The Sword that Binds (Book of Worlds 1) (7 page)

“Everything I know comes from my own power. My element is magic itself. With that comes an instinctual knowledge of how to use it, but I know basically nothing about the other elements aside from the fact that they exist. You’ll need to find someone to teach you if you want to do more than you already can," He explained. “I have a theory as to why you can use stone magic the way you do at least. When your body converts my power to stone, it runs straight to the empty core within you and pools there until you use it, while the wind element runs through the channels within you instead. I’m guessing you can only use them in certain ways depending on how they exist within you," Tyrus said when Sarena asked what else he could do. The answer wasn’t very helpful to her, she could do nothing new with that knowledge.

Roughly two days after they had left the corpse of the beast - it was hard to judge since the canopy perpetually blocked sunlight - they came across their first signs of life aside from the two creatures they had found before. Tyrus told Sarena to stop as soon as he sensed them, causing her to move cautiously forward until they came into view. Sarena was hiding around the corner of a tree, looking at them from downwind so as not to let them know she was there. There were three of them standing next to a tree, two of them eating the glowing moss, while the third smaller one was chewing on some mushrooms on the ground. They stood on four legs and could almost pass for horses, except that the two larger ones were at least half again as big as the largest horse Sarena had ever seen, and the smaller one was easily as big as her father’s stallion. Their fur was deep red, and the larger two glowed the same as the moss they were eating. On the sides of their heads were two sinister looking curved horns, one of which was broken on the largest of the three.

“It looks like a family, although that is the biggest fawn I have ever seen," Sarena whispered quietly to Tyrus. As soon as she uttered the words, all three of the creatures instantly looked up and stared straight at her. Their eyes started to glow red, and the fawn quickly hid behind its two parents. Sarena gulped as she realized her mistake. Everything in this forest was capable of fighting and obviously had incredible senses. She had planned to quietly pass them by since they didn’t look dangerous to her - aside from the horns at least - but when the one-horned one suddenly charged at her she abandoned that plan.

The speed it charged at was even faster than the beast that had chased her before, causing her to panic for just a moment before she drew on Tyrus’ power. A breeze started to blow within her, and she gracefully dodged to the side as the creature charged through where she had been standing less than a heartbeat earlier. Instead of fighting, Sarena turned and dashed into the forest, disappearing among the trees almost instantly. After a few minutes it became clear that they weren’t being chased, and Sarena let go of the power allowing Tyrus to take control of it again.

“That was stupid of you," Tyrus said. “Nothing in this forest is going to be friendly. If you don’t want to fight it, then just pass it by.”

“I know it was stupid! I don’t need you to tell me that," Sarena replied while scowling. “They just looked so peaceful, I didn’t think they would attack so quickly." She sighed and started running again, setting herself a pace that she could keep up easily, but would give Tyrus enough time to warn her if he sensed something near them.

They continued in the same manner for over two weeks, encountering several other groups of the same horse-like creatures. When her food started to run low, they hunted down a solitary glow horse - as Tyrus took to calling them - and used it to replenish their supply. After eating nothing but the chewy and tough meat from the blue beast for so long, the tender meat from the glow horse tasted like a delicacy. At least once a day, sometimes more, they would come across a new creature that would desperately try to chase them down. Typically Sarena would escape, but some of them were more than willing to continue the chase for longer than her patience would last, and inevitably she would turn to fight. None of them were anywhere near the size of the beast she had slain with the spike, and just by using the wind and Tyrus she could cut them down easily.

Sarena sat on a boulder next to a stream, Tyrus lying in his sheath and she slowly ate another strip of the glow horse meat. “Sarena, I think you need to rest," Tyrus said, breaking the silence that had lasted all morning.

“What? I rest every night, do you think I just lie there awake the entire time?” She answered, confusion in her voice.

Tyrus paused for a moment before replying, “I don’t mean like that, I mean from using my power. You’ve either been drawing on my power, or I’ve been giving it to you for days now. Your aura is starting to look strange.”

“It’s not like I have a choice you know. Did you already forget how I almost died right after entering this cursed place?” She frowned, annoyance showing through as she spoke. “Even those glow horses could kill me easily without your power. I can’t let my guard down at all. If you didn’t want me to have to do this, you shouldn’t have killed the prince to begin with!” After almost a month of constantly traveling in the exact same scenery with no sun at all, her mind felt like it was beginning to unravel. If she didn’t have Tyrus there to talk to she wasn’t sure if she could have lasted as long as she had.

“Please, just find a place to hole up for a day. I will keep watch for you and warn you if anything attacks. Just don’t draw on my power and let your aura recover a little. One day is all I ask," He pleaded.

Sarena opened her mouth to argue with him, prepared to point out all the different ways he was wrong, and how it was his fault that she had to use his power in the first place. She couldn’t help but feel guilty even as she thought of it, knowing that she was unwilling mostly because she didn’t want to give up the feeling of power it gave her. But before she could speak, an immense pressure settled around her, making her feel as if she was being crushed. All she had time for was a gasp before her body was pressed to the ground. The air around her felt as if it weighed hundreds of pounds. Just breathing was becoming difficult.

“Sarena! What’s happening? Where did this aura come from?” Tyrus yelled in her mind, panic in his voice. Sarena could feel power flooding into her from Tyrus, far more than normal. Immediately the pressure on Sarena lessened, and she was able to struggle to her feet, breathing hard as she did so.

“What’s going on Tyrus?” She asked. “Is there a beast somewhere around here? This is exactly why I said I couldn’t risk losing your power for a day. I would have been dead before either one of us could react otherwise," Sarena drew Tyrus, her eyes scanning the surroundings.

Tyrus was silent for a few moments before answering. “I’m not sure. This aura is...different from any I’ve ever seen. I can’t understand it at all. Whoever or whatever it belongs to is far more powerful than anything we’ve ever encountered. I can’t find the source of it in any direction.”

“What do you think it is? Not another creature like that blue beast from before? Even that didn’t have this effect on me," She said.

“No, I’m not even sure if this aura is alive at all. I can’t read anything from it, so most likely the source is an object, not a living being," Tyrus explained.

Instead of staying in place and waiting, Sarena started to move. Testing out each direction, she eventually decided on the one that made the weight around her increase. Her curiosity was winning out over her common sense. She wanted to find out what exactly this object was. The forest had been entirely monotonous for what felt like ages, and she longed for something to break the cycle. With Tyrus at her side she was more than confident that she could handle anything they found. Moving forward cautiously, the pressure on her body continued to increase even with no sign that there was anything besides more trees in front of her.

Suddenly, Sarena saw a sight she had almost forgotten existed. Just a few steps away the trees abruptly ended, their canopy extended slightly beyond that, but after that was open ground full of sunshine. It was so bright that she was blinded after so long in the darkness of the forest. Covering her eyes she turned away from the light, squinting and letting them adjust slowly before turning back. When she could see clearly enough to recognize what was past the tree line, her legs froze in place. A massive clearing stood in front of her, large enough that the entire Garland Keep could fit inside of it with room to spare. The trees formed a perfect circle around it, not a single one out of place, and brilliant green grass grew across the entire clearing. While that sight was impressive on its own, it paled in comparison to what inhabited the center of the clearing.

A massive creature slept in the middle, so big that even the blue beast that she had slain was dwarfed by it. Just one leg from this being would be enough to crush it. Scales covered its body, each one as large as Sarena was tall. Its body was at least as long as the great hall back home, with a tail that was even longer than that. Spikes protruded from its back, starting at the base of its neck and continuing all the way to the end of its tail, each one longer than her arm. A serpentine neck connected to a distinctly lizard-like head, its mouth would be large enough to swallow Sarena whole if it were open. The scales along its body gleamed a dull grey in the sunlight, seeming to be absorbing the light instead of reflecting it.

“Why are you standing-” Tyrus began to say, only to stop mid-sentence as Sarena stepped into the clearing. She ignored him as she stared at the majestic creature in front of her.

A
dragon.
She thought.
An actual dragon. It can’t be anything else. I always thought they were another myth created by the church, the same as the demons.

Before Sarena could recover from her shock, one of the dragon’s eyes opened, revealing an orb of black with small specks of light within. There was no pupil, but Sarena was positive it was staring right at her. She felt the power from Tyrus quickly drain away as an immense force pushed itself into her mind. Her attempts at stopping it were ignored as if they didn’t exist while the presence rooted around her memories. Almost as abruptly as it appeared, the presence was gone. A feeling of violation unlike anything she had ever felt washed through her. Suddenly her entire body felt weak and she collapsed to the ground. For a moment she thought she could feel Tyrus trembling in her grip, but it happened so quickly that she thought she had imagined it instead.

“Welcome to my home, little ones," A voice boomed within Sarena’s mind, drowning out her thoughts. “I’m sorry I had to search you like that, but it’s so hard to see anything outside of this forest. You can’t begin to imagine how boring it is in this clearing. Almost as boring as Tyrus’ life has been. Let’s consider my invasion of your privacy the payment for your lives, shall we?” The dragon lifted its head and turned to face directly at Sarena, moving close enough that she could reach out and touch it if she wanted.

“Sarena, run," Tyrus said, his voice shaking. “This thing is too strong. We can’t fight it, we need to escape now!”

“No need to be in such a rush, Tyrus," The dragon spoke again. “I said you could live, not that you could leave. It’s so rare to have visitors, I can’t pass up this chance to have a chat," For a moment Sarena thought she could see a hint of a smile in the jaws of the massive head.

Shifting its huge body, the dragon crossed its front legs, and seemed to settle into place. Its black eyes seemed to latch on to Sarena, causing her to feel a sense of terror that made her completely forget the violation she had felt just moments before. Her mind blanked as the power of the creature poured over her, holding her up as all the strength in her body left her. After a few moments that felt like an eternity, it withdrew its head and relaxed before speaking again.

“How interesting. A human with no power of her own has become so reliant on magic that she can’t even survive without it anymore. And an enchanted sword that holds within it a spirit so powerful that the enchantment binding it is breaking down. I’m very tempted to see how this plays out," The voice in her mind chuckled for a moment before continuing. “Ah, where are my manners. My name is Ankaros. I suppose you could call me the king of this little forest. I would ask what brings you two to my part of the world, but I’ve already spoiled that for myself.”

“What - what do you mean I can’t survive?” Sarena finally spoke after working up the courage to. Her mind was reeling from everything that had happened still, but she couldn’t ignore what it had just said.

“Oh, I think you already know little Sarena. You are just too addicted to the power that you don’t want to admit it. And Tyrus, I know you’ve suspected the truth for some time now. You are in fact a human, and your ascension to the spiritual world was quite spectacular. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human with so much power bottled up within them. It’s only a matter of time before you break free of your enchantment, and after that your core will travel through that bond of yours to the safest place it can - into Sarena. I doubt she could survive that since your core is simply too strong for her. I wouldn’t give you more than a few days before those bindings shatter," Ankaros explained smugly. “Well done Tyrus. You’ve managed to ensure that you have a body to inhabit once you finally break free." Laughter filled her mind as she sat on the ground.

Sarena was dumbfounded. The rush of power she felt from Tyrus every time
was
addicting, to the point where she couldn’t imagine living without it anymore. But she hadn’t realized that she was relying on it just to stay alive now. And eventually Tyrus was going to break free from the sword and kill her? She wasn’t sure she could believe that part.

“Is what he is saying true, Tyrus?” She asked quietly.

For a moment Sarena thought he wouldn’t answer. “I think he’s right for most of it. The feeling of constriction on me has been disappearing ever since I woke up. I wasn’t sure what it meant until now...but I knew something was going to happen in a few days. And I’ve been getting flashbacks of what I think was my life before this sword. So yes, he’s most likely telling the truth except -.”