The Heroes Fall -1- When War Calls

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Through these lies I see this place.

  February 7, 997 R.E.

  Jaden’s fingers moved, tracing the grooves between the stones as he came awake. The road was smooth underneath his fingertips, as if it had been worn down from centuries of rain so that not a sharp edge remained. He lay still in the darkness, feeling the cold around him as he tried to open his eyes. They felt heavy, tightly shut as if to resist seeing anything that opening them might reveal. He began to remember where he was, what had happened the night he had left Waikor and the aircraft crashing, but he did not know when that was.

  Slowly lifting himself up and sitting against a railing along the side of the road, Jaden breathed in and found a familiar, yet strange fragrance entering his lungs. He recognised it from somewhere, the sweetness that was laced with bitterness at the beginning and end of each breath. It made him want to fight against taking in the air he needed, not wanting to have to endure the bitterness, but as it filled him, he found all he could think of was taking more in.

  He stood, still leaning against the railing, and with a few blinks, he was able to keep his eyes open. It was no longer as dark as it had been the night of the crash, but thick cloud cover must have blocked out almost all of the daylight, leaving only the cold and a morning fog about him.

  There were bizarre, almost enchanted sounds in the silence, slight and hidden, yet eternally present. He shook his head to clear them without success, as if they were from tiny creatures now inside his ears, singing him their haunted melodies.

  He looked around him, and soon saw that he was not at Corsec. He was in a forest, with little more than a single road within it. The road had caved in to his right, into the gully below, and stretched as far as he could see through the fog to his left. The railing was intact, smoothed like the stones but still showing some of what must have once been a finely chiselled balustrade in the past. There were statues of sitting winged beasts to either side, still perched on their columns. They were almost entirely covered, entangled in the vine that grew over and throughout the railing and into much of the forest.

  Jaden leaned closer to the vine. Its leaves were green and three times the size of his hand while the stem was brown and as thick as his wrist. Its flower was half the size of its leaves and possessed a bloom of dark purple and white with yellow pollen on a single protruding tip in its centre. He took in the scent as he breathed in and quickly pulled his head away. The flower, he realised, was the source of the strange fragrance he had smelled when he had first climbed onto the road. The bitterness had been so offensive that he decided he never wished to smell it again, and quickly walked away from it.

  He went the way that the road took him, as there seemed to be nothing but forest beyond the collapsed stones. The bizarre sounds became louder momentarily as he did, and he began to wonder what he was meant to be doing. He had been fortunate to survive the crash that the two pilots had lost their lives in, but he didn’t know where he was, or what direction Corsec or Waikor were in. He had to complete his task so that he could return to Alyssa, but without transport, he didn’t want to think of how long that would now be. All he knew was that he had to keep on moving, and somehow, he would eventually find his way to a nation that could offer him transport to his destination.

  He looked up; hoping to gain some bearing of where the sun’s light was coming from, but soon saw that it was not cloud cover that blocked its rays. The trees in this forest were giants, rising hundreds of feet into the air and sealing everything else below them in almost complete darkness with their thick canopy. He wondered how everything was so green beneath the canopy, starting to feel there was something very strange about this place. The sheer size alone did not seem possible. The trunks of these trees were as wide as any house there had been in Callibra, dark brown and with grooves he could have climbed into easily. They had been so big that he hadn’t even noticed they were there, as if they were simply mountains in the distance, figments in his imagination. He walked on bewildered by their majestic size, and he marvelled at how many centuries it must have taken them to grow so tall. He thought back to the stories travellers had told, but none had ever mentioned this forest of giants.

  He was lost. All that he could be sure of was that he was somewhere between Waikor and Corsec, and hoped that the direction the road went in was toward one of them.

  He walked onward, the road bending to avoid the trees as he went. It seemed that hours were passing him by, but he was sure it hadn’t even been one yet. The forest was having an odd effect on his sense of time, as if its size somehow slowed his passage through it while simultaneously speeding up his perception. He stopped by a large area covered in flowers. The vine had taken over the entire section of the road. He first thought to leave the road and walk around it, but instead reached down and picked one, smelled it, and then placed it inside the Daijuarn belt around his waist. The bitterness no longer bothered him, and he now seemed to be enjoying its fragrance.

  His concentration was broken as he heard a sharp sound nearby. It was fast and had only lasted a second, as if a branch had just fallen from a tree. He then heard the snapping of a twig and sensed he was not alone in the forest. He could feel movement in the ground, footsteps of something that did not seem human trampling the foliage in the distance. He froze in hope that he would not draw its attention, and when he was sure that it was no longer near, he kept on, moving at a brisk pace, wishing more than ever that he wasn’t alone inside the forest.

  As he quickened his pace, he had to stop several times for fear of something following him. He had heard sounds down in the gully below the road, but could never be sure that they were there. He could still see nothing, and his sense of the ground did not reveal anything close. He began to run, his fear taking control as his legs felt weak from the adrenaline, and soon he came to the end of the road and a clearing in the giant trees and forest alike.

  Before him now stood a city of stone, covered in moss and plant life, unkempt for as long as the trees had been able to grow. He was at the beginning of a yard with a fountain in its centre, no longer flowing and choked by the vine that grew throughout it and all over the buildings ahead. Tree roots lifted up some of the pavements at the doors, and each structure had small collapsed areas from where they had lifted too high. The design reminded him a little of Callibra, and he saw that one or two still possessed their domes as he had seen in Ceahlin. He thought back to the stories of the travellers once more, and again could remember nothing of any ancient civilisation abandoning a city within a giant forest. It seemed he was the first to venture here for a very long time, and that meant he was definitely alone, without anyone around to save him from whatever had been lurking near the trees.

  Jaden looked ahead to take his mind off what he had felt in the ground. Most of the smaller structures seemed to be houses, with the larger ones appearing like temples of a sort, but the rest of the city was dominated by one grand structure towering above all others by four times their height. It seemed to be a palace, two gigantic courtyards suspended far above ground on enormous stone columns and a sharp rock face. He couldn’t understand why he had never heard of this place before, as it was surely as great as anything found in Ceahlin and Waikor. There must have been a reason why this place had been abandoned, and then forgotten for all these years.

  Now that the thick canopy of the giant trees was gone, Jaden was able to see the sky. It was grey as he had expected, but the sun was high behind the clouds, revealing that it was afternoon and that he was travelling in the right direction, north. He was moving toward Corsec, but to get there, he would need to pass through the heart of the city.

  He looked around nervously, to make sure that there was nothing watching him before walking forward. He had wanted to go directly through the centre, so that he would not have to stay in the city more than he needed to, but then felt that the open contained too much danger, and so he veered off to his right so that he could w
alk through one of the houses instead. The vine had cleared by the time he had reached the door, allowing him to walk freely without making too much sound, and he used one of the endobraces to light his way through the dark corridor ahead. The air was stale, a decaying aroma causing him to hold his nose. Finding no relief, he took the flower from the Daijuarn garments as he walked and now seemed to enjoy its bitter-sweet scent

  There were doorways to either side of him now, each leading to a small room or another hallway. Faded paintings lined the walls, showing people at play and dining, throwing food at one another in joyous displays. The paintings were simple but warm, and used only a little green and blue, mainly of red, yellow, orange and black. He could not tell their race or culture by the paintings, but they seemed a pleasant people. He began to turn into one of the rooms when something caught his eye, and he almost jumped back when he saw that there was a skeleton leaning against the wall in the corner. Its jaw hung low, almost snapped off, while its legs were broken as it sat in a collapsed position. There were holes in its skull and many ribs missing.

  Jaden moved back cautiously.

  He didn’t know anything about this place, or its people, but he was starting to realise where he might have been. Few travellers had spoken of a great forest because none had ever been able to walk this deep and pass through it alive. He was not certain, but he feared if he were right, he was already in great danger.

  Minutes passed by with Jaden too afraid to move. He stood completely still, staring at the skeleton crumpled in the corner of the room, as if it would somehow come back to life and tell him what he had to do. His mind was blank. Of the few stories he had heard, none of those who told them had ever gone past the edges of the dense forests in these parts, and even then they told of horrific attacks that left half of their company or more dead. They had said the creatures that lived in these parts were like no others in the world, but there had never been proof of their existence. Many of them had been tried in Waikor and found guilty of murder, but all had sworn that they had been innocent. It had been reason enough for no traveller to even go near these lands in decades, and Jaden wished for nothing more now than to be some place far from here.

  He turned in fright at the sound of stones being kicked forward at the entrance to the hall, but he did not shy away too much, as there was no beast or horrific creature there, only the shape of a man limping into the doorway. Jaden shone the light of the endobraces toward him, but then readied to defend himself. The man wore an Alliance uniform. He was a scout, still giving chase to Jaden. How had they found him?

  ‘Oh, God, please help me!’ screamed the man, and Jaden realised that the scout had no weapons, and his arm had been badly torn open as it hung limply at his side.

  Before Jaden could react, the man fell forward as a fierce roar sounded. A dark figure had lunged at him from behind, knocking him over and crushing him underneath its immense weight. Jaden heard the scout’s bones break and his scream end as the thing began to tear at his flesh with its claws and teeth. The light from the endobraces had dimmed, as Jaden knew there was nothing he could do, and he dropped the flower, turned and raced away without taking any time to study whatever it was that had killed the scout.

  The shapes he had seen produced fearful images in his head, of a thing with long arm-like limbs the length of its eight-foot-high body, a skull that was humanlike except bigger and with a large plate curving upward on either side. Its thin, wiry body was barely able to fit into the hall, but the power it had used to crush the scout made it seem much larger than it had been.

  More roars sounded, signalling the arrival of another, and then there was a haunted high-pitched scream that seemed as if the ghosts of several young women were being put to their deaths again. Jaden felt shivers pass through him as the screams continued, the beasts locked in battle over the newly discovered carcass of the scout.

  Jaden had exited the hall and arrived at a courtyard. There were stairs at either end with a grassy patch in between them. Ahead of the next staircase was another opening to a second hall, but he dared not trap himself inside such a small space again. Instead, he would use the railing and collapsed sections of the roof to climb up on top and make his way above the buildings. With a plan set, he readied to jump down the first staircase.

  He was stopped by a warm, putrid smell of something creeping up behind him. As he turned, there was a hiss, and he stood almost face to face with something that resembled what had been in the hall.

  With a shout, Jaden instinctively jumped backward and ignited a field of energy that caused the ground to burn and the beast to scream out in pain. He had wounded it enough to hold it back for a time, giving him a chance to make a run for the other end of the courtyard. He climbed up onto the roof without looking back. He knew the beast would be chasing after him as soon as it recovered. He had to make as much ground as possible.

  As he reached the fourth rooftop he was faced with a leap of faith. He glanced behind him quickly. The beast, although clumsier in its movements, was tracking him as he had expected. He had to jump to make it to the next roof, but if he missed, he could risk capture or even injury as he would fall twelve feet to the ground. With eyes set on his target, he took his run up and jumped. What should have been an instant seemed an hour, as if time itself had slowed with the weight of being so close to losing his life. This was nothing like the jumps he had made over the stream on the tennagen field, given that if he failed now he would surely die, but realising he was not going to make it completely, he used an old trick and turned slightly to his side. It allowed him to get one foot on the ledge and stabilising himself with his hands as he scratched his legs against the broken pavements. He winced in pain, but gave a sigh of relief as he climbed up fully.

  He had made it.

  But the beast would most likely not have such difficulty with the gap. With its extra long limbs, it seemed built for climbing such places, perhaps even the giant trees surrounding them. Jaden didn’t hesitate to continue racing along the rooftops. He was forced to make many more jumps after the first, the buildings now becoming more spaced out and at times rising to five storeys in the air. The beast was kept at a distance as the route Jaden took became more complicated and harder to navigate, but he came to a stop when his foot became lodged in a hole.

  Frantically he attempted to free himself, looking back to see if the beast was anywhere near. He had time, but not much, and with a final yank, his foot came free and was scraped on the way up by the brittle concrete. The force he had used caused a crack to run through the rest of the roof and suddenly it gave way, collapsing with him still on it into the room below.

  Jaden coughed as he waved away the dust. He had suffered only minor injuries from the fall and now felt bruised in several places, but knew he couldn’t stay where he was. The beast would be catching up with him for every second he remained still. Before the dust had cleared, he stood and made his way out of the room, his muscles painfully numbed by the fall. He did his best to ignore the pain as he ran through the corridors and up a winding staircase, hoping it would somehow lead him back onto the rooftops. He guessed the beast must have been far behind now and was no longer able to catch his scent or sight. Knowing this, he climbed back onto the roof at his own pace, hoping to rest his aching muscles.

  All was quiet then, save for the deep rumble in the heavens above, lightning flashing across the sky as wind began to blow in from the north. Jaden looked around him. He knew he needed shelter, but no place would be safe with the beasts so close by. He realised then that he was standing on one of the gigantic courtyards of the palace. He had somehow run from the lower chambers and ended up here. He took a deep breath to recover from his exhaustion, but then felt something creeping up behind him. He knew it at once to be the beast, attempting to rely on stealth again to capture its prey rather than brute force.

  Without turning, Jaden made a dash for the second giant courtyard he had seen from the entrance to the city. Between the t
wo were poles sticking out from the wall. They had once had flags attached, but now harboured masses of the thick-stemmed vine that was growing throughout the city. Using a stone bench, he was able to jump up and off the railing and into the mass of vines. He thought if he could use them to swing, he would be able to get to the other courtyard and make his escape. But the vines did not swing, and he landed hard against them, almost losing his grip as he came to a sudden halt. He braced himself for the pain of being attacked by the beast, as it would surely catch up to him now and claw at him with its black wiry limbs.

  He heard it moving about at the side of the courtyard, its breathing laboured and footsteps heavy, and he turned to look at it when the attack failed to come. He now saw the beast in full light. It was hunched over with its long arm-like limbs dragging along the ground, and was still easily six feet high. Fully upright, it might have been ten feet tall. Its hide was like charred flesh; black, bubbled and sickly, and its bones stuck out so far it almost seemed its skin would tear away as it moved. Its face was similar to human form, but with a snakelike curve from nose to forehead before it branched out to either side with the wide plate on top. Its jaw boasted sharp teeth the size of Jaden’s fingers while its claws were the size of his head. Its legs resembled its arms but were not quite as long, while its torso was wide and flat. If not for fearing what it may do, Jaden would have turned away from it in disgust. Everything about it seemed vulgar and nauseating. It was a crime against nature in every aspect.

  Jaden wondered if it was partly blind in the light, noticing the glazed yellow eyes. It no longer seemed to be aware of him, pacing up and down along the railing for a while, twice bumping into it before sitting down and shaking its head. After sometime, it crawled away, leaving Jaden hanging on the vines without anything below to soften his fall.

  The beast was gone. It didn’t make sense, but it was gone.

  As Jaden relaxed, the bizarre sounds he had heard on the stone road returned in the silence, and he began to search for a way off the vines. Rain was beginning to fall lightly. He breathed in the fragrance of the vine’s flower next to him, allowing it to settle his nerves. It had started to have a toxic effect over him, as if the very reminder that it was there was enough to put him at peace. He picked another and again put it inside the Daijuarn belt, and then he began to climb toward the wall. It was too far to jump to either of the courtyards, but the grooves in the wall would be deep enough for him to use as footholds and handles. The smoothness of the stones worried him, as the rain began to make them slippery. He hurried across with as much caution as possible, trying to outrun the rain as well as make sure he didn’t miss his grip. As it began to pour, he had made it to the other courtyard and quickly ran for cover inside the palace.

  Pointed arches marked a series of entrances all along the inner chamber, and he walked into what appeared to be the throne room. Its ceiling was high and there was a central discolouration of the stones along the ground, where a carpet may have once been, which led to the throne at its end. There were golden torch holders on the walls between the arches, burned out long ago but making Jaden wish for fire as the cold set in. The Daijuar garments were dry, but his skin was wet and subject to the chill, but he would not dare lighting anything now, in fear that it may draw the attention of the beasts. Thankfully, he found this room to be empty, and he made his way to the throne, where he sat and waited, recovering as he contemplated what he could do next.

  Absent-mindedly he sat staring for a long time, listening to the peaceful patter of rain on the stones outside and catching his eyes on something new every time there was a lightning strike.

  A loud bang followed a clap of thunder, alerting him that he was no longer alone in the palace. The dark figure of a beast lurched past the door at the other end of the room, seemingly ignorant of anything around it.

  It hadn’t sensed him. It didn’t know he was there.

  Jaden refused to breathe until he was sure the beast was no longer near, and then he stood up and made his way outside into the courtyard. He wanted to get away from this place, even if it meant braving the cold outside. He found another opening at the end of the courtyard and checked both ways to make sure it was safe. When he judged it clear, he made his way through the corridors, past the many rooms and through the seemingly never-ending maze of the palace walls. Too dark to see, he was forced to use the endobraces for light, but sustained their energy for no longer than a few seconds at a time. He had decided the beasts’ senses were not as powerful as they seemed, and could perhaps be easily tricked into believing the light of the endobraces were flashes of lightning, even if there was no way for the lightning to reach where he was. He walked by many more rooms, all of which were empty or with their contents spread over the floor. Few instruments or pieces of furniture were intact, but he saw that they had belonged to a primitive people, nowhere near the advancement of Waikor.

  There was a decayed, moist smell, sometimes of dead flesh, in the air as he moved on, and his ears were soon met with the low growl of one of the beasts. There was something happening in the next room, but before he could turn and flee, one of the beasts roared and another screamed out in pain before being propelled out of the door and into the wall next to where Jaden was standing. The stone wall cracked with the impact, and the beast shook its head before noticing Jaden standing there. With its long gnarled fingers, it almost appeared to point at Jaden before screaming out again. The other beasts inside the room made their way out from the door, running into one another and becoming stuck as they did. Jaden turned and fled and the beasts gave chase.

  Jaden let the light of the endobraces shine freely, allowing him to find passages that he had not seen on his way in. He jumped down staircases, sprinted through hallways and found his way through large dining halls before coming to two stairways leading to either side, a double iron door thrice his height at the bottom. Jaden jumped on the railing and slid down it, winding around a half circle before hopping off at the bottom. He ran to the doors, knowing the beasts were right behind him, and attempted to open them.

  They were stuck, jammed shut. He tried to use all of his force, pushing and then pulling, but it was no use. The endobraces lit up as he used as much energy as he had left on the doors, but he was losing strength, and no matter which or how much energy he used, nothing made the doors budge.

  The beasts entered the room slowly, stalking down the stairways. Jaden turned, the endobraces alight, and watched them come forward. He counted eight in total, all gradually easing forward. They knew he was trapped. But they did not seem to think him at all powerful.

  With all of his fear, he managed to ignite and sustain a wall of energy that glowed like fire. He pushed it outward, forcing the beasts back. They retreated as he had planned, but they did not leave the room. He was losing concentration as quickly as he was losing energy, and with a final burst, he unleashed a wave of energy that passed over the beasts, burning some as others ran out of the room. He fell to one knee and needed to rest his hand on the floor to stay upright. He struggled to breathe. His lungs seemed to burn with the energy, as if the endobraces no longer gave any protection and the energy had come back at him. He looked up as he heard the beasts coming forward again, but then closed his eyes, knowing that anything he tried to do now would be pointless. He could perhaps hinder them for a few more moments, but it was only delaying the inevitability of his death. All there was left to do now was accept his fate.

  He thought of the irony, laughing madly to himself at how his death would come when he had finally found purpose again. It was not long ago that he would have embraced this chance for escape. But as he thought of Alyssa, it only made him want to fight, to show the beasts his rage and to make them know that he was not one that they could simply devour. He would either make them meet their own deaths or fatally wound them so that they would die later.

  He kept his eyes shut tight, gathering his concentration again, but then suddenly the beasts became silent. The
sound of their steps had gone along with their low growls. White light was shining as if he were no longer inside the palace, as if daylight was hitting his eyelids from the sun at noon. There was a strange humming sound in the chamber, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that translucent white shields were holding the beasts at bay. The beasts were confused, one trying to break through the shield before being repelled quickly and slamming into the wall. It fell unconscious to the ground, and when the others had decided the risk not worth the feast, they left the chamber.

  Jaden looked at the one responsible for their departure.

  ‘Raquel,’ he whispered, noticing the woman standing between him and where the beasts had been. One of her arms was raised and still seemingly maintaining a single shield around the fallen beast.

  Raquel turned to him and offered him her free hand. He took it and stood.

  ‘How are you doing that?’ he asked, checking again to make sure there were no endobraces on her arms.

  ‘There is power here,’ she said.

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  Raquel turned to him, her expression stern. ‘It’s what keeps them alive without food.’ She turned back to the beast and began to move it toward them, making it float through the air. The beast struggled in her levitating field, but could not break free. ‘More surfaces each day.’

  ‘What power?’ asked Jaden.

  ‘The power,’ said Raquel, as if expecting Jaden to now understand.

  Jaden shook his head. ‘What are they?’ he asked, pointing to the beast.

  ‘Hybrids of a war long passed,’ said Raquel.

  ‘The Forgotten Years,’ offered Jaden.

  Raquel nodded.

  ‘How are they still here?’

  ‘They have been brought back.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘For wealth, there are those that would return us to those years. They don’t understand what they are doing.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Those in Waikor,’ said Raquel, allowing the beast to drop and then pushing it away gently with soft bursts of energy.

  ‘What did they do?’

  ‘The Medatassai lived here in peace centuries ago. They had little to call their own. Their wealth was in their land, their resources. Then the Waikorians came and took it away.’

  ‘They killed them,’ said Jaden.

  ‘They left their mark,’ agreed Raquel, nodding toward the beast now running out of the door and up the stairs.

  ‘How could they use them?’ asked Jaden. ‘The beasts would kill them, too.’

  ‘They had a weapon.’

  ‘What weapon?’

  Raquel faced him, and then looked down below his chest. Jaden saw where she was looking and picked up the flower from inside the Daijuarn belt.

  ‘This?’ he asked, putting it to his nose. ‘It’s just a flower.’

  Suddenly the bizarre sounds intensified again and he was able to hear them clearly for the first time since entering the chamber.

  ‘What are these sounds?’ he asked. ‘Can you hear them?’

  ‘The pollen plays with your mind while it subdues another’s.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Jaden.

  ‘You hear a sound. They,’ she indicated the beasts by glancing up to the door, ‘will no longer have the energy to go on. They become disorientated, as if they are no longer awake. They forget. They don’t know what they are doing.’

  Jaden took in another breath of the flower’s fragrance, thinking back to first waking on the old stone road, unharmed for the hours he had been unconscious, escaping from the first two beasts he had seen and then later landing on the vines between the courtyards.

  ‘It saved my life,’ he said, and Raquel seemed to agree, saying nothing as she turned to face the doors.

  Without even touching the iron, both doors swung open and Raquel walked through them, out onto a muddy road that led to a bridge away from the palace. Jaden checked behind both, finding no one there. It seemed she had opened the doors, almost as if simply daring them to stay closed.

  ‘How did you do that?’ he asked. ‘Wait, where are you going?’

  ‘North,’ said Raquel.

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ he said, and he quickly hopped into step with her.

  He didn’t know how long the road ahead was, or what Alyssa would think if he did not return soon, but somehow none of it seemed to matter in the presence of this strangely beautiful, powerful woman. All he could think of was what he could ask her, to make her reveal the secrets he so desperately wanted to know. A small part of him wished the journey would never end, for this was his chance to understand her, and even learn of her ways, but as much as he desired knowledge, he knew he had to get back to Alyssa, and soon.