all, who forced their way into the Realm of Vapor; those whose motives were the same as the ones that drove the giant winged-thing along. Because of this dour commonality, they were incontrovertibly drawn to the air-borne monster and were quickly absorbed into the thing's incalculable mass.

  “Why does the Goar look like it does?" Kaylan asked as his unease grew.

  “When creatures from the outside enter into any of the Waterkynd Realms uninvited, they take on the appearance of their intentions,” Lylah explained as she kept her eye on the mountainous bird-like thing, monitoring its movements. “And this one looks dangerous."

  In the past, most of the unwelcomed intrusions were attempts to steal whatever could be taken in a hit and run attack, in hopes that the plunder could be used to unlock the secret to the waterkynd's magic once the Goar returned to their own realm.

  Sucking in air through clenched teeth, Lylah added, “This is the biggest Goar I’ve ever seen or heard of. My guess is, it’s come to do more than steal, it looks like it's set on doing harm.”

  The monstrous amalgamation of raggedy blackness shrieked like an angry crow, a noise that exploded through the air in a shock wave of dissonant sound. Then it turned a glossy eye as dark as an onyx stone on the couple. Its massive head quickly followed. Wings of uneven length spread wide. Another shriek erupted in the pink-hued sky, making the green clouds shy away from the monster as it rushed toward the couple, furiously, like it had found its prey.

  “It’s coming for us,” Kaylan shouted. “We need to make a run for it!”

  But there was nowhere to flee: the grasslands couldn’t hide them; nor the rolling hills; the fragile, round-leafed ferns weren’t up to the task; the trees narrow trunks were no help either; and their flat tops were, for all practical purposes, trays that would simply serve them up to the mountainous thing that sped their way.

  But none of this really mattered, for the winged-monster was already on them, and when it struck, the huge black thing tore the tree's branches apart like it was made of ferocious wind. In the tumult that followed, the Goar swallowed Kaylan and Lylah whole before it set sail for the point in the sky where it first appeared.

  As it turned out, the Goar had come to steal. And the couple it had gulped down was the treasure it was after.

  Driven on by an intelligence that somehow knew a human had entered the Realm of Vapor, an intellect that lived in a Nether Warl set on mankind’s destruction, the Goar had gained its prize. The human’s scent had made sure this would happen. It drew the monster to Kaylan like the smell of freshly baked bread draws a hungry man to the table. As it turned out, Lylah was scooped up by chance. Still the peril she was in was no less than Kaylan's since the dangerous intruder wanted to know why she was with the human.

  After the Goar swallowed its prey, it couldn't arrest its speed in time to keep from crashing into the ground where it exploded into a mass of swirling debris made of raggedy-shaped bird-like creatures. Clawing at the couple, who had found their footing as they fought back as best as they could, the black swarm struggled to pull itself back together and become the monstrous thing it once was.

  Bracing hims
elf on feet that found purchase in the ground beneath him once the Goar broke apart, Kaylan gathered his strength and thrust the palms of his hands at the darkness that was intent on collapsing back in on him. Each time a palm was cast forward, Kaylan's N'Rah was hurled against the cloud of quickly coalescing debris. The accumulation of his life force that, in his case, was enhanced by the portion of Vlad'War's Magic passed on to him from his mother while he was being formed in Prophetess' womb, punched holes in the black cloud like it had been struck by stones thrown by a siege catapult. Time and again, he struck the dark swarm with blows that tried to keep the Goar from assuming its former monstrous, avian shape. But just as fast as the holes were made, they were filled in with scurrying, winged creatures that hurriedly poured back into the void.

  Even though Kaylan’s N'Rah was unable to give him the upper hand in the ongoing battle, it did buy precious time that the Realm of Vapor used to mount a counter attack, for another cloud was forming in the sky above, one that wasn't green in color and didn't shower the ground below with swaths of nourishing rain.

  Unlike the plump rainmakers, this cloud billowed upward like the violent thunderheads that rolled over Nyeg Warl out of the summer seas that surrounded it. Black as ink at its base, the broiling behemoth rose up until it looked like a white mountain was suspended in air, a mountain that filled the sky with thunderous roars of displeasure that followed bursts of brilliant light. Coming in rapid succession, the blinding flashes made the cloud look like a mass of billowing flame that tumbled toward the Goar.

  “Fight,” Lylah shouted out to Kaylan. “Fight for all you're worth or we’ll never see Nyeg Warl or Mythoria again." Though she had never been trained in the art of N'Rah, Lylah was able to emulate Kaylan and release her own life force as easily as he was doing. Their coming Together made this possible. It gave her the ability to instinctively do what he did.

  Seeing the broiling storm coming her way, she added, "Fight on, for help is on its way. Mythoria is coming!" And as she shouted, the sky erupted with an ear splitting peel of thunder that shook the Goar.

  Sensing it was in trouble, the Goar doubled its efforts to coalesce into a single, gigantic winged-creature.

  Tightening around the couple, whose strength was waning, the Goar finally rose up from the ground, whole. With a shriek that rivaled the thunder in intensity, the winged monster leapt into the air and flew off to the place where it had entered the Realm of Vapor. With its prized tucked away in its stomach, exhausted and bound by a host of claws that restrained the couple's movements, the Goar climbed up into the sky, defiantly screeching as it went, warning the approaching thunderhead to stay back.

  But this didn't deter the thunderhead since it had already made up its mind that it wasn't going to let the Goar escape.

  Bolts of lightning shot out of the cloud's roiling mass as it changed shapes. Just as the Goar was comprised of thousands of individual creatures melded into one, the thunderhead was an accumulation of all the waterkynd that were presently in the Realm of Vapor. Looking like steam rising above a pond's surface on a cold spring morning, tens of thousands of waterkynd had ascended into the heavens to meld together and become the raging storm that pursued the Goar.

  When Lylah proclaimed that Mythoria was coming, she wasn't wrong since more vaporous beings were pouring out of the pools of water that dotted the landscape, those that were used to move from one waterkynd realm to another. These were those who came from the Warl of Water, the Warl of Ice, and the Warl of Man, for Mythoria was emptying itself into the cauldron of war.

  In time, legs extended out from the vaporous mountain until they reached the ground. In like fashion arms appeared and a head too, topped with a winged-helmet that was in keeping with the Warl of Vapor. Eyes, blazing like lightning that refused to die, were next to be seen. A huge sword, that matched the eyes' brilliance, stretched out from an arm that moved expertly as it wielded the flashing weapon filled with unfathomable energy.

  Screaming in horror over the cloud warrior that stood before it, the Goar raced for the doorway it had entered through, trying to bring the prize to the malevolent intellect that had sent it on its errand.

  Imprisoned in the winged monster's belly, Kaylan and Lylah couldn't see what was happening. Only the sounds of exploding thunder, the tell-tale sizzle of lightning slicing through the air, and the intruder's desperate screeching could be heard. Shock waves, caused by the cloud warrior's approach, disrupted the rhythm of the Goar's beating wings.

  Jostled about in the deadly turbulence, Kaylan and Lylah struggled to break free from the claws that grasped a hold of them in the midst of the engulfing darkness, a failed struggle that ended when a flash of blinding light accompanied the sword that cut the Goar in half.

  Blinking their blindness away as they fell, a host of purple dots swam in a pool of hazy pink that spread out in front of them. Intermittently, a darker mass with a familiar face swept through the haze, prompting Kaylan and Lylah to call out to one another. Hearing each other's voices, they reached out and grabbed one another's hand. A moment later, their faces came into focus and they tightened their grip. If they were going to crash into the ground, they would do it together. If they couldn't share their lives, they most certainly could share their deaths. But before that drastic conclusion arrived, a cloud shaped like a huge hand that was large enough to belong to a mountain swept beneath them.

  Gathering themselves, Kaylan and Lylah stood up on the massive hand's expanse and looked up into the cloud warrior's worried face that was as far above them as the peaks rising above Vestyl Pass.

  "To the pool," the mountainous giant roared with a voice louder than thunder. "We'll take care of the Goar."

  "Let us help in the fight," Lylah shouted to be heard above the Goar's screeching cry as it quickly healed its wound.

  "NO!" the cloud warrior roared. "The Goar is after the human. As long as he is here, we're all at risk. If he leaves, the Goar will lose the will to fight and we'll quickly vanquish it."

  Nodding her head to acknowledge the truth in the giant's words, Lylah looked at Kaylan and said, "Do as I do."

  Once the massive hand lowered the two near enough to the ground, getting down on one knee to do so, Kaylan and Lylah jumped for the same pool of water that they had entered the Realm of Vapor through. As the two dove toward the pool form a height that matched the cliff tops above Mythoria, the cloud warrior quickly turned to face the Goar that had successfully reconstituted its former repulsive shape. After the blindingly bright sword swept through the air, with the sound of crackling electricity accompanying it, and the roar of thunder trailing behind, the blade struck the Goar with such force that it cut the winged-monster in half once again.

  Realizing it was no match for the cloud warrior melded into a single, huge target, the Goar changed tactics and reshaped itself into a score of flying monsters, each looking nothing like the other. One of the misshapened winged-demons left the fight its brothers were earnestly engaged in to clear the way for what it was about to do and veered off to chase after Kaylan and Lylah as they fell. With the cloud warrior using his sword to bat at the flying horde like a bear swatting at a swarm of bees it had disturbed, the swift demon was free to pursue the fleeing couple.

  Because the individual waterkynd that had joined the melding retained their awareness and most of their faculties, the Goar's plan was quickly discerned. Seeing that the monster was flying many times faster than Kaylan and Lylah fell, the cloud warrior swung its lightning sword perilously close to the falling couple.

  Catching the Goar a moment before it snatched up its prize, an explosion of sound and the shock wave that accompanied it hit the helpless couple, hurling them downwards like they were dolls being thrown into the trash.

  Hitting the water with the force that the shock wave exerted on him, Kaylan was knocked unconscious. The one good thing that came from this, other than the fact that he wasn't crushed to death on impact, was that Kaylan didn't feel the excruciating pain
brought on by a new transformation. For unbeknownst to him, Kaylan was on his way to the Realm of Ice, the fourth that the waterkynd lived in.

  Chapter 11: Realm of Ice

  I feel like I'm floating, Kaylan thought as he struggled to regain consciousness. I hurt all over. Burn it to ashes! Even my teeth hurt. And my back... I hope it's not broken. His transition into the Realm of Ice was so traumatic that Kaylan felt like he had been run over by a boulder that smeared his body across the surface of the bitterly cold water he was floating on. When he tried to move, he felt sluggish like he was pinned beneath a heavy tarp that had fallen on top of him. Oddly enough, the sensations he felt in his finger tips came from too far away. Trying to lift his arms to take a look at his hands, he found that they were long and ungainly. The blanketing tarp added to the difficulties he was having with moving his arms. It must be a cloak of some kind, he surmised as he tried to chase the fog out of his mind.

  When he breathed out the air his lungs had asked for, Kaylan was surprised to hear that he made a noise as loud as the billows his father used when he had taught Kaylan the art of blacksmithing, the trade his grandfather, Aryl Oakenfel, had chosen as his occupation. When he cleared the water out of his lungs, his cough was too deep and too loud.

  When a distant roar was heard in the steel-gray sky, Kaylan lifted his head to see who or what had made the sound. As he did, he was surprised to find his nose had grown much too large and too long. As a matter of fact, it didn't really look like a nose at all, a snout was more like it; one that was a reddish-golden hue the color of star's blood. And did his skin look scaly?

  Another far off roar pulled Kaylan's attention away from his moment of self-examination, a roar that surprisingly enough seemed to be coming from a beautiful butterfly that floated through the cold steel-gray sky above.

  Admiring the butterfly, without wondering why it could roar, Kaylan tried to smile over the wonder of what he saw since the tiny creature was arrayed in a dazzling display of colors. But his mouth wouldn't cooperate. It was too stiff for some reason. His lips had lost their suppleness. And his teeth didn't feel right either. His tongue told him they were too sharp and too many.