Essence of Time - The Forgotten Journey von Deamond ================================================================================ Kapitel 8: ----------- Chapter 8 Zeyir awoke slowly in something that looked like… a prison. He had to blink a few times to realize what had just happened… or… well, whenever they had been knocked out… He looked down his body. Let’s see, two arms, two legs, one head… Jupp, he was still in one piece! Only the pain in his neck kept bothering him… “Man… I start hating Midgard… Whenever something happens I always end up on the ground unconscious…” The demon grumbled to himself under his breath. He looked around. “!! Where is Allen!?” He hopped up from the ground searching with his eyes through the other prison-cells but he could neither see nor feel his human companion’s presence. “Allen!?” He shouted out loud, hoping Allen was going to hear and answer him. No reply… “Allen! Can you hear me!?” Zeyir started to realize that he wasn’t there, but he didn’t want to realize! “Allen!” “Your friend won’t answer. He is in another prison.” The female voice sounded familiar… “Hey, Princess!” Zeyir was never so glad to see a desert-elf as now. Serena smiled and walked towards the demon. “Where is your bodyguard?” He added sarcastically. “You are really lucky… Callo has to explain all of this to my father right now. Letting someone live who managed to break into Sol’s sanctuary is against our tribe’s law… and he let you live… I wonder what got into him to save you.” Her hand reached for the demon. “You are a demon, right? I have never ever seen one before… Callo is the only one amongst us that formed a pact with a shadow-spirit… but your dark aura is just as intense as Shade’s. You must be a mighty demon…” She drew back her hand and turned around again, ready to leave. “Wait! What will happen to us!?” Zeyir tried to reach the tan beauty but the bars kept him away from her. “You are so inpatient… But I guess all youths are as hot-blooded as you are…” She smiled and moved her fingers through her wild silver hair. “What is your thing with my age!? I’m… maybe two years younger than you! Stop acting as if you were so much more experienced and gown up than I! That’s just… weird!” Zeyir remembered Callo calling him a kid back at Sol’s temple… and it frustrated him… no one had ever dared calling him a kid! “Haha, you think I’m as young as you? I’m over 80 years old already!” She laughed amused and leaned back against the wall. “I thought demons don’t grow older that much when they turn 20 anymore as well…” She looked at him in a way that made him feel like an interesting pet… “You… man, you…” Zeyir was too shocked to reply. With a shook of his head he regained his thoughts and looked at the princess. “I did not guess that… Yeah we age slowly too but… our aura tells how old we are!” He grinned and thought for a second. “Wait a sec… How old is Callo then!?” He laughed and sat back in his prison-cell. Serena smiled softly loosing nothing of her royal appearance… “I see!” Serena smiled and looked at the door that lead outside the prison to make sure no one was listening. “He is as old as I am. But he hates to admit it!” She chuckled and looked at Zeyir with a warm and trusting expression in her eyes. “And you two are a couple, huh?” The demon grinned playfully. He had nothing to do and just waiting in his prison-cell would drive him insane… so a little small-talk with Serena was a welcomed way to keep him entertained. “…” Serena’s mood seemed to drop all of a sudden. Zeyir slapped himself mentally for asking. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…” “Don’t worry about it… I don’t really know that myself… Our parents engaged us but we are more like friends than a couple…” She sighed and looked down at her necklace. It was a small white crystal made of the same material as the altar in Sol’s temple. A metal crescent-moon seemed attached to it, showing towards her chest. “Oh well… guess I got to go back to the palace. Maybe I can influence my father’s decision concerning you…” “Concerning us?” Zeyir gulped. “Yes. Our rules are very strict and this means you have to die but… maybe I manage to let you get away with an easier punishment.” Smiling she left the room, leaving Zeyir behind. Allen sat in his cell, waiting for something to happen, while he counted sand-corns on his trousers to keep himself entertained… Since he had been awakened by a guard in his cell, nothing special had happened… It had been hours since then. Sighing, Allen patted off the dust from his cloths and stood up, stretching himself a little. A door opened slowly. Allen yawned and looked at the wooden door, hoping Zeyir would be the one to enter, but he had little hope this was going to happen… “Oh… it is you…” Allen fell back on the ground, leaning against the wall. “Hmpf!” Callo entered the room, closing the door behind him. His Shadow-Spirit floated over his head, grinning in her evil usual manner. “What are you going to do with us?” Allen did not really ask, just talking with himself. Callo wasn’t going to answer probably anyway. “…” Callo only stared at the human while sitting down on a chair close to the bars of Allen’s cell. “Are you going to stare at me now without saying a word? If you think that is mystical to me, forget about it…” Allen stared at the desert-elf, trying to copy his ‘deathglare’ failing miserably though… Callo had to laugh at that one. “Nice try, boy.” Callo smiled a little and leaned back. “I’ve got some questions.” “Then ask already!” Allen barked annoyed. He had enough of the games, he just wanted to get out of here already! The boredom killed him! “Well then… Why did you enter the Temple of Light?” Callo’s deep eyes looked directly into Allen’s emerald eyes. “Lying is useless. I will notice it, so don’t even try!” “Okayokay…” Allen shook his head. “We wanted to meet with Sol…” “And why? You don’t look like pilgrims.” “I… I want to form a pact with him. I know this is hard to believe, but… If we don’t awake the Great Spirits again, Midgard will slowly die due to its lack of Mana! We must prevent this!” Allen felt how his stomach seemed to turn inside his belly at the thought how ridiculous this must sound out of the mouth of a mere human… “See, I told you Mana grows weaker, Callo!” Shade sat down on Callo’s lab, looking up at her master. Callo closed his eyes for a few seconds. “So… you can… actually summon Sol?” Callo looked at the human man in front of him, a weird expression on his face. Allen couldn’t quite understand what this expression was about… it was somewhere between sadness, disbelieve but also… hope? “Uhm, I guess! My family is able to summon the Great Spirits! My mother used to have a pact with Luna…” He hesitated for a second. “I never tried it out myself though!” “I see… and you say… the lack of Mana will…” “It will destroy the very essence of our world.” Shade completed her master’s sentence. “Mana is something like… life itself. The substance time is made of. The disappearance of Mana would cause a collapse in time on Midgard, destroying all life here.” She closed her eye and concentrated. “So it was true… it was not only a coincidence that the Mana here is running dry and Sol won’t show up anymore…” She leaned against Callo’s chest, sighing heavily. “Maybe I should ask the king again about this…” Callo patted his dark spirit, standing up slowly. “Wait, Callo!” Shade looked at her master worried. “He is pretty mad at you, maybe it is not the right time to talk with him now…” Shade floated towards Allen. “I have no other choice. You stay here!” Callo looked at Allen and turned around, walking towards the door, followed by Shade. “Not that I intended to go away anyway…” Allen shook his head, amused and leaned against the bars. Shade eyed her master worried while they hurried down the hallway towards the royal hall. “Are… you okay?” Shade had a hard time following the desert elf as he rushed down the corridors with incredible speed. “I can’t… believe King Geera did not know about this! He must have known, Mana is running dry, but why didn’t he do anything against it!?” Callo hissed under his breath, so only Shade could hear. He did not want to attract the attention of the guards… even though they already kept staring due to the rumors about him saving two pilgrims in the desert the day before… They were not quite correct, but wrong neither… Callo was annoyed by the irritated looks of the other guards. “I must ask him what is wrong!” “But he is already mad at you because of-“ “I know!” The elf barked and pushed the door to the throne-room open. Serena and her father sat on their seats at the end of the long hall, looking confused at the man that just stormed into the room… Callo knelt down in front of the throne to show his respect. “What is wrong, Callo?” The king, an older elf with white beard and short fancy hair, stood up from his seat, walking towards the younger elf. “You are allowed to stand up.” He added before placing his hand on Callo’s shoulder. “Milord, I…” Callo hesitated for a second as he felt a soft and tender hand grabbing his own. Serena had come next to him, leaning on his right arm while looking at her father. “I won’t be mad at you for leaving those strangers alive anymore. I must apologize. I did not know they saved my daughter in the desert… Callo shot a glare down at Serena that screamed ‘SAVED!?’. She answered with an amused ‘Whatever I say’-smile. Funny how they understood each other without words sometimes… “Uhm, well… whatever…” The princess leaned a little more against her fiancée and smiled innocently. “I asked my father to let them free as reward for my rescue and he agreed! We will lead them out of our territory tonight.” She smiled. “That is exactly what I wanted to talk with you about, King Geera…” Callo took a deep breath. Shade, still floating behind him, closed her eye and covered her face with her little hands… ‘Please don’t Callo… please don’t do that…’ She wished she would just disappear again, but she could not leave her partner all alone now that he was about to run directly into his doom… “Milord, this human… he is a summoner and as it seems he obsesses the ability to… summon the Great Spirits.” Callo paused for a second. Serena stared at him in shock, not certain how to react. The face of king Geera changed as well… the friendly warm smile from before turned into an angry grimace, but he held back and gave Callo the chance to explain himself. “Sol disappeared a long time ago, so wouldn’t it be wise to let this summoner trying his best to bring him back? Besides, if the Mana on Midgard is running short, this will affect all of us!” “Lord Moerbin! Watch your tone!” A guard from the side stepped closer towards the tan man, spear drawn. “This is none of our concern, Callo! We desert-people never cared about what happened outside our territory and we won’t ever care. Sol’s disappearance is nothing but a coincidence!” Geera snapped, returning to his throne. “You can’t be serious! How naive are you, Geera!? This is no coincidence! And if it concerns whole Midgard, it is of our concern as well!” Callo’s voice grew louder, but he recognized the rudeness in his voice immediately and knelt down again. “My apologizes, Lord Geera… I did not mean to raise my voice in your presence.” Callo felt how cold sweat ran down his forehead. She landed on the ground next to him, feeling the urge of kneeling down next to her master. “Hmpf! It is my decision, Callo Moerbin! You will have to accept it, no matter if you like it or not!” The eyes of the king burned with anger. Serena stepped back a little. She had never ever seen her father that furious. “I will over-think my decision concerning the two prisoners again.” Geera waved with his hand to signalize Callo to better get out of his sight… a sign the younger man was not going to ignore if he wanted to save his life. “Yes, I understood, Milord.” Callo replied quietly. His voice did not show his anger, but inside him deep hate started to burn… how could Geera just ignore this!? With another bow, Callo turned and left the room followed by Shade. Serena looked up at her father and closed her eyes. “I will talk with him, father.” She said with a calm tone and ran after her friend. “What was that just about!?” She shouted at Callo as they were back in his room. “Everything was all right until you started with this summoning-stuff! What has gotten into you, Callo!” She pushed him back in anger. Callo just looked at the ground, deep in thought. “Callo?” Shade poked her master and swung her arms around his shoulder. “Hey!” “Sorry, Shade… what was it?” Callo looked at his little spirit who was pointing at a now even more annoyed Serena. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening… what did you say?” Serena let out a frustrated growl, throwing herself on Callo’s bed, biting a pillow in frustration. A few minutes passed without any of them speaking… Serena looked up from the soft mattress and watched her friend, how he stared out a window, in deep thought again. She knew him… ever since they were little… she knew him better than anyone else… and so she knew what he was up to… She wished she didn’t know. “Please… don’t do that…” She could not hold back a tear as she grabbed Callo’s hand, dragging him on the bed. “Please don’t! There won’t be any way back anymore! Do you really want to destroy all of this!?” “There won’t be anything to destroy anymore, if we don’t do something…” Callo lay back, staring at the roof. “It is my only choice.” “…” Serena closed her eyes, placing her ear on Callo’s chest, listening to the soft beat of his heart a little… “I want to help you… but I can only help you this once. After you set out for the temple, I can’t help you anymore, you will be a traitor.” “I know…” Callo closed his eyes, thinking about the possibilities again and again. “I want to give you something…” Serena sat up, working on her little necklace. She leaned over Callo, fixing the small pendant on his neck. “Please, never forget about me… can you promise me that?” Tears ran down freely over her cheeks by now, dripping on Callo’s face like little raindrops. “How could I ever forget about you… But I want you to take my necklace instead then, alright?” He smiled warmly, giving her his own necklace. It looked nearly the same as the one Serena had given him, only that the crescent-moon attached to it pointed upwards instead of downward. With a kiss on his cheek, she thanked him, standing p slowly. “I will go and pick up the demon. He will be waiting for you at our secret spot.” Without a further word, she left the room, leaving Callo behind. “Time to go… Say good-bye to this room, Shade, we won’t be coming back here.” He stood up from his bed, looking at his little partner. “So we are going to leave the desert? Hehe, I never really liked the sun-shine here anyway!” Shade grinned and disappeared with a little *plop*. Allen stared at the bars… He was sick and tired of counting sand-corns on his trousers, though it had taken him rather long to count them all… Suddenly, the door to the prison opened, as well as the door to his cell. Allen stared blankly at the shadow in front of him. “Zeyir! You were able to escape!? Great!” Allen hopped up wanting to welcome the shadow, but the answering voice was way deeper than Zeyir’s… “Not quite right, but your demon friend is alright. Come on, we have no time!” Callo appeared in front of him, together with Shade. “Callo!? What are you doing here?” “Saving you and our world!” Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)