by Asher, Yarid
Leosher smirked “I used my godly might.”
Usere and Urey moved forward as well “how did you get the lightning bolt?”
He looked at the sky “I simply told Fulmeus, the god of lightning, to give me a bolt and since I am his queen’s son, he had no choice but to listen to me.”
Everyone was surprised, for all of this happened so suddenly and without a hint but now they had the gates opened and their way was clear.
The head of the Shamuns was smiling and said to Leosher
“O, King of The Empire, we cannot assist you any longer, for our job here is done. We have protected the weapons from falling into wrong hands and now we have betrayed our master. After you get the weapons, you shall be able to get to your ships before the valley collapses on itself but beware, if a creature has lust or is greedy within the gates, the cave will destroy itself immediately, killing everyone who is left inside.”
Then he bowed to Leosher and backed away. He got on his horse and in a matter of seconds, there was a flash of light and the Shamuns turned to black smoke. There was no sign that they even existed, for they had now betrayed Shamaun and they had given up the weapons. Their lives were over now.
Virgil looked at Leosher “Perhaps we should only take a limited number of people inside for it might be dangerous, and we are already short on men.”
Leosher thought for a moment and then he heard the roar again. The roar was so disturbing that it made him change his mind “Perhaps we need to take all the men, for there is a beast in the cave which we might need to slay.”
Neiham listened and went close to Leosher and tried to convince him “Virgil is right, for if something happens to you, the men will be there to protect your people, the residents of The Empire, but if we all die, then all others will die as well.”
Azar stepped up too “Son, it will be harder to control the greed of hundreds but easier to control the greed and lust of 7.”
Leosher stood completely silent for some time but then he broke the silence “We shall go as a group of 10 people.”
He picked three out of the men and the rest were Virgil, Neiham, Azar, Usere, Urey, Barian and himself. He told the rest to stay outside the caves and wait for him to come out and after he was done planning, he began walking towards the inside.
CHAPTER 8
Leosher entered the pitch black place and he was followed by Virgil and then the others, in a line. They could not see anything, anything whatsoever.
“Well this should be fun,” Urey laughed “We are in a place that no one has ever been in a long time, for a long time, and on top of that, we cannot even see where we are going.”
Usere smacked his arm quiet him down and asked Azar “Is there any spell that gives light? We need to see where we are going.”
Azar nodded but none could see him. He took his staff and closed his eyes and suddenly, thin rays of blue light began to rush out of the top, circular part of his staff and soon, it transformed into a ball of light.
“Now that is much better,” said Virgil but Leosher interrupted him and stopped immediately, “Look around.”
There was a grim atmosphere all around. The hall was filled with columns. It was as if this was a prison, because the columns were placed so close together that anyone other than a humn could not pass through. The pillars were gray and blue and tall. They were spirals and made of skulls. Everything was made of skulls, and when Leosher looked down, at his feet, he saw that he was standing on skulls. The walls, the ground, the pillars, all were skulls.
He quickly grew suspicious, for no one was being bothered by the fact that they all were standing on bloody skulls,
“Virgil, what do you see when you look around? What is all this made of?”
Virgil was a little surprised, for it was a silly question, “Brother, I see that all of this is made of stone.”
“How could this be?” Leosher said. He was a little mortified, “I see skulls all around.”
Azar quickly broke in “Maybe it is the light, let me increase it.”
He brought the ball of light close to his mouth and blew briskly. The ball was released from the staff and it began floating in the air. Azar pushed it in the front of everyone, and made it lead the way, so everything would be clear for his lord. Even though all thought that it was going to be fine now, Neiham was a bit skeptical
“Is it better now, my lord?”
“No—I still see skulls.”
Usere smiled and patted him on the back “Maybe the cold is making you hallucinate. But remember, no matter what, we are always at your side.”
Barian came close too and joined in the conversation “Let us move forward, because this place is morbid and creepy and I do not wish to stay here for an extended period of time.”
Leosher smiled and began walking but they all had no idea where they were going, for all they could see were columns, endless rows of tall and thick columns. But there was something in there with them. They heard a roar. This roar was the same as those that they all heard outside the cave but now that they were inside the cave, it was even more intimidating for some of them. Barian, Virgil, Usere, Urey, Azar and Neiham were fearless but the soldiers were a little scared.
Leosher, the leader, was the bravest and courageous of them all. He drew one of the spears out of his sheath and held it in his hand. He held it tight and got ready to shoot. He looked around and examined the area for a bit, and then just as he heard the roar again, he shot the spear in the same direction the roar came from. The spear glowed with godly power and gave light wherever it went. Miraculously, it shone brighter than Azar’s light ball.
Leosher saw where it went and saw how far the end was. The cave seemed endless, for the spear vanished in the darkness even though it glowed. It disappeared from sight before it hit its target. Virgil stood next to Leosher and knew exactly what his brother had tried to do but he also knew that it had failed.
“What now brother? We do not know what to do anymore.”
“We follow the roar” He replied and began running and the ball of light began moving alongside him as well. They all ran after Leosher, for it seemed like he knew what he was doing but clearly he was just chasing the roar. After it had been some time, Leosher siezed his run and stopped because something had caught his eye and the rest could feel it as well. Neither did he know what it was nor did he know what it wanted.
“Who are you?” yelled Barian, and Urey followed “What do you want?”
The creature lisped “Turn around or face your worst fears.”
“Oh trust me, we are your nightmares” said Usere while drawing out his sword and getting ready to battle. Leosher knew that the creature was not bluffing therefore he looked at Neiham and ordered her “Make all of us faint and lose consciousness but leave me in my senses, for I will battle him alone.”
“But….” Virgil tried to talk but Leosher stopped him
“No, I know what I am doing and I do not want any of you to defeat him, for then people will praise you all instead of me.”
All were a bit disappointed with this behavior of Leosher, but Neiham did as her king had told her. She took out an elixir from her bag and lit it on fire. It quickly transformed into a vapor and mixed with the thin air and everyone breathed it and all fell down to the ground as if they were lifless. Leosher held his breath and waited until his men were out cold.
After the air was rid of the vapors, he began breathing and looked around and when he saw that all were down, he said to the creature “Who are you and what do you want?”
There was the same lisp but this time the creature came out of the shadow. It was like a dragon but a man. It had the face of a dragon, the claws of a dragon, the tail of a dragon but it walked upright like a man. It was a giant lizard as many would say. Its eyes were big and yellow with a black line that ran vertically through them. It had a long snake like tongue and its body was filled with scales.
It said to Leosher “Retreat or you will see everyone y
ou love, die.”
But Leosher mocked it “What are you going to do, lisp until they die?”
“Why do you think you were seeing skulls and the others did not? It is because you are about to see a lot of death.”
“Who are you?”
“I am the king of the mountain, the monster of the Valley, your worst nightmare, Lutman. I guard the weapons and kill intruders like you.”
“I guess we are about to find out who kills who.”
Leosher took his spear and tried to shoot it but Lutman was faster. He did not move away, out of the harm’s way, but instead breathed fire and brought forth a fire storm. Everything inside the cave turned to fire, even the walls and even the floor. Everything was red, hot fire. When the wave of the fire storm passed, Leosher found himself trapped. There were black, oozy and gross, tar-like ropes that wrapped around him and held him tied, suspended in mid-air. They tried to rip him from limb to limb but he was a god and it took a great amount of power to rip apart a god.
Leosher screamed in pain but all was in vain. It was as if the ropes had life in them. Some of that oozy material traveled into Leosher’s mouth and choked him but Leosher was tough. He kept alive and fought as much as he could. The rope covered his eyes and soon the ropes engulfed him but then they spit out his face, just to let him see the attorcities that were about to take place.
Leosher saw that spiders and snake spurred out from the thick ropes and they moved towards the place where his companions were lying. They stuck their fangs inside their necks and sucked all of their blood. Leosher now truly saw death and desperation. His own brother was being drained of his life in front of his eyes and there was nothing he could do to save him. Leosher fought a lot but every time he moved, the grip of the ropes tightened. Leosher was now starting to have cuts, for his body had reached the limit of being able to stretch. Blood spurred out of his body but the pulling did not stop.
When the death of the companions did not break Leosher’s spirit, Lutman summoned Adne in front of him. Lutman raised his arms and suddenly, dark smoke appeared and out of that smoke came out Adne. Leosher was shocked, for it all happened so fast. Lutman also summoned vultures that attacked all of the deceased. They ate the poison filled bodies of his companions, and also began scavenging on Adne and they even made a meal out of Leosher by eating his stomach.
He did not care about physical pain but all that bothered him was the fact that he could not help but watch his loved ones die. After the vultures were done, the bodies vanished into dark oozy material, the same material that the ropes were made of.
Then Lutman went close to Leosher and lisped “The nightmare has just begun.”
He grabbed Leosher’s head and played with his mind. He showed him dreams about Aseroth. He showed that the throne was stripped away from him by Virgil and Azar. He also showed carnage on Aseroth and Leosher getting dragged down to Ratarus by the guardians. He showed his beloved Meagon getting whipped with a spiked whip in the middle of the town.
After a while, Lutman stopped giving the dreams and backed away from Leosher to torture him in a different way. He raised his hand and slowly, pointed at Leosher. A huge lightning bolt came out of its finger. It struck the ground and gushed towards Leosher, destroying everything in its path. It was magnificent but deadly. The mere sound of it was enough to make grown men cry amd Leosher was struck by it. His whole body glowed with the lightning and there were sparks coming out of him and suddenly, there was a blast. It left smoke everywhere and knocked out Leosher and left him with holes in his body that leaked dried out blood.
When he was knocked out, he saw his mother, Asurot. She had come down to help him “Leosher, my son, break free from these chains, for I am with you.”
“I do not need your help mother,” said Leosher with arrogance and ignorance “I am capable of taking care of myself.”
Asurot smiled at his arrogance but grieved for his stupidity and recited:
“We are not ordinary,
for we battle with destiny.
We have great power,
the power to write our own fate.
There is a beast rising within us,
and our revolt is weakening.
The beast is at the edge of our souls,
and its might is strengthening.
The beast is raw and pure,
its power is like lightning.
We cannot begin to describe,
the storm that is inside.
But the beast will rise again,
to bring forth the eternal pain.
The sun of hope has risen,
and the battle has begun.
But we remember one thing,
we will always be one.
We let the beast within us, rise,
to bring forth our enemy’s demise.
We move forward with one creed,
for it is our need,
Clearly, we are not ordinary,
for we battle with destiny.”
Leosher was filled with a newly found rage and will to defeat the evil he was fighting. This boosted him and Asurot succeeded in what she had come to him for. He opened his eyes and there was a red glow in his eyes and rage on his face. He ripped his hand out of the black ropes and freed his entire, half eaten body. Lutman was surprised with what was going on, for none had ever been able to escape his mind games. His dark chains or ropes were not working anymore, for Leosher now was out for the kill. Lutman even unleashed the snakes and the spiders to restrain him but that did not work either. Leosher stepped on them and crushed them under his sandals.
Leosher ran and tackled Lutman on the ground and punched his face countless times. He screamed in agony but Leosher did not stop and soon, Lutman was at his breaking point and stopped moving. There was blood all over the fiery ground. Leosher thought that Lutman was dead now, therefore he got up and looked around to see what was going on but when he turned around, Lutman had gotten up and was ready to attack him again. Lutman swung his arm to punch Leosher but he had other plans. He blocked the punch and used his hand as a blade. He wedged his hand into the ribcage of Lutman. The hand came out of the back of Lutman and he cried with pain. Leosher repeated it quiet a few times and everytime he did it, Lutman would jump into the air a bit.
Soon he turned yellow and was about to blow up next to Leosher but he let go of him and kicked him into the darkness.
There was a bang just before Lutman hit the ground, which was so intense that the columns supporting the cave broke and the light from the blast was so intense that the whole cave lit up for a second and showed Leosher the way out but succeeding the light was the shockwave which threw Leosher away and the ceiling fell on top of him, knocking him unconscious.
CHAPTER 9
Leosher woke up in the arms of his brother, Virgil, out of breath and drenched in sweat.
“Brother, what happened?” asked Virgil worriedly.
Leosher got up and looked around to see what was going on. Some time ago, he saw everyone die in front of his own eyes but now they were alive and well.
“What happened to me?” asked Leosher “When did I pass out?”
Azar moved forward and gave Leosher a rag to wipe his sweat off of his body “My lord, you were knocked out right after you stopped walking. It seemed as if you were going to ask a question but then you fell on the ground.”
At that moment Leosher realized that all of those were mind games that were being played on him but he had passed it and now he was ready to go on but he still wanted to know who or where Lutman was.
“Let us go, I know the way, I saw it.”
Leosher got up and ran over in the darkness where he saw the door when Lutman blew up. He ran pointlessly until the ball of light showed that they were approaching a wall. His companions were a bit skeptical but when they got close enough, they saw that there was a marble door. Everything else was shabby but surprisingly, this door was perfectly round and smooth with a golden lock in the middle. There were no knobs and
handles either, nothing except this golden slot for the key and the crease lines, suggesting that it was a door.
Leosher stopped running, bluntly, and skidded a bit while stopping. There was a smirk on his face when he saw the door and just as the rest caught up to him, he kicked open the door. He did not need any keys, nor did he need any other means to open the gates and doors that blocked his path. All he needed was his godly might, and he had plenty of it.
The door opened with a bang but after that, there were no sounds. The door led to a smooth, perfectly round tunnel. It was beautifully carved, with not even a spec of dirt or sand in it. Leosher and his men walked into the tunnel and continued their journey and after they had been walking in the closed and smooth marble tunnel for a while, it seemed as if they were stuck. There was no light on either ends. It was pitch black on both ends. The only light they had to see was their floating ball that gave blue light but that was not strong enough to see the ends of the tunnel.
“I am getting tired of walking” said one of the soldiers “It is pointless. We are not getting anywhere” said the other but then Leosher stopped and turned to look at them “We are here. Everyone be very quiet.”
There was some sort of distress on the other side of the tunnel, the side that Leosher was facing. They continued walking and soon they saw a glimmer of light at the end. They walked towards it and reached the end and when they moved out of the tight tunnel, they were left jaw dropped and astounded, for there was the shine of riches and wealth. The room was filled with gold and silver. There were heaps and mountains of gold and silver left there by the Shamaun, to tempt people into their doom. The dark and smooth, marble room exaggerated the shine and made it look even extravagant. There were lanterns hanging on to the square pillars that held the ceiling, and blue flame came out of them. There were channels on the sides of the room and there were flames spurring out of them. The room was big enough to keep the entire Leviathan in it which was the biggest creature in the world.
