Consequences Within Chaos

by Derek Barton

  A haunting leer crossed the prince’s face. He levitated off the sand and floated into his gate.

  He hung in mid-air centered above the spot where he was grabbed. His shadow caught the attention of several Eulocths. “THERE IS NO MERCY FOR YOU, FILTH!”

  His arms fused into a massive fleshy lance. Bodies of broken Eulocths flung head over heels and in pieces high into the sky.

  As he swept his arms in mighty arks, brushing the small spears aside, he could hear screaming, blood-curdling profanity. It surprised him when he recognized his own voice. Tears washed down his face and sweat coated his entire body. He was beyond rational, logical thought and had only emotions — rage and violence.

  Xerto Vis trembled. The tiny lizard king scrambled to the vines of his box tower.

  “I WILL NEVER FORGIVE, XERTO VIS!!”

  Circles of icespikes erupted around and through the wobbly box-tower. The Eulocth King’s vines snapped. His short fall ended impaled on a massive spike. His body twisted and shuddered. Blood erupted passed his thin lips.

  The king’s eyes bulged as he saw the prince’s hands engulf in flames. Lines of flames leaped from Taihven and bathed the dying lizard’s body.

  Taihven trained the flames on the remaining horde of Eulocths. Terror-filled screams and pleas for mercy were cried out, but all that the youth could find met the same end as their king.

  The prince hovered in the air, panting heavily with sweat dripping down the sides of his face. Stabs of pain pulsed in his temples. He was exhausted and had over-exerted. The crowds of Eulocths fled from him in every direction. Even the Duradramyn had evacuated for safety from the roof and windows of their shell dormitory.

  I must return and retrieve the Madnad and Madnada, he thought to himself. He glanced down at the charred remains of Xerto Vis and the bloodlust leer re-surfaced. Bodies smoldered and bled all around the field. This was the most vicious he had ever been with his sorcery and power, but somehow the vengeance he took and the executions that he had committed did not weigh upon his shoulders like the previous attacks.

  A voice inside sounding like his father’s voice whispered, Be careful with the power you wield. You are not always allowed to go back down a path you have already taken or undo what has been done in vengeance. Learn from my mistakes...

  He opened another Gate Ring and floated back to the Duradramyn party of warriors and the elderly royal couple. They had been anxious for his return; they were lost in a completely foreign land. He knew exactly how that felt and it was time to bring them home to safety.

  Taihven sailed down to the sand and extended his arm toward Madnada Deet. She started to walk to him, but Kua Dos lunged in front of her to grab the prince in both hands and shook him in anger. “You have brought ruin to all of us! I have lost my son, but you have brought death to all of —”

  “Stop! Stop!” Yua Tib sobbed. “It is done! They never…” Her voice cracked and caught. Tears flooded her cheeks.

  “The Eulocths were never going to honor the trade. They were hoping to kill all of us in one sweep. You would not need your entire army present for one trade. They killed your son to provoke you.” Taihven answered. His voice was calm and blunt, but heavy with the sadness. “I only wish I could have acted before they murdered the rangers and your son.”

  “Get us home! I want you out of my sight.” Madnad Deet demanded as he shoved Taihven away from them.

  Taihven conceded the argument and conjured a ring inside the Duradramyn compound. In the ring, the prince observed dozens of Duradramyn crying and grieving in the dorm. Sudden doubt and weight came down on his shoulders. These people had suffered so much. Adrift from their homeland, separated from their kin and loved ones, surrounded by hostiles and now witnessing senseless slaughter.

  He knelt again before the queen and she put a hand upon his shoulder. The youth looked up at her, “I am truly sorry for all the grief my coming to your lands has brought to you and your people. I struck King Xerto Vis down and a lot of his warriors. This may have bought you some time. I will never be able to restore what has been taken from you, but I vow to you that I will do whatever I can and that is within my power to help you.”

  She shook her head slowly. “The burden is not yours to bear. Take us home to our families.”

  PART X — THE WANDERING WOLF:

  Foremorn of Helmlaadar 20th~~

  #1

  It took hours upon hours for Taihven to fall asleep in his tiny shack, hanging in the hammock. It was not the haunting cries of anguish or the various pleas and prayers coming from inside the Duradramyn shell, but the guilt and thoughts swirling in his mind. Never before had he felt such despair and defeat. He had never been in any position to be so responsible.

  While walking endless laps on the rooftop in the dark, he replayed the whole day over and over. Tried to figure out when he could have done something different, some action that would have avoided the massacre. He was inexperienced as any type of leader nor had he any real combat strategy training, yet he could not forgive himself for his part in the failure.

  When he woke after a few hours of sleep, he did not feel rested. Vague and chaotic dreams had plagued him.

  A thought though had come to him. Perhaps, I could use the Gate to bring them home to Ara Turas by the end of the day if they wished, he reasoned. Then he doubted that they were able to abandon their Sacred Groves as they were duty-bound to protect them.

  His thoughts circled around the whole idea of returning home. The prince had no idea how long he had been gone or what was actually happening in Tayneva or Wyvernshield. He paled at the idea that there would be nothing to go back home to. His sister’s face suddenly appeared in his mind’s eye. Letandra was his only sibling, but she was more parent or mother to him. Taihven had to find a way back. Had to find a way to return to her and his city.

  “My city?” the thought and sentence came across awkward and foreign to him. But, the prince also felt something stirring in him, growing in strength. He had been powerless to prevent what had happened to the Madnads’ son, but he had information and knowledge that would help his own family. That is, if the Viestrahl had not already broke through the moat gates and washed the streets of Wyvernshield in blood.

  How would he be able to get back to Tayneva? Nothing had tied the two realms, except for…

  Taihven leaped to his feet and concentrated on a new Gate Ring. His realization was a stretch, yet that inner voice whispered that he may be on to a possible connection. On the other side of the ivory band, a barren landscape stretched out in every direction. Not close enough, Taihven surmised. He shook his head to clear his mind and refocused on the Gate Ring. The view on the other side rippled and changed to show the same crackled plain, but this time he saw the base of a wall of sloping white stone — the Quartz Tower! He stepped through.

  Taihven had not been able to speak to his father before he succumbed to the Withering Disease, but his father had somehow made contact with him there in the Waterfall Temple Chamber. He was not sure when exactly his father had died, but it had seemed to occur after he had re-lived the Blood Ritual memory. That crystal cavern could have been the only link that he would find between this realm and his own Tayneva.

  After several attempts, Taihven placed his Gate Ring to display right beside the white stream. Pinpointing an exact location took a lot of focus and remembering various details. He shivered as the barren plain started to drop in temperature. The sweaty clothes on his back stuck to his skin. He did not waste time entering the ring and he stepped into the cavern of purple-black crystals.

  The muggy air of the cave was moist and heavy. The water flowed and splashed down into the pool built into the floor. The dust had only been disturbed by his trek from the first episode. Nothing had changed. Except Taihven noticed this time an intricate glowing set of rings upon the floor surrounding the pool. The rings and symbols had not been illuminated the last visit. He counted thirteen spirals and inscriptions; if only he could translate
their meanings!

  He scanned each corner of the cavern below with the Hand Torch, but the chamber itself remained empty and silent as a tomb. Waves of light from the crystals colored everything a purple tint and cast odd shadows along the cavern grounds. Nothing or no one floated over the pool. The massive crystals were daunting, but were truly beautiful. The youth hesitated, unsure of what he was waiting for or for whom.

  Taihven puzzled over where the water came from as there were no sources of water outside the Quartz Tower. And to call it water was not correct. The liquid was white and viscous like oil, but neither cold nor hot.

  Refocusing his attention to the inscriptions on the floor, Taihven crossed and studied the engravings. None of the words or passages were identifiable to him.

  After several long moments, he sighed to himself in disappointment. Perhaps, he wondered, I was too hasty. It could have been mere coincidence or maybe the connection was a single event.

  He was about to gate himself home when he spotted something cut into the walls behind the waterfall. “Wow! How did I miss that?” He exclaimed.

  Squeezing into the small space between wall and water, he found a square that was embedded with turquoise-hued stones and had been chiseled into the stone face. Taihven tried to carefully inspect the whole diorama. Six rings surrounded the square.

  He counted within the six circular rings around the square a total of thirteen jigsaw shape pieces of various colors. Each of the jigsaws had a random gemstone. Floating outside the six rings were seven smaller circles each cut out of actual quartz stones. These could be moons, he realized. Seven moons and… thirteen continents. This was a global map of the Aberrisc realm!

  Symbols were inscribed in each of the stones that made up the continents. He wondered if he could identify a couple of them by color and his experience there. Or perhaps he could decipher some of the symbols in the rings on the pool floor.

  You are not alone, that inner voice warned. He snapped his head to the left and then right to look behind him. Only his shadow occupied the room. However, a queer feeling of being watched made the hairs on the back of his neck raise.

  “Hello?” he called out and waited for a reply. “Father? Father? Are you here? I really need you. Can you hear me?”

  Nothing responded or came out of the shadows. He walked out from behind the waterfall and stood beside the pool. The sensation that eyes were all over him and watching his every move did not recede.

  Taihven.

  Taihven froze at the sound of his name being called.

  You have done really well, son. I never knew, but I see all the strength you have.

  The words came to him. They were raspy like the scrape of a leaf against stone, but they were definitely his father’s. The words flowed to him, not within him.

  Can you hear me, he thought inside.

  Yes.

  I am sorry that I could not hold on any longer for you to come back. Would have liked to say goodbye in person. I miss you. I miss all of you.

  “Are you really there? Why are you able to contact me here?” he asked.

  There was a pause and then the King’s voice responded. You were correct. This is a sacred junction of the Planes. I cannot explain nor do I fully understand. And besides, my time is limited. I was allowed to come to you because the Others allowed it.

  Taihven’s tears spilled freely. The grief had been welled up for some time and he had not had a proper time to really allow it. Now though, with his father’s spirit so close, the feelings burst through his emotional walls and the pain in his heart nearly crippled him. He dropped down to the floor, sat cross-legged and put his head in his hands.

  “I am so sorry, father. This whole mess is so beyond me. How can I get back? How can I help Letandra? This Auste—”

  Stop! The voice demanded, followed by a prolonged silence.

  You were misunderstood and under-estimated. By me, by your mother, citizens of Wyvernshield and even your sister. It is that weakness that Auste counts upon. It was his curse that has defined and controlled you. His curse that has stolen the Throne out from under you. Now, you can use that curse as your greatest strength. Remember, you are an Artadeus and you are a king! You must find a way to return. You must lead them. They will doubt — let them — but you must not falter or negotiate. Only you will save the kingdom, but only if you know that you will.

  “That does not make any sense. I am trapped here!”

  This temple belongs to the Others and they can help you, but it will come at a price. Do you agree to their terms?

  “I must get back! Please!” Taihven begged.

  Another long pause. He sat motionless in the dirt, afraid that he had offended these Others or if somehow he had somehow lost his connection to his father. Unconsciously, he held his breath.

  You must find the Eyes of Cinnelel. They will help lead you back to your soul-line and where the Soul Render has entrapped it. Once you found your line, the crystals will give you the energy you need to cross the vast In-Between to Tayneva.

  “Where do I get these Eyes of…”

  Cinnelel. They are unique crystals that are hidden inside the jungles of a realm called Bre’avat.

  An image flashed over his mind. A white-sand coast that was broken up by active volcano peaks. Taihven remembered once seeing this realm with the Balshazra. This was the birthplace of the Fire Beetles that had been used against them. The trek getting to the crystals was going to be treacherous.

  By focusing with the Eyes, you will also be able to return at will to this plane. However, the Others demand that you leave their temple and never intrude here again. Mortal life was never meant to trespass here.

  “But this place is the only way we can speak!” He exclaimed.

  It is not meant that we speak like this. Taihven, I am waiting for you, do not doubt. We will find each other again in time, son. But you must honor your word and do as the Others ask of you.

  If I cannot speak with you, why would I ever want to come back here? He thought to himself.

  Do not overlook what you have. You have acquired new strengths and skills here. Found new resources to use. Now return to the Duradramyn and never come back to this tower.

  “That is not fair! I just got you back. I will not…” he whined. His grief and feeling of loss clouded his judgment.

  You must. I will never be far from you, Taihven.

  The air in the room grew colder, quieter. A chill spread over his body. The inner voice did not have to speak to advise him that he was all alone and his visit was over. His welcome in the Quartz Tower had been over-extended.

  The prince rose to his feet, the weight of what he had to do crushing upon him. He hated the agreement, but the Other’s aid was crucial and he would not dishonor the Artadeus name by reneging on it. He formed a gate and left the tower to return to his hut upon the Duradramyn Shell.

  I have a plan now and soon a weapon to bring me back. Taihven thought to himself. The trip to the tower was a success and yet, he felt deflated and riddled with feelings of despair. He flopped into the hammock and waited for the sun to rise and awaken the Duradramyn.

  #2

  “Your offer is very gracious, Wan—” Madnada Yua Tib begun to say.

  “—but we cannot leave the Sacred Groves! To abandon these lands to the hordes of Eulocths is not just an affront to our gods, it is unthinkable to leave the remains of our kin behind.” Finished Madnad Kua Dos. His words were stilted and his body stiff and rigid. The grief he had felt the day before had grown into seething rage toward Prince Taihven.

  At the first light, Taihven had gotten up from his hammock and had asked for an audience with the couple. They made him wait most of the morn — he was not sure why the delay, but he also realized he could not force the issue. He had failed them the day before and their son had been murdered in front of their eyes.

  Taihven was seated upon a bench in front of the Madnad couple. They sat in individual thrones cut from ebony wood. A serva
nt boy dressed in simple beige robes sat next to him with his arm extended out so that Taihven could communicate with them.

  “I only want to offer you what I can. My Gate Ring can take you home.” he said.

  “You are most welcome to leave at your earliest, Wandering Wolf! It is up to the Duradramyn to see to their own way home. Perhaps where you are from the ties to passed-over family members are not as important, but we are nothing if not for the accomplishments and strengths of our lost kin. We do not forget their contributions to our futures and we will not throw them aside so easily.” The Madnad would have continued, but Yua Tib put her hand on his arm and coughed lightly. Kua Dos leaped to his feet, stormed off the dais and went out a doorway behind the throne chairs.

  A large crowd of onlookers stood behind Taihven. They had kept quiet while the couple talked, but at this break, they whispered and argued amongst themselves. Some felt that the Wandering Wolf might be the answer from their gods while an equal number argued and sided with the Madnad that he was nothing but a bad omen.

  “Madnada! Madnada Deet, please understand that I am trying to save your people. The Eulocths will come back. They will storm your compound in massive hordes screaming for the blood revenge of their own.”

  “True.” She got up from her own seat and walked in a tight circle around the throne chairs. “I agree that we are in extreme danger and that we really have poor chances to repel them. But as my mate has stated, we are honor-bound to our past and to the lands they rest in. We will hold up in here.”

  “For how long do you intend to hide? They will never leave.” He tried to reason. “The day that your land collided and knotted as you say with the Eulocths’ land, you lost your Sacred Groves. It is a pointless suicide to stay here.”

  Madnad Deet had returned and roared from the center of the doorway, “To die in defiance and for honor is not pointless. I was wrong about you. You are not worthy to die with us. Leave us and plague us no more, Wandering Wolf!” He snapped his fingers at two warrior guards. They stepped to either side of the youth.