by Ritu Ghosh
He heard heavy boots coming his way. Ony entered the room with open arms, happy and round. He too was dressed in white.
“It’s good to see you alright boy” Ony almost crushed him with his arms. His hands were twice the size of a normal man. Aaron struggled to hug him back.
“I am so happy to see you too Ony! How did you manage to get away from the wolves and what about Flynn? Is he hurt?”
“Everything turned out ok boy, your friend is alright” said Ony.
This bought relief to Aaron “Where is he?” he asked.
“He is here..” before Ony could finish, Flynn came rushing into the room.
“Aaron!”
“Flynn!”
“You are fine, I got so worried!” said Flynn giving Aaron a tight hug. “How’s your leg now?”
“It feels much better. But how did you get out of the forest, I saw many wolves around you” Aaron asked.
Flynn exchange glances with Ony. Ony shook his head.
“You should rest now boy. We will talk again soon” Ony said.
Aaron opened his mouth to say something but Jane walked in and Aaron stopped. Both Ony and Flynn looked at Aaron. Aaron was staring at her without blinking. Flynn gave a smirk and Ony stood up.
“I think Aaron is in good hands and we should come back later” said Ony.
Ony walked out of the room and signed Flynn to do the same. Flynn followed Ony without saying anything. His eyes went from Aaron to Jane and then back to Aaron again.
Aaron took no notice of the men as he was gazing at Jane.
“Your friends are very nice!” said Jane as she gave Aaron a small glass filled with a blue color potion. “Flynn told me all about how bravely you fought the wolves!” she said.
Aaron felt a sudden blush all over him. He gulped the medicine in one go. Even though the medicine tasted pungent, he managed to keep a straight face. He couldn’t find anything to say to Jane. He watched her leave again. For some reason, he felt like he was floating on a cloud.
Sleep overcame him and soon and he drifted off in the land of dreams. He was flying in the sky and looking for Jane. Jane sat in the green fields giggling and playing with many other maidens. This sweet dream lasted only a little while. He saw Jane running, she was scared. A huge hairy beast was chasing her. Aaron couldn’t find his sword, he was calling her name in vain.
Aaron opened his eyes and realized how his dream had turned into a nightmare. He sat upright on his bed. It was dark outside now but his room was lit by many candles. ‘Jane must have put all these here’ He thought to himself and smiled.
He moved his legs, he couldn’t feel any pain. He examined his leg closely. The bandages were still there but the pain had vanished. He slowly tried to stand up and then walked across the room for some time. He felt like he had found a new strength in himself.
Aaron opened the door of his room and realized that it was a part a large house. The corridors were lit by strange white lamps and the house looked like heaven indeed. Aaron came out and opened a few doors in the corridor. The rooms were similar to the room Aaron was in, but some were smaller and some were really huge. The rooms were all empty with minimal decoration, mostly white and golden.
Suddenly, something caught his eyes. He saw a small shadow moving at a distance. He tiptoed and followed the shadow. He saw a very odd small creature. It disappeared inside one of the rooms. Aaron stood near the door of the room the creature had gone into. He then slowly opened the door and entered the room. It was a big room that expanded into many galleries which were separated by wooden shelves. Aaron walked around the shelves but could not find anyone there.
There were many glass bottles of every shape and size. They were all filled with colorful potions and were kept on the shelves. There were some glass tubes and containers kept on a table in the corner. There was some kind of a liquid bubbling and smoking in one of the containers there. The room was filled with a strange smell that made him nauseous.
“What do you think you are doing here?” said a thin voice.
“Do you understand the meaning of a secret room?” another voice joined in.
Aaron turned around but couldn’t see anyone. For a moment, he thought that he was hallucinating.
“Excuse me! No strangers allowed here.” the first voice came again.
Aaron looked down. There were two small creatures standing in front of him, wearing long robes. They looked like gnomes, but had no beards. They had very thin bodies and wore long pointed hats. They also had bright green robes and wore a large belt around their waist. Both of them had their arms crossed over their chest and looked very angry.
“I ... I am sorry. I was looking for my friends” Aaron was not sure who or what was he talking to.
“It’s the boy” another voice came from behind him.
“The boy?!” both creatures looked at each other.
Within seconds, Aaron was surrounded by many more such creatures. He didn’t know if he should be afraid or not. They started to climb on Aaron. They checked his hair, his face, clothes and his ears. They were very curious.
“Hey! What do you want? Stop doing that. Get off me” Aaron shouted as he pulled one of them from his head.
The creatures quickly came down and hid behind the shelves. Aaron din not want to scare them, so he kneeled down and said politely, “I didn’t mean to shout at you. But, who are you? I have never seen anything like you guys before”
Some of them came out slowly and stood next to Aaron. The one with really long ears said “We are Nomes; we make things for our master”
“Nomes?! Where do you come from?” Aaron was surprised.
“Our master made us” said one of them.
“Made you?! What do you mean, made you?” asked Aaron.
“Yes! He made us, through Magic” said the Nome.
‘Magic!’ Aaron thought. He instantly understood that he was in a wizard’s house. And the old man he saw earlier was the wizard of the Blue Mountains that he had heard in the tales.
“Why did you call me the boy?” Aaron asked.
“Because, you are the boy the prophecy foretold”
“There is a prophecy?! And I am in it?” Aaron jumped and came closer to the Nomes.
“Yes!” they all said cheerfully.
Suddenly, a cracking sound came from another room and all the Nomes looked in that direction with their mouths hanging open.
“What was that?” Aaron asked.
“The eggs! the eggs! They have started to hatch!” one of them said alarmed.
“What eggs?” Aaron’s voice was lost in the cries of the Nomes.
All the Nomes ran towards a small hole in the wall and ducked down and went through it.
“Wait! Tell me about the prophecy.” Aaron’s voice echoed in the room. All the Nomes had left, he was all alone now. He stood up and came out of the room wondering what he had just seen. He walked in the corridors again till he heard voices of people talking. He quickly reached a large hall where Dan, Ony and everybody else were sitting on large stone chairs. Dan was looking more serious than ever, even Ony was brooding over something. The old man was sitting in the middle. He looked peaceful. Beside him, Jane sat on a smaller chair with her eyes gleaming. Flynn sat next to her trying to fit in, but he did not get much attention from anyone. All of them seemed to be engrossed in an important conversation. Aaron was happy to see them all. He announced himself.
They all looked at him and seemed equally happy; the old man got up and hugged Aaron.
“Welcome dear!” He showed Aaron to a stone chair and then sat down.
Everyone was looking at Aaron as if they were just talking about him. He felt a little awkward, he looked at Flynn but even he was staring at Aaron.
“So, you are here finally!” said the old man. Everyone’s eyes were fixed at Aaron.
Dan wanted to say something but the old man stood up again. He looked taller than a giant. Aaron thought that it was some kind of a secret magic.<
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“Let me introduce myself Aaron. I am Alfadon, the wizard and the king of the Blue Mountains” he bowed at Aaron. Aaron got up and bowed back. Alfadon continued, “I presume that you’re in your full health and mind.” Aaron nodded a ‘yes’.
“Then I shall tell you why you are here” said Alfadon.
Aaron wanted to know everything about his parents and the secret council since Dan has mentioned it. He listened with his full attention. Everyone was silent.
“Centuries ago everyone in this world was happy and living together in perfect harmony. There were four races in all. The ‘Race of Grace’ known as the ‘Lights’. The ones who were the direct decedents of the Gods. They were very knowledgeable and their wisdom was known worldwide. Then there were the ‘Race of Giants’. The giants were big and strong. They were known for their courage and their fighting skills. The third was the ‘Race of Magic’ or the ‘Witch Race’ which had all the privileges of using magic. They practiced magic for the good and helped the people in need. The fourth race was that of ‘Men’. Even though the ‘race of Men’ had no special powers, they have always proven themselves in many skills and found a profound place among the other races.
They all lived among each other without any differences and enjoyed the gifts of Gods given to them. Until, one man decided to rule them all. He called himself Zorath. He realized that he could control the world with magic. And so, he learnt magic day and night till he mastered it. But soon, he realized that his regular magic alone is not enough to rule the world. So he travelled the world and learnt many things. He learnt the art of fighting and forging magical weapons from the Giants. He got the wisdom of life and eternal youth from the Lights. He then acquired many skills in fighting and warfare from the great Men. And finally, he learned the dark form of magic from the best wizards and witches. None of them had any idea that Zorath will use these against them one day.
Learning and mastering such skills had taken him a hundred years. But with the knowledge of youth from the Lights and by the use of magic, he brought himself to be young once more. Soon, he wrecked havoc in the world and came to be known as Zorath the Great or the Dark Lord. He raised a dark army of creatures from hell. These disfigured creatures fed on the bodies of dead men and animals. They were called ‘Lurgs’.
Zorath wanted to rule the whole world. His army was invincible, they had no mercy for anything and there was no match for their strength. Zorath took over the kingdoms of men one after the other. No man was strong enough to face Zorath and his army of Lurgs. Zorath lured some kings of men with the promise of immortality. The ones who joined him were made immoral and had to rule for Zorath.
Zorath started to expand his territory and it came to be known as the ‘Dark Kingdom’. He wanted to turn the whole world into his Dark Kingdom. He would rule over people with evil in their hearts with his army of Lurgs and his dark magic.
When he conquered the Race of Men, Zorath crusaded against the other races. He attacked the Giants but failed miserably. His army was no match for them. His army was weak in front of the mighty Giants. When Zorath’s army could not do the job, he brought many unearthly beasts to life to destroy the Giants. Some were much bigger than the Giants themselves. Zorath was able to destroy most of the kingdoms of the Giants, but he could never defeat the giants. The war went on forever.
He attacked the race of the Light People, but he could not find anybody in their cities. Since they knew about the impending battle, the wise Lights had left their cities and had gone into hiding. These people were against fighting and feuds. They were peace lovers. These immortals mostly choose to make better use of their time. Zorath could never find any of them.
Zorath also killed many witches and wizards who refused to join him with his dark magic. He destroyed most of the kingdoms of Magic and spared the ones that worked with him. No ordinary magic could stand in his way. He was growing more powerful by the day. It looked like the world was coming to an end. All the good in the world started to perish.
The king of the Kingdom of Light was aware of such destruction coming to the world. He was not able to bear what was going to happen. To save the world, he called a secret meeting. The great warriors from the four races were summoned to his court. He held various tests of strength and skill to select the best of the warriors out of the lot. Only a very few could pass this rigorous test of physical and mental challenges. These men and women were of similar strength and vigor. With these special warriors, a secret council was formed. And they were called ‘The Defenders of Kron’. They had only one purpose, to find Zorath and destroy him before he could destroy the world. Because it was impossible to defeat his army, they decided to secretly get into his lair and finish him with whatever means necessary.
The Defenders needed a guide and I was chosen for this job from among the elder wizards. We were all trained to get into Zorath’s Dark kingdom and defeat him. We have tried our best to do this, we had killed many of Zoraths’s evil creations, but it was impossible to reach him. For ten years, the Defenders fought in Xandor and in the end, we managed to enter Zorath’s impenetrable castle.
There we finally met him, the Dark Lord himself. He was nothing like we had imagined, he looked young and bright, clad in all black with long hair and a pleasant smile. He was rather happy to see us. He said there was nobody who had ever dared to challenge him before us. He dared us for a one on one duel in which he killed Thiror the Giant and Brit, a warrior from the race of Men. But Zorath was finally defeated with the Sword of Logan.
The fight between Logan and Zorath went on for days. Logan was of course no match for Zorath but he didn’t give up. Zorath defeated Logan the third day. Logan was badly injured; his left hand was very hurt. Zorath laughed at Logan and asked him to return to where he came from and never to stand against him.
Logan raised again despite of his weak body. He pierced Zorath with his sword which went right through his heart.
An ordinary sword could not have killed Zorath but this Logan’s sword was no ordinary sword. It was the Sword of Heavens forged by the Gods of the Giants themselves. Zorath was unaware of existence of such a sword.
After killing Zorath Logan became our new leader. We applauded for Logan and thought that our work was done forever.
But our joys turned to sorrow when we returned to the Kingdom of Light. The city was destroyed by Lurgs and the evil kings of men. The king of the Light Kingdom was murdered and the rest of the Lights fled.
A little did we know that by killing Zorath, we have brought more evil upon ourselves. After a few years, we came to know that Zorath was a powerful entity now. Very evil and dark. He didn’t have a body, but he had become an Evil Force that could influence anything. He could go anywhere, anytime. This force could turn animals into inhuman beasts. Many Men, Giants and Wizards fell under his spells and took the path of evil. His powers started to grow again. And this time, there was no stopping him.
When the Defenders of Kron came to know this, we revived our council again. But there was no King of Light to guide us this time. So I was chosen by my kin to lead them. We then chose the first born of the Defenders and formed the council once again. We trained them like how we were trained to fight the Evil that will come our way one day. This tradition continued since then and the Defenders always trained their first born to fight the Evil. The Defenders destroyed many of Zorath’s evil creations and minions, but still, there was no way to stop Zorath.”
The old man took a deep breath and kept his hands on Aaron’s shoulders.
“Aaron my dear! You are the great grandson of Logan. The brave one who lost his hand in the battle but never let the enemy win”
Aaron was surprised. He felt a surge of pride. He had never known that he belonged to such a legacy.
“And your father, he was too a very brave and intelligent man who fought with honor till his last breath. And now, it is your turn to prove yourself in this war between good and evil”
Everyone’s jaws d
rop as Alfadon took out a fine-looking sword. The sword had an unspoken charm that mesmerized everyone. It was unlike any other sword Aaron had ever seen.
Alfadon handed the sword to Aaron. “This belonged to your great grandfather, Logan. This is the blade which killed Zorath. This sword has been handed down to every fighter of your family. And now, it is yours.”
Aaron was overjoyed. He accepted the sword thankfully. It was heavier and bigger than Matt’s sword but the hilt fit right into Aaron’s palm like it was made just for him. He pulled it out of the bright red carved sheath. The sword flashed and almost blinded him; it was shining like the full moon at its brightest. The blade was made of pure steel and had many carvings on it. The hilt was made of gold and had jewels studded on it.
“It is time that we take our tradition forward and train the young defenders. Together, we shall fight the Evil that is upon us.”
He then turned towards Dan and Ony. “Grandsons of great warriors Thiror and Brit. My men have brought me news of great wars in the north. I am told that the Dark Wizard Mordok is now leading the Lurg army to take over the Northern Kingdoms. He has joined hands with the Evil Force and is planning to turn these regions into his Dark Kingdoms. The kingdom of Finguard has already fallen and as Zorath’s legions progress, his powers will increase. This is the time to draw your weapons together and go to battle. The king of Arktor awaits us for further discussions. We will start tomorrow at the sun break.”
Alan and Ony got up and bowed to the wizard and then walked away. Flynn sat in astonishment. Jane looked very concerned, she left soon too.
Finally, Alfadon bid good bye to Aaron and walked out of the hall.
Chapter 10
The Sicil Pendent
Aaron and Flynn were alone now. They were still sitting on their chairs. They looked at each other not knowing what to say, Flynn spoke first “I didn’t know any of this!”
“Neither did I” Aaron replied.
“Your uncle never told you anything?” Flynn asked in surprise.
