Magnifico

The journey

The following morning, horses were arranged for the three men, General Sun took his white horse while two black horses were given to Jonas and Viruz. When they were leaving for Alaphas, they refused to give a weapon to Jonas because they didn’t feel too comfortable with him carrying a weapon. Besides, Jonas is a fine warrior so you can never tell what he is capable of doing with a weapon but not like he can defeat Sun one on one or both Sun and Viruz but they just wanted to be careful and to avoid unforeseen actions from Jonas. King Zulu has also warned Sun to be very careful with Jonas and watch his back always because he doesn’t trust Jonas for one minute. That morning, while they were leaving Alaphas, Magnifico has taken his soldiers and had left Alaphas for Azmak.

Sun decided to take the shortest route to Alaphas so he followed the part the Finder followed when he came to Quinax. Before they followed the dangerous plains, which was close to Zuix, knew that this road is mostly flooded with thieves and bandits, hoodlums that steal from travelers, so he made a quick decision.

“Jonas, I am going to give you this dagger. This road is lonely, narrow, and dangerous and I think this small dagger can play a role in at least protect you from unwarranted harm” General Sun said as he hands threw over the dagger to Jonas while on top of his horse.

“Thank you, General. Why aren’t you putting on your official outfit? If people see you on your uniform as a General, they wouldn’t dare attack us on the way.” Jonas replied.

“That would be a stupid idea. You don’t go around places you don’t know with your outfit even if you are a General. In fact, traveling with your military outfit alone will expose you to unnecessary attacks or raids from hoodlums in this plain.” General Sun replied Jonas.

Jonas kept quiet for a while and reasoned what Sun just told him and noticed that it is factual. Viruz didn’t feel comfortable talking with Sun because he doesn’t know if Sun had forgiven him for his actions in the past. They kept riding in this plain until they got to a point where a log of trees was seen on the narrow road, blocking the part which they will pass before they will get to where they are going to. It blocked the way in such a way that their horses couldn’t jump it and this looked very suspicious and unnatural.

“General, there’s a log of woods upfront, what are we going to do?” Viruz asked.

“I think we are going to stop and get it removed from the way,” Sun replied as he gets down from his horse.

When the General came down from his horse, Viruz also joined him while Jonas was still on his horse looking around the area and watching if he can find anything suspicious. When the General and Viruz were clearing the log of woods on their part, a man came running towards the General from his back to stab him.

“General watch out!” Virus shouted but before the General could turn around, the man is already bleeding.

“General, always watch your back,” Jonas said after he had thrown his dagger towards the assailant's head and killed him instantly. Before Sun could talk further, more hoodlums emerged from the bush. They were about fifteen hefty men that came out from the bush with their axes and swords. Jonas quickly came down from his horse and went closer to the General. They quickly scattered around and a man among them leaned forward.

“Give us all your holdings and all your horses then we will allow you all to walk out of here alive,” a man among the fifteen men said. He appeared to be their leader, a one-eyed man, has a long hair with a bushy mustache, without a second thought you will know that he is either a killer or a pirate.

“But there’s no way that’s going to happen, if we leave our horses to you, how do we then leave this plains alive?” Sun asked.

“Hiihihihahaha! Are you foolish? You shouldn’t be asking stupid questions. Now, I’m going to give you two options. First, you submit all you have to us and then you kiss my toes and leak off the dirt, then we might consider allowing you and your friends to go or we may go for the second alternative which is; we kill you and take all you have with us and then we take your dead bodies home for supper. which one do you prefer?” the one-eyed man asked.

“I prefer the third option”

“which third option? Did I give any third option?” the one-eyed man turned around to ask his men who also looked confused and stupid.

“I think you gave the third option” another bandit replied.

“What’s that?” the one-eyed man asked while looking confused.

“I think the third option is no option. Haha,” the same bandits replied as he laughs foolishly.

“You are a fool.” The one-eyed man told him. He continued “what third option is that friend?”

“The third option is to kiss my smelling a*s” Sun replied to him. The one-eyed man became peeved and irritated. Jonas was also disappointed with Sun's reply. He asked in a very low tune; “General, are you comfortably stupid or what? You have pissed them off you know?”

“Of course I know.” The General answered. He immediately gave Jonas a sword to use defend himself against them. Jonas took the sword immediately as he saw the men angrily scrambling towards them. Viruz himself has drawn his sword and smashed out a finger from an intruder rushing towards him. The General rushed to the one-eyed man with his sword while Jonas and Viruz stood side by side slaying the bandits. Sun shoved his sword in a way that would cut off the man’s head but the one-eyed man blocked it with his ax. But the one-eyed man then threw a careless punch to Sun's face but Sun saw it coming and bent down in a way that made him turn around for the man’s hand to go over his head from his back to make the man’s weight to lay on his back. This move made the man appear weightless because all his weight was thrown into the air by the force he wanted to use to hit Sun, now Sun managed to rotate him on the air in a fashion that made the one-eyed man perform a front flip. Accidentally, before he could land on the ground, he landed on a very sharp log of wood dropped in a way that made the sharp end be above while the blunt side below. The wood pierced the man’s stomach and he started bleeding.

“I told you to kiss my a*s, so you see what your arrogance has caused you? All this wouldn’t have happened if you had allowed us to go. Now, you have wasted our time and also gotten your self wounded probably dead.” General Sun said.

He was still talking to the one-eyed man about his arrogance and stupidity when suddenly a bandit came towards Sun's back and wanted to get him killed. Before Sun could turn around, Jonas has already used his sword to cut off the man’s head.

“Always watch your back General, you never can really tell.” Jonas reiterated.

Sun knew that Jonas had saved him twice from the hands of bandits and he couldn’t keep the thank you to himself in as much as he would want to keep it hidden. He didn’t want to owe any favours to Jonas but he had no choice.

“Thank you,” The General said.

“You are always welcomed,” Jonas said he smiles.

“Are you okay Viruz?” Sun asked.

“Yes. I am sir, thanks for asking.

“But Your face is bleeding.”

“That's just a scratch. It’s nothing General.”

“Alright, thank you, gentlemen. We need to start riding now because we have something very important we must do” Sun said. At this point, they have slaughtered all the fifteen men and they were lying dead in the ground, without wasting much time, they left for Alaphas. On arriving at Alaphas, it was already dark so they assumed Magnifico and some soldiers had already left for Azmak by then.

“Jonas, I hope all this better be true because our lives depend on it,” Sun said as he became increasingly worried.

“I hope so too General. Let's take this way” Jonas said as he pointed to the secret passage where they would follow.

They went close and Jonas unlocked the key of the secret passage door where they all followed while still on top of their horses. They rode for a distance of one mile before they unlocked the second door that led them inside Alaphas.

“We are finally here,” Jonas said as he demounted from his horse and hid himself to a close-by rock. The others followed suit and demounted from their horses too to hide somewhere safe. They stood there for a while and waited to examine the movement of soldiers in the area. There weren’t many things to be worried about so they left the place and followed Jonas lead. They arrived at the mighty pagoda from the east side and entered inside smoothly. This area hasn’t been heavily guarded and patrolled like it used to before Magnifico took over.

“What exactly is this place and why does it look so grave?” Viruz asked.

“Here is the pagoda, it is used for traditional purposes in Alaphas. This is where we pray and do all sorts of things but Magnifico turned here into a personal property where he performs all kinds of rituals and conjures spirits. Before I escaped to Quinax, I saw his sword turned and glowed here in this pagoda, and it seems like he invoked the power from the scroll and he avoids people clustering around here. No soldier prowls around here whenever he is busy and this scroll appears to be making him stronger because of the knowledge that lies therein.” Jonas said.

“Are we going to find the scroll here?” Sun asked.

“Here is the best place to search first before we can search for other places. General, if we don’t take this scroll away from him, he will become stronger and more dangerous.” Jonas said.

This rang a bell on Sun’s head and he immediately understood how important it was to find that scroll more than anything. From what Jonas had explained to them, he reckoned that Magnifico was becoming more stronger and powerful; if he is not stopped as soon as possible, things may get even nastier. They continued searching for the scroll to know if it was hidden anywhere close without shutting the door properly. Viruz was advised to go stay outside where he can see whatever that is coming inside the pagoda beforehand so that they can hide. While Viruz was outside, he felt like peeing so he went away from the door he was guarding into some kind of flower around the area to ease himself. While he was there, a single Alaphan soldier that was on lonely patrol saw the door opened, so he felt anxious and he brought out his arrow and bow and decided to inspect what’s inside. When he opened the door, he saw two men seriously searching for something and the noise from the door made Jonas turn around.

“King Jonas, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Azmak?” the soldier said immediately he saw Jonas' face, General Sun hurriedly turned around surprised. He wondered where Viruz had gone to that made him not to be aware when the soldier accidentally came in. He also thought that maybe Viruz was seen and had been arrested or perhaps, killed.

“Hey, soldier, why don’t you bring down your bow while we talk this through?” Jonas asked.

“No, that’s not going to happen. What is going to happen here is, I’m going to get you and your friend arrested while I keep you both in prison pending Magnifico's arrival.” The soldier replied.

When he was trying to create a scene, Viruz used a small blade to cut off the soldier's throat.

“Where did you go Viruz?” Sun asked.

“Yes, where did you go? We would have been killed.” Jonas said.

“I am sorry. I went to ease myself somewhere hidden, maybe that’s when he suddenly came in. I’m so sorry.” Viruz pleaded. They carried the dead soldier and hid him at the back of a statue standing at the left-hand side of the room, just the west flank from the main door.

“Alright, Jonas come see this box that I found,” Sun said. They quickly rushed and saw a golden rectangular box, small and portable, and can be carried around easily in a bag. On top of the box was a drawing of a star and a snake that appeared to be a python circled round a stick, all encrusted in pure gold. It was no ordinary box and it doesn’t show any sign of being able to be unlocked with a key.

“It doesn’t seem to have an opening,” Sun said.

“Wait! This box isn’t an ordinary box. I don’t think we can unlock it Just like that. This is called the manora box. The only thing that can open it without any magical power is when it is kept under the sun. I guess it will be opened.” Jonas said.

“So do you think the scroll may be hidden inside this box?” Sun asked.

“There’s a possibility. Magnifico wouldn’t want to keep it carelessly so, he will try as much as he can to hide it somewhere safe. He may even have traveled with it.” Jonas said as he dropped the box on a table.

“So we have to believe that this scroll is in here and search no further?” Viruz asked.

“ I think so. Going inside Magnifico's chambers will be highly dangerous because there could be soldiers there guiding the arena.” Jonas said.

“Well, we need to be sure before we go back to Quinax. I think we need to search his chambers now so we don’t regret anything later. If we go back to Quinax without being thorough about our journey, we may leave something behind. You know we can’t wait for the sun” Sun said.

“You are correct but you know it’s very risky. I don’t want to make it riskier than this and you know your King; he is going to kill me if something goes wrong.” Jonas said.

“we will worry about that later” Sun replied to him. Sun took the manora box and inserted it inside a bag and they went outside the pagoda following Jonas' lead. They went through the back of the palace and luckily sneaked inside. They didn’t find anyone and they searched for everything but couldn’t find the scroll too. Jonas suggested he needs to go to his chambers to see if he can collect any tangible thing he might have forgotten before coming to Quinax but, on getting there, they saw lots of soldiers guarding the territory so they couldn’t go any further. Viruz suggested they leave as soon as they can before someone sees them and they all quickly left. They followed the way that led them there the same way on their way out and at last, they got to the secret passage without being detected. They mounted their horses and left Alaphas that night but chose not to go to Quinax that same day. General Sun suggested that when they get to somewhere far and safe, they will make a tent and sleepover for the night. “We will leave first thing tomorrow morning,” Sun told them while they were making tents where they will sleepover. They gathered firewood and made a campfire and they finally slept there.