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I had never been to the temple, although I had heard Harmonia talk of it often. She constantly spoke of how her mother was there and she was some keeper of history or something, a favorite of Mnemosyne. I was not sure where the temple was, but from the chariot I spotted a clearing.
“Kinir, you need to stay here. I cannot chance anyone in the temple overpowering you in your current state. I will go to the temple and try to find a way in for you. Once I am able to gain access I will come back and get you.”
Kinir was visibly in pain. The wound was not healing as it should. Her breath was ragged as she coughed, “Athine, do you expect to fight all the guards in there on your own?”
“No. I do not expect to find much resistance in there. I will tell them I am looking for my sister Harmonia. They will not have figured out why I am here until it is too late. I certainly think I can handle a few humans and one or two goddesses that might be inside. Then we can take you to the healing pool that is located in the temple. I have heard that it can heal even the most severe wounds and from the looks of your wound you need some kind of healing.”
Kinir nodded approvingly, “I will wait here while you clear out the temple.”
I did not think that there would be much resistance in the temple. It had been cleverly hidden when it was designed and was only supposed to be accessible to scholars. I had never heard of anyone attacking it, but I was sure that their army, if they even had one, would be weak at best. I, on the other hand, received training from Ares himself. I also had magical abilities that no one in these parts had seen before.
One could only imagine my surprise at finding armed guards at the temple door. The guards were magical stone creatures carved to resemble classical Greek statues. Their eyes glowed a bright blue, they stood about ten feet high, and their skin had a marble sheen to it. I figured the best way to enter was if they believed the story that I was only there to find Harmonia. I approached the guard creatures and they immediately crossed their long spears in front of the door.
Their voices boomed in the mountain air. “HALT. NO ONE WHO DOES NOT BELONG MAY PASS.”
“But I do belong. I am looking for Harmonia, I must speak to her.”
The statue lowered its head down to my level and sniffed at me. I was not sure what would happen next.
“YOU REEK OF EVIL. YOU HAVE NO GOOD INTENTIONS. YOU MAY NOT PASS.”
Interesting. I had nothing to counter this argument, but I tried. “I reek of evil? You let Harmonia in there when she has nothing but evil plans for the world. Why do you allow her in there and not me?”
The other statue turned to me and spoke in an equally loud and booming voice, “HARMONIA HAS CAUSE TO BE HERE. SHE IS A GODDESS IMMORTAL. BORN OF THE BLOOD. IT MATTERS NOT HER INTENTIONS.”
Born of the blood? Her blood and my blood were born of the same father. Did this statue not know who I was? Could it not smell my lineage?
“Foolish guard, do you not see with your magical eyes that Harmonia and I are born of the same father, making us both born of the same blood? I am a daughter of Ares; you may not refuse me passage if you let another daughter of Ares in with no care of her intentions.”
The two statues looked at each other. I could tell they were not intelligent beings. Perhaps they were not used to having anyone argue with them. They uncrossed their spears and looked at me. Both of them spoke in such loud voices that snow began to fall from the mountaintops. “VERY WELL DAUGHTER OF ARES, YOU MAY PASS NO MATTER YOUR INTENTIONS.”
The doors slowly opened to reveal another strange glowing being. It raised its hand and looked at me as if it knew me. “Welcome, sister Athine. Do you come with peace or with war in your heart?”
I recognized the voice, but did not believe it could be her. Yet there she was radiating power, as if she was a completely different being. She also held the strange weapon that had injured Kinir. I stepped in and faced the being.
“Harmonia?! What happened to you? Where did you get that strange weapon?”
“Nothing has happened to me Athine; I am as I always have been. You thought I was a weak being, but it turns out I am just as powerful as you.”
“Impossible! You are nothing more than a half immortal!”
“That is where you are mistaken. I am a Grand Oracle, daughter of Aelonara and Ares, granddaughter of Mnemosyne and Helios. I have regained my memory of who I am and with it, my true powers. It is here that I hope you will learn the error of your way.”
“The error of my way? You are the one trying to take over the entire world and I will be the one that will stop you.”
“Why do you believe such lies, Athine? Because Kinir told them to you? Why would I, your sister, lie to you? What would I gain from it?”
“Apparently enough power to overtake the world. What did you do? Did you steal the powers of the clerics here?”
“No, sister, I came back and found the part of me that was lost. I reclaimed my birthright. I reclaimed Lassosia. You are not the only family member entitled to a Ser‘urn‘el.”
So, she had a Ser‘urn‘el. That is what injured Kinir. I wondered if it would injure me or if Sayel could injure her. I had not fought with my weapon against anyone yet. Up to this point in time, I had mainly used my magical abilities. I did not quite understand what a Ser’urn’el was, but I was beginning to see they were powerful weapons that could only be used by powerful beings.
“You think you can fight me, Harmonia? Do you really believe you could beat someone like me? I am the epitome of war and battle. I am granddaughter to the great Morrigan and Odin. I am daughter of Ares and Raelin, both formidable warriors. What of your lineage? A few scholars and an ancient goddess with powers over history and memory? How can you and your spirit weapon match mine? My weapon is the great Sayel, founder of my mother’s nation. She defeated great threats to our land. She can surely beat you.”
“I had wished this would not happen, Athine. I had hoped you would listen to reason, but because of your warmonger background, I knew we would be fighting. My weapon, Lassosia, is not of this realm. Her spirit is more powerful than anyone could imagine. She can best your Sayel and I can best your magic. I can see your moves before you think them.”
“Well, if you think you are that versed at fighting, draw your weapon and we shall see.” Harmonia wasted no time taking me up on my offer as she attacked. The first move I dodged without much thought. She was always weak in sparring. I did not consider she might have magically improved. Yet, here she came again with a second lunge. She hit with her left hand and spun to kick with her right foot. The heel of her boot cracked against my jaw. She had never been able to hit me before today. Surely, that was a lucky shot. I did not have time to play, so I summoned a bolt of Sh’cersay. She dodged it with ease. I stood there gawking at her newly acquired abilities.
“What is the matter, sister, are you afraid of hurting me or are you amazed that I am now your equal?”
With that, she sailed across the room with her spirit weapon drawn and ready to attack. I instinctively held up Sayel. The two weapons collided in an explosion of sparks and fire. The weapons screamed at each other. We both landed up against the temple walls. Then, two forms rose from our weapons and faced us. The spirits began to speak in unison to us.
“Stop this bickering between the bloodlines. We have chosen each of you to be the bearers of these weapons because you must exterminate the threat of Kinir from every realm.”
“What? What do you mean? Every realm? Not just from here? I have had a dream like that before. It didn’t really make sense then, but you use the same words I spoke,” Harmonia inquired.
“Kinir is not of this world. She is of mine,” Lassosia murmured.
“She was a wandering spirit free to cross the boundaries of time and space. After her spirit awakened in her realm, she was drawn here by the power in this realm. She came here looking for ultimate power,” Sayel explained.
“In order to understand Kinir, you need to know her story,” Lassosia began. “I come from a land where there was a place called N’verwor. N’verwor had many seemingly dull-witted creatures living within its borders, but the Cer’ang ruled them under one banner of evil. Not much is known about the creatures of the forbidden land, but it is known that the Cer’ang lived in the city of Ban’ler’euy closest to the elfin Undast clan. It was also no secret that the Cer’ang became intrigued by the neighboring elves. For many years they yearned to have the powers and the beauty of their neighbors.
Of all the known creatures in N’verwor, the Cer’ang were among the most hideous. It seemed that beauty, not brute strength or intelligence, was the most revered power among the Cer’ang. Pure Cer’ang were covered in thick scales, had grey eyes, and were rumored to be direct descendants of the original demons that created N’verwor. They were ugly creatures, but legend has it when their demon parents left the land they took pity on their hideous offspring. Their parents left them with a powerful charm magic to make up for their dreadful appearance. This magic allowed the Cer’ang to take control of N’verwor and its people. They wished to create a more beautiful race and overcome their hideousness, thus intermarriage was a never-ending quest for the Cer’ang. However, the plan had one catastrophic flaw. No matter what race the Cer’ang intermarried with the beauty created only lasted two or three generations. Anything gained from the unions was eventually lost. Their stunning children had no ability to control persuasive magic and those that did have the magic had no beauty; this was the curse of their lineage’s magic. When the Cer’ang saw the beauty and power of the pure elves they had hoped they found the key to everlasting beauty in unions with the elves.”
Lassosia continued, “Lore states that the elf clan leader, Damori Undast, made a deal with the Cer’ang king, Barmond, to mutually expand the two races’ powers and holdings through an exchange. The elves would gain the backing and protection of the inhabitants of N’verwor as well as become co-rulers of the land. In return, the Cer’ang would gain the right to intermarry with the elves to create a new race. This new race was to be called the Ban’ler’euy. No one knows for sure if Damori entered the agreement willingly because there did not seem to be any gain for the Undast clan in this arrangement. Some had guessed Damori fell under the spell of charm magic; the truth may never be known. However, it was not long after the agreement that Damori became Barmond’s bride and the mother of the first Ban’ler’euy—Rhaokirchim.
After several generations, the new race of Ban’ler’euy lost many of the magical abilities and much of the beauty they had gained through the experiment. Since none of the other clans joined the Undast in their social experiment, only a handful of offspring had any elfin magical ability or beauty. The Cer’ang even tried bringing in other creatures, such as the Dark Priestesses, humans, and the Shadows to refresh the magical genes of the pure elves. This worked for a few more generations, but soon the elfin blood became too weak to support the growing race and the Ban’ler’euy were quickly regressing to their roots.
This problem lead the present Ban’ler’euy king, Rhaokirchim, to seek a different route to obtain the magical powers and beauty his people desired. If he could not obtain the desired effects any longer by birthright, he would first try to steal the magic from the elves. If that did not work he planned to enslave the entire race of the pure elves and make them use their magic for the Ban’ler’euy objectives.
Rhaokirchim gathered many spies from N’verwor and set them out to gather information about the clans. The spies watched for several years and the information they obtained pleased the king. All the while Rhaokirchim’s eldest son, Taketa, was growing restless. He knew the Ban’ler’euy were becoming impatient with his father’s progress and he vowed to find a way to better obtain the goals of his people. He sat by for years until his young Enchantress wife, Zadora, encouraged him to speak up. Zadora was young and powerful, but she wanted more power than being a princess could offer. She played on Taketa’s desires to please his people and convinced him to lead a successful uprising against his father. Once Taketa was crowned, Zadora began giving him ideas of how best to infiltrate the elfin clans. The idea of sending refugees to the clans was born. Zadora even volunteered to take her younger sister Alana out to one of the stronger clans to help infiltrate it. Taketa agreed and even embraced the idea. He gave Zadora the full backing she needed to do as she pleased.
The wheels for the Versulath War were set into motion. The pure elf race suffered many casualties and their numbers dwindled during the battles. The remaining clans banded together in an effort to defeat the Ban’ler’euy. In a show of unity, the clans renamed themselves L’ormhon Elves after their greatest city. The L’ormhon Elves were a regal race with many abilities including healing magic, elemental dominion magic, and abilities to mold the various metals mined from their lands. They also had a collective affinity for planning and tactical assault, with many having superior strength. By coming together under one banner, the L’ormhon Elves had access to the best elfin training, weapons, and armor possible. It also gave them a renewed sense of hope in defeating the Ban’ler’euy.
Unfortunately, hope had escaped the L’ormhon elves for a period when they had heard the fiercest group of warriors, the Tai’hin’ill, had fallen to the Ban’ler’euy army. However, it was renewed when I, the last surviving Tai’hin’ill came into the L’ormhon camp bringing with me the heads of several of the Ban’ler’euy generals and an ancient parchment.
After I became queen, I banned war and contact with the outside world. I was desperate to prevent the Cer’ang from ever finding us again. This worked until my daughter Lassyre met a wandering prince name Kieller from the kingdom of Gha’sayi. It was an accidental meeting that some say was fated. The two fell in love with one another and vowed to keep secretly meeting until they could run away.
Unbeknownst to Kieller, his father, Krolin, was having him followed to see where he kept running off to every day. His father had hoped Kieller would become a very strong king and take over his interests. However, Kieller took more after his beautiful mother who was a bard before she was queen. This infuriated Krolin. The soldier that was given charge to following Kieller, Kotoch, also decided to follow the young woman that the prince was seeing. He was amazed at what he saw, a city made of gold. He could not wait to tell his liege.
Krolin took the information with great enthusiasm. He had finally found the fabled L’ormhon that he heard about as a child. He was ready to fulfill his lifelong dream of destroying his ancient family enemy. Krolin was a descendant of Rhoakirchim. His mother, Kinir, was the daughter of Rhaokirchim. When her brother fell at the hands of Lassosia, Kinir took the dark magic book of the Cer’ang and fled to a new area that the humans had settled called Gha’sayi. It was there that she asserted her magical abilities and built castle Ryrir to become its queen. As a child, Krolin heard the stories of his mother’s hate for the L’ormhon elves and how she wished she could destroy them. She died long before this day. It was Krolin’s only wish that he make his mother’s dreams come true. Now the son he so despised had led him right to his enemy’s doorstep. He knew Kieller would not allow this destruction and would warn the inhabitants of L‘ormhon; so, he planned to trap the maiden Lassyre with his dark book of magic—the same book salvaged by Kinir. Krolin figured that binding the girl in the lake outside of L’ormhon with the dark magic would keep Kieller busy so he could uninterruptedly wage war on the elves.
Krolin successfully trapped Lassyre in the lake and went back to Ryrir to start plans for the siege. Kieller was heartbroken, but Lassyre prompted him to go to L’ormhon and tell us of the impending war. She gave Kieller a small pendant filled with the lake water and told him he must dump the water into L’ormhon’s main fountain after he told me all he knew.
What Kieller didn‘t know was that the dark spell had strengthened Lassyre‘s elemental magic. If her lake’s water mixed with another water source, she could appear in not only her lake, but also the other water; she had a plan. Once Kieller dumped the water into the fountain, Lassyre appeared larger than life. She instructed all the best warriors in the town to pick up a bucket and a vial. They were then to head to the mystic lake where Lassyre was bound. Once there they were to fill the buckets and the vials. The vials were to protect the wearer. The buckets were to be used to transport lake water to the castle’s main water supply where the contents would be emptied. This would allow Lassyre to envelope the castle with her magic from the inside.
Krolin was furious with his son for leading the small band of elves to the castle, but amused at the same time. He laughed at Kieller’s attempt to stop him with buckets of water. He thought it was some poetic way of expressing his grief that his love was now no more than water. Krolin tore away the vial Kieller was wearing. He laughed as he poured the water out onto the floor and stomped on the puddle. Kieller laughed at his father and his immense stupidity. As soon as he stepped into the puddle, Lassyre appeared and pulled him into a never-ending pool where he drowned. The rest of the water that the warriors had dumped into the castle allowed Lassyre to destroy the area brick by brick. She left no stone unturned and killed all that got in her way.
With the land decimated and the remaining bloodline of the Cer’ang descendants obliterated, Kieller returned to the lake to free Lassyre with the dark book. He had learned of his heritage from his father before he died. He knew he could invoke the dark secrets of the Cer’ang magic to free Lassyre. It was there after he had set her free that he told Lassyre of his lineage and vowed to find a way to remove it so they could be together. The wind blew open the magical book at that exact moment and showed him the spell he needed. He performed the dark ritual to remove the Cer’ang heritage from his body, thus ending all the Cer’ang bloodlines forever. With no Cer’ang blood left to use the book, it simply vanished.
With the bloodline extinguished, the spirit of Kinir was disturbed. She felt her ancestors forsaking their heritage and the death of her bloodline. All she had built lay in ruins, but it was then that she felt the magic of your realm. Since she had no physical body and no blood ties to the realm anymore she was able to cross through the N’Loron in search for the power she felt in this realm.” Lassosia ended her part of the story and Sayel took up the next part.
Sayel whispered, “She wandered into the realm that would be Ximira when I was still a young queen. We had many reports of a wandering banshee like creature in the moors. It was attacking lesser immortals and draining them of their powers. I tried many times to fight this creature unsuccessfully. Our final confrontation was in the grotto where you, Athine, saw a spirit speak to you. I wounded Kinir in the body she possessed at that time, but she was able to use her dark magic to bind some of her essence to the land where the grotto sprung; then she attacked me. She was beginning to drain my powers, but I gave up my spirit to the land of the ancestors and took my powers with me. Kinir was able to take over my body, but she knew she would not be able to live in the area for very long. Instead, she went towards Olympus where she felt new power emerging. She roamed there for many years passing along tales of the Ximiran goddesses hoping a war would break out, but when it didn’t she decided to get a newer body for mine had grown weak. One by one, she began killing Olympian goddesses. She sought power and beauty; the same things she wanted in her first life. The last goddess she killed was Essnem’s sister Asdage. We think that she picked Asdage because of her beauty, but by killing her Kinir gained the ability to see certain future events. If Ares had known Harmonia’s true heritage, Kinir would have tried to target Harmonia for her powers. It was unfortunate that Kinir knew about the isle of Ximira. When she touched Ares and saw that he wanted a bloodthirsty queen from Ximira she inadvertently received flashes of Draosia and the magical goddesses there. Kinir had seen Raelin in her vision. She saw that a child born of a union between Raelin and Ares would have immense and unique powers. It was then that Kinir began piecing together her master plan to grant Ares his wish for a Ximiran royal mate. You must destroy this evil spirit for the good of all the realms as she will stop at nothing to gain power.”
“Why should I believe any of you? How do I know this is not an illusion from Harmonia’s new magic?” I asked dumbfounded.
Sayel looked at me. “Do you not feel the connection with your sister, Athine? She has loved and cared for you since the day you were born. She could have despised you, but she did not. Harmonia has always been and always will be your sister, but Kinir is a manipulative spirit looking only for power. Why not ask Harmonia what she plans for your future?”
I glanced at Harmonia and wondered if she had been talking to Kinir. “Well, what can you tell me, sister?”
“Kinir has been manipulating me for years, this much is true. I thought she was a true oracle. She came to me the night I left to thank me for destroying the world and providing her with the perfect body—her forever body. Athine, she intends for you to do her dirty work and then in the end she will take over your body. She will use the knowledge she finds in here to gain the power and beauty her spirit desires. You are nothing more than a pawn to her. We are nothing but her play things.”
The anger that flashed through my veins was more than I had ever felt. I was NO ONE’S PAWN! I knew the words they spoke were. I did not want them to be true, but I could not believe that Harmonia would plot against me either. She had loved me and had been my companion for as long as I could remember. “I want to know how to destroy the witch. I am no one’s pawn. I will not be played with.” I raged as I felt my magic boiling in my veins.
The magical spirits spoke again, “The only way you can defeat Kinir is by working together. Harmonia must destroy her spirit with Lassosia and Athine you must destroy the physical body with Sayel. You must time this perfectly as both body and spirit must be destroyed in the same instance. If not timed correctly the spirit will just attach to someone else. She will never be destroyed if the host body and her spirit are not obliterated at the same moment in time.”
Harmonia looked at me and I looked at her. I knew what she was thinking. How are we to lure her in here? Then I remembered; I told Kinir I was coming back for her and that I would take her to the healing fountain of the temple. We could ambush her at the fountain.