Siblings in Arms
Chapter 1
Icaris and her horse, Farid, rode quickly through the narrow, cracked wall into the Ancient Lands. Her older brother, Wander, could not be far ahead. She had to stop him from making the biggest mistake of his life; the forbidden spell which would not only resurrected the love of his life, Mono, but release the merciless and sly being known as Dormin. She was not only ordered by her teacher, Lord Emon, to do so, but she was also doing this of her own free will.
Icaris pulled Farid's reigns which hauled him to a stop when they almost reached the end of the colossal bridge that led to the Shrine of Worship. She hopped down and quietly led Farid into the shrine. She heard Wander and Dormin speaking as she and Farid walked down into the spiral staircase.
"Behold the idols that stand along the wall… thou art to destroy all of them. But those idols cannot be destroyed by the hands of a mere mortal…" said Dormin
Surprised that Dormin was mentioning the forbidden spell, Icaris instructed Farid to stay where he was and she quickly but silently ran down the spiral staircase. At the bottom of the staircase she backed against the wall and continued listening.
"Then what am I to do?" asked Wander
"In this land there exist colossi that are the incarnations of those idols. If thou defeat those colossi, the idols shall fall." said Dormin
"I understand." said Wander
"But heed this, the price you pay may be heavy indeed." warned Dormin
"That doesn't matter." replied Wander
"Very well," said Dormin "Raise thy sword to the light and head to where the light gathers. Now be on thy way."
Icaris' eyes widened. She had to warn all of the colossi before it was too late. As soon as Wander left in search of the 1st colossi, Icaris ran back up and hopped on Farid and rode as fast as she could down the stairs, through the shrine and out into the vast land.
Luckily, Icaris found a shattered piece of the ancient sword on the way to the ancient lands. She reached into her pack and pulled out a shard the size of a butcher knife and raised it into the light. It was pointing in the direction the Wander was heading. But she decided to find a shortcut to get there before him. She stopped Farid by the wall to the entrance of where Wander was heading. She quickly scanned the walls. She could probably climb these.
She grabbed her bow and arrows and started climbing up the canyon-like wall using her shard of the sword and her hunting knife. When she climbed to the top, she found a steep hill and on her feet, slid down it. She could already see the huge, hairy, Minotaur colossi gently resting in the shade of the canyon wall. It awoke to the sounds of Icaris' footsteps running towards it. Panting, Icaris pulled up her right (and only) sleeve to reveal and burnt scar in the shape of a phoenix perched on a crescent moon. It was a sign showing that she was on the same side.
The Minotaur let Icaris climb onto the palm of its hand. Icaris fell to her knees panting. It lifted its hand to the level of its chest.
"What is a young mortal child doing in these cursed lands?" asked the Minotaur
"I- I came to warn- to warn you and the others of the threat that is now here." panted Icaris "There is… a man who wields the ancient sword and is coming the slay you to complete the forbidden spell. Please, you must defend yourself."
"I see…" said the Minotaur "And when will he be arriving?"
"I don't know," said Icaris "Soon. Be on guard."
They both heard the sound of Wander's running footsteps which echoed along the walls.
"You will be safe up here." said the Minotaur placing Icaris on top of a cliff.
As the Minotaur stood up and drew its weapon, Icaris put on her shaman mask and drew out her bow and arrow and aimed it at Wander who was now in perfect view. She let the arrow fly. It landed in front of Wander. He tripped over the arrow which gave the Minotaur enough time to walk over to Wander and attack.
But as it turns out, Icaris somewhat underestimated Wander's wits and strength. Wander climbed onto the back of the Minotaur's right leg and pierced the sword in a small blue symbol that was on the colossi's leg. When Wander pulled the sword out, a long line of black blood sprayed out of the leg. Icaris readied her bow but was too afraid that she would hit the Minotaur. She began to hesitate.
The Minotaur fell on his right knee and winced in pain. Wander started climbing up the colossi. Icaris aimed for the solid concrete part of the Minotaur which Wander was on and let go of the arrow. Direct hit. The arrow startled Wander causing him to stumble and almost fell off.
But Wander still continued climbing. When he reached the top of the head, he thrust the sword on the large blue symbol on the head. The pitch black blood of the Minotaur shot out like a geyser and painted a small section the air like the morning mist. After the second blow the battle was over. The Minotaur collapsed on to the ground.
Wander jumped off the corpse and examined it. It was slowly being devoured by some unknown darkness. Strange long lines were shooting out of the colossi. Icaris felt dizzy. She knew something wasn't right. She fell on her knees. She watched as the lines stabbed into Wander and made him fall unconscious.
Icaris stood up and immediately headed towards the second colossi. She glanced at the Minotaur with sorrow one last time and continued up the steep hill to the second colossi.