by Justin Parks
Chapter 5
Into Danger
Preparations were made and the caravan was assembled. There were four wagons filled with various goods and crops to take to market and sell. Khronus and Jin took a seat on the back of the last carriage as they headed out. The townspeople gathered to see them off. They all waved as the carriages left town.
The caravan drove down a large dirt road surrounded by green fields. As they made their way over a large hill, a forest began to appear as more and more trees filled the sides of the road. “If you don’t mind me asking, how long does this trip usually take?” Khronus asked the driver of the carriage.
The man raised a hand from the reins of the carriage to his chin. “I would say it’s about half a day’s ride assuming all goes well,” he said.
“It will,” Khronus responded with a reassuring smile.
Jin looked over to Khronus. “Khronus, something’s bugging me,” Jin said, catching his attention. “These people . . . I didn’t see any cores. And they just seem like ordinary people. They aren’t ayos, are they? I thought this world was supposed to be separate.”
“I see you noticed. Well, when Eden was created, the first people were all ayos. It wasn’t until years later we learned that some weren’t born with the gift. Eventually, there were more and more born without the gift; thus, ordinary humans were born into Eden. However, it was different this time. Since we’re all decadents an ayos can be born into any family. We’ve all learned to live together,” Khronus responded as he stretched and laid back on bags of grain. Jin followed suit, lying back on the bags as well.
Jin stared up at the sky, watching the clouds float by as the caravan began to enter into a large forest. Resting his eyes, he listened to the sounds of the horses trotting around him and the squeak of the carriage’s wheels. After a while, his eyes became heavy, causing him to drift off to sleep.
A sudden commotion awakened Jin. The caravan had halted, and Jin looked to his side to find that Khronus was gone. He heard people at the front of the caravan, so he jumped off the back of the carriage and ran around to the front to see what was going on.
Jin saw a group of men gathered in front of the carriage. He walked up to see what they were looking at. Khronus was in the front surrounded by, what appeared to be, blue wolves. Are those the kami Khronus told me about? Jin thought. He had never seen anything like them before.
The wolves began to surround Khronus, showing their fangs as their eyes lit up with anger. He stood still. The wolves began to slowly move in to attack. They drew closer and closer to Khronus until finally, they jumped at him. At that moment, a wave of ice pulsed from his body freezing all the wolves in midair. They each fell to the ground and shattered.
All the men looked on in amazement. “Wow, so this is the power of an ayos. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” one of the men said.
Jin stood in awe as well. I guess he can freeze more than a cup of tea, he thought.
Khronus looked around a moment as if he was confused about something. He waited a moment and then returned to the cheering group.
“You are truly great, Master Khronus!” one of the men said.
“Yes, we are all in your debt,” another man added.
“No thanks necessary,” Khronus said, humbly raising his hands. “Besides I think your problem is all but dealt with,” he explained as the men began to calm down.
“What do you mean? There are more of those things?” a man asked fearfully.
“Possibly, but no worries. I will do as promised,” Khronus replied calming the group. “Now let us continue,” he said as the group returned to their carriages. The wagons began to head down the road again.
“That was really cool, man,” Jin said looking down at the road.
Khronus began to laugh. “Yeah, I guess it was,” he said with a smile on his face. “You know one day soon you’ll be able to do that too,” Khronus added.
Jin stared at him in amazement. “Really?” he said hopefully.
“Yes, that’s why you’re here.” Khronus said rubbing Jin’s head and messing up his hair. “Granted, you may not be as cool as I am, but you’ll still be pretty good,” he said as they both chuckled.
The caravan continued along the road. The trees began to clear as they came to the top of another rolling hill. “There’s the town just over the next ridge,” the man at the front of the carriage yelled out, noticing the smoke from the chimneys in the city.
The men cheered, happy to see the end of the journey in sight. Then they all heard a very loud howl from the woods behind them. “What was that?” Jin asked in a worried tone.
“Trouble,” Khronus responded. The trees in the distance began to shake and rattled birds flew up into the sky. It appeared that something massive was moving through the woods. At that moment, a huge beast broke out of the tree line. It was a huge blue wolf with three tails. The beast caught view of the caravan in the distance and began to charge toward them.
“Go . . . now!” Khronus yelled as the caravan began to speed up. The beast drew closer, opening its mouth and spitting out a cluster of smaller wolves, just like the ones Khronus fought earlier. Khronus stood up on the end of the carriage and looked over to Jin. “Jin! I’ll meet up with you later,” he said jumping off the carriage.
Khronus stood and looked up at the group charging toward him. He stabbed his cane into the ground and removed his hat, hanging it on the cane. Khronus then began to run toward the group.
Khronus reached back, forming a spear of ice in his hand. The smaller wolves began to jump at him. He swung the spear, knocking them away, plowing his way through to the leader. Once clear, he threw the spear into the leg of the beast. Its leg began to freeze. As it hit the ground, the leg shattered, causing the beast to fall right in front of Khronus.
“It’s over,” Khronus said raising his hand. The wolf attempted to stand but fell and let out a loud roar at Khronus. Ice shards began to form and fire from his hand. They pummeled the beast, causing it to freeze solid. Khronus looked behind him as the other wolves began to disappear. Khronus fired one final shard at the huge frozen creature, causing it to shatter.
The beast’s body began to glow as it turned into small orbs of light that flew up toward Khronus. The particles were absorbed by his core, causing it to glow brightly for a moment before returning back to normal. Khronus gave a sigh of relief. He turned and began walking back down the road, grabbing his cane and returning his hat to his head.
By this time, the caravan had made its way to the city. The city was surrounded by a large stone wall with big metal gates. A man at the gates of the city yelled down to the group, “How did you get through that forest alive? It’s been a while since we’ve seen anyone come out of there.”
One of the carriage drivers answered him. “We were traveling with an ayos. He stayed back to fight the beast and help us escape.”
The man at the gate yelled down at the people on the other side to open the gate. The doors opened, revealing a busy city street. The buildings were all made of brick with cobblestone paths leading all around the city. Various booths and shops lined the main road into town. It was truly a beautiful place.
ToC
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