LYRA
As soon as the meeting had concluded, Lyra had started to formulate a plan. She knew from years of training that the Mortisians were secretive people. They had a totally different way of doing things. Their magic, fighting techniques, even the architecture of their school was ancient.
Almost all the people who had infiltrated their castle had never come out. The few who did escape only spoke of how frightening the Mortisians were. Yet everybody respected them. That was for two reasons.
First, they were crazy scary women who killed outsiders on sight, as rumour had it. In other words, part of their respect was built on fear. But the other part was true admiration of what the Mortisians' ancestors had done. When Zarina had begun to rule, the Mortisians had done what nobody else would do back then. They had rebelled, and had come close to succeeding. They killed 1,000 of Zarina's followers in less than two weeks.
History books say that in the end, Zarina struck a deal with the Mortisian queen. Zarina would leave the Mortisians alone if they would stop going against her cause. They were the only ones to survive Zarina's rule without any harm. Later, after Zarina was thrown into Azailia, the Mortisians gave hope to many families. They helped women and girls who had lost their loved ones, and gave them a new life.
Lyra began her trip to Mortisian castle in the morning. To accompany her, she had chosen five Sophixians, five senior students, and ten young students to go with her. All of them were girls.
These choices were wise ones. The Sophixians and senior students would be able to defend them from getting killed(hopefully). The younger students could be protected by their age. Mortisians occasionally brought lost young girls to train them to become one of them. The fact that there were no boys was also an important one. Not because it would help them, but because if they brought a boy along, their chances of getting killed would double.
To get to the castle, Lyra and her group rode horses. But not just any horses. These horses were incredibly fast. They could move as fast as the wind. If they ran fast enough, they could gallop through the air. They were free forces of nature. Eleven of these horses were brought to Lyra's group. Lyra would lead the others. The older ones would ride with the younger ones. As soon as everybody had packed, they rode.
The horses galloped across lakes, grassy hills, and soft soil. They arrived at the base of Mortisian hill in about three and a half hours, whereas it would have taken them twelve hours by flying car.
The Mortisian castle rested on a cliff overlooking the sea. It was made entirely of black obsidian. If the castle hadn't been built as a training site for lethal warriors, it would have looked majestic. Lyra knew the Mortisians had seen them coming. After all, it is pretty hard to miss eleven magic horses flying across hills which were barren for miles around. Lyra decided it would be best to just confront the Morstisians, face to face.
Since they couldn't find any other entrance to the top of the mountain, they gathered up their climbing supplies and began to climb up the large mountain. Once they were all at the top, Lyra walked by herself, up to the castle gates. She knocked on the giant obsidian gates. To her great surprise, they opened.
Lyra signaled for the others to follow. As they walked towards the castle building, Lyra saw jagged black stones littering the road. The thirteen year old students huddled next to the older students. It had been unfair of Lyra to ask young girls to come with her, but it had seemed there was no other choice. They finally reached the castle door. Lyra knocked again. It swung open once more. Suddenly, the lights went off. She heard muffled screams. Her hands were yanked behind her back. She had the urge to fight, but she did not. Lyra had warned the others not to fight. Hopefully, they still remembered this piece of advice.
When Lyra could see again, she saw that she was in an office. She was alone. Around her were wicked sharp, long, swords. They were hanging on the walls. Lyra counted thirty in all.
"Who are you?" A woman had just appeared out of the wall so silently that Lyra almost had a heart attack. Lyra steadied her heart, and looked at the woman. She looked like she was in her mid-twenties. Lyra said, "I'm Lyra White, granddaughter of the spirit of the Sun. I'm from Sophix, and we seek your help." Lyra looked into the woman's eyes. They were striking her down.
"And what makes you think we will help you?" The Mortisian asked. Lyra forced herself to look into those knife-like eyes. "The Mortisians humiliated Zarina during her last reign. She will gather all of her forces and burn this place to the ground. Then she will poison you and turn you into her own forces. You will be the ones destroying Zyrinx. Once she gains her rule over the world, she will kill each and every one of you."
Lyra could tell that her words had no effect on the woman whatsoever. After a few moments, the Mortisian said, "I know that, Lyra White. But aiding others will only make my people's deaths come faster. We cannot help you."
Anger boiled up in Lyra. Why was this woman being so selfish? The woman was convinced there was no chance of hope. "So you're saying you'd rather rot here, knowing you've done nothing to stop the world from becoming enslaved? Is that it? Even if there's no hope, it's better to die trying to help than hiding in shame!"
The woman cocked her head and looked at Lyra and an amused way. "Descendant of the Sun, we have no wish to help you. Sophix is weak. You don't want our help, you need it. We are your only hope."
Lyra stood there, glaring at the woman. But even as she did, she knew the woman's words were true. "Fine. Let's say you're right. Are you saying that there's no possible way to convince you?"
The Mortisian smiled. "There is one way, Lyra White. First, prove to me that Sophix is worth helping." Lyra frowned. What did she mean by that? "Second, I want that." The woman pointed at Lyra's golden necklace. It had been a gift from her father, who had gotten it from his father. The crest of the Jothirai, the ancient Sun spirits. Lyra's grandfather was the Sun spirit, who had replaced the Jothirai after the Zarinean War. Her father had told her it contained great power. Yet she had never been able to figure out the secret to the jewel. If the woman wanted it, then if must be valuable. Lyra had no use for it, but if the woman used it to betray them or harm them, then she could not give it to her.
"I'll. . . think about it." The woman smirked, and said, "It is midnight. You have until sunup to decide. Choose wisely, Lyra White."
Lyra was 'escorted to a room', meaning after several threats, she was shoved into a room against her will. There, she found the rest of her group. The room was pretty large, like a room for two to three people to sleep in. But there were no windows, and the door she had just come through made a clicking sound, like it had been locked from the outside.
She told the others what had happened. They hadn't been hurt, but some of the younger ones were on the verge of tears. "So, what are you going to do?" asked one of the Sophixians. "I don't know." Lyra replied. After thinkg, Lyra said, "We should give this to her. But I don't know what this crest is used for. And she said something about proving ourselves."
Sunrise came earlier than Lyra had expected, but she had made up her mind. The Mortisians led Lyra, and only Lyra out of the room. She was taken to a room, where she met with the woman from last night again. "I'll do it." Lyra said, without any hesitation. She opened up her fingers to reveal a crest- the crest of her grandfather's. The woman was obviously pleased, but not enough.
"Good. Now that you have agreed to our terms, let us have a proper introduction," the woman said. Then, holding out her hand, she said, "I am Rila, the leader of the Mortisians, daughter of the Mind. Now all that's left is for your school to prove themselves. You will pick seven out of your group, and they will be asked to fight with my people."
"What do you mean, fight?" Lyra asked a little rudely. "A fight, Lyra White." Rila replied. "To see if Sophix really is as strong as you claim." Although she found this totally entirely unfair, Lyra heard herself agreeing to these terms, mostly because she didn't have any other choice.
When she talked about this to the others, instant arguments broke out on who was going to participate in the fight. Some said all the Sophixians should enter the fight, and others said that one of the Sophixians should stay behind in the case in which the Mortisians went back on their word.
"They won't do that," Lyra said. "They won't go against their word. But that does not mean they will refrain from killing us, either." "So what are we going to do?" asked one of the younger students. "Five Sophixians and two thirteen year olds," Lyra said. "And that's final."
All nineteen of them started yelling at Lyra, about how unstrategic her plan was. Then Lyra yelled, "SHUT UP!" They fell silent. Before they could start yelling again, Lyra said, "That's exactly my point. The Mortisians always play by the rules, they're the most traditional out of all the schools, and they never fight dirty. We need to use that to our advantage, and think of the most ridiculous and unpredictable plan. That's our only chance."
All of them grumbled, but in the end agreed Lyra was right. Then they began to formulate a plan- A plan that had absolutely no reason, tactics, or a plan itself.
The next day came very quickly, and the seven of them were led to the Mortisian castle's combat arena, which was utterly huge. It was at least twice the size of Sophix's arena. Watching from the stands was the leader of the Mortisians, and the remaining thriteen of Sophix's students.
The seven were allowed to choose weapons from a huge variety of weapons. But all of them stuck to what they had, making them all the more unpredictable for the Mortisians. Lyra was going to use her favorite weapon- a double sided ax.
All seven of the Mortisians were using. . . sticks? Lyra couldn't see these metal sticks up close, but she somehow knew that those sticks carried a lot more power than just normal metal.
The fight started as soon as they were ready. The seven Mortisians charged towards them in perfect formation, gracefully running along the walls, and getting ready to strike. Then the Sophixians plus the two younger children charged. That was when all of hell broke lose.
The five Sophixians launched themselves at the Mortisians with no planned timing. Two of them started wrestling the Mortisians to the ground, and two others started launching small firebombs at random places. As for Lyra, she thought of the most craziest attack to launch. Lyra was one of the most senior Sophixians, and was also the highest ranked Sophixians in her class, next to Alex. This meant that she had learned much more than anybody else in that arena had.
Lyra found herself transforming her body, morphing it into a different shape. . . In less than five seconds, Lyra had transformed herself into a Jothrus- the sacred animal of the ancient Sun spirits. Lyra now looked like an overgrown lizard mutated with an eel. She was about 4 feet long. Soon, she started to shoot flames out of her mouth, completing her look of a mini dragon without wings.
Lyra started to shoot flames at two of the Mortisians. She slithered around both the Mortisians, running around in a figure 8 until they were wrapped up in her snakelike body.
With a few breaths to spare, Lyra looked around. Four of the Mortisians were fighting against four of the Sophixians. It seemed like the Sophixians had a bit of an advantage, but the Mortisians fought like demons, summoning magic faster than Lyra could have ever dreamed. In the other corner, the two thirteen year olds were using their small bodies to weave around one Mortisian, dodging the Mortisian's blows, yet still managing to slash at the Mortisian as well.
Then Lyra felt a horrible stinging sensation slash across her back. One of the Mortisians entangled in her slithering scales had managed to swipe at Lyra's Jothrus body, forcing her to transform back into her human shape again.
The two Mortisians knocked Lyra to the floor with incredible speed, and unsheathed a small knife. Lyra struggled in panic. They weren't actually fighting to the death, were they? One of the Mortisians who were holding the knife looked up to the stands at Rila, as if asking for permission to kill. Rila simply shrugged.
Lyra gritted her teeth, trying to get up, when she saw it- the Jothirai necklace- dangling from the Mortisian Queen's neck. Lyra felt the necklace's crest pulling at the spirit part of her body. Somehow, Lyra knew a sliver of the Sun was trapped in there, just waiting to be used. Lyra had to open the necklace up. . . Free the Sun from its cage. . .
Just as the Mortisian brought her knife down upon Lyra, the necklace burst open, shining out a blinding light. There was a clattering of weapons- Sophixian and Mortisian weapons alike- dropping to the floor as everyone shielded their eyes. The the small part of the Sun literally exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the center of the arena.
Finally, when the blinding light died down, Lyra saw that all of the Mortisians- as well as the Sophixians- had been knocked unconscious. Even the Mortisian Queen looked a little rattled.
Lyra raised her hands up in the air in a mockingly shocked expression. "Well, I'm the last one standing! Do we have a deal?"