GODS OF ASEROTH: The Prodigal Son: A monster is born

by Asher, Yarid

  The Elf land was guarded by huge wooden walls and it had huge wooden gate with two elves standing in the towers at either side of the gate. This was where Leosher and his men came and wanted to get in from there but the Elves blocked The Empirion armies’ path and did not give them a place to rest their weary and dreary soldiers, for they were scared these might be Strinthiun soldiers dressed as the Empirion soldiers.

  “We are not intruders,” yelled out Urey in his jolly voice “Brothers, it is I, the most handsome Elf in the land, Urey.”

  He walked out in front of the army, from behind, and stood cockily and when the Elves shone their lanterns light upon his face, although they were far, they could see him and recognized him. “Yeah yeah,” said one of the guards wittily “Dream on!”

  He jumped down and opened the huge gates and when Leosher entered the town, it was the happiest town he had ever seen, it was the happiest place they all had ever seen. There were lanterns of all different colors, hanging down in front of every house or shop. These houses were made of bricks and concrete and were probably the strongest houses on all Thraenus and were all on the sides of a dirt road.

  Even though it was the night of Amavus and midnight, the town was lit up. The adults did not care if the children stayed up late, for they had no fears now. They knew that the evil reign of the rulers was about to be finished, for they were about to see their demise.

  “Welcome to Elf Land” Urey said with his arms wide open with pride and happiness, because he had now returned safely back to his home “This is the best place on Thraenus.”

  “But,” Usere interrupted him in his thick voice “Some might argue the Dwarves have the best town.” He said while looking at one of the dwarves who had joined the Empirion army when Leosher killed Mortemus. The short man was angered and agitated but he could not do anything, for he was in the land of the Elves and if he attacked, he would be foolish.

  Leosher smiled and continued walking through and although it was dark outside, it was like day inside the town.

  “Get the men beds to sleepin.” Leosher said to Usere.

  “Would that be it, my lord?” He asked.

  “Is there a roadhouse that might be open this time of the day?”

  Usere smiled and pointed at a distant building “That my lord is the tavern. That is where we shall be going.”

  Usere left to arrange beds for the men and Urey accompanied his king,

  “My lord” said Urey “Everything is open for business even after midnight.”

  “That is good to know—now go help your brother.”

  He nodded and left to help his brother and soon, they were ready to sleep. Leosher ordered Urey to escort the men to their wooden bunks made of hay and grass, and told Usere to take those who wanted to enjoy the night, to the taverns.

  The tavern was a huge wooden hut. It had a door in the front and when one entered, there was a warm fire in a distant corner. There were tables with stools around them and there were hundreds of hardworking men, drinking. There were many traders and merchants who were traveling for business, for Strinthius was the land of trade and riches but the riches were for the king. The tavern was run by women who wore tight corsets and their bosoms hung out. This was to lure men into drinking more and usually, it worked.

  Leosher went in the tavern and sat on one of the tables and a She-Elf came and brought him a big wooden mug filled with rum and soon the joy began and they all drank till they dropped. They drove the tavern out of business, for they drank and emptied their resorts. Leosher drank the most but for some reason, he did not get boozed enough to pass out and held on to his consciousness. Many of his men did not go to sleep but instead had joined their king to enjoy, for they had only a day before they could attack the Strinthiun castle.

  When all were out cold and could not move, the owner of the tavern, the She-Elf that had served Leosher, came to him again.

  “We are closed now—I have to go now.”

  Leosher looked at her with droopy eyes and smiled. His eyes were red because of the rum in his body and he had no control over his motion but he managed to stay awake “Well, leave then—We will not cause any trouble.”

  The She-Elf believed and trusted the Empirion king, therefore she left and left the king and his men alone in the tavern and when Leosher did not see anyone to talk to, he fell asleep too.

  And in his sleep, he was visited by the dark creature again. This was the creature’s third time visiting Leosher and it still failed to persuade him to join him. It was pointless for him to try, for Leosher knew he was to be the king of Thraenus and Aseroth and he planned to take over the other planets after he was done. The creature stood in his lair but it was of no use. It tried to move away the cloud in front of Leosher’s face but his tries were futile and after some time of trying, the creature decided to leave him alone and left his dream. And when he left, Leosher got back to his senses with a jerk.

  He sat up on his stool and poured the few drops of rum in his mouth, that were left in the bottom of his rum mug. He was still a little tipsy but he got out of his stool while knocking some mugs off of the table and stood as still as he could but he still stood, slightly tipped to the side.

  He thought to himself “I am the strongest being on the planet; I do not need assistance of my army to defeat a petty ruler like Colossus. I shall bring his demise myself.”

  He nodded and began traveling outside, but it was an odessey. He faced many troubles before making it out of the tavern. He went outside the door and saw that the night was over and the suns were at the cusp. The fog had vanished and the town was sleeping soundly. Not even a single bird was awake except Leosher, for it was dawn and the Elves did not get up until an hour or two after dawn. Leosher went in the horse stable. He dragged and walked like a tired bear and when he freed the horse, he dragged his body up on it and threw himself on its back. He was all packed for his journey; he had his royal cloak and his scythe on his back. The most important thing was the golden spear and he had it sheathed behind his back.

  He made his way to the main gate and opened it himself and made it through. He kept going on and soon, the Elf lands were left out of sight and he had entered grasslands. There was a blue water stream running besides him, with gorgeous goldfish that swam in it. There were many small animals that came to drink the clear water of the stream, in the morning and provided scenery for Leosher and cheered him up and soon, his consciousness returned fully and now he was perfectly fine. This water stream led straight to the shore that the castle of Colossus was located off of and Leosher followed it without stopping. Though he perspired, he did not stop and continued…

  It was now sundown and Leosher had reached the shore. He could see the golden bridge that led to the magnificently beautiful castle. The bridge was a suspension bridge, only one of its kinds in existence and was made of gold and iron. It was painted gold and the floor of the bridge was crystal clear and made it look like one walked on water. The castle was a huge castle, almost double the size of the Empirion castle. Its walls were painted gold to show wealth and its huge gates were not wooden, like The Empirion castle but instead, were made of silver. This castle symbolized the riches Colossus and even though he was the richest on the planet, his people still suffered.

  The castle was mostly made of precious metals and had multiple courtyards and had many species of beautiful plants and flowers. It was guarded by fully armed knights and was located on an island that was surrounded by vicious and monstrous creatures in the water. There was no other way to get in, other than the golden bridge or on naval ships.

  Leosher stood at the cusp of the bridge and said to himself:

  “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 m
ight 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.”

  After he was done, he unsheathed his spear and his scythe and held both, tightly in his hands. He took a deep breath and it felt like time had stopped. The sun ceased from setting and the waves in the water stopped and suddenly, time was released again, from a tight grip and so was Leosher. He got off of his horse and ran towards the gates and when the soldiers saw him, they began shooting arrows and spears at him. He dodged all the spears and arrows and took his spear and shot it towards a knight that stood right above the gates, holding the lever which held the gates shut tightly.

  Just as the spear pierced his armor, his hands left the lever and opened the locks. The spear drove him off of the top of the gates and nailed him on the ground in the courtyard, right beyond the gates and Leosher continued his dodging and came closer to the gates.

  When the knights saw that they were not being able to stop the deity, they all gathered behind the gates and locked it by pushing against it. Most of the army stood behind the gates and held the gates shut tightly although none thought of locking the gates. Many of the soldiers stayed in the farthest part of the castle, the court hall where their king sat on his throne with his wife and his son. He was a chubby man with no ability to fight for his own life, for he had abused his power and money. His movements were limited because of his weight. He wore a red toga and always had a wine glass in his hand. It was a gold chalice that he used to drink wine out of and it was never empty. He had a crown on his head that was designed like an olive branch was encrusted with diamonds. His throne had a high back. It reached about half way to the ceiling and the ceiling was incredibly high. It was in the middle of the hall and behind it, was the balcony which showed the big blue sea at its entirety. The throne was located high above the ground and leading up to it were 12 gold steps.

  Beside him sat his wife, beautiful but nowhere near as Geluna and Meagon. She wore a loose red and white gown and had rouged lips. She wore mascara and had her son in her lap. Her son wore a white loincloth. He was about 5 years old and fully naïve. He sat in his mother’s lap and sucked on his thumb while the soldiers surrounded them. The king continuously drank from his chalice and sat with fear and ignorance, instead of hiding from his doom. The mother was nervous and terrified, for she had heard what happened to Geluna she if she was not able to stop the deity, who out of these people would be able to.

  Leosher ran and kicked open the door. The men, who tried to hold the door shut, were sent flying to the back and could not keep up against the power and strength of Leosher. He charged in through the doors against an army of knights who were covered head to toe in armor, while Leosher did not wear any except chest armor.

  He began swinging his scythe side to side, and up and down and even in spiraling motions, and the genocide of the men began. He made his way through the courtyards like a tornado. There were sparks everywhere from the clash between his scythe and their armors. Many scurried into the depths of the castle to avoid death in the shape of Leosher which made his path clearer because many were dying and those who wanted to survive had run away for their lives.

  There was a mountain made of metal and flesh and blood flowed out from its bosom. There was blood on the marble floor and the grass that was around them was covered in limbs.

  Leosher looked around and tried to find his spear that he had shot before and his eye caught the back of the spear which popped out from the midst of a pile of corpses. He kicked them and scattered them on the ground and pulled out his bloody spear from the knight’s torso and looked around to continue his massacre.

  He ran his eyes around the castle and saw through the open doors of the court hall that the king sat in his throne and when Leosher saw him, he swaggered over the dead bodies and in towards the castle. He was covered in blood and there was blood dripping from the scythe and there was an evil grin on his face.

  The king was terrified and horrified, for he saw his own death in Leosher’s eyes. Sweat ran down his cheeks and forehead and tears rolled down his eyes. His wife burst into tears and cried with horror however, the son did not know what was going on.

  Leosher swaggered ahead and up the steps, and stood in front of the king

  “Well, well, well….” Leosher wrapped his hand around the bald head of the king and smirked “Now I bring forth your demise.”

  “Listen,” The king begged, he left all of his dignity and fell on the feet of Leosher to beg for mercy “Please, my lord, do not kill me. I will serve you all my life. You can kill my son and my wife but do not kill me.”

  Leosher was a bit shocked and so was his wife, for he was sacrificing them for his own life. Leosher looked at the wife and then pointed at Colossus’s son “Cover his eyes, for he shall not see blood. I do not wish to strip his childhood away from him.”

  The mother, being scared did what he told her to do and covered the child’s face with her shaky hands and after she had done so, Leosher smiled at her “Watch carefully!”

  He grinned ferociously and raised his spear to kill the king and just as he was about to kill him, out of the oblivion, came a fiery canon ball and struck him in his chest. It came through the balcony from the sea and knocked Leosher into a corner of the court hall. Then another ball came and blew away the entire side of the court hall.

  When Leosher shook his head and gained his consciousness back, he saw that these were the Empirion ships with his own emblem on the sails. They were here a day before and Leosher did not expect them, at all. This was not exactly Leosher’s men, these were Barian’s men who formed the Empirion navy. Leosher quickly got up and ran to the throne but Colossus and his wife got out of their thrones and ran towards the sea where the ships were. Leosher, trying to stop them, grabbed the child’s arm and stood near the thrones, trying to figure out what was going on.

  He ran his eyes from corner to corner and could not see anything for the chandeliers in the hall were out and there was no light except moon light, and the dust flying around made it even harder to see, but then a lantern came flying in the hall. It hit the ground and broke and the flaming oil spilt on the ground and lit the red carpet on fire.

  This made the hall bright but it was a deadly situation. After there was light in the dark courthall, out of the shadows of the sea, Barian swung in. He held Neiham in his arms as a hostage. He jumped and stood in the circle of flames and waited for Leosher’s reaction, who was shocked to see that his own man had betrayed him,

  “Why Barian, why did you do it?”

  Barian mocked him “I am a pirate. I do anything for money and by the way, you are naïve—did you really believe that the Leviathan killed my son, and I sworn to kill the mermaids?!”

  Leosher stood there dumbfounded with Barian’s audacity and to make it worse, he continued “All that was a story so you would not kill me. I was hunting mermaids for money. Their skin makes good clothes.”

  Leosher’s grip tightened on the crying boy’s arm and the boy shrieked in pain “Why have you tied Neiham?”

  “I wanted to show you to never trust a pirate again.”

  He cut the ropes from around her and just as she was about to attack Barian, Leosher yelled at her

  “Let him go!”

  She could not betray or disobey her king therefore she had to let him go. Barian walked back to the broken balcony but th
en the shrieks of the kid hit his ears,

  “Leosher, the kid has nothing to do with all this. Let him go.”

  Leosher looked at the kid and the kid was terrified. Tears rolled down his eyes and he was trying to get Leosher off of him and just as he let go of his hand and the boy ran to Barian and just as they were about to swing back in the ship, Leosher shouted form the back “This is not over. You will pay for what you have done, and tell Katos that his death is hovering over his head.”

  Nieham quickly put out the fire and Leosher walked back and sat on the throne “Why did you let them go,” She asked “You could have killed them very easily, why did you let them go?”

  “I want to kill all three of them together and I do not wish to spill any more blood tonight.”

  He sat there on the throne, bloodied and bruised a bit, until he finally said to Neiham “Send a letter to my brother and tell him to come to this castle immediately.”

  Neiham nodded and just as she was walking out of the door of the court hall, her eye caught on a huge infantry walking in through the front gate, over the dead bodies and puddles of blood. It was Virgil and the rest of the men, charging in through the gates and coming in through the courtyards. They knew that a great battle had taken place, for all they could see were puddles of blood. They ran in and found Neiham walking out. Her brother, Azar, smiled at her and asked “Where is master Leosher?”

  “He is sitting on the thrones in the court hall.”

  Virgil left Azar and Neiham behind and took Usere and Urey with him inside the court hall. There he was in his throne. He sat back loosely and looked glorious in the moonlight coming from behind but all the blood on his body mad him look ferocious and evil. There was a glow on his face and his hair made him look like a savage. He sat there with his eyes closed, resting calmly.

  “Brother,” shouted Virgil with happiness “why did you leave without taking me with you?” He ran towards him with his arms open with the intention to hug him. Leosher got out of his throne and walked forward and hugged his brother. Some of the blood got on Virgil’s uniform but he did not care. “Are you hurt, brother?” Virgil asked.