The Realm War- chapter one

“Bring me my lunch, Zave.” Growled Creck, “And do hurry up, I’m starving! ”
There was no reply.
“Zave?” He called. His red eyes scoured the expanse of the cave. Still no reply. He groaned.
He looked towards his cat, Kreet, “Go fetch me that boy” He commanded her, “But first, bring me my lunch.” Kreet scampered to the kitchen and shortly returned with a tuna-fish sandwich in a Ziploc bag. Creck examined his sandwich.
“You savage!” He shrieked, “You glutton! You ate my sandwich!”
Kreet glanced anxiously at the sandwich in Creck’s black-gloved hand, and, lo and behold, a rather large portion was bitten off the sandwich.
“It was not me!” She cried, backing away from Creck’s slowly reddening face.
Creck snarled in fury, “DO NOT LIE TO ME!” He yelled, “I see a cat-hair on this sandwich!”
“Please, master” begged Kreet, “I’m telling you; it wasn’t me!”
But before Kreet managed to finish her sentence, Creck reached for the Serpentine Spear, and Kreet lied dead on the musty cave floor.
Creck looked with disgust at his sandwich and realized that the hair on it was silver.
It was Zave’s hair.
“Fine.” He grumbled, “I’ll dispose of the boy; but first, I’ll eat the cat.”
_____

Zave glanced back. He’d been running for hours through the gray, gloomy stone desert before he felt that he was far enough from Creck’s Lair.
“No wonder no one ever comes to this realm,” He said to himself, “ It’s so upsettingly ugly.” He paused and crawled into a small stone enclave to shield himself from the scorching desert sun. but as soon as he entered the enclave and lied down, he fell into a deep sleep.
He dreamed of Creck and his cat – Kreet. In his dream, Creck and Kreet were scouring the bleak desert landscape, searching for him. But they would never find him, not without being able to fly.
But that was impossible.

In reality, though, Creck was sitting on his throne, scraping the leftover meat off Kreet’s bones while he asked himself repeatedly, “Where is Zave?”
He did this for some time until he realized that it wasn’t getting him anywhere. So, he grabbed the Serpentine Spear and blasted a hole through the stalactite-covered ceiling.

The intense heat and light of the desert flooded the cave like a beacon and caused a stir among the canaries in Creck’s lair, who stampeded headlong out of the cave and nearly knocked Creck over. Instinctively, he grabbed a canary and held it by its legs.

When the throng of birds nearly vanished, he pointed the Serpentine Spear and whispered a few words, which suddenly caused the bird he caught to transform it into a menacing dragon with golden scales and razor-sharp teeth. He straddled the dragon and clutched its neck, preparing to fly.
“From this day forth,” Said Creck, “Your name will be Requite, and together we shall scour the plains and fulfil the meaning of your name.”
On cue, the dragon spread its wings and soared majestically into the air. Creck surveyed the area, “Wow.” He said to himself, “I’m surprised no one comes here, the landscape is stunning!”

_____

When Zave awoke from his slumber, he found a bright yellow canary sitting on his chest. Still frenzied from his nightmare, he jumped up in fright.
“Calm down, Zave,” Said the canary. “It’s me, Imious!”
“Who are you exactly?” Asked Zave, “And how do you know my name?”
“I’m one of the canaries from Creck’s Lair.” Replied Imious, “But we have no time to chatter. I’ve come to warn you that Creck is afoot and searching for you. He has transformed one of us canaries into a frightful golden dragon with claws of steel”

Zave looked thoughtful for a moment. “We have to leave anyway to find a place with some food and water. I’m pretty thirsty.” He said.
“Well,” Said Imious, ”I don’t think you should. Creck is out there and he won’t hesitate to kill you as he killed Kreet.”
Zave was aghast, “He killed Kreet?” He asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” Replied Imious, “And he ate her too. He’s too dangerous, can’t you see?”
“Sure” Said Zave sarcastically, “I guess I’ll have to eat you, so I don’t die of starvation.”
“You know what?” Said Imious, “Maybe leaving the cave is a clever idea after all. But you’ll need me, so I guess I’ll have to come.”
“Yeah,” retorted Zave, “I’ll need you for a snack”

_____

Creck soon began to realize that the landscape was not as amazing as he thought. It was even better! It was not just gloomy, depressing, and gray, but it was also silent. Perfect for brooding about all the mortals he was going to slay, without the constant interruption of that Kreet, or Zave.
That Zave… Creck was going to dispose of him as soon as he could find him. But thinking of Kreet made him hungry, so he stopped by a puddle of murky gray water and let Requite drink, while he brandished the Serpentine Spear and struck the dragon, which collapsed and died.
He started a small fire, and while the dragon roasted, he sat by the flame and pictured himself ripping Zave limbs apart and then reassembling them in the wrong places.
Gradually, he got bored of this and decided he was hungry, so he went to the fire and tore a sizable chunk out of Requite and ate it. He then took as much food as he could carry and continued walking through the desert as the sun went down.

When Zave stumbled upon Requite’s remains, he panicked at first; thinking that is was a trap laid by Creck in order to catch him. But after Zave carefully surveyed the area, he realized that he and Creck must have crossed paths yesternight.
“Oh! This is wonderful!” He exclaimed, “Creck will never find us now! We have crossed paths!” Imious rolled his eyes’ “You are so naïve,” he said, “Do you really believe that he’s not following us right now?”

“You’re absolutely right! How didn’t I think of that?” Said Zave, “Well, he won’t be here for a while, so let us eat until we’re full and sleep until the morning”
“Good idea,” Said Imious, “ But let’s save that eating part for the morning so you don’t get sick.”
“Deal.” Said Zave, extremely overexerted, “Good night.”
_____

As the sun rose over the bleak prairie, Creck noticed small footprints leading to the direction from which he came. “Schnitzels!” Said Creck to himself, “We must have crossed paths!”

He could just picture Zave, greedily eating the remains of Requite, meat juices dripping down his chin. This, obviously, was exactly what Zave was doing.
_____

Meanwhile, Zave awoke. When he approached Imious not wake him, Imious said, ”I’ve been waiting for you to wake up. I think we should leave to the lake immediately.”
“There’s a lake?” Asked Zave, while he washed his silver hair in the murky puddle.
“Yes,” Replied Imious, “I saw it as we escaped from Creck’s lair. It seemed a lot cleaner than that puddle.”
“Maybe we can find the direction from atop that stone,” Said Zave, pointing to a small mountain behind which the sun was rising.
“Grab my legs.” Commanded Imious.
Zave looked puzzled. “Just do it!” Insisted Imious, so Zave did.
Imious spread his wings and carried Zave to the top of the cliff as if he was a breadcrumb.
“ You could carry me the whole time and didn’t tell me?” Asked Zave annoyedly.
“I didn’t realize you would want to.” Said Imious simply. “now look to the west, you see that lake now?”
“Yes, I do,” Said Imious, staring at the shiny blue lagoon in the horizon, “But this time, we’re flying.”
“No problem” Replied Imious impatiently, “ But let’s grab some of that meat first.”
As they seized as much meat as they could carry, they saw a black-cloaked figure approaching them in the distance.
“Let’s go now,” Said Zave.
Imious spread his wings and flew up into the air.

_____

When Creck reached the spot where he left Requite’s carcass, he realized many chunks were torn out of it.
“That backstabbing Zave,” He grumbled, “I gave him everything! Food, sanctuary, occupation, but he just turned his back on me, just like that! And he ate my sandwich!”
Creck looked up to the heavens in frustration, and saw a boy, hanging on to the legs of a canary, flying off toward what he thought was the lake.
“I WILL KILL THAT BOY!” Cried Creck.
He reached for the Serpentine Spear and directed it towards a pile of stones. He transformed them into a stone minion, which he shaped like a human boy. He altered his design so that he looked just like a boy about Zave’s age, with black hair, who looked very lifelike if you ignored for his eyes which remained gray.
Creck was very pleased with himself.
“Your name is Set,” He said to the minion, “For you will set the score with Zave for betraying me. Here is your mission: You will befriend Zave and get close enough to him so that you can be unaccompanied without that interfering canary around. You will then smother Zave and kill him and return the body to me. Now go! And don’t return without that boy’s body or I will kill you.”
With that, Set left Creck and set out in a sprint towards the la











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