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ISRI TOOK A DEEP BREATH before entering the cave. She wondered what she would learn, if anything. Inside she found several burial mounds. One of the mounds was more prominent than the others and she was immediately drawn to it. She could barely make out the worn letters on the headstone. The stone was a sign of a village elder. It read I-L-A. Isri knew immediately that this was the legendary Ila that broke away from the Cerynians and chose a life without powers or immortals. She knew if she wanted the truth that this was the person to try to call forth. She began to chant out loud in a humming singing fashion.
“Come to me Ila, leader of this damned village. Come to me in spirit or flesh. Come to me now and tell me of your woes. Tell me of your history.”
Isri waited as she chanted. She secretly hoped that this would work. She was now curious to see if her strange dream had anything to do with this moment now. The ground began to shake and the headstone of Ila broke in half. In its place a beautiful young woman stood. She was neither flesh nor spirit. She was neither human nor immortal. Isri had no idea what she was.
“Isri, I am so glad you came, granddaughter.” The strange creature spoke as she motioned to Isri to come closer.
Isri was taken by surprise. “Granddaughter?” she murmured back.
“Isri, I haven’t much time. I can only sustain this form for a little while, but there is so much I need to tell you. I need to prepare you for what lies ahead. I am Ila. I am sure you know that I founded this town when Hon’hin and I disagreed about needing a patron immortal. What you probably did not know was that he wanted to bring back the immortal Crythl to aid us against the Amazon raids. I say bring back because for a great many years Cerynian was free of immortals. We were a very strong village, but the Amazons kept coming for our young children to fill their ranks. Instead of fighting back or moving, some of the village decided to call for the Crythl, those that did not agree left.
We traveled here and lived for many years in peace with nature. Our community was growing. We had returned to some of our more ancient ways. All was right with our world until Lye-Ashe appeared. She came to our village to see the progress. She offered her ‘services’ to our village and showed many of our people what Cerynian was like now that she was there ‘protecting’ it. We turned her down several times, but she was persistent. Finally, because she was scared of the possibility of our success getting out to Cerynian she came back and demanded that we swear our blood oath to her or die. None of us in this village wanted an immortal patron; that was the point of moving away from Cerynian. We never expected the Crythl to come here and bother us. We tried to just leave the area and find a new home even further away before Lye-Ashe returned, but she had bound our bodies and spirits here.
The unfinished circle outside on the ground was my last attempt to remove the spell that Lye-Ashe placed on the people. I was able to bind myself to this land and release the others with what little magic I had available from our bond with nature. I, however, was not able to leave the area. Many of our people escaped and disappeared into the night. Others, the ones around me, chose to stay with me and fight. We did not win against the demon Lye-Ashe and her evil staff, Shultash. She would rest at nothing to keep her strangle hold on Cerynian and that included killing all of us.
When I passed over to Nal’yera, I became an Akurowon. It is much like a Crythl, but our powers are those of nature and light. The earth gives us the powers upon passing over. I was able to understand and see things that were not transparent before. The whispering spirits told me of the evil Lye-Ashe was creating. They showed me that the blood oath Lye-Ashe made every person in the village swear before getting their powers was actually a ritual spell. The spell binds those and all descendants forever to the staff Shultash. Instead of crossing over to Nal’yera, the souls of those bound go into the staff and give Lye-Ashe even more power. This way, even if she were abandoned, she would still be able to keep her powers and those that she swore to protect. Her supply of magic would not be based on living souls that could forsake her. In my passing, I learned that Lye-Ashe was not even a Crythl. Instead, she was a Narkurru. She stole the powers of the true Crythl after they were banished from Nal’yera. She took on the history of our people and has been using that to her advantage ever since. She even supplied Cerynian with gold and made it a place of tourism and rich trade so she could export the blood oath into distant lands. This way she would be able to have a never-ending supply of souls. Any descendant of someone that had taken the allegiance pledge would be bound to Lye-Ashe.”
“So, my soul is bound to the immortal goddess Lye-Ashe of no choice of my own?” Isri questioned Ila.
“No, child. That is why I needed you to come here to this sacred ground so I could tell you the truth. You are the daughter of Aesurnu. Aesurnu was a newborn infant taken from her mother Iristi by Lye-Ashe. Aesurnu was given powers that same day without any blood oath; a fatal mistake of Lye-Ashe. Although her adoptive mother, Eunara took the blood oath, Lye-Ashe didn’t think about the fact that Eunara was not the blood mother of Aesurnu. You see, Iristi was one of my daughters taken by the Amazonian raids. Isri, you are my great-granddaughter and you are not bound to Lye-Ashe. Neither of your parents is from a blood line that has sworn allegiance to her. You do, however, have the ability to use the powers Lye-Ashe gave your family. It is only you that can become a Chreuthecal with a will that can steal the staff, Shultash, back to this realm to break it open and destroy the blood oath.”
“What you propose is madness. Sheer madness! Even if this were something I could or would do, if my family is not affected then why would I bother to go to great lengths to save the souls of those I do not know? Why should I not just go on and marry some handsome prince and run away with him?”
“Simple, do you want your children’s souls trapped in the staff?”
“No, but how can they be if I am going to marry a foreigner?”
“Because Est’it is of Cerynian lineage and his mother was bound to Lye-Ashe. You are destined to marry Est’it, but if you do not destroy the staff your children will be doomed as will all that follow. You will allow this evil demon to continue to feed off all the dead souls until eventually all human souls go to Lye-Ashe and she becomes a true goddess with the power to destroy those on earth at will. What say you Isri of Cerynian? Will you save your children? Will you save your people?”
Isri looked around dejected and saddened by the truth. She knew she had no choice. She could run away and leave this behind, but she knew what Ila was telling her was true. She knew even if she did run away she would never be able to love anyone but Est’it. She also knew there was a chance that anyone she did marry would be bound to Lye-Ashe because of the far reaches of the blood oath. That is why, after all, Lye-Ashe had made Cerynian into a major town full of wealth. She wanted to export the blood curse to increase her powers. She was indeed an evil creature.
“What choice do I have, great-grandmother, but to take up the challenge?”
“That is what I had hoped you would say my dear child. Inside the headstone are the written plans I have laid out for you. You must not tell anyone of these plans. You must burn them after you memorize them here in the cave. I am not able to stay with you any longer, the spirit realm calls too strongly. With love and luck, I send you on your journey.”
Then she was gone. Just like that. Isri found the scroll with the instructions and committed them to memory as Ila commanded. She burned the scroll and scattered the ashes while citing an incantation that came to her. Now all she had to do was put the plan into motion without telling too much of it to the prince or even her own family.