This
star-metal is like any other during the day. But by night, they
create a light from the stars being out. And everybody knew stars
were always out on the planet Astora, as long as that darkness was
night.
“The ‘White
Meadow’? Do you know about this?” asked Christian.
“For a
puzzle solver you do ask some silly questions,” replied Eleanor.
Light from their star-metal bracelets made the meadow around them
look like it had a tint of eerie blue.
“Well?”
“Yes, okay.
This is the place where Starao herself called down the star, then
crafted the Sceptre of Power. The one on Amaranth right now. It’s
amazing. Such an iconic event took place here, or so I was told.
The history of things—they
’
re so
fascinating. You can go anywhere, and know there has been an insane
amount of stories throughout time, and you are always the active
one. There is such joy in how deep we can look at things. Such
energy, passion.”
“Okay, I
think someone got a little too excited,” said Christian. He laughed
for a mere second before Eleanor slapped him out of his hysterics.
Quite literally—she slapped him: A crack fell into the air with
this action, and Miyah couldn’t help but laugh at it all.
Christian
froze, feeling that he didn’t go too far at all when he finally
thought on it. Though it was quite clear the other two did, and
didn’t back down.
“This is no
laughing matter. Why do you never take anything seriously?” said
Eleanor.
“He’s
always been like that,” said Miyah. “Covers his problems by not
making them serious. One of his little quirks.
It was some
time before Eleanor said something else, something entirely
different whilst looking across the meadow. “The descendant…” As if
she just remembered something.
The male
was quiet until after his buddy spoke the last two words. “The
who?” Her friend looked at the floor after he had spoken.
“Hey.”
Eleanor got him to look at her by grabbing his arm. Things had
changed so quickly again. She saw something she’d never seen
before. “Oh, Christian. Come here.” As she comforted her buddy the
smell of earth, of wild nature, hit her, the grass and soil,
strong.
Tears
plugged up his eyes, but somehow not a single one was dropped and
let go.
“Just like
your tears to be as stubborn as you,” said his sister.
Eleanor
embraced him with a hug. “You’re gonna make me cry again,” she
said.
“I’m sorry.
I just have my own way of dealing with things, like my sis said.
They’re gone. Wiped from my life: As easy as the wind is blowing
away the autumn leaves on the path in front of us.”
Eleanor
stopped the hug, and looked at him with good eye contact. “They may
be gone. But we have to think about what Starao would do. She saved
our people. In her own way. That’s what we’re trying to do
too.”
“I hate to
ruin the moment, but none of us are demigods,” said Christian.
“He has a
point,” sided Miyah with her brother.
“Yet you
are both forgetting what the story taught us.” Eleanor turned her
back to him and looked at the blades of white again. “She did good
because of her mortal side. Our gods have shown no compassion. No
humanness. They care about little else other than themselves. And I
believe it’s because they have had few things to fear in their
lives. The reason they created the ‘Edeolon Warriors’ on Amaranth
is because the Shadow infestation demanded it many millennia ago;
they threaten the gods existence. The Shadows that have came here
today could be the end of them, and that petrifies all. Our
humanity is the difference between us, the Shadows and the gods.
Because both of them don’t have any. Morality, it is our only
weapon now.”
“Some
weapon. Being on the right side doesn’t win wars… I still can’t
believe it has come to this,” said Christian. Eleanor turned back
and saw that their three star bracelets made the few pale trees
behind Christian look as if they moved, from the different
positions of light beaming upon them.
“What else
does an army come to a world for in great numbers. And when it
comes to war, I truly don’t believe there will ever be a right
side. They both taunt each other. But in this case, there seems to
be something not quite right about the Shadows. Wait, what’s that?”
asked Eleanor as she heard something; she turned her head at the
same time as the sound sprang into reality.
“It sounds
like hooves,” replied Christian, confirming he heard it but some
moments after it was pointed out .
Miyah was
just keeping to her usual quiet self until the sounds were thrown
into the air. Then, her body tensed up.
“Hurry. We
can’t take any chances with who it is. Up those trees.” She pointed
to the trees behind her friend. “And take off our bands.”
This
should help us remain hidden
, thought Eleanor climbing.
I
hope.
The three
children climbed quickly. Branches were placed quite evenly apart
upon the trunk, which made it easy to get up and remain hidden.
Even though no leaves hid their whereabouts, the height made sure
they were out of the way of eye level. Somebody would have to go
out of their way to see them upon it on passing. They took off
their star-metal bracelets, turning all light around them to
darkness in an instant flash altogether. They kept still in night’s
true form.
The sound
came through, running, not stopping. There was not just one, but
many. They both saw about fifty horses shoot past. Thuds
intensified with the numbers passing, sounding almost deafening at
one point; which in turn made Eleanor put her hands on her ears,
squinting, hoping the noise would hurry along.
The mounted
people wore thick and silver polished armour.
Christian
caught the emblem on the back of one of the people run by and put
his hand to his mouth before whispering to himself: “Could they be
‘Swan Knights’?” A little uncertainty still kept him in place.
The emblem
was of a white swan with its two wings stretching, looking as if it
was about to take off. White paint created an eye catching contrast
with the battle gear worn.
After they
had all gone, Eleanor climbed most of the way down the tree and put
her bracelet on, as did Christian. She then ended with a jump from
near the bottom. Followed by Miyah.
The knights
were gone, and far enough into the distance for none of them to be
seen anymore. Possibly to Sunndira, the children were not sure.
Christian
climbed down a little slower than his friend and sister, as heights
were not a favourite of his.
Though
another sound came towards them. A very similar one to what they
heard before.
All the
childrens’ faces turned to each other, to signal their bad
timing.
The horse
came towards them, and stopped, seeing them immediately.
A stray
knight saw them climb onto the same tree they just got off. He
dismounted his horse near the tree they were trying to hide in
again, but hiding is a losing field, one always gets found in some
form or another.
“I am a
Swan Knight, children.” He went closer to the tree. “We came from
the cathedral to rescue people like you here.” He pulled his horse
with him with the reins.
“The
cathedral?” said Eleanor. She looked at him cautiously, before
deciding to go down and see him up close.
“Our
cathedral has an impenetrable magick force field that will protect
us until the king knows what plan of action is to be taken next. He
is coming up with one as I speak.”
“I guess we
didn’t have to warn you about this war after all,” said Eleanor,
sounding partially disheartened. “Only the gods know what we were
thinking. Because I don’t. Why wouldn’t King Almare know about
something as important as this. Of course he would.”
Christian
shuffled down the trunk with his sister as his buddy continued
speaking: “What were two little kids’ gonna do to help in the thick
of this?”
The knight,
just after Eleanor finished, knelt, being at the same eye level as
the two children standing in front now. The sound of his heavy
armour stopped when he did. His eyes, a royal blue, though not
royal in position like the king, queen and prince.
“You had
the courage to try and help your king. That is commendable in its
own right. You would be surprised how many of us grown ups are
cowards, and think only of ourselves.” The Swan Knight stood back
up and went nearer his way of travel. “Now come on. You can all fit
on Ed here. Might be a tight squeeze for a while, but we’ll
manage,” he patted the horse as he said this. “Then we can get you
to that somewhere safe.”
“Where is
this Silver Cathedral?” asked Christian, before looking at the
horse, who became restless and started to move a little.
The man
looked at him; he began biting his nails before he replied, making
him look vulnerable and out of place. “I took an oath to never
tell. But…” He turned his head, looked around and lowered his
voice: “I can tell you a poem about it, a riddle. That is most
certainly not against the rules, or the oath.”
Christian
got closer than Eleanor or Miyah now to hear what was about to come
out of the knight’s mouth:
The silver light that lies upon night
It twinkles with a radiant light
You might mistake it for a star
But then that means you’re not so far
Within this structure there are many
Although the two with jewels will help you plenty
As soon
as the man finished he patted his horse and first offered his hand
to Eleanor to get on.
At last
, thought Eleanor.
We’ll
finally see the Silver Cathedral.
The older
female child reached for his hand; his light (from the star-metal)
merging with her’s, Christian’s and Miyah’s as they got nearer.
But before
she moved upon the mammal, all of a sudden—a black figure flew
through the air, and pounced on the knight.
The horse
bucked, and forced the knight to fall off. He soared through the
air and hit the trunk of the tree the Hiva Aura survivors just came
down from, causing some mighty splinters in the base. Which the
children thought was impossible from the size and strength of
it.
“Blasted
Shadow,” said the knight. A sword of the enemy thrust into the man
soon after, yet didn’t penetrate the thick and polished silver
armour. “I would start running,” he shouted to the children.
A flood of
Shadows swarmed the knight as they ran away, again; all of their
black featureless glossy skins turned the light that was on this
Swan Knight, that was created from his star bracelet, into just
another dark space in the night.
All as the
children ran.
Eleanor, Miyah and Christian ran through the White Meadow scared
that a Shadow would jump them also. It seemed that wherever they
were the shadowlike beings followed, almost making them feel as if
they were partly to blame for the man who had just been killed.
“We can’t
stop until we get to Sunndira,” said Eleanor, almost tripping
over.
“I wasn’t
planning to,” replied Christian pulling his sister along because
her shorter legs couldn’t carry her as fast. He eventually started
to breathe deep and loud from their speed.
Several
deep furrows seemed to block out faint, blue light, almost as if it
was trying to crawl to them, as they moved to it.
There was
no trees in sight, other than existing so far behind that they
could not see them now. All that was around was this White Meadow
they stood in.
It was
another fifteen minutes or so before they all saw Sunndira city in
the distance. It was on the biggest hill they had ever seen.
A single,
bright light lit up the entire city like a beacon. It stood atop a
very tall white tower in the centre poking out. Like all of
Astora’s cities, the light was blue at night.
The three
children started to run to the second from last White Meadow hill;
the meadow running on until the city itself.
They all
heard noises from somewhere but were unsure of what they were;
Eleanor and Christian couldn’t afford to stop and think at this
time. The boy’s sister just followed their actions.
The sun was
finally waking from its bed. Rays of light started to bathe the
darkness, making it feel and seem like the land was being cleansed.
If only it was
, thought Christian.
Eleanor ran
up to the top of the second from last hill; she begun walking on
‘
hill path’, and when she finally got to
the top she saw something she did not want happening before the
other two.
“Dammit,”
she shouted, kneeling, banging the soil and white plant life with
both fists clenched.
“It’s
hopeless,” said Christian, finally reaching the peak with Miyah.
“We could never make it to the door with a full on battle raging
right in front of us and the entrance.”
They were
all some way away from the fight, but could see fire flying around
in the fading night. Hearing the deep screams of men and woman who
had just ran past them on the horses. Blue magick shields were up,
used to protect the door to the city afar.
Spell-casters were fighting
—
for their
lives, their world. And it was now that all three children could
see the brutality of war, again, not just hear about it.
The knights
that were alive looked as if they were flinging the Shadows around
without any effort, yet that didn’t stop the great numbers of their
enemy from increasing and flooding them. Most of the horses were
killed quicker than anything else.
The
children lay down on the ground quickly so they could not be seen.
They couldn
’
t help but look. “They’re
holding the line. Trying to protect the city,” said Christian. “At
least they have Star-casters. Without them, this would be over in
seconds, and not in a good way.”