II · Three strange nights.

[Rob'Doomsday]

I§
I opened my eyes and there was some light in the room. Still confused, I took a seat on the bed, and I could see that this small light, came through the space between the floor and the door. My brother was standing there, looking through the keyhole. It took me a while to understand what was going on since I was half asleep, but I could listen some people screaming in the house.

- Hor... -I didn't end pronouncing my brother's name when I was interrupted instantly by him-

- Shhh! -he made this noise while putting the finger in front of his mouth, then he whispered- Don't talk nor make a noise.. Im trying to find out what is happening!

I recognized our mom and father's voice, they were having a big discussion, even thought it wasn't possible to recognize what were they saying. My brother was a few years older than me, and he was always trying to lead me though the right way. Our father was very busy, as he was the captain of Verevat's army, and he was in charge of recruiting and training new soldiers, always. He couldn't spend much time at home. Yes, these were very hard times.

We lived in a nice house in the town of Verevat. Verevat was on the south-western part of the continent, and to the north, after some huge plains, some mountains started to elevate. In the top of these mountains the cold is almost umbearable and everything is frozen. Not much life grows in these grounds, and it's almost impossible to have animals. The population in there (mostly barbarians) always had this disadvantage, but traditions always kept them living up there. People used to have a happy life living up there, but then they started getting interested on the lands down the mountains, where everything was green and plain, and they started to get greedy. Negotiations between these people and the governments of Verevat and Lopheth started. The agreements of this people were far from being reasonable so any agreement was denied. Well, this happened a very long time ago.
They were very angry at the people of Verevat and Lopheth, and promised misery to us, until the end of history. And this hate passed through the generations, and grew together with their war trainings and preparations. When I was a child, they suddenly attacked Verevat.
My father was in charge of the army, and many men died under his charge. In the end, we managed to destroy their attacks and survive.

The screams stopped. Horus and me looked to each other for a moment, and then he looked through the keyhole again, trying to see if he could watch something outside. After some minutes he ran to his bed, right in front of mine while whispering in a very nervous way:

- Dad is coming, close your eyes and fake you are asleep!

I did so, and I didn't even dare to close my eyes a bit when I heard the door opening in our room. I heard someone coming inside the room, and then closing the door again. With the first steps, I recognized the sound of a heavy armor moving together with someone's body.
I felt the prescence of my father next to me, and then some warm fingers caressing my forehead. I stood quiet in the darkness, and then I felt him kissing my forehead.

- I love you son -he whispered-


§
I woke up and my brother wasn't on his bed. I went out of the room and found him sitting there with my mother.

- What is going on? Where is dad? -I said-

Horus was about to cry.

- Rob... Your father went to the war against some invasor hordes that came from the north. They want to take over our city... He is going to protect us. - My mother said, trying to calm the whole situation down -

- When is he coming back? - I replied, ingenuous about the big danger he was taking -

- Soon enough, don't you worry...



II§

It was almost night when I reached the outpost just north of Verevat. The shops were closing, but the owners knew me since I was a child, so they accepted trading with me.
I had my backpack full of gold coins after selling all these valuable things I got from an exhausting hunt in the forests of Lopheth. I walked to the north-west entrance of the city, and crossed a little bridge that was the official town entrance. I walked some steps to the south, where the first ladder to access the town's main floor was (the town was built mostly above a dense swamp), and climbed it. The town was very quiet everywhere, as the lights were almost out from the sky. Just some music and noises were coming from the town's tavern, south from where I was standing. My backpack was heavy, so I decided to pass by our house and leave it there. We lived in a huge house that was called "the swamp tower", a house with six floors and a basement that was designed to be an army hideout, but it was out of use since it was in the shore, on the western part of the city, far away from every strategic point.
I went up the first floor and through the open door I saw my mother sleeping. I kissed her cheek and went up to the fourth floor, where my small room was. This floor was the biggest of all the tower, a real piece of art created by the architects of Verevat. We had the kitchen in there, a really beautiful place with the tables in front of the windows, with a beautiful view of the ocean to the west and south, and the town to the north and east. And in a corner, yeah, my small room where I had all my possessions.
I dropped the heavy backpack and left my armor hanging on the wall. I threw some parfum on my body and started heading to the tavern.

There was a nice party going on in the tavern, people playing music, singing and dancing around the whole place, even around the tables outside the building. I went down the ladder to the more relaxed part of the tavern (the building was on the main city floor and had a room below it, around the swamps), but it was full of couples sitting on the sofas. It was pretty hard to find a seat this night, but I finally did, a few metres away from the barman. I ordered some food and some wine.
The night was beautiful, and slowly all the couples started to go away into the night... It was very late now and I was one of the last persons left in the tavern, and all the wine I drank was making effect.

- One more jug of wine, p-please. - Was my effort to the barman -

The barman looked at me for a few seconds while he was serving the wine, like examining me to see if I was too drunk to drink more or I was fine.

- Here kid, I will have to refill the big cask tomorrow because of you!

I smiled widely.

The barman started to pick the cups, dishes, jugs, and everything that was around the tavern and began to wash it all slowly. He was a bit drunk too, and was whistling this very old love song which lyrics were:

"If with my song I could call you,
I would sing forever..."

I started thinking about this girl that lived in the farms to the east of the town. I had met her a few days before, when I went there to buy some bread. The farms were a very beautiful and calm place, with many horses, pigs, and chickens. There was a really nice barn, a stable, and two houses. There they made the best bread I ever ate, and also some very sweet fruit juices and wine.
I was a bit lost in thoughts with my eyes placed on the door when I saw a very strange man that called my attention coming inside. He was a very old man, with a magician dress, a long white beard and a pair of very-green lost eyes. He was walking inside the tavern but he seemed not to move his legs, like he was floating in the air, and his eyes were lost on some distant point until he buried them on me like knives. He walked towards me, faster than I have ever seen other human walking, and took a seat on my side.

- It is, the end of the times. - He said, on a very worried and deep but low voice -

He had his eyes wide open all the time, and he looked a bit delirious to me.

"Oh, this wine is very strong" - I said to myself, almost smiling, and I gave a glimpse to the barman, to ask him if he added something else to the wine, but he was distracted -

So I looked to this old man to the eyes and said:

- How so, buddy? Want to share a drink with me? It will make you good...

- I see you don't take me serious young one, but I would, if I were you. I know much more than you think, all this years walking this lands werent in vain.

- May I know who you are? - I said as I started thinking the situation was getting interesting -

- It's not important yet. - He said, and his answer worried me a bit, somehow. -

- Why are you sitting with me man? Do I know you? - I said, and I couldnt help to show I was a bit nervous -

- No, but I do know you little Rob.

He knew my name. This whole situation was very strange, it looked like one confusing dream, but it wasn't, and the wine didn't have any add-on. This old man's attitude made you feel a bit unconfortable, so I replied:

- You know nothing about me, someone must have told you my name. Please leave me alone now, Im not up for jokes, it's really late and Im about to finish my wine and go to sleep.

- Listen to me. Your father was a great man. He died on a very honorable way. His greatest wish was to protect his family and his people, he felt a very big responsability about this. Nowadays these battles are only memories that everyone wants to forget. But ... - I interrupted him here. I was very nervous, as I never talked to anyone about my father. -

- Now you have to tell me who you are, and what do you want from me, or you will die, old man.

He smiled.

- Calm down Rob. I will tell you all you want and need to know.

His eyes were still wide open but the delirious look he had before looked like a little worried look now to me. He continued:

- Im an old magician, native of this lands. Most of the people of Verevat hates me, as I invoked many dark forces and opened gates to realms of darkness. But I fight for the light, and all I have done through the way, was to protect our people. I lurk in the shadows now, yes. But it's just to stay away from the rest of the people, from a world that doesn't understand me.

He made a little pause here and continued:

- I was in charge of training the Verevat soldiers in magic. I was also in charge of Verevat's castle, orders were direct from the King. I knew your father as a very brave man, but I never crossed more than four or five words with him. When he was wounded to death in the last battle for Verevat, I felt really sad. Since then I have been watching you and your brother from the distance making sure you are fine. Now, you have grown up and you are already a man, and you have trained your fighting skills a lot. But it's time for you, to pass the line and know more.

I was confused, listening all this was just too much for me so I stood silent.

- You're a good warrior Rob. But a warrior just knows to use the brute force. You may know how to smash things with a big hammer, or split other things with a heavy axe, or even how to handle a sword a bit; but you dont know how the strong forces of nature can help you on your battles, even on the biggest of your battles, the one against yourself.

- Magic? - I said -

- Yes, the light that I can see in your eyes, it's inside of you. You are a warrior of light, and as I have told you already, the times are coming to an end for this lands. Maybe not today, not tomorrow and not next year. But it's the destiny. It's written in the sky, and there's nothing you can do, but to save yourself.

I felt like the wine I drank wasn't into me anymore, and somehow, this old man had indeed some strong magic, like an aura surrounding him. All his moves were smooth and fast, and his eyes were deep like a huge green ocean, with a dense light coming from the deep.

- Come with me Rob, it's time to start. - He said, and he moved outside the tavern, so fast that it looked like he had just dissapeared. -

For a moment I thought this could be dangerous, but somehow this man inspired me a strange trust. I decided to go with him to see what he wanted to teach me, so I paid the wine and the food to the barman, who looked at me like I surprised him:

- You were still there?! Oh well.. Goodnight!


§
As I went outside of the tavern, I saw nobody in there. The streelights were off so the only light that told me where to step, came from the moon. I walked around a bit, looking where this old man went, when I felt his presence next to me.

- Are you ready Rob? - He said as he looked at me -

- Yes

Then he started walking really fast, went down a ladder and now we were heading to the north western exist of Verevat. We left the town, and I followed him into the swamps. We passed by the outpost where I was when I came back to the city a few hours before, and continued to the north east. We finally came to this old abandoned tower where I used to play as a children. He opened the door and went inside. I followed him.

- What are we doing here? - I asked him. -

- This is my house, Rob. In other times was a very nice place, now it's a bit abandoned, but it's better this way.

At this point he turned his back on me and he started saying some weird words in a very low voice. A strange blue light started to fill the room, and a portal opened in the middle of the room.

- Ah yes, follow me - He said, and he jumped into the portal. -

I was a bit scared, but I jumped inside as well. I came out in a really nice room, with a load of bookcases, a strange rug on the floor, candlesticks everywhere and some more house furniture.

- Where are we? - I asked. -

- Let's call this my new "hideout"... - He said smiling, as he was opening a wardrobe. He took out a big armor and came to me saying. -

- Wear this for now.

This was a mighty magic plate armor, it was a bit heavy, but once you wore it, it felt soft as the air. Very confortable. Now he was again moving some things inside the wardrobe, and came to me with a shield, and a helmet I never had seen before.

- Take this Rob, this one -he said referring to the helmet- was used by a long gone clan of warlords. It will protect you for now.

This helmet looked like it was done from a strange merge of metals, hard as nothing I saw before. It had two big horns, and it was a bit heavy. He took a few books and dropped them over a big table in front of the bookcases.

- You will have to study hard, but not tonight... Let's go for some action, you need to know some places. - He said, and then we were again in the tower. -

This tower had three floors. In the last one, where he opened the portal, there was a nice wooden railing that let you watch the dense swamps and the city far to the south. Outside, by the east wall, it had some kind of old little garden. This garden was a bit nasty, since it only consisted of muddy floor and dead trees, and this is where we were heading now.

- Follow me now, and I ask you that, if you have some fear inside you at some points, let it go away. - He said to me while he started moving some branches in the ground, revealing some stairs. -

We went down to a little basement, and in one of the corners there was a pile of stones, which he also removed, and here there was a hole. We went down to a very dark place. "Utevo gran lux" he said, and I could see we were on a little room, and a huge stone was blocking the way on what seemed to be a tunnel.
The old man stood in front of this stone and started to say some strange words again. The huge stone dissapeared.

- Come fast Rob, hurry! - He said, as he passed inside the tunnel. -

As I went inside too, the huge rock appeared again behind me.

We started walking through some very dark tunnels. The air here smelled to wet earth and something like tree roots, and the floor was very muddy at some parts. I felt a bit insecure here so I took off my sword and the shield he gave me. The old man was walking ahead of me, and without turning back he said:

- Don't worry, you won't need them.

We kept walking and I noticed he started walking slowly. Almost at the same time I heard very far away in the distance, some female voices yelling strange sounds. As we kept walking, I was listening these voices more and more clear, and I starting to sweat. Not long after, I saw a bunch of horrible banshees flying to us very fast.
Exevo mas san - The old man yelled, and a huge bright golden light exploded from inside of him, sending in one single hit all these undead souls to rest. What surprised me the most, if that his attack surrounded me, but didn't damage me.

- What was that? - I asked a bit excited -

- You will learn how to do it as well, now let's continue. - And he started walking again, then, for the first time inside this tunnels, he started talking:

- Im known as Doomsday. As I told you, I trained the Verevat soldiers in magic for many years. I've studied the arts since I was a child, and I know a lot of magic. The good and the bad ones too... But I know how and when to apply the bad ones, so it's all good. I studied with sorcerers, druids, necromancers, and paladins...

More banshees and other kinds of ghosts kept coming while we walked, and he kept on destroying them with single hits, as he kept talking, like he was doing some daily homework.

- ... when I grew up, I started working for the King of Verevat. He had a lot of trust on me. At some point, he gave me an own private room in Verevat's castle, and even let me use the castle catacombs to test my magic. These catacombs are locked, and you can see the door if you dare to go down to the castle basement - the crypt.

- I was there once.. - I replied, and he smiled widely. -

- Well, the truth is that people started to get scared with what I was doing in the catacombs. People that went to the crypt started listening noises coming from behind the door. I actually summoned some creatures and tested some necro magic, even opened a few portals and some creatures slipped through them. I cleaned the place, but the magic down there is too strong, that the portals can't be closed completely, and more creatures keep coming. I locked the door to the catacombs really well with some magic walls, and it's all safe. I keep the key of that door with me. - he showed me a golden key that was hanging from his neck -

At this point, we were in front of some stairs, and went down a few levels, to more tunnels, and more monsters kept coming and he kept killing them.

- The King was aware of the fear from the population of Verevat, and one day came personally to talk to me. He didn't want the people to start making trouble about the the things that I did in the catacombs, since the rumours were growing around the town. So the King offered me vast lands, money and even a castle in another continent. I accepted all this, and he never saw me again. But he doesn't know I have always been here in Verevat, and that I will be here until my end. I look very different than I used to look back then, and I hide in the shadows, so not many can see me, and if they do, I will be just an old man for them. The story that the people heard back then about me, said that I suddenly died from some horrible sickness that no magic could cure. There's even a grave under my name, with a random skeleton inside the coffin, in the cemetery of Verevat. People calmed down almost instantly and forgot about the whole thing fast.

We were now in a place filled with swamp water, and a very nasty odor was in the air. Doomsday went to a rock that had a strange shape and again, started pronouncing on a very low voice some strange words. A portal appeared.
We both went into the portal, and now we were in a little island in the middle of the water underground in a cavern. By the sound of this place, I knew it was huge, but the roof was not far from my head. There was a hole in the just above us.

- Stay here Rob. - He said and he went up fast. -

I saw many different colors coming from the hole above, and saw many explosions of fire, energy, and the golden light he kept casting on the tunnels also.

As I went up, I saw many corpses of slain creatures, creatures I never had seen before.

- Where are we? - I said, really surprised -

- This is a secret place, close to another dimension. We are near the city of the demons.

The demon city was a really legendary place. My father used to tell my brother and I, stories about old mighty warriors going to fight the demons on this place.
I was really scared, but the powers of this man made me feel everything was allright.
This place was a huge cavern, and it was so dark that I couldn't see the roof or where it ended. It had huge rocks coming from the ground all around, making some kind of corridors. There was some little lakes all around the place too, with some swamp vegetation even.
Quickly, a huge green beast was coming toward us. Doomsday ran to it, and started casting some spells. It must have been really strong, because it took him around five spells to destroy the beast. As soon as he finished with this thing, another big green thing came, but this was like a big slime, without any particular shape.

- Come Rob, follow me, I will teach you about these beasts later. - He said, and I started following him -

We kept walking through this place, and I saw even more new beasts, coming from all directions. Doomsday didnt seem to have any trouble in killing them, but they seemed deadly for me or any normal person. We reached some stairs and we went up. From here, I saw one of the most strange and scariest -but beautiful- views ever. A few steps from where we came up, there was another stair down, to what seemed a plataform of dry mud, but in the end of the plataform, and in the holes on the ground you could see a lot of different colors making a strange pattern. This was the limit with another dimension, the void. On the dry mud plataform, there was a bunch of the biggest beasts Ive seen, some huge green things, with the size of a two floor house, and a shell of spikes that would be the end of ten of the bravest men, in a matter of seconds. There was also some demons running in the distance.

- It's time Rob, be prepared but don't be scared. I will open here a portal to the city of the demons.

In one of the stone walls next to us, there was a big pentagram drawing, like burned in the rock. Doomsday started to say his strange words again, and now the pentagram started to shine with a light of it's own. This light came out of it and embraced us.

We were standing now on some black marble tiles, on a very thin path. This place was amazing. The tiles were like floating on the void, to our sides there were some very old rock walls, with arc doors to the void and something that looked like a big square dark green mirror. They were ordered, one door, one mirror, one door, and so on. There was a portal behind us in the beginning of a long corridor.

- This is the demon city, Rob.

Through the open walls you could see only void, and nothing else. Through the corridor not far away from us, you could see a few demons yelling and running around.


III§

I was tossing and turning in the bed for about two hours before I woke up. Everyone else was sleeping in the house.
We were spending some days in a little outpost to the north of the city of Lopheth, where our mother had some friends. They owned two little but nice shops, in the middle of the forest. Outside the buildings there was some fruit trees and flowers inside some nice wooden fences my mom's friends made. Not far from there to the south, there was a little lake, and if you walked more, you could reach the river that passed all around the city of Lopheth and the northern woods.

I went down the stairs and outside the house. The moon was bright and the forest was pretty illuminated, and the summer air was blowing pretty nice this night.
I decided to take a short walk and relax a bit, so maybe I could get some sleep later. I took a waterskin filled with fresh water from inside the house, then walked out again and went inside the wooden fence. I took some red apples.
As I started heading into the forest I tasted the first apple. I surrounded the little lake first, then I walked far away to the east, crossing a few paths that headed to the city of Lopheth, until I reached the ocean. It was a long walk, and then I took a seat by the shore and laid down on some bushes with my hands on my neck while I was whistling some melodies.

I started thinking about my father. That horrible war took him away from us some years back in time, and we weren't able to say goodbye. The last time I heard from him, was when he went into our room, the night before he went to the big battle.
The fresh air was entering in my lungs, and I could see how the moon was reflecting in the black ocean water, and this was the only light around. The light of the moon reflected in the black mirror and created something that looked like a long white path, that leaded to who knows where, very far away.
I was getting more and more relaxed with the sounds of the forest in the middle of the night, when I heard some strange lament coming from between the trees, far from where I was. I tried to look between the trees in vain, I only could see darkness, so I stood up and started walking slowly, trying to follow this sound. I didnt have any weapon nor armor on me, so I was a bit nervous of meeting some wild creature that could wound me.
As I kept walking, the sound was getting closer and clear, and now I recognized some animal crying in pain. I felt really curious of what this was, and actually felt like seeing if I could help whatever that was suffering this way, so I kept walking between the trees. After some minutes I reached a little clear, and laying in the dark I saw this big gray wolf with one of his back legs trapped inside a metal trap. There was blood around the place, and when the animal saw me, it looked at me totally scared, but somehow I thought he looked at me confused by the pain, not caring very much if I was coming to attack him.

I was a bit scared since I really wanted to help the animal, but I was taking some risks of this big wolf attacking me if I came closer.
I decided to walk slowly and see how the wolf reacted, so I started going to it. But now the wolf wasnt even looking at me anymore nor he did care where I was, he was desperatly trying to reach his trapped leg with his mouth, in a huge effort to get free.

I reached the wolf and carefully managed to open the trap. The gray wolf quickly moved away, walked a few steps but it fell down again. His leg was really wounded. He was laying on one of it's sides, and looked like really tired and that he had given up with the leg.
I went to him, took my waterskin and started cleaning his wound. I tore up a sleeve from my shirt and tied his leg, and the bleeding stopped. The animal stood laying there and after some minutes it seemed like he started feeling better. I stood next to him as the animal was very calmed, and started eating some apples. The wolf's eyes were now looking into my eyes, and I tried to give him an apple, but he smelled it and didnt want to eat it. I laid down in the grass next to him and started watching the trees. The air in here was really relaxing and at some point I accidentally fell asleep.

The sun of the morning on my face made me open my eyes. I sat on the floor where I was and looked around, the wolf wasn't around anymore. I was a bit confused, and for some moments I even thought the whole wolf thing had been a dream and I just had fallen asleep in there, but the blood and the trap around the place, made me realize it wasnt.
Well, it was a good signal if he wasn't there, it meant his leg was better. I felt happy for the animal, and walked back to the outpost where we were spending the summer.

Everyone in the little house was worried, and even got a little mad at me for not leaving a note. I didn't tell them about the wolf, but I felt happy about helping that animal for the rest of the day.

[Skyzo]

OMG Ó_Ò

Was an incredible story....
Great Job Rob

=====================
Always Yours

Skyzo.

[Sir Balder]

Very nice, you are really talented. Looking forward to the next part already!

Yours,

[Soltaxxy]

You are truly a writer my friend! I look forward for the next part as-well

[Nirdor]

Took me some time, but finally I had the chance to read the second part.

I want to read more about this magician, called Doomsday.

Waiting for next the third one, keep up the good work.