"Did you see that?" He asked holding the cylindrical object out to Parel.
"Did I see what?" She asked, "What is that?"
"I don't know. I found it in Knoro's old mansion the night that I got attacked. Whenever I look at it words flash across it asking me to choose my color.”
Parel wore a quizzical look. "So choose a color and see what happens,” She suggested.
Taren held the object in his hand and once again the words flashed across it. He thought for a moment and then said "Purple". New words flashed across the surface "It is well!" and the object started to glow a deep purple color.
"Wow," Parel exclaimed, "Now what?"
Taren shook his head"I have no idea.”
He examined the purple cylinder for a while longer. When he couldn't find anything new about the object, he placed it in the pouch that hung from his belt. He watched as Parel disappeared towards the stream again to wash the dirty dishes and put them away. When she returned, she placed the dishes back in her pack and sat down.
"Are you okay?" Taren asked her.
She smiled nervously. "I was told I would find out about my real family on this trip. What if I don't like what I find out? What if my parents were criminals?"
"Would it matter if they were?" Taren answered. "Look at your adoptive father, he is a criminal, and you seem to have turned out all right.”
Parel stuck her tongue out at him.
"This is serious, Nathan.”
"Can you please stop calling me that? I choose to go by Taren now?”
She looked confused for a moment before realization came to her. "Oh... I keep calling you Nathan, don't I?"
He just nodded.
"I'm sorry. It's just hard for me. You've been Nathan for as long as I have known you,”
"I know, but we both need to get used to it.”
"Do you know where we are going?”
"No,” He shrugged his shoulders. "The bard just said to go east.”
"Since we don't know where we are going, can we just stay here for a while? I like it here. It's peaceful.”
Taren looked around. The sounds of the creek gurgling by along with the sounds of the insects chirping did add the relaxing qualities of the area. This place was indeed relaxing, but more than that it felt safe.
"Yes, we can stay here for a while.”
They both pulled the tents out of their packs and set them up. In very little time the clearing began to look like a comfortable campsite.
They spent the rest of the day chatting about various topics but avoiding anything that might have been important. Both Oran and Cyan were circling the clearing acting as guards. It had been decided that the weapons would keep guard while Taren and Parel were sleeping. The weapons did not require sleep, and they would awaken their wielders in the event that anything dangerous should approach.
As the sun began to set, Parel cooked them a small dinner and they retired to their tents for the night. When Taren was sure that Parel was asleep, he left tent his and walked to the large stump located on the other side of the clearing. Sitting on the stump he pulled the purple cylinder from his pouch and examined it again. It was completely smooth and made out of crystal. He wasn’t sure how, but he could somehow sense that.
"What are you?" He asked, wondering if it was intelligent like Cyan was. There was no answer.
Frustrated, he dropped it on the grass next to the stump.
"Cyan, can you come here?" He knew that Cyan could read his mind, so he didn’t raise his voice.
Cyan's glowing blade came out of the forest and floated toward him. The sight was eerie. The cold blue light cast by the blade causing the grass underneath to turn white and ghostly.
"How may I help you, Taren?"
"I want to talk,” Taren answered, reaching out to grab the sword and placing it across his lap. "You knew my father. I would like to know more about him. You must also have some ideas of where we should go for this quest. I would like to hear whatever it is that you can tell me.”
Cyan was quiet for a long time. Taren could feel the different emotions passing through the sword. It was bizarre to feel what another creature was feeling. The whirlwind of emotions slowed down, and Cyan began to speak.
"Your father was a great Elf. He had an ability that no one had seen before. He was able to manipulate crystal in miraculous ways. It was through this ability that he was able to combine crystal and steel to create the blades for us. The resultant material is stronger than steel and as transparent as the purest crystal. Through the combined efforts of him and Derek Fantis, the Crystal Blades were created.
"We were created before the techno virus infected the world, but after the dragons had returned. As such, we were built as artificial life forms. The world was fantastic then. Great airships flew across the sky. Cities of the tallest buildings dotted the land. There were even crafts that could traverse the cosmos themselves. But all of that changed when the War Birds arrived.
"They had been the vanguard of a peaceful group of visitors from beyond the cosmos. They did not know the devastation that their arrival would herald.
"It was shortly after the last batch of Crystal Blades had been finished. There were thousands of us; each given to a soldier to combat the devastating force of the dragons. It was working. The allied forces of the Humans, the Elves, and the Dwarves were finally beginning to win the war. The powers that the wielding of the Crystal Blades gave them were able to turn the tide. The dragons were supposedly beaten when the messages from the visitors began to arrive.
"They were a peaceful group of travelers that needed someplace to re-supply. Our planet was the best place that they could find to get the fuel and supplies that they needed. The initial sent were a dozen War Birds. When they entered our atmosphere, something went horribly wrong. Nobody knows what caused it, but something on their crafts and something on our world combined to create a virus that affected all technology.
"The virus brought all of the technology to life and transformed it into mechanical insects bent on destroying all organic life. It was a long and bloody war, but thanks to the joint efforts of the allies, the Crystal Blades, and the Dragon Bard, the techno-insects were destroyed.
"Fearing that something like this might happen, your father and Derek outfitted us with a very powerful protection against technological viruses. The protection did not keep us from getting infected, but it did stop the transformations and the desire to kill all organic creatures, in most of us. There were a small number of Crystal Blades that were not strong enough, so they killed their wielders and became the Dark Blades. Since then more have flocked to their ranks. Approximately half of our original number has sided with them. We will probably have to deal with them before this ordeal is finished. Ever since then, the bard has been reminding people of the dangers of technology.
"Ever since then, we have been fighting the virus. That fight gets more difficult with each passing year”
Taren sat listening for several minutes before he realized that Cyan had stopped speaking. He was just about to ask a question when a twig snapping behind him caught his attention. He turned in time to see an enormous white tiger step out of the trees.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Companions
“Some roads cross in very strange places.” - Cartographers Creed
The first of the double moons waxed full in the night sky. The second was not visible. The sounds of the nocturnal animals echoed through the forest louder than Narissa liked. She was used to the silence of the Hallway, the grove of trees where she lived with her master. She never really liked it when she was sent out on missions, but she was loyal. Dareth had raised her since she was a small cub. He was the closest thing to a father figure that she had ever known.
She had been hunting her quarry for three days now. It had been just this morning that she had found his trail. It was not long after that she had lost his trail again. It was as if he had simply disappeared. There was another scent that had passe
d the same way, it was more feminine, and was a bit older, but it was moving in roughly the same direction as her prey, so she decided to follow it.
As she ran images started to appear in her mind. She was five years old, standing in front of a burning cottage with a tall Elven woman and a stocky boy. A tall dark haired man... Blackness from the collar around her neck passed through her head wiping the images away as quickly as they had started. She stumbled and fell as the force of the blackness entered her mind.
She didn't know exactly how long she had been unconscious, but the trail that she had been following was definitely colder. It was still easy to follow, and it was the only lead that she had so she moved on.
It wasn't long before a gentle breeze carried the scent of the one that she was hunting. He was close. She altered her course slightly, angling her direction towards the direction that the breeze was blowing from.
Several minutes later she was looking out into a clearing where a young elf was sitting on a stump talking to a glowing sword. She thought it was strange, but she didn't dwell on it. Crouching down she stepped from the trees, accidentally stepping on a dry twig. The sound of the twig breaking echoed through the clearing, causing her prey to turn and face her.
Taren was unable to move as the largest animal he had ever seen stalked towards him. The white tiger must have stood at least four feet tall at the shoulder.
His body would not respond to his silent pleas to flee, to open his wings and fly away. He felt Cyan trying to get out if his hand. He was surprised when he opened his hand and the sword flew into the trees.
"Where are you going?" Taren demanded.
"I will have no part of this. You will need to figure it out on your own.”
Taren didn't understand what the sword meant; he just knew that his one form of defense had just abandoned him. He hadn't thought to grab his weapons belt; he had just grabbed the crystal cylinder out of his pouch and come to sit on this stump. He looked around to try and find the small object that he had dropped in the grass.
The tiger began to growl. The sound snapped Taren's attention back to the situation at hand. Hatred burned in the pink eyes almost disguising the underlying intelligence that was there. The sight was unnerving.
He held out his hand in a placating gesture and began to move around the stump. "N... Nice kitty,” He said
The tiger's growling suddenly became fiercer as it lunged at Taren.
He spread his wings and tried to fly out of the tiger's reach, but he was not fast enough. The tiger jumped up on the stump, then launched itself into the air. He screamed in pain as the tiger dug its claws into his wings, causing him to plummet back to the ground. He could feel the blood dripping from his feathers as he tried to fold his wings so they could protect his back.
The tiger roared loudly, and its weight left Taren's back. He looked up and could barely make out Parel standing there holding a long blue sword through the tears. Adrenaline pulsed through him and he climbed to his feet. Both of his wings were drooping at odd angles, pulling him off balance, but he was able to stand.
A soft purple glow from the base of the tree stump caught his eye. He quickly snatched the source of the glow from the ground. The crystal cylinder that he had been inspecting earlier flared with light as his hand came in contact with it.
Not noticing the strange flare up, Taren closed his hand around the object. The cylinder was a solid object that would brace his hand as he struck, much like the bars that the guild torturer had used to increase the damage of his thrusts. As his hand closed, he was very surprised as purple fire burst out of the ends, wrapping around his hand, and elongating into a sword.
Suddenly finding himself armed, he wasted no time in rushing to help Parel. He didn't move as quickly as he would have liked with his wings dragging on the ground, but he covered the distance relatively quickly anyway.
The glowing purple sword caught the tiger's attention so it turned to see what new threat had appeared behind it. It growled fiercely when it saw Taren standing there holding the sword.
Taren only had a moment as the beast tried to determine what the best course of action was. It didn't take very long to decide before it lunged. He sidestepped the beast, swinging the sword in a wide overhand arc, connecting with the tiger's back. He had expected the sword to cut the attacker, but that is not what happened.
The purple fire spread over the tiger's lithe body, moving quickly towards the black collar that was fastened around its neck. Blackness was emanating from the collar in response to the fire, and when the two forces met, Taren's sword began to shake violently. He had trouble maintaining his grip on the smooth crystal, but he had the feeling that he needed to hold on.
He was transfixed by the site of the two forces battling each other. It seemed as if each had an intelligence of their own. The purple light attacked with finesse and skill. While the blackness looked like it was relying purely on brute force. It didn't take long for the blackness to begin to be driven back. As the two forces approached the collar that was the source of the blackness, the light grew in intensity and power. When the light finally reached its destination, the entire tiger was bathed in the brilliant purple light.
Taren had to shield his eyes against the brightness of the light as it did whatever it was doing. When the light finally subsided, a small naked woman stood where the large tiger had once been. She couldn't have stood more than three and a half feet tall. She had long flowing white hair that brushed her heals. Her skin was even paler than Taren's was, there seemed to be no color in it at all. Her wide feline eyes were pink.
"What have you done to me?" She asked, just before fainting. As she lay on the ground, unconscious, a small four-pointed star with crystal blades extending from each point came to rest in her hand.
Shaunna watched from her hiding place as the young elf spread his wings and tried to escape from the tiger. It wasn't possible. He was supposed to be dead, and yet here he was. Suddenly a world of opportunities presented itself to her. Here was her way out of the life that she hated so much, but only if he would recognize the oath that his father had made.
She was so wrapped up in her own musings, that she nearly cried out in surprise when the purple fire erupted from his hands, forming the sword. She had to cover her mouth to muffle the noise. This was impossible; he could wield the Sword of Star Fire. No mortal being was supposed to be able to do that without it destroying them. Here he was wielding the powerful weapon, apparently unharmed.
"I have to get closer to him. I need to make sure that he is who I think he is,” She said to herself. "I need to find out more.”
Narissa was falling through the darkness. She didn't usually mind the darkness, but this was different than any darkness that she had experienced before. It was thick and almost alive. The sensation of falling through it was not a pleasant one.
As despair was about to overwhelm her, a flickering light ignited in the distance. It came from a burning cottage. Narissa recognized the building as she approached it. It had been the little house where she had lived as a child. As she got closer, the four people standing outside the building came into focus. There was a tall, elegant woman surrounded by two tiny children and a tall dark man.
"What do you want from us," The woman asked the man? "Why are you doing this? We have done nothing to you.”
"You may not have done anything, but your husband has been defying us for centuries,” The man said. "You will pay for his insolence,” He waved his hand, and she flew into a nearby tree. "I am going to enjoy watching you suffer.”
"MOM," The small boy screamed. He lunged at the dark man, quickly changing form into a large white tiger.
The dark man was too agile for the lithe feline. He drove a dagger through the cat's eye, killing it instantly.
"Mommy, Calen," The little girl asked?
The dark man smiled down at her. "You will make a fine pet, my kitten,” Another wave of his hand and she had transformed into a tiger as well. A b
lack collar affixed itself around her neck.
"Leave her alone. She has done nothing to you,” The woman groaned as blood flowed from her mouth and nose. "Please don't take Narissa.”
Dareth just laughed as he walked away, leaving the woman to die in the light of the burning building.
Taren removed his cloak and covered the small woman with it. Adrenaline coursed through him, causing him to shake uncontrollably. He forced his hand open, causing the smooth crystal cylinder to fall to the grass at his feet. As the object left his hand, the purple fire disappeared.
"Taren, what’s going on?" Parel knew something was wrong as soon as Taren turned around. His eyes were glassy, his face was ashen, and he wobbled dangerously. Blood was freely flowing from his wings, staining the ground where they dragged.
"Taren, are you okay?" She asked.
He didn't answer. He just stood there staring blankly at her. The pupils of his eyes were overly large. His face was much paler than it usually was.
"Taren," Parel asked, panic very apparent in her voice.
As he tried to take a step towards her, his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell.
"TAREN," She screamed.
Before she could move, however, a figure materialized next to him. An instant later both Taren and the figure disappeared.
Parel covered her mouth in horror. Taren was gone. She was now alone with the unconscious girl that had just tried to kill him.
"All is not as bad as it seems,” Oran told her. "The figure that just spirited the king away is another wielder. She has taken him to one that can help him,”
"What about her?" Parel asked, gesturing to the small woman.
"She is also a wielder. She has been used by the dark lords. Her family was murdered by Dareth himself. She was kidnapped as a child,” Oran explained. "She requires special consideration. The blade that she wields is a unique blade,”
Master's Mind: The Dagger of Dragon Rose: Book 1 Page 8
