“I will give you something even better,” Willow said. “I will give you…”
“Use the throne,” Lannie interrupted.
Willow jerked her head back and stared at Lannie with disbelief.
“Under the throne, you will find a mandarak. It will glow, and stairs will take you down to the sanctum of the jewel.” Lannie revealed the location of the jewel. It was prohibited, and he was sure to be punished. Willow could not believe her own friend would do such a thing. She felt betrayed as if Lannie had misled her for so long.
“No! You fool!” Willow bellowed. She lunged at Hertha.
The masked girl swung her scythe. Willow ducked and felt the cold blade of the weapon slicing the air above her. Hertha tossed the queen. The unconscious queen fell into Willow’s arms, covered in blood. Hertha then thrust her palm and an unknown force pushed Willow and the queen. They crashed hard against the wooden wall.
Willow was already weak. Her maju was too low after the ice spell she had used on the swarm of fiends. Her back was against the wall and the queen’s head on her shoulders. Hertha opened the hidden way to the emerald jewel. Hertha pushed the verdant throne off its place, like tossing garbage aside. Where the throne stood, a mandarak glowed green. A magic circle, glowing with swirling illustrations of vines, leaves, and the symbol of the earth dragon god, Terramus.
Willow gazed at the mandarak with awe. It was an angelic green light, and she could feel the maju of the Greamos from it. After the light faded, a large round hole was left behind by the magic circle, and a pair of stairs coiled down inside of the grand tree into the unknown. Without hesitation, Hertha jumped down the hole and followed the stairs to her destination.
“No!” Willow yelled. She placed the queen’s body on the floor and stood up, wobbling. She stared down at Lannie who cradled her mother. She was greatly disappointed at what he had done.
“You imbecile! Now, she is going to get her hands on the jewel. Mouah Cross will be doomed. Why did you tell her where it was?” Willow rasped. Sweat and tears trickled down her face.
“You were going to sacrifice yourself, weren’t you? I couldn’t let you do that,” Lannie explained. He cowered before Willow.
“All she wanted was the jewel. All I had to do was tell her that I was the chosen child of the emerald jewel, and everyone could have been saved. You couldn’t keep your mouth shut, you doltish Elf.” Willow would have slapped him had he not been holding Moyeed in his arms. She knew it was a hard decision, but she was frustrated because her plan would have worked better and saved them from further chaos.
“Willow, we can still save…”
“Just shut up!” She did not allow him to speak. She screamed and punched the wall out of frustration. She lifted a bladed staff from a fallen Greamos soldier and jumped down into the hidden way of the Emerald Cosmo Jewel.
**********
The stairs coiled down, aligned with the circumference of the inside of the grand tree. It was a long way, and Willow scampered down. Gemstones embedded on the wooden walls of the tree flickered with lights of multiple colors, and they lit the way down to the sanctum. Willow’s heart hammered her chest as she stressfully pondered about the Greamos. Had the soldiers defeated all the fiends? Had any more fiends entered Mouah Cross?
I can’t think about that now, she thought with a headache and her body sweating. I have to prevent that masked girl from taking the Emerald Cosmo Jewel. That is the only way I can save the Greamos. Terramus, please give me strength. Help me defeat this evil.
Willow was barefoot. She never wore shoes. Her feet had built resistance. Being barefooted helped her feel the ground better for terramancy and herbomancy. The stairway seemed to go on forever. Gazing down the long snake trail of stairs, Willow only saw darkness. The light of the gemstones only illuminated her area.
“This is going to take forever. I must hurry.” Willow clapped her hands, fusing water and earth magic. One hand glowed green and the other blue. Together, they allowed her to use the art of herbomancy.
“Naturass alboss,” she chanted and pressed her hands on the wall. Her maju produced vines with leaves. The plants grew from the wall and extended. Willow wrapped the vine around her leg and used it to dive down the grand tree. She was able to move faster, and within minutes, she saw bright light shining at the bottom.
“This means I am below the ground of the glowing river of Mouah Cross. It’s been five years since I have been down there. I don’t remember it being this far.” Willow recalled five years ago, when her birth mother, Queen Veronica, invaded Mouah Cross, trying to take the Emerald Cosmo Jewel. With Eckxio on her side, she was able to stop the queen’s forces and prevent the monarch from taking the sacred jewel. Now, she found herself on the same task, but this time, it happened much quicker than she had anticipated.
The vine led her all the way down to the sanctum. Light shined and blinded, like the rays of the sun. When her bare feet touched the ground, she was standing on cobbled gemstones. It felt like rocky scales under her feet. Rubies, sapphires, topaz, citrines, jade, rose quartz, and countless stones. She walked into the sanctum shielding her eyes with her hands. When she peeked through her fingers, she saw diamonds on the walls like ice spears, gold on the ceiling, and other rare stones that would make one rich in any part of Odealeous.
The gemstones did not illuminate the sanctum; it was the sacred jewel that floated over a cluster of flowers. Roses of multiple colors blossomed on a small fertile spot. Above them, the Emerald Cosmo Jewel shined its hypnotizing green light. The jewel was rectangular with small squares at the bottom. Its shape reminded Willow of castle walls, and she could feel the immense maju from the jewel inside her body. She felt her maju increasing.
The only vile sight to the eye was Hertha standing before it. The light was so bright it made her cloak change hues from black to gray.
“I am glad that you came this far. You are as persistent and as stubborn as I am. I really like you,” Hertha said, without taking her sight off the jewel.
“Nothing will save you now,” Willow said, her voice cold. “No one is here to get in my way. I won’t forgive you for what you did to my mother, the queen, and the people of Mouah Cross.”
“I just don’t understand how a human could care so much about insects.” Hertha chuckled, arrogantly. “It is because of this very jewel that the Greamos are alive. According to legend, Terramus, the dragon god of earth, created this jewel. It is a remnant of the earth god. The Greamos were the chosen race to watch over the power of the dragon god. My only question is, why did Terramus trust such a pathetic race with his power? I am sure that Terramus knew that many would seek the jewel. Terramus must have cursed the Greamos, making them believe that they were protecting the jewel.”
“What are you talking about?” Willow stared at Hertha, confused as the masked foe spoke. Hertha turned around to face Willow.
“You, a girl of the forest, do not know the history of Terramus?” Hertha asked.
Willow remained silent, rolling her eyes, trying to think of a time when she had ever heard tales of the jewel. The Elves had told tales, but it seemed Hertha spoke of a longer history. “What does it matter?” Willow snarled.
“The Greamos evolved from humans, once they came in contact with the Emerald Cosmo Jewel so long ago. The Elves were also once human. They evolved and became a magical species. The very blood of the Elves has many magical abilities. Did you not know?” Hertha spoke passionately as if she had been studying this for ages. “The Elves, the Graemos, and all other humanoid species. They evolved from humans. They were so ashamed of mankind that they decided to be something different. The sin of men throughout history is too much of a burden. They wanted to become pure. That is why the Greamos evolved from humans to insect humanoids so that they can be a part of nature. Isn’t that lovely?”
At this point, Willow was extremely confused. She had no idea of what Hertha spoke. She was not sure if the masked foe was still plotting to take the jewel.
“What are you trying to tell me?” Willow asked, perplexed. “I have lived with Elves and Greamos all my life, and this is the first time I have ever heard anyone speak of this nonsense. All I know is that you won’t be taking the emerald jewel. I plan to end your life right here.”
Hertha laughed loudly, like a snotty child, and it echoed in the sanctum. Willow seethed with anger.
“That is sad. I really liked you. If we weren’t enemies, I would have gladly taken such a beautiful green virgin,” Hertha teased.
Willow raised an eyebrow, disturbed. She felt awkward and uncomfortable, unsure of how to respond. She had never seen another female interested in her.
“I am not interested in women, and I am soon to get married,” she replied in a shy manner.
“No, my dear, you are soon to die and crimson this chamber red.” Hertha remarked then lunged, unleashing her scythe from within her cloak.
Willow hurled her staff, but Hertha quickly deflected it.
“Naturass thorns!” Willow yelled. The ground thudded and a great root, jagged with thorns, rose from the cobbled ground of gemstones. It was a thick root that could crush a man’s torso and thorns that could pierce through arms and hang an opponent.
Hertha dodged the thorn, and it lashed at her. It caught her cloak and ripped it. More jagged roots rose from the ground, ceiling, and walls. Willow’s magic had greatly recovered since she entered the chamber of the emerald jewel. She could produce bigger plants and make them grow faster. Gemstones scattered everywhere as more prickles grew through walls.
Willow flickered her fingers. Her plants obeyed her command, and they shot their thorns at Hertha like arrows launched from bows. Hertha rapidly shifted into black smoke. Not one thorn touched her as she shifted from solid to smoke. Willow gaped when she saw her foe changing form with such ease. She felt Hertha’s presence behind her. As she looked over her shoulder, something as solid as rock hammered her cranium. Pain blasted on her head, and her mind blanked with a flashing white light. Her body weakened, her magic vanished, and her eyes felt heavy. She collapsed on the cobbled gemstones and only saw shadows.
Willow tried to find the strength to get back on her feet, but tremendous pain ached in her head. She had never experienced such a deadly blow from behind. She was able to look ahead at the Emerald Cosmo Jewel as she lay helpless. Over the roots she had summoned, Hertha lifted the emerald jewel. Willow extended her arm and tried to crawl. But Hertha disappeared, turning into a cloud of black smoke, taking the jewel into darkness. Once the sacred jewel was gone, the sanctum lost all its enchanting colors, and all stones changed to a dull grey and brown.
“Akielas …Akielas…” She struggled to speak and her vision blurred. “I…must…tell…Akielas.”
Eckxio
Levita the southern forest. Another expansion of the beauty of Verday. The green country. Even the Elves that live in the western forest considered Levita sacred. Here, the purest herbs were found, and the forest produced holy water in its virgin lakes and ponds. The queen had passed down a law to punish anyone who dared pollute the forest. Regardless of how much they opposed each other, the Elves, the Greamos, and the queen were always mindful of the purity of nature. It was the very richness of the country.
Eckxio walked through the forest with two younger Elves of the Spirituah forest. They had left Evee Iris, the Elfin village, to search for a rare metal that Eckxio had once found in Levita forest. They followed a mossy path and passed through warped trees that formed an archway. Purple leaves fell from above. They squinted at sunlight that came through the branches of the purple trees.
Nezz paused and surveyed his surroundings. Eckxio gazed at him solemnly. They saw a frog hopping from one tree branch to another. It was a small creature with long legs. Nezz nocked an arrow on his bow. White hair fell over his eyes, and he fixed it behind his pointy ears.
“A Hop Frog. You are going to be mine, little one,” Nezz said and aimed, while the Hop Frog croaked, tranquiled, on a thin branch. The frog jumped to another branch as if it knew it was being hunted. Nezz released his arrow, and it missed its target. The Hop Frog then dived into the tall grass of the forest.
“Great accuracy,” Eckxio said, sarcastically.
“Damn thing is smarter than it looks,” Nezz complained.
“What were you going to use it for?” Eckxio asked.
“Hop Frog’s bodies contain blue ink. My grandfather asked me to bring him one for his painting.” Nezz placed his bow on his back and tossed his white mane behind his pauldron.
“We come here to find Mythium, and you decide to hunt?” Eckxio said.
“What is wrong with bringing souvenirs for the Elves back home?” Nezz asked with arms open.
“Never mind.” Eckxio kept walking down the mossy path.
Latwie giggled and followed Eckxio. Both Nezz and Latwie were at their teen years. Latwie being the youngest at seventeen. Nezz at nineteen years of age got distracted easily, and it bothered Eckxio. Latwie was younger than the boy, yet she was more focused.
Eckxio’s mother suggested he take them on his journey. They were his neighbors in the Elfin village. Eckxio always loved them, but he never liked to take young ones on his travels. She said that he needed to learn from the youth, but never explained what the lesson was. Eckxio knew little about being a child. He was always focused and direct.
“Oh wait! There is another one.” Nezz aimed at it; he shot an arrow and missed again. “Damn it!”
“Keep trying.” Latwie laughed at him.
Nezz ignored her and paced around the glade, searching for more frogs.
“I am going to get one of those little hoppers. You will see.” He persisted and surveyed the purple trees and star shaped plants below. Suddenly, a school of Hop Frogs jumped out of the tall plants and onto the trees. They were hopping all over his surrounding, trying to avoid him. They jumped up to the trees. Small creatures with long legs that could jump as high as six feet. Nezz rapidly nocked an arrow and tried to shoot one. He missed again and again then became impatient and decided to capture them manually.
“No, you idiot! They release poison when you touch them. You should know that,” Latwie shouted.
Had Latwie not stopped him, they would have been carrying Nezz back, either dead or seriously ill. The boy scratched his head, embarrassed, and then saw Eckxio grimacing.
“Don’t make me regret bringing you along, Nezz,” Eckxio said, with a serious tone.
“Sorry, sir, I was just trying to have some fun. This trip is boring.” He frowned, crossed his arms, and turned his cheek.
“You little…” Eckxio coughed before he could finish his sentence. Again, he dry-coughed loudly. His illness was getting to him. “Quickly, give me the potion.” He reached out.
Nezz searched his bag that hung from a strap over his shoulder. He rummaged through his items in the leather bag, but Eckxio’s potion was not found. Nezz began to panic once he realized that the potion had been lost.
“The bottle shaped like an hourglass. Sir Eckxio, I think that I…” the boy swallowed his last words.
“Don’t tell me you lost it,” Eckxio snarled.
Nezz cowered and stepped away.
“You lost my potion. That is the only thing that suppresses my illness.” Eckxio dry coughed. It was like the thud of thunder, and it didn’t sound healthy.
“I am sorry, sir. I probably dropped it earlier. I remember that I had tripped on a log. Perhaps, it fell out of my bag,” Nezz explained in a whiny voice.
Eckxio stood up and tossed his black hair back. He brushed fallen purple leaves off his silver armor studded with diamonds and fixed the sword and shield that was strapped on his back. He took a moment to catch his breath and inhaled slowly. Eckxio had been suffering from this illness for three years now. His father, the king of Elves, said it is a side effect of the very gift that made him well-known in the country of Verday. It was called extromancy.
“Sir Eckxio. I don’t u
nderstand. You have not used any maju,” Latwie said.
“It comes and goes. It is unpredictable. It doesn’t matter if I use maju or not,” Eckxio explained. He stared at Nezz, who twitched an eye nervously. “Nezz, I was depending on you to hold our items on this trip. I will now ask you to give the bag to Latwie.”
Latwie snatched the bag, like she always did whenever Nezz had food in his hands.
“I hate it when you snatch things from me,” Nezz snarled and grimaced.
“You are always losing things. One day, you are going to lose your phallus and only realize it when you go peeing,” Latwie mocked and giggled.
“Stop it, you two!” Eckxio shouted. “Let’s keep moving.” He spun and walked down the mossy path, and the two young Elves followed silently. Whenever Eckxio yelled at them, they always fell silent. They didn’t like it, but they had always loved Eckxio. He was a special Elf. One whom everyone admired. His rare ability, extromancy, made him a very unique mage.
As they continued to walk, leaves fell from purple trees. There was a blue tree with indigo, round-shaped fruits to their right. Nezz used his boomerang to knock one of the fruits and ate. Another blue tree appeared; it had animal scratch marks on its bark. They never saw such trees in the western forest. They walked over a warped birch with naked branches, and below it, there was a stream. They jumped off its trunk and moved forward. A school of horned birds with four legs flew over their heads and gathered over a branch. They tore open round indigo fruits and ate the slimy seeds.
It was a silent walk. However, Eckxio could see that something was itching Latwie. She looked at him then looked away and giggled. She wanted to say something but was holding back.
“Is there something you want to tell me, Latwie? You are smiling by yourself,” Eckxio said.
“I was just thinking about your wedding with that human girl,” Latwie giggled. “When is it? I can’t wait. I heard it was going to be in the village of the Greamos. Is that true?”
Sin of Mages_An Epic Fantasy Series Page 6
