Ascension

by Selena IR Drake

  “It is the key.”

  More cryptic answers. “You are not going to tell me what this so-called key unlocks, are you?”

  I could almost sense Her smile. “I cannot give away everything, child.” The crimson light began to fade, and with it, the phoenix. “Fate still has much in store for you.”

  “A great adventure awaits,” I muttered.

  “You have no idea.” Her final words echoed as the constricting darkness swallowed her light.

  There are many strange features on this planet. The most inexplicable of all is almost due north of Arcadia, on the continent called Mekora-Lesca. It appears to be a thick fog, yet it does not move or dissipate. It has been named the Myst, and a scientific outpost has been established within it so that it may be studied.

  – FROM “THE CHRONICLES OF ITHNEZ, VOL. IV” BY ORN TERSON, COURT HISTORIAN

  The old woman looked at Dimitri through thin spectacles. It was obvious that she was not expecting such a visit so early in the morning, this day of all days. He did not care if he was disturbing her sleep or her meal; his need for Amorez’s diary was of far more importance. Still, he forced a smile and apologized for disturbing the librarian.

  “I would like to pay tribute to another special lady on this day,” Dimitri explained. “Is there any way I could make a personal vow on the Diary of Amorez?”

  “You are the second one to come asking about that particular tome, Prince Valaskjalf.” The librarian fidgeted with obvious discomfort. “I will tell you exactly what I told Zamora, I am truly sorry, but the Dragon Diary was removed from our care several years ago.”

  He could tell that she was being honest. It was news that he did not want to hear, so he did not have to feign disappointment. “I had really hoped to make that vow. I don’t suppose there is a record of who has the diary?”

  She shook her head meekly.

  He sighed in frustration. “Alright. Thank you.”

  “Good day, Your Majesty.” She curtsied.

  Dimitri left her standing in the doorway. He began to wander the Temple’s labyrinth of hallways slowly, biding time to think before he would have to break the news to Godilai and the others. If there truly were no records of who removed the diary from the Temple, then tracking it down would be nigh on impossible. Without the diary there was no way for him to achieve his dream or keep his promise. There had to be a way to free the Shadow Dragons from the confines of the Dragons’ Gate. There just had to be!

  Dimitri stopped at a window. Gazing out, he could see the Temple’s pinnacles reaching up into the cloudless, azure sky. It was as if they were reaching for the large flock of birds far overhead, begging them to come down. Far below and oblivious to the flock, people from every corner of the world were gathering. It would soon be time for Zahadu-Kitai to rise; after a hard winter, spring was finally here.

  Dimitri did not care that it was a beautiful spring day, nor did he care about the birds or the people. In fact, they only infuriated him more. How could the Gods grant them happiness and a sunny day when he was so miserable? Without the Diary of Amorez, he could never hope to unleash the Shadow Dragons and keep the promise he made to his dying mother…

  The group of hunters made their way home, traveling swiftly as the late evening sky betrayed a growing storm. Dimitri sniffed the air, loving the scent that signaled the coming rain. Something else tainted the smell. He inhaled again, long and slow, and detected a faint hint of blood and smoke. Panic gripped his heart and he rushed forward, ignoring the calls of his fellow M’Ktoah. He hollered back to them, warning them of the threat carried on the wind. They did not hesitate to chase after him.

  In mere moments they were upon the bridge that ran over the Thundering Falls, sprinting towards the heart of their burning city. Corpses of Dákun Daju and Hume alike littered the walkways, and blood slickened the old stones. Ferocious fighting could still be heard in a few sections of the city, and Viktohn freed the M’Ktoah to spill the blood of those who dared attack their brothers and sisters. Dimitri raced over the bridges as fast as he could, heading towards his home in hopes of finding his mother. He was still several meters away when the soft call of his name stopped him dead in his tracks. He found his mother in a pile of rubble, run through by a Hume’s blade and barely clinging to life. It was then that she told him of his birthright and gave him the diary of his father. He vowed to avenge her, and, as she slipped from the world forever, told her that he was now a M’Ktoah. She was dead with her honor once again intact. She had smiled.

  A tear slipped from his crimson eyes. He sighed, miserable, and wiped the tear gently away. His temper flared when he heard footsteps quickly approaching. Another wretched Hume he would be forced to interact with. He took up walking again, hoping that the act would sway any passerby from speaking to him. A young girl in an obvious rush stopped abruptly when she spotted him. Her cheeks flushed and she curtsied. Dimitri froze, looked at the girl’s white dress. White. White! He suddenly remembered the woman in the white cloak he had seen at the docks. She had been familiar to him, but he could not put a name to her face.

  So he asked the girl. “Do you know of a woman around here who wears a white cloak?”

  “You mean Judge Zamora?” she asked, her voice quiet as a mouse.

  Zamora? No, that was not right. The mystery woman had a different name; he was sure of it. He rolled the name around in his head a moment. Zamora… He recalled the old librarian also mentioning the name when he asked about Amorez’s diary. Realization struck him like a ton of bricks. Dimitri laughed in jubilation and kissed the girl in white. “Thank you!”

  He heard her blubber something unintelligent as he sprinted down the hall. He raced around the corner, ignored the Knight that told him to be careful when he skipped down the stairs four at a time. Before he knew it, he was back at his quarters. Bursting through the door had his Dákun Daju companions up in arms at an instant. They relaxed the moment they realized it was him.

  He made sure the door was sealed before moving further into the room. He spotted Vincent seated on the lounger by the unlit hearth, a half bottle of ale in his hand. Luna and Godilai were at the dining table adjacent from him, cleaning their array of weaponry. Dimitri moved to the windows, pulled the shutters closed. Then he made his way to the table where a pitcher of fresh water had been pushed aside to make room for the weapons. He poured himself a goblet full and downed it.

  Luna would have given him a lash of her tongue for his abrupt entrance if he had not stopped her with a raised hand. “Amorez is here.”

  All three of his companions were dumbfounded. In their silence, Dimitri poured himself another goblet full of water.

  Vincent was the first to speak, “What do you mean, ‘Amorez is here’? She could not possibly be right here, right now.”

  “Do you remember the woman in the white cloak on the docks yesterday?” he asked, not expecting an answer. All he got was an ‘uh huh’. “I could not put a name to her face at the time, but I knew I recognized her. That was Amorez!”

  “If she was heading for the ferry,” Luna crossed her arms as she spoke, “then I doubt that she is still on the island.”

  “One would think that, true.” He nodded, flashed his companions a smile. “But the head librarian mentioned that someone else had come to the library looking for the diary – it was not there. Plus, the way she looked at me… she recognized me, which must have been her reason to return and check the library for her book.”

  “Did you ever find out what happened to the diary?” asked Luna.

  “Unfortunately, someone removed it years ago and the Temple apparently has no record of who it was.”

  Godilai visibly frowned. “If Amorez was looking for her diary and it was already gone, then she does not have possession of it either. Where is the good news in this, Dimitri?”

  “Simple.” He pointed at her, clicked his tongue. “We know Amorez is here on the island; we capture her and force her to tell us where she hid my drago
ns.”

  “Capture Amorez?” Vincent guffawed.

  Dimitri glared at him until his laughter died away.

  “Let me get this right,” the Judge sat forward in his chair, “You plan to capture the Legendary Dragon Keeper, the woman who not only survived the War, but led an entire army against Agasei. The woman who single-handedly slayed your father and locked his dragons away. One of the most powerful Sorceresses and most skilled warriors the world has ever seen.” Vincent paused to look Dimitri in the eye, “You want us to capture her?”

  “Well, when you put it like that…”

  “You are out of your mind, Dimitri!” roared Luna. She hoisted her giant sword, strapped it to her back.

  Dimitri grabbed her arm as she made way for the door. “Now wait just a moment! Hear me out.”

  She tore her arm from his grasp. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and she spoke through gritted teeth. “Speak quickly, Hume-aju.”

  “Listen, Amorez was known for being a goody-goody; she would never allow an innocent person to die if she had the power to stop it.”

  Godilai scoffed. “So?”

  “So? So, we have literally hundreds — no, thousands of people gathering right here at the Temple. We use them as innocents, threaten to kill them all if Amorez does not do as she is commanded.”

  “And if she does not?” Vincent kept his eyes locked on Dimitri while he put the bottle to his lips and took a swill of the ale.

  Dimitri shrugged. “Kill them. It makes no difference to me.”

  Silence fell as the trio thought about the plan Dimitri had just put forth. He intently watched each of his companions as he took a sip of water. Godilai was sharpening her dagger on a honing stone as if nothing was going on, but Dimitri read her eyes. Her cyan gaze was distant, as if she were strategizing each possible outcome. Luna was a bit harder to read, but her rigid stance and crossed arms, Dimitri knew that she did not agree with him one bit. Vincent, on the other hand, was an ease to understand. Of course the Judge was completely against it; to him, Amorez was practically a warrior goddess and unbeatable.

  It was Godilai who finally broke the silence. “If killing them now does not force Amorez out immediately, it will certainly send the message, ‘We are willing to do anything to get what we want’. Word will spread quickly, and she will eventually give herself up.”

  “Now you get what I am saying.”

  Luna relaxed. “It is… a good plan.”

  “Unless she decides to fight back,” muttered Vincent.

  “Take a hostage,” Godilai flatly retorted the Judge’s argument. When he opened his mouth to speak again, she flung the dagger at him. It whistled a breath away from Vincent’s ear and stuck to the wall behind him. To Dimitri she said, “How do you intend on threatening the people in the crowd?”

  “Today is a day of fire,” he said with a smirk. “What better way to celebrate than with the biggest fire they have ever seen? Or you two ladies can have some fun slaughtering them.”

  Vincent pipped up, “What about me?”

  “Alright,” Dimitri sighed, “three ladies.”

  Godilai’s eyes laughed and Luna scoffed. Vincent, on the other hand, rolled his eyes in annoyance.

  “I guess it’s gather your weapons, boys and girls,” Vincent grunted as he got to his feet, “we are about to start a war.”

  We had barely been on the planet a week when the first natives appeared. Although we had anticipated interaction with local life, these Dákun Daju were the last thing we expected. Though very similar to us – bipedal tool-users with set language skills – we had not expected them to be so… savage. They towered over us, and had wild hair and wilder eyes. Their weapons were displayed proudly, as were their scars. They were terrifying. We tried to communicate, to explain our reason for settling the island, but they did not understand our words, nor did we comprehend theirs. We did, however, understand their swords and spears quite clearly: We were not welcome.Night after night, we lost good men and women to raids. We tried again and again to speak with the leaders of the Dákun Daju, but they only saw us as weaklings unfit for their attention. Finally, after nearly a month of constant losses, our newly appointed king declared the Dákun Daju too great a threat to attempt a peaceful resolution. That is how the war between our races truly began.

  – FROM “THE CHRONICLES OF ITHNEZ, VOL I” BY ADJIRSÉ DÉDOS

  I bolted upright, startling the person shaking me. I took a moment to catch my breath and take in my surroundings. I was back in the Temple of Fire, and an Archbishop was trying to wake me. He studied me with great concern, as if I had contracted some terrible disease. I nodded to him and glanced upward at the colossal statue. I could not suppress a frown as the Goddess’ words replayed in my mind.

  Tragedy will soon strike.

  “Umm…are you okay?”

  I blinked in surprise at the inquiry. “Perfectly fine.” I said as I got to my feet. “Sorry I startled you, Archbishop.”

  He smiled sheepishly at me. “You were in a very deep meditation, child. Are you sure you are well?”

  “Yeah, just having a rather strange conversation.”

  I left him staring at me, his mouth agape. As I made for the exit, I thought about my brief interaction with the Goddess. I wish I had asked Zahadu-Kitai what had happened to me before I was found on the beach three days ago. Perhaps it was in her ‘You will begin to realize who you are then’ that came with her warning of the coming tragedy. I so wanted to know more of the little details. Like what the book in my pack unlocked or what the tragedy was going to be. Maybe I could prevent it.

  At the threshold of the pyramid, I glanced back, towards the statue of the Goddess. Are you sure you could not give me even a little hint? I sighed, stepped out of the pyramid. I did not make it very far. All the yards were packed with people dancing, eating, talking, and bartering. I chanced a look at the suns. It was about noon, and the Festival of the Phoenix had officially begun. I groaned; it would be hard to find my friends now.

  “There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.” Ríhan ran up to me from somewhere in the crowd.

  I threw myself at him in the biggest hug I could manage. He was nearly bowled over in the process.

  “Uh…what happened to put you in such a mood?”

  “We need to find Zhealocera. I have something to tell the both of you,” I said, releasing him from the hug.

  “I think I saw her over with one of the wine keepers. How about I meet you over there with some pies and sandwiches? I am starving.”

  I smiled. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

  “Great!” He kissed my cheek before running off.

  I felt myself blushing. And I could have sworn he was blushing too. Why had he kissed me? More importantly, why did I want him to kiss me again?

  I chuckled, a smile found its way across my lips. I turned in the direction of the wine stalls and began my search for Zhealocera.

  I searched one wine stall after another, looking for a head of purple hair that would mark Zhealocera’s presence. Finding none, I moved on to the last wine stall, a shabby-looking, open-walled tent. A huge crowd had gathered around one of the tables, shouting and roaring with laughter. I noticed money being traded and figured there must be a gambling competition going on.

  I sighed. It looked as though Zhealocera was not here either. I was about to leave when I heard her voice.

  “Throw the bloody dice already!”

  “What the– ?” I spun around to search for her again, only to see the crowd at the table.

  “Zhealocera?”

  Her head popped up over the crowd, and she smiled when she spotted me. “Xyleena! Come on over. Let my friend through, you filthy animals!”

  Several of the onlookers laughed and parted to grant me access to Zhealocera. I hesitated a moment, watching as my friend sat back down. I took a deep breath and walked up to her, curious to know what she was up to. I stood behind her and watched the table. There were four over
turned cups and a rather large pile of money on the table.

  “Um…Zhealocera, what are you up to? You realize you’re surrounded by Humes, right?”

  “Drunk Humes. They are much more amusing when they are drunk. Not to mention easier to win money from.” Zhealocera laughed. “As for what I’m up to, it’s a gambling game based on the dice.”

  I looked at the table again. “I thought students were prohibited from gambling…and I do not see any dice.”

  Zhealocera smirked at me. “I am not your average student. And the dice are under the cups. Players are given five dice each and place bets on how many of each number dice there are, but they can only bet one number. Whoever is correct at the end of the round gets the pot. If no one is correct, a new round starts, and the pot grows.”

  “I see… When you are done with this round, do you think I could steal you away? I have something important to talk to you about.”

  She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Sure.”

  “Twelve fives.”

  The bet stole her attention away.

  “Six sixes.”

  “I’ll bet…seven sixes,” Zhealocera said.

  “Eighteen ones!”

  I could not help but chuckle at the drunken man who called that bet. I watched as all four players lifted their cups.

  Zhealocera whooped. “Seven sixes! I was right!”

  The crowd cheered as she gathered the money from the center of the table.

  “Better luck next time, boys!”

  “Wow,” was all I could say as she dragged me away.

  We escaped the crowd just in time to see Ríhan enter the wine keep. He seemed to sigh in relief as we walked up to him.

  “This looks like a good spot to talk,” Zhealocera said, leading the way to a quieter portion of the pavilion.

  From here, we could see the musician stage and hear the music without being deafened by it. It was a lively tune that had many in the crowd on their feet dancing. Zhealocera sat down at a table and waved the barkeep over as Ríhan tossed her a sandwich and pie. She nodded her thanks as we sat down opposite her.