The Time of the Prophecy (Ch.3)
#4 of The Time of the Prophecy
The Time of the Prophecy (Ch. 3)
Again, these characters are my toys. I'm happy to share if you ask politely, just please don't steal them.
******************************************************Reminder from the last chapter***********************************************************************************************
"Very well. It's time to go meet the council. Please try to be respectful. I will leave you here." He opened a door in the back of the room that lead to a staircase. "Just go up the stairs. It will take you right to the chamber where the council is waiting." I nodded at him, my throat suddenly dry. I walked slowly through the door and up the staircase. Finally time to find out what the hell happened to me and how, if possible, I can get back home.
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The stairs curved slightly, leading me to believe that the council chamber was located just above the large room we'd passed through earlier. I reached the doorway at the top of the stairs and peered into the torchlit gloom. There were fourteen robed figures sitting at a large crescent shaped table. "Please, come in and sit down," called one of them. I walked into the room and saw a lone chair located in between the two horns of the crescent table. The better to see me with I guess. As I sat down, I looked around the table. Only about four of the figures were dragons. Six were dolphins, similar to the ones I'd seen earlier, three were cheetahs, and one was a horse. It was just like the statues I'd seen in the other parts of the temple. Speaking of temples, I was now rubbing mine, feeling a migraine coming on. "Greetings Chosen One," said a large gray dolphin in a blue robe. "My name is Cail, and I am the senior member of the Elder Council. We are most honored to meet you." What would have been an appropriate response to that? Something like "Greetings Cail, my name is Thomas. The honor is mine." Yeah, that would have proven me to be respectful and savvy. However, the title 'Chosen One' had gotten me very anxious. This was turning into a disaster already. Chosen One is religious talk for "person who is expected to do miraculous things for us." Due to the addled state of my mind at the moment, all I managed for a return greeting was a squeaky, "Hi..."
"Might we ask your name?" Cail continued, either not noticing the tension I was very clearly exhibiting or choosing to ignore it.
"T-Thomas," I said. I somehow noticed over the pounding of my heart that that word came out of my mouth in English. No translation in whatever language I'd been speaking I guess.
"Well I suppose you'd like to know exactly what happened to you," Cail said, not really asking. That cut through the fog in my brain and my nervousness lessened enough for me to find my voice.
"Hell yeah I would. No offense, but I've had a really tough time these past couple of days and I'm getting really sick of all these dark little hints people keep dropping." There goes my political side again. How I manage to be so polite is beyond me.
"Well, where would you like us to begin?" asked the horse, who was wearing a dark brown robe with forest green patterns.
"How about the beginning Einstein." I said. Just get to the point, my patience was already frayed to the breaking point. "It's Jirrhus, actually," corrected the horse, clearly not catching the scorn.
"Okay, the beginning," said Cail, considering where to start. "You're from another world, correct?" My first answer was a question. My patience evaporated like water in a desert, so I did what I always did to control what came out of my mouth in situations like this: I shot out sarcastic remarks as fast as I could keep air in my lungs.
"Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer." And apparently I impersonate Magneto, leave me the fuck alone.
"Fair enough," Cail said. "You were chosen by the Gods to come here and take up the ancient mantle of the Lightgiver. You are the second person to claim that title, the last being-" I cut him off quickly.
"Excuse me," I said, " but I didn't "claim" shit. You gave me that title and, to be frank, I'm not sure I want it." No way in hell was I gonna let them tell me what I "was."
They waited a few moments and then Cail said "Let me try to explain from a different angle. The ring and sword you found in the cave, they belonged to the last Lightgiver. He imbued them with his essence when he died, so that the next person to claim them would become his successor. They were placed in a cave enchanted with Hungering Darkness, which can only be navigated by one lead by divine purpose. Thousands have ventured into that cave in the hopes of claiming the artifacts, all have wandered in the cave until they died of starvation, or went mad from the darkness clawing at their minds."
Okay, great. So I didn't blunder my own way through that nightmare, some "gods" blundered me through with a purpose. And what I originally thought was a flashlight ring conveniently placed in the middle of the darkest cave in existence turned out to be a magical artifact. And I, the sci-fi geek didn't see it coming. For some reason, that made me feel ashamed of myself. I need to watch more Harry Potter from now on. "Okaaay," I said. "And that means what for me? What exactly does the "Lightgiver" do?" I knew I was asking for it here. The answers to those types of questions were never good.
Cail looked uncertain at this point. He probably thought I wasn't able to handle it. "To best answer that, we first must tell you about the Koeran. Andarus indicated that you'd had a run-in with them."
I considered. What does that have to do with the price of tea in China? I mean yeah, that was scary as hell, but it didn't seem related to my current predicament. "Yeah, but that seems kind of irrelevant." Cail shook his head.
"On the contrary, it has everything to do with your situation. The Koeran are the greatest threat to all of our races."
I couldn't help but scoff at that. "That says a lot about your culture. They were barbarians. How could they threaten you?" A small settlement of savages couldn't possibly be a danger to a place like this.
Cail sighed, "If only you were right. The ones that captured you were part of a small hunting party. In reality, there are millions of them. They have huge armies and are very xenocidal. They hate any other intelligent beings. They've driven us to only make settlements in places where they would have trouble reaching us. Your people, the Sallariz make cities on mountains, in the sides of cliffs, in the tops of some of the giant trees in the forests to the south...their ability to fly makes them fairly safe. My people, the Orphoz are even better off, we have large floating cities in the oceans, and some on isolated islands far off the coast. However, the Etiens," he indicated the horse-like council member, "and the Fynsa," a nod towards one of the cheetah people, "are unable to fly or swim great distances. Therefor they have small, mobile settlements and are constantly on the move."
"Well that sucks," I said irritably. "And I still don't see what that has to do with me. All I've heard is a history lesson about you people and the whatever-the-hells not liking each other. So why drag me from my "lovely" life in Florida?" I'm not stupid or dense, so I could see exactly where this was leading. I ask why I'm here, they tell me about a species they're at war with and say it's related. Yeah, I can add one and one and not get eleven. Still, I didn't want to tell them my conclusion because they might take that as some form of consent. So until further notice, I was going to sit here and play stupid and let them spell it out for me and then THEY could ask ME to save their asses. I was NOT going to be lead into extending an offer to help. I may not have much pride but I'm just a little too much of a bitch to go along with things.
"About five hundred years ago," one of the Sallariz began, " when the Koeran had almost won entirely, a strange Sallariz appeared among our people. Nobody knew who he was at first, but he had one unique feature...his scales were white, much like yours. He claimed he was a simple hermit who'd been living off in some hollow tree, his name was Sarthek. It was after saving a young Etien from a Koeran hunter that he learned how bad things were. He said he wanted to help us push the Koeran back. Naturally, despite his unique coloration, the council was skeptical. He was, after all, just one hermit. Unless he held an army in his robes, what could he possibly do to change the tides of the war?" A smirk spread across the elder's face. "We were wrong of course. He had some sort of power we haven't seen before. All races have skill with magic, but it is mostly based on the six elements: fire, water, earth, air, ice, and lightning. Sarthek was different, he had powers that used light, which had some incredibly destructive abilities, but could also heal better than any other magic we knew of. Since his abilities were as yet unheard of, there was no defense against them. Aside from that, he proved to be a brilliant tactician. Thanks to his intervention, the Koeran advance was halted and even began to be pushed back. When asked him where he got his powers, he claimed to be a priest of a strange deity that we'd never before heard of. His hermitage had been to better serve and worship this deity. He taught us his religion, but nobody else ever managed to fully master the powers of light. The most skilled of priests only master some of the lesser healing abilities."
"And now that I'm here in all my albino glory, you seem to think that I'm his reincarnation or something." I scoffed. Not only am I supposed to be a hero, but I need to be a priest and general as well. "I don't care what needs to be done to lose this notion you all have. A week long bath in dye to get rid of the oh-so-holy whiteness, a long synopsis on my utter lack of any sort of faith, or maybe me telling you that I'm fifteen years old. Oh, by the way, I can't be a religious icon because I'm gay. Sorry, that tends to be against most religious philosophy." I never accused myself of being nice or subtle, leave me alone.
All the council members looked very alarmed. "That's very disturbing, but you weren't making much sense in the end," said Cail with a frown. "You can't be a religious icon because you're happy?"
Wow, something got lost in translation. Another attempt was warranted. "I'm homosexual," I said with a sigh. More confused looks. They wouldn't know the latin origin for that of course. Shit. " I LIKE TO HAVE SEX WITH OTHER MALES," I said loudly and slowly, irritation getting the better of me.
Cail just blinked at me. "And?" he asked. "What you do in your bed is your own affair. We have many in our cities who prefer the company of the same sex. It may have been taboo where you came from, but not here."
Go figure, the one time I could use a little discrimination. Next trick. "I hope I'm not expected to take some oath of celebacy. I guarantee that won't happen." The looks of confusion changed to ones of pity.
A sleek female Fynsa on my left spoke up. "I'm not sure what religion was like on your world young one, perhaps they take pleasure in torturing their religious leaders there? If that's the case, I surely don't blame your lack of faith. However you'll find that we're very open minded here."
Even though I was glad to hear I wouldn't be treated as some sort of deviant, I was getting nervous. They were quickly removing my cushion of arguments against being their little savior. "That doesn't change the fact that I'm only fifteen years old. I haven't had enough time in my life to go devoting it to some cause that I was dragged into. Tell you what though, I'm impressed enough with your gay sex policy that I'll finish hearing your story before making my final judgement. The Koeran were being pushed back thanks to Sarthek and...?"
Cail sighed with relief and took the story back up. "Yes, we pushed them back into their own lands, however that's when we lost Sarthek. He was in a battle when a large number of Koeran sorcerers began attacking our flank with their dark magic. Sarthek was able to assist by cleansing the vile curses off our soldiers and healing their wounds, but it distracted him. The Koeran leader, Olfang the Black himself came forward and engaged Sarthek. Sarthek at all times held the soldiers' lives above his own, so he tried to fight Olfang while still healing those around him. He was distracted, but managed to land a mortal blow, however Olfang returned the favor. Olfang's spear was poisoned, cursed, diseased, and serrated so that even a glancing blow would cause a grievous wound. It plunged straight through Sarthek's chest, and even then he didn't die immediately. He was able to seal a portion of his soul in his sword and ring. He then said that nobody but the one chosen by his god would be able to wear or wield these artifacts. For five hundred years we've waited and watched, placing the artifacts in a cave that only a true wielder of light could navigate. In that time, the Koeran renewed their assault and we are now in almost as dire a position as when Sarthek first appeared."
I sat deep in thought for several minutes. Against my will, I was inclined to want to help them. I blamed it on the piece of Sarthek's soul that now supposedly lived in me. Way to give me a choice in the matter. Oh well, when all else fails, stall. "I'm hungry, and I certainly won't be very agreeable unless I've eaten something. It's been days since I've eaten now that I think about it." Now that my mind was on food, my stomach took the opportunity to start making demands in a loud and obnoxious fashion. The noise earned me some amused glances, but the council were quick to indulge me. A snapped finger and a request later, food was being set out. Upon seeing the plate in front of me, my stomach immediately shut up and decided it had better things to do. Sitting in front of me was a huge slab of raw meat. "Umm, do I get a hibachi with this? I don't really do cow sushi if you know what I mean." From the blank looks I got, it was apparent they didn't. "Don't you cook your food?" I asked. "And where's the utensils?" They continued to just stare at me. I rolled my eyes and tried to figure out how to phrase my next statement with a minimal amount of insults and scorn. "Until two days ago, I was a human. I was short, plump, and soft. My food was usually cooked, meaning it was placed over a heat source until warmed through thoroughly. This saved my frail little body from the diseases carried in the meat." Hopefully that would spark a fuse in their brains. It did, but in the wrong direction.
"I'm most sorry to hear that," said one of the Sallariz. "But now you can enjoy meat naturally. We eat it raw all the time, and we don't get ill unless it's rotting. Go ahead and eat up, I'm sure you'll find this cut to be exquisite." He gave me a warm smile. Oh well, clearly with these people, subtlety was a one-way street.
I looked down at the meat in front of me. After poking it a few times, I decided that trying it couldn't as hurt much as starvation. I made one last vain search for a knife and fork. No luck...shocker. I grabbed the meat in my hands and leaned in to take a bite. My teeth sliced through the flesh as easily as any steak knife. Once it was in my mouth, I noticed that the taste was actually somewhat appealing. My mind was screaming to puke, but my body was screaming to swallow. I zoned out to avoid both happening at once and causing a mid-throat collision. I started chewing, but rather than grinding the food up, my teeth just impaled and lacerated it more. Clearly I wasn't supposed to chew, and my mouth was full. I had a brief image of myself choking on the huge chunk of meat I'd bitten off, but blinked it away. I briefly considered spitting some out, but that would probably not look too pretty.Preparing myself for death by asphyxiation I swallowed. Oddly enough, rather than the heart-stopping feeling of a plugged airway, I felt my throat bulge out grotesquely. The meat made it all the way down and I gave a mental sigh of relief. At least it wasn't as horrifying as I'd thought. I slowly finished off my meal, fighting against my hunger for more time to stall. Eventually though, the food was gone and they were all staring at me expectantly.
"Okay, before I consent to do anything, I need some of my questions answered," I said, fair was fair after all. "First, what exactly will I be expected to do?" Cail opened his mouth to answer, but I held up my hand to stop him. "Hold it. Please spare me any long-winded jabber like what I've endured thus far. As fascinating as it was, you could have done just fine with half the content. Now please, continue."
Cail paused a moment to make sure I was good and finished. "We don't expect anything. We just humbly req-"
"Stop right there." I hope he wasn't honestly trying the bullshit guilt trip. He still wants me to offer my help, the little turd. "Let's not play word games any more. The truth is that I don't have much choice in the matter. How about you just answer my questions in the most straightforward and direct way possible."
Cail sighed. I wasn't going to let him polish this mess up with pretty words and he knew it. "Alright, we ask that you train to fight in melee combat, study strategy with our generals, work with our priests to unlock your powers, and when all that is finished, fight against the Koeran with us." Check, check, check, and check. I was going through the mental list I'd made of the things they'd "humbly request" of me and so far I'd not missed a single item.
"Thank you. As much as I hate what you said, I at least like that you didn't beat around the bush. Question two, when all is said and done, assuming I turn into Super-Jesus and lead you all to an incredible victory, will I be able to change back and go home?" I wasn't very optimistic about this one. Long shot, but I had to ask.
"I'm not sure," said Cail. "But in all honesty, I'd say probably not. If there is a way, however, we will help you to return to where you came from." Even though I hadn't been expecting anything more, it didn't lighten the blow very much.
"Okay, that's pretty much what I'd already assumed, but I needed some confirmation. Okay, final and most important question coming: Can I PLEASE have some clothes made special for me? All these robes are utterly repulsive. I think you all must be colorblind...no offense, but I'd kill for a pair of jeans that fit me and a damn T-shirt." The coucil members all looked down at their robes briefly, as if trying to spot what was so offensive to me.
Giving it up as a bad job, Cail turned back to me and smiled. "So can we assume that you are agreeing to help us?"
"If I can get some clothes made up that I can look at without getting a pressure headache, then yeah, sure I'll give it a shot. As I've already said, I don't have much choice....However, if any of these "trainers" of mine go all boot camp on me, I'm gonna crack open a can of whoop ass on them." Blank looks. "Forget it and show me where I sleep please." And just like that, my life is fucked. Funny how that works out. One day, you're a high school student in Florida, a couple days later, you're a dragon thing in another world and counted on to save that world from evil werewolf men. Yep, soooo typical. At least I'm going to sleep now...
End of Chapter 3
YES I KNOW, don't say it. "Wall of text hits you for 200,000 (crushing) you die" Now that a good portion of the details are out of the way, we can get to the good stuff. I hope you like my character's charming and sophisticated personality.