adonis

Celestria The Sage

The army marched north for 50 leagues, leaving behind the scorching winds of the desert and began to set camp in the fields of Numrito. The beauty of this field was a large improvement from the Lokranian desert, the long green blades of grass blowing in the wind, creating a synchronised dance. The orcs worked hard chopping wood from the nearby bushes, constructing a strong wall. They began in the morning and worked all day, orcs cut the trees down and then the mighty cave trolls grabbed five logs each and brought them over. They worked late that evening, when the majestic yellow sun was replaced by the luminous full moon. Within the mighty walls of wood were made of tents, the material was the skin of the vanquished throughout Kulos’ ravenous war campaign.

Tyronis however had brought Adonis away from the fortress, past the bushes into a swamped area. This was a strange swamp, sticks from different lengths stood out of the swamp, making a rugged path that crossed the 500 metre long swamp. Tyronis sitting on a tree stump asked “ You must be curious as to what I am going to teach you?”

Adonis was more than curious; he could hardly contain the anticipation that was building up inside of him. “ I am indeed sir, I want to become a powerful fighter and kill Ares, exact revenge on the foul fiend”

Tyronis stood on his feet, he said “You must cross the swamp using the poles, then I will tell you” He jumped high into the air, clearing the swamp and landing gently on the other side.

Adonis focussed on the nearest pole, he estimated the water was too deep to cross but to check his theory he lugged a large rock into the water it sunk deeply. The wind blew gently and although it was the night the full moon acted like a nocturnal sun, Adonis was glad the sun shared its light with its nemesis the moon this night. He calculated in his mind how hard he would have to jump; he took a chance and jumped on the first pole. He nearly lost balance but soon balanced himself out; fortunately Tyronis had not given him a time because this would take some time.

He slowly went from one pole to the other, traversing slowly to the other side. Suddenly he heard a growl in the swamp, he dared to look and wished he hadn’t. A large swamp shark was coming toward him, apparently it had caught his scent. Its dark green hide flashed in the moonlight as it tackled the pole Adonis had just been standing on, it snapped from the base falling into the swamp.

He now ran quickly, taking one second to calculate and then hoping he was right and jumping on the next pole. As he progressed the poles from behind him snapped, leaving him only one direction to head, forward. As he landed on the next pole he slipped, nearly falling but he managed to grab on to the pole. He knew he would not have enough time to stand back up so he kicked himself from where he was landing, landing on the next pole a second after the pole he had just been hanging on to broke. He was almost there, and yet the last 50 metres seemed to stretch into 50 leagues in his eyes. His adrenaline pumped, ignoring his aching legs he kept on going.

He finally managed to cross the swamp; Tyronis sat cross-legged on a tree stump awaiting him, he said, “ very good job, once you realised your life was at risk you went from slow to risk taking fast. If you had done things well you would have calculated everything before beginning. Your answer back then was the wrong one, your first lesson shall be when to use violence and to what limit”

There was a splashing sound from behind, Adonis turned quickly expecting yet another attack from the swamp shark. But it was Dominic, soaked from head to toe for swimming in the swamp; behind him he dragged the shark’s corpse. He laughed so Tyronis said, “Dominic does not agree with this, what do you believe dark elf?”

Dominic dropped the shark on the ground; he replied “ I believe in preservation, you eliminate threats before they become threats. Protect assets before they become assets. If you knew who was going to kill you or how you were going to die, would you not kill your death dealer and avoid the situation.”

Tyronis answered solemnly “I believe time must flow, as does my brother. Although he works for a different time flow, is preserving the wrong destiny, his own. Destiny must not be obstructed; if I am to die I die willingly, for my death is accomplishing a task I could not even fathom accomplishing as a mortal with earthbound limitations, what have you really come here for Dominic?”

Dominic had been taken off his guard by his directness; this Tyronis was very strange indeed. Coming from nowhere, there was power that emanated from Tyronis, it was different from the power of the sevenfold. He replied cooly “ I have come to inform Adonis that there is a feast ready, right after the feast we are leaving to find Celestria”

A smile suddenly flickered on Tyronis’ face, he said “Adonis, I promised to tell you your training and I will do exactly that. You shall engage in combat with Dominic, the first one to knock his opponent in the water wins, no magic or weapons made of metal, but you can improvise if you want” He turned and faced the swamp, as he whispered into the air the poles raised out of the water and resumed their original places.

Adonis being more at ease with traversing across these poles and easily jumped on the nearest pole. Dominic jumped as well, they both faced each other on opposite ends. Adonis awaited Dominic’s move, he knew his chances were slim because he was not but a mere human while Dominic was a dark elf, but he had a trick up his sleeve. Suddenly Dominic began to run across the poles with ease, not even hesitating for a second as he circled Adonis. Suddenly he did something unexpected, he slid down the pole and half way down he launched himself toward Adonis. Smashing hard against the pole Adonis had been standing on it jerked violently.

Adonis nearly lost his balance but managed to jump on the next pole. Dominic was nowhere in sight in this swampland, yet he knew he was not in the water because that would mean he had lost. Suddenly he spotted him just above the water, Adonis tried to anticipate his next move. He might plunge at him again but he now knew how to fend off such an attack. Dominic simply climbed up his pole, but as he jumped he pulled the pole out of the water, landing on another pole he was now armed with a medium size pole.

His balance was indeed formidable if he could balance himself while holding that long pole. Before he could do anything Dominic launched the pole like a staff, it hit him square in the chest and he tumbled down, nearly landing in the swamp. Just in time he caught on to the pole and pulled himself up, that is when Dominic landed on him. Sending him sprawling into the swamp Dominic launched himself into the air and landed on the next pole.

The water was very deep, fortunately Adonis was accustomed to swimming in such conditions, as the slimy grass slithered against his wet skin like worms, he suddenly looked in terror as another shark approached. He would not be fast enough to dodge this agile predator, but then Dominic landed on the shark.

It swung its head backwards thrashing in the water to get Dominic off of it, Dominic simply stabbed his fingers into its eyes, blinding it. He could not use magic because he was underwater so instead he yanked a tooth from the shark’s mouth and stabbed it in the head.

Adonis who had been at the surface for 10 minutes was worried because Dominic had not surfaced, Tyronis said to put him at ease “ Dominic and his kind can stay under water far longer than any mere mortal.”

Just as he finished his sentence Dominic emerged from the water with yet another shark, dropping it beside the other shark he said “ This is my lesson , swamp sharks are always in pair. We’ve wasted enough time, lets join the feast before they run out of food”

Adonis shuddered at the thought of crossing the poles yet again and said “Must I cross yet again, is there no other way?”

Dominic smiled, grabbing him by his collar and feet he whipped him across the swamp, he rolled on the ground across the swamp landing in a bushel of thorns. Tyronis simply jumped and Dominic crossed using the poles.

The sun was beginning to rise, the feast had lasted four hours for orcs had big appetites, Adonis however was sleeping off the injuries of his latest training session, comfortable in the carriage.

Ares stalked the army from the forest, ensuring not even the keen eared hybrid dark elf Dominic could sense his presence. He knew Adonis was sleeping in the carriage, he just had to wait for the perfect moment to capture him. Dressed in an assassin’s black leather armour he was virtually invisible in the darkness of the early morning. Not but the glint of his red eyes could even be seen, he moved stealthily through the dense thickets. They were marching at a steady pace but they were slow, and Ares knew exactly where they were going. He just had to beat them there, to the golden forest.

They had arrived at the mouth of the golden forest; the trees loomed over the army with a majestic air, as if looking down upon them as inferior beings. Adonis who had been woken up had never seen anything so magnificent, the trees were completely composed of pure gold, everything was made of gold, even the ground. Mal was the most mesmerized, the mere sight of the gold made his greed drool, he could already calculate how rich he could get off the forest. Almost as though reading his mind. Dominic said cooly “Celestria will never let you take a branch gold out of that forest so I recommend you put that idea out of your head before you do anything stupid”

Mal grinned innocently, broken teeth visible and replied “ What? Me take gold? I wouldn’t dream of it. I am offended you ever suspected me of such a thing”

His lies were completely ignored as Kulos hollered “ soldiers halt!” as the army halted to a stop he resumed ordering in his usual superior tone “Remain here and guard the forest, make sure no one gets in our out of the forest or whoever made the mistake will pay with his life”

He turned and walked to Tyronis and said “you, Dominic, Adonis and I shall enter the forest and ask permission to pass, the less people the better.”

They agreed and walked into the forest, ready to face whatever may challenge them. The inside sparkled with gold, forcing them to squint at the beauty that surrounded them. The sun was now out which only made their surroundings that much brighter.

An aromatic smell of the red turantial flowers filled the air, the flowers could be seen standing as tall as trees with no branches and a large flower on the top. Tyronis whispered to Adonis “you will learn much from Celestria, where Dominic is master of combat she is master of meditation and keeping her inner peace. She could defeat Dominic any day”

She sat cross legged in the middle of the golden meadow, allowing the centipedes and all such critters crawl upon her. She was at one with her surrounding, she heard whispering from afar. It was not any of her kind and therefore someone had dared to intrude upon the golden domain of the elves. She whispered a spell into the air and a water image appeared in front of her showing all the intruders in the forest.

She immediately recognized Dominic and Kulos, them to cursed to the fate of bearing a demon within them. Tyronis also stood along side them, her apprentice of old. She still remembered training him when he was very young, now he had changed much. The young man she did not recognize, but there were also other presences in the forest. As the image changed from the path to thick bushes she seen a human salvaging gold, she would deal with him later because there were bigger fish to take care of.

The image shifted once more, focussing on Ares stalking the group with the look she recognized very well, the thirst for violence. She returned the image to Kulos, pondering what would be of such great importance to make Kulos break his oath?

The answer struck her, the image refocused on the boy next the Dominic, it must be Adonis. In the past months she had felt as though the prophecy was finally coming together, the pieces of this giant jigsaw were finally coming in place. She also knew why Ares was following them; standing on her feet she went to stop him.

Mal scrimmaged through the golden forest like a rat; he had crept over far out of anyone’s sight and had silently entered the forest. The inside of the forest was more majestic than it had appeared from the outside. As he silently walked upon the golden soil he grabbed some golden branches from the trees. They did not break on the first pull, but with a good tug the branches came off the trees transforming into golden coins.

He grinned with greed, filling his pockets with golden coins; suddenly he came to a complete stop. He spotted an assassin clothed in black; he recognized the magnificent sword as being the demons. The demon turned and faced him, pulling his mask off he growled and said, “ I recognize you, it is time you died”

He lifted Mal by the collar, whipping him hard against a golden tree. Upon impact he was covered in a pile of golden coins, as he began to stir back to life Ares moved in for the kill. Suddenly a woman appeared from behind him, he turned swiftly swinging his sword to hit kill her. She simply dodged the blade; standing behind him once more she tripped him to the ground, keeping him pinned to the ground. She said “ Why does though wish for the prophecy to be broken?”

He hit her with his arm; she jumped back to avoid the attack. He quickly rose to his feet, sword drawn and replied, “ I do not wish that, but I am under oath to obey orders, until that oath is broken by Lord Krale I must obey his orders. And my orders are to kill Adonis, and I intend to obey no matter what it takes.”

Celestria looked at him with pity, saying, “ Oh pitiful Ares, how have you come to being reduced to the level of a mere dog following the every whim of thy master. Thou still has hope to regain his honour, you and Dominic have more in common than either of you would like to admit”

Ares ignored the last statement and replied, “ I do not wish it but I shall fight you if I must, you are no fighter Celestria. Just let me be”

Golden strands began to cover her arms, covering her arms with intricate designs of pure gold. The gold strands spread all over her body, he fair skin turning gold. She said more forcibly “ I shall not allow fighting in my home, if thou does not wish to turn from your evil ways and depart my forest I shall kill you. You will have another chance at attempting your mission this forest is my family. I would kill for my family, the only thing that connects us is the demons that reside within us.”

Ares could sense she was sincere and knew the odds of winning a battle in her forest were slim to none, but he had no choice. As he charged at her, his blade covered in flames as he swung at her. She fired two golden vines from her hands, small and fragile they appeared but when they began to wrap around Ares they were far from that. With strength beyond Ares’ they tied his arms together, his sword fell to the ground with a soft thud. The vines climbed up his arms and began enveloping his entire body; dragging him behind her she walked to meet the Dominic and the others.

He had sensed the presence of Ares for quite some time, as well as that of Celestria. Dominic drew his weapon as did all others but Tyronis in wait for Ares, suddenly Celestria glowing gold she was dragging Ares behind her. He cursed in anger and humiliation, she said smiling “friends, put your weapons away, no fighting will be permitted in my forest.” Releasing Ares from her hold she returned to her normal state, dressed in a blue robe only made more beautiful by her long pink hair.

Ares got up slowly, pulling the sword from afar it landed in his palm. He placed it in his belt and suddenly he noticed his brother Tyronis. He looked confused and said “ I killed you brother, I seen you die and fall in the grave”

Tyronis chuckled at this and replied “ As I seen you die once, just as you I was in shock and disbelief for you had become a half demon. Your turn to be shocked, when I was no longer human, I am a hybrid now. Unlike you however I am half angel/half human, you’re opposite”

Everyone was shocked to hear this news, even Celestria who was considered wiser than most inhabitants of the planet. Ares replied, “ Then has the war already begun? Are heaven and hell already at war?”

Tyronis answered seriously “ They always have been blood brother, the war wages on a invisible plain that mere mortals cannot see, hear or feel. But we see the results every day, earthquakes and thunderstorms. They are only now creating their own warriors, seven warriors to be exact. You can share this news with your leader if that is what you wish”

Ares knew he had to give the information, he bowed in respect to Celestria and asked “ do I have your permission to teleport out of your forest”

Celestria nodded, Ares walked over to Adonis who glared at him straight in the eyes, Ares said mockingly “ Mal the gangster is under a pile of gold coins not far away from him, you might want to help him, and next time we meet I will capture you” He teleported away to his dark home.

Adonis ran to help Mal, pulling him out of the pile. As he did so Dominic said “Nice to see you again, last time we parted from each other were not on the best conditions but it is good to see you”

The wind blew ever so gently in her pink hair, swaying slightly in the wind. Her eyes only increased her beauty, rather than red they were pure gold. She smiled lightly exposing her sharp glistening white teeth and replied, “ The past has no importance, leave it behind. You’ve come to accomplish the prophecy. At last you believe the truth. I am obliged to do so as well, doing anything else would mean total annihilation of the world as we know it” Turning to Kulos she said, “ Nice to see you too Kulos, I understand why you broke our oath”

Kulos bowed in respect, seeming odd coming from a 9-foot tall orc, but he had already shown how different he was from the other orcs. Adonis could not tolerate it anymore, he was tired of hearing of this prophecy he was a part of without knowing what it was or what his part in it was. He asked in a frustrated voice “ What is the prophecy everyone keeps talking about? I am a part of it and therefore I deserve to know my part in it do I not?”

Celestria simply replied, “Thou does not understand the complexity of that question. I cannot simply tell you because then it would not happen, the survival of the world as we know it depends on you simply accomplishing the prophecy, not knowing of it”

Adonis was utterly confused, how could he accomplish a goal he was unaware of? Celestria turned to Dominic and Kulos “ Gomlin the dwarf is in the forbidden mines of Tura- Lina. Not so forbidden anymore I suppose, I shall train Adonis shortly and then we can enjoy a feast, for tomorrow we depart the minute the sun begins to rise.”

She motioned Adonis to follow her, leading him to the meditation glade. This place was very strange; everything had been strange to Adonis lately.

Not long ago he had been aching for another life, now he only wished he could have it back. He refocused on the glade; it was easy to do so for the glade was devoid of any sound of either animal or mortal. No scents reached his nose in this place, nothing to distract him. Celestria sat calmly and said, “ I am certain you’ve been through some kind of training devised by the beguiling Dominic, probably made you think your life was in danger when really it was never even near any danger at all. What was your test”?

Adonis shuddered at the thought of that test, he answered “ Originally Tyronis simply told me to cross a swamp using the randomly placed bamboo sticks, but he never mentioned the swamp sharks. Then I had to fight Dominic on the poles, he defeated me in battle”

Celestria chuckled lightly; she said, “ It is important to know why to fight. I can teach you all the fighting skills and magic I have in my repertoire. But just because you can do something it does not mean that something will ensure your survival. Of all the lessons I will teach you this is the one I want you to remember clearly, never enter a battle based on emotions. Vendettas only lead to a death without avail. Anger burns itself out, sadness wears itself out, and love dissipates long before your troubles are over.”

Adonis believed he understood but wanted to be certain, “ what if my sister was kidnapped, I want to catch Ares and help my sister but to do that would I not require fighting and magic skills?”

She smiled with comprehension and replied, “If you hunt Ares down fuelled by the need for revenge your just digging your own grave, you will ultimately fail. Even if you manage to kill him, you have let your emotions best you and are no longer yourself. If you only hunt down Ares to release your sister that is a proper reason, but I sense by the reactions of your body that you lean towards the first option”

As hard as it was to ignore his ego, he could not deny these words. It was as though he was made of glass, exposing what he believed to be a secret. He simply looked away trying to avoid eye contact; he could not bear her beautiful piercing gaze.

She continued, “The art of mastering the control over one’s emotions is much more difficult than mastering the dark arts of black magic. I have only had this demon for a decade; I might have been a different being if I had let it control me. I might have been like Ares and Dominic, thirsting for violence and learning darker fighting skills. It would have been so easy, but I did not. I fought the demon until it was at my mercy, I control the inner beast, I have the power to bring life as I will teach you, observe”

She took from the ground a dead golden rose, its once majestic form was now crumpled and ugly. Whispering into the flower it suddenly came to life, sparkling with renewed energy. As she replanted it she said, “ no special incantations are required, simply say with a good nature the name of what you wish to heal and it heals. Only the skilled such as myself and cure sickness and grave injuries, you will learn how to heal minor injuries.” She cut herself with a thorn from the rose she had replanted, blood drizzling out of the wound. Adonis was taken aback by this but Celestria said “ now place your hand over my wound, but before you do clear your mind and body of any evil. Once that is done simply think of healing my wound and it shall be healed”

Adonis could not think of anything but evil, his sister turning against him. Ares killing everything he had loved, this prophecy he did not know about. He could not do it, Celestria sensing this healed her own wound and said,“ It is easy to injure and take life away. It is a simple task of doing what even mere animals can do. Giving life is a different matter, to heal wounds I must not only use magic but I must cleanse myself of evil, which at times can be difficult. Or when a woman gives birth to a child it is very painful and much more difficult than slitting the throat of a sleeping man or pronouncing a complex spell. When you finally have your rival at your mercy, whether you choose to take his life or spare it forms who you will be for the rest of your days. Do not worry young one, with time you will learn the art of healing and bringing life. One thing that is not possible even to the most powerful healer is bringing a cadaver back to life.”

She paused for a moment, a look of sadness filling her golden eyes, a tear came down her face as she continued,“ Few have managed it and when they did they were not the same, Ares is one example of this. He lay dead in his grave, I took pity on him for it was at that time I was training Tyronis when he received special orders to kill him. I healed him; he was no longer the friend I had known from childhood, he was a monster. But let us go feast and relax for a brief amount of time”

Celestria led the group into the forest, leading them through a path that often went in circles and led to many other paths that led to dead ends. But she knew the way and they soon found themselves in front of the diamond citadel standing out like an angel among demons with the golden surroundings. She said, “This is the citadel of the sages, it has only been known to elves of high royalty. Therefore I must receive an oath that none of you will speak of the location of this place”

Mal snickered and said, “ Lady, I couldn’t tell no one even if they had a knife at my throat” they all swore to the oath so Celestria lead them to the gates.

The door was magnificent, on the door there was a story depicted in elvish runes that they could not comprehend. Before she could even knock a guard appeared at the top of the gate, he said with disdain “ Why have you brought strangers upon this sacred place? And why an orc, creation of Melkor himself and dark elf of all strangers in the world?”

She answered calmly “ They are not strangers, they are far more important than you Aldon, Kulos is a mighty warrior who has been my ally for a long time and I trust him more than I trust you. You know Dominic as well as I do, he has proven his loyalty to all our Kings and Queens we’ve had and even saved your life once as I recall.”

He sneered at her and said, “ What of the humans, what is the purpose of bringing them along. We’ve seen how corrupt they are”

She answered his doubts with ease, “ These three humans have great importance, this name might ring a bell, Adonis. And Tyronis the potent demigod is a high-ranking member of the International Council Of Wizards. The other human is a friend and shall be treated with respect, if they do not deserve entry then thou does not deserve it either, open the gate.”

He looked like he was going to throw a rage, but ordered for the gates to be opened. As the giant doors started to swing open, Adonis could only imagine what the inside would be like. It was far different than he had pictured it, a perfect co-existence of metals and vegetation. Giant pillars of ruby and wood twirling in a tornado like manner the buildings made of sapphire.

Trees of red and yellow that stood as tall as the buildings bore emeralds and diamonds rather than fruits. Mal smiled and said to himself “ I guess there is such a place as heaven”

Elves walked solemnly in the streets of diamond, none moved their mouths and yet they almost seemed as though they were conversing. They knew exactly what they wanted, they worked fluently together at everything as though all of one mind. Everything was beautiful; a sense of peace filled this place like no other place on earth.

They walked until they arrived at the castle, with five spiralling towers reaching over 200 feet tall, unlike the rest of the it was purely made out of trees. Five giant trees served as the towers, carved from the inside out and enchanted to withstand nearly anything. The castle was the most natural thing he had ever seen, Celestria smiled and said “ Soon we shall enjoy a feast fit for a King, and then tomorrow we shall leave this place of harmony and face the world once more, and save it once more”