The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) (21 page)

He giggled in his thunderous voice. “YES! This is so much fun!”

Zethu growled, “I don’t need those toys.” He slashed his sword across the battleship, splitting it in half. He brandished his sword. “This is all you need.”

“
What?
” Admiral Halken couldn’t believe what his officers were telling him.

His commander said, “The Golems…they are attacking our ships!”

Halken said, “How’d this happen? Have the pilots defected? Are they sympathizing with the Guardians?”

“Admiral!” A crewmember stood up. “We’ve received word from the pilots of the King squadron. They say that the Golems broke free from their control and turned against them. Now the Golems have a will of their own, can talk, and have been declaring threats against us!”

“That’s all I needed to hear,” said Admiral Halken. “We’ve done what we came to do. Signal the retreat. Forget about those things. They won’t be able to follow. We’re leaving—”

BOOM! Their supreme warship shook tremendously. The whole crew lost their balance. Everyone tried to stay standing as the ship kept rocking back and forth.

The admiral held onto his chair. “What’s going on?”

He looked up. Giant fingers poked through the ceiling of the bridge.

As the huge fingers pulled the ceiling apart, there was a harsh noise:
GRRRRRSSSH!

The terrifying face of the Golem was big enough to fill the giant hole in the ceiling. It eyed the Admiral and burst into laughter.

“Heh heh.” Zethu snickered. “This ship is big. Lots of humans here!”

The admiral did not lose his composure. After the shaking had stopped, he stood up and faced the Golem.

Placing his hands behind his back, Halken straightened and said, “You can speak. We did not know. It was not our intention to enslave intelligent beings—”

“What are you yapping about?” Zethu growled.

Halken cleared his throat. “What are your demands? Do you want reparations? We can settle this—”

“Reparations? I don’t even know what that is,” said Zethu. “But I know what I want. What do I want, you ask?” Zethu grinned maliciously. “I want you all…TO DIE!”

Using the Golem, Zethu reached in, grabbed the admiral like a doll and brought him up to the Golem’s face. Then Zethu said to him, “You speak with authority. But I can’t see where such authority comes from.” Zethu tightened his grip. “In my eyes…you are nothing but dust!”

The soldiers on the bridge pulled out their rifles and handguns.

“Release the admiral!” the soldiers shouted.

“Or you’ll what? Shoot me?” asked Zethu, snickering. “Those toys won’t even scratch an itch. I might release him…if you drop all your weapons, get down on your knees and beg.”

The soldiers turned to the commander. The commander nodded. Then all the soldiers slowly lowered their weapons.

“Don’t show weakness! Don’t give in to his demands! It’s not like I’m the president! I’m just a soldier, like all of you!” the admiral grunted. “Open fire!”

His commander said, “But sir—”

“That’s an order! SHOOT HIM!”

The soldiers raised their weapons again and aimed for the Golem’s head. But Zethu used the admiral as a shield, putting him in front.

“Yes, obey your leader,” said Zethu. “Go ahead and shoot. You won’t hurt me. You’ll only be killing your precious leader! Do it!”

“Shoot him!” the admiral shouted. “I’m already as good as dead!”

The soldiers hesitated. Even though they kept their guns aimed on the Golem, they were reluctant to fire.

“How boring,” said Zethu. “Your soldiers are a disgrace. They can’t even obey. Pathetic. You all disgust me. I’m tired of this game.” Zethu threw the admiral back into the ship. A group of men caught the admiral safely. Looking confused by Zethu’s action, the soldiers began to open fire upon the Golem. The bullets seemed to bounce off the armor.

Zethu lifted his sword up. “Enjoy the taste of death!” As the sword came falling down, a bright flash of light filled the bridge. The admiral looked away. When he glanced back at the scene, he was surprised to see that the ship was still okay. The giant sword had been stopped. Beneath the sword was a man dressed in dark blue robes.

It was Dionus, the Overlord of the Heroes. He had arrived in the nick of time.

“Dionus?” Zethu withdrew his blade. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon, master. We were planning on paying you a visit. Have you come to join in on the fun?”

“Zethu,” said Dionus solemnly, “how did you get here? How did you escape?”

Zethu shrugged. “I’m not sure. We were fighting some Guardians in the outlands. Then there was a strange light. Next thing we knew, we were here!”

Dionus raised a brow. “We?”

“Yes, Nairee and Strakken are with me. Ever since the great fall, we’ve been roaming the outlands together, slaughtering whatever foolish Guardians we could find.”

“So it’s the three of you…” Dionus sounded uneasy. “Bring the others to me.”

Zethu let out a deep mental cry. He showed no restraint. It was so strong that even the humans in the fleet could hear his loud voice resounding in their heads.

Nairee and Strakken came immediately.

“Dionus!” Nairee exclaimed. “You’re here! Shall we begin?”

“Is it time?” Strakken squealed in excitement. “Is it time? The three of us are more than enough to carry out your plans. Give us the word! Let us destroy them all!”

Dionus did not look pleased. “Get out from those…bodies. Get out of those giants.”

Zethu protested, “What? But we just—”

“OUT, NOW!” Dionus bellowed. “DO YOU DARE DEFY ME?”

Strakken groaned, “Awww…”

Black mist came out from the Golems’ mouths and settled on the ground by Dionus. The mist took shape, transforming into creatures that looked almost human. Almost. There was still something unnatural about the way they looked. Their eyes glowed bright red. Zethu was quite large and muscular. He had a long serpent-like tail and wings like a bat. Nairee was an incredibly beautiful woman with long black hair down to her knees. Strakken, however, looked like a small imp.

“You’re coming with me,” said Dionus. “All of you. And you must obey me.”

Zethu, Nairee and Strakken all bowed down before him.

CHAPTER 16

Into the Fire

The forest was quiet. All was calm. There was nothing foreboding. It just seemed all so mystical—as if the forest was alive…and maybe even sacred.

Azura whistled in amazement. Sprinkles of raindrops glistened in a beam of sunlight that radiated through the leaves. Her throat parched, she opened her mouth, letting some of the misty water drip down her tongue. It was sweet.

“Weird,” Azura remarked. “I wasn’t thirsty until now…and when I became thirsty…it was like the forest answered me—and gave me a drink.”

Kale said, “Agreed. You are weird.”

“Currie, do you want a drink too?” she asked her little companion as it rested inside the bag on her back. Currie purred in reply. Azura knelt down and opened the bag. Currie stayed inside. Azura gathered some of the droplets in her hand and poured a little water into Currie’s small mouth.

She turned to face Kale, who was leaning on a tree. “By the way, are you sure we’re going in the right direction? I don’t see anything here.”

Kale eyed her. “Why are you asking me? After all, I
am
the Lost Hero. It’s obviously
my
fault that we got lost in the first place. I can’t
possibly
help you find anything.”

“Oh, come on,” said Azura with a grin. “I said I was sorry. At that time I was just—” She broke off.

“Just what?”

Azura sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. “Ugh…what’s that smell?” She gave Kale a dirty look. “It stinks. Smells like rotten eggs.”

“What? Don’t look at me! I didn’t do anything.” Kale sniffed the air. “And I don’t smell anything. Are you sure you’re not just imagining things?”

“No,” said Azura. “I’ve been told my sense of smell is stronger than most people. Maybe that explains why I can smell it and you can’t. But if it’s not you then…” She fell silent and exchanged surprised glances with Kale.

They exclaimed in unison, “The volcano!”

“We must be close,” said Kale. “Close enough for you to smell the sulfur.”

By closely following the pungent odor, Azura was able to get an idea of where the smell was coming from. They walked deeper into the forest with a brisk pace and got closer to the source of the foul-smelling gases. After a certain point, Kale was able to start smelling it too, which did not bode well for Azura, or so he thought. But it wasn’t the case. Azura didn’t seem fazed by the smell anymore. He thought her extra-sensitive nose would’ve been dying by now.

The forest ended. Now, before them, all that remained were hundreds of acres of black igneous rock. Piles of dark rubble were folded several times over to form a lifeless hilly terrain.

“This must be it,” said Kale. “I forgot there was this kind of volcano too. Some volcanoes are large and flat. No wonder we didn’t see it from the village.”

Azura scanned the land. “There’s nothing here. So if this is it,” said Azura, looking upward to the sky, “the old man must be up there.”

Kale looked up too, putting a hand above his brow to shield his eyes from the sunlight. “Do you really think he’s up in the sky? I thought he’d be living
on
the volcano, not
above
it. Though, quite honestly, both sound like a bad idea.”

Azura pointed at a black object inside the clouds. “There’s something up there.”

“Could be a bird.”

“No, with my eyes I can tell the shape. It’s more of a cube.”

Kale turned to face her. “You mean to tell me you can see more than just a black dot?”

Still squinting at the sky, Azura replied, “Yeah. It’s definitely not a bird.” She rested her hand on her hips. “But how do we get up there?”

“I have no idea,” said Kale. “Jump? Rope up some birds? Balloons?”

“You’re here?” someone else said.

Azura and Kale swung around reflexively. “Who’s there?”

There was no one around.

They faced the volcano once again. But this time, a person in a hooded robe met their gaze, and beside him was a young woman. It was Sorren and Elize.

“When did they get here?” wondered Kale.

“Sorren,” Azura said. “I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon.”

“Neither did I,” said Sorren. “I thought I told you to go to the Court of Verras…a few weeks ago.”

Azura said nervously, “Well, you see…a lot of things happened and…. Wait a minute!” She snapped, “I have a bone to pick with you!” She grabbed Sorren by his robe. “I almost died because of your stupid directions!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Sorren.

“You told me to go straight to the mountain!”

Sorren raised a brow. “So?”

“I ended up going straight into a bunch of deathtraps!”

“Deathtraps? Couldn’t you have just walked around?”

“I was…afraid to get lost. Nothing makes sense here! If I had known—”

“I warned you about this place…”

“Yeah…but…” Azura said slowly, “You said it was the easiest way so I thought, it’d be…easy…” She released her hand when she noticed a huge cut across his robe and makeshift bandages on his chest. “You’re hurt! How’d that happen? Did you get into a fight?”

“It’s nothing,” he replied. “I fell.”

Kale raised his eyebrows in surprise. “On what? An axe?”

Sorren said quickly, “Anyway, it’s for the best that you’re here. It wouldn’t have done you much good to go to the Court now.”

“What do you mean by that?” asked Azura. “Did something happen?”

Sorren scratched his neck. “You could say that.”

Elize stepped forward. “A great tragedy happened.”

Azura cocked her head. “What?”

“You’re Azura, correct?” asked Elize.

Azura nodded.

“My name is Elize,” she told her. “I’m a Judge and a friend of Darek. He told me a lot about you.”

Azura smiled faintly. “Probably nothing flattering.”

“Oh, no—that’s not true at all!” said Elize. “Darek looks up to you. Your bravery has been a great inspiration to him—”

“Yeah, can we just get to the point?” Sorren said.

Azura whispered to Elize, “Don’t mind him. He’s always like this.” Then she asked, “So? What happened?”

“We were attacked,” Elize said. “The Conclave was murdered and, because of that, we’ve lost contact with the other Judges. The portal to the other realm no longer works. And Darek has gone after the murderers to seek revenge.”

“That’s horrible!” said Azura.

“Wow,” said Kale. “You weren’t kidding. That is a tragedy.”

Sorren said, “So there you have it. No point going there anymore. But there is another way out of Lacuna.” He gestured for them to follow. “I’ll bring you to see him. I wasn’t expecting to bring along so many people, but I don’t think he’ll mind having a few extra guests.”

While they followed, Kale nudged Azura. “Who is this guy? A Hero? A Judge?”

She shook her head. “Sorren is from the assassin’s guild.”

“An assassin?” Kale snarled. “An assassin? They’re worse than mercenaries!”

“Don’t worry,” said Azura. “He can get unstable at times, but I don’t think he’ll try anything. But if he does, I’m sure we can handle it.” She smiled mischievously.

Sorren told them, “When we go inside the volcano, I want you guys to be quiet and only speak when spoken too.”

“Go in the volcano?” Kale laughed. “You’re not serious?”

Sorren made no attempt to respond.

Azura whispered to Kale, “He’s always serious.”

“No way! He’s always like that?”

“Yes,” said Elize, nodding. “Sometimes he says some weird things, but he always seems so serious about it. You won’t believe what he put me through when we were trying to find this place. This one time he—”

Sorren sighed loudly.

They reached the massive crack in the earth. Azure was astonished by the size. It really looked like an open mouth with the jagged edges forming teeth. The descent into darkness was through a spiral staircase of stone steps wrapped around the walls of the cylindrical hole. The path downward was deep, maybe about half a mile. The steps looked quite natural and unpolished, as though it was not man-made. Because of this, Azura paid careful attention as she went inside the mouth of the volcano. It would be easy to loose footing and plummet into the pit of bubbling magma below.

“Isn’t this dangerous?” asked Azura. “Won’t we get roasted in here?”

“Exactly,” said Kale. “There’s more than just heat too. Like poisonous gases.”

“Don’t worry,” said Sorren. “The one who watches over this place has seen us. He will keep the environment safe to allow us entry. He will force the heat down and hold back any poisonous gases.”

“Ridiculous,” Kale scoffed. “Someone’s forcing the heat down? Even the highest level of anti-law can’t do that.”

“You haven’t seen the forbidden arts then,” said Sorren.

“Oho, okay,” Kale snickered. “Forbidden arts? Now you’re just making stuff up as you go along. And why are we even going in the volcano to reach whatever’s in the sky? How about explaining that one, o wise and knowledgeable nutcase?”

“It’s the way we have to do things,” said Sorren.

“Really?
Really?
” Kale snapped. “Now you aren’t even trying! You must think all Heroes are gullible and stupid. This is some sort of trap, isn’t it?” Kale gripped his spear. “I’m warning you. If you try to pull anything…”

Sorren glanced back. “And why would I do that?”

“I don’t know,” said Kale. “I wouldn’t understand how a cold-blooded killer thinks. Because, you see, my life has been dedicated to keeping people’s lives safe from scum like you.”

“Most assassins are in it for money,” said Sorren. “I don’t see how killing some nameless Hero would be worth it.”

Kale poked him in the chest with a finger. “Aha! So you admit it!”

“Admit what?”

“You said
most
are in it for the money. That doesn’t have to include you,” Kale hissed. “Maybe you’re the type that kills for fun. Since we’re in this weird, trippy dimension, you could kill us all and get away with it. No one would ever know.”

Sorren sneered. “What? You think you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself from a weak, low-ranking assassin like me?”

Kale moved forward with his spear. Performing a swift motion, Kale managed to press the spearhead against Sorren’s neck. “Don’t overestimate yourself, scumbag. I’d crush you in a fair fight. I’m just worried about what traps you might have for us below.”

Azura smacked Kale over back of his head. “Put your spear away!”

“What?” Kale frowned. “But he’ll—”

Azura smacked him again, but harder this time. “Did you not hear me the first time?”

“But—”

Azura smacked him once more, even harder. Kale’s head flew forward.

“OUCH! Okay, okay, okay, okay!” Kale shouldered his spear. “Look! Spear is away! Now stop that! Before my head flies off!”

Azura smiled. “Good.”

“I don’t get it, Azura. Why are you defending this assassin?” Kale growled, feeling the fresh bumps on his head. “Think of the people he killed! This guy is a criminal!” Kale glared at Sorren. “Filth like this…can’t be trusted.”

Azura raised her head and said flatly, “What he has done in the past does not—”

Kale snapped, “Past? Don’t talk about the past! He’s
still
an assassin, isn’t he? If he changed his ways that’s one thing, but he hasn’t!”

“I…” Azura paused. “I trust Sorren. He’s helped us a lot.”

“You really trust him?” asked Kale.

Azura replied firmly, “Yes.”

Kale made eye contact with Sorren. “Fine. We’ll see how this plays out. I know his type though. One day…he’s definitely going to stab us all in the back. And when that day comes, I’ll make him regret it.”

Sorren whispered, “You’re welcome to try…”

They reached the bottom. Here, it was intensely hot. Azura believed it was a miracle that they weren’t already burnt to a crisp by the heat vapor of the inferno before them. The magma seemed to be held down in the center, as though some invisible force restrained it from escaping. There was solid land around the magma, giving them a place to stand.

“What do we do now?” asked Elize.

“Yeah,” said Kale. He had a suspicion that Sorren was lying or hiding his intentions. “You brought us down here for what? Nothing here, just as I expected.”

Sorren gave Kale a cold stare before watching the magma carefully. “He’s coming. Just give him some time.”

Abruptly, Kale grabbed Sorren by the robe. “Still playing games?”

Azura sighed. “Kale, don’t make me come over there and hit you again.”

Kale released his grip. “One minute. I’ll wait one minute.”

It didn’t even take a minute for something to happen. Seconds later the volcano began to rumble. The quaking of the earth caused heaps of rubble to fall down. The most terrifying sight, however, was that the magma was boiling over; it was a sign of terrible things to come.