Children of Prophecy

Basil: Chapter 16

I ran as fast as I could towards the gates avoiding guards as good as I can. Guards were walking on almost every corner I turned. The villagers were also busy preparing food for the war and guards bidding their families goodbye. As I came near the gate, I looked at how it was heavily guarded. How will I get out now? Then it clicked in my head. The secret passage! I don't know if it exist or not, seeing as I have only learned about it from a book in the library. It is supposed to be somewhere around the stables.

I sneaked my way towards the stables quietly as I looked for the passage entrance. The horses made nooses as I came in. I tried to hush them, but one horse caught my attention. It was stomping its foot on the ground, but the sound it was making was different. I made my way towards the horse as it backed away from where it was stomping. Moving the hay that covered the ground, I found a small symbol of a lily engraved on it. This must be the entrance. I carefully lifted the stone using a lot of strength and climbed down before I re-sealed the entrance. There were torches along the way guiding me towards the exits. It was a long passage that leads to more than one exit to different places outside Alastar and each torch had a unique design to show which was leading where. I followed the torches that were decorated with a few vines, knowing it would lead me towards the forest. Running as fast I could through the tunnels, I found a ladder going up towards the exit. I climbed up the ladder that was tangled in vines and dead plants as I reached a door which I struggled to open before I got out.

The place the tunnels had leaded me to was a dark forest. I never knew that there was a forest like this nearby. It was filled with vines hanging down from the trees, green moss and mushrooms that stuck out of the ground, and weird noises were heard. I shook my head and wandered around the forest, looking for a path to lead me to Euryele. The further I went in the forest, the darker it became until I could barely see anything. A small growl came from a bush and I turned around to see what it was, but it did not help in the darkness. There came more growls and yellow eyes appeared glowing through the darkness. The figures with yellow eyes growled louder and louder as they slowly came towards me. I reached my hand to grab my sword, only to remember that it was taken from me before I was sent to the dungeons. I tried backing away, but there were also some behind me. What's going to happen now? I need to get to Euryele and tell the others about my grandfather. The figures lunged at me as I shielded myself and closed my eyes waiting to be attacked. Light began to glow as the figures with yellow eyes squinted their eyes shut and backed away, trying to get away from the light that grew stronger. The light dimmed slowly and the figures which looked like a shadow panther retreated back to where they came from. I looked at my necklace; it was the one that shined the light. Holding the crystal of the necklace, I thought of the warmth it had made me feel as it shined to protect me. Warmth that reminded me of a familiar feeling I felt when I was with my father, Astra and the others.

My necklace kept shining as it slowly came out of my grasp, floating as it lead me towards a direction. I did not make a move to go towards the direction, but the necklace kept tugging me to follow it. In the end I followed it, still wary of where it was taking me to. As I walked, I noticed that there were many monsters nearby that cringed away from the light my necklace emitted. I had not noticed the monsters that were surrounding me until now. Some were trying to get near me, but backed away fast as soon as it got too bright for it. 

The necklace stopped moving as we arrived somewhere in front of a wall of rock with plants dangling down and vines covering it. I moved the plants and vines that covered the wall and I saw a small crystal shaped hole in the middle. The shape looked similar to my necklace. I took of my necklace and placed the crystal on the hole, curious of what would happen. Golden light shined as it created swirling designs on the wall and opened up a door that lead inside the wall. Carefully studying the door I grabbed my necklace and put it back around my neck before placing a foot after another taking caution of traps that might be set up. I looked around the place and leaped of surprise when I heard a rumbling sound that was made as the door closed. The light from my necklace disappeared and light from the ceiling and torches inside of the cave replaced it. The flowers inside the cave glowed and some of them were made out of jewels. I followed the torches that lead through a hallway as I looked at the pictures carved onto the wall of the cave, pictures that told tales about people who guarded something.

The pictures showed a woman who was giving an orb to a person and continued to pass it on to other generations, until it reached a picture where a guardian with a crown had tried to use the power of the orb instead of guarding it. The picture that came after it was a war that happened between two kingdoms. This must be the reason for the war thousands of years ago. I came upon a picture of a truce that was made between two kings, but the king who had the orb had other plans after the truce. The woman appeared before the king and hid the orb somewhere as the king went mad and ordered troops to search for it. On another picture was of a child receiving the orb to hide it and guard it. The child went to a forest and became friends with behemoths to help the child protecting the orb. When I continued further into a big room inside the cave, another picture covered a huge wall. A picture of two babies with the orb between them and underneath them was a picture of war and peace.

I left the room and continued to another hall wondering about the last picture. It seemed somewhat familiar as if I have heard about the story it held. The hall leaded me towards an exit hidden behind vines and a waterfall. I went out to see that I had arrived just on the outskirts of the nearby forest in Alastar.

Remembering what I was supposed to do, I started to run towards the Mystical forest until I spotted a behemoth that wandered around guarding the perimeter. It growled at me until it saw me ragged and almost out of breath from running. The behemoth suddenly said "If you are looking for Astra and the others, they are already in Euryele. I can see that you are in a hurry. Get on my back and I'll take you as far as I can go" I got on its back and held onto to it tightly as it began to run very fast through the forest. We managed to arrive nearby the gates of Euryele before he left me saying good luck. I sprinted pass the gates, not looking back at the guards yelling after me.

I ran all the way to the castle and looked for the throne room as hard as I could, running through corners as I found a large door and barged it open as I shouted "Astra!" Astra turned around and looked at me before guards came in and held me. "Let the boy go. It seems that he has something urgent to say" the king ordered as the guards dropped me again. "I have news about Alastar and some stuff I found out on the way here" I said with a serious tone.