‘Those able to fight, go to the forest! We are under attack!’
Around him he could hear the puzzled Aorians’ voices, asking for explanations related to the attacker, but Afaris did not bother to answer them. He left them obey the order and headed for the tower.
On one of the streets he noticed several Aorians trying to calm down somebody. Behind them, sitting down and leaning against a wall was Ulmaf. He was crying and staring into the void. Overwhelmed with anger, Afaris made his way to him. He pushed aside the Aorians surrounding him, grabbed him by the throat with his right hand, raising him to his feet, and punched him in the face with his left hand, breaking some teeth and his jaw.
Ulmaf collapsed, moaning in pain, and Afaris grabbed his cloaks and stared into his eyes:
‘You coward! You idiot! You left us there!’
Ulmaf started to stammer, continuing to cry:
‘I was scared, I didn’t know what to do...’
‘You could have fought!’
‘I’m sorry …’
Afaris released his clench and continued:
‘Yes, tell that to Debiana …’
Chapter 29
A burning tree
Going up the tower stairs, Afaris looked behind to the forest. A fire had started where the battle was fought. Several Nymphs were flying on the sky and he could even hear their screams. It was obvious it was a fierce fight.
Several Aorians left the tower. Afaris told them:
‘Gather as many people as possible and run to the Nymphs’ help as fast as you can.’
‘You’ve heard him, let’s go!’ one of them shouted.
They headed to the town gate. Afaris turned his back to the black smoke cloud rising from the forest and entered the tower. Despite the hustle all over the town, his mother kept still, continuing to watch over Saraf’s dead body. She seemed to take no notice of what was happening.
But, among all the tremendous events those days, there was a positive side: at least now Afaris knew who the real enemy was.
He stepped past Calis, without disturbing her and entered the pit’s energy wave going up to the room where he had left the advisors, but nobody was there. He continued to go up to the tower balcony and stepped over the pit edge on the grass.
The advisors were gathered on the balcony edge watching the battle waged outside their town without noticing Afaris. He walked to them, surprised by the image in front of them. A large part of the forest was in flames. The Nymphs were fighting the creatures all over the place, and on the field a large number of Aorians were running towards the forest to support the Nymphs. He could not tell how many attackers there were, but they seemed to be winning battle.
Noticing him, one of the advisors asked:
‘What is going on in the forest?’
‘The true enemy has shown his face. The clandestine energy pits are actually portals. A civilization from another world is invading us.’
‘Another civilization?’ an astonished advisor asked. ‘Who’d be that crazy to do such a thing?’
‘They’re stronger than us, but we don’t know who they are and where they come from. Anyway, if I’m not mistaken, they are headed by a creature by the name Hathim.’
In front of them, the Nymphs started shouting loudly and flying in a circle. Akdarosif, whose massive body could be seen over the trees, took off, too.
‘It seems the battle is over’ one advisor said. ‘Whoever this Hathim may be, he seems to have lost.’
‘No, he did not attend the battle and has not lost yet’ Afaris replied. ‘The true war has just begun.’
***
Afaris sat down at the council table and asked his advisors:
‘First and foremost, I want to ask you: is there anybody who considers I am not able to rule Saraf-Menom?’
‘You mean Afaris-Menom’ an advisor corrected him in a suggestive manner.
‘No. The town shall remain Saraf-Menom forever. It will always bear my father’s name.’
The advisors remained silent. Nobody doubted Afaris’s take-over the power.
‘Good, let’s get started. Firstly, I have discussed with Akdarosif. The Nymphs have suffered few casualties subsequent to the fight and we have managed to get an idea about our enemy. They are fast, strong and very cunning. Hathim is behind them and he controls this army.’
‘Why are they here? We have never harmed anybody.’
‘I cannot answer this question, but I guess they are interested in Aora’s energy resources. From what my father told me, Aora is a one of a kind planet in the Universe. Anyway, regardless of the reason, they are much better prepared for this war than us.’
‘What do you mean? From what we have seen, their energy control is almost zero.’
‘You may be right, but if we look further, they have generated conflicts between us via the energy flowing through their portals. They have weakened the links between us and the Nymphs, made us slaughter one another. Then, in our moments of weakness, they attacked. And not just at random. They did not attack the weakest. They killed Saraf, the strongest Aorian.’
‘I see’ one advisor approved, looking at the table centre pensively. ‘They have a strategy. They are smart creatures. And thus, I ask the next question: what are they going to do next?’
Another advisor took the floor:
‘Afaris was Saraf’s apprentice and he is, no doubt, one of the strongest Aorians. Their next move, having eliminated Saraf, was to try to kill Afaris. I believe they will try again or target somebody else.’
‘The leaders of the Menoms are the most vulnerable’ Afaris continued.
‘They will not dare attack a whole Menom’ an advisor to his left added.
‘Why not?’ somebody else asked. ‘They attacked Saraf and his men like that and slaughtered them. The Nymphs found no enemy corpse.’
‘Or maybe their bodies were taken by their kind’ Afaris replied. ‘Thus, they continued to hide their true identity. Moreover, their main weapons are psychic. They act through fear, unrest, and emotional trouble. My father’s death has upset us all.’
‘You are perfectly right, Afaris, but you must agree with me when I say we need to stop defending and find a way to strike back. Ever since that energy appeared, we’ve only defended and here we are …’
‘For the time being, we know very little about our enemy. We have no idea where to attack. I spoke to Akdarosif to send a Nymph to every Menom to inform the Aorians regarding the recent events. I think it is a good idea that every Nymph should be accompanied by an Aorian and hover the areas together. Maybe we will find out new things.’
‘An important aspect is the number of these creatures on Aora. Also, it would be good if the other Menoms did not find out about Saraf’s death. As you’ve said, Afaris, their main weapons is terror. We must not let this control us, not now.’
‘You are right’ Afaris said, but his voice spelt concern. ‘Anyway, Urfius has probably found out everything. Falus left with Finaria to Urfius-Menom before the battle. They may have told him everything.’
The advisor frowned and continued:
‘That’s it then. We will tell the Nymph and the Aorian accompanying him to inform the people in Urfius-Menom not to spread the word. And by the time the messengers are back, I think we must make a stand. We will gather as many strong Aorians as possible and head to the forest to look for those creature. Most certainly, many of them are wandering around the town.’
‘No’ Afaris contradicted him. ‘We must stay inside the town where we are numerous and strong. You have seen what happened to Saraf and his men. We do not know how strong those creatures actually are. We will decide what we need to do after the return of the messengers.’
‘When are they leaving?’
‘After we finish this meeting. Akdarosif and the rest of Nymphs will go to the Nest and they’ve asked me to join them.’
‘Are you going? Why? They are not leaving us now, are they?’
‘They are not. W
e will summon the remaining Nymphs to the war. I must go so as to persuade them regarding the newly-forged alliance between the Nymphs and Aorians.’
‘Yes, it’s a good idea, but why isn’t Akdarosif communicating with them from here? From what I know most of them have no psychic shields.’
‘He tried early, but for a certain reason, his thoughts do not reach the Nest anymore.’
‘That’s weird, they managed to hear Saraf from the other side of the planet.’
‘I know. It may be something affecting long-distance telepathy. This once more proves that we know so little about our enemy.’
‘Possibly … when will you return?’
‘Tomorrow, at the latest. We will not stay long.’
‘Well, then, if there’s nothing more to say, you’d better get going. Time is key.’
All advisors nodded approval, urging Afaris to leave.
‘We can manage here. Rest assured, Saraf-Menom is safe.’
Afaris nodded and greeted them respectfully, then left for the energy pit to go to the balcony where Akdarosif was waiting for him. First, he wanted to descend to his mother, then thought it was no use disturbing her or worry her more than she already was. She would not leave her beloved Saraf anyway. He wanted to help her somehow, get over this unprecedented moment in her life, but he was hopeless. What he could do was to make sure Aorians are safe.
Reaching the tower balcony, he stepped over the energy pit edge and headed fast to Akdarosif who was basking on the balcony grass. The sky was dark and covered with clouds. It was probably midnight. Below him, the town was glittering and the stones lights were illuminating the clouds above slightly.
Akdarosif raised his massive head hearing Afaris approaching:
‘How was the discussion?’
‘Good, very good. We agreed that an Aorian should accompany every Nymph who will go to the Menoms to scan the area below. Maybe we can find out new things about our enemy.’
‘Yes, it’s a good idea. I was thinking about something while you were gone. Those horrendous creatures, from what we know, cannot fly, and if we are lucky enough, cannot swim.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘The Nest is in the middle of the ocean, far from the shore. Maybe it could be a good idea to withdraw there. We’d be safe. You are vulnerable here. They may attack from the forest without a warning at any time.’
‘I will consider this as a contingency. Right now I cannot convince all the Menoms to leave their homes and, moreover, I trust them. They are strong and can defend a Menom in case of a direct attack.’
‘But at the cost of how many lives? And Saraf, did you trust Saraf?’
‘Father made a mistake. He went to war extremely tired and so were his men. The creatures took advantage of their weakness …’
He mounted Akdarosif’s stout back, clinging on to his feathers.
‘Let’s go, there’s no time to waste, we can talk on the way.’
Akdarosif stood up and cried sharply, informing the Nymphs it was time they left. He fluttered his wings once and dived over the balcony edge, flying over the town and the ocean, the flight of Nymphs following close by.
‘I knew your father better than you, Afaris. I know the strength within him and believe me, what defeated him did not take advantage of his weakness, but was much stronger than him.’
‘I know how important this topic is for you, but please believe I am making great efforts to keep myself sane. I behave as if I am not affected, but on the inside …’
‘I know, Afaris. I understand you ... I, too, fight the same feeling. When I reached Lint-Menom, I looked for survivors everywhere. I found nobody, in exchange I found something else. I haven’t told you because I understand as well as you how important psychic health is in these difficult times.’
‘What did you find?’
‘My son, Fasus, was in that town. It shook me to discover his death and the fact that he turned his back to the Nymphs to go in that blood-shed of a chase.’
‘I am sorry …’
‘Me, too, but we cannot turn back time. And if we just look back and do nothing we’ll be crushed by what’s in store for us.’
Most of the trip they flew in silence. A silence which allowed their thoughts to fly all over the place. Even they thought the same, dark thoughts and fear found their way to their hearts. They could not deny it.
Around them it was dark, they could see anything with the bare eye. And, in addition to the pitch darkness, a thick fog blanket covered the ocean.
After several hours of flight, in front of them, through the fog, a weak light appeared and it became more and more visible.
‘That must be the Nest’s energy wave, right?’ Afaris asked.
‘Looks like it.’
Flying to the source of light in front, they felt a strange ooze. At first, Afaris thought it was the fog or the ocean, then he recognized it as it become more and more pungent. He had felt it before, during the fight between the Nymphs and the creatures. It was smoke.
Akdarosif started to fly faster and faster, leaving the flight of Nymphs behind.
‘What’s going on?’
‘No. This cannot be right …’
Afaris did not know what Akdarosif meant, but he could see something which the eyes of an Aorians could not perceive. When they got close to the source of the intense light, Afaris could not believe it.
The entire Nest was ablaze. Every branch was burning, the entire body was engulfed in flames.
Akdarosif’s heart was pounding so hard that even Afaris felt it.
‘This is impossible! What happened? Where is everybody?’ Akdarosif shouted, terrified.
There was no sign of life among the flames.
‘Worry not, I am sure they ran away from this disaster. They have wings, they can use them, can’t they?’
‘Yes, yes, they probably ran and are all safe …’ Akdarosif mumbled, trying to regain heart.
The flight of Nymphs reached them from behind and were flying behind Akdarosif who was circling the huge tree, trying to pick up anything else but flames. It was just like in Afaris’s vision. But in his vision, all Nymphs had died in the fire. He could not tell this to Akdarosif, at least not now.
‘Akdarosif, we must go back’ he urged him. ‘There is nothing we can do.’
‘Our home … is on fire. Burning … ruined for good.’
‘We will rebuild it after the war. If Father managed to erect such a thing I can fix the damage.’
‘But how? How did this happen? Where did they come from?’
Akdarosif changed flight direction, guiding all the Nymphs back to Saraf-Menom.
Afaris looked back, to the flame-engulfed tree. Focusing, he sent his thoughts among the flames, looking for any clue to find out what had happened. His mind picked up countless Nymph corpses burning and silhouettes treading in the fire with no concern. It was them, they had destroyed the Nest. It seemed they were wrong, they had reached the Nest somehow. Since they had no wings, there was one option. They had swum there. Thus, there was no safe place on Aora.
He did not tell Akdarosif what he had seen in the flames. He knew he would go back in a fit of rage and try to attack them in the middle of their natural environment: the flames. He could not allow him to make such a mistake. He then saw something. On a branch another creature was watching them move away. Its body was not massive as the others, but it rather had the shape of an Aorian.
Afaris ceased his psychic scanning of the tree, in awe. He knew what that creature was. And he heard its thoughts passing through his psychic shield as if it was not even there:
‘You curious one …’
Chapter 30
Burning ruins
Approaching Saraf-Menom at great speed, Afaris and Akdarosif detected the thoughts of a Nymph who was calling them desperately.
‘Falus, what is the matter?’ Akdarosif asked him.
‘Here you are at last! I’ve been shouting my lungs out! Urfius-Menom
will be attacked!’
‘Attacked!?’ Afaris exclaimed.
‘Yes. There are many dark creatures next to it, they are by the hundreds, like the one you’ve fought!’
‘Where are you?’ Akdarosif asked.
‘Close to Saraf-Menom. Since I could not reach you, I left to look for you. I met the messengers you sent. They’re with me now.’
Afaris directed his thoughts to Saraf-Menom, searching for his advisors, whom he started to bomb psychically. One of them picked up Afaris’s thoughts and dropped his energy shield.
‘Afaris?’
‘Quickly gather some hundreds of Aorians ready to fight. Call them all to the tower balcony.’
‘Sure, sure. What’s going on?’
‘Now!’
The advisor stopped asking questions and left to execute the order.
‘Where did you go?’ Afaris picked up Falus’s thoughts again.
‘We went to the Nest …’Akdarosif replied.
‘Oh, good. I reckon you’ve brought fresh forces.’
Akdarosif paused to recover, then replied:
‘I’m afraid we’ve not … the Nest no longer exists. We found it in flames, destroyed completely.’
‘That’s impossible … and all the Nymphs in the Nest?’
‘No idea. There were none alive there, that’s for sure. I just hope they managed to escape …’
‘We must look for them!’ Falus urged him agitated.
‘We will, but first we must support Afaris’s brother’s Menom.’
From behind, the psychic voice of a Nymph interrupterd them:
’With all due respect, Akdarosif, I think we should help our kind first, then the rest.’
‘They’re all our kind now. We’re together in this war. The siege on the Menom is certain and imminent and, I regret to say this, it’s highly unlikely we’ll find our brothers in due time.’
After a small break, Akdarosif continued with a tone which betrayed his sadness:
‘We may be the last Nymphs on Aora …’
When they reached Saraf-Menom, Afaris saw tens of Aorians on the tower balcony. Akdarosif descended to the towers, the rest of the Nymphs following closely.
Afaris: Shadows on Aora Page 27