This, is the story of a boy. A boy who meets a girl. A girl who saves his life, and joins him and his comrades. Let me explain. This, is Coroteyn. It is a land of magic, peace, and happyness. Well, it was before the war. The Great War of Kane caused destruction everywhere. The war had been started by the discovery of a special element called Kane. Kane is a type of metal used to conduct and absorb large amounts of power. Rulers of the realms got the idea of conquering all Coroteyn with it, and began the struggle. Knowing the war would not end quickly, they began to recruit spell casters and warriors. The best of them were six men and women, all from different armies. Being the spies, five were captured, the sixth woman disappearing. These soldiers spent several years in prison together, their only news on the war coming from new prisoners. Exactly eleven years in prison passed before they teamed up and broke free. They had become so powerful, defeating an army was a cinch. They fought to gain all the Kane to destroy it. The powerful spell casters succeeded in gathering all of it, only to figure out that a life would be taken in the process. When they decided who would go, a volunteer apeared before them. It was the same woman who had disappeared all those years ago. They agreed, and sacrificed her life for the lands. Since the war was over, the heroes went home. All of them had children. Dying from overexposure to the toxic fumes that surround Kane, the men and women sent their children to casting schools. Ironicly, the same academy. They died shortly after, wishing the best for their offspring. These young ones' names were Eton, Althea, Hektor, and Iris. This, is the story of Eton.
"Calm down, Eton! We need to think about what could have caused this back there!" Althea said, trying to calm her furiouse friend.
"How can I calm down? I've been transformed! How can you think about what caused it?" He was shouting at her.
"It might help us find a way to fix it!" She shouted back. This shut him up. Eton was tall with red-streaked black hair. He had blue eyes and was wearing a tight t-shirt with grey pants and was covered in small bits of protection like small metal shoulder pads and knee pads and a very thin chest plate, which had all been ripped apart. Jutting from his chest and shoulders were slabs of rock, like it was part of him. The rock went up his neck and the edges of his jaw. His entire right hand had been turned to a giant stone, three times as thick as regular and only three fingers. It had begun to show after he had been shot by the conqueror of the Kane Wars, Nicator.
"Fine." Eton growled at her.
"Sorry to interupt this fascinationg conversation, but we need to get going!" Hektor had come up between them. Hektor had brown hair, was built and always carried a sword with him, though he never used it. Not even to train.
"Hektor's right. If we don't get going, they might reach Kharon village before us, and that won't end well." Iris was standing behind him. She was very small in size, and had curly blond hair down to her shoulders. She always wore a violet dress that was made to endure battles and traveling, black leggings with knee pads underneath, and black hiking boots.
"Let's just get going." Eton marched off, only to be followed by Hektor. Iris looked at Althea and headed off after the two boys, grabbing her hand. Althea was tall and thin to the extremes. She specialized in medical herbs and healing spells. She had long, wavy strawberry-blond hair that went just past her shoulders and was wearing a green jump-suit-like uniform that was covered in pockets and pads. The two girls went around a bend to see Eton single-handedly loading all their gear onto their hover-bikes. Hektor was just standing there, wide eyed and mouth open. Eton looked at him and then to the two girls. "You gonna help me or just stand there like idiots?" He said annoyed. Hektor and Althea stood stunned, but Iris skipped up along side him and offered.
"Sure thing, Eton!" She said cheerfuly. Eton just rolled his eyes and continued to strap his sleeping bag to his bike. The other two got rid of their surprise and walked over to help. When they had finished, Iris glanced at the map and hopped on her bike, heading off. After a while of riding through rocky terrain and cliffs, they reached a cleared area. The team gasped.
"Kharon." They looked on in horror. Smoke was pouring over the walls of the town. Tips of flames could be seen over the tops of their houses. Eton's face hardened.
"Let's go. Now." He took off, the rest of them following closely behind. When they were about a hundred feet away from the closed gate, Eton threw his hand in front of him. "Flame of Aaron!" A giant ball of fire formed against his palm. He foccused it until it shrank down to the size of a golfball. He threw it at the gate and watched it explode into a million splinters, jumping off his bike and having it stop the momment he did. He ran into the thick smoke, not waiting for his friends to catch up. As soon as they were off their bikes, they pulled up parts of their uniform to cover their mouth and nose.
"Iris, Althea, try to find any groups of survivors. I'll go after Eton." The two girls nodded at Hektor and ran off together into the black cloud. He pulled up his goggles and turned on the heat seaker, then ran into the town in the dirrection he had seen Eton go. Finaly catching sight of his friend's new figure, he sped up. Eton was standing about fifty feet from Nicator, his hands at his side and in a battle possition. Hektor noticed his friend was mumbling something. "Eton, no!"
"Thalassa Overcome!" Eton lifted his arms and a giant wave erupted from the ground, surging around him. He flung his arms forward, the water suddenly rushing dangerously towards his enemy.
"Torrent of Fire!" Nicator clenched his fist and flames sprung up to surround him. When the wave crashed over him, steam spouted all around him, leaving him dry and unharmed. The battle had only just begun. "Charos Rise!" Eton's face didn't falter at the casting of the treacherouse spell. The spell of death bringer wasn't new to him. Nicator's eyes rolled back in his head as he grinned cruely. He raised his hands up as though he was bringing up the dead. In front of him, out of the ground came up a shadow-like creature. It writhed and twitched angrily. Nicator chuckled. "Go." The thing immediatly followed orders, lunging for Eton.
"Shield of Aegis!" He crouched down on one knee as a huge wall of translucent blue apeared in front of him. The shadow ran straight into it, disintegrating and screeching. "Jou Kinisi!" Nicator froze. Not naturaly, but as though time around him had stopped. "Dark Agathi!" Eton thrust out his hands, flinging giant black thorns towards the general. At the last moment, Ikaros (His aprentice) shouted a portal spell.
"Eton! Are you okay?" Hektor ran up to him and put and hand on his shoulder.
"Fine." He responded. "How 'bout we get rid of all these battle machines?" Hektor looked around, just now noticing the giant metal torches, blowing flames everywhere. He grinned at his friend.
"I'm with you. Whipping Spathe!" He gripped the blade that had apeared in his hand and flung it at one of the tanks. Eton growled as a stone mask formed over his face, turning his eyes to glowing red orbs. He let out a giant roar and leapt at a machine. He punched it in, leaving a dent and knocking it over into the one beside it, causing it to come down on the next and soon every single one was falling over. The mutant boy let out another great roar and began to leap onto others that tried to burn him, to no avail. Just then, Althea and Iris came running out of the smoke towards Hektor. "Whats wrong?" He shouted over the clanging metal.
"We found a bomb implanted in the town's well! We couldn't defuse it or move it! We have to get outa here!" Iris said, her brown eyes darting back and forth franticaly.
"Where's Eton?" Althea asked.
"He went off a ways- wait, here he comes!" They all looked to where Hektor was pointing, just as Eton slammed into the ground, making a crater. He roared and ran over to them.
"Did you get all the survivors out of here?" He asked through his mask. The two girls nodded. "Good. We'd better leave quick." Iris and Althea exchanged a questioning glance, then spoke to Hektor.
"What happened to his face?" He elbowed Althea in the ribs. "Ow!"
"Do you know how rude and stuck up you sound? Shut up and go with it. He knows how to handle it." He whispered sharply to her.
"I can hear you. Thanks Hektor." Eton said, his back to them as he walked 's face turned red.
"Sorry Eton... It's just that-"
"My face will need some getting used to? Trust me, I know." He dissapeared inside the smoke, Iris running after him.
"Eton! Wait up!" Hektor rolled his eyes and laughed.
"We should follow them. Come on, you don't want him to get annoyed, believe me. Besides, the bomb is gonna blow soon." He strolled into the darkness, closely followed by Althea.
"What do you think?"
"Hm?"
"About Eton's... Condition. Those effects don't look like they'll wear off any time soon, and I'm afraid to tell him they might. If they don't he would be furiouse." Hektor was silent for a moment.
"Well... How about we try to find a cure and then figure out what to tell him?" She nodded. when they cleared the smoldering air, they pulled down their masks.
"Hurry up. We need to set up camp somewhere soon. It's almost-" Eton called back to them, but was cut off by the explosion. He ran ahead with Iris at his side.
"Okay, okay. We're coming!" Althea said, hopping onto her bike. Hektor did the same.
"Let's ride! Eton, you lead the way." Eton nodded to him. Iris jumped on her bike just as their team leader zipped by her.
"Hey! Where'd your mask go?" Althea asked him, riding close.
"It forms and crumbles whenever I want it to." He stated matter-of-factly.
"Um, guys? I thinks it's about to rain." Hektor interupted. They looked up. The entire sky was grey, soon to be black. Thunder could barely be heard in the distance.
"Well, we'd better find a cave or shelter, huh?" He grinned and sped up his bike. When the team reached the edge of a forest finaly, they got off their bikes and led them into a clearing. "Asfalis Cover!" Eton said, snapping his fingers. A giant mound of solid stone, enough to make several sculptures, erupted out of the ground.
"Where did you learn that spell and how is that supposed to-" Althea was cut off as a small portion of the mound fell at the bottom, revealing an entrance. They all walked through into a huge room with a ditch in the center.
"You were saying?" He grinned at her.
"Point taken, but where did you learn that spell?"
"I read ahead in our studies at the library. How do you think I always got a spell right the first time Proffesor Gia taught it? I used to spend all night in the library and training grounds practicing!" He laughed at her stunned expression. "What, don't tell me you've never snuck out to train in secret! I've seen you!" Althea groaned. This just made Eton laugh more. Soon, everyone was chuckling a little. When the stepped back out into the evening air, it was starting to rain.
"Aw, man! My sleeping bag is all wet!" Iris whinned.
"Here, use mine. I'll just sleep on the ground. Next time remember to cover yours, though." Eton tossed her his giant sleeping bag, causing her to fall back at it's weight. They all began to laugh as they re-entered the shelter. After getting settled and having a fire going, they were quiet. "Do we even know why Nicator was attacking Kharen?" Eton asked the rest of them.
"... No, but he must have been after something. Could there be Kane that our parents never found?" Hektor said.
"I don't know. The villagers we found said he had been telling them to hand over 'The Conductor' or something. Maybe we can find it in the temple history books!" Iris answered, getting excited.
"First, we need to figure out what's going on with Eton." Althea said.
"... Your wrong. The realms could be in danger if we don't step it up. First thing in the morning, we head to the nearest village and get access to their temple." Eton said after a while of silence. Everyone was quiet. Thunder boomed outside as they tried to sleep. Morning would come too soon.
The team woke up to hear screams and shouts. "Quick, get going!" They ran out into the sunlight and jumped onto their bikes. "Go!" Eton dissapeared through the thicket of trees and tall leafy shrubs. The rest of the group followed closely behind. In front of them, a ways up the road, a wagon was being rampaged by some of Nicator's soldiers. "You guys head on, I need to keep a ways back."
"But Eton-" Althea cut herself off, remembering her teammate's condition. "Okay." Iris, Hektor, and Althea sped on as Eton stopped his bike and ran into the woods beside the road. Iris noticed the men were only standing and watching as some animal started to rip apart the wagon. It was extremely large and was covered in scales. It's head was smallish and it's neck was about five feet long. It had claws and a large, spiked tail. The body was a grey black with brown specks.
"Gorgophone's Dragon!" Hektor exclaimed. "I didn't think those things were still were around! How did Nicator manage to summon one of those?"
"Who cares? Get it!" Iris shouted. "Wait, we need to help those people first! Hektor, try to distract it!"
"Good idea, Iris! I'm on it! Whipping Spathe!" As Hektor began to fight the monster, the two girls ran up behind it and opened the curtain to the door of the wagon. It was a small family, two children, an elder man, two women and a man. They were wearing rags upon rags for clothing and were huddled in a small corner of the thing. They almost cried with relief when they saw the spell-casters.
"Please, help us!" The older man whispered. They nodded.
"Don't worry, we'll help you." Althea whispered back, taking their hands and pulling the two kids out. Iris helped out the two women and finally they got the man and elder out. Leading them to the cover of the forest, the family thanked them. As Iris and Althea turned around, they froze. The Gorgophone's Dragon had Hektor in it's jaws and was about to clamp down when it looked up in surprise. The rest of them looked where it was staring in time to see Eton jump out of the woods, his mask back on. He roared and slammed down on the side of the beast, making it screech and release Hektor. He grabbed it by the tail and began to spin, whirling it around him and letting go. It landed a few hundred feet away, turning to dust. Roaring he grabbed two of the stunned soldiers and flung them against the others. The rest ran away shouting in fear. Eton stood for a moment then walked over to where Althea, Hektor, and the rest of them were standing. "Wow." Eton grunted and let his mask turn to rubble and fall from his face.
"Eton! You were amazing!" He stumbled back as Iris ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.
"W-what are you?" It was the old man. The team turned around to see the family cowering back away from Eton.
"He's our friend, and leave him alone! He just saved you all!" The man shook his head at Iris.
"That thing is a freak!" And with that, the family ran into the woods. Iris turned to tell Eton to ignore them, but he wasn't there.
"Eton? Eton!" She cried. Althea put her hand on the younger girl's shoulder.
"We'll find him. I promise." Her only response was a slight nod and looking at her boots.
"Come on, how are we gonna find Eton in woods as thick as-" Hektor's pesemism was cut off as they heard a gigantic, outraged roar and crashing. Looking out over the trees, they saw about five of them falling down.
"What was that, Hektor? I don't think I quite heard you!" Althea said sarcasticaly. Hektor growled and mumbled something under his breath.
"Come on! We have to hurry before he gets too far away!" Iris said, revving her bike. She pulled on her helmet and was gone, a teammate on each side. When they came near to where they had heard Eton, the trees became thinner. Another crash echoed through the forest. Their friend was punching giant stones that were jutting out of the ground and was leaving only gravel behind. "Eton!" He turned his head towards them only for a second, then went back to roaring and smashing trees and rocks.
"Eton, you need to calm down." He roared at Althea's statement. "Please, those people didn't know what they were talking about! We're your friends, we know what's best for you and right now that's to calm down!" This only made him more angry.
"Eton! Please! Come back to camp with us! We can help you!" Iris was pleading. There were tears in her eyes. Eton began to punch the stones even harder.
"He's not himself. You know what to do, Althea." She nodded at Hektor.
"Hypnos!" She pointed at Eton and watched him stop, stare at them for a second, and fall to the ground. "The sleeping spell will only hold for a little while, so we need to get him back to camp and gather our stuff. The realms can wait, our friend is in trouble." Iris ran over to Eton and sat beside his head, brushing the remains of his mask off his face.
"The closest city is Amerantha City. Let's hope they have a healer." Hektor said, picking up Eton. Althea nodded. When they neared the city, the sleeping mutant stirred.
Eton was dreaming. He knew that. He was back at the team's old training academy. Proffesor Gia was in the front of a hazy room, teaching a spell. The scene seemed familiar, but he chose to ignore that fact. He looked around. There were other kids all around him, some older, some younger. There was at least fifty. All of a sudden, the roof fell in and kids started to scream, running for cover. There was a little girl in the middle of the room, her foot stuck under a piece of plaster. Eton ran over to her and cast Shield of Aegis, protecting them both. He then picked up the piece of cieling and helped her out. He grabbed her and held her to his chest, running out of the school and finding two other kids lying on the grass, panting hard. After the school had stopped crumbling down, the four went to look for more survivors. All they found under the rubble was lifeless bodies of their friends and teachers. They couldn't find their personal mentor, Prof. Gia, at all, only four necklaces, each with one of their names on it, in a box under her destroyed bed. The small girl Eton had saved performed a spell to protect the bodies until someone found them. She had cast PaghomEno to freeze it all. Just as their little group was leaving the site, Eton woke up.
"Hurry, he's awake. Make sure he wont freak out like before!" Althea said. Iris ran back over to Eton and held the older boy's hand.
"What... Where am I? What did I- Ow... My head... Wait- why was I throwing a fit?" He sat up stiffly off the ground and put his head in his hands.
"Eton? Your angry rockself got mad and-" Iris cut herself off. "Are you okay? Your not in much pain, are you?"
"I'm fine, it's okay Iris." He tried to reassure her. "So how are we going to get access to their tower when I look like a freak?" Hektor and Althea glanced at each other quickly and said,
"We aren't going to look for their tower, we're looking for their healer." He stared at them for a moment, before realizing the purpose of this.
"Are you insane? We need to get intell on Nicator's next target and try to figure out what he's after! I could care less that I'm a monster!" He said, getting annoyed.
"If you don't mind looking like this, then why'd you flip out when that man called you a freak?" at this statement, he narrowed his eyes at her.
"You will shut. Up. Now. If you know what's good for you." He threatened her. His voice had gotten so dark, she automaticaly took a step back.
"Please, Eton. Your not acting like yourself! You would never threaten Althea like that if you were behaving like normal!" He stopped glaring at Althea to look at Iris. He composed his features enough to where he didn't seem so menacing.
"Okay." She squealed in delight and tried to pull him to the gate. "Uh-uh! You can make me see this healer, but I'm not going anywhere near the people of Amerantha! Not like this." Eton said, his hand slipping from Iris'.
"Alright then. We'll bring him to you. Come on, Iris." Hektor held out his hand for the small girl. She shook her head.
"But I want to stay with-"
"Go. It's bad for your health to be staying with somone as negative as me." Eton put on a fake smile, but it was enough to get Iris to nod and take the warrior's hand.
"We'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere. I mean it Eton." Althea said. "If I have to, I'll put a shield around you." As she turned around, Eton caught her arm.
"Really, put one around me. I don't want to loose my head again. Just- don't tell Iris." He tried to smile again, but it faded quickly. She nodded.
"Kratiste." A clear bubble apeared in her hand. She tossed it over to Eton, having it grow until it surrounded him. Althea turned around to catch up with Hektor and Iris, who were entering the city.
It was about an hour later that the three of them came walking out, their heads down. "Let me guess, he called you crazy?" Eton said sarcasticaly.
"They didn't have a healer... Sorry. We asked them about the 'Conductor' though. They said it was some ancient legend about some thing that can absorb any amount of given energy and redirect it or destroy it without much harm to itself. What would Nicator want with that?" Hektor was more talking to himself than anyone else.
"He must have a machine or something that needs power to work. He has tech beyond what he should, and so he ought to have a good conductor for it. If he's going around searching for some myth, this weapon must be pretty powerful. The real question is how powerful is this thing and what is he using it for?" Eton said.
"Well, he's probably using it to take over one of the cities." Hektor responded.
"Yeah, sure. That's a bit small, though. Why would he need another weapon? And have you noticed, he doesn't try to take the larger ones, just random ones. He's planning something and is using the cover of trying to conquer the realms so that no one will take notice!"
"That was really vague and probably totally off, but it would make sense." Althea said. "Maybe Eton's on to something. I mean, Nicator never said he was trying to conquer anything, everyone just assumed that. He could be searching for something. We need to get to finding the city's temple and history logs." They all agreed and re-entered the city. Iris took Eton's hand.
"Don't worry about these people. They might stare, but it doesn't matter." She whispered. Eton groaned. The last thing he needed was a bunch of citizens staring at him and spreading rumors. The littler girl beside him smiled and sqeezed his hand. When they reached the center, people started to apear. They would act like seeing visitors was normal, but then they would catch sight of Eton, then they would stare until he looked them directly in the eye.
"We asked about their city tower, but all they told us was that the tower was taken down a long time ago, and in it's place is an underground library." Hektor said, trying to distract him.
"So the temple is still around, but the tower isn't. How do we get to it?" Eton asked.
"You'll see when we get there!" Iris said. "We're gonna use a spell I had to learn just for emergencies like this!" When the team reched a sign that said, 'Amerantha Library of History,' they stopped.
"Your turn, Iris." Althea said. She sqealed.
"Stand back." She held her arms out in front of her. "Apokalupto!" She whispered harshly. Nothing happened. Iris looked at her feet. "Sorry, I guess I didn't do it right."
"No, look! You did do it!" Hektor said, pointing up. About a hundred feet up in the air, was a glowing keyhole. "The question is, how do we get all the way up there?"
"Like this. Ftero!" Althea said, whipping her arms out. Suddenly, wings sprouted from her back. People gasped as she rose up to the keyhole and inserted the end of a neclace she was wearing. It was the one they had found in the rubble at the academy. The hole became larger and took on the shape of a doorway. Althea then flew back down and picked up Iris, carried her up to the door, then grabbed Hektor's arm and did the same. As she was about to come back down for Eton, he jumped up and landed neatly on the edge, grabbed the sides and pulled himself in. "Well, that works, too." She said, her wings fading away and turning to mist.
"Okay, so we're in. How about we split up, you know, to try to find the library?" Hektor suggested.
"Sounds good. Turn on your communicators." Eton looked away. "Um, is there a problem Eton?" Althea said.
"My communicator was destroyed when Nicator blasted me... It was on, remember?"
"Oh, well I guess you'll have to go with one of us."
"I call him! I mean, I'll go with Eton." Iris said, grabbing his arm. Eton chuckled under his breath.
"Sounds good." Althea grinned.
"Okay, Althea, you take the west wing. Hektor, you take the east. Me and Iris will hit the north, got it?" They nodded. "Great, let's go." And with that they split. Iris pulled Eton along and began to blab like she usually did when they got teamed up. He wasn't really listening until he heard her gasp.
"Um, no library, but we found something else." Iris spoke. Eton looked around. They were in a large dome-like room with paintings all over the walls. He walked up to the nearest one. It was slightly faded and covered in dust. Using his good hand, he wiped some of it away. this looks like- Mom?"