The Vault of Kings

by Matt Taylor

  Choosing to ignore the creepy door handle, Torren turned sideways and was able to squeeze through the door and into the crypt. Sylas and Samara followed suit, and they found themselves standing in a large open room.

  Piles of bones lay everywhere with what looked to be human remains of people that had either been killed there, or brought in by Aracorn after they had already turned to bones to be used in his evil plans.

  Books with torn pages laid strewn about the floor, along with all sorts of strange-looking tools and other items of unknown uses.

  “Why did the Council of Light not clean this place up after they killed Aracorn?” Torren asked.

  “Beats me.” Samara replied, “I guess they didn’t want to have anything to do with the Darkness Magick he had been messing with.”

  They continued searching for things that looked like they might be of value, putting interesting things inside of some of the empty potato sacks that they had brought with them. Eventually, they ended up in a room that had several doors that were locked.

  “Hey, I don’t think we’ve been in this room before, let’s see if we can pry one of these doors open with something,” Sylas called back.

  As they searched for something to pry with, Sylas saw what appeared to be a broken sword stuck inside of a skull made of stone. Curious, he examined the sword. It was made from metal, that was for sure, but it didn’t look like any kind of metal that he had ever seen before. The color of the blade was black as night, it blended into the surrounding darkness so well that it almost looked like its hilt was hovering in mid-air. The hilt of the sword was a rusted steel. A stone, the same color as the blade, sat in it’s pummel. Sylas rubbed the black stone with his finger, still trying to think of what kind of metal could be so dark.

  The stone was smooth and cold, much colder than he expected. Maybe the blade is made of stone too? He thought.

  He followed the hilt down and ran his finger along the side of the blade. He could tell that the sword was definitely not made of stone, it felt just like any other steel blade would have felt, except for its colder than average temperature. In the end, he came to the conclusion that it must be that cold because of the temperature of the crypt and surrounding cave that they were in. He continued examining the metal blade until he came to the skull. The skull looked surprisingly real, despite it being made of stone. The only thing that made it look different from a real skull was the dark black stone that sat right in the center of the forehead. Curious to see if it would be as cold as the stone in the hilt of the sword, Sylas reached out his hand and touched it.

  The entire room went black, and the skull and sword were no longer in front of him. He was no longer holding his torch, and all light had been extinguished. He stepped backward in surprise and fell over, hitting the ground, yet he couldn’t see the ground. It was pitch black in the room, yet he could see, but all he could see was nothingness. It was almost like being in a cave with no light, except that everything was visible, just not there. It was tough for him to wrap his mind around. He stood up and looked around, seeing nothing but blackness, yet knowing he could navigate. Cautiously, he started walking in the direction he thought Samara and Torren were.

  “Torren! Samara! Are you there?”

  Silence.

  “What’s going on?” Sylas said out loud. “Where am I?”

  Something told him that even though he knew he was still inside of the cave, he was no longer in Evendreil. He felt as if he had traveled to a new world. Pausing, he noticed that his hand was icy and lifted it to his face. He was holding the black stone that he had touched. No, this was similar, but there was something different about it. He noticed that the stone he was holding wasn’t entirely black but that there was a strange wispy like purple substance that seemed to swirl in irregular patterns deep within it, making it look almost alive. Curiously he rolled it around in his hand. It was perfectly round and smooth; the coldness of the stone permeated into his hand, causing a slight but bearable amount of discomfort. The stone had a strange beauty to it, an eerie and mystical beauty, but beauty nonetheless.

  He continued looking into the stone, mesmerized by its strange beauty, when all of a sudden, he heard a faint whisper coming from behind him. Startled, Sylas spun around and through the blackness, thought he saw a faint image of something circular in the distance. He started walking towards it and then heard the whisper again. It was louder this time, but still not clear enough to decipher.

  What am I doing? he thought to himself. Since when is it a good idea to walk towards a strange whisper?

  It beckoned to him once more, its soft whisper gliding through the darkness to his ears. Gathering his courage, Sylas continued walking towards the object. The whisper came again, but this time he was able to decipher what it was saying.

  “Sy-lass…”

  Sylas froze in horror. A primal instinct triggering in his body, freezing him in place.

  “Sylas…” it continued again.

  He wanted to run, he didn’t want to be anywhere near here, but he couldn’t move, it was as if he was being held by whatever this thing was. To his surprise, after a moment of standing there in absolute terror, he felt his legs soften, and he was able to move again. Then to his dismay, he found himself walking towards the object.

  As he approached it, he saw that it looked like a silver amulet. It was suspended in the air and bounced up and down slightly as if it was bobbing in an invisible column of water. The amulet was about the size of his closed fist, with six circular indents that looked as if you could place something small inside of them. There was one slightly larger indent right in the center, surrounded by a darker metal ring that swirled outward and around the other smaller indents. In between each of the outer indents were engravings that Sylas didn’t recognize. A long silver chain connected itself to the top of the amulet, making it appear to be hanging upon some invisible force.

  “Sylas…” the voice continued.

  Not knowing from whence the strength and courage came, Sylas reached out his hand and grabbed the amulet.

  Suddenly, images flashed through his mind faster than he could comprehend. An ear-piercing screech rang through his ears. His entire body seemed to be engulfed in a darkness so suffocating, he thought he would drown in it. The images kept scrolling faster and faster through his mind, each one relentlessly overwhelming his mind with information. Just when he felt he was about to perish, that the darkness was about to consume him, and his brain would explode from information overload.

  Silence.

  Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw through blurred vision that he was lying on the floor inside of the crypt where he was before he had touched the stone. Samara and Torren were kneeling beside him, trying to talk to him, but his ears were still ringing loudly. Slowly his blurred vision cleared, and the ringing subsided.

  “Sylas! Are you okay? Speak to us! What happened?” he heard them both saying in unison. Sylas sat up, his body still aching from pain.

  “I… I think I’m okay… I’m not really sure what happened…” looking down, he noticed that he was holding the amulet in his hand. He screamed and threw it across the room. It made a loud clank as it bounced across the stone floor.

  “What was that?” Torren asked, walking towards the amulet.

  “Don’t touch it!” Sylas yelled to him.

  Torren picked the amulet up and rotated it in his hand slowly.

  “Why not?” Torren said back, it’s really cool. Where did you find it?”

  “Torren, this is no time to be looking at stupid trinkets, Sylas are you okay? You completely disappeared for a minute!” Samara yelled.

  “I, what?” Sylas responded in confusion.

  “You were standing right over there by that sword, I saw you. I was just about to come over and see what you were looking at when all of a sudden, you were gone!” Samara said, wrapping her arms around him, “I was so worried, I didn’t know what happened to you, I thought you were gone!”

&
nbsp; Blushing Sylas responded, “Ohh, yeah, it was bizarre…”

  Trying to understand it all himself, Sylas recounted to them the events that transpired. “But it seemed a lot more like hours than just minutes… you say I was only gone for just a minute?”

  “If I had to guess,” Torren chimed in, “I would say maybe two and a half minutes or so? Give or take just a little bit. I didn’t see you disappear, but I definitely saw you re-appear. The funny thing is that I didn’t believe Samara when she said you touched the skull and disappeared, so I went over and touched the same skull, but nothing happened to me.” He said, sticking out a hand and helping Sylas to his feet.

  “I don’t know what happened, but whatever it was, it looks like it took the stone that I had and fused it into the amulet. Look!” Sylas said, pointing at the amulet in Torren’s hand.

  The same black stone with the strange wispy purple light in the center was embedded right in the center indent of the amulet. It’s eerie purple light swirled slowly in its irregular pattern as it sat firmly fused to the center of the amulet.

  “What do you think this means?” Samara asked.

  Just as Sylas was about to respond, they heard a low voice coming from behind them.

  “What are you kids doing down here?”

  All three of them screamed, and about jumped out of their socks. They spun around to see old man Uthren standing in the doorway behind them.

  “You shouldn’t be here!” He continued, “this is a dark and dangerous place. Do any of your parents know about this? Why, when I tell them where you’ve been, I…” He stopped, his eyes fixed on the amulet in Torren’s hand. “Boy, what do you have there?”

  “I, I don’t know… Sylas found it.” Torren muttered.

  “Let me see that,” Uthren said, walking towards Torren, his hand extended. Torren handed the amulet over to Uthren, who studied it for a painfully long time before looking at Sylas and asking, “How did you find this?”

  Still somewhat confused at everything that was happening, Sylas recounted the experience to Uthren, Samara, and Torren filling in their side of the story where appropriate.

  “Hmm,” Uthren said, stroking his white beard. Uthren was very intimidating, even for being an older man. He had plenty of muscle and a face that had seen countless battles. Finally, his deep blue eyes met Sylas. “Do you remember any of the images that you saw? Can you explain them to me with any level of detail?”

  Sylas shook his head. “Maybe, but there was just so much information that I don’t know if I could remember it all right now, I’m still pretty shaken up from the whole experience.”

  Uthren pondered his thoughts again; his gaze fixed upon the amulet in his hand.

  “Wait a second.” Torren piped up, “why are you down here if this place is so dark and dangerous?”

  “I came down here because I was minding my own business when all of a sudden, one of the Magick wards that was set near the entrance of the cave went off.” Uthren replied. “I came to see who had set it off.”

  “Magick ward? What the heck is that? And how do you even know about this place?” Torren asked.

  “I should be asking you that question young man, I was on the Council of Light when we came here and destroyed Aracorn and his evil works. You, on the other hand, should have no knowledge of this place.”

  “You were part of the Council of Light when they killed Aracorn?” Sylas said back in astonishment.

  “Yes, I’m one of the only ones left from that council. The rest have all passed away or have been killed by Maelos. Enough about that, though, I fear that you have come away with much more than you three bargained for in finding that amulet. We have much to discuss with your families, so if you don’t mind, I’ll hold onto the amulet for now, and you three will follow me back to Shilvrst.”

  Uthren placed the amulet into the pocket of his robe. He was wearing what seemed to be an old battle mage robe, probably from back when he was in the Council of Light. It was yellow with white and gold trim around the hems. It had long, flowing sleeves and a long hood that was resting on his back. The symbol of Light Magick sat in the center of his chest, which was a star that had two short arms on the left and right, a medium-sized arm on the top with a more extended arm at the bottom.

  Uthren paused for a moment, then pulled the Amulet back out of his pocket and looks at Sylas.

  “Actually, why don’t you hold on to it for now, Sylas. If you were able to find it when the entire Council of Light and I were not able to, there must be a reason.” He said as he handed the amulet back to Sylas. “Come now, let’s get back to Shilvrst, and we can discuss the consequences of your actions.”

  Uthren then made the same symbol that Samara had made when attempting to use Light Magick to heal the beetle by touching his thumbs together with his palms facing out, then curving his pointer fingers and joining them together in a heart formation. Next, he pointed the rest of his fingers in a diagonal until they joined from each hand, creating a diamond symbol above the heart. His hands and eyes then began to glow a bright yellow color, spreading additional light throughout the crypt. He reached out his hand and gestured that they should all join hands.

  “Oh, wow! Are you really going to do some Light, Magick?” Samara asked with excitement.

  “Yes, I believe that would be the best way to get out of here, and most definitely the fastest. Now come and join hands in a circle with me.” He responded.

  “What exactly are we going to do?” Sylas asked, still surprised by the sight of old man Uthren glowing with powerful Magick energy. He had heard about Magick growing up but had only ever seen it used once before, and that was when Maelos had attacked.

  “Ohh, please!” Samara responded, “don’t tell me you two don’t know anything about what Light Magick can do. Light mages can use Light for teleportation in short distances.”

  Torren and Sylas both looked at each other, stunned not only at what Samara had told them about teleportation but also at the fact that she actually knew what Uthren wanted to do.

  “Come on, everyone join hands, please,” Uthren said again.

  Torren and Sylas joined hands with Samara. Uthren closed his eyes again, and the yellow light that was surrounding his hands started to spread until it covered his entire body. He joined hands with the others, completing the circle, then the light began to spread around the circle from Uthrens arms down into Sylas, then Torren and finally Samara. When the light reached Sylas, he was nervous that it might sting but was surprised to feel a warm, soft, comforting feeling from the light. It felt almost as if it was alive.

  The light continued around the circle until everyone was submersed entirely, then whoosh! A bright light, almost as bright as the sun, yet somehow not damaging to the eye, came down as a pillar in the middle of the circle. About three seconds later, the light dissipated, and they were standing on the road outside of the crypt.

  “Wow, that was amazing!” Samara exclaimed.

  Sylas looked at Torren, whose expression told the exact same story as his thoughts did. What in the world just happened? And how did something so incredible come from old man Uthren?

  “Now then, I assume that you all brought something with you to get past the guards in the town, is that correct?” Uthren asked, to which they all nodded in unison. “Let’s round that all up and head back towards Shilvrst then. There is much that we need to discuss about your discovery.”

  Then looking directly at Sylas, he continued, “you may all have a much more important role than you can imagine in this war… especially you, my boy.”

  chapter 3

  The Council

  Torren led the group back to their wagon and belongings. It was late in the afternoon, and because of the time of the season, the sun was getting close to disappearing behind the mountains to the west. A slight fall breeze sent a cold gust through the air, blowing several orange and yellow leaves off their branches and onto the ground.

  “We were in there longer th
an I thought,” Sylas said out loud. “I told my mother I would be home in time for dinner, we’d better hurry and get back.”

  “Agreed,” Uthren said. “Also, tell me this, what were you doing in the crypt anyway? It’s not a place for children, and how did you know it was even there?”

  Sylas told Uthren about his plan for finding some old trinkets to sell to try and help their families financially, he also told Uthren about the time that he Torren and Samara had snuck out of the town and were exploring and came upon the cave. It was mostly out of just dumb luck that they had found it. Everyone in Shilvrst knew that it existed, and it was somewhere outside of the town within walking distance, but not many people went actively looking for it.

  “Hmm, I see…” Uthren responded.

  “I have a question for you old... err Uthren.” Torren corrected himself. “Samara said that you were in the Council of Light back in the day. I didn’t believe her at first, but now that I saw what you did to get us out of the cave so fast, well, it was awesome! Do you think you could teach me how to do something like that?”

  “It’s a lot harder than you think, Torren.” Samara butted in, “I’ve been trying to get that healing spell down all summer and still haven’t quite got it right.”

  “If things are to happen as I think they might...” Uthren cut back in. “I suspect that I will be able to teach all three of you how to use Magick.”

  “What do you mean if things are to happen as you think they might?” Sylas asked, confused as to what Uthren might be alluding to.

  “Finding that amulet and seeing the things that you have seen Sylas, it has gotten you a bit more than you bargained for. Maelos must be stopped, that is certain, and I believe that you will play an important part in that. All of you will.” Uthren said, looking at Sylas.