Memories (Part 4): Written by Exodus, Original Story by Exodus Ten years since the battle against Zycote, and a year that most people would never forget, the year of tragedy for many... Edward had married Elenora, and she had been made a queen, they soon had a daughter named Edwina, and as the Gaian prophecies foretold, Edward and the child gained Elenora’s powers, including the ability to call upon Energen, an entity made of plasma, to enter their bodies and help them defeat powerful evils. Elenora was strolling down the halls with her daughter Edwina, she was barely six but was becoming very ladylike. She had her mother’s looks, and had adopted her father’s blonde hair. She wasn’t very experienced with her magic and was currently banned from using it without her mother to supervise her. Also, she wasn’t permitted to leave the castle for her own safety, and her existence was kept a secret from the people outside the castle walls, so that no one would target her. Suddenly, there was a creaking sound of a boot on the marble floor. “Hi Queen, mind if we stay here for a while?” asked a familiar voice. “Lucas...” said Elenora, happily hugging her old friend. Edwina hid behind her mother’s legs, she was very curious, and bombarded the royal staff with many questions about the outside world, but when it came to strangers, she was very shy. “Don’t worry Dear.” comforted her mother, “He’s a friend of Mommy’s... So Lucas, I haven’t seen you since you robbed the treasury and ran off with a servant girl.” “Please don’t refer to her like that, she’s my wife now and her name is Teresa. Speaking of which, why don’t you come out of hiding, I’m sure Prince Edward wouldn’t be angry at you for leaving.” She stepped out, and looked very different without the maid’s outfit, her hair was now beautiful and outgoing, and her dress made her look very sophisticated. “Yes, that’s right, you have nothing to worry about.” said Elenora kindly, “But Edward’s the king now and I... I’m the queen.” she said after a little hesitation. “So the old queen past on... And you... We’ve really lost our homeworld, haven’t we?...” said Lucas a little down, Elenora decided to change the subject, the loss of Gaia was hard on all the Gaians. “So what have you been doing?...” “Well for one thing... Son?...” A little boy with short turquoise hair ran past his parents, he had two cute little strands that overlapped his face, he wore violet clothing and fake armour, and he was waving a wooden sword around. He saw Edwina and ran to her. “... This is Lance, he’s recently acquired a dream of becoming a knight.” “Its not like you to come by for a friendly chat, what’s wrong?” asked Elenora. “You could always figure me out.” chuckled Lucas. He had been a rogue and a thief on Gaia, but Elenora met him, and stopped him from being executed, ever since then, he had been there to support her, and Elenora knew him very well. “Are you the princess?” asked the little boy, with a posh accent that was similar to his mother’s. “Uh huh...” said Edwina, a little shy. “Then I can protect you!” She wasn’t used to playing with kids her age, but had always dreamed of her special knight protecting her. “Yay!” she cheered, running away with him. Elenora smiled as she gazed at the two together. “Elenora, there’s trouble at our village and we’re very low on money, we don’t think we can support Lance anymore, this is a very big thing to ask, but... can Lance stay here... and train as a knight?...” “I’ll ask Edward.” Lucas looked a little anxious. “But I’ll make sure of it that Lance stays here.” He wiped his eye, “El’ I really don’t deserve you as a friend.” “You do.” she added, before leaving to tell Edward. In the town of Fawra, not far away from the castle, Carl, Mariah and Roberto, or Rob' as he preferred (like father, like son), were in the hospital. They had been with Doctor Derek Heath for a long time, but had not been able to cure Mariah’s rare illness, he could only prolong her life to an extent. Dr Heath was an old man, he was almost bald, but had two moulds of hair that fell to the sides. Recently, he had taken on a trainee, a young man called Lewis Zimmerman, the man who lost his family in the tragedy of Alcath. Mariah Ruwin had just given birth to their second child. “You’re much better wit’ names, dear.” said Carl, “You should do it.” “My son... Nicholas...” “Nicholas it is then.” “May I see you outside, Carl?...” asked Dr Heath. “Its about Mariah, ain’t it.” asked Carl when they were in privacy. “I can’t lie to you, the pregnancy hasn’t particularly helped her condition.” “Ah know, its just, Roberto has become a troublemaker, and he ain’t been listening to what we had to say, we thought a siblin’ would help him turn over a new leaf... an’ that having another child would leave me wit’ two parts o’ Mariah when she’s gone...” “I give Mariah another week at most, if you’d like, I could take care of Nicholas so that you and Roberto can spend whatever time with her that she has left.” “Thank you doctor... Mariah... How am Ah gonna cope wit'out you?...” questioned Carl. In a cavern on the southern kingdom Moragis, Andrew, Shirley, their newborn, little David, and eldest son, Kyle, had been excavating for a powerful energy source to power Andrew’s great machines. The source was known as Euridium and could stand up to extreme heat and cold, it was full of energy and compatible with many machines, but was quite rare to find. Kyle had inherited his father’s intellect, and his mother’s good looks, including a nice spiky quiff of violet hair that stretched forward and outwards. Andrew carried the Euridium while Shirley held Dave’ in a carrier that strapped around her back. “We’ve got more than enough Euridium, let’s get out of here, this cavern is very unstable!” shouted Andrew. “I’m coming!” Shirley shouted back, picking up the pace. There was a small quake, and Andrew signalled for his wife to stop, but a larger quake started up and the ground crumbled underneath her. “Shirley!” shouted Andrew. “Mom! Hold on!” yelled Kyle. She was holding onto the rocks, a little out of reach, and there was a tearing sound. “Dave’!” shouted Shirley, letting one hand go to catch her son, as the baby holder straps had ripped against the sharp rocks. With one hand she was holding onto the rock, the other held the baby. “Hold on...” said Andrew, reaching down. “I can’t... I’m losing my grip... We can only save one... And I could never live with myself if I left my child for dead...” With the last of her strength, she threw the baby up, Kyle caught his little brother and Andrew reached down, but Shirley lost her grip after throwing her son, and fell into the chasm. “SHIRLEY!!!” “MOM!!!...” screamed Kyle. After that, Andrew lost his inspiration to work, any machines that probably would have improved the future were never completed, because he was too guilty that his wife had died for the crystals. In Zondar, the town of thieves, a dangerous place in a kingdom far west of Scion... A chubby teenager walked in, equipped with many blades, his hair was black and messy, and he had never shaved, he wore ancient robes and cloths just like the thieves did. It was Pedro, the boy whose parents were murdered in Alcath, by order of the leader of thieves: Bandit. Pedro was here for revenge, the thieves were alert and surrounded him before he got close to the heart of the Zondai Thieves. “I want the one named Bandit!” he screamed. The thieves circled him before Bandit made his appearance. “You’re dead Bandit.” scowled Pedro. “Notice the odds, kid? I’d say its the other way round. Get ‘im.” Bandit walked away as the slashing and screaming sounds occurred, then there was a brief silence. Bandit turned around, all six thieves that jumped Pedro were on the floor, three of them dead. “You killed my family!” screamed Pedro, leaping at Bandit, but he wasn’t the leader of the thieves just by giving orders, he was quick, and Pedro fell back with a deep cut in his forehead. “I kill a lot of families, kid, and I don’t care!” shouted Bandit, drawing a second dagger and leaping forward to rid himself of the nuisance. He stopped dead in the air, Pedro’s leg was raised, and he had a mechanism on his shoe to draw out a sharp spike on the end, now deep in Bandit’s chest. “You... little... menace...” groaned Bandit, as he died. Pedro pulled out the boot and stood up, there were still many thieves. “I did it... I killed my parent’s murderer... What will the rest of you do?...” They bowed down to him, “You are our new leader...” In the tribal jungle that surrounded Yura, Ux, the new king, was out on a hunting mission, the tribe of Yura never killed for sport, only when the beasts were a threat, or if they needed food or clothing. He had two lovely children, Naga, his girl, the eldest child, and Uruk, his son. Naga had spiky green hair like her father, and Uruk’s hair was a paler green, a mixture between the two parent’s hair colour. There was a rustling in the bushes. “Here we go...” said Ux, before realising what it was. “ROOOAAARRR!!!” it screamed. Looking about eight feet tall, with its purple fur and black horns, claws and fangs, Ux had run into the most dangerous demonic animal of all: The Beast. Back in the village, it wasn’t long before the Beast attacked. “Queen Evia, its the Beast, its back!” screamed a young native. “No... Where are Naga and Uruk?” “The priest is hiding them away.” “And Ux?” “... He was out hunting.” “ROOOAAR!!!” screamed the Beast. “Oh... my...” The sight shocked and sickened Evia, but she had to face the truth, sticking out of the Beast’s mouth was a bloody bone. “Ux...” The sight and idea of it shocked her, so much that she froze up even as the Beast was charging through the village. The shooters loaded up their darts drugged with poison, and the hunters picked up their spears, but their efforts were in vain. It reached Evia before they could take it down and crashed through the nearby hut, she was propelled into a lot of glass bottles, shattering them all and sending shards into her arms. “Queen Evia!... What was in those?!” screamed a native. “Sleeping Serum!” shouted another. The hunters and shooters continued to poison the creature slowly, before any more people could be hurt. The creature looked drowsy and sick, and then retreated. The people looked at Evia, she had many scars on her arms and the sleeping serum had taken effect, she might never wake up again. The priest came out of hiding, “Has the Beast gone?...” They didn’t utter a word, still miserable at what had happened. “Mother... What happened to mother?” asked Naga. “She’s been infected with Sleeping Serum, she may not wake up, ever.” explained the priest. “Father?... Father?!” called out Naga. “I’m sorry Princess Naga, King Ux, he’s... been devoured by the Beast.” “FATHER!!!...” she screamed out. She had lost both her parents, and now she would have to become the queen at such a young age. As of now, Naga’s life became really hard. In the village of Vilem, Titus and Kyos’ daughter, Kirie, played with one of the older kids, Alan. Kirie had shoulder length brown hair and wore two tiaras made by her mother, around her head and waist, though they were a little too big, but she stressed never to lose them. Kyos herself had hidden away her natural appearance, the bone and scale armour had seemingly vanished for the last few years and Kyos wore relevant clothing to hide her natural skin colour, the rest of the village knew of Kyos’ background and weren’t quite ready to accept Gaians, especially since she had nearly destroyed their village once. “She’s so happy...” commented Kyos, “Titus, you have to promise me that you’ll take good care of her.” “Of course Kyos, but why do you have to ask such a thing, you know I’ll always take care of her.” “Its just, she’s a little detached from you, you haven’t found any common grounds, and you’re so busy with running the village.” “I’ll try my best, but she’ll always have you as well, don’t speak as if you’re not going to be around.” She walked away, Kirie came back with her friend Alan, who had turquoise hair in a parting with some hair overlapping his face. “Hiya honey.” “Hi Dad, where’s Mom? I want to show her something.” “Well, why don’t you show me?” “You wouldn’t be interested.” “Well I’m sure I can-” A huge explosion ripped through one of the houses. “That’s my house!” shouted Alan, running forward, Kirie and Titus followed. The house had been totally decimated, a huge blaze of fire stood next to it. Alan was on the floor, “Demon...” “Mom?... Where are you going?! Don’t leave me!” screamed Kirie. Kyos was standing in the fire, her clothes had burned away, revealing her natural skin, and her bone armour had returned, her eyes were glowing and waves of energy circled her hands, she turned away and disappeared into the blaze. “Your mother?!” screamed Alan, “She destroyed my home with her powers! I never want anything to do with you again, demon child!” “Alan!” He ignored her and stormed off. “Mom... Don’t you love me anymore?...” cried Kirie. Titus simply stared, he had dreaded this for a long time. To spare Kirie and himself from the dangerous powers, Kyos had taken a big risk, even when nullifying her powers in such a huge dose during the conception, pregnancy and birth of Kirie. Because she had chosen not to curse Titus or Kirie with her powers, Kyos had to keep three times the normal amount of generated Gaian magic inside herself, but she realised this all too late, and her chaos magic had become too powerful to hold back. It was something that she just couldn't escape, or remedy. In Kylandia City, two of the best soldiers, Sylvester Krytus and Brutor McDeio left their home to train, there were high hopes for them in the royal guard. “Back ta the castle fer trainin’.” said an anxious Sly. “Dinnae worry yirself wee brother, ye’ll be old enough te train wit’ us someday.” Brutor told his younger brother Angus. “Aye!” he replied. Unlike his brother, little Angus had ginger hair, Brutor had ended up being a curly blonde, obviously their mother wasn’t a natural brunette, Brutor also wore brown, gold and bronze armour, but with the royal symbol on his badge. Krytus had slick straight flame-red hair that was combed back, and fell down to just above his shoulders, he wore copper and silver armour. Brutor was excellent with the handling and throwing of knives while Krytus took a liking to the fighting claws. They reached Kylandia Castle and ran into Iyaxxl who was still serving the throne as advisor. “Krytus, Brutor, Morn.” he listed. Morn Ridley was still around serving as the chief scientist, and had just caught up with the others, his hair was naturally grey, but now frazzled, spiky and messy due to so many faulty electrical experiments, that he didn’t even try to comb it these days. “Edward requests our presence in the throne room.” said Iyaxxl sternly. As they walked down the east wing halls, a bright flash suddenly appeared, along with a tear in the fabrics of reality, twisting bramble-like images surrounded them, and caused them agony. The flashes and shapes eventually faded, and the four picked themselves up, suddenly a voice spoke to Iyaxxl through his mind. “Yes... I will rule this kingdom... for you...” he replied. The other three looked strangely at him, and Morn spoke up, “Why the heck am I following an idiot like Edward?” An evil influence had changed them all in a flash, a force so powerful, that they would never be the same again. “Morn! Krytus! Brutor! You will serve me! Scion needs a strong ruler to enforce it, and I have what it takes to rule this kingdom, far more than Edward. Help me and you shall be rewarded.” said Iyaxxl. “Sure.” the two soldiers replied. “How bad can it be?” asked Morn, “Very, I hope!” he grinned darkly. “Morn, your first orders are to complete the portal generator the king once assigned you to build, but have it programmed for people, not demons.” “Yes Sir.” “And while you’re there, make me some poison right away, and don’t let anyone else know of this...” They were interrupted by Lucas and Teresa. “Iyaxxl! What just happened? And what do you need poison for?! What’s wrong with you?!” “Krytus, Brutor... Kill them.” “Yes Sir.” said Krytus, eager to do it. Brutor acted first, hurling a throwing knife forward, it spun round and hit Teresa in the heart, she died instantly. “Teresa...” muttered Lucas, “You monsters!!!” He summoned a lot of crystal shards, and threw them forward, Iyaxxl and Brutor moved away, while Krytus charged forward at a really fast speed, sidestepping and ducking where necessary to get through the fury of shards, he swooped around and ended up behind Lucas, he grabbed the Gaian and put one set of the fighting claws against his neck. “You won’t tell anyone about this lil’ incident.” he said, sliding the claws across quickly. Lucas dropped to the floor and Krytus stood there, breathing heavily, experiencing pleasurable vibes, he stared at the bloody claw and started to chuckle... a lot. “That felt good...” Morn returned and gave the advisor what he had asked for, and then Iyaxxl ran to Elenora’s room quickly. “Elenora, its Lucas... He was attacked by demons... in the castle...” he panted upon barging her door open. “Lucas...” As she ran towards the door, Iyaxxl pushed a needle into her neck, she fell over, already under the effects of the poison, Iyaxxl dropped the tool out of the window and picked up the queen. “Ughhh... It was you...” she muttered. “Of course it was me... I’ve come to a decision, and I’ve decided that I should rule. That’s why this death must look natural.” He placed her on the bed and covered her up in the blanket. “You’re a monster... How will this look natural?...” said whispered. “Demons attacked you two, killed Lucas and poisoned you... That is what happened, do you understand?” “And what’s going to stop me from reporting you to the guards?...” she threatened. “Because if you tell anyone the truth... I’ll kill your daughter.” he said menacingly. “No...” said Elenora, she had already lost two children on Gaia, she just couldn’t let Edwina’s life end so quickly, even if she wasn’t around to witness it. “Okay...” she said, her heart racing, her hatred for Iyaxxl, high, it even matched the anger she felt for the monster that ruined her world. “Good. When I overthrow Edward, your daughter shall join my conquest rather than being slaughtered...” Iyaxxl walked out of the room, right into Lance and Edwina, Morn had already arranged for the two bodies to be taken away. “Iyaxxl, where’s Father?” asked Lance. “Lance... I’m afraid your parents... were killed by demons.” “What?...” “... And Edwina, while your mother was trying to save him... She was poisoned...” Lance ran away in tears, while Edwina dashed into her mother’s room. “Mommy?...” Iyaxxl gave off a threatening stare, Elenora couldn’t tell the truth for the sake of her daughter. Iyaxxl walked away, the cogs of his new rule would soon be set in motion, and with no one to suspect him, it wouldn’t be long before Edward was long gone and the castle, Iyaxxl’s. He smiled a very evil grin... Days later, the funeral was held. Lance spoke out for his parents, “Father... Mother... I promise... I will become a great knight and avenge your deaths... I swear it...” Lance was too young to lose both his parents, all he had left was a place in the castle and a dream that would help him get his revenge. Edward spoke for Elenora, his only love. “Elenora... Words cannot express what you meant to me... and what you gave to me... I will miss you so much, I will raise Edwina to be a great queen, and I will never love another...” Edward’s true happiness had been destroyed, but he still had his responsibilities and their daughter. For Edwina’s sake, he had to go on. Edwina spoke up, death was a recent subject of her private lessons, she shouldn’t have had to deal with it at such a young age, especially not her mother’s. “Mommy... They told me you are not coming back... That you will be watching over me... I promise, I’ll be a good girl and a good princess, just like I always was...” By now she was almost in tears, and sat down next to her father. Iyaxxl stepped up, he had something to say, he strode up to the altar, almost confidently. “The late Queen Elenora... was a good friend in the short time I knew her, but she can rest assured that the kingdom will be in good hands, I’ll make sure of that.” While he said these words, he didn’t once look at the king, it was obvious only to him what he really meant. Iyaxxl descended the stairs to leave, and caught Edwina’s eye, there was something not right about all this, and Edwina could sense something inside him. She scowled at him a little, then wept at her father’s side. Iyaxxl walked away, they didn’t suspect a thing. Iyaxxl had plenty of time now, time to corrupt, time to exploit, time to build, an army that would crush Edward’s forces, so that he could take his place on the throne, where he always should have been... End?... Back to Part 3 Click to read the next story: "Betrayal” Back to “Past Heroes and New Beginnings” Back to the Library