Chapter 35
The sun was rising already when the small group finally arrived at the Inn. Tired and powerless they made their ways into their rooms. Raven and Narwa shared a bed so that Himikea and Nuramond could rest as well. Grenlin was in such a deep state of sleep that she didn’t even notice the girls entering… The boys stayed in their room, not talking a word. Zeyir just fell into his bed, sleeping immediately. Callo watched the young demon drifting off into slumber while he opened his shirt, throwing it and his jacket over a nearby chair. With shoes and trousers still on he let himself fall into his soft white bed, his golden hair falling loosely over the pillow and blanket. Allen chuckled and took off his boots, sitting down on a nearby chair. Even though he was tired from carrying Himikea he was still wide awake.
Marduck would have killed them if it wasn’t Himikea summoning upon Weyards’s powers… He was way too slow! And after all, if there was a second God, they were chanceless! They needed a strategy just to make sure for next time.
In the morning, Grenlin awoke with an awesome mood. As she looked over to the other bed she had to giggle. Narwa and Raven lay in the single-bed, side by side, their dresses still on. The dwarf had to wonder if Raven had lost her room-key… She didn’t want wake them up, so she just remained in her bed, reading a book she had bought the day before.
It was around 9 am when it knocked on the door suddenly. Narwa and Raven both blinked and sat up, rubbing their sleepdazed eyes. Grenlin expected the boys so she just asked them to come in.
As Nuramond and Himikea opened the door though, she almost dropped her book in surprise.
“Moi’ing…” Raven yawned, pushing her hair back in order. Narwa’s hair was an even greater mess with all the little knots in it. After a couple of seconds the goddess gave up untangling them and just sat down on the bed.
“Good morning. My name is Himikea.” The green-haired woman offered her hand to the dwarf politly.
“Grenlin.” She grinned brightly. Even more lovely girls around now!
After a couple of minutes of talking about the happenings on the previous day, Himikea started a very delicate subject…
“So, this winged person… was he an Asgardian?” The mood sank all of a sudden. Especially Narwa seemed depressed about the subject. She bit her lips and crawled her fingers into her dress.
“I think he is a god from Asgard, yes.” Raven answered for her friend. She didn’t know who the attacking guy really was but after all Allen had told her…
“He used to be a good friend of mine…” Narwa suddenly started. “He was always so open minded, defending his family to all costs…” The goddess looked at the others in concern. She just had to tell them the truth! Marduck wasn’t a bad person! At least not to her…
“He tried to kill Zeyir!” Raven snapped. What was wrong with Narwa?! “And he would have killed you too, not to mention Allen and us others!”
“He was one of Asgard’s highest ranked generals, loyal to no end.” The white witch didn’t seem to even listen. “He married an angel-guard and as he became father he was so happy… His two son’s and his one daughter entered the angel-guards as well to make their father proud but… one day there was a small demon-attack on one of the outer areas of Asgard. One of the closed Otherworld-gates had been re-opened and Marduck’s two sons wanted to prove that they were just as skilled fighters as their father… but they were killed. As far as I know someone had carved the emblem of Galdor’s royal family, the Grozens, into their corps, leaving them behind in front of the gate…” She closed her eyes, tears forming in her eyes. “Ever since then he felt such deep hatred against the demon-kin that… He scared me so much I tried to stay away from him…”
“…” Closing her eyes, Raven leaned back. She had learned early in her life that the simple believe of black and white was nonsense, but she for some reason she had problems feeling sympathy towards someone that was trying to kill them…
“I don’t get it…” Grenlin sighed. She was never very confident with anything that had to do with Asgard or Utgard and since she had been told only a couple of minutes ago that Narwa was a goddess –which was kind of a shock for her anyway, but whatever was going on with this little group was just too high for her…
“I will explain it to you in detail later, okay?” Raven smiled. She liked the dwarven-woman already really much so she had decided for herself that she was going to fill her in, even if that meant a fight with their desert-elf-companion again about how dangerous it was filling so many people in…
“I’d love to listen to that as well as I still don’t really get what’s going on myself!” Nuramond chuckled and looked over to nodding Himikea.
“Alright, alright, I will explain you…” The mercenary sighed and hopped on her bed, starting from the very beginning.
“Hey guys!” As Raven and the others came down from their rooms, Callo, Zeyir and Allen were already in the dinner-room, waiting tiredly for their breakfast. Zeyir was leaning half-asleep over the empty plate before him while Allen yawned every couples of seconds while Callo was busy whirling his golden hair around his fingers in an almost trance-like state that was only interrupted every once in a while when he seemed to snap out of his ‘half-sleep’.
“Oh my…” Narwa had to laugh at the sight. “There is a serious need of coffin here.”
“Not really…” Zeyir yawned and looked frustrated over to Allen. “Our dear friend here has kept us up the whole night, telling us his plans for a strategy next time we meet grumpy Marduck and…” He yawned again. “… that pest of a god called Yarna…”
“Hey, at least we are prepared now…” Allen leaned on the table, his goatee hanging over an empty cup.
“Man, who do I have to kill here to get something to eat?!” The demon snapped, hopping up while slamming his hand on the table. Callo snapped out of his sleep, falling backwards from his chair in shock.
The whole group was laughing, even Callo couldn’t suppress a chuckle.
“Haven’t your parents taught you not to seesaw with your chair?” Grenlin grinned and helped him up, offering a hand.
“Parents? What parents?” The summoner smiled sheepishly. “Does that mean even you were a kid once?”
“Oh, what a miracle!” Callo rolled his eyes. “Indeed, I had to be born once as well!”
“I thought you came to Midgard riding on a comet from outer space!”
“Haha, nice one Zeyir!” Raven held her belly while Callo had no other choice but rolling his eyes and sitting back down again.
Nuramond chuckled bemused while taking a seat next to the sleepy desert-elf.
“You are really an interesting little group.” Himikea’s eyes shone brightly. She moved her fingers through her green, almost leaf-like hair while watching Allen almost falling asleep over his empty cup. “So you have a pact with Luna and Sol?”
The guys snapped up. How did she kno—
“RAVEN!” Callo and Zeyir both snapped angrily.
“Woah, guys, you know I’m still hearing on the other ear, so could you yell again?!” Allen stated sarcastically while rubbing his right ear. “Yes, I have, but I’m still very slow in summoning them…”
“Great Spirits are harder to summon than normal spirits. I doubt you will ever manage to shorten your summoning-time with your short lifespan.” Nuramond stated from the side, not even noticing that she had hit bull’s eye.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I’m only human.” Allen rolled his eyes while lolling his tongue out. “However, you have one with Weyards, right? How is Weyards?”
“Weyards is the source of life for us elves.” Smiling, Nuramond summoned Kisu into her arms, patting the little creature playfully. “Where Weyards sets foot, blooms and grass are spreading. When Weyards sings, the trees rustle with their leaves, birds start singing and crickets play their music, celebrating nature.”
“…. Sure…” Callo rolled his eyes.
“Is Weyards really like this?” Narwa noticed how her cheeks turned red slightly in excitement. This spirit sounded so wonderful…
“I haven’t met Weyards directly when forming a pact with him…” Himikea closed her eyes, trying to remember what had happen so long ago… “I couldn’t even hear his voice, but when he was talking to me, he spoke with nature’s voice, giving me the might to summon his might.”
“The voice of nature. How wonderful!” Nuramond’s voice was filled with glee. “To understand the rustlings of the trees and the language of flowers,…”
“And I always wondered why the desert-elves use to call your kind flower-snifflers…” Rolling his eyes, Callo leaned forward. He was still tired and this made him rather grumpy… Man, he was even more tired than Zeyir?! Where was his constitution?! He just hoped he wasn’t going to turn into one of these stargazing weaklings called forest-elves… He shook his head. Dammit, now he started thinking as if anything was black and white again… “Ugh, sorry, I apologize. It is just… hard coming along with forest-elves for someone like me…”
Nuramond’s face turned totally crimson.
“Woah, hey Allen did you hear that? He apologized! Can we have this on paper?” Raven chuckled, mocking the poor man even more.
“Show some respect to the elders, Raven!” Zeyir laughed and stood up. “Okay, if I don’t get my coffee until I found the cook, I will have a vampire-breakfast …” He walked off.
“What does he mean?” Narwa blinked confused.
“If I got him right…” Allen started. “What does a vampire drink again?”
“Oh…” That answered Narwa’s question. “I better go after him, cause I prefer tea over… you know what.” She stormed after him into the kitchen.
It was a quiet day in Titania, the elven capital. Allen and his companions followed Nuramond and Himikea through the streets to a town-exit behind the giant tree they had been fighting on the previous night. Noticing the hole in the leaf-crown, the whole group fell into an ashamed silence.
“We need to go through the forest to reach Weyards’s temple. Please be careful. This area is extremely dangerous.” Nuramond sighed, waiting at the exit. “I wish you the best of luck!”
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Raven blinked confused. Why should Nura stay here in town?
“Well, you see… the area the temple is located is the Sacred Grove of Titania-Forest… Without the allowance of the Elven Sovereign or at least a Guardian of the Forest, this part of the forest is forbidden to us ordinary elves.” She looked aside ashamed. She was just an ordinary girl amongst her kind. There was no way she was allowed to go to this place…
“You have my allowance, so there is no problem with it!” Himikea took the elf’s hands, looking deep into her sapphire eyes. “Come on with us, Nuramond. I am certain you will like Weyards’s Grove.” Nuramond’s cheeks turned red because of the offer. Her heart was beating against her chest wildly. That she had the chance to see this place was an honor she would never be able to pay back in her whole almost eternal life!
“So it’s decided! You come with us!” Raven chirped, hugging the green-haired women.
They had been walking for over an hour already when Zeyir noticed the forest was changing. He was pleasantly surprised that the woods grew thicker and darker, not letting light shining through their leafs anymore. Every once in a while a beam of light was falling through the dark green of the forest, shining on the ground. On these spots, small plants tried to reach for the light, growing through the blanket of fallen leafs they were sleeping under usually. Fireflies filled the air, giving the woods a touch of midnight-fantasy.
“Can you hear that?” Suddenly anyone turned to Callo.
“Hearing what?” Zeyir snapped out of his thoughts, concentrating on the sounds in the surroundings. There were the sounds of… weapons?
“Someone fighting in this holy grove?! How horrible!” Nuramond looked towards the direction she could hear the noise coming from. Kisu sat on her shoulder, squeezing angrily in agreement. She started running towards the source of the sound, but Himikea stopped her.
“The sovereign and his hunters tend to hunt in this forest. Besides, this forest is -as you said yourself- extremely dangerous. We need to be prepared for whatever they might be fighting as it might attack us as well.” The half-spirit looked over at the warriors in their little group. Grenlin held her ax in hands tightly while Raven loosened her saber from her back. Zeyir summoned his flame-sword at first but then decided that his claws and dark mana was his weapon of choice in this fight… Allen followed Callo’s example, taking a dagger in each hand while the desert-elf moved his thumbs carefully over the hilts of his rapiers while holding them tightly. Narwa took her staff, even though this wasn’t really a strong weapon… A thing Zeyir couldn’t really agree… her rod was the torture-instrument of hell’s worst headaches in his opinion…
As they followed the sound, they speeded up. There seemed to be several people in desperate trouble from what they could tell from the noise.
“Ugh!” A group of elves –on the edge of breaking down already- faced a giant green dragon. There were at least 4 hunters, 3 druids and a couple of elven-guards trying to defeat the mighty creature, but the emerald scales of the beast were too hard for their arrows and reflected any kind of magic casted by the druids of the group.
“T-that’s the sovereign!” Nuramond gasped and wanted to run forward, being stopped once again, but this time by Grenlin.
“Don’t just run ahead! Wait for us others to help you—“ The dwarf gasped as she saw Callo running forward, totally ignoring her.
“Oh great…” Allen sighed and ran after him, just in case.
“And I always thought I was the impulsive one…” Rolling his eyes, Zeyir followed them in. The girls could only shake their heads.
Callo shielded an elven hunter with his rapiers as the dragon was just about to bite at least his arm off, if not worse… The teeth of the monster crawled into the metal and Callo really had to wonder that his favorite weapon wasn’t breaking by the immense pressure this jaw was causing. Pushing the monster back, Callo managed to break free, rushing forward after the dragon. Shrieking, the green creature swung its tale at the desert-elf, razor-sharp blades on its scales. Dodging, Callo swung himself up on the neck of the creature, not sitting on the dragon’s back.
Zeyir tried his best, getting to the backside of the beast, but to his annoyance, the druids stood in the way all the time, almost getting killed, so he just had to kick them out of the dangerous area… Allen however came to the back-side of the beast with ease, running around between the beast’s mighty claws, trying to slam his daggers into the softer areas here and there. His position was more dangerous than just staying outside, but the others were way too slow to damage the creature from the down-side…
Callo in the mean-time almost took a ride on the dragon. He held himself on the neck, waiting for a good moment to call for his spirits. Suddenly an arrow flew past him, missing his face by only a couple of centimeters.
“HEY!” The desert-elf snapped, deathglaring the hunter he had just saved, seeing he was the one, giving away the shot. “Next time try it a little more downward! Then you would have hit me on bull’s eye!” Grumpy he shook his head, while the beast underneath him was giving him sort of a rodeo-ride.
After a couple of seconds, the dragon calmed down, concentrating on Allen as he had just managed to cut the beast deeply on the left front-leg. Callo took his chance and summoned Steel and Shade.
“Remember what we’ve been talking about yesterday night?!” He shouted while nodding at the demon in front of the dragon. His little spirits nodded and started concentrating. “Let’s hope this works…ZEYIR!” Callo jumped off the beast’s back and into the air.
“Gottcha!” The demon jumped up as well, meeting the elf in mid-air. He took his arm, while summoning his flame-saber on the other hand. Shade and Steel concentrated their might on Zeyir’s weapon while Callo gave the demon a spin, sending him with full force down towards the beast.
It didn’t even take a blink of an eye as Zeyir’s weapon cut through the flesh of the green dragon, separating head from shoulders. A giant flash of fire rushed over the ground, burning the surroundings of where Zeyir landed. As the head of the monster hit the ground, everything around them grew silent. The only sound heard was when Callo landed not too far away from the dead dragon-corpse in the soft grass.
“Milord, are you alright?!” Nuramond rushed forward, followed by Kisu. She stood in front of the elven-hunter Callo had saved before, using Kisu’s power to heal some of his wounds.
“Let me try it, Nuramond.” Callo sighed, summoning Drop. Kisu was a cute creature but as one of the smallest existing spirits, it was a waste of Mana letting the ‘pet’ heal them.
“…saved by a dust-collector…” Callo ignored the comment while healing the sovereign’s wounds. A victorious smile however made its way up to his face.
“Don’t dare touching the sovereign!” A druid snapped, running forward between his ruler and the stranger before turning and healing him himself.
“Y’know, if you would have learned how to use spells correctly instead of writing poets and hugging trees, I wouldn’t have to interfere at all!” Callo snapped at the druid angrily.
Zeyir and Narwa looked at each other, slightly uncomfortable. Whenever gods and demons met, they seemed to act the exact same way… And seeing the desert- and forest-elves fighting like this made them think of the hatred between their worlds as even worse than before. Why was there so much hate between them if they never even met? Only a hand full of gods ever had seen a real demon in their life and it was the same the other way round, but the disgust lingered so deep within them, as if they knew anything about each other already…
“What are this barbarian and this torching underling doing here?!” Another one of the druids snapped at Nuramond, demanding an explanation.
“This barbarian and torching imp just saved the sovereign! Maybe you should consider this!” Himikea stepped between them, hissing dangerously. She wasn’t the elven leader of Titania, but her close bond to Weyards made her just as honorable and respected as the sovereign. “Besides, they are my guests, so if you don’t mind…”
“You know, in Utgard they’d be already dead for the imp-comment…” Zeyir whispered towards Allen who just giggled at this… How well he could imagine Kyrin chopping someone’s head who dared insulting Zeyir…
“Milord, we are on the way to Weyards’s Temple.” Nuramond played with her fingers embarrassed. The hunters and guards were nervous at the sight of the dark elf, resting their hands on their weapons’ hilts. Callo did the same. For some reason he felt always the most comfortable with his fingers tightly around his rapiers.
Allen had enough of this. It was time to get this situation cleared out if they wanted to reach Weyards’ Temple anytime soon… And as it seemed, Nuramond, Callo and the others were unable to speak clearly with each other.
“I call for you… by our pact…” He muttered to himself while the elves ahead continued exchanging deathglares.
A dark ray announced the appearance of Luna, the Great Spirit of Darkness. Her nightsky-like dress fell loosely on the soft ground. The red horns and empty eyes gave Allen a chill anytime he summoned her.
Caught by the immense Mana of the spirit, the elves stopped arguing, showing their respect towards the Midnightqueen.
Callo just stared at the maiden. He got used to her presence, but he was just glad Allen had decided for her instead for Sol… Who knew if they rejected worshipping the Spirit of Light, just because a desert-elf was present…? This human was way smarter than he acted!
“Now that I got your attention…” The summoner started harshly. “We are on the way to Weyards and I cannot say that I have that much time than in contrary to you, my time is limited, so if you don’t mind, I’d rather prefer traveling on than arguing who is better, tree-huggers or dust-collectors.”
“He is pissed…” Zeyir chuckled. It was really rare seeing his friend mad, but they had certainly reached the limit of his temperance.
“Indeed…” Raven mover her slender fingers through her hair baffled.
“W-well…” The elven sovereign watched Luna in awe. It was the first time he ever got to see a Great Spirit in action beside the sleeping body of Weyards inside the Temple… “We better get back to Titania then…” He closed his eyes and summoned his guards to his side. Shooting one last angry glare at the desert-elf, he and the hunters disappeared behind a couple of trees.
“Am I of any need any longer?” Luna watched her pact-maker with eyes that broke through any mask, watching only the deepest of one’s soul… This was exactly what kept Allen so nervous in the spirits’ presence… They knew him better than he knew himself…
“You are dismissed…” Allen sighed. He felt his Mana trembling again. Why did summoning make him so dizzy?! Callo never had a problem with his spirits…
“…” In a cold breeze, the spirit faded away, visibly disappointed.
“So… this was Luna…” Himikea gasped, her hands covering her mouth in shock and surprise. “Feeling such a Manaflow right next to you is something completely else than what I share with Weyards…”
“Apropos, can we walk on before our dear friend here freaks out?” Laughing, Zeyir patted his companion playfully before following Himikea towards the forest-temple.
It took them another hour until they finally reached the Sacred Grove. Hundreds of smaller trees formed a gate leading down towards a wooden gate. A worm-like dragon with trees and plants on its back was painted with oil on the surrounding walls. Flowers and bushes grew to the sides of the long stonewalls they were following. Zeyir looked up towards the roof, but there was none. Nothing but roots and leaves covered the Temple. Golden fireflies lit the way down the path and they could all feel the Mana flowing through the flowers they had to step on to get to the inner area of the temple.
Allen couldn’t believe his eyes as they walked over sea-rose-leaves over a little lake inside the grove. They were strong enough to hold them even though they were not much bigger than ordinary sea-roses…
Finally, Himikea stopped in front of a giant green gate made of dragon-scales and golden ornaments.
Pushing it open they entered the altar-room.
It was like a grassy hill on which stairs lead up to a white altar on which rays of light shone through the thick leaf-roof. The golden lights of the insects floating through the air gave the grove an additional mysterious appearance. As they came closer though, Narwa stopped the group.
“Guys, wait a second! Something is wrong here!” She whispered towards the others, taking out her staff.
“And… what would that be?” Zeyir rolled his eyes, but summoning his flamesaber just in case.
“Look!” She pointed at the flowers and trees behind the altar. The rest of the group looked at them, but they didn’t notice anything strange… Raven had to even admit, that the flower growing right behind the altar was the most beautiful one she had ever seen… “Can’t you see it?! The trees are moving!”
“Hahaha…” Himikea laughed and gave the goddess a comforting hug. “Your eyes are sharp. That is Weyards you see sleeping there. He has been asleep for thousands of years behind the altar.”
“I gotta see that!” Zeyir started running towards the Great Spirit in curiosity.
“Hey, wait for us!” Callo barked, following his friend.
As they stopped in front of the altar they saw him…
A giant wyrm asleep whit trees and flowers spreading all over its back… It was the same dragon they had seen on the wall-paintings before!
“…” Allen watched the Spirit breathe in and out slowly… He didn’t know what it was, but something was different here than when he had summoned Sol and Luna the first time… but what was it?!
“Are you ready?” Callo grinned. “Another pact for the books!”
“Alright…” The summoner sighed and spread his arms. “Holy Spirit of Plants. Lord of the –“
“What is it that you want?” The dragon suddenly rose from the ground even though Allen was not done yet.
“Eh… ehm…” Allen kinda lost track on what he was about to say due to the interruption… “I… seek a pact?”
“Then prove yourself worthy as a pact-maker!” Suddenly the dragon charged towards the summoner. Allen had not even time to react. He only felt how he was ripped off his feet from two different directions.
“Ouch…” Zeyir and Callo, both holding Allen down felt rather dizzy from clashing against each other to save the summoner.
“Next time if I try to save Allen, stay out of my way!” Callo barked at the demon, rubbing his aching forehead. Zeyir just snorted while picking himself up from the ground.
“Yeah, but if I run towards him, how about you leave it to me next time?!” He prepared his blade while stepping backwards a little. The dragon was turning again, ready to charge once more.
“Thanks… both of you…” Allen looked at his two friends. They both had stormed forward, getting him out of the way just in time… A small smile formed on his face.
“Watch out!” Narwa shouted, taking Nuramond and Raven by their hands and flying up with them. Himikea jumped up as well, holding herself on a branch while poisonous flowers started growing beneath their feet. “Those are river-deaths! Their needles are absolutely deadly!” The goddess shouted towards the guys.
“Oh great…” Callo sighed, whipping his golden hair out of his face. “Who’s more barbarian now…” He muttered to himself. “Are you alright? Summon Sol while we keep him down!”
“While we TRY to hold him down you genius!” Zeyir grunted, watching the dragon yelling. More of the poisonous flowers spread all over the terrain… This wasn’t going to be fun at all…
“Here he comes!”
