Stacy Pendragon

An excerpt from Stacy Pendragon #2: The Eye of Agadastro

         “We found the relic.” Zeke said.                                                       

          Ariana looked over to the guards tasked with holding our captive mage who was fighting to be free.

          “Is that it?” she asked.

          “Don't be stupid!” Zeke told Ariana in a serious tone. “You can see very well that it is a girl.”

          “Where is this relic Zeke?” my father asked him.

          “When we got there, she,” Zeke pointed to her, “was already there. She stole the relic and made a run for it."

          "Yeah, Zeke pushed me off Lady Liberty and we chased her across long Island for a rusty piece of piping." I said, still not over the fact that Zeke had really tossed me off the statue of liberty.

          "And when we caught up with her, she put up a fight.” Zeke continued.

          “Don't tell me the girl beat you in a magic duel, Zeke. What did she do to it?” Ariana asked him.

          “We subdued her and we were about to take in the relic when,” he paused and took a deep breath, then he went on.  “The Dark General showed up.”

          There was a general pause around the table as they waited for Zeke to go on.

          “Well,” Ariana broke the silence, “what happened?”

          “He took the relic and we made an attempt to get it back. He was too powerful. The Shadow was backing him up. He used the relic and almost killed us. We barely made it out of Earth alive.”

          “What relic was that?” my father asked.

           Zeke breathed out and sat down on the floor, crossing his feet. His mind was not in a good place now. He was clearly trying to get his wits about him.

          “Well, Dark boy,” said our captive, “do tell him how you let your father get away with such a powerful relic. I'm starting to think you both had planned it.”

          I whipped around and faced her then I said “sthei!” and her voice was inaudible. She tried screaming but her voice won't work. I had muted her.

          “This is bad, this is really bad.” Zeke murmured.

          “We thought it was just a rusty piece of iron.” I said. “but when the Dark General picked it up, it turned into a war staff. Zeke was pretty agitated when he saw it. He used the staff to hurl purple lightning bolts at us.”

          My father was having a hint of fear on his face, the same kind I had seen on Zeke’s.

          “What staff?” he asked.

          “I don’t know what it was called.” I said. My father looked at Zeke for an answer. Zeke took more deep breaths before he answered.

          “It’s the staff of your forefather,” He said. “The staff of Akathrys.”

          Everyone in the room, I mean everyone but Zeke, his captive and I, drew a collective gasp of horror. The guards traded uneasy glances. Even my father looked serious. He walked away from the table and knelt before Zeke.

          “How could he have made away with that staff?” he asked. "How did you let him get away with it? You should have destroyed it!"

          “We did what we could.” He assured my father. “Even so, he had help from The Shadow. We never stood a chance.”

          “Why didn’t you tell me it was that staff you went after?” he asked sternly. “I could have sent help!”

          “I did not know it myself. Else I would have gone to Earth as soon as I found out it was there. I would not have wasted time. I'm sorry your highness.”

          “Do you know what can happen to all of us now!”

          “What is this?” I asked. “The staff of Akathrys, what is it?”         

            Everyone looked at me like I was a total i***t. I totally felt like one. But don’t blame me! I grew up on Earth. I barely know my own parents, much less the history of my forefathers. No one answered. Not even Ariana looked like she wanted to make a joke about my ignorance. It was Zeke who finally answered me.

          “It is a weapon wielded by the hosts of The Shadow. A weapon wielded by the Dark Generals.” He said. “It has the power to bring forth an infallible army of spirit warriors, flawless fighters, ruthless killers, and they are seemingly invincible. They can fight on and on for years on end, never once fatiguing, never faltering in their attack. They can take down an entire kingdom in a matter of days. Whoever wields the staff, controls the dark spirit army. If my father wages open war against your kingdom,” he said shaking his head, “I'm afraid he would have won the war before it ever comes close to starting. The whole of Eidenvellir will be lost in The Shadow's quest for domination.”

          I watched Zeke explain this to me in shock. I could not imagine that an ancestor of mine had once wielded that staff. That it was named after him! I was short of words. I paced around the room, wondering what we had brought upon this world. With a weapon that could do what Zeke just said it could do, I did not see how we could win an open confrontation against The Shadow. That was when Ariana said something that, I can't believe I'm saying this, gave me hope.

          “But the staff is incomplete right?” she said, walking around the table and stood by my father’s side.

          “What?” my father looked up to her with a hopeful look on his face.

          “The staff had a jewel on it. It was the jewel that was the source of the staff’s power. Agadastro destroyed the jewel. Did he not? Without it, the staff can't summon the spirit army.”

          “Yes,” my father answered her, “yes he did.” looking to Zeke to confirm this and strengthen his hope.

          That was just about what it took to lift my spirits again. Though only for a moment before Zeke announced a spoiler.

          “My father is not stupid.” He said. “Did it not cross your mind that he went after the staff, knowing that its jewel was destroyed?”

          “We know the Dark General is many things,” my father said rising to his feet, “But he was never stupid. There is a reason though why he went after it.”

          “But the staff is useless. He can't do anything but use it as his weapon in combat.”  Ariana said.

          "You clearly missed the part where I said he hurled ominous purple lightning at us with that very staff!" I said.

          “He wouldn’t go after an incomplete staff if he didn’t have a way of completing it.” Zeke said.

          “Can you please think positive for once, Zeke?” I told him. “The jewel was destroyed over three hundred years ago.”

          “You should not underestimate my father, Stacy, there is a reason why The Shadow chose him as his host.”

          “Zeke what we need now, is to stay positive. There is no way he could possibly make another jewel as a replacement or something.” Ariana said. 

          “It’s okay,” my father assured us. “He cannot put together such a powerful object once it is destroyed. It was a creation of The Shadow itself, and since it is chained in the Netherworld, it can't make another. And seeing as the staff needs to be complete in order to free The Shadow, I would say destroying the staff's jewel was the next best thing Agadastro ever in this war against The Shadow.”

          We all relaxed at this. At least the staff of Akathrys was nothing more than a useless war staff now. We all did. Zeke was still reluctant to believe that his father went through all that trouble for nothing. But then something hit me.

          “What about the ring?” I asked. Everyone looked up.

          “What ring?” Zeke asked me.

          “You know, the one I told I saw in my dream, all those months ago when I first woke up after our battle with Vitrax.” I said. “Remember I told you of a dream where he put on a ring and sinisterly said 'I will do it myself'?"

          "Yes, I remember you told me about this dream, what of if?" Zeke said.

          "Well, he was wearing that very ring back in New York. I couldn't help but wonder, what does that one do?”

          “I did not see him wearing any ring.” Zeke said.

           “Well you weren’t very observant then.” I said and described the ring in detail.

          “I still don’t recognize that one.” He said. “Be more detailed about the runes on it.”                                                                              

          I had pondered so much about this ring over the past few months I knew every detail I had seen about it. Although I never bothered describing the runes to Zeke in detail. I held open my palm and my red aura swirled around, forming the runes I had seen on the ring.

          “That one is the loop of infinity.” My father said as my aura formed a weird red circle with two curved spikes on opposite ends, curving in opposite directions from each other.               

           “It represents time and space, two infinite entities.” He continued. I was kinda impressed hearing that from my father. My aura then swirled to form another strange rune which my father did not recognize; a diamond shaped rune with a square drawn within it and smaller runes drawn around the square. Zeke perked up his head and said.

          “Wait, show both runes at the same time.”

          I made the rune for infinity appear beside the other strange rune.

          “Can you move the infinity circle into Agadastro’s emblem?” he asked.  I superimposed both images. Ariana clicked her fingers.

          “Of course!” she said. “It’s Agadastro’s signature rune.”

          “Yes, I know that!” Zeke said impatiently.

          I placed the rune of infinity within the square in the diamond. Looking at it now, it looked like an eye. A really strange eye.

          “I knew it!” Zeke yelled hitting the table with his fist.

          “What? What’s wrong?” I asked him. Ariana was looking dazed as well.

          “It’s the Eye of Agadastro.” Zeke said.

          “More bad news right?” I asked.

          “With the eye,” my father said defeat washing his, “he can complete the jewel of the staff of Akathrys.”

          “What's that? Is it like the all-seeing eye of Horus?” I asked. Once again, I got puzzled looks that meant these people here had no idea who Horus was. My father turned on his heel and pointed to a guard. 

         "Summon Zarina at once!" There was a great sense of urgency in his voice. For him to be this worried, it got my thumping.

          “Whatever you say it is,” Zeke began, “it’s not. The Eye of Agadastro is another powerful, really unique relic which grants its user the power to access the Currents of Time.”

          “I only know of the Currents of Energy.” I said. “So explain further.”

           He grabbed at his hair and sighed, despair and defeat dawning on his face as well. “It is a ring that gives its wearer the ability to move through time, Stacy.” He said. "My father, it seems, may be planning to go back to the past and retrieve the complete staff of Akathrys."