Chapter 1 : Prologue

 

Beyond the Golden  Mountains of Kalahar , Across the Silky Sands of Dimrock Island , The Kingdom  Of "Athorra" Is a Place where the Athorrians  lived under the claws of war for years  . the flames of death , and shadows of men with no mercy in their hearts . Only greed and lust for power .  a place Surrounded by Forests South and North . Hoping to be safe from those who try to steal their fruit of knowledge and take away their peace and harmony , at that time in the "Fog Valley" there was a Demon that controlled Their Fates  , a mighty ghoul of his own kind named "Kazaroth" the Demon king . showed those people death for centuries and kept  on making them live on so he doesnt run out of his favorite meat . yes , he Devours them one after the other . they gathered and decided to make a monthly sacrifice to stop the random massacres of the demon . kept giving him the finest of their sons and daughters , only to find themselves betrayed by the demon because he thinks that he's a higher class and he doesnt negotiate with humans . so they have found themselves back to square one .

 

 the elders gathered once again and made a small council . they talked for days and days trying to find a way to save the destiny of their village and the entire human race . and after some agonizing efforts and alot of words and arguments , they decided thats the only way to stop "Kazaroth" is to bring one of the Great Demon Vanquishers  From the east as a desperate measure to try and vanquish the Evil demon that became a Risk that holds them from living their lives in peace . even if it means Co-operating with their enemies from the east , what matters now is the Demon , then the rest come afterwards . so they Decided to send a messenger to the eastern village called the " Shayan Empire " and straight to one of the greatest "shokuten knights" that ever lived , a demon warrior like never before , having his own ways of expressing his might and power , a Warrior Named " Azeel" . after a couple of days the Eastern empire responded to their fellow humans sending a guy in his 50's with a strong build and a great wisdom . courage and power , he stood infront of them with his Grey light armored Outfit  . holding his sword that has a handle that looked like a staff . and a beard that mixed with some white hairs showing hes not some young stud that thinks that he can kill demons while he only risk peoples lives in the process . No , this guy is experienced , in every field possible the battlefield needs , they ended up convincing the "shokuten warriors" to lend them a hand against the Vile demon that Corrupts their lands and stop them from living in peace . the Warriors agreed on the matter , and joined them , while thinking of a better future with the "Athorrians" in harmony and peace . Azeel was a man known will for his kindness also , so he took the entire "they are our enemies" concept and threw it to the side . hoping for a new page with the Athorrians ,they talked with him for hours and hours trying to figure out the proper plan to beat the Demonic Creature without harming any souls on the way .

 

 azeel has his ways so he was calm all the way , and convinced the council that they will be the demon sooner than they think ,only under one condition , that they dont ask him how or why , or question his decisions , and even if they were curious but they had to agree , he is their only choice , and his attitude gave them confidence and made them look ahead with hope again , they went with azeel , gave him what he needs as he asked , he was a man of few words so they couldnt handle the guy anyway better than this ,and when they came close to the Valley where "Kazaroth" the demon lives , azeel asked them to stop the wagon and let him get off , then asked them to leave him here , they were surprised and there was alot of "wait wait ... what ?" he asked them not to question anything he does from the beginning so they had nothing to do but this , plus they consider his country an enemy so they thought if he died it wouldnt be a loss to them at all , so its a win/win situation for them , they left him there , and went off .

 

 there was quite some time since they have heard from him , days passed by , then a week , then 2 weeks exactly , 14 days , they decided to send a scouting unit to check for the guy Azeel and see what they will report to the "Shokuten" , they entered the valley only to find a big pile of Dust , and there was a Huge horn over the dust , only then the eyes of the guys glittered for a second , they looked at each other and screamed " Yes ,,, Kazaroth is Deeeeeeead " it was a joyful scene , it was the hope that just came back to those guys , and in the middle of all this one guy came out and said " Ummmm but ,,, but what about the knight ? " so they stopped for a minute and went looking for him ,they left the horn and under it there he was , it was "Azeel " under that huge horn , it Penetrated  him so badly it came out from his back ,he was covered under that Dust thats why they didnt see him at first , obviously he was dead for a week or so , but the weird thing is that his body was untouched , no rotten flesh and no worms at all , it appears as if he died just now , the blood and his eyes , everything was in place .

 

 The captain of that scouting group was a greedy guy named " Hiet " , he told them to move on and get the guys body and return to the council to tell them what happened in here , and to celebrate the whole thing , Hiet's left hand has only 4 fingers so he relies alot more on his right hand , even though he grew up a lefty , using his left hand better , but a recent incident Hunting made him encounter a vicious Mountain Wolf that ended with him losing his finger , having a big scar on his face , and that Wolf being dinner for him and his family that night , "Hiet" approached and held the body of "Azeel " and the guards helped him to put the body into the wagon , he was covered in that filthy Dust as he said , he hated that demon so much and even after his death he still hates everything about him , even his ashes , so after a while the guys took off and went back to the town , they informed them , only to have the best celebration ever that day , the day the faith and hope of the "Athorrians " was restored once more , still they wondered how did that guy kill a demon they were waiting for years to kill only in 2 weeks , it was a miracle , one that will reunite those 2 countries , they shouldn't be enemies anymore , they have nothing to be enemies for .

 

The Arthorrian council set up a small meeting , and decided they want to go and check the place for themselves and se how is it , so they asked for " Hiet " and his scouting crew to be their escort since they know the place will , and since they were there a day ago , they decided to go there the first thing in the morning , that day was one of the happiest nights "Atorria " had since a long long while ago , decades of horrors and agony now finally come to an end , and the haltered of the "Shokuten" country has ended as will , what can be better than losing 2 enemies at once ? , every child slept safely that night , it was something beautiful , and all thanks to the hero "Azeel" from the east , people dont care if their government like it or not bt since that day on , "Azeel" was the hero to everyone , the symbol of bravery and sacrifice that gave them hope to live again .

 

 

End Of Chapter 1 : Prologue

 

2: Chapter 2
Chapter 2

 

 

Last night was a glorious night for the entire city , that morning was different , so calm and so peaceful and joy signs were everywhere , on the walls of the city , the birds tweets and on people’s faces , as for the old man captain " Hiet " , he woke up after yesterday’s tiring events , then went to the balcony of his house , drinking a cup of what’s left of yesterday’s Mead , while he was smiling Rolling the mead on his cup and enjoying the stingy taste while watching the beautiful sunrise , all of a sudden his eyes grew wider as if he has seen a ghost and screamed with fear .

Hiet : Ahh

when his poor wife "Thelma" dropped the broom from her hands and ran up to her husband so terrified cause she has never heard him scream like that before .

Thelma : Hiet sweetie what’s going on ?

When she entered the room she saw him on the ground with mead all over him , pointing with his finger to his rooms empty wall saying " How ... how ?"

she looked where he was pointing yet there was nothing , she got even more worried and looked at him , put her hand on his hair softly looking at his eyes and asking " Honey calm down , what’s wrong ? what’s wro..... "

that’s when she stopped in the middle of the word cause she saw it now , Hiet’s lost finger has fully healed and it grew back once more , he has five fingers on his hand again which is something impossible to believe .

Hiet : Its ,,, its ,,, the powder , the weird Dusty Powder

Thelma : Sweetie , what powder ?

Then he had this weird greedy look on his face he pushed Her so hard she fell on the ground saying " Shush lower your voice , its mine , only mine "

Hiet then puts on his thick brown crappy coat , and runs out with that smile across his scarred face , then looked back to his wife lying down on the ground wondering what the hell is wrong with her husband and said " everything changes tonight ... we will start living for real " and left slamming the door hard , got on the horse and hit the horse hardly it started running like a bullet , heading to that jungle where the demon remains were found yesterday , and at that exact same time the City Council Investigating team were on that trip to go and analyze the scene and se what they will do about the remains and to close this whole case once and for all , they got everyone who knew about the matter personally and contacted everyone of them except for Hiet of course so when they got to his house they found his wife broken in tears outside of her house .

they asked " Dear madam good day to you , may you tell us the whereabouts of your respectful husband please ? "She started crying even louder and shaking then she said " He got mad , he said something got him his finger back somehow and now he left , he didnt tell me where , Please mister , bring him back safe to me i have no one else in this life , please i beg of you " thats when the man replied softly " Dont worry madam , we will bring him back to you one way or another " , after that they halted forward on their 6 wheeled black carriage being pulled by 4 horses , they traveled into the jungle , the site where Kazaroth died and when they got there , they have arrived at the scene of "Hiet" with his face covered in dust all over and a weird smile , they also noticed the Scar on his face is gone too he was looking quite insane " It Worked , am gonna be rich " Hiet screamed right at at the arrival of the carriage to the site , when he looked at them then filled a big pouch of dust and closed it , then the master of the council mister " Steadtly" , a large man with a big stomach , rough around the edges with big hairy hands and a white beard got out of the carriage and said " Seize Him " , thats when Hiet started to run towards the jungle and one of the guards shot him with a crossbow bolt on his right leg , he kept running scared holding that pouch when he put it into a small wooden box the kept running and running with the entire Council team behind him , until they got to the riverside on top of the hill , it was kind of a dead end unless u follow the river down the waterfall which’s impossible from this height , thats when hiet stood their looking at the river and they got behind him saying " Captain Hiet , Turn around slowly and surrender yourself , this is a special matter , we have been assigned by the Main council to look into it and investigate so no one is allowed to touch anything unless we confirm so , these are the orders "

Hiet: No no you dont understand ,,, i ,,, i found it

Steadtly: no you fool , you're not supposed to do anything here , its demon dust

Hiet: But ,,, uh ,,,

Then Hiet tried to reach out for the wooden box to show them the effect of the dust and prove it to them , thats when the guards though he was pulling some sword of weapon so one guard fired 3 bolts to Hiet's chest , everything froze , its an irony that Hiet was thinking he became rich minutes ago only to fins out the opposite that he is dead , Hiet's torso fell on the river side while his legs are still on the land thats when the wooden box fell into the river with the pouch on it , looking at the box floating on the river headed to the waterfall steadtly screamed " Idiot" angrily , the guard that fired the bolts threw the crossbow on the ground , fell on his knees then started shaking saying " what have i done ,,, i didnt ,,, i didnt mean it " .

His name is " Crain " a new recruit guard , he was a bright young man going to the academy so they mad him join the council investigating security unit , this was his first real mission , at that moment he also mean itl also be his last , he was shaking hardly mumbling " i didnt mean to "thats when " Steadtly " came closer waving around his Eagle like commander cane then but his hand on his shoulder and said " Dont worry young man , everything will be ok "

Cain: but it was my fault ,,, i ,,, i didnt mean to kill him i was only needing to scare him thinking he wanted to pull out a weapon to shoot at us

Steadtly: its ok you were only doing your job , its his fault lets forget about it and never mention this again ok ?

Cain: what do u mean forget about it ? i just killed a man i have to commit to what i have done , he must has family and friends , am the reason they lost him , i must pay for that

Steadtly then closed his eyes and looked upset , looked at the other guards and made a sign with his right hand lifting up 2 fingers which meant to take him , they came on and restrained Cain on a tree when Steadtly approached him slowly taking out his small blade then looked him on the eye then slit his throat , Steadtly then started cleaning the blade looking at the other guards then said in a calm tune " Rest in peace poor child , am sure we will remember you " then added " you see ... i hate loose ends , they must be tied so they wont come back and bite you on the ass , anyone else need to be tied here ?" the guards looked at him and said " NO SIR " Steadtly then put the blade on its sheath on his waist and said " Excellent ".

One of the guards talked in a low voice " and the body ... sir ? should we conseal it or burn it ? ". steadtly then answered with that long frouny face talking irrogantly " No, just leave him be, the wolves will thank us for the meal " and smiled lightly saying " No one must know about this , i mean NO ONE " then pointed to the river side, " Lets follow the river and pray we find it , other wise it might cause us problems if we didn't " said steadtly getting back on the carriage .

End Of Chapter 2 : Secrecy

3: Chapter 3
Chapter 3

Down the Athorrian Jungle, lived a bunch of farmer families between the trees and the wildlife. they have built their houses away from the annoyance of knocking blacksmith hammers,  loud sounds of merchants selling their merchandise in the morning,  and the huge towering buildings of the central town of athora. those families chose peace and living near the Riverside and growing their crops.  selling the rice, eggs and milk providing whatever  the villagers need from food, materials to make clothing and tools, in an old small house lived a simple farmer, a simple honorable man of principles. his wife was so sick, so he called a local herbalist which was also 

an old doctor: she's in danger she has a high fever I did whatever I can

a Simple Man with small scrub beard ,  wearing some old tatters and kneeling on the ground in tears , near a bed of his sick pregnant wife she held his hand and say sweetie don't be sad he will be alright .

The Husband : doctor will you please try again I'm nothing but a mere Farmer I don't know what to do

Doctor: I'm sorry Tamaka , I did what I can all is left is waiting for a miracle and helping the baby is healthy.

then the doctor left with when Tamaka looked  his wife on the eye sadly and said but what about you I want you to be okay again I love you Ophelia 

Ophelia : " what God wants would happen" then smiled and a warm way despite the pain trying to calm him down .

Tamaka looked at her face and said " I'll be back I have to find a way wife ".

"No Dear wait" said Ophilia in a really low voice trying to stop him. but he left in a hurry running. on his way out he saw some other woman carrying some bread , he reached out to her .

" Ronda please will you look after her until I get back ? "

Ronda: of course just don't take long

"I wont " said Tamaka.

when he was running trying to save his wife, and his unborn child. he entered the fields he was begging people, saying please someone give me a ride to the old man. everyone is was avoiding him giving him the look two farmers were talking while they heard him saying 

" he thinks he's one of us cuz he's married to the crazy man's daughter "

" yes man, even after they kill the demon and lost the so-called hero of theirs we will never get along ... ever "

Tamaka isn't an Athorrian by birth, his great-great-grandfather was brought here after the war as a slave, and he was taken in by some Athorrian family and they treated him as their own. so now Tamaka is running all the way to the jungle on foot. after a while he got to a huge tree with a small tree-house above it. then started screaming " old man ". on the Tree-house an old man peeked out with a pipe in his mouth. he looked down and said "whos there? ".

" it's me the old man" Tamaka replied nervously.

 " you ? who's this ? go away at once " said the old man 

" I have no time please open and lower the rope stairs I need you, it's urgent old man "

" for heavens sake, even an old blind man stranded in a creepy jungle won't be left alone these days ? humph " said the old man biting on his pipe with a grumpy face.

 then he lower the rope ladder and Tamaka got up, started explaining how his prignant wife is sick .

 old man said " will you know I'm not a magician right ? "

Tamaka : " please man give me a thing I beg you old man "

Old man : " alogyrmia " 

Tamaka :  "excuse me ? "

Old man :  this reminds me of something i came around once. your wife your must've touched the river snails, according to what you said since she can't feel her lower body and she has a fever "

Tamaka : " AlGorrrr... whatever that is,  can you cure it please ? and I'll pay you whatever you need, my family is all ive got "

Old man : " if that's what she has .. no one can man, am so sorry "

" no no no don't say that. she will live. my wife is strong and she will overcome this "said Tamaka In a Horrified yet desperate tune "

 Old man : " the odds are very slim , unless .. " then the old man paused and started thinking 

Tamaka : " unless what ? am sure theres a way man, you have experience and there must be a way to cure her "

Old man : " shuuuuuuush let me remember " the old man then went to a dusty box behind him , dug in for a bit then took out an old dusty book.

" aha there you are, ok listen here. there is some type of plant that is incredibly rare these days, you will find it as the book says on the riverside but this is a 1 to 10 chance to finding it , when you find it bring it to me it might give a bigger chance to her survival,

Tamaka : " I'll find it "

old man " May the Goodluck fair lady be on your side  ".

the old man described how the plant looks like, and where is it to be found. then Tamaka left running he jumped so hard from the rope ladder, then got up quickly running to the river,  and when he got there he kept digging and digging for hours, the plant is some kind of a mushroom that colonizes under the muddy ground,  finally he held something firm he smiled and opened eyes wide to see what is it, to find out it was a rock he threw it away in the river and started digging again, his fingers bleeding and his entire body is tired, sweating and clinging to the slim ray of hope listening to the old mans voice in his head "  it might give us a chance to her survival ", after a while, and finding a rock after another and another, he broke down crying in pain, he was jumping around.

saying " no no please God don't do this to me please ..  please take me but not them, they're all I have ".

he fell into the river open his eyes on the water to see some wooden box, he took it out then open it carefully, to see a light a very bright light coming from the stuff inside of it. was some kind of a dusty material, glittery and shiny as if it was made of gold, he took some of it by his hand and looked at it closely the wind washed some of it away, it landed on an old tree with dead leaves next to Tamaka,  its started glowing the tree started blossoming right away, it became alive and even laid fruit in a matter of seconds,  then at that moment Tamaka looked up close and was mesmerized by what he laid his eyes on just now, then he smiled in tears closed the box and took it home running faster than the wind itself, he got to his house after a while, he bashed in the door and saw his wife they're lying on her back almost not breathing, all he could think of the whole way home was what that weird dirt did to the Tree near the river and how magical it is, without hesitating he put some of it in cup of water and gave it to his wife. wondering if that's a good idea or stupid thing to do, but he was desperate and has all door closed on his face, she drank it and laid her head down again, he just sat there near her bed thinking what have i done, will this fix everything ?. and he was near her bed all night waiting, until he collapsed too, he didnt sleep for a while and his entire body was giving in because of this tiresome day,  he opened his eyes in the next morning, looked with his blurry eyes at his wife's bed, his eyes grew wide because his wife wasn't on the bed, he panicked and screamed " Ophelia ", when she opened the door slowly , her body was so weak but she was smiling at him.

she said " am fine sweetie, i dont remember what happened last night but i feel just fine "

then he ran into her and hugged her while she's smiling confused and saying " watch the baby dear " pointing at her belly. and it was a joyful scene as Tamaka knew he saved his family not thinking was it right or wrong using what he found on the wooden box floating down the Athorrian River 

The End Of Chapter 3

4: Chapter 4
Chapter 4

 

So dark, everything, pitch black. he doesn’t know what’s this state he is In , is he asleep ?, maybe in a comma? so many questions in his head , unanswered questions , all of these thoughts were interrupted by this tremendous headache. the kind that make you feel your skull is being crushed by a giant, the pain started to spread all over his body. The scent of the wet floors on his nose. The sounds of water drops splashing against the ground, as he realized he doesn’t even know where he is. he opened his eyes slowly, panting and heavily breathing, his eyes bugged out from the scene in front of him, his eyes couldn't even blink, he completely froze.

He was chained into the wall on what appears to be like an old cell. The walls looked so pale and old, Scratches of bloodied fingers all over the place, the whole scene was horrifying. big rusty bars on the little narrow window on the top of that high ceiling, panting and shaking he kept on repeating “okaaaaay  don’t panic now, am sure there is a logical explanation to all of this madness “. he mumbled to himself desperately trying to put all of that darkness out of his head, trying to explain it with a real reason as if he was dreaming or something. One of his hands was shackled to the wall by a chain and the other was kind of bruised and scratched but free. he tried to move, one of his legs was a bit bruised too. he started to try and pull his hand out of the shackles, no use. So he continued to look around trying to find a way out of this mess, with buggy eyes and shaky little breaths. The door was far and that small window on the ceiling was more than 20 meters high from the ground. The weird thing was that the door wasn’t closed, it was narrowly opened, screeching every now and then with the wind. It’s almost as if it’s trying to say you can see me but you will never go through. You will rot in here forever trying to get out, while freedom is only 2 meters away from your feet, ironically. his tattered clothes were bloodied, thick yet dry blood, right under his neck, but weirdly he has no wound which made him wonder why is all of this blood , and why he doesn't remember anything at all, he continued his struggle to free himself only to see the dust has started to fall from the ceiling window over some heavy knocking. Sounds like a heavy hammer rocking the ground, or something even bigger. “ what is this ? why why am i here ? what's about to happen to me “he mumbled. As the dust filled his eyes he couldn’t see anything, he teared up, he is so afraid, really afraid, terrified, and so curious to what that is all at once. The thunderous rocking sounds kept coming closer and closer, maybe it was just an illusion he thought, he heard it coming towards his place. he curled up on himself looking around one last time trying to break free or even hide. for salvation, “someone please help” he kept thinking. Cause  finally realized that what he is hearing is the sound of footsteps of something or someone so humongous.  The rocking suddenly stops when it reached the door as he put his eyes away. afraid to look at whoever, or whatever has made these huge footsteps, eventually the curiosity got his so slowly he left his scared eyes after hearing the door screech one last time. only to see a huge shadow covering everything on his surroundings. “dear lord please help me, I don’t know what’s this but if it’s a dream please wake me up” he said while clenching on to the thick chains on his right hand. Between the sounds of his own breaths and his heartbeats almost pumping out of his chest. the owner of those footsteps appeared in front of him while he was completely terrified, trying to hold to his own sanity, still convinced for the last time that this is a dream, a nightmare. and he’ll wake up on the sound of his beloved mother waking him up to go to work. and tell his fellow soldiers about all of this and have a laugh while they call him crazy. Kept screaming “no no no wake up man wake up this isn’t real”. he looked back at his chained hand and started pulling one more time desperately, after all this is the only thing he could do right now. The wall was sturdy and the chains kind of rusty but they were so heavy and old from the looks of them, he knew that he wasn't the first one held captive in  here. but it doesn't matter now, all that mattered to him was seeing his mother's face again, living his old boring humble life as a guard.

 

As he tried and know there's no use in trying to pull his hand out of there, eventually he has given up and just wanted to see that huge monster for what it is one last time, as the monster was walking towards him, he felt so trapped and was waiting for that unclear huge thing to crush his skull wide open, a whistling sound was heard from outside of that cell, the creature stopped, looked back towards the source, as the creature looked back an arrow blowing right through the door landing in that creature’s right eye , a loud growl from the wounded being as he was scratching his face trying to get the arrow out somehow, it was a metallic crossbow bolt.  the creature then slammed the door right open and started to run outside rocking the floor heavily by its feet and knocking everything on his way. then from a far a whispering voice said “ Hey, Wanna escape here or do you feel like staying for dinner ?“. he replied without even hesitating “ Get me out of here please, i don't want to die “. then the strange voice came closer saying “ step aside a bit, let me break that chain for’ya “. only then he had a close up look, it was a girl, a hooded girl. wearing dark clothes and a huge hoodie you cant see the features of her face, except for the curled up dry black hair running down her shoulders covering  half of her face. she crawled on her knees to put her crossbow on the ground, it was a really banged up and patched weapon, with spikes to the sides and there was a rope tied to its handle, it was a really unique kind of weapon which made him wonder what was it used for other than poke monster eyes like what just happened , then she took out a bottle of chemical substance, a slimy green like formula which instantly led to making the bricks behind the chain on the wall to melt away, then she stood up, and put back the bottle on her pocket ,picked up the weird looking crossbow while saying “ hurry pick up your chain and lets get out of here before he comes back “. he then got up slowly, his entire body was in pain,  rolled the chain on his hand and then put it on his back, and told her “ please get me out of here “. she looked back at him, said “ follow me “and started walking to the door. looked right and left trying to locate the creature as his sound growling was heard on the distance, knocking on the walls and making ruckus all over the place. the girl looked back at him and said “ its clear he doesn't see us, get ready now to make a run for it, we will go to the corridors on the left and crawl down a hidden path, he isn't small enough to smuggle through if he catches up with us “. the chains was slowing me down and my leg was bruised and hard to step on but i had no choice, “ it's either that or i end up dead “ he thought to himself so he leaned on the wall and started walking behind her slowly as she was walking in front of him like a rat, making no sounds at all. they got through a rubble on the way got over it then at the end of that corridor there's the hidden path as she called it, it was a whole going under the whole prison building, she goes in crawling as he follows, the whole was big enough to squeeze in a human being, it was so dark though, and the air was really heavy. eventually after crawling for a bit he saw a dim light, “ we’re here “ she said. as she came out of the whole and Helped him out, the floor was so wet and there’s a weird scent that he didn’t recognize. As he was slowly standing up looking around, still shaky about the whole situation, she was looking around and said “ this way .. stranger “. As he was walking behind her looking around, the place was almost like the one they were at a minute ago, seems like if they are on the other side of the same building , where ever this is.

Tried to ask about their  where-about and this whole madness setting they’re stuck at saying “ May I ask …” before she stops him “ Shhhhhhh don’t speak yet you fool, We might be exposed “ and looked at him, the only thing he sees is her Blue eyes and little lips, she seems to be beautiful, he would’ve found out if it wasn’t for the thick black hair covering half of her face, that’s when he put his hand on his lips as a sign of silence, “ Lets keep going, its not far, right around the corner “.