Atticus & The Blade King

by M K Drake

  Pali shakes her head and smiles. She appears about to inform Ju Long of why the others are a little annoyed, when a light blinks on her bionic arm, bleeping as it does so.

  “We are close.” She heads to the front of Spitfire and points outwards, following a line that appears as a holographic image above her forearm. “I tuned my sensors to pick up any odd energy signatures when we were close to them.” She taps some buttons, causing the image to focus and sharpen, creating a model of the island’s terrain. “Over there, that way, towards the sunlight.”

  Spitfire heads to the surface following Pali’s directions, they soon burst through the sea and reach the banks of a large deserted beach. The mechanical Majjai opens his doors, allowing his passengers to disembark, before morphing into his humanoid form.

  Atticus squints, raising an arm to hide his eyes from the sun beating down upon him and the others. The climate here is in stark contrast to the storms they flew through. He looks out beyond the coast and over the sea to the wall of raging wind and tornado funnels, rising high and around the island. But directly above there is nothing other than calm blue skies, like they are in the stationary eye of a hurricane.

  It’s then he notices the soft warm sand beneath his feet, and takes off his heavy robes, laying them on the beach surface like a blanket. He indicates to the others to put their warmer attire on top and he proceeds to wrap them together. He stretches a little, before looking around a bit more. The beach is lined with tall palm trees, with what appears to be much denser foliage behind them.

  “Much better!” says Joyce after placing her heavier coat with everyone else’s and tying up her hair tightly. “My parents would have loved this trip. We could have used their archaeological dig experience here for sure. They are used to finding ancient tombs.”

  “Normally I would suggest contacting them would be a wonderful idea,” General Crawford replies, but with a tone that suggests all is not particularly well. “However, it looks like I’ve lost all contact with my team. What about your odd-fangled crystal things?”

  Olof tries to spark up his communications crystal, but all it does is buzz, hum and fall back to his hand. “I guess we are on our own here.”

  “That’s never stopped us before,” Atticus says firmly. “We have each other, right here, right now. Together, as a team, we will find the Blade King, and go take down Lo....” Atticus pauses, he begins to wonder to himself, is this really the right thing to do? Would Mage Callan be happy with this course of action? since when were the Majjai Six assassins for hire? “No, we shall free the Blade King, and we’ll capture Loki. Hel can then do what she wishes.”

  “But that is not what she asked,” Khan states, querying to make sure Atticus is certain the words he speaks are what he means.

  “I know, but it is the right thing to do. Loki was correct, we kill, we have killed. Maybe we aren’t the good guys. We see demons as nothing more than cannon fodder, and now we are heading into a place where those that call it home, did not choose to be here. If they oppose us, do we kill them, too?” Atticus sighs. “Razakel wants to destroy us, he wants nothing more than ultimate power, but he gains it by filling his followers with so much fear, that they do his bidding not out of any sense of duty, but to stay alive.”

  Ju Long steps in front of Atticus, but not with his usual cheery face, his look is stern, almost angry. “You can’t trust them. Some do follow Razakel for pleasure. Draconus, the Dragon King—the evil within him is second only to his master.”

  Atticus stares right back Ju Long. “But you changed.” He puts a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “What if there are more like you?”

  Olof laughs loudly. “If there are more like Ju Long, we should all be afraid! Ha! Come, Atticus, we should focus on the task at hand.”

  Atticus nods in agreement. “Yes, you’re right. Pali, can you pinpoint a location accurate enough for us to teleport to?”

  The Mecha-Knight Majjai looks back down towards her bionic arm, changes the frequency of the scan until the colour changes and the image becomes stable. “About a mile inside the island…, look, the peak, you can just about see it over there.” She points to the southern area of the land mass, behind the Amazonian-like tree line. “But, there is something else. A strange energy; I’ve not seen anything like it before. It has marks of the Old Gods.”

  “Loki?” asks Atticus.

  “No, his is different. This one is older.”

  “Okay, so we proceed with caution,” Atticus looks at Olof and Ju Long. “You both have the most experience with teleportation, can you handle a route to the centre with this energy disturbance?”

  “We can try,” Olof beckons Ju Long closer to him.

  Together they close their eyes and concentrate. The others surround them closely. The group begins to phase out, the normal process for teleportation but then they go nowhere. A massive crack of thunder strikes the beach, as a vast cloud covers them in shade.

  “Now! Do it now!” shouts Atticus.

  Olof and Ju Long try again. With another flash and a crack of thunder, the beach becomes silent. And empty.

  Chapter 21

  The Race to the Temple

  Atticus squints, checking instinctively for his glasses, before remembering he no longer needs them. Shaking his head while he pushes himself up from the warm, heavy foliage on the ground, avoiding the large centipede he spies to the right of him. He coaxes it away with his foot by kicking some of the loose branches that have fallen from the tall trees above him.

  The greenery is thick and the air humid as he tries to pace his breathing. He can hear the ocean behind him as he tries to peer upwards, straining to see if he can spy the top of the peak that he and the others were supposed to teleport to. He attempts to fly upwards but is forced back down by an invisible energy. “Looks like something wants us to do this the hard way,” he mutters under his breath, guessing this is the same force that disrupted the previous attempt at trying to get to the temple, he assumes it is likely such measures make sense, since this island is supposed to be a prison of sorts. But he can’t help thinking that something else is at play.

  Atticus notices one tree that is slightly inclined, growing at just enough of an angle that climbing it would be easy. Grabbing his sword, he begins to walk up the large trunk, pushing aside any branches blocking his path. He soon reaches the top, where he is high enough to peer above the other foliage. He sees a pyramid-like temple standing tall above the trees, too far to make out any real detail, but the same dark cloud that he saw on the beach swirls around the structure.

  “One thing at a time,” he says to himself; he knows he has to find the others, they all know where they need to get to, so should hopefully be heading in the same direction. He is about to climb back down when he hears shouts and screams in the distance, followed by arcs of energy blasting above the treeline. The colours are odd though, not the normal blue or red he knows of, but many different colours, almost everything apart from white. He tries to focus, to get a bearing on the source of the blasts, when the tree he is on begins to shake violently.

  “Graagh! Fraaaaa! Raagra Ra!”

  Atticus can hear these strange words being spoken loudly as the tree trunk shakes again. He knows he is being hunted, but by who or what is still a mystery. He scrambles back to the top, out of sight of whatever is below him. Jumping to the next treetop, and then the next, he attempts to escape, once he is far enough away, he turns back, just in time to see the tree had been on crash to the ground. Roars of what sounds like disappointment ring out.

  Atticus climbs slowly down the tree, trying to be as quiet as he can. Once he reaches the bottom, he dusts himself down and phases out of view, turning invisible, then quietly walks back to the now fallen tree, trying not to make any noise. Once there he stays quiet, observing three human-like beings ahead of him, sniffing the air. Their appearance is odd, their clothing is ragged, but not otherworldly; what is strange however, is their skin tone. All three are large and
muscular in size, but their colour is greyish, almost stone-like. Their hair is tied back into tightly wound ponytails, and they have no footwear to speak of, their exposed feet scarred from cuts and bruises. The largest one, who appears to be leading the other two grunts and sniffs the air again, he walks towards Atticus, as if he can sense his presence there.

  Atticus tenses and holds his breath. Crouching down low to the ground as what he assumes is a Dark Majjai towers above him, at least seven feet tall.

  The Dark Majjai sniffs the air once more, before looking down, staring directly at Atticus, and smiling.

  “Graffff, grrraaagor flaar flaar!”

  Atticus cannot understand what the creature is saying, but it is obvious he has found him, so he phases into view. What to say escapes him, and he pauses, staring directly into the eyes of this Dark Majjai. What would Ju Long say? He usually knew how to talk his way out of a situation—and sometimes into one.

  “Uhm, take me to your leader?”

  The other two Dark Majjai come to the larger one’s sides, he looks from side to side at his subordinates, shrugs his shoulders and grunts more words that Atticus is unable to understand.

  The leader of the trio shrugs and looks back at Atticus and pushes him hard.

  Atticus falls to the ground, but quickly reacts by rolling out of the way of an incoming foot stomp which just about misses his head. He rolls backwards and stands to his feet, facing his new foes again, trying once more to diffuse the situation. “I…, err…, come in peace?”

  The larger one roars again, and is about to attack Atticus once more when they are all disturbed by loud shrieking. It is so high pitched, it is as if a banshee banished from hell is skating on razor blades and screaming in pain.

  For a moment Atticus thinks it could be Pali, or Safaya, perhaps even Joyce… But he soon realises he is wrong on all three counts when Ju Long comes running through the clearing, with his backside on fire, and speeding as fast as he can, followed by about a dozen smaller, greyish, pygmy-like creatures.

  Ju Long turns towards Atticus and screams as loudly as he can. “Run!” before galloping pass his fellow Majjai and not looking back, the gang of pygmies racing not far behind.

  Atticus quickly turns towards the three Dark Majjai in front of him, smiles, waves, and splutters. “Err…, bye!” before running as fast as he can in the same direction as Ju Long. Just like his flying ability, his powers of increased speed are hindered; he can run, but is unable to spark up the energy he uses to enable his gift. It feels similar to the inhibition crystals they experienced last year, but, he thought they were mostly destroyed after the battle against the Horseman. This is something else… perhaps someone else.

  He spies Ju Long running somewhat aimlessly. “This way!” he screams, pointing to the temple location.

  Ju Long nods and changes direction to follow Atticus.

  “Graaaaahhhh!!”

  Atticus looks behind him, the roar came from the lead Dark Majjai, who is now running after him with the other two in tow. Atticus can feel the heavy stomps of his pursuers vibrate through the ground, getting heavier, and faster. Atticus dares not to look back, and concentrates at trying to get to their target as quickly as possible. He hears a fireball being charged up and blasted towards him. Atticus rolls forward instinctively, dodging the attack. Moving side to side as he runs, avoiding more colourful blasts of energy heading his way, he keeps focus on the temple location, making sure he and Ju Long do not lose their way.

  Atticus looks left and right, and in various locations he sees the others running in the same direction, all but Spitfire. They are all being chased by Dark Majjai of differing shapes and sizes, and it is obvious that their own magical abilities are also being hindered.

  Atticus shouts as loudly as he can. “Regroup at the temple mountain, we will take them on there!”

  As Atticus finishes the command, he sees another Dark Majjai dive down from the sky, landing in a small clearing ahead of him. The enemy spins fast and hard, blasting out a circular wave of orange-coloured energy, trapping all of the Majjai as though in a magical net and reeling them towards him.

  Atticus struggles, trying to break the hold, but to no avail. The large Dark Majjai finally catches up and laughs with his two subordinates, causing a cascade of cackles to emanate from the rest of the pursuers. He raises his large fist towards Atticus, who closes his eyes, waiting for the impact when, out of nowhere, Spitfire roars into the clearing in the form of a massive, jungle-prepared, black all terrain SUV.

  Spitfire slides sideways and knocks back all of the Dark Majjai in one swift movement, freeing Atticus and the others from their energy grasp. He flings his doors open swiftly. “Get in!”

  The Majjai do not need asking twice and jump into the newly-formed vehicle.

  “To the temple, quickly!” commands Atticus as he belts himself into his seat. He looks out of the window and up to the sky where the dark cloud begins to spin faster, becoming more dense as it starts to descend to the ground, its form changing to resemble a massive serpent-like shape.

  The Majjai quickly reach the base of the temple mountain and exit Spitfire who once again morphs into his samurai form.

  “Get ready!” shouts Atticus, as he unsheathes his sword. He tries to not sound concerned as the treeline surrounding the clearing below the temple begins to shake violently.

  Atticus’s concern is justified as what appears to be hundreds of Dark Majjai pour through, led by the large being that Atticus has already encountered more times than he would like in one lifetime, let alone one day.

  As the Majjai back up against the rockface behind them they are quickly surrounded. They prepare to make a stand.

  Atticus raises his free hand and is about to give the command to attack when the Dark Majjai all stop. They begin to stomp their feet, bang their weapons, and chant a single word over and over again.

  “Kukulkan! Kukulkan! Kukulkan!”

  The Scrolls of Kazmagus: Catalogue Translation ID 302.35: The Demon Heart

  Today we made a dark discovery. The reason why Razakel coveted the piece of the Hearthstone. He took it to make himself truly indestructible.

  He has somehow managed to absorb it inside of his body and encase his heart, or whatever a demon can class as a heart. It is his last remaining link to humanity, and it must be his weakness. Which is why he has protected it so.

  The only thing that will be able to pierce it is another piece of the Hearthstone of Creation, and even then, that might not be enough. We need the Blade King’s expertise, but alas, he was the last of the Swordmasters. There are no more, and he is now gone.

  I even summoned Meerab, the King’s slave, but he simply said, if he knew his master even a tiny bit, this would not be an oversight, there would be a plan. We just need to trust in it.

  Something still troubles me about the three brothers. There is certainly a secret they have not revealed to anyone. The elders are cowardice personified and block any attempt at trying to find answers. I swear they will be the end of us.

  There was mention that we may find answers on the island of the Dark Majjai. The location is cleverly disguised, only the caretaker would dare venture there. It would actually help if I knew who the caretaker was. I would send him a message to take me with him on his next journey.

  For those that discover these scrolls, you must be aware. Without a way to pierce the Hearthstone protecting Razakel’s heart, the battle is already lost. You must find the weapon, if we are to win this war.

  Swords high!

  Chapter 22

  The Dark Mages

  “What are they saying?”

  Atticus looks to Khan. “I think they are calling that,” he says, pointing to the dark, swirling cloud. Atticus watches as the vast entity descends to the ground.

  The serpent-shaped mist begins to solidify, morphing into a large, snake-like creature with brightly coloured wings. It hisses and snaps its head forward before shrinking in size to the same propo
rtions as the Majjai. It slithers to Atticus and begins to speak.

  “You Majjai have left my children in peace for so many years, why do you choose to come now? I, Kukulkan, am their protector. Their father. You Majjai have lost all claim here, through your abandonment of these innocents. Tell me quickly why I should not unleash them to tear you apart?”

  “Kukulkan? The Mayan serpent god of war?” Safaya quizzes.

  “Ah, so you know of me child?”

  Atticus, keen to accelerate things, knowing that time is getting shorter, steps in to try to diffuse the situation. Picking up on the serpent’s joy that Safaya has knowledge of it; he thinks that this could quite possibly be a way to appeal to its potential ego. “Yes, we have heard of you. And we thank you for looking after our lost brothers.”

  “You pander?” Kukulkan chuckles, turning back to Atticus and looking him up and down. “Wait…, I know you. You are much older than you appear. The Remnant’s stench is on you more so than any other Majjai I have encountered.” Kukulkan slides away, shaking his head as if confused. He repeatedly looks towards Atticus, then to the sky, and back to the Dark Majjai behind him before speaking again in a low hiss. “Then the prophecy is true. Hel has tainted the path and you hunt her father. He is not here.”

  Atticus, out of the view of Kukulkan, holds up his hand to his friends, indicating for them to stay calm and be patient. “We are not here for Loki. The one-time Dark Majjai, Mage Avipaul, told us of the temple here, and that it may hold the key to finding the Blade King. We respectfully request access.”

  Kukulkan squints and snarls. Almost as if he found something that Atticus said repulsive. “The Bhandari clan are no friends to us. They abandoned their family, they left this home. You want access to the temple? You have to earn it!”

  “And how do we do that?” asks Atticus.

  “Well, young Majjai... you have to prove yourselves worthy, and I foresee that burden to be repeated quite a few times before I believe it.” Kukulkan points to six of the Dark Majjai that have encircled them. Each of them are almost a carbon copy of the Majjai six, albeit larger, and a little bit more grey, all apart from one, this one was even larger than the one chasing Atticus earlier. “Behold, Majjai, my Dark Mages. Defeat them, and you will have been... proven.”