Age of Azmoq: The Valantian Imperium

by Rajamayyoor Sharma

  When we saw the effects of the poison on others, we wondered what to do. I used all the knowledge I had gathered to treat their symptoms but could do little to halt the progress of this poison. Then, Grim asked if he could help in some way. Looking at him, I realized the poison had no effect on him. No lines, no weakness. Nothing.

  So I took some blood from him and mixed it with some potions that imbibe the effect of the blood into them. After couple of weeks of sleepless nights and experimentation, I was able to get the right mix and administered it to them.”

  There it was again. He healed faster than anyone else, his blood was immune to the poison. At this point I felt sure that the Blue Haze also had not affected him, and it wasn’t because he held some cloth over his mouth. There was something different about my master and I was determined to figure it out. But there was something more pressing. It felt like there was always something more pressing. The events of the past few weeks were so intense and fast paced, that my ability to just remember all that I had experienced already seemed at its limit. But this, this was extremely close to my heart.

  “What about Olmot? Is… his cremation is over?”

  Flora paused her work. She turned to me and walked over. She put her arm around my shoulder.

  “Of course… We couldn’t wait for weeks… Olmot… The name you gave the old man… Yes… We cremated him a couple of weeks back. You can still pay your respects. Grim asked us not to spread his ashes till you were better.”

  I felt quite emotional. I didn’t even have a chance to pay my respects at his funeral. I couldn’t say good bye to him properly.

  “Thanks for telling me. Can you lead me to his ashes? I am feeling fine, before you ask.”

  Flora had a genuine smile on her face. She patted my shoulder and went back to her potion for the village guard.

  “I know. Blue Haze doesn’t leave any lasting effects. We have created a temporary shrine with his ashes on top, near the bar. You can go there now if you are up for it.”

  I thanked Flora again and headed out. It took me sometime to walk. My muscles weren’t used to moving, having laid in bed for over two weeks. All the people who saw me, smiled, recognizing that I was better, but did not call out to me to enquire further.

  As I reached the bar, I saw it. It was a small spot, marked with cylindrical white rock marbles, something used only to mark important locations. There was a small white pyramid made of these rocks, with his ashes kept in a grey hollow stone, used typically for storing ashes till they were spread around. His mat, rolled up, had been placed beside the white marble. I went there and sat in front of the shrine. I spoke to the shrine of the man, who had been my friend for five days.

  “I am sorry Olmot. I am sorry I didn’t get to know you better. I am sorry I couldn’t hear your story. I am sorry I couldn’t help you live a long happy life in this village. I am sorry I couldn’t save you. I am sorry I couldn’t… learn your name.”

  All the sadness I felt during the events of the recent past came rushing back. The pain of someone dying in my arms. The rage against the murderers. The memories of my recent hallucinations. And what I had promised the visions of my parents. The mix of emotions moved me to make a decision.

  “I will promise you one thing, my friend. I will avenge you. I will find your murderers and make them pay. I will chase them across Morgenia, across Valantia, all around the world if need be. But I will make them pay.”

  With that, I got up, left to meet the one man who I knew could help me.

  I entered my place of work, searching for my master. He was quietly working on the forge when he saw me. His face brightened up, although almost imperceptibly.

  “I see you are back on your feet young one. Congratulations on surviving your brush with death. I am… glad.”

  I could sense the relief and happiness in his voice. I was indebted to him for life. He was singlehandedly responsible for saving me, and the others who were attacked. I wanted him to know that. I also needed his help.

  “It is all thanks to you that I survived. You have saved me twice in the last month. I owe you my life. And from what Flora told me, you were also responsible for saving the others as well. And trust me, I will do all I can to repay your debt. But before that, I wanted to ask one more favor from you.”

  I sensed my master getting really serious. “Do not worry. There is no debt. You are my friend, my assistant. I would always do all I can to protect you. Anyway, what is the favor, my young friend?”

  “When I was in the forest, and having visions of my parents, I made a promise. A promise to them, a promise to myself. That I would avenge the deaths of my loved ones. I have to do that for my friend, Olmot. I am going out into the world to catch the men who killed him and bring them to justice.

  Now from what I have seen in the past few weeks, there is much more to you than you let on. The waterfalls, the knowledge of Azmoq under Villasboro, your strength and speed during the attack on Olmot, your speed of recovery from not just your wounds but also the poison. All these point to you being… extraordinary. The favor I want is this… Can you help me bring these men to justice?”

  Grim took some time to reply. Then he said, with cold fury emanating from each word.

  “Be careful of what you promise. Do you even realize what you are talking about? Bring them to justice… Do you know what that means?”

  His tone brought my blood to boil. I replied, with equal amount of rage. “Yes, I do. It means I will hunt them down. And kill them.”

  Grim seemed to sense my resolve. He took a few deep breaths. He then said, in a milder tone. “You know nothing. You are a boy who has seen nothing, experienced no tragedy in life before this, but for one. You have had all your needs provided for, and your life protected by the village and its people. What do you know of resolve?”

  I was hurt by this. But I knew he wouldn’t believe me. He had seen me for years, and had never seen such resolve earlier. But I never had experienced such trauma earlier, not after my parents, where there was nothing I could do. I had to convince him. I replied calmly.

  “Oh, I have resolve, Grim. Let me prove it to you. I wouldn’t move from here until you help me in my quest.”

  Grim said nothing. He just left.

  Minutes passed. They turned into hours. My body, which had just woken up after two weeks of liquid nourishment in an unconscious state, craved food. My muscles, after weeks of being unused, begged for action. But my mind, it was at peace. I was immobile.

  Hours went by. The day turned to night. Exhaustion began to take over. Even though I woke up from two weeks of sleep, years of routine was forcing my body to feel sleepy. But my mind was firm. There was going to be no sleep. I had my eyes closed, as a compromise to my body, and so that the darkness didn’t inspire any other emotions.

  Night turned to day. And back to night. I sat there, driven by my desire to fulfil my promise. The conditions under which the promise was made, the duress, the stress did not matter. I knew I could not return to my life unless I did what I had promised to myself. Avenge my friend. And so I sat there, immobile. I heard noises behind me. It seemed like conversation… or argument. I shut everything out.

  I lost track of time. I didn’t know if days had passed, or weeks. There was nothing but will power that kept me from falling over, and collapsing in exhaustion. Then, after what seemed like an era, I felt an arm on my shoulder, followed by my master’s voice. “Rest, my stubborn student. I will help you take your revenge.” His voice broke down the barriers my mind had put up to hold me in place. With those words, I collapsed into a deep, and for the first time in weeks, peaceful sleep.

  I woke up again, after some time, in Flora’s medical center. There was no one there, but for the village guard and Parshtel lying down. They looked significantly better. The lines on their bodies had almost disappeared. They seemed more alive than the last time. But then I realized Fred was gone. I was suddenly afraid—Had he succumbed to the poison?

 
I rushed out of bed to find Flora. I immediately saw Fred chatting with Flora and Grim outside the center. Relief flooded my body—Fred seemed to have recovered enough to walk around. I walked out to meet them. As soon as they saw me, Flora and Fred hurried towards me.

  “Why are you out of bed, you idiot?” Flora said severely.

  “How are you feeling, you fool?” Asked Fred, also uncharacteristically severely.

  I figured the reason for their severity was my voluntary fast. I tried to calm them down. “Why the anger guys? A little sympathy for the sick!” I said with a smile.

  “Sympathy is for actual patients, not suicidal fools,” raged Flora. I had never seen either of them angry before. It was an endearing expression on them.

  “Relax, Flora and Frederick,” intervened Grim, who strolled towards me.

  “Come, my foolish assistant, let me begin your introduction to the outside world.” Grim signaled towards his home.

  Flora began to protest. “He is still unwell…”

  Grim just wagged his head. “Leave him to me. Please keep everything ready.”

  We then marched towards Grim’s home, in silence. I was waiting for him to start talking. He entered the house, went straight to his food stash, and threw a loaf of bread and a lump of butter at me, as he picked some soup to drink. I clumsily caught the food, and for the first time in weeks, ate solid food. I was so ravished that I didn’t even bother to break the bread, but just savagely bit into it and the butter.

  “Remember that feeling. That’s how much you should want your revenge. Like an ever-hungry man searching for bread, you should always think about your goal until you achieve it, even when you are not thinking about it consciously.”

  I nodded vigorously as I ate. Grim continued to talk.

  “Now listen to me. I have agreed to help you in your quest for revenge. But I can’t join you on this quest. The attack on Olmot also showed how vulnerable this village is. With Parshtel out of action, I need to make sure that the village will be safe… I feel that there might be more such situations developing, given how we handled the first one. We allowed two of the three attackers to escape. I need to stay here in the village and make sure of its safety. No matter how much I want to come with you… I owe this village much more.

  Having said that, I want to help you as much as possible from here. So I lay out two paths for you. One—I tell you all I know that will be helpful to you and you go out right away. Second is, I help train you in self-defense for a few months and then you can head out. It is possible at that time, depending on the village’s situation, Frederick and I can join you. It might take the others more time to heal.”

  I was disappointed knowing that he wouldn’t come with me. And I could tell he wanted me to pick the second option. It was tempting, the prospect of getting combat training from a man I had seen kill someone with just one punch. It was also tempting, the prospect of travelling with someone so wise. But unfortunately, I couldn’t take it.

  “I want to learn from you, Grim. There could be nothing better. But I have already lost more than a month. I can’t afford to lose any more time. I have no idea of where they are from, where they will go, what they will do. I am almost sure I have lost their track, but I still have to start immediately. I would go with option one.”

  Grim seemed prepared for this response. “Understood. I will try and help you as much as possible right now. You can leave right away. But I want you to understand something. In nine months’ time, I will make the village ready for any attack. Then I will come for you. You have to wait for me at the other end of the Northern exit. If you don’t see me, you must return to the village and we can set out again in case you haven’t achieved your aim already. You must promise you will come.”

  I was overwhelmed with the concern Grim was showing for me, despite his greater duty towards the village. “I promise I will be there, Grim. If I am not done with my task till then.”

  “Good. Now listen carefully. There are things about my past I haven’t told everyone. There are facts about my life that needed to stay unknown, until it was absolutely necessary to know them. Now it is time for you to know some of those facts.

  The world is a difficult place. All that Olmot and I spoke of, during our time in the hills, are true. There is a ruling body of the continent, called the Valantian Imperium. They govern everything that the light touches, and everything that it doesn’t. It is not that they do a bad job, but there were some who were not happy with how they were ruled.

  Anyway, the people, who were discontent, rebelled and started a revolution. It gained some momentum after a man known to all as Varishtan joined the revolution with what seemed to be the Anzelmen sword. This energized the revolutionaries, increasing their numbers. They clashed with the Valantian armies in many skirmishes, culminating in a battle known as the Battle of the Bloody River. This is where, with the help of Varishtan, the revolutionaries won the battle. But by then, they had fallen out of favor of the people. As they defeated the Imperium on the battlefield, the Imperium defeated them in the minds of the people. And without further help from the people, the revolutionaries lost all initiative. They have since become inconsequential.”

  He scanned around and lowered his voice.

  “There is a reason I am telling you this. Given the revolution, the Valantian Imperium has clamped down on the people a lot more. Apparently, since the last two years, their suspicion of strangers has gone up for some reason.

  So be wary of authorities. Given our isolation here, we don’t have any official identification. Try to avoid confrontation with any authorities, and if caught always try to escape at your first chance. And always give false names, so that you stay completely unknown. Never, never tell anyone outside this village your real name.”

  As he said that, he handed me a case.

  “Lastly, if cornered, please use this.”

  It was the length of my arm, almost as wide as my torso. As I opened it, I saw what it contained. There was a beautifully created glove, which seemed to be made of some metal. Along with it was a metal arm bracer, with a thin wire attached to the hilt of a short sword. Its hilt was mesmerizing, with a shine that defied the lack of light inside the house. Upon closer inspection, I could see a large jewel embedded in the hilt. The sword itself seemed moderately heavy, and it was sheathed in a simple scabbard.

  As I admired the creations, Grim continued. “All I said so far I learned from Olmot. Now for some truth about my past. In my life, I have learned to work with Azmoq. This weapon I am handing you, is an Azmoqian weapon that has been created and refined in my family over decades. The glove and the bracer are to be worn on opposite hands. They will change size and shape to fit your hands perfectly.

  The primary function of the glove is defense. It is built to attract any metallic weapons towards itself, so you can defend yourself from any arrow and sword attack easily. It will also absorb the impact of these weapons, so your hand will not be damaged. The glove also reinforces your knuckles, so that you can break wood, some metal targets with your punch. You would need to perfect your technique of punching to maximize its effect. The glove also breathes, so your skin will never sweat. Hence you should always wear it, irrespective of where you are.

  The bracer and the connected sword are primarily for offense. You should wear the bracer also always, with the sword by your waist. The wire will adjust its length so that it’s not uncomfortable. Whenever needed, pull the sword out and use it to attack. The use of the bracer and wire is that you can throw the weapon. Hence your range of attack is higher. An accurate throw can help to break or penetrate well defended targets as well. You can also swing it around to cut your opponents at a distance. Again, this requires skill and training, something I can’t help you master right now, so train, every chance you get.

  But be careful, never reveal your weapon’s abilities. Weapons made of Azmoq are the most valuable items in the world. People would be willing to trade everything, from their p
ossessions to their families or even their entire village to get their hands on it. They are also willing to kill for it.

  The last thing about the weapon. When you hold the sword with both hands, the weapon will become longer and sharper. Few objects will be able to withstand a slash from the sword in this state. Any questions?”

  It was a lot for me to absorb. But I had to absorb it. A weapon of such potential could be the difference between life and death for me. I was awestruck that my master was skilled enough to create something like this. I had so many questions. But there wasn’t any time. I asked only one.

  “Does it have a name?”

  Grim smiled. “It does. It is called Dhronari, which means the short sword of Dhrona. When we meet next, I will tell you the reason for its name.

  Now, moving on. Other basics of survival. The world functions on gold. For everything you need, unless you can make it, you need to pay the person who has it with gold. The gold coin is most precious, with each gold coin being equal to 100 silver coins, which are the next most precious. I have some gold which I can give you to tide out your needs for some time. After that, you might need to find some work. You can seek out other smith shops for that. The rest of the world, you will have to figure out on your own.”

  That was my crash course on the world and how to survive in it. Although valuable, I had no idea, the magnitude of everything else I had to figure out.

  Grim continued. “Lastly, I looked at the darts that the man I killed had, which the other two also had. I was surprised to learn their origins. The marks they had were unmistakable. They are from a tribe called the Yerin Doyusculer. I had not left the village for just a short while, as I had previously told you. I was roaming out in the world for many years, before I came back and settled in the village for good. Coincidentally, I had the chance, in my travels, to meet this tribe. It surprised me that the assassins hailed from there, as the tribe was exceptionally honorable when I met them and moreover, they hated working for anyone but themselves.