"Hey, wake up!"A splash of cold water startled Yosh in his deep dreams, finding himself stuck in a dimly lit room. He"s tied up sitting on a wooden stool in front of an outline of a kid his age - or that"s what he thought figuring his physique. The pain at the back of his head gradually returned radiating around his skull leaving him to take deep breaths, making him realize what happened to him at the fields. He smelled the fresh rich soil with a little hint of mold giving him the impression that he is, indeed, underground. The room isn"t properly ventilated, but the air is uniquely conditioned to be colder than their nights at the mountains. Luckily, he has his fur to keep him warm and that"s a big plus on his side. He figured that the time is a couple of hours before sunrise based on his rumbling stomach. He usually treats himself to a light midnight snack to keep his angry stomach at bay in the mornings but this time, missing both dinner and the snack, the growling monster inside him cannot be blamed for making noise.
"Hey," he whispered weak to the shadow eating a juicy crunchy fruit, "Can I have a bite from that? I"m starving."
"How foolish of you to ask puny mortal!" the outline shouted while chomping his sweet-smelling fruit loudly, "You are my prisoner! Why would I give you my breakfast?!"
"What did I do wrong?" he complained squirming to get off from his entanglement. "Wait! Are you one of those petty criminals they call Pusakal or whatever? And tying me up? Really? Is this really necessary?"
"All will be revealed in due time," he said with his unrealistic sinister laugh, "And stop squirming! You"ll loosen the rope."
"Isn"t that right?" he asked surprised, "Yeah, that"s not what I"m doing! I"m just making myself comfortable! Are you that mental? Of course, I"m trying to get free from these ropes! That"s what people do when they"re tied up."
"Shhh, just shut up!"
"So, kidnapping me and tying me up isn"t enough? You need to starve me too? And you"re telling me to shut up!? What kind of sick dim-witted…"
"Shut up!"
"Where"s Luna!" he shouted immediately remembering what happened in the fields.
"Who"s Luna?"
"LUNA!!!!!!!!" he shouted on top of his lungs calling his friend.
"Hey! Hey!" the boy shouted too trying to stop him, "Would you be quiet!!!"
"Tell me where Luna is, or I swear to..."
"Relax," he interrupted, "If that"s your cat, she"s been sleeping soundly somewhere here. She"s well taken care of, so shut up!"
"And I"m supposed to listen to you? A shady character and, honestly, practically dimwitted?"
"Hey! Don"t insult me you pathetic twerp!"
"Where"s Luna!?"
"You"re not too sharp yourself!" he said proudly finding his witty retort. "Why would I tell you? You"re my prisoner, or did you forget?!"
"Well duh! How would I know where she is if I won"t ask you, you bin head! What am I? A mind-reader?"
The silhouette shoved his fruit to his mouth trying to shush him which he did, eating the fruit hurriedly.
"Wow," Yosh exclaimed, "Dhi "s duh behsh"
"Huh?"
Yosh chewed and swallowed for a few seconds then he continued. "I said this is the best fruit I"ve tasted so far. Better than the Atis that"s in season."
"Oh, is that it?" he stood up smiling as the lights all glowed little by little, revealing him to a weird room with tree roots as its walls and floors. A noise of a loud horn echoed in the room as though a signal has been given. "Great! Then I think that"ll serve as your last meal?"
The big doors behind the unusually pale man in front of him began to open revealing a bright yellow warm light from beyond. A lot of people are cheering though he did not know why. The young man with curiously long pointy ears came behind him and freed him cutting the ropes with his dagger. He pulled him up to stand and smiled.
"This is your time to shine," he whispered with his devilish look.
"What?" Yosh shouted, "I can"t go there!"
"No need to beg for mercy, the die has been cast!"
"But I don"t have any skills," he pleaded, "what should I perform? I surely can"t sing. You can"t make me sing!"
The pale man gave his frustrated confused look and pushed him through the door. He then grabbed his arm and pulled him to the center of what seems to be an arena underground. It is a long slow drag from his room to the center, but he managed to stand up being pulled. The arena is filled with men and women looking like his captor though they are whiter than him. Unhealthily white even making the mysterious boy unique.
The people that are surrounding the arena are so pale, it is curious to know what kind of sickness they are going through - especially the old ones, he thought chuckling. They all have a runic tattoo marking looking like a hex spell on their forehead, but the frustrated boy that has been dragging him doesn"t have any. That"s what"s keeping him apart from them too aside from his complexion. They share the same pointy ears so Yosh knows they are related somehow, though he can"t still figure it out.
He would"ve dwelled thinking that idea further, but the angry shouting crowd is so deafening, he can"t even hear himself think so he just looked around, still confused. Is he going to perform in front of the crowd, he thought, or is he going to recite a poem? His popularity as a handsome young prince still takes precedence in his mind.
The angry young man raised his hands and the crowd came to a still, now quiet but looking angrier.
"People of the Bountiful Earth! Listen! I, Iyom the son of Kyrin, have brought to you, yet again, a deceitful mortal who has been wandering around taunting us in our homeland. Insulting us! Trying to mock our way of life as if what they did to us a thousand years ago isn"t enough!"
Yosh"s eyebrows furrowed clueless in Iyom"s speech now shocked. Based on his angry tone he thinks he might know where this is leading to. He just can"t seem to interrupt him with all the glaring eyes directed at him.
"This mortal here," he continued, "is a prince of Nagozul! He had specially crafted arrows enchanted with earth specifically to fatally wound one of our own! Fjollem Ninefe!"
The crowd"s boos and rants grew louder than before. Yosh remembered a girl that he held before he blacked out.
"Hey!" Yosh shouted interrupting him in his speech. "I didn"t hurt her! I found her wounded! I swear!"
"Oh please! Spare me your treacherous lies! The least you can do is take responsibility for your actions!"
Yosh stopped trying. He looked through Iyom"s small squinted cold eyes and saw his disgust towards him. He is not the same kid in the room he"s with anymore. He backed a few steps away frightened, trying to convince himself that he"s not a bad person. He knew he"d done nothing wrong. He tried to remember everything that happened the day before regarding the accusations but found nothing of the sort. All he did was to shoot arrows at the tree and that"s hardly an offense to be punished by that wide disappointed eyes he"s been seeing all around him, the same as the eyes that his father gave him at the northern encampment. He just hit the tree. If that"s the crime, then he"s guilty of that.
He stopped his thinking and found an idea suddenly floating among all of the other things occupying his mind. Karus has been going around with his loony idea about the Forest of Kyrin, so he internalized and tried to remember what crazy ideas his brother spouts during their usual banters. He remembered that Iyom said that he is the son of Kyrin and Kyrin is an Elf - or that"s what he knows as suggested by historical myths and legends. If that is so, then that must prove that they are Elves and that literally signifies that the Elves are true, he noted shocked and surprised. Normally this will never enter his mind but due to any lack of other explanations, this absurd idea seems to fit perfectly.
Every Elf has their own life tree connected to their soul. That could mean that he could have hurt her by hurting her life tree. Karus has gone telling him over and over that one can kill an Elf by hitting it for a couple of times with an earth-enchanted arrow. He said that whatever happens to their tree happens to them and if their tree turns up to be wounded and poisoned, they will have the same thing too. Normally four or five is enough to kill an elf, he thought quoting Karus. This idea suggests that he literally could"ve killed this Ninefe if he took another shot and it is a miracle that she still lives.
It"s a rare coincidence that he asked Dal"Gur for a personalized set of elemental arrows enchanted with earth which he then brought with him as he wandered off to the northern outskirts of Nagozul only to find a tree to train with his archery that he didn"t know belongs to the Elves which are unfortunately vulnerable to the same arrows that he has with him. A twisted series of events carefully woven to give an appalling sense of amus.e.m.e.nt for fate. This is what Yosh feels right now, realizing the accusations against him. It"s as if the universe is out to get him too. It"s not his fault this happened, he justified in his mind. He asked for Earth-enchanted Arrows because of the fact that he is an Earth Molder. He doesn"t even believe in Elves before this. So why is this his fault?
"Isn"t this enough," Iyom shouted in his speech which snapped Yosh in his state of contemplation, "No my brethren! This is NOT enough FOR THEM! Unless we crawl begging? Unless our generation cease to exist? Unless they scorch our homes like what they did to the immortals and claim our lands as theirs? No! They will not stop! This has got to end! Countless brothers have been murdered year after year! Shall we stand idly by again? No! This has got to stop this year! This year we will give them a message!"
The roaring cheers of the crowd engulfed the arena which frightened Yosh a little bit. He knows they want retribution and he know that the tension is building up in the arena.
"We, unlike them, are not savages!" he continued shouting but this time calm and smiling, "We are willing to give this mortal Nagozulian prince a chance to redeem his unworthy life."
Yosh now feels the earth moving. Something big is crawling deep inside and he fears that he knows what Iyom is suggesting.
"He has to fight the immortal Ra"Ark to the death!"
Far from Yosh, a hole emerged from the ground creating cracks along the way. A jet of thick black fumes came rushing out from the earth hissing. Then a huge beast emerged! It is a plump hairy gigantic yellow worm scaling about forty feet long, fifteen feet wide. This worm is the Legendary Worm of Burrows, one of the immortals! It has huge eyes on both sides and has a mouth with hundreds of teeth inside and out. His skin on his back has huge volcano-like mumps that continuously oozes out some sort of smoking dark green liquid - possibly acid by the way it hisses at contact to the ground. He has heard about this Ra"Ark from his brother Kayzar"s ramblings and he knows that he isn"t just any immortal, he"s the immortal belonging to the first ten beasts that was born and has roamed their world that Bathala created. He"s one of the oldest and most terrifying monsters that Karus tends to frighten him when he was little. Walking barefoot on the ground would not anger this humongous beast, hurting Elves does, Yosh noted remembering Karus"s teasing whenever he plays around in the mud without shoes.
Normally, a person seeing this gruesome Beast would be rattled for its disturbing appearance but Yosh, being a nature-loving hunter that he is, did not experience any trembling at his presence, instead he felt awe and appreciation. But even with this att.i.tude, this heartwarming happiness he"s feeling is now slowly striding to the other side of the road entering the borders of fear. Calculating all the risks involved, fighting this monstrosity is really an impossible act of stupidity.
"Let the Rite of Sap"Khan begin!" And with this shout he vanished disappearing in the center field giving the two of them to look into each other"s eyes to read each other"s souls.
"Hmm?" the Ra"Ark mumbled first breaking the silence after a few seconds of gazing. "You have served me a mortal child, Hmm? Not usually my common meal in this challenge. "He has a voice of an old man, tired, lethargic and slow but still frightening.
Yosh looked rather surprised seeing the beast talk. It"s the first time for him to see an immortal beast and was surprised to see him talk based on his features. This just served him a lesson to not over a.n.a.lyze a beast and his physical appearance.
"Hmm, I don"t usually go with mortals," he continued, "You have a taste that"s hard to flush down, hmm. Even if I am to gulp down a lake of bog, I"d still taste your putrid smell and that horrid aftertaste, hmm, no insult intended."
"W-Well, then don"t eat me?" asked Yosh backing ever so slowly.
"Hmmm, truly, I don"t have to eat you but in this holy challenge I must devour your heart and since I don"t have any arms like the other beasts, I believe I do not have much choice but to eat you whole. Hmm, and besides, I can"t back down now. As much as I loathe eating meat, especially you mortals, I have to, hmm. I do loathe you living more than your taste, hmm. You did try to take me down and my brothers."
"Well, I didn"t. I"m not my ancestors if this is what it is! It"s not like I"m rooting for your demise!"
"Hmm, yes yes. You do present a reasonable argument. Past is past, hmm. However, you"ve hurt my friends, the Dwendells, hmm. And, as much as I hate to eat you, I may have to, hmm."
"Well, I"m sorry, alright! I didn"t know!" he shouted to everyone, but the crowd remained excited shouting for his death. "I didn"t even know that you Elves exist!"
"Well my, my. You just insulted them again, hmm." The Ra"Ark laughed moving slowly like a slug away from the hole, "Telling them that they don"t exist isn"t a good plan, hmm. Much more calling them vulgarly with that horrible, horrible name! Hmmm... It is the name your ancestors gave them as they curse the Dwendells in derision. I know it"s troublesome, but let"s get this done as early as possible, hmm."
He immediately spit a squirt of acid to Yosh"s direction which he parried in a split second before impact. He was fooled with Ra"Ark"s slow movements making him complacent in his distance. He just noted to pay attention all the time.
"Very impressive," exclaimed the giant worm in joyful tones, "Hmm, usually they don"t present a challenge to me, you mortals. Hmm, You"re the first person who avoided that in ten years."
"Well I don"t want to impress sir, but I think I still love my life. So, dodging you kind of is my job here."
Yosh looked at the ground that Ra"Ark squirted and noticed the acid turning all gooey and bubbly.
"Hmm, well, you won"t take that long dodging and sneaking. Hmm, I"m seeing that you"re noticing my slime, hmm. Are you impressed? I use it to burrow to even the toughest metals below, hmm. Just remember not to touch that very potent acid, hmm."
Ra"Ark squirted again for three times now with larger squirts than before which Yosh parried again effortlessly.
"Hmm, my my," he laughed again now lifting his head up readying himself as if excited, "I think I just found one that would amuse me. It"s been twenty years since I last saw a Nagozulian that can past my second attack. I think I may enjoy eating you up after all my dear."
"Let"s hope not sir," shouted Yosh. "Let"s get into a compromise, shall we?" he immediately suggested.
"Hmm, and why would I go into contract with a mortal?"
"It"s not that I can beat you, or give you a scratch? You"re too powerful for me I can"t certainly be of any match to you."
"Hmm, and your point is?"
"I really didn"t intentionally harm your friends too."
"That"s really not up to me to decide, hmmm..."
"Yes! So, my point is that I really don"t want to die yet but I can"t certainly defeat you, not even in a thousand years. But what I can do is dodge your attacks and give them a good show."
"Hmm, yes, true, true. I have an excellently thick armor. You certainly won"t be able to give me at least a tickle and I am wishing not to eat meat this year, hmm."
"So, how about we play a little game?"
"Hmmm...Playing with you is certainly the most interesting thing that came up to me in decades. Elaborate."
"So, let"s say, if I get past the attack you gave the other Nagozulian before you eat him, can I have your respect and grant me my life?"
"Well, that depends, hmm. I never got the chance to eat him and you"re no Prince Artemus, Hmm."
The name struck him immediately. His father has fought him before, and he survived. This only strengthened his resolve to reach a goal farther than what his father has accomplished.
"One thousand Three hundred and Seventy-Seven," Ra"Ark shouted. "That"s how many attacks I"ve given that scrawny Nagozulian prince that actually looks like you but older by many years, hmm. If you can get past that, which certainly is very unlikely, then you can get to keep your life. It"s really troublesome for me to blast that much of my perfectly churned slime anyway so if you reach that by then, I wouldn"t care if you live or die."
Iyom magically appeared again at the center shouting.
"NO! Wise Ra"Ark, you must not agree with him?! He"s a mortal! His mouth spouts thousands of lies that he pa.s.ses off as truths! We do not..."
"Silence," roared Ra"Ark interrupting Iyom and stopping the crowd from their cheers, "you"re impudent as ever young Dwendell! Are you not confident in my skills, hmm? Are you insulting me?!"
"N-no, great beast, I was merely..."
"For this I have decided! I will give him one thousand three hundred and seventy-eight blows, hmm. And if he"s still standing then, then I will grant him his life and protect him until he leaves your domain. This is my word! And this is my promise!"
Iyom"s wide angry eyes pierced Yosh"s giving him the chills. That"s a unique skill, Yosh thought seeing the outlines of Iyom"s eyes to turn black and prominent with his hazel brown gaze turning into a red glowing cat eye. Yosh looked down to his hands and sees them shaking. He can"t move them! He tried stepping forward, but his knees trembled. This is highly unlikely for he is trained to withstand the effect of stress, fear, or even hunger. A curse, he mumbled as his lips arched an almost smile.
The Ra"Ark roared fiercely giving a loud resonance all around the arena snapping Iyom"s deep gaze. "IYOM! I DO NOT CARE IF YOU ARE THE SON OF KYRIN. IF YOU DO NOT STOP INTERFERING, I AM GOING TO INCURR MY WRATH UPON YOU!"
Iyom scoffed turned around to bow at the beast and then disappeared again. Yosh felt his body returning to normal, being free of what"s been keeping him still. That kind of technique is useful, he pondered as he taps his body checking if the curse still has its effect.
"Are you alright child? hmm?" asked the Ra"Ark.
"Sure!" he smiled with excitement. "Shall we do this then?"
Ten simultaneous blasts shocked Yosh in his happy thoughts. He did not antic.i.p.ate that kind of speed. It"s faster than ever before. He figured it looked like ten bowmen shooting one after the other and that"s hard to dodge. That can kill someone even if they possess some military training but not Yosh. They"re first training was dodging after all and Narra isn"t joking in the topic of dodging. Because of what they"ve been through he could dodge even if it is a hundred arrows, he figured almost smirking as he dodged the splashes with great haste and flexibility.
He noticed a pattern in the great worm"s acid spits and before he could figure something out of it another round of continuous acid attack started again rendering him to dodge away kneeling, rolling, jumping and running. The pattern is becoming evident as he kept his eye around him; he"s containing him in a single area. He"s not spitting randomly. He"s spitting on the ground he"s in to trap him but trying hard to mask it as attacks! No wonder it"s been easy. As he dodged the thirtieth blow the great worm stopped. His eyes can be insinuated as though smiling as he took a deep breath gagging. He knew what Ra"Ark is planning and in that few seconds of rest that he"s given, he exhausted all possibilities of escape and arrived at his dilemma - there isn"t one! He"s trapped in the area filled with oozing hissing acid consuming the ground and the worst part of this is that he let him. He had predicted, the minute he blew his tenth shot, but he didn"t try to change his position. It is a very disgraceful and embarra.s.sing thing for a hunter to be trapped in someone else"s snare, he thought chortling to himself.
Ra"Ark blew his acid with a wide mouth. It is an area effect acid spray! There is no escape!
The cheers grow wild as smoke engulfed the arena. With that kind of spurt blasting almost a quarter of the arena, no one can be a.s.sumed to have survived. Because of the thick green smoke, the by-product of the acid blast, only the outline of the Giant Worm can be visible to the naked eye. This made the spectator"s joyous shouting to be more deafening than ever before.
Ra"Ark cackled horrendously as the smoke subsides. He saw Yosh now at his further right. "Impressive! Daomagar"s famous Great Dash!" The great worm turned to face him having his angry eyes and elevating his body higher than before. "Oohh, you have deceived me mortal. Making me believe that you are a Nagozulian is a cheat. But I will not take that deception against you. I will live up my end of the deal. But be sure to ready your young Daomagar feet because I will be killing you faster than before!"
Yosh nodded with a confident smile though in his heart he"s feeling regret. He feels as though playing Daomagar may indeed be a deadly disadvantage on his part considering that he still needs more practice with his dashes. He just prayed hoping that his tactical decisions playing the Great Worm lives up to its projected rate of success.
-------ooO0Ooo-------
"No need to hide Master Fenris, we are alone."
A shadow of a giant wolf became evident with its outlines slowly drawing its figure in the dark dense woodland. As it moves closer, its glowing red eyes intensified. "I thought I told you not to call me by my real name young apprentice," echoed softly by his frightening deep voice.
"It"s much better than Grog," smiled Reus as he fixed his uneven spectacles. "The name roughly translates to Evil Fangs of the Betrayer, and we both know you"re nothing like that."
The wolf went in front of him sitting, still with his serious eyes. "Thank you for believing that young apprentice but uttering it without conscience might lead you to accidentally spill my name in the wrong company or to dubious ears. I do not want that to happen."
"Alright, Master Grog, if it helps you to sleep," he joked sarcastically.
"But I do not sleep," hastily replied the upright sitting wolf with his face now turning confused.
"Yes, but it is just a figure of sp--," Reus was stopped in his explanation as his Master tilted his head trying to figure what he meant. "Never mind, so why do you want to meet?" he beamed trying to change the subject.
"Yes, let"s get to the point. I came to warn you young apprentice. I know your father cannot grant an audience at the moment so I am hoping that you can give my message to him. I simply cannot be seen being close to any mortal. As you can perceive, I am still the head of all immortal beasts and I do not want to tarnish that reputation now that things are unstable."
"What"s unstable? What"s wrong?"
"A mortal is rising to taint the sanct.i.ty of the Holy Lands that our father, Bathala, has protected for thousands of years as what your ancestors and their ancestors before them have also done. If this unfortunate scenario progress, we would risk our anonymity and unleash our fury to those who are responsible."
"What? No one in their right mind wants to taint our Holy Lands!? No tainting would happen! That is not possible!"
"I am delighted to hear such optimism, but I believe that it has already begun. Nothing can stop what"s unraveling. The immortal beasts are getting anxious. There are only a few of us left but you haven"t seen the Five Mighty t.i.tans. If they all wake up and call up their arms, a disastrous ravage would ensue killing tens of thousands of mortals. I cannot let something as sacred as life be threatened by few individuals with malice in their intents. They must be stopped before any of this ever happens!"
"So, the prophecy is true then? It is really unfolding?"
"You know about the prophecy? Did your father tell you?"
"No, I do not know the specifics, but I have been filtering the correspondence that my grandfather and father send every day. I figured it out."
"That"s not very prince-like of you to rummage into other people"s privacy."
"They have been acting strange these past few months and who am I to resist such secrecy. I have to know especially if it involves our Holy Lands. I have decrypted a secret message saying that the prophecy is unfolding. I want to know what that is. Do you know?"
"Who else knows about this?" snapped Grog feeling anxious.
"No one," immediately answered Reus confused but now determined to be curious even more.
"Good, good. Please do make this a secret. The prophecy of Bathala should not arrive at the hands of the enemy."
"I don"t know any other person who can decipher my father"s encrypted messages other than me. They have a tight-knit group of generals and officers. About ten to fifteen, maybe? All I know is that they have studied this other language in order to protect that secret, so it is safe."
"And you know this secret language?"
"Master!" he smiled disappointed, "after all this time?"
Grog smirked nodding. "I shouldn"t have asked."
"So, how about the prophecy?"
Grog smiled now walking away. "It is neither my duty nor my privilege to divulge the words of Bathala. If you want to find out, you should talk to your father."
"Well, they are keeping me out of the loop! They even sent me to this forsaken edge of the north just to keep me in the dark! They call this experience, and work, and duty, but I know they are just hiding me away from something. That something is what I want to find out! Have I not garnered enough respect from you, Master? For you to give me just an inkling of what you know?"
Grog turned to face him still smiling. "Reus, Reus, Reus. I don"t know if your mind is getting dull or you"re just being insensitive ignoring all the facts. Isn"t it possible that they are not revealing the information you want simply because you are in it?"
Reus paused standing in deep thoughts.
"That is something to keep your mind engaged but please bear in mind however that I still need you to relay my message to your father. It is imperative that you do this secretly and with much haste as you can. Shihiku is a very skilled and convincing speaker and it is his turn to speak his mind in the next meeting of the full moon. I will try, as hard as I can, to delay these proceedings. Interrupting the decision from the three elders is the most important thing at the present. I need you to tell your father that I may not be able to come forth if summoned in the following months."
"Y-yes, Master," murmured Reus still stunned with the information.
"I am counting on you here young apprentice. I know you wouldn"t let me down."
"Yes, Master," Reus bowed.
Grog smiled as he lifted his head to a howl. His whole body shined turning him to a bright luminescent wolf and then he disappeared leaving Reus standing in the forest all alone and all mystified.
-------ooO0Ooo-------
"Father!" shouted Iyom rushing through the door banging it in his hurry.
"I told you Iyom," said a man sitting on a chair at the far back, "I do not want to partake in your nonsensical trivialities so stop pestering me."
"But father, please, hear me out!"
Kyrin looked back to face Iyom as he shoved his long white tunic for him to move. It is filled with gold linings that made his pale features become less apparent. He has the same runic tattoo on his forehead like everyone else.
"Yes, son, what is it that is so important that you keep annoying me here! I thought I told you to never enter my quarters unless it"s very urgent."
"But it is!"
Kyrin turned his back on him trying to read some old thick tomes. "Is it related to the mortal that you brought here? Because if it is then you don"t have any grounds for storming my sacred quarters."
"But father!" tried Iyom now going near him, "He"s winning! We can"t have that!"
"Good for him. You have put him at the arena. If he wins then he gets his life. It is a sacred duel, I cannot interfere."
"Yes, but he cheated! He made a deal with Ra"Ark and he"s winning."
"How is that cheating." He stopped his tinkering and sighed. "If Ra"Ark acknowledged this treaty, that means he would most likely succeed in defeating him. What are you afraid of?" he paused for a second and turned to Iyom somewhat annoyed, "And just to be clear, you are the one who started that. Remember that I do not approve of that hostility against the mortals. We have enough trouble as it is. So why would you think I care what happens to anyone you kidnap and force to fight at the arena."
Iyom gave a forced smile, "It would ruin our reputation?"
Kyrin went back on reading his books smiling, "How would it ruin us? If anything, it would give us fame. If he survives then he"ll spread word of his misfortune and that would give them the hesitation of harvesting our life tree. It is to our advantage."
Iyom tried finding a way to win to his father"s argument but found nothing so he gave a deep depressing sigh.
"If you don"t have anything more to share the door is at the back," Kyrin ordered now busy with his books, "Please shut it properly this time."
"He"s a thief!" Iyom shouted suddenly now finding his ace, "He"s a thief and he stole from us!"
"What now?" Kyrin asked sighing again, turning his head around to see Iyom. "This better be good."
Iyom hurriedly pulled something in his pocket and showed it to his father.
"Your missing pair of gloves!" he smiled almost laughing.
"Where"d you get that?" asked Kyrin grabbing them immediately, now standing worried.
"The young man has this," Iyom proudly boasted, "I reclaimed what is rightfully yours from that thief!"
"This young man," snapped Kyrin interrupting Iyom, "Does he have his Amplifyer at his forehead?"
"Yes," answered Iyom, confused with his father"s concern.
"What is his base element?"
"Uh- earth? But…"
"Yosh," mumbled Kyrin with wide eyes as he suddenly disappeared leaving Iyom alone in the room.
-------ooO0Ooo-------
"That"s your one thousand three hundred and seventy sixth!" Yosh shouted clinging to the walls.
The arena"s grounds are now bubbling with its gooey dark green acid. Half of the walls surrounding them are now into rubbles. The spectators are now silent, losing their enthusiasm to the long fight they are witnessing. They are now sitting at the topmost benches of the arena because Ra"Ark is now shooting at the walls where Yosh is moving. Even a droplet of the acid can be considered fatal, so they are trying to avoid that.
"Hmm, Impressive, you have just become one of those few individuals who can consider themselves a true Sentinel of the Holy Lands. Hmm, it is a shame now to kill you."
"Thank you," replied Yosh, "but I do not want the t.i.tle, I want my life!"
Ra"Ark laughed hard wheezing. He can be seen tired now moving slower than he is when they first started. "When I fought Prince Artemus, the arena stayed in its pristine condition for he dissolved my acids with his elemental techniques. Hmm, but you, your case is different. You cannot move now my child. I am sorry but this is the end for you. Hmm, you"ve nowhere to run."
"I have this wall?"
"My acid blast will surely obliterate that. The grounds are filled with acid and the other walls are now destroyed. Hmm, you"re one blow away from death."
"Stop!" a man appeared between them from above falling down on the grounds. The acid floor lost its potency as the man landed on the floor and was gradually replaced with tall thick green gra.s.ses. A very impressive and surprising entrance, Yosh thought almost smiling.
The sleeping crowd became interested all of a sudden keeping their eyes peeled at the arena.
"Oh, Kyrin. You"ve gotten out of your solitary meditation. How are you? Hmm?" Ra"Ark greeted now lowering his body on the ground to lie. "We can do pleasantries later, I"m rather busy at the moment, hmm. It is the Rite of Sap"Khan after all."
"I"m sorry dear friend but there is misunderstanding. You cannot kill this mortal child."
"Well, I"m sorry too. Hmm, I cannot grant what you want. I will lose my dignity if I do not finish our agreement with this child. It"s good to see you though. Hmm, you haven"t left your room for hundreds of years, I thought you"ve gone insane."
"But my friend, he is the son of Artemus."
"Nonsense, he"s a Daomagar."
"No! He"s blessed by Bathala! He"s one of the chosen mortals! The kid must be protected."
"Bah! Only Grog believes in that prophecy."
"But I too believe in it!"
Yosh sat at the edge of the wall now confused. They now continued their argument in a weird language that he doesn"t understand. He knows that he, like the rest of all the people in the Holy Lands, has the capacity to understand every language there is except one, the old language of Bathala"s Heralds - the oldest language in existence which predates the mortals. It is a dead language that the Yagisivians use in conjuring their summoning spells. It is said that it is so hard, one must sacrifice twenty to thirty years of one"s life in order to fully comprehend its vernacular. That is if they really do it eagerly and without rest.
"Okay," said Kyrin giving-in in their discussion now returning to their normal understandable language. "Give your last two shots."
Kyrin walked away to go at the far right to sit on the blocks of walls that fell in their battle. He looked at Yosh smiling as if confident."
Yosh jumped down on the grounds of the arena that is now a gra.s.s field. He can feel the smooth blades of the gra.s.s tickling his hands, swaying slightly as if being lulled by a peaceful breeze.
"Be ready young mortal!" Ra"Ark shouted lifting his body again standing tall, "If you are really who you are then you"ll survive this attack."
Yosh"s confused squinting look returned again. He doesn"t understand what he meant by what he said. He pretty much doesn"t understand what"s happening, but he just readied himself and nodded.
Two shots, he thought. Two last shots. The worm"s last shots earlier are even faster than the one"s they started with. He could barely escape the large blasts that were aimed at him and he has done this with extreme perfection. Not a single scratch, he continued thinking, not even a droplet. This is so because Ra"Ark continued to bombard the area he"s in trapping him in the arena. But this is not the case anymore. Now that Kyrin interfered, changing the fields of bubbling acid to a green field, the last two shots have to count. It is now a very dangerous situation for him and, as he calculated the risk, with all the variables that he noticed from the Great Worm, fear slowly crept in giving him a chilling embrace as if death is actually by his side now greeting him with his pleasantries.
The worm wailed and took a long inhale - a very long inhale that made his body bulk up to twice his size. Ra"Ark remained standing there still for a few seconds. The arena fell dead silent.
Yosh noticed a twitch in Ra"Ark"s eyes. The signal! Yosh has been seeing him throw hundreds of acids his way that"s why he now figured out when and where he"s going to spit. Ra"Ark blew a thin continuous jet of acid cutting anything on its path like a thin hot knife penetrating a block of b.u.t.ter. As antic.i.p.ated, he figured out. Ra"Ark, with his acid territory compromised, must attack Yosh with speed. Because of his acid being thick and dense he needs to pressurize it in order to make it thin and fluid.
Yosh jumped dashing, left to right. He"s getting tired, muscles trembling and a little slow on responding, but he still pursued on. His deep will to train and to surpa.s.s his father got a hold of him and this made him to manage swirling around, jumping and rolling and even tumbling looking as though dancing just to escape the acid jet.
Kyrin, upon seeing this impossible feat, stood up in awe, eyes wide open. "It can"t be," he doubted mumbling. "A Nagozulian that can perform not just the Great Dash but the Dance of Ana"giel?"
Yosh doesn"t know it yet but he is performing a skill no one has ever done in a millennia. Normally a Daomagarian Dash would force one"s thigh to push oneself in a motion that would catapult one"s body to an area depending on the amount of energy one has put in one"s performance. What other people don"t know is that the Daomagarian Dash is one of the key things required in doing countless powerful techniques known to the immortals as the Ultimate Arts. If one can polish their Daomagarian Dash, one can force not just the thigh"s but also all the jointed parts of one"s body giving the person the flexibility and the ability to dodge anything. The makes the Dance of Ana"giel the ultimate defense skill on the list of the Ultimate Arts.
As Ra"Ark slowly returned in his shape still hosing his jet of acid, Yosh jumped an impossible fifteen feet Dash to his right avoiding the attack and at the same time the cracks from the ground. He runs to change his area to fresher grounds while waiting for his last strike. He"s convinced thinking the cracks from the grounds might trip him leaving him to be vulnerable. Ra"Ark noticed this so he antic.i.p.ated where he"d land and blew his one thousand three hundred and seventy eighth but instead of an arrow-like spit, he changed it to a spray. The huge acid blast, almost twenty feet in diameter, would trap him in the middle, Ra"Ark thought convinced.
All of the spectators gasped as they watch Yosh change direction in mid-dash to avoid the acid spray. That"s as impossible as a fire burning underwater. Yosh would"ve roasted his flesh down to the bone landing on that quarter of the arena, now sizzling, slowly frying the gra.s.s-filled ground, but he managed to dodge it changing direction in a split second. Some thought that he landed first then changed directions trying to find a logical explanation resisting what their eyes saw but Ra"Ark and Kyrin"s eyes cannot be fooled. Yosh managed to push his body against the air and dash. It"s as if he could walk in the air. That is a sign, the two thought. The sign that he is indeed blessed.
"The true incarnation of Ana"giel," Kyrin mumbled while being overwhelmed with shock. He sat on the boulder he once sat before as he saw Yosh now standing tall facing Ra"Ark with a smile bowing as if thanking him. "With that kind of danger, a person should lose all wits and be besieged with fear," Kyrin reasoned with himself trying to explain what he is seeing. "Someone so close to death must feel the burden of the inevitable, churning both his emotional and physical energy, reducing them to oblivion. But why is he still smiling, as if happy, without malice in his eyes? That face belongs to a warrior not a kid, a warrior that has seen death and plays gamble with life everyday as a sport."
Fear struck Kyrin as he sat there stunned with this revelation. This blessed kid in front of him knows no mortal bounds and that can be extremely perilous not only to their existence but to the existence of all living mortal. He doesn"t know what to feel about him, an enemy or a friend. But he still is a kid, he thought, his philosophy is malleable thus can be easily be twisted by the wrong elements. A true incarnate of Ana"giel must be guided by the light and he trusts no one but himself.
"So, Master Worm," Yosh grinned excited, "have I pa.s.sed your expectation? Have I gained your respect?"
The great worm smiled and lowered his body, dropping to the ground. "Yes, mortal, you have regained your honor and have succeeded in trumping me at this bout. Hmm, you are indeed blessed."
"Yosh," said a man appearing suddenly behind him tapping his left shoulder which startled him.
"Wait, how"d you know my name?"
"You are the fourth son of the light am I not mistaken? You are the son of Grand Prince Artemus of the House of Limor who is brought to the will of the light.
Yosh nodded still confused.
"I am King Kyrin of the Dwendells," Kyrin placed his palm on his chest and slightly bowed to Yosh, "Pleased to meet your acquaintance."
"I"m still having a hard time believing you El- I - uh, I mean, Dwendells exist," he smiled scratching his head.
"Do not fret young incarnate. We keep ourselves truly hidden from the world ever since the incident."
"W-What did you just call me?"
Kyrin knelt in front of him bowing leaving a storm of gasp to echo in the great arena. "I am deeply sorry for this misunderstanding. Please, accept my sincerest apologies."
"No, please, stand up sir king, sir!" Yosh asked embarra.s.sed hearing the countless murmurs of the crowd. "I have done your race a great deal of trouble. I am the one who"s supposed to apologize."
Kyrin stood up smiling. "Indeed, you have paid your debt to our society. Since you have once again reclaimed your honor, I would like to invite you as one of our guests. You may stay in our forest for as long as you like, and everything will be provided for you in your comfort."
"Gee, that"s a very generous gesture sir. Thank you! But I would like to start by seeing the one I"ve hurt. Do you know where I could find her?"
"As you will. My son Iyom will guide you to her."
Iyom appeared immediately to his left like sifting from the ground looking grumpy like before.
"Whoa how"d you do that?! You"re doing that again! That"s kinda creepy"
Kyrin laughed shaking Yosh"s head. "You will find out soon enough, young incarnate."