The Verse of Estoria

Chapter 8

         Drake’s leaps over a gusty hand swipe and lands on his feet. The titan swings its hand again, and Drake repeats the maneuver as he keeps his eye on the golem’s body to read its movement’s.

         It may be bigger and stronger; Drake thinks to himself as he effortlessly vaults over another swing. But it moves just like the rest of them.

         Then the creature slams one of his large feet on the ground causing a tremor.

         Whoa!!!

         Drake staggers, and his eyes widen in shock. The golem seizes the opportunity and swings its fist towards Drake. However, Drake dives backward to avoid the fist that swoops over his body. The gusting wind brushes over his body as the swing just barely misses him by inches. Drake falls on the gravel and rolls to his feet to assume his stance.

         Ok. He says to himself. As he grips both of his hands on the black hilt of his sword. This one is smarter the others.

         Crunching glass and wood with each stomp, the onyx stoned golem run towards Drake.

         “I guess now is a better time to use it,” Drake says as he writes HEATSWELL in the air.

         His muscles tighten and bulge as they burn with searing heat, His eyes burst into red flames and white smoke ebb from his exposed skin.

         Drake bends his knees and sprints towards the golem stomping towards him. The golem jumps into the air for an earthshaking slam.

         “That’s Not going to work again!” Drake says as he leaps towards the airborne golem, swings, and slices off one of its legs.

         Drake lands on his feet and sprints to avoid the tumbling titan. The ground shakes as the golem falls on its back. He slides to a halt, runs towards the golem and jumps into the air. He aims for the onyx stone as he thrusts his sword downward for a finishing blow. However, the tip of his blade brushes the smooth black crystal instead of damaging it.

         "What!?" Drake says as he eyes the rock.

         Then the golem swings his rocky hand, sends Drake tumbling on the ground and slides to a stop.

         Ignoring the pain, Drake slowly pushes off the ground and stands to his feet. Holding his sword, his glowing eyes witness the severed limb crumble to little rocks and reassemble back to its original location. The golem slams its hands on the ground, rose to its feet, and looks down at Drake.

         Well, that’s new. Drake ponders. Not only is it smarter, but it can repair itself and has a near-impenetrable jewel on its face.

         Drake takes his sword stance, sucks in the burnt smelling air around him through his nose and releases it through his mouth.

         Alright. He thinks. Let’s try hitting it harder.

         With dirt trailing from his boots, Drake sprints towards his foe. The golem ball both of its hands into a unified fist over its head and bashes the earth. Drake dodges, the impact causes a rumbling crack to appear on the stone ground. Drake lands on his feet charges again and cuts off the titan’s arm with an upward vertical swing.

         The arm slams onto the ground as drake lands beside it and charges forward. He cuts off both legs as he sprints between them and the golem falls on its face in a rumbling bang. Twirling his sword, Drake runs straight for the golems head as it uses its one remaining limb to roll on its back.

         The golem turns its pointed head at Drake, and the warrior lunges forward for a sword thrust. The sharp crystal blade clanks again against the hard onyx stone in the golem’s face with more ferocity than the last. Clenching his ivory teeth, Drake’s wrists burn, and his boots scrape against the gravel as tries to penetrate the hard jewel. White sparks eject from the tip of Drake’s sword as he scratches the onyx stone’s smooth surface.

         Then, Drake tilts his head up, notices the shade from the golems heavy hand hovering over him and immediately backflips away. With a light tremor, the stone limb smashes the ground in a plume of white dust.

         Huffing, and wheezing from the inhaling dust, Drake wiggles and squeezes his palm from the stress. Sweat pours down his face but soon sizzles into white smoke as it trickles down Drake’s hot skin.

         That jewel is nearly impossible to break. He reasons, How am I supposed to fight it?

Then the golem disintegrates into the sand with the pentagon-shaped onyx stone floating in mid-air.
Drake’s burning eyes widen in shock.

         "What’s happening?" He says aloud in bewilderment.

         Suddenly, the sands start hissing as the mound shifts and spirals around the jewel in a ball of dirt. Then the sand forms into a saber-tooth tiger with the onyx stone at the back of its gaping mouth. With no eyes, nose or ears, the shapely tiger shakes its head as streams of sand precipitate to the ground. However, its abrasive claws, as well as its sharp fangs, harden into solid, sharp rocks.

         "Oh no!"

         The creature starts galloping towards Drake. A moop invades Drake’s ears as he dives away from the fast-moving sand cat. A wind-gust tickles the hairs on the back of the young man’s neck as the large cat zooms past him. He pushes from the ground and sees the predator’s stone paws grind against the gravel as it spins around for another charge.

         “Prepare to activate the INCINERATE verse Drake,” Fane says.

         “I don’t think it’s going to work Fane!” Drake shouts as the ground shakes from the approaching Titan.

         “Just do what I say,” Fane replies. “Keep your eyes on the titan as you write the verse; otherwise, you’ll hit the wrong target.”

         The abrasive cat swings its paw. Drake dodges the attack and slides to a halt. He writes INCINERATE in orange burning letters making sure to keep his eyes on the giant creature. Then the beast erupts in orange flames. Smoldering hot sulfur fills Drake’s nose as the fire take the shape of the cat. Seemingly unaffected, the cat starts galloping towards Drake.

         “I told you it wasn’t going to work!” Drake shouts.

         “BLASTVOLLEY Now!!” Fane shouts.

         Drake writes the verse, and burning letters erupt into many sword-sized fire arrows that shoot up into the sky and falls straight towards the charging beast. Numerous earsplitting explosions occur as dozens of arrows collide with the titan causing the burning creature to be fully enveloped in a mound of orange flames.

         The creature disappears in the orange light as the sizzling heat melt shards of glass and turning wooden debris black. Drake holds his hand over his face from the blinding light as he squints his eyes to make out what was inside the inferno.

         When The inferno disappears, a statue of glass, with scorching white smoke rising from its body, remains frozen in place. The onyx stone shines in the saber tooth’s gaping mouth as small cracks form through the statue.

         “Wow!” Drake smiles as he stares at his handy work. His eyes return to normal, and the burning sensation in his body ceases.

         “Quick,” Fane says. “Take the onyx stone out before anything else happens.”

         Drake approaches the glass statue, and with the tip of his sword, he pries out the octagon jewel from its gaping mouth. Drake catches the smooth stone and carefully observes its glistening glory. A crack interrupts Drakes curious observation, and he steps away from the glass statue. Multiple lines appear on the body of the statue as chips of burnt sand fall from it. Soon the saber tooth tiger shatters like ceramic glass in a pile of shards.

         “Drake” fane says. “Look at the onyx stone.”

         Drake looks at the onyx stone, and he feels the vibrations emanating from it. After observing it for a few moments, the verse ANIMATE appears in white shining letters appear on the face of the onyx stone.

         “What’s this?” Drake asks.

         “Trace it with your finger,” Fane says. “I will tell you later.”

         Then Drake runs his fingers along the flat smooth surface of the onyx jewel. A feeling of nostalgia overtakes him as he traces the verse. Once he finishes, the verse shines bright and soon disappears from the onyx stone, and the rock shatters into tiny sparkling shards that fell to the gravel.

         Drake raises his head as his chest expands from inhaling the burnt air around him and releases his breath in relief while running his hand over his coarse head. He looks around and spots all of the remaining smaller golems stand dormant and still throughout the city.

         Drake’s vision blurs as he blinks his eyes and holds his light head to combat the extreme exhaustion. Just as Drake was about to pass out, Kevin runs up beside him carrying a white bag over his shoulders.

         "Hey, Drake you ok?" He says looking into Drake’s dazed eyes.

         Kevin plops the bag on the ground, removes a goat pouch of water from around his waist, twists the cork off the top and hands the substance to Drake.

         "Here drink." Kevin says as he helps raises the water to Drake’s mouth.

         Clear streams of water trickle down Drake’s flushed cheeks as he gulps down the liquid cooling his body. Drake’s consciousness returns as he squeezes the remaining water into his mouth. Drake gasps and leans forward on his knees to catch his breath.

         “Thanks,” Drake says as he holds out the empty goat pouch to Kevin.

         “No problem,” Kevin says as he takes the pouch from him.

         “Ughh! Why do I feel so weak? Drake says as he falls on his knees.

         “Using three verses at one time can be grueling to anyone new to using them,” Kevin says. “Especially if the verses are powerful. Think of it like exercising. Hard when you first start, but you get stronger with each use. Eventually, you’ll be able to use as many verses you want.”

         “Right.” Drake sighs.

         Drake looks ahead and spots Celta struggling to remove a big wooden board from a pile of rubble. Her injured arm prevents her from making real progress, but she continues her labor. Drake stands to his feet and starts walking towards the princess with Kevin following behind him.

         “Move,” Drake says as he gently pushes Celta away from the rubble.

         He removes rubble and large flat stones from the pile while Kevin moves the wooden debris from the collection. Bricks clump onto the ground while wood plops onto piling debris behind the two men and soon they see an arm sticking out from under a large slab of concrete. Drake grabs the black vambrace and pulls as Kevin shoves the barring stones off her arm.

         After a solid pull, Tyranese emerges from the debris covered in dust and glass. Her head slumps down as Drake hugs her to pull her legs from underneath the rubble. He smells wine coming from her mouth as he lays her unconscious body down on the gravel.

         Drake signals Kevin to help the broken princess and Kevin squats down to observe her body.
She’s fine. Kevin says placing his hand on the woman’s cheek. But you have to patch her up I don’t have the supplies here.

         Celta nods her head as she drops to her armored knees and writes BEAM in white shining letters with her working hand in front of her.

         “Remember what we talked about earlier,” Drake says as he backs away from the two women.

         “Thank you,” Celta says as her body shines bright white along with Tyranese’s body. The light turns into an orb that ascends into the air and disappears.

         “And there they go. Well, we should leave too.” Kevin says looking at Drake. “Ryzor is not going to be happy that his capital is nearly destroyed.”

         However, Drake notices smoke rising out from a fissure the Golem created earlier. Curious, he stands up and starts walking towards opening in the ground.

         “Hey!” Kevin says following behind. “Didn’t you hear what I just said? The king is going to show up soon!”

         However, Drake’s ignores his partner and stoops to observe the fissure.

         “There’s an opening down there,” Drake says while hunching over the black expanse. “Do you have a rope or something?”

         I’m sure there’s some rope around. Kevin sighs. Wait here I’ll look.

###

         Ryzor sits in a wooden throne amidst the many Dalmecian soldiers collecting the fallen. He sits, sips from his chalice and stares into the distance. The gray clouds nor the aroma of blood hindered the sweet taste of the wine on his lips as he savored his victory.

         “Vassal.” He says looking at all the corpses on the ground.

         Then a soldier wearing a long black cape marches up beside the king.

         “Your Highness?” The man salutes.

         “Have all of your men gather the tails of these Alterneans.” Ryzor says, “I’ll have the cooks prepare them for our ranks.”

         “Yes, my lord!” The man says in a boisterous tone before he marches away.

         “King Ryzor!” A voice calls out from behind the armored king.

         Darkall walks beside the king and kneels before him with his hand gently caressing his black tunic.

         “I bring troubling news.” He says.

         Ryzor stares at Darkall as he rests his arm on the throne.

         “What is it?” Ryzor asks.

         “The Alterneans managed to surpass our defenses at belle city,” Darkall says. “The capital lies in ruins.”

         Ryzor angrily hurls the chalice onto the ground, spills its deep red contents, stands to his feet and walks away.

         “GET MY HORSE!” He shouts as Dalmecian soldiers quickly step away from the angry king.

         “DISSANDRA! ORDENIA!” He calls out again. “To your steeds. We’re leaving.”

         Ryzor’s horse whines as Dalmecian soldiers pull its reins. Ryzor climbs onto the steed and grabs the brown leather straps.

         “Darkall.” Ryzor orders. Clean everything up here and return my army to the castle.

         “Yes, your Highness,” Darkall says.

         The twins accompany the king on their horses with bewildering looks on their faces.
Let’s go. Ryzor says as he kicks his horse. Then all of the horses gallop away from the camp with hooves beating the dirt.

###

         Drake’s hands clench the ropes as he dangles and sways inside the dark opening. The Dark expanse was quiet as Drake carefully lowers himself down. Light from the opening did little to illuminate the room as the sun was blanketed by grey clouds. Drake's arms tremble and he breaths in the stale air. Tickling sweat pours down his temples as he looks down trying to see any ground beneath.

         The tension on the rope tightens as Kevin begins his descent down into the opening.

         “Hey, Kevin!” Drake calls out looking up as his voice echoes in the seemingly empty chamber. “Isn’t there any more rope?”

         “No,” Kevin replies. “I gathered as many ropes I could. Most of the supplies have been destroyed you know.”

         “Well, I’m out of rope down here,” Drake says.

         Kevin looks down at Drake as he holds on to the swaying line.

         “Then your gonna have to just let go of the rope.” He says.

         “Let go!?” Drake protests. “Are you nuts? I can’t even see the bottom.”

         “Well, you wanted to check this place out,” Kevin argues. “You’re just going to have to take the fall. Or do you want to go back?”

         Drake sighs as he shakes his head. Contemplating, he looks down while he stretches his foot and moves it around to see if he could touch bottom.

         “I’m sure it's ok,” Kevin says. “I can’t be that deep.”

         “Yeah, I’m sure it isn’t,” Drake says in a sarcastic tone.

         “Look!” Kevin fusses. “Do you want to go or not? My arms are getting tired.”

         “Alright, Alright!” Drake says.

         His heart starts to pound as he prepares himself for the drop. Drops of sweat fall from the tip of his nose as he huffs and puffs in preparation. He releases the rope and falls a few meters down slamming on his back in a loud gong.

         “Arghh!” Drake grunts as pain shoot through his back and head.

         “You ok?” Kevin shouts from above.

         "Yeah!” Drake says in an angry tone. “Just fine.”

         “It’s just the small drop.” Drake lies to punish Kevin for talking him into letting go of the rope.

         “Ok,” Kevin replies.

         Drakes boots clank against the metal surface looking around for any source of light. A loud gong echoes through the chamber as Kevin takes his plunge.

         “Oww!” Kevin screams as Drake looks around the dark chamber.

         “It’s too Dark in here.” Drake says “Is there a torch or something?”

         Then Kevin lights a torch behind Drake as he walks up beside him. The crackling noise of the torch echoes through the chamber as the orange light reveals a flat object that looked like a rectangular sign sitting on metal poles.

         They walk past the blank metal sign, and they arrive at a dusty terminal with gauges and buttons.

         “What is this place?” Drake asks.

         He rubs his finger across the grainy terminal and looks up trying to make out a strange object in front of him.

         Acting on curiosity, Kevin pushes a circular cobweb button, and a creak sounds at the center of the terminal. The two look and see a small metal slab slides open revealing a rectangular hole resembling the opening of a sheath. Both of them look at each other with worried looks on their faces amidst the orange light of the torch.

         “What’s it for?” Kevin asks.

         Noticing something beneath the rectangular hole, Drake takes the torch from Kevin and moves it where he can see the words.

         The one who summons the key.

         “What does it mean?” Kevin asks.

         After Drake observes the rectangular opening, he hands the torch to Kevin.

         “Hold this,” Drake says as he steps back.

         He writes FANE in the air and summons his sword with burning embers lighting the room faintly.

         Afterward, he steps up to the terminal and observes the opening and his sword. He places his left hand onto the base of the panel and drives his sword into the rectangular hole acting as a sheath.

         Then a humming noise sounds as lights start flickering around the room. Colorful buttons and beeps flash across the terminal in a graceful yet old display of advanced technology. With the room now well lit, Kevin and Drake see a large dome-shaped chamber with a large screen sitting above. Due to it being underground, the walls were mixed with stone and clay with burning orbs sitting on a metallic dome-shaped scaffold that prevents the room from imploding.

         Drake looks at the dust terminal that sat along the wall in a half circle with many flashing buttons that he couldn’t comprehend.

         Then a feminine robot voice sounds throughout the chamber.

         “Substation 2 activated.” It says. “Please write the password on the verse board.”

         “Verse board?” Drake says looking up at the terminal.

         “I think she means this,” Kevin says pointing at the flat metal board resembling a sign.

         Drake walks up to the black metal board and places his hand on the cold, smooth surface. A shining white blip appears on the board on Drake’s index finger. Drake then runs his finger on the smooth surface tracing a sparkling white line on the flat surface.

         “Incorrect password.” The terminal speaks. “Please insert correct password.”

         Drake removes his finger from the surface and looks at Kevin.

         “I don’t know,” he says shrugging. “Try entering a verse or something.”

         “Fane,” Drake calls out. “Do you know what this is?”

         However, Fane didn’t answer.

         “No answer,” Drake says as he shakes his head.

         Drake stares at the board for a few moments before he remembers something.

         “Griselda used to visit this place a lot.” Darkall’s words voices in Drake’s memory.

         Drake then writes GRISELDA onto the metal board appearing in shining white letters.

         “Password accepted.” The terminal says. “Welcome Griselda, Keeper of Salatia.”

         “Keeper?” Drake asks confused.

         “Bringing land model onscreen.” The terminal says.

         Then a map appears on the large monitor sitting above with red blinking dots all over it.

         “Status critical.” The robotic woman says. “Main hub offline. Please restore power to the central hub.”

         Drake looks at the monitor with a confused and troubled look on his face.

         “Main hub? Restore Power? What is this… thing talking about?” He asks.

         “Where’s the central hub?” Kevin asks.

         “Located northwest in the Forest of Angels.” The terminal answers.

         Seeing that it answered Kevin, Drake asks...

         “What is this place? And what’s a keeper?”

         “This is substation 2 a facility that monitors the state of affairs over Salatia and provides information to the Keeper.” It says. “The Keeper is charged with maintaining Salatia’s stability with the information provided.”

         Drake is silent on hearing these words.

         “Why hasn’t grandma told me about this place?” He ponders. “What’s with this Keepers business?”

         “When was the last time she was here?” Drake asks.

         “Twenty-five years ago.” The robotic voice said.

         “Twenty-five years?” Drake asked.

         “That’s around the time the famine started,” Kevin said as he walks up beside Drake. “Tell us where the central hub is.”

         “Printing map.” The terminal responds. Then out pops a paper from an opening on the other side of the terminal where Kevin saunters up and takes out of the feeding hole. He holds up the white scroll and Kevin can see the copy of the map on the large sheet.

         “Warning! Power reserves running low.” The robotic voice says. “Will power off shortly.”

         “C’mon,” Kevin says as he rolls up the scroll and shoves it into his blue cloak. “We need to get out of here before Ryzor shows up.”

         “Right,” Drake says distracted by the large red lights blinking on the monitor.

         He walks towards the terminal and pulls out the sword, and the glowing orbs begin to dim. Kevin tests the tension in the rope and starts his ascent towards the exit drake soon follows with a puzzled and disturbed look on his face.