by Riley Tune
17
The Lantra installed fear in me as I was brought closer to him. Sure, a Battle Born was able to take your powers away, but at least you could still move. There was still a chance of escape, even if it was small. But being wrapped in the Lantra’s power literally made you more than powerless. I was just, there. A prisoner of my own body.
I moved my eyes rapidly in any direction I could think of as the Rewling warrior placed me there in front of the Lantra. The crowd all around us still sat silently. From the portion I could see, they all were still kneeling. Many not even looking up at the events unfolding before them.
I could only assume that my friends were being frozen in place the same as me. One indicator was that I couldn’t hear Craydon talking. Since I’ve met him, Craydon was always one to try and talk his way out of bad spots. His silence now was alarming.
Vida, while not as much a talker as Craydon, was always more of the physical type. Seeing as how no kicks or punches were thrown, it was safe to say that she too was stuck in a frozen state.
I tried to warp again and again but nothing happened. I could only sit there, covered in the warm glow that this creature put out. The Lantra was looking less and less majestic to me as it looked me over.
Its large catlike face was only inches from mine now. Its breath was cold on my skin. Had I been able to move I would have been shivering I’m sure. You are the one The Grim God seeks. I heard the voice sound off in my head. For a moment, I forgot about my state and tried to speak.
I cursed inside of my head to which the voice rang in my head again. Do not fear me. The Grim God has plans for you. The beast looked me up and down once more and then walked around me.
I thought inside my head a single question. Can you hear me? Quickly in my head I heard a voice reply Yes. It was very off- putting to have a voice in your head and it not be yours. The Lantra had a voice that reminded me of a low, and slow, hissing sound. Like every word, it placed in my head was drawn out.
I couldn’t see the Lantra anymore. I could see Atmos as he glanced over to us and then his eyes flickered on something. He swallowed and then looked down again. “Lord Lantra,” he said without looking up. “My son.”
For a second there was no sound, and then the Lantra gave a sound off that sounded like a deep rumble. It reminded me of a cat purr but just deeper, just like that Halo was moving again. Apparently, the Lantra had granted Atmos’s request.
“Father.” Halo screamed instantly. I could hear small gasp come from the crowd around me, but unable to move I couldn’t see exactly what was going on. What I could see was Atmos raise his hand and spin it slightly.
From the opposite side of the amphitheatre, another Rewling warrior appeared. Naturally he too, was a hulking man that was bare- chested. As he ran closer to us, I could hear the pleas of Halo. “Don’t do this father. It’s not our way.” He shouted as he could be heard moving quickly.
“Craydon. Craydon.” Halo said, and then suddenly Halo was looking me in the eye. He had appeared so fast that, had I not been a statue and trapped inside my own body, I would have flinched.
With glossy eyes and a red face, he simply began to cry as he moved from me to his father. “We must do as the Lantra commands, Halo. It will not hurt them.” Atmos said from the ground.
As the final Rewling warrior made it to us, Halo moved from his father, and tried to run. My best guess was that he was trying to get to Craydon, one last time, but he did not make it. In his haste, he stumbled to the ground, and was hefted by two of the Rewling warriors and carried away.
“Take him to the closest and least occupied haven for him to calm down,” Atmos said. He was standing now, and the Lantra came before him once more. They looked at each other, but now I knew what was happening. The Lantra was speaking to him. Likely commanding him.
Atmos nodded and then raised his hands. As he did so every person in the amphitheatre stood in unison and began to leave.
With a final glance at us, the Lantra flapped its massive wings and rose into the air. That sound I heard before the Lantra landed, I could hear it now too. It waits wings flapping. Those massive wings, blowing dirt all around us, created a rhythmic thumping sound as they moved up and down.
The Lantra was maybe five feet in the air, before it paused and looked down on us. Its eyes were blue before. Blue swirling stars, but now as he looked at us they were a pale green color.
I slowly felt the sensation of being back in control of my body coming back to me. My mouth twitched some as I tried to move it. My next instinct was to warp. I tried again but nothing happened. I could feel the power in me and I could see a faint shimmer as the world around me usually did before I warped, but I still couldn’t move.
Then I felt it. As the Lantra’s green eyes gazed upon us below him, I could feel an intense power pulling me down. I felt drained. Tired. So tired, that my eyes couldn’t stay open. The world around me, full of color, and movement, slowly began to go black.
I could feel my head falling slowly. The effects of being frozen in place seemed to be wearing off, just as the feeling restlessness set in. Before I knew it, my world was yet again turning into black darkness, and nothing else remained. There was no more.
18
I wasn’t sure why, but when my eyes finally opened my body was incredibly sore. Not only was it sore, but I was very dizzy. This room, wherever I was, was slowly beginning to stop spinning. Clearly the effects of the Lantra’s power was still fading. I was laying on a cool solid floor and could see Vida sitting beside me.
“Nice of you to join us, Warps,” she said as she looked down on me. “I was worried for a little.” I heard footsteps walking closer to me. Turning my neck slightly I could see Craydon standing over me. “Hey there.” he said as he chewed yet another twig.
“Just stay still for a moment. The pain and the feeling of being dizzy will go away in a few minutes. We only just woke up about ten minutes ago,” Vida said as she rubbed my arm. “Where are we?” I asked as I looked around.
From what I could see, all three of us were in a small room. There were small circular holes drilled into the ceiling that was easily ten feet above us. What the room lacked in size it made up for in height.
“Some sort of holding cell, or jail I’d say,” Craydon said as he, judging from the sounds of his boots, walked back and forth in our small cell He took a deep breath. “I wonder how Halo is doing. That idiot decided to go off the deep end at the wrong time. He’s as crazy as you are,girly.” Craydon said as he glanced at Vida.
As I lay on the floor, as helpless as a child, I could feel the room finally come to a complete stop, and the pain that consumed my body began to go away. It was a slow process. I reached inside myself and touched my power. As I had done so many times before, I held onto it and let it heal me.
In an instant I was back to my normal self, and I shot up so fast that it made Vida jump from where she was sitting beside me. I looked around the room to get a fuller view of what kind of cell this was.
As with everything else in Rewling, this room seemed to be completely made out of stone. On top of that, it was small. So small in fact, that had two more people been in there with us, we would have had a hard time moving. There was a glowing ball of light, stuck to the wall. I looked at it. It was about the size of a human head and appeared to be some sort of glowing stone that gave off enough light for the room.
“What is this,” I said as I went to touch it. “A glowing rock,” Vida said casually. As if she had seen something like this on a regular basis in Thera. “It’s called a Lumin,” Craydon said. “Rewling has many stones, that serve many purposes. While Thera, and the like use fire for light, Rewling uses these things. They come in all shapes and sizes.”
I allowed my hand to brush across the smooth surface of the Lumin. It was like a star being placed in front of you. After my attention faded from the Lumin I looked around the room once more. There were no windows at all. Asid
e from the few holes in the ceiling, there was nothing leading to the outside.
There was also, no visible door. My brow raised. “No window, and no door? How did we get in here?” “Not sure,” Vida said. “We woke up just as confused as you are.” Craydon rubbed his chin. “Curious, isn’t it? We find ourselves in a room that seems to be, Warper proof.”
I looked at him for a second. He was right. No windows for me to look out of, or doors that provided a crack that I could see through. I was trapped. No, we were trapped, and for all of our gifts, we didn’t seem to have any options.
I didn’t expect to ever be stopped like this. I was a killer. With the profession I had, you could expect to end up in a cell. I just didn’t expect it to be one that could hold me.
“I’m going to kill him,” I said smoothly. “Who?” Craydon asked as he stopped moving to look at me. “Atmos. I’m going to kill him.” I replied. “Well if anybody deserves it, it’s him,” Vida said with a snort.
“First, we need to figure a way out,” I said as I looked at the four walls. I reached for a dagger to see if I could find a crack, or a groove, or something that gave off an indicator that a door was hidden in front of us.
That’s when I realized it. My dagger, and throwing knives were gone. “Keeper’s name!” I swore as I looked to Vida and Craydon. “Weapons are gone. Should have told you that when you came to.” Craydon said. “They took Lash too, those Rewling Bastards”
“Lucky me,” Vida added. “I don’t have weapons to take.” Craydon and I shoot her a glare. She shrugged. “Well, I don’t.”
“We just have to figure out a plan,” I said. “Yeah, and nobles need to give me yolars, doesn't mean it’s going to happen,” Craydon added. “It would take a miracle for -” he stopped talking as a large sound echoed around the room. I looked at one of the stone slab walls and saw a portion of it draw back and slide to the left.
A cloaked person walked in, holding a miniature Lumin in their hand. “We don’t have much time,” the voice said as the hood fell. “Halo,” Craydon yelled as he ran to him and kissed him. “I don’t know why I ever left you in the first place,” Craydon said as he held him close in an embrace.
“You slept with my cousin. You know, the married lady with red hair, who didn’t wish to be shared,” Halo shot back. “Oh that,” Craydon replied. “By The Forgotten Gods, I’m a changed man now”
“You better be,” Halo said as he pulled a small portion of rope from his pocket and gave it to Craydon. “Lash,” Craydon exclaimed as he coiled the leather rope in his hands.
Halo, now free of Craydon’s embrace, turned to me and drew out two long crystal daggers. “They destroyed your weapons, and this was all I could find in the armory. They are some of the best crystal cuts a Rewling warrior can get, though.”
I took the daggers in my hand. Ember was able to use two daggers at once. I had never got around to being trained in that style. How hard could it be, though? I spun the daggers in my hand. They really were well made.
Good balance, sharp on both sides, and the handle seemed to be made out of some soft, yet grainy material that I had never seen before. It was as if the handle molded to groves of my hand as I gripped the daggers.
I still missed my throwing knives, but this would have to do. “We must really get going, you have been in here long enough,” Halo said, as he stuck his head out the large hole he came in through and looked around.
“We’ve only been in here a few minutes.” I said as I glanced up to the holes that were in the ceiling. Halo shook his head. “You’ve been in here for eight hours. You’ve only recently woken from The Lantra’s power.”
Eight hours? We were in here for eight hours. Something about that bothered me, but I didn’t know why. It just didn’t seem right. “I will get you to the shore,” Halo said as he raised his hood on his cloak and disappeared into the darkness outside our cell.
Internally, I had begun to wish I had my cloak, after seeing him with his. I glanced at Vida, unsure if we should even follow Halo or not. Craydon, however, wasted no time in following his lover outside. “Come on chaps. Nothing gets the blood running like an escape for your life.” Craydon said as he stuck his head back in our cell to encourage us.
Vida and I stepped out, only to find that Halo was waiting in the hall. “What’s wrong?” Vida asked him. “Nothing,” Halo said as he placed a hand on the wall. Instantly the large slab of stone began to move back in place and found its home. The wall to our cell was solid once more.
I looked at the wall, and then back to Halo, and finally back to the wall again. This was hard to process. “How did you?” I mouthed to Halo as he moved past me. Vida had a grimace of confusion on her face too as she witnessed what happened. “There are other gods besides The Grim God, and The Keeper. Lunaris isn’t as open with her gifts, but once in a century or so, a few are born with a blessing from her. I just happen to be one of them,” Halo said through quick breaths.
Before I could question it, he darted off down the hall, followed by Craydon with Vida and I brought up the rear. Now, not only were their other lands, there were other people blessed by other gods as well. I was slowly starting to see that The Keeper was keeping more secrets, than I had originally thought.
We had covered a little distance when Halo suddenly stopped and held up his hand. The Lumin he was holding instantly faded. Now it looked like a normal stone, “What’s-” Craydon began but as noise from Halo made him stop.
“Warriors are coming,” Halo said. “How do you know?” I asked as I looked around. I even touched my power to enhance my hearing, and I still couldn’t hear any footsteps. “I don’t hear or see anything.”
“Me neither,” Vida said. “Vibrations. I can feel them in the floor.” Halo said to us as he dropped down and placed his hand on the stone ground. “You can what?” Vida asked. “I can feel the vibrations in the stone.” He looked at a slab of wall and bit his lip as he looked at it.
“Are you serious? Keeper, that’s impressive,” Vida said. I had to agree with her, it did seem like a useful skill to have. Halo seemed conflicted. “By The Forgotten Gods, forgive me,” he said as he placed his hand on the wall once more. As before, a large slab on the wall seemed to open and gave us entry. “Quickly, inside.” Halo said as he motioned for us to go in.
I paused for a moment. Then seeing that he was clearly doing something he wasn’t supposed to by helping us, decided to trust him. I entered the room only to find a spiral stone staircase leading downward.
I went down first, dagger in hand just in case. Vida was behind me. I heard a few more footsteps and then could hear the stone being moved back into place again. For a second there was darkness all around, and then the Lumin became bright again.
At the bottom of the spiral steps was, a room. A very unusual room. It was circular in shape and the walls seemed to be made out of a gold foundation, but had various stones placed in the walls. Shiny stones of blue, green, red, pink, and orange.
It was beautiful. Inside the circular room was four large shallow chambers. Large enough that an adult could stand inside. Each of the chambers had a groove carved into the golden stone floor that connected them in the center of the room.
In the center of the room, the groves all lead to one singular focal point. This focal point was also another large hole, and that was empty. In the back of the circular room were steps leading up to a door surrounded by stone pillars with two large windows on the sides.
The pillars were cracked, and missing large chunks of stone, as was the stone door that they surrounded.
“What, is this place?” Craydon asked as he rubbed his hand on the stone encrusted golden wall. I stood in the middle of the room and looked around, finding myself looking at the stairwell leading to the stone door again.
“This is the oldest structure in Rewling.” Halo said. “A holy place older than the Lantra itself. Home of the original Four Forgotten Gods. “Original Four F
orgotten Gods?” I asked as I repeated his statement back to him.
“As in gods other The Keeper, or The Grim God?” “Yes,” Halo said as he placed a hand on the wall and looked up. “The warriors have passed now. It’s safe to go.” He made a motion to move towards the steps that lead to the dilapidated pillars, but I raised a hand to stop him.
“Explain.” I said sternly. “Explain what?” Vida said as she looked at me. “Explain about these original gods.” “We don’t have time,” Halo said impatiently. “Make time,” I replied. Perhaps a little too stern. “Easy,” Craydon said as he glared at me. I look back at him. “I’m sorry but there are more questions arising than answers in this place.”
Halo exhaled and moved his hand in frustration. “According to The Lantra. We have Four Forgotten Gods now. Lunaris Bury, Nishka Zalfari, Grimsby Glen commonly called the Grim God, and Nasium Suro, commonly called The Keeper.” So far, I followed what he was saying.
While The Keeper had told me his real name, and the true name of The Grim God, he had never spoken of the other two. Yet he did show me all four of them when he showed me the past.
“While these four are essentially gods, they are not the first forgotten gods. They are fifth generation. Meaning four times before, four gods were chosen by Etangria, and according to The Lantra, each generation of gods failed, this generation included. This,” He moved his hand around the room. “Was the resting place of the first generation of Forgotten Gods.”
The room was silent. It only lasted a few seconds but to me it seemed like eternity. How had there been so many gods before, yet we knew of none of them? Not only that but how had they failed? If this was true, then more years than I could imagine had passed since the first generation of gods were chosen.
I spun around as I began to think, and slowly walked towards the steps leading up to the door surround by pillars. Light beamed through the windows as I moved closer. The light shining in brought me from thinking about what Halo had just said. How was it still day outside?
