Witch of the Warlocks Chapt 1:Grenlon

A loud scream pierced the night. Sarah’s eyes flickered open immediately. She could recognize the scream as being her mothers. Sarah rubbed her eyes as she got up. What is it now, she thought. She shivered in the cold night air. Sarah reached into her wardrobe and pulled a daggy jumper over her shirt and jeans. She had been too lazy to change into her pajamas that night. A loud crash startled her. What was her mother doing? She went down stairs to check it out. She could hear two voices in the kitchen. One’s that she did not recognize. Panic gripped her. Sarah looked around the lounge room for a weapon. There had to be something. She saw her father’s golf clubs by the door.
He loved golf, and he played it when he wasn’t working. He was a dull man and spent most of his time oversees on business trips. This didn’t bother Sarah, since she wasn’t very fond of him and preferred it when he wasn’t around. However, she wished he was here now.
Sarah grabbed a golf club and crept down the hallway and approached the kitchen. The door was wide open. Sarah wondered if she should try to get a glimpse of what was going on or call the police. Calling the police would be the smart thing to do but curiosity overtook Sarah. She quietly crept to the door. The voices started again.
“That was easier than I thought. She hardly put up a fight,” said a deep voice.
“Are you sure she is the right one Aleron,” said another raspy voice.
“Of course I’m sure Brinam. We definitely have the right house,” said the first voice.
“I think we should tear up the place, make sure there are no survivors. She could have a sister…”
“You know that’s not possible,” the first voice snapped. “Each generation one daughter is born.”
Sarah could feel her heart beating. What were they talking about? She wondered what had happened to her mother. Deep down she new, but the thought was too hard to accept. Sarah shifted closer to the door. She stuck her head out just enough so that she could see. What she saw chilled her down to the core. Her mother lay down in a pool of blood, her head twisted at an odd angle. Her glassy eyes seemed to be staring at Sarah with a look of fear in her eyes. She was dead. Two men were standing over her. One of them was tall and thin. He had long black hair fell down to his waist. He had deathly white skin and thin lips shaped into a scowl. His eyes were what scared Sarah the most. They were black and had a look of pure evil. He wore silver robes. The other man had his back faced to the wall. He was also wearing silver robes as well as a hood that covered his head.
Sarah let out a cry of fear. The man with the long hair looked her way. Sarah ran to the lounge room before the two men could react. She jumped behind the couch and sat there waiting. The phone was right next the couch on a side table. Sarah was about to grab it when the two men entered the room. It was too late. She would definitely be seen if she reached for it. If only I had called the police, she thought to herself. She could hear the two men run into the room.
“I told you she wasn’t the one,” the raspy voice murmered.
“Shut up!” the other man spat.
“Come out little girl,” he said in a calmer voice. Sarah heard the sound of a chair being kicked over.
“You can’t hide from us forever, you may as well give yourself up and make things easier for yourself.” Sarah stifled a sob. She could hear the table being upturned. There was a sound of a smash as a statue shattered on the floor. Sarah’s mother had put it on the table as decoration. It was an ugly thing and Sarah always wanted to get rid of it. Sarah’s mind wanted to run for it. She might have a chance. It would be better than staying here, cowering behind a couch. However her body would not move. She could feel hot tears running down her cheeks.
A hand quickly covered her mouth. Sarah almost screamed. She turned to see her grandmother’s familiar face with her frizzy grey hair tied back in a messy tail brown leather skin. She was wearing her usual tacky overalls and coat. She put her finger to her lips, beckoning Sarah to be quiet.
“I know where you’re hiding,” said the deep voice. Both men appeared behind the couch. Sarah saw the second man for the first time. He looked inhuman and repulsive. He had light pink skin covered in large veins. His eyes were small and round and a crimson red with pupils like a cats. His yellow teeth were pointed and his black tongue flicked out to lick his lips. Before Sarah could do anything a sudden flash of light filled the entire house. Sarah was momentarily blinded. Then everything went blank. The next thing she remembered was being dragged through the front door.
“Grandma, what’s going on,” she stammered. Her Grandmother did not respond. Sarah could see her grandmother’s old truck. She was pushed into the passenger seat and her grandmother got the engine started. The two men ran out of the house. The man with the alien looks screamed out, “Stop! I demand you to stop!” Sarah immediately recognized him as being Brinam.
“Hurry, put your seat belt on,” her grandmother yelled. Aleron ran in front of the truck. He lifted up a black staff that Sarah hadn’t noticed he had been carrying. Her grandmother got the engine going and just as Aleron started yelling out some incoherent words she ran the car right into him. Sarah let out a scream just as his slammed and rolled off the roof of the truck. Her grandmother immediately put the truck in reverse. Sarah felt a thud as the truck hit Brinam. The truck quickly lurched forward. Sarah looked in the side mirror and saw Aleron quickly run jump at the truck. He managed to grab onto the back.
         “One of the men is on the truck!” Sarah yelled.
         “No need to worry about that,” said her grandmother. She sharply turned the corner. Aleron flung off the truck and rolled on the ground. He didn’t get back up.
         “I think you just killed a man,” said Sarah.
         “Nah, it would take a lot more to kill him.” Sarah looked back at the man. He hadn’t moved. Sarah could hear sirens in the distance.
         “We need to call the police,” said Sarah.
         “No, we don’t. Let them make something up we have more important things to do right now.” Sarah looked at her grandmother. She had a determined look on her face.
         “My mum’s dead,” said Sarah as if she had only just realized it. Tears started swelling in her eyes.
         “As long as you’re alright that’s all that matters.” Sarah could not believe what she was hearing. She felt anger rise inside of her. Her grandmother did not look that upset.
         “My mother was murdered. Your daughter was murdered. Don’t you care?”
“Of course I do, but this not the time to mourn her death. There are more important things we need to do right now.” Sarah leant back in her seat. She was never that close to either of her parents but at least her mother was around. The thought of her mother brought more tears to her eyes along with everything else that had happened. It was hard for her to think that a few minutes ago she was fast asleep in her bed blissfully unaware of what was soon to happen. Why had those men murder her mother? And why did that one man, Brinam, look like that. Then a thought came to Sarah’s mind.
“Grandma, how do you know them?” she asked. Her grandmother sighed.
“I don’t know them. I just know where they come from.”
“That guy, the one with all those veins and red eyes, what was wrong with him?”
“There is nothing wrong with him. He is an Irkling. All Irklings look like that.”
         “What the hell is an Irkling? What is going on?” Sarah asked, exasperated.
         “It is all very complicated,” said her grandmother. “I will explain everything to you but you will not believe me at first.”
         “Then explain it to me. Who are those people and why did they do that to my mother?”
         “First I have to explain what you are,” said her grandmother.
         “I know what I am,” Sarah murmured.
         “No, I don’t think you do. Sarah, have you ever felt different from everyone else? I feeling like you didn’t belong?” Sarah shrugged. She new her grandmother was right. She didn’t really have any friends at school. She tried hard to make friends but she didn’t get along with any of the cliques. Her mother, desperate for her daughter to be normal, sent her to a psychologist. He suggested that she try an outside activity. Sarah did archery and touch football. She was able to do these amazingly well. She was even accepted into the boys football team. She could outplay all of the boys. Annoyed at being beaten by a girl this just made the boys like her even less. Sarah was also smart. She got straight A’s in all of her subjects. She couldn’t really understand why. She never studied and she didn’t try very hard during exams. It just came naturally to her like archery and football. She was good at everything she tried.   
         “I’ve felt that way since coming here and so has your mother. I dealt with it by living away from everyone, becoming a recluse. Your mother tried to change the way she was. I know you have felt it too.” She paused to let it sink in.
         “Wait a minute. I thought you said that you grew up in that house. That’s what you told me anyway.” Her grandmother smiled.
         “I haven’t been very honest with you Sarah. You see, I’m not from here. I’m not even from this universe.” Sarah looked at her confused.
         “I’m from a different world.”
         “You’re right,” said Sarah. “I don’t believe you.” Her grandmother had finally lost it she thought.
         “Don’t you see Sarah, that would explain everything. Those men, that flashing light I used to blind them. It was magic that I used.” She had definitely lost it.
         “I want to go home, just take me to the police station, I’ll explain everything, just let me off this truck.”
         “Not until I explain everything. I can prove it to you.” Sarah was getting irritated now.
         “I said let me off this truck!” she yelled.
         “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
         “Let me off!” She saw tiredness in her grandmother’s face. She didn’t care. Her grandmother was going crazy and she was stuck in a truck with her.
         “Just let me explain everything to you. You don’t know how important this is. Back in my world, our world, you’re needed.”
         “I don’t care, let me off.” She wondered how long it would take for her to get to a police station. They had left suburbia by now and were entering bush land. They were going to be at her grandmother’s place soon.
         “Please, let me explain. I will prove everything to you. Then if you want to go to a police station I will drop you off at one, but you need to let me explain everything first.”
         “Fine,” said Sarah. She couldn’t believe she was agreeing to this. Just let her have her way and then this will all be over.
         “Fine,” she repeated. “Explain everything to me.”
         “I have to show you something first. There isn’t a point to explaining everything to you if you’re not going to believe me.”
         “What is it?”
         “It is in my house. You’ll be amazed.” Sarah’s grandmother lived on a hundred acres of bush land. She lived in a creaky old house that looked as if it was going to collapse from age. It had looked that way for years but somehow it was still standing. It took ten more minutes before they had arrived. The rest of the trip was spent in an awkward silence. Her grandmother left the car to open the gate. Sarah felt like running for it but something told her to stay. The truck turned into the dirt road that led to the house. They left the truck and her grandmother led her into her house and up the stairs. Her grandmother’s room was very plain. It contained a bed, a chair and a chest that Sarah had always seen locked up. It brought back memories of when she was young. She had snuck into this room and tried to open the chest out of curiosity. Her grandmother had caught her at it and was furious. Sarah had never seen her that way before. It was enough to scare her from ever entering the room again. On the opposite wall was a large piece of cloth nailed to the wall as if to be covering something. Sarah noticed that it wasn’t there before. Her grandmother walked over to it, excitement showing on her brown wrinkled face. She pulled the cloth to the side and tucked it underneath the chair to prevent it from falling back. Sarah saw what it had been covering. There was a metre long vertical split along the wooden wall. A light was coming through the split. It was very beautiful. The light was purple and orange and it danced around the room. Sarah walked up and touched the split. It sent ripples through the wood as if it were water.
         “What is it?” asked Sarah. Her fingers felt the edge where the split started. It was paper thin and had a slippery texture. She could not feel the wood.
         “It is a doorway to another world,” said her grandmother with excitement in her eyes. “Do you believe me now?” Sarah didn’t know what to say. She pulled the slippery wood, or whatever it was away so that she could see behind it. She could see nothing but the purple and orange light.
         “How come I can’t see it?” she asked.
         “I don’t know. You have to go through it in order to see the other side.”
         “So those men came from this other world?” asked Sarah. Her grandmother nodded.
         “Sit down,” she said. “What I am going to tell you may take a while but it is important that you know everything.” Sarah sat down in the chair while her grandmother took a seat in on the bed.
“I come from a world called Gremlon. It is different from our world. It was flat and contained two main countries Mon’reina and Albajeet, as well as a few small islands scattered around here and there. I came from Mon’reina. Hundreds of years there had been peace amongst both nations. In Mon’reina peace was kept by the witch of the warlocks. Every thirty years a witch would be born to lead them. The warlocks would be by her side whenever an enemy attacked. Together they would lead their army which had creatures of all types to fight against evil whenever such times came about. Mon’reina had a government that contained of the witch, four of the wisest warlocks, who were chosen by the witch, two advisors and a leader, these were chosen by the people. This way worked and everyone lived in peace. The army was strong, but there were still dangers. For protection we made a pact with the people of Albajeet, to help each other in times of need. This pact lasted for centuries. However one foolish leader ended that pact. Eldaron his name was. He did not trust the Albajeets. You see Albajeets were elves. They were different from the elves we had at Mon’reina. They were fierce warriors and their ways were different from ours. The witch and the warlocks fought desperately to keep the pact. Eldaron convinced the advisors not to. In the end he won and it was a deadly mistake. A decade later we were defeated. A group of rebels had been fighting for Mon’reina, called the Kridan. They wanted the land for themselves and to repress the people. The leader of the Kridan was a young man called Olda. He was only in his teens yet he had incredible fighting skills and he was very intelligent. Before he became the leader the Kridan they had been failing on their quest. They were highly unsuccessful at their assassination attempts and we usually caught them. Soon they disappeared. I think this was about the time Olda gained control of them. They vanished for a couple of years. Most people had assumed that they had either given up or died out. They were no longer thought of as being a problem. The witch was suspicious of this. She tried to explain this to Eldaron but he wouldn’t listen. It was two years after they had vanished that he ended the pact with the Albajeets. A year later the Kridan attacked. It was Olda’s plan to lull us into a safe sense of security. The witch had trained the army extensively since she new something like this would happen. We tried to fight and we lost many. Without the Albajeest help we were defeated. Shortly after this they fought Albajeet as well and defeated them. At this time the witch was pregnant. She and the warlocks decided to go into hiding. They decided to return when the time was right. The witch thought that her unborn baby would grow up to defeat the Olda and the Kridan. She found out a way to leave that world. She came to this world and set up a place out in the bush.” Sarah’s eyes widened.
“So you’re the witch,” she said.
“Yes I am,” said her grandmother. “I was wrong about my daughter defeating the Kriden. I loved my daughter dearly but I knew that she was weak. She knew that she was different and tried to change herself into someone she wasn’t. She grew up and married that I knew that she could not accept any of what I have told you. I lost any hope of defeating the Kriden. Then you were born. I knew right away that you would be the next witch.” Sarah didn’t know what to say so she kept quiet and stared at her hands.
“Are you willing to become the witch of the warlords? To save your people against the Kridan?” asked her grandmother. Sarah continued staring at her hands.
“You haven’t told me who those people are yet,” she said.
“Aleron, the one with the long hair, is Olda’s younger brother. He owns Roden, one of the major cities of Mon’Reina. The Irkling that you saw was Brinam, a groveling idiot if you ask me. He is Aleron’s helper. He may look scary but you should be more afraid of Aleron. All Irklings look like that but they are not all evil. I’ve met many and they can be very nice people.”
“I don’t want to do this,” said Sarah. “I can’t. What about this world? I would have to leave it behind wouldn’t I?”
“Yes you would. Whether or not you return I would not know, but the fate of Grenlin lies in your hands. They need you Sarah, and unless you go to Grenlin and take the land back from the Kriden.” Her Grandmother looked determined. She wasn’t going to let Sarah out of this without a fight.
“I’m sorry but I wouldn’t be able to do this. I’m only fourteen.”
“How do you know whether you could do this or not? You’ve never tried. As for your age, there have been many young warriors who have achieved great things. You can do this Sarah. If you don’t, the people of Grenlin will be forced to live over rules by evil. I will give you some time alone to think about this. It is up to you whether you do this as I cannot force you.” Her Grandmother got up and walked out of the room. Sarah sat in her chair in silence. So much had happened to her that night. She thought about her mother and felt hot tears streaming down her face. She wondered how her father would react when he found out his wife had been murdered and his daughter missing. She knew that she wouldn’t miss him. She barely knew him. She felt anger burn inside her for her mother. She felt a deep burning for revenge. Sarah wiped her tears away and stood up. She had decide she would do this to avenge her mother. She left the room to find her grandmother. 
         Her grandmother was in the kitchen putting the kettle on.
         “I have decided that I will go,” said Sarah. Her grandmother smiled.
         “I knew you would,” she said. “I remember the first time I saw you when your mother came over to visit. I know it may sound corny but I could see it in your eyes. You had that determination that your mother did not have.” She placed a cup of tea on the table.
         “Drink up and then you can sleep here for the night. In the morning I’ll get everything ready for you to leave. We are safe from Aleron and Brinam for the moment so don’t worry about them.” Sarah took a seat and sipped her tea. She winced as it burnt her tongue.
         “When you leave I will have to fight them. I need to know how they got here and make sure that no one else from my world crosses over here again.” Sarah almost choked on her tea.
         “You mean you’re not coming? How the hell am I supposed to know what to do” I can’t go alone.”
         “Do not worry Sarah. The warlocks will look after you. When you pass into my world you will be in the house of one of the warlocks. His name is Morlorn and he is a good friend of mine. He will assist you. He will bring you over to Harlock’s place where you can begin your training. You will also meet the other to warlocks Rosen and Sonloe.”
         “Wait, what training?”
         “You’re going to need training if you’re going to fight Olda and the Kriton.” Sarah felt a wave of fatigue wash over her. She checked her watch and it said 3 o’clock am.
         “I think I’ll go to bed now,” she said. She got up and headed towards the door. Just as she was about to leave, she thought of something.
         “Grandma, what if we were to renew the treaty with the Albajeets.”
         “Some have tried but none have succeeded. It is a dangerous trip and if you were caught by the Kriton you would be executed. Also, after the war between the Albajeets and the Kriton they disappeared. If you are planning to try and find them, I suggest that you forget about it as it is a hopeless cause. Goodnight.” Sarah nodded and walked towards her room. The house was a double storied four bedroom house. Sarah’s favourite bedroom was one on the top story. It was the smallest bedroom in the house but that didn’t bother her. She loved it because of its large window which overlooked miles of bush land. In the distance, only just visible was the ocean. Sarah could gaze out of the window for ages. Sarah had claimed the bedroom as her own. Tonight she walked over to the bed and collapsed on it. Sleep came to her faster then she thought and she let her dreams carry her away to different worlds.