Excuse me!! I don’t understand a thing here. By having this much power, what is Tyrant waiting for and how come he hasn’t already attacked us? asked Manav.
Within a few hours, the Emrlar eclipse will appear in Empyrea, and it will come to a close at sunset. At this time, the powers of the scepters won’t work. Therefore the people and the creatures can’t be controlled with the power of the scepters. If the Tyrant family would have attacked us today, they have a chance of losing the war, that’s the reason they haven’t attacked us yet, said Edrick.
Emrlar eclipse!!! What’s that? asked Ameer.
Emrlar eclipse will be appearing in Empyrea when the neighbor planet kasumbia transits between our planet Vathura and the sun, this eclipse is considered evil for two reasons. One, the planet kasumbia is a red colored one, therefore at a point in the eclipse the entire Vathura will be bloody red which is the symbol of danger. The second is not really a reason, it’s more an incident. Previously we lost our Emperor Osiris Mysterio on this same eclipse day. I fear whether this eclipse will once again drench Empyrea in blood, said Edrick getting all emotional.
Nothing will go wrong and let’s not wallow in doubt, we are going to win this war and save Empyrea as well as the Emrath. Prince Horus will be back by tonight and by tomorrow victory will be ours, said Ameer.
How!!! Even if Prince returns by night, we will have only two scepters, and they have three, it seems like they are always one step ahead of us, said Manav.
Tomorrow morning you will see, mark my words said Ameer and left the Emra temple.
In the Empyrean ocean,
Lord Royston along with Ejeeth paddled the boat and followed the flying Phoenix bird, it led them to Fefia.
Ejeeth!! I guess we would have crossed 100 miles by now right. Do you have any idea how long we need to paddle? asked Lord Royston.
I don’t have any idea about the remaining distance but we should reach there before the start of the eclipse, said Ejeeth.
I think the light will remain until we reach and our travel will be smooth without any hiccups, said Lord Royston.
It’s not about the light. If the eclipse begins before we reach Fefia, then the prince won’t be able to get his soul out from Phoenix. The reason being the star carvings where he will be sitting and transforming his soul from his body needs to be empowered by the sun god Emra or by the moon god Emla, the prince cannot empower the carvings in their absence.
If that was the case, we should have used the falcon birds to reach Fefia and we could have reached by now, said lord Royston.
NO Lord!! It will be too risky because once the eclipse starts, the scepters will not be able to control the people and the creatures. They will behave inappropriately and might turn out violent, so as a precaution we are paddling to Fefia, said Ejeeth.
Yes, now I understand but let’s paddle the boat faster, said lord Royston.
Lord, I forgot to mention this; we are far from the borders of Empyrea so there is a high chance of us getting attacked by outsiders, so don’t relax as yet. The scepter’s controlling powers won’t work with the outsiders, said Ejeeth.
What do you mean by outsiders, godmother said there was no proper land to live in except Empyrea on planet Vathura. Are people living in Fefia too, and I thought I could control all the mastodons in the galaxy, is that not the case, asked lord Royston confused.
No one lives in Fefia. In fact no people live outside Empyrea in our planet Vathura. But this applies only to the people, there are many living things in the sea that are still considered outsiders and they aren’t the mastodons, dinosaurs or the gorillas that can be controlled by the scepters, these are sea monsters, a different species altogether, said Ejeeth.
Well, in that case the empyrean ocean is known to have many types of organisms like rockfish, reef tiger fish, jelly fish, kingfish, silky shark, finished Ejeeth.
Hahahahaa!!! I can handle these outsiders with only my arm strength, said Lord Royston.
But Lord! Let me finish. The ones that I mentioned may be calm but they live amidst some terror striking monsters. To name a few of those, Ichthyosaurs, now these look like dolphins but they reach a massive size of up to 65 feet. Then there are the Thalassomedons!! natural predators, reaching lengths of up to 40 feet. Then comes the Nothosaurus!! which are only about 13 feet long but are aggressive hunters. The Tylosaurus!! are enormous creatures reaching more than 50 feet in length. The Liopleurodon measures more than 20 feet in length, its jaws alone are believed to be over 10 feet long. Mosasaurus is 50 feet in length, these are the marine predators of this empyrean ocean, said Ejeeth.
Moreover, from the top angle we could see their boat sailing in the vast empyrean ocean along with all sorts of wild creatures.
Where there is beauty, there is a threat too, said Royston to Ejeeth.
They crossed another 50 miles in the empyrean ocean. Meanwhile, it was nearly the time for the eclipse to start and they hardly had only one hour to get back Prince Horus. If not, they would have had to wait until the end of the eclipse.
(At the sight of Fefia’s landmark, the Phoenix bird let out a cry)
The Prince spotted Fefia, let’s paddle faster, the eclipse is nearing, said Ejeeth.
They paddled as fast as they could but suddenly Royston had this intuition.
It was more like a slideshow in his head. An ornament falling into the water, Royston swimming among the jelly fishes, he bleeds with the injection of the jelly’s tentacles and the finish was a fierce competition with two giant fishes.
Aaaaaarzh!!!!! Aaaaaarzh!!! mourned Royston.
Lord!! Lord!!! What happened, asked Ejeeth.
Jelly!!! Jelly!!! mourned Royston.
Lord!! What jelly, asked Ejeeth.
Will there be any jelly fish in this ocean, asked Royston.
Our empyrean ocean has all types of marine creatures, there are jellies for instance , the non-poisonous ones of course.
Ok!! Where is your velox tooth chain, interrupted Royston.
You didn’t notice..!! I am wearing it on my hand, said Ejeeth and showed his hands.
Why are you wearing the velox tooth chain on your hand like a bracelet, why not as a chain, asked Royston.
The sharpness of the tooth scratches my chest but the thing is this is the key to unlock the coffin box and only then we would be able to take out the body of Prince Horus. I need to keep this tooth safe, said Ejeeth and adjusted the velox tooth chain on his hand.
No!! Don’t touch the chain, shouted Royston but it was too late. His touch unhooked the chain and it fell into the empyrean ocean.
Can’t you see the chain falling into deep water. Now is the time to act - Freeze the ocean with your powers otherwise we won’t be able to find it, said Ejeeth.
NO!! The ocean has millions of living things in it!! I won’t do it, said Royston and jumped into the ocean to retrieve the chain.
The Phoenix bird saw planet Kasumbia nearing the sun and let out a cry signaling Lord Royston to find the chain before the eclipse starts.
The velox tooth chain seemed to have gone deeper and deeper into the ocean. The Ocean itself was assumed to have a depth of 40,994 meters.
Royston swam faster desperately looking for the velox tooth chain but he could not spot it anywhere and on top of it the group of jelly fishes blocked his view and injected him like electric current.
Jelly fishes are free-swimming marine animals that consisted of a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell and trailing tentacles that had stinging cells known as nematocysts. The slightest touch could trigger the stinging mechanism and that would release toxins faster than a gun released a bullet. Jellies typically use these stings for hunting and for their protection.
While removing the injected jellies Royston suddenly spotted the chain but couldn’t do much as he was stuck in the middle of the jellies and he was almost feeling faintish as a result of the injection. He lost consciousness and floated down to the bottom of the sea.
Suddenly the jellies c
leared the area, in fact the entire area looked empty. Other than Royston there was nothing to be seen. Royston did not regain consciousness and continued his floating.
The reason the jellies cleared the area was because of the arrival of an uninvited predator which was the 15feet long Nothosaurus. It’s head was like that of a crocodile lined with hundreds of razor sharp tooth which could penetrate even the most thickest armor.
While Royston was drowning, Nothosaurus spotted him, it made a dash for him to swallow him but just when it was about to with its mouth wide open, it’s arch rival Mosasaurus surfaced right in front. If the Nothosaurus was huge then Mosasaurus was colossal. Mosasaurus is an ambush predator , 25 feet in length, it always surprises its prey by sneaking up on it.
These two clashing bought some time for Royston. It was a sight to see. Nothosaurus was using its tail, legs, and webbed feet to escape from Mosasaurus. In the middle of the fight, Nothosaurus’s tail hit Royston and that woke him out of his consciousness.
Awake now, Royston seemed traumatized looking at the sea monsters have a go at each other. He tried escaping and started looking for the chain. He couldn’t spot the chain anywhere. Meanwhile, the fight between the Mosasaurus and Nothosaurus grew bigger, the sea was beginning to get filled with blood from the fight. Mosasaurus was chewing the tail of Nothosaurus. Royston few meters below saw the chain hanging in the telanthera sea plant and swam towards it.
In the boat, Ejeeth kept swinging his head from the sun and then back to the Empyrean Ocean hoping to see Royston surface anytime.
Should I go after Royston, thought Ejeeth. (The Phoenix bird looked at Ejeeth) Oh, prince!! Don’t look me like that, this is not my fault, it was the lord who asked about the chain.
(The Phoenix let out cry sitting on Royston’s scepter)
Will this work? asked Ejeeth.
Meanwhile under the ocean Royston almost reached the telanthera plant to retrieve the chain but the chain was firmly stuck and even worse was entwined in the telanthera’s stem. While Royston was trying to take out the chain from the plant, Mosasaurus hurled Nothosaurus the other way and came towards Royston.
As he was busy trying to take out the chain from the plant, he didn’t notice Mosasaurus approaching. It neared Royston and while there was just 1 meter gap between them Nothosaurus resurfaced and attacked Mosasaurus, its sharp teeth bit into Mosasaurus’s neck. Mosasaurus hollered in pain but Nothosaurus didn’t seem to let go but continued to chew its flesh more and more and finally killed it.
After having its fill, Nothosaurus turned towards Royston and he seemed to be still struggling to get the chain out of the plant. Meanwhile, Ejeeth jumped into the ocean with the “scepter of nature”.
At last, I got a chance to use this scepter, thought Ejeeth and that’s when he noticed Nothosaurus attacking Royston.
The entire ocean seemed to reverberate with Nothosaurus’s monstrous growl and just when it was about to swallow Royston, he ducked and swam back from the Nothosaurus and summoned his scepter to come to his hand. Soon his scepter flew to him from the hands of Ejeeth and with the scepter’s power Royston created a small maelstrom and caused that to attack the Nothosaurus. The Nothosaurus swirled into it and that was the end of it. And then Royston plucked the entire telanthera plant and took the chain.
I thought of using your scepter for once but I missed the opportunity within a matter of seconds, said Ejeeth
Oh Ejeeth, It’s already late, let’s get to the boat, said Royston and both swam towards the boat.
They reached Fefia before the start of the eclipse. Fefia was not as big an island as, the area covered 500 meters only with a single plateau.
Is this Fefia, did we struggle this much to come to this empty place? where is the eoffine box. (The bird Phoenix flew here and there searching for something) The eclipse is about to surface, we are wasting our time here, said Royston.
(The Phoenix sat on the 2 feet polygon shaped rock near a pond, and let out its usual cry)
Prince says something is over there on that rock. I think he would have made the underground chamber, said Ejeeth.
Royston and Ejeeth rushed over to the plateau (The Phoenix bird flew from the rock) Ejeeth tried lifting the rock but it was so heavy. Lord Royston with his powers raised and moved it from its place but there was no way to the chamber under the rock.
(The Phoenix flew towards the pond and seemed to want to go inside)
(Both came towards the pond leaving the rock in its place)
He is asking us to drop the rock inside it, said Ejeeth.
Lord Royston with his powers lifted the stone and dropped it inside. Once the rock fell into the pond the plateau floor door opened a few meters away from them.
Wow!!! Ancient architecture!!!
The plateau floor door had steps going down which they believed could lead them to the underground chamber. But as soon as they stepped down, the eclipse started.
Oh god Emra!! The eclipse has started, we wasted our time. Now we need to wait until the eclipse gets over, said Ejeeth feeling real sad.
How long will it take from now, asked Royston.
It will take five hours and it will end at sunset, said Ejeeth.
Which means we can get the prince back only when Emla rises again right, asked Royston.
There is a problem as well. The new moon night will occur day after tomorrow, I fear Emla won’t have enough power to empower the star carvings, said Ejeeth.
If we fail to get back the prince by today, then Empyrea will be in deep trouble, without him we can’t win the war, said Royston.
Let’s hope for the best. Now everything is in the hands of the gods Emra and Emla. They need to help us save Empyrea. If the eclipse ends before sunset, we will get some time to get back the prince, if not, we need to trust Emla to empower the star carvings, said Ejeeth.
Ok!! Let’s do one thing, we get into the chamber and get everything ready and hope the eclipse ends before sunset, said Royston.
They stepped down to the underground chamber and was awestruck. It was a vast area, the water and limestone that stood carved over millions of slow and patient years created a spectacular and unique formation.
The occasional slump in the roof had allowed underground jungle ecosystems to form. Rare cave pearls, ancient fossils, and towering stalactites formed around a river running through the caves were massive.
It's gorgeous bright green rivers each came with their very own beaches. The beaches were glistening with blue dot lights like stars in space but it was no magic, those blue dot lights were living microorganisms.
This place is astounding but where do we find the Prince, said Ejeeth.
Soon the phoenix bird flew alongside the glittering seashore, Royston and Ejeeth followed it. The phoenix screeched and turned right, flew over the glittering blue sea, and hid from the eyes of Royston and Ejeeth behind a large rock.
Ejeeth!! Do you have any idea where the Prince is heading, asked Royston.
Before Ejeeth could reply, they crossed the large rock and found the hidden phoenix, it was sitting on a large eoffine box in the middle of the sea which was surrounded by the glittering blue sea. It was 1500metres away from the seashore.
Seeing Royston and Ejeeth, the phoenix flapped its wings and magical fire filled the sea. Royston and Ejeeth stood in extreme bewilderment when a rock floated up from the bottom and stood floating, soon many rocks floated up and formed a bridge for them to stride towards the eoffine box. Royston and Ejeeth with their mouths open walked on the floating rocks and reached the eoffine box.
Scepters of Empyrea Page 33