The Forgotten Land of Myria

ANGUS

“Over there,” Ada howled over the heavy flapping of the Horned Serpent’s wings. “We have to land over there!” She was pointing in the direction of a hillock, just above a baldachin of trees.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded as locks of silky angel-wing hair smacked her own face. The wind was so heavy that I had to squint to keep my eyes from stinging.

“Alright then,” I agreed. Eulisses nodded, yanked the reigns--really just a rope--tied around the Serpent’s neck, and we hung on for dear life. Banebee was at the point of clawing my face. The Serpent--not very used to being commanded--was recklessly flapping about as if it had forgotten its own wings. While impressive, I still couldn’t believe how easily Eulisses had been able to tame it--well, half-tame it, if you may--I’d just as soon not know the details.

All I remember was hearing around ten minutes of furious screeching from the Serpent, then a crushing silence. Shaking, I looked over the boulder that I was--not hiding under and saw the Serpent majestically flapping its wings. On top of it, a very cautious Eulisses was gently harnessing it while bouncing around like he was riding a mechanical bull. How he had gotten there, I had no idea, as I had stopped behind that boulder to check my knapsack--had to make sure I’d packed my journal. I took that moment to cross out Wolf Theory - good idea. But here we were, twenty minutes later, losing control of the beast as we soared roughly through the open sky, over Squire Elm Fortress and I was beginning to think I’d have to rewrite the note on my journal: Wolf Theory - bad idea?

Eulisses toggled the ropes, but the restless Serpent let out a shriek and spun out of control.

“Steady!” I yelled.

Too late. We were crash landing. Being at the tail, I got the worst of it. Ignoring the putrid smell, I cradled its scaly tail while being tossed around like a tetherball.

“Jump!” I yelled.

On cue, we all sprung off just before the Serpent flopped clumsily to the ground, skidding down the hillock. Eulisses rushed to its aid--probably worrying it would turn on him. I gathered myself when I heard Ada’s crystalline voice ring out.

“Angus, look,” she huffed, already gazing down the hill. “See? that’s the entrance to Squire Elm--well, one of them, I’m sure of it.”

She was pointing to a river that started just at the bottom of the hill. An empty rowboat was bobbing in the middle of the water as if inviting us in. Meanwhile, Eulisses had regained control of the Serpent and was feeding it some treats. He had smuggled a few dead gnomes into a small crate in case of situations like these, to serve as rewards--“like training a puppy”.

Once it was fully distracted, Eulisses signaled us over. Ada and I slid down the hill and hauled in the rowboat. The water itself, however, wasn’t so inviting--it looked more like a mud pit, black and oily, sprouting viscous bubbles here and there. Banebee once again dug his claws into my shoulder, shaking at the sight of the mud pit. Eulisses gave the Serpent a petting in dismissal, but it growled, pouted around and dug its entire face into the bloody crate.

“Guess it enjoyed the treat,” Eulisses grumbled, as he got into the rowboat. “Allow me.”

He gingerly took the oar and pushed off. The air was brisk and it was starting to get dark. The trees around us shook violently under the heavy wind and I flinched every time a withered leaf fell onto the belching river. The whole atmosphere was deathly, but the most frightening detail--by far--was the howling wind. When being tossed through the trees, it sounded like a shrill voice. Whispering my name.

Angus...Angus...

“Angus!” Ada hissed. Her hand was resting firmly on mine.

“Stay focused, alright?”

“Right,” I responded carelessly, though, deep down, I was intrigued. I wanted to hear the trees whisper my name again. I had almost focused my attention completely on it, when, a few minutes later, Eulisses stopped rowing and the boat jerked forward coming to a halt.

“Oh, what luck,” Ada exclaimed. “A skidrow! I bet it’s from Eleazar!”

Before I asked, Eulisses pointed up. A small, puffy white bird was pouncing energetically on a tree branch just above us. When I looked closely I noticed it had a note tied to its leg.

“Wh--what did you call it again? A skidrow?”

“Yes?” Ada knit her eyebrows. “Why?”

“Oh nothing,” I stuttered, holding back a laugh. “It’s just--the word ‘skidrow’ has a different meaning in the Commonland.”

Indifferently, Ada held up a finger and the skidrow fluttered onto it right away. She gently pulled off the soggy piece of parchment from its twiggy legs.

“It is from Ez!” Ada read it aloud.

Safira, Roy, Ada, Angus, Eulisses, and Banebee (the jujoo whooped upon hearing his name).

If any of you have found this, you must pay close attention. Musgrave Pen is under attack. The rest of us had no choice but to go into battle.

Leof, however, stayed behind to look for you. I do hope that by the time you read this letter, he has already found you. Because if he hasn’t, and you must be comprehensive of this, I will have to ask you not to go any further into the Fortress.

For if help hasn’t yet found you yet, danger will.

Please take my advice and leave immediately. Take shelter somewhere and wait. Help will come soon.

Tread lightly,

Eleazar.

By the time she had finished reading, Ada’s previous excitement had been sucked away. There was a moment of silence, until Eulisses spun around and grabbed the oars.

“What--we can’t go back,” Ada croaked. “Safira and Roy are still here.”

“Eleazar was very clear in his message,” Eulisses contested. “Leof is looking for them, he’ll find them. However, if we lurk, danger will find us.”

The words had barely left his mouth when an agonizing scream reverberated through the trees, rippling the water. It was a girl’s voice. We listened until it died out-- the echoes bristling the trees--and found ourselves completely disoriented.

“Guys,” I whispered. “I think danger has found someone else.”

Eulisses parked the boat and the next thing we knew we were rushing through the trees. I panted heavily, and my feet began to shake. My vision was blurry, and for some reason, it looked like the forest around us was being magnified through a spectrum. The trees were bending and twisting.

“Wait a minute,” I called to Ada and Eulisses, as I slowed my pace to a halt. The girl’s scream was still ringing in my head but it didn’t seem to be coming from a specific direction anymore. A vibrant voice was surrounding us.

“It’s a trap,” Eulisses blurted.

“How do you know?” I contested. He pulled out the grimstone from under his cloak.

“I don’t,” he said, pressing it to his eyes, like he so often did. “But let us find out.”

He picked a rock from the ground and chucked it a few feet ahead of him. Where the rock landed, a pitfall trap was revealed, leaving it suspended in midair.

Eulisses shrugged and said, “In here!”

We rushed past the pitfall and dove into a bush just before we heard movement behind us.

A dark figure that I couldn’t quite make out burst in right where we had been standing a few moments prior. Ada’s hand clamped Banebee’s mouth to ensure silence. The figure stood there and examined the deactivated trap. Then it stopped--for a moment it seemed like it was looking straight at us--before setting off.

“It knows we’re here,” Ada whispered, after it had disappeared through the trees. “We better move on.”

“We better follow it,” Eulisses contested. Banebee moaned in protest, but--ignoring our approval of the idea--Eulisses gingerly stepped out of the bush and crept into the trees, leaving us no choice but to follow him.

“Have you even a clue where it went?” I panted next to him, not at all eager about the idea.

“More than just a clue,” Eulisses whispered, glancing around the forest through his grimstone as he walked.

By the look on her face, Ada was preparing to say something when Eulisses stopped suddenly and peered through a thicket of brushwood. After a moment, he pulled both of us forward to have a look.

This time, Eulisses had to nipper his bony hands around both Banebee and Ada’s mouths to keep them from saying anything. Admittedly, I was forced to clamp my own.

We were looking straight at two figures, each fixed spread-eagle to his own large tree, a few feet off the ground by metal claws that grasped their necks, waists, wrists and ankles. The two figures were Roy and Leof. Leof looked lifeless, eyes barely open, while Roy was struggling with a hateful look on his face. At first I thought he was struggling to reach a casket, sheeted in bronze, on the ground below him--then I spotted what he was really looking at. A few feet in front of him--just barely out of arm’s reach--a little girl was suspended high up in the air.

The girl had blonde-silver hair and knobby, feeble legs. Her arms were spread out, though she wasn’t holding on to, or being held by anything. Upon seeing this, Ada gasped.

“She’s petrified. They have her petrified.”

“They?”

My question answered itself when I noticed a fourth person who was pacing in circles around a chair that was covered in spikes just below the spot where the girl was floating. It was a woman with frizzy brown hair that curled down to her shoulders wearing a black gown that had collected dirt and leaves, from the forest floor--from the bits I could make out, she was a witch of the Halloween variety. Behind her, about twenty large creatures stood in a semi-circle, surrounding the area, ready to attack. To make matters worse, I recognized them. They were the beasts that Roy and I had first trained with. However, we had fought simply the summoned replicas. The real beasts were larger, nastier, and overall more intimidating. I shuddered as I saw them bare their fangs.

So, this is what Theon’s army looks like I thought. I was forced to watch in silence as the scene unfolded.

“Beautiful, isn’t she?” the woman spoke, in a soft, seductive voice. Roy squirmed furiously, trying to pry himself free of the claws that bound him. I glanced at Eulisses who stared at the scene with vengeful eyes, breathing heavily.

All three of us wanted to barge in for the rescue, but we knew better than to do so. Therefore, we were forced to watch.

“It’s a shame you’ll have to sit through this,” the woman moaned pitifully, like she was speaking to a stray puppy. “Such a handsome boy you are, yes--you must know that this isn’t, in any way, personal. Just some matters that need to be sorted out.”

From the way Roy strained, it looked like he was trying to say something.

“I’m sorry I didn’t catch that,” the woman pressed her face next to Roy’s, covering part of it with her matted hair. The delicate tone in her voice was gone and she was now laughing hysterically.

“Why her?”

A chorus of laughter rang from the beasts behind her.

“Why her?”

For a second, I thought the second voice was an echo--then the tree right next to us shook and a figure jumped off it and landed just a few steps away, startling us all. It was a man, similar in appearance to the woman, except that he had sleek silver hair.

“Have you yet to figure this out?” the man oozed. “You must be joking!”

“Poor thing,” the woman singsonged back into her pity voice.

As she turned to greet him I was able to examine her face. Her eyes looked they had either been hit, repeatedly punched, or been smudged with handfuls of eyeliner. Her lips were bright red, but her devious smile revealed a set of rotted yellow teeth.

The man leaned casually against the tree that he’d jumped off, arms crossed, just inches away from us.

“Well, I’m not in the right mood for talking,” he sighed in a deep, grumpy voice, but with the same hissy tone as the woman’s. “Would you care to explain, Damalia?”

“Gladly,” Damalia breathed. “Are you familiar with the--legendary--tale of that nutty red bird? Well, as you must know, that bird has something--something that was taken from us.”

Vance chuckled like he was enjoying every moment of it. Looking at him, I realized that from that distance I could easily put an arrow right through his head...

Damalia went on. “Do you also remember how there was a little girl involved in the story? A perfectly innocent goody two-shoes that made it all happen--who disappeared...but just so happens to be--alive.”

Damalia gestured theatrically at the girl suspended in midair and Ada almost barged right for her--successfully intercepted by Eulisses.

“Yes,” Damalia huffed in triumph. “Your little sister--Alice, is it?”

Roy eyes almost popped out of his skull from struggling to scream. Leof’s stared blankly at Alice through half-dead eyes.

“Of course, we wouldn’t have to put her--or you--in a situation like this if she hadn’t jumped the line...you see, that stone on the birdie’s neck disappeared once she reappeared. It is, after all, called ‘Lanai’s Heart’. Which means, so sadly for you, it’ll only exist when she--doesn’t.”

Damalia caressed Alice’s feet as she spoke driving Roy to the brink of bursting. “But then again--we thought of a benefit..."

Damalia nodded at her brother, who had been leaning against the tree in the same position. Her words were interrupted by the whizz of an arrow that zipped straight into Vance’s head. There was silence as fresh blood dripped down his forehead and stained his silver hair. Then a rustle came from one of bushes behind Roy and Leof, and Vance popped out--very much alive--holding a struggling Safira in his arms.

Confused, I turned to the tree next to us and found that Vance’s lifeless body had vanished with the arrow drilled into dry bloodless bark.

Vance chuckled malevolently as he tore the bow from Safira’s hands, dragged her out by the hair and threw her at Damalia’s feet.

“Oh, that illusion always gets them.”

Damalia picked her up by her hair and nailed her, too, to the tree with a metal claw clasping her throat. Quietly, Vance walked back to the tree where he had been standing just a moment ago with an arrow in his head, and retook his position, as if nothing had happened.

“That makes three of you. How exciting!” Damalia squealed. “Where was I? Oh right--the benefits.

This time, she gestured behind her--for a second there was no one there. Then, she pulled a vile out of her bodice and cast black dust onto the ground. Dark flames erupted wherever the dust landed, and--from amidst the flames--a cloaked figure appeared.

Safira’s eyes widened and she broke out a muffled scream as the figure drifted to the spot under Alice and sat down on the spicate chair. At that moment, I felt a tight squeeze in my chest and I struggled to breathe. A strange feeling surrounded me; a feeling of emptiness--like the one I’d felt the day of the Brisbane disaster. My eyes began to water as I stared at the cloaked figure, as if the last of my hopes was being drained out of my eyes in the form of tears. Just that look, and I had been overcome by fear in the presence of the cloaked figure. In the presence of Theon. Eulisses’ hand touched my back and I flinched. He shook his head as if to say, “Don’t look at him.”

“Good evening, Master,” Damalia beamed excitedly. The cloaked figure didn’t move or respond and Damalia spun around to face Roy.

“Now do you get it? The essence of the girl will be bifold. She’ll give us what we want--the stone--and will also serve as an important piece for the Lotus Eclipse. In order to perform the ritual, we do need--a pure heart.”

As she said this, she cracked open the bronze casket under Roy’s feet for a split-second, allowing two shadowy figures to swarm out. The shadows floated upwards leveling with Alice’s petrified body and began circling around her.

I swallowed my heart in horror, as I watched a white aura get sucked out of her chest and then materialize as a green stone. The sky around us had darkened, and the trees suddenly looked withered and rotten. Damalia’s nasty laugh punctuated the twisted spectacle as a shadow consumed her face.

The Lotus Eclipse had begun. The only source of light now was the flames that cackled around the cloaked man’s chair under Alice’s feet.

I felt so fossilized by the scene that I barely noticed something moving in my pocket. I dug a shaky hand in and pulled it out--the medallion. It was pulsing, like a steady heartbeat--and glowing so brightly I had to cover it with both hands.

“Stupid thing,” I mumbled, as I wrapped it up in my shirt. No use. The glow was too bright. Ada and Eulisses were staring at it. Luckily, Vance was too involved in the horrifying scene ahead of us to notice--but it caught someone else’s attention.

Leof--already dead for all I knew--was glaring at it, eyes wide.

“He’s trying to tell us something,” said Ada.

I noticed that--despite being clamped spread-eagle--he was flickering his fingers open-handed at me. I glanced, again at the shining medallion, and at once it all clicked. The whole in the middle of it...Lanai’s heart...

Without thinking twice, I trusted my aim and hurled the medallion in Leof’s direction. Too many things happened at once after that. As soon as Leof caught the medallion, the stone that had just been ripped out of Alice’s chest, zipped like a magnet, away from the shadows surrounding it and into the empty hole of the medallion.

The second the two objects touched, the medallion erupted into a large golden sword that made Damalia flinch under its light. I couldn’t even behold the absurdity before all eyes were on Ada, Eulisses, Banebee and me. As Leof freed himself, Damalia lunged at the casket and ripped it open. Swarms of Undead shadows swam out of the casket, too many to keep track of. At the same time, the beasts behind Damalia rushed in our direction. A moment later--an all-out brawl. I strung my bow and began shooting at the Undead but quickly realized the arrows were useless--they simply whizzed right through the shadows leaving them unharmed.

Eulisses noticed this as well and ordered me to shoot at the beasts. Before any of us attempted anything else, Tanya and Zeff--I had no idea where they’d been--fell from the trees above us and landed on Damalia and Vance’s heads, whacking them repeatedly with large pieces of wood. That gave Leof enough time to free Safira and Roy, who lunged at them just before Tanya and Zeff were tossed aside like cabbages. They landed battered and dazed on the ground and I ran to their aid, leading them behind a bush.

As I prepared to go back into battle I saw that Alice was still dangling over the entire scene. No sooner did I notice that, I also realized that she was, in fact, being suspended by wires. From where I stood, I spotted three contraptions attached to the branches of the tree just above her that were holding up her body and splaying her arms. Without thinking twice, I made my way up the nearest tree. By my calculations, if I took one of them down, she would swing in the direction of the tree I was climbing and I could catch her. As I inched up the tree I was able to get a clear view of the battle scene and it wasn’t pretty. Ada was taking on the beasts single-handedly, since the golden sword in Leof’s hand was the only effective weapon against the Undead, and Roy and Safira were fighting Vance and Damalia. Roy looked like he was taking quite a beating but the rage in his eyes seemed to fuel him on.

Once I reached the desired height and took aim, my foot slipped and the arrow missed the rig. Instead, as the arrow hit the tree branches, all three rigs were released at once, and Alice plummeted.

When I looked down, I saw that Eulisses had read my mind and was addling to catch her--but he walked right through her before she hit the ground. Wait...She never hit the ground: she dissolved into thin air.

“Here!” he called out as I swung down from the tree in panic. Eulisses was squatting at a tree trunk. He tapped it with his brimstone and it opened. He scooped the real Alice out of the secret compartment and looked around to ensure safety.

“Nice shot! That lock trigger needed extreme precision,” he said as he bundled Alice into my arms. I hugged her--maybe a little too tightly. No illusion. Although she was light and tiny, this was the real Alice.

“I need you to take her and the wildlings back to the hilltop that we first came from.”

“But--”

“Just follow the trail,”

I nodded, not as reluctant once I saw the swarm of Undead that Leof was battling coming our way.

“GO!” Eulisses yelled, as he raised his grimstone and summoned a troop of his own shadows to fight off the army. My feet felt heavy as Alice’s lifeless body reposed in my arms; and I made sure to go at a pace that was both quick and manageable for the wildlings who were still a little dazed from the beating they took. The river was already in sight--not too far ahead--when my ears caught something thumping behind me. I didn’t dare look back.

“Let’s go! Faster!” I yelled. A few more paces and I heard a roar and the thumping grew quicker. I kept running, the wildlings right behind, my eyes fixed on the river. It grew nearer...until it’s image was replaced by that of a monster that thudded right in front of me. I skidded to a halt and fell back with Alice still in my arms. It wasn’t much bigger than me, but that was all I managed to catalog about him. Without looking any further, I reached for my bow and sent an arrow. It pierced the beast in the eye, and it staggered back a few feet. Bull’s eye--or rather, monster’s eye. I signaled at Tanya and Zeff to get on the boat. They scampered around the beast and jumped into the boat just as the beast recomposed itself and ripped the arrow out, along with bits of its own eye.

Piece of cake I thought, as I registered my familiarity with the species. I set Alice down behind me and positioned myself to send another arrow, but--well, Livia did warn us during training that in real life they were deadlier. In one quick charge, the beast crashed me against a tree. Through murky eyes, I saw it pick Alice’s lifeless body up and trot away.

“Wait there!” I yelled at the wildlings as I summoned all my strength to chase after it. The fiend was surprisingly fast, having quickly disappeared into the forest; by the time I caught sight of it again, I found myself back in the battle scene. I charged after it, unaware of my surroundings, only to be caught in the middle of a flock of Undead. I could hear Leof grunting near me, fighting his was through, but there was nothing I could do.

I can’t let it get away I thought.

My vision was black, shadows brooding around me. I blindly shot the arrow. There was an ear-shattering screech, like nails on a chalkboard, and I toppled to the ground. Whether it was my arrow or not, something had happened that was making the enemies retreat. The few beasts that Ada was fighting either took flight or disappeared. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Vance and Damalia vanish in front of Safira...and a very damaged Roy.

“Ada!” I heard Eulisses yell. “Grab the wildlings on the boat and get the Serpent ready. We have to get out of here as soon as possible!”

“Krupo?” Banebee cowered in fear behind a bush.

Ada scooped him up and ran off as Leof’s sword cut through the remaining cluster of Undead until only the hooded man remained. He was sitting rather casually on the black chair with one hand raised in command--the other fiddling with my blind arrow. The dark flames around him had burned down with a smolder, so Leof moved in to strike, but the man spun out of view. Safira shot futile arrows, as we watched a dark aura spiral up, flutter, and take the form of a sparrow. It circled the treetops and then shot back down--directly at me. By then I was only able to brace myself, before it plunged right through me.

At first, I felt relieved. Nothing had happened. Suddenly, I fell hard on my hands and knees and when I tried to move my legs, they went the other way, as if obeying someone else. I clawed at the ground trying to regain composure and when I opened my mouth to scream a growl came out instead. My arms stretched out and I was pulled back up like a puppet. I could hear Leof and Ada call out to me, but by the time I understood what was happening, it was irreversible. I saw Leof aim the golden sword and I disarmed him with a strength that didn’t belong to me. I ground my teeth, filling my mouth with foam, as I attempted to fight back with all my wits. Too late.

The last thing I remembered seeing before my eyes rolled back was my hand lifting the sword at Roy.