I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.
Special thanks to xbox432 for editing.
This means it is Pyrrhus's story
The night sky was full of vivid green lights, pouring forth from a massive rift that hung in the emptiness above us after it had swallowed the moon and stars. I felt so small and insignificant as I stared at it. It was heart stoppingly scary, though it was also rather beautiful. But most of all, it was our enemy. The Pit of Tartarus, the stories did not do it justice.
"You know if you stare at it too long it will eat you, right?" A joking voice came from behind me moments before my head was dragged into someone's smelly arm pit.
"Oh, gross! Father, let go!" I struggled as my father laughed and flung me about. "Fresh air!" I gasped after finally pulling my head free.
I looked over at my father who stood beside me laughing at the worlds as if daring any who may wish to try and stop him.
Achilles, my father, was a grizzled man with blood red hair that reached most the way down his back because my mom didn't want him to cut it. His bright green eyes that shone in the light of the other worldly sky as he looked to the sky himself.
"Don't look so glum Pyrrhus, we need to keep up moral for the others. People look to us for leadership and we say, 'grab a spear and watch me work'!" My dad laughed at his own attempt at wit. But he did cheer me up a bit.
My father wasn't just the hero of Greece, or even just the hero of our world. The stakes in this battle were far beyond our understanding. Something so massive that no legend will ever be able to do it justice. But my father didn't let any of it get to him. And why should he? He was the invincible man, forged in the fires of the other world. He wielded power equal to the monsters that attacked us and his skills in battle were unmatched.
"Yes father, I will try to remember that," I said with a grin. I had inherited only a small portion of my father's strength and skill in battle, along with his dark red hair, but even as a boy of thirteen years, I was still more than a match for any in our armies.
"Good, because you know that you and Odysseus are the only ones I can count on out here, don't you?" My father said flashing a smile as he looked up at the rift. "An entire world of Ghosts, creatures who's evil frightens the gods themselves. They will make worthy foes," he said before turning to me. "Tomorrow we will show them the true unbeatable strength of the heart of a man, and then we will see who fears who!" I looked up at my father. 'Be a man', it was his solution for everything. It made me feel like I could do anything. Like being Human was something to be proud of.
But the moment passed as someone in the camp let out a cry of joy. "The Guardians! The Guardians have returned!"
The Guardians. Words could hardly describe them. Five women more beautiful than any that I had ever seen anywhere else. Each of them was dressed in a strange form of bright purple and blue garb that held the eyes of the men in the camp as they walked passed. Each had a pair of fine wings coming from their backs, which started the popular belief that these girls were Nymphs, sent by the gods to help us in our troubled times. And even with the stories of the worlds beyond that my father had told me, I couldn't help but believe the girls were somehow divine.
Their leader, Xin Jing, walked in front of them, a woman with midnight eyes and hair that framed a narrow face with a captivating smile. A large pink jewel hung around her neck that radiated a power strong enough for even me to recognize. Every man in camp, even those with wives, were always struck dumb by their presence, and I am ashamed to say that I was no exception. Only my father and always stubborn Odysseus seemed immune to the women's charms.
My father stood before them as they entered the camp in order to great them. "I hope you bring good news. How goes it with our unseen supporters in the clouds?" My father asked curiously.
"Are you hoping for an army to come to your aid, Achilles?" Xin Jing said, with a look that would have stopped most men's hearts. "I am afraid that Kandrakar does not send such things to planets like this one. We are all you are getting."
"That is perfectly fine, but a few swords and arrows would be much welcomed," Odysseus said, crossing his arms in front of him. "You know very well that the ore for the metal that can even scratch these Ghosts is rare, most of our men might as well be using pieces of bark. We need weapons!"
"Then you need for something that Kandrakar does not have!" Another of the Guardians snapped. Odysseus opened his mouth to shout back, but my father placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Odysseus, please. Remember who the enemy is," my father said to calm his friend.
"Sometimes I wonder," Odysseus mumbled with a sigh. "At least tell me you didn't come back empty handed. They must have given you something."
"They did," Xin Jing said, taking the jewel from around her neck and pulling it across the air in front of her. A rip appeared in the space in front of her and blinding white and blue light poured from the opening, and when the light disappeared a large black and green sarcophagus was floating in the air next to her. "We received a prison for which to seal the Ghost King in after he is defeated."
"Oh, so all we have to do is break through the enemy army and defeat a god. Well that should be easy," Odysseus said with a scowl. I had to remind myself that this was the concept he called 'sarcasm', a way of speaking he was in the process of inventing. It seemed like an odd concept, saying the opposite of what you meant to make a point.
"I believe you should take this more seriously," Xin Jing said disapprovingly.
But then my father just began to laugh. "If we must then we must my friend. And we will! If it means protecting this world then I will fight every last one of those Ghosts to the death beyond death! So let tomorrow come! And may our enemy tremble at its coming!" My father's laughter rang through the air and the world seemed brighter. We all believed in him. The man who would surpass the Ghosts and lead us to victory.
But when tomorrow really did come, none of us were prepared.
The sounds of war rang through the air, the cries of the injured and dying mixed with the clashes of metal on metal and the hum of war horns. It was just like any other battle, only it wasn't. The enemies that pressed against us like waves against a rocky beach were not normal men, but the undying creatures of Tartarus.
Mass numbers of skeleton soldiers weighed down against our shielded lines trying to break through to our few sages whose spells forced the monsters to maintain their physical forms. If the creatures got through to the sages, then we would all be as good as dead.
I was at the front of this guard, facing off against the Ghosts. My fellows were falling around me one by one to the Ghosts' attacks as they were overwhelmed by their beyond Human strength. Soon I was alone, striking down the skeletons one after another as my blade glowed a sharp green from my own power. But there seemed to be no end to them.
I heard a scream and turned my head just slightly to see a massive creature like nothing I had ever heard of. It had a long serpent like body the size of a warship, with a scaly stomach and hair all along its back. Four massive Human arms stuck out just underneath the beast's head as it crawled around on all fours. And what a head it was, a hairy sphere with a flat nose and a mouth filled with row after row of razor sharp black teeth the size of spear heads.
The creature was ripping through our lines leaving a path of utter destruction in its wake, seemingly unable to differentiate its friends from foes. Its course was taking it closer and closer to me, but I was unable to move from shock of seeing this beast.
Just before it could tear through me a dark purple light came down from the sky and smashed into the beast's head, flattening it against the ground. Cheers went up as everyone realized who it was, my father had joined the fray.
He stood upon the downed beast in his fully empowered form. A pale white glow covered his bronze armor turning it a brilliant white underneath his midnight cape which flowed in the wind of his dark purple energy. His long red hair had turned the same crystal blue as river water on a clear day, and his normally green eyes had changed to the same dark purple as his energy.
"Don't falter! Show these creeps who this world belongs to!" My Father shouted, his echoing voice filling the battlefield bringing with it a new level of determination. My father came down on the enemy army of skeletons with his trusted spear, cutting down dozens of the creatures with each sweep of his weapon.
Next the Guardians came down from the skies. It was my first time seeing them in battle, but they each wielded vast powers that could be compared to the gods and goddesses of legend. The female warriors flew about in the air bring down entire hordes of enemies wherever they went.
Each one seemed to control one of the elements themselves; Water, Fire, Earth, Air. But the most shocking was their leader. Bolts of pale blue lightning jumped from her hands that reduced her victims to ashes. After just a few minutes, my father and the Guardians had completely turned the tide of battle and had begun to press forward.
"Achilles, this battle will never end unless we defeat Pariah!" Xin Jing shouted to my father after we had been earned more than a little breathing room.
"Then lead the way! I'm looking forward to showing this Ghost King the strength of our world where he can see it!" My father shouted to them before he took to the sky as they all flew towards the castle of Troy. I suppose they didn't notice as I did my best to fly along behind them. I was not about to let my father face the Ghost King without me.
To this day, I wonder if things would have turned out the same if I had just stayed behind.
Danny paused in his reading to stretch. "So, lightning. The unique quality of Quintessence is generating bioelectricity," he mumbled to himself.
Needless to say, the story had been more than a surprise to him. He had guessed that there had been Halfa's before him and Vlad, but he had never exactly known any by name. And the level of difference between what the story said happened from what history claimed was not that big of a shock to the boy. But that both the Guardians and a Halfa were involved in the fight against Pariah was a bit of a shocker.
He took a deep breath and was getting prepared to continue reading when he sensed Will's Aether coming towards the island. "I'll finish it tonight," he told himself as he put the book away to get ready for the girl's arrival.
At first I felt a little guilty about cutting off right there to go back to Will's training, even if it is for plot reasons, but then I remembered something very important.
I AM A TROLL!
And that made everything better.