Destroyers
1963 Words
The elegant man is flowing on the heights, at the same level as the armored purple-blue figure in front of him. There is a big dragon of the same color behind the man on the golden ship.
"What are you?" Viktor inquires, curious about the nature of the bond that his eyes see, the magical link between the dragon and the man in front of him. He wonders if it's possible to break it, and the answer comes to his mind. It is nearly impossible. Only a god can.
"I'm Eltanin Von Draco, from Dubhe the land of steel," he replies. "And this is my partner Altair. It's an honor to meet you, god of chaos."
He performs an elegant reverence, not submissive at all, and Viktor notices why.
Eltanin has a necklace, and from the necklace hangs a green jewel, an extremely rare jewel known as one of the eyes of Baldur, objects that nullify the magic that gods use in their avatars, breaking the bond between puppet and master. Viktor concludes that if they fight they lose. He can't afford to lose, not before dealing with the problem in those lands. It has cost him a lot to get there.
"I'm Viktor Blake, son of Orim and Catherine," he replies. "The honor is mine, steel lord."
The powerful man, Eltanin, removes the metallic face between the jaws of his dragon helmet, revealing his features as his dragon lowers her head at his same level. Her head is as tall as Eltanin and the god of chaos knows, just wishing to know, that she is close to Eltanin's heart.
What are you? the god wonders, the light of the current of fate giving him just glimpses of Eltanin, but nothing truly reliable.
Viktor sees brown eyes as autumn leaves behind the mask; copper skin as beautiful and smooth as a baby; the ebony threads of the darkest night as his hair, falling on his beautiful face in which he flashes a gentle and noble grin, inspiring, fascinating, and mysterious. The steel lord is as beautiful, if not more than Alana, and Viktor concludes that the prince is going to steal the hearts from the golden city and there is nothing he can do about it.
The prince is very, very dangerous.
Did he augment his appearance? he wonders. The answers come, glimpses again. He learns of a king named Klaus, son of king William, son of Urizen, son of Alecta, son of Alliot the invincible, son of Alistair, son of Dubhe. A bloodline crafted by the ideal of perfection since king Alliot the invincible, a man who never lost a fight and founded the realm of Dubhe. A man said to be a god. And Eltanin is the result of the efforts of Alliot's descendants to become as great as the invincible was, efforts meant to make the steel lords unbreakable and powerful in mind, body, soul, and in every other aspect of life, to be as gods, to be gods. In Dubhe, the steel lords are gods.
Viktor grins.
"Trading! How curious! It's the same purpose of our expedition," he says.
"I thought so," the prince responds. "That makes us rivals, or maybe partners."
"Exactly," Viktor adds. The prince sighs.
"The truth is that I'm here because of the thing in the center of the continent.
"Can you take of it alone, lord of steel?" Viktor asks.
"I can," Eltanin replies. Viktor smirks.
"Have you ever seen something like that before?" the god of chaos asks. "Its mere presence is changing, rotting, reality. It won't be easy to defeat and if it is awakened we will need to sacrifice the entire continent to banish it back to the realm of nightmares."
"What is it?" Eltanin asks.
"It's an old brother of the gods, a predecessor of chaos and order, a horror without beginning or end, name or will, it is wickedness and insanity, it's something wild and worse than all evils because it isn't evil at all. It can turn gods mad and twist and horribly deform all that is beautiful, and all that when it's asleep. No one dares to imagine what would happen if one ever wakes up, only lord Ahriman knows," Viktor explains. Eltanin remains silent. "Listen, if you are here to banish it, then I'll be glad to have your support."
"You'll have it, my lord," Eltanin responds. "My mission is to find new friends and neutralize threats to my country, after all."
"Good then," Viktor says. "But I have to ask why aren't you attacking it right now with that incredible ship?"
"I didn't know what it was, I don't know yet what it is," he replies. "I was gathering all the information that I could to find a weakness or a legend at least."
"I see you have hunted powerful beings before," Viktor adds.
"I did," Eltanin admits. "I had to."
While they speak their respective servants are talking to the knights at the docks, willing to pay any price but the knights, religiously admiring the golden ship of steel, just welcome them to Hannah, the golden city blessed by the goddess of the moon.
"My lord, they are waiting," the man dressed as a butler says. His name is Raphael and he is on guard because he knows that the armored prince can see through his cover, sees his infernal nature, and doesn't care about it. The worst part is that the vampire that serves him is extremely powerful.
He is as powerful as Nathan. He has concluded.
"We shouldn't make them wait, should we?" the prince says.
"We should not," answers Viktor.
They land from the golden ship, Viktor accompanied by his wife and Eltanin by his loyal Artorius, followed by three precious women, two of them are elves and the third is like no one ever seen.
Her young skin is slightly golden and her tiny body slim with perfect curves in the perfect places, she has a round face with a small and beautiful silver jewel on her forehead and another between her generous breaths; her eyes are silver as her long straight hair and she is dressed in silver sandals, jewelry and a thin and beautiful silver dress that entices the heart. She can't be anything different than a goddess, right?
"Lords from heaven, we are yours!" says the high cardinal Lambert Guilin, a man in his fifties, with his two young wives following him, the rest of the Cardinals next, and the rest of the Church and the order of the knights next.
Viktor notices it and he knows Eltanin knew of this before.
"You have done well, Lambert," announces the prince with a casual gesture, flying up, allowing the crew to witness his might. The priest and everybody observing the scene just kneel before the miracle while Leon smirks. There are no gods in Io, not a single one, otherwise, the prince would have never called attention like that. No gods in Io, until Viktor Blake lands there.
"You are wondering who I am, little humans," he continues.
He thinks he's superior, Alana whispers in Viktor's mind.
He is, Viktor admits.
What? she asks.
He is superior, and it seems he's not the only one like that in these lands, Viktor responds. Look, there, on the intersection, next to the blonde. That knight is not human.
Yes, she agrees. And there's something concerning about him.
You can notice it too, he affirms.
Of course, she responds. I got the same feeling when Nathan visited us.
You are right, Viktor agrees. But what he is, is also a mystery.
I don't like it, she admits.
Me neither, Viktor adds.
Do you think he knows? she inquiries.
He does, he just learned about our mysterious knight.
"My name is Eltanin, and I am a steel lord from the land of steel, beyond the vastity of all the oceans," he declares. "I'm a warrior god, and also an explorer."
The priest is going to intonate some hymn, but Eltanin continues.
"Bring me your best knights," he declares. "They will be judged."
Leon has a feeling about the lord of steel. He knows he is not a god, but the man in black behind is. Both are not meant to be real, both should be a dream.
"They are glorious," Maria whispers, charmed by the beauty of the flying man that calls himself a god.
It's not a dream…
It was not a dream…
The woman from his dream…
She is…
No…
Titania…
He moves forward when nobody else does, and when the crowd notices him opens the path. They bless him as he steps towards their god. He is leaving her, he is abandoning his mortality, he is going to beg for help, for the power to recover his power, to return to the heaven he lost. He is rejecting the world, and mortal prison, and his mortal feelings.
God… god… help me… please, I beg you! he repeats in his mind.
He is leaving Maria, his Maria, and she doesn't have the slightest idea.
"I love you," her voice says from behind, her pretty voice, the voice that sings in the shower, the voice that he loves and adores, the voice that her pretty lips let out. And he just kneels before the gods, his gaze buried on the wood of the floor, and says, and asks, absolutely nothing.
Eltanin descends in front of him.
The sound of the steel touching the steel gets to him. His hand is on his shoulder. He removes his helmet and meets the cold blue sapphire jewels that are the eyes of the precious mask of Eltanin, eyes that have a tiny spark of glow in them, eyes that are on the chest, arms, and legs. Leon concludes that Eltanin can see in every direction.
"Little wolf, what are you?" he whispers to him, giving him chills. "Why are you pretending you are a lamb, little wolf?"
Leon feels a cold blade getting buried deep into his chest, but in truth, there is no blade and no wound.
"I'm… I'm just a knight, my lord, nothing more," Leon replies. He has repeated that same lie to himself so many times in front of the mirror. He can't be anything else, he doesn't need anything else because that would mean leaving Maria. He loves her so much and yet he was leaving her seconds ago…
Leon hates himself right now.
"Little, wolf," Eltanin continues. Leon knows he is smiling, condescending. "Little wolf, what did they make you? How did they make you swallow the lie? How did they cut your wings and your dreams?"
"I'm… just… a knight," he repeats, but every word is so difficult to pronounce and all of them taste like lies.
Eltanin chuckles, for one second, lifting his gaze. He is looking at Maria.
"Little wolf, you can't protect her while dressed in lies," he declares.
"He is worthy," he proclaims. "All of you are, despite your countless flaws."
Some people start crying, some others can't hold their joy.
"But you have to keep working hard if you want to earn heaven," he adds. "Heaven is not won, it's earned."
Then the Cardinals lead him and his companions to the church. They make the holy soil the home of the deities. They just obey without a second thought, they just move in the direction Eltanin and Viktor instruct.
Little, wolf…
Little wolf…
What are you?
The voice laughs in his mind and Leon curses the so-called gods because they are here now, now that he doesn't need them. To destroy his happiness, and end his world.
- Writer
