by Mario Routi
“The Gods created the Elysian Fields for themselves,” Turgoth shouted over his shoulder as they flew, “and also for the demigods, the ancient heroes, and all the mythical creatures. They are also for evolved beings who are killed - such as the Orizons and the Amazons.”
A few minutes later, both winged horses landed in the garden of the Palace of the Gods.
When Rebecca had first laid eyes on Utopia, she had assumed she would never see anything more beautiful - that, at that precise moment, she had seen it all. But the beauty of the Gods’ palace was beyond her powers of description. No man, no architect, no writer could describe such beauty. Its shape resembled the ancient Greek style of architecture, with elegant columns and ornate pediments, while the materials they had used could be found nowhere on Earth, or even in the Land of the White Sun. The whole palace was shining like the sun while at the same time being as smooth as rare white marble. The next moment, as they walked closer, it seemed to transform into a more metallic material, then turned to stone, no - to wood. Rebecca couldn’t tell what it was. It changed depending on the angle at which you were looking at it. It was confusing, but thrilling and exciting at the same time. The biggest surprise was that the entire palace was hovering in the air above a green blue lake. Under it, flowed a waterfall that sparkled with all the colours of the rainbow.
Glory the Sphinx now sat quietly guarding the Blue Sacred Flame, which burned in a huge crystal plate. The plate and the Flame were both at least ten times larger than the ones in Utopia.
Turgoth took Rebecca’s hand and they flew together up to the palace’s main gate, with Julius flying behind them. Lady Danae was waiting for them outside the gate and hugged Rebecca tightly.
“The War Council will begin soon,” she told them. “General Foster is inside. You’re needed in there too, Turgoth. The Gods have been waiting for you.”
“I’m taking Rebecca in with me,” Turgoth told her. “I need to ask them to send her back to Utopia.”
The others nodded their agreement with this plan and Rebecca said nothing as they entered the palace through a corridor which looked very much like the Parthenon and was lined with towering columns of glowing white marble. At the end of the corridor they entered the Great Hall, in the middle of which the King of the Gods sat on a crystal throne. Even while seated, Rebecca could see that he was taller than Turgoth and strongly built, with long grey hair, a short matching beard and sparkling blue eyes. He was wearing a long white robe and, in his hands, he was holding something shiny that resembled a bolt.
“Zeus!” Rebecca whispered excitedly.
“They have given him several names on Earth,” Turgoth said.
On Zeus’s right sat his daughter, Athena, a beautiful, slim woman with long brown hair tumbling over her shoulders, and eyes the colour of chocolate. On his left, sat his son, the blond Apollo, his young face and blue eyes creased with worry. Behind them stood Poseidon, Zeus’s brother and Lord of the Waters, with his long white hair and beard, and the mighty Hercules, Leiko’s father.
Before Turgoth could stop her, Rebecca took a step forward, approached the throne, and bowed low. Taking her crystal sword out, she held it between her hands, staring up at the Gods.
“I am Rebecca Newton. I want to fight for you and for the Flame. I have sworn to fight against Evil. My sword and my life are at your disposal.”
“We know who you are,” Zeus replied. “But we can also sense that King Turgoth would like for you to return to Utopia, isn’t that right, Turgoth?”
“Yes, oh mighty Zeus. Rebecca is a great warrior, but she’s still not ready for such a battle.”
“General Foster, you are the one who trained this young Orizon, am I right?” asked the King of the Gods.
“That is indeed correct, oh mighty Zeus,” said Field Marshal Foster.
“And what do you think? Is she ready to fight in a battle even more fierce than the Lomani? A battle against the Titan army?”
Turgoth looked at Foster with pleading eyes.
“She’s one of the finest warriors in the history of the Orizons,” Foster said. “She’s better than me and probably as good as Princess Felicia.”
“Then it’s settled,” Zeus said. “She’s staying here and will fight on our side.”
“But, mighty Zeus...” Turgoth attempted once more to be heard.
“No ‘buts,’ King Turgoth. We need her here, along with our best warriors. Even if she had been in Utopia, we would have still brought her over. That is why we shall soon remove the shield for a while - so that Pegasus, Lenus and a couple more winged horses can go to the Land of the White Sun and bring over Lord Life with his daughter and Leiko and, of course, Bull the Minotaur and General Hunter.”
Zeus then turned to Rebecca. “OK, Orizon, you can go out now to your father and Lady Danae.”
“Thank you,” Rebecca said, bowing. As she walked away, she threw Turgoth an apologetic look.
“Take a seat, King Turgoth,” Zeus commanded. “The War Council must begin!”
41
As the War Council continued, Lord Life, Princess Felicia, Leiko, Bull and General Hunter also arrived. Lord Life and the Princess went inside the Palace to join the Council, while Rebecca remained with her father and the others.
The hours were passing very slowly and Rebecca took the opportunity to tell Bull and Leiko about discovering that she and Turgoth were soulmates. Neither of them seemed as surprised as she had expected. It was as if such a thing was natural to them.
“Your story is very similar to mine and Felicia’s,” Leiko said.
When the Council was over, Turgoth came out and immediately took Rebecca in his arms.
“I’ll never let her out of my sight, Julius,” he said.
“I know you won’t,” Julius smiled. “None of us will.”
“You can bet on that,” Bull added.
“We’ll see who’ll protect who!” said Rebecca. She laughed as she spoke but, in truth, she was growing increasingly worried about all of them.
When Lord Life and Felicia emerged from the Palace, Lady Danae joined them.
“Now, all we can do is wait,” Lord Life said. “It’s the Titans’ call. When they decide to send their army to attack, we’ll see what our next move should be. It’s up to us to protect the Flame. The Gods cannot interfere unless the Titans are released, but if that happens, nobody can predict the outcome.”
“Yes,” Turgoth agreed. “The Gods haven’t fought in thousands of years. Not since the Clash of the Titans, when they were nearly defeated and many of them vanished.”
“We have to ensure that does not happen,” Felicia said. “We must gather all the warriors we can and get them into place as quickly as possible.”
Over the following hours, thousands of Orizons, Centaurs and Amazons were gathered into position while Lord Life, Bull and Leiko drew up a strategic plan in which Turgoth and General Foster took over the Orizons and General Hunter, the Centaurs. Felicia was in charge of the Amazons.
Hundreds of mythical winged horses joined them and Felicia chose the Amazons to ride them, with two on each horse.
“You will be able to shoot the enemy with your arrows from above,” she instructed them. She then placed the rest of the Amazons on the walls of the Palace.
General Foster addressed the Orizons: “You will already have realised that you can fly faster here than in the Land of the White Sun, so make sure to take full advantage of this in battle.”
He placed half of his troops around the outside of the Palace and led the other half inside.
Turgoth, Rebecca, Bull and Leiko would support the Orizons on the ground, fighting both inside and outside of the palace. Tension mounted as the troops hurriedly assembled in their designated positions and rumours abounded that the Titan forces were growing closer. The air was electric.<
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When the attack finally commenced, it was of a ferocity none of them had anticipated. Every Dark fighter was determined to seize the Flame or die in their attempt. Their initial goal was to release their Lords - the Titans - so that they could then try to destroy the Gods and take over the golden lands of the Elysian Fields. Once that had been achieved, they then intended to continue their rampage - taking their war first to the Land of the White Sun and then on to Earth, itself.
42
The creatures of the Titan ground army were demons of the most terrible kind. More terrifying still, in the sky above them flew a battalion of hideous bat-like beasts with huge black wings and razor sharp teeth and claws. On each one, clinging tightly, rode a dark demon warrior with staring eyes filled with bloodlust. The ground forces held back and, for their first attack, the Titans chose to send the flying beasts and their riders in order to test the strength of the defenders and their troops.
“Take off!” Felicia cried, and hundreds of mythical winged horses soared upwards, carrying the Amazons on their powerful backs. The Princess, herself, rode on Pegasus, her sword drawn and ready to do battle as the mighty horses’ wings lifted them all up above the black river of attacking forces.
Thousands of Amazon arrows rained down onto the flying demons below, sending hundreds of them hurtling to the ground - dead or wounded.
Shocked by the suddenness of this counterattack, the Titan ground army scurried back into the shadows of the forest that surrounded the Palace of the Gods and waited for their next orders.
Taking advantage of this short break in hostilities, the army of Good prepared itself to fight the inevitable next wave. In just a few minutes, a thousand soldiers were divided into three main forces: Five hundred Orizons, two hundred Amazons, and three hundred Centaurs. The Orizon forces were split into two sub-units of two hundred and fifty warriors each, led by Turgoth and Foster, respectively. Rebecca was with her father and Leiko in Turgoth’s army.
“Have no worries, Rebecca,” Leiko grinned confidently. “We will smash them.”
The forces of Good spread out in four main spots while remaining in direct contact with each other. They were about three hundred yards apart and could regroup at any moment, if Lord Life commanded it. He was the General Commander of both the outside Forces and the ones waiting inside the Gods’ Palace. Bull stood firmly by his side, sizing up the situation and biding his time.
The enemy sent a couple of scouts to determine the strategy of the opposition before launching another attack. They reported how low the numbers were amongst the forces of Good and, as the bloodsucking demons of Hell approached once more from the darkness of the forest, Rebecca felt her blood run cold in her veins. All she could see were hundreds of glowering eyes shining out from the blackness. Their leader, a huge, repulsive demon, emerged first from the gloom and screamed an angry order for attack.
General Hunter pulled himself up to his full height and raised his bow. “Stay away, hideous creature,” he roared, “or I will burn you alive!”
The demon continued its attack - yellow fangs bared, thirsty for blood - giving courage to the shrieking hordes that were galloping up behind him, sensing excitement and an easy victory.
Hunter shot a flaming arrow directly into the knotted grey muscles and matted hair of the demon’s chest. With a scream that threatened to deafen all who heard it, the demon reared up, writhing frantically in his attempts to escape the terrible pain, though he merely fanned the flames until his wings were blazing and he fell to the ground in a white ball of fire.
Shocked, his followers pulled back to redeploy their forces and attack again before the light of dawn had arrived. This time they came in massive numbers from every side at once. The Amazons fired continuous volleys of arrows into their ranks while the Centaurs drew their swords and jumped upon those who survived the onslaught, slicing them down without a hint of mercy and creating a lake of black blood on the ground they fought on.
In a matter of minutes, the forces of Good had stopped the charge and were redeploying themselves, counting no losses. They burst into cheers of relief as the shrieks of the demons grew fainter.
“Let’s remain calm,” Field Marshal Foster ordered. “There must be a reason why the Evil sent these creatures as if they were sheep ripe for the slaughter. It must be a diversionary tactic. Let’s see what lies ahead before we start celebrating any victories.”
Even though the sight of the carnage disgusted her, Rebecca was thrilled by the outcome of the battle. It seemed like they had already won.
Minutes later, however, the Commander of Good realised that the force they had just overrun was only a tiny part of a giant army. Now, hundreds more demons came hurtling towards them from the dark.
“Reunite in front of the Palace walls,” Lord Life ordered the troops, “close to the main gate!”
The frantic forces of Evil were approaching their target like a whirling fireball of fury, paying no attention to those amongst them who were dropping to the ground as the arrows of the Amazons, the lances of the Centaurs and the swords of the Orizons found their marks.
By the time they reached the walls, the demons were at the peak of their killing frenzy, fuelled by a mixture of anger and fear and excitement, attacking with a ferocity that gave them more power than they had ever before possessed. The situation for the forces of Good grew worse as they struggled to defend themselves against the onslaught of Evil.
Felicia was protecting the west side of the Palace, where the Flame was kept, but even she was being forced back, little by little. Seeing his daughter’s plight and realising that the Flame was in danger of being captured, Lord Life gathered as many forces as possible and sent them in waves to join Felicia in her battle.
As the Orizons emerged from inside the walls, they were met with a blizzard of stones as the enemy snatched up every possible weapon they could lay their hands on, to prevent them from reinforcing their fellow combatants. The Orizons marched on, regardless. Although the demons were wearing a special body armour made from a material that was believed to be everlasting, it was not proving strong enough to resist the onslaught of the crystal weapons.
The forces of Good drove forward into the heart of battle, determined to beat back the forces of Evil at any cost. Rebecca stood at the centre of the battle, her sword moving with the speed of light. She shivered a little whenever a head was severed from its shoulders, but her revulsion did not stop her from pressing on, slashing and stabbing her way through the attacking hordes. It was obvious to all who caught a glimpse of her fighting that she was almighty and unbeatable as the piles of dead bodies heaped up at her feet, raising her ever higher in the eyes of her foes.
Once more, the forces of Evil were pushed back and fell silent for a few moments as they pulled themselves together and redeployed. Some of them - instead of either pulling back or fighting - were still on the battlefield, sucking the blood out from the bodies of their fallen companions. The glorious Elysian Fields were left piled high with the foul-smelling bodies of dead and dying demons, the fumes of battle thickening the air above the stained and blood-drenched battlefield.
By the time they re-launched their attack, the forces of Evil found that the soldiers of Good were tiring beneath the constant onslaught. Despite their fearsome fighting skills, it reminded them that no one has unlimited powers and it once more raised their confidence that they could still defeat them and gain access to the Flame that they craved so avidly.
The forces of Good were thrust back on the defensive as the enemy surrounded them. No one was able to help any of their struggling colleagues since all of them were simultaneously under siege. The Amazons and the Centaurs were being forced back while the Orizons struggled alone against the enemies closest to them. Despite the huge losses that they had inflicted, the enemy still outnumbered them. Even the leaders were beginning to wonder how long they would
be able to last. It was crucial that nobody perished, since death in the Elysian Fields meant a very real death for them - one from which no one could return.
Even in the thick of the action, Rebecca was able to sense that some great, invisible power had entered the battle scene. Glancing over her shoulder just in time, she saw Zeus conjuring up a mass of forked lightning so bright that it temporarily blinded the demons, creatures of darkness who feared and despised any light.
Taking advantage of the momentary confusion among the blinking and squealing demons, the forces of Good mustered their strength and surged forward, slicing and stabbing at their temporarily incapacitated enemies, forcing them to stumble back blindly towards Tartarus. Many of the demons fell from the cliffs, smashing down onto the rocks below and emitting terrified screams as they found themselves falling through the air, limbs flailing and eyes bulging.
Zeus, however, had only managed to gain them a short lived advantage and it wasn’t long before thousands more demon soldiers appeared to fill the fighting space left by their fallen comrades and, once again, they started to regain their lost ground.
Julius, unable to cope with fighting three demons at the same time, found himself staggering on legs that threatened to collapse. Turgoth saw Julius stumble and slashed violently through the demons trying to reach him, giving him long enough to regain his strength so that the two of them could continue to fight, standing back to back against the slavering, shrieking hordes, thirsting for their blood.
