GODS OF ASEROTH: The Prodigal Son: A monster is born (6 page)

    
He got off and came to Leosher “I see The Empire has finally got an army now” he smiled “I am happy to see the progress.”

    
Leosher looked around at his army and then looked back at him “You came here faster than we expected.”

     “I did not have anything that blocked my path, for you have killed the Yeti, and burnt the green forest.”

     Leosher smiled “Did you bring the provisions?”

    
“Yes, what do you think I was dragging behind the sledge?”

    
Leosher looked at the trailer and told the Orc to distribute the provisions.

    
“They are uniforms and weapons and food,” said Buntius, proudly “The entire town made these as fast as they could.”

    
When everyone had put their uniforms on and had new weapons, and were ready to go, Leosher dismissed Buntius and addressed to his people “Now, that you have received the red and gold uniform, you are a part of the Empirion army. Be loyal and you will be chiefly rewarded but betray and suffer exile. I cannot provide you with armor just yet, but remember, though we go against fully armored men, you have me, a god, by your side. Our win and their defeat are almost certain.”

    
The uniforms were just like Leosher’s uniform a red battle skirt with gold curved markings, and sandals. Those who had armors previously, wore armors but those who did not were left bare. There were three different types of warriors in the army, some were archers, some had spearmen and some had curved swords. The men used their previous weapons as well to accommodate for the lack of armor.

    
In the afternoon, Leosher led his armies out of the Land of the Dead, which was no longer the land of the dead, for it was rejuvenated, and towards the mystic caves.

    
The caves were known to hold a snake big enough to engulf entire armies without even feeling it. He was at least 100 feet long and was covered with scales and horns. It had made huge caves in the mountains to live in and killed everyone who tried to pass through. Even the Gelun soldiers changed their path, for they were too scared to go through. Many suggested Leonidas to do the same but he was determined to kill this beast as well.

    
There was a legend that the snake could shape shift into a beautiful, heavenly girl but the girl had some flaws in her as well which made her distinguishable. The legend says that some part of the body would not be perfect for example sometimes, the hands would be crooked or the eyes would not have the pupils and other similar things like that. Leosher and his men had to be looking for such flaws if they wanted to survive. Luckily, though Leosher was getting a bit careless now, for he was the king of The Empire, his original companions, Virgil, Usere, Urey, Neiham and Azar stayed very sharp. They paid attention to every little detail and kept a good look on their surroundings.

CHAPTER 5

    
After it had been 3 days marching through the lands and the mountains, they finally could see the caves now. It was night when they got close to it so Leosher ordered his men to set camp there and spend the night. The men made a feast and everyone enjoyed, for it might have been their last that day. Some were playing flutes in harmony; some were telling stories of their past and some were sleeping soundly. Leosher on the other hand, was feasting. Because he was raised by a peasant mother, he had never seen so much food, so he kept on eating until he was full and could not take another bite.

    
Virgil, sat on a rock and gazed up in the sky without eating as much as Leosher did, for he knew that they will need for the later days in their journey. Asurot and the other gods watched him and decided to put him next in line for the throne of The Empire.

     Usere and Urey layed on the ground and gazed up in the sky and Neiham and Azar feasted on the food.

     Soon, the feast died down and Leosher decided to get some sleep, for he was going to face Amoveus, a shape shifting giant snake. He could turn into anything but was mostly known to shift into a girl with flaws.

    
During the night, they could hear the dragon-like roar of Amoveus. It was intimidating and even the animals were scared to go close to the cave. It breathed hot, venomous steam. It would burn any flesh in its way and the warriors were about to fight it.

    
In the morning, Leosher got up and went to Azar to ask him about Amoveus. It was early morning, a little after dawn, and Azar sat on a rock, with his pipe in his mouth. Both began talking and the day began getting older

    
“I don’t know about this monster,” said Azar “but I do know that my dear sister, Neiham has stories about it. Son, you better go to her and ask her for them.”

    
Leosher did just as Azar had told him and went to Neiham. Being a good peer, she began telling him the tales

    
“Long ago, all creatures lived in harmony but then Evil came along. When Shamaun betrayed the gods and his son Samael betrayed him, slowly everything went out of balance. Most of what was good became bad and feuds became common. The three rulers did not do much good, for they were filled with dark energy too. They segregated everything. Rare and hard to defeat animals became monsters, and one of those was Amoveus. Beforehand, Amoveus was a shape shifting Wizard. He was neither bad nor good. He was a mixture of both. When the Thraenus went out of balance, Amoveus lived right here. He did not want to follow Geluna and opposed a ruler over his head which made Geluna mad. She gave some of her dark energy to the wizard and he was transformed into a giant snake that was so deadly that whoever looked into its eyes died instantly, just like Mortemus, as a matter of fact, Mortemus was his sister.

    
It roams around in the shape of a beautiful girl. Legend has it that the girl’s beauty is like melting gold. It is pure like the water of the green lake in the kingdom of Strinthius and more spotless than the sky at dawn. Though she looks gorgeous, one has to remember that she is Amoveus, and she means to kill you. It is highly unlikely to find a girl, walking around, asking for help in the caves of Amoveus, which makes it very easy to differentiate. She has green eyes, wears a white silken robe and has twisted feet or hands. She does not have feet like normal creatures but has crooked feet most of the times. Not many have survived but the spirits of the dead have told these stories. To kill, Amoveus, it must be in its serpent form and one must cleave it down the middle.”

    
After Neiham was done telling the story, Leosher got up “Is there anything else I should know?”

    
“Yes,” said Neiham “Beware, for even a single glance at the Snake’s eyes can kill you that instance.”

    
Leosher thanked her for sharing her wisdom and went to talk to Virgil and the elf brothers who were sitting at a cliff, gazing upon the morning sky and listening to the chirping birds. Leosher walked over to them and sat on the cliff as well, “Today we go to the caves.” They nodded and he continued “I am taking 10 of my best men to the caves. The rest will stay behind, for I do not want to lose them all in one battle.”

    
Usere quickly looked at Leosher and after he was done talking he volunteered “I will definitely go, my King” Urey joined in too “Yes, my lord, I shall join you as well.” Virgil laughed and patted his brother and king on the back “Brother, I shall go with you too.”

    
They all shared smiles of friendship and just as they were about to get up and leave the cliff, Azar walked up to them and put his magical staff on the ground, making a sound to alert them “I will join you” said he “I will be of great service and advice.”

    
Leosher got up, keeping his pride, and said while smiling slightly “I am happy that I have such loyal friends and companions.” Then he turned to Virgil, the general of his army “Go and pick 6 of the best men we have. Give 3, bow and arrows, and give the rest spears and swords.”

    
Virgil did what his brother-king had told him and went to pick the best. Leosher walked with him but then went into his tent to get ready but Azar stayed with Usere and Urey.

     “S
o how did you two became his highness’s friends?” asked Azar.

    
Usere said, while throwing a pebble in the lake nearby “We are bounty hunters. My brother and I were in the outskirts of Geluna, looking for a runaway werewolf and Virgil and Leosher were in the same forest too. Virgil, by chance saw us chasing the werewolf and threw his wood cutting axe at it. He made a cut on its leg and Leosher tackled it down to the ground with his bare hands. He was the first man I had ever seen do that. We thanked both of the brothers and that was the beginning of our long lasting friendship. It has been 3 years since that and I think Leosher was 15 years old when that happened.”

    
Azar was quite astonished to hear that Leosher tackled a fully grown werewolf at the age of 15. No other 15 years old would have been able to do that, even if the werewolf was injured “Quite astonishing. Now, will you please tell me your back story” said Azar “I am curious how you both became bounty hunters.”

    
Urey cleared his voice. He was a lot less serious than Usere. Though they were twins, there were a lot of differences. Usere was almost always serious, but Urey was chirpy and happy.

    
He began talking “Well, as you know we are elves so we live in the middle of Strinthius, in elf land where all the elves live. We lived near the Green Lake, just close to the forests. One day, we were playing in the forest at the age of 7 when we saw a royal boar, running away. This boar was to be the dinner of the king Colossus but he had run away. Many men were chasing it, so we got into the chase as well. Nobody could catch it but Usere and I did, for we were young and faster. The king gave us a lot of gold and since then, we orphans became bounty hunters. Whatever we get from the bounties, we keep some for ourselves and give the rest to the poor and the sick and help the Elvan community grow.”

    
Azar smiled “So both of you are orphans, huh.”

     Usere looked down at the ground for a moment but then back up at Azar
“Sadly, yes. What is your back story?”

    
“It is a long one. I will tell you some other day.”

    
By the time they were done talking, Leosher was ready with his men and called them off of the cliff they all were sitting on. This cliff looked over the lake. They followed his orders and went to him where he started leading them towards the caves. As they were getting close, it was getting dark and they could hear the roaring and hissing of Amoveus. It was terrifying and mortifying. It was like a lion roaring with a hundred snakes hissing at him.

     As
they got closer to the cave, the sounds became louder and louder and reached a point where it was nerve wrecking and unbearable but just as they stepped foot in the cave, everything stopped. There was a pin drop silence. Amoveus had stopped breathing and they could hear the water dropping from the ceiling of the moist, wet, tube-like caves. It was a perfectly carved hole that led into many other perfectly carved holes. There were at least 6 holes in there. Leosher sent two men in two holes. Now there were six men left, a dwarf, Leosher, Virgil, Azar, Usere and Urey. He sent Virgil and the dwarf in a cave and the rest of them went alone.

    
After all walked in the beautiful, dark and wet caves, all lost contact. No one knew how the others were doing but then suddenly, there were screams around the whole channel of caves. Nobody knew which hole they were coming from but they were and they were morbid and agonizing screams. All of them ran forward as fast as they could to reach the end but Leosher’s hole was a little longer than the others. When Leosher was half way through, he saw green light at the end of the hole and it was coursing towards him. They were a pair of eyes coming towards him.

    
He stopped and thought for a moment but then the light faded away and there emerged a beautiful girl with long, luscious dark hair. She was wearing a white silken rob and had shining green eyes. Leosher knew that it was Amoveus but just to be sure, he looked at her body and just as he was looking, he noticed that the feet were crooked and twisted, so he shut his eyes and grabbed a tight hold of his spear.

    
She walked to him and tried to make him open his eyes. She wrapped her arms around him as if she was in love with him and kissed him on the lips to lure him into opening his eyes but Leosher remained confident. He thought about Meagon and the good times he had had with her to stay loyal to her and stay alive. They stayed like this for some moments, but then Leosher quickly put his spear in Amoveus’s side and pierced its torso. It did nothing but made it scream and angry, for Amoveus could only be killed in his serpent form.

    
She scratched Leosher’s cheek with her long nails and quickly backed away from him. Leosher, annoyed and bruised, punched Amoveus in its face. He did that quite a lot of times but since she was very beautiful, he could only do it so many times until he started to regret it.

    
Just as Leosher stopped, Amoveus bit him on the neck. Its venom coursed through his veins immediately and began affecting him but Leosher was still strong enough to think and fight greatly. When Amoveus was biting Leosher in his neck, Leosher availed the chance and stabbed it in its eyes with his fingers and made it blind.