Before True Light: The Awakening 2nd Edition

by Sarah Buchynski

“What do you mean, Grand Elder? I’m the next Warrior of Light and Zane is my earthly guardian?? What are you talking about? What is this all about??” Izanami asked, as if it were the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard.

  “Do not fret, child. There is no way, right now, to know for certain. However, have you been experiencing anything that is unusual for a Red Mage?” the Grand Elder asked.

  Izanami reflected quietly. Unusual was an understatement. She had subconsciously hoped that the experiences she was having were somehow a remnant of her recovery process from the training that had gone so bad. But this? How could it be possible? She had entered the Realm of the Guardians. And, according to the Grand Elder, Amyntas was supposedly a legendary creature that has been in existence over 1000 years ago. However, as far as she knew, the world was still at peace, so why would there be a need for a Warrior of Light? Yet, from her studies, Warriors of Light had also appeared just before turmoil. All Izanami could do was hope that such events would not arise. She could not deny to herself that she had felt things for some time - an uncertain anxiety - even before these recent experiences. But, for Izanami, the very thought that she could be a Warrior of Light was illogical. She was not so brave, nor very strong. She thought someone like Derrick would be more suitable for such a title and responsibility.

  “For now, you and Zane should enjoy the Festival of Vivacity,” said the Grand Elder.

  “Yes, Grand Elder,” Izanami and Zane both replied. Both gave a slight bow and left the Temple of the Elders.

  They walked in silence for a while, each reflecting on the conversation they had just had with the Grand Elder. Not knowing what he could possibly say to break the awkward silence, Zane came up with, “So, Izanami, are you going to come to the village centre for the festivities tonight?”

  “Yes… even if I didn’t want to, Artemis would literally drag me there,” Izanami said with a slight laugh.

  The two Mages went their separate ways to their huts. The Festival of Vivacity was a sacred time for the people of the village. It was a celebration of the end of harvest. Life, itself, was also celebrated for all its wonders. During the four days of celebration, it was traditional to rest and spend time with family and friends.

  That night, the village centre was animated with people and festivity. The village centre was in the shape of a circle and in the center a massive bonfire illuminated the surroundings. Small, multi-coloured lanterns hung from the wooden beams outside the huts. Traditional music was being played on stringed instruments as people danced around the fire. The fire, itself, seemed to dance along with the changing melodies and rhythms. Small children ran around waving sparklers that observers had brought back to the village from the outside world. Everyone seemed, that night, to forget about the recent hardships of drought and death that the village had experienced. Everyone seemed to be at ease and happy.

  “Hey, Zu-Zu, I’m so glad you decided to come!” Artemis said as she greeted Izanami with a hug.

  “Yeah…,” Izanami said in a distracted tone.

  “What’s wrong, Zu-Zu?” asked Artemis.

  “Could you excuse me for a minute, Artemis?” Izanami said as she walked towards a crowd of people. Past the crowd, Derrick, Armand, Lucinda, and Santo were sitting together talking and enjoying each other’s company.

  “Hey, Izanami, over here! Come join us!” Santo shouted with a muffled voice, as he had a mouthful of some dried meat.

  “Santo, you’re so gross!” Lucinda scorned. Santo shrugged off the remark.

  “Um… Derrick, can I… uh… talk to you for a moment?” Izanami said in a nervous voice.

  “Anything you have to say to Derrick, you can say to all of us,” Lucinda sneered.

  “Um… okay. Well, I don’t know, maybe I’m just overtired and not thinking clearly, but I... sense something. Something that isn’t right; something that doesn’t belong here,” Izanami timidly explained.

  Before any of the others could reply to Izanami’s concerns, Lucinda hastily said, “Well, I don’t sense anything and that’s one of my specialties.”

  “I think we should look around, just to be safe,” said Derrick.

  “Should we inform the Elders?” Santo asked.

  “No, let’s not arouse suspicion and worry the people. Let them continue the festivities. Izanami, go find Zane and scope out the south part of the village, as well as the outskirts. Armand, you take the north. Will you be okay by yourself?” Armand nodded. “Okay, Santo, you take the east and Lucinda and I will take the west. If you do find something, do not rush into things by yourself,” explained Derrick. Everyone nodded and headed to their assigned area.

  Izanami found Zane and explained the situation. She was as hesitant to confide her unfounded anxiety to him as much as she was with Derrick - perhaps, even more so, after that morning's meeting with the Grand Elder. But Zane didn't seem to be fazed by her request and, together, they left the centre and headed to the south part of the village. Izanami put her hood up and she blended into the darkness.

  “Izanami, do you hear that?!” Zane whispered as he grabbed Izanami’s wrist and led them into some bushes. Low to the ground, they both had their hands ready to draw their swords. “Should we go find the others?”

  “No, there’s no time. Something or someone is definitely there. We can’t lose sight of whatever it is. Don’t worry, Zane, I am a Warrior of Light, remember? And you’re my trusty guardian. We’ll be fine,” Izanami joked, trying not to betray her nerves.

  “Well, we always did say that we needed a little action around here. Ready?” asked Zane. Izanami nodded. Laughter and talking could still be faintly heard from the village centre. Izanami and Zane always knew that, one day, they might have to protect the village - that was the main purpose of their training. Izanami preferred, if possible, not to cause too much panic doing it.

  Izanami's nerves were on edge. She and Zane remained hidden, their senses on high alert. Suddenly, a squad of about fifteen men appeared from the brush. It seemed that they did not know that Izanami and Zane awaited them. When they were about ten yards away from them, Izanami and Zane jumped out from behind the shrubs, their swords drawn.

  “Who are you and what are you doing here?!” Izanami demanded.

  The leader of the squad laughed menacingly and raised his weapon. The rest of the men followed by raising their weapons. Izanami did not recognize the objects pointed at them. Thinking quickly, Izanami plunged her blade into the ground. Instantly, the earth split in a line about three feet wide and headed towards the armed men. The red crystals on Izanami’s blade began to shine blood red, as bolts of lightning skipped across the split earth. The armed men fell to the ground, their bodies smoking from being struck by the lightning. Izanami fell back, still firmly holding her sword, but her entire body was shaking. Her reaction to the threat had been reflexive, and even she was surprised at its intensity. Suddenly, a colossal explosion came from the east. The laughter from the village changed into screams and cries of terror. Izanami and Zane turned to run back towards the village centre, fighting off the few men left from the group who were not struck down by her reaction. As her sword cut through flesh for the very first time, Izanami's heart pounded from the conflict - but these men posed a threat to the lives of the villagers, and she had to do whatever was necessary to protect them.

  At the village centre, people were running for their lives. Many tried to head towards the Temple of the Elders for safety. Men with loud weapons, explosives, knives, and other means of death, kept appearing from all directions. Now the village was on fire, spreading from hut to hut, destroying everything in its path. Two small toddlers were trapped in a corner. An inferno of death surrounded them. A man, with the same weapon that was first pointed at Izanami and Zane, aimed at the head of the boy who was trying to protect his little sister. It made a clicking sound as a grin appeared on the man’s face. Then, his eyes widened as blood slowly dripped from his mouth. A curved blade, covered in red
crystals, was emerging through his chest. When the blade was pulled out, the curve at the tip acted like a hook, ripping and pulling out the inside of his body as the blade exited; blood splattered in all directions.

  “Go! What are you waiting for?” Izanami yelled at the toddlers. They didn’t move. How could they? They were frozen with fear after seeing a man dying in such a gruesome manner. “Damnit!” Izanami muttered. She hoisted one toddler up over her right shoulder and carried the other under her arm. She began running towards the Temple of the Elders. The black smoke was beginning to affect Izanami’s stamina. She became dizzy and disoriented. Another man appeared before Izanami. He fired at Izanami and the toddlers, but Izanami managed to deflect the projectiles with her blade. She then swiped her sword towards some flames, creating a transmutation. Some fire had been transferred and was now steadily burning on the blade. The red crystals began to glow once more and soon the fire was raging and covered the entire blade. Izanami focused the energy of the fire and formed a sphere at the tip of the blade. She launched the fireball at the man with the gun and his body was thrown high into the air, landing fifty feet away.

  Izanami continued to run despite the fact that she was now ready to collapse from exhaustion. She could see the Temple. It was shrouded in a purple glow. The massive doors opened and quickly shut once Izanami was inside. She gently let the toddlers down, and then she fell to the ground. The Elders of White Heka and Herbalism ran towards her. They were tending to the injured while the Elders of Black Heka and Combat, along with the understudy Red Mage Warriors, were trying to protect the villagers.

  Still coughing from the black smoke in her lungs, Izanami looked around the Grand Hall of the Temple. None of the other Red Mage Warriors were there, nor the majority of the younger Red Mages. Both Elders were examining her and the Elder of White Heka put his hands on Izanami’s head and shut his eyes. A dim, white glow appeared. Immediately, Izanami ceased coughing and all her physical wounds began to heal.

  “Thank you, Elder, but I must go help the others,” Izanami said as she bolted towards the massive doors of the Temple with her blade trailing behind her. The doors flew open and Izanami ran out into the chaos.

  “How was she able to break Euclid’s seal?” the Elder of Herbalism wondered out loud.

  The fighting outside did not appear to be decreasing. No matter how many men with weapons the Mages eliminated, ten more took their place. Near the entrance to the training grounds, Santo and Zane were outnumbered. Santo’s right pant-leg was shredded and what was left was drenched in his blood when he was injured from the initial explosion. He had one arm around Zane to support himself. Zane appeared to be fine. Once again, Izanami forced her blade into the ground causing the earth to create a violent, splitting path. This time, the rocks that were pushed up from the earth were transmuted into razor sharp projectiles and impaled the men with weapons. Santo and Zane looked perplexed – at one moment they were prepared to die from the metal projectiles that penetrated flesh and, in the next, their would-be assassins were trapped and wiggling around like fish caught by a spear.

  On her knees and trembling, Izanami cried, “Are you guys alright?”

  “Izanami, Santo is badly hurt. We need to get him out of here. He’s going to bleed to death if we don’t get him help,” pleaded Zane.

  “That’s enough bloodshed for one night, men!” Izanami whirled around toward the direction of the voice. A man in a red leather trench coat appeared from the shadows. The men lowered their weapons. The man, whose orders they obeyed, stepped forward, pulling back his shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair from his face. His eyes scanned the scene around him. They were a fierce blue, and his cold gaze was intimidating. The pupils glinted with the fires burning around all of them. He was young, but his face had a tell-tale expression that he was no stranger to battle. If one had the courage to study his countenance for a time, which no one likely ever dared because of his piercing gaze, one might almost detect an expression of a shattered innocence. A scar was outlined on his left cheek. The man laughed under his breath.. It was a malevolent laugh, one that would make a young child cower in fear and make grown men uneasy.

  “Who the hell are you!? Are you behind this atrocity?” demanded Zane.

  “Hey, easy Zane… remember I got a bone stickin’ outta my leg,” Santo said in a weak voice.

  “Give it to me, boy, and maybe I’ll let you and your friends live,” spoke the man in the red leather trench coat.

  “You’ll have to kill us before I’ll let you have it,” Zane yelled back.

  “Zane, do you really wanna provoke this guy? We aren’t in the best of shape right now,” Santo whispered to Zane.

  “Shut up, I’m thinking…,” Zane whispered back.

  Izanami, still on the ground facing Zane and Santo, tightly grabbed the grip of her sword.

  “Hold it right there, my dear! I’ve seen what you’re capable of. Well, I really didn’t want to use this but, just to be safe…” The man in the red leather trench coat pulled out a large black pendant that was attached to a golden chain. The pendant began to glow a navy blue and a wave of darkness hit Izanami. She looked up at Zane and Santo with horror in her eyes.

  Izanami let go of the sword and lowered her head as tears fell from her eyes. “Please, help me,” Izanami whispered.

  The man casually walked past Izanami and said, “Well, these Red Mages aren’t as scary as the stories led them to be.” The man got closer to Zane and Santo, who had just collapsed. Zane stepped back, but the man reached out to grab him. Just as he was about to grab hold of him, the man was thrown back by a massive wall of light. A deafening roar shook the surroundings. Silver feathers with black tips fluttered in all directions.

  “Impossible!” the man in the leather trench coat yelled in confusion and frustration. Derrick and the Elders of Black Heka and Combat appeared behind the man and his men.

  “Zane, get Izanami out of here, now! Go!” the Elder of Black Heka ordered. Zane looked down at Santo and hesitated.

  “Go, Zane, just leave me. I’ll be okay,” Santo struggled to say.

  Zane grabbed Izanami from off the ground, along with her sword, and hoisted her up onto Amyntas. Amyntas then slightly lowered himself so that Zane could get on his back behind Izanami.

  “Don’t let them get away!” the man in the red leather trench coat ordered. He grabbed the pendant and fired dark waves at Amyntas. Amyntas was not affected and began running towards the man. Before Amyntas reached him, they were airborne.

  Looking down at the village from the air, all that could be seen was fire and smoke. The village had been utterly destroyed within a matter of hours.

  Chapter 11