Isles of Scion

A slow metamorphosis formed on the beach as the water swayed up and down the sand. An old man squished he toes in the sand as it filled with water, chuckling as it solidified about his feet. The moon loomed overhead beaming down from the cloudless sky. A being completely concealed in dark leather and a full hooded robe approached from the darkness; the trespasser spoke softly.

“It was quite difficult to find you.” The old man looked over his shoulder up to the trespasser. “I’m on vacation you know. Couldn’t you of waited a few weeks?” The cloaked one approached and sat down beside him. The old man let out a deep sigh. “So how can I help you?”

A shimmer of light bounced out of the cloaked one’s open hand; a pair of dice lied motionless. “I would like to play a little game of chance with you.” The old man’s brows peaked. “Chance you say?” He looked over at the cloaked one. “What are you willing to bet.” The cloaked one smiled and clenched the dice. “Well it’s quite simple. I have a few things I’d like to do. But I have one thing stopping me.”

~~**~~

“So this is it?” Prontera was not a very impressive sight to Athena. She was a world renowned hunter that had collected everything from ancient treasures to escaped criminals. But today she had a very special treasure on her list today. The Amulet of Scion, it is said that this otherwise boorish looking heirloom can harness the powers of Scion himself. The castle of Prontera was an odd place for such a powerful item to be held, considering the recent fall in regional power from the grave sickness that has stricken their king. However this sort of information was relatively unimportant to Athena, her target lie within the walls of the castle, and she would be taking it home with her before the night was over.

As she entered the city she was surprised by the silence that loomed in the streets. A thick fog was flowing in from the alleyways and consuming the streets, within minutes of her arrival she could barely see in front of her face. The moonlight reflected in beams off of the mist, dancing on the floor and walls like insects. The mumbling of the homeless occasionally broke the silence. “Someone is out there.” Another voice whispered back. “She must be crazy.” Athena marched to the bridge that crossed to the castle. “Cute” She remarked as she gazed over the side of the bridge. “A Moat?€?how quant.”

“It’s odd that they would have nobody guarding the entrance. The king is deathly ill, and nobody is guarding an easy kill. “Oh well.” She grasped onto her Golden Dagger. “I guess I shouldn’t complain about a good thing.” Athena edged into the king’s throne room and walked up to the vast open room that was devoid of life. A long red carpet lead up to a huge expanse, above the expanse a glorious chandelier hung, a tight circle of candles poking from the top of it. At the opposite side of the room was the throne, beside it a tiny glass case; Athena’s target lying within it. “Bingo.”

“You are just in time Athena.” A voice called out from nowhere, then almost as mysteriously a man walked out from behind the chair. Athena looked at the figure boggled, none of the photos she was shown of the castle staff and family resembled this figure. “So you are?” She walked forward slowly, inching towards the case. “You want the Amulet don’t you?” The mysterious figure raised his hand and held it over the top of the case “It’s Quite an alluring little item.” Athena stopped and looked at the man. “Alright. What are we going to do here. You obviously know a little too much about me and I have things I’d like to get done.”

The man clenched his hand and then lifted, the Amulet lifted by its long silver chain without halt or notice of the glass case, merely passing through it as if it were water. The amulet came to pause in midair; as it did the glass rippled back into motionlessness. Athena’s mouth returned to a closed position from the thoroughly dropped jaw she had just experienced. “Alright. So you are a magician. What do I need to do to get that wonderful little trinket in my hand?” Athena eyed the Amulet. “Oh my. That’s quite an open ended question.” The mysterious figure chuckled. “I think. Since you’ve offered your services that I’ll have you do me a big favor.” Athena placed her lucky dagger back into its sheath. “This favor is?” The figure sat down and unclasped the Amulet. “Oh you’ll see very soon.” A brilliant flash of light burst from the Amulet as he clasped it to his neck. It poured out through the castle bleaching every single flutter of color. The light poured out across the city and turned night into day.

Athena could no longer see, her world flipped from a brilliant white to complete darkness; as it did her body became completely weightless, it was if she had been put into a world of opposites. Day had turned to night, light had turned to dark, and maybe?€?just maybe?€?life had turned to death. Her words trailed off into nothingness “Is this i~?€?”

~~**~~

The moon was unseen on this night; as was the plan. It was vital to not be seen tonight, reading through the ancient texts without permission was enough to be banished; and as difficult as it was to admit, they were more than able to keep those banished away. The books hadn’t moved in decades, thick coats of dust covered every volume giving them the appearance of a universal color. It was a dirty grey, it disgusted the trespasser greatly. How collections of such immense knowledge could be treated as nothing more than ornaments. It was criminal, far more criminal than approaching them without pass, why should one need a pass to learn. The trespasser blew upon the books sending up a giant cloud of dust and cobwebs, the air grew thick and made it difficult to see or breath. Coughing however was out of the picture.

The trespasser’s eyes grew wide as they noticed their target. The book was easily two feet tall and half a foot thick, a bastion of knowledge held neatly between a thick sandwich of serpent skin. Along the binding of the book read the words “Four Pillars”.

“Perfect. I have found it.”

Suddenly a voice called out from the hallway.

“The doorway to the Library is open! Sound the Alarm!”

The trespasser quickly head under the walkway that leads into the library, slowly motioning towards the door as the sentries approached. As the sentries ran to the end of the walkway they began looking around.

“I don’t see anyone. Check under the walkway.”

With the agility and stealth of a Puma the trespasser rolled up the opposite side that the sentry gazed and began dashing out of the room. The other sentry saw them fleeing.

“They are escaping! After them!”

Bells rang throughout the building; the trespassers heart beat began beating faster and faster as adrenaline pumped forcefully throughout their body.

“I can’t get caught. This will ruin everything!”

The hallways were almost like catacombs, each twisting and contorting into a new equally similar hall. Strangers had been found many times dead in the outer reaches of the halls, unable to escape or find help. The trespasser was finding that mixing this with the fear of capture was almost too much to survive.

“Where is the damn door? I just need to get outside.”

Bolting around a corner the trespasser saw the door, lying just opposite of roughly 30 sentries. None of which were currently aware of the trespasser?s presence. Quickly concealing themselves the trespasser contemplated escape.

“When did they get so organized? This is ridiculous.”

Grasping a small wooden branch from their pocket the trespasser popped into the hallway.

“Hey fellas! I got a present for ya!”

With extreme prejudice they launched the stick at the group, it cracked upon the shield of one of the sentries. As it fell to the ground they looked down at it and then at the trespasser laughing merrily.

“I can only hope that was a joke! You really thought a small dead branch was going to take down us!”

The trespasser nodded disagreeably and smiled.

“Nope. I was kind of figuring it wouldn’t do a whole lot of anything to you.”

A smoke rose slowly from the cracked point in the branch.

“What is inside it however. Well that’s another story.”

Slowly rising from a kneeling position; a massive machine began peering at the sentries. It?s head was a dome that adorned four separate faces, each with its own unique expression. It spun endlessly as each one looked at the targets at hand. The entire being stood just shy of the ceiling looking almost straight down to see it?s foes, it?s thick stocky legs dispersing its immense weight across the marble floor. It?s massive long white arms ended in massive metallic pads, with intricate designs filling the entire entity with the magical energy needed to remain animated. For a moment it appeared harmlessly intrigued.

“What is that thing!”

One of the guards swung his sword at the massive creature and it shook with a sickening twang. The face on the machine halted at an expression that seemed incredibly upset. The trespasser chuckled and took a few steps forward.

“Oh! That was a terrible idea!”

The creature lifted its massive hands in front of it creating a large space between its upward arms and its chest. A large ball of energy formed, causing the room to glow and the creature to give off an almost golden glow. A few sentries retreated quickly, unwilling to see what was coming next. As the creature lowered its arms the ball burst forth in a straight beam of pure arcane energy. It tore through the doorway of the building leaving a massive opening, digging a deep U in the ground before the creature, and leaving no remnants of the former guards that blocked the exit. The trespasser walked up and patted the creature on the back.

“Great job Apocalypse. Have fun with these fools, I must be going.”

As the trespasser exited the building they reached for a butterfly wing from their pouch and quickly crushing it. They quickly began to fade away as Apocalypse tore through the building behind them, the screams of sentries and civilians alike filled the air. A phantom voice floated out from where the Trespasser once stood.

“The only way to travel”

• Be born
• Finish Elementary
• Finish Junior High
• Finish High School
• Get into College
• Finish College
• Get a Job
• Get a Girlfriend
• Go on a Date
• Reach Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do
• Win a Gold Medal in Tournament
• Make somebody the Happiest they’ve ever been
• Find Somebody I can truly hate
• Make enough money to be content
• Run my own martial arts dojang
• Help people be happy with their lives
• Get somebody to quit their ‘edit’ organised religion
• Learn to Backflip
• Get strong enough to be content
• Write a bunch of books
• Make my poems well known
• Find a method to be immortal
• Have somebody always remember me when they are with someone else (even when in bed *wink, wink*)
• Be content with my own body
• Get others to realise how wonderful they are
• Stop a crime
• Beat up someone who tries to hurt a girl
• Be in a movie
• Stop somebody from crying
• Make somebody hurtful, hate themselves
• Influence the minds of at least a million people at one time
• Write Lots of Poems
• Write Lots of Good Poems
• Help influence the changes in government
• Make a movie
• Write the outline for a game
• Learn Break Dancing
• Become the President of the United States
• Make my website so big it ends up on television at least once.