Viktor

by Francesco Leo

  A sudden roar broke out and a very long, dark shape was seen in the water of the lake of Mephis.

  “It can’t be!” Vroel shouted.

  “What’s happening,” Viktor asked confused.

  “Long ago, when the dwarves lived on Mirthya, they baptized an enormous water snake with the name of Turin. Since then, it has become the guardian of fresh water in Mirthya. When, over the years, the lakes dried up and many rivers disappeared, Turin took refuge in the lake of Mephis, the only remaining one, where he decided to hibernate. Now that Zergh is about to return, the energy he released must have re-awakened him.”

  “I’ve heard some local stories about this snake … and he seems to be dangerous,” Viktor said in response to Vroel.

  “He isn’t, but we know he is susceptible to every little movement. He rarely wakes up and, when he does, the inhabitants of Placym tremble but can’t do anything about it except stop fishing,” Devanorth replied promptly.

  “We just have to go back to the inn and prepare our things. Tomorrow morning we’ll leave the village to go to the Den. You learned what you had to, for now,” Vroel cut short.

  Viktor picked Siride up from the ground and put it back into its sheath to go back to Placym. Selene held his arm tightly.

  The big shadow that inspected the lake disappeared in the depths and the group gave a sigh of relief, walking towards the inn, leaving Vroel behind.

  “Where does Vroel spend the night?” Selene inquired.

  “I really don’t know, to be honest. I only know that he prefers to be alone, he has never loved crowded places like villages,” Devanorth replied.

  “Or maybe he prefers being alone for fear of hurting someone,” suggested Viktor.

  Devanorth shrugged without answering, and the three soon arrived at the inn.

  ******

  Viktor awoke with a start as soon as he felt the bed shake.

  He stood still for a long time, standing in the middle of the room, then approached the bedside table to get a small candlestick that held a single candle.

  “Flama,” he whispered, lighting it.

  The floor trembled again; dressing quickly, the boy ran downstairs and left the inn.

  Some lights appeared behind the windows of some villagers who had perceived the strong quake and had gotten up.

  A long tail with slimy scales beading with the cold water of the lake of Mephis loomed over the bare, dark horizon.

  It hit the surface of the lake with a big splash.

  The lights of some torches illuminated the emerald scales of the great tail for a moment, then, the roar of a dull crash echoed in the night.

  Pieces of wood, fragments and splinters were hurled like chippings against the entire town and Viktor was forced to take refuge inside the inn again.

  He ran up the stairs paying no attention to the candle that had fallen from his hand and rushed to Selene’s door, who immediately opened it and went towards him.

  Viktor hugged her as Devanorth appeared at the doorway.

  “It’s Turin. The trail of dark energy released by Zergh’s return has also corrupted the great guardian snake,” he said, with a look full of regret while he brought his hand to Eren and Delir.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Viktor, distressed.

  “He will destroy the village. He will destroy everything and I have to stop him.”

  “But you…”

  “Vroel will be with me, you can’t do anything, or rather, it would better if you stayed here. Stay hidden at the inn until you find the way to escape to the plain of white flowers. Take your things, I’ll join you there when all is over.”

  The youngsters nodded.

  A moment later, the member of the Star had disappeared.

  The next quake was even more violent.

  The screams of the villagers soon became an endless echo of fear and anxiety, as Viktor and Selene broke out of their embrace.

  “I’ll get Siride and the saddlebags in my room, do the same. See you at the entrance.”

  “Are you really going to leave Devanorth and Vroel alone?” snapped Selene.

  “What do you want to do? Do you have any better ideas? This enemy is beyond our range, we just have to follow Dev’s orders and wait until they settle the matter.”

  “We should have been prepared when we saw the snake’s shadow surface again.”

  “Didn’t you hear? Turin rarely wakes up but, even if he is as touchy as they say, he has never laid a finger on anyone. We could have never known what would have happened.”

  Selene was silent, her gaze fixed on the floor while the inhabitant’s screams imbued every single wooden plank of Placym.

  “Go and get you things,” Selene said.

  While Viktor was getting his saddlebags, a loud roar made his skin crawl and a terrible shockwave threw him against the wall.

  He protected his eyes with his arms, then looked at his room again.

  A part of the inn had collapsed and the boy could see the village through the crevasses in the walls.

  Seized by the only thought of Selene, he rapidly returned to her.

  The girl had saved herself by a whisker coming out of the area Turin had attacked. Viktor found her terrified, crouching in the corner of the intact half of her room.

  He leaned over to kiss her on the forehead then grabbed her hand.

  “We must run away… come on, get up!” he urged pulling her to him.

  When they managed to leave the inn, now crowded with confused people, they made their way through the debris of the village and the flow of people that were running aimlessly to every corner of Placym.

  Many houses and streets had been razed to the ground and only a part of the guards was trying to keep Turin away with their pikes, the others were either wounded, dead or fugitives.

  The two youths continued running among endless screams, cries and roars.

  Finally, they reached the foot of a large tree. They sat down waiting for Devanorth and Vroel’s return and many other people had escaped among those trees waiting for the attack to cease.

  A little girl, just behind Selene, was crying in the arms of her mother, who was wrapping her in a heavy pink blanket.

  Selene approached the woman, asking if she needed help and, initially a bit suspicious, she confided that her baby had been with a fever for about two days and that scared her more than the village itself.

  Viktor moved closer to Selene, observing the young woman with her daughter, pale and hardly breathing. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m trying to heal her, she’s in great danger. This baby is nearly dead, if I don’t help her I don’t know if she’ll get through the night.”

  The dry answer that the girl gave the young man made the woman who she was helping widen her eyes.

  “I don’t intend to beat around the bush. It would be useless in such a case and false illusions certainly don’t help. The only way to save your child is that you let me help her.

  The woman nodded slowly. The young girl immediately set to work recalling all the knowledge she had on the subject.

  The studies from the book of the runes re-emerged and she was trying to remember the right words. Then she sought the necessary will to make sure that they had the desired effect.

  When she was ready, she laid her hands on the little body and a white light took shape.

  The girl continued for a long time until the brawling of the remaining fugitives was drowned out by the roar of the wooden foundations of Placym as they broke into pieces ruining into the water.

  Viktor winced and joined the sudden silence of the inhabitants who, scattered on the shore of the lake in fear, were staring in dismay at their homes collapsing in the darkness of nothingness.

  A movement of water burst into the air when Turin returned to attack the remaining part of the village, emerging this time with his entire scaly head in different shades of green.

  The beast’s eyes were reduced to two bright yellow slits.<
br />
  The moment he opened his mouth, he revealed a labyrinth of long, sharp jaws.

  The hundreds of sharp teeth were thin but undoubtedly resistant.

  After moving ahead towards the village, the monster vomited a huge jet of water that seemed endless on the battlefield.

  Viktor caught sight of a big shield of fire under the flow of water.

  “It must be Devanorth and Vroel. If it continues for a long time they won’t be able to hold out!” the boy exclaimed pulling himself to his feet.

  “What are you planning to do?” Selene snapped.

  “I have to help them.”

  “You said we couldn’t do anything and that they would be fine!”

  I can’t let them die without doing anything! If I said to stand aside it was only to protect you… and because I didn’t think our help would have been necessary.”

  I can’t leave here until I have taken care of the baby. I’ve almost finished …”

  “Don’t worry. Remain with her, I’ll do the best I can,” he reassured her, taking his leave and running towards the lake.

  Selene was tempted to call him back, but she knew it would be useless.

  Coming to terms with it and hopeful, she tried to go back to the baby’s health and the magic of healing.

  ******

  Vroel was under the great shield of fire, the wooden planks were creaking under him and great flashes of water vapour emanated from where fire and water collided.

  The clash between enchantments continued and Viktor’s outline came out beside Vroel.

  “Get out of here!” he screamed.

  “I want to help you and I won’t go away until everything is over!”

  Vroel didn’t insist because it would have been in vain.

  “At night my nature helps me to manage mana better. Go and help Devanorth instead, since he intends to attack Turin while I distract him!” he shouted, both hands joined to better control the release of magic energy while a sphere of thermal distortion engulfed him.

  The half vampire pointed to the direction where Devanorth must have been with a nod of his head and the chosen one pulled Siride out to run rapidly to the indicated spot.

  As soon as the chosen one saw Devanorth, he saw the scales on Turin’s body fall off and fly toward him.

  The serpent, intent on fighting against Vroel’s shield of fire, defended himself from Devanorth by using his scales as arrows.

  Viktor ducked behind a rock that Devanorth had summoned for protection against the snake’s attacks and he concentrated his mana towards the earth shield to increase his energy.

  “Take control of the earth shield while I prepare a proper attack!” Devanorth cried.

  The boy used all his strength to handle the monster’s blows, but the situation seemed much more difficult than he expected; Devanorth saw him getting exhausted, so he asked him to use Erendil, his lance, to use the wind element in it and fend off the lethal scales.

  Viktor obeyed and united the weapon, fusing Eren and Delir with a sharp blow: the great Erendil, the breeze of death, came to life.

  “Use your lunges concentrating on the rune of wind!” the member of the Star ordered.

  Viktor nodded and, coming clean, began to thrust blows drawing from the remaining mana and the necessary will.

  Invisible shockwaves made Turin’s damp skin tremble, and, feeling the blows, diminished the intensity of the jet of water against Vroel.

  At that point, Devanorth let the rock protection explode into a thousand darts that hit the target.

  The jet of water stopped thanks to Vroel’s shield and Turin gave a chilling hiss of pain.

  “Now, Viktor! Throw me Erendil, I have to get closer!” Devanorth shouted.

  As soon as he got his own weapon, Devanorth summoned the water rune and jumped across the lake beyond the pier, while a transparent pillar lifted him higher and higher towards Turin’s head.

  When Devanorth stood high against the sky, he channelled all his forces to summon the thunder rune and enclose it in Erendil.

  When the spear flared in a powerful glow, Vroel, surrounded by a circle of flames, charged the enemy’s head.

  At the same time, Devanorth threw his spear toward the beast’s forehead. Then, something else darted in the sky, but not towards Turin. It was something small that Viktor could barely make out several feet lower, in the dark of the night.

  Turin launched a last dart created by his own members that Devanorth saw too late: he smiled before being speared by the sharp scale of the great but now dying Turin.

  Erendil disappeared in the snake’s mouth, then Vroel’s electric beam made the enemy blaze in a purple light that spread over the entire surface of the lake. The water glistened in the unnatural silence that had been created and high indigo bolts exploded from bottom to top.

  Turin’s skin began to get grey and every one of his muscles shrunk before falling into the void, his members detaching from his body to dissolve in the air: a dark rain of ash flooded the atmosphere.

  All the inhabitants who fled from the village watched in the distance as death embraced the great serpent; Vroel stared at the scene in the centre of the circle of fire that his spell had drawn on the bright wood.

  The large column of water controlled by Devanorth suddenly dissolved as the liquid poured back into the lake, leaving the member of the Star to fall into the void.

  Vroel’s eyes widened as he saw his friend fall; Viktor felt a strong sense of fear and despair pervading him.

  There, in the silence of victory, as he fell without reacting, Devanorth closed his eyes to be lulled by the wind that ruffled his hair and by the applause of those who had witnessed the defeat of the great Turin.

  THE FAREWELL

  “S

  eida!” Vroel cried when Devanorth was only a step above the ground.

  The air grew heavier and his friend’s body slowed down to land softly.

  Vroel ran toward his friend, holding his head with his arm.

  “Stupid mistake …” Devanorth smiled.

  “I can try to heal you Vroel suggested, putting his friend’s head on the ground and laying his hands on the wound.

  “No,” Devanorth stopped him. “The wound is too deep and neither of us have enough mana to heal it.”

  Regardless of his friends’ words, Vroel tried the spell all the same beginning to articulate a series of long words.

  A strong white light exploded from his hands and expanded until it covered Devanorth’s entire torso, but shortly after it subsided and disappeared.

  He tried again and again, accompanied by Devanorth’s red face and his eyes filled with tears.

  “Vroel … Viktor … ,” Devanorth said.

  “He’s fine. He’ll be fine, Dev,” he assured him with a soft, trembling voice.

  “Come on, it isn’t the end. I have no regrets, Vroel. I managed to do my job in the best ways and both the youngsters are promising. After all, we have always lived to complete the chosen one’s training, haven’t we? Now part of the work is over and the boy can continue his apprenticeship elsewhere.”

  At that moment Viktor arrived and he stopped as soon as he saw his mentor’s body on the ground.

  “Leave me alone with the boy, please.”

  Vroel slowly got up, his eyes on his friend and stepped aside without saying another word, aware that it was the last time that his friend would speak to him.

  Viktor leaned over him, trembling and speechless.

  “It seems that even masters can perish because of a banal distraction: one life isn’t enough to learn…”

  Devanorth’s face had lost its rosy colour when he turned to look at the boy in his eyes, a trickle of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth.

  Viktor still didn’t talk, unable to look into his glassy eyes.

  “The girl … she was waiting for you, wasn’t she?”

  The chosen one smiled.

  “So I was right…”

  Viktor raised hi
s head and, seeing him, it was hard to hold back the tears. He knew that even if he tried to cure him, neither he nor Selene would ever manage to heal his wound.

  For the first time the boy felt a strong sense of impotence in the presence of his limits. From that day on he would do his best to improve so he would never be in such a situation again.

  “That girl … never let her go: she really cares a lot about you.”

  “I won’t let her go … You’ve been a good friend, Dev,” the young boy stammered putting his head on the member of the Star’s chest, wetting him with his tears.

  Vroel could not stand the scene and looked away, closing his eyes.

  The applause of the distant crowd faded slowly, until an anguished silence came and, at that moment, Devanorth died.

  Viktor stood up and turned to Vroel, seeing all the inhabitants of Placym in a disordered mass on the destroyed wooden planks.

  The boy immediately noticed the mother who had left her sick daughter in Selene’s care, and who now, clutching her daughter in her arms, was smiling, unaware of what had happened.

  He was relieved to see her well again and immediately looked for Selene among the people.

  The girl stepped forward and, noticing Devanorth’s lifeless body, put her hands to her mouth.

  Viktor approached her to embrace her but she remained motionless, without the strength to hug him back.

  Vroel peered at the horizon of the dawning day and, approaching his friend’s body, took him in his arms and walked past the row of people.

  The people formed a corridor and when they had arrived to the middle of the passage created by the crowd, they applauded again in honour of the sacrifice. When Vroel had gone beyond the inhabitants, they all followed him to the lakeshore.

  Selene and Viktor moved quickly to the front of the long queue, arriving at Vroel’s side, who allowed them to look at Devanorth one last time; then he left everyone behind and, evoking the water rune, gripped Devanorth stronger and began to walk towards the centre of the lake.

  The red and orange rays of the rising sun spread a thin and luminous haze over the Lake of Mephis.

  The half vampire stopped and looked at what was left of Placym, then he knelt down. “May the stars in the firmament shine also in the darkest night and the morning sun irradiate your eternal resting place and keep you until the sunset of the essence. May you rest in eternity at the bottom of your last battlefield, Devanorth, Turin’s scourge. May Erendil and the gods watch over you,” he added, letting his body slip into the depths of the sapphire lake.