by Edison G. S.
“What do you mean? Nobody could see whom?”
“Nothing,” he said while staring at the medal. Big things to come, he thought. He tried to change the topic. “Should we be going in now?”
“Oh, yes. It is starting to become quite windy and cold. You will find coats inside, just grab any.”
“Thank you for coming to get me,” he said walking toward the cabin.
“You are most welcome,” she said with a voice that denoted compassion for Omar, and entered with him.
The warm room was comforting. Inside, her father was talking to his son and they were both laughing. He quickly invited the kids to their conversation. Omar finally understood the warmth did not come from the cabin, but from the family. That was warmth forever lost for him. Hours had passed but it was still dark, yet they were all awake expecting to reach the Frozen Land within minutes.
Before the sun was out, they reached the south side of the Frozen Land where the isle of Marli connected by a bridge to the Frozen Land. Despite the fear of being outside in the dark, the ship had arrived and the people of the Frozen Land needed food no matter the fear they had for the demons. Villagers with smiles rushed outside to receive the ship.
Omar realized they had been expecting the humble family. Men came to help unload the food without hesitation. In just minutes, all the food was taken and people were enjoying green apples and ripe bananas.
The land was covered in white, not a single green sprout survived there. The smiles of the strangers somehow made Omar smile slightly. Inevitably, the laughter made him remember his lost family with guilt; he was the one to live, and they died for him.
As he walked further, he saw many people hiding inside their homes looking through windows. They were most likely quite hungry, but nothing would make them come out of their refuges into an area penetrable by demons.
They finished distributing food and started to leave, but Omar knew he should not depart. He still felt something was happening in the Frozen Land. As usual, there was only snow in the horizon. Yet Omar could see passed the snowfield. He was able to feel what was happening far from where he was and knew he had to traverse it to get to Tenkla—immediately.
Andreas
Demons and humans engaged in a ferocious battle, while witches cast spells to hamper the demons. The sun began to rise on the horizon; the demons fought harder than before, as did the soldiers and witches. For the first time in history, humans and witches joined forces, obliterating long time rivalries.
Andreas was in a state of deep shock after killing Anthony. As he finally came back to his senses, he saw Marie’s body still freshly preserved by the cold; her beauty was still present, even in death. Andreas held back tears; he lost everything. His thoughts turned to Jeremiah and Brianne. What happened to them? Were they lost to the demons as well? He knew what he had to do to avenge his family and stop the demons.
Melantha’s gift was still in his house. As he rushed to his home he saw the demons had torn it to pieces, like every other house. Andreas started lifting debris in search of his dark wooden dresser. It, too, was in shambles, but among the pieces he found the bottle of purple elixir Melantha offered him. A brave man must drink it and let the main demon feed from him, he remembered her instructions.
He uncorked the small glass bottle and drank the magical potion. As the concoction infiltrated his body, he heard the whimper of a baby—his baby. “Thanks be to the Ice Lord,” he cried when Jeremiah walked toward him with Brianne in his arms. The boy had dust on his face and his eyes were reddened from crying. The only place he knew was his brother’s home; it was natural for him to cling to the debris that used to be his home. He and Brianne were hiding under a pile of old clothing.
Andreas hugged them tightly, not wanting to let go. The day had been emotional and devastating and though his eyes were dry and red, tears of hope and love cascaded freely. He glanced at the empty bottle and thought about how he would ensure the children would live.
“I will take care of them,” Melantha said, appearing behind him. The fight was behind her; she decided to do something more important. “Go on,” she said.
He had learned to trust the woman;, so he nodded and held his brother and child, remembering his family, Marie, Anthony, Rolando, and Aaron, were no longer with him. It was his fault most of them were gone. If he originally avoided an argument with Anthony, Anthony would not have chased the demons in the first place. Both Marie and her brother would still be alive. If Andreas were able to find peace between his wife and his boys, they would be there as well. In a sense, he was relieved they did not have to witness the death and destruction of the Frozen Land, but that did not change his culpability.
“Take good care of them,” he whispered to the aging witch and quickly charged back to the fight.
He was determined to finish the battle, willing to give his life if needed, for revenge and for Jeremiah and for Brianne. If he was going to die, it would be on his terms—feeding the monster the formula that would destroy all demons and end the hell in The Land of The Men.
He searched for Kazar while watching the weaker demons playing with the corpses of his troops and friends. This fueled his anger and propelled every step he took. But as he strode farther into the wreckage, he started losing control over his movements. He could not walk straight or see as well anymore. Suddenly he collapsed, his own weight too much for his legs to carry. Andreas lay on the cold, hard ground, a drop of purple elixir in the corner of his mouth.
* * *
The unfamiliar surroundings closed in around him. The sunlight burned his eyes and made him squint. He realized he was lying on his back looking up into the steel-blue sky. It is morning already. What happened?
He stood and looked around. Everything seemed darkened, saturated in black and white hues. Where are the demons? Am I dead?
He looked at his hands; they still had color. Blood was still red and the sky was still blue. He is the one that changed; he was stuck in a cycle of darkness. What did I drink? His eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He screamed as loud as he could, releasing all his anger, but no sound escaped his mouth.
The witch played a trick on me! He saw the corpses of his soldiers and piles of demonic dust all around; snowflakes had fallen during the night blanketing the dead.
“Damn witch. You lied to me!” he complained out loud to himself though still no sound could be heard.
“I did what I had to do,” he heard in a slow whisper. Andreas recognized the weak voice of the witch.
He could not see where she was, but he knew she was close. Suddenly he remembered the witch had his baby and younger brother.
“Where are the children?” he screamed loudly, out of fear and worry. But his words were still mute. Yet he received no reply. For a second, he feared they were part of her evil plan, but he also feared he might be hallucinating instead.
The last thing he could recall was Kazar devouring men with his slender pale arms, his black silken sleeves stained with blood. The smell of blood permeated his being. Andreas walked towards where he last saw Kazar, but he was not there anymore, not even a pile of dust.
Melantha materialized within Andreas’ circle of darkness. “You witch!” he screamed and grabbed her by her shoulder. “What did you do to me?” Finally, he could hear his own voice.
“If you kill me, you will not know where your daughter is,” she said quickly. “What a darling she is, truly beautiful.”
Her warning did not stop him from rushing towards her. Melantha was quick to cast a spell and he was petrified like a brave statue holding his hands high as he tried to reach her. He would truly make a good decoration for a noble castle if he were stone.
“She is safe. Do not fret for her well-being. My coven is protecting her,” she said.
“Your coven?” he asked, still having the ability to speak in his current state. “What was the potion you gave me?”
“Something to protect you. I am not the Witch of Protection, b
ut I can make some strong potions,” she smiled. “Your army did not stand a chance against Kazar. I knew he was coming and that he would slaughter everyone. The only thing I could do was protect you until morning light came and he squirmed back into hiding. I could have told you to leave Tenkla before this happened, but would you have listened to me? We know you would die with your soldiers before leaving your role.”
“Instead you made me invisible, like a coward, to save my life? What about my soldiers? And my family?” he reproached. “How do you even know the moment of my death?” He felt inane after asking that question; she was a witch and had her ways of knowing.
“I have seen it. I knew the demons would come and would take the lives of your wife and your friend. I knew you would die, too. We could not let that happen.” His face was full of confusion. She kept talking, “I had an omen of much more than this battle. A greater battle will begin very soon. Humans will fight each other as well as demons. Nobody will be safe.”
She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. He could tell it was taking a great toll on her aging body. As she kept talking, she started sweating. “The crown is evil and will only attract more evilness. The people in The Land of The Men will need a strong leader, someone like you. She gasped for air. “Lead them to freedom, to peace, to justice.”
He looked at her without finding coherence in everything she had revealed. However, there was something about the way in which she confided in him that made him realize what she had done was for reasons beyond his awareness.
“That is why I gave you the elixir,” she said with a warm smile as she cocked her head to one side and breathed a sigh of reprieve. “It was meant to hide you only to keep you alive. I wish I could have saved them all, but the Death would be mad if he did not receive the souls he deserved. I exchanged my life for yours. I have lived enough already; the Death can take me.” Her eyes saddened.
“Wait…you cannot…,” Andreas said.
She smiled softly, “Death never leaves without anything in its grips. I could not do more than that. If I came to you warning you to take your family and leave, you would not believe me.”
He listened with attention, understanding everything. “You explained to me that a man should drink the potion and give his life to Kazar. Did you also foresee that I would drink it rather than give it to another?”
“I have the gift of foresight, but I do not see all. I could not predict who would drink it though I hoped it would be you. If it was you, I would be more certain that you were the leader that humanity needs.”
His arms started to hurt as they were stretched out for a lengthy time; he began to show his discomfort and Melantha released him from his statuesque form. “There is much you cannot understand now, but you will find clarity after several things occur over some time,” she said. “The Order of the Seven is almost depleted,” she said. “It is our fault; we used our powers for personal satisfaction and our power sought more power. Witches had been burned and killed for generations, some were my family and friends.”
Tears slipped from her timeworn eyes, but the wrinkles stopped them from falling straight to the ground. She wiped them away and continued. “More witches have been born and I can die happily knowing they will have a happy and long life and the consequences of my acts did not cost the young ones their lives. I need absolution.” She stared frankly at him, “I need the human race to forgive me so they will forgive all the witches to come. I am protecting the human race in a small sense to get even with the poor actions of my past. Besides, I want the new witches to have The Land of The Men free from evil. Some wars are necessary, as you will see.”
Andreas listened in silence as she continued, “I had to lie to you. The order has perished. They never helped me create the elixir. I did it by myself and said it could kill Kazar because that is the only thing you would believe.” “Did everybody die?” he asked.
“Not everybody. After the battle, the demons left before the sun burned them. The surviving soldiers walked to the city of Marli. All the wagons were taken and the final working ship was hi-jacked by that woman, Yvette, after she destroyed the rest of the fleet. Now listen carefully, she followed the king’s orders to destroy the Frozen Land because he feared the city had the potential to start a rebellion. Adhere to that fear and carry on with what must be done.” She noticed the fear dissipated in his eyes and was replaced by anger; the spell ended, dissolving the dark circle and leaving Andreas standing in the middle of the snow. He and Melantha were the lone humans alive.
“The children are hiding near the white plains. You must leave me; the Death will soon claim me.” She uncovered her head and Andreas noticed she had almost gone bald.
“I want to know what happened,” he said, “during the battle.”
* * *
She smiled and waved her arm; suddenly Andreas found himself looking at the scene like an invisible outsider. She stood next to him and began, “Kazar was not expecting my participation and he became irate…”
An ear-splitting cacophony filled the land of Tenkla. The elders discussed this before, and the witches knew very well what it meant—Kazar had screeched for his spawn to fight harder.
There were about forty women in Melantha’s coven, hundreds of demons, but just a few humans left hiding. Surprisingly, the witches were capable of protecting themselves without even using their strength, at least not their physical strength. They were manipulating the minds of the demons, making them kill one another.
The witches made quick progress. Their chanting was so powerful many demons were rapidly destroyed. Kazar turned to both his offspring, demanding they fight the witches, but both of them refused.
“They cannot be mind-controlled Kazar,” Melantha claimed, expecting him to fight her and her team of witches.
He looked at his two youngest demonic offspring once again, solidifying their orders to attack.
“It is almost morning,” Kazar’s daughter said. But her father ignored the remark and gave a deathly stare to his children. Without more hesitation, the three original demons ran toward the witches.
The chanting intensified, but it was not enough; without much effort, the demons took down six of the witches, most were young, sophomoric witches. Kazar laughed vigorously. “I thought you had stronger witches.”
Melantha was not intimidated. The chanting intensified once again and this time it was a success. The female demon collapsed as if possessed. The witches were manipulating her mind to compel her to battle against her father.
As she rushed at Kazar, he simply knocked her down with his fist. When his son also attacked him, Kazar was clearly annoyed. He grabbed his son by the throat and twisted his neck until it broke then dropped him to the ground.
“What else do you have? Your entire squad is not strong enough to manipulate my mind. I have eaten plenty of witches before and you are next on my list,” he said.
“We already manipulated you... by making you take down your children.”
He looked at his unconscious offspring and groaned in anger. They were inert and useless for his fight; in one bound, he stood in front of the coven. Single-handedly, he disposed of more witches. The more he killed, the weaker the chanting became.
He had won against humans and he was winning again against the witches.
The remaining fifteen witches fought Kazar as the sun showed up. He shrieked as his skin burned. He tried to kill one more witch, but his strength was diminished by the power of the light. The witches created an invisible protection field.
“What did you do?” Kazar yelled as he collapsed to the ground, completely weakened.
Melantha stood tall in front of her coven. “I have cast a spell to link our lives to yours. For every witch you kill, you will grow weaker.” She successfully provided more time for the human race. The remaining demons would not have the strength to attack until they recovered.
He gave her an annoyed gesture, but she continued talking, “The sun is here and yo
u will die and your spawns will die with you.”
Melantha and the witches maintained their chanting. As they did, Melantha’s skin seemed to wrinkle more and her hair fell out until her head only held a few whips of silver hair. As the chanting continued, she grew older and weaker until her legs could not serve her anymore.
With a leap, Kazar bolted away, carrying Caik and Zesna on each shoulder while sunlight left dark bloody spots on his pale skin. The spell slowed him down, but not enough to prevent his escape. The demons that escaped the sunlight left with Kazar and for the time being, the witches were victorious.
* * *
Andreas came out of the trance-like state to see Melantha on the ground, dying. He rushed to grab her.
“You remind me…of my older son…who was taken,” she said weakly. “Always brave, honest, and selfless.” Tears slipped from her eyes. “Best wishes Andreas; it is my time to depart this land.”
She was too weak to stand, but her powers still had some strength. “I…I… will show you something…before I leave.”
She extended her hands and reached Andreas’ temples. Suddenly, Andreas’ mind was filled with images of a different land and time.
He stood among masses of men, all fighting together against the realm. The Frozen Land, the Desert, and the Forest turned to ashes of what they used to be. A pale tall demon was perched upon the throne leading troops of demons, former civilians. A battle emerged between the soldiers and the demons. “ATTACK,” the ruler screamed while both soldiers and civilians merged into a bloody pool of body parts. In the vision, Andreas’ auburn beard was much longer and, his clothes were old and dirty, but his face as young as it was now.
In a second vision, he walked through the white plains until he reached the bridge connecting to the island of Marli. Jeremiah was behind him and Brianne pleasantly slept in his arms, covered in layers of clothing. In Marli, he related the happenings to the people, but they looked at him with disbelief. He explained how the king sent Yvette to attack them and let them die in the hands of the demons. Anger filled the face of every individual citizen, giving them the courage they lacked before. He heard his own voice saying “Thousands of people had died and the king allowed the demons to take over. Soon everybody would die and demons would reign, unless we revolt.”
