The Legend of Tantus - Book 3

Chapter 2.2

    Until then, impressively, neither fought at full strength, saving the best of themselves for an outcome that was necessary, and it was time. The stranger concentrated his maximum power, this time splendidly, and entered the magnificent “Trance Mode”, his body was now golden and enveloped in blinding flames, that power was terrible, at the level of a lord. That was a delicate moment and even with the advantage Sumith could not underestimate him, so he also awoke his secret power, the dragon's shadow appeared and remained behind him, with his eyes shining his power overflowed imposing more respect to the enemy, it was time to end the fight definitely. At the moment when the two invested for the final attack, another golden figure could be seen at a glance, standing between their attacks and blocking both, it was none other than the princess of Darkan in trance mode, Ultima!

- Enough! – said the princess, driving away the fighters and interrupting the titanic battle. – Sumith, who is this guy?

- Your highness. – said the stranger kneeling to Ultima, much to Sumith's surprise.

- How long, Sumith. – said another voice, it was the king, Omega, who also arrived in trance mode.

- I see you are doing very well, the time is very slow for you. – said the traveler.

- For you too, it seems. – And turning to the stranger, who remained bowing, Omega asked. – Who are you, arch sorcerer?

- I am Leand-garai, my king.

- Leand-garai?! – said Ultima. – The cursed darkanian?

- So you also survived. – said Omega. – How did you get here, and why do you attack our friend?

- ...

- Speak. I order.

- Yes, my lord.

    A long time ago, in Darkan, Leand-garai was the fiance of Stardust, sister of Forcius, but for some reason he was cursed and banished from royalty by Aethril, the supreme. But the truth now told by him, unknown until then, was that the supreme darkanian, already distrusting the f*******n love between her children, promised her daughter as wife to Garai, who was a powerful arch sorcerer, revealing the truth to him, Aethril, still blinded by the desire to honor royalty, demanded that he prevent an i****t relationship between Stardust and Forcius, thus becoming a guardian of honor. He did everything he could to prevent his future wife, but because he had an honest heart, he was impressed by the true love between brother and sister, giving way and getting out of their way, but Aethril knew nothing about it and only much later with her grandson, Tantus, already an adult and powerful, was that the former queen discovered everything by pulling her daughter's mind, and after taking her life, before leaving to Karzea and solving everything in her own way, subjugated and cursed Leand-garai, sharing a small fraction of her power in his life force, but so that he could not use it directly, thus making him immortal, condemning him to watch the death of all his loved ones before him, and only when the last of his generation had left is that his life would flow naturally again, remaining a long time until he died definitively. But as darkanians have an extraordinarily long life span, perhaps the despair of dishonor and the desire to leave led him to become a murderer of his own race, further aggravating the curse. And with that it was discovered that Aethril did not have two exclusive powers, but three, being undoubtedly special among the specials.

- I did not know this part of the story. – said Ultima. – All we heard from the rumors was that you had dishonored royalty, so you were punished. A sad story...

- An unfair punishment for someone who just respected the love of others. It is true, that was not considered correct, but dishonorable, disgusting and sickly, I never tried to justify what they did, I just understood that the love between them was true. Even if no one else saw this I saw it, it was something that was not found anywhere... – said Garai. – When Darkan disappeared, I was in Karzea, wandering inconsolably, and I thought I was free from this curse, but even after a long time I did not age, until I realized. I left Caírion and wandered through the universe quickly and tirelessly thanks to the technology of that planet, for hundreds of times I lost hope, recovered, lost and recovered again, because death is all I have left.

- What about Omega and Ultima? – asked Sumith.

- They, fortunately, are not part of my generation.

- Our father once said that a darkanian never indulges in meaningless suicide, or purposeful defeat, as it corrupts the spirit and condemns the soul, in your case, you would be even more lost, Garai. – Ultima.

- If Infinitus were alive I would probably never have a chance to break free, because even my skills were not enough against him.

- Have you ever fought with our father?

- I would not call it a fight, I would call it a lesson. If I killed the king I would be able to kill anyone, so I gave my all, but I saw in him an unimaginable potential... He could have taken my head off if he wanted to, it was foolish to insist.

- And why did you attack Sumith? – Omega.

- I felt it a long time ago when I got here. I used my power of forecasting and I could see five darkanian presences, two of my generation, but some time later one of them disappeared, a drop of hope for me, but the other remained. I waited for a long time for the moment to get rid of this karma until another one disappeared, but it did not correspond to me. There were three left, and even more time I spent waiting, it was when a few years ago I felt another one, the first one that disappeared resurging, but this time it no longer corresponded to me.

- And what do I have to do with all this? – asked Sumith.

- You are the last of my generation, you are the one who will set me free.

- You called me “Tantus”.

- That is what I saw.

- You predictive power was legendary on Darkan, envied by many. – said Omega. – What about the other presence, which you felt resurging?

- It's that girl. – said pointing to Yasmine, who approached fearfully.

- ???

- ???

- ???

- I did not understand anything about this craziness. – said Ultima. – But we are here for another reason, Sumith.

    Ultima and Omega revealed that something terrible was taking shape, with her perceptive and empathic powers the princess of Darkan felt a sleepless evil arising, so they were there to help:

- I can not know what it is, but it's something I have never felt before, an evil will that leaves our stepsister behind... – said Ultima.

- Big thing is coming, Sumith. A large army has taken over the entire west of the world. – said Omega. – Official news is expected to arrive soon, and here may be the next target.

- I heard rumors. Has it to do with it?

- Yes. – said Ultima. – As I said, I can not know exactly what it is, but it's in the middle of it.

- Thank you for the warning.

- Thank you nothing! – Omega. – Do you think you will have all the fun alone?

- Hahaha... Thank you.

- Excuse me, majesty. – said Leand-garai, hitherto silent. – This world does not interest me, I only have my affairs with this man.

- Sorry to ignore you like that, Garai. – said Omega.

    At this point Yasmine finally took the courage to approach. The three darkanians “burning” in flames scared her immensely, but Sumith with that sparkle in his eyes, that huge shadow following him and the power of the guardian, was even more intriguing, at least for her (yes, the whole conversation happened with their powers in maximum force). Considering that Sumith's time limit was already approaching its end, the four returned to normal after noticing the girl's discomfort, and allowing her to speak to the traveler:

- Silver guardian, never approach the center of Mérit, I know the legend, you really are Sumith Maxlyeben, right?

- Forgive me Yasmine, I did not want to hide something like that from you, I was afraid to scare you. – said Sumith. – What am I saying? – He spoke to himself.

- I think... that in your place I would do the same. But how? How do you still live? Does the guardian's power make you immortal?

- No.

- But then how?

- Please do not ask me, there is no way to explain.

- It's ok. Is it true what they said? That a crisis is approaching?

- Never doubt.

    Yasmine also questioned why Sumith hid his right arm, posing as a cripple despite the armored arm. “The less you show, the more peace of mind you buy.” – replied simply. And this was an obvious reason for not wanting unwanted attention, as he truly enjoyed peace, but now, it seems, these days were ending.

- And who are they? – she asked about the darkanians.

- You will already know them. – And looking at Leand-garai, Sumith noticed the sadness of a lone warrior, and made a decision according to his instincts.

- Sumith is our friend, Garai, we cannot allow you to hurt him. – Ultima said when the traveler approached.

- Leand-garai, you are an elite warrior, and your strength would be of great help.

- ... – Garai.

- Come with us, Garai. – said Omega.

- I just want to die in peace, majesty.

- If you fight by my side I promise I will help you break your curse. – said Sumith.

- ?

- ?

- ?

- I see the truth in you... I accept, but I ask you to keep some distance, because my temptation to kill you is still great. – said Garai.

- What is this stuff on your arm, Sumith? – asked Ultima.

- Ah... I do not know for sure, but it was a gift from an old friend.

- Strange...

    Omega and Ultima now wore the traditional darkanian armor, similar to Garai, made by the great warrior himself, but without a helmet and without the wings on their back, apparently they had enjoyed not attracting attention since the time of the secret adventure. The fact that Garai called Sumith “Tantus” was too intriguing, and Yasmine like the one who “resurged”, but it was not the time to try to decipher the most difficult, as Ultima was always a prankster, but this time she was serious and showing wisdom, ugly thing would come around, very ugly thing without a doubt and his instincts, once again, occupied his mind, patience. But perhaps the most incredible thing of all was Yasmine's understanding, something of that magnitude happening before her, which she looked at incredibly unbelievably naturally, seemed more and more that she knew Sumith from other times.

- The princess is right. – said Garai. – I can see an immense and strange evil will, but I also cannot say what it is...

    And everyone looked at the black clouds that came from the west, as an omen.