“I think we’re in the right place,” she said with a smile.
“I think you might be right,” he smiled back.
Shaya couldn’t describe what she was feeling. It was like butterflies racing around inside her stomach, and her skin was tingling all over. They had finally arrived, she didn’t know what to expect, she was worried that she wouldn’t see her Uncle Benjin, but the excitement of being there was fighting the fear. There was a battle inside her, and the excitement was winning.
As they got closer, they could see the five broad steps leading up to the giant open doors. On either side of the steps were two statues made of the same yellowy stone as the monastery itself. Both stood on sandy plinths. They were depicted, dressed in ceremonial armour, complete with flowing capes tied around their necks. It wasn’t any armour Shaya recognised from any of her books back at the farm. It wasn’t royal armour, or from Tera or Bastion, as far as she could tell. Long wave-like crests sprouted from the tops of the helmets and swept down behind the soldier’s heads. The stone warriors were both bent down on one knee, heads bowed, longsword in hand. Their blades curved into a sharp hook shape at their tips, tips which rested on the stone floor.
Shaya and the prince stared up at them as they walked past, they were three times the size of the two young adventures. They reached the steps, Shaya could actually see into the open doors of the buildings. It was too dark inside to see anything except the odd ray of light streaming in from the windows above.
“Uncle Benjin?” she called, her voice echoing. Silence was her only reply.
“Ellesia?” shouted the prince. He got the same answer.
They both shouted again, hoping to hear a familiar voice call back or to see a familiar face appear from within, but none came. They looked at each other with heavy deflated hearts. They weren’t there. Which begged the question, why? Shaya balled her hands up into fists, not letting the disappointment dissuade her, she placed one foot on the first stone step and shouted.
“Shale!”
The ground immediately began to rumble violently, Shaya looked back at Rowan, whose expression of shock matched her own. The sound of crumbling rock was heard across the clearing, Sap came scurrying over with Jinx alongside him. Suddenly the two stone statues began to shake and shudder. Without warning, one of the statue’s heads cracked and twisted, then instantly turned to look at Shaya. It lifted its sword and stiffly clambered to its feet. Shaya began to walk backwards and accidentally bumped into Rowan who was doing the same. Shaya turned to see the other statue stepping off his stone plinth, golden dust shaking from its massive form. Shaya quickly pulled her sword from her scabbard and Rowan fumbled with his bow and arrow. One of the great stone guardians twirled its sword around and crouched in a fighting stance. Rowan fired an arrow, hitting one in the face. It splintered on impact and fell to the floor in pieces, useless.
“What do we do?” shouted Rowan over the sound of the quaking ground and the shifting of living stone. Shaya stood, sword in hand watching the goliaths getting closer. As she opened her mouth to say something, one of the rock giants raised its sword, and with the strength of a hundred men and the weight of a landslide, it brought it’s stone blade down.
“Stop!” shouted a booming voice that echoed across the glade, bouncing off the giant rock walls of the surrounding mountains.
Silence once again fell over the clearing, except for the sound of the rushing water. Shaya had squeezed her eyes shut and instinctively held her sword up to block the attack; as if she would have been able to. Reluctantly opening her eyes, she saw the statue was frozen in place, it’s sword only an inch from Shaya’s head. She stepped backwards, and the figures began to move again. This time they turned their backs on the children and stepped back up onto their pedestals and bent back down into the same pose they were before as if nothing had happened.
“Apologies,” echoed the voice, “I thought you may have been more of those monsters from the woods. Or something worse.”
“Who said that?” shouted Shaya angrily.
“I am many things.”
“Shale?” asked Rowan as he stepped forward.
“That is my name, your highness.”
Shaya and Rowan looked at each other in excited surprise.
“How do you know who I am?”
“You look just like your father,” said the voice “Except for the beard,” it chuckled.
“Show yourself.”
“Enter the temple, your highness, you shall see me soon enough.”
Rowan placed a hesitant foot on the first step leading up to the door. Nervously he glanced at the statues, waiting for them to move. They stayed frozen in place, bowing in worship to the Goddess. Cautiously Rowan and Shaya walked up the steps and in through the gigantic doorway, with Sap and Jinx bringing up the rear. Inside were more of the glass like columns they had seen earlier, they reached up to the high ceiling, engravings covering their surface. Apart from the totems, the room was almost empty except for half a dozen dusty wooden benches. They looked as if they hadn’t been used in decades. They were slowly rotting away. The group’s footsteps echoed all around them as they continued. Pictures etched into the walls showed times long since past, times of legend. Carvings of the Goddess and her three children watching from above, and of the shattered moon in the night’s sky.
“Shale?” Rowan shouted as he looked around, the place was deserted, he couldn’t see anyone. “Where are you?”
“A little closer if you don’t mind,” said the voice. It was the deep voice of an elderly man, gravelly yet wise.
Finally, they reached the back wall, it was actually the side of the mountain. Whoever had built the place had literally crafted the monastery into the cliff face. The group looked around, there was no place for anyone to hide, there was nothing.
“Don’t be alarmed children,” said the voice. The monastery began to shake, Shaya gripped her sword by the hilt. Dust rained down from the ceiling as the rumbling got louder. Shaya was about to suggest they leave when she saw it. The mountain wall, shifting and swirling like it was made of thick porridge. Slowly it began to form shapes. As they all stared in astonishment, the churning, sweeping stone finally came to rest and hardened, back to solid rock. There, in front of them on the wall, was a face. A stone face, cracked and chipped but a face none the less. Its hollow eyes moved as it looked around, its mouth shifted as the stone finished settling.
“I am Shale,” said the face as it creased into a smile.
The four adventures stood gawping at the living wall not sure what to do or say for what felt like hours.
“Well that’s new,” said Shaya as she glanced over at the shocked looking prince.
“Prince Rowan of Arrolyn,” Shale’s voice boomed “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“Thank you.”
“Your father has spoken of you often. Are these your servants?”
“Servants?” spat Jinx angrily fluttering into the air.
“No, these are my friends.”
“Oh, forgive me little one, I meant no offence,” Shale said to Jinx as she floated back down onto Sap’s head.
“This is Shaya, Jinx and Sap,” continued the prince.
Shale looked at each of them and smiled. His gaze fell upon Shaya, he looked at her twice a slightly confused expression on his rock-like features, then looked away and continued.
“A young girl, a sprite and a Rootling, an odd group of friends for a prince.”
“Excuse me, Shale,” Shaya spoke up “No one else has arrived, have they?” asked Shaya, she was sure she knew the answer, but she needed to ask.
“I’ve not had visitors in a long time, my girl. Are you expecting someone?”
“Yes, but I fear they may not be coming,” she said as she looked over at Rowan again. Her words seemed to sink in, he knew deep down, like she did, he knew something was wrong.
“What are you?” asked Jinx out of the blue.
Shale chuckled “That
my child, is a long story.”
“My father called you a guardian.”
“I suppose that is true your highness. I am actually one of the three children of the Goddess.”
Shock didn’t quite accurately describe the feeling that hit them all at that moment. They were stood talking to a living wall, which was surprising enough. Now the wall tells them that he’s a God, a being of myth and legend, a creator of the world. Shaya knew this journey was more significant than she could understand, but this, this was something she could have never dreamed in a thousand lifetimes. The Goddess and her children were a fairy story, an ancient tale that she chose to believe. To the followers of The Faith it was gospel, but still, it was all based on belief. But this was confirmation of that faith, it was no longer belief, it was there in front of her, it was now fact.
“You’re a God?” The prince asked, stunned.
“I am,” Shale said quite matter-of-factly.
Silence once again. Suddenly Sap dropped to his knees and started bowing, Jinx was nearly sent flailing off his twiggy head.
“Rise little one, there is no need for that.”
“Sorry,” said Sap as he climbed to his feet “I never met a God before. Seemed like good idea.”
“Did your father not tell you of me?” Shale asked the prince.
“Very little.”
“Your father is not with you, is he?”
“No, that’s why we’re here.”
“Something has happened at the castle,” Shale predicted.
“How did you know?” asked Shaya.
“I have felt it, the darkness, and a presence I prayed never to feel again.”
“What do you mean?”
Shale’s stone face shifted and twisted, he grumbled and sighed.
“A boy of noble birth seeks my counsel at a time when the world stands on the brink. So it has finally come true. I wondered if this day would ever come.”
“I don’t understand,” Rowan stepped forward.
“Mother once told us something, my siblings and I. Back when the world was young, she gathered us around. I remember the look on her face, I’d never seen her shocked before. She said-,” Shale’s voice suddenly changed as if it was accompanied by a second one. A woman’s voice. “One day, I’ll leave this plane. I’ve seen it. I don’t know why I weep, but I become starlight and fade to nothing. A great evil will rise and swallow the world we have made. In our children’s darkest hour, my lost power will be found. A boy of noble birth will stand against this evil. With a key of pure light born from his heart, my power will be unlocked, and I will return,” his words echoed loudly in the temple.
Shaya looked over at Rowan. The look on his face made it clear, he was thinking the same thing as she was.
“Rowan. It’s just like-,”
“My mother’s final words.” He said, his voice quiet.
“So, it’s true.”
Rowan looked at her, his mouth ajar. He looked confused, scared, but somehow, he let slip a stray smirk. She guessed it was comforting, finally knowing the last thing he heard his mother say did mean something, whatever it might be.
“Queen Gwenith said those words?” asked the guardian, his voice his own again.
“More or less.”
“I knew it. That must mean the Goddess is not truly gone.” Relief rippled across the rock. “What it means for you my prince, I do not know. But it is no coincidence that, out of all the people in this word, the boy The Goddess spoke of is the one to seek me out.”
Rowan looked just as confused as Shaya felt. She glanced at Sap and Jinx, they both wore dumbstruck faces. She was actually glad that she wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand what was going on.
“Now,” Shale began again. “The castle was attacked yes?”
“Yes, by an army of Krarg,” said the prince.
“And there was a man, he looked like he was leading them,” interrupted Shaya.
“What?” asked the prince. So much had happened so fast, she had never thought to tell him what she had seen. She actually felt foolish all of a sudden, not mentioning it until now.
“At the castle gates, when we were leaving,” she explained.
“That’s what you saw, a man?”
“Tell me,” began the talking wall “What did this man look like?”
“He was huge, armoured with grey skin and black eyes.”
“Shrouded in shadow?”
“Yes.”
Somehow in the cracks and crevasses of his craggy visage, Shaya could see Shale’s expression drop, she could see his sorrow.
“It is as I feared, his power has returned,” Shale muttered to himself.
“Who?” asked Shaya.
“You have heard of The Banished One, yes?” he asked finally.
They all nodded, it was a story that went back five hundred years. Even none believers knew the tale of the Fallen One. Banished from the heavens by the Goddess herself, for a reason known only to the deities themselves.
“It’s true?” asked Shaya.
Shale sighed again and groaned to himself.
“Come, children,” he said, “There is much to tell you, and sadly it would appear, it all has to do with why you have travelled so far.”
Shale’s visage disappeared from the mountainside as Shaya, and the others watched. Suddenly cracks began to split the mountain, stone crumbled and the wall shuddered. Fragments of the rock gave way and fell to the ground. Shaya stepped backwards, alarmed as to what was happening in front of her. As she watched amazed, the outer wall collapsed, but behind it was not more rock but pitch blackness. No stone, no light, nothingness, a void inside the mountain.
“Enter please,” said Shale’s voice that echoed around them “I assure you no harm will come to you.”
Shaya was the first to guardedly step forward. After all the things they had seen, nothing should really surprise them anymore, but every time she thought she understood this vast world, something like this reminded her, she knew nothing. The prince and Sap followed her cautiously, Jinx floated off Sap’s head and fluttered over to Shaya.
“Are you sure about this?”
“About as sure as I am about everything else we’ve been doing,” Shaya smiled. Her hand back on the hilt of her sword, Shaya stepped inside, the others followed into the nothingness, and the opening closed behind them.
♦ ♦ ♦
“Shaya,” Sap’s squeaky voice said nervously from the darkness “Where you?”
“Right here Sap,” said Shaya reassuringly, even if she didn’t know where here was.
The only light in the entire place that Shaya could see was emanating from Jinx’s glowing body, which was like a tiny spec of gold against a blanket of black.
“There is more to the stories you have all been told,” said Shale’s voice, it reverberated all around them like he was constantly moving as if he was everywhere at once. “So I shall begin.”
Out of the blackness burst forth a golden light, beautiful and bright. It morphed and elongated until they could see it began to form a woman. Huge angelic wings sprouted from her back, she wore an elegant dress made of pure starlight. Her long hair flowed and billowed behind her. It was the Goddess.
“In the beginning, there was the Goddess, the mother of the world,” The Goddess threw up her hands, and three lights appeared above her, one white, one blue, one red “She bore three children,” said Shale.
“Myself,” the white light exploded and formed a shape of a humanoid figure. The bright like had a sharp angular head and body with block-like limbs as if he was made of stone.
“My sister Rayne,” the blue light shone brightly and morphed into a long snake-like form.
“And finally, my brother,” the red light burst into a hulking figure, the crimson light surrounding him forever shifting and moving “Together, we created the lands, the seas, the skies of this world you call Celease.”
Shaya stood staring up at the glorious, impossible displa
y of shimmering colours above her head. The glimmering sparks of colour flashed and burst and flew around them, whooshing passed Shaya’s head and swooping between Rowan and Sap. Out of nowhere, thick green grass appeared beneath their feet. It stretched into the darkness as far as they could see. Flowers and plants sprouted out of the ground. The grass glowed a lush, radiant green; Shaya had never seen grass like it, pure and untouched. Trees grew tall and strong, deep brown trunks with bright green leaves covering almost every inch of the branches. Shaya glanced over at the prince who wore the same astonished amazement on his face as she did. The different coloured lights bounded around above them, they danced across Rowan’s face and lit up his eyes.
In a bright flash, the beautiful blue sky appeared above them, as if the Gods had laid a sapphire coloured blanket over the world. It was cloudless, a warm summer sun suddenly burst into existence, Shaya and the others could feel the heat, the light summer breeze. They could smell the grass. Another flash and mountains in the distance appeared, with huge great waterfalls rushing down the side of them. They flowed into a long winding stream that shot straight passed Shaya and the others. Sap looked down into the clear water, it seemed to glisten like a bed of crystals in the sunlight.
“Our mother gave the land life, populated it with all manner of beings,” continued Shale’s booming voice “We remained amongst the stars and watched our wonderful creations craft their new world.”
Suddenly they were surrounded by people walking around, talking, laughing. Birds appeared in the sky, they sang and chirped as they flew in circles, they were playing. Fish began to swim down the sparkling river. Some were red, others were a shimmering silver, Jinx swore she saw a golden fish with whiskers whip by. Shaya saw a moshling bound by that looked a lot like Kupi and she smiled as its pink tongue flopped out of its mouth as it ran past. Horses galloped across the fields in the distance, their neighing echoing across the plane.
Men, Boaruss and Volanti, every race in the kingdom (and some Shaya had never seen) together in harmony. Shaya and the others all stood in this fresh, untainted world, looking around in complete wonder and bewilderment. They smiled the biggest smiles, it was as if their eyes grew twice the size to try and take it all in. It was magical, Shaya had to hold back the tears, she didn’t know why, but seeing such beauty, such awe, it nearly made her cry, she wasn’t sad, not even a little, she was moved by the majesty of it all.
The Shattered Moon (A Divine Legacy Book 1) Page 17
