Dominion of the Warriors (Chapter 1)

Discovery Pt.1

“28, 29, 30, 31...,” said Willie.

Willie sweats and grunts as he counts the reps he is performing with the dumbbells in each hand. It is 5:00 a.m. Many would argue that it is too early to do any type of exercise or that no normal person would even consider it, but Willie is not a normal person. Unlike most sixteen year olds, he is very mature for his age and well disciplined. He was never the one who would go into fights for the fun of it like his uproarious cousins and he never saw the point in chasing after girls who you would probably get tired of in a few weeks (he is not gay though). He would actually try to be friends with them or at least get to know them a little first.

He might sound like a bore but he really is not. He is very sociable, kind, and unbiased. He likes to have fun as much as the next person but he is one of the few people that know when enough is enough. He has a calm personality and makes good grades in school.

“77, 78, 79, 80,” said Willie, finally putting down the dumbbells.

Rolls of sweat glistened from his dark skinned body, revealing his well toned torso and developed biceps. He reached over and grabbed a short, white towel beside him that was resting comfortably on a desk. He then proceeded to wipe his face with the towel and wiped his chest, wherever sweat appeared.

“That was a good workout like always. Whew, I just love doing this. I should get Kenny to do this with me from now on; it would do the kid good, even if he is just twelve,” said Willie. “I wonder if Sharon is awake yet.”

“Hello Willie,” said a feminine voice.

Willie cast a glance at the doorway of his cellar to discover his friend Sharon. Sharon had brunette hair tied up into a long ponytail and she had small gray eyes that hid behind thick-rimmed glasses. She was about five feet and she had a somewhat petite figure. She wore a black shirt and a black miniskirt with black knee high boots. Black was her favorite color, and because of this she is often accused of being a Goth.

“Hey there, I was just thinking about you,” said Willie.

“Really, funny because I was thinking about you too,” said Sharon.

“Oh, is that so?” asked Willie as he got up and walked towards her. “You were thinking about me because you wanted me to do something in particular?” asked Willie with a sly grin on his face.

“Ew, not in that sense you sick pervert,” said Sharon.

“I was just kidding around with you. Anyway, what are you doing here, school only starts in the next two hours?” asked Willie.

“I need your help with something,” said Sharon.

“With what?” asked Willie.

“With my continuing research on the existence of the supernatural,” said Sharon.

“You haven’t given up on that yet?” asked Willie with a hint of disappointment in his tone.

“No, and I don’t plan to in the near future. Besides I think I found some ground breaking evidence that the supernatural does exist,” said Sharon.

“Come on Sharon, that get up was cute when we were twelve but we’re sixteen now. We should be focusing on teenage stuff like who are we going to the prom with and how do we plan on losing our virginities, you know just to name a few examples.” said Willie.

“I’ll pretend that you didn’t say that last statement,” said Sharon.

“Well, what is this ‘ground-breaking evidence’ that you have found?” asked Willie while he ambled to the other side of the cellar and got into his white t-shirt.

“Do you know those ancient Sumerian scrolls my father gave to me from his archeological excavation a few years ago?” asked Sharon.

“Yeah I remember. We could not read that thing for all the riches in the world. So what about it, you’ve invented some useless gadget that could help you with that?” asked Willie.

“Hey, it’s not useless!” exclaimed Sharon.

“So you have invented something?” asked Willie.

“Yes, I have. I made a little gadget that could translate any language into perfect English in just a matter of seconds. I’ve installed almost all of the languages of the ancient and modern world in it so it could help me in the near future,” said Sharon.

“Why couldn’t you install all of the languages into the little gadget?” asked Willie.

“Well duh. I don’t know every language that’s in the world so I have to adjust to what I got,” said Sharon.

“Okay, and did it say some interesting things?” said Willie.

“Interesting? I do not think interesting is the word for it. Fantastic, remarkable, fabulous, now those words describe what I found out,” said Sharon.

“Don’t keep me in suspense now,” said Willie with his interest piqued.

“In the scrolls, it speaks of a small district in Sumer called Talmarq that were known to make prophecy scrolls that always came true. The population of Talmarq consisted of only merchants and executives. Talmarq was not a place where people could actually live; they could only work there. Then on one particular day, one person decided to write a book about the ‘strange things’ that he has encountered in his lifetime. Since he had a reputation of being an unlucky fellow, he wrote many things in it. In fact, the book is 2,000 pages long. He went to Talmarq to get it mass produced, well not mass produced since they didn’t know how to do that, but they made many copies of the book, about 100 or 150 copies. The people mistook the book for fiction instead of nonfiction. However, when the man tried to explain that it was not fiction, the public only laughed at him. Some of the officials of Sumer criticized him and accused him of blasphemy since what he said in the book contradicted to their religion. Poor guy was jailed for ten years and executed,” said Sharon.

“The name Talmarq doesn’t ring a bell, but the story about the man and his book does sound vaguely familiar. Didn’t we read something about that in history last year?” asked Willie.

“Yes we did. Does the Dej Kariq ring any bells in that head of yours?” asked Sharon.

Willie’s face changed into an expression of surprise. “That scroll was about the Dej Kariq? But that book is just a myth.”

“That’s the same thing I said. In addition, the ‘strange things’ that the man mentioned to the public of Sumer, I bet the twenty dollars in my pocket that he was talking about the supernatural,” said Sharon.

“This is like the discovery of the century we’re talking about. But what good is it if we don’t have the actual book?” asked Willie.

“Ah, but that may be still possible. In the scrolls it reveals that all the copies of the Dej Kariq were burned­ ­-” began Sharon.

“How is that any good?” asked Willie.

“If you let me finish then maybe I’ll tell you,” said Sharon.

“Oh, well continue then,” said Willie.

“As I was saying, they burned all the copies of the Dej Kariq because it was associated with a ‘blasphemer’, or so they thought. Come to find out they destroyed all but one,” said Sharon.

“Where is the last copy?” asked Willie.

“Its location is revealed in an ancient map,” said Sharon.

Sharon reached into her purse and pulled out a roll of paper. She unrolled it and gave it to Willie who looked at it with curiosity. The map was somewhat ruffled around the edges and it smelled of burned ash. Willie suspected that it has been near a fire sometime ago. When Willie took a good look at the map, he made a surprising discovery.

“This is the map of our city,” said Willie.

“What? You’re kidding,” said Sharon as she looked at the map.

“No, I’m not kidding,” said Willie.

“How did you know this was a map of our city?” asked Sharon.

“I’ve seen one just like it on that museum trip last year. I guess that trip wasn’t just a waste of time after all,” said Willie with a laugh.

“So from the way it looks, all we have to do is follow the map to that distinguished point at the center,” said Sharon, pointing to an outlandish mark on the map. “Then and only then we will locate the Dej Kariq.”

“Well, why are we still sitting here? Let’s go find it,” said Willie as he rushed out of the door.

“Um, Willie, don’t you think it is a good idea if you put on some clothes first?” suggested Sharon.

Willie looked at himself and realized that maybe he should put on some clothes. His t-shirt was drenched in sweat from his previous workout session. His workout shorts were becoming uncomfortable on him due to the humidity he built around his body. His legs were soaked completely in sweat and he was letting off a malodorous odor that he did not realize was there up until now.

“And a nice shower couldn’t hurt either,” added Willie.

“I’ll wait for you in the car,” said Sharon.

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“Do you know how long this is going to take us? I have to take my little brother to school,” said Willie.

“Willie, it is 5:30. No school would be open in that hour. Oh and speaking of schools…” said Sharon.

Sharon pulled up in their school’s front entrance. Their school’s name is Vann City High School, home to the worst football team and the best swim team in the state. In their opinion, the school was hell on earth. The teachers were either boring or mean, and they swear that the principal is some kind of demon sent from hell to torture them. Nonetheless, their parents send them there so they could stay out of trouble and learn something while they go off to work and make money.

Sharon and Willie got out of the car. It was still dark outside. The streetlamps were on and only a few cars were out on the road. No birds or any kind of animals were out. Sharon and Willie were all alone; at least that is what they thought.

“The map leads to inside the school, and from the position of the little symbol I have to say that the Dej Kariq is located somewhere in the library. That’s the perfect place for an ancient textbook,” said Sharon.

Sharon walked up to the door and opened it. She went inside the building, but then found herself stopped by Willie, who grabbed her arm quite firmly. She looked back at Willie and snatched her arm out of his grasp.

“Hey, what’s your problem?” asked Sharon in a tone that indicated she was offended in some way.

“Don’t the janitors usually lock the doors after they leave the school?” asked Willie.

“Of course they do Willie. It would be preposterous if…,” said Sharon slowly as the realization had dawned on her. “Oh, I see what you’re saying. Well they probably just forgot to lock it, janitors are humans too you know.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that is the case,” said Willie.

“Oh come on Willie, we’ve come too far to back down now. Besides if there were some people here, what’s the worst that can happen?” asked Sharon naively.

“We could be shot or held hostage.” Willie bluntly stated.

“You worry too much.” said Sharon as she pulled on his arm and dragged him into the building. "Besides, weren't you the one who wanted to attain the Dej Kariq?"

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A mysterious shadow swept its way across the walls of the silent and dark library. The shadow had no definite shape so there was not any telling what it was. The shadow also moved swiftly across the floor, making its way to the law forbidden area of the library. It went through the chained door and appeared on the other side of it. Then a figure emerged from the shadow, finally making its appearance known.

It was a strange creature. It had head and torso of a female human but the arms and hands of some sort of feral beast. Her name was Shirankha. She had emerald green eyes and short blonde hair that reached down to her shoulders. Her ears were unusually big and pointed and they twitched almost every second. Out of her arms grew gold colored fur and blade like extensions of the fur protracted from her elbows. Her hands had sharp claws that looked like they could tear through the toughest metal on the earth. She was in all black, wearing a leather vest with pants made out of the same material. Suddenly her emerald green eyes changed into a fiery red color.

“It’s here, I know it. These senses never lie.” Shirankha said.

She gracefully walked down the long flight of stairs slowly and cautiously looking for anything that was suspicious. She was smart enough to know that a place that houses one of the most powerful objects in the modern world has to have uptight security. She then descended upon a stair that made a creaking noise. She quickly drew back her foot, worrying it could be some sort of trap.

“Why does this step creak when the others didn’t? I think its best not to use the stairs to reach my goal,” said Shirankha.

Then she leapt off from the staircase into an unreachable height and floated down gently to the bottom on one bended knee. She then continued her quest until she came to an abrupt stop. Her eyes turned into that fiery red color again.

“Reveal!” she said.

A strange ethereal substance escaped her hands and covered the narrow corridor. When it dissipated, infrared beams appeared. She put her hands on her hips and giggled sinisterly.

“Oh no, how will I ever get through this one?” said Shirankha sarcastically.

Shirankha let her arms rest at her sides and closed her eyes with her head drooped, as if she was in some kind of meditative trance. A few seconds passed and she merged herself into the floor, making a shadow appear where she once stood. Then the shadow darted across the floor, easily avoiding the infrared beams above it. Once she made sure she was in the clear, she emerged from the floor and ventured forward to her destination.

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Willie and Sharon made it to the library. Ever since Willie encountered the unlocked door, he has been uneasy. He was constantly watching over his shoulder as if somebody was sneaking up behind him. His spine was tingling uncomfortably and he was sweating a little. He was so edgy that when Sharon tapped him on his shoulder, he screamed and would have backhanded her if he did not stop himself in time.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked Sharon.

“Sorry Sharon, it’s just I can’t get this feeling of suspicion off of me,” said Willie.

“Are you still stressing over the fact that the door was unlocked? “asked Sharon.

“There is no way that the janitors could have forgot that door was unlocked, especially the front entrance.” said Willie.

“I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, you worry too much. Relax; nothing is in here that should not be here. Now start searching for that book,” said Sharon.

They began their search in the nonfiction area of the library. Pooling through biographies, autobiographies, and plenty of unknown authors they could not locate the book of mystery. Still they continued to persist onward to their goal. They carried their search to the fiction area. Seeing how the ancient people of Sumer mistaken the book for a work of fiction, they assumed the librarian repeated the same mistake. However, as with the previous section of the library, they ended up with naught. After probing through the section, they returned to the center of the library.

“Are you sure you read that map right?” asked Willie.

“I’m positive. It’s in here somewhere, we just got to keep looking,” said Sharon.

“Okay, but we got about thirty more minutes before we have to go back home to get ready for school,” said Willie.

“Oh yeah, we do. Well, let’s step to it.,” said Sharon.

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“This is pathetic,” said Shirankha.

Arrows coming from the walls were feebly bombarding Shirankha. To protect herself from the arrows she created a barrier of fire to surround her and to destroy any arrows that threatened to injure her. The fire was so intense that some of the arrows would combust into flames before coming a mere feet in front of it. Shirankha was becoming bored with this place’s pathetic attempt at keeping her away from the object she desires.

“This is the top notch security that guards the Dej Kariq? I thought the protectors of the book would have some respect for its prerogative,” said Shirankha.

Then the fire barrier expanded itself, engulfing the hallways in flames. The arrows instantly stopped propelling themselves from the walls. She stood there to observe the damage she caused. The walls were burning rapidly, the wallpaper was deteriorating, and smoke began to billow up.

“Normally I would just enjoy this wonderful scene of mild destruction, but I can’t seem to enjoy it as much since it didn’t pose a challenge,” said Shirankha.

She left the hallway and rounded a corner. She walked down a seemingly endless corridor that led to a door. The door was unusually short for the average door. The door was in a bronze color and had drawings that were similar to that of Egyptian art. One would think why someone would go through that much trouble to carve that into a door. Shirankha knew the answer to that question and she did not like. She thought that she would not had to see the drawings that gave her nightmares again, but it seems that fate would not have it any other way.