Rosewater Memories

[[NOTE: I changed some of the dialogue mostly because this is going to my school and I don't want to be sued for copyright issues]]


The sunlight shining in Theo's eyes were so bright that he had to shield the sun with his hand just to look where he was going. He examined the land before him in amazement. It was exactly as his uncle described it; the land was a vast, lonely desert in the middle of nowhere with a huge tower straight in front of him. He was standing on the beginning of the remains of an enormous stone bridge that originally connected to the temple ahead but was broken off for unknown reasons.

"What'd I tell ya Theo?" asked his uncle Craig who walked up and slapped him on the back "Isn't it everything I said it would be?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess…" said Theo

It was Theo's slightly eccentric uncle Craig and his team who had found this place. Craig was an archaeologist who had invited Theo along to "bask in the glory of the past"; or at least what was left of it. He only decided to go with his uncle because he wanted to hone his photographing skills which he was dying to get a degree in once he graduated from college.

"Any ideas on how we're gonna get down?" asked Theo

"Simple, my boy!" said Craig cheerfully "I don't think you've noticed but we've constructed a platform that serves as an elevator."

Craig whistled down at the ground far below them and the sound of a moving elevator had erupted faintly. Within ten minutes, a young woman dressed in a simple blue polo shirt and khaki shorts appeared on a steel platform big enough to fit an H1 Hummer. She had her hand on some sort a small lever located on a bar on the side of the "elevator". The two relatives walked on and the woman flipped the lever down thus obviously making the elevator go down as well.

As they moved downward, the wind raced swiftly from underneath them causing their hair and clothes to fly up as well. Theo fidgeted in place while looking at his surroundings. He could see the desert scenery rising up above him while he himself was descending to the ground. All of his thoughts were drawn towards that one tower he saw when he came to this place. He didn't know why but there was something about it that seemed to capture his attention.

By the time the elevator landed on the ground (and it definitely wasn't an easy landing), there were men readying their Jeeps to set out in this vast unknown land. Already bored out of his mind, Theo pulled out his digital camera and started taking pictures of the crew getting ready for their next expedition. He was very thankful that he saved all of his pictures onto his computer back home and then deleted them off of his camera so he would have more space.

"Ready to go, Theo?" asked Craig

Theo stopped taking pictures and hopped in the back of a Jeep with his uncle and they all drove off to parts unknown.

"Trevor, let's stop here." said Craig on the walkie-talkie

"'Kay." replied Trevor

The Jeeps pulled over in the back of the giant building they saw when they first arrived here. The drive was about an hour and a half long and everyone seemed tired. The people got out of the Jeeps and started stretching and getting their gear out so they could start digging up pottery and things. They all walked up a huge flight of stairs into a giant hallway where an altar and the remains of sixteen statues resided.

"Wow," exclaimed one of the archaeologists in wonder "Look at this place!"

"This must've been a temple or something once." muttered another archaeologists

"Well, what're we waiting for?" asked Craig while everyone started having conversations with each other "Let's get to work, people!"

Everyone did as they were told and started looking around to see if they could find any kind of relic from the distant past. Some of the gang however, were more interested in the broken statues and decided to search those. Theo just decided to kick back and watch their work get done since there wasn't much he could do to help anyway. Feeling bored, he pulled out his digital camera, set it on video mode and started recording.

He walked around filming the small groups one at a time. He would spend a few minutes looking over the back of one group, then move to another group. They didn't seem to be talking about anything worth filming; just about how these artifacts are over two thousand years old, how everyone's families were doing, the TV shows they watched last night, blah, blah, blah, blah. If he were to spend any more time around these people, he would surely go mad. When he felt like it, he stopped recording and decided to go review it in a place where he wouldn't be bothered by others.

"Hey Uncle Craig," Theo called to his uncle who was working on the bits and pieces of one of the fallen statues "I'm gonna go look around, okay?"

"Sure, sure, go ahead," said Craig "Just try not to get lost okay?"

Theo walked out of the shrine room and into a room with a large spiral staircase and a dried up pit that looked like it was used to hold water. Theo walked up the staircase to a doorway that led outside to where the bridge was once connected to the entrance of this land. It opened up on its own which made him jump a little. He walked outside to where the other side of the broken bridge was and stared out into the distance. From there, he could see the place that he came from with his uncle and crew. For some reason, it felt like they hadn't gone far at all.

He then looked to his left and saw an old ramp that scaled up the building. He followed that ramp until he came across a beautiful garden with ancient, slightly broken pillars and archways surrounding it. He was pretty amazed that there was a small channel that still had running water. He walked around for a little bit, scrutinizing his surroundings and listening to the sorrowful melody of the birds' chirping.

Suddenly, something hit his head. Surprised he looked around only to find what had hit him, was on the ground. He saw that it was a small, orange-colored mango of some sort that must've fell off a tree. Realizing that he hadn't had any breakfast that morning, he decided to eat it. He picked it up, swiped off any dirt that was on it and took a bite out of it. To be quite frank, the fruit was actually delicious. The taste reminded Theo of the taste of pineapples, which was his favorite of all fruits.

He looked around for a spot to sit and watch what he recorded. He chose a broken pillar that was lying on the ground on its side. He sat down on it and fiddled around with his camera while taking bites of the fruit in between. After finding the video on his camera, he noticed something different. He recalled the amount of time he recorded to be two minutes and fifty six seconds. The camera, however, showed that it was really five minutes and twenty eight seconds. Merely thinking that it was a small glitch, he played it anyway… only to find that what he recorded wasn't what he recorded at all.

The camera showed the same shrine, but it was different. The broken pieces of statues were all together in the original form they once were and the crew was nowhere to be found. For a moment, all was silent; until echoing footsteps were heard in the background. The camera moved to the left and revealed a strange young man sitting on top of a black stallion walking through the shrine. He stopped his horse, got off it and then pulled down a cloaked bundle off of the horse's neck.

He gently pulled Mono's corpse off of his horse, Agro, and carried her across the shrine to the altar. At last, after many days, perhaps months, Wander had finally made it to the cursed lands his people told stories about. It was here that he would request the help of the being called Dormin and resurrect Mono from the dead. At least, that's what he had hoped to happen.

As he set down her corpse, Wander thought about the legends that he learned when he was a small child. They said that this land was created from the resonance of intersecting points and that its memories made up of ens and naught and etched into stone… whatever that meant; all of the folklore he listened to was all told through riddles as vague as the deepest depths of the ocean. But he remembered one important detail: that it was strictly forbidden to trespass on these lands. However, he didn't seem to care. If this place was real and this Dormin was his only hope of reviving Mono, then nothing else really mattered to him.

Suddenly, he heard Agro neigh in discomposure. Wander turned around and saw a small band of fumy, shadow-like creatures ascend from the floors of the long forgotten sanctuary. Although he was stricken with fear, on the outside, he seemed calm and impassive. He slowly drew out the forbidden sword that he stole from one of the most sacred temples in his world. Even though the sword was as old as everyone said it was, it still looked like it was fresh from the forge. He pointed it at the beings bracing himself for the battle to come. But instead, the creatures exploded into a puff of black haze and disappeared.

"Hmm? Thou art the wielder of that ancient sword?" boomed an eerie androgynous voice "I see… so, thou art a mortal then…"

He looked all around for the owner of the voice but it was nowhere to be found. As far as he could tell, he was the only human that was in this land. Then, it hit him; he had forgotten that the being was disembodied with his soul sealed into the ceiling of the temple. Wander had found the entity he was looking for all this time. His journey was finally coming to a close.

"Are you… Dormin?" asked Wander

"Yes," said Dormin "We are the one known as Dormin."

"I have been told many stories of a forbidden land that lies at the ends of the earth. I was told that there lived a being that had the ability to bring back the dead. This girl here… she was sacrificed because she was believed to be cursed. I beg of you… please, return her soul to her body."

Dormin chuckled at this request.

"That maiden's soul? Souls that have passed on to the Realm of the Dead cannot be brought back to the Realm of the Living. Is that not one of the laws of mortals? However, all might not seem lost for you."

"Really?" asked Wander

"That is of course… if thou can do Us a favor in exchange."

"What must I do?"

"Behold the idols along the walls. Thou must destroy all of them. But they cannot be destroyed by the hands of a mere human. In this land, there art colossi that are incarnations of these idols. Destroy them, and the idols shall fall."

"I understand."

"But take heed, the price you must pay is greater than you can imagine."

"It doesn't matter."

"Very well, then…"


The camera stopped playing. Theo stared at his camera stricken with a disturbed look in his light brown eyes. This had to be a dream or something; after all, he didn't record any of the events that were shown on the camera. But he remembered the taste of the fruit he bit into and realized that this wasn't even close to a dream. His heart seemed to skip a beat. How is it that his camera was doing all of this? Was it a glitch? A figment of his imagination? He only wished he knew.

He then pulled himself back into reality and realized that now perhaps he should head back to his uncle. He walked back down to the shrine room where everyone else was. They were getting ready to take off on to the next location as there was so much to see. The workers looked at him oddly as if they were listening to a complex riddle.

"Theo, you okay?" asked one of the workers "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Y-yeah." lied Theo "I'm okay."

"Well, that's good. Anyways, we should probably get going."

As the jeep Theo was in bounced up and down on the rough terrain, he couldn't get the video out of his head. That scene… it looked as if it took place over three thousand or more years ago back when these ruins were still used. But that was impossible. How could he have recorded something that happened so many years ago? To him, it didn't make sense.

After a half hour of driving, the team came to a peaceful, hilly, lush green meadow with tons of dead trees surrounding it. At the base of the hills were man-made holes that were used for secret passages in case there was an attack or something. The jeep was parked about five feet in front of the hill. Within an hour, the team was all set up for excavating the beautiful yet strange meadow. Standing hesitantly, Theo fiddled with his camera with uncertainty, wondering if he should record the area again like he did at the temple.

He nervously switched on his camera and began filming the workers heading down into the holes. He too followed behind them and descended down into the earth below. Inside, He saw lots of dust and rubble on the ground as if there had been a earthquake. The walls and floors were entirely made of stone while the ceiling above was simply made of earth and dirt. But there was a scent in the air that smelled oddly like something writing. What was this place, he wondered. This felt more like a tomb than a secret passage.

After spending approximately five minutes inside, Theo moved to another part of "tomb" where where there was a set of stairs leading to the other side of the hill. He then walked up the stairs and back out into the grass field. He then stopped recording and fiddled with the camera so he could replay what he just recorded. When the video started, it was blurry at first but it got clearer eventually. Theo gazed intensely at the camera, eager to see what would happen.

It was coming. He had angered it and now it was coming after him. As he hid in the tombs, the earth above him shook as the beast came closer to the hill. Wander readied his sword, waiting for the colossi to approach. When it came, he saw the dreadlocks of the horse-like colossi hanging outside of the entrance that he had use to enter the tombs. At the moment that it appeared, Wander dashed up the stairs, out of the tombs and jumped onto the dreadlocks as fast as he could.

As he climbed up the Phaedra's dread lock, the Phaedra began to shake his head violently, causing the dread lock to thrash about. Wander clanged on for dear life, his hands burning from the roughness of the dread lock. Although it felt like two hours, Wander managed to climb up onto the head within minutes. As soon as he was on top of the head, he saw it; the radiant, mysterious, sky-blue colored sigil.

Wander grabbed onto the deep gray, knotted, hay-like fur that which sigil was attached to and raised the ancient sword high above his head. But just as he was about to plunge it into the colossus' head, it shook it head, struggling to send the young warrior flying but to no avail. Once more, Wander raised the sword and thrust into the colossus' head. The beast roared in agony and began shaking its head, trying to throw the man off. A geyser of black blood was spraying out from where the wound was. Some of the blood got into Wander's eyes, temporarily blinding him. The feeling wasn't as bad as he expected. It was more unusual than painful. He quickly rubbed his eyes to get the blood out and then went for a second blow.

He stabbed the sword into the beast again. This time, the colossus' cries of pain were sharper and louder and its thrashing more violent. Wander thought that a third time would put it out of its misery. The moment that the sword dug into the colossus head, the colossi instantly stopped where it was and slowly collapsed into a small forest, consumed by death. Wander gripped on the colossus' hair in an attempt not to be sent flying across the field. As soon as it hit the ground, Wander jumped off the colossus' fresh corpse and stared for a moment at the body. He was unable to believe that he was one step closer to killing all sixteen colossi, this one being his third.

He was then distracted by the sudden approach of his faithful steed, Agro. The horse nudged at Wander's arm with his nose, almost in concern. Wander patted the horse on the nose gently and then looked back at the body of the Colossus. But when he looked back, he realized something was wrong. The beast's body was being swallowed up by some dark aura and out of its body came these dark, lace-like strands that penetrated Wander's own body, causing him to collapse in pain as his vision was enveloped in darkness.


Theo dropped the camera as soon as the screen to emit static, his hands trembling in fear. It happened again. He didn't know how or why, but somehow his camera could record the past when set to video. It was ridiculous when he thought about it. A camera that could record the past... nobody would believe him; not even his uncle Craig. He decided to keep this discovery a secret until the time was right. If the time would ever be right that is.

Soon it was time to go and the crew had to move on, mostly because Uncle Craig was too impatient to just sit around for weeks and uncover everything that was that was there. The other reason was that the ruins were in such bad shape that there was little to no traces of items that could be they packed up the trucks and left the area to explore more sights.

It took only a day to get to the next location. The location they went to was completely different from the last one. This one was a lake with a spiral pillar placed right in the center of it. The jeeps parked outside of the gate that led to the lake for fear of the jeeps somehow falling off the cliff during an earthquake or something like that. Since there was nothing to really excavate, people just took pictures with their cameras and cellphones. Theo of course video recorded the lake, taking in the wrecked, silent, lonesome scenery. He didn't want to record for too long, otherwise, the memory would have been filled up. When he was done recording, he viewed the video, hoping to see more of this mysterious wanderer's journey. When he was done filming(he tried to film as little as possible so he would have enough memory to record more), he replayed what was recorded only to see the wanderer's battle again. However, this one was different.

Wander swam through the chilly lake waters trying to find the Colossus he was to slay. Earlier, he had managed to get on its back and paralyze two of the three spikes on its back which would try to electrocute him whenever they were submerged underwater. But he was pulled away by the swift current that the Colossus had created and ended up at the top of the lake. That's when he started looking for the beast by swimming around. After swimming for a while, Wander caught sight of the beast's shadow and started to follow it. Eventually, the Colossus, Hydrus', snake-like body, came to the surface, scaling the water's edge.

This was Wander's chance. He swam as fast as he could to reach the Colossus' body in time. When he did, he grabbed a hold of its fur just as the beast began to descend down into the water. The beast swam so fast, that Wander didn't even have a chance to inhale some air so he could hold his breath. During his time underwater, Wander's lungs grew tight, yearning for air. He tried to clench his teeth together so he could take his mind off of it, but to no avail. Finally, after what seemed like the longest time, the beast rose to water's surface. As soon as Wander's head went above the surface he gasped and choked for air. He wanted to rest, but he knew that he came too far to take a rest.

While the Colossus continued to scale the water, Wander ran up its body, hoping to make it to the head before it returned to the deep below. He ran and ran until he finally reached the lightning horn before the head. He had to immobilize it, otherwise, it would electrocute him underwater. Wander kneeled down, searched for the small sigil like he did with the other two lightning horns, and stabbed it with his sword as soon as he found it. The luminous, glowing lightning horn turned into a blackish-gray, dull-looking lightning horn. Wander then proceeded to make his way to the head, where he would defeat the colossi with several fatal blows.

And fatal they were. For the moment that Wander found the larger sigil and plunged the sword into it, a jet black stream of blood shot out, spraying itself all over Wander's clothes. The beast, in retaliation, dove underwater again, but only for a short time. When it came back to the surface, Wander stabbed it again, causing the beast to moan in pain. After stabbing it two more times, the colossi began to sink to the bottom of the ocean. It was dead. As Wander swam away, a sharp pain went into his back. It felt like being suddenly filled with a thousand gallons of painfully freezing water all at once. The world around him was being swallowed by shadows. In almost an instant, he was incapacitated.


Theo turned off the camera and looked out to the lake. Did that really happen on this lake, he wondered. Incredible; simply incredible. Whoever this hero was, his feats of bravery were amazing. Having felt that he had seen enough of the lake, he went back to the jeep and sat down. He looked out to the setting sun, his mind wandering. He wondered about many things that involved these strange videos. Who was this man? The only thing Theo knew about him were his goals and his method for accomplishing them. He knew nothing about the man's name, age or even where he came from. He positioned himself in the back of the jeep to lie down so he could take a nap. He was tired from today's events and wanted to get some rest.

By the time he woke up, it was already the next day. There was a blanket on him, probably given to him by Uncle Craig. But this blanket seemed different. It felt like it was made from wool and was covered in different designs. It must've been something that Craig had made or something that he had found in the old temple. But when Craig came to check up on him, he look astonished.

"Theo," he said "Where... where did you get that blanket?"

"But Craig," said Theo with a blank, confused face "Isn't this yours?"

"Certainly not, my boy!" said Craig "Why, I've never seen anything like it! The wind must've picked it up and flung it on top of you!"

Craig took the blanket and examined it closely.

"Amazing!" he said "This must've been what the people used as blankets!"

Craig woke everyone in the crew to show them what he had discovered. Everyone was really tired so some didn't take any real interest at first. Instead, they were kind of cranky, asking him if he knew what time it was. But Craig didn't seem to care. Instead, he got everyone packing, telling them that there was much to do and places to see. By noon, they were off.

After a three hour drive the group found themselves in the middle of a desert. There seemed to be nothing to explore or excavate. All there were were small bits and pieces of ruins sticking up out of the ground, all scattered about. But that wasn't what they got excited about. What they got excited about was the most extraordinary thing they had ever seen in their lives.

"Look! Over there!" cried one of the workers

The jeeps stopped. Everyone's jaws opened wide.

"Oh my God..." said one worker

"What is that?" asked another

"A giant?"

"Is it dead?"

Indeed it was a giant. Well, to be more specific, it was a Colossus. A long, dragon-like Colossus to be exact. Its long back was covered in hair and it had countless pairs of wings and a lack of legs. It was laying on the ground, motionless and with lack of breath. Everyone got out of the jeeps and went over to inspect it. Some covered their nose due to the awful rotting smell the corpse seemed to be covered in. Theo himself, while in both shock and awe, began filming the corpse with his camera, wanting to know if it was the wanderer who had killed it. When he was done, the film began to play. But when it did, he noticed something different about the wanderer. His skin was grayish white and his once reddish-brown hair was turning into a deep purple.

Wander was holding on for his life as the Colossus soared through the sky. The harsh wind that blew over the Colossus' back made somewhat difficult to proceed further down its back. Wander struggled to stand up, trying to not get blown away and dashed towards the next sigil. He had taken out two of the three sigils underneath the flaps on its back. As he fought against the wind, he struggled to run his way down its back, squinting in order to prevent sand from getting into his eyes.

He ran blindly, only to trip onto the soft fur only once. But he picked himself up and pressed on. He would open his eyes every few moments to make sure he wasn't walking off of the edge. Eventually, he came to the final flap which was open and caught sight of the sigil embedded within the fur. Wander dove at the sigil, grabbing onto the fur and quickly unsheathed the sword and plunged it into the flesh of the beast.

In the wind, he could hear the beast's painful howl. It began to thrash and flip upside down, struggling to get the wanderer off of its back. Still, Wander held on, waiting for the right moment to strike. When it settled down for a moment, he made his move, stabbing the beast once more. It roared and shook again, nearly making him fall off. Finally, with the last stab, the beast stopped in mid air and began its swift descent to the earth below.

After a violent crash, Wander slowly stood up, staring at the body underneath his feet. To be honest, he felt sorry for the poor creatures. They had done nothing wrong to him, and yet, he was forced to slaughter them like lambs. But if that was what it took to save his love, then he would wipe out any man or creature just for her.

Suddenly, he was pierced by the shadowy strands. As black smoke protrude from his mouth, he doubled over in pain and fell flat on his face as the colossus' body was being devoured by an unknown shadow. Wander's eyesight faded to black, the sound of his horse galloping towards him becoming ever so silent. But then, when he opened his eyes again, he saw a light at the end of the darkness. He heard a voice coming from it; Mono's voice. He couldn't understand what she was saying, but he knew she was trying to tell her something. After she was done speaking, his vision faded to black once more.


Theo turned off his camera and slipped it into his pocket while everyone else was taking pictures of the dead colossus. As he stared with wonder, he thought of how this thing, this colossus, must've died a dreadful, agonizing death for which it did not truly deserve. It was sad really. But in a way, he understood Wander's intentions. If Theo were to lose someone he cared about, he too would kill anyone ore or anything just to bring them back. He tapped his fingers against the pockets on his shorts thoughtfully.

After a week of spending time at the camp next to the colossus' corpse, the archaeologists made a decision. They decided to split into two groups. One group would head back to the entrance of the forgotten lands and call for a chopper to help carry the colossus to a secret government base where they would dissect the creature and examine it. The other team would stay behind and make sure the chopper would get there. Many protested that a single chopper wouldn't be able to carry that thing. So, they decided to call for three to four choppers. Theo went with his uncle to the entrance. But before they got to the entrance, Theo asked his uncle to stop by the temple real quick. He didn't explain why, but he knew he wanted to see the end of Wander's tale. He wanted to see if whether or not he succeeded. After video recording the shrine room, he pressed play.

Lord Emon looked around the shrine room, baffled by what he saw. The idols of the colossi had already imploded. He and his men were too late; the ritual had already begun. But luckily, there was one idol left standing. He felt somewhat relieved by that. There was still some time left to undo the blasphemy that was done. But then, something happened. One of his men cried out to him in alarm.

"Lord Emon!" he said

Suddenly, a bright light emitted from the statue. It spread out across the room, then quickly shrunk back towards the idol. Then, the idols imploded, shattering into millions of piece. The echo of the implosion quickly faded into silence. Lord Emon's eyes shot open with horror. They were too late. The ritual had been completed. If HE were to escape, then that would mean certain death for everyone in the world.

"No..." he said

But why would someone do this? What would possess an individual to commit such a heresy as this? He then got his answer when something caught his eye on the other side of the shrine. He lifted his owl like mask from his face to get a better look. Emon saw a young dead girl lying upon the altar. Emon recognized her as the maiden Mono, who was put to death for her cursed destiny. Immediately, he and his men rushed to the altar and Emon began chanting a spell that would ensure that she would stay dead. If there was one thing that would make things worse, it was having both an unholy god and a cursed shrine maiden running around. His chant was suddenly interrupted by the sound of something hitting the floor.

Emon and his men turned around. They saw a familiar face lying down on the ground. His clothes were covered with black bloodstains and his once reddish brown hair had turned purple like a bruise. They noticed as the man stood up, grabbing his chest in pain, that his skin had turned into a light gray color like that of a stone. His eyes, which were once a grayish blue, had now become completely devoid of pupils and irises. There were even tiny, bull-like horns protruding for the sides of his head. Emon realized that it was Wander; but at the same time, it was no longer him. For he had lost a part of himself to the souls of the dead.

"So it was you all along, then," said Emon harshly "Have you any idea what you've done?! You have stolen the ancient sword, trespassed upon these lands and performed the forbidden spell."

Wander seemed to ignore what he was saying. Instead he began walking weakly towards the altar, his eyes set on Mono. As he did so, shadow-like creatures began to swarm around him. There was a look of disgust in Emon's eyes. He was disappointed in the boy's actions. As if instinctively, his men began to march forward, with their weapons ready.

"To be reduced to such a sight..." muttered Emon, who then said to his men "Rid us of the source of evil. It is best to put him out of his misery than to let him be cursed."

After he finished his sentence, one of his men, who was carrying a crossbow, shot at Wander's left thigh. Wander toppled over and grabbed his leg, moaning in pain. Another man then walked over him and drew out his sword. As soon as he was standing over Wander, he raised the sword over his head, staring into the young man's pure white eyes. After a moment's hesitation, the swordsman stabbed Wander through the heart, believing he had killed him. But how wrong he was. Though black blood squirted out from the wound, Wander once again began slowly rising up and staggering forward. The swordsman and the rest of the men slowly backed away from Wander in surprise. The stab should have killed him. While clinging onto the sword embedded in his chest, Wander reached out towards Mono even though she was some ten feet away from her. He then pulled the sword from his chest and with his last breath, threw it to the ground. He then fell over, dead and his body proceeded to be devoured by shadows, just as the other colossi did when they met their fates.

After he passed away, Emon glanced behind him at the deceased girl's body. He began to realize at that moment what drove the young man to cause such an atrocity as this. He was in love with the girl. It was this undying love that pushed him to his limits and slayed the colossi that once roamed the lands. He did it all for her. Sadly, he was not aware of the consequences. And that was what costed him his life. But as he was thinking these things, something happened.

Wander's body began to grow into a monstrous horned titan about ten to twenty stories high. His eyes became a bright blueish color and his body covered in shadowy black fur. Everyone but Emon gasped and looked upon the beast in fear. Emon just stared it down grimly. It spoke in two different voices: a male and a female. The male voice was deep and mighty, like that of a god's. The female voice was that of a young woman's. They recognized the voices all too well.

"Thou severed Our body into sixteen colossi so they could seal Us away," said Dormin "But now, We, Dormin, have risen again."

"He's been released!" exclaimed Emon

Dormin slammed the palm of His hand into the ground in order to intimidate the humans.

"We must seal Him again, before it's too late!" shouted Emon

Immediately, the men began shooting their crossbows at Dormin in order to distract him while one of the men proceeded to retrieve the ancient sword which was sticking out of the floor. Once the sword was retrieved, they all ran towards the entrance of the shrine with Dormin following them. Fortunately for the men, Dormin was rather slow moving, so that gave them the advantage to outrun him. As soon as they got to the shrine entrance and ran up the spiral staircase, Emon asked for the sword. Once he was given the sword, he walked towards the edge of the top of the stairs. As he reached it, he glanced at the sword, thinking of how it was plunged into the fur of sixteen beasts. The thought of this sickened him. He then threw the sword into the pond below.

"Be gone, foul creature!" he shouted

As soon as the sword hit the pond, a pillar of light and a gust of wind was formed. The wind was so powerful that it blew Emon's hood off of his head. Emon turned around and began proceeding to the exit where his men were waiting for him.


The camera began to emit static like it did the other times. Then it showed a picture of Dormin being sucked into the pool of light. Then the static emitted again. After that, the camera showed a picture of the girl Mono sitting up. Once that happened, the camera shut off. Theo watched this while he and his uncle were driving in the jeep back to the near by village where they would have cell phone coverage and call a near by helicopter (or five) to carry away the specimen found a week earlier so it could be studied by a group of scientists. He watched the video back at the shrine, but he had to put it on pause and get in the jeep because his uncle wanted him to go.

To be honest, he felt sad for Wander. The poor warrior was manipulated into killing these creatures only to figure out he was being used for evil intentions. If only he had accepted the fact that his lover was dead and moved on. If only he had known what would happen to him. If only he knew he was being used. But alas, he did not. And for that, he suffered dearly. Theo fiddled with his camera and sighed. He wondered if he should show his uncle all of these videos. He suspected that he would think he was making it all up, but it was worth a try. He pushed a few buttons on his camera that made the camera exit to the video menu. He then tapped Uncle Craig (who was driving) on the shoulder.

"Hey, Craig," he said "Wanna see something cool?"

He then played the video that he recorded. But once it started playing, he realized that the video itself was gone. Instead, there was only a black screen throughout the entire movie. Craig would only occasionally glance at the video, for he needed to keep his eyes on the road. He seemed to have an uninterested look on his face. Embarrassed, Theo then switched to the next video. But that too had nothing but a black screen. He then switched to the other two videos, only to come up with the same results. He was shocked. The videos should have been there. It was like they were erased or filmed over. He didn't understand.

Disappointed and frustrated that he couldn't show anyone what he saw, he looked out the window, watching the trees that passed by the jeep. Then, after about ten minutes of driving, he saw something incredible. He saw a giant, shadowy creature with horns on the sides of its head. Theo's eyes widened with fear. As the jeep passed by him, everything felt as if it was going in slow motion. He saw the beast's light blue eyes glaring into his own brown ones. One word escaped from Theo's lips.

"Dormin?" he asked

"Did you say something, Theo?" asked his uncle

"N-no..." said Theo "Forget it."

The jeep then rode on to the village where water and cell phone coverage would await them.