by Tony Johnson
“The evil god has opened my eyes to these truths. He has allowed me to see things for how they really are. He has made me the most powerful creation to ever walk this planet, above even the powers that the great Draviakhan once wielded. I control all five of the elements. I will use my abilities to enforce justice on those who deserve it. Monsters will finally learn the peace that justice brings when the four races are held accountable for their actions.
“There is a reason why the monsters, I, and your new king can control the elements of this world and you can’t. There is a reason why you can build, hunt, and cultivate food, but we can’t. You were created with the abilities to serve the ones with power. We are stronger than you, and you are inferior to us. It is time that you finally learn your purpose. From this moment on, you are our slaves. You will build us our houses and our cities. You will cultivate our food. You will fight and die for our entertainment. Anything we command you to do, you will do it.”
The Hooded Phantom spread both of his arms out toward the thousands of monsters in the crowd, on the walls, and hovering overhead. “Celestial has fallen. It now belongs to us. Today is only the beginning. The evil god and his creations will rule over all of Element.”
The prince continued to explain the terrible future which was in store for the civilians of Celestial. “What my father says is true. In this very sword I hold now, I saw the prophecy with my own two eyes. Monsters will be victorious, and I will be their leader. I will rule over Celestial as your new king as my father leads the majority of his endless army to take over any city, town, or village they come across. The reign of Draviakhan was nothing compared to what is to come. The kingdom will be ours. Every living, breathing creation of the good god will be held accountable. Everyone is beneath the height of my throne. You cannot run. You cannot hide.
“With father and son working together, under our organization and direction, empowered by the evil god himself, we will conquer all. The success of our siege on the capital city of this kingdom will motivate monsters worldwide and show them that if they band together, they can take over their local cities and no longer live in misery.
“All that I require from everyone is your respect. It does not matter to me whether you are person or monster. This is my command, and it will be followed by all. No one respected me as prince. BUT YOU WILL RESPECT ME AS YOUR KING, or the consequences will be severe.”
Prince Silas thought that by screaming his command, it would be more effectively enforced. All it did to the civilians was make them hate and disrespect him more than they already did.
Another civilian yelled out from the crowd, knowing in doing so he would die like the man and woman before him. There was no quiver in the man’s strong voice. His last words were spoken clearly and confidently. “You wanted to leave the shadow of King Zoran, but you’ve stepped into the darker shadow of your father.” A couple of people chuckled throughout the crowd and more joined in once the reality of his statement set in. The defiant man’s last sentence proved to be both literally and ironically true. The prince’s face began to turn red in embarrassment and anger.
Another man in the crowd yelled out. Little did he know, the name he was about to call Prince Silas would be what everyone in the kingdom would refer to him as until the day the prince died. “You will never be our king! You are the Prince of the Shadow. The Shadow Prince!” The man laughed in the face of his upcoming death. A couple more people in the crowd laughed as well, but most were too scared of what the consequence would be for even showing a smile. Everyone respected the two men for speaking out without fear, but felt bad for what they knew was about to happen to them.
Instead of the Shadow Prince signaling for arrows, it was the Hooded Phantom above him on the castle balcony who provided the punishment. He held his sword up to the sky. Everyone watched as it turned a bright, sparking yellow. A dark cloud menacingly appeared high above the courtyard. The dragons, gryphons, and phoenixes hovering around speedily flew out of the way.
Ty knew something bad was about to happen.
With a tremendous crack of thunder that deafened everyone’s ears, ten giant blinding flashes of lightning shot down all throughout the crowd. Two of the blasts impacted the areas where the men had spoken out against the prince. The rest hit random spots of civilians. Each blast created a tiny explosion and launched anyone in its general vicinity flying lifelessly through the air.
There were minutes of more screaming and crying, but finally people began to settle down and were forced to give their focus to the newly titled Shadow Prince. No one else was willing to speak out and take the chance that the next elemental strike would be targeted in their direction and kill everyone around them.
The Shadow Prince’s voice was softer and the red shade of his face simmered as he continued speaking. He had calmed down along with everyone else.
“I have already ordered my servants to cut out your tongues if they hear one word of slander. If one finger is angrily pointed in my direction, then all of your fingers will be chopped off. If you hear someone disrespect my name and do not tell your monster superior, but they find out about it…then your children will be killed. To go along with opposition against me by not confronting it is the same as agreeing to it. You are just as guilty as they are, and I will not have the next generation of your family defy me.
The prince allowed a moment for all the information to sink in before continuing on.
“Today you mourn the people that you have lost. At times, you will wish you had died in the attack today, so you will not have to learn the meaning of true suffering and fear. Every day you will ask yourself, will I survive this day? Do I want to survive this day? Will my wife be murdered today? Will my children be alive at sunset?
“It would be most profitable for you to you obey me and follow my commands to avoid these worries. I know that when you do, you will begin to feel an inner peace as you realize you are fulfilling your true purpose. However, if anyone should feel the need to fight back, flee the city, or disobey any of my or your superior’s orders, you will be forced to watch your entire family be tortured. Then you will be killed and end up just like your precious King Zoran and the many others who have died today.”
The Shadow Prince motioned behind him for a person to be brought out from behind the castle doors. “To show you what I mean, we have our first victim of insubordination. This warrior will be hanged for trying to assassinate me in my throne room.”
Ty watched as a warrior in red armor was led to the gallows. After he tried fighting back against his captors, the Shadow Prince tied a rope around his neck. After squinting his eyes to get a better glance at the warrior, Ty exhaled one word as he saw who it was.
“Steve.”
Memories raced through his mind of the two brothers growing up together. Here was his best friend, standing before everyone, being prepared to be killed. Ty would not be able to physically watch the hanging. There were some things in life that were best left unseen because of the endless nightmares they would cause.
After a minute of Ty breathing heavily, trying to keep his composure and holding in his emotions, something amazing happened. People began to notice that this was Celestial’s jouster standing before them in his suit of red armor.
Sporadically around the courtyard, people began to put up two fingers. Lucan was the first one around their area to join in. His mother, Kari, and then Ty soon followed after him. Within seconds, every single person in the crowd had their arm raised and their two fingers pointed high.
It was the most amazing feeling Ty had ever felt. A cold chill moved through his body from the awesomeness of the spectacle. Ty looked next to him and saw that both Kari and Cassandra had tears streaming down their cheeks.
Two points. That was all Steve needed to make it to the championship match. But then he was interrupted by the attack. Now his life will be interrupted. Gone too soon, before it should end.
Kari reached out and gently rested her hand on Ty�
�s arm. She saw how shaken he was from seeing his friend in the gallows. She wanted to help comfort him.
Ty looked at her and forced a smile, trying to show he was okay; but he wasn’t. He needed to do something to help Steve, but he didn’t know what he could possibly do.
He is hanging there, so close to death, with no escape. He is helpless.
Ever since they were kids, the two of them talked about death. They always assumed if it didn’t come with old age, it would come when they died fighting valiantly against monsters. They both wanted to die in the midst of a hard fought battle, ending their lives being brave and courageous and saving the lives of the civilians. The two even pledged to sacrifice their lives for each other if the situation called for it.
Ty knew this was not how Steve wanted to go out, and Ty didn’t want to see him die this way either.
The last thing he would want to be remembered by is as a lesson that Celestial’s civilians should serve evil.
Ty knew if he was in Steve’s position, Steve would do anything in his power to try to save him. In that moment, the Elf knew what he had to do as he looked to Kari and told her his intention.
“I lost one brother today. I’m not losing another.”
Chapter 25
Ty blocked out Kari voicing her opinion at the stupidity of his idea and studied his surroundings to formulate a plan. Near him was the minotaur who had taken over the orc’s position as the leader of the civilian group the four of them were in. He sat on the muscular purebred Sampson, smiling as he waited for the rebel warrior to be hanged. His attention was not on the crowd as it should have been.
Ty’s eyes connected with the eyes of a tall, strong-looking fisherman about fifteen feet away, who was also observing the unaware minotaur. Ty nodded to the man and then glanced to the minotaur. The man made the same motion, showing that he understood and approved of the nonverbal cues.
Ty turned back to Kari and rudely interrupted her ongoing rant about how this was the worst moment to pick a time to “strike back.” Ty asked her a simple question. Her answer would change the rest of her life.
“Are you in or out?”
Before Kari opened her mouth to give an answer, the Shadow Prince pulled the lever that dropped the board beneath Steve’s feet. The red warrior fell, violently kicking the air, twisting and turning in his noose. Steve’s life was being suffocated out of him.
It was at that moment that the revolt began.
The entire crowd erupted in pandemonium. There was shoving, screaming, crying, and shouting. People picked up rocks and whatever other items they could find in the courtyard and threw them at nearby monsters. They also aimed them at the monsters guarding the platform and the Shadow Prince, cowering behind them. It was a clear act of defiance against all of these evil monsters and showed that the people would not give up their city without a fight.
Just like the previous people who voiced their opinions, there was a consequence for the actions of the civilians. Arrows and elemental attacks poured down into the crowd. Mothers tried to shield their children’s bodies as their husbands fought against the monsters. Every man and some of the women were fighting back. In the midst of all the chaos, Ty forcefully pushed his way through the swaying crowd. Kari took his hand and followed close behind.
The muscled fisherman had reached the minotaur before Ty. Sadly, the minotaur had seen the large framed man coming towards him. He used Kari’s bow and an arrow to shoot the fisherman in the chest. But one arrow wasn’t enough to stop the large man. The fisherman still pressed forward, only falling after taking two more arrows. He bought Ty enough time though, as the Elf was able to close in on the blindside of the minotaur.
The monster saw Ty and Kari, but didn’t have enough time to draw back the arrow he loaded before Ty reached up and tore him down from Sampson’s saddle. Ty put his foot in the stirrup and mounted the huge horse. Kari ripped her bow and quiver from the fallen minotaur’s hands. She was about to release the loaded arrow into his body at close range, but a group of civilians swarmed around the monster and started stomping him to death.
With one hand on the reins, Ty reached down and grabbed Kari’s outstretched hand. He used his large warrior muscles to quickly yank her up onto Sampson behind him. Ty grabbed the reins with both hands and snapped them hard. Sampson charged forward through the crowd.
People were just barely able to dive out of the way before being trampled. The crowd parting before them was like a heavy fog. Ty could see what was ahead and thought he wouldn’t be able to avoid it, but just like the fog, it parted as he went through it.
Some members of the crowd, who had disarmed and grappled the monsters near them, pushed the monsters out into the open path, where Ty’s huge, charging warhorse easily trampled over them.
Kari clutched the back of the shared saddle tightly between her thighs as she drew arrows and fired at monsters. She impaled four as they rode, allowing the civilians to easily finish them off.
Kari realized that she and Ty were putting a large target on their backs as they rode forward towards the platform. An arrow was shot at Sampson and his two riders from a monster archer on the wall. It sunk deep into the purebred’s shining black coat, but also gashed Kari’s leg. Luckily, a civilian ahead of them had disarmed a monster and taken its shield. He tossed it up into the air as the horse rode past. Kari snagged it with her expert hand-eye coordination. She put the bow over her shoulder and held only onto the circular wooden shield. She had a better chance of surviving if she defended against the archers rather than attacked.
She wrapped her free arm around Ty’s waist and pulled herself tight against his body as Sampson began to pick up speed. It wasn’t three seconds after Kari grabbed the shield that a nearby archer shot an arrow right at Ty’s head. It would have killed him if she hadn’t intercepted it with the shield. She blocked two more shots aimed in their direction, but most of the arrows were inaccurately shot and hit innocent people in the crowd.
From his heightened view, Ty watched a man rush to climb the platform that Steve was on. The man looked to be around fifty years old: old enough to have lived a life that had undoubtedly saw friends and family die at the hands of monsters, but young enough to still have a fighting spirit. He didn’t even make it up two of the steps before a cyclops in the security line of monsters hit him so hard with a spiked club that he was instantly dead. He sailed through the air, far back into the crowd. A splatter of his blood rained down on civilians as his body flew over them.
This elicited a response from many people standing in the front rows of the crowd to also charge the platform. The line of monsters was only able to kill four or five people each before they were overrun by others. A couple of people broke a hole in the line and ran past the monsters. Once the hole was created, it only got larger and larger as more and more people funneled through it.
Some ran up the steps while others stayed at the base of the platform to finish off the monsters in the line. Everyone in the crowd wanted to get to the Shadow Prince, so they could wrap their hands around his throat and squeeze. But the coward turned and ran back into the castle as soon as he saw the revolt begin.
The first man that reached the blue-faced Steve hugged his body and lifted him up, taking the tension off the rope around the warrior’s neck. The people behind him attacked Visuvis, who did all he could to fight them off.
A Giant was given a dagger acquired from a monster. He easily reached up and cut the rope around Steve’s neck and then the rope that was binding Steve’s hands together. The ropes were quickly pulled off of the warrior.
Although his neck and wrists had rashes of purple and red, Steve was free. He could breathe on his own. Celestial’s jouster gasped for air, filling his lungs with life.
Stephen Brightflame was alive.
Ty rode Sampson right onto the platform. Steve was patting the backs of the people who had risked their lives for him as he made his way towards the horse. Some of the people reached out and pa
tted him back too, encouraging him to continue on and hopefully escape. They all wanted the hero of Celestial to survive.
Before Steve got halfway to the horse, he stopped and turned around. Brightflame. How could I forget? Steve turned back to get it, but one of the civilians must have known the story of the magnificent sword’s creation. The man had already wrestled it away from the horned minotaur and was handing it down the line of men to the warrior it belonged to. Steve was handed Brightflame by the people who saved him.
This sword has never felt more comfortable in my hands.
Because of the pain from the beating and torture Steve had sustained, Ty and Kari had to lift him up onto Sampson while the men on the platform helped push him up onto the horse. They sat him in the middle part of the saddle, facing forward, in between Ty and Kari. Kari handed him the shield. Steve felt ready for a fight now that he was holding his typical battle weapons: Brightflame and a shield.
Ty turned around and charged back the way they came. From the top of the platform, he saw everyone. The entire crowd was before him, moving and fighting like tens of thousands of ants crawling over scattered pieces of broken bread on the ground.
Kari turned around on the back of the horse and was sitting the opposite way of which Sampson was sprinting. Once again she equipped her bow. She fired at the archers, since the people on the ground had no way of attacking them. Even for being on a sprinting horse, she was incredibly accurate. Archer after archer fell off the wall after she shot an arrow. If the arrow didn’t kill them, the crowd below did.
Steve had his back against Kari’s. He was deflecting arrows with the shield in his left hand and swinging at any monsters that the crowd pushed towards him with Brightflame in his right hand.
Ty sat in the front, ducking low on the horse’s neck to avoid the arrows Steve couldn’t block.
Stephen Brightflame, the Human; Tyrus Canard, the Elf; and Kari Quinn who shared both features of their races escaped through the revolting crowd. The crowd was still parted down the center as the three heroes rode through the easy lane they created. People cheered all around them, spanking Sampson’s muscular rear as he charged past.