Chapter 6 - Prophecies of Evil

The night was drawing, the stars had started to come out and the air was getting colder by the moment. The night was drawing, the stars had started to come out and the air was getting colder by the moment. Prince Valandt and the mysterious samurai warrior Imunzo had made camp and would resume their trek back to Legia castle in the morning. With no horses, walking was their only mode of transport and it was going at a steady pace. Valandt was silently cursing himself and going through the events that led to Astrals capture in his head and how would he get her back. `Imunzo was close enough to mount an attack that would have gotten Astral released so why didn't he?` thought Valandt to himself as Imunzo came back with more firewood. “I would have hurt her had I gone for Kaiazal” Imunzo said, as if sensing Valandt’s thoughts. Imunzo had an air of calm about him tonight and had not spoken much until now. “We will get her back” he said to Valandt, initiating a conversation.
“I'm not worried about that, she is one person” said Valandt, masking his true feelings “I am worried about the people, how could we fight against a god such as Goreoth” Valandt bit his lip and got lost in deep thought “you look out for your people” Imunzo paused “this will make you a great king, Legia needs you to be the king now Valandt” he heard Imunzo say which broke his concentration.
“What do you mean now?” Valandt sat up and stared at Imunzo, who was sitting on the floor, his eyes closed, sword on his lap as it was before. Imunzo’s hands were behind his back. “whoever becomes king will decide the balance of power, there are four, you are one of those four”
“Four?” Valandt was confused. so he just stopped talking altogether and walked up beside Imunzo, paused to say something then gave up the idea and turned to sit back down. “I know of your past Valandt” Imunzo said changing the subject. “You betrayed your family”
“I have never betrayed Gyraicus” said Valandt quick to defend himself.
“You know what I mean... I can see.... He forgives you” Imunzo said coolly, this clearly making Valandt uncomfortable. “There is something he needs you to do” said Imunzo, who opened his eyes when he had finished.
“What?” asked Valandt nervously
“You must save the people from the greatest of all the evils” Imunzo paused. “You must destroy Goreoth”. Valandt stood up and started pacing at what he was hearing “Goreoth could not be killed but the goddess of peace, what makes you think I can destroy him”. Imunzo stood and sat Valandt down on a rock, Imunzo sat opposite. “This world never heard the full prophecy” Imunzo started “it has become distorted through time” Imunzo then began to tell Valandt the full prophecy of Goreoth. “Goreoth was sealed underneath the earth by Paix not because she could not beat him, but to give enough time to ready the world for the Gloariax”
“What is the Gloariax” asked Valandt cutting in.
“The Gloariax is a demigod. The Gloariax is fifty percent Paix” Imunzo paused “and fifty percent Goreoth. The Gloariax is Goreoth's key to returning” there was then an awkward silence. Valandt sensed what was coming next but could not prepare himself for it. “Valandt. You are the Gloariax...” Valandt felt like this was a dream as Imunzo spoke “...and you must claim the crown of Legia before it is too late”.

Schard awoke feeling what seemed like cramp in his entire body. He stretched his muscles out and looked out of the window. He had been unconscious for a few hours. Schard scratched his head and looked around. The books of Lijitman were still open on Schard’s table. With a flick of his wrist an oil lantern was lit and on the table so that Schard could read the books in the darkness that had enveloped the room. Schard looked at the books, his eyes could not focus on them properly as they had been inactive for a long while. Schard rubbed his eyes and looked at the books. Schard shook his head at what he was seeing, every word made sense to him. Words that he hadn’t learnt before now he could read. Schard scanned the book and looked for the correct passage. “Here we go...” said Schard and he read the book aloud. “Upon travelling deep into Gorhenge forest, I was greeted by a flashing light. This light was no bright light like fire, it was dark and evil. One by one figures came out of the centre of where the light was coming from. There were three figures but only one spoke to me. The figure called himself Malvagatia, but he was no human. This Malvagatia was made from the finest scraps of metal. It was some sort of metal monster. Ignoring all my instincts I stayed where I was. The metallic beast called Malvagatia spoke to me, offering me powers that no man would have in this land for centuries. I asked them what they needed from me in return. The creature named Malvagatia told me that their powers grew weak, and so they had to keep them stored away until they could come and reclaim them”. Schard read on, quietly for a second then stopped. “So they stored their powers in the body of Lijitman, The body, with that much magic must surely be preserved somewhere” he said, thinking aloud. `If I find the body I can have the power` Schard thought, his thoughts running away with him. Schard scanned the book for any reference to where the body of Lijitman may be buried. Schard laughed when he found out where the body of the dead sorcerer lay, bellowing laughs that lasted a long while. Schard’s roaring laughter almost caused Schard to fall off the chair he was sitting on. A while later, after Schard had stopped laughing he took off his robe and lay down in his bed. He would dream sweet dreams that night.

The night sky was spectacular. The stars were as sparkly as ever, the huge glowing button in the sky that was the moon shone down onto Legia castle. Raiguarde stared over the side of the balcony, he was in the kings room. Raiguarde was lost in thoughts, all of which thinking about what Astral had told him earlier in the day. Raiguarde didn't want to believe her, it was not that he didn't want to be king he would have been the most jubilant man in Legia, but it would require giving up on Gyraicus. Legia could go without a monarch for so long. `Do I dare turn my back on the man that gave me everything?` Raiguarde asked himself for around the eighty seventh time that night. Something then occurred to him `If Astral could have made it to Tuerak forest, why was Valandt not back yet?`. Each thought tore away at him because he didn't have the answer to the questions he posed himself. `Too many questions` thought Raiguarde as he walked through the balcony into the bedroom itself. Raiguarde dropped onto the kings bed, the golden silk sheets going some way to comfort his body. Raiguarde’s frustrated mind was torturing himself for answers, answers which no matter how deeply Raiguarde thought would not arrive. A light appeared all around him and although he was ready for battle this was the first time in days he felt comfortable, at peace. “What is the meaning of this?”
“Your land is in danger, you know it in your heart but you will not believe it” came the female voice. “I ask again, what is the meaning of this?”
“You will not accept the answer” came the voice calmly
“Try me” said Raiguarde, looking around to find something to lash out at, but all he could see is white light.
“I will talk, if you will listen Raiguarde. Will you believe?”
“This is merely a dream” Raiguarde decided and said out loud “This isn't real. You are not real”
“So you know who I am?” the voice said smoothly
“You are Paix. But as I said, this is a dream” said Raiguarde, desperate to hold on to his atheistic belief. “If this is a dream Raiguarde, you have nothing to worry about, so relax” said the voice, to which Raiguarde lowered his scepticism a little. “I am not here to give you answers to your questions” the voice said.
“Naturally” Raiguarde said “Because I don't have the answers and this is my dream” Raiguarde said. “I implore you Raiguarde, open your eyes to the evil that is Goreoth” said the voice. Raiguarde paused in thought and then surrendered to it “It is my job to protect the people of Legia, be it man, woman, or god, I shall heed your words and be on my guard”
“I thank you noble knight” and with that the light disappeared. Raiguarde felt at peace and calm for the first time in days. Raiguarde then drifted off to sleep, unaware he was being watched.

Raiguarde awoke refreshed and alert. His mind would not let him remember where he was or why, and because of this he was fairly content and even a little bit happy. This temporary happiness faded when his momentary memory lapse disappeared. Raiguarde stretched out his muscles and walked toward the balcony. The sun was rising and true to form, it was breathtaking. The sky was aflame, the huge ball of fire that was the sun was breaking through the night sky and lighting the heavens. Raiguarde looked in a mirror and saw what he had let himself become. `I am a disgrace to the Legia army` he thought as he observed his misshapen, unshaved face. His eyes were no longer as bloodshot as they had been for the past few days but his hair was in disorder. Raiguarde had worn the same simple shirt and trousers for three days now, without the king the need to dress up had disappeared. Raiguarde summoned up one of the servants to the room while he washed himself, today would be the start of his reign. Raiguarde, in his own mind believed he would become king however he was going to do everything he could to find Gyraicus, starting now. Raiguarde’s wet body glistened in the early morning sunshine as he readied himself. The servant finally arrived as Raiguarde was drying himself. “Do you have it?” Raiguarde asked upon seeing the servant, who nodded conformation and pushed open the door. Behind the door were two servants carrying Raiguarde’s legendary white uniform. Raiguarde waved the servants away telling them that he would dress himself, to which they a little in slight disbelief, left the room. Raiguarde put on a fresh, angelic white spotlessly clean shirt. Next came the white chest plate and back plate, both white. Raiguarde then put on his white silk leggings, the silk caressed his skin as he did. White boots with a golden pattern on them were next, these were then laced up tight. Raiguarde fastened his golden sword belt onto his waist and sheathed his sword. Then finally, Raiguarde put on white shoulder pads, from which a white cape, with red lining was fastened too. This is what Raiguarde wore in battle and it was this white motif that had earned Raiguarde the nickname `White Lion`. Raiguarde was to head out for Palestar castle and find out what was keeping prince Valandt, but not before his early morning exercise, it had been a while since Raiguarde had done his exercises and he felt that doing them in full amour would make sure he was still able to fight in them. Raiguarde headed down to the armoury and removed his sword belt. Raiguarde then began simple stretching exercises to warm his muscles up. When he had finished warming up, he removed his sword from the belt and began to fight the air. Raiguarde had the speed and agility of a panther and he would overcome almost any odds on this fact alone. Raiguarde thrust and spun his weapon at remarkable speed, carving up the air with it. Raiguarde then moved on to target practice. Target practice was a simple exercise used to train the soldiers for battle combat, there was a rectangular wooden log secured to the floor, which would act as the body. Rope would be tied around this so that the sword would not cut into the wood directly. Two smaller pieces of would be attached to this mock wooden body, to give the impression that it had arms and give a sense of how you would attack someone from all angles knowing what direction they were facing. This was Raiguarde’s favourite activity during his old army days. There was minimum room for mistakes, if where the blade entered was even an inch wide of the intended target, they would be punished for it. This became even harder when several targets were strung together in a column, to give the impression of moving the way through the battlefield. Raiguarde still held the army record for fastest number of hits at the top level. There were five points he had to hit on each wooden figure and for this exercise there was no margin for error, a missed target by so much as a centimetre would result in failure. Raiguarde hit all fifteen points in just under seven seconds, he astounded himself. Things changed and Raiguarde had gotten slower than in his early years in the army, but even still he was among the elite swordsmen in Legia. A noise from upstairs broke his concentration momentarily and he cursed to himself. Raiguarde continued training for another hour, by then he was sweating heavily and feeling the strain, but he worked through it. An hour later Raiguarde felt that enough was enough for a short work. Raiguarde had a quick drink from a container of water he had taken with him, he felt the cool water go down his and give new life to his dry throat. The sound of footsteps made Raiguarde look around, there was no-one there. `Just because I've been training for two hours straight is no reason to be hearing things` he thought to himself as he went for his sword belt. Raiguarde reattached his sword belt to his waist and unsheathed his sword three quarters of the way in, he then in one swift motion jumped, turned, brandished his sword and plunged it into the chest of the man sneaking up behind him. Raiguarde felt that when this was over he would have more unanswered questions and he spun around and sliced the stomach of another man open and kicked him to the floor. Raiguarde looked from left to right to see if anyone else was heading for him, he then jumped and somersaulted backwards, landing right behind another aggressor and stabbing him deep in the back. Three more men entered from the door to the opposite of Raiguarde, who dived and threw three daggers, each landing in the middle of their throats. Raiguarde walked over and looked at the men. They were wearing a uniform that bore a likeness to the Legia army, but it was all black apart from a strange crest in the middle, this itself was a grey colour. Raiguarde then jumped backward as the five bodies began to turn to dust before his eyes. Raiguarde rubbed his eyes to check that he wasn't hallucinating, the after effects of a two hour training session. Raiguarde looked around, `however many of these “dust-men” are around` thought Raiguarde `they do not know the castle like I`. With that four more men appeared and surrounded Raiguarde. Raiguarde was in no mood for wasting time or energy, most of which had allready been sapped while training so he spun around, cutting the four men deeply as he passed them. With them mortally wounded Raiguarde finished the task by stabbing them deep in the chest one by one. Raiguarde ran up the stairs in the armoury through the exit closest to him and into the middle hall where he could see at least fifty men. Not wanting to alert them to his presence he silently walked up behind one guarding the stairs and snapped his neck. As he collapsed to the floor Raiguarde began to ascend the steps going to the upper level. Raiguarde entered a corridor with several rooms and walked past them all, thrusting his sword into the stomach of the only guard that was patrolling them. Raiguarde checked all the rooms systematically, it seemed that while he had been training in the early morning, someone had some in and slaughtered the troops laying asleep. `That still leaves the hundreds that were awake and guarding the castle` Raiguarde thought to himself. Every muscle in Raiguarde’s body was aching now, first the two hour work out and now he would have to it seemed single-handedly repel hundreds of men from the castle who turn to dust when they are killed. Raiguarde paused for a second to gather his head and figure out a plan of attack. He was never the most tactical men at the best of times, he was furious at the deaths of so many men, men he knew and liked and only the sheer numbers stopped him from launching an assault on them all himself, to which Raiguarde genuinely believed that he could emerge victorious. Raiguarde decided against his better judgement to go out and face all of the attackers in the main hall, but on his terms and not theirs. His plan was to, using daggers diminish the force to about twenty strong, which he could then, if not outnumbered easily vanquish from the castle. Raiguarde walked along the balcony and drew five daggers from his pocket. He hid just out of sight and observed them for a while, looking out for a leader or anyone whom he could go for directly. Raiguarde waited for someone to walk across the balcony and pounced on them from behind, slashing his neck open. Raiguarde then took some weapons from the man before he had a chance to dematerialise. The patrolman had, as the men before in the armoury turned to dust and so did the weapons Raiguarde had in his hand. `So much for that plan` he thought to himself. Raiguarde began to break down the situation in his head. `Whoever is commanding this dust army will most likely know something about Gyraicus` thought Raiguarde. Raiguarde then thought of something else `and if I am to become king there is no-way I can die here` thought Raiguarde, showing his trust for Astral’s words. Raiguarde checked his pocket and saw that he had three daggers left. Raiguarde bit his lip hard in thought and headed back the way he had came making sure not to think about it too much as that would put him off what he was about to do. He was about to take on at least fifty men alone. Raiguarde walked along the balcony, making sure not to be seen, not that it would have mattered. As he came back down the stairs leading to the middle hall `no fancy stuff, just kill them`. This kept repeating in his head as he finished the stairs. The squadron of fifty didn't notice Raiguarde to begin with, and he was allowed to slit the necks of three soldiers before he was even detected. The moment Raiguarde knew they felt his presence he dived and rolled, coming up and piercing the chest of the nearest one too him. Raiguarde saw something glint in the corner of his eye as he sliced the air making sure anyone in its way would not live long. Raiguarde using his speed ran and jumped into the far corner, where something had caught his attention. Another sword hung on the wall and he snatched it off and with two swords in hand began to hack away at the surrounding army. Raiguarde made sure every time a sword went into flesh, it went in deep leaving nothing to chance and always pulling his sword clear fast to find another victim. There were a lot less men than Raiguarde thought, but toward the end it became difficult to move, his muscles were starting to give up. Suddenly the remaining twenty or so men in the room disappeared. Raiguarde breathlessly looked above, to the balcony he had been standing on before, a cloaked figure stood there. “You fight well” said the cloaked man. Raiguarde was in no mood to take compliments from a sorcerer of some sort that wanted to take over the castle, he wished he had a bow and arrow to take care of the final invader. “I see you are worthy of the sovereign” the man said, strolling along the balcony. The cloaked figure was then without warning right behind Raiguarde. “I come to warn you” said the figure to Raiguarde, who had only just caught his breath but still remained silent. “I mean you no harm” said the man “I know you‘re a man of sense, I like that” he paused “I am Kaiazal”.
“Are you some sort of wizard?” said Raiguarde, finally breaking his silence.
“You could say that” Kaiazal said “I come to warn you Raiguarde”.
“Warn me!” said Raiguarde, his anger clear “what about the soldiers, all dead!”
“That was merely a warning, you will have to improve security”. At this point Raiguarde had enough and thrust his sword deep into Kaiazal’s body, but it just went straight through. “Why do you want to kill me, I have done nothing to you” Kaiazal said.
“Those men, good men, noble men” Raiguarde was on his last legs, breathing deeply as he spoke. “Their death was in honour” Kaiazal said turning his back to Raiguarde. “Beware of the traitor, he will attempt to steal the crown from you” Kaiazal said as he disappeared through the castle wall. Just as Raiguarde’s muscles started to relax a little he heard a scream of pain. Sword in hand Raiguarde ran and ran, wearing out even more of the minute energy he had. `I’m going to have to rest soon` thought Raiguarde as he made it to the watch tower. Some men had survived the first attack on the castle, but were now dying in front of Raiguarde. There was no way he could jump down from where he stood so he would have to make his way down to the front gate. Raiguarde ran surprisingly fast considering he had been working his muscles non-stop for almost three hours now. As Raiguarde reached the front gate he was in no mood to wait and four of the same men he had encountered before came for him. Moments later after they were dead Raiguarde saw someone in the distance and something that made him cower in fear. Raiguarde could not make it out as the shadow of this strange thing enveloped him. Raiguarde saw the person next to this beast and immediately new what was going on. “Want the crown for yourself do you?” Raiguarde called to him. Raiguarde saw him laugh evilly and spat on the floor in disgust. “I never did trust you” Raiguarde called “why did you have to kill them all?”
“I am merely one man, I cannot invade a castle without it being empty first”
“And who is that?” said Raiguarde, talking about the legendary figure that stood next to the traitor. “What do you think?” said the traitor, followed by a bellowing laugh, who then nodded to his huge accomplice and he felt his huge fist slam him to the floor hard and most likely snapping ribs at the same time. The traitor leaned over Raiguarde’s unconscious body. “I never really liked you anyway” and he laughed. Kaiazal appeared behind them and stared at the mammoth accomplice for a second in awe. Kaiazal laughed softly to himself “I could not have done a better job myself” Kaiazal paused and went to go inside the castle “are you coming ?” he asked. Schard got to his feet slowly and beckoned his stone warrior to carry Raiguarde’s body into the castle with them.