AMETHYST: The rise of Tetra

Chapter 22

    The story of the Warmecks dated back to the very creation of Zaleon, They were the warriors of the planet, they have defeated all enemies of Zaleon in previous wars, and till then had ensured the safety of the planet. Though for centuries the Warmecks had been subdued by the lack of action, and so the warriors were left without a true purpose on their planet. Perhaps the only kind on the planet to have been excited about the upcoming war had been the Warmecks, and they needed not any time to debate their acceptance to the immortal couple’s request. It was time for the Warmecks to rise up to the opportunity of being the kind they were meant to be, and protect their planet from the harsh realities that were to strike. 

    Though as the top guard of the Warmecks led the couple up the rocky mountains to where the land of the Warmecks was at the very top, he thought of all that they had done to get to their position. He remembered it like it was yesterday, and with each step forward he realised how crucial it was to warn the pair of the kind of life they lived. 

    ‘I must warn you, there are certain things you might not be used to seeing on our lands. The Warmecks live a very...reserved life. There are rules, they are strict, but you must live by them if you want to get along with Paulina Stem, our commander. Warmeck lands are nothing like you’ve ever imagined’ he stated casually, coming as no surprise to the pair who had been confused already by the path they had been taking to get to their lands. 

    ‘I wish I could say I’m surprised, this path is so steep, how do people make it up alive every time?’ Questioned Eliana, struggling to climb the steep mountain on the top of which lay their last place to journey to. Nevertheless the pair had no idea what was coming, and could only imagine what the place of beauty would look like. Remo, the top guard, looked back, laughing and deciding to reveal the story that had created the pathway on the mountain in the first place. 

    ‘When Zaleon first came into existence, the Warmecks were placed upon it with the natural ability to fight. Though the land was small, and existed down below, not too far from where the Fairens and Yolegs live. We had barely any land, and our people were growing in numbers. The commander at the time, a great ancestor of Paulina, Preto Stem, was a man who saw no good on his land whatsoever. He was a man of hate, and barely ever did any good. He trained his people well, and built them to be the strongest that Zaleon has ever seen, though the man saw no point in being a Warmeck if there was no war to come. He asked the flame why they were created to begin with when no war was present, and requested to the flame that all Warmecks be put into deep slumber until a great war would arrive, and with it the Warmecks would arise. The flame granted the man’s wish, and for centuries the Warmecks were put to sleep, only arising when a great threat was at large. The ancestral Doirekh’s at the time was the only one of his kind, and despite having procreated children, his children had yet to inherit the ability to shift and take on the form their father had. The Doirekh in power at the time was a monster, and the barriers of the hierarchy were more visible as the Vermillion despised everyone on the planet, and sought to destroy anyone that came in their way. They had no intention of annihilating an entire planet like the current Vermillion, of course, though they had every intention of assassinating anyone that went against them. Back in the days the Vermillion lived far closer to Tetran territory than anyone could imagine, and the barriers of the hierarchy were pushed together closer than it ever was. It just so happened that because of that the Doirekh wanted to expand his territory, no matter how big it already was, and so he set off to steal some Tetran land. Of course, no Amethyst was willing to sacrifice whatever land they had to begin with to a man who had more land than anyone on the planet. So the first war with the Vermillion had begun. Though it was only a war between the Amethyst and Vermillion, one where the only enemy of the Amethyst was a single Doirekh. The woman who carried the Doirekh’s children had no intention of joining, only had every intention of raising the little ones until they were ready to take care of themselves, and then she would pass away at the hand of the flame. The Doirekh, Gregov, had been enraged by the response of all those he considered below him, and decided to launch an attack on a kind on Tetra that doesn’t exist any more. The Pixens were the companions of the Fairens, much smaller than them, and with wings, they flew and existed as the soul partners of the Fairens, much like the Meil are companions of the Aquona on Gloarian. Though the Pixens had their own land, where they would reside, and despite it being on the border of Fairen land, it was just enough for Gregov to want to destroy it and take it away from the Fairens. It wasn’t hard to attack them of course, a full grown dragon with only one breath of fire on lands where all Pixens were sleeping was all it took to destroy the companions of the Fairens. There is a reason why Fairens are all such miserable creatures now, it’s because the Doirekh destroyed the one thing that gave them humanity, the Pixens. If you took away the Meil from members of the Aquona that have them they would be equally as grumpy and evil. From then the Fairens wanted vengeance, and with the war they vowed to Gregov, rose the Warmecks, knowing that the Fairens would have no way of protecting themselves without the warriors of Zaleon. Despite having destroyed the Pixens the Fairens still didn’t allow Gregov to take control of the land that belonged to their fallen companions, and so the Doirekh had launched attacks, spitting fire and assassinating everyone he could. A lot of Fairen population was lost in the process, though luckily all children had been in the care and custody of the Amethyst Witches, who eventually stepped in to help alongside the Warmecks. My kind fought with valor, as they should, and it took them roughly 3 months to capture the Doirekh at the time. The only way they could capture him was by chaining him down on these very grounds. This mountain that you seem to be walking on right now happens to be a mountain created out of the cadaver of that very Doirekh that was defeated centuries ago. Magical chains had held him down, and it did not allow him to switch to any other form. His mouth had been bound shut and from then onwards the Warmecks had kept the dragon chained to the mountain, and handed over control to the Fairens, to allow them to do as they pleased with Gregov. They kept him for years, poking, torturing and taming a beast that only wanted to be set free. With time the Fairens kept getting worse, their thirst for revenge would never be over, and it was due to that the Fairens lost their humanity to begin with. Greagov was kept in chains for a whole century, and that meant that the Warmecks had to be awake for a whole century without a purpose, just to ensure that the Doirekh would not rise to power again. The Warmeck commander in power at the time, Ray Nouk, had found his mate amongst the Fairens, and because they were so heartless she treated him with the utmost disrespect, she would use him in every way possible to satisfy her needs, and then she would leave him on his own, and spend the rest of her time flirting with other men of her own kind. Eventually Ray became as infuriated and heartbroken as could be, and he raged that the Warmecks had not been put to sleep after the incident, and do one day he went against the wishes of all the other Fairens, and decided to kill Gregov with the easiest death possible, one that the Doirekh certainly did not deserve after having taken away everything from the Fairens. They were devastated, of course, though the Warmecks did not fall back asleep. It had been the order of the flame that the Fairens kill the Doirekh as they pleased for what he had done, though by breaking that order and the one of being with his mate, the flame had decided to give the Warmecks no mercy, and take away their right to sleep if no war was going on. The entire Warmeck population raged, though the commander became a sort of dictator, driven by anger and madness, he created new rules that would affect the lives of every Warmeck to exist. He created a whole new world. One that existed beyond the massive figure of the dead Doirekh that you are climbing right now. With the help of the Yolegs they created a pathway on the body of Gregov, and created a massive land at the top of the dragon, and there, is where the current land of Warmecks is. The land was passed down to everyone who existed after him, and no one ever questioned it since. Ray had been terrified of being awake without fighting, and so he dived back into it, training his people and creating rules that were harsh and strict. No Warmecks was to live with their mate until married. Marriage ceremonies on our lands cannot be celebrated, and most of our time only goes into training and looking out for others on Tetra. We have the biggest borders to guard, and every inch of Tetran territory is looked after by the Warmecks. Ray implemented advanced learning techniques and gadgets and weapons that could help us learn to be the best of the best. They have been passed down to us after centuries, and it is partly because of him we are the way we are. We live strict lives, our relationships with our mates barely escalate, though our main purpose in life is to serve, and that is what we do. Most people question why the Warmecks are the warriors of the planet when we have no other power or alternate form, though most don’t realise that our alternate form is our power to fight. We were born for this, it is our gift, it’s what we spend our entire life preparing for, and now the time has come for another war, one much bigger than the previous one, and we need to be ready, all of us. Our mistake the first time was to think that by leaving the Fairens to it everything would be alright, though it has become evident now that this planet needs to unite, together we will always be better than alone. The Vermillion have always been a threat, despite how mild they were before, now they are not. All 6 of the Vermillion are against the rest of the planet now, and it is time for all of us to train, join forces and fight. The Warmecks are strong, but to defeat the Vermillion we need all of us, every member of Zaleon needs to fight to protect the planet that for so long has kept us alive. That is the backstory of the Warmecks, that’s how we live, and that is how you are going to have to live now. There is no backing out or getting scared, no matter what you face you have to deal with it because the safety of this world now depends on the two of you’ he completed, boggling the pair with the long story. They were in fact, stepping on a dead dragon, not a mountain, and that was perhaps the most mind blowing fact of all. 

    Though the entire speech certainly added some spice to the perception of the Warmecks, it also added a pressure that never before the couple had felt. They had spent so much time making up the rules as they went, being their own bosses and holding the power to do more than anyone on their planet, that they had forgotten that at some point they would have be on the other side of the spectrum. Their relationship had barely started, and yet they were constantly being put apart, whether it was by other females, rules or hatred, one thing or another had always come as an obstacle on the way, and it would certainly not allow the pair to be united as one with them in the way. As the pair glanced between each other, they felt how tense the other was, before they returned to face Remo, who climbed without releasing the pressure he had just put on them. 

    ‘Remo, what happened to Ray? And his mate?’ Questioned the woman out of curiosity. It was a funny concept, having mates, you get blessed with a singular person for life, but what do you do if that person refuses to coordinate? What must the pain be like for those who try and try and never get the love they are looking for? It was something that somewhat resonated with the Hybrid leader herself, who received the first rejection on the planet, and that in itself raised questions about what the flame was thinking when he created the concept to begin with. Of course, the story behind Leopold and Cassandra had yet to come to light, though why was the system he had created to be so peaceful not so funcional. Mates hated each other, rejected each other, cheated on each other, and frankly the concept needed just a touch more of love to be on the perfect level. Perhaps Leopold’s pent up anger had made its way through to the concept somehow, and that is what made it flawed. 

    ‘Well, Ray ended up killing his mate, and then coming to power and creating the current land of the Warmecks. He was killed eventually, though the next commander had maintained some of the rules that Ray had, as it had turned out to be better for the training on Warmeck lands. With people focusing more on their training and less on their mates, things were going great, and people were strong and happy. Though now another wave of downfalls are coming, and with the news of the war people are going to want to spend as much time as they can with their mates’ he responded, feeling just a pang of pain at the realisation that he had yet to find his own. It was something that had become obvious to Eliana, and so she stirred away from the conversation. 

    ‘Does Paulina have a mate?’ Her question had been a random one, though it made the man laugh for a reason unknown to the pair. 

    ‘No, our commander is the most driven of us all. No one can beat her. No one has even ever come close to it. The woman is as sharp as a blade, and she no wonder she never bothered looking for her mate, she never wanted one. She gives her 100% to her people, and that is all that matters to her. Our safety and happiness’ He had felt unsure of how to feel about his commander, knowing she was as strict as the commanders before her, though the care she had for her people had been transparent in her eyes. No one had ever had the chance to be a friend to the commander, for she was so rigid and work focused, though the woman was truly a gentle soul, with a big heart. 

    The Dragon’s cadaver they had been climbing just got steeper and steeper by the minute, and watching Remo do it with such ease only confused the pair that were truly struggling to take any steps forward. Razaar grabbed onto Eliana’s hand, and together they maneuvered their way up the makeshift mountain, one that had yet concealed the sight that they would eventually see. They could only wonder what the land of Warmecks looked like, and with every story that Remo told them they only got more and more hooked to the final result.

    ‘So, what’s the story with the two of you?’ He began by asking, noticing the clear differences in their behaviour from the last time. The pair looked between themselves before Razaar decided to take the lead. 

    ‘I rejected her at first sight, seven years later I realised the mistake I had made. I attempted to get her back but it was a lot harder than you might think. It took us her death to unite, actually. So here we are, one death later’ he summarised rapidly, clearly being judged by a stunned Remo who had not expected that for an answer. Nonetheless, he kept his opinion to himself, attempting to change the topic to the next most important question: why was she alive?

    ‘Did you ever figure out why she’s alive?’ Asked Remo, bringing up a certain moment of tension in the air. Eliana paused, as did Razaar, and they thought of what to respond with. The pair had realised that the top guard had not been half as evil as the people they had encountered on the way, though if the truth would not be revealed to their close friend Irina, then Remo was in no right to know the truth either.

    ‘We have gotten some answers, however not all. Though, we can’t reveal the reason I am alive, the flame knocked out anyone that was around us when it delivered the answer, and it only did that because it wanted no one else but Razaar and I to know the truth, I’m afraid’ spoke the Hybrid leader honestly, not knowing how to lie to someone so kind. The understanding man nodded, not pressing further and continued with his journey, almost at the top.

    The pair could finally see the top of the mountain, and they were almost on Warmeck lands, though the last few steps had been the hardest of them all. They were sure that they most certainly did not enjoy the journey there, though it had also made them aware that their training with the Warmecks was not going to be fun.

    Arriving at the top had been a lot different to what they had expected, rather than a land that would be all out in the open, a large door fenced the entire area, and it was a door that had been built taller than any door on the planet. Remo chuckled at the reaction of the two. Smirking, he approached the door, placing a loud knock in a certain pattern with immense strength, then stepping back to wait for the doors to open. Though when it did open, the sight had been one that blew away the minds of the pair. 

    The guards that had opened the door were long forgotten as the sight of Warmeck lands came to view. A large waterfall had been the first thing they had seen, grounds of stones, small stone houses, large training grounds and establishments for food, people in training gear all around, surrounded in a world where nature was as beautiful as it was in the territory of the Yolegs. It was all on top of a single figure of a massive Dragon, and it was absolutely stunning. They were left without words, and the only thing that was heard was the chuckling of Remo, who for the first time had brought guests from Gloarian onto his lands with pride. Razaar and Eliana looked not between themselves as they had been completely mesmerised by what they had been seeing, they never once had imagined the world of Warmecks to be as peaceful as it seemed, knowing that this was a kind that dedicated their lives to fighting, though having the vision in sight helped them believe that perhaps their training would not be all that bad. 

    Finally as the pair looked to each other, they shared a smile, and grasped each other’s hands, before focusing their attention on the man that had led them thair, who still held a smirk on his face. 

    It was time for the pair to morph into the last stage of obstacles to cross before the grand war, and this was all the time they had to be the best of the best to survive the war that was to come. 

    ‘Let’s get training’