by Luis Robles
As Lyn could not respond to Gavril’s proposition, she only managed to look down at Harmony as she wiped the tears off her face. Harmony looked back at her and smiled as if he was trying to tell her that she was loved. Lyn used all of her remaining strength to smile back at Harmony. “Be good, Harmony…” Lyn sobbed.
Suddenly, Gavril clutched Lyn's hair and pulled her up to face him in near proximity. Then, he forced her to face the corpse lying around them, the stench of death and the metallic taste of blood seeping through the air. "I'll show you heartless," he growled. Whimpering and beaten, Lyn prepared for the worst while still holding the baby close to her chest.
In one swift movement, Gavril reached down into one of the corpse’s chest. The heart of the unmoving corpse slowly emerged from the body, exposing sinews, muscles, bones, gurgling blood, and more horror that lies within. Lyn witnessed it all, making her see the terror that the clutches of Gavril’s hand could do. The torso of the lifeless corpse looked grotesquely damaged.
"Who's heartless now, Lyn?" Gavril whispered in her ear in a loving manner, before plunging his own hand inside Lyn's torso and pulling away her heart from her body. Immediately, her body collapsed to the floor. Just like that, within a few seconds, she too was gone from this world. Gavril had successfully destroyed everyone that was standing in his way of total power. Harmony and his life were in Gavril’s hands.
As Harmony finally cried, surprised at the sudden drop of altitude when his mother came down to earth, Gavril grabbed him carelessly with both hands. He was getting ready to consume the child’s life in order to obtain pure and vast magic. Two long fangs appeared as Gavril opened his mouth; they were the perfect instrument to consume a life. However, as he got the child closer to his mouth, Harmony began to get heavier with each centimeter of Gavril’s progress. Soon Harmony weighed more than a ton. Even with all his newly found power, Gavril could not get the child any closer.
“No… No, no! I knew that you would play magical tricks on me. I will not let you win; your magic will be mine!” Gavril said in a frustrated voice as the ground cracked underneath his feet.
“Let the child go,” a husky, deep voice said from afar.
“Leave us, creature, this does not concern you,” Gavril said as he fixed his gaze to the skirts of the village.
“This is my only concern. I was made with the sole purpose to protect this child,” the creature said as he walked towards Gavril.
“You must have a death wish by walking towards me. If you get any closer, I will simply grant it to you, creature,” Gavril said as he put down the massively heavy child on the ground.
“You seem to be strong, half-blood, preying on innocent Nulians and humans. Nevertheless, I can assure you that you have not faced someone like me. I am a Watcher.” The wolf-like creature emerged from the shadows and kept walking towards Gavril.
“A Watcher you say? And just what do you watch?” Gavril said in an arrogant tone, barking a laugh that was full of confident amusement as he faced the walking creature fully.
“I will watch over the life of the originators of magic, such as this child,” the Watcher said as he got closer to Gavril, walking in a steady pace.
“Are you sure you want to face me?” Gavril said after assuming a menacing fighting position.
The Watcher leaped towards Gavril with its claws wide, landing two powerful blows. The force instantly sent Gavril flying towards one of the villager’s home, instantly destroying half of it.
“You are strong,” Gavril said in between coughs, “but I’m just getting warmed up.”
Gavril ran towards the Watcher with an incredible speed, both his hands already in fists. As he got within striking distance from the Watcher, he flung with all his strength, only to miss the Watcher that had disappeared into thin air in that exact second.
“Ha!” the Watcher shouted. He appeared behind Gavril with a grin on his face that showed almost the entirety of his blade-sharp fangs and teeth.
The Watcher immediately unleashed a powerful combination of attacks that sent the abomination of a human to the ground a few meters away from where Harmony lay. Gavril found it almost impossible to move after the Watcher’s attacks. He knew that he was no match for the Watcher. Gavril found himself coughing out blood and hopelessly outmatched by the beast. He knew that if he did not do something quick, the beast would simply end his newfound existence. As he lay on the floor, Gavril’s brain contorted and twisted, once again coming up with a new way to bend magic. He took his right hand up to his face and coughed on it, covering his palm with blood. While the Watcher did not think much of this motion as he knew that there was little Gavril could do to win the battle, Gavril took his hand covered with blood and slapped the floor with it in a single motion.
“Rise…” Gavril whispered with the last of his breath.
The Watcher instantly assumed a defensive position when he saw Gavril’s move. However, seconds passed and nothing seemed to happen. Not a single noise was heard throughout the town other than Gavril’s agonizing breaths. As the Watcher looked everywhere, expecting something, he suddenly heard a footstep from afar. Then, many footsteps quickly followed the first. A standing mob was emerging from within the shadows of the village. The Watcher could not believe his eyes, shaking his head from side to side to get rid of any form of trickery from Gavril.
“How did you do this? You are truly a monster,” the Watcher said as he growled and looked at the mob that was approaching him.
In order to conserve energy, Gavril did not bother to answer; he simply lay on the ground and listened to everything that was happening. Gavril had given every single human from the tiny village a new kind of life and purpose. They would never die again; they could only listen to what their new master has to say and carry out his orders. Although they looked human, the mob of villagers that was walking towards the Watcher was anything but human. Their bodies moved much like a puppet’s would. They looked colorless and cold. Even when the wounds that Gavril had inflicted upon them were still present on the villagers’ bodies, they seemed to not feel any pain. Gavril had successfully invoked his own kind of army that he would later call, the Rot.
The Watcher kept shaking his head from side to side, unable to comprehend the atrocity that Gavril committed against life. He soon found himself surrounded by the undead villagers. They seemed to do nothing; they were just standing there as if awaiting orders. The Watcher made a growl that would scare any living creature. However, it did not seem to affect the villagers at all. They were emotionlessly surrounding the powerful beast. Suddenly, the Watcher heard a faint whisper coming from Gavril’s motionless body: “Kill him.” The mob went from emotionless to angry in a matter of seconds, instantly attacking the Watcher. Defending himself, the beast took down the undead villagers one by one. It only took a single hit from the Watcher’s claw to send the villagers flying or into the ground. But no matter how many of the undead the watcher took down, they just kept coming. One after another, they kept appearing, surrounding the angry beast. After a short period, the Watcher began to realize that he was defeating the same villagers repeatedly in an endless cycle.
Gavril was still on the floor, motionless, as the Watcher was being attacked by the villagers. He knew that the mob of the undead would not be enough to defeat the Watcher that night, for the Watcher did not seem to tire. As his mind warped even further into the world of dark magic, with every minute that passed, he became stronger in its use. Barely able to move, he used the tip of his index finger to scribe on the floor an incoherent symbol that only he could understand.
“From the Far East Mountains and from the depths of the earth, bring forth a beast with the ability to destroy a Watcher. Dark beast, I summon you here!” Gavril said in a faint voice as the symbol he scribed glowed a vivid red.
A formidable and loud blast of wind emanated from the symbol Gavril scribed on the floor, causing a cloud of dust. The wind sent Gavril, the Watcher, and the villagers flying, causing th
em to crash into the nearby village homes. As the dust settled, a formidable lizard-like creature appeared, standing above the symbol. The creature was standing on two legs, holding an oversized spiked club with his right hand. Wearing heavy armor, the creature appeared to have no weak spots. The creature seemed to be strong and impatiently awaiting orders.
“Kill the Watcher,” Gavril managed to whisper.
Almost instantaneously, the lizard launched an attack on the Watcher. The clash of the beasts was brutal; the entire village was shaking as the two exchanged blows. At first glance, they seemed to be equally matched, but with more experience on his side, the Watcher would surely be the winner against the lizard. But as the Watcher gained momentum against the lizard and victory was almost certain, he felt multiple hands holding on to him by his hind legs. The undead villagers quickly piled up against the Watcher, slowing down his movements drastically, making him an easy target for the lizard. Every time the Watcher tried to get free from the villagers’ grip, the lizard would remind him that he was still there, with a devastating blow. The Watcher roared, desperately trying to get free from the situation.
“Finish him,” Gavril managed to whisper from far away.
The lizard immediately stepped back from the Watcher and took a deep breath. As he was inhaling, he moved his hands to just behind his back, leaning his upper body forward. He assumed a menacing stance as he made the ground tremble from the accumulation of power inside of him.
“Disappear!” said the lizard as he exhaled loudly.
A thick, acidic liquid gushed out of the lizard’s mouth, covering the entire area where the Watcher was located. As the liquid oozed over the ground, melting the ground itself, the lizard knew that the Watcher was no more. The Watcher died that night trying to protect Harmony. He had failed despite giving it all his heart. The acid did not leave any trace of the Watcher nor of the villagers who were holding the Watcher back.
Although he nearly died from the extensive wounds the Watcher had caused him, Gavril won that night. “Carry me to the nearby mountains. Lizard, grab the child gently and follow us,” Gavril ordered with a shortness of breath.
The lizard struggled with the extreme weight that Harmony’s magic was causing him to feel—the only defense the delicate infant knew to somehow protect himself. They got to the nearby mountains a couple of hours before sunrise. There, Gavril hid from the sunlight inside a cave. He had Harmony by his side as the rest of his subordinates waited outside under the shade of the nearby trees. Although unable to harm Harmony in any way, Gavril knew that he could harness his emanating power.
“Your power will be mine one day. Even if it takes me an eternity, all the magic you possess will be mine. Surely, there will be more of you, and more of those dogs—your so-called protectors. I will continue hunting down your kind and eliminating every single Watcher that tries to get in the way of my plans.” Gavril rested against one of the cave’s walls, watching Harmony with despising eyes.
Harmony seemed to pay little attention to what was happening. It seemed he was comforted by the magic he had, almost as if his parents were right there with him.
As the years passed, Gavril grew more powerful, consuming Nulians regularly. He managed to build a castle deep within the mountain range. He used his powerful magic to create clouds that covered up the sun above the castle and about two kilometers outward from the center. Gavril created an army of undead humans, which he called the Rot. Several more creatures were amongst the army of the undead, some were big and some were small—all with the sole purpose of capturing the beings that were to be born under the violet moons.
In the near years that followed, Gavril built a special prison for Harmony made out of heavy metals and limestone. The prison was covered almost in its entirety with markings and writings. Gavril began to call spells upon these markings and writings, and the only one who could understand what they meant at the time was Gavril. The prison was designed to keep Harmony inside and take all of his magic away so that he could not escape.
Gavril had no heart, and every forty years when the moon was violet, he would leave his castle in search of the magical beings. Destruction and death became synonymous with the violet moons and magical creatures, for Gavril succeeded each time despite the increasing and powerful efforts of each Watcher. By the 120th year after the first violet moon, villagers did not want to have anything to do with magic nor Nulians. Humanity feared magic and all associated with it.
With each being that Gavril captured, magic was pulled from the world. By the 240th year, the world began to die, and there remained only one more to be captured. Gavril believed that once he captured the last magical being, he would have the ultimate power he always wanted. Nothing would stand in his way, he thought; the desire for power burned fiercely within him, sinking deeper, consuming him.
4
The Valley of Serene
After traveling for three days and four nights, the Watcher and Bliss finally reached the Valley of Serene. The valley was far away from any real settlement of people or Nulians. Few souls knew about that valley. It was a wild and untamed place teeming with life, and vegetation of all sorts could be found in it. Besides its wild nature, the valley was also huge in size, spanning from mountain range to mountain range. The valley seemed to be a safe and beautiful place for Bliss to spend her first days in the world.
Bliss had been asleep throughout the small journey; she felt completely safe floating on the Watcher’s back as if nothing could ever harm her. As the Watcher entered the valley, he did not feel a single drop of fatigue. It seemed that tiny Bliss was emanating life from her body, restoring the Watcher’s stamina continuously.
Once the Watcher found a luscious, live, and beautiful place near a pond filled with native wildlife, he decided to awaken Bliss to see what she would be like. As he took Bliss from his back using his long tail to rest her underneath the shade of a nearby oak tree, she began to awaken from her long sleep. Her tender eyes opened to see a light that she never had seen before. The Watcher could not help but to smile, although he tried to keep his grin to a minimum to not show all of his razor-sharp teeth. As the Watcher came into focus, Bliss’ face lit up with delight, almost instantly extending her tiny hands towards the Watcher, trying to grab him. The Watcher got closer to Bliss and allowed her to touch his head, which seemed gigantic compared to her tiny, human, newborn size. An unbreakable bond began that day between the last magical being and the last of the Watcher.
Bliss adapted to the world for the first couple of weeks that she spent in the valley, trying to put everything she could find in her mouth. However, the Watcher’s eyes never missed a thing, always vigil. He used his long tail to take dangerous animals and plants away from the ever-curious little girl. Bliss did not care if the sting of a scorpion could kill a giant beast within seconds, or if the black mushrooms could leave anyone paralyzed for years. Bliss simply wanted to taste life. The Watcher, on the other hand, was successful at protecting Bliss from harm and only allowed her to taste things that would not harm her, like sour berries, various types of tree leaves and even grasses. This way, Bliss quickly learned what and what not to eat.
When the days would turn into night and sleep was required, the Watcher would find a nice, comfortable place for him to rest. Each night was different. Sometimes, he would rest underneath a tree; other days on a tree’s branches, and on hot days next to a pond or waterfall. Nevertheless, it would not matter where the Watcher would decide to rest, as Bliss would always follow, floating on his back. Just before Bliss was done with the day, the Watcher would always tell her a story. The Watcher was a fantastic storyteller, and although all of his stories were made up, they all made sense. He told her stories about the moon, the stars, the magical creatures, and even sometimes human-like tales. After listening to the Watcher’s stories intently, Bliss would fall sound asleep until the next day.
Six months passed and Bliss was already trying to speak; she would try to mumble words
that she heard from the Watcher’s stories, but nothing was coherent. However, in her mumbles and efforts to speak, she eventually came up with a new name for the Watcher. Every time Bliss referred to the Watcher, she called him, “Pah.”
Bliss and Pah lived their lives contented and undisturbed for over five years in the valley. In that period of time, Pah tried to teach Bliss everything he knew about the world, well at least everything that Bliss would allow him to teach. Pah could get too carried away with his lectures sometimes as he would explain even the minutest thing in detail. For the young mind of Bliss, it could be overwhelming; dealing with complexities, problem after problem, she would simply stop listening. Although, Pah never took that to heart; he would simply change the subject and talk about something else and sometimes stop talking altogether.
However, the older that Bliss got, the less magic she was able to use. Every time she would try to use magic willingly, excruciating pain would follow. As time continued to pass, she gradually stopped using magic because of the pain she would feel. The only thing that Bliss was able to do effortlessly was float on Pah’s back. It was Bliss’ favorite spot to be, although sometimes she would get in Pah’s way when he would go hunting. Bliss felt comfortable floating on his back. She felt as though nothing could ever harm her as long as she was there.
“You know, we really have to talk about that pain you feel when you try to use magic,” Pah said as he sauntered through the valley, sniffing out food that would be his dinner.
“Yeah…I know. But, I really do not want to remember what that feels like, Pah. Maybe tomorrow. Right now, I just want to enjoy the pretty view. There’s so many clouds today,” Bliss said as she floated on Pah’s back with her legs crossed, hands behind her neck, and looking towards the sky.