“You have no say in this! Yochan, so stay out of it!” Rey yelled.
“Stay out of it?” Yochan repeated. “I am here for this very reason. To make sure you two don’t fuck things up. Sir Wan Ling Cho wanted your mother to be in charge of this company, however, she died shortly after your father died due to a terrible illness. You two were next in line as leaders of Golden Gear. You were both trained since childhood to be innovators and create machines for the good of our people. Your father told me that if you two were left in charge of Golden Gear to keep an eye on you because he knew that you two would fight and resent each other. I am here to make sure Sir Wan Ling’s legacy continues. He wanted Rey Ling to be in charge of the company but he wanted Sixiam to protect the family secrets. He did not trust you with such secrets because he knew it would steer you away from innovating. Your father knew you too well. He knew that you would marry at a late age and how selfish you could be.”
“You think hiding this from me was going to make things better?” Rey growled.
“No, but it kept you out of trouble for many years,” Yochan answered. “Your father did not want you to experiment with omnithium. He knew how dangerous it was. However, your current situation has forced you to use it. I know that man Akielas and those masked mages have brought trouble to our company. Now is the perfect time for the truth.”
“Enough of this family feud, tell me where the omnithium is so that we can get this over with,” Rey said. “There is too much happening right now to feel any resentment or have vengeful feelings.”
“It’s right here,” Sixiam said.
She stomped on the wooden floor right under Rey Ling’s desk. There was a clunking sound beneath it. Rey walked around the desk and over the pile of books. His sister knelt and began to remove loosed planks.
“I never noticed that,” Rey commented.
“Which is exactly why it is hidden here,” his sister remarked.
Once she removed the planks from the floor there was a layer of hay underneath. She removed that hay and tossed it around the room.
“You are cleaning that up afterwards,” Rey said.
Underneath all the hay she found a folded cognac paper. She picked it up and, as soon as she stood up Rey Ling snatched it from her hands.
“You are welcome, brother,” she said sarcastically.
Rey opened the large cognac paper and he gaped at the map that his father left him. It had his father’s handwriting with dashed lines telling him to travel north to the Quai Kun Pathways. It had a spell written as a password in the Xaianian alphabet next to the destined location. Looking at the map Rey knew exactly where to go to find his father’s supply of omnithium. “Father made it really easy for me to find this map. But wait. Did he know I would eventually find out, or was this designed for you, Sixiam?”
“Your father knew that eventually you would use it for some purpose,” Yochan explained. “Wan Ling asked me to keep it a secret for as long as possible.”
“Well, enough secrets. I am going to go look for it right now,” Rey said.
“I am going with you,” Sixiam said.
“Me too,” Yochan added.
“I can’t have you two get in my way,” Rey replied.
“You don’t understand, brother. What belongs to father belonged to the both of us. Because I kept it a secret for so long I want to see it for myself, no matter the danger,” Sixiam said vehemently. “You might be the innovator but I am the coordinator here. I must know everything that happens in this company and make sure you don’t screw anything up. I want to make sure that this omnithium does not use you like it did to grandpa.”
“Looks like there is no stopping you two,” Rey grumbled. “Fine then, but no one else is coming. Just the three of us. I have a feeling we are going to find more than just omnithium.”
******
Later on, Rey Ling, Sixiam and Yochan walked through a valley heading to a cavern on the path. They had teleported using Rey Ling’s omnistar, a strange cosmic item that allowed him to open portals to locations he had already visited. It was a special item that Rey Ling had seen falling from the night sky when he was a child. Now he uses it to travel all over the country. In this valley, the wind howled and the morning sun blazed. A hawk’s shriek echoed filling the skies with wonder. The mountains cast shadows on the valley given them shade towards their destination.
Rey Ling held the map as he led the way. Yochan and Sixiam walked behind him. It bothered Rey that they decided to follow. If anything happens in this cavern then I am going to have to protect them, he thought. Just more to worry about. Yochan was a white mage but had no combat tactics; he was quite a coward when it came to fighting. Sixiam had daggers hidden in her fan and had trained with Rey to learned aeromancy. If anything happened he would have to defend them and he was well equipped with the same gear he used when fighting the Specters and fiends in Kazenolumos. Two revolvers sheathed by his thigh, a two handed broadsword slung on his back and a kaminyte boomerang. He also had throwing knives in a belt around his hips.
Here up north, in the Quai Kun Pathways, people had seen many strange creatures. Rey once heard of a large fox with nine tails that appeared at night in the valley. Sixiam used such tales to scare him when he was ten years old. There was a really small population that lived in Quai Kun Pathways since there were so many areas inhabiting mystical creatures. Over the mountains was the border between Zolan and the United Pathways. The people of the desert never dared to come close to the Xaianians. Xaianians conquered in battle with traditional weaponry as well as advance machinery of war and gadgets that were once funded by his grandfather Hui Ling Cho. However, these mountains in the north were lonely and unfriendly to travelers, especially those non magic folks.
Rey had been here before, hunting for iron, titanium, copper and countless other minerals. For the past seven decades these mountains had made Rey Ling’s family the wealthiest in the country, but there was one place that Rey was always curious of and too afraid to enter. Today, the very map that his father had hidden under the floor of his office lead to that place. He called it the frost cavern of the north. His workers never dared enter the cavern. It was as though his father was laughing at him from the dead mocking him saying, “I knew you would go in there.” To make it worse, Rey was somewhat claustrophobic.
“How much longer?” his sister asked.
“Up ahead,” Rey said and pointed.
“Oh father, why a cave?” she asked her father, hoping that he would hear her somehow.
“I am guessing he was extremely paranoid,” Rey said. “He knew that not even I would go in there. Until now that is.”
“Your father was trying to erase this from the family’s history,” Yochan added.
“Unfortunately he could never hide things from me for very long,” Rey said and chuckled. “That omnithium is going to be mine. In case you two are scared, it is not too late to go back. I can open a portal and send you right back home.”
“No way! I am going to see this for myself,” Sixiam replied. “Besides, you still need the password to unlock father’s treasure chest.”
“More secrets. That is just great,” Rey Ling complaint and sighed.
Soon they arrived at the cavern as marked on the map. It was all the way at the end of the valley. It looked like the mouth of one of those fiends he fought in Kazenolumos. Rey felt a chilly wind coming from within. “Caves are not supposed to be this cold,” he stated.
“Omungi Gallou, I hate the cold,” Sixiam grumbled.
“Well then, is time to use pyromancy,” Rey said. He snapped his fingers and like a candle, flames kindle on his thumb dancing at the tip of his finger. “Follow me, stay close and don’t steer away unless you want to get lost.”
They plunged into darkness, through the mouth of the mountain, cold and afraid, barely able to see what was in front. Craggy walls, stalactites, stalagmites and ponds of glowing water surrounded them. Rey’s fire illuminated the way and it seemed l
ike the deeper they went the colder it got. “Why would father go through the trouble of hiding the steel in such a dreadful place?” Rey asked hoping that Yochan would have an answer. “He couldn’t just dig a hole in the middle of the wilderness, no, he had to go deep into the odanami.”
“The question is, this omnithium, is it really that important, or cant you find a different mineral to make your weapons?” Yochan argued.
“You don’t understand, Yochan,” Rey replied, voice shivering as the temperature rose. “This is the most powerful steel there is. And with its unique abilities we must use it to win. Trust me I know.”
“You know I never liked that foreigner called Akielas,” Sixiam confessed. “I always thought he was creepy in a really polite way.”
“You can tell him that next time you see him,” Rey said.
“No way,” Sixiam replied.
The cave smelled like raw meat like the kitchen of a butcher and sulfur. It became colder and colder and Rey could see his breath fogging. His fire had gone out and he had used more maju to kindle a larger one. The smallest sound made him paranoid. From a drop of water to the echoing of a falling pebble. He would hear Sixiam shrieking and teeth clattering behind him. As he walked barely able to see ahead, his foot stumbled upon a rock and he almost fell. An ear tearing screech filled the cavern and school of bats flew over. Rey Ling tried to scare them away creating a wheel of fire. He managed to burn one and saw it falling on the floor charred and smoking. Sixiam used knives hidden in her fan and swung at the bats over her head.
Rey remained calm but Sixiam and Yochan panted and shivered. “Just remember, you agreed to come,” Rey said.
Sixiam stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her arms. Rey only sneered at her and continued.
As they dived deeper into the darkness of the cavern soon they came to a dead end. It was an area with a high ceiling, a sanctum. It was spacious with a round perimeter with stalactites glowing blue above. Rey enlarged the flames on his hands to see more details and on the wall he saw a mandarak with the illustration of a dragon.
“That must be it,” Sixiam said and paced towards the mandarak on the wall. “Bring the flames closer.
Rey Ling illuminated the walls, cold breaths fogging and hands shivering.
“Yes, I remember this,” Sixiam said. “This mandarak, father told me about it before he hid the omnithium.”
“Is it a mandarak or a seal?” Rey asked knowing the difference between the two.
“Honestly, I am not sure, but I memorized the magic words,” Sixiam answered. “The chest must be behind this wall. So if I say the magic words this wall will tear itself down.”
“Are you sure?” Rey asked extremely skeptical, sensing something dangerous but his lust for the omnithium betrayed him. “Go ahead then, chant the words as a mage would.”
Sixiam contracted her fan and placed it in her cleavage. She then set her hands on the magic circle that her father had created and whispered the words, “umbra mahamut ylem.”
Rey and Yochan remained silent, waiting for the spell to work but not a minute had passed before she tried again.
“Umbra Mahamuth ylem,” she whispered again. Still nothing.
“Sister, are you molding any maju?” Rey asked, doubting her abilities.
“Of course I am,” she snarled and whispered the words again. “Umbra mahamut ylem.”
“You know I think I recognize those words,” Rey whispered at Yochan.
“You know what they mean?” Yochan asked.
“‘Umbra’, that word, it is used by dark mages and the other word, ‘mahamut,’ means dragon,” Rey remembered.
“What are you concluding here?” Yochan said.
“As I thought, this is no mandarak,” Rey realized and his eyes swelled when the magic circle started glowing.
“It’s working! It’s working!” Sixiam shouted with excitement.
“Get away from it,” Rey Ling warned and pulled her away from the magic circle.
The circle shined an angry red and expanded on the wall. Rey heard a roar echoed in the cavern and his heart began to hammer his chest. Nervously he pulled out a gun and his Xaianian broadsword. Yochan and his sister stood behind him. A jet of fire burst from the magic circle. Rey, Sixiam and Yochan dropped on the ground and dodged it. When Rey looked up again he saw a serpent like creature coiling out of the magic circle, like one of his portals created by the omnistar. It was a black burly dragon with metallic scales and glowing yellow eyes. It had long whiskers like the ropes of a boat. They stepped back as the dragon took more space in the round perimeter area they were in. The dragon stretched its body and yawned. It was over fifty feet long.
“Finally,” the dragon spoke. Its voice was deep, thunderous and masculine. The dragon looked down at Rey Ling. It lowered its head, zooming into him and said. “I have not seen that face in six hundred years.”
Akielas
Danteh Island. His home and the grave of his dearest memories. Although his sanctum was on Halo Island in El Nido, he had not visited Danteh Island in years but now he had a reason. As the tri-eclipse came closer, Akielas feared that his days in Odealeous were just as short. He wanted to see his only son that he left in the custody of his brother in law, Theon Sargon. Before the death of his wife, Demitra Neous, she told him that if anything were to happen to him and her, their son, Ajira, will be in the watchful eyes of her family. Akielas had long trusted them but he did not always get along with the Sargon family for they had vicious qualities. However, it was the only family that he had left. He did not know anyone else whom he could trust with his son. All of the teachers that raised him had passed away decades ago. When Akielas got married to Demitra, her family were the only ones that accepted him after the horrible history he had in the island.
He had teleported to Danteh Island from the Quariras Mountains in Verday using his blue teleport crystal. He stood on a pentacle that he had marked on a lonely hill inside a cluster of trees, just outside of Lamento city. Lamento was considered the capital of Danteh Island. Its fine architecture attracted many artist. Buildings with many pinnacles and belfries. Their arched windows with tracery. The elegant quoins of buildings and houses as well as their curving cupolas on roofs. The haunting boutant shapes on larger buildings and sunburst stained glass windows that looked like mandaraks. The vaulted roofs, the buttresses and the gargoyle statues which were themes for the churches of shadow mages.
Akielas went down the hill from which he teleported and made his way into town. As he walked on the cobble streets of Lamento, the dark theme of the city brought a smile to his face. It felt as if he had not been here in decades but truly it had only been three years since he last visited. That smile soon turned into a frown as memories began to slip in. He walked amongst a mob and it felt strange that no one had recognized him. He threw his hood over his head to prevent from getting attention.
The streets of Lamento had many artists with easels holding canvases. Artist stood on the streets and painted the beautiful tracery, buttresses and gargoyles that stood on rooftops and balconies. The fashion of the city was much like a dark mage. Many people liked to wear pointy hats designed to look like monsters. Many women loved wearing corsets and long dresses. Akielas noticed some mages that practiced shadomancy wielding wooden staffs with large orbs and gemstones on the apex.
He continued to walk down the cobbled street passed wood shops, potion shops, herb shops, blacksmith shops, ale houses, bakeries and a restaurant where they served his favorite spicy curry. Commonly Akielas would stop and enjoy his favorite shops and treat himself to his favorite dishes in town but today he hurried to see his son. He hasted out of the market district then paid for a ride on a horse carriage to the suburban area of Lamento where many of the island’s leaders resided. It took less than an hour to arrive at his destination. The horse carriage left him right in front of Theon’s mansion.
When he stepped out the horse carriage, Akielas saw Theon playing with his nieces and
nephews in the front yard. They were all pale with raven black hair just like their aunt, Demitra. Akielas stood outside of the gate looking at them running around blissfully in the front yard. The perimeter was hedged and the mansion was two floors high with statues of winged maidens on the rooftop. As he stood in front of the gate, Akielas saw someone approaching; it looked like a guardian of El Nido. It was an Elf wearing the uniform of the guardians. A black hooded tunic with silver armor studded with diamonds and embossed with filigree. The Elf wielded a white rod that held a blue orb in its apex. Standing ten inches shorter, the Elf looked up at Akielas and demanded, “identify yourself, stranger, before entering house Sargon.”
“You are one rude guardian,” Akielas stated. “I am here to see my brother-in-law. Don’t you remember me, Jeffrey?”
“Sir Akielas?” The guardian squinted and leaned in, his face against the bars of the gate.
Akielas removed his hood and Jeffrey the guardian gasped. The Elf bowed and apologized realizing who it was. “Sorry, Sir Akielas, I did not recognize you at first with your hood up.”
“Do not worry,” Akielas said. “Please let me in. I want to see my son.”
Jeffrey took a step back. The blue orb on his rod glowed and he waved it over the gate. There was a clunk and when the Elf swung his rod backwards, the gate began to open. Akielas walked into house Sargon. He could smell the spicy scent of the black roses, the symbol of the Sargon family. They were the keepers of the black rose. The roses could not be found anywhere else in the six islands of El Nido. Akielas would surprise his wife with these roses every year to celebrate their time together.
“Lord Theon, you have a special visitor,” Jeffrey alerted.
Theon was carrying one of his daughters. When he noticed Akielas he placed the child down and with a graceful smile he walked towards him. Theon had long hair but he shaved the sides of his head. He wore a black tunic tied with a black leather belt. He wore a silver tooth as a necklace and many rings that filled his fingers. The tip of his boots curved upward and they were up to his knees. Theon’s wife was walking out of the mansion with their ten year old daughter and when she noticed Akielas she paused and gave him a vile surprise stared. Akielas could see that she was displeased with his presence but at least Theon had the courtesy of pretending. The wife wore a black blouse with a dark veil over her head and a skirt cascading ruffled patterns at the ends. She wore feather earrings and had piercings in her nose and lips. Her eyes were small and cold as if she was always in a bad mood.
Blood of Mages (Rift of Chaos Book 3) Page 7