by Brian Nyaude
29
After passing along a few buildings, we came upon a strange sort terrain. It was almost like we had come across a desert. This was so bizarre, I could not put my mind around it. Just where or when were we? It was safe to say, this city was build along a time stream or something close to that. We skipped past a few large rocks and made a hasty run towards the castle in front of us. Thankfully, they were no more buildings blocking the path towards the castle.
“Something is not right,” Ogana halted making us all completely stop. “Has anyone noticed that we’ve been running for a while and we don’t seem to be getting close?”
Truth to his words, I noticed it too. The castle seemed as further as it did when we began running in this dusty desert. This was obviously some sort of illusion, and a good one at that. I looked away from the others feeling sort of embarrassed to have fallen for such trickery.
“You should have noticed it first Rid,” Dashe laughed being rude as usual. “Or are your eyes just for decoration only?”
One of these days, I was really going to knock him into the moon. I just could never get used to his sarcasms. Every time he spoke I just felt like I had to punch him badly. Enough about him, what was in front of us was important. I looked around and saw nothing out of the ordinary. What sort of enchantment was this?
“Time is critical,” I yelled quickly out of frustration. “We need to get out of whatever is causing this to us.”
I could still see the castle ahead, brimming wildly to its former glory. But suddenly, everything became blurry like a mirage. Tilting my head in every direction, I looked for the caster; however, came up empty. This was indeed a mist acquired power and a very powerful one at that. Taking that into account, I felt a cold chill in the back of my neck.
My greatest fear had everything to do with what that little boy told me about Katarina becoming invincible when the sun came out. Did I truly have what it took to defeat such a powerful opponent? The fate of Paul and Tye rested on my shoulders, but could I truly defeat her? Many people had fallen to her and they had been incredible and gifted warriors like Ebi and the Okaya King. That leaves me, a banished Roguean and a lowlife thief, not great qualities worthy of valor.
“What wrong with you?” Dashe slapped some sense back into me. He pushed me to the side and walked directly in front of me. “If you start to fall apart on us then what are we supposed to do? Your friends’ lives are in your hands. If you back out now you will never see them again.”
“Yeah I know!” I replied instantly wiping the sweat off my forehead with my shaking hands.
I took a small pill from the bottle I had been given and crunched it down. It helped fend off some of the pain and fatigue, but it wasn’t enough to properly restore me to my original strength.
“What do we do now?” Ogana asked looking me straight in the eye.
He was truly sober for once which was rather surprising. I guess he had sensed that the situation had become critical and we all needed to be on high alert for once. But in this situation what could we do? I really hated this, mist powers that rendered physical confrontations obsolete. Was there even a way out of this fog of illusions? To make things even worse, it was possible we had been running in circles this whole time. In fact, this desert could or was an illusion too. It was then we saw it, a faint glimmer of light was starting to dilute the dark night. The sun was about to come out from beyond the horizon.
“We need to get out of this illusion now,” I said trying to find a way out fog that now surrounded us from all sides. The castle was no longer visible even to my eyes.
I had to give them credit, this was a good illusion. Clenching my fist hard, I felt frustrated by this new development. This was definitely the last thing I wanted to deal with right before I faced one of the world’s greatest enemies. Looking up into the sky, it was vividly clear and free from the fog.
“Everyone grab on to my hands now,” I commanded spreading my arms in each directions for them.
Sweat kept pouring down my face, all from the deep anxiety I felt. I focused deeply and prepared myself for a proper lift off. The sky was our only hope for a proper retreat, no sense in fighting every mere foe that came our way. I had a faint feeling our enemy wouldn’t allow us to escape. Still, there was no harm in trying.
“Do it now,” I yelled again as I began to ascend up in the air.
Finally they listened and grabbed hold of my arms as I quickly took for the skies. Despite my efforts to outrun it, the fog chased after us without mercy. The tenacity of this ominous fog was astounding. It was following me everywhere like it was being controlled.
“What now?” Dashe screamed, “we can’t outrun it can we?”
“True,” I replied, looking at him, Kaya, and Dashe.
We couldn’t outrun it, but there was a chance we could divert it somehow. The only way to do that was to find the person manipulating the fog quickly and knock him out physically if possible. Within the pursuing fog, I felt the enemy’s presence finally. More of less, I think he or she was the fog. Such control and expansion was just not possible even if the person had acquired the power from the white water mist. For that to happen, the person controlling the mist had to be physically powerful before or possibly a monster. Slowly, I stopped and hovered around the air briefly, observing the mist spreading from beneath us.
“Finally you stopped,” it whispered spreading and circling us inside. “I was starting to enjoy this game of cat and mouse. I love what you did with that creepy Jerad and his wife because I never like them at all. In fact I was going to get rid of them, but thanks for taking care of my work maybe.”
“Shut up already,” Dashe cut him off closing his ears with his index finger. “You keep blabbering on and on about you. Why can’t you just keep your mouth shut and be on your way, we are on a tight schedule.”
Instantly, I nudged him with my leg signaling him to keep his mouth shut. Seriously this was not the time to be angering our enemies. All his mouth ever seemed to do was get us into more trouble. The fog began to move up our chests until it had completely enshrouded us.
“I like that kind of attitude boy,” the voice within the fog spoke. “I’m going to enjoy suffocating the air out of your bodies slowly except for you Rid. Katarina has told me to capture you alive. She has horrifying plans waiting for you.”
Whoa! The fog was speaking to me. What did Katarina have in store for me? I got scared at the thought of it. Maybe, it was going to be a something much horrific beyond my wildest imagination. Suddenly I felt out of breath like before with that inn keeper. The air was thinning as we were slowly suffocating and losing consciousness. With all my strength, I slammed my shoulder into the fog and was immediately repulsed back hard.
“Sleep slowly,” the voice within the fog laughed. “Soon it will be all over.”
After hearing his whisper, I found myself starting to lose my grip on the others. The more I tried to fight it the more I lost my strength. Just as it started looking hopeless, we felt a large rattle coming from beneath us. The fog dissipated out of the way, leaving us to fall out of the sky untimely. We all gulped in a huge breath of air, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Someone had helped us but whom exactly?
It took me a few grasps of air to finally comprehend the situation I was in. I had let go off all my three companions, putting them into the clutch of oblivion. I extended my hand outwards, trying to grab for them, but there were too far down. Ogana was falling even faster down due to his heavy size. At such an alarming height, none of us were going to make a graceful landing. Down below, the huge walls of Danyen began to look closer and closer to us, not good.
“Now would be a good time to start flying Rid,” Kaya screamed loudly finally conscious
I straightened my body and took a deep descent towards Kaya first who seemed the closest to me.
“Kaya give me your arm,” I screamed out loudly once he was within my reach.
“We are getting out of here.”
In the corner of my eye, I noticed the fog coming back strongly towards us. Not now, I didn’t want to duel this opponent again. Kaya grabbed onto my arm and I quickly soared greatly down towards Dashe. I grabbed him without too much trouble on his part before going double speed for Ogana.
“Ogana wake up.” I screamed to him.
He was unconscious and barely moving. Ogana kept falling rapidly just a few yards out of my grasp. No, I wasn’t going to lose him too, not now. Digging deep into myself, I found the power to go even faster towards him. The coat’s power was indeed amazing, it responded and acted to my thoughts. With it in my possession, I felt better about my chances of victory.
At the last moment, I grabbed him and pulled up hard before the worst scenario could occur. I spoke too soon because it happened just as I had grabbed onto him. While focusing everything on Ogana, I had lost track of how far down we had gone. My head smashed into the ground first, sending us all into a spiraling tumble. The pain was intense, but for some unknown reason it wasn’t as bad as I imagined it would be. Aside from an aching head, everything on me seemed to be still working normally.
“Phew! We saved you guys just in time,” a familiar said causing me to turn.
There was a bed of soft rock beneath our bodies. Next to it, I saw my allies Masonku, Glazer, and Showe. They were somewhat healthy and in good spirits.
“Glad you all could join the party,” I smiled rubbing my hand against a sore spot on my head. “If you guys had come earlier it sure would have helped.”
Masonku laughed loudly beating his chest with his bare hands. “Then that would have ruined our great entrance.”
Well that didn’t make sense to me, but as long as we were all alive, that was good enough for me. I got back to my feet and looked up. The fog was upon us, coming again from all directions. It lingered ominously around us, blinding us to everything else.
“More lambs for the slaughter,” a voice in the fog screamed insanely.
Not this again, I knew exactly what was about to happen and I had to stop the fog quickly. We had almost succumbed to its power before, almost falling to our deaths. Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice then I am probably stupid as Dashe. Things would get very bad indeed if it stole all the air from us again. But how do we counter such an opponent?
“Leave this to me,” Masonku stepped up, pushing me back with his right hand. His inner physical energy was great, almost on the same level as Dien’s. He waved us away without looking back, “I can handle the fog by myself.”
What! Was he crazy? It was bad enough Dien had done the same thing, but him too? I clenched my fists unable to think my way out of it. Most likely, he was the only one among us who could counter this fog intruder. Somehow, his power to control the earth was what was keeping this creature at bay. I could never understand how the white water mists gave us each a unique power, it was more troublesome than helpful. Although, something like invincibility or invulnerable skin would have been a power I wished to have. What good was incredible eye sight if you can’t use it in battle?
I felt my breath weaken before I realized what was happen. As before in the sky, it started getting harder to breathe again. We were all being suffocated to death again by this terrible mist, not good. Tensing slowly, I stopped moving to preserve my energy.
“Your attacks are useless against me,” Masonku yelled clenching his fist into the air. There was a small tremor beneath our feet. What followed after was a swarm of rocks in every direction. They pierced the fog madly and forcefully released its bind on us. “Do you remember what that child said to us? Once the sun comes out it’s all over, so go now Rid.”
Oh no, I had completely forgotten about that. Dawn was on the horizon, meaning time was critical. The castle was still a good bit far from us, standing firmly under the shade of darkness. Even with all that, the thought of leaving Masonku too was far too heartbreaking of a choice to make.
“Looks like you have more fight in you.” The voice in the fog hissed out loudly. “I’m going to enjoy playing with you till you break.”
“Is that so,” Masonku instantly replied as his body started turning into rock. “I’d like to see you try.”
Everyone backed away including me as we could feel the rise blood lust in the air. This battle was going to be one for the legends. Shame though that I would not stay long enough to see it through. Masonku was clearly stronger than I had expected. It made me feel a little bit at ease to leave the fog to him and head for the castle. Before I could turn around, the fog stopped and began to gather in one place, assuming a physical shape. Now what? Kaya moved behind me, peeking halfway out. This fog creature, it was taking form almost the same as that swamp creature.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” the fog humanoid spoke gently taking a bow. “I am Anrio the son of King Colosta the third. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintances in this form.”
Well it was unexpected, an enemy with polite manners. Wait a minute, I knew that name. “Anrio, the son of Colosta,” I said to myself trying to jog my memory.
I had heard that name before in a book written about one hundred years ago. Was this even possible? Anrio was the son of the Colosta Diger, a very mad king who once tried to take over half the world. With the aid of his loyal and vast army, he almost succeeded; however, he met his end at the hands Rogue and Iyenka forces. Nope, our countries did not work together, just happened to be coincidence on their part. King Colosta’s mistake was that he split his army into two and made them to attack the two countries at the same time which played to his disadvantage. After the fall of King Colosta, his son Anrio went psychotic and killed over three thousand soldiers before being defeated by my ancestor great grandfather. He managed to barely escape Rogue and met his death at the hands of an Iyenkan warrior. And now before my eyes was standing a man of fog claiming the same name and title, so bizarre. Was he telling the truth? In all honesty, nothing in Danyen surprised me anymore. I just wanted to leave this crazy city.
“Go now, I will make a way for you,” Masonku rattled me out of my thoughts. He stomped his foot hard into the ground, almost knocking us all off balance. Large tremors trembled from beneath the surface, persisting for what seemed like a minute.
“Go through this tunnel,” Masonku pointed us to a dark tunnel next to his right foot. “It leads straight to the castle. I will hold him off for as long as possible and whatever you do don’t turn back.”
Incredible, to create a path leading all the way to the castle was no novice task. Even with the aid of the white water mist power, the toll on the body physically was great. Masonku was breathing heavily, falling to one knee out of fatigue. Sensing the price of his efforts, I made a hard choice and took advantage of the opportunity he had given us. I signaled the others behind me and made a hasty run towards the small tunnel.
“We’ll leave it to you,” I said just about to jump into the mouth of the tunnel.
No, I stopped and looked back at him. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake I did with Dien again. Being was leader was not always about making necessary sacrifice. “We’ll go only if Glazer stays with you. I will not lose anymore of my friends. Either he stays or will all do so pick one.”
His excessive breathing kept him from answering right away. The look in his eyes had changed, no longer calculating and mischievous as before. Whatever Suzanne promised him was probably worth a diamond mine in value. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if he was being noble or doing it for the money and treasure.
“Alright fine,” he finally replied struggling up to his feet. “He can stay while the rest of you go. If we all stay here then all of our efforts would have been for nothing.”
Nodding quickly, I jumped into the tunnel and landed softly on the dirt below. The tunnel was well made, not too narrow and not too small. “You heard him guys let’s go.”
Just as the others were about to follow, the man of fog stopped i
n front of them. I could see everything even from inside the tunnel, good eyesight after all.
“My humblest apologies but I can’t let you go,” he howled with such an evil grin. “Katarina Fox specifically told me to do what I want with all of you except for you the ring leader. And you with the four swords where did you get that purple one?”
He spoke pointing at one of Dashe’s new swords. When did he acquire another sword? I seriously could never understand that idiot’s obsession with weapons. That last sword was strange. It glowed with strange powerful energy the likes of which I had never encountered before. How a weapon could harbor such foul power was beyond me.
“That is the sword I lost a century ago when I fought the Rogueans. Where did you get it?” The fog man asked politely.
Dashe laughed loudly slowly unsheathing two swords. He took an offensive stance, spreading his legs apart for wider swings. No doubt, he was not one to take his opponents lightly especially this one. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
His rude first policy was a bit worrisome. How many calamities could he have avoided if could learn to be nice to people? Unlikely to happen, but one could hope. And now it appeared he was about to anger this psychotic fog. If this was really Anrio, then this was not going to end well. Instead of waiting for something to happen, I jumped back out and grabbed Dashe quickly before making a swift move past the fog. Ogana and the others followed untimely leaving only Glazer and Masonku above ground.
“You are not going anywhere,” the fog man screamed out coming behind us. “I want my sword back.”
Fortunately for us, Masonku found his inner strength and managed to kick the fog man away from the tunnel. Instantly after, the opening closed completely, sealing us in the dark.
“Will you let go off me?” Dashe yelled trying to get my arm off his neck wildly.
“Gladly,” I pushed him off me.
I yelped as someone accidentally stepped on my toe. It had to be Ogana judging by the weight. Everyone was silently whispering to each other, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with this new development. I really wish Masonku had also thrown in some candles before he sealed us in, that could have helped a lot.
“What do we do now?” Kaya asked making sudden noises against the walls. “I doubt that even you Rid can see in this darkness.”
Sadly that was true, I didn’t want to admit it. I couldn’t see anything except for small rays of energy my companions emitted naturally from their bodies. I extended my arms outwards to get a feel of the tunnel. The wind was howling from somewhere in front of me. We would make it as long as we kept going forward.
“Does anyone have anything that can light up?” Ogana asked making strange noises with his feet.
It was utterly chaos, none of could tell the exact position of the others around. We were wasting precious time trying to get our bearings straight, unsure of which way to go. Up above, I felt Masonku’s power start to weaken in strength. Oddly enough, I could not feel Glazer’s energy at all. His presence was still there and yet there was no energy. It felt like trying to feel a dark void of emptiness, certainly disturbing.
“Hey Rid why don’t you try and use your yellow energy or first blast thingy?” Dashe said in a cold tone. “Your gauntlet’s power is certainly useful as a candle light wouldn’t you agree?”
“One of these days Dashe I will…” I stopped realizing it wasn’t entirely a terrible idea.
Despite his imbecile like nature, Dashe was smart at times. Not something I was happy to admit, nevertheless true.
“Now would be good” Dashe howled at me. “You realize there is not much time left right?”
“I know okay?” I replied and focused.
The yellow energy surrounded my body with visible light, turning me into a walking light.
Flickering bit by bit, the energy around me was a lot weaker. My body had still not yet completely recovered from using the first blast sphere. I took the lead and began to walk quickly.
“Let’s go.”
