Propehcies' Land: Age of the Invaders

                 -1-

The day begins to end. The dark tides have risen nearly past the edges of our low boat. At first, I thought it was a sign of what was to come, but I thought better of it. We continue to sway back and forth, losing our minds to the dark site ahead. It’s a wonder before you go into battle the smallest things you pick up on. I watched closely, from the water bugs scurrying below our feet, to the bird less, dark sky. I felt the sadistic winds against my soaked skin, blowing seawater to batter our armor like heavy ran against a tin roof. All seemed to be against us in our quest, but for how long?

            Most of the soldiers are huddled; close enough to hear metal banging when they were pushed right and then left. Crimson and gold, they wear their colors with honor: to be that hero to save the people. They were all together there for what would be made history. But they too shared something else: masks of lost the worried, and the scared.

            “Mi’lady?” asks a nearby scout, standing beside the start of the line of men. I did not realize my time had been spent studying the soldiers as well as their behavior. Checking my actions, I spoke what was needed.

            “All is well…” I said, stopping not sure the man’s name.

            “Olic, mi’lady.” I give him a smile and say his name. I watch as his spirits rise, and turn back to the rest that now watch me. I give them all approval: a simple but powerful nod. It’s amazing how people pull together before war.

            Enough of my soldiers, what of the rest?

            Just beyond the crashing, watery humps, ten more identical boats rose and fell beside ours. Each caring the same amount of soldiers, and the crimson sails of Arlon. Just two boats away, I see the man that will win us our better world. The General stood, perched at the front of his own boat. Like a statue of carved memory, he held himself with all the glory of our land. A legend himself, said to have been the finder of this mystical land we have come upon. He gave it the name Prophecies’ Land.

            “Is it true, My Lady N’aira, that there are creatures with terrible powers. Powers no man could ever hope to command?”

            Turning to a soldier who approached me up front, I lay a hand on his shoulder, clanking my black gauntlet against his crimson, and gold armor. “If they were that terrible, I should think we would not be here, but do not fear.” I was unsure if it eased his concern, so I went on, addressing the rest.

            “We have something those creatures do not have…Hope. Hope for a better day, hope for a better future, and hope for the day our children can grow up without a worry of another war. We will fight for the right to live in a world we want!

            “We’ll show them who the true monsters are!”

            Every soldier cheered so loud, I could hear other boats cheering along. I turned back on them to be a look out, and see The General nod to me.

            Then it came. “Land!”

            “Men, mount up and gear up. Our new home awaits retrieving…”

            Swords were drawn, spears rose up, helmets clamped on, and horses wounded up with all the excited energy around them on the crowded deck. I pull my black and sliver helmet, and check up on my own weapons. All was good, so I mounted up on my black steed. We were ready, ready to take down any monsters the Spirits of the land thought fit to send our way. Spirits who controlled all of this ‘Prophecies’ Land’ with power of all elements: the true enemies to all human progress.

            “General, Sir!” saluted an all armed and helmeted soldier, “We are closing on the enemy soil, Sir. Request a mount up before hitting land!”

            The General nodded, never turning to his men nor did he ever need too. His own glory radiated and like a plague, filled all the soldiers with hope. He was the living idol to all soldiers of Arlon.

            “Toekar…” said The General, finally addressing the soldier.

            “Sir!”

            The General sighed and leaned forward, hands against the railing. “For so long it has been, and now we are finally here…” Toekar, the soldier next to him, shifted, unsure what his superior was going on about.   

            The General laughed and straitened out, “What of the Princess?”

            “My Lady N’aira is ready and awaiting current orders.”

            “Good, tell her to begin the lead and push the shore forces back. I want a clear path to the castle.”

            “Sir, yes, Sir!” Toekar turned to leave.

            “And Toekar…” The soldier immediately stopped in his tracks, like God had just spoken to him. “Make sure the Special Guard is ready. I want no mistakes, understood?” Toekar grunted, saluted and walked off deck.

            After watching a nearby scout fit a brown hawk with the orders, and let it fly to her Highness, he mounted up.

            “Let us end this…”

            Every soldier hit their shields with their swords in approval. Only the fates knew which way this struggle would swing: The General hoped it be his way. In fact he more than hoped, he knew exactly where it was pointing too. An arrogant smirk appeared on his already scarred face as the first boat hit land.

__________

            It took months to reach this land, and only a few seconds to land a foot on its foreign soil. With a loud crash, the boat sunk into the sandy beach. Soldiers unloaded from the boats, meeting little resistance from the shore party. Swords in hands, they yelled their way up to the massing heard of beasts that descended upon them. Wolves, bears, large birds, and anything with claws fought to hold the grounds. The Spirits were not very prepared for a full-scale battle with man.

            I took my orders, and with all the power of Arlon Throne, commanded my men to push the forces back. We did are best until the new arrivals of more dangerous beasts. So what The General told us were true: this land, is a land made of myths and legends. Gryphons, dragons and winged people appeared in the sky above as armored giant rock like turtle creatures soon followed from out of the ground. My men were becoming out-manned and out numbered fast, but hope was not too far to look.

            The rest of the ships landed, and more men were there to drive the monster forces back, but for how long?

            On top my steed I rode, shouting orders to keep moving forward. It was all chaos: war was all ways chaos. It was about time for all the sadness, all the pain and grief to end here. All the wars needed to end. I promise that, my soldiers. I promised that in the end, we will have that shining day. It would a day we would never have to worry again about invading armies or constant memory of the sadness of losing loved ones. 

            In some miracle, we were able to push harder. Javelins meeting aerials, while swords met animal-like claws as the soldiers fought on with everything they had. I too joined in, lending my sword to the needed soldier, but most of my concentration was kept on trying to find The General.

            Where had he gone? He could not have reached the castle already. Or could he?

            “All forces, push in one way. We need a clear path through to the castle. We have to help The General!” With that and a few remaining soldiers, we managed to take the middle and down, in between enemy force causing a split in their defense. Now it was easy pickings from here on out.

            “Ten men with me! Captain, takes charge!” I ordered galloping up the slope and to the castle. I left the rest to do a clean up of what was left of enemy combatants, while the small group and I took down what little guard the castle had left.

            When we got there, bodies were already strewed across the castle grounds. I called a halt at the entrance as we took the site in. Castle Ka’desh, that is what The General called it, was most magnificent building ever created. Made from the whitest stone, had golden craving all around it of all the creatures in its strange land.

            “Perhaps The General went in alone?” offered up one of my ten.

            “Why though? We were supposed to go and invade the castle together. Why leave me out?” I knew none of my soldiers had the answer, but it was a thing needed to be said.

            “Uh, over here,” yelled a young foot soldier, running into the courtyard and turning a body over. I squeeze my horse forward and removed my helmet to see better. It was an Arlon soldier, barely alive.

            I dismount as the other ten carefully search about for other brothers that may lay among the dead. “My Lady look…” pointed the young soldier to a crest on the gauntlet of the wounded soldier.

            “Arlonian Special Guards…” I said solemnly as the young soldier looks up at me, confused.

            Why would they be here when I never sent for them?

            “Men, tend the wounded!” I yelled furiously. They jump at my order as they watch me stomp up to giant open golden doors. Neither one of them dared to defy my orders as they take their leave to tend the needy instead of following along.

            With all my might, I slammed open the two doors and proceed into the bloodied hall. It’s once holy white walls were covered with human and animal blood alike, and just like the courtyard, bodies of Arlon and creatures were all around. The white pillars were scratched to death by craw and sword alike, and those once red carpet and curtains were torn to shreds. Inside the halls, and against the walls were deep, long ponds. Their water was the only thing still clear: kept clean by running water in and out of the castle.

            I came to a stop when in the middle of the hall, next to a round white marble table. From that point on, the main hall split into three smaller halls that led to stairs and up. I stared upward, hoping to get a glimpse of movement or anything that might led to The Generals location. More death and blood was all that was left of the castle and no General.

            “Lady N’aira…” called a ruff and tired voice for beside me. I nearly jumped out of armor, as placed my sword towards the direction of the voice.

            “General!” I shout with joy, while lowering my sword.

 So he did survive.

“What happened? Where are your men, Sir?”

            “They fought with honor. They will be remembered well,” was all The General said. His black and gold armor was splattered with blood, and slash marks. I tired to get closer to see if he was maybe injured, but when I did I notice something in his hand. It was a rusty sword that dangled at his right side. It had look like it had been left in a room, collecting dust and eons of rust. Its handle no longer had it markings shine gold, and white silver. A round, grubby medallion sat in the middle, between hilt and blade. It almost had a glow of bluish-white under its dustcoat. It’s surface covered with circles and black symbols caught my eye as odd. 

            “General, what is that? And might you, with the utmost care, explain how Arlonian Guardians have come to be here?” I asked, a little uneasy of The General’s sudden change in character.

            “I called them here to help me enter this god forsaken castle.”

            “Why? What is it you’re up to?”

            The General smirked, “Why, My Lady, would you think I would be up to something?”   

            I cocked an eyebrow like he was mad and try to ask more but instead got nearly frightened to death by a loud bang. Up above, a red, flame colored dragon had managed to crash its way through the white ceiling. I readied my sword just in case it tried to go after me first. Then it stopped right above us.

            “To Leaders of the Foreign lands…” The dragon with the metal mask said with metallic like voice, “I come with the word of peace from my fellow Spirits. Please, we surrender, and open our arms to all alien races to live among our creations. All we ask is the fighting must end.”

            I was speechless, never had I ever expected a surrender so fast that I was too slow to respond first.

            “And let the Spirits have control over our souls instead? I don’t think so…” darkly responded The General. I whipped around to The General as he lifted that rusty sword to the Spirit. “No, because I will be taking over from here on out, and your kind will be lost to the shadows. I will rule this land my way, and I will become god over all! This sword…oh this sword is a wonder! With this I have control over all creatures in this land, including all Spirits!”

            The dragon roared with such anger, I stepped away from The General in fear that the Spirit would try and eat him. Little did I know it was a stupid move.

            “I will become the Emperor of this land and as the first act of my rule, I banish you and your kind to memory!” With a loud, painful screech, the dragon curled into ball of flame that went out with a pillar of smoke. Deadly silence filled the castle and then all over.

            “What…What have you done?” I asked in shock.

            The General just smirked and said, “What I planned all along, N’aira.” I have never had anyone outside my castle call me without a title and I soon found out why. I never saw it coming nor did I ever expect our hero to do something like it. I was too slow, too weak to stop him as he sent that rusty old sword strait into my gut. With years of experience in the battlefield and dealing with armor, he had managed slip the thin, rusty blade under my armor, hitting a weak spot.

            It took minutes to hit me that I had a hundred year old blade sticking in my stomach before the pain hit. I grabbed the blade out of shock, clutching it, trying to relieve the unbearable pain. There were no words to describe the feeling of what I felt at that moment.

            All the General did was smirk, and watch my real blue eyes water with sadness and then into shock. “Now starts my rain…” he said, and then he pushed my away. I fell away from the blade, falling into the shallow area of one of the ponds. I lay flat on my back, just staring above and listening.

             The General began laughing, laughing at me, laughing as I lay dieing on that stained blue water. “Oh, My Lady, how easy it was to use you,” he said wiping the blade, before going on, “All I need was a way to get in this castle and past its guards. How easy it was to persuade you and your people to leave your land and come here. To give you a false dream that you could give your people a better land by invading another’s. You think escaping that rat-infested world, you would come here to make a better living, hmm?”

            Still clutching to the surface, I tried to stay there as he turned his back to me. “Wha…wait…”

            “I have Heaven’s Seal now and with you gone and out of the way. The people gladly follow me with out question…

            “…I will change…everything….perfect world…”

            I tried and tried to hold on, but I guess fate truly is cruel to mankind. Darkness took my site, then my hearing, and finally my life. Darkness took everything from me.

            That was day I realized I was on the wrong side. I lost my people and I lost my life. I never knew what happened after that.

            It was also the day I realized, us humans, we truly are the greatest monsters of them all…

-2-

            “…Nice tale. But why are you telling me it?” asks the nice Innkeeper.

Just hours after the sun had gone, and the crowd began to thin out. It was not a very fancy inn of white mud walls, and thicketed roofs, but it would do for those tired adventures for a night. The night had been quite until the mysterious traveler came by asking for a drink. From then on out, the traveler had been weaving the story out to the Innkeeper, while Innkeeper kept the drinks coming.

            “Perhaps it would be nice if someone new it too…Sentimental reasons, I guess,” said the hooded stranger. Innkeeper began to wonder why the stranger kept the hood just above the nose, hiding the stranger’s eyes.

            The Innkeeper cocked an eyebrow, “Well its nice tale, but its not correct…”

            “I know…Let me continue.

            “The General did leave alive, and he did lead the rest of people to Prophecies’ Land. He ruled over them and commanded them, but not in the way he wanted. When he went to use the Heaven’s Seal to command the Spirits to do his bidding by trying to take over the rest of Prophecies’ Land, it didn’t work. All that effort, all that plotting went down the drain.”

            “So what happened?” interrupted the Innkeeper, getting more and more interested.

            The Traveler smiled, “You see Lady N’aira did something that The General, or The Emperor, I should say now, would not have expected. See the sword did not have the power. The name Heaven’s Seal would have given it away…”

            “Uh, I don’t get it?” Innkeeper asked.

            “Heh, well Lady N’aira, when she was stabbed and gripping around the sword, she managed to pulled off the real Heaven’s Seal.”

            “What? If she pulled it off, where’s it go then?”

            “No one knows. Some say it disappeared when he banished the Spirits…others say it never existed…”

            The Innkeeper nodded, “I remember hearing those rumors too. I don’t think I believe in either one of them. Well since you’re the storyteller here…what do you thing really happened?”

            The travel smiled and took a pause to finish the drink.

“Me, well…Lets just say some stories are better left to the imagination…” With that, the traveler got up and as the stranger turned to go, the Innkeeper got a glance of the traveler’s eyes and gasped. Never had he seen such blue eyes. They were so blue they were practically iridescent. “Oh, but I can say is that for there to be a Heaven, there must be an Earth…”

“Eh, What? But how could there be another…” Was the all traveler heard after stepping into the cool night into the small hut town. The traveler removed the hood to look up and a site she had not seen in years. Just ahead, sat the Castle Ka’desh, but not the castle Ka’desh she had gotten to know. It was the lively with music and nobles ball these days. This small hut town was the beginning of a new city of Ka’desh. She wonder what has changed inside those old walls. Perhaps the white has return to those holy walls, but that will be another venture she would have to take on another time.

She smiled at the beautiful night, and walked back into the darkness of the night. The last bit of light left of her was the reflection off a bluish-white circle medallion that hung from her neck. Darkness took all, but that shinning blue hope of the returned.