"The Path of Ascension Chapter 7" by José Manuel López Vega

Chapter 7

The rocky wasteland was before them, the desert behind; at least for the moment. They had been walking hard ever since they had spotted the three Avatars flying above, four days hence. They had topped countless dunes and endured terrible heat and the ever present and terrible loneliness of the desert that drove so many mad, and remained forever at the edges of their awareness waiting to pounce in any moment of weakness. Even though a terrible road through scattered and loose rubble was before them, they all experienced a sense of relief, forgetting for a moment their strained muscles and shriveled stomachs, that had already gone three days with only the most meager shreds of leftovers to feed them. The only person that seemed wholly indifferent to any kind of aggravation was Eala, who, not needing to eat, had not suffered any hunger. They all hefted the empty packs that they had been forced to carry ever since the camel had simply died in the middle of the desert, the beast had been as unnoticeable as Eala had been in the beginning that they didn’t even notice that it had died until Zadier, who was leading it, was suddenly unable to move any further, impeded by the dead weight that was tied to his hand. They all stood around the camel, discussing what should be done, in the end they all divided the provisions and continued on, Tabagar had suggested half-heartedly to eat the camel, but the beast was so skinny they wouldn’t have been able to get anything from it. According to the guard, Tuhor was no more than a few miles from their present position, however, the rugged terrain would make the roads much harder.

Starting down the enormous boulders of red stone, Alros began thinking on fate again. Tuhor had seemed like something faint and vague in  a future that seemed very far away, for him the only reality had been the unending desert, as if all the days of his life would be spent traveling towards an invisible goal, as if he were trying to find the end of the horizon. Now, however, a cold knot of anxious fear weighed down in his stomach and mind. He almost wished that the desert would go on forever, and that he should never have to reach Tuhor,  from where his destiny would become uncertain and more than likely dangerous.

The sun beat down on them mercilessly as they tried to make their way over the waste of red boulders. They had given up traveling only by night, wanting to get to the distant port city as soon as possible. They slept only brief hours, during the greater heat of midday, before beginning again, as soon as the temperature became less hot. Soon after the three Avatars had flown over them, they had been seeing more of them, not in the physical world, but in the fringes of their minds, boring inexorably into their brains, and deepest darkest fears, they were now ever present, like the loneliness of the desert. They did not talk at all, too busy trying to keep a failing grip on their sanity.

Every now and then, they would be brought back to the real world by a falling pebble, and a  faint noise, off in the distance, as they reached a part were their feet no longer felt any sand at all, but instead a solid mass of rock, like an island in an ocean, they saw the source of the noise. Directly ahead of them, they could see several bodies- people. They could only guess what they were doing out in the desert. As they walked closer, the shapes came into sharper relief, and with terrifying detail. All the meaninglessness of the affair, all the suffering born of stupidity, fear and natural violence were summed up in Eala’s sordidly plain statement:

“They are dying.”

She didn’t say “killing” or “fighting”. As Alros turned to continue watching the gruesome battle, he could not help but agree with her. As their swords reached inside the bodies of the others, stealing the preciously guarded life, those men became less than a man, reverting to a beast cornered by abstract thoughts of leadership and loyalty and releasing the pent up energy in rage towards a man they probably didn’t even know, but who’s insignia was enough to make him evil. Those men were truly dying when they killed.

Alros could feel his blood boiling in his veins, a fury equal to that of the men fighting, rising and ensnaring his brains He wanted it all to stop, and yet he could find no way to do that, but with more violence, the simple thought made his rage rise even more, threatening to overcome him when a strong hand griped his shoulders.

“Steady, Alros. It is not yet time” came Eala’s voice from behind.

Alros chose not to listen to her, but to the insidious voice of rage. His rage was tremendous, and a part of himself was even alarmed by it. Suddenly, he no longer had any control over his body, even less of his mind. Unknowingly, he tapped a secret well of power in himself as a barrier of bright white blurred his vision. Then he had full control over his mind again, yet he found he could no longer control himself, as if he were a passive observant of his own sporadic, and raging actions. The sky overhead darkened, as an unnoticed storm of steel gray clouds covered the horizon, blotting out the sun, Alros felt with, terror encompassing him, as all his hidden strength flowed through his body, prepared to be ultimately released at his rage’s whim. But then, he could no longer release it, another force, as strong as his rage, was keeping it at bay, and then slowly returning it to him  the strength and infinite power in him were gone, like a current of furiously violent water, he saw it flash before his eyes, and for a moment, he saw the image of a man- his rage taken form. His features were lined with a towering hatred for all things living, a hatred that encompassed the entire being, and was mirrored by his pale eyes, Alros’s rage was replaced by a terror, so sudden and keen, that he nearly lost consciousness, he felt himself trembling madly under the baleful glare of those pale eyes, that would destroy him with their sheer hatred, Alros placed his trembling hands in front of his face trying to shield himself from that face, his lips parted with a scream, as he became light with lack of strength, and control; then the face disappeared, leaving only echoes of its frustration and rage. Alros returned to the real world, as if rising from deep and dark waters then fading slowly back into the world of shadows.

When he woke up, he felt as if he had slept for an entire lifetime. In his dreams he saw three persons, in shadows. A one was of  average height, one was very tall, while another was very short and stocky; they were beckoning him to join them, their voices came as one. When he awoke, he noticed he had never dreamt that before, his dreams usually were repeated over and over. This time, however, it had not been a dream, nor a memory locked a way, it had been almost as if it had really taken place during the time he had been unconscious. With great care he opened his eyes to an ominous grey sky, twisting, he saw Zadier’s anxoius face hovering over him, the half- elf’s lean hand helped Alros get on  his feet. What he saw made him almost fall again: Where there had once been men fighting and the monotonous uniformity of the desrt, there was now a mess of red rock, blood and the ruined remains of the soldiers, that had not been completely crushed by the avalanche. Eala was immediately besides him with a somber face. After having issued several short orders. They began there way again over the loose rock, trying to go as fast as possible without losing balance, in the distance the roll of thunder could be heard closer and closer.

Soon they left the rocky waste behind and continued their journey through the seas of sand. Eala was in front now and she cast uneasy looks backwards every now and then, until she ordered them to stop.

“It is no use” she said “ we can go no further, they shall catch up with us any way.”

No sooner had the words left her lips that five black specks became visible in the gray sky. Growing proggressively larger they could soon make out the powerful wings of the Avatars. Racing so fast and so close tho the ground that clouds of sand were lifted, the terrible monsters landed with a crash. Silence reigned for a moment as the two parties stared impassivley at each other. Then swords were unsheated and clawed limbs were stretched. At that moment one of the Avatars caught sight of the grim faced woman in the green cloak. For a second, alarm was visible in the horrible faces of the monsters, taking advantage of that second of doubt, Eala  unleashed the feared strenght of the Hla Urem. The skies parted as three bolts of lightning struck the Avatars and the ground, lifting clouds of sand that sank everything in confusion.When the sand had cleared out, two of the Avatars lay very still in the ground, charred and blackened and apparentklly lifeless. Tabagar swung his great curved blade in huge arcs over his head, while one of the monsters was trying to find a gap in his defense. Alros had tried to take advantage of the sand screen to at least help in some small way, but he had no sooner lunged forward, with his long slender dagger that a pair of strong calws had wraped themselves in a vice like grip on his neck. He was beginning to lose concsiousness, when suddenly the screech of the wind and a dull thud brought him back to reality. The Avatars neck was partially cut by the incredible strenght with which Tabagar had swung his sword, feeling the gripof the claws on his neck beginning to loosen, Alros shot out with his dagger and with a deft upward swing, he left a gaping wound on the Avatars thin chest. With a look of extreme surprise the beast toppled to the ground at the same time as one of it’s two remaining companions lay twisting in the ground with an ice pike through its leg. Not even caring for it’s companions the remainng Avatar took to the skies and to the surprise of everyone but the impassive Eala, the other four soon after followed suit.

It was at that moment that the storm finally broke out: the gray sky had turned inky black during the battle even though it was only about noon. The wind began to howl with increasing desperation. Then one single bolt of lightning parted the sky and fell upon the ground with absolutely no noise. For what seemed like an eternity the earth waited breathlessly for the fury of the heavens to be unleashed, the long awaited crack of that first lightning finally arrived, immediately afterwards, the sky was lighted by thousand of criss-crossing lightning and the steady roll of thunder. During the advent of the storm visiblity had dropped to zero, but now the land was periodically lighted by each flash of lightning that illuminated the earth for brief seconds making it all appear as if it was taking place in slow motion.

As the storm grew more and more fierce, Alros began to feel increasingly weak to the point of collapse, he could make out Eala and her mouth moving, though he couldn’t hear a word of what she was saying., however, he instinctively began to move forwards with the rest of them, feeling as if he were running amongst the clouds. For how long they raced through the dunes Alros would never know for sure but after what seemed like an eternity he could make out a black mass in front of him that would not move. They had finally reached Tuhor. But no one inside seemed to have noticed their arrival for the gates remained closed. Eala then stepped up and the gates literally flew off their hinges. Finally they had reached their long awaited destination. Tabagar now took the lead as he made his way through the small streets of the port city. Then he stopped short as did everybody. Alros had not noticed but he kept walking right into Tabagar, he was roughly spun around and came face to face with a tall and grim woman, he stared stupidly at her. Then he felt the sharp sting of a slap and he was suddenly conscious once again. They kept marching through the city, now Alros watched his surroundings with great interest. Tuhor was very much like Isgrel architecturally, though the houses were less cramped together, then Alros felt something cold hit his face and roll down his cheek, he recognized it, though he was still startled to see it: it was rain.Being a desert kingdom, Tel Rajen did not get much rain, though it wasn’t completely unknown. However, Alros had never seen rain fall with such ferocity, the storm had been born and and far more terrible than before, Alros began to feel faint and weak again, his vision blurred and then suddenly he toppled to the ground and lay there very still, ‘till he was jerked upward by a highly irritaed Eala, again Alros felt a slap burn his cheek, Eala barked an order to Zadier who immediately gave Alros his purple cloak, then she signaled to Tabagar who continued guiding them through the city that he apparently knew quite well. They finally reached the docks, and Alros felt a slight lurch in his stomach when he saw the furious, heaving black mass of the sea.

Eala took command of the party again as they made their way to a small dingy office of one of the spice guilds.

Once inside the building, the sound of the strom receded slightly, though the ominous presence of the sea was still visible from one of the windows and gave testimony that the storm still raged on.

Dozing behind a small desk piled with sheets of paper and navigating instruments was a short, dark and clean shaven man who appeared to be of Jagashlan heritage. Eala approached him decidedly and began speaking in a clear, hard voice.

“You will take us to Aria Vildran immediately.” she told the man.

The Jagashlan’s eyes opened wearily and looked around for the source of the voice, his sad eyes fell upon Eala, and he told her in a thick voice.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea to take out the ship in this weather, lady” said the man, quite coolly.

“I did not ask you to think, I told you to take us to Aria Vildran now”

The seaman frowned at her “ I am sorry, my lady, but I won’t take my ship out in this horrible weather. Come back tomorrow after the storm has cleared and then we’ll talk, but I won’t take her out in this storm even if Shefel himself came down from the heavens and told me to”

“Oh, but I can get so much more terrible than your god when I am angered, so you will do as I say unless you do not value your pathetic life.”

“Sorry but I won’t risk it and that is that, now leave!” said the Jagashlan captain who had obviously reached the end of his patience.

Unlike what Alros would have thought, Eala remained quite calm, though her eyes betrayed her anger.

“Hold him” she said turning towards Tabagar who did immediately as he was told and grabbed the startled man and slammed him against one of the walls.

Eala walked up to the writhing man and stared at him for a while, she then produced a wicked dagger from her cloak and pointed it at the man’s throat, then with a slight wrist movement she made a small cut on his neck, when the blood made contact with the dagger it began to shimmer and it grew animate. Slowly it began to elongate and coil itself around the man’s head, growing evil hooks and saw edges, then it smoothly divided in two different blades that poised themselves over the captain’s bulging eyes.

“And how about now” Eala hissed in a deadly whisper “ You will now take us to Aria Vildran in your ship. Immediately!”

The shaken Jagashlan did not needed telling twice. Soon enough a small bell was peeling and the sailors began appearing and making the ship ready and loading the cargo that should not have been loaded until the next day. From the looks of their faces, non were too happy to set sail in that weather, but several more demonstrations from the irate Eala and with Tabagar flexing his muscles

was enough to convince those men that they had more chance of surviving the storm rather than Eala’s rage.

All too soon, the ship was completely loaded and was slowly drifting away from the Rajenian shore. Alros would have preffered to have left in the daytime and bid a better and more becoming farewell to his homeland, but in the hurry and confusion he barely managed to catch a small glimpse of the land that was Tel Rajen before it was lost and became but an imaginary dot in the dark horizon.