The Smi

11: Stories of The Battle

"What should we do now?" Ambur asked. Still that creaking voice. She sounded like an antique door!

"Well, what did the riddle say again?" Rien asked me.

"'Hark, the humans bow to might,

Made darkness vanish into light.' Why?" I wondered why he would ask a question he should already know the answer to.

"I figured it might tell us where to go next." He replied, with a shrug.

"Well.... last week, I was reading my dad's old book about Mirakthynian Mythology. Mirakthyn is a small island just outside the Bermuda Triangle." Aaron seemed a bit more like himself now.

I smiled and thought, that's my Aaron.

"Well?" Rien sounded impatient. I had no idea why, but it wasn't unusual.

"What?" Aaron was obviously annoyed by his question.

"Um, where are we going? Hello? Have you been listening?!" Rien was ticked off.

"Shut up, Rien, we don't know! Geez!" Aaron stormed off, heading farther ahead, in the seemingly never ending desert, swearing under his breath. 12 hours ago, we had begun walking through the beaches of Cilos. Now, we had run into a long stretch of sand dunes that never seemed to end. I couldn't blame them, though. I was beginning to lose my edge too.

"Guys, where in Harnelius' name are we going?!!" ( Harnelius is the Mrakthynian god of Hell ).

I was sick of walking, so I simply refused. I stopped, in my tracks and laid down. I was about ready to bury my face in my fists and sigh really loudly, when Aaron stopped, all of a sudden and stared down.

"What is it, Aaron?" I looked up, confused.

He just stood in silence. We walked over. A tiny tip of glass was peeking out the edge of the sand. Finally, Aaron crouched down, and began to brush the sand around the tip, away. Gradually, a glass prism, with beautifully carved edges, appeared. Aaron gasped.

"The Prism of Tyron!" He picked it up and handed it to me.

"Examine away, Boss Lady." He mocked. I gave him a testy look and scooped the prism carefully from his fingers, so I wouldn't cut them. It was a lot heavier than I had imagined. Then again, I hadn't imagined we would find it. Especially in a desert.

"What's the Prism of Tyron?" I didn't look at him, just kept staring at the prism.

"Long ago, the five brothers of Mrakthyn gathered, to form a union. Each brother was given power and leadership to become one of the Five Creators, or the Gods, by the unknown All-Ruler, to bring together a legion of people who would carry the burden of society. The Gods were pleased with their creation, and the intelligent use of their powers, and decided to try out their new powers by amazing the mortals. The mortals were in awe as the Sun expanded and shrunk by extreme from its original size. And as the night sky overtook the blue daytime sky, but no moon was uncovered. The other three Gods were wiser than the two and saved their powers for another day, as not to frighten the mortals. Suddenly, the Night God was angry that the moon had not appeared because the Day God refused to give up his spot in the center of attention of glory. The two fell into an insatiable bloodlusty war. The other Gods were angry that the two brothers were so insolent, as to turn and wage war on each other. In the meantime, the two decided on a truce until the two had each gathered a vast army of mortals to increase the chances of one another's demise. Fortunately, the older Gods knew this and prepared in secret. Each gathered an even vaster army than the younger brothers. Finally, the battle day came, and the two younger brothers dropped the truce and charged into battle, their minds deeply poisoned by the carnage of war. The elder brothers watched and waited for any sign of peace. None came after 3 days of fighting, blood, gore, and weaponry. So, the elder brothers cast out their armies and summoned the All-Ruler, in hopes to end all war and create eternal, universal peace. They summoned up their powers; The Eldest, the God of heaven and peace; the Middle brother, God of hell and the underworlds (and war); the Youngest, God of the elements, life itself, and especially the earth, the land between Heaven and Hell. The brothers cast their powers out to the battlefields and defeated the Youngest brothers with a flick of their fingers to cast the forces of the armies, and the help of the All-Ruler. After 2 weeks, the battle was won, and the three Elders rested. They thanked the All-Ruler for his help and swore on his and their lives that they would protect every living thing on earth from that day. But so much blood was spilt and shed, that the souls came back to live a second life. They could hear the souls constantly screeching, screaming, howling at them, with mourning for their loneliness. So, to their own extent, the Gods created that," Aaron pointed to the prism, "So that if someone were to look into the prism, they can see EVERY soul from the battle. Every death, every burden, every loss. It holds every death since the beginning of time, which was right before the war."

I stood there gazing at it in awe. Suddenly, a swoosh sounded from above. Another swoosh. And another. They were getting louder and faster. Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh. And then, BOOM! We all were toppled. A ginormous bird flew past.

"Jesus! What was that?!" I was dizzy from the knocking.

"Erthakron." Aaron gazed with a displeased, worried look to the sky.

"God, Aaron, you're such a knowitall!" I gently elbowed his side and smiled, tossing my hair to one side. He smiled a sweet smile, which was always a warm embrace in dark times.

He laughed, and trotted ahead, seeming to me like a dog who was in a playbow waiting for his playmate. I gave him a look that said REALLY? and followed shortly after him, laughing like I was 11 again, and hadn't a care in the world. But I wasn't 11. I was 14. And I had bigger problems than being in love with a cute, golden-brown haired, sweet, funny boy. So, who was I kidding?