The Crystal Odyssey

Chapter Thirty-Six: Niamh!

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Chapter Thirty-Six: Niamh!

She had been through a lot she had properly witnesses more deaths than just Megan’s. I wanted to feel pity for her but there was no need, her struggles had made her strong. I simply glanced down at my drink, “What about the others, are they still alive?” I was reluctant to hear the answer to my question, I didn’t know if I could cope with hearing that another one of my friends was dead but the suspense was too much. “I don’t know. I’ve only managed to find three of them. Megan, Haris and Kudzai. As you already know Megan is dead but I’m sure the others are alive. Kudzai didn’t want any company. He wanted to find his weapon and learn to fend for himself before he allied himself with anyone else; I think the real reason was because he didn’t want to be responsible for any misfortunes. I met Haris when I went to see Xenia but he refused to leave. He said that the Citadel was the only place he felt safe so I left him.” Niamh lifted her hand away from her cup and drew her blade from her pouch. “This is my weapon; I got it about a year ago. It was a gift from Manannan, the sea god. After Megan died I went back to Métis, I was grieving and upset. I told her that I wanted to become stronger. I had improved but I was still weak, I begged her for the power to protect and that’s how I found my weapon. She told me to go outside the Citadel to find the power that I longed for. Eventually one thing led to another and I got tricked. I had travelled to a small area near the coast; I was tricked by a ferry man and ended up stranded on an island. I survived by myself for four weeks until nature decided to trick me too. I was attacked by a Sea Hydra. A powerful beast that roamed the seas. I tried to fight back but I was no match, eventually I gave up and sunk my head down to accept my end, but Manannan saved me. He had been observing me for my entire duration on the island. He protected me and commanded the beast to leave me alone,” Niamh smiled.

“Manannan saved my life, he was a kind deity. He had a daughter called Niamh who had married and left and he said that watching me had bought happiness to his heart. He wished that no harm be done to be and thus he passed down his power to me in the form of this blade. He told me to never give up and to always keep fighting.” She picked up her dagger and passed it to me. “It’s incredible!” I exclaimed in astonishment. I turned the blade over, admiring it from every angle. The material was a deep midnight blue. I was astonished by the lightweight of it. I had never seen a material so strong and durable yet so easy to wield. A miniature pearl marble nestled between the blade and he handle. I lifted the marble closer to my eyes to look at the elegant patterns of light that lightly danced inside the marble.

The blade began to glow. A blue light emerged from the marble and filled the room. I flinched, my muscles tensed automatically altering into defence mode but I still did not let go of the blade. My body was sterile. The blue light began to sway soon other colours emerged and form until I was surrounded by sand and water. The water began to vibrate, a body of water up surged from the sea and then finally cascaded down back to its main body leaving behind a great beast that towered above the sand. The sight was truly terrifying. Two serpent like heads attached to a large aquatic body through a long scaly neck. The body possessed large powerful fins that flapped about displacing large amounts of water. The beast hissed glaring down in my direction but not at me. Straight after, a shadow dashed through my body, phasing through like a projection. A ray of light shone on the shadow, illuminating it. Niamh! She dashed around the beast swiftly but nowhere near as fast as I saw her last time. She jumped up at punch the beast on its neck but the beast easily moved its fin knocking her straight back onto the sandy shore. She immediately collected herself and charged back straight at the beast. I watched helplessly as the beast repeatedly knocked her back. Eventually she hit the ground and didn’t rise back up. My mouth tingled as I tried with all my might to shout out to her. The beast slowly wandered to her tepid body. She spread her arms out and looked up at the sky as a tear trickled down her face.

The beast lifted one of its fins ready to trick her in the stomach but as its hand quickly descended a blue barrier appeared before her shielding her and creating a dome around her. The dome then spread out forcing the beast back into the sea. The barrier then recollected into a large ball of light before her. It hovered above her, shining down on her body as she lay flat on the sand half dead. She slowly lifted her hand towards the light. Unexpectedly the light instantly spread out, eliminating the scenery around me and then disappearing; transporting me back into Maya’s Hut. The sound of moving water echoed about my ear until I heard a voice say “Arc? Are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” I lifted my head, shifting my view from the marble to Niamh’s face. I stared at her blankly perplexed by the event that had just occurred.

“Your story...” I expressed softly. Niamh tilted her head slightly, gesturing me to carry on. “Sorry. I mean your story about how you earned your weapon. I just saw everything.” I then looked back down at the blade and passed it across the table and back to Niamh. She looked at the blade spinning it around then peered at me and finally back down at the blade, “How?” I put my hand together on the table and shrugged “I’m not sure. I was just looking at the blade and I noticed the marble then it happened.” She slowly placed the blade on the table then asked, “What happened? I need to you explain. Be specific.” I paused for a brief second to collect my thoughts. “Sorry Niamh-” She interrupted me stating,” Don’t be!” I looked into her blue eyes, which seemed to get bluer with every second that passed by. “When I looked at the marble a strange light emerged out of it and spread around me. Next thing I know I was at some kind of beach then I saw a beast. It looked like a snake but it had fins and-” She hastily disrupted my flow of speech, “You mean the Hydra?”

“Yes, if that’s what it’s called! I saw you fight it and I also saw how Manannan saved. I saw everything.” Niamh glowered at me. I could tell that she believed me but she didn’t understand how, “You can do that?” I didn’t know what she meant by ‘do that.’ I wasn’t even sure what I had just did, “Do what? I didn’t do anything it was the dagger... it somehow showed me that moment in time.” Niamh clasped her hand around her face and mouth then slammed her both her palms on the table. “I don’t have time for this,” her words harshened , “Arc don’t lie to yourself, in this world a lot of strange things happen but never doubt your potential. My blade has never done what have just described so if it happened to you it means you did something. It sounds like you have clairvoyance.”