Chaos Destiny

by Mussie Haile

  “I know what’s at stake, and it has nothing to do with Eldana’s life or anyone else’s, we need to defeat evil, ”Siem said angrily, desperately. She suddenly realized how futile this plan had been. It wasn’t that Lord Taboon couldn’t listen to reason; it was that he had chosen not to. He was obsessed with maintaining the old ideals.

  “But child,. Lord Taboon came one step closer to her. “We don’t have to defeat evil. We just have to keep the balance, that’s all.”

  Siem took a step back. Mikko already grabbed on to her and was ready to jump. Maybe, she had made a mistake coming here. She had heard the man was a man of reason.

  “No, that’s not going to happen,” she said.

  Lord Taboon’s hands changed color to a blazing blue. “Yes, my child,” said Lord Taboon, as he began to speak to the runes. Mikko cried out and grabbed Siem, trying to jump out of the window, but suddenly Lord Taboon was standing in front of them.

  Mikko screamed his name and attempted to jump with Siem through a portal. It was not as relaxing or as exhilarating as the last time. It hurt this time. When they came out of the warp they were still in the air. Mikko’s spell had worked, but through the glimmering light of the magic warp tunnel, they could still see Lord Taboon at the end. Siem landed hard and rolled, as did Mikko, too, as they saw Lord Taboon’s fading image summon his warriors to his side.

  “She is here. Find her,” Lord Taboon shouted, before he finally disappeared from their view.

  When Siem regained consciousness, she found herself laying in a dark room. She got up immediately and saw Mikko laying nearby. She rushed to him.

  “Are you okay?” She asked.

  He turned around and got up. “Well, that wasn’t my best work.” He teased, making Siem laugh despite their situation. “But next time you try to attack the strongest mage in our kingdom, please let me know!”

  Siem nodded with a smile on her face “I’ll be happy to do that and trust me there will be a next time. Tell me where you took us.”

  He pointed his finger outside. “See for yourself.”

  Siem went to the window and peeked through the thick curtains. There was a mighty gate with guards outside. “The city gate, perfect!” She mumbled to herself and Mikko smiled. Siem needed more time to recover. The jump had taken a toll on her. She was not yet back to her full strength. She kept watching the entrance gate while Mikko picked himself up again. This unexpected, violent flight had cost him greatly. Siem did not seem to notice. Her mind was somewhere else. She hoped that Eldana was safe and had better luck with her mission than they had with theirs.

  Eldana and the King

  Eldana hated it in the king’s chambers. She had snuck past the guards outside without anyone seeing her, leaning into the shadows, and becoming one with them. Inside the palace, things were different; there were no guards.

  The hubris of the King was clear in every cornice, stone, and tapestry. This place was old-fashioned, inflexible, the whole ambiance that came with the place gagged any imagination; all meaningless opulence and glorification of dead people who did not deserve the right.

  One of the reasons she hated it was that time here appeared to stand still. There was no change. She didn’t want to be part of a machine that followed rituals without understanding them. That’s exactly why she was here. She needed to convince the King. She also knew there was a possibility she would suffer an instant and cruel death, especially if she failed. She was not afraid of death though.

  Eldana was alone, with a hood pulled over her head. Her mind wandered briefly down memory lane. Everything seemed to be an irony. Why make her train so hard only to sacrifice her?

  Maybe the gods are greedy, she thought. Maybe they wanted what power she had to offer at its fullest manifestation. There were no guards or staff. Eldana knew why. There were mirrors all over the walls that kept the palace in order. Each mirror had the power to read intentions and communicate with its observer.

  When Eldana looked into one of the mirrors, she saw stories of her childhood., questions from her master and friends, which she answered as naturally as a dream. But it was no dream, some catchers recorded everything and then passed it on. It all felt like a dream...but Eldana knew that it wasn’t.

  Her mind was being probed.

  This allowed the King to know everything about everyone. The king was a man whom Eldana barely knew. She scarcely remembered him from when she was a child. Emotionless, he sat on the throne like a statue. Eldana tried to avoid the mirrors, but it was not easy. Every time she came closer to one she felt the pull to look into it and dream.

  Eldana wandered through the halls along the path that had been paved especially for her. She eventually found some larger mirrors decorated with different colors and ornaments that she could not ignore. Eldana felt that the pull from the larger mirrors was even stronger. It drove her crazy not to look into them.

  At that moment, she was inside the king’s suite of rooms. But the magic of the King had fashioned this section of the palace into the likeness of catacombs, with many different corridors and heavy doors with magical symbols.

  A set of stone stairs led down to a small pool. It was crazy, the things the king had crammed into this part of the palace using magic. She had just passed the last mirrors, so she thought she was safe. This was the first time that she had walked that far into the king’s castle, and she didn’t know what to expect. The pool had a bluish color and was transparent. For a second, she started to feel dizzy, but it quickly passed.

  The far end of the pool became a big waterfall. Many of her friends were waiting at the bottom and yelling, “Jump! Jump! Jump!” They all laughed and rejoiced. Siem and Hermon were there. They waved at her and she waved back. Everything was filled with happiness. Eldana jumped in, and after a few seconds, she was deep inside the pool. Eldana then swam back up and could hear the roar of laughter.

  She swam to the edge of the pool, under the waterfall where everyone was standing. Siem helped her out. She looked at her from top to bottom and yelled, “You look like a wet dog!” which caused a roaring from all friends. Eldana waved it away.

  “What are you doing here?” Siem asked as she pointed up at the edge of the waterfall. Eldana looked confused and pointed her finger upwards to the point where she jumped from. It was obvious what she was doing here. She just wanted to jump into the water and come to Siem.

  “What are you doing here? Asked Siem again.

  The smile on her face started to fade. Eldana wanted to answer but could not remember why she was here. It had been so clear before. Then it came back to her in one fell swoop.

  “I am Eldana, and I must see the king, to ask him to stop trying to keep the balance. I must ask him to stop.” Eldana answered.

  The smile on Siem’s face fell, and her figure faded away slowly. Eldana had a pounding headache. She became nauseous. She had given herself away. The people in the pool weren’t real. It was all the mirror’s trick. The spell was strong, but it was wearing off after Eldana gave herself away. She had been deceived. She had no time to lose. She had to leave. She began to run, speaking the protective magic she had perfected so well, but it went wrong. The shield shimmered and disappeared. The figures from the pool were chasing after her.

  The second that Eldana had started running, the whole room changed. The mirrors were everywhere, closing in on her, appearing to grow in size. Had there ever really been a catacomb? A waterfall? A pool?

  With a sudden whoosh of air and one of the large mirrors flew towards her, slowing only at the last minute to block her path-

  She struck the mirror, and it broke. Every time one of these mirrors fell to the ground, the others adapted. After the third strike, no mirror broke immediately after one hit but only after two. After the sixth, it took three hits to take a mirror down. Eldana could not keep up this number game forever. She broke through them one by one even as
the mirrors became stronger collectively. With each time that they changed, they became faster and better. Eldana was used to fighting but this was pushing her limits.

  The fights were relentless. Where did they all come from? The mirrors had become so strong that it was no longer possible to move forward. As she tried to manoeuvre them by outrunning the first couple of mirrors, they came in closer and closer, leaving her with nowhere to run to. There were too many of them. Suddenly, the mirrors stopped, and she had heard a loud rumble. The rumbling came up again, this time louder and stronger than before. Those who had just stood in front of her now moved a few meters away. She had room to breathe again. Still, the princess’s heart raced.

  There was a third rumble. This time she heard a voice from far away. And that voice said her name;

  “Eldana.”

  How long has it been since a king called someone personally, rather than have their courtiers or advisers announce their arrival? She couldn’t even remember.

  There was a time when she would have been happy at being personally called by the King. Who would not rejoice after hearing the voice of the ruler of kingdoms, the closest to the gods by his position? He was feared and respected by all. At school, the benevolence of the king and his protection for the realm was imprinted on the minds of children. On all coins, it was the king’s face that smiled from it. At harvest, after the gods, it was him that everyone paid homage to.

  “Eldana.” The voice rumbled out loud once again.

  “Eldana, why won’t you listen?” The voice asked. Resentment grew in her at the sound of that voice.

  “Because it’s wrong.” She replied calmly.

  “Do you deny the meaning of keeping evil away?” The voice replied instantly. In the last words, there was great astonishment. The rumbling echoes around the voice grew louder and longer.

  “Are you evil yourself?” The mirrors that had once pulled back, trembled again and came closer.

  Eldana was not frightened. She didn’t care. “That’s rubbish! It’s all wrong, the chaos mark, the legend it is all just fear!” She shouted. The rumbling stopped again. The mirrors stopped moving.

  “Tell me about it, child.” The voice came again, but this time in a kinder tone. It was light and even inviting.

  Eldana knew what this was all about. She had been on the run too long not to realize this trick. She was being stalled, plain and simple, so she could be caught. The King was not able to understand her.

  Now the question was, how did she deal with it? She answered first. “Well, I figured out a way to stop all this, no more good, no more evil. The struggle ends.”

  But her answer was met only by a reflective silence. Eldana looked around. There were far too many mirrors to attack all of them.

  “You dare to question the balance?” the king spoke.

  Chills were running down her spine at the threat in the King’s voice. But yeah, she did dare.

  But how the hell was she going to explain that to someone who claimed that this balance was his creation in the first place, even everyone knew he is not? All the peoples of Taos had agreed on this one thing. They all knew the cost and yet they went down this road sacrificing away. He was too deep in it to understand. She had hoped for so much more.

  Eldana had to get out of here. She thought through all the spells she mastered but none of them made her go faster. She needed to create a diversion to get out. “Yes, I do.” She didn’t think twice before she shot a bolt of lightning into the ceiling.

  With a crash, blocks of stone fell from the ceiling, smashing most of the mirrors nearby, but not all.

  Eldana began to run. She was inches away from the door. The few mirrors that had not been hit began to transform. They grew larger and larger, closing in on her. There was no way out. Eldana ran in a zigzag and made it past one mirror. She tried hard to not look at it. Once caught, she would be gone. She ran past the second and saw a light towards the exit. There was only one mirror between her and freedom.

  Eldana ran as fast as she could and fired a lightning bolt. The final mirror burst and she was free.

  She had done it! She was outside but knew she couldn’t stop running. Any hope that she might have had for winning the King was gone now. They would not stop hunting her. They would not listen to her.

  She had almost reached the gate, but exhaustion was spreading through her body. When would it all end? Maybe she should just give in and let it be over with!

  She became overwhelmed with weakness. Nothing made sense anymore. Her whole plan was in shambles. She felt she was getting sick and the world was spinning. She stumbled through the city, heading for the outer gates – and almost got there! - when she fell. She had lost her balance for only a second and yet this was enough to throw her to the ground. Eldana could not hold on any longer. She staggered for several meters and tried to hold on to something, but that was not possible. Passers-by looked at her with confusion yet carried on with their routines. A lady from the market screamed as Eldana reached into her basket. She knocked her hand away and left hurriedly. No one would help Eldana.

  After a few more meters, she fell to the ground. No one came to help. She only heard the roar of the crowd, scattered conversations of many different people. Then there was just static. The King’s magic mirrors had been far more powerful than she had given him credit for, and the toll that they exacted was terrible. She was hallucinating. She could hear all of her friends screaming. She thought she felt hands clasping her. In her hallucination, she was carried across a field of flowers by friends that she loved. They were all especially friendly and had no reason to be angry. She would just die now, she thought, and heard exotic new names and saw people she had never intended to meet. But they were all in the flower field together. All the problems of the past few weeks had faded away...

  But something was wrong. The voices became clearer, like it was all real. They screamed her name from the flower field, but she could not move.

  Slowly, she became curious. Was this death? She heard her name very softly but growing louder steadily. Suddenly, there was a huge wave of water, a wave that disturbed and completely soaked them all. What was happening? Eldana was confused as she tried to keep the water away. A second wave hit her in the face. She didn’t know what was happening to her. The voices became louder and now she could understand who it was. Siem was screaming her name, about to throw more water on her. The whole dream world around her collapsed. She was not dead. She was with Siem in a hiding place with lots of different people.

  “Are you back?” Siem looked suspicious with the bucket of water in her hand, leaning it towards a confused Eldana.

  Eldana blinked and ran a hand over her face.

  “What happened?” she asked. Hermon quickly rushed to her side and held her up.

  “I don’t know. You tell me. ”Siem said. “Hermon found you on the ground, some streets away from the king’s palace. He said you were muttering incoherently, and somehow you had blended with the ground. He almost did not see you. Then he brought you here.”

  Eldana looked around to discover that she was in some kind of room with stone walls and fairly large shutterless windows. People were talking among themselves.

  “A-All of that? That had been a dream?” Eldana said, for Siem to only shrug as she looked at her with big, worried eyes.

  Not all of it, Eldana thought to herself. Not the palace itself. Not the voice of the King. But the King must have cast some sort of curse or enchantment upon her as she had escaped, or perhaps it was an aftereffect of the magic mirrors? She didn’t know, but she was thankful that somehow Hermon had sensed her.

  “Where are we? And who are these people?” the princess asked.

  “Well, to answer the where part of your question, we’re under a bridge,” Mikko replied.

  Eldana gave him a curious look. “Who are you?”

  M
ikko looked at Siem, signalling her with his eyes to do the honor of an introduction. Siem rolled her eyes.

  “Eldana, this is Mikko. He began stalking me almost as soon as we split up. And I caught him.”

  “Hey,” Mikko objected. “You forget the part where I saved your sorry hide. Twice.”

  “Uuuuh”, Hermon exclaimed, widening his eyes in excitement. “You saved Siem? Twice?” he asked.

  “I’m guessing she’s not one to be at the receiving end of a saving hand, yeah?” Mikko asked with a smirk.

  Hermon chuckled. “You got that part right,” he said.

  “One more word from you two, and one of you is flying out these windows,” Siem cautioned.

  Mikko smiled but didn’t say anything more. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you, Eldana,” Mikko said. “Siem hasn’t told me much about you. But from the little she’s told me, and the things that I know about you, I dare say you’re one of a kind.”

  “The pleasure’s mine, Mikko,” Eldana said.

  “How long are we going to stay here?” Eldana asked. “We should try to find an inn or something. I could use a decent sleep after my ordeal.”

  “The thing is...” Mikko started, “I think we all experienced ordeals of our own, Eldana. And we kind of...”

  “By we, you mean yourself and Siem, yes?” Hermon interrupted.

  “Yes, myself and Siem,” Mikko corrected. “We kind of racked up some trouble, and Lord Taboon’s goons are searching the entire city for you.”

  Eldana sighed.

  “Honestly,” Mikko said, “if I had known that Lord Taboon was the person you wanted to meet, I would have stopped you.”

  “We just have to stay here for now till everything blows over,” Siem said, to which the others agreed, and Mikko offered to go find them all something to eat.

  “Fine fellow, isn’t he?” Hermon asked after Mikko had gone.