Kyjus watched as Ryan's body hit the boulder and winced as it cracked but he could not, however pull his eyes from Ryan's tumbling body as it continued its decent down the hill. With a thud and an explosion of sparks and wooden debris an opening now existed to the left of one of the stone bridges supports.
It was difficult to explain, it looked more like some kind of portal or perhaps even an illusion then it did a true doorway, but Kyjus did not doubt where it went or what it was, this was the entrance that Syrus had mentioned in his dream. He believed that, with every ounce of his being. This was the bridge in his dream and Ryan albeit in a weird way was the key in finding and opening the door. This had to be it.
Just then a loud growl brought him out of his trance. The beast was barely more than ten feet away now and Kyjus had little hope of making it to the doorway but in a last stubborn refusal to admit defeat, Kyjus turned to make a run for it.
Luck was with Kyjus because as he began his decent to the door the monster had to alter his path to intercept him. As it did this the beast lost its footing on the muddy hilltop. The monster was only down for a few brief seconds but maybe that was enough for Kyjus to make it to the doorway.
What would happen at the doorway, he thought briefly to himself? Would he disappear or was it merely just a figment of his imagination in which if that were the case, he would be bringing this monster to where Ryan was; would they both be caught then quickly become its next meal?
Kyjus didn't have time to finish his thoughts. As he looked up, he saw a tall figure emerging from the doorway, at first Kyjus was terrified but as he got a closer look he could make out the figure. It was Syrus.
"Get down Kyjus", Syrus said as he waved his staff in his general direction.
Kyjus immediately slid to the ground. Of course, with it being extremely muddy he slid about 5 feet but since he was going away from that beast it didn't matter.
As Kyjus came to a stop he looked up and saw Syrus, his Staff arm extended, he was uttering something that Kyjus couldn't quite make out. Then a bolt of lightning shot from the tip of the staff and raced toward the beast. It hit it square in the chest; dazed the beast hit the ground with a dull thud. There it lay for a few moments.
Syrus stood rigid as if he knew the thing was not finished. Expecting it to get up and attack at any moment, the old mage prepared his next spell. The seconds seemed like hours and then as fast as it had fallen the beast was up and running but this time it was running away from Syrus for it knew that it was no match for the power of this particular mage.
Syrus was all too ready for it and was already into his next incantation before the beast could made it halfway up the steep incline of the hill. Thick caustic glowing strands shot forth from the staff encompassing the beast and wrapping him tightly preventing it from moving.
When it appeared that Syrus had the situation well in hand Kyjus sprung to his feet and headed to the doorway to look for Ryan but he was nowhere to be found.
"Relax Kyjus, your friend is safe. I have the finest healers on Desmonia seeing to that", said Syrus, knowing what his young friend was wondering.
"Desmonia, is that where you're from sir? Kyjus asked.
"Well yes, I guess one could say that I hailed from Desmonia, and you can call me Syrus. Sir is not necessary," the old mage responded.
Kyjus looked back out the doorway to where the beast now lay quite mad and against its own wishes. "What was that nasty beast", he asked.
"That was a doppelganger", said Syrus
"A what," asked Kyjus?
"A doppelganger, they are shape shifters. They are typically hired as mercenaries to seek and destroy targets. It is my guess that it was sent by the Dylonian's to assassinate you", Syrus said as he moved out of the doorway and up the hill.
"Why in the world would it want to kill me, what is a Dylonian, and hey what in the shazbot did you do to my friends? Kyjus said as he just noticed that his friends all stood in their place not moving.
"Shazbot, I don't believe I am familiar with that word", Syrus said more to himself then to anyone else.
"It's an expression" added Kyjus. Now stop avoiding the question what did you do with my friends? There not dead, are they?"
"Settle down young master. They are not dead, and the spell will wear off soon enough but so will the filament web spell that I put on the doppelganger, so we need to get him thru the gateway and into a cell before this happens," Having said that Syrus pointed his Staff at the beast that had finally stopped thrashing about.
"Levicatus Mobulus" Syrus said as he pointed his staff in the doppelganger's general direction. Red and blue sparks flew from the staff in the direction of the beast. Slowly the now very different looking creature began to rise gently into the air.
Kyjus just stood dumfounded by what was happening as Syrus continued his incantation. "Embargo" he said, and his staff made a loud whoosh, and the beast began to move toward the recently renovated opening.
"We need to hurry Kyjus; I am not sure how much longer the spells I placed on your friends, or our doppelganger thug here will last. I will feel better once we have put this place behind us," Syrus said as he gestured toward the opening.
Kyjus looked back at his friends and then back to the opening. Syrus sensed his hesitation and his indecision and knew what brokered it, so he reiterated again to Kyjus. "You're going to have to trust me. Your friends are fine, and they won't remember a thing. I will explain everything once we get to Desmonia. Now we need to get moving, oh and don't forget your backpack", Syrus said as he gestured over to the ground where Kyjus' pack lie.
Kyjus rushed over to his pack, picked it up and slung it over his shoulder. He jogged to catch up with Syrus. At the doorway he paused one more time thinking maybe he was making a wrong decision even though every fiber of his being told him he was not. Shaking his head, he followed Syrus into the darkness.
A few feet into the darkness and Kyjus could feel his mind being pulled in all directions; he had a very uneasy feeling about what was happening. Just about the time his feelings were reaching that of paranoia he saw a light appear a few feet away. The world seemed to stop and come into view.
He was in an enormous hall with arching foyers with windows made of stained glass and depictions of dragons and knights and many other creatures of various sorts. The mixture seemed an odd combination to Kyjus but here merely shrugged and continued unphased or perhaps in shock at what he was now seeing.
He looked around to find Syrus and nearly panicked when he saw the two very large brutes that were talking to him. This brought him back to reality all too quickly. However, after a brief conversation, that Kyjus could not here but could only guess its meaning, the towering creatures grabbed the doppelganger and hauled it away.
Syrus came over to him after the other "things" had left. Syrus could see the very confused look on his face, and he truly felt sorry for the lad. He knew that Kyjus had many questions of him and all rightfully so, but the council wanted to meet Kyjus so now was just not the time.
"I know you have questions Kyjus, and I promise you will have answers for all of them. Now is not the time though. The council has demanded our presence and so we must go. It is my hope it will be a short meeting. When it's done, I can take you to see your friend Ryan and I promise I will answer all of your questions. Now if you can just follow me, we can get this taken care of," Syrus said as he gestured the young lad to follow him.
Kyjus followed the old mage down the hall and around the corner, to where the hall opened up into a larger forum. There were steps that went up to two large doors. In front of those doors were two diminutive creatures. They both had long beards and sideburns and a bald spot in the middle top portion of their head. Each of the figures had some sort of very flexible metallic armor and a very long double-bladed axe strapped to their sides.
Syrus made his way to the top of the stairs, when there he faced the two figures and putting an upraised fist gently onto is palm, he bowed to each. They both repeated the same process back to him and opened the doors for him. Kyjus was curious as to what just happened, but Syrus had given him strict orders not to say a word unless he was asked a direct question, so he followed and remained silent.
Once they entered the room the doors were shut behind them. They were now in a room with a large square stone table with twenty plush chairs surrounding it. The room was empty save one guard on the other side of the room. There was a door beside the guard it remained shut. There were two plain chairs in the corner of the room that were up against the wall.
Syrus nodded to Kyjus and then the chair silently suggesting that Kyjus take a seat. Syrus made his way to the other chair but before he sat down, he nodded to the guard. Syrus sat down in the chair to the right side of Kyjus and the guard exited the room.
The two sat in the room for what seemed an eternity before the door opened. When it did the guard came first followed by various different humanoid races none of which Kyjus had ever seen. They were different colors, size, and genetic makeup.
Just then a very small figure walked in the room she was blue, short, with long blond sandy hair and a definite aged wisdom look about her. She walked over to Kyjus, he had to admit he was more than a little nervous. She bent over and smiled at him, she nodded to Syrus who nodded to both her and Kyjus. She took a small golden object in the shape of a star and pinned it to his shirt. She then took a small plastic looking piece and put it in his ear. It whirled and whined a bit and then cleared itself.
She made sure it was secure in his ear as she whispered. "The device I just gave you is a translator so that you can hear what is going on. As I am sure Syrus told you do not speak unless you are spoken too. Is that clear?"
Kyjus nodded.
The young figure headed to the end of the table where she banged her gavel to call the meeting to order. "This meeting serves a dual purpose. The first is too find out how the wheels have been set in motion as it pertains to the plan for the chosen."
"The second is to update Syrus with what our efforts of investigation have yielded us regarding the Dylonian's. Having said that I am going to turn the floor over to you Syrus," she said as she motioned in Syrus' direction.
Syrus stood and nodded to Kyjus, hoping to reinsure both Kyjus and himself, he smiled briefly. Slowly and deliberately, he walked to the front of the table to stand at the podium. Clearing his throat, he addressed the council.
"First of all, I would like to thank the council for allowing me the opportunity to gather the chosen together in the hopes that we may have an opportunity to thwart the Dylonian Empires plans of domination."
Clearing his throat the old mage continued, "I would also like to thank Councilwoman Czelak for that gracious introduction. To the point, as many of you know I visited Earth for many months in the form of a dream to find just the right vessel for our plans. After months of looking for the appropriate chosen I believe that I have found the correct chosen and have succeeded through dreamscaping (act of influencing through dreams) to convince him to come to Desmonia."
"I am sorry Syrus but you say you that you believe you have found the correct chosen from Earth", interrupted councilman Chocc from Diplarnia Prime an outlying low desert region far removed from the Dylonian's and their evil plans.
Syrus had been expecting this as Councilman Chocc was the biggest rival of Councilwoman Czelak and since everyone had assumed that Councilwoman Czelak was behind this entire movement it didn't take much in the way of deductive reasoning to know that Councilman Chocc would be against every phase of this operation. He was also not sure how he was going to overcome this latest obstacle as he could not be one hundred percent sure that he had the correct chosen after all the line was blurred. Councilman Chocc knew this and was playing this card or at least that is what he believed. Realizing that Chocc was still waiting for an answer he merely nodded.
"Let the record show that Syrus nodded that he was unsure that he had the correct chosen from Earth", Councilman Chocc added for the record.
"Well as Councilman Chocc has so graciously brought to everyone's attention the lineage line on Earth has been blurred due to the fire in the Desmonia record facility some four hundred and seventy years ago. It is because of this that we cannot be certain of the lineage line, we can and have however, narrowed it down as best we can with spells and incantations, and some of the paper records that were kept in the library at my home on Minlas."
Syrus paused to let this sink in for the members attending, when he felt it had, he continued. "It was from the paper records that we narrowed it down to only a few hundred families. From this it was an extrapolation and mathematical equation that got us down to a handful of lines (families). From this I observed the boys, as we knew the Earthen chosen to be a male, to find out which one seemed to be the best fit. I can say that although I am not and cannot be certain I believe that we have the correct one."
Syrus looked around the room for comments. "Well as long as we don't lose sight of the fact that this entire operation is based on a possibility that we have the right chosen and not a certainty that was my point," Councilman Chocc said trying to get the last word in on the conversation.
Syrus was willing to let Councilman Chocc have the last word in the conversation as he was out of comments regarding the situation. Unfortunately for Councilman Chocc, Councilwoman Czelak was not, and she was quite irritated by the message the Councilman was trying to portray.
"Folks I think we are taking our eye off the ball, or should I say that our eye is being taken off the ball for us. What we need to focus on the here and now, this war is going to happen whether we want it or not. Whether we have the correct chosen or not. The Oracle of Versailles clearly recorded at the Dawn of the Age of Abandoned Technology there would be three to combat the evil at the time of the stolen and let us not forget the High Elven Queens recent foreboding. Never have her foretelling's of the future been inaccurate." There were various and varying degrees of nodding and affirmations to both facts one could assume.
The council leader continued, "the Oracle goes on to state that one will reside from Earth, he will be a descendent of the man who saved Camelot, one will be from the Kingdom of Hybonia he will be the son of the residing King, and lastly from the Briar Elves of Minlas will come an unopened vessel of power. She will be of Royal birth and the next and the last in a long line of Royalty."
The councilwoman looked around the room to make sure she had everyone's full attention and then she resumed. "We have put the many puzzle pieces together and determined now is the time. Coincidently this also concurs with some of the Elven Prophets and Sages of another era"
Clearing her throat, she continued. "The Oracle foretold of a stolen forbidden tablet being the start of the war and we have had this happen. And if you piece together that the current King of Hybonia has a male son and the fact that the Everhart's a very long-lasting line of royalty have only managed a daughter and thus their line will end I think we can safely say that the Time of the Oracle is upon us". She could see that she had the interest of many and was tempted to probe the thoughts of some of the others to see what they were thinking but she resisted the urge.
Instead, she continued. "So, we can either sit back and question the words of the Oracle and do little to nothing or we can move forward in regard to the prophecy and do our best to combat the evil. I for one am very appreciative of the efforts of those who chose to face this evil head on".
"Lady Kelsee of Minlas is currently in route to Desmonia so we have one of the three chosen committed to our cause. We have visited Hybonia and requested the release of Prince Skarnum as that is the second part of our equation. And lastly and perhaps the most important of the three we have Merlin's descendent in the form of this boy the council leader said as she pointed toward the young earthling. He is here and is ready and waiting to believe in his charge," the council leader said as she looked at the faces around the room.
The young earthling now sat mouth open and dumbfounded but to his credit he said nothing. Luckily for him most eyes were upon the council leader, she had a certain charisma that demanded it.
Satisfied she continued, "we know for sure that these are two of the chosen and we have concluded that greatest probability of the final chosen exists and it does so in the form of this boy", having said this she waived but this time it was for Kyjus to come and join so at the head of the table.
All of the heads turned to watch Kyjus cross the room. As they did, he felt himself begin to shake a little bit. He was very nervous as he had never found himself at the attention of so many adults before, let alone adults from races he had never even seen or even heard of. He made it to the end of the table and stood by the councilwoman.
"It is with this boy, Lady Kelsee, and Prince Skarnum that we shall place a charge and I for one feel better for having them selected." the Councilwomen said getting quite a few nods in agreement from the other council.
"The boy certainly doesn't look like much to me", said Councilman Chocc who although was not an extremely tall humanoid standing at just over six feet he was definitely a menacing galoot with very broad shoulders and a very rigid frame.
"I would think that you would have learned by now that the looks of an opponent do not determine the threat from within", the Councilwoman growled at the large Neanderthal.
The Councilman growled from across the table. Everyone in the room tensed for what they anticipated was going to happen next but apparently Councilman Chocc had remembered his last encounter with Councilwoman Czelak as his rage quickly subsided. He gave a short curt nod and sat back in his chair.
Syrus inwardly chuckled as he remembered that in their last encounter Councilwoman Czelak had entered Councilor Chocc's mind and forced him to beat his head against the table until he passed out. The councilman had come too six hours later in the empty Chamber of the Council. And of course, the worst part was that the Councilman had barely gotten up in his seat to charge at her when he lost control.
Satisfied that there would be no more outbursts from Councilman Chocc she turned the floor back over to Syrus.
The old mage cleared his throat and began again. "After I was convinced that I had delivered my message to the earthen boy I concentrated on the Briar Elves and King Titus. It was a relatively brief albeit pleasant conversation with King Titus and he agreed to follow the council's decision. I am told that this decision coincides with a foretelling of the great Elven Prophecy and his own wives recent foreboding, so I believe that may have had as much to do with his ready agreement then anything that I said but he readily agreed to send his daughter by the week's end. I would be expecting her any day."
It was now the Syrus hesitated. How was he now going to tell the council that he only had not been able to secure one-third of the triumvirate and that the final piece would have to wait until the ruling council of the Hybonian's could convene. This would certainly add more fuel to the fire for Councilman Chocc which he desperately did not desire.
"After Minlas I went to Hybonia and met with Sellus. It was an interesting conversation but in the end the Monarch did not commit but agreed to talk the members of his council and his son before a decision would be made. After the meeting with Sellus I returned here."
"I knew it was a matter of a few days before the proximity alarms went off on earth, so I waited and took a brief respite. When they went off, I gated to Earth and waited for the earthen boy to show up. Once he did, we made our way back through the gateway after a slight altercation with a Doppelganger that was most probably hired by the Dylonian's and sent to kill him." The way he added this, as a matter of fact type of information, more than bothered Kyjus but perhaps he was hoping for a certain type of desired effect.
Some of the council looked shocked at his last statement some may not have registered it and the rest probably chose not to believe it. Councilwoman Czelak must have sensed that Syrus was finished as she stood and walked back up to the podium. Both Syrus and Kyjus made their way back to their seats.
After the two were seated, the Councilwomen walked to the podium. "I think I speak for the council when I say thank you for the update on the chosen Syrus. I knew the gathering was left in capable hands. Now onto giving you some newly discovered information on the Dylonian's. In truth we know very little in addition to what you and our first wave of spies could provide us. We did manage to capture a Dylonian spy, what we believe to be a on the outskirts of Scorched Earth. He has been interrogated but the Dylonian's either are not informing their spies of their intentions or the Dylonian's are up to nothing. We of course are believing the former and not the latter."
"Lastly we have found one of our scouting parties assassinated; they were also discovered near scorched earth. Their belongings were rifled through, and the camp was abandoned.
"Luckily for us this was mostly a merchant caravan so they could not have divulged any diplomatic information to the Dylonian's. I believe you are up to date now Syrus and if the council has no questions, we can adjourn this meeting." There was a moment's pause. "Alright then seeing no questions this meeting is adjourned".
In a single file procession, the council had left the room out the same door in whence they came. After the last one had left, and the guard had shut the door Syrus directed Kyjus out the door they had entered.