2

  Omar followed the soldiers behind, carrying a notebook and pen in hand. His normal walking pace matched the speed of the captain’s jog.

  “Day 1,150. I continue my duties as a Diborn soldier of the Edindale Armies Vanguard Unit. Not much has changed in nearly three years… all I can bring into account is the punishment of old wounds. A life of being treated beyond trash is a way to answer for my sins. Yet, I work within the shadows of an empire, secretly searching for the Lotus Blade and its shards.

  The Shardbearer Superiors of the Lotus Blade each wield a shard of the powerful weapon. It is these damaged souls who have forsaken the glorious realm of Eurafalia and turned it into a pitfall of war and greed for power. Every country fights for its power in this world. Each of them has spearheaded the battle of the Lotus Wars. So, what can a poor Diborn like me do outside of assisting one’s own country? Destroy the Shardbearers of the Lotus Blades, perhaps? Hell… I am not even in the Prime Lands. The guard makes me serve outside the border. But ultimately, what could I do to free the world of absolution and ambitious men?

  This world needs change. Maybe, one day, some strong powerful individual can come and save us all. Let me be honest with myself. A lowly Diborn doesn’t possess that kind of power. Only a royal does. I only took this job to protect my brothers. An–”

  …

  “Omar!” Leonidas cried out.

  Leonidas and Rorke made their way towards a pathway leading up to a mountain. They quickly hid behind a rock, swords unsheathed, and both trembling in cold sweats. Omar put away his journal and immediately grabbed his silver longsword. The rumbling footsteps of something massive came from the area. Omar hurried his way behind the rock.

  “Rorke, cast golden barrier!” Leonidas ordered.

  “Um. Um… I–” Rorke stuttered out.

  Omar grabbed the boy's shoulder, “Do it, child! Have faith in your skill!”

  “Okay…” Rorke calmed down, clearing his throat. He held his hands above the two soldiers beside him. His hands began to glow brightly as his eyes shut and reopened to discover golden nuggets for fingers. “Reilog!”

  A faint golden orb formed around the three soldiers, just high enough above their heads. The gold dome surrounded them, shielding the men from potential harm. The golden orb felt like a thick, cold stone to the touch. Reilog was one of the basic protection spells for any person to use in their beginner lessons of magic. Every person in Eurafalia possessed some type of magic, whether it be mastered or adept. All creatures had been blessed by the Lotus Crystal, the source of all magic within the lands. Even with its pure glow from above being absent these days, its aura continued to bless everyone.

  “I did it,” Rorke smiled and laughed, unable to believe his skill.

  “That you did, my boy. But whatever is coming from beyond that mountain certainly mustn’t step on this dome or we’ll be crushed!”

  Omar continued to observe their surroundings from below through a small crack in the rock. His eyes caught a glimpse of something unusual. He remained alert and focused while he gradually became more and more superstitious, for something was creating an uneasy feeling in his chest, but he couldn’t identify what it might be. “Hmm…?”

  “What is it, Diborn?” Leonidas asked. “Speak swiftly.”

  Omar ignored the question and put his face to the mountain’s muddy trail, sniffing the ground. He shut his eyes and turned on tried to listen to his senses, which allowed him to feel everything around him. Rorke looked puzzled after putting up the barrier. The rumbling from the other side of the mountain erupted harsher by the second. The young soldier tensed up. Worries of dying crossed his mind repeatedly like the change of a song during a ballroom recital.

  “What… what is he doing?” Rorke asked shaking.

  Leonidas sighed. “The Diborn have keen senses like that of an animal, maybe even more superior. They can sense danger from miles away without any problem. They can even sense Loki magic, magic from the Lotus Crystals. They are trackers, if you will.”

  Omar rose from the muddy ground, with scuff marks from the trail on his face. He took a big sniff of the surrounding air before the rumbling echoed and disrupted his hearing. His dark obsidian eyes widened as he discovered the reality of their situation.

  “We’re surrounded,” Omar muttered. His face shook in fear. “The city of Gamba is under attack, as well. But we’re pinned between greater forces.” Omar shut his eyes. “My parents…My brothers and sister are all under siege.”

  Leonidas’s and Rorke’s eyes opened wider than the easter caverns of the Pale Mountains. Rorke sputtered out, “Then, that means–”

  Leonidas grabbed Rorke’s glowing hands. “Drop the barrier now, Rorke!” he ordered, as the faint golden barrier disappeared in the winds.

  The rumbling violently shook the mountain just as Leonidas tried to reply to Rorke. On top of the mountain, a footstep shattered the peak of the mountaintop. An avalanche of snow and ice flew down like hellfire. On the other side of the mountain trail, banners flung high in the air. White cloth flags with the imprint of a tan wolf howling in the sky could be seen in the distance. The banners belonged to the foreign army of Sakaria, desert warriors trained from birth. Footsteps marched towards the base of the mountainside. The minor avalanche covered part of their barrier. Leonidas moved some of the snowy debris to see what was happening while Omar stared through his small peephole.

  “Why is Sakaria advancing onto Gamba?” Omar turned to Leonidas. “The Edindale Army inside the mountains are supposed to protect this district.”

  From outside of the hidden barrier, three hundred soldiers marched forward in orderly rows of ten, wielding shields and spears in their hands. Their silver-plated armors that rested on top of oversized wool coats were designed for the freezing temperatures. The soldiers wore hoods to protect themselves from the bitter chill. They sensed the danger surrounding them, as the commander-in-chief threw his balled-up fist into the sky, halting the marching soldiers.

  “Hold!” he ordered. “Ready yourselves, lads. Take the Green King alive for the Motherland.”

  Leonidas whispered, “The Sakarian sludge. Those damn foreigners believe they can just come to our nation because of a treaty. Fools, each and every one of them.”

  “Oi!” they saluted. The soldiers waited patiently for more orders. Each second felt like an eternity as the men’s pulses grew thinner as time went by. An avalanche of snow fell down the side of a mountain, erupting an earthquake that surrounded them all.

  “What is that sound?” Rorke held the barrier, but his shoulder crept with a nervous tick.

  Omar, Rorke, and Leonidas all turned to the mountain's peak. The day fell brim. As a large shadow cast over the glaring sky, a large green hand grasped the mountain peak, crushing it with all its force. The hand itself was the size of the mountain the frightened men were hiding on. Every human and creature observed the grass-colored hand in perplexity, trembling with fear.

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  A low growling roar shook the ground as a golden eye peaked from behind the mountain.

  Leonidas was sure he knew of this creature. He wiped the snow from his golden locks in disgust. “Gurin… the Green King himself. He’s grown tired of hiding,” Leonidas whispered. He turned back to Omar. “One of your kind, Diborn. We need him alive.”

  Omar huffed at the thought. His eyes returned to the top of the mountain. The head of the Green King peaked out of the corner of the mountaintop. His face was chiseled by brimstone rock and lit from his golden eyes. That same light glowed a bright yellow throughout each vein in his body. The beast overshadowed his surroundings yet brought a dim glow to the forest from his gleaming veins. His massive shape casted a grand blanket of darkness over the mountain. When the Green King rose to his feet, his calve was the height of the mountain’s peak. His head nearly reached the heavens, as the green Diborn looked down on the humans as if they were mere mongrels. The flowing green hair of the beast soared like flames down his back. Once Leonidas saw his full form, he was now certain that this monster was the Green King, Gurin, a Diborn from a great ogre titan clan.

  “So… this is the true power of the Diborn…?” Rorke asked, nearly pissing himself in terror.

  “Sir, behind us! Another one!” a soldier from the Sakarian force shouted.

  Omar, Rorke, and Leonidas turned around and discovered Omar’s foresight to be true. The eyes of three hundred soldiers and Gurin, the Green King, watched the skies turn a grim shade of gray. Each cloud that passed by turned as black as the night. Darkness shrouded an upcoming second figure. This entity differed from the massive shadow of Gurin. Its darkness cast an even greater fear.

  The being floated directly at the height of Gurin’s head. Black clouds shielded him as his shrouded black cloak ripped to shreds at the seams, the bits of fabric dancing away with the winds. The creature's feet and head were hidden in the darkness. His face resided in the black emptiness of his hood. Each hidden feature of the mystical being frightened the soldiers because of the uncertainty of what might be hiding in the dark. The soldiers were able to barely make out the shape of a small bag or pouch hanging over the figure’s shoulder.

  The beast slowly pulled out a crystal black scythe and pointed his skeleton hand at Gurin. The figure revealed himself, raising his hands to the overcast like a god. He slightly cackled at the sight of Gurin, looking down upon him.

  Leonidas gulped, “And… It’s… Kharon, Lord of Reapers,” he stuttered.

  Kharon remained stagnant in the air, pointing directly at Gurin. In response, the Green King let out an enraged screech similar to a siren. The soldiers of Sakaria, as well as Omar’s group, nearly collapsed from the screech alone. Rorke’s ears gushed out pools of blood from the sound.

  “Diborn, grab the young pup. Kill the one standing later. We need to get out of here–”

  Leonidas’ orders couldn’t have been followed even if the men did hear them. Before he could finish speaking, Gurin kicked through the mountain, splitting it into a ravine that shook the ground like an earthquake. Gurin hurdled right through the violent shaking into the three hundred soldiers who all stood frozen, frightened for their lives. They were clearly in over their heads, and nothing could have prepared them for an encounter with these two superior beings that stood before them.

  “Men! Hold… hold…” the leader of the three hundred soldiers tried to speak clearly. His eyes gazed directly at Kharon who returned his stare, meeting the poor captain’s eyes with his own. The reaper flicked his head slightly right and the leader’s neck instantly snapped in two as he fell motionless to the ground.

  Kharon proudly watched as the rest of the men basked in fear. The reaper charged up his magic, creating a large black crystal rainstorm that pelted down upon the soldiers. All who stood beneath the mountains collapsed in the waking wrath of Kharon.

  Gurin screeched alongside the puny soldiers who were crushed to death by Kharon's crystalized hurricane. The reaper pointed his scythe at the green beast, Gurin. Both beings immediately thrusted themselves towards each other. Gurin tried to deliver a javelin punch into Kharon, but the reaper quickly dodged the blow and flew down towards Gurin’s forearm. Kharon gripped his opponent, violently peeling the skin and muscles from the green ogre’s triceps, drawing bright red blood. After each strike, Kharon grew more powerful against his unfortunate foe.

  The Green King screeched in pain but fought relentlessly against the twenty-foot-high reaper, locking him in a chokehold and sending him flying through the mountain. Kharon soared into hundreds of jagged rocks, brutally bludgeoned by each scrape. The average creature would have died from the impact alone.

  “Through here.” Omar revealed an opening from the manmade ravine Gurin had created. “Quickly, before these beasts–”

  Omar and Leonidas froze. Kharon had landed directly beside them, and his sinister eyes met theirs. As the monster studied Omar, he realized the wanderer was a fellow Diborn. Kharon felt the ichor blood that the shard created inside of him. The reaper’s snarling grin startled the terrified men, including Omar. His face remained engraved in the men’s minds as he returned to fighting Gurin. Escape for Omar’s unit seemed imminent.

  Kharon rose from the outer layers of the mountain, brushing off the pain he had endured. Reaching into the bag over his shoulder, he pulled out a scepter. He aimed both the scythe and scepter at Gurin, charging up a black lightning bolt that was engulfed by the flames of chaos within the darkness. Gurin screeched like the beast he was and ripped a chunk of the earth from the forest’s ground, using it as a barrier while charging up a divine power from the sky. His hand reached for the skies, bringing a raging roar of thunder. His hand retrieved from the clouded skies and pulled out a large lightning bolt, ready to fire at Kharon.

  “Did that thing just grab lightning?!” Rorke yelled in and out of consciousness, his hearing completely lost.

  Omar froze and watched the ongoing battle overhead. Kharon, the superior of death, versus Gurin, the superior of titans, could only end in a brutal massacre. This, he knew, as every Diborn in the world did. Anytime two or more Diborn fought, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost. The dark clouds lit up as dozens of lightning bolts shot through the sky from the battle. Omar led Rorke to a rock beneath the ravine and pulled out his longsword. The blade shined with a white, flaming glow.

  “Take Rorke,” Omar ordered Leonidas. “This is my duty in the mission after all.”

  Leonidas sat concerned and puzzled at Omar’s sudden emergence of human feelings. Diborn typically wouldn’t care for their comrades. Leonidas bit the bullet. “Why, Diborn? Why fight to save our kind?”

  Omar didn’t respond. His vision was blurred by images of bloodshed, and tears began flowing down his cheeks. The sensation of being alone through years of torment was shattered by an oasis of fallen hope. Omar could sense everything he once knew of hope was turning out to be a myth. He turned back and sighed at Leonidas.

  “All Diborn believe they are human, Leonidas. I took my brother’s post, because I believe in the future of this realm. Go. I have an oath to fulfill,” Omar answered, climbing straight into the fight.

  “Diborn, wait!” Leonidas yelled as Omar rushed into the heat of battle. The beams of both creatures grew into tremors themselves. The beings were reckless and careless of what little remained of the continent. The explosion of their attacks could easily disintegrate everything in sight.

  Leonidas observed this disastrous fight, biting his lip anxiously. Grabbing Rorke, he held the sickened boy, attempting to conjure up all the magic he had stored. “Come now, boy. I am not the best at magic, but it’s time to go. Ardare!” Leonidas shouted as the transportation spell took the two out of sight and away from the wreckage.

  The two disappeared from the ravine without a trace. They knelt safely behind a rock a few miles from the battle, observing the war carry on from a safe distance. However, Omar stood directly underneath Kharon and Gurin. He continued to tread through the massacre of the forest carefully and steadily.

  Omar pointed his longsword to the heavens that were hidden beneath the darkness. “I cannot say life is completely free. But I do promise one thing: to the ones who had their freedom stripped from them, I will fight until my last breath to create a world without chains… even if it means wiping my race out of existence. I swear to this oath, truly.”

  His hands began to embrace the blue, flaming embers of his ultimate power. The thrust of his blade shot into the sky between the two superior beings. A pure line of fire cleared the sky of darkness and created a large barrier surrounding the land. What was left of the mountain and ransacked forest was safe within the Omar’s barrier. Leonidas looked out a couple of miles away towards the fishing village and immediately spotted the iridescent blue light. “So, there it is. That is your superior power, Omar…”

  The two battling creatures screeched and fired away their monumental blows. Omar thrusted his blade into the ground. On the hilt of his sword, a wide red eye opened upon the blade, shaking the ground beneath him. The monsters turned, seeing Omar wielding a blade of true power.

  “If I am to die, let it be for a cause greater than a lord’s!” Omar slashed away at the orb barrier, as the beings tried to attack one another. The barrier exploded from Omar’s blows without disturbing its foundation. Everything inside erupted, leaving no trace of life.

  A disaster between three great beings called the Diborn had shaken the entire land. The Pale of Eurafalia, the land of the forsaken, trembled upon the sight of another cataclysmic eruption. This time, the catastrophe didn’t fade away. The black orb from Kharon, and the lightning orb from Gurin, were saved by the graced and purified energy of an unknown Diborn superior. The great power inside of the man, a blade of power, lost in time, was known as the Lotus Blade.