One
The Prophecy
The night sky lit up with lightning as the thunder roared, the rain was falling down heavily upon the eight. There were eight there that night, all dressed in dark coats gathered in a circle. Beneath their coats swords hung from belts at the waist. The swords were all silver with and each of the swords where covered with power marks shining dully as they Moved around the blades as if they were trapped within the blades. The eight were mages, power mages, they were all gathering around a single body in the centre of the circle they made. Their hands gently pressed together in prayer stance, their eyes closed tightly as if trying to shut out the light. They swayed slightly under the breeze that had gradually strengthened, the rain whipped at their uncovered faces. The thunder boomed louder and the lightning flashed closer and closer drawn by the overwhelming power surging through these eight mages. The body in the centre of the eight was protected from the rain and wind by some unseen shield or wall. A tree burst in to flames as another bolt of lightning flew in to the earth close to the hill the mages where on. The thunder sounded so loud that the heavens themselves seemed to shake and topple. The thunder was followed by an unnatural silence, the lightning immediately disappeared with the thunder and the land was cast into complete darkness and silence. The silence was broken by a chorus of chanting.
We who were chosen by the prophet have seen our fate,
We have seen the fate of the world,
We have been chosen to change that fate to choose our own end,
Blood of too many mages has been spilt by this Greater Dead.
Souls of those who has there blood spilt will be released.
Blood for blood, flesh for flesh.
Bind this soul within this sphere forever,
Never breathing. Never Living. Never Dying.
A Prison for eternity,
Blood for blood, flesh for flesh.
As the chanting stopped the mages fell to their knee's before finally toppling to the ground dead. In the middle of their chests a colored gem was infused with their bodies, giving off a vivid glow. The body in the centre of the dead mages circle twitched, and then jerked. The body suddenly gave an upwards lurch as if something inside was trying to escape the flesh and bone constraints that held it. It lurched again and again the flesh began to tear across the chest, A bright white beam burst from the body ant the same time the power mages gems burst from there bodies and joined with the white beam of light that shot upwards into the dark sky before exploding and showering the whole land of Alkar with a tremendous downpour of rain.
In the north of Alkar a small caravan of wanderers had stopped their journey to watch the sky as it lit up in a flash of bright white light covered the whole sky from horizon to horizon. The rain showered down upon the wanderers as they tried desperately to pitch up there tents against the battering rains and winds. The tents where hoisted up and the women and children put under the shelter first, after all the tents were put up and everyone beneath them the winds and rain started to ease off and slacken until they were completely gone. Most of the folk of the caravan stayed beneath their tents chatting away or sleeping, a few men set off to find wood for a fire to cook and keep warm with.
Heading off into the undergrowth in search for the wood the three Men that went together suddenly stopped, lying down briefly ahead was a young girl no more the four years of age. She was dressed in a green robe; the sleeve was a dark red color because it was covered in fresh dark blood. More blood was slowly dripping down her arm and rolling off her fingers in perfect little droplets before carefully breaking on the plants she was on. The mage who was leading the others quietly whispered
"Be wary my brothers, this may be a trap. I can taste the unmistakable scent of dark magic here. Be alert" suddenly one of the mages whipped around the look behind him and screamed a loud heart stopping shriek of both fear and rage. Behind him there was a small group of Staelks, Staelks where the lowest for of dead; a dead spirit brought back from purgatory and bound into a dead corpse by the necromancer's will. A Staelks corpse was rotting and grotesque the corpse would fall to pieces within a week unless the creatures were to feed upon the flesh of another corpse. The mages all flinched at the sight of the Staelks feasting upon the dead bodies of the young girls traveling companions. Before the mages could even cast a protection spell the Staelks had dropped their festering food and lunged with arms outreached clawing at the open space ahead of them. The first of the mages was tackled to the ground by two of the Staelks while the third tried to get over the fallen mage to the other mages. On the forehead of the all of the Staelks and power mark suddenly shone before each of the dead burst into flames surrounding their whole bodies.
The mage fallen on the ground gargled with a mouth full of blood because his chest was cut deeply and his neck had a deep gash in it. The other two huddled round him chanting words for a healing spell to seal up the wounds and to stop them bleeding.
A feeble voice gurgle up from the fallen mages throat "Please don't waste your time on me, over there in the bushes" pointing to a nearby clump of scraggly brambles "is a man who needs your help please". Both mages felt the mage die before them, his spirit snuffed out in an instant. "May you travel swiftly from this world to the next, do not tarry in purgatory, the path has been set, may the power guide you".
The mages quickly set about to the bushes that a man lay in, his face was scratched and his arms it arm was broken in at least two different places. The mages quickly got him out of the bushes and cast a few basic healing spells for the cuts and scratches that sealed the wounds. The man was a whole foot shorter than the Tellious; the mage whom he was carried by. The other mage, Fernul, picked up the girl and headed back to camp. As they got within sight of the camp they noticed that a roaring fire had been set up in the middle of the camp, round the fire were several well trained archers with the arrows drawn directly at them.
"Who goes there, Identify yourself or be prepared to be stuck like a pin cushion" cried a deep voice somewhere from within the camp which Tellious instantly recognized to be Jerald, the leader of the band. "Tellious and Fernul with two injured travelers" shouted Tellious will a slight hint of fear in his voice. "May we enter camp Jerald" "hurry inside we weren't sure it was you because we heard something cry out in the distance" answered Jerald in a deep authoritve tone.
Inside the main tent Jerald and Tellious gathered around the two injured travelers that lay resting in blankets on two quickly made up beds. Tellious was standing over the girl and Jerald over the man. Tellious's hands rested slightly above her forehead; he silently chanted the words needed to perform a complex healing spell. The power marks flowed silently down his arms into his hands, the marks softly grew brighter as more and more marks slowly slipped down his arm to join the already formed marks in his hand. Slowly he opened his eyes and lowered his hand to touch her for head. Purple Flames erupted into his hands the second he touched her body, his hands no longer responded to his will, he could not pull the away from her almost as if they were frozen on her head. The flames glided up his hand all the ways to his shoulder before a sudden force slammed into the side of Tellious and knocked him to the ground several meters from the where the girl now lay. Smoked wafted its way up to the top of the tent, with this smoke also held an awful stench of burnt flesh and clothes. Tellious lay on the ground unconscious, grey smoke was rising from his black blistered arms that lay thrown to the side of him.
Jerald rushed to Tellious and bent down whispered in Tellious's ear, Tellious instantly opened his eyes, and then screwed up his eyes in pain. "Jerald I saw her, I saw her inside the girl" he whispered in a weak voice "Nyla's powers have been reborn in the girl" Jerald opened his mouth and was about to say something but Tellious interrupted. "Please just listen, I don't have long left, I saw the world, the past and the future. This girl is the key to survival, alone she holds the power to save the world when the time comes, and she also holds the power to destroy or rule of it. She must not know of this power imbued within her, she will find out when the right time comes. Until then you must protect her until she is ready, Promise me that you will protect her until then, promise me" His voice fading with every word. Tellious I promise I will do all within my power to protect her, you have my word as a Power mage and as your friend". "Thank you Jerald but please don't touch her not until she has calmed down, then block her memory of this whole incident, give her this on her seventeenth birthday and remember that she must be protected". The sound echoing inside the tent and inside Jerald's ears, clasped in Tellious's hand was a purple amethyst on a neck chain. The amethyst was a dull purple color and as big as about the same size of his thumb, glowing deep inside the amethyst was a perfectly silver shard bound with a master power mark. Jerald brushed his face with his hand to wipe away a single tear that had gently rolled down his face.
The girl still lay on the makeshift bed asleep unaware of the disaster that had just befallen Tellious, her innocent head was resting upon a folded blanket. On her forehead were Tellious's hand had touched her skin was a little scar. "Wake up little one, wake up" whispered Jerald into the girls ear carefully trying to keep his mouth as far away from her as possible. "Please wake up little one, we need to talk". As he spoke the girls eyes fluttered open wide "Mummy, Daddy, where are you" she spoke with her voice rising with every word. "Your mummy and daddy aren't here, they are just outside. You can see them in a minute if you like. First all you have to do is listen to me and do exactly as I say; look into my eyes and concentrate as hard as you can" whispered Jerald as if trying not to let anyone else know. "Okay I can do that as long as I can see my mummy and daddy". "Look into my eyes and concentrate, please don't say anything this will just take a minute". As the girl gazed up into his eyes she asked "my names Lyra, who are you?" "My name is Jerald". As Lyra met eye contact with Jerald she noticed the bright glowing power marks shone swam within his eyes. "Forget what has happened to you this day, remember me my people but block away the painful memories tightly, may the guardians guard these secrets well", as the word rolled off his tongue the pupils of Lyra's eyes retracted to small to see. After a few seconds her eyes retuned to normal and looked up at Jerald. "Where am I?" she asked with a dazed face. A big smile formed on Jerald's face appeared and replied "You are safe".