Book of Remembrance: The Forgotten Gods: Book One (8 page)

I picked up Sunder and fastened
it to my belt.
 
Finally, the Teacher
walked over to me. She had a smile from ear to ear. “Kadin, you surprise me. I
did not know you were capable of bringing Markai here. Your affinity with the
Navitas must be growing stronger than what we had anticipated for this early
on. That is good.” I looked over to Markai and when I looked back at Quiniewa,
she was once again the old woman. “I do not truly know how I brought her here.
I guess we fell asleep together and when I arrived here, she was here also.
Where
is
here?”

 
 
Looking
around I saw we were once again out of the forest; we were standing in the
middle of a city square. There were no people to be seen.
 
Seemingly deserted it was eerily quiet apart
from a large fountain in the middle of the square. There was a gigantic stone
statue in the middle of a man in armour, a sword in his hand with the tip
resting on the stone next to his foot. He had a handsome but severe face. As if
he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. A strange thing, he
had sapphires for eyes. Around his feet there were criss-crossing fountains
spraying in a circle around him.

I walked closer to the fountain
and slowly made my way all around it. I came to the sword and gasped. I
unsheathed my sword and held it up for comparison; they were identical. It had
the same image of Markai on the hilt, down to the sapphire gems for eyes. I
looked over at Quiniewa. She was watching me, a serene look on her.

“How is this possible? The sword
in the statue matches mine exactly.
And his eyes…
Where
are we?”

She looked around as if she was
only now noticing the city around us. “This is the largest city in all of
Surrelmidia, Klairance. That,” she pointed at the statue, “is the Great King
Vlearian. The more important question here is
when
are we
?” She gave me a meaningful
look, eyebrows raised.

I frowned. “What do you mean
when
?”

She clicked her tongue and with
a roll of her eyes said, “Think Kadin. Have you heard of King Vlearian, of
Klairance? No? Therefore, do you not think you may have heard of this city if
it was the biggest city of all of Surrelmidia? At the Severance, this city and
all that you see here were destroyed.
 
That was over five thousand years ago.” Again, she looked at me
probingly to make sure I understood what she was saying.

My mouth was hanging open and
she took this as acknowledgment. “I looked back at the sword of the statue.
“How is this possible? That is my sword, but it cannot be five thousand years
old! It is simply not possible. Mine has to simply have been modelled on this
one, surely?”
 

She fixed me with a stare.
“Master Kadin, we will have to work on your perception of what is and what is
not possible. Have you learnt nothing since your Seeking started?” Without
pausing for an answer, she continued. “Before you started learning of the
Navitas, would you have believed in creatures that appear to you and you alone,
seemingly from another realm? Would you have believed a brew of tea had the
power to open your mind up to experiences beyond your ‘normal’ realm? You have
to stop thinking so small. Open your mind to these events, these possibilities.
Embrace them, Kadin. What you can imagine may be more important than what you
know. The mind is a very powerful tool.
Even more so for you
than for others.
What you can imagine you can bring to fruition. The
first step to achieving the impossible is to believe it is not only possible,
but simple.”

She stalked over to the statue.
Pointing to the man she said, “This was King Vlearian. He was the ruler of
Klairance for fifty years before the Severance. That sword he holds
is
the one you now hold; Sunder. Forged
for King Vlearian and imbued with power by the wizards of the three councils of
the Lords. It is not simply a sword and if you open yourself to the potential
of it, you alone will be able to wield the most powerful weapon of all
mankind.”

It was a lot to take in. A sword
five thousand years old, that Master Boryka said was meant for me. “Does that
mean there is some connection between this King Vlearian and me? How could I be
connected to a King five thousand years dead? I am not from royal lineage. I am
an orphan for blood’s sake!”

 
“An orphan who knows
precious little of his heritage.
You say you are not from royal
lineage…how would you know?” She looked at me expectantly with a glitter in her
eyes.

“You mean to tell me that I am
somehow distantly related to this ancient King?”

She nodded. “Not just distantly
related. You are a direct descendant through your father’s line.”

I thought back on what Quiniewa
had told me when we last met. “But, my ability to call Markai is not from my
father. I inherited that from my mother and yet on my sword, on King Vlearian’s
sword,
is
an image of Markai.”

She smiled. “The Talent of
charming is passed from mother to son. The King had inherited the ability from
his mother as you did from yours. You are the first to have both the Navitas
and Charming Talent since him.” We sat in silence for a while.

I got up and started
pacing.
 
“Quiniewa, you tell me of my
heritage, you tell me that I am a descendant of this great King. Master Boryka
gives me an ancient sword and tells me that it was destined for me. What does
it all mean? Is this just part of a typical Seeking? What is expected of me?” I
looked at her imploringly, wanting clear answers from her.

She only gave me a sympathetic
smile. “No Seeking is ‘typical’, Kadin, but no,
your
Seeking is different. It is more… it is what it was always meant to be. The
Seeking has been waiting a long time for you. As for what it all means, well we
all want to know our roads ahead, but we cannot. The Guardians will help you
along, teach you what you need to know and advise you as best we can, but you
must still discover your own way. Even we cannot see what the future holds for
you. What I can give you is some knowledge of what went before.”

She cleared her throat and her
voice took on a lecturing note. “In ancient times, long before King Vlearian
lived, gods roamed the earth with us. We served them and in return, they
offered us protection, blessed us with prosperity. All nations of men and the
fae folk knew their place. Peace reigned on earth for six thousand years. In
spite of that, men grew restless. They wanted more. They did not want to merely
serve, they wanted to rule. Groups of dissidents started meeting and recruiting
those with Talents and even some among the fae. Men may not be gods, but they
do have a certain aptitude for stealth, violence and war. All of which served
them well. At least it did in the beginning.”

I looked at her in disbelief.
“How could mere men and even the fae have thought they stood any chance against
gods
?” She lifted an eyebrow at my
interruption and then went on smoothly.

“The Rebellion did not stand a
chance in open war so they schemed and plotted on how to bring them to their
knees. They realised that the gods’ power were dependant on the people. Their
belief, their servitude, their obedience, take that away and the gods would
fall. This is something that the gods themselves had never even considered. As
they say, ‘pride comes before the fall’. They started with small things,
spreading insidious rumours and lies. If they could get the gods at odds with
each other or even better, at war, it would create an opportunity for them to
gain control.
 
The effect was slow, but
relentless. It spread like a disease.”
 

“Factions formed and with it,
cracks appeared and grew in society. Eventually open war broke out between the
gods. They destroyed each other and once the damage was done, the people swiftly
turned against the remaining gods that they had seemingly been supporting. Gods
may be powerful, but there is even more power in numbers. Fierce battles were
fought until one day the people woke to find them gone. The gods had abandoned
them. Overnight the face of society changed. People celebrated a great victory.
The celebration however, did not last long. Often reality does not measure up
to the dream and quickly they started to realise what they had lost. Up until
then earth had never known a day of strife. Hard work yes, but not strife.
Famine, war and worst of all, dark beings plagued them. Soon people and fae
alike were begging forgiveness, begging the
gods
 
to
return. Silence was their only
answer and this is what became known as the Severance.”

She paused, looking at the
statue of the King with a faraway look in her eyes. Finally, I asked. “What do
you mean by dark beings? What are they?”

Her lips pulled tight and a
frown appeared between her brows. “There are many.
Beings
that are pure evil.
They come from all forms of life.
And
death.
There are two types; the first are the Dark Children, creations
of Rakadamon, the Master of the Dark. Born from his twisted mind and shaped by
his corrupt hands. The second are the Twisted Ones. Ordinary beings, be they
human, fae or animal that have been taken and warped by him.”

I shivered and put my hand on
the hilt of my sword as if I had to be ready to defend against these creatures.
“Why have I not heard of creatures such as these? It seems that folklore would
be filled with the like.”

She nodded. “They would be if
anyone remembered them. Rakadamon and his followers were defeated in the last
Great Battle. They were banished from this realm.”

She pointed to the massive
statue. “King Vlearian led the defence in this battle and even he has been
wiped from memory. See, often
times
people would
rather forget.
Especially when they feel safe.
When
they think the problem has been taken care of. Unfortunately for us, this time,
they were wrong.”

I frowned. “How could they be
wrong? It has been five thousand years and no one knows about these things.
They must be long gone.”

She simply shook her head.
 
“Forgotten, but not gone and they are once
more stirring. We believe the Dark Master must be behind it, but how this is
possible we do not know yet.”
 
She gave
me a measuring look as if she was trying to see right into my soul.
 

Finally, she sighed.
 
“Much will depend on you Kadin Aken. You must
walk with your eyes open and as the wise one says, be aware that for all you
see, there is much more that you do not.”

Everything around me faded until
finally, darkness surrounded me. I looked around.
“Quiniewa?
Markai?”
Out of the dark Markai came sauntering over
to me.
 
She pressed her massive head
against my chin and I realised that she was much bigger than before. I stared
at her in wonder. Her shoulders came up to my chest. Suddenly she turned and
gave my hand a nip. I started and sat up in my bedroll with Markai sitting next
to me. Dawn was just breaking.
 

After washing my face, I
stretched and started the Shea-Rin. Once again, my body moved as if I had been
practising it my whole life, but at the end the same exhaustion enveloped me
and I all but collapsed in a heap of shivers.
 

Finally, I saddled Balder and
dragged myself onto her. I gave her free rein, not caring where I was going.
Markai was trotting next to us and every now and again disappeared into the
surrounding woods.

Throughout the day, I did not
even stop for meals, eating dried meat and some flat bread in the saddle.
 
I became aware of far off voices and children
laughing. I did not know the area well, but I was not aware of any villages
close by. Curious, I heeled Balder in the direction of the sounds.

As I got closer, I could hear
them more clearly as well as other general village noises. Some houses appeared
between the trees. I started dreaming of the hot meal I would have if they had
a common dining hall or even an inn. A low growl emanating from Markai brought
me out of my reverie. I could feel her hackles rising.

As we moved closer, she was
becoming more unsettled. She snarled.
Danger,
evil…murder
. I realised then that all the noise had disappeared leaving an
eerie stillness.
 
Even the forest around
us had gone quiet and the constant bird chatter had vanished.

As we came clear of the forest
we were met by a terrible sight. The village only consisted of a few houses,
but they were all burnt out, smoke still rising from some of the buildings. The
dead lay scattered everywhere.
Men, women, children, even
babes lay with cold dead eyes staring as if still seeing their killers.
They were not merely dead, but mutilated.

Unbidden the image of my
father’s mutilated body sprang to my mind, but I quickly pushed it away.
Surely, the village noises and voices I had heard could not have come from
here. To be certain, I dismounted and searched for survivors without much hope.
Among all the chaos, I saw paw prints in the dust. They were similar to a
wolf’s, but much larger and the imprint from the middle pad suggested that it
was split into three parts. I did not recognise them, but Markai with her nose
in the air informed me that this was at least partly the work of the
Dyrrendrel.