happens.
I need to be able to see, it’s far too dark tonight, thought Vartan.
He closed his eyes and whispered, “ Emitte lucem et veritatem. ”
His eyelids sparkled momentarily as the spell took effect. Today he was going to take no unnecessary chances, and he drew his sword into the night to lead his way. The shimmer of moonlight reflecting off the blade almost blinded his ensorcelled eyes and he shook his head to refocus his vision. Vartan stepped onto his family porch and almost tripped over the rocking chair that was lying on its side. A horse carving rolled off the chair and bumped against his feet. Vartan picked it up and raised it to his face. The memories of his bother playing with the carving when he was still human filled his heart with joy and he allowed himself a smile. “Ah Finn, how you always loved to play,” he mumbled to himself.
He placed his brother's carving back on the chair and steadied his nerves.
Things are different, thought Vartan. And if things are different, then maybe my vision was only a dream.
Vartan allowed himself a smile and approached the door carefully. As the door creaked open, the stench of blood suddenly overwhelmed his senses and stripped the smile from his face. Embers in the fireplace twinkled in his vision like diamonds, and a sense of deja vu smothered him.
Vartan frantically ran up the stairs, taking no notice of anything else around him until he stopped short of his parents’ bedroom door. He looked down reluctantly and noticed that a crude blood trail led into the room, under the door.
No! It can’t be true! he thought. I need to keep my senses sharp, and I can’t do that with this spell on my eyes.
“ Ex viso cantio dispellatur., ” whispered Vartan, and his view returned to darkness.
Only the light escaping from beneath the door and the dim red glow from the fireplace downstairs granted him sight. The sound of the blowing wind whistled from behind the door. It was then that the creaking of ropes reached his ears. Abandoning all hope, Vartan could only see red as his blood surged through his veins.
Please gods, no. Let it all have been a dream, thought Vartan.
Taking a step back, he booted the door open as hard as he could before charging into the room. He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the bright moonlight through the broken window.
With his sudden entrance, Vartan had barely enough time to notice the silver blade coming at his neck. He dropped onto his back and slid forward on the dusty floor. As if time had slowed down, he watched as the shiny blade flew over his nose and Vartan felt the cold of its steel on his skin before his sliding body halted near the open window under a cloud of dust.
In the moonlight, Vartan could make out the grey skin of his mother lying dead on the floor. The usually light wooden planks were almost completely drenched in dried blood. Like a startled snake, Vartan turned sharply on his opponent, whom he could just make out. The figure appeared too large to be a woman and was wearing a heavy robe.
The rage took over his body when he noticed the hanging lump of flesh out of the corner of his eye. The blood dripped onto the floor and rivulets of it trickled into slowly expanding pools.
“Damn you!” screamed Vartan. “May the gods not have mercy on your soul!”
He ran at the figure in the darkness and stabbed at him with furious intensity. The man grunted as he barely dodged the attacks; Vartan’s sword met his own with a loud clash of metal. Vartan shouted and kicked the man’s chest with all of his might. As the force of the blow sent the man crashing through the wall and tumbling down the stairs, dust from the broken wall filled the room and made Vartan cough uncontrollably.
Like a man possessed, Vartan hurtled through the broken wall and down the stairs to see the man crawling towards the door in agony, spitting blood across the dirty floor. His sword lay idle by the fireplace, and Vartan snatched it hastily off the ground.
“Nobody skins my parents and lives to tell the tale, you filthy animal!” yelled Vartan.
With a smooth motion, he plunged the man’s own sword through his leg and pinned him in place. The man grunted in agony and his hands shook weakly. He spat more blood from his mouth. Vartan lifted his sword high in the air and aimed it at the man’s still-cowled neck. The man waved a hand with his remaining strength, as if he was trying desperately to gain Vartan’s attention.
“What could you possibly have to say for yourself before I run you through?” asked Vartan angrily.
Despite his leg, still impaled to the floor, the man managed to turn over to face Vartan, his quivering hand pathetically shielding him from Vartan’s sword.
Vartan, is that who I think it is? asked Keturah.
Vartan dropped to his knees by the man and was overwhelmed with grief. Tears clouded his vision.
“No! What have I done?” he screamed at the top of his lungs. He buried his face in his hands in anguish.
Vartan thought back to the vision and realised that he had ignored something. He raised his head and turned to the message written with blood on the wall.
How does it feel to have killed your own father? Now who is the pathetic one, young knight? Lots of love, Kassina.
“No!” screamed Vartan, turning to his father who wheezed on the floor. Vartan crawled over to him desperately and felt Nymira’s presence through the open doorway.
By the gods, Vartan, is that your father? she asked.
“Nymira, you have to help him,” pleaded Vartan. “Is there anything you can do?”
He opened his father’s mouth to see that his tongue had been roughly cut out. Fresh blood still oozed from the wound.
“That damned witch Kassina-what has she done to you?” cried Vartan.
I’m sorry, Vartan, said Nymira, but I cannot take him to a healer in time to save him from a human’s death. However, this will not be the end for him. He will be born again as a dragon, as will your mother. Nothing on this planet can save him. Where is your mother?
Leon grunted again as he grabbed Vartan’s sword, placed the hilt into Vartan’s hands, and nodded with tears in his eyes, collapsing his head on the floor. Vartan stepped back in defiance.
“No, I will not kill my own father. I will not fail my entire family. Not today, not ever,” he cried.
Vartan, do you have any other artefacts aside from me? asked Keturah.
Vartan turned to Nymira as the realisation sank in.
“You said that nothing on this planet will save my father. What if something from another planet will?” he asked.
Vartan quickly threw his pack to the floor and rummaged through for the objects he obtained from She’Ma’Ryn. As he searched his pack, Vartan found the source of a faint pink glow and when he pulled the glowing object out, he held the golden egg. He smiled as hope now spurred him on.
You cannot heal your father while he has a sword stuck in his leg. It has to be removed, and you will need to act quickly, said Keturah.
“Father, I need you to prepare for me to remove the sword. I am so sorry, I had no idea it was you,” said Vartan.
Leon nodded in agreement and he closed his eyes tight to brace himself for the pain. Vartan grabbed hold of the hilt with both hands and held down the leg with his knee to stop his father from moving unnecessarily. He carefully eased out the sword. Fresh blood spurted into the air and all over his body. Leon groaned with the burning white pain as he clutched at the wound.
Vartan panicked at the sight of the blood, staring with vacant wide eyes.
Now focus! said Keturah. The artefact you hold is called an Egg of Life. I have seen these in our world’s equivalent of your City of Wonders. It is incredibly rare and immensely powerful. You need to carefully twist it open and be sure to get every drop into him.
Vartan lifted the egg to his face and gently turned the two halves until they clicked. As carefully as he could, Vartan pulled the halves apart. There was a slight hiss and the scent of a desert rose filled the air. There was a sparkling pink liquid within the egg. Vartan balanced it precariously in his hands, battling with his nerves to stop it from spilling uselessly to the ground.
“I need you to swallow all of this. I know your mouth must be painful right now, but it is the only way,” whispered Vartan.
