by Roy Huff
Toe looked over at the pits and saw what must have been tens of thousands pig-like creatures that had been killed and were waiting to be roasted. The armies were massive, and it was going to take an equally massive amount of food to feed them all.
A few more hours passed. The armies of giants and other creatures were sharing in the meat that was prepared. By that time, half of the portals were complete with the modifications, but it would be another twelve hours until the remaining monoliths were finished and would be ready to cut off the element.
General Varrick was under the impression that the invading armies would come either right before they stopped the transfer of the element or right after the process was complete. In any case, they were getting close, and the general was inspecting each contingent of soldiers to make sure they had all the supplies they needed for the battle.
More hours passed, and only a couple of the portals needed to be modified. The General could see in the distance that Borak had just arrived back with the monstrum. Borak and his soldiers didn’t have time to take it all the way back to its prior position, so they just placed the monstrum down next to the monolith where the arrived.
Borak and his hundred soldiers got into position, and as they did, the final portal was complete. The time had arrived.
The Keeper remained in his workshop and monitored the portal to Everville. General Varrick gave him word that the last portal inside the monolith was ready.
After The Keeper notified the Ubaloo in Brackenbone, making sure they were ready to continue working on the final collector, he notified the other realms that they would soon be cut off from all the portals. They would need to be ready for the next couple of weeks until the Ubaloo were able to construct the final collector behind the walls of Vermogen and restore access to the portals.
General Varrick was now waiting in his study for the order to come down, and then it did.
“General, the time has come. Activate the portals,” The Keeper said.
The General lit a torch and raised it high on a pole above his study for all the soldiers and the armies to see. Immediately upon seeing the lit torch, those stationed at the monoliths activated the newly modified portals. The mineral rock that was now attached to the monoliths began absorbing the element from the universe. Instantly, the flow of the element to Mallory and the dragon ended.
Back on the planet in the distant realm, Mallory had returned from meeting with the Alarians. Rathlar was pleased that the Alarians pledged Mallory their support, but was disappointed that only one of the cities would join them in battle.
In the few short days that Mallory was gone, Rathlar had grown another fifty feet. His wingspan now stretched more than a hundred and fifty feet across, and his flames were capable of inflicting serious damage. In addition, both Mallory and Rathlar had gathered a sizeable amount of element, but The Keepers still possessed the ability to mute Mallory’s mental powers through the use of their own artifacts, including their staves.
At that moment, they had been cut off. Mallory sensed that the element was no longer flowing. They were now limited to the sole amount of element in their possession, but once Mallory destroyed Everville, he would betray the Alarians and take the element that they possessed in the artifacts he had given them. The combination of element in both sets of artifacts would be enough to forcibly take the remaining element from Rathlar’s body.
With Mallory’s plan in place, he transported to the moon with Rathlar and gave the order for the Alarians to attack the armies in the land of the giants and informed them he would join them on the battlefield later.
By the time the Alarians were ready to make their move, anger had remade the hearts of those who had volunteered for battle. Their belief that The Keepers were responsible for the genocide of their seed instilled within them a burning desire for revenge, a hatred that went well beyond a desire to help a friend or gain the element. It was an infection, and one that was spreading alarmingly fast. That infection was greatest among Governor Jahal and the councilmen who possessed the artifacts. It was compounded by a growing lust for power created by direct possession of the element.
The sentiment could not be more different in the second city of the Alarians. There was growing concern within the city that the other Alarians would attract unneeded attention, and that the renewed lust for power and energy would result in the accelerated demise of their people.
Governor Laveda, of the second city of the Alarians, called a meeting of the council.
“We must seek a solution to end this new war. Governor Jahal has once again led our people into harm’s way in his continued pursuit of power,” Governor Laveda said in distress as she looked at the other council members.
“If Governor Jahal is unwilling, we must find a way to reason with his people and put pressure on him to stop this madness before it’s too late,” she continued.
One of the councilmen spoke up. “I agree, Governor, but I fear it’s already too late. The knowledge of the destruction of the worms has united the people in his city, and now he has almost unlimited power with the possession of the element. So long as he has the artifacts that contain the element, I don’t see what we can do,” he said as several of the other members nodded in agreement.
“Look!” said one of the councilmen as he pointed in the sky above the second city.
“It’s too late. They’re already on their way!” he shouted.
A sense of dread and helplessness gripped the members of the meeting. For the longest time, the Alarians in the second city had come to terms with the fact that they would live out the remaining years of their existence in peace, waiting for the last bit of energy sustaining them to dissipate. They had lived eons, outliving their own universe. They had done everything they needed or wanted to do. They simply wanted to be left alone until the moment when they embrace their final end. That hope for peace was now shattered.
“I can only hope that the race of beings in Everville are a noble one and do not attack here in retaliation,” Governor Laveda said with a great uncertainty.
Governor Jahal and the volunteers of the first city hovered above the moon, ready to make their move. The element made them strong. No longer constrained by the lack of power or energy, the Alarians would appear to the armies of Everville and the giants in the same form as their seed in The City of Worms, but they would wait to transform until they all arrived. The Alarians would display to the murderers of their progeny their true ancestral form just before the moment of attack. After that, they would take the shape of vicious dragons capable of pulverizing their enemies.
What Governor Jahal and the other Alarians did not know was that they themselves were responsible for a genocide of their own, as well as for the division between The Other In Between and Everville.
In the distant past, the negative energy in The Other In Between attracted the Alarians as the perfect place to nourish their offspring, but the cries of now Governor Laveda and those that would come to populate the second city were ignored.
At the time, Governor Jahal did not bother to check what might be underground in the land where they were about to seed their eggs. Being shape shifters, they simply transported their offspring directly into the ground. When they did, they nearly eradicated an entire species. Those who remained did not see the culprits; all they knew was that those responsible were not from this world.
The bulk of those that survived the seeding of the worms decided that the race of species responsible, and other as of yet unknown species, represented the greatest possible threat. A great debate ensued between The Keepers and other races that surrounded The Other In Between.
The survivors of the seeding wanted to use the element to find and destroy those responsible. They also wanted to use the element as protection from other possible invaders. The Keepers believed that the pursuit of power would corrupt those that sought it. They believed possession of unlimited power would turn them into the same evil they sought to fight.
/> The Keepers refused to allow them unlimited access to the element. A great division grew between them, and the survivors made a decision. The survivors, and any others that chose to join them, would concentrate power by using one of the special properties of the same seeds that destroyed their people. The creatures in the region soon discovered that those who tasted the flesh of the eggs that were seeded in the ground could transform into shapeless energy, a byproduct of the shape shifters. Those that gave up the corporeal form could unite into one mind; the more that joined, the more powerful they became. Once enough had joined, it was no longer necessary to eat the flesh of the eggs. Others could join by free will and through their actions. A few detractors remained in both camps, but the bulk of the survivors made the decision together. From that point on they gave up their physical form and became known as Them.
Once the Alarians were all in position above their moon, they began transporting to the underground land of the giants. They arrived slowly at first. They were so high above the armies that initially they went unnoticed. Soon, however, they increased in number and in speed. The size of their increasing numbers blocked the glow of light that permeated from the underground walls of the giants. The light was stolen by the darkness, and the armies of Everville braced for war.
The Alarians did not limit their arrival to just the land of the giants. In order for them to succeed in eliminating the mineral rock and other artifacts used to contain the element, they would need to destroy the catacombs in Everville and the walls of Vermogen in Brackenbone. They divided their numbers in three, a third going to the land of the giants and the remaining being divided equally above the land of the Fron and Brackenbone.
“Sako?”
“Yes, Toe?”
“I’m afraid,” Toe said trembling.
The Alarians slowly descended from above, still out of reach of the armies’ weapons below. The shape of their bodies gradually came into focus, and soldiers could see the bizarre ancestral form of the Alarians. The pitch-black color made them difficult to discern at first, but slowly the seven legs at the base of the creatures and the three arms on their sides became visible. The holes and protrusions in the three different sections of their bodies were the last to become visible.
“I’m a little worried myself,” Sako replied to Toe. “But I believe we will be victorious, just as we always have.”
“Yes, but at a great cost,” Toe said.
“The cost of freedom,” Sako finished.
The Alarians were now in range of the weapons, but General Varrick and the leaders in charge in both Everville and Brackenbone waited. Mallory and the dragon were still nowhere to be seen, and the Alarians hadn’t yet attacked.
Mallory, being the coward that he was, decided to send the Alarians ahead of them in the hopes they would weaken the armies sufficiently to ensure Mallory’s safety. Rathlar, however, was eager to fight and getting anxious.
The Alarians came closer and closer. Their approach was tepid and slow, so as not to startle the armies into premature action. Governor Jahal wanted the armies to get a long and clear look at whom they were up against.
The Governor communicated the order for the Alarians to transform into dragons. In Everville, in Brackenbone, and in the land of the giants, the bodies of the Alarians enlarged. They grew at a rapid rate, transforming into giant dragons, larger than those the armies had fought in The City of Worms.
Governor Jahal led the charge from the air in the land of the giants. His massive dragon body flew rapidly towards the line of soldiers protecting the center monolith.
The bodies of the dragons were beautiful. The skin was composed of shimmering greens, opal, and translucent white. It was blinding. Governor Jahal spread his wings back preparing to lunge towards the monolith. His wings spanned over a thousand feet. He opened his jaws and cried a deafening roar.
Toe stared into the mouth of the dragon and saw the first spark of the flames that escaped the dragon’s throat.
The Alarians had attacked and the war had begun. For better or worse, now was the time to make a stand.
CHAPTER 14
THE THIRD PILLAR OF TRUTH
In the Black River Valley, Owen Sage had just passed through the mountain bluff. Grenmar’s eyes filled with tears, not knowing when he would see his friend again. Felix and Asher wondered how long they would need to wait and see if Owen would return back through the bluff. They looked at each other, not sure what to do.
Once Owen passed through, a total darkness surrounded him. He turned around, but the entrance behind him vanished once he crossed the threshold. It was the blackest he had ever experienced, blacker than any dream he had ever known.
He walked straight ahead.
“Hello,” Owen said, waiting to see if there would be a response.
“Hello. Is anyone there?” Owen asked after a few more moments had passed.
Only silence and blackness greeted him. He continued to walk forward, turning his head every once in a while to see if he could catch a glimpse of what was there, but there was nothing.
Owen continued to walk, unable to tell which direction he was going or how far he had traveled.
“Hello. Are you here? Pillar?” Owen asked.
There was no response. He continued calling out into the darkness every few minutes; eventually he called out less and less, waiting longer between each call.
“Hello. Is anyone out there? Is there something that you need me to do?” Owen asked one last time.
Again, silence was the only reply. He continued walking, alone. Even his footsteps made no sound, but he kept walking.
The absence of any sensory feedback made it difficult for him to gauge the passage of time or the distance he was traveling. He had no way of knowing other than counting in his head, so that’s what he did.
“One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand,” he began.
He tried to estimate each step and each second to see if he could at least make a rough estimate. If he were not already within The Third Pillar of Truth, then he must arrive at a boundary of some sort eventually. If that was the case, he could estimate the diameter of distance between the entrance and the first boundary he came across. He thought it was unlikely, but at least it gave him something to do to stay occupied and to stay sane.
Owen followed through with his plan. For an unknown period of time, he continued pacing, continued counting, and continued waiting for The Third Pillar.
“Three hundred fifty thousand one-thousand,” Owen continued. By his estimate, he had walked for at least four days and must have covered a distance of at least three hundred miles, give or take. Oddly enough, he wasn’t tired or hungry. He grew increasingly convinced that it must be a test, and if it was, he would not fail.
He continued on. “Three hundred fifty thousand two-thousand, three hundred fifty thousand three-thousand.”
A tiny light appeared in front of him, the tiniest of tiny in what looked like a far off distance, perhaps the light at the end of a very, very long tunnel.
Owen stopped to try and inspect the light. It grew larger. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, it got brighter. Owen did not move, but the light, a soft glow, grew larger over time. After what must have been several minutes, the light was finally bright enough to illuminate where he was, only there was still nothing, nothing but a slowly growing light.
Finally, a figure appeared. The image was featureless, other than a basic humanoid form, the embodiment of light.
“Owen,” the figure spoke in a soothing, deep male voice.
“You have demonstrated yourself worthy of the test.”
Owen thought to himself that this was the test.
“As you know, all but one of the worms were destroyed. That solitary dragon, Rathlar, possesses a large amount of element that must be given up or destroyed if your world is to survive. There are only two possible choices here, Owen. Like before, one of the choices is to simply destroy the dragon,” The Third Pillar of T
ruth stated.
“What’s the other choice?” Owen asked.
“You will have to convince Rathlar to freely give up the element. I have seen all possible outcomes, and there is only one way that you will be able to convince Rathlar to do that,” The Pillar continued.
“Which is what?” Owen asked.
“I must send you back to the race who seeded the worms, shape shifters known as the Alarians, who come from a universe outside your own, on a planet called Alaria. You will have to go to the beginning of the first Alarians, eons and eons ago. You will have to live as one of them.
“From the time of their inception, the Alarians do not die as you know it. They live on. They will go on to outlive their universe and escape its death to the safety of ours. They can live forever until the energy within their form falls below what is needed to hold itself together, and then they simply dissipate into nothingness.
“You must accept their form as a child and live on as an adult Alarian through tens of billions of years until they pass into your universe. All the while, you cannot tell anyone about your life on Earth or any knowledge that you have outside what is known by the Alarians, with the exception of your understanding of what is good and what is just.
“At this very moment, the Alarians are above Everville and the land of the giants. They are on the precipice of a great war, the eve of destruction among both their people and the races in Everville and The Other In Between. Like the battle that ensued in The City of Worms, half the armies of your allies will be destroyed.
“If you are successful, if you live out your life in a time long ago and hold true to what is good and what is just, your knowledge and wisdom of the Alarian people will be sufficient to convince the dragon, Rathlar, that he should willingly give up the element. Once Rathlar gives up the element, Mallory’s strength, along with the Alarians, will not be enough to harm Everville. The Alarians will return to their moon and Mallory will be defeated,” The Third Pillar said.