IN the time before order, civilization, even love of thy fellow man, there was a man known as Yash the knower of things. Yash was a writer of many books that spoke of common sense that at the time wasn’t so common. Like the idea that a single violent act eventually becomes a dozen leading back to the original person.
He also was a voracious reader of the then holy book the Puirt. One night as he read the passage,” If I am a lover of life, then am I a casualty of the grimness of living. Or if I see it for what it is, are more thoughts bruised and racing towards cynicism,” when a profound thought, later to be called a Stormtag, popped into his mind. He quickly grabbed a pen and wrote it down and it read as such,” At the moment your greatest feeling of pride and conceit occurs, will be the same moment the pillars of your tower start to weaken. And as your ego continues to grow, so will the weight on those weakened pillars. Then when your smile grows too wide your weight will shift just enough to crack those very pillars and tumble you shall ‘til the ground below is your pillow and your blood a blanket. God is watching and only humble minds draw his favor.”
In the morning at the entrance to the Covert caves thousands of the Plalo wizards were entering on their way to the Caristic. They rushed in with staffs in hand led by Omenid Breadfish.
Omenid Breadfish was 5’10” and all of 200 pounds of smooth muscle. He had a pair of gargoyle tattoos facing each other over his lavender eyes. He also had long red hair that would move from side to side with every step and had 7 tiny pony tails at the tips in the back. He also had a thick dark brown goatee and handlebar mustache. He had large workman’s hands and wide feet. He had on a dark green robe with the hood over half his face and the robe had hundreds of animals sewn into it like Baatolds and Corvubs. Hi shoes were tan leather sandals with a Bucklo pendant on each. He had a long 7 foot tan wooden staff with a pair of Sargs punching each other in his left hand.
Bucklo pendants repelled dense magic like that used in simple spells and all torture spells.
Omenid walked into the Gavert caves keeping to himself, as were all the other Plalo so as to not draw suspicion from the Halbaltic gang members milling about. He walked past several store fronts and then saw the one destroyed in the attack on Famaron and felt a bit nervous. Then a seal black haired short and stocky Halbaltic gang member named Pranko Shave saw him and gave Omenid a once over and then asked,” What’s the hurry wizard? You seem a bit frayed.”
“ No hurry, friend, just enjoying a brisk morning walk. It’s a bit chilly nice isn’t it?” asked Omenid quickly as he half smiled and continued to walk down thru the cave.
“ Brisk walk eh,” said Pranko in disbelief and then said sternly,” You realize it’s 70 degrees in here right now, not exactly cold, FRIEND.”
“ Well I ah…didn’t mean to bother you just being friendly,” said Omenid nervously as he looked over at Pranko.
Pranko walked hurriedly up beside Omenid and gave him a stern look and then asked,” Why so many of you wizards in the caves today? It doesn’t feel right to me.”
Then Omenid felt his heart sink and then said nervously,” We heard there was a new restaurant opening up and that wizards got half off.”
“ Oh is that right, funny I never heard of this. Maybe it’s because you’re lyin’ thru your teeth. Stop right there,” said Pranko sternly as he put his left arm across Omenid’s chest and stopped him.
“ I don’t like to be touched by strangers. Remove your hand,” said Omenid coldly as he glared at Pranko and gripped his staff.
“ Watch it, wizard, don’t be tellin’ Pranko where he can put his hands. Now tell me why you’re here or I’m gonna mess you up,” said Pranko fiercely as he pushed Omenid and smiled.
Then Omenid glared at Pranko and said boldly,” You’ve crossed my boundaries, that was your mistake.”
“ I don’t see it that way, wizard, this is our world now,” said Pranko snidely as he stared down Omenid.
“ You only think it is bile eater,” said Omenid coldly then he pushed Pranko away from him and raised his staff and shouted,” Pubble never resio!”
Then a wave of orange electricity and hard smoke shot into Pranko and knocked him back 50 feet into a store’s door. He fell to the ground dazed and slowly moved onto his side and shook his head. Then Omenid started hurrying away into the cave, but another gang member saw this and started after him.
The gang member was Nidav Soothus. He had a long forehead with a perfect circle of blonde hair that covered half of his head with the rest shaven. He also had a circle of blonde hair on his chin and 2 more for sideburns. His eyes were dark green with triangle patters in each. He was handsome, but looked like he didn’t know it. He stood 6 feet tall 184 pounds. He had on a red leather jacket with no collar as well as a pair of black silky dress pants that had the Halbaltic crest sewn into the pockets in red thread. He also had on a pair of white Cuceth sneakers with white laces.
Cuceth sneakers had temperature gages to keep the vents on the sides opening if your feet were about to sweat. They also had clock in the toe that could only be read by the wearer as he looked down.
“ Hey, wizard, hold it up there!” yelled Nidav as he walked quickly after Omenid.
Omenid heard this and looked to either side of him and saw other wizards shaking their heads no. So he began to run and was darting in and out of every person in front of him, with Nidav seeing this and he began to run full speed after him. Then as Omenid looked over his shoulder he saw Nidav only 30 feet behind him and when he turned forward, ran right into a 7’5” 560 pound body guard of Prasau named Poreroz who had on a black helmet shaped like a lamp shade with the bottom of it fashioned into a steel socket in his neck. Poreroz also had on a black robe and white sandals on his size 43 feet. Prasau was standing beside him holding a Mutters in his hand with a fierce scowl on his face. Poreroz grabbed hold of Omenid with his huge hands and held him strong in place.
“ Prasau,” said Omenid breathlessly as he looked up at Poreroz in awe.
“ Yes, Omenid, and you can see my large friend here had every intention of doing you terrible harm if you get wise. Now, explain to me why you just attacked my DEAR FRIEND Pranko,” said Prasau sharply as he looked at Omenid.
“ He tried to man handle me and I don’t stand for that, never!” said Omenid sternly as he tried in vain to release himself.
“ Well tuff tuff, you’re gonna have to deal with a bit of that aren’t you,” said Prasau slyly as he tried not to laugh.
“ Why don’t you leave me be, I’m just going for a walk. What’s the harm in that?” asked Omenid as he looked down.
“ There’s quite a bit, ask poor Pranko. O.K. look, I’m gonna let you go, but if you hurt another one of my men your thoughts will race and your heart struggle to pump as you reach outward for the afterlife. Are we understood?” asked Prasau sternly as he grabbed Omenid’s shoulder tightly.
We are, I’m sorry about Pranko. I will mind my own business,” said Omenid then Prasau let go of him.
Omenid felt a sense of relief and caught the eye of another wizard who gave a nod that told him it was fine. Omenid hurried down the cave’s main walkway. He went past the statues of Borter Finyet which showed him holding Parscan in one hand and the sun in the other.
Borter Finyet was the only Tritan wizard on Parscan. Tritan is a degree of wizardry that can only be achieved with ten years of study and practice of advanced magic. Once you achieve this level of mastery
you are given the Boswap spells, which are 13 pages of the most secret and most deadly spells. One of which can turn a person’s body inside out in a moment leaving them to die a horrid death. There was also a list of 3 crippling phrases that had to be uttered a particular way, but when they were it destroyed a person’s confidence and sent terror thru their bodies one of which was,” So why are you suc
h an idiot is it genetic?” said in a nonchalant voice. Borter was the only inhabitant born on Parscan in the past 200 years to achieve the Tritan. After winning he was given a large chateau on the Wamup hill outside of Troitsa that towered 500 feet into the air and was made of platinum and marble. Borter was a slight man of 5’5” 135 pounds, but was feared nonetheless. He had dark brown combed back short hair that started in the middle of his large forehead. His eyes were red and yellow and looked like a star in the center. He had an abnormally thick brown and red beard that was trimmed to look like a maze that went from one ear to the other. He often wore his yellow sweater jacket that had his Tritan crest on it.
Omenid raced into the hallway leading to the entrance of the Caristic and it was filled with wizards for 200 yards. The walls of the hallway were filled with pictures people had taken inside the Caristic while it was open. There was a picture of Famaron’s father running thru the motionless bubbles, which were red and blue bubbles that wouldn’t pop, but could be passed thru easily.
“ Hey, Omenid, what kept you?” asked Manab Volca as he touched Omenid’s shoulder.
Manab Volca was 6’2” and very thin with narrow shoulders and thick hands. He had orange and black hair that was cut into 3 dozen small triangles of hair that were spiked up. He had gargoyle shaped green steel sunglasses covering his burgundy eyes. He had a 3 inch computer screen on the side of his head that showed random messages from his subconscious like,” we’re more hungry than you know find a talking friend quick the mind is fresh,” as little blue and red lights flashed around it. He had on a tan
robe with a white strip across his chest that had the Plalo crest on it. He also had on black ankle high Keyvos sneakers with black laces.
Keyvos were made from committed mental patients used recreational rubber balls and broken plastic spoons. They were named after Keyvos Cames the founder of Jamit records, which produced over 50,000 hit songs over 200 years. Keyvos himself wrote over 150 hits before his 30th birthday.
“ Oh hey, Manab, I had a run in with Prasau and his thugs. Have you tried to open it yet?” asked Omenid as he looked down the hall.
“ They just started.”
“ Any headway?” asked Omenid as he looked at all the other wizards.
“ No not yet, they’re throwing a series of huge destructive spells at it, but it won’t budge. The Gorshan lock just won’t open,” said Manab sadly as he started to walk down the hallway with Omenid.
“ Have they tried putting a hand covered in dense magic on the Halpera diamond?” asked Omenid anxiously as he nodded to several wizards as they walked past.
“ Well, that lottery’s been lost for 30 years. The chance of such a thing is not very likely,” said Manab sadly as he walked.
“ But there’s still a chance, if the right hand touched it, it would open instantly. We’ve got to keep trying especially the Plalo, because Goarote gave us all gifts and maybe he gave us that gift,” said Omenid hopefully.
“ Maybe, but they’re blastin’ the Sambits out of it right now. Just wait ‘til you see who it is,” said Manab coyly as he grimaced.
“ Not Rendred Mornion,” said Omenid implying a question as he looked at Manab in disgust.
“ Unfortunately, yeah Rendred himself. I bet he’ll love to see us huh?” asked Manab sarcastically as he grinned.
“ Now I am officially having a bad day. Enter this one in my log of displeasures, oh Goarote why,” said Omenid as he threw up his hands.
As they walked the last 50 yards they could see Rendred shouting spell after spell.
Rendred Mornion had violet shaven hair that was only long in a circle in the front and it was made to look like Rendred standing straight up. He had soft sullen peach eyes and a perfectly straight nose with matching half inch Baatold tattoos on either side. His mouth bore a cocky grin at all times. He had a thick walrus type mustache that covered his upper lip and was also violet in color. He was a burly man of 6’8” and 348 pounds, with huge biceps and tree trunk legs. He had on a brown corduroy robe and a black leather collarless jacket, with a tiny computer built into the chest of it for instant access to his collection of spells. He also had on white leather boots with black spiked soles. He had a white ivory staff with gold and diamonds on the top in the shape of 5 Dowa birds.
“ Rendred raised his white staff and shouted,” Poomurn Dunrun!”
Then a steady stream of black fire came out of his staff and shot at the Gorshan lock, but had no effect and then he threw up his hands and said in disgust,” This is crazier than any war ever fought. Utterly pointless in every way!”
Then Rendred gritted his teeth and stared at the lock and said boldly,” I’ve got it, I have got it stand back,” and then he raised his staff and shouted,” Lurash Hatwo!”
Then a ten foot tall and 7 foot wide Corvub appeared with a flaming sword in its hand and began to bash the lock violently. Every blow caused the sword to bounce back at the Corvub. Then it reared back and did its strongest blow and when it did the sword bounced back and split its head into 2 pieces and it fell to the ground and died.
“ What, you idiot Corvub, you worthless no good useless waste of Goarote’s clay ahh,” said Rendred in exasperation as he kicked the Corvub’s body and then he looked up and saw Omenid and asked warmly,” Oh hi, Omenid, how have you been?”
Omenid smiled and said slyly,” Better than you, how’s your ultimate magic workin’ out for ya?” asked Omenid as he stepped over the Corvub and up to the lock and then gave it a look and said softly,” It could be me.”
“ What could be you? You don’t think that your hand can open it, that’s ridiculous?” asked Rendred in disbelief.
“ Why not me I say. Let’s find out for certain,” said Omenid boldly then he slowly reached out and put his hand on the Halpera and the door to the Caristic jostled and Omenid felt a shock go thru his system and it gave him chills and he said loudly,” did you see that, it moved, the Caristic almost opened. Goarote that was exciting!”
“ How did you do that? No one else could budge it,” asked Rendred in disbelief as he walked over to the Halpera and looked at it.
“ I don’t know, but if I can move it then someone else could open it. I say we have all the wizards give it a go and maybe we’ll get lucky,” said Omenid then he put his hand on it again and the Gorshan moved slightly again.
“ Whoa, that’s amazing it must be set for a specific wizard to open it,” said Manab hopefully as he walked over to Omenid and then asked,” Can I try it?”
Omenid looked over at Manab and said,” Of course it could be any one of us. We all should step up and try!” shouted Omenid as he looked at the other wizards.
Manab stepped forward and felt a nervous chill as he started to reach for the Halpera so he stopped. Then he took a deep breath and quickly reached out and put his hand on it and a red circle of light appeared beneath him and he stomped his foot and said sadly,” Why wasn’t it me? I deserved to be the one.”
“ It’s alright, Manab, you’re not the first to try and fail. We will get lucky if Goarote sees fit,” said Rendred warmly as he patted Manab on the back.
King Lucern, Trabin, and his Gorax land and sky machine were flying over the Parscan countryside in search of Famaron.
The Gorax was a long ship shaped like a pair of pontoons with a house connecting them. It had over 30 gun turrets on each of the 100 foot long pontoons, with a 13 foot wide laser canon on the front of the house on top. There was also a star shaped trio of green glass windows that encircled the steel cockpit on top of the ship. There was a huge anti gravity thruster on the bottom of the ship as well as a jet engine on the back. There were 14 escape pods 7 per side that were Kiwi shaped and had the ability
to launch out of the atmosphere. The ship was colored dark green o
n the sides and the house portion on top was dark red and black. The house portion was 50 feet wide and 170 feet tall.
Inside the cockpit stood Lucern and Trabin as they watched holograms of the ground below on an oval white checkered table in front of them. The cockpit had 40 holographic projections of every bit of data you needed to fly the Gorax from speed to direction. And all could be changed with a single thought as Lucern had a partial hard drive installed in his head implanted 10 years prior. The 3 windows also had hidden laser canons behind them that could slide into place in an instant. The walls were covered in keepsakes from Lucern’s life, like a dozen favored books as well as pictures of his childhood.
“ O.K., Trabin, if the emperor is out here we’ll find him. I’m gonna bring us down a little closer to the ground, they could be on foot,” said Lucern sternly as he thought of the ship’s proper course with his hard drive then the ship swooped down to only 50 feet above the ground.
“ If they’re walking, how long could they elude the patrols?” asked Trabin as he watched the holograms intently.
“ The emperor is very wise, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he outthinks them quite easily. He’s alive, I know it more than I’ve ever known anything. What’s that group of wizards doing on that road?” asked Lucern as he looked at a group of 50 wizards riding down a dirt road on a dozen Solisva’s.
Solisva’s were grass colored motorcycles that were 10 feet long and had large tan leather carrying beds all along the sides. They also had laser canons on the front and back that could disperse a person’s particles and scatter them to the afterlife. The front had the head of Gabum Raufen across it. The Solisva used anti gravity as well as small jet engines to propel them. They had a recliner chair for the driver and 2 passengers.
Gabum Raufen was the owner of the Torest mines in the mossy plains region of Vertize. The inhabitants were known as the Geen and were genetic misfits as their bodies were covered from head to toe with a thick green moss. They could disappear in a field by closing their eyes and hunching over. The Geen were very protective of each other and if one were in danger they’d use a toxin in their fingertips to paralyze attackers and eventually kill them. Their entire community was hidden under layers of moss and could only be seen from a few feet away. Gabum was a Geen by birth and mined the Torest mines for Hydram. Hydram was a powerful red rock that could be crushed to powder and ingested giving people a perfect functioning brain. It even increased a person’s I.Q. by 50 points and peeled away layers of prior pain. The problem was it could never be stopped being taken or the person’s nervous system would collapse. Virtually 92 percent of every person on Parscan took it daily. This gave Gabum enormous power and political clout. Everyone knew to leave him be and be especially nice to him. Gabum kept the shipments coming every week in exchange for endless wealth and a huge 50 million acre region for he and his people.
“ They look like Plalo,” said Trabin in disbelief.
“ Exactly, what in the Parscan would they all be doing traveling out here in the middle of nowhere?” asked Lucern then he laughed and said sternly,” Something’s up, we’re asking them flatly what’s going on. Now, Trabin, be ready this could be a trap.”
“ Of course I’ll bring a Mutters for safety’s sake,” said Trabin as he pressed a button on the floor with his foot and a dozen Mutters on a silver rack rose up out of the floor and he grabbed one and put it in his holster around his waist.
“ Good idea, hand me one. We’ll land up ahead of their course. I’ve got to know and it could be the emperor himself in disguise,” said Lucern as he steered the ship out ahead of the wizards.
They landed the Gorax on the side of the dirt road and hurried outside. They stood in the center of the road and waited for the wizards. After 2 minutes Lucern became a bit anxious and started to worry. He wondered what was taking them so long.
“ Shouldn’t they have gotten here by now?” asked Lucern anxiously as he glared down the dirt road.
“ Yeah, they should’ve come around that corner by now,” said Trabin softly as he eyed the road.
“ Do you think they could have saw us?” asked Lucern plainly as he looked at Trabin.
“ I don’t see how we were hidden behind the trees. And they couldn’t have heard us ‘cause we weren’t using the jet thrusters. Something must have happened to them,” said Trabin dryly as he grimaced.
“ Well let’s not let it happen to us as well, let’s get back in the Gorax and get up in the air to take a look,” said Lucern as he hurried back to the ship with Trabin right beside him.
They got inside and rose up into the air and looked and saw a dozen Flashers surrounding the wizards. There were Posism Beliefs guards beating the wizards with Fatluck sticks, while the wizards staffs were being smashed to pieces.
Fatluck sticks were 2 foot long platinum and metal sticks, that had large half pound balls inside a chamber. That would slide to the end of the sticks as you swung them giving you extra force to hit with while ear piercing sound crippled your victim.
“ There’s the culprits, Trabin, things are getting worse by the minute. If we’re gonna find the emperor before his fate is the same as theirs, we’re gonna need to be smarter. If we had walked up that road to check we’d be dead right now,” said Lucern gravely as he watched a wizard get his skull cracked open with a Fatluck stick.
“ You’re right, but why didn’t we walk up the road and look?” asked Trabin nervously as he furrowed his brow.
“ The same something that told me the emperor is still alive, told me to get back in the ship. This confirms to me that it’s all unraveling. Our government is now corrupt and being led by a criminal. I tell you this, Trabin, we are going to find the emperor and make this right or our lives are a farce and they always were,” said Lucern boldly as he watched a pair of wizards get blasted with Mutters in the heads and die.