All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are ficticious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. The moral Right of the author has been asserted.
Chapter 14 The Quest
The chamber was totally void of people. It had a creepy dungeon appearance to it. The vast table in the middle of the room, all the doors leading to adjourning bedrooms.
"We better get to Rughnan fast and find out what's going on." Mordain said.
"I think we need to discuss a few things first." Jason said.
"Harold from now on I want you to try and be as civil as possible, we don't need to fight, things get crazy around here. We need to stand together to survive this place."
"Who died and made you leader?" Harold asked sarcastically.
Jason heaved a sigh, "Listen Harold, This attitude of yours is working on my nerves. We are going to try and help you find your dad. But you need to work with us, not against us. We seem to be in this together, so let's try and stick together."
Harold just snorted.
Roxy was first to head out of the chamber as the others followed. They proceeded up the tunnel and to the entrance of the citadel. The guard graciously let them in when Mordain said they were the Toramdon eyes.
The foyer of the citadel was decorated beyond measures. The Duke clearly lived in riches.
The guard by the door escorted them to Rughnan's tower.
Mordain entered the tower first.
"Rughnan?" Mordain shouted up the stairs.
"Ah! You have returned, sooner that expected." A voice boomed down the stairs.
They walked up the stairs and entered what looked to be a living room. Rughnan was sitting by a desk and glanced up from his paper work.
"I am glad you have returned, our telepathy has been made redundant by the moving jets. We have no way to converse with each other anymore." Rughnan said wasting no time.
"We heard, Kyle told us. That is apparently why we had to come back so soon." Mordain said.
"Our brothers waste no time I see, it is to be expected of Kyle. He is such a ordered little boy."
"Yeah, so what happened?" Jason asked.
"Aradia made a way for knights on either side to communicate with each other, she wrote an enchantment for us to enchant bracelet's to allow us to communicate by mind. It helps in battle and for spreading word around. The jets have moved in an unpredictable way, we cannot get a hold of each other."
"Is this still working on earth though?"
"We don't know. The jets work different on the two planes, but it aught not affect them yet."
"So where do we come in to all of this?" Mordain asked also wasting no time.
The rest of them sat down, Mordain was content with standing.
"Harold I see you decided to join us after all." Rughnan asked.
"Only because I have no other choice. I want to find my dad."
"I see."
"We need to assemble a team to gather all of the Torandia Knights. We have spoken to the elf princess who has humbly agreed to join us. Handar will accompany you as spokesperson for the knights. Then I want you to travel with them to help with the unforeseeable problems."
Mordain sighed. "I expected that much, so when do we leave? And where do we go first?"
"The twelve Torandia knights are divided up. I will give you a quick briefing on the hierarchy."
"As you know I am in charge of the Torandia Knights. Second in command is my brother George, he is already on his way here, we needn't worry about him.
Third in command is Handar, whom will be accompanying you. So that is three down.
Fourth in command is Andoriam Odyssey, the king of the mer-people, he lives in Atlantis, his weapon is the trident.
"Of course he does." Mordain chipped in sarcastically rolling his eyes.
Not paying any mind to Mordain Rughnan continued.
"Fifth ranking is Rinol Rampala, he resides in Damtel and he uses a war hammer. Sixth ranking is Jack O'Morran, the Duke of Jestir, he uses Kunai. Seventh ranking is Oliver Pento from Alga who uses a Ring blade. Eighth ranking is Lillith Senkiel, from Ipra who uses a tswaihander. Ninth is Koni Emmett from Rilt who uses a spear and a shield. Tenth is James Rabuko From Port-John wielding a Rapier. Michael Connoly ranks eleventh from Lumna who uses claws. Lastly tenth is Tomas of the Mountain, whom I guess will be the most difficult to come by, you should not go looking for him, I am certain he will find you before you gather the last knight. Now I have drawn up this map, with the location of each of the knights on.
You must be off the instant when the princess and Handar returns. They have gone hunting, as the elves do not eat what humans eat.
They will be back within the next few minutes. There is no time to waste. With the rapid crumbling of the veil, the demons will have returned within the next two weeks at maximum. You had best be off."
"Geez. Always in such a hurry, I guess we should be used to it by now." Roxy said.
Richard had been quiet ever since they had that talk with Edd back on earth.
Mordain dully noted.
"Please try to keep the world jumping to a minimum, it hastens the process of the jets. Three more times and the veil will disappear entirely." Rughnan added.
There was nothing said after that. They had not expected to be off on a mission quite so soon. Reality had dawned on them that this was no laughing matter, Rughnan had a dead set expression and would not be open for discussion.
Carline and Handar soon after entered chamber. Carline entered the room with searching eyes, and when she cast her eyes on Harold, a smile crept over her beautiful face.
"Harold I'm glad you decided to come back." Carline said.
Harold smiled a genuine smile at the princess. Mordain noticed that there was something between the two of them and shuddered it was none of his business and it was weird.
"Where is Veruif?" Harold asked.
"He went back to Morin, he is the warmaster, he needs to assemble the elven guard to protect the elves against the Demons. He also needs to prepare the spell creators to help re establish the shield barrier over Torandia Isle. He will gather as much magic users from all over Torandia to help establish the shield."
"I shall be off to Astir within the next two weeks. I need to help my fellow sorcerers. That's why I shall not be joining you." Rughnan added.
"Shouldn't I be there to help, or something?" Mordain asked, unsure of what was expected of him.
"No, you need to accompany your friends on your journey. You need to get to know your powers better before you can help. You will meet us in Astir exactly one week. As it stands now, you will be more of a nuisance that a help. In one week I hope that would have changed."
"We have one week? To cover basically the whole of Torandia??" Richard asked speaking for the first time since they got back to Torandia.
"Once you discover your powers and get to know them better, you will realize what an unremarkable feat that would be for yourselves." Rughnan said.
"Oh how so?" Roxy said.
Rughnan smiled. "For example, I can think of a lot of fast creatures Roxy."
Roxy immediately caught on and smiled widely.
"Please do not be shy to explore your powers, bend the cosmos if you must, what ever it takes to defeat the Demons." Rughnan added.
"So it's okay for us to experiment with our powers then, cause I don't know about you guys, Mordain said looking at his mates, but I have been afraid to use my powers."
Everybody nodded in unison except Harold who's mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"Mordain, we need you five in full power, totally and completely familiar with you powers within the next two weeks. There is no room to be afraid." Rughnan answered and the princess nodded in agreement.
Mordain just nodded. "So let's be off then. Where do we go first?"
"Jack will be the easiest to get, travel to Jestir. From there on it's up to you. You have the map, Handar is a specialist tracker, so he will be an invaluable asset to your party."
"Cool, well let's waste no more time then." Jason said.
Rughnan smiled. "That's what I like to hear, please be careful, we are naught without you."
Mordain, Richard, Harold, Roxy, Jason, Handar and princess Carline entered the forest. The sun was still high in the air.
"Jestir is a ten day travel from here by foot. And a seven day travel by horse." Handar said cutting through the foliage. "You need to see what we can do about that."
"What? Now? Can't we just walk there?"
"No we can't. They veil will crumble by the time we get there." Handar answered Roxy.
"So how will the knights get back in time?" Mordain answered skeptically.
"They have the days to make the trip back. We still need to gather the rest of them."
"Ah. I see." Mordain said.
Mordain closed his eyes and searched his powers. He will do the same as in the school ground. Thrust himself forward with his powers.
Roxy decided to try and mimic the Drake Richard summoned the day with the ogres. Jason knew in his soul he could run as fast as he wanted to, easily able to keep up to anyone.
Harold didn't pay any mind to them. He didn't want anything to do with his 'powers'.
Richard knew Rigaarth would be able to keep him up with anybody.
"I shall summon our elven steeds." Carline said and disappeared in trees as Handar so often did.
They discussed their means of transportation with each other.
"How fast can those horses travel?" Mordain asked Handar.
"They will be able to match the speed of any creature. They can match the speed of sound if they must." Handar smiled.
"That must be some sonic boom. I can see it now, a horse, breaking land speed records." Mordain said dryly.
So basically Harold will be the one determining how fast we travel.
Harold looked less than pleased at this prospect.
"He will be riding on one of our horses." The princess said emerging out of the trees with three celestial white horses following her.
Harold smiled for the first time today. "So I get to ride one of them?" He asked shocked.
"Yes the horse has graciously allowed you to ride it whence I explained to her who you were and why we needed her assistance."
"Awesome!"
"Please handle her with care, they are not as other horses. Once astride her you can communicate to her telepathically even without that gift of yours." Carline said.
"Nice! So it seems you will be controlling our speed" Harold said dryly at Mordain.
Mordain snorted and lifted his arms to the side of his head. He levitated to 6 centimeters of the ground and looked at Harold.
Harold's reply was nothing more than a snort.
"Let's get to this then." Roxy said. "Please get that small dragon of yours here so that I can try and copy her."
Richard looked for Rigaarth in his head who immediately responded, not a minute later and she landed next to Richard.
"Good afternoon Richard." She said.
"Rigaarth, so nice to see you again!"
"Who is this, and why are there elven folk in your company?"
"That's Harold, the fifth Toramdon Eye, and the elves are helping us on our mission."
"What's that?"
"To gather the Knights Templar."
Rigaarth said nothing after that. She just stared at Roxy changing in to her exact shape.
Harold and the elves mounted their steeds, and Mordain gave one last glance at the map and memorized the way with his psychokenesis.
Mordain launched forward.
The trees whizzed passed Mordain, he glanced back and saw the others close on his tail. The drakes above kept up with no problems at all. Mordain saw the trees buzzing passed him.
The celestial steeds looked graceful traveling at these high speeds, as if their feet barely touched the ground, Mordain's eyes started to tear up from the wind blowing into his eyes. He made a tiny shield in front of his face with his powers to deflect the wind.
Roxy was enjoying flying, she made a mental note to herself to do this more often, to specialize in flying creatures. At first it was hard to figure out how her wings worked, but once in the air, it was a breeze.
Jason felt his legs moving like he was running normally, fast, but still normally, he just saw the ground moving fast beneath him, more than it should, yet no fatigue.
Richard was happy astride Rigaarth. He had developed a soft spot for the little dragon.
Harold felt awkward on top of the horse. Like he didn't belong there. Yet he felt comfortable. The wind didn't phase him at all. He barely felt the wind. Harold dully noted he had never even traveled this fast in a car.
Mordain felt in control of his powers for once. There was no misunderstanding it. He felt it flowing through his veins, through his entire being. The adrenaline from the speed he realized helped a lot. A extra limb to control and manipulate as he wanted.
Mordain had memorized the way in his head, and his little compass worked perfectly.
There were heading south west towards Jestir. Nothing was going to change this course.
They would break free of the forest and then they will be able to travel faster on the open grounds. Once they reach the shores of Port Edgar the will travel by sea to Port John.
They will get James Rabuko while there, and continue on to Jestir. That was Mordain's plan.
They can decide what to do once they get there. At least they would have covered two of the Knights.
It was quite a scene. Two drakes flying harmoniously next to each other. A human on top of one of them. On the ground the party looked even stranger. Three people sitting on top of three celestial white horses. One human running faster than anything should be able to, human or otherwise. The person in front of this party was floating above ground moving forward by seeming no force at all.
The sun was starting to set when they broke free of the forest barriers. The open lands looked strange next to the forest wall. Open grasslands as far as the eye can see. Mordain stopped abruptly, the others followed and the drakes landed.
Mordain looked visibly exited, "I don't even feel tired!"
Handar smiled, you won't, your powers won't fatigue you that easily, especially yours Mordain, you have vast amounts.
Jason walked up to Mordain, "I feel weird when running that fast, like my legs are moving faster that I can see, but they move the same way and they look like I'm barely running."
"Super cool, I'm starting to like our powers even more." Mordain said.
" I think we need to rest a bit, my but is actually getting sore on top of Rigaarth, we've been traveling non stop for hours now, it was hard to navigate with you through the canopy of the trees."
"Richard is right, we will be open targets on the open planes here at night. Us elves don't feel too comfortable outside of the shelter of the forest as it is. Let's rest here for the evening. We shall be off tomorrow morning as soon as the sun's rays peek over the canopy." Handar said.
Everybody dismounted and Roxy changed back to human.
"Man it feels weird to be human again, my arms feel tingly from all the wing flapping..." Roxy said rubbing her arms.
Mordain ran to Richard and fell n his arms. "I missed you...." He said kissing him.
"It doesn't feel right to be apart of each other."
"Stop being so dramatic." Roxy said walking passed them .
The night crawled in slowly. They set up base camp and talked the night away. The princess and Harold was a few meters off from them having their own conversation.
Harold looked into the princess' light blue eyes. It reminded him of the sea around the Maldives. Light blue, not concealing anything.
"What made you decide to come back Harold, you seemed so against the idea the last time we spoke." The princess asked.
The night wind blew trough the trees lightly blowing the princess' hair around her face.
"My dad is somehow involved in this crap. He is somewhere around here. I wanted to see if I can find him."
Carline's posture dropped slightly. "So it wasn't to see me again."
She said frowning, an action that did not suite a elf at all.
"I would be lying if I said you didn't have a part in my deciding to come back."
Carline looked up at the stars. "There is a connection between us Harold. I have yet to figure out what it is."
Harold didn't say anything n response. He just looked at the starts with the princess enjoying the comfortable silence with her.
The sun broke through the trees. Handar and his princess was already awake. They went hunting and came back with a wild hog. The skewer was set over the fire and the meat roasted slowly.
Mordain awoke with a delicious smell attacking his senses.
"What is that..." Mordain asked dreamily.
Handar laughed, "Consider it elven cooked meat. Very few humans have had the luxury of eating elven food. Harold has already tasted what you call pancakes and has never been the same again."
Mordain looked over at Harold sleeping lightly snoring in his sleeping bag.
"He looks just as disgusting as always."
The princess looked taken aback. "You do not understand him."
"I understand enough, he is a bully, he takes pleasure out of other people's misery. I was often enough his target. Even more so because he is a homophobe and I am gay. An easy target. If my powers didn't awaken when they did, my face would have been pudding. And more so, he is just always rude. Never listens and thinks he is king. Count me out on 'understanding' him."
Carline looked at Harold, she knew he was a good person deep down, once you break through his hard shell exterior.
The rest started to wake up, all of them enticed by the smell of the cooking food. Richard grumbled something about a weird dream he had while awaking from his slumber.
"I hate this, I wish we had a port-a-potty and a mobile shower. This is killing me, I'm a lady you know." Roxy said irritably.
Jason laughed, "you are the toughest lady that I know."
Roxy just gave him a glare.
The food was delicious as everyone had expected. They had packed up and started off on their journey again. No body was in a hurry as they quietly moved out of the protective cover of the forest in to the open lands.
"We will get to Port-John a few hours before nightfall if we keep up yesterday's speed. Handar said mounting his steed. We need to be swift, we only have six days left to gather the knights. We need to act swiftly, our troubles will start now."
Everybody nodded in unison, Richard swiftly summoned Rigaarth, Roxy transformed in to a drake, Mordain levitated and the rest of them mounted their steeds.
They set off, Handar taking the lead, his strong elven sense of direction leading them.
Night was upon them, it was further then they had expected. The continued until the stars were out in their full glory. Handar ordered them to a halt.
"This is awkward. We should have been there by now." Handar said.
"You got us lost?" Harold asked in a rude tone.
"No his sense of direction is impeccable. He is a tracker. We are not lost. There is something else at play here." The princess answered.
Mordain closed his eyes and breathed in the night air. There was something not right. He could feel it.
They walked slowly onwards.
"I cannot feel which direction to go." Handar said. "This is curious."
They saw a small light over the tiny hill they were busy climbing.
"There is a light, we could go and ask directions." Roxy said. All the men sighed.
"We do not need to ask directions. We can find this on our own." Richard said.
Carline laughed. "I see it is not just the men of the elven race whom struggle to ask directions."
"I do not feel comfortable with this." Handar said.
"Your built in GPS is broken, what other choice do we have." Jason said.
"I'm sure we are going to regret this." Handar said leading the party to the light.
As they approached they saw caravans, cages with animals inside and the like. It was very clearly a gypsy circus parked there.
There was a big lady with jewelry protruding from everywhere from her body sitting outside the gate of the circus. She had a crystal ball on her table and a pack of cards laying next to it.
Mordain approached the lady as Carline and Handar seemed reluctant to step closer than 100 feet. Richard abruptly decided to follow Mordain. Jason and Roxy close by.
"Hi I'm Mordain, uhm, we're kind of lost, could you please show us the way to port John."
"Mordain of the Toramdon Eyes I see. I am Siobhan, please take a seat and we will see what the future has in store for you."
Mordain was reluctant but took a seat anyway. Richard standing beside him
The lady took the cards and shuffled them. "Please take five cards and lay them out before you."
Mordain did as he was told. The others had come closer to see what was going on and had formed a half circle around him.
"Ah, you have recently found new love, and new struggles. She said pointing to the first card. But there is more. You are facing an internal struggle I see. Interesting. She said pointing to the second card. There is an immediate danger looming in your future, but you will acquire a new friend. She said pointing at the third and fourth. You will prevail Mordain, just do not lose yourself in the madness. There are challenges beyond your understanding laying in the horizon but they will all become apparent with time. That is all I have to say. I cannot direct you to the place you seek, inside they may be of better assistance to you."
Mordain looked at the lady and could not believe how spot on she was. His future sounded quite interesting. One thought tickled his mind, but he paid it no attention, how did she know he was a Toramdon eye.
"We shall wait outside, there has been no love lost between gypsies and elves along the years."
Handar said. Carline nodded. Harold opted to stay with the princess in case something should happen.
Mordain, Jason, Richard and Roxy walked in to the circus camp. The moment they set foot in the grounds they felt a foreboding air. They turned around to exit, but the gates had disappeared. "We're screwed." Mordain said slowly.
"Handar!" Roxy shouted, even though he was mere feet away a moment ago, they heard no reply.
Mordain summoned his power to the surface, knowing his eyes would betray him of this fact, shining bright blue.
"Relax babe, let's see what is going on here before making rash decisions. This might be a thing they they do as a norm."
Mordain relaxed a bit but kept his powers close.
They walked in to the crowd of people, a reassuring thought that there was at the very least other people in here as well. They seemed happy enough.
They walked in to one of the bigger tents. Inside was a small man with a big cage next to him. A marionette show was busy in the one side of the tent and a ventriloquist was surrounded by a few children in the other end of the tent.
Mordain walked up the the short man all dressed in white. He had small pointed ears and crimson eyes. He glanced up, The man barely reached Mordain's chest.
"Can I help you?" He asked Mordain in a strong soft voice. His eyes mesmerizing him.
"Uhm we are kind of stuck in here and we would actually like to know how to get to Port-John?"
The small guy laughed, his pretty face even more likeable. "I am Rizzak, please stay for awhile, see all of our entertainment..."
"No, we're really in a hurry..."
"I insist, let me show you one of my tricks... you have but to enter this cage..."
"Uhm..."
The other three had caught up with Mordain their eyes seemed glassy.
"I'll do it." Jason said climbing in to the cage. Mordain tried to stop him, every cell in his being screamed danger.
Jason was in the cage and it suddenly went very dark inside the room. One single spotlight shining on the cage. Applause erupted within the room as every person was focused on the show that was about to start. Old classical circus music started playing loudly.
Jason was inside the cage his head slumped forward, arms dangling at his side.
The small guy appeared behind on top of the cage.
"I am Rizzak the ringmaster. Behold my volunteer!"
The music drummed louder. Rizzak pushed out his hands on top of the cage, at that precise moment Jason's head arched up. His eyes were lost. As if he was no where in there, his face looked like a dummy.
Mordain summoned his power ready to flatten this place at a moments notice. The only thing stopping him at that time was his brother in the huge cage. He would risk hurting him. Mordain looked over at Richard and Roxy, they seemed to have snapped out of their trance. This place was evil. That was for sure. The music was louder as the ring master wiggled his fingers. Jason started dancing grotesquely inside. It looked as if Rizzak was controlling him with invisible strings. Mordain gnawed his teeth together, he looked the ring master in his eyes and shot a telekinetic bolt straight at him. He stumbled backwards for the briefest second, breaking the spell he had on Jason.
Jason fell to the ground, not a moment was lost, Mordain ripped the door from his frame leading in to the cage. He lifted Jason with his mind, Jason soon got hold of his senses running out of the cage. They ran out of the tent as fast as they could. Looking for cover, this was too strange, no one really understood what was going on. They ran into one of the smaller tents, no light came out of it so they assumed it was empty. Once they were inside Mordain spoke, "What the hell is going on here, I feel a very bad vibe from this place. We need to get out of here."
"No one gets out of here, they are called lotus, they lure people in to their trap and keep them here forever." a voice came out of the darkness.
"Who said that?" Roxy asked turning to see, her eyes desperately trying to focus.
Roxy changed her eyes to that of feline, remembering cats see best in the dark. Suddenly it was as if she had night vision goggles on. She could see a dark figure at the back of the room, sitting on a chair. They were in some sort of a storage tent. Jason pulled out a lighter. The room lit up and everyone could see the boy sitting on the chair. He was handsome, everybody noticed that first. His eyes were light crimson, he had a very soft face, almost innocent. He wore black from head to toe, a very old sense of dress style. His hair was short and spiky. He sat and looked at the four friends and smiled. "I am Andrew."
"Jason started unseating his sword. Suddenly Andrew was next to Jason. No one even saw him move. Jason stepped back and pointed his sword at Andrew. A celestial dance began, they moved in speeds no one's eyes could follow. Jason trying to attack Andrew, and Andrew dodging the attacks. Jason suddenly halted. Why don't you attack back?" he asked very calmly.
"Because I mean you no harm. I am as you, trapped in here. I can sense your powers, we can help each other escape."
"What are you?" Mordain asked eyeballing his skeptically.
"I'm a vampire." Andrew answered nonchalant.
Mordain laughed, "Do you sparkle in the sunlight?"
"No, why would I?" Andrew asked scratching his head.
"Never mind." Mordain laughed.
"So where are we did you say?" Richard asked Andrew.
"You are in a lotus lair. They are creatures created by the demons of old. They lure people in to their lair and keep them there. You lose your mind after a while though. I have probably been here for three years now, I have retained my sanity mostly because I do not age and I am around two thousand years old. Their victims have helped me survive."
Richard was fascinated by the Vampire. He was attracted to him in a strange way.
"We are the Toramdon eyes." Mordain said to the vampire.
Andrew smiled. "I see my luck is better than I expected. I shall make you a deal. I am addicted to adventures hence me ending up here. I like to explore and learn. When you get as old as this, you tend to get bored, I am not as patient as the elves nor am I as calm as the mer-people, I do not have the drive of the dwarves. I have to carry my age different. I can't die. I will exist longer than the oldest elf. My drive to exist is to seek adventure. To get as close to living as I can, help me escape here and I will help you on your future endeavors, I think standing with the Toramdon eyes against the demons will be most fulfilling."
"Is your diet going to be a problem? What about sunlight? I'm planning on flattening this lair of theirs soon, so escaping won't really be a problem I think, and we could always use more people of skill to help us."
Andrew laughed. "My diet won't be a problem, I won't hunt in front of you nor will you know anybody I hunt. As for the sun, we modern vampires have found ways around that. My clothes are layered inside with a sunlight repellant. As long as I wear these clothes and my hood during the day I'll be safe. Even should something happen, I won't disappear in a cloud of ash if sunlight touches me, it just burns like a bitch. It won't kill me."
"Sounds like we have ourselves a deal. You said you can't get killed. But I swear to you, double cross us and you will wish you could, and you will be as close to dead as a vampire can get." Mordain said.
Richard looked at Andrew, he trusted him. He didn't know why. He just did. Roxy wasn't apposed to the idea he seemed sweet enough. Jason didn't trust him, he didn't tend to trust anything that should be dead and wasn't.
"What's the plan?" Roxy asked. "Do you think there are demons in this camp?"
"For sure." Andrew answered. "The ringmaster is a demon."
"You mean the short guy with the cage that we ran from just now?"
"What did you do to him?" Andrew asked bemused.
"He conned Jason in to stepping in his cage, then he sort of controlled him in a voodoo dance in the cage. So I blew the cage apart took my brother and ran."
"I don't think they were expecting the Toramdon eyes to befall them so quickly. The veil hasn't even fully crumbled yet." Andrew said.
"So what do we o now, do I just flatten everything and we run?" Mordain asked. "Kill everything that gets in our way?"
Richard noticed how aggressive Mordain has gotten. Jason and Roxy also noted, it wasn't like him.
"No there are innocent people here. We cannot risk hurting them, they have done nothing." Andrew said.
"Ugh, a vampire with a conscience, like I haven't heard that one before." Mordain said.
"We must be vigilant, there is a way out, if we kill the ringmaster the spell will lift. The trapped feeling, when you look to the outside of the fence you just see empty plane, yet that is not what's outside, you will run and run until you die of thirst or hunger." Andrew said.
"That's why we couldn't see Handar and the rest when we entered the gates." Richard said.
"Makes sense. So do we kill the ringmaster?" Roxy asked.
"It won't be as easy as it looks. He is a mind controller, he can make each and every body in this place turn against us if he wishes. He can make you turn against each other." Andrew said. "I am not susceptible to his powers, as I have some powers of my own. Let's just put it this way, my body and my mind are my own." Andrew said.
There was a noise outside the tent, a branch breaking by footstep. Everybody was silent. Jason killed the fire. The light from the outside threw a silhouette against the tent. A man no doubt, he looked searching as if looking for something, he kept glancing backward. He ran away from the tent and his silhouette disappeared. More voices could be heard now.
"Let's get this done, I have guests to entertain." One male voice was distinctive.
"He went that way, I can smell him." A female voice answered. The footsteps got louder, four bodies walked past the tent. One of them very short carrying a longbow almost as big as he. A huge male with a axe and two females looking as if they were not carrying anything. They walked past the tent in one smooth movement.
The last thing they heard was "There he is." And then the horrible tortured screams filled the night.
Mordain felt as if he was going to be sick. Rage built up in his body.
"What the hell just happened?" Mordain asked his body trembling.
"Sometimes somebody snaps out of the trans they get put in when staying here too long and they try and escape. The fence is just beyond this tent. That guy wanted to escape. They have their own guard, they usually chase after that person and kill him."
"That sounds cheerful." Richard said holding Mordain from the back, trying to calm him down.
"So whats the plan now. I thing we had best intercept the guard and make them redundant." Andrew said.
"Well let's not waste time." Mordain said breaking free of Richards hold.
They exited the tent in to the evening air. Richard saw the guard first. He signaled them as to where they were standing. Their muffled voices were not heard by the guard. They were standing by the fence, The Toramdon eyes and the vampire were hiding next to the tent, observing their targets.
The tall brute laughed loudly as he kicked the clearly dead and dismembered body if the person they had just killed.
"They never learn." The one woman said in a crackly voice.
"We have a bigger problem though, that vampire is still lose around here somewhere, three years and we can still not find him."
Mordain felt Andrew shaking slightly with laughter, he would ask him what happened later as he felt there was more to what they had just said.
"And it would seem more people of power are in here somewhere. I would place my liver on bet to say they are no less than the Toramdon eyes." The short one said grasping his longbow tighter.
"Better we kill them quickly and get them out of the way then." The other woman said.
"Are you sure they are here though?" The slight woman asked, surely if they were the Toramdon eyes they could have escaped without us knowing."
"I would know. The short one answered. I'm sure they are watching us now!" he said turning around facing the Eyes.
Richard felt a arrow fly passed his face quicker than he could grasp. The small guy had known they were there all along. Mordain ran towards them summoning his power all the way. He could feel something trying to enter his head all the way he ran,. This must be the demon Andrew had warned about.
Mordain blasted the demon away with his telekinesis. As he hit the ground, Mordain made a tomb of plants to entrap him. The other three guards were not prepared for this, they were but creatures of the flesh. Mordain had no interest in them.
Richard ran out his hands in the air, Rigaarth swooped down and Richard jumped on her back flying in to the air to survey their surroundings.
A feral snarl ripped out of Roxy's mouth she jumped in to the air twirling around changing in to a Gargantuan Dog like creature. Half dog half Human. Ugly and huge.
Jason unseated his sword and moved quicker than anyone but Andrew's eyes could follow ran straight down on the slight woman, he felt the greatest threat from her in his sub conscience.
Andrew looked at the sight before him. He had never seen such display of power before.
Mordain looked at the now smiling guy lying in front of him, his whole body covered by growth of plants, except his face. "It seems I was right The Toramdon eyes have graced us with their presence. I have not seen your like in almost four millennia."
Mordain stopped in his tracks, looking at the creepy face in the plants. "What?"
I am named Rizzak as I told you before. I have no seen earth in almost four millennia, your like cast me away her name was Aradia, she had a special hate for me in her heart. I was cast to the furthest corners of hell. It was but by my power that I had escaped this time to join the feast on earth.
"How do you know who we are?" Mordain asked quickly glancing around. Everybody had an opponent they all stood in a battle stance; Andrew slowly sauntered closer, knowing he would tip the balance making it five against four.
" I know practically all. I have access to every-bodies minds Mordain. I know every fear, every weakness of everyone."
Mordain felt something trying to enter his mind. He summoned power from his core trying to block the being, yet it felt like trying to blow away a shadow with a blowgun.
Mordain closed his eyes and succumbed to the visions.
Mordain saw a slaughter in front of him, Rizzak was standing next to him and as Mordain he was ethereal. They were in one of the cities on Torandia, that was clear. Creatures of every like was running around killing everything it sees. Every now and then turning on each other as well. "Those are demi-demons." Rizzak answered after hearing Mordain's questioning thoughts.
They are brutes, relying on strength alone, not as the Demons like me, we rely on our power and tactic. demi-Demons are but tools in our greater plan.
Mordain could not believe the vast number of creatures running around, they were grotesque in every way imaginable. No two looking alike. Showing no mercy. Killing on sight.
Standing on top of a tower was dark being. It had a long black cloak, it's face masked in the darkness of the cloak. It's hands were not unlike the bones of human hands, yet it was pitch black, long and pointed with long nails.
"That would be me. In my true form." Rizzak answered Mordain's thoughts.
"I was delegating the battle with my mind." Rizzak said. "They were all mine. Mine. I was to conquer this city. The City of Rodez. My city to rule."
A large cloud started forming over head, The being on the tower looked around swiftly. The cloud grew by the second. The being on the tower gave a low moan, that echoed through the city center. A lightning bolt flashed and hit the sister tower as the one the being stood on. Mordain willed them closer, they were now in the air next to the towers. Mordain could see a beautiful woman, more breathtaking than anything he had ever seen before in standing in a crouched defensive position. Her long black hair blowing in to the air. She looked up at the being and a growl escaped her lips. Her eyes were shining light blue and what looked like tiny lightning bolts flashed inside it.
"Rizzak, you will die today!" The woman said.
A low moaning echoing voice answered. "You interfere to much Aradia. You will be the one perishing today."
Aradia lunched forward and kicked the thing it stumbled backwards and slapped Aradia, she fell from the tower, the demi demons started making their way to where Aradia lay. Aradia's eyes snapped open she got to the feet and lifted her hand to the air. Fireballs fell from the sky hitting all manner of demon on the ground, when it looked like it was about to hit Rizzak it would bounce off a shield he had created around him.
Mordain focused his eyes and he was back in the circus grounds, Rizzak was not held by the plants anymore. He was gone. Mordain shot his psychokenesis out for miles searching for the being, yet he was no where to be found. He had made his escape.
The battle had commenced while he was watching the vision.
Roxy slashed the brute who easily dodged the attack, she was not as fast as he. The man had since raised his battle axe and he was ferociously trying to hit Roxy. Mordain saw Rigaarth swooping down from the sky, and attacking the slight woman, she was fast; Jason had intercepted her from behind and pushed his sword through her chest from behind. She fell to the ground in a bleeding mass. Jason turned around and dodged an attack from the other woman Andrew appeared next to Jason in his super human speed. He grabbed the girl and bit her in the neck. She screamed in pain.
"Richard!" Andrew screamed.
Rigaarth swooped down in and snatched the girl withering in pain, Rigaarth powerful claws ripped the body apart snapping it in two. The dismembered body fell to the ground. The brute threw his axe and hit Rigaarth in the stomach; Rigaarth screamed with pain and fell to the ground, Richard falling on top of her.
Only the brute was left. Mordain looked at Richard lying unconscious and felt himself trembling. He saw Rigaarth lay dying on the ground. The drake had help save Mordain's life. Roxy was in a standing next to the brute. He was her best friend. Mordain looked at Jason holding his sword, ready to attack at the slightest movement. Andrew also looked alert, he against all odds had decided to help them. Mordain realized he feared for him as well.
"Enough!" Mordain screamed echoing through the grounds. He felt himself levitating in to the air. Things were falling out of place now. He was losing grip on reality he had to regroup and find himself and this brute was standing in his way of doing that.
Mordain's hand shot out in front of him, he was already several feet in the air. He lifted the brute in the air with his telekinesis. "Please kill me quickly." he cowered.
"I have something else planned for you." Mordain said. Mordain lifted his other hand and the guy disappeared in thin air.
Jason, Andrew and Roxy stared in wonder. Mordain looked up at the sky and started talking loudly in unintelligible words.
He waved his hands over the circus grounds and the outside appeared as it would have, Mordain had lifted the spell the knowledge of the magic waking up inside him.
A gust blew through the circus and Mordain fell to the ground with a loud thump, unconscious. Handar and Carline had since realized that they were lured in to a Lotus lair, and was ready for the moment Mordain lifted the spell. They ran inside the grounds through the crowds of people trying to make their escape through the tiny gate. Handar ran straight to Richard, using his Reiki on Rigaarth. Carline ran to Mordain and used Reiki on him, both oblivious to Andrew hiding in the shadows.
Mordain opened his eyes and saw Carline's face. "What happened?" he asked groggily.
"We shall find that out together." Carline answered.
Rigaarth had been healed and went back to her home to fully recover. Richard had escaped with but a minor headache. Roxy and Jason were both fine.
"What the hell happened to you lot?" Harold said sauntering towards them.
"Long story. At least we have a new comrade in arms." Jason said.
His trust in the vampire had grown since he helped them.
Andrew emerged out of the shadows. Both Carline and Handar fell back hisses escaping their mouths.
"Oh, shut your traps. He helped us." Mordain said still sitting on the ground holding his head.
"He is a vampire. No such race does the elves loath than the vampires. They are unholy undead beings that go against nature!" Carline said still in a crouched defensive position.
"Elves. I mean you no harm. If we are to stand against the Demons you shall need all the help you can get. Peace." Andrew said holding his hands up.
"You are not to be trusted!" Handar answered. "You will as quickly as you joined us turn against us and stand with the demons."
"Though that might be true with my brothers and sisters, I am not as they are. There are a few Vampires that have regained there mind, they can make their own choices. They know what's wrong and right."
Handar kept the defensive position and said nothing.
"You know what I speak is the truth." Andrew said. "Yet you let your prejudice cloud your vision of what you see before you."
"What is he talking about?" Richard whispered to Mordain.
Andrew turned to Richard, "Elves can feel the presence about them, and they can feel if someone is...bad or good. For lack of better words. He can feel I honestly mean you no harm and I truly want to stand with you to help cleanse the word of the evils. Yet his hate for vampires in his elven blood runs so deep it is clouding what he is feeling."
"What the hell is wrong with vampires?" Mordain asked getting irritated.
"Hello, did no one see the demons! There are worse things in this place." Mordain said thinking back to the vision.
"No other craves the essence of life." Carline answered.
"And pray tell what that is? Blood?" Mordain answered her.
"There are things who crave not just your blood but your entire body! Let it go."
"Whether you like it or not, he will be coming with us. He helped us kill these things." Roxy said to the elves. "Why were you in a trance and where did that small guy disappear to?" she asked to Mordain changing the subject.
The elves were still tense but didn't openly display it, Mordain told them what happened, told them about the entire vision.
"But what I can understand though, I saw his power, he is strong, why didn't he kill me just then?" Mordain said at last.
"The veil is blocking his powers, though he is here, he only retains some of his powers, and he will be at full power only when the entire veil has collapsed. He will avoid you until then."
"How does this Demon thing work then?" Mordain asked.
"There is a hierarchy in the demon world. We have yet to understand it all. We know there are creatures that they created like the cypress and the Orcs and such; they are at the bottom counting as no more than pets for the demons. The demi-demons are as to the human peasants. The folk of the demons. Then there are the Demons, they are on the outside of the hierarchy, doing what they please, all of them trying to better themselves.
They know no such thing as team work; they hate each other as the hate all other. Higher than the demons we have the Greater Demons.
We know five of them. Rizzak, Galderel, Abraxas, Gerasene and Marchocias. Above them we know more powerful demons exist, but we have no reference on knowledge of them.
We have already encountered Marchocias. That faun, remember?"
The four nodded.
We need to get going. If the likes of Rizzak and Marchocias are out of hell then the veil has starting to really fall apart. There is no time to lose, we need to get in to Port John and find James and immediately continue to Jestir to get Jack."
They left the circus grounds and made way to Port John.
Mordain and Jason shared the same thoughts; they hoped they would find the rest of the Knights without incident. Yet they both silently knew that was asking too much.
Port Adgar was a very small town. Very obviously a fishing village. The only thing that made Port Adgar special is the port it had that joined over the waters with port John. Port John was presumably bigger.
Richard was lost in thought, Mordain has been acting strange, and he would need to speak to him soon. The plan was to get to Port John and get this James Rabuko guy and immediately go to Jestir.
It was just about getting dark as they were sitting on the boat that will take them to Port John form port Adgar. They would sleep in Jestir right after they have located The Jack O'Morran guy. Richard doubted this would be the case. It was starting to get dark, he had no idea how exactly they would know where any given person would be without a cell phone or any means of communication. Thinking back to Alberta, finding anybody in that huge a place will be impossible. The water flowed by them as the ship they were on easily sailed through the waters. The ship was one of the King's fleet. The guards happily agreed to take them to Port John once they noticed the big party, the fact that there were two elves and especially once they found out that they are dealing with the Toramdon Eyes.
It was only about an hours sail with a boat as fast as theirs.
Richard thought that this must be what a celebrity feels like, they were waited on hand and foot by the guards. The people of Torandia knew that their world would be lost without them. The strange thing was there was no pandemonium, no conspiracy theories, nothing at all because everyone knew the truth. On earth this was probably the biggest secret ever kept. So big that no one had figured out the truth, sure there was all the fiction, the myths, the theories, nut none of them close to the truth. There is a secret base, but hidden in plain sight no area 51 nonsense. The aliens that they have there are nothing compared to the Demons they have hidden between the aliens. This was real, Richard had experienced first hand that they could die. Mordain could die. That was not a world he wished to live in, no love, no feeling. Phenomenal cosmic powers but all alone. He would not feel anything; he was already bonded to Mordain in a strange way.
Like they were one person but in two bodies, Richard knew Mordain felt it, but he was so busy trying to control himself and his powers. Richard decided to keep this feeling to himself until he and Mordain could talk about it. Sometimes Richard could feel what Mordain felt. He was confused. His powers active in his body, to much power for just one person. Aradia had done the right thing keeping the some power shut in. He would go mad with the powers surging through his veins should it all be released at once. He would stand by Mordain no matter what, he knew that as well, if for any reason he should go mad and ask him to destroy anything he would. There was no splitting them. He would not allow Mordain to succumb to his powers though, they would work through this. They had Roxy and Jason for support.
Hey everybody. I hope you all had a great festive season! Here is a new chapter for you to read. I hope you enjoy. Anyway, let me know what you think.
If you have suggestions, comments or critisism please holler either to my email mvnwiid@gmail.com or preferably at www.mordain88.wordpress.com which is the story's blog. There aught to be more activity there from now on as I have internet again. Woot!!
Michael
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