Chereads / Ashes: The Awakening / Chapter 21 - Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter 21 - Chapter Twenty-One

Third persons point of view.

A large stage was set in the centre of an open grass field in the heart of Norway, different gazebos and chairs laid out in sections. Tables of various foods and drink sat out, something to ease the leaders for the talks to come. Leaders from each country begun to arrive, each knowing what stakes were on the table. Someone had threatened to reveal their secretes to other leaders and the rest of the world, enough to destroy an empire. One by on they each found their seats, the cold breeze tickled their skin as they waited patiently. While some engaged in conversation and laughter, others sat quietly and watched. Voices calmed and quietened when they all spotted three black SUV's making their way to the stage, they all begun to take their seats as they were anxious to meet the people behind these threats.

As the SUV's pulled up, people begun emerging. They were nothing like of this world, they looked of barbarians and viking, carrying large battle axe's and swords. The leaders become uneasy and restless as these people walked around the stage and stood watch for any of the leaders spies that may be around. Four large men stepped out of the last SUV, the last red headed man was of nothing they had seen. Two of the men carried a coffin like box that was placed in the centre of the stage, strange sounds and movements erupted from it. Nearly 9ft tall with a red beard and hair, his body was broad and strong. The men who walked beside him looked like brothers, blue eyes and black hair. But the tallest one who carried a large battle axe and black cloak, looked as if he carried more power than the others. They all walked up onto the stage, not looking at the leaders who watched them, and stood by the large throne at the end of the stage. The leaders looked at each other troubled as no words were yet exchanged.

"Leaders of the Human Realm, you have our thanks to meet us on such short notice. Freydis Ironborn, dependant of Odin will be joining us very soon. So please, relax as she makes her entrance." The large red headed man said, his voice boomed across the stage and startling some of the leaders. They all exchanged looks before their eyes once again set upon the men by the throne. After five long minutes, a strong breeze started forming from the south. The sudden out burst of wind and cold breeze made the leaders shiver, this was strange. Shortly after, thundering sounds as the trees begun to shake and branches snapped as the strong wind grew. The leaders begun to grow anxious at the sights and sounds around them. After one last loud crack, the world fell silent around them, the looked around cautiously before they heard a roar in the distance. A blood curdling roar that was getting closer.

"What in Gods name is that!" Shouted a leader as he stood and pointed at a figure gliding through the skies, everyone soon started to panic as the beast came closer. It had the wings of a large, very large bat but with a long tail, neck and covered in spikes. As the beast neared its large size became clear, its body and wings would have barely fit into a football stadium. The beast slowed as it came in to land, a few strong thrusts of its wings and it landed on the ground with a large boom, shaking the stage. It stretched out its large wings and let out one last roar, showing its teeth the size of swords. The beasts red eyes met each of the leaders before it, the leaders were frozen in fear. The beast folded its wings as they came down and acted as front legs. The beast neared the stage, its black body shining in the sunlight. The beast let out a loud growl as it neared and stopped walking. Soon, a black mist swarmed the beast as it begun to shrink before the eyes of the leaders. Gasps emerged from the crowd as a small woman appeared as the mist faded. She was short, only about 5ft 7 with very long almost black hair, in the sun it had a red tinge. Her skin was flawless and tan, but her eyes caught the attention of all. Her ruby red eyes her very un-human, but the fact she was a massive dragon was even more so. The woman walked ever so gracefully onto the stage and towards the throne, she was young yet held her self strong and wise. As she reached the throne, she turned and faced the company before her.

First person point of view (Freydis)

My arrival to the meeting went according to plan, I had captured the attention of each eye here. I stood at the end of the stage and before the leaders of Earth.

"I, am Freydis Ironborn, descendant of Odin, creation to protect this world from darkness. One of five Companions. You stand in my presence today to bare witness to what is threatening your existence in the world. Many lifetimes ago, when we were first created and sent to earth, a plague infested your race. A plague that consumed your people and used their bodies as hosts, an army was formed, one that was going to destroy the world from within." I said, the leaders all looked upon me, each with different expressions.

"That same plague threatens the world once again, but we can stop it. But only if we fight together." I said as I looked at the sea of faces before me, waiting for a reaction. Many of the leaders spoke quietly among them selves and their advisers.

"How do we know we can trust you? You're a monster!" One man called as he stood from his seat.

"A monster yes, but the only hope you have at saving your race." I said as I looked him in the eyes, my dominance making his shift uncomfortably.

"How can a beast protect us? We don't even know what we are fighting. The beast you are, we tell our children scary bedtime stories about." A lady said.

"And where do you think those stories came from?" I asked the crowd, they grew silent as they thought of my question.

"Do you think the stories your ancestors told you were make belief? The first men did not lie or deceive one another. A world of peace and plenty. Over the years humans have forgotten our teachings and twisted our stories to remove us from history. But we have been here all along, your greed and arrogance has prevented you from seeing it." I said, my voice laced with anger.

"During the age of the first men and the great battle, we forged books to be given to each leader to be passed on to their successor. A book full of guidance to prevent this plague from arising once again, but the humans have misplaced these books and destroyed them. Along with it, their own humanity." Keon said as he held a golden book in his hand, the leaders looked upon it as if they had never seen it. I knew that they never have.

"What you are is inhuman, from what I can see, you are a plague that needs to be ridded." Said a sly voice from the back, the man remained seated as he spoke. I walked down from the throne and towards the box in the centre of the stage.

"You think we are a plague set to destroy this world that you already have? What purpose or use would that have. You want to see whats been infesting your people and killing your populations? HERE!" I yelled as I kicked the box down and out sprawled the man who we once caught. His body was completely black and his skin crawled, he screamed blood curdling sounds as he tried to call for his tribe. The body twitched and jumped as it looked around, the leaders screamed and ran as the knight approached them. As it locked on to an old english lady seated by the throne, it ran for her. As it near and jumped, Keon's axe entered its skull and killed it instantly. The little old lady sat in shock as she looked at the Knight before her, still seated. Everyone fell into silence as they viewed the Knight before them.

"Where do they come from?" A man asked as he kicked the Knight lightly.

"They feast on the greedy and power hungry humans, the ones who only want one thing, to be on top. They have a weak heart, a weak mind. They are lured away and slain like animals before the parasite is inserted into them, and their body becomes a host." I said as I watched them all closely.

"How many of them is there?" Another lady asked.

"If our calculations are right, the numbers have increased by 87,986 in the past 48 hours. The total army would now be an estimated 459,482 Knights." Bjorn said as he stepped forward, I looked at him with concern. I didn't know the numbers had grown so quickly.

"And if this is all true, how do we stop them?" The sly man from earlier asked.

"You stop them by isolating your current people. The Knights have constructed world wide tunnels linked to your cities. Isolate the people and my armies will destroy them." I said.

"Your army? Just how many of you are there?" He asked again.

"More than you dare to ask. I control a legion of immortals, men and woman who have fought this foe before. We plan to meet them in open battle, on this field." I said, the leaders looked around. A man approached me, trying to establish his dominace, but was soon disheartened by the large warriors that stood behind me.

"And what do you get out of this? Money? Power?" He asked as he crossed his arms.

"I am not human, money and power mean nothing to me. I only asked that you read the books of guidance and teach your people to prevent this from happening once again. And that you allow us to fly and monitor this world from the skies once again." I said, again the leaders consulted each other. The little old lady stood up slowly, everyone laid their eyes upon her.

"I came a long way from my home to be here, and I was almost killed. That man, saved my life. England shall stand by your side and aid you, we will pass on teachings and allow you to fly her skies." The lady said with a shaky voice, I smiled and bowed my head slightly to her. After a few moments of silence, the leaders begun pledging their alliance to us. One by one, they begun to agree and for a moment, a weight was lifted. After the last man pledged, I looked at the sly man from earlier who was still cautious.

"You may have power now, but we now know you exsist. It won't take long for us to construct a weapon." He warned, I looked back into his green eyes.

"I count on it." I said, this man was going to cause me problems in the wars to come.

"In a months time, we will be meeting the enemy here on open fields. Isolate your people immediately. The only way for this to work is it starve them, make them come out of the tunnels and search for life. The only life they will find will be us." I said. Soon, the meeting was coming to its end and the leaders begun to take their leave. I stood and spoke with Keon as they left.

"That fool, he threatened a god with a weapon. Who does he think he is?" Keon asked.

"He is a man who has never seen a being stronger than himself, Keon. Power hungry fool." I said as I watched the man climb into his car and drive away. As the last of the leaders drove away, my warriors climbed the stage to hear my words.

"This is a big step that was taken, we have alliance with the humans. This will make our battle somewhat easier. But this was not the real fight, the next time we met here, we will be meeting on a battlefield." I yelled as my warriors cheered and clapped, it had been sometime since they had tasted battle. I too was beginning to miss it.

"That went according to plan." Keon said with a bright smile.

"I feel like meetings usually take longer than an hour but maybe I was wrong." I said as we looked around at the stage.

"You don't think they will betray us?" I said as I crossed my arms.

"They know the risk of betrayal, they seemed wiery at first but once you arrived their eyes seemed to drain of judgement and fill with fear and acknowledgement of what was before them." Keon said.

"They will not betray us, we have access to their phone calls, messages and conversations. If there is a hint of betrayal, we will start releasing small amounts of information to their secretes. They will fall into line." Bjorn said as he joined into our conversation. I looked at him and nodded, I turned my attention to Vili who was walking towards us after speaking with our warriors. I smiled and walked towards him to greet him when all of a sudden I got a searing pain in my left side. The breath was stolen from my body as I clutched my side and fell to the ground, I let out a bellow in pain. As another thud hit the ground I looked back slowly to see Keon too was on the ground in pain.

"Brother!" I yelled as we both screamed in agony, our warriors surrounded us as Keon dragged himself towards me. I grabbed his body and searched for wounds as he did the same with me.

"Whats going on!?" Vili shouted as our bodies begun to convulse in pain, I begun to taste blood in my mouth.

"There's been no attack from the humans!" Shouted a warrior as they ran towards us. I sucked in a gasp of air when I had finally come to realisation.

"The companions." I said, tears spilled from my eyes as I turned my head to see Keon sharing the same tears.