The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell

by Douglas Howell

  They scored two major victories in their first two years. In their first year they won a major sea battle with the pirates and sunk several ships. In the second year they routed a major pirate nest and became famous all over. Even I heard about them in that year. And I was traveling all over at the time.

  Both Natas and his wife met in the same year that her crew routed that nest. I actually heard some of the former crew members telling me, when I asked them about that time period, that she was talking about working while pregnant. I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God. You got to be shitting me. Fighting all of those pirates while pregnant.’ So I had to ask her if that was true, and she said that it was. Now you know why they don’t allow a fllustl wannabe on a ship.

  A year later both of them got married and she was pregnant. During that time they were working along side another pirate hunting ship. The captain of that ship was said to be quite arrogant. He ended up putting her, her captain, and their crew under a lot of stress. For some reason he stop talking to them and order his crew not to socialize with theirs. Because of the stress that Natas’ wife was under while she was pregnant, she had to take time off. The problem was, she’s a good officer that couldn’t be replaced.

  What’s more, her departure also meant that other good officers decided to take a break. Like her, they were irreplaceable. After four years she came back, but not those officers. The damage was too great and after three years the ship was disbanded. Those officers became a captain of their own ship, and went off to fight pirates on their own. They had nothing but mixed victories. Not one single victory that could equal those first two. One of those officers was one of those swashbuckler types. He really loved doing what he was doing. After those officers went their own way, and he got a crew and ship, but his exploits went downhill. He lost his crew and his ship. Then he got another crew and ship and lost those as well. Broken down and still in his prime, he went to the far west of Iraxxan. To those islands that look like the invert of Japan. So in a way, Natas was a curse to them. It was his wife commissions where he got part of his wealth from.

  At the time that I decided to work for Natas, there really wasn’t any strong reason to believe that he, nor his wife, had any ulterior motive against me. They only wanted my skills as a warrior. I was the best and that’s what they wanted. I killed the swamp demon, they heard about that, and they asked to see its skull. They then told me that was the reason why they wanted me. And why they were willing to pay so much for my service. They wanted me to go after Llyysta and her husband. When I asked for the reason, they dodge the question. They told me that it was a very long story, and they didn’t think I would understand. So I didn’t press the issue. Even if I did... it wouldn’t have worked. Look at how he acted when I asked about his, quote-fllustl wife-end-quote. So what more could I do?

  I did some research on Tsk’llk and Llyysta at the time. What I learned, didn’t give me any answers as to why Natas hated them so much. Llyysta once saw a fllaistl slave being whipped. When she saw that, she realized that could be Nany’skl being whipped like that. She started to talk to them about the ideas that they had for the city that they wanted to start for their people. So she’d proposed the rallying cry of, ‘Yhidnrvl qy stol (eed-na-rule key stow).’ It meant, ‘Freedom for all.’ But freedom did not mean from slavery. It meant from oppression, from tyranny. So of course not one single slave owner would have considered it a threat. If they didn’t consider Iomiyya a threat then why would they perceive both of them as a threat?

  And as for that civilization that they wanted to start? They found a small deserted island to which they could build that civilization upon. Llyysta wanted to build their first city in a valley, which would have given them a good tactical position. Tsk’llk wanted to build a port city instead. Lucky for them... he got what he wanted. But that civilization was weak and feeble. It was not a threat to anyone. Not to one single civilization. Llyysta’s saying wouldn’t have been a good reason to destroy them. To this day I still can’t figure out why Natas hated them so much.

  Looking at the strength and weaknesses of their civilization, combine with what Natas gave me to assist me, I pretty much knew what had to be done. I had to lure them out. I expected them to bring a small army for their protection. I also knew that I had to rely upon my security force to deal with that army. Natas said that he would cover any losses to that security force.

  By the time that it was over, I had lost everything. I lost my security force, my business, and my independence. I was slightly injured. My eyes turned brown, which meant that I lost my self-control. And I ended up killing my boyfriend. When I told Natas what happened, the only thing that he wanted to know was what happened to my boyfriend. When I told him, his reaction told me that I was right all along about my boyfriend. He was a spy that was sent by Natas.”

  “Why on Earth would he do that? That doesn’t make any sense if he was planning on hiring you. Not unless he did that so that he could...“ Ramirez stopped when he realized what the answer was.

  “You got it. I had no reaction when I realized that my boyfriend was spying on me.”

  “Why?”

  “What could I do? But nothing. I had nothing. No source of income. No way to rebuild. No home. That beautiful house of mine was brunt down by one of Tsk’llk’s men. I had no way to survive on my own. Other than...“

  “Other than what?”

  “Work for Natas. I don’t think he’d plan that. But I guess to him... it was a big fat bonus. He could pay me anything now. And he did. Boy did he ever.

  My people, the Apollinarians race that is, had the custom of looking into a jade mirror when we lose our self-control. And that’s what I wanted to do. But neither Natas, nor his wife, wanted me to.”

  “Why?”

  “I guess it was a form of a control mechanism. When I went to argue that I should... they used my religious beliefs against me and then tricked me into given my honor.” The look on Vaistll face told Ramirez that something more occurred. It was something more darker. Something more nightmarish than what she just mentioned to him. So he said nothing to her.

  “All he wanted me to do was to take an army that he was in the process of putting together, and use them to raze the city that Tsk’llk and Llyysta built, and kill or capture them. Since I already gave my honor, there was nothing that I could do when I found out that it was an army of... criminals.”

  Ramirez, shocked, stunned and flabbergasted said, “W-What!? Why would he do that!?”

  “Because those criminals had no honor. And they would do things to that city that no honorable warrior would. I went over my Warrior Code Book of Honor with the most finest of fine-tooth combs, looking for anything, some loop-hole where I could get out of giving my honor... and found none. I had to go. I had to witness the horror. Oh... those poor little...

  It’s a damn good thing that their city was a port city. It helped the survivors to get away. They all went to Yynol’bkko. And I had to pursue them there. On top of it all, I was wounded. Llyysta was the one who wounded me. I took an arrow in my left hip, and one in my face. It was one reason why we were taught not to try and catch an arrow. It’s all hit-or-miss.

  Me and that... whatever-you-want-to-call-it, army of mine followed them across Yynol’bkko. They made friends and we made nothing but enemies. We traveled the length and breadth of that continent pursing them. That so-call army of mine got smaller, and I didn’t care. Their losses helped me to feel freer. But the reality of my situation, from a military point of view, made it worst. I felt like I was in psychological prison that was surrounded on all fronts, with no hope of escape. I felt like a robot that was program to do something. At the same time, with each step that I took... I descended further down that psychological nightmare. It made it that much more harder for me to escape it. But I never broke. Yes I suffered, but I didn’t break. Each time I felt like I was about to, I held the skull of that swamp demon in my hands to give me the strength to carry on. My attitude was: i
f I could survive that, then what else could I survive?

  By the time they got to the other side of Yynol’bkko, perhaps some three thousand miles, what was left of that so-call army of mine was quite small. We found their camp, and I left to gather some Intel. While I was in the forest I heard that so-call army of mine being wiped out of existence. I had no reaction. I just didn’t care what happen to them. Even though I guess I should have.

  After that, I noticed where Tsk’llk and Llyysta tent was. So I decided to go in and confront them. In a way, I just didn’t care how it all ended. I just wanted it all to end. So I went in and I saw her husband standing there. So we got each other to put our weapons down. Then we talked, trying not to let our guard down. I thought he was alone, but he wasn’t. I think that Llyysta was standing in another part of the tent. It was a very large tent with different areas. In any case I let my guard down. She came in and run me through with a sword. I ran out and grabbed my sword. While I was in the forest I could hear them laughing at me. I knew why they were. It was my situation, the likelihood of my survival. It was the probability of me making it back to friendlier lands. Namely... Natas.

  Later on, I treated my wound with what little medical knowledge that I had. And then I began my long journey back to more... well I guess you could say... friendlier lands. At first I walked for so long that at one point I just couldn’t continue on. My feet were killing me. So I set down and took off my boots and it look like they were filled with blood. I couldn’t even stand up. I had to treat them right away. So I made some bandages, got the right type of medicine, and then soak those bandages in them. While I was putting the bandages on my first foot I felt excruciating pain. I fainted after I put the bandages on the other foot. After that... I learn my lesson about walking back.

  By sheer dumb luck I managed to avoid all of the tribes that my so-call army encountered earlier. At one point I had to make a decision: hug the coast where a tribe was that we encountered earlier, or go through the desert. I picked the desert relying on my training as a warrior.

  When I got back to the first city that my so-call army encountered on that continent, it was nighttime and I had to acquire a boat. I managed to acquire the boat without anyone noticing me, and I got away by the skin of my teeth.”

  “How long did it take you to get to that city?”

  “Long enough and too long at the same time. I eventually ended up on an island that I recognize from the story the Noble Warriors. It was the first time that I ever been there. I remember being in a port city on the island that was abandoned. It was a cloudy day with the sun shining through off-and-on. On that day I saw something that was quite amazing. The sun was out and I saw that all around me, and on me, there were colored light. When I look to find its source, I noticed that it was coming from the Castle of the Damned that was mentioned in that story. I realized that either the stone that the castle was made of, or its façade, was of this very rare stone. That stone when polished had the same properties of a crystal.

  Although I wanted to go and explore that castle, I couldn’t afford to. I was starving. I haven’t eaten in days. And what’s more I was dehydrated. I was sick, either because of my wounds or it was something else. I had to continue on looking for both food and water. Then I needed to find some shelter. There was a part of me that was seriously thinking about staying there.

  I stayed there for several days trying to rebuild my strength. Not traveling that far from those ruins. Then one day I traveled to far and stumbled into a pirate nest. I was hit three times in my front torso with arrows. Luckily for me I was wearing armor, so it probably helped in saving my life. I did manage to get back to my boat and got away. I passed out on my side and when I awoke I was on my back. So I guessed they must have found me and mistook me for dead. So I couldn’t stay there. And therefore there was only one place that I could go to as much as I hated to.

  Later, when I was 238 years old and I was doing research on my book about Natas, I came back with some of Tsk’llk men. We didn’t find any pirates there, let alone their nest. But we did learn something quite interesting about Natas. Apparently his ancestors came from there. His ancestors were one of those Elders of the Profane. A high priest if I’m not mistaken. The ironic part is, the leader of the Noble Warriors was an Iomiyyan. That might explain why I always felt drawn to that place. So I had to go back.”

  Vaistll then showed Ramirez a necklace that she was wearing. “You see this necklace?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You see that stone?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s a piece of that castle’s façade. When I returned I got a large piece of it. The rest of it is in some government laboratory on Earth. The necklace itself is Earth-base.

  While everybody was asleep, I decided to go inside that castle. Since I felt drawn to it, some people might mistake that for past life memories. But it wasn’t. I went inside the castle searching for some answers to my life. Knowing that there were booby traps in there. Lucky for me all of the booby traps, like the Archer of Stone, no longer worked. After I got inside I learned something odd about that story. The story suggested that they may have died. That is not the case. They all lived. But for some reason they all choose not to return home. The people built a monument to them. And they built a statue to the leader of the Noble Warriors. But there is nothing to suggest that the Noble Warriors ever betray their people. They just didn’t return home.”

  “Maybe they were lost at sea.”

  “That’s what I always thought. But there is no evidence to suggest that they ever left. Then again... there’s no evidence to suggest that they stayed either. Anyway... what happened next changed my life forever. But not in the way in which you might think.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “Later that night I went to sleep under the statue of the leader of the Noble Warriors. People did stuff like that back in the ancient times, whether it was on my planet, or on the Earth. When I fell asleep, I had a dream in which he came to me. He told me that one day I too will go on a journey like the one that he did. Coming to the island. Going into the Castle of the Damned. And never returning home. When I awoke, I said out loud for him to take me with him. I then had the immediate thought that it was a metaphor. And that my journey will be similar to his.”

  Vaistll excused herself as she got to go to the bathroom. After she returned she went to the kitchen to grab a bite to eat. She then put some Pepsi in a glass and mixed it with whiskey. She came back and sit down on the couch and eat what she grabbed. She then sipped on her drink. In her own way, she was preparing herself for what she was about to say next. Yes she didn’t want to talk about it. But she knew that she had to. Not because she told Ramirez that she would, but it was the only way that she could heal herself from the pain.

  After a few moments of her preparing herself, she continued on. “On the day that I got back to Natas’ palace, from that long journey home. I remember that I walked up the beach to where two guards was standing. As I came near enough, one of them, who obviously smelled me, said, ‘The dead walks.’ I then fell to my knees out of psychical exhaustion.

  Everybody but Natas and his wife showed concerned for what I went through. Some, including the nobility, came out of curiosity. I did have some amusing moments with those people. Their reaction told me that once again, I ended up in some myth. But whatever was mentioned in those myths about me had no impact on Natas or his wife. They just didn’t care one way or the other. They only cared about any Intel that I had on Tsk’llk and Llyysta.

  Natas sent people to find as much information as they could. Eventually, those people did find what they were searching for. It was the civilization that Tsk’llk and Llyysta, and the people who came with them, founded. It was called, Plryu’nwtus (prue naw-toos). They also found a sector with a Half-Wit civilization, and Half-Wit tribes. That entire sector became a major problem for Natas’ people. It’s one reason why it took them little more than three decades to fi
nd the Plryu’nwtus civilization.”

  “What were you doing during that time period?”

  “Luckily... nothing. Accept for the obvious. It took a few years, but Natas eventually got the Half-Wit civilization on his side. Once again Natas wanted an army to destroy Tsk’llk and Llyysta. And I had to be the one to do it.”

  “Do you know what Plryu’nwtus means? Was that what they called it before, back on that island? If not, then what did they call it? What was the name of the island?”

  “The Iomiyyan name of the island was Bromm’nyxx (sound like prom nix). It meant, ‘The Copper Island.’ I don’t remember what they called the city on that island. I only heard it once. But it did go by a different name than the capital city of Plryu’nwtus. I’m not familiar with the dialect that Plryu’nwtus comes from, but I think it means something like, ‘A new life,’ or ‘new hope.’ It could have been the meaning of their civilization on Bromm’nyxx.

  Despite the fact that I had poor knowledge of Half-Wits, I did know enough to know that what Natas was asking, would be suicidal if another group of Half-Wits took the side of Plryu’nwtus. There was a saying that went as follows, ‘If Half-Wits fights for you and not for your enemy. Then you will win the day. But if they should fight one another... you will lose the day.’ The obvious occurred to me and that army of Half-Wits.

  Plryu’nwtus had a general by the name of Zell’tlaxx (zel tel-la-ox). He was born into a rich home, and inherited part of his wealth from his family. He was forty-four when my first so-call army... destroyed the capital city on Bromm’nyxx. Because I was pursuing them across Yynol’bkko, combine with his actions, he rose through the ranks. Becoming a general at an early age. He turned out to be quite the formidable adversary. Without a doubt he was a military genius. He spent as much time as he could, after the lost of Bromm’nyxx, to build up a network of intelligence. Zell’tlaxx used part of his wealth to create a bogus maritime civilization. It gave Natas the impression that it was loyal to him. Zell’tlaxx had outposts built that spied upon the movement of Natas’ forces. They also were positioned in such a way as to convince Natas that they were there to protect his interests. None of Natas’ forces could move without Zell’tlaxx knowing about it.”