Hexes And A Traveling Weylynn Everything went blurry momentarily. Then my head cleared and Derex said, “You think that light is so amazing. You think that light is the fastest thing in the universe. Well, it's not. Wherever light goes, Darkness will have been there first. I am the Dark. You seem to be the light in this situation. Personally, I think out of all the heartless things I’ve ever done, this will be the easiest.” He held his knife to my neck, but instead of just ending my pain there, he put it away. He reached out his hand, grabbing me. “ Ver Iska ForZold,” He said. Where had I heard that before? “Though Darkness be brave, cunning and bold, The light win the Robore, Ver Iska Forzold” “Why in the world are you evil?” I asked. “Was it because you were just too bored being good. Too bored being the person sitting on the sidelines in the war?” “So many theories you have on why I do evil . . . did you ever once consider that I do evil because evil was done to me?” Derex laughed. “No, I don’t think that ever occurred to you. Maybe it was because you were too busy trying to save the world. From what? Nothing in apparent reason, it seems. So, Ver Iska ForZold, I ask. Do you know what that means? Its old speech. Back before the Prophecy was proclaimed. It means that no matter what. I would like to change that. Oh, I already did. Because right before I killed the prophet-” “You killed the prophet?” I asked in shock. “Yes, I killed the prophet,” Derex snapped. “Right before he did, he said that it might be the other way around if....If I captured you.” “So thats why they didn’t want me to get captured,” I mumbled to myself. Derex brought out his knife, soaked in the ‘Truth Serum.’ I suddenly felt very sick. “No!” My inner resistance cried. “You must fight,” echoed Namirs voice. “Courage,” Spoke the remains of Sokonans being. But it wasn’t enough. And I blacked out. I welcomed the white. I somehow knew that it was a privilege to be there. Sokonan, in his godly form, appeared, with Paytah by his side. “Greetings, daughter,” Paytah said. “Greetings, Paytah,” I replied. “You don’t have much time, so I’m just going to come straight out with it. Sef...The wanderer....He is coming to get you. Do not trust him, no matter how he tempts you. The Dark Lord will have taken his soul. Eaen will arrive minutes later. He will have to kill him. Do not try to protect Eaen. If he dies, it will be of his own accord. But it doesn’t look as though he will die. Is that understood?” “Yes. That is understood.” “Good.” “Sokonan, thank you for your help. It just wasn’t enough.” “Yes, it happens like that. I know you tried. We will not punish you for that,” Sokonan answered. “No, but you will be punished for taking a God out of his own....and using his spirit,” Paytah said. “Especially since the Dark Lord knew it, too.” “I did that of my own accord,” Sokonan argued, “It was not her punishment. I take the blame there. You probably wouldn’t have been able to do that and stand up to the Dark Lord. No, you would have instead cowered into the deepest crevices of your own mind and cried silently.” Fire sprouted from Paytah’s fingers. “Um.....” I said. “I don’t think that is such a good idea....” “She is right, brother,” Sokonan said, trying to calm Paytah. “Our petty problems can be solved later. We have other things to worry about at the moment. Such as the war currently being fought between The Dark Lord and Valdemars armies.” The fire left Paytah’s hands. “He isn’t very good,” Paytah commented, “I knew we should have gone with Hoyum.” “Again,” Sokonan said, “This doesn’t matter at the moment. We kind of have to help the Robore before she becomes conscious again.” “Good point,” I mumbled. “Well, The Gods are on your side,” Paytah said. “Peace and good luck be with you.” “Thank you, Paytah,” I replied. “Thank you Sokonan. Isis, help me, we all know that everyone is counting on me. Oh, and plus the little fact that the Dark Lord just happens to be my dad isn’t going to help me when I have to kill him. And I think he knows that.” “We shall be watching you,” Sokonan said. “Good luck.....” It became black again. Then I became aware that someone was shaking me awake. My eyes opened. It was Sef. “Are you okay?” He asked. Sef. It was Sef. I couldn’t trust him. “Where’s Eaen?” I asked. “I don’t-Oh...Well its nice to see you too,” Sef said miserably. “I’ll kind of be glad when I’m dead because I won’t have to worry about death anymore. No more having to worry about being killed by a fellow General that was on my side in the war.” “You are going to die here,” I told him. “Well, I kind of gathered that from you asking where Eaen was.” “No, you are really going to die here. Paytah told me.” “Oh, wow. And Sokonan told me that you almost got away from flying monkeys riding tricycles in the air and honking horns that sound like geese being strangled.” “No. He really did. He said Eaen would kill you...” “I would?” asked a puzzled voice behind me. Sef looked up and sweat beads formed on his face. “H-hello, Eaen,” Sef stammered. “Hello, Sef,” Eaen replied. “Would you join me in killing the Dark Lord?” “He’s tied up over there,” Sef said, pointing to a rock. Something muffled cried out from on the other side. “Are you coming?” Eaen asked. Sef nodded. “Oh, Isis,” I whispered as they went behind the rock. Blue flames shot up. There was a cry of agony. Suddenly, the Dark Lord jumped up on top of the rock and pointed his knife at Sef, who pointed his sword at him. “I know my fate,” Sef said shakily, like he was unsure, “I will win this.” “That, my friend, is where you are wrong,” Derex said, and thrust the knife into Sefs arm. Sef looked pained for a moment. I noticed that the knife was dripping in green. “Isis, no. Please no,” I heard myself say. Sef plunged his sword into Derex’s leg. He howled. The knife went into Sefs other arm. He dropped his sword. “Isis, this is a worse fate than death!” Sef cried. Derex laughed. “Yes, but it is my favorite.” He plunged the knife into Sefs heart. Sef winced. His eyes became momentarily blank. Then, he breathed in. “Isis, no,” I heard myself say. Paytah and Isis had been right. The Dark Lord had taken his soul. Sef had lost his battle. The Dark Lord laughed. “Finish off the Fire-God. Then we will carry on.” Sef nodded. He hopped down from the rock. Blue fire shot into the air. Then, someone cried out. I couldn’t tell who it was. Eaen ran into the open. He was bleeding. His hands seemed to turn the fire red with blood. “Get out of here. Now,” He said. I ran into the trees. Sef jumped out into the open. His eyes were blank. They had no expression. Just like Drago’s had been. “Eaen,” I warned. “He isn’t himself. The Dark Lord killed him. He...he took his soul.” Eaen scoffed. “I am seriously not believing this. Then again..” He jumped as Sef swiftly swiped his sword at him. The bottom of Eaens cape-which I hadn’t noticed before-was cut off. “Uncool!” Eaen complained. “Amayalyn...” A voice whispered. I turned around. Sokonan smiled. He had Paytah with him. “Eaen will win the battle. We found it to be very emotional for you in the future...So to save you from that...come with us. We can get you to Gavan. He will take you back to Valdemar,” Paytah said. “Uh...No thanks. I’ll stay with Eaen,” I said. Sokonan shrugged. “Emotions are not my thing. If you choose to stay here, then we cannot help you. Understand this. We will be here. You know, in case the Dark Lord decides to sneak away with you when Sef and Eaen are busy fighting. Or maybe if you want to leave.” “Thanks,” I said. Sokonan smiled. A shot of blue fire lit up the darkening sky. Sef dropped his sword and black fire sprouted from his hands. Like a death weed, they seemed to lash out at Eaen. The night carried on. I began to squint to see what was happening. “Are you-” Paytah began. He was getting restless. I knew that Sef might be close to death. “Yes. Positive.” “Okay...” Another voice rose up over the night. “Ah...Now that I have dispatched the Gods perhaps you would like to come with me?” Derex. I should’ve known. “Do you have the slightest concept of morality? Of right and wrong, of decency? Of humanity?” “No, but I have a drill, some duct tape, and a rather nicely constructed knife. Perhaps you can explain it to me, assuming you're not too busy screaming.” “You're insane!” “No, I happen to know perfectly well what I am doing, and why I'm doing it. And doesn't that scare you so much more than I would if I was crazy?” Derex pulled out his knife. He started to polish it. I breathed in deeply, closing my eyes. I couldn’t look at the knife. It would make me black out. And then, Eaen might die. Speaking of Eaen, a shot of blue fire zoomed through the air. Sef screamed. There was a thump. Dead. Sef was dead. “Amayalyn!” Eaen cried. Derex quickly duct taped my mouth. “Scream and I’ll kill him,” He warned. I nodded. “Amayalyn?” A blue flame lit up the forest a little ways off. Don’t come over here, Eaen, I pleaded. Please don’t come over here. There was the sound of flapping wings. Then Derex screamed. “I thought you might have liked some help at one point,” The General said. “I was getting bored sorting stones. Gavan kept updating me on what was going on, but it wasn’t the same.” “Isis, I’m glad its you,” I said. Better the General and Gavan than Affson and Drago. “Yeah..sure.” “Do we take him with us?” I asked. “Probably be best...” The General said. “Then take his knife,” I told him. “So he can’t stab us and then chuck us off into the ocean after hes done off with us.” So he can’t practically knock me out by shoving it in my face. And then drowning me. I could see the scene now. Derex laughing in the air, circling around me on Affson, yelling, “Is this your first time drowning? Sorry, I didn’t know that!” I had never been much of a swimmer. My mom never took me to the swimming pool for lessons. So that would be about right that I would die drowning in the water on an alternative planet. “Good point,” The General said, “Grab it and hand it up. Gavan, it might help if you landed.” Gavan grounded. His dark figure landed in the fallen leaves. “Where is the knife?” I asked myself. I found it in Derex’s right hand. I pulled it out, with a struggle, and handed it to the General. “Try not to flash that off too much,” I told him. “I don’t know why, but whenever I see that knife I blackou-” The sun, which was starting to come up, flashed onto the knife. Then, for me, everything went black. “Do you think I enjoy this?” I yelled into the dark. It became gray. Not white. But gray. A man, someone I hadn’t seen before in the Disoriented Place in Time and Space walked out of the darkness. “Who are you?” “Bott,” The man replied, “and I have come with some things to tell you.” “What sorts of things?” “Words of wisdom. Advice. Things to watch for. First of all, Derex is NOT your father. I played that trick on the young Valdemar. Best trick in the book. And in the end, when they killed me, right before they killed me, I said, ‘Valdemar! I am your father!’ at that point, I burst into laughter. 'No, no, not really! I just always wanted to say that!’ He didn’t have the heart to kill me. I say this because I can tell that this Dark Lord is much worse than me...Much worse. He plans to rule the world, Gods and all. Which includes killing anyone that might stand in his way. And his knife....” Bott stopped here and sighed. “His knife is not poisoned. It is a trick of the mind. It is more of a hypnosis device that....Well, if you stab someone with it, it lets you control their entire mind. The only way to get it to stop is by saying a sequence of certain words....I know this because one, I have seen this same things with some of those really creepy clowns, and two, I had one like that. Except mine was a bronze sword I nicknamed ‘Gerfa-’” “You named your sword ‘life’ in the old language?” “Yes....If only I could hold it again....But NO, the Gods wont let me have anymore pleasure in the afterlife....” “And you are telling me all this why?” “BECAUSE you are the savior to all of us-The Gods, including those on Eljin you would call gods, the Kings of animals, the tribes and the townspeople, and, oh, yes, I almost forgot. All those who are already dead. He is going to stretch out the very fabrics of time until they break and spin out into the universe. Everyone on Eljin, or associated with Eljin, will disappear. Almost half the population on Earth will vanish- No doubt Derex will send monsters after them. And those poor little news reporters and people who work in offices on the tenth story of places everywhere will be terrified. They will crawl underneath their desks and pray to Isis-” “God. They pray to God.” “Well thats really redundant. God the Lord. Isis is better if you ask me.” “Are you going to go on with this all day or are you going to tell me the rest so I can go kill Derex?” “Fine. Now where was I? Oh, thats right. And those poor little news reporters and people who work in offices on the tenth story of places everywhere will be terrified. They will crawl underneath their desks and pray to God-notice I said God-because they will think that the world is coming to an end. And who is to hold up the fabrics of time? Of space? Of life and death? You are. Because if you don’t, we will all disappear. Including your precious Eaen.” “Why does everyone assume that I like him???” “It isn’t that hard to guess...” “Have you ever considered we are just friends? Has anyone considered that?” “Yup. The Gods did, and they can see the future, so they know what happens a few years into the future. Trust me...It isn’t a friendship for much longer. It goes deeper than that...” “Why do I care about this right now?” “I don’t know. Just though you’d like to know.” “Um....Okay...” “You can go defeat the Dark Lord now.” “It might help if you stopped talking...” “Oh. Right. Goodbye, child. Good luck. Please don’t let the world die. Please don’t let the fabrics of time be ripped into a million pieces. Please don’t let poor little news reporters and people who work on the tenth story of buildings everywhere on Earth huddle under their desks and cry because it’s the end of the world. Please don’t let half the population of Earth vanish into midair with Eljin. Don’t let monsters track down every living beast on Earth until there is nothing left. Don’t let-” “OKAY. I get it. Can I go now?” “Yes. Good luck...” It became black again. Then there were voices. “I don’t know...she said not to show her the knife..” “And you showed it to her?” “No. The sunlight hit it.” “Isis, General! She knows more than we do about this thing. Go tie Derex onto Gavans back before he wakes up. We can probably wait a few more hours for her to come to.” “Yes, Eaen.” There was a sound of crunching pebbles. “Isis, this knife is deadly,” Eaen whispered. “It would probably be better just to throw it out to sea...” There was a splash. My eyes flew open. Eaen looked down at me. “How many times has that happened to you?”
Copyright © 2009 A Clarke |