The Legend of Tantus - Book 1

Chapter 5 - The mysterious shadow

    Rakasha was a lobime that lived in the great colony of her race, Wolver, near the White Mountains in Saitar and also next to a village of the mercenary shinobis. Although there was no conflict between them, the shinobi and the lobimes did not cross each other. The young wolf had a small posture for her species, was timid and practically unmixed with the others, perhaps because she was born in the eclipse of the Sun, was seen as a bad omen among her superstitious people. Her parents lost their lives in the battle against the armies of Zeijadel, in the discord of the power, and she lived alone in the furthest part of the colony in a hovel. The king of the wolves, named Lorben, the gray, was one of the few who treated her naturally, including giving financial aid, in gratitude for the courage of her parents, but could do little to change the thoughts of others in this regard, and among these few there was a man with long black hair, he was the only one who treated her with true respect being almost a father figure. He visited her with some frequency, but insisted on being totally discreet, and on this day she received his visit.

- Good morning, my dear. – said the man.

- Good morning, Mr. Kraven. – replied Rakasha, who was tending her small plantation. – I thought you abandoned me.

- Never, my dear. – said Kraven. – Lately I have had a lot of important things to do, and I still have, but nothing will stop me from coming.

- Thank you, only you comfort me in this unhappy life that I take here.

- Do not say that, you are much more important than you think, especially to me.

- I am still scared of that big eagle, but I am getting used to it. Sometimes I invoke her unintentionally. – said Rakasha scratching the head.

- Try to avoid this, no one should know that you have her, this is very important.

- Mr. Kraven, take me with you. I know that you face battles, I want to fight with you. I would give my life for you.

- No, my dear, you are too important for me to let you take risks.

- But...

- But one day I will need your strength, and I hope to count on you when that time comes.

- Whatever you want.

- And do not let anyone make you feel inferior, for the day will come when you will be released, and it will be a change for all the contempt they gave you.

- I do not want revenge, I just want to live in peace, no matter how, and far from here.

- Your wish will come true, I promise. – said Kraven. – Now let me help you, can I have the meal with you?

- Of course yes! I will prepare something special for us today.

*****

    The group planned to go north of Lieben by the sea, because, on land, there was only one safe passage through the Forest of Illusion and through the steep Estravas Mountains. That forest did not carry this name for nothing. Many travelers already got lost in that place and took a long time to find their way out, days, months, and even winters (Sumith was one of them, but he was lucky), otherwise the forest was rich in fruit trees and wild animals, these, by sign, were the only ones not deceived by the illusions, crossing the forest without obstacles, and therefore anyone would have no problem finding sustenance there. It was said that some people who got lost were living in the place, because they have not yet found the exit, a region simply beautiful and ancient, in fact millenarian and of mystery never solved, perhaps it has something to do with the first lords, since the forest arose shortly after the beginning of their reigns, according to the first records. The only free passage from the illusions was nothing more than a narrow road, any small detour meant to fall at the will of the forest, so all travelers who wished to use that route should follow slowly, to ensure the right exit on the other side, and the group was not willing to spend so much time on a single road.

    To Arkan's frustration the mers warned about many hydras wandering through the north, and they would not like another embrace like the one before. So they decided to change plans and move on to Tantus, east into Nargol Harbor, but to general frustration a strong storm formed in that direction, and according to Arkan, stronger than his ship could bear. It was not worth the risk of being shipwrecked, so they had to head northeast to the Rennah Harbor, which meant taking the longest route to the temple of that continent, which was near the coast of the Kingdom of Krantenion, but there was no other option, they had to continue.

    The trip took six days, though without any extra unforeseen, the wind was not so favorable, they docked at the Rennah Harbor at nightfall and waited until dawn to continue their journey. The great surprise was that Arkan was accompanying them, he wanted to go to the city of Anarkandy, and he should do it on foot in this case, having to pay the dock administrators to watch over his ship, and he hated doing so. The continent of Tantus was the largest of the six, so vast that it was divided into two kingdoms: Terra and Krantenion, and yet they possessed great territorial extensions. The first ruled by the great king Valdnar Calvera, the son of Baltier Calvera, the perseverant, and the second ruled by Krantenion himself, the oldest and most powerful dragon ever seen, the wise adviser of the world.

    Just a day and a half of quiet travel and passed indispensably by the Kingdom of Terra, being difficult to find words to describe the great city. There were mansions and skyscrapers, the streets were very well paved with sidewalks and walls, squares with large, beautiful statues and fountains. Terra owned the world's most famous theater, with buildings worthy of the greatest performances, and thousands of people came from all over to enjoy the great shows. In fact the city did not even seem to be from that time, even seemed more advanced, futuristic, and the castle was something unreal, like a gleaming palace, almost indescribable. The soldiers carried the shape of a pair of wings in their black armor, symbolizing their ability to go far, in every way. It was a wonder what those people had, but it was not always that way. In the past, in the discord of the power, the continent was completely devastated by the enemy, the Kingdom of Terra was violently seized and king Baltier saw no alternative but to remove what was left of his army and people to the south, to the Fortress of Pandemonius, being the first time the place was actually used, such was the necessity. The immense Pandemonius was called "The Insurmountable Barrier", located in the region formerly known as Gray Land, due to the almost always cloudy weather, it was the ideal natural fortress, surrounded by an incomparable chain of mountains, that simply went around the region made a perfect, tall and very dangerous giant wall, both for attackers from the continent and the sea, a veritable steep breakwater created by nature, with a singular air spell that blew unforeseeable and very dangerous winds even for the more experienced adventurers, not to mention the large and scary fort located in the central area, carved into the rough rock. Although the region was vast, thousands of magically reinforced watchtowers were built all along, and absolutely nothing escaped the eyes of the sentinels, the only two entrances in the north were very narrow, making the attack on them a suicide, even with a large-scale attack on any part of the wall with a difficulty of that magnitude, it was not necessary for so many soldiers to halt or at least delay, and the sorcerers were in charge of alerting the main army, which would have plenty of time to arrive, practically impossible to invade, for the proud kings of the past, who transformed it into what it is today, affirmed that it would take a world army, or simply a god to take it. Countless goblins and cyclops died trying to climb those mountains, and were easy targets for the many archers and sorcerers, there was also a single passage under them where the fifth arm of the Tantus River passed, but it was too long and only the mers cross it to reach or come from the ocean. These mountains were called the "Baltier Borderland", there was no strategy at all feasible, as the griphons alone could not against the king's army, all the dragons of Zeijadel were very busy on other continents and he himself did not count on this immense obstacle. Runglu, the goblin general, was forced to withdraw his troops to concentrate on the rest of the continent, many survivors came to join the king, Baltier had thus time to prepare and strengthen his soldiers, and when the time came he descended on the enemies like a storm. They built the Fort of Anarkandy, which would eventually become a great stronghold, and retake the Kingdom of Terra, by force, but unfortunately Baltier perished in front of the gates of his castle, leaving to his son Valdnar the campaign of resumption of the whole continent. Zeijadel, realizing the gravity of the situation, reluctantly despatched the dragons he could to assist the armies, and among them was Smerus, the evil one. It was when Krantenion appeared, with his majestic ten pairs of wings, that most of the flying lizards were no match for the mighty adviser, and the rest were killed by the armies. During these terrible battles two warriors had remarkable prominence, the first was Shaff, the brave tartar, who even with an ax buried in the back fought as never before to protect Valdnar until the arrival of reinforcements, was rescued, survived and currently spends his old age in the castle, as illustrious guest of the king, the second was Artan, the skilled, the mighty moghran that ended the life of the dragon Smerus. The old soldiers said that when Smerus attacked recklessly over the army, charring many warriors, Artan managed to cling to his tail, and almost unbelievably reached the dragon's head, concentrating the element of fire on Nevan, his powerful spear, buried it in the left eye of Smerus, who after a deafening scream began to fall like a meteor, exploding in flames when touched the ground. From the midst of all the fumes Artan emerged, the tip of Nevan, still on fire, looked like a star shining in the darkness. “Artan, the skillful!” – All greeted, brandishing their weapons high, while the enemy beat in retreat. And in this same battle Valdnar killed Runglu, the feared goblin general who had wreaked havoc across the continent in striking one-on-one combat. As Zeijadel's forces were defeated the armies traveled to other continents assisting each other, and Artan eventually met Kin, Sumith's father, fighting together in some battles, at that time the moghran was only an infantryman, today was the captain of king Valdnar's guard. For all the pain that these people suffered, they could have perished, but rose up to make their continent mightily prosperous.

    The group went to the castle to greet the king and to know something about the routes of the continent, considering that it was here that Kraven was refugee, in the Pandemonius:

- I am sorry, Mr. Sumith, the king traveled to Brambal to settle some matters of popular interest. – said one of the guards.

    At this moment a tall moghran came out from within the king's room, with a serene expression and at the same time powerful, with golden fur and a slightly silver mane, but this did not signify the age, was very strong, wore a curious armor glove only in his right hand, with which he held a magnificent silvery spear and with the spiral-shaped tip, filled with the element of gravity, it carried a peculiar and exceptional spell that made never miss the target, Nevan. Sumith had already met many moghrans in his travels, but none of them compared to Artan.

- It's a pleasure to meet you, Sumith, son of Kin. – said Artan, and even his voice was powerful.

- Artan, the skillful, the honor is mine. – replied Sumith.

- I met your parents. I never paid much attention to the physical beauty of other species, but Carbella Max was an exceptionally beautiful woman, and how beautiful she was, Kin was powerful. – said Artan, making Sumith be very happy. – You look like her, but you have the eyes of your father.

- I would never compare myself to him, much less to you, Artan.

- Hahahaha... Fame or reputation can be fleeting, the will, my young, the will is everything, your own father taught me this.

    Sumith introduced his friends, Solphie and Shayera already knew the captain Moghran, John, Enghon and Iris were impressed by the simplicity of the mighty warrior, imagining how spectacular he would be in combat. The story of the battle reported that Artan not only killed Smerus, but also stood out monstrously at all points. When the dragon attacked the army of Tantus received immense losses, thus being at a terrible disadvantage, because of this the moghran ended up seeing himself alone in front of dozens of enemies, and spent the hell fighting all of them without any help, making use of his enviable elemental power, and his maximum skill with the spear that never miss the target, say he killed about a hundred goblins only there, receiving several injuries in the process, including arrows on his left leg, right shoulder and also had his right hand severed, but who said this made him stop fighting? The warrior was already very weak when he grabbed Smerus's tail, the dragon squirmed and twisted in the air trying to knock him down, even using the arms he could not reach him, even when he hit mountains in an attempt to crushed him, but Artan was really skillful. As soon as he reached the head, bringing his spear between his teeth all the time, probably the whole life of the flying lizard passed before his eyes, and when he fell dead, by luck or planning, it went well over the front lines of Zeijadel, inflicting terrible losses on the blast of fire, and this was the turning point in that great battle. After this, as a reward for his unequaled bravery, the best sorcerers of the kingdom gathered to grant him a gift, a glove of armor, proportionately made for the physical shape of the moghran, bewitched brilliantly to be in sync with the mind of the future captain, thus becoming a new and powerful hand. The story of Artan was one of the proudest on the continent, and one of the most famous in the world. The old soldiers who lived that battle said that the determination and strength of the captain would pass generations, and they would never be forgotten.

    Arkan knew him better than anyone else, in fact they both looked like children shaking hands and bragging as rivals.

- You old cheater! Still stealing trinkets out there?

- Still annoyed by the last defeat in the cards? You con man! – replied Arkan. – You have your chance for a rematch!

- And I will enjoy it, believe me!

- Hahahahahaha...

- Hahahahahaha...

    They were really longtime friends, but it was in Thorgele that Artan paid most attention:

- You remind me of someone, young man, I just do not remember who... – said Artan.

- ??? – Thorgele.

- Ah... Forget it, it's age reaching me finally. – He said looking at Arkan sarcastically. – By the way, nice sword.

- Thank you Mr. Artan. – thanked Thorgele.

- Hahahaha... – Artan's laughter more seemed like a roar. – Just Artan, please.

- Thanks Artan. – finished Thorgele smiling.

    The group was invited to come in, had a great meal and talked quite a bit with the captain moghran, as said before he was powerful and at the same time simple, in addition to good-humored, friendship grew strong between them. They also met Shaff, the now old and likable tartar, who joined them, whose appearance was rather simple, the most basic and traditional of his race, once revered and called the "wall", because the soldiers and Artan himself said that he was able to stop dozens of enemies, a true wall in the way of evil. Everyone knew that three dragons were causing trouble on the continent's routes, attacking small villages and making isolated casualties, but they were unpredictable, not even Krantenion had found them yet (even if he had, they would already be dead), probably Kraven acting again. Artan and Shaff also told how they lost Pandemonius to the cheater. Some winters after the great war the Kingdom of Arfank fell, which was a surprise, because the war was over, Tantus and Scyra sent reinforcements that were decisive for the survival of Meira, and after a long time began to speculate that were the last soldiers of the army of Zeijadel, peace was finally reigning, and it was natural for military surveillance to subside. Believing the continent was safe, Valdnar left Pandemonius with only a small force in charge of preserving the magnificent fortress, which was when Kraven invaded heavily and eliminated the small resistance. Such a chance was only attained once in his life, and he succeeded, with possession of the best fortress of the six continents, there he remains until then, and Valdnar vowed that one day he would cut his throat and take his father's fortress back. In order to prevent it from being attacked in the same way the king transformed the great city of Anarkandy into a strong, well-equipped and prepared city, being a huge barrier for the enemies, but still little compared to Pandemonius. But the situation remains the same, Kraven isolated in the natural fortress, concentrating his forces, and Valdnar concentrated in Anarkandy, for an eventual enemy attack.

- Zeijadel will return, we never doubt that, but we will be prepared. – said Artan.

    Despite their preoccupation with Kraven, they spent two days in the place at the advice of Arkan himself, Artan's guests at the castle, and had fun in the fantastic city, almost forgetting the problems during this time. In the distance they could see the Saar Tower, which had a twin sister at the south, after the Red Forest, Suur Tower, together were the sentinels, were built soon after the resumption of the Kingdom of Terra, and an efficient spell allowed their lights were seen in almost every part of the continent. When Saar's lighthouse was lit it meant the absence of the king of Terra, when Suur was lit meant the absence of Krantenion, but when the two were lit with the blue flame created by magic meant a state of emergency, a great evil approached, alert or a request for help from the neighboring kingdom, but this had not occurred since the end of the discord of the power, and this was classified information. At the moment Saar was shining because Valdnar was in the city of Brambal.

    On the second night Iris, Shayera and Solphie rested in one of the high towers of the castle. The sorceress slept quietly like a baby, while the sss revolved as if she were dreaming of some battle, which was hilarious, for it made her bed totally messy, though Iris was sleepless (not because of Shayera), and decided to go to the window to observe and spend time. That was when she saw, in the central square of the city, a strange light, without any other occupation the young woman decided to go to the place and walk a little. When she reached the great fountain with the statue of king Baltier she saw an intense glow that resembled a portal, and before it was Sumith! The same of her supposed dream that came to the surface, he wore the same outfits and carried the same magnificent sword of two blades, this time separated and sheathed in the back, also with the intense glow on his waist inside the cape, Andriel and Andurel. Sumith simply entered the portal of light and disappeared, the glow quickly became weak and extinguished like a candle, completely disappearing. Iris's doubt was gone completely, for there was nothing more real than that, but how was it possible? How could two Sumiths exist? Was he a shadow? The young woman returned to the castle, certain of what she had seen, but without understanding.

    The next day they left the city, somehow Terra looked different, but nothing that attracted attention. They followed for two days on a very difficult trail, passing near the Saar Tower and entering the Red Forest, the largest of all the forests on the planet, even larger than the Sacred Forest. There they were amazed at the exotic beauty of the place, trees of red foliage, really red inexplicably, indeed it was only there that such trees existed, and their fruits were tasty and very appreciated, especially by Thorgele, there were also wild animals in reasonable quantity, the scarlet world of that place was intoxicating, and it was hard to forget it when they left. The thought of such beauties as these could be with their days counted, because of selfishness and boundless wickedness, was sad. It took them two days to pass through the great forest to the south, for the trail was very good, and one more day until reaching the Suur Tower, where they spent the night, then another three days crossing the second arm of the Tantus River entering another good trail to the great fortress city of Anarkandy, which was Arkan's destination, and they would use it to replenish supplies. Anarkandy was as spectacular as Terra, and it was a highly prepared and armed city, its walls were solid rock, and its gates were of pure steel, and it was extremely difficult for any army to invade it, though it did not yet have the chance to prove this, but it still did not compare with Pandemonius, as stated before. Arkan separated from the group soon and went to take care of his chores, the young people spent only one night in the city, and this night, it was attacked! The alarm sounded, waking everyone up on full alert, and it was none other than the three dragons mentioned by Artan. Unceremoniously, the soldiers fired rains of arrows into the sky and managed to disperse them. The sorcerers waited for the best opportunity for attack, the frustration of the three lizards were the many shelters in the walls where the soldiers protected themselves, so they made very few victims, deciding to attack the population in the center of the city. They were newly-grown dragons, with still incomplete breastplates, but this did not make them any less dangerous. At this moment, running towards the center of the city, Sumith became the silver guardian, the spectacular scene of the great dragon emerging between the buildings was not more amazing than the fear of the enemies, he rose flying fighting directly against the three, being greater than any of them was clearly intimidating. The three were united in a single flaming fire, which the guardian repelled with his own flames lighting up the night sky, then used his absurd destructive power, quickly positioning himself on a lower plane, so taking care to shoot up, without running the risk of reaching any place and causing extreme destruction, which would indeed be a tragedy. The destructive power of the guardians was nothing less than an extreme elemental blast, and the three servants of Zeijadel were immediately eradicated from the face of Tantus, only their few ashes remained, paying dearly for the unhappiness of attacking the wrong place at the wrong time, the city was safe.

    The population was euphoric. Sumith, not wanting to draw more attention to himself, took care of disappearing from sight and no one discovered him, returning to normal slightly away from the city, and after much excitement and speculation things returned to normal and the group finally managed to rest. They left Anarkandy the next day, and Lieben's young man was proud to hear people talking about the powerful silver guardian, who, while not being the guardian of the continent, protected the city like no other, probably saving hundreds of lives. “The guardians are coming back!” – they said. Thorgele and John pulled him by the arms and neck, exalting his heroic deed, and all congratulated him, except for Shayera, who recognized his valor, but was still discreet. As they left the city, they said farewell to Arkan and headed north-east, from there to the little harbor that was crossing the immense Tantus River, and after some time traveling John was thoughtful:

- I have a strange feeling... – said John.

- What you mean? – asked Shayera.

- I do not know, it's not a bad thing... but it's strange...

- If not bad, already good news. – said Sumith.