The Stone of Valshar: Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

THE DEPARTURE

‘Run, my child. Run!’ the voice of Wind Spirit beside him, ‘before he catches you.’ Her voice was always echoing through the wood, but not this time. She kept it only to Drylem, feared that the enemy might know their plan to run.

The wood of O’am and the living creatures were oddly still. They made no sound, as if knowing the seriousness of the matter. Wind Spirit was panicked, for now she must guide one of her creation through the danger he encountered. She never thought that the daily training of her children would expose them to the danger of Aran’gu. At first she thought the reckless she had felt before was only telling her the beginning of winter, albeit it was very curious that the winter should come before the final semi-quarter of the year. Only when the power of Mir’Valshar had called upon her to rescue it from the treacherous one that she understood it had been stolen from the sacred pillar.

Mir’Valshar was the stone that guarded the Sun, the element that put everything at the beginning. The sun was one of the most important elements as it can give energy to Aña and replenish it by letting the offspring grow at their own pace. Now that the stone was not at its proper place, the every growing on Aña had put to a stop. No one could allow this to happen. But since it was inevitable, the only way is to put it back to where it belongs, or to Goa’rhisha, the Hall of Fame.

Their journey was so sudden that Drylem walked bare footed and with no nutriments to accompany him. Drylem did truly nothing but to obey Wind Spirit, even though his muscles were aching. It had been three days and nights of running. He did not sigh or cry, or even stop when he stepped on thorns. The footsteps behind him were heard getting nearer by the passing minutes, but he never knew if it was Aran’gu. Danger had come as soon as he accidentally picked up Mir’Valshar.

The thousands of questions must be put aside until he arrived at the foot of Mount Herpdon. And yet he was not sure if Wind Spirit would tell him everything, or if he could endure the truth if he were to be told. His journey was concealed by Wind Spirit, but for how long or how successful it could be, he could only guess. They never knew when the White Master would track them down through O’am.

Drylem began to feel dizzy. His body perspired too much, the nutriment he had taken three days before had gone nearly to its limit. Drigesh had run out of strength. At last, he saw the great mountain before him. The grey and white stones stood vertically majestic like no other. Drylem wondered what would be the next step. Should they climb up to the top, or lay under the shady tree? The mountain had no entrance of whatsoever, but rocks pilling up until the top. Before he could spare more thoughts, a hole no bigger than the size of his body appeared under his feet and he fell into it. He felt his body falling, so long that he lost count of time. All this came to a halt and the blue shimmering caught his eyes, and besides the blue shimmering stood a lady, tall and beautiful.

What shone like the heaven stars was her silver hair; it bore the light that guided the lost creatures of the sea. Her green robe was made by the essence of the sea; soft as the wind, smooth as the water. The most conspicuous was the sign of her forehead, the mark of the Sun. Drigesh, the Great Whale, was her name. Her appearance at this place was not expected, yet Wind Spirit was more than relieved when she saw her standing there.

‘You’ve done well, Drylem.’ Said Drigesh, yet her voice were enough to tell that the concern for the danger of the three companies was her main morose. ‘Rest now, as we will depart from here in two days’ time. The stone you possess must not be in such place so vulnerable to the attack of the White Master.’

‘Why does Aran’gu want the Mir’Valshar? Is he not the guardian of Mir’Eranda?’ Drylem asked and wished to make the question answered.

‘My child, it is not yet the time for me to tell you, this is a vulnerable place.’ She looked at him maternally, placing her hands on his shoulder. Drylem tried to ask another question, but was made quiet. ‘The stillness of O’am had given you the knowledge of the presence of the enemy’s ally everywhere. It is not wise to speak when you see not the foes in hidings. Your journey was concealed, but it will not withstand the power of the dark side, for it is getting stronger. The foul beings went out to help him find the stone; and would be back by the second day of our departure. Nevertheless, we must travel at dawn, as it is the sleeping time for all the creatures.’ She said.

With this, Drylem asked no more. He led himself to sit by the shimmering blue light, which was the reflection from the pool inside the cave. The light was so mild and resembled the polar light. As though it possessed the power to make people sleep, Drylem was getting drowsier every time he looked at it. His eyes were getting heavier by every passing minute and he dropped into a deep sleep not long after.

‘My dear sister, I am glad that you are here.’ exclaimed Wind Spirit, ‘All thoughts have escaped me when I saw the seriousness of this matter. I did not know what endeavour to take but run to this mountain.’

‘Yi’ema, I had foreseen this in the most peculiar way. Your presence at Mount Herpdon is one of my expecting. But another person will be in our companionship during our journey to safety.’

‘Had such contact been made?’ Yi’ema asked with the most interest, ‘You said that we will depart on two morrows, have you not consider the likelihood of his late arrival?’

‘No, and time will prove that the departure day is right.’

* * *

Two days came and went, yet the second concern of Wind Spirit came into view. She heard the threats to the nearby woods were getting nearer. Thus, she set foot upon O’am, the Wood of Beginning, to form a shield to protect it from the advancing evil that loomed the night. The power of the moon had been corrupted since the first day those creatures were born. Now that the wood was no longer safe, Wind Spirit thought that she must aid Wood Spirit to gather the essence of the forest before it was sucked by the evil and upturned its power.

There were foul creatures born at the outskirt of O’am, yet under the aegis of Wind Spirit, Wood Spirit began to move away the beings in the wood, but some insisted to stay and help. Wood Spirit knew that he would regret his decision by turning his back from the wood he loved most. But if he never leaved the wood, there would be nothing left for him to save in the end. Ever since the dawn of havoc, the wood had confronted numerous of minor attacks. It was only soon that a bigger problem would disembark.

O’am was the first part of the world that the Spirits had set their foot. Before this, it was only a bare land with no sign of living. Thus the Spirits worked hard on giving the first lives to the land. One thousand and ninety six years and seven days and nights have they taken to harvest their first ever creation.

Aña, Mother Earth was the name given by the human to the Earth, but they knew not that it was O’am that bore them, and the name was first given by the Noturiaz to this beloved land. Above all truths, the Dalas were born from this very wood, and by true means, they should protect the wood until their last breath. But no, they could not do this. The power of the Noturiaz were not strong enough, even to undo the damage that befallen the woods. They could do nothing but stood aside and observed the war between the wise.

Even though the forest was almost as old as the last Spirit to arrive the earth, Wood Spirit, its vulnerability to the danger of the rising dark power was still clear. For the wood were only given the power to grow and bear seeds. The creatures that had their first touch on the forest would be given the ability to give birth to their offspring. Such ability was the reason the foul creatures tried to penetrate themselves into the forest, for they did not have such ability. The desperation to bring new young to the world was a burden as the work was rigid. Wood Spirit had to take away the lives from the trees, for the trees bore the essence of giving birth. Taking away the lives of the trees would ensure that the foul creatures were unable to produce their own offspring but it also took away the lives of the trees.

On the day of his departing, Wood Spirit had collected all the seeds from O’am, so that he might renew the land some day. The seeds were put inside the acorn on top of the staff that he carried. It was made from oak tree and the acorn on its top was of violet crystal. Now, the staff represented the power the forest once cherished. The woods waved their leaves when blew by the wind, as though said their last goodbye to Wood Spirit, who had, and would ensured their longevity.

Wood Spirit left with a thousand tears shed and a million regrets beset. The forest had been under his care for more than millions of years. Through all the years, he saw them grew leaf by leaf, twig by twig, to become the great O’am the Sprits cherished. He left the wood with difficulties, for his heart had encrusted within the wood. The destruction of the woods means cutting his heart into slices.

Before his departure, Wind Spirit had com to see him, and asked him to delay his journey and go alongside with them. But Wood Spirit insisted to travel alone. The reason he gave was that it would be less conspicuous if he travelled alone. For half the century he had done so and no harm had come upon his was. Wind Spirit said nothing in the end but asked him to be careful. She thought that the changes of the circumstances had made her brother fragile against all the attacks, the deadly one in particular.

By the night of his departing, the wood had begun to die. The protection that was given to them had been lifted by Wind Spirit. Hence, thousands of creatures could be seen leaving O’am and took refuge at the nearby forest, some even flew away to the far north. But the clever ones had come to the Mount of Herpdon and sought advice from Wind Spirit of their new breeding grown. Drigesh had told them to go to Queldur, the Land of the Death.

‘But my sister, we all know that Queldur is not a good breeding ground for these animals, I –’

‘No, sister. It is a perfect breeding place,’ commended Drigesh definitely, ‘The ground had changed for centuries; none had entered its province. Thus it is common no one knows its true condition.’

With these assurances, the creatures departed towards Queldur, though they all were half convinced by Drigesh’s words.

Soon, it was about the time for the company of the three to depart, and yet the person that Drigesh was supposed to wait for had not arrived. With this, Wind Spirit began to worry. Many times had she asked Drigesh of the whereabouts of the fourth companion, and the only answer Drigesh could give her was to be patient.

It was during midnight when the fourth person arrived, but was in her worst condition. There were screaming and shouting in the wood. The bird flew up to the mountain, but pursued behind her was another creature. With eyes of cats, face of owl and body if bats, the creature sputtered her with acid saliva and tossed her onto the mountain with a forceful strength. The crash was shaking the whole mountain. The creature had attacked the bird along its way to Mount Herpdon.

The bird had transformed into a girl. Unable to fight back, she was falling with rapid speed. Yet she clutched something with the only strength that she still had, until her hand turned white and no blood was visible. The attacker kept coming, sinking its weapon into her body, making more injures to her. Her consciousness had left her by the time her body thumped the ground. The only thing she remembered was being held by someone with white dress, which happened to be Wind Spirit. Wind Spirit brought her into the mountain, asking Drigesh what to do. From the wound on her body, the girl seemed to have no life left in her. Her face was as white as snow, which made Wind Spirit felt even worse, but she left the thought unknown.

Drylem saw what a handsome face she had, and was mesmerised. Not realised that she was in peril danger, he edged close. From his first sight, he knew that she was the same kind as he is. But her hair was not red but purple in colour. Never had he seen another kind of his bore different hair colour.

Drigesh felt the hastiness of bringing the girl back to her consciousness, as her life was slipping off toward the edge of death within every passing minute. Wasted no time, she took out the potion that she managed to bring from her storage and prepared the required remedy. Drylem observed with amazement when the potion of green and white and yellow was mixed to give a colour of pink with the smell of purple flower, the Lavender. Afterwards, Drigesh allowed the remedy trickled down the girl’s throat and let the magic within the soul put to work.

The girl soon revived, but not from her shock. She screamed and struggled to loosen herself from the touch of Drigesh and Wind Spirit. She woke up and leaned on the wall, thought that she was captured. Never had she seen a creature differ from herself, let alone the man stood behind the green robed lady.

‘Who are you?’ she asked with trembling voice, ‘what is it that you want with me?’

‘My child, I am Yi’ema, the Wind Spirit,’ answered Wind Spirit, ‘and these are my companion. We are here to your aid.’

Remember the ancient question that Wind Spirit had set for them, the question that would identify Wind Spirit, she asked again, ‘What is the Nightlife Draught?’

‘I can see that Irah had taught you well,’ smiled Wind Spirit, ‘being alert is the crucial behaviour you should have to protect the –’

‘Answer me, NOW!’

‘Relax, my child.’ Taken aback by the girl’s behaviour, Wind Spirit wasted no more time and answered the question, ‘The answer to your question is what you clasp so tight in your hand.’

‘Irah! I found her,’ the girl collapse to the ground and began to sob.

* * *

After bidding goodbye to Wind Spirit, Wood Spirit took a last look on O’am and began his journey toward north, to Quelfah’ra, the Land of Glory.

Quelfah’ra was not alike its past, full with plants and animals. Quel’shira, the Land of Moonlight was its actual name, for the land was full of lives back then. All the animals would come out during night and savoured the moonlight, no matter if it was full or crescent. It looked as if the moon was giving its power to them. Thus the name was given.

The Di’en Rashna once lived here. It was them who did husbandry and yielded the food on this land. Though they lived harmoniously, they were not taught how to revamp the soil of the land. Therefore the land started to die and slowly turned into rock and sand. For sure, the animals moved away, not wishing to die in such land, but some died during their journey to a greener land, some were caught to become the food of the Di’en Rashna. For seventeen years the Di’en Rashna lived with little food, soon after, no one knows what had happened to them. Since they were a mystery, many myths about them were created. Some said they all died or moved away. Some even said they were locked in Goa’dur, the Hall of Death, for being egoistical and denying the knowledge from the Spirits to supervise the land.

Now, the land was no longer full with life. It was such a dead land that no creatures could penetrate its ground, not even the plants called Carc, the Thorns, which had the strongest root. No creatures would have survived the terrible condition of the land. No water, no air. The land was more than a dead courtyard when eyes befallen upon it. Thus the land was bald with sand, shining with different gems. The land was given the name Quelfah’ra was merely to remember its glory in the past. It would be a painful joke to bring the seeds of O’am forest to that land and crave for new life. Yes, but they knew not the about the secret, the secret that Wood Spirit alone knew and kept to himself from the world, the evil in particular…

Out of the forest, Wood Spirit saw as though enchanted scenery spread before his eyes. His first step on the moor was welcomed by the arising red sun and the velvety blue sky. Being sad nonetheless, he still felt astonished by the beautiful scenery. He stood still and felt the soft breeze tickled his face. His white hair and beard were lustrous yellow under the sun. Walking across the moor, he felt the wild flowers embracing him, wreathed by the sudden snow which came so soon. His weakening body moved slowly, with his eyes still glancing at the sun.

‘What evil would take away the beauty on the sky, the power to give food to the creatures of the world?’ he murmured. Tears ran down his cheek and disappeared under his beard. He never knew any great dark power that would be potent enough to surmount such pure element, so powerful that it shaken the earth, seared it with pain. But he knew the eyes of the enemy were watching, and he is wide awake. Indeed the enemy had not slept since a month ago, lurking behind the darkness. Spare not contemplation, he thought, I need to deliver these seedlings to safety. My duty should not be altered by fractured emotions.

Wood Spirit walked with slow motion, his eyes fully alert of what would come. Across the moor was Orjazdu, the Forest of Danger ahead, but between the moor and the forest was this great Mijazdu, the lake of Danger. Wood Spirit had to cross this lake, but not swim, or the seedlings would germinate under a bad stipulation and died before reaching Quelfah’ra. Without any clues, Wood Spirit sat on the edge of the lake and thought hard. He could not think of any safe ways to cross the lake unnoticed. There are various options that he could think of, but there are flaws in every option. The imperfectness would lead him toward fatal engagement.

He began to regret walking his course alone. He thought no danger could come after him. He was wrong. He had just stepped into a dilemma which both would make him vulnerable to danger from all sides and exposed his position to the enemy.

He remembered fooling Inca once. When he was still so young and immature, he had fooled Inca with a small trick. Maybe he could use the same trick to fool the enemy, making him unnoticed. Yes, the enemy would not notice, he thought. It would only look like a normal Noturian magic.

Wood Spirit cast a green light, which engorged steadily and shattered into thousand pieces. The thousand lights encircling Wood Spirit and began to engulf him. Within a few seconds, there was only a dim yellow light exist. It was not conspicuous with the sun fully erect above the horizon. The magic ended when a yellow winged dragonfly was formed.

The dragonfly flew across the lake with the speed fast enough to race the wind. For a moment, it thought that it was safe from danger. But on the contrary, it was chased by another dragonfly of its kind. The dragonfly now thought that itself was so foolish, neglecting the fact that it was mating season. Therefore, surely the female dragonfly would hunt for its mating partner. Once the mating process was done, the male would be killed.

The pursuit continued and intensified. The distance between the dragonflies was decreasing. The dragonfly flapped its wings even more vigorous, as it knew the transformation would reverse itself once it reached the shore. The female dragonfly almost reached it, threateningly flexing its legs. Many times the female was about to catch it, but it swayed and dodged away to avoid being capture. This journey was too dangerous for it to travel alone, and it had used up all its strength to fight this deadly battle. No matter how dangerous it was, it had to face this alone at that moment.

The magic reversed itself at the second the dragonfly reached the shore. A blue light erupted on its abdomen. The lights began surrounding it and inflated, leading to a sudden shatter. Wood Spirit stepped out of the shattered lights and looked windswept and frightened. Before the shock from the adventure subsided, Wind Sprit felt a cold blade thrust from his back. His flesh was seared with pain that he lost his voice to shout. White fluid came out from where he was injured. I’m bleeding, he thought, help me, sister!

The survival from the dragonfly was only the beginning of Wood Spirit’s adventure. He broke the sword with his hand and began to run, now that the true threat was visible in front of him. Would Spirit know that the enemy was awake all the time, but he never thought that Miña would be the disciple of the enemy, and turned her back on Aña.

Orjazdu was a place for the innocents, protected by Miña, the Innocent Spirit. It was called Orjazdu for the reason that it was a danger to the oppressor. Now, it was not only the threat to the oppressor, but to Aña, hence the enemy had it as the shelter to the foul creatures. Wood Spirit felt as if he were still a dragonfly, but trapped in the spider web, bound to be swallowed.

Orjazdu was formed along with Mijazdu by Miña, and she claimed the power of knowing every move that was carried out within this area. Wood Spirit was really lost in thought. Now he knew the flaw he saw early on was true. His prediction, or rather prejudice towards Miña was right. Wood Spirit made himself invisible and stopped all the action within his body; except his mind, waiting for his sister to rescue him…