Celestria The Sage

The feast was the largest meal Adonis had ever partaken in, they were correct to call this a feast for upon the long table the entire middle strip of it was covered with meat from hunts of the day. Large wild pig, wolf, the shark that Adonis had been told Dominic had killed.

Most orcs sat on the ground and ate in turns as others patrolled the area in case of another attack. At the table along with Adonis sat Mal, Jacob, Dominic, Tyronis, Krale and several high ranking orc generals.

The food was deliciously flesh, still slightly bloody which Adonis found added to the taste. He asked, " Kulos, I do not understand why you refuse to explain my part in the prophecy you like to refer to, can you explain?"

For a brief moment no one spoke, they kept eating but it was evident the tension had risen. Dominic turned to Adonis, finishing his mouthful of shark, " Orcs aren’t big talkers, even less so during supper time, even less than less during feasts. Be quiet and enjoy your food, its ravenous don’t ya think?"

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The sun was beginning to rise, the feast had lasted nearly the entire night for orcs have big appetites, Adonis however, was sleeping off his injuries of his latest training session in the carriage as Kulos led them on out of the secondary base, leaving two thousand orcs behind to guard the secondary base.

As they travelled Ares staled them from the dark forest, ensuring that not even the keen eared hybrid dark elf Dominic would sense his presence. He’d waited long enough, as much as he liked to see Krale sweat in fear this game of manipulation was getting old. He knew Adonis was sleeping in the carriage, he just had to wait for the opportune moment and it would all be over.

Finally putting his modified armour to good use he’d changed his entire body to an assassin’s black making him nearly invisible in the dark forest so early in the morning. If anyone had even been looking the only thing they might see was the glint of his yellow eyes.

They would not hear the branches crunch under his feet or see him as he moved through the thick forest. There was only one place they would be going, if they wanted to fulfill the seven halves prophecy like Kulos had made so evident they would go to the Golden Forest. They were travelling at a relaxed enough pace, if he beat them there he might be able to get Adonis without anyone knowing it.

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They’d arrived at the mouth of the golden forest, and it was the most picturesque image any of them had ever seen. The trees loomed over the army with a majestic air, as though a King looking down upon his inferior servant.

Adonis who’d just been woken up looked upon the forest with awe at its magnificence, the trees were actually made out of 100% real gold, even the ground. Mal was the most mesmerized of the entire group, he was practically drooling with pure greed.

He could picture himself floating in a river of golden coins, wearing the most expensive clothes, and his mother always told him money didn’t grow from trees. Almost as though reading his mind Dominic said, " Maybe she was right, because none of this will ever become money. Celestria would never let you take a branch of gold out of that forest so I highly recommend you shoot that idea out of your head before you do something stupid."

Mal grinned innocently, broken teeth visible, " What? Me take gold? I wouldn’t dream of it. I am offended you... hold on a minute, how did you know I was thinking about, well, what I was thinking about."

Dominic turned around and walked away as Kulos began hollering orders, " Soldiers halt!" As the army came to a halt he continued, " Remain here and guard the forest, make sure no one gets in or out of the forest or whoever made the mistake will be stabbed in the heart with his own spinal cord."

He turned to Dominic, as he was going to talk Dominic interrupted, " Hell of a motivational speech you make, are you sure you weren’t too subtle about that. Maybe you need to be more obvious."

Kulos did something with his face that passed for a smile with orcs but looked more like a wolf with rabbis look and retorted, " A lesson I learnt from you actually, when working with idiots act and talk idiotic, otherwise how would the idiots understand you?"

Not wanting to be distracted any longer his face was ridden of the scary smile, " You, Tyronis, Adonis and I shall enter the forest and ask permission to pass through, the less people we have the more the chances are of getting a meeting."

They silently agreed to this and walked into the forest, Dominic taking the lead they made certain to put Adonis in between Tyronis and Kulos who would be able to defend him from any surprise attacks.

The inside of this forest was even more remarkable than the entrance, sparkling with gold, forcing them to squint their eyes at the bright beauty that surrounded them all. The sun only made it brighter, like an invisible wave of brightness had temporarily come over them.

Their eyes soon adjusted and they kept on going, the aromatic scent of the red turantial flowers filled the air, they stood as tall as trees with no branches and a giant flower on the top. As Adonis looked around awed at all he seen Tyronis whispered in his ear, " You will learn much from Celestria, where Dominic is master in combat she is master of meditation and keeping inner peace. She could take down Dominic any day."

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She sat cross legged in her own meditation meadow, of all the elves she was one of the few that still enjoyed such places of meditation. She allowed the centipede to crawl up her arm, its small spindly legs crawling against her skin, smelling her skin with its probes.

She did not care, she let them and such critters crawl all over her, she was at one with her surroundings, she was the forest. She could hear whispering from afar, it was not any of her fair race therefore someone had dared in over century of complete peace to intrude upon the golden domain of the forsaken elves.

She whispered a spell into the air and the moisture in the air was immediately changed into a vertical puddle of water floating in front of her, purest water ever to exist and upon it the intruders were shown.

However, she soon recognized the identity of these intruders and seen them more as unexpected guests. She recognized Dominic and Kulos, cursed to the fate of bearing a demon within them as she did. Tyronis also walked amongst them, she remembered training him when he was very young, he had changed much since those days.

The young mortal she did not recognize, but she pondered why Tyronis and Kulos were defending this boy, was he important? There were other presences farther from the group, her vision cleared as the image changed from the path to the thick bushels where she seen a human salvaging gold. She would deal with him later, there was a bigger fish to fry.

The image shifted once more, focussing Ares stalking the group with the look she recognized in him far too well since his second awakening, a thirst for violence. He looked very similar despite his armour that made him look silver. She returned her image to Kulos, what would be of such great importance to make Kulos break his oath? The boy perhaps?

That was it, the answer struck her like an arrow in the heart. The image refocused on the image between Tyronis and Kulos, it must be Adonis the chosen one. In the preceding few months she had felt as though the prophecy was finally coming together. The pieces of the giant jigsaw that her life was part of were finally getting put together, making the big picture more clear.

She now knew why Ares was here, and although she was responsible for who he was she knew she had to stop him. Standing to her feet she returned her focus to the real world, the water puddle evaporating she went to stop Ares.

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Mal scrimmaged through the forest like a sewer rat on the scent of some delicious cheese; waiting ten minutes after Dominic and the others had left he ventured out of the orcs and outlaws sight and had silently entered the forest.

The interior of the forest was far more different than he’d imagined it to be, being a city dweller his entire life he’d pictured forests filled with animals and flying insects, birds in the air and maybe even monkeys. However there was none of that here, no animals to be heard.

It was very majestic, very beautiful, but very dead. As he walked silently he grabbed some golden branches from trees, the branches however did not break on the first pull, but with a good tug the branches came off the trees transforming into the purest golden coins he’d ever seen.

He grinned with pure greed as the sensation of gold touching his skin overcame him, it was the best feeling in the world. Better than a good meal, better than a woman’s touch, each time people said gold couldn’t buy one happiness Mal got pissed off. In his vocabulary, gold and happy were the same word.

He began to stuff the gold in his pockets when he came to a complete and sudden stop. He spotted the silver assassin, he recognized the dual falcata blades as those of Ares the psycho demon from hell. The demon turned and faced him, pulling his mask off with great effort.

As he pried on the mask his skin seemed to pull away with it, Mal stopped what he was doing and felt like running but was paralysed by fear. Suddenly the mask was off, his skin gone from a remarkable silver to a corpse white.

The scar ridden Ares had the most menacing face Mal had ever seen, he pointed at him with his clawed hand, " I recognize you boy, Bane the pain who couldn’t keep his hands out of the cookie jar, its about time I cut your hand off."

His swords back in their places he lifted Mal by the collar, whipping him hard against a golden tree near the moon mask. Upon impact he was covered in a pile of golden coins, as he began to stir back to life Ares said, going for the kill, " Time to die."

Suddenly he sensed the presence of a woman behind him, he turned swiftly swining his swords to decapitate her. She simply dodged his sharp blades, standing behind him once more she tripped him to the ground, keeping him pinned to the ground, " Why does though wish for the prophecy to be broken? Why do you keep your puzzle piece to yourself?"

He hit her with his arm; she jumped back to avoid his attack. Jumping back on his feet with ease he picked up his swords, " Celestria, your not getting it. I’d like to believe there is such a thing a prophecy, I am under oath to serve the Emperor and the Emperor demands I serve Krale. I have had my fun and will put this whole Adonis business to an end."

Celestria looked him in the eyes with pity, " Oh pitiful Ares, how have you come to being reduced to a mere dog following the every whim of thy master. If I had only let nature take its toll, thou still has hope to regain his honour. You and Dominic were always so stubborn, you two mise well have been brothers even if he is so much younger."

Ares ignored the last statement, " Do not think I will hesitate to kill you based on weak feelings of affection I felt once as a mortal. You are no fighter, your a healer Celestria, get out of my way and I’ll be out of your forest before you can say Shraduddle."

Golden strands began covering her arms, looking like her veins popped out they covered her arms with intricate designs of pure gold. The gold strands spread all over her body, her fair skin turning gold. She said more forcibly, " I shall not allow fighting in my kin’s domain, if thou does not wish to turn from your evil ways and depart my forest I shall have no alternative."

" You will have another chance to attempt your mission, you can keep your puzzle piece, but this forest is my family, I would kill for my family, the only things we have in common is past emotions and the demons that reside within us."

Ares knew she was being as honest and open as she could, and considering her current state and the fact that this was her forest, her source of power he knew the odds of beating her were slim to none. But he had to risk it, he had grown in power and would attempt to defeat the anti-war hybrid.

As he charged her, jumping up in the air both swords swinging towards her covering with flames, she fired two golden vines from her index fingers. Small and fragile they appeared to be but as they began to wrap around Ares like a boa constrictor. With strength surpassing that of Ares’ they tied his arms together, swords stabbing into the ground.

He wriggled as they climbed up his arms and began enveloping his entire body; dragging him behind her she walked to meet Dominic and the others, Dominic and Ares, the two mistakes of her life.

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He had sensed the presence of Ares for quite some time now, as well as that of Celestria. Dominic drew his scimitar as did the others except for Tyronis in wait for Ares and his inevitable attack. Suddenly Celestria glowing gold walked out of the trees and unto the path, dragging Ares behind her.

He cursed in anger and humiliation, she said smiling, " Friends, put your weapons away, no fighting will be permitted in the golden forest." Releasing Ares from her hold she returned to her normal state, dressed in a blue robe that caressed her body beautifully, making her pink hair even more lustrous to the eyes.

Ares got to his feet, no longer wearing his mask all his scars were visible. His armour was still on however, he suddenly noticed that Tyronis his brother was standing right there, as alive as ever. " I killed you brother, I seen you die and fall in the grave."

Tyronis chuckled at this, " As I seen you die once, in my arms. Just as you I was in shock and disbelief for you were dying, the curse hadn’t taken effect yet. You died before it did, but when you came back to life the curse continued, and you were not the same, you were an immortal half demon. Your turn to be shocked brother, 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 as one of the wisest inhabitants on the planet. Ares replied, " Then that’s it, the war has already begun? Are heaven and hell already at war?"

Tyronis answered gravely, " They always have been brother, the war wages on an invisible plain that mere mortals and servants such as ourselves cannot perceive 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 his this with your leader if that is what you wish."

Ares knew he had given vital information and with this he might gain enough trust to finally put his plans into action, he bowed in respect to Celestria and began to walk away. As he began to walk by Adonis he stopped and looked him into the eyes mockingly, " Mal the gangster is under a pile of gold coins not far away from here. You might want to help him, and next time we meet I will capture you."

Adonis ran to help Mal, noticing both falcata blades he then noticed a very curious mask laying on the ground. He did not dare put it on his face for it had a bad aura to it, as he tucked it in his belt and began to help Mal, Dominic said to Celestria, " 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 without reaching the annoying wind blowing in your face stage. Her eyes only increased the beauty, rather than red they were pure gold. She smiled lightly, exposing her glistening sharp white teeth, " 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, I understand why you broke your oath and I forgive you." He bowed in respect to Celetria, seeming odd coming from a 9 foot tall orc, but he’d already shown in many ways he was different from all the other orcs.

Adonis could not tolerate it anymore, he was tired of hearing he was an important part of a prophecy and not knowing what it was or his part in it, " What is the prophecy everyone keeps mentioning? I am a part of it and therefore I deserve to know do I not?"

Celestria simply replied, " Thou does not understand the complexity of what you ask. I cannot simply reveal what you seek to you because then it would not happen, the survival of the world as we know it depends on you accomplishing the prophecy, not knowing of it.

This answer was even more confusing that the silence he’d received from Dominic and Kulos, how could he reach the goal if he was not given a track to run. Celestria turned to 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 the feast, for tomorrow we depart the minute the sun begins to rise."

She motioned for Adonis to follow her, leading him to her meditation glade. This place was very strange, everything had been strange for him as of late. Not long ago he’d been aching for a bit of adventure to be injected into his life, now he only wanted to lay it all to rest and return.

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, " 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 the test, " It began as Tyronis told me to cross the swamp using the bamboo poles, but then I had to fight with Dominic, he knocked me in the water and then it all went white, I have no memories until I awoke with Dominic and Tyronis over me."

Celestria nodded, seeming to understand, " It is important to know why you fight. I can teach you all the fighting skills and magic in my repertoire, but just because you can it does not mean that it will help. Of all the lesson I will give you I want this one to be remembered as clearly as possible."

" Never enter a battle based on emotions. Vendettas only lead to death without avail followed by more vendettas and more meaningless deaths. Anger burns itself out, leaving behind a burnt interior. Sadness wears out with time, and love dissipates long before your troubles are over."

Adonis believed he understood but wanted to be certain, " What if my sister was taken, I want to catch Ares and help my sis, but to do that would it not require fighting and magic skills?"

She smiled with comprehension, " If you hunt Ares down fuelled by false excuses to cover up for a hunger for revenge you are just digging your own grave, you will ultimately fail. Even if you were to kill him, you would have let your emotions best you and would no longer be yourself. However, if the purpose of hunting down Ares is to find your sister it is ok, 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 clear glass, exposing all that was inside of him, no secrets. He simply looked away, trying to avoid eye contact, he could not bear her beautifully 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 short time, I might have been a different being if I had let it control me. I might have been like Ares or Dominic, thirsting for violence and learning darker fighting skills."

" It would have been easy, just surrender. But I did not, I fought my demon until it was at my mercy, I control my inner beast, I have the power to bring life as I will teach you, observe."

She placed in the palm of he hand 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 pure heart the name of what you wish to heal and ask it be healed."

" Only the skilled such as myself can cure sickness and grave injuries, you will learn how to heal minor injuries." She cut her wrist with a thorn from the newly healed rose, blood drizzling out of the wound. Adonis was taken aback by this, " Now place your hand over my wound, but before you do clear your mind and body of all. Once that is done, simply think of healy my cut and it shall be done."

Adonis could not think of anything but evil, he was in evil’s grasp, it manipulated his life at every turn. His sister turning psycho, Ares killing everything he loved, this prophecy he did not know about but yet was the key to its successfulness. Sensing this Celestria healed her own wound.

Looking him into the eyes she said, " It is easy to injure or take a life, even a rose can injure. It is a simple task of doing what even animals can do. Giving life is a different matter, to heal wounds I must not only use magic but I must cleanse myself, which can be difficult even for me."

" 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 death spell. When you finally have your rival in your grasp, your fingers around his neck, whether you choose to extinguish his life or spare him shapes who you are in the days to come. Do not worry young mortal, 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, sadness swelling up in tears in her golden eyes. One single pearly tear came down her face, " 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, we were engaged in battle when he was stricken down."

" I healed him; he was no longer the friend I had know since he was an infant or the man I’d grown to love, he was a monster. He was consumed by the curse, under normal circumstances the curse would kill him with time, that is the nature of it, to drive one to suicide. However Ares is already dead, and he will never be able to die no matter what happens to him. 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 seemed to go into circles and 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 surroudings.

She said, " This is the citadel of 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, " Listen pretty lady, I couldn’t tell me best pal Billy Joe how to get here if he gave me a worldwide map and had a bloody blade at my throat." They all swore to the oath so Celestria led them to the gates.

The door was magnificent, on the doors 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, " Why have you done this Celestria? Why have you brought strangers upon this sacred place Celestria? Why an orc, creation of Melkor himself and dark elf of all strangers in the world Celestria!?"

This elf was high tempered, Adonis presumed it was a common trait in all male sexes of all races to be quick to anger and stubborn, that was a relief. Celestria answered calmly, " They are not strangers Aldon, they are far more important than you Aldon, Kulos is a mighty warrior who had been my ally for a long time and I trust him more than I trust you Aldon. You know Dominic as well as I do Aldon, he has proven his loyalty to all our Kings and Queens we’ve had and even saved your life Aldon, and lastly, Melkor is a myth."

He sneered at her, " What of the humans, what possible reason can you have at bringing their stupid minds here. We’ve seen how corrupt they are, they are the ones that let the darkness spread, the darkness from..."

She answered his doubts with ease, " Stop living based on a myth from ancient times, these three humans have great importance, this name might ring a bell in your gossiping ears, Adonis. And Tyronis the potent demigod is a high-ranking member of 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 better, open the gate."

He looked like he was going to throw a rage, one of those moments where his father would nearly hit his mother and then stop and say, " I need a beer" and walk off drinking away his miseries. Aldon however, ordered for the gates to be opened. As the giant doors swung began to swing open, Adonis could only imagine how beautiful it would be.

However, seeing it he realised it was different than he’d expected it to be, a perfect co- existence of metals and vegetation. Giant pillars of ruby and wood twirling in a tornado like manner around the buildings of sapphire.

Trees of red and yellow that stood as tall as the buildings bore fruits that looked like emeralds and diamonds, Mal smiled to himself and said, " I guess my ma was right after all, there is such a thing as heaven."

Elves walked solemnly in the streets of diamond, none moved their mouths and yet it was evident in their eyes full of life and wisdom they were conversing. They knew exactly what they wanted, there was a small market place but no one talked, an elf arrived and the other elf handed him the fruits and they parted ways.

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 two hundred feet tall, unlike the rest of the citadel it was made entirely out of wood. Five giant spiralling trees used as towers. Carved from the inside and enchanted to be as endurable as metal.

The castle was the most natural thing any of them had ever seen, besides Dominic who’d been living amongst the swamp elves. Celestria smiled and replied to Dominic’s thoughts, " Aye, but the swamps aren’t so nice are they? Soon we shall enjoy a feast fit for a King, and then tomorrow we shall leave this place of peace and harmony and face the world once more, and save it once more."