Tales of Casporix (Journal of Deiham) (5 page)

There were only two was to pass over
the river. One was on the right wing of the Phoenix, and the other
was far south of Sylvania. The river was the only thing that
separated Kylouz and the beast. King Safri was worried a situation
could soon arise with the beast, and asked King Tomlin to swear
allegiance to come to aid if he ever needed them. He already had
the loyalty of Rebutjar. A smaller Kingdom, located far to the east
of Sylvania. He felt if the beast attacked, he would need all
kingdoms together. That allegiance would have required King Tomlin
to provide supplies for King Safri if ever needed. That request
would have meant that King Tomlin would have to destroy the trees,
and use other materials found in his kingdom; which he refused.
Also, if the beast did attack, King Tomlin wouldn’t want to have to
provide troops to Kylouz; he would want them in Sylvania,
protecting his home. The kings could not come to an agreement, so
they declared war on each other. In a war referred to now as the
Battle of the Phoenix.

Months passed, and although Kylouz had
a bigger army King Safri was losing the war. He was attacking King
Tomlin’s land. Most of the battle occurred at the ‘Stones of the
Phoenix’, which was mostly on King Tomlin’s land, so he had the
advantage. The inside of the Phoenix was a flat land, but the outer
part of the Phoenix was very high cliffs, and rock formations.
There were only two entrances into the battlefield, west of the
River of Preditus. One was at the beak of the Phoenix, and the
other towards the bottom of the tail, which lead straight into
Sylvania. The only other entrance, no one ever used, because it was
on the east side of the river, which was beast territory. The right
wing of the Phoenix had cliffs that went high over the River of
Preditus, down a mountain, but no one dared to use it. The path was
too dangerous.

King Safri needed help. He had gone to
the Northwest, to a place called Witches Peak. Not many had the
courage to see the witches. At that time, people feared them even
more than the beast. The witches were a magical race. Not to say
they couldn’t be killed, but contact with them was avoided. It was
said that, the witches were violent, but no one ever talked to the
witches, nor seen them for many decades. It was said that the
witches held the most magic in the world. King Safri didn’t fear
the witches’ magic, he wanted to use it, and he wanted to win the
war. He traveled to the Witches’ Peak. After heading through the
mountains, he came to a ladder, which he climbed, leaving his
horse, and his guards at the bottom. He had found himself on a
platform, with four pillars that overlooked the ocean. He called
out the witches to show their faces, and they did. The witches had
appeared and formed a slow-moving circle around King Safri. The
witches were gray, with long fingernails, and completely black
robes; between their robes, and bodies, there was no distinction in
color. All one could really see of the witches were their glowing
yellow eyes. They asked him why he had come, explained he was
either brave or stupid. He had told the witches his situation. King
Safri explained that he was losing the war with King Tomlin. He
demanded help, and warned them, if they refused, he would come
after them next. The witches did not like threats but ignored this
one; they had bigger plans in mind.

The witches didn’t like the world as
it was. There were too many wars raging. They wanted to restore the
balance of good and evil, they had already been working on a plan.
They had created an object that would restore the balance. It was a
crystal skull. The skull was a medium sized pendant, which shined
different shades of blue; it had a small hoop on the top; so it
could be worn as a necklace. They named it, the skull of power. The
person who wore the skull would have GOD-like powers. The person
who wore it could alter realities, create or destroy anything. The
skull could take anyone’s deepest wishes, and make them true. The
witches knew that this power could be devastating if it fell into
the wrong hands. They had to test the person, to make sure they
were worthy. Until the test was completed the skull would not work.
The witches needed someone who was pure at heart, but the person
also had to be able to banish evil. To activate the skull a
sacrifice from someone, pure of heart, had to be made.

The witches explained the skull to
King Safri. He assured them, that he could handle the power. The
witches knew King Safri was not pure of heart but knew of his
daughter Minervah. They told King Safri if he sent them his
daughter to be sacrificed, that he would win the war, and that they
would give him the skull. King Safri didn’t care about his
daughter’s life; he just wanted to win the war. He agreed to the
witches’ terms. He traveled back to Kylouz, and told Minervah, some
of his guards will take her Witches’ Peak just for a discussion. He
did not tell her about being sacrificed. He ordered a few men to
take her there and drop her off.

When she reached Witches Peak, they
explained how they wanted to restore balance in the world. They
explained the skull of power to her, as they did to her father.
They told Minervah that she was a pure soul, but her father was an
evil man. They told Minervah in order restore balance that her
father must be killed. Minervah refused, she loved her father. She
had walked back down from the witches’ peak platform to see that
her fathers’ guards were gone. She had to travel back by herself.
Which was a long trek for someone, only 18 years old. While
Minervah worked her way back to the castle, a major shift happened
in the war. King Tomlin was murdered as he slept. The war had
ended. King Safri had won. King Tomlin was slain by his own son
Epialeus; however, no one knew his son was the murderer, at the
time.

King Safri believed he won the war
because his daughter was sacrificed. Minervah finally reached the
castle, when she did it was late at night. No one had noticed her
return, because they were all at a feast, celebrating the victory.
The room was filled with loud conversation and laughter, but only
one conversation had stood out to Minervah. King Safri was at the
feast, boasting about his victory. She heard her father say, he
would have sacrificed 1,000 daughters to win the war. She was heart
broken; all she wanted to do was tell her father about how crazy
the witches were, and their evil request. She realized at that
time, her father had received the same type of offer and accepted
it. She ran away from the castle back to the Witches’ Peak. She
realized the evil within her father; she told the witches that she
would kill him. The witches noticed how committed she was to their
cause, and decided to activate the skull, without a sacrifice, to
help Minervah handle her father. They taught her how to fully use
the skull before she left. While she was away, King Safri ordered
Sylvania to be burned to the ground. He planned on traveling back
to Witches Peak’ and getting the skull of power, the next morning.
He figured with the skull of power he would be able to rule, and
defend his kingdom from the beast, without the resources of
Sylvania, and wanted to punish them. All the people that were left
in Sylvania had no choice but to travel to the east of the River of
Preditus.

Minervah returned to the castle. She
used the power of the skull, to make herself invisible. See had
seen King Safri standing on a balcony outside the king’s chamber,
watching Sylvania be burned to the ground. He had a smile on his
face and was drinking wine. Minervah could not believe he had the
nerve to smile, after thinking she was dead. She pushed him over
the balcony. He stumbled slowly backward, and fell. She made
herself visible to him, as he was falling; in the hope he would
feel regret, just before he died. From that day forward, Minervah
ruled Kylouz. She was the first ruler with magic. The beast of the
north never attacked Kylouz, the witches were happy; however the
people of Sylvania searched for a new home. Many years passed, and
the people of Sylvania formed a new kingdom, and named it the
Kingdom of Preditus.

More of my
visions

20 years before the Battle of the
Phoenix. King Safri had visited the queen of Rebutjar. King Safri,
and the queen, they had a son together; his name was Sarlic. No one
knew that Sarlic was the son of King Safri. Sarlic was good
friends, with Epialeus, who was the son of King Tomlin. Sarlic and
the queen gave Epialeus a home after Sylvania, burned to the
ground. Epialeus was a very ample man, his disease made him
unordinary. While his mother was pregnant, she came in contact with
exotic tree fungi, which affected her pregnancy. During birth his
mom passed, but he lived. King Tomlin never forgave Epialeus for
that. The rare disease made him grow faster and stronger than the
other kids.

The downside was the disease gave him
a weird bone structure. His left shoulder extended up to his face,
on the left side it didn’t seem he even had a neck, just a big lump
on his shoulder. His face was deformed, and he had extra large
visible veins on the right side of his neck, leading up to his
face. He didn’t allow that to slow him down. Epialeus worked
through the ranks of the military and was so good at what he did.
Many years had passed, since the Battle of the Phoenix, and
Minervah had him be her personal guard, fighting next to the great
warrior Hypnoi, her guard, and secret lover.

Then one day, the Queen of Rebutjar
was dying from cancer. The queen of Rebutjar hated Minervah and
refused to ask her for help. While on her deathbed, the queen of
Rebutjar, told Sarlic a secret that would lead to the curse of our
world. She told him King Safri was his father. That really bothered
Sarlic, he felt since he was older than Minervah that the throne of
Kylouz should be his. Rebutjar was a fairly large kingdom, but it
was filled with people Minervah rejected for more power. There was
a lot of tension between Rebutjar and Kylouz, every since the
Battle of the Phoenix.

After his mother passed, Sarlic became
power hungry. He was powerful already at this point; magic had
spread through the land. He was not, however, powerful enough to
bring his mother back from the dead. He was looking for a way to
save his mother, and not worry about the throne. While, in Kylouz,
he said his mother had passed, and he wanted her to bring her back
from the dead. She tried to explain to Sarlic, that death is
something that must come to us all, and that she will not bring her
back. This angered Sarlic even more. He wanted to attack Kylouz,
and with Epialeus formulated a plan. He knew he could not just
attack Kylouz with a big army because Minervah and Hypnoi would see
it coming. She could simply wish them away. Knowing Epialeus was
the guard of Minervah, he blackmailed him into getting the skull of
power; he knew once obtained, that the power of the world would be
his. He threatened Epialeus. He said if he did not help, that he
would tell the Kingdom of Preditus, that Epialeus killed his own
father, King Tomlin. Epialeus had no choice but to help. If the
people of Preditus ever found out, they would have killed
Epialeus.

After all war arrangements were made,
Sarlic launched an attack on Kylouz. He approached Kylouz with a
decent sized army. The army was not a small army, but also not big
enough to alert the fact, that a war was at hand.

When the gates opened, the war began.
Hypnoi and Epialeus were fighting together at the gate to defend
the city. Hypnoi was worried they might be overrun; their military
was not prepared for such a fight. He ordered Epialeus to get
Minervah from her chamber. Hypnoi knew she could stop the battle
with her magic. Epialeus went to her chamber and walked her
outside. Right before she went down the stairs of the castle,
Epialeus cut the skull of power off of her neck. Sarlic, who had
sneaked past the battle, quickly used a spell to bind her in
chains. Epialeus and Sarlic retreated to Minervahs chamber. Sarlic
did not know how to fully use the skull of power but was prepared
with a spell. Sarlic’s spell was meant to leave people in a world
without magic, and it required a lot of sacrifice to complete. The
spell would put the people of Kylouz, which would not follow him,
into an alternate dimension. A world without magic, he did not want
anyone to remember where they came from. He raised his hands, in
his left, a spell book, in the right, the skull of power hanging
from a chain. He began to cast his spell; the spirits of soldiers
on the battlefield began being pulled straight from their bodies,
dropping them instantly. They flowed like the northern lights,
spirals upon spirals of light; went throughout the land, through
the sky, into the castle windows, and bounced off the spell pot,
which turned them into shining stones. The people who were not
sacrificed found themselves on Earth; with no memory of the event,
or where they came from.

Hypnoi became terrified with the
bodies dropping, and the lights shooting through the sky, to the
castle. He rushed to investigate. When he entered the chamber, he
had seen Sarlic brewing a spell, and his lover bound in chains. As
if matters could not get worse, Epialeus was standing guard for
Sarlic. Epialeus warned Hypnoi to stand down, a request he could
not fulfill. Hypnoi rushed to aid his lover; fighting his brother
in arms. Epialeus was very skilled, and strong; he quickly
overpowered Hypnoi, breaking his sword. Hypnoi nearly defeated
grabbed the broken piece of the sword and threw it towards Sarlic.
Seconds before Sarlic’s spell was complete, the sword hit the skull
of power, and cut it in half. Half of the skull fell into the spell
pot, along with his broken piece of the sword. The other piece of
the skull dropped at Sarlic’s feet. The skull being thrown into the
spell, created dreaming, as we know it. A gateway to Casporix was
left open.