20: Blood Dawn
“Tell us a story, would you grandpa Odbur?! We would love to hear a story from you!”
“Please, oh please!” the grandchildren begged.
The old man smiled from his rocking chair, admiring all of the younglings. His hands and legs shook tremendously, as always. Then he began: “Have you kids heard about the mighty Elementalists?”
“Yeah!”
“Of course, silly Grandpa!” another child added.
“Now, now children . . .” a mother chimed in. “Let your grandfather speak.”
“It’s quite all right,” Odbur assured his daughter. “So there I was, outside our wonderful city gates of Darthia. I was a soldier in the Darthian army.”
“Ooo” some of the children said, awed with amazement.
“Yes, indeed,” Odbur continued. “Der’ Tanel was planning to invade our home, marching in to destroy you and me of Darthia.”
The old man paused for effect. The children were captivated.
“I was there when the ballistas fired. I was there when the men began to scream. I was there when Aderan, the Elementalist of Lightning, appeared at the head of their army.” The old man’s hands shook more violently. “He called upon the mightiest storm I have ever seen.”
The children imagined.
“And . . . And . . .” The old man was searching for his memories. “The Elementalist of Shadows was there to help us. It was such a display of power of the gods that I cannot even communicate to you younglings.” A tear fell from their grandfather’s eye.
Parents of the children were also captivated now.
“Then. . . then the third Elementalist emerged, too . . . only much later in the heat of battle.”
“Three Elementalists?!” a child exclaimed.
“Yes, three. My comrades and I still talk about that day. . . sixty years ago now. Wow. What an absolute spectacle it was. A visually stunning marvel.”
His eyes were wide open and unblinking. “I have never witnessed anything so cataclysmic and catastrophic in my entire life.”
---
Lenthean stood in the mud and rain—he was steady. Thunder boomed louder than ever. Prince Gael, on horseback, sped past Lenthean toward the opposing troops to meet their commander. Lenthean could make out what these Der’ Tanellian people looked like for the very first time.
They were all tall. Faces perfectly symmetrical. Eyes wide, unblinking. Perfectly symmetrical formations. They had men and women in their ranks, nearly of equal proportion. They were adorned with gold angular armor, complemented with blood-red cloaks. Their armor was made of many pieces, forming triangles and sharp formulaic edges.
They marched with polearm crescent blades strapped to their backs, ready to draw at a moment's notice. Giant mechanical machines of steel and chains rolled in. These machines were ballistas, projectiles at the ready. There were no horses—only ground troops with polearms and longbows. The Der’ Tanellian army appeared to be free of emotion, still and uniform in structure. There was one horseman in the army, however. He rode forward to meet Gael. By the horseman's side was a translator, equally clad in gold and red armor.
“Dak Mahn! Tu meh orin cha Gael,” the commander on horseback spoke. The voice was powerful and commanding and could be heard in the far ranks of Lenthean’s army.
The translator interpreted. “Greetings! Friend of us, Gael.”
“Der’ Tanel en mahk dulith ter ahk na Darthia eh vera du tek pahs.”
“Der’ Tanel is pleased to announce its inclusion of Darthia as a fellow city in our mighty cause.”
“Yah ven nulith tah, de`k mah verr un teelin ven.”
“We appreciate your cooperation with this transition to join our cause,” the translator continued.
“Yeteh ver nek dah teh mah nuk verreh.”
“Please stand down and allow us to make way to your city.”
“Tanook benteh der rah bahk.”
“So peace can finally be made between our nations.”
Prince Gael chuckled. “You really expect us to bow down to your rule? These demands are ludicrous.” The translator interpreted the prince’s words. Gael continued, “We do not want you or your ideologies here. So it is you that should stand down.”
The opposing commander stared at the prince with the Der’ Tanel signature unblinking gaze. His face was creased and scarred. His voice was more prominent this time. “Den mah! Un tah teh-len ahk Der’ Tanel!”
“Your words! They insult the mighty Der’ Tanel!”
“Ehv ter`nu un ver kah lah!”
“It is vital you include yourself in this cause!”
“Ahf tellen benday ohn khalif!”
“This refusal will be met with force!”
“So be it,” the prince spoke. He turned and rode back a few trots to Lenthean. “They are delusional. Their demands are ridiculous, and they always have been. This is not uncharacteristic of their behavior. We have seen it before. Prepare for battle, Shadow Elementalist.” Gael rode farther back to his troops and began shouting words of morale.
Lenthean began to feel fear for himself for the first time. This wasn’t a game anymore. This was real. He was about to be in a real battle. All the stories he heard in his school classes in Fredrickstown were about to come to a head. Thunder blared louder and louder. Where was Aderan? Sure enough, as quickly as his thought appeared, so did Aderan. Aderan walked with an angelic presence down the field toward the boy. Rain was at a torrential downpour. Aderan was in his Elementalist armor too. It was covered in gnarly, wicked spikes—shoulder pads, vambraces, chest, all of it. His armor was blood-red in color with a chalk-white cape. The armor he had was an absolute stunner to behold as well.
Physically, Aderan was no different from the rest of the Der’ Tanellians Lenthean had seen. His face had many creases, his eyes were purple, his hair was a spiked white, and his contorted, pointy ears towered above the dome of his scalp. What Lenthean found most characteristic about Aderan were the very small, sporadic jolts of electricity that spit out from him randomly in all directions. He emerged from the ranks, closing in closer and closer to the boy. Lenthean’s heart began to pick up pace tremendously, as this was his first encounter with a rival Elementalist. Aderan stopped at arm’s length, shoulders squared and unblinking at the boy.
“Shadow Elementalist, have we?” Aderan’s voice was raspy and high-pitched. Lenthean said nothing. “I am Aderan. I’m sure you have heard of me by now—and our mighty cause.” Aderan began to pace around the boy.
“Your youth is now, Shadow Elementalist. You have a chance to make the right decisions that will change your forever. I see you stand with Darthia, so their views of hierarchy have swayed you. That’s okay. You are just ill-informed.”
“I may be young, but I am not ill-informed,” Lenthean shot back.
“Is this true?” Aderan asked with a condescending smirk. “You’ve stepped into the world’s eye now, boy. I am sure you’ve seen the thick of it. Have you not seen the despair of the Darthian people? Of the homeless? The needy?” Aderan paused to whisper, “Those of Fredrickstown . . . ?”
What?! How does he know that about me?! Lenthean thought.
“I know of your origins, Shadow Elementalist. I respect your untapped power and potential. It can be used for the greater good, don’t you think?” His voice was so raspy it was almost irritating to Lenthean.
“It is going to be used for the greater good,” Lenthean stated.
“So tell me, Shadow Elementalist, what is it that makes you tick? Do you enjoy people sitting above others? Obtaining all the wealth? While lowly people live day by day, unsure of how to feed their families? You have most certainly been there.”
Lenthean remembered Nana and his life with his mother.
“Or . . . do you not want a world that is uniform, organized, where every person has an equal opportunity to do good? Where no one would go hungry?”
Lenthean countered, “Well there are people at the top
in your perfect world, too—you and your two brothers.”
Aderan had a fit of laughter. “Shadow Elementalist, if there were no sheep, there would be no need for shepherds. The Brotherhood knows what is best for its people when the people do not. Their lack of understanding calls for intelligent leaders to guide them down the right path. And we will do just that.”
Lenthean sat, unsure of what to say.
Aderan continued, “Der’ Tanel believes in something greater than riches. Why have a needy, when we can all be rich? Together, Shadow Elementalist.”
“But it’s not as simple as that,” Lenthean said.
Aderan laughed and squared off to Lenthean again. “You certainly do lack an understanding, which was anticipated. We believe it is that simple. And anyone who wants to see the oppression of the lowly should be retrained or removed. Join our cause, Lenthean. While you still can change your destiny. Where you would be helping all people for a unified, structured, cared-for world. Don’t fight for one that rejects the care of some and allows others to be gluttons.”
“DON’T LISTEN TO HIM, LENTHEAN,” Gael shouted from behind. “HIS WORDS ARE POISON.”
“Do you see?” Aderan preyed. “You have a power to be reckoned with, and the prince knows it. The prince wants to use you for ensuring Darthia’s principles and for his status and reign.”
“That is simply not true, Lenthean. And you know it,” Gael said.
Was he making the right decision? This was still all new to him, after all. Lenthean addressed Aderan. “I admire your intent, Aderan. But this is not the way to make it a reality. You cannot force people into submission through warfare. That is where your philosophies cross the line.”
“Shadow Elementalist, it’s rather simple. This isn’t warfare. . . ”
“HIS WORDS ARE POISON!”
“SILENCE, PRINCE OF NOTHING,” Aderan barked. “WE of the GODS are speaking to one another.”
“There it is,” Lenthean said. “You so desperately cling on to the fact that we all need to be equal. But you place yourself on a pedestal because of your Elementalist status. That tells me that this cause is rooted from a corruption of intent.”
Aderan appeared angry. Very angry.
“So be it, Shadow Elementalist. If you do not seek to better the world, then what purpose are you?” Lightning began to spit and crackle from Aderan’s fists, and lightning started to strike the ground from the sky.
With a yelp, Lenthean threw himself back; he missed being struck by mere inches. The rain came down and the sound of the lightning was equivalent to detonating bombs. Aderan’s still face was now erupting with aggressive expression as he sought to strike down the New Inheritance.
“CHARGE!” Gael commanded for the aid of Lenthean, and the Darthian men launched their defensive strike into battle. The Der’ Tanellian troops remained in uniform formation and drew their polearms.
Darthian troops on the city walls fired a flurry of bolts from their crossbows into the cloudy sky. Lenthean looked up and saw them all beginning to arch above his position, poised to pummel the invading Der’ Tanellian troops in front of him.
Aderan brought Lenthean’s attention back with an open-palm strike. The lightning crackled and popped as it lit the ground beside him aflame. The rain was no match for the intensity of Aderan’s fire-igniting lightning. Lenthean turned to flee but fell through the earth’s surface out of instinct—he had fallen into the shadows beneath him and now lurked inside them.
Looking up, he could see everything that was going on above him and he levitated with ease, as if he was floating underwater.
Aderan was above him, scanning for Lenthean’s location. Aderan began to glow a bright white, lightning spitting everywhere from him. It electrified his own troops, Darthian troops—everyone was a target. With a loud boom, Aderan’s glowing white figure darted from the ground into the sky as fast as lightning could move. Lenthean watched in awe and his jaw dropped.
The rival Elementalist bolted through the cloudy sky as lightning, sending down strike after strike. Wreckless. He didn’t care who he hit. Anything that moved was a target. The sound was loud beyond comprehension. Darthians and Der’ Tanellians were being hit by Aderan’s lightning strikes without warning. These men and women were launched from where they stood to hundreds if not thousands of feet away. Screams of terror and agony followed the sound of the exploding lightning.
Additionally, the bolts from the Darthian crossbows had made contact with their targets. The bolts pierced through the Der’ Tanellian gold breastplates, the targets letting out choked yelps as they fell to the ground. Lenthean turned his attention to the ballistas of Der’ Tanel that were being cranked back by the Der’ Tanellian soldiers to fire. They all did so in synchronization by the order of the commander, and the boy watched as the ill-fated Darthian men were killed by the tens with a single fire of the death contraption. Their impact absolutely crushed them into the muddied soil.
Within only moments, Darthian front line troops would physically meet the shielded polearm troops of Der’ Tanel. Lenthean still waited in the shadows, observing the horror. The boy was frozen—stuck with anxiety and fear. The violence of what he was witnessing was captivating. He did not want to watch, but could not help but see it all. To top it all off, he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t do anything to stop the carnage.
The troops did collide, metal crashing and banging against each another. It was a brutal and violent end to many from both sides, but Der’ Tanel seemed to be pulling forward in the conflict. The screams of men echoed through the rain and sky.
Lenthean moved toward the gates of the city under the surface, still in the shadows, to see how best to help the Darthians. Aderan was in the sky, raining chaos down on all the unfortunate below. His strikes incinerated anything and anyone because of their force and intent. It was terrifying for the boy, to say the least.
In a moment of action, Lenthean projected himself from the ground, flying up through the rain and into the clouds. The cold air smacked his face, and millions of droplets of water pelted his cheeks and drenched his black hair. The sky would flare up with light with each sequential blast of lightning.
Lenthean was up in the clouds; the dampness of his surroundings made his skin feel wet. Gravity began to takes its toll on him, and his vision was clouded. He had to act fast before he fell back to the battlefield below. In all directions were clouds and flashing lights. The sound was so loud it made Lenthean clasp his ears shut. Lenthean did fall, and focused deeply on his feeling of the shadows tucked away into the angry storm clouds. He successfully, and surprisingly, stopped his plummet toward the earth and morphed into the shadows of his surroundings in the clouds, much like he did on the surface of the earth only moments earlier. Where was Aderan? He searched as fast as he could, left, right, but it seemed the lightning was everywhere, all at once.
CRASH. BANG. BOOM.
Lenthean was like a shadowy serpent through the clouds, slipping through any areas of light, gliding through the darkness, sifting the fog for his target, Aderan. Lenthean stuck his shadowy head out from the bottom of the clouds, peering down at the field below in absolute war. This gave perspective on how high up he really was. He could see the rain swaying with the wind and the masses of armies below slaughtering each other. That’s when the boy found Aderan emerging from the clouds, crackling and popping with white, blue, and yellow raw electrical energy.
Aderan threw strike after strike, punch after punch, pointed finger after pointed finger. With each, earth exploded thousands of feet below after bright flashes of light, wreaking havoc on all.
Lenthean had to stop him, so he charged Aderan and struck with the shadows like a blade.
WHOOSH! The blade slashed past Aderan’s head.
As fast as Lenthean’s strike was, Aderan saw it coming from over his shoulder and darted in lightning-form away. Dodging and striking, they began their dance of power. Aderan appeared behind Lenthean, and a web of lightning spray
ed past the boy. And again from the boy’s right, and now from above, and now from the left! Aderan was everywhere, and it took everything in the boy’s power to evade his ruthless and fast strikes.
There’s no control in his strikes, Lenthean thought. I imagine lightning would be difficult to guide.
A deep menacing voice belonging to the God of Shadows whispered back to him, You are right, boy, take him on! Heeheehahaha. . .
The boy voluntarily took a nose dive from the sky toward the earth in a free-fall. The boy’s shadowy black, wispy body evaporated back into reality—to his physical form. The cold, freezing wind was numbing his face. His stomach jittered. The boy directed his free-fall through the air with his gloved palms to aim for where he wished.
Elementalist: The New Inheritance Page 13