Chereads / Xerxes by Micheal_Achonye / Chapter 29 - Blue flames

Chapter 29 - Blue flames

"What are you supposed to be?" Harry asked a tree in the outer field.

"What are you doing?" a confused Indigo smiled with concern on her face.

"I'm asking what it's supposed to be and it won't even talk to me," he answered sadly.

"Maybe it's cos you've been talking to a tree" Trina chuckled followed by a guffawing Olly.

"Good one Trina," Olly said out loud with a sniff. "Oh, I have one. How about you stop barking up the wrong tree Harry."

"You always make fun of me and I'm beginning to not like it. How am I supposed to know what is what in this sea of creatures?" he protested angrily making everyone burst out laughing.

"Hey don't mind them, that's what you'll get when you start associating yourself with mythical creatures," a voice comforted him from behind making the entire crew stare in astonishment.

"Did the tree behind me just talk?" Harry asked in surprise to which everyone nodded stiffly.

"Hey my name is tree. What's yours?" tree continued, stretching out a branch towards Harry.

"Run!" he screamed before taking off with the crew.

"Hey, nice to meet you Run!" it shouted out after the already gone crew.

The four of them swerved through the crowds being careful enough to not step on any creature. The field bubbled with exciting and exhilarating chaos on the upcoming battle. Mythical creatures rolled, slithered, flew and ran through carrying on their work with little to no supervision on what they were to do. They all knew what had to be done and they worked in harmony to accomplish their goals.

***

"I'm thirsty!" Indigo bawled out as she laid on the grass close to a rushing stream. They had moved away from the field to take a break from the chaotic environment. They were human when compared to the rest of the creatures on the field.

Trina who had been sharpening her sword spread her arms apart making her look more muscular than she already was, "There's water everywhere..."

"You know what she wants Trina," Olly croaked with his eyes closed. He sat on the grass with his back laid on a rock for support, hands locked behind his head and feet spread out before him.

"Wine," Harry chipped in, tossing a rock into the water as a little creature jumped out with a tiny rainbow on its back.

"Did you guys see that!?" he exclaimed excited about his new find, however he was disappointed to notice his teammates didn't care about any of it.

"That is a Rainbow fish, a very rare find if I do say so myself," a voice echoed through the forest making the team jump on their feet, weapons in hand.

"Who's there!? Indigo hissed, her eyes searching the forest for threats while conjuring up iron fillings from thin air, creating sharp shards of iron around her.

A hearty laugh rang out, "Please, do put down your weapons. I'm not here to hurt anybody."

"If you're not here to hurt us, how about you show us your face? That way we can trust you a bit more," Olly snapped taking a battle stance while tightening his grip around his twin swords handles.

"Fine, whatever you say," the voice resigned as sounds of approaching footsteps were heard.

The quartet held their ground in battle mode with Harry pointing his arrow into the dark forest and Trina waving her swords around. They were prepared for anything except the little children who came forth from the shadows.

Three white haired children with black pupils extending throughout the white of their eyes and pale skin walked out with smiles on their faces. They wore black leather clothing with chunks of bracelets on each hand.

"Hello everyone," the first boy spoke out with a smoky soprano voice.

Harry scoffed putting down his bow and arrow, "You're just a child. What are children doing on the battlefield?"

The boy kept the smile plastered on his face, "I would refrain from calling us children."

Indigo kept her eyes fixed on the boy before diverting her gaze to his companions. They were girls and they looked so similar you would call them twins and not be wrong.

Trina followed Harry by sheathing her swords back into her holster, "Come on guys, seriously you're not supposed to be here."

"Trina, Harry stand your ground," Indigo erupted.

"Why would we do that against children?" Harry queried.

"They are not children," Olly growled.

She saw Olly's relentless scowl and Indigos deadly look before unsheathing her weapons. Harry laughed at Trina's confusion, walking up to the children amidst warnings from the mage and swordsman.

"Come on guys, put down your weapons," he said lightly.

"Get back here Harry!" Olly warned.

"I swear by the gods Harry, if we survive this I am going to have your head for this," Indigo grunted creating more iron shards.

"If I were you, I would listen to your comrades," the boy sighed making Harry shudder.

"And why would I do..."

"Look out!" Indigo cried out before shooting out shards of iron towards the children at blinding speed, missing Harry by a hairpin.

Olly jumped into the air swinging his swords to the ground with so much force a shockwave was created sending Harry flying away from the battle scene. Dust billowed in the wind with Olly retreating beside Indigo who had now created more shards to replace the ones she had lost.

"Are you okay?" Trina asked Harry trying to help him up amidst Indigos reasoning.

"They are fast."

Olly nodded with his eyes fixed on the targets, "They should be."

Harry readied his bow and arrow while taking his stance beside the mage, "What are they?"

Trina who had gotten whiff of the situation furrowed her brows in concentration, "Vampires."

The wind blew the dust away revealing three bloodthirsty vampires with canines sticking out from the corners of their mouth.

"Were you cut deeply sister?" the boy asked his mate to which she nodded. "I guess we have ourselves a battle here."

The three creatures crouched to the ground preparing to launch their attacks as the four humans readied themselves for the unknown.

***

The war room had a long table in the middle with a hundred royal oak chairs around it. Blue flames lit the room from the sides of the twenty feet high ceiling as well as the middle brightening the room seeing as there were no windows. Sentry guards stood on both sides of the room, spears in hand ready to strike at a moment's notice.

He walked into the room with Senile as different creatures bowed to him in respect. All around the room different creatures clustered together separately, speaking in hushed tones making the room noisy. A fairy trying to fly past hit his cheek, apologized and fled in a hurry to avoid confrontation. It was chaotic.

Senile looked over to an old friend of his, hailed him and excused himself leaving the dark god to the mercy of loneliness and horrifying stares. Zemeta who had been talking with the leader of the Scythian warriors waved him over easing his tensed heart as he muttered a prayer of thanks.

"... we'll talk about this after the meeting," she said to the warrioress before smiling his way. "Long time no see."

He sat on the chair which had his name on it responding when the lady had gone, "It's nice to meet you too Zemeta. I see you haven't aged a bit."

She laughed out loud not minding the attention she brought to herself, "A few thousand years won't be enough to age me brother."

He nodded looking around the room, "You think we can win with our forces?"

Her tongue clicked, a habit she's always had anytime she was deep in thought, "Well, we have enough forces to contend with Mars' army, but I don't think it will be enough to go up against Uranus."

That was the bitter truth and everyone knew it. It was madness to go up against Mars but utter suicide going up against Uranus.

"I know your mind isn't here due to your son's absence but be rest assured that we will find him," she assured him with a hand resting on top of his.

"Thank you so much sister," he smiled pulling his hands away from hers. "But I can find him on my own."

The spark in her eyes went dim as he looked away from her searching the crowd for anything to distract himself with.

"I can't find her anywhere," a Scythian warrior noted to her leader.

"By the gods, where is she?" the warrior sighed in exasperation. "That girl would be the death of me one day."

Zemeta who had been eavesdropping on their conversation called out to the leader, "Lady Camilla, is something wrong?"

"My daughter hasn't been found in weeks and she is supposed to attend this meeting with me."

"Have no fear warrior, she will be found," the goddess smiled signalling to one of the sentry soldiers.

"What seems to be the mater ladies?" Oceania grunted with his mouth full of apple seeds.

"Could you help find her daughter? One of the Clan members would go with you to sea."

He laughed, "What am I, a magician? I've never seen her before, I don't know her name and I don't know where she is. How does that make this rescue mission any easier?"

"She's here," Camilla noted. "She's on this island. I can feel her energy but I also sense a dark sinister energy with her."

"How dark is this energy?" Mephistopheles asked, now interested in their conversation.

"Very dark, darker than yours when you still had your full powers," she replied.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to leave then," Oceania responded, spitting out seeds from his mouth. The sentry followed him out of the hall as the god caused mini quakes with his steps until he left the room.

"We'll need to wait for them to come back before we start the meeting," Zemeta whispered leaning back into her chair until her head faced the ceiling making her glow under the blue flames.