The Pivotal Five
Summary: Five great stories come together in an epic imbalance that sets the world of fantasy on its side. Each people from each story must learn to put their differences aside and work together to save their own world, and the world of reality.
Last Episode: Artemis Fowl recovers his memory, and we meet a friend of his.
Chapter 4: Saint Elyssan
"Father, I am sorry to report that this day's search came up with nothing." A girl with pitch black hair, highlighted with blonde, spoke clearly to the aging man.
"All of them prove futile. It's all in vain!" he said despairingly. The man's name was Sanglant, and he'd had people looking for his wife, Liath, for fifteen years. He refused to believe that she knowingly and purposely disappeared, especially with what happened with her and her father.
The girl, Blessing, and Sanglant had traveled months to the other side of the country fifteen years ago. The king didn't even know the town, called Saint Elyssan, existed on the coast. The town was quiet and peaceful, but, with the help of Sanglant, was ready to protect their own, should Eika ships attack.
"Hope should never falter, Father," Blessing whispered. She grasped his hands in hers. "We should pray." The father and daughter prayed a well-known prayer, taught to the first of the Church by the Blessed Daisan.
"Dogath, a Lady Tallia rides this way," said a man, entering the room. This man had been Sanglant and Blessing's friend since they arrived in Saint Elyssan. He knew everything about them, including the new name by which Sanglant called himself, Dogath.
The wheels in Sanglant's head started turning. After a moment of thought, he replied to his friend. "Tell me, Elysh, am I the same man who entered this little village fifteen years ago?"
"Not a day older, sir." Elysh didn't know what Sanglant was asking, and figured a compliment would work.
"It is not tolerable to lie," Blessing interrupted bitingly.
"Fine then. This Lady, Tallia, would recognize you in a heart beat. You couldn't even stand in the door way of this house to call out to her. She'd hear your voice—"
"But it would be odd if the town's general did not go out to greet Lady Tallia," Blessing said.
Sanglant nodded, as he understood what would have to happen. "Daughter, you will go represent me. Enough foreigners pass through here to explain your strange coloring. Simply state that I am bed-ridden, and can not go to meet Lady Tallia."
Blessing stood up and followed Elysh out the door.
"The Blessed Daisan took all your sins upon himself when he was tortured and killed! Listen, all ye who have ears! Repent, for your sins were paid for! Had the Blessed Daisan not suffered and died, all of you would endure the Abyss forever!"
Blessing listened with half an ear. She was watching the large lump in old linen.
"I have here a body, dead fifteen years. It was the body of a man whom I was supposed to marry, but the Lord and Lady did not want me to wed, so the king made him a part of his Lions, with whom he died in battle. I shall tell you, now, disbelievers, my request. I come not on behalf of the king, but on behalf of your souls. Believe as I do! Are we not under the same God, who created us with Their very breath? Enter our Church, and be baptized!"
At this, the crowd broke out into chatter. Some were convinced, others weren't. It wasn't the first time missionaries traveled to Saint Elyssan. Blessing, having been baptized at the age of three by one of said missionaries, was still watching the body.
"Alain Henrisson! Rise and proclaim the life and death of the Blessed Daisan!"
The crowd gasped as one as a head came out from underneath the linen. A man, no more than nineteen, looked around with green, startled eyes. "W-what am I doing here? Why aren't I in the land of the dead, anymore?" he asked shakily.
"God have given me the power to bring you back," Tallia said, rejoicing in God at her newfound power.
Before anything else was explained, a fire started on the building closest to them, and inhuman shrieks were heard throughout the town. Blessing didn't even think rationally when she grabbed Alain's and Tallia's hands and pulled them to her and her father's safe house. She rapidly knocked on the door and Elysh let them in.
"The town's being attacked," Blessing told her father. She calmly started packing wares.
"The escape hatch?" Sanglant whispered to Elysh.
"The escape hatch."
The five of them headed through a trick door that tunneled to an underground cellar, equipped with food and water.
They didn't get halfway through the tunnel before noises came from above them. Sanglant put his finger to his lips to motion silence. Bits of dirt fell in front of their faces. Blessing remained quiet and motionless, but her heart was pounding. She didn't want to die before she saw her mother. The five held their breath while a hale was forming slowly above them.
A split second later, Elysh recognized what was going on. "Run!" he shouted. They shot away, towards the cellar, hoping they wouldn't be found. It was only until they reached the cellar did they realize they were trapped.
Fifth Son of the Fifth Litter puts down his shovel and takes a deep breath. He looks around to see if others are looking at him. He is a normal-looking Eika, with green metallic scales, yellow eyes, and long, pointed, glinting teeth. But he harnesses a special power that sets him apart from all others. Where the former king Bloodheart had his strengths in malice and killing, Fifth Son's strengths were in strategy and magic.
He walks down the tunnel, feeling the human, Alain, close by. He is confused and joyful, for he thought that human was dead. He creeps silently, not wanting to alert the others of his presence. They hadn't cared that the ground had been hollow. He finds the end of the tunnel and five humans crouched in a corner.
"Alain?" Fifth Son asks.
"It is I." Alain stands up and embraces the Eika Prince with whom he is linked by vision and thought.
The other four are perplexed by this. They say nothing as Fifth Son takes them out of the tunnel to his ship, where they would be safe from other Eika.
The humans converse with each other, and Alain explains the predicament.
They are still aboard the Eika ship when it sails away.
(A/N: Alright-y then…Any who read this are probably like 'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS STORY AND WHY IS IT SO WEIRD?' Well, that's because the Series is called Crown of Stars, and it starts with The King's Dragon. They really are rather interesting. A lot like those fantasy stories that create their own worlds and then have a weird group go on a quest. But it's different and confusing and FUN! I say you should read it. This is set fifteen years after Burning Stone, I think….That's the third one. I haven't read the fourth one…Nor do I really want to. But 1 through 3 are fascinating! I really wish someone would read this…I think it's the mother load of all really cool ideas!!! T..T Although others might not think so….)