by P D Ceanneir
‘Kwi-Aqua, who took the form of the prince’s dead sister, Verna,’ said the Blacksword nodding in understanding. ‘So that is how I’m able to Rule Orrinns, read Skrol, see the future and talk with you on a sub-conscious level.’
The Nicbetha spoke. ‘Ah, but the ability to talk to gods has always been a gift that you possess,’ she said. ’Even with my Elemental and psychic powers I find it difficult to even see Hagan. You, on the other hand, are a Firesprite. The energy it gives you makes it possible for you to communicate freely with a My’thos. This is why no one else could use the Muse Orrinn.’
‘Firesprite…’ the Blacksword nodded, ‘Pyromancer.’
Yes, said Hagan.
‘So, Gonliss?’ the Blacksword asked the Nicbetha, ‘where does he fit into all of this?’
‘He was a means to an end. I tricked him into making him believe that his death, and my powers to reanimate his body, would allow him access onto Mortkraxnoss.’
‘Only the dead can enter the Isle of the Dead.’
‘Yes, but the Wall of the Damned forbade his entrance, for they could see his sins in life and one’s personal sins is a barrier to the next world. He became my prisoner, relaying any information I wished back to his beloved Order.’ She sighed as she continued.
‘I am afraid that my involvement caused the resurgence of the Brethac Ziggurat, although this was always the fate of your people. The war with the Vallkytes forced you to seek a cure for the prince’s Pyromancy and this led you to the creation of the Sword that Rules.’
‘Yes, but, why go to all of this trouble to make the Blacksword of Prophecy and bring me here?’ the Blacksword asked.
You must come, because the Dark Force fears you. You are the threat to his very existence.
‘Why?’
Because you are a Pyromancer and therefore part of him, the volatile energies that are within the prince are stronger within you. The Dark Force fears for his very existence because he is diminishing every time a Pyromancer uses his power.
‘So Shanks was right about the volatile energies in the Dragon Lanes. They are a part of the Earth Daemon.’
Correct. When we My’thos trapped the entity within the Great Orrinn at the end of our war with him, we later found out to our cost that he was not whole. Fragments remained, fused with the energy matrix you call the Dragon Lanes, this meant he was still active in the world even if the bulk of him was imprisoned. He manipulated events against us, but it is now the cause of his undoing. The Pyromancer is one of his children and one who can weaken him, for he does not understand the concept of the Twin Aspect.
The Blacksword frowned. ‘The Twin Aspect?’ he asked.
The Dark Force of the Earth is the Twin of the Earth Mother, a male aspect if you like. The My’thos twins are their essences, which we trapped within Orrinns; thoughts or souls might be a better description for the human mind to fathom. Dragons have twins within them, so do humans. You, for example, are the twin of Havoc.
Chapter Fifteen
The Keeper of Souls
F
owyn Ri meshed the Rawn Arts into its Blended form, and a powerful use it was at that. Lord Ness watched as he fused together the Wind and Fire Elements to form a positive and negative charge that sparked through the air as a bolt of lightning. Most Ri had this ability, fusing two or more of the elements together to get different reactions, but lightning used much physical energy and was difficult to control - only female Ri had the aptitude. Fowyn’s use of the type of the Blend showed that he was desperate to finish the battle because he would weaken quickly.
Webs of thin white lightning fluttered through the Ri’s fingers as he built up the charge. Fowyn had already expended energy healing the wound on his back from Tia’s sword and braced himself ready to unleash the torrent of electricity. Several long streams of crooked lightning burst from Fowyn’s palms and whipped through the air towards Ness Ri who used his own control of the Arts to neutralise the charge. He managed to deflect some of it, but one thick bolt struck him in the chest burning a black circle through his chest to his back. He shot backwards, slamming into the hull of the white yacht with a loud grunt.
Tia also got in the way of the sparking energy and so was struck by a lightning bolt that arced through the air. She screamed in pain and fell to her knees in agony as the flow of lightening covered her from head to toe.
Lord Fowyn stumbled, weakened by his use of the arts. Serena saw her chance to kill Lord Ness while Tia lay incapacitated and rushed him with her sword raised. Lord Ness, smoke drifting upwards in a white stream from the burnt areas of his robe on his back, saw her and used the Wind Element to pull Belthoin out of the White Yacht’s hull where he had left it. The sword whizzed past his head and the tip impaled into Serena’s side, cutting her kidney in half.
Fowyn was on his feet quickly, his face a mask of rage. He gathered the Wing Element into a powerful burst and sent it towards Lord Ness who tried his best to stop its momentum. Tia, who was trying to regain her feet as the effects of the electricity wore off, stood in the path of the strong gust, which sent her off them again. She spun in the air and smacked into Serena. Both of them fell to the hard ground in a tangle of limbs, they struggled for a few seconds and Serena swung her sword blindly towards Tia’s head, but Tia grasped her wrist with her free hand and raised her own weapon with the point aimed for Serena’s chest.
She pushed downwards with all of her strength.
Lord Ness had raised his arms as the gale struck, luckily the hull of the Licessia stopped him from going over the edge of the bridge, but the yacht still rocked violently when the Wind hit it. Ness Ri’s head pounded as he used up strength to neutralise the gale and he saw stars sparking through his vision.
Fowyn chuckled as he walked towards the now wounded and unarmed Ness Ri. He gave his sword a swish in the air.
‘I expected more from such a powerful Ri,’ he said, ‘so disappointing.’ He lifted his sword for the final strike.
‘You would think differently if you could link your mind to a dragon’s,’ said Lord Ness with a smile.
Fowyn hesitated with his sword raised and frowned. A dark shadow covered him as something large blocked the sun’s light. A thump behind Fowyn made him turn just as the Ice Drake landed. The white fur on Aluna’s left side was dirty and saturated in her blood, she had been too weak to heal herself, but felt the last reserves of Lord Ness’s energy flow into her. She sensed Fowyn Ri’s fear as he stared up at her open-mouthed, she gave him no time to use the arts or attack with his weapon. She clamped her jaws down on his sword arm, splintering the bones with the force, and lifted him into the air. Fowyn Ri yelled as he was tossed high and landed inside the gaping maw of the Dragon’s mouth. The row of dozens of needle-sharp teeth pierced his torso, blood burst from his body in bright red gushes and Lord Ness cringed at the crunching and grinding noises of his fellow Ri’s bones. Aluna chewed and swung her head from side to side, the dying Ri’s arms and legs flapped around her head like a rag doll’s, the motion dislocated each limb until they were hanging from stretched tendons.
Finally, she spat the body of Fowyn out of her mouth, sending it over the edge of the bridge down into the cold mist below. She wavered, breathing heavily and stumbled. She tried to stand but was too weak, and then lay down with a thump. Her many wounds opened again, spilling blood onto the surface of the Glammerstone Bridge.
Serena coughed blood into Tia’s face as Tia rolled off her. After they collided, Tia plunged her sword through Serena’s chest, piercing her heart. Now her one time lover looked pale and fearfully up at her.
‘You have finally...broken...my heart...Tia, I…I cannot heal it,’ Serena gurgled through a thick clot of blood in her throat. She reached up her hand and stroked Tia’s cheek, wiping away a tear there. When the hand fell limp at her side, Tia knew she was dead; she used her hand to close the lids over Serena’s eyes.
She looked around and found Lord Ness beside Aluna. He stroked the matted fur
of the Ice Drake’s head and listened to her labouring breath as it slowed. The dragon’s eye blinked up at him.
‘Thank you Ri, for the strength you gave me...my time is over...do not allow the people of Ternquin to see me as a monster...let them know I helped…in the end.’ Lord Ness nodded sadly and watched as the light of life faded from Aluna’s eyes.
He stood up and sighed as his chest flared with the burns and his limbs ached, Tia joined him.
‘I did not know you could Thought Link to Dragons without touching them,’ she said, clearly impressed with the skills of this enigmatic man.
He nodded, ‘Ciriana taught me how to do it many years ago during the latter days of the Dragor-rix, although I did not know how handy it would be until now.’
The Blacksword felt Havoc shrug off the revelation that they were brothers, both felt that the fact seemed obvious once you got used to the idea. Something registered in both their minds that someone had referred to them being brothers before, but they could not think where.
Every one of the Five Who Speak has a twin, continued Hagan, in humans it is less pronounced and usually just a second voice in one’s head, a subconscious presence. Your kind has mistaken this other voice for madness, but really, your twin is your confidant, your companion and your creative partner. Prince Havoc is unique; he has allowed the twin to manifest into a physical entity. Pyromancy, the influence of the Muse Orrinn and your belief in the Blacksword Prophecy has done the rest. The control that the Blacksword has over Death is why he becomes the Keeper of the Gredligg Orrinn. Plans, years in the making, now come into fruition.
The Blacksword pondered this a while, ‘the Five Who Speak,’ he asked turning towards the Nicbetha, ‘where do the Spirit Elementals fit into all of this? I am led to believe that you were once humans.’
‘We were,’ answered the witch, ‘such a long time ago now. The Elemental Wars brought forth our power, a war that we did not wish to be a part of for any length of time. There were other types of Elementals that wished to manipulate events towards their own agenda.’ She raised her hand to stall the Blacksword from asking another question, ‘I shall not go into details about those dark days, suffice it to say that we rejected our bodies and evolved our spirits. Eventually we struck a deal with the My’thos.’
‘A deal?’
The Spirit Elementals sought us out, continued Hagan; few of the Earth Shepherds retained their physical form in those days, Arcun and Tri-Nut, to give them their human names, were two of them. The Spirit Elementals had amazing control over the Wind Element and could conjure great hurricanes at will, but we gave them the option of evolving beyond the flesh if they aided us in the Great Plan, and so they became one of the Five Who Speak.’
‘Remember the dream I showed you of the battle-scarred land?’ asked the Nicbetha. The Blacksword nodded.
‘Not all of my kind agreed to help the My’thos; some rebelled because they thought the whole war began with their interference in the first place. This small group called themselves the Immortals and we fought them during the Elemental War in our own small civil conflict. Those that survived, we banished from our storms. They wander the land still, trapped between flesh and spirit, unable to evolve and driven mad in their perpetual despair.
‘There were tales of the Immortals manipulating ancient realms. The first Fyrandian Emperor, Tahini of Xirmal, was an Immortal until my kind bore him away on eternal winds. Immortals even aided the powerful sorcerer Queen Morgana and her army of Felwraiths in their war against the Loran League.’
‘Yes, yes…the dwarf, Gunach, explained much about the war to the prince. His kind and the elves fought against this Morgana. She was the first of the Firstborn; Kwi-aqua told him it was some dark secret?’
The Blacksword watched as he saw the god’s shoulders slump and the flame in his eyes dulled.
It is inevitable that you should ask that question. Kwi-aqua is correct of course. The Firstborn was our attempt to find a solution to continuing our work on Earth. We created them with the intention of teaching them the Rawn Arts. However, we failed, mainly because we did not discover that the volatile energies of the Dark Force still remained within the Dragon Lanes, when we did it was too late. We created the Morgana from the earth just as your Ri summon dragons via the Dragon Lanes. She was beautiful, kind and intelligent. She was also pregnant with her first child.
We My’thos have no concept of procreation. Our first attempt at creating a new life form failed for many reasons, because we only knew of the Earth Mother in her female aspect and the male we shunned. However, the Dark Force of the Earth did not shun the Morgana, he tainted her child with evil. We knew nothing of this at the time, of course.
We were overjoyed when the first beautiful Vul’yoi arrived before us and were surprised to learn she grew so quickly into adulthood within a few days. The Morgana continued to grow life inside her on a daily basis until thousands of her offspring filled the grove we left for them.
Then the day came when we saw the evil that the Dark Force had placed within the Firstborn.
‘The Korzac,’ said the Blacksword with a hiss.
Yes, the Dark Force of the Earth had somehow tainted their inner twins, turning them into male abominations. We had to suspend the Morgana’s ability to reproduce and eventually banished the Firstborn into the depths of the earth for all eternity, but as you know, some have escaped.
‘And the Morgana?’
She hid from us. Even though we took from her the ability to use the Rawn Arts, she somehow found a way to manipulate Earth Energies into some form of magical system that we were unable to detect. She must have wandered the ancient realms for thousands of years before building the Loran Talathu, the Tree of Life, and used it to create the Elves, Dwarves and Felwraiths.
‘And they ended up being her downfall, yes I know the stories. This Morgana sounds intriguing,’ said the Blacksword.
‘You will find out first hand, Son of Death, when you meet her,’ said the Nicbetha with a slight smile.
‘Meet her?’
Your meeting in the future is inevitable. She is our first Demigod and you are our second, rumbled Hagan.
‘Demigod!’
Did you think we made you as you are for the fun of it? Said the God and his eyes burnt brighter with the hint of amusement
Even Havoc, tucked away inside the comfortable darkness of the Blacksword’s mind seemed surprised at that revelation.
The Blacksword paced back and forward, still clutching the Sword that Rules. Hagan and the Nicbetha watched him impassively.
‘I see...it all makes perfect sense now.’ He felt anger well up inside him, yet he concentrated on keeping calm, to disperse the volatile Pyromantic energy that the negative emotion produced. ‘So, I’m built to do your bidding, is that your plan?’
Your anger does you credit; it makes you an independent force. Yes, we created you, and humans, to continue our work, but we never expected the rate at which humans could reproduce. Soon you spread over this vast world and those few we took under our wing became the Eldi, the first of your people.
Humans were the army that the My’thos could depend on to continue the fight against the Dark Force. They are the people who could even the balance in nature and devote their lives to being the new Shepherds of the Earth and you are our Champion to ensure they carry out the task.
‘But the Dark Force casts a shadow over everything. Am I right?’
You are. In order for us to diminish the power of the Dark Force of the Earth, we must first reduce his hold on the power he has with the volatile energies within the Dragon Lanes. We achieved this, to some extent, with the creation of the Firesprite or Pyromancers. Thus weakened, he can be sent back to the Earth Mother as a lesser force, dispersed through her streams of energy as mindless pieces of volatile power. However, if allowed to escape from the Gredligg Orrinn then the concentrated capacity he has at the moment will draw his component parts to him, this will make him an extremely dest
ructive entity. Since the last Great War, the Earth has been weak. Now with the Dark Force trapped in the Orrinn these last millions of years she has had time to heal and become stronger, strong enough to receive her brother and contain him.
‘Yes, but He cannot escape from the Orrinn can he?’
‘Yes, I am afraid He can,’ continued the Nicbetha. ‘The My’thos within the Orrinn have dedicated their time and energy into containing him, it is their ultimate sacrifice. Nevertheless, it is not enough. The Dragon Lanes help to a certain extent, but they continually move each year, this is why Mortkraxnoss must move with the shifting matrix.’ She pointed up towards the cave‘s ceiling, where the hundreds of glowing Skrol symbols shone. ‘The Skrolmesh above helps to diffuse and suppress the Dark Entity’s influence on the world. Unfortunately, once you take the Orrinn out of here then the mesh will have no suppressing effect.’
‘What will happen?’
The god grunted. It sounded like rocks grating together; a unique freak phenomenon will occur, he said, we call it Shadowfall.
‘What kind of phenomenon?’
Adverse weather conditions, to begin with. The adverse effects will start small and grow stronger.
The Nicbetha said, ‘Shadowfall disruption is difficult to control. There is only one place in the world where the Dragon Lanes do not move so much and this may neutralise the effects, that is your homeland. Tattoium-Tarridun has the greatest concentration of energy conduits under her mountains than anywhere else on this planet. It is effectively a giant Epicentre, albeit a tame one. This is why you must return there with the Great Orrinn and complete the Great Plan.’
‘All right, but what do I do when I get there?’